If you’re anything like me, you find a certain level of satisfaction from stocking up. You have 3 extra bottles of your favorite vermouth for that imaginary dinner party where just everyone wants a third Manhattan. You have that esoteric bottle of peated Swiss single malt for that “someday” when you need to impress a malt-savvy visitor. You have sixteen hundred or so bottles of weird mixers that you’ve used for exactly one oddball cocktail. …
Flaviar is a spirits company based in the UK, but they ship to the United States as well (see the bottom of this post for restrictions) and their rep told me that they do have a significant number of customers from the US. … The company’s tasting boxes are nicely-presented boxes of three 45ml vials containing curated selections of spirits (whisky, of course, but also rums, gins, etc.). Included in your membership you choose one full-sized bottle…
[Sponsored Content] Japan was introduced to scotch whisky in the late 19th century, when sailors and traders shipped the spirit into coastal port towns – but it wasn’t until decades later that commercial production of whisky really took off. Two men are credited with kickstarting Japan’s love affair with whisky: Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru established the historic Yamazaki distillery together in 1924
A long-winded exposition about the changes I’ve seen in the last seven years of blogging, plus a farewell to an inspiration. … Overall, in my limited experience, I feel that the industry has become more inclusive – reaching more customers in more ways than ever before, while at the same time becoming more challenging to newcomers …
As long-time readers will know, I do a lot of thinking (and whining) about the price of whisky. Every decision I make at the store and every review I write is influenced by the dollar amount on the bottle’s price tag. … So, when reader Tony sent me the following graphic, it resonated.
Part two of a primer on the word “smooth” in whisky tasting. What it means, why people use it, and why you should stop.
Part one of a primer on the word “smooth” in whisky tasting. What it means, why people use it, and why you should stop.
On a very serious business-related trip, for business, my wife and I dragged ourselves (complaining all the way) up to picturesque Sonoma County, California, to trudge through a tour of Sonoma County Distilling Company’s facility and reluctantly down a bunch of samples. For business.
If you’re new to the modern whisky/scotch market, you might be confused to read about the term “NAS”, even if you know that it stands for “No Age Statement”. How can a whisky have no age? Why does the term matter, and why does it seem to cause such controversy in online discussions?
Author Fionnán O’Connor has assembled a beautiful coffee table style hardcover book entirely about the magic of Irish single pot still (previously called Pure Pot Still) whiskey. In the author’s own words, “It’s worth repeating that there aren’t really that many of them. What’s left from the past can be difficult to find and, although the future looks brighter than it has in a century, what’s bottled at present is still relatively slim. … that’s also why this book seemed worth writing in the first place and I can only hope that that same narrowness of scope might offer me a little more room to give each of these tipples the attention they deserve.”
