Category: Whisky
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Quarantine Bottle Kill #8: Kilchoman Sauternes Cask Matured (2016)
It feels like the quarantine weeks are quickly going up in smoke. That’s probably because half of the home bar is Islay Whisky right now. Is that a forced transition? You bet it is. I thoroughly enjoy heavily peated whisky. I often use Octomore as an example of just how good a Scotch Whisky can…
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Quarantine Bottle Kill #5: Longrow Red 11 Year Cabernet Sauvignon Cask
Just because we’re in quarantine doesn’t mean that there can’t be a theme. Aside from sparking joy by eliminating bottles from the booze cart that is. So next up on the quarantine bottle list is the cousin to the last, the Longrow 11 Year Red: Cabernet Sauvignon Cask. For all single malts produced in Scotland…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Take Off of Taketsuru
Continuing this month’s conversation about Nikka comes the news that Nikka will be discontinuing the Taketsuru 17, 21, and 25 Year old expressions as of March of 2020. The Taketsuru line represents NIkka’s history. It pays homage to its founding father as well as combining the art of both of the company’s distinct distilleries. The…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Nikka Days of Our Lives
I love a good story and Nikka Whisky certainly has a good story. A story of both an excellently crafted whiskey but also a phenomenal story in the life of the company’s founder, Masataka Taketsuru. The month of January is especially important to the story of Taketsuru and his redheaded Scottish wife, Rita. So, I…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Hitting Johnnie Green’s Stride
Johnnie Walker is a striding behemoth, straddling the world as the number one selling Scotch whisky brand. It’s so popular that “What makes Johnnie Walker Blue the best?” is a Google search autocomplete. It’s so popular that due to knockoffs and literal bootlegs there are more bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label sold in India every…
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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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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: Hibiki’s Resonant Disappearance
Despite being a self avowed fanatic of American whiskey the thing I’ve found myself writing about and drinking the most recently has been Japanese whisky. The last time we spoke way back in December I was drinking poetic about the Hakushu malts and the fact that though they often seem to be in the shadow…
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Whiskey Wednesday: A Bitter-Sweet Hakushu
Life is a bittersweet balance. I’ve been hosting Whiskey Wednesday for going on six years now. It’s exposed me to more bottles and drams than I can count, constantly challenged me to stretch my creative muscles, and introduced me to some of the most delightful nerds/people that I’ve ever met. I’ve grown as a person, a bartender,…
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Whiskey Wednesday: The Darkest (Bowmore) Timeline
Remember when the regions of Scotland were a thing? Highlands, Lowlands, Islands, Campbelltown, Speyside, and Islay? For years brand ambassadors and whisky makers preached the golden gospel of the distinct styles of the six regions of Scotland. The first problem a lot of people see with this list is that three of the regions are…
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