February 29th, 2008
When I created Friday’s Picks & Pans, I included the “Pans” part for a reason. I don’t just want to tell you about the whiskies I like. I also want to let you know the whiskies that disappoint me.
So, for the entire month of March, every Friday I will do just that.
February 29th, 2008
Eagle Rare, 17 year old, 45%, $55
While labeled as a 17 year old, it’s actually 19, distilled way back in 1988. Each year’s release of this whiskey just seems to get better and better. Some of the earlier vintages turned slightly oaky and dry for balance, (the 10 year old Single Barrel Eagle Rare whiskeys did too a while back), but those smart people over at Buffalo Trace fixed just keep on improving the line. Tight, well-balanced notes of molasses, vanilla, and candied fruit and sweet corn, peppered with crisp mint, cinnamon, and polished leather. Eagle Rare 17 year old is evolving into a whiskey of classic proportion.
Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 94
February 26th, 2008
In about one month, William Grant will release a very limited bottling of Kininvie. It is, as far as I know, the first bottling of Kininvie offered to the general public.
Kininvie, for those of you not familiar, is the youngest (and least known) of three malt whisky distilleries located on the same property as Glenfiddich (the third being Balvenie). Kininvie is not know by most whisky drinkers because the distillery is less than 20 years old and the whisky is used for blending purposes.
At the end of March, 500 bottles of 17 year old Kininvie will be offered for sale to celebrate the Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 building. The whisky, aged in sherry casks and bottled at natural cask strength, will be called Hazelwood Reserve and sold in the World of Whiskies shops at the airport for the not-so-inexpensive price of about $700.
According to the press release I received, ”Hazelwood Reserve honors the extraordinary contribution of Janet Sheed Roberts to the family company. Janet, granddaughter to founder William Grant, will be celebrating her 107th birthday this August. Since 1933, she has lived at Hazelwood House, close to The Kininvie Distillery in Speyside, which she proudly opened in 1990.”
The press release continues to go on to describing the whisky as having “a nutty aroma, with notes of dried fruit and an intense flavour of oaky spice.”
So, all of you who keep asking me what to buy in Travel Retail (formerly Duty Free) when passing through Heathrow, here’s one to consider. If you do buy a bottle, you can be pretty sure that you’ll be the only kid on the block with a bottle of Kininvie. (As long as you don’t live on my block, that is…)
February 26th, 2008
For the first time since the legendary 1973 and 1974 vintages, Springbank will be releasing very limited quantities of a new 18 year old Longrow. The whisky was aged in refill sherry casks and will be bottled at Springbank’s standard 46% ABV.
While it is true that consistent annual production of the peaty, smoky whisky produced at the Springbank did not start again until 1992, small amounts were produced in 1987, 1989, and 1990.
Since they didn’t make Longrow in 1991, there won’t be another bottling of 18 year old next year. In fact, according to Kate Wright of Springbank, the stocks of Longrow are so limited that their current plans are to not release another Longrow 18 until 2011 (in equally limited quantities). And then not again until 2013. There won’t be regular stocks of Longrow 18 until 2015 onwards!
According to Kate, the core range will be the new Longrow CV, Longrow 10 and 100 proof, and lesser quantities of Longrow 14. This range will be peppered with occasional limited releases of various wood finishes (such as the Barolo wine finish) and the rare 18 year old.
Older expressions of Longrow will remain in limited supply for the next several years because Springbank didn’t really crank up production of Longrow until 1996 when Frank McHardy returned from his stint at Bushmills. (Frank, God bless you for that!) This also explains why the distillery is releasing the new Longrow CV–it includes 6 and 10 year old Longrow, along with what I assume is a much smaller amount of 14 year old whisky.
And for those of you from the U.S. who are reading this: get your order in now. According to Preiss Imports, the U.S. importer, only 120 bottles are destined for the U.S. and should become available in June. When I find out the price, I will post it up.
I’m also getting samples of both CV and the 18 year old, so I will pass on my thoughts as soon as I taste them.
February 25th, 2008
There will be some large shoes to fill at the Jack Daniel Distillery come April. I just received news that Jimmy Bedford, Master Distiller of the Jack Daniel Distillery, has announced his retirement. His last day is March 31, 2008.
“This year marks my 40th with the Jack Daniel Distillery and my 20th year as the master distiller,” said Bedford. “And it seemed like a good time to make the decision I’ve been thinking about for some time. It’s time I step aside and let the next generation continue the Jack Daniel’s tradition.”
Anyone who has met Jimmy at WhiskyFest or other events knows what a great guy he is.
Jimmy, WhiskyFest won’t be the same without you. We will miss you dearly.
No decision on his replacement has been announced, but one is expected soon.
February 24th, 2008
Until after St. Patrick’s Day, that is. For the next three weeks or so, I am not going to write about Irish whiskey. Why? because that’s what everybody else will be doing.
The whiskey companies pick now to promote their whiskeys. They pick now to introduce new whiskeys. They pick now to bring their distillery managers, master blenders, and ambassadors to the U.S. and parade them around.
The media, too, will follow suit. For the next four weeks, just about all the drinks publications, and many consumer publications, will be running stories on all things Irish–including Irish whiskey.
I like the Irish whiskeys being introduced right now. I like the people making the whiskeys and the people promoting the whiskeys. And I even understand why the whiskey companies, and the press, are making the big “St. Patrick’s Day” push.
Here’s what concerns me. I love Irish whiskey. I want the industry to thrive. I want more of the world to discover Irish whiskey. But as long as Irish whiskey is something associated with drinking only at St. Patrick’s Day (or putting in your Irish coffee), I fear it will always be the bridesmaid to Scotch whisky. Irish whiskey is something to be celebrated, promoted, and enjoyed year-round.
So, come April, when the Irish whiskey industry and press recovers from their St. Patrick’s Day blitz, I will once again pick up my pen and continue writing about, and drinking, this spirit I love. And I will continue doing so for the remainder of the year. Irish whiskey means too much to me too much to “pigeon hole” it to a few short weeks in March.
February 22nd, 2008
Brora, 30 year old, 55.7%, $400
Astonishingly fresh and clean for 30 years in oak, and with incredible depth. Slight oily texture. Appetizing brine, with honeyed vanilla, mustard seed, green olive, Seville orange, and lemon zest. Underlying smoke, damp peat and seaweed. Put simply, Brora at its finest.
Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 95
February 20th, 2008
My favorite night is always spent at home, being with my family. That would include my wife Amy, my daughter Shannon, our dog Jake (also female–a long story) and our cat Cosmo (yet another female).
I would always prefer a night at home with all of them over anything else in life–even a tour of Bruichladdich by Jim McEwan (sorry Jim). I regularly tell them that.
Tonight was one of those nights. All of us at home, next to a warm fire in our house in the woods on this very cold Pennsylvania winter night. What a beautiful thing. Reminded me of one of those Norman Rockwell paintings.
Until 8:00 pm. That’s when someone (I assume it wasn’t the dog or cat) said, “Hey, American Idol is on tonight–for two full hours!”
That’s what we get for that writer’s strike. No “24″, and only a trickle of “House”, leaving a vacuum of endless reality TV shows that makes me wish I never got that flat screen TV.
And then I thought to myself, “I have the equalizer: whisky!” Many days I’m reviewing whisky–tasting, spitting, writing notes. Not tonight.
I grab a small tumbler glass (no nosing glass this time!), pour myself a whisky that will see me through the next two hours (a Port Ellen–I was desperate), sit back and enjoy “family time” and the final twelve female contestants (agonizingly stretched out by a constant barrage of commercials).
Sadly, the Port Ellen lasted less than an hour. During one of those many commercials, I felt the need to dig deep into my stash and pull out what was left of my Ardbeg Rennaissance 100ml sample bottle that whiskymaker Bill Lumsden gave me a few weeks ago when I was with him in New York.
Indeed, this was an Ardbeg moment. Not because of my family–I really did enjoy being with them–but I can only handle so much American Idol.
So here I sit, writing this blog. It’s approaching midnight. The rest of my family is safe and warm in their beds, and I’m still in front of the fire, finishing a really fantastic Trappist beer called Rochefort 10. (Drinking whisky makes me thirsty.) I’m about to close my laptop, turn off the lights, and join them. But I can’t help thinking, “Thank God for whisky!”
February 18th, 2008
The cover story in the current issue of Malt Advocate focuses on buying scotch whisky by the cask. It discusses which distilleries currently allow an individual to purchase and entire cask, as well as pointing out some of the pros and cons of cask ownership.
So, I am curious. How many of you own a cask of whisky? How many of you are thinking about buying a cask?
I owned one until 1999 when it was bottled. I (along with several friends) purchased an entire cask of Bushmills Millennium. It was distilled in 1975 and bottled in 1999 for the new Millennium. I purchased the cask early in the 1990s, so we had to wait several years before we got the whisky. Plus, I had to drive to New York City with my pick-up truck to bring the cases of whisky back home (along with the barrel head, which I also received and now proudly hangs in my bar).
It was worth it. The whiskey is really good and the price per bottle was ridiculously low. (The cask cost me $5,000 but we got something like 230 bottles from it, as I recall.) Plus, each label could be personalized, which was nice (and a real pain in the butt for the Bushmills people to do, as the importer at the time told me).
I still have about three bottles left with my name on it (including bottle #1). Plus, I have one bottle for my daughter with her name on it, which she can enjoy (with her dad?) in about five years if she wishes when she turns 21.
February 15th, 2008
Keeping in the Irish whiskey theme for the “Friday’s Pick”, here’s Bushmill’s newest entry. I’ve been sitting on this whiskey for a while, waiting closer to its release date here in the U.S. before posting a review. It’s a really nice, limited-edition, blended Irish whiskey released to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Bushmills (the location, not the distillery).
Bushmills 1608, 46%, $75
A blend of three different types of whiskey—malt whiskey, grain whiskey, and a third component which is said to be a malt whiskey produced from crystal malt. Brewers and homebrewers will know crystal malt well, being a slightly caramelized version of malted barley. Its rich texture suggests a decent malt content for a blend. Layers of sweetness (honeyed vanilla, rummy molasses, toasted marshmallow) are balanced by toasted nuts, dried fruit, and dark chocolate. Very dynamic and with plenty of grit. Smartly bottled at 46% ABV.
Advanced Malt Advocate Magazine rating: 90
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