Category: Whiskey Wednesday
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Whiskey Wednesday: Dry(ish) January
On January 16th, 1919 Nebraska became the 36th of the 48 states that composed these United States of America at the time to ratify the 18th Amendment thus beginning the “noble experiment” that was Prohibition. While Congress didn’t ratify the Amendment until January 29th, and the sale of alcohol wasn’t made fully illegal until January 20th, 1920,…
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Whiskey Wednesday: A Midwinter’s Night Dram
When it comes to the whiskey world the two most maligned words are “sourced” and “blended.” Yet, one of the most respected distilleries to come out of the past decade of craft distilling is easily Utah’s own High West, a distillery that exclusively bottles “sourced” and “blended” whiskey. So how did they rise above? Honesty,…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Heaven Hill 27 Year Old Barrel Strength
Reinvention is the key to longevity. No matter how often you hear something being touted as “Old Fashioned” chances are it’s actually an update on an old technique or just straight up marketing. We are constant victims of nostalgia, even the term “Old Fashioned” implies a dissatisfaction with the modern. Yet as much as we…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Repeal Day
With all the excitement, food, and celebrations that are crammed into the space between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day you can be excused for not noticing that noted scoundrel and always bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler managed to squeeze a completely new holiday in there: December 5th, Repeal Day. Repeal Day is the Hallmark Card Holiday of…
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Open Bottle: Nineteen Eighty-Four JURA
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Released in 1949 George Orwell’s masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four often feels as alive and resonant as it must have when it was first published. Reading the headlines it feels like doublespeak, Big Brother, and New Speak have leapt from the lexicon of…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Elijah Craig: NoMad Edition
I sat down and did this almost exactly a year ago and it’s time again for the annual arrival of a privately selected Elijah Craig Barrel. This one, like all of them, is special because it is a 100% unique bottling but it’s also the culmination of an insane year. Elijah Craig is the whiskey…
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Drinking Poetic: The Old Fashioned
“I prefer things the Old Fashioned Way!” said every generation ever as things changed around them. The Old Fashioned is my favorite cocktail. It appeals to me on such a deeply intellectual level that it rivals the psychic imprint that Lord of the Rings had on me in the third grade. And the imprint this…
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Open Bottle: Rittenhouse Very Rare 25 Year Straight Rye Whiskey
Today I’m either turning 33 or 37, depending on whether you believe my birth certificate or my girlfriend’s mathematical skills. I’ve been in the service industry since I was 16, been bartending since I was 20, and have been a “craft bartender” and bar manager since I was 25. In a lot of ways my…
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Open Bottle: Yamazaki 18 Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask
In today’s edition of things you’ll never get to taste: Yamazaki 50 Year Old! On Friday August 17th 2018 a bottle of 1st edition Yamazaki 50 Year Old, one of only 50 bottles to exist, sold at auction for $312, 519.87. This is now the most expensive bottle of Japanese whisky ever sold at auction, beating the…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Early Times Proof of Concept
I’ve talked about it before but I’m really into traveling. Travel opens our eyes to new things, it also shines a new light on the familiar and common place. While most people filter this experience through art or culture being a bartender and a boozehound I end up seeing it through the glass at the…
Bottled In Bond LA 