My bad. You're 54 years of experience is correct. Tennessee Whiskey differs from Bourbon in that it is charcoal filtered before going into the barrel. George Dickel even spells whisky without the "e." Jack Daniels filters their Gentleman Jack once before going into the barrel and once again before they bottle it. I think a lot of people equate Jack Daniels to BBQ. They seem to have an impressive range of BBQ sauces. Even Jack Daniels puts on a hell of a BBQ every year. So...If you can't drink it you can disinfect, strip paint, clean your rifle, light the BBQ and feed it to your neighbors dog and pretend you're helping him with that nasty worm problem.
That is, in fact, incorrect. Ezra Brooks and Rebel Yell are both made in Missouri, and Virginia Gentleman is made in Virginia. There are a few other brands that are made in other states.
Hey, Daniel. I wouldn't clean any of my guns with it! Interestingly, back in the late 50's, me and a buddy used to take my Dobie out to bars with us. The dog liked Vodka with a splash of water. The bartender would put it in a saucer for him. He couldn't hold his liquor. After 2 or 3, he'd pass out. Joe and I would throw him in the back of a cab and take him home.
Tipping one in yer general direction. Slainte mhath!
Okay, sorry, ignore that bit. And the bit about Rebel Yell, as I double-checked and that is also made in KY. Sorry for the misleading information. That'll teach me to post based on vague memory and only using Wikipedia to check.
I'm certain about the Virginian one, and I know I've run across a couple of others. The vast majority of bourbons are made in KY.
Although I must admit that you are (technically) correct, I must also point out that the fermentation of the grain mash and the first two distillations take place at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, in Frankfort, Kentucky, which has supplied their base distillate for over fourteen years. The twice-distilled wash is then sent from the doubler to a third pot still, this one located at A. Smith Bowman in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
DARN THAT GOOGLE! third attempt to post the same thing..
I don't know how many trolls we really get, I see a few people with poor social skills, no true trolls. Not too sure where the others have gone but I believe that Joanna is concentrating on her journal both print and online at
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which I really have to get around to subscribing to now that Whisky mag has turned into what ever it has turned into..
She is also putting together an event called Spirit of Toronto which I'm quite looking forward to attending after the disappointment that was "Whisky Live".
Actually if she reads this I really have to get in touch with her directly again..I owe her whisky.. she sent me a couple samples some years ago and I only had one thing she was interested in trade at the time.. I am pretty sure I have some more now but have no address anymore.
(Personally I'm pathetic at keeping in touch with people, just because I can let years go by and pick up a conversation as though it only happened yesterday does not mean others are the same)
Wow this is starting to ramble..
Anyway.. this thread already shows a lot of authors who have good insights and a history of posting the same sorts of commentary I think you are missing. To be honest though the term "accessible" is kind of tough, with the upswing in popularity of SMSW the world market is becoming more and more fractured what is accessible for me is not going to be the same as what is accessible for others. (The number of times new Ardbeg names show up here makes me jealous since most will not make it here and the duty to bring more than one bottle home from a trip is prohibitive). Everyone has their own top 5 or top 10 but I honestly can't think of a new thing to say about Talisker, Lagavoulin, Highland Park or Solera Reserve.. (sp?)
Because of the aforementioned Duty issue I usually end up with only two or three really new bottles a year and I try to get something that I think will be truly special .. the last three were (in order)
1972 Ardbeg (own bottling) not yet opened
30 y/o Brora (Flora and Fauna) not yet opened
29 y/o Ardbeg (Douglas Laing, Old and Rare, Platinum Selection, distilled in '75 bottled in '04) opened last weekend..(1).
None of these would be called accessible by anyone short of Jim Murray or Micheal Jackson.
One of the things I miss quite a bit is the trading that used to go on here. I used to trade a few times a year but have not had a single successful international trade since .. well .. Call it 09/11/01, bottles just don't show up..
(1) to continue the coffee induced ramble .. the Ardbeg from last weekend is going to force me to reevaluate my opinions on some things. I am on record as stating that I do not generally like peated or smoky whiskies that have been aged entirely in Sherry casks. I have found that single cask whiskies of any age get overwhelmed by the Sherry flavour to the determent of the more subtle notes that the peat brings. Well, this Ardbeg did not state the cask type on the label and through the dark green glass (and stubby bottle) it was pretty hard to tell the true colour of the spirit though it seemed to be light enough not to have been Sherry.
When I first poured a glass I cringed, the initial splash was enough to show the faint hint of red wine that I associate with Sherry a full dram however gave a lightness of colour that belied 29 years in a first fill cask, on the nose there were light sherry notes and a floral aspect that I associate with the Glenfidich Solera Reserve but none of the overwhelming bouquet that I would have expected. I believe that the cask is at least a second fill and honestly if I didn't know how rare it is to get a third fill cask I would assume this to have been the case ... maybe the first fill was exceptionally long itself .. All this is to say is that despite my personal prejudice the sherry notes did not detract in any way and I will even go so far as to say they added a sweet honey tone the the exceptionally long finish. At 29 y/o and 47.3% abv the whisky is incredibly smooth and with out the in your face smoke and peat of other Ardbegs, Indeed it is more like the Lagavoulin 16 than the Ardbeg 17 (add thirteen years of mellowing to either and decrease the blatant peat accordingly).
The legs are huge as would be expected of this age and type (single cask, cask strength, no colours added no chill filtering), the colour is that of weak tea (weak crap tea), on the nose there is smoke and honey maybe apple or pear with a floral back ground .(I'm sure a bee keeper would know what I'm talking about here)
Taste.. just add a string of superlatives here, I've never been able to do the tarred rope or treacle tart kind of thing because all I can get to is yummy whisky taste and then start adding "wow" or "oh wow!".
The mouth feel is again typical of what would be expected of something like this, full, rich and thick.
The Finish is the kicker though, it seems to go on forever first smoky like an Ardbeg should be, over time the fruitiness comes through and the pair of notes just sit there .. forever.. I kid you not it was almost a disappointment brushing my teeth before bed.
Your purple prose made me mighty thirsty. I'm afraid I'll lose consciousness before I can get to all of them tonight so I may have to stretch it out over a couple of days :-)
Same here. And what's worse, I can't really afford to spring the vastly increasing bucks they cost nowadays in the prospect that the new one will be vaguely more exciting. If you have enough malt over enough decades new expressions are not only NOT that more exciting, they seem mostly like marketing parlays, often a bit "experimental". Malts are now exorbitant. When a rare one trickles into the $20's or sometimes low $30's I pick one up (not to mention that I still have a case or more of Ardbeg 10 stashed away that I got at $29).
I do still REALLY like the Deanston 12 I got a year or two ago in Florida in the upper $20's. Speyburn is still a steal (nice on the rocks) here at $18. I did pick up a Highland Park at $29 including a couple tumblers recently, and it is the very same heather-honey pleasantry that you have to let grow on you to pick up the subtleties that it ever was two decades ago. If they bring down the price enough, I'll buy malts here in the U.S., but on my last couple trips to Britain I gulped when looking at the single malt prices in shops and airports--forget it! Everything is incredibly overpriced in the U.K. (see
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) but single malt pricing is laughable. The dollar is so weak to the Euro that I don't buy them in Holland or Germany either--too painful. Here in Wisconsin, I tend to pay half of what the cheapest imaginable price is for the same malt in the U.K. (but then again, everything costs double in the U.K.).
I suffer the same fate here in Northern Alabama. The prices are high and the selection is small. Even though I find good single malts while traveling, they are quickly becoming unaffordable for the middle class working man. Most of the extra I pay is Alabama State and local taxes. I bought a Chivas Brothers Royal Salute Flagon 21 year old in Seoul Korea for $70 here in my neighborhood its $254. I bought a Knockando and Royal Lochnagar in Germersheim, Germany for about $45 while its over $100 here. I got a bottle of Teachers in Germany for $9 which was a fair price for that whisky. (wasn't bad at all but very mild and one-dimensional) I can't find it here but would assume it would be at least $60.
My inventory management strategy is constrained by my budget. I don't just buy scotch to have the bottle anymore. I really want to know I'm getting a great whisky for the money I'm paying these days. Mediocre taste for $70 a bottle for scotch means I can buy mediocre bourbon for $15 if I just want an alcohol buzz and save the other $55 for gas to drive to the liquor store to buy the $15 bourbon.
Anybody out there have a buying strategy that they want to share?
I live in SW Missouri, so although Missouri is one of the easiest states to ship whisky/whiskey into, there isn't much here to begin with. Most locals are whiskey drinkers, the cheaper the better.
I buy my single malts on trips to NW Arkansas and into the Kansas City area. I currently have about 50 bottles in my cabinet and do not tend to re-purchase the same expressions over and over except for a couple of basic malts. I prefer to save a few bucks and buy several bottles at a time when and if I find something new and interesting. I can always buy Dalmore 12, Macallan 12, Balvenie Doublewood 12, Glenlivet 10, Glenmorangie 10 locally if I run out of single malts until I can find something else new.
I also belong to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and can always order a bottle or two from there, although the prices are in the $100+ range, when I can save the cash.
My own frustration is with the lack of selection and the apparent inability of the retailers to be able to obtain bottles that I would like to purchase. I recently asked my best retailer to order a bottle of the Glenfarclas 105 and the Glenfarclas 17 yr. He could not obtain either one, nor can he get any but Ardbeg 10 yr. No Laphroig Quarter Cask, nothing that others on the European lists rave about. It is all very frustrating, and the prices are getting out of sight as the selections grow smaller.
I live in Toronto Ontario and our government booze monopoly is the single largest buyer of spirits in the world, selection for main stream whisky is not really a problem, price however, is. The selection for specials is very hit and miss since there is only really one person doing the buying and he or she does not IMO really know scotch. ..(well to be honest I guess I should say doesn't share my taste .. too many sherried spaysiders not enough Islays)
I am fortunate though because both my wife and I travel quite a bit, as do many of our co-workers so over the years I've built up a small stable of mules who are willing to bring back scotch from trips. Chicago, London and New York are all priced bellow or near the levels we pay here and if anyone is going through Calgary they have my undivided attention.
i am thinking of trying jim beam. but i do have a unopened bottle of early times...if it tastes alot alike. i might just pass on jb. never drank either before...early times or jim beam. i'm about to open the early times.
It seems to me that you took part in the Yahoo group on Canadian whiskeys some years ago, along with Bushido and others. And there was a general yahoo SMS group. Any idea if they survived?
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