June 9th, 2010

What I drank on my 50th birthday. And why.

John Hansell

Well, it was actually my 50th birthday–plus one day. My birthday was this past Monday, June 7th, but I didn’t celebrate until yesterday due to a nasty stomach virus on Monday. I waited 50 years. I figured I could wait one more.

Here’s the line-up. (In order of consumption, left to right, in the picture on the left. Click on the picture to get a larger view.) These were enjoyed over several hours during the evening with friends. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I drank, why I drank them, and how they tasted.

Framboise Boon Lambic (1986 Vintage)

I love Belgian beer and have been to Belgium several times touring their breweries. (I was a beer writer long before I became a whisky writer.) This was our aperitif beer, and what we enjoyed with our cranberry walnut salad. For those of you not familiar with lambic beers, they are spontaneously fermented beers, a Belgian specialty, aged in barrels, often with fruit added (in this case raspberries), traditionally bottled in champagne bottles and corked, and age very well. This one is one of my favorites. I purchased a case when they were brought into the U.S. back in the 1990s. It’s my last bottle, and it was still stunning. It has softened over the years (yes, you read correctly–it’s a 1986 vintage), and the raspberry influence has calmed down, but the balance of flavors and complexity were still there. Belgium’s answer to the finest champagne.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (2001 Vintage)

Rather than going with the legendary 2000 vintage (which is still too young to drink for this First Growth Bordeaux) I opted for the excellent, yet more approachable, 2001 vintage. And it did not disappoint. After two hours of decanting and breathing, this gem of a wine was bold, yet complex, with great structure, solid tannins, and held up well with the amazing meat loaf (this was not your mother’s meat loaf, mind you), chipotle corn salad, grilled vegetables, and twice baked potato.

Chateau Rieussec Sauternes (2001 Vintage)

I would pay just to smell this outstanding dessert wine. It’s from the classic 2001 vintage, and I understand why the Wine Spectator rated this a perfect 100. Even my wife Amy enjoyed it, and she doesn’t like dessert wines. Sweet? Yes! But very elegant and floral, with complex fruit and just enough acidity to cut through the sweetness. We enjoyed it on its own, and then along with a variety of desserts (creme brulee, Key Lime cheese cake, and Belgian chocolate) just to see how they interacted with the wine. I decided that this lovely Sauternes was just perfect on its own, and needed no accompaniment.

A. H. Hirsch Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey (18 years old, 46.5%)

This is a whiskey blog, so I better start talking about whiskey.

And yes, this is not a typo on the age statement. For those of you who thought the legendary A. H. Hirsch (a.k.a. Michter’s) bourbon was only sold at 16 and 20 years old, think again. I purchased this rarity at Park Avenue Liquor in NYC back in the early 1990s. There appears to be a label behind the label that’s showing. From what I remember, I believe Herb Lapchin (who used the be the whiskey guy there at the time) told me that the whiskey was originally labeled as a 17 year old, but by the time the whiskey was finally bottled, it was past its 18th birthday so they slapped an 18 year old label over the original label. That’s what I remember, but I can’t say it is 100% accurate. Maybe someone from Park Ave can chime in here?

This whiskey is mellow, soft, and sweet with plenty of molasses and maple syrup to go around. A soothing whiskey, and very much a digestif. I have bottles of the 16 and 20, but none open right now. Eventually, I would like to compare this 18 year old to its two siblings.

(A side note: the cork fell apart when I opened it. I had to decant it, take out all the cork pieces, and re-cork it with a new cork. Some advice to the newbies here: save some of the corks from the bottles you empty. You might need them down the road.)

Longrow, 19 year old, 46%

We left the dining room and retired to a glowing campfire out back. The sun had just set, the wood thrushes were finishing their songs for the evening, and the stars were beginning to shine brightly.

I purchased this classic peated Springbank back in the early to mid 1990s at Sam’s Wine’s & Spirits in Chicago, from the legendary “Joe C.” (Rest in peace, my good friend. You will never be forgotten.)

Yes, this was a last minute change. You will recall I was contemplating drinking a 1973 vintage Longrow, which didn’t have an age statement. Well, I eventually opted for this one. This one is the opposite of the 1973 vintage. It’s a 19 year old, but there’s no vintage statement. (I’m not sure why some of the whiskies from the legendary 1973 and 1974 vintage Longrow, had age statements but not vintage declaration, why some had the vintage declaration but no age statement, and why some had both. Perhaps someone from Springbank is lurking out there and can answer this question?)

Regardless, I was completely blown away by this whisky. A complete stunner, and my favorite drink of the evening! Complex, dynamic, bursting with peat-infused brine. This is why I fell in love with Springbank’s whiskies, and why I fell in love with the peated Longrow. Indeed, this is why I fell in love with whisky! ‘Nuff said.

Thomas Hardy’s Ale, 150th Anniversary Edition (1987 Vintage)

From the legendary Eldridge Pope Brewery, in Southwest England, which I toured in the early 1990s, to the chagrin of my wife, who was with me for the duration. (Sorry, Amy.) I have a friend (Roger) who used to work at Eldridge Pope (and also at the Eaglesomes shop in Campbeltown where he helped me score the two legendary “Green” Springbanks. It’s a small world, isn’t it?)

Roger is the one who gave me this bottle when he came to visit me in the mid 1990s. He got it when he worked there. In fact, he helped me source many vintages of Thomas Hardy’s Ale, and I still have at least one bottle from most vintages, including the original 1968 vintage.

Unlike standard Hardy’s, this one actually had a cork stopper, not metal. Roger told me that it had a cork when he gave it to me, so I had been aging it on its side to keep it from drying out, but the cork still crumbled to pieces when I opened it up.

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve tasted over 25 different vintages of Hardy’s, and this is the finest one I have ever tasted. An absoluted stunner! The sweetness had softened. There were undertones of delicate sherry, cherry stones, and pit fruit. An alcoholic beverage that transcends category. It is what every Thomas Hardy’s Ale aspires to be, but rarely is.

Finally, we finished the evening, admiring the buring embers of the fire, with a Partagas Series D No. 4 Reserva 200o Vintage cigar, which I purchased on a trip to the Caymans two years ago. I slowly sipped some more Hardy’s, reflecting on 50 years of life.

As Jimmy Buffett sang: “…some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I’ve had a good life, all the way.”

Here’s to the next 50, my friends…

Category: Beer,Bourbon,Cigars,Opinions,Scotch whisky,Special events,Wine Tags: , , , , , , , , 43 Comments

June 8th, 2010

Guest blog: Dominic Roskrow on the “Micro-distilling revolution”

John Hansell

I’m happy to introduce Dominic Roscrow to to WDJK readers. He is kind enough to write a guest blog. Dominic is a freelance writer and regular feature writer for Malt Advocate. (And doing a great job of it, I might add!) He just finished researching for his new book, and is using this knowledge to talk a little bit about the micro-distilling (aka craft distilling, artisan distilling, etc.) movement occurring worldwide. Here’s your chance to discuss the issue and ask a question (or two).

(Oh, and for those of you who are wondering about the special whisky, whiskey, wine, beer, etc., that I drank on my 50th birthday last night, well…I didn’t. I woke up with the stomach flue and was in bed all day. I’ll do it tonight, hopefully. If so, I’ll report here tomorrow.)

Whisper it quietly but we might be on the edge of a micro-whisky revolution – and America is at the forefront of it.

I’ve spent the last six months researching my new World’s Best Whiskies book, which is published in the Fall, and on my travels I’ve been amazed by how much great whiskey there is out there, not just from traditional whiskey making countries but in Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands and even Taiwan.

Not all of it plays by the rules – spirits made using buckwheat or with chestnuts in the grist fall outside the recognized definition of what constitutes whisky. But without exception the spirits – whiskey or otherwise – are extremely well made and of high quality.

And nowhere is this more so than in America. Across the country there is maturing malt spirit which has the potential to turn the conventional world of whisky on its head. There are 100 per cent malted rye and wheat mixes, and spirit made with sweet corn and with pure malted barley. Some of it’s maturing in hickory, some in maplewood,  and some of it is in casks which have previously been used for an array of different drinks. Some of it has already reached the market place of course – Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace are among the companies which have launched whiskeys that cannot call themselves bourbon – but there is much, much more to come. Across the States micro-distilleries might be set to do for whiskey what the micro-breweries have done for American beer.

What interests me most, though, is the confident way these craft distillers are breaking the conventional rules and throwing down a challenge to Scotch whisky in particular, which they claim has sacrificed quality for quantity.

I addressed this in the last issue of Malt Advocate, and in the main this view is nonsense. But there is a fascinating subtext here – this new wave of producers are breaking the traditional rules of whiskey-making while claiming the quality moral high ground and accusing the rule-abiding Scots of putting out a potentially inferior product.

And this in turn raises the question: if you can put together a high quality drink by breaking the rules which traditionally govern Scotch, are those rules too rigid?

This is dangerous territory. A few years ago a speaker at the World Whiskies Conference dared to entertain the idea of flavored whisky and while it would be an exaggeration to say he disappeared soon after and his body has never been found, he was removed from his post and doesn’t get to speak about Scottish single malt any more.

So let me make this clear. I fully respect the work the Scotch Whisky Association has done to protect what can be termed whisky, and to ring-fence the category to ensure its purity. No-one should dispute that a line has to be drawn in the sand somewhere.

The issue is, though, where that line is drawn. It’s not a black and white issue at all, and although the rules are strict, they’re open to interpretation. So you can’t add anything to whisky except some caramel and yet this week I tasted a malt finished in an Italian red wine cask which was the same color as a good quality ruby port.  It’s okay to replace damaged staves with new virgin oak ones, or to replace cask heads with new wood, but it’s against the rules to introduce extra staves inside the cask as Compass Box originally did with Spice Tree.  Loch Lomond distillery has fallen foul of the new laws and yet it’s okay to mature single malt whisky in an exhausted cask used previously to mature wine made with a lab-created grape variety for three years and a minute in Scotland and then to call it Scotch.

When John Glaser of Compass Box debated these issues with the SWA and pointed out that he was using fine and aged single malt he was told that quality wasn’t an issue. But shouldn’t it be? What’s the point of protecting a genre if your purpose isn’t to send a message to others about the values your genre stands for?

These questions will become more important as the micro-revolution grows and the traditional distillers find themselves in competition with an exciting new wave of  flavorsome and baggage-free spirits drinks.

Many of them won’t be allowed to use the term whisky in some parts of the world, but as Compass Box showed with its ‘whisky-infused’ Orangerie, they’ll be able to get mighty close. There’s nothing to stop them inventing an entirely new malt spirit category with the potential to pick off the next generation of drinkers.

You could argue that this doesn’t matter. Traditional whiskies have survived and prospered in the past when challenged by new and innovative drinks categories. But I think it does. This time the threat may well come from within the family.

For the time being Scottish single malt is doing just fine. Barely a week goes by without an exciting new whisky from somewhere. The likes of Benromach and Arran may be small but they’re coming up with great new malts. Laphroaig’s Triple wood – Quarter Cask finished in sherry wood – is an example of a company making some of its rarest bottlings affordable to pretty much everyone. Ardmore has a whole warehouse  of  experimental malts. But for how long can the traditional markets hold of the new boys?

Nobody’s arguing that we throw away whisky’s unique selling points or ‘dumb down’ to battle it out with untested drinks which have no pedigree, provenance or history.

But shouldn’t there at least be a debate over whether we can preserve all that is good in our world while at the same time allowing genuine, quality-driven innovation?

There’s a revolution coming – shouldn’t the established markets be allowed to be part of it?

Category: Guest Blogger,Microdistilleries 17 Comments

June 7th, 2010

Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey loses vintage, becomes a 12 year old

John Hansell

You will most likely recognize Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey as a vintage, given there have been many releases over the past decade from various distillation years.

Well, it’s now going to be a 12 year old, without a vintage statement. I’ll be getting a review sample and full press release shorlty, but here’s an email I received from their importer, Castle Brands:

How quick is your mental math?  If someone was born in 1994, how old would they be today? Answer:  16 years old depending on the month they were born.  Knappogue Castle, the original vintage dated Irish Whiskey, feels that most consumers find it hard to calculate the age of the product by looking at the distillation date on the label.  Instead of chancing that consumers will miss important information about the age of the product, Knappogue Castle is moving to age designation and stating the product’s age boldly and proudly on the label thus eliminating the need for mental math.

Knappogue Castle Single Malt Irish Whiskey will be a 12 year old product on a consistent basis going forward.  A new label design reflects this change and reinforces the product’s premium quality and elegant taste. 

It’s just the superior whiskey to savor at the end of a long day.  It has a bright, light, lemon-orange color (no caramel coloring added) and a mildly spicy, citrus taste. That elegant, fruity and spicy flavor makes it an excellent choice in mixed cocktails like the “Peach Smash” developed at Vintry’s or the “Castle to Castle” developed at Death & Co. in New York. 

I can think of many reasons for going to an age-statement whiskey rather than a vintage, which we can discuss. (There was actually was one age-stated release, a 15 year old, back at the end of 2008. )

And FYI: KC has been from both Cooley and Bushmills in the past, but the email didn’t suggest one or the other.

Stay tuned…

Category: Irish whiskey,New Releases Tags: 6 Comments

June 4th, 2010

Tuthilltown Spirits and William Grant form alliance

John Hansell

I got this this morning. VERY interesting. Will we see more like this? 

PRESS RELEASE

 

TUTHILLTOWN SPIRITS ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP 

June 2, 2010, 

Tuthilltown, Gardiner, NY 

TUTHILLTOWN SPIRITS ANNOUNCED TODAY the formation of a new partnership 

with 140 year old family owned W. GRANT & SONS of the U.K. for the production and 

worldwide distribution of TUTHILLTOWN’s HUDSON WHISKEY brand of handmade 

whiskeys. 

The acquisition also adds the first American whiskey to the William Grant & Sons 

portfolio, which already boasts category-leading brands such as the world’s most 

awarded single malt Scotch whisky Glenfiddich as well as The Balvenie Single Malt 

Scotch Whisky, Hendrick’s Gin, Milagro Tequila, Sailor Jerry Rum, Frangelico Hazelnut 

Liqueur, Stolichnaya vodka, and more. 

Since first being introduced in 2006, The Hudson Whiskey range has created a stir both 

within the industry and the bartending community, as well as among discerning 

consumers. In this short time, the micro distillery located in Gardiner, New York quickly 

earned international acclaim not only for the quality of its products and innovative 

packaging and marketing, but also for its pioneering spirit – it is the first whiskey 

distilled in New York since Prohibition, and is the first ever New York State-produced 

bourbon whiskey. 

“We are both excited and proud to have added the Hudson Whiskey range to our awardwinning 

portfolio.” said Simon Hunt, Managing Director – North America, William 

Grant & Sons. “When our founder William Grant first built his distillery by hand in 

1886, he had one dream: to create the best dram in the Valley. That dram became 

Glenfiddich and that valley was the Valley of the Deer in Speyside. More than a century 

later, history is repeating itself in Gardiner as the Hudson Whiskey range becomes a part 

of the William Grant & Sons family. This time, the dram is Hudson Whiskey and the 

valley is the Hudson valley. We are delighted to see that the spirit endures into the 21st 

century.” 

“All us at TUTHILLTOWN are extremely happy to be working with a family company 

that shares our philosophy.” said Ralph Erenzo, distiller and partner at Tuthilltown 

Spirits. “This new relationship will enable us to maintain the high quality of our products 

and allow us to continue to meet the increasing level of demand, without sacrificing any 

of the principles that make us what we are. We’re delighted to be taking place among 

such distinguished spirits as Hendrick’s Gin, The Balvenie and Glenfiddich.” 

Partners Brian Lee and Ralph Erenzo began work on the distillery which is located at the 

site of the TUTHILLTOWN GRISTMILL, a National Historic Site in 2003 and placed 

their first products on Hudson Valley bars and in retail outlets in Spring 2006. The 

distillery’s products are distributed currently in seventeen States, seven EU countries and 

Australia. TUTHILLTOWN SPIRITS DISTILLERY was named ARTISAN 

DISTILLERY OF THE YEAR 2010 by the American Distilling Institute at its annual 

conference in Kentucky in May; taking also Silver medals for its HUDSON 

MANHATTAN RYE and HUDSON FOUR GRAIN BOURBON, and Gold medal for 

the design of the MANHATTAN RYE package. The distillery makes use of locally 

grown grains and apples to produce whiskeys and vodka. 

TUTHILLTOWN was instrumental in the passage of the FARM DISTILLERY ACT by 

the NY Legislature, permitting farm based distilleries equal opportunity with wineries 

and breweries to allow tours, tastings and direct sale of products at the distillery, a first 

for NY State distillers. The distillery is open for tours on weekends. For more 

information visit 

www.tuthilltown.com

Contact:

 

Ralph Erenzo, Tuthilltown 

845.255.1527 

Category: Microdistilleries,Scotch whisky Tags: , 74 Comments

June 4th, 2010

Guest Blog: Sam Komlenic on the legendary Michter’s Distillery

John Hansell

Sam wrote such a great post, there’s not much for me to say (other than “nice hat!”). I was born in Lebanon, I lived in Lebanon County until I went to college, and my family still lives there. Had I only known then about Michter’s…

 

Well, I feel quite out of place here.  I’ve read guest postings by so many luminaries of the industry on this blog, a forum that I respect greatly, and have now been asked to put together one of my own while John’s out of town.  Personal business, he says.  Fishing, I’m guessing.

I am the copy editor for Malt Advocate and a life-long whiskey drinker.  Having grown up in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania, that’s where my basic allegiance lies (rye whiskey), and I trust that, some day, someone will return rye whiskey distilling to its most basic DNA, to that valley.

That said, I’ve been asked to write today about my experiences at and with one of the two most vaunted lost American distilleries.  The most famous is Stitzel-Weller, and rightly so.  It grew up in the most notorious contemporary American distilling state, Kentucky, and with a family that was, and still is, well-respected in the business.  My focus today, though, is on the other.

I’m writing about Michter’s distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, a site where I spent time during its last decade, and where I came to realize more about the importance of Pennsylvania to the American whiskey business than I would have ever imagined.

Though this blog is not about history, there is some of note to be mentioned before we move on.  Tracing its roots back as far as 1753, the site where Michter’s was distilled was the oldest in the U.S. at its original site when it closed in 1990.  It was also the only domestic distillery permitted (by special exemption) to sell whiskey on site as early as the 1970s.

Michter’s was the last survivor of the centuries-old distilling business in Pennsylvania, outlasting giants like Schenley and Publicker, to hang on by the fingernails of its very existence through the lean years of the 80s, only to succumb at the very end.

My first visit was in 1979, on my back from a business trip to Philadelphia, when I saw their billboard along the turnpike, encouraging me to visit.  Who was I to refuse?  I saw a farmer in bib overalls walking back to his farm from the distillery with a bottle of Michter’s in hand, and I knew then that this was a special place, but despite the marketing hype you’ve heard for years, it had nothing to do with pot stills.

Michters’ was located in a very rural part of Lebanon County.  No developments around, no major highways, no railroad connections; just a big distillery in the middle of a lot of farmland.  In the 70s, it was quite the tourist attraction, even offering donkey rides for the kids.  The tour started in the visitor center, which was also the souvenir shop adjacent to the Jug House, where they sold the whiskey. 

The tour cost a dollar, and included the distillery, an older warehouse that had been converted to display space, and the old Bomberger distillery, which held the small pot still that was built for them by Vendome Copper & Brass for the American bicentennial.  At the end of the tour, your guide took a picture of you with the whiskey you had (hopefully) bought, and sent you the photo with a thank-you note.  Mine is printed here, and no, that’s not a raccoon pelt attached to my head, dammit, just a virile sign of the times!  Michter’s was distilling whiskey here at that time, but get this, and listen closely once-and-for-all…there were never true pot stills involved in the modern incarnation of this distillery. 

What the company considered a pot still, its doubler, is indeed a pot still, but not in the truest sense.  So the deception, whether intentional or not, began at a very early juncture and continues to this day.  As it turns out, Michter’s used a column still like everyone else in the U.S., but was different than the norm in almost every other respect of the whiskey making business.  The vaunted Hirsch bourbon made here (first for the Hue family, afterward sold to Preiss) was distilled in their ubiquitous 400 bbl. batch, under contract, to a different recipe than usual.

Louis Forman, the creator of the Michter’s brand, was said to be an imitator of the highest sense.  He supposedly copied Jack Daniel’s mash bill and their square bottle.  He never called Michter’s anything but “whiskey” because the product didn’t meet the standards for “straight whiskey.”  Michter’s used a certain percentage of re-used cooperage (like the Scotch) in each dump to affect the intended result.  The name Michter’s was a combination of his sons’ names, MICH-ael and pe-TER.

Over ten years, I visited a number of times, my last being in November, 1979, scant months before they closed.  On my way out of the Jug House, I noticed a warehouse door open, and stopped in to see what was going on.  I entered a nearly empty building where barrels were being dumped into a trough that sent the whiskey to the bottling house.  A couple of men were at work there, and I began to ask questions.  I was told that the whiskey in the barrels was around 125 proof, and would I like a taste?  Are you kidding me?

The man reached for a dusty bottle in a corner, and after rinsing it once under the gurgling stream, offered me a taste straight out of the barrel.  The most amazing experience I have ever had in any distillery.  In phone conversations with him twenty years later, I realized that man was Dick Stoll, distillery manager and the last master distiller there.  He still lives in Lebanon County.

My last visit was in May of 1990.  A hand written note was taped to the Jug House door which read, “Closed until further notice.”  I have never returned, preferring to remember the flowing whiskey rather than the collapsing buildings.

As with so many tales, the Michter’s story is part truth and part fiction, but there is no doubt that for more than 235 years this distillery produced legend, lore, and luscious American whiskey like no other.

Category: American whiskey,Guest Blogger,Uncategorized Tags: 39 Comments

June 3rd, 2010

Review: Three new Eades “Double Malt” whiskies

John Hansell

This is the second edition of the Eades “Double Malts.” Like the first round, these whiskies are finished in various wine casks, and this influence is evident. (Note all the fruit flavor descriptors.) Unlike the first round, these whiskies are a bit older, and I think it has improved the bottlings overall.

There’s a lot going on–no one-dimensional whiskies here.

87 Eades “Double Malt” Islay (Second Edition), 46%, $70

A marriage of two whiskies: 30% 18 year old Caol Ila finished in Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes casks and 70% 10 year old Bowmore finished in Grenache wine casks. A honeyed, sultana sweetness (from the d’Yquem?) nicely tames the rooty smoke, iodine, seaweed, brine, pepper, and subtle Spanish olive. Bramble and berried fruit (from the Grenache?) and another layer and dimension. A very dynamic whisky, worthy of exploring and debating how well all these flavors integrate with each other.

85 Eades “Double Malt” Highland (Second Edition), 46%, $70

Consists of two whiskies: half 10 year old Clynelish (finished in Chateau Lafite cask) and half 10 year old Ben Nevis (finished in Grenache Blanc cask). The classic chewy, nutty toffee notes of Ben Nevis are prominent throughout, while Clynelish’s spicy, briny notes become more prominent mid-palate, peaking on the finish. The two work well together, with the brine and spice cutting through the thick toffee. Bright, berried fruit (from the finishing) adds an additional dimension prominently throughout. Some oak resin kicks in on the finish to keep the whisky from becoming too sappy sweet.

85 Eades “Double Malt” Speyside (Second Edition), 46%, $70

This “double malt” contains 70% 12 year old Dufftown (finished in a Zinfandel cask) and 30% 15 year old Mortlach (finished in a Callejo cask). This is a rich, fruity, gripping, broad-shouldered Speyside whisky. Richly sherried, with thick, layered sweetness as a foundation (honey, caramel, light toffee), along with ripe bramble, golden raisin and pit fruit. Leather, tobacco-tinged, oak tannin finish.

Category: New Releases,Reviews,Scotch whisky Tags: 26 Comments

June 2nd, 2010

Here’s where you can find Amrut Indian whisky in the U.S.

John Hansell

Some of you have been asking where you can find Amrut Indian whisky here in the U.S., now that the whisky is being imported. For now, there’s only a handful of places to find the delicious Fusion, among other offerings. You can find them here, according to the Importer’s website.

Category: Indian whisky Tags: 16 Comments

June 1st, 2010

Duncan Taylor announces new NC2 whisky releases for the U.S.

John Hansell

I received the press release on Friday. Details below.

PREISS IMPORTS ANNOUNCES NEW RELEASES OF THE NC2 RANGE

San Diego, CA – May 28, 2010 – Preiss Imports, The Nation’s leading importer of specialty spirits announces new releases of the NC2 range from the award winning independent bottler Duncan Taylor & Co, Huntly, Scotland.  NC2 is Non Chill-filtered and No Caramel Coloring. 

The selection of casks for the NC2 range is very specific; the whiskies must demonstrate the distinct character of each distillery represented, be rich and abundant in flavor and demonstrate a long finish. Each cask is matured at their original distilleries.

Casks are only bottled when they reach optimum age and quality.  The NC2 label guarantees each selection is 100% all natural. 

Item Information

46% ABV – 750ml – Now Available / Limited Quantity

NC2 1993 Aberlour 16yr old – $79.99 Retail

NC2 1999 Auchroisk 10 yr old – $57.99 Retail

NC2 2000 Balmenach 10 yr old – $58.99 Retail

NC2 1990 Ben Nevis 19 yr old – $97.99 Retail

NC2 1998 Ben Nevis 11 yr old – $56.99 Retail

NC2 1997 Bunnahabhain 12 yr old peated – $85.99 Retail

NC2 1987 Glen Grant 21 yr old – $103.99 Retail

NC2 1987 Glenlivet 22 yr old – $107.99 Retail

NC2 1988 Glen Moray 21 yr old – $103.99 Retail

NC2 1991 Glen Scotia 18 yr old – $112.99 Retail

NC2 1991 Macallan 18 yr old – $115.99 Retail

Category: Uncategorized 12 Comments

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