Bourbon Hunters TV Pilot
A Kickstarter.com project, Bourbon Hunters, has 17 days left to raise almost $22,000 to make a pilot about a topic dear to all of our hearts: whiskey. Specifically, bourbon made in Kentucky.
Month: February 2012
Cragganmore (12 year)
Mild and inoffensive. No smoke, no fruit, just a soft cereal character and light accents of florals and nuts. Somewhat meaty, although the flavor profile is mostly balanced around the nuts. Certainly worth the money, and a contender for the “midrange Speyside” spot in your cabinet.
Picking Your First Single-Malt Scotch
Before you can taste it, though, you’ve got to know how to pick a whisky to try! This post will focus on single-malt scotch, which I think is the best possible place to get your bearings in the wider world of whisky.
Whisky Prices Trend Upwards
Right now, like it or not, we are experiencing a boom. Distilleries are opening or ramping up production, prices are ratcheting higher, and limited-edition bottles are making headlines with record prices at auction. Many distilleries are riding the boom by releasing special bottlings and limited-editions at inflated prices because they know there’s consumer demand for them. So what’s to be done?
The Glenlivet Nadurra
If you’re looking for a good solid Speysider without heavy-handed wine finishes or sherry aging, this one fits the bill, and isn’t overpriced. Also, if you’d like a gentle introduction to cask-strength whiskies, this one is a lot easier to handle for a first-timer than something like Aberlour abunad’h or a cask-strength from Islay.
The Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society
Joshua Hatton and Jason Johnstone-Yellin, proprietors of the respected whisky blogs [] and [], respectively, have just announced a new venture. Similar to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society [link], the Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society (JSMWS) will provide paying members with access to exclusive single-cask bottlings of natural (no added coloring), un-chill-filtered, cask-strength scotches, selected by the founders.
Amrut Peated
The youth of the malt means all of the complexity is in the peat, which delivers a lot of intense flavor, but not a lot of secondary notes. The alcohol burn is a bit rough – likely because of the quick maturation – but nevertheless, this is a powerful, peaty kick in the head that any true peat-head should take a look at.
Scotch 101: How to Taste Scotch
For all the other newbies (noobs!) who come across my site, here’s some scotch 101. What scotch is, and how to smell and taste it.
Good Whisky Gone Bad
Recently, a shop-exclusive bottling of a cask-strength Bruichladdich chenin blanc finish, imported by a certain *cough* local store, dismayed its retailers and purchasers alike by turning sour… in the bottle. I got a sample of the recalled spirit.