Last week I spent two days at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky. A great two days, learning some very interesting things about bourbon, rye whiskey, and…Old Fettercairn.
What on earth does Old Fettercairn single malt scotch have to do with Buffalo Trace? Well, I’m glad you asked. The Buffalo Trace distillery and Gemini Spirits & Wines are both linked in with the Sazerac Corporation. Gemini is a specialty import arm of the company, distributing Forty Creek from Canada, Penderyn from Wales, Cooley whiskeys from Ireland, and several Scotch whiskies from Whyte & Mackay in Scotland, including Jura and (now) Fettercairn.
I spent most of my time at Buffalo Trace with its President, Mark Brown, who seems to know just about everything. He was the one to give me the scoop that Jura 18, which is replacing the Jura 21 in Europe, may not be coming into the U.S. after all, as I noted in my blog last week, in lieu of a non-vintage expression.
Well, when I was sitting in his office, he asked me how much I like Fettercairn–a whisky that has been absent here in the U.S. for a while. I mentioned that I liked some of the older expressions that were imported by a previous company several years ago. He then showed me a bar graph of Fettercairn stocks in warehouses dating back to the early 1960s–including a huge stash from 1962! (Old Fettercairn, indeed!)
Mark hinted to the fact that some of this interesting Fettercairn stash should be coming to the U.S. as early as the first half of 2008. Now that, I’m looking forward to! Just be sure to bring in some of the old stuff, okay guys?
Did you get to taste this year’s George Stagg, Thomas Handy, and Sazerac 18? I just picked up my bottles earlier this week and am looking forward to cracking them open. Would be curious to know what you think. I remember you gave the Sazerac 18 a 96 in a review a while back.
Yes, I tasted them, along with this year’s William Larue Weller and Eagle Rare 17. All are once again very good, as you would expect. (Reviews probably won’t appear in Malt Advocate magazine until the 2nd Quarter 2008 issue.)
I was particularly impressed with this year’s Eagle Rare 17, so you might want to go out and get one of those too, while you’re at it.
And I have some very interesting news about Sazerac Rye 18 yr old. I’m tied up through Monday, but will probably post something on it the middle of next week. Stay tuned…
Dying to hear the news about Sazerac 18… I just opened my 2007 bottle and I’m in heaven. Don’t leave us hanging anymore please!
Matthew, I’m still gathering more information and feedback from the distillery. I will post my complete findings under a unique posting just for Sazerac Rye 18. Patience, my friend.