Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Monday, October 21, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
My 7 favourite whisky books
1. Malt Whisky Yearbook
Edited by Ingvard Ronde
A little encyclopedia about malt whisky distilleries around the world, with main focus on Scotland and Japan. The book is published every autumn and there is plenty of new content to justify a new purchase every year. Every distillery has its own page with info and there are secions with statistics and maps. This is probably the essential book for malt whisky entusiasts.
2. Peat, Smoke and Spirit
Andrew Jefford
A large book covering Islay and her distilleries, the book has a few years on its back, so a new distillery like Kilchoman isn't covered. You will get a very good insigth into the whisky producing enviroment on Islay, islay it self and the 7 distilleries making whisky at the turn of the millenium
3. Appreciating Whisky
Phillip Hills
This book covers tasting whisky. Mainly our senses and what causes the tastes. There's a little bit of chemistry involved but nothing that will scare anyone. It describes how whisky tastes on a general level, and why it does so. It is written by the founder of SMWS
4. The Bluffers Guide to Whisky
David Milsted
This is the booked I learned the most from :-). It shows how to act and conduct yourself in the world of whisky to appear as the guy in the know, opposed to everyone else. Funny and wellwritten. The book has a few years on its back, but most of this stuff is timeless. If you don't want to become a pretender you always learn to easy spot one :-)
5. Canadian Whisky, the portable expert
Davin de Kergommeaux
This is THE book about Canadian Whisky, taking you throught all the destilleries and the history of distilling whisky in Canada. Canadian whisky has it's distinct style and production setup, and is not made the same way as whisky is made in USA, Ireland and Scotland
6. Bourbon, Straight
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about Bourbon. I reviewed the book HERE
7. The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about the bourbon A.H. Hirsch, made in Pennsylvainia in 1974. I reviewed it HERE
My next list is going to be "Great offers in travel retail for the whiskyentusiast"
Edited by Ingvard Ronde
A little encyclopedia about malt whisky distilleries around the world, with main focus on Scotland and Japan. The book is published every autumn and there is plenty of new content to justify a new purchase every year. Every distillery has its own page with info and there are secions with statistics and maps. This is probably the essential book for malt whisky entusiasts.
2. Peat, Smoke and Spirit
Andrew Jefford
A large book covering Islay and her distilleries, the book has a few years on its back, so a new distillery like Kilchoman isn't covered. You will get a very good insigth into the whisky producing enviroment on Islay, islay it self and the 7 distilleries making whisky at the turn of the millenium
3. Appreciating Whisky
Phillip Hills
This book covers tasting whisky. Mainly our senses and what causes the tastes. There's a little bit of chemistry involved but nothing that will scare anyone. It describes how whisky tastes on a general level, and why it does so. It is written by the founder of SMWS
4. The Bluffers Guide to Whisky
David Milsted
This is the booked I learned the most from :-). It shows how to act and conduct yourself in the world of whisky to appear as the guy in the know, opposed to everyone else. Funny and wellwritten. The book has a few years on its back, but most of this stuff is timeless. If you don't want to become a pretender you always learn to easy spot one :-)
5. Canadian Whisky, the portable expert
Davin de Kergommeaux
This is THE book about Canadian Whisky, taking you throught all the destilleries and the history of distilling whisky in Canada. Canadian whisky has it's distinct style and production setup, and is not made the same way as whisky is made in USA, Ireland and Scotland
6. Bourbon, Straight
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about Bourbon. I reviewed the book HERE
7. The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about the bourbon A.H. Hirsch, made in Pennsylvainia in 1974. I reviewed it HERE
My next list is going to be "Great offers in travel retail for the whiskyentusiast"
Friday, October 18, 2013
5 distilleries worth visiting you might not have thought of
Visiting Distilleries...
It's a hobby of mine. I've been around 130 or so and all the visits have been fun. That's how it is with hobbies. Others say, have you seen one then you have seen them all. Obviously I don't agree :-)
Some distilleries are known for their nice visitor centres, others for great tours or fantastic scenery. When people recommend distilleries to visit it is very often the same names that pop up. And I don't disagree.
But here is five distilleries that I found particular interesting and they are not mentionend that often compared to others. So if you have seen a lot or a few distilleries, here is 5 that might have something to offer.
1. Four Roses Warehouses
Four Roses warehouses and Four Roses distillery are located 50 miles apart. The distillery offer two different tours, the warehouse tour needs an appointment first
It's called the Warehouse and Bottling facility. Four Roses Warehouses are unusual for Kentucky as they are single story warehouses. Opposed to the "standard" multi story warehouses. There is around 20 warehouses and a bottling facility on the site. You get inside one or two of the warehouses and then you get to the bottling facility where barrels are emptied, vatted and then bottled. The day we visitied they were doing single barrels. It's a great operation to watch and first hand see the barrels dumped.
2. Indian Creek Distillery
Indian Creek distillery is a revival of a distillery that has been silent since 1920. It was a smaller farm distillery that was forced to close when prohibition hit in 1920. The distillery was founded by Elias Staley around 1826 and run for almost a century until 1920 (with a break or two). Now 6th generation on the Staley farm, Melissa and Joe Duer has reinstalled the old original stills in the original setup and has started producing whiskey again. Using original recipe involving rye, barley, corn and hops and hickory wood for maturation (or partly) this distillery is probably so traditional that modern understanding and rules of whiskey has surpassed them in the century that has passed. It's a very nice place to visit and the Duer's has done a great job resurrecting this distillery, and visiting is a bit like going back in history.
http://www.staleymillfarmanddistillery.com/distillery.htm
3. Deanston
If you have visited distilleries in Scotland and want to see a distillery that is a bit different than the rest I recommend Deanston near Doune Castle. It's an old cotton mill that after 180 years was transformed into a distillery in the 60's. It is beautifully located on the bank of the river Teith. The whole distillery is located inside one building which is somewhat unusual as warehouses are normally set aside the rest of the distillery. The place has an interesting story and it's one of my favourite tours. After the tours there is a chance to taste the great whisky from the distillery. The destillery is powered by it's own water turbines, that produces enough power to also supply the nearby village with power (or used to). The giant turbines is an unusual sight for a whisky tourists. When "The Danish Drinking Team" group of 8, visited Scotland and around 10-12 distilleries in May this year, Deanston that was most popular amongst the bottle shoppers amongst us!
4. Tomatin
An interesting distillery to visit in the scottish Highland. It used to be biggest distillery in Scotland, but the production has been scaled down to around 50% of what it once was. It used to run two mashtuns, and now the redundant mashtun has become a visitor attraction in itself. The distillery itself is a small village, quite isolated up in the Highlands between Inverness and Speyside, just on the A9. When entering through the narrow tunnel under the railway, you are met by giant warehouses reminding me of Kentucky, if it wasn't for the heather highland surroundings. The place also have a visitor centre and bottle your own facility
4. Yoichi
I covered my recent visit to Yoichi in another blog post here. This is exactly how it should be to visit a distillery. Everything was in japanese though, but maybe I should have learned that before I went :-)
Next list will be: 7 of my favourite whiskybooks
It's a hobby of mine. I've been around 130 or so and all the visits have been fun. That's how it is with hobbies. Others say, have you seen one then you have seen them all. Obviously I don't agree :-)
Some distilleries are known for their nice visitor centres, others for great tours or fantastic scenery. When people recommend distilleries to visit it is very often the same names that pop up. And I don't disagree.
But here is five distilleries that I found particular interesting and they are not mentionend that often compared to others. So if you have seen a lot or a few distilleries, here is 5 that might have something to offer.
1. Four Roses Warehouses
Four Roses warehouses and Four Roses distillery are located 50 miles apart. The distillery offer two different tours, the warehouse tour needs an appointment first
It's called the Warehouse and Bottling facility. Four Roses Warehouses are unusual for Kentucky as they are single story warehouses. Opposed to the "standard" multi story warehouses. There is around 20 warehouses and a bottling facility on the site. You get inside one or two of the warehouses and then you get to the bottling facility where barrels are emptied, vatted and then bottled. The day we visitied they were doing single barrels. It's a great operation to watch and first hand see the barrels dumped.
Getting ready to empty this
2. Indian Creek Distillery
Indian Creek distillery is a revival of a distillery that has been silent since 1920. It was a smaller farm distillery that was forced to close when prohibition hit in 1920. The distillery was founded by Elias Staley around 1826 and run for almost a century until 1920 (with a break or two). Now 6th generation on the Staley farm, Melissa and Joe Duer has reinstalled the old original stills in the original setup and has started producing whiskey again. Using original recipe involving rye, barley, corn and hops and hickory wood for maturation (or partly) this distillery is probably so traditional that modern understanding and rules of whiskey has surpassed them in the century that has passed. It's a very nice place to visit and the Duer's has done a great job resurrecting this distillery, and visiting is a bit like going back in history.
http://www.staleymillfarmanddistillery.com/distillery.htm
Staley farm stills
3. Deanston
If you have visited distilleries in Scotland and want to see a distillery that is a bit different than the rest I recommend Deanston near Doune Castle. It's an old cotton mill that after 180 years was transformed into a distillery in the 60's. It is beautifully located on the bank of the river Teith. The whole distillery is located inside one building which is somewhat unusual as warehouses are normally set aside the rest of the distillery. The place has an interesting story and it's one of my favourite tours. After the tours there is a chance to taste the great whisky from the distillery. The destillery is powered by it's own water turbines, that produces enough power to also supply the nearby village with power (or used to). The giant turbines is an unusual sight for a whisky tourists. When "The Danish Drinking Team" group of 8, visited Scotland and around 10-12 distilleries in May this year, Deanston that was most popular amongst the bottle shoppers amongst us!
Deanston Still Room
4. Tomatin
An interesting distillery to visit in the scottish Highland. It used to be biggest distillery in Scotland, but the production has been scaled down to around 50% of what it once was. It used to run two mashtuns, and now the redundant mashtun has become a visitor attraction in itself. The distillery itself is a small village, quite isolated up in the Highlands between Inverness and Speyside, just on the A9. When entering through the narrow tunnel under the railway, you are met by giant warehouses reminding me of Kentucky, if it wasn't for the heather highland surroundings. The place also have a visitor centre and bottle your own facility
Climb inside a mashtun at Tomatin
4. Yoichi
I covered my recent visit to Yoichi in another blog post here. This is exactly how it should be to visit a distillery. Everything was in japanese though, but maybe I should have learned that before I went :-)
Tasting Bar Yoichi Distillery
Next list will be: 7 of my favourite whiskybooks
Sunday, October 13, 2013
5 things to do in Edinburgh if you like whisky (and beer)
Or things to do in Edinburgh at least 500 times before you die...particular no. 5
1. Visit a whiskyshop
The Royal Mile, mainly a pedestrian street, leading from Holyrood palace at the bottom up to Edinburgh Castle at the top, hosts two of my favourite whiskyshops in Edinburgh.
Royal Mile Whiskies, about one third from the top is one of Scotlands leading speciality stores for whisky of all kind. The staff is well educated and the selection is very big. Especially considering the small size of the shop. It's a tight little shop, quite old. When a heavy guy like me moves around in the room, the floor is slightly dislocated and you can hear and see bottles moving one millimeter here, one millimeter there. If your wear a backpack, watch when you turn.
Further down The Royal Mile, about one third from bottom is another small excellent whisky shop, Cadenhead's Whisky Shop. Whiskyshops are speciality shops, but this is a speciality shop amongst speciality shops. Cadenhead's Whisky Shop mainly sells whisky from Springbank and the associated independent bottler Cadenhead's
2. Join a Jolly Toper tasting
If I am in Edinburgh on a thursday, I always try to go to one of Jolly Toper's whiskytastings
http://www.jollytopertastings.co.uk/whisky-tasting-dates/
They are usual on every 2nd thursday or so, but if I happen to be in Edinburgh on a "wrong" thrusday, I have before succeded in talking the host to schedule an extra tasting :-)
The host is also one the guys behind the counter of Cadenhead's but he serves all kinds of whisky, and often something unusual is on the agenda, it can exceptional rare, exceptional good or strange. The guests are always a good company and very opinionated about what they drink in the good way.
Kilderkin, the pub that hosts these tastings are also worth a visit. It has some of the best pub food in Edinburgh (I have tried), nice little selection of whisky (and rum) and a couple of good casks ales on tap
3. Visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Their various bars around the world (some better than others...) They have a huge selection of their own bottlings, excellent food and good beer. A good place to try haggis in my opinion, it's delicious.
Their bottlings is not focused on distilleries but on their own, over the top, sometimes obscure tasting notes. I usually go in their bars and let everything else but distillery names decide what to drink, and often went away with a bottle that was a litle gem from an unknown distillery
4. Scotch Whisky Experience
Near the top of The Royal Mile, you find the Scotch Whisky Experience. This is a whisky experience made for the numerous tourists visiting Edinburgh, but it also got something to offer for the more experienced whiskydrinker
The place will take you through a fairy fun ride, sitting in a "barrel" and getting introduced to what scottish whisky is. After this there is sensory tasting session (various choices), The Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection, a collection of 3500 bottles on display, big fun for any whisky geek as there is many older bottlings. The place also have a bar and a restaurant.
5. A Pint
Edinburgh is an abundance of great pubs of all kinds. I am a big fan of scottish real ales and use time in Edinburgh on beers as well as whisky
I allready mentioned Kilderkin, but the list is almost endless and I am far from having visited everywhere. A random place seldom dissapoints me, but here is a few places I have been that are a bit different, and that I liked
Guildform Arms: Big selection of scottish real ales, well served, can be busy
Malt and Hops: Cosy little pub in Leith (near the SMWS Vaults) with a good selection of real ales
Bow Bar: real ales and whiskies, old fashioned speciality pub, with good selection
Whiski: huge selection of whisky, mainly OB, but if you want to try out the recent offering from Macallan, this is the place
Brew Dog: Modern Bar, serving modern style beers, mainly their own, and some great food
Next list will be: 5 distilleries worth visiting that you might not have thought of
1. Visit a whiskyshop
The Royal Mile, mainly a pedestrian street, leading from Holyrood palace at the bottom up to Edinburgh Castle at the top, hosts two of my favourite whiskyshops in Edinburgh.
Royal Mile Whiskies, about one third from the top is one of Scotlands leading speciality stores for whisky of all kind. The staff is well educated and the selection is very big. Especially considering the small size of the shop. It's a tight little shop, quite old. When a heavy guy like me moves around in the room, the floor is slightly dislocated and you can hear and see bottles moving one millimeter here, one millimeter there. If your wear a backpack, watch when you turn.
Further down The Royal Mile, about one third from bottom is another small excellent whisky shop, Cadenhead's Whisky Shop. Whiskyshops are speciality shops, but this is a speciality shop amongst speciality shops. Cadenhead's Whisky Shop mainly sells whisky from Springbank and the associated independent bottler Cadenhead's
The staff is extremely knowledgeable about whisky and if you want to bring a bottle of whisky home that noone tasted before they more or less only got bottles here that fits that description.
If I am in Edinburgh on a thursday, I always try to go to one of Jolly Toper's whiskytastings
http://www.jollytopertastings.co.uk/whisky-tasting-dates/
They are usual on every 2nd thursday or so, but if I happen to be in Edinburgh on a "wrong" thrusday, I have before succeded in talking the host to schedule an extra tasting :-)
The host is also one the guys behind the counter of Cadenhead's but he serves all kinds of whisky, and often something unusual is on the agenda, it can exceptional rare, exceptional good or strange. The guests are always a good company and very opinionated about what they drink in the good way.
Kilderkin, the pub that hosts these tastings are also worth a visit. It has some of the best pub food in Edinburgh (I have tried), nice little selection of whisky (and rum) and a couple of good casks ales on tap
3. Visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Their various bars around the world (some better than others...) They have a huge selection of their own bottlings, excellent food and good beer. A good place to try haggis in my opinion, it's delicious.
Their bottlings is not focused on distilleries but on their own, over the top, sometimes obscure tasting notes. I usually go in their bars and let everything else but distillery names decide what to drink, and often went away with a bottle that was a litle gem from an unknown distillery
4. Scotch Whisky Experience
Near the top of The Royal Mile, you find the Scotch Whisky Experience. This is a whisky experience made for the numerous tourists visiting Edinburgh, but it also got something to offer for the more experienced whiskydrinker
The place will take you through a fairy fun ride, sitting in a "barrel" and getting introduced to what scottish whisky is. After this there is sensory tasting session (various choices), The Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection, a collection of 3500 bottles on display, big fun for any whisky geek as there is many older bottlings. The place also have a bar and a restaurant.
5. A Pint
Edinburgh is an abundance of great pubs of all kinds. I am a big fan of scottish real ales and use time in Edinburgh on beers as well as whisky
I allready mentioned Kilderkin, but the list is almost endless and I am far from having visited everywhere. A random place seldom dissapoints me, but here is a few places I have been that are a bit different, and that I liked
Guildform Arms: Big selection of scottish real ales, well served, can be busy
Malt and Hops: Cosy little pub in Leith (near the SMWS Vaults) with a good selection of real ales
Bow Bar: real ales and whiskies, old fashioned speciality pub, with good selection
Whiski: huge selection of whisky, mainly OB, but if you want to try out the recent offering from Macallan, this is the place
Brew Dog: Modern Bar, serving modern style beers, mainly their own, and some great food
Next list will be: 5 distilleries worth visiting that you might not have thought of
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
7 whiskies to taste before you die
A lot of the lists I see floating around the internet, books etc., "best this", "try that"," read now", "die later" seems quite random and made by people who just shouldn't have made a list. My problem is usually not what is NOT on the list, but what's on it!
I decided to make some lists for others to disagree with. Here's the first!
7 whiskies to try before you die
and a few extra recommendations
This is the real thing. You ain't gonna turn around in your grave if you miss out on Jim Beam Black whatever Ian Buxton says
The seven whiskies is more a catagory or groups of bottlings, than a specific bottling. 3 specific great whiskies to search for is mentioned below though.
1. Ardbeg from the 70's
Around the turn of the millenium there was quite a big stock of old Ardbeg lying in their warehouse. This was before Ardbeg was the talk of the town and before Ardbeg was one of the most popular malt whiskies out there. So a lot of quite old Ardbeg was bottled, a lot cheaper than today. The best were those distilled in the 70's, early 70's particulary.
Here's a few legendary bottlings: Lord of the Isles, Ardbeg Provenance, Old Malt Cask did a range of bottlings, like the Ardbeggeddon for the PLOWED society and the distillery itself did a range of single casks.
2. Brora
Short version: Clynelish distillery was "copied" in the late 60s and the owners renamed the original version Brora, and kept the name Clynelish for the new modern distillery next door. Brora, the original Clynelish, was closed in 1983.
In the early 70's, while Caol Ila was being modernised by DCL (now Diageo), they used Brora to produce some peated whisky for extra supply. While Clynelish and Brora are similar, but still different whiskies, they differ a lot in this period, when one was peated and the other not. Personally I found Brora around 1972 to be the most peated. Brorageddon from the PLOWED society and OB 30yo 2002 are my two favourites, but I sure wished I bought more of this, but who doesn't ?
3. Bowmore from 60's
Bowmore from the 60's is legendary. It's not just the super-expensive Black Bowmore, White Bowmore and Gold Bowmore, but also Bowmore like the 1964-1979 Bicentenary: http://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies.php?merkid=4&whiskyid=7299
Most people, but not all, agree that something went wrong with Bowmore in the late 70's up to mid 90s, particular in the 80s, but they seem to be back on the very right track now. I wonder if they dare to make a bottling called "Phoenix" one day!
4. Caperdonich 1972
Duncan Taylor was essentially based on a huge stock of "forgotten" casks. Amongst them were quite a large amount of Caperdonich casks filled in 1972. These were bottled more or less one by one over a period of around a decade. From being a distillery that was regarded as a nothing, Caperdonich became one of the recent legends in the world of whisky. It's not just Caperdonich 72 that is great whisky, aged Caperdonich in general is marvelous. There just happened to be a lot more from 72 around than other vintages. Caperdonich was mothballed in 2002 and is demolished today.
5. Stitzel-Weller
Stitzel-Weller was closed in 92 and is arguably the most legenday bourbon distillery. The blame or cause for this is probably the bottles released as Pappy van Winkle. Pappy van Winkle is a brand, and as the stock of old Stitzel-Weller is dissappearing the whiskey is replaced by similar aged whiskey from other distilleries. It looks like there is no problem keeping the quality up, basically telling us that the recipe combined with carefully cherrypicked barrels is the key, not the distillery itself. But the legacy is there, and it is there for a reason. Look out for older bottlings of Pappy van Winkle 15 and 20 and Jefferson Presidential Select labeled as Stitzel-Weller. The original brand from Stitzel-Weller was Old Fitzgerald (now owned by Heaven Hill) I hope I one day will be able to try bottlings like Very Old Fitzgerald, Very Xtra Old Fitzgerald and Very Very Old Fitzgerald from Stitzel-Weller. And hey, rumours says Stitzel-Weller will reopen!
6. A. H. Hirsch
A. H. Hirsch is a range of bottlings from a distillery in Pennsylvania, all distilled within the same week in 1974 and most of it dumped from the barrels in 1990 as 16yo. I recommend that you read Chuck Cowdery's book "The best bourbon you'll never taste" for further info.
7. Rosebank
To me Rosebank is THE legendary lowlander. Closed in the 90's. Triple or 2½ times distilled (or both, people are arguing about this). When people are talking about the Lowland catagory and how it's supposed to taste, they basically talk about how Rosebank tastes. Or did taste. The rest of the Lowland is more or less as different as the rest of Scotland without being peated.
I decided to make some lists for others to disagree with. Here's the first!
7 whiskies to try before you die
and a few extra recommendations
This is the real thing. You ain't gonna turn around in your grave if you miss out on Jim Beam Black whatever Ian Buxton says
The seven whiskies is more a catagory or groups of bottlings, than a specific bottling. 3 specific great whiskies to search for is mentioned below though.
1. Ardbeg from the 70's
Around the turn of the millenium there was quite a big stock of old Ardbeg lying in their warehouse. This was before Ardbeg was the talk of the town and before Ardbeg was one of the most popular malt whiskies out there. So a lot of quite old Ardbeg was bottled, a lot cheaper than today. The best were those distilled in the 70's, early 70's particulary.
Here's a few legendary bottlings: Lord of the Isles, Ardbeg Provenance, Old Malt Cask did a range of bottlings, like the Ardbeggeddon for the PLOWED society and the distillery itself did a range of single casks.
2. Brora
Short version: Clynelish distillery was "copied" in the late 60s and the owners renamed the original version Brora, and kept the name Clynelish for the new modern distillery next door. Brora, the original Clynelish, was closed in 1983.
In the early 70's, while Caol Ila was being modernised by DCL (now Diageo), they used Brora to produce some peated whisky for extra supply. While Clynelish and Brora are similar, but still different whiskies, they differ a lot in this period, when one was peated and the other not. Personally I found Brora around 1972 to be the most peated. Brorageddon from the PLOWED society and OB 30yo 2002 are my two favourites, but I sure wished I bought more of this, but who doesn't ?
3. Bowmore from 60's
Bowmore from the 60's is legendary. It's not just the super-expensive Black Bowmore, White Bowmore and Gold Bowmore, but also Bowmore like the 1964-1979 Bicentenary: http://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies.php?merkid=4&whiskyid=7299
Most people, but not all, agree that something went wrong with Bowmore in the late 70's up to mid 90s, particular in the 80s, but they seem to be back on the very right track now. I wonder if they dare to make a bottling called "Phoenix" one day!
4. Caperdonich 1972
Duncan Taylor was essentially based on a huge stock of "forgotten" casks. Amongst them were quite a large amount of Caperdonich casks filled in 1972. These were bottled more or less one by one over a period of around a decade. From being a distillery that was regarded as a nothing, Caperdonich became one of the recent legends in the world of whisky. It's not just Caperdonich 72 that is great whisky, aged Caperdonich in general is marvelous. There just happened to be a lot more from 72 around than other vintages. Caperdonich was mothballed in 2002 and is demolished today.
5. Stitzel-Weller
Stitzel-Weller was closed in 92 and is arguably the most legenday bourbon distillery. The blame or cause for this is probably the bottles released as Pappy van Winkle. Pappy van Winkle is a brand, and as the stock of old Stitzel-Weller is dissappearing the whiskey is replaced by similar aged whiskey from other distilleries. It looks like there is no problem keeping the quality up, basically telling us that the recipe combined with carefully cherrypicked barrels is the key, not the distillery itself. But the legacy is there, and it is there for a reason. Look out for older bottlings of Pappy van Winkle 15 and 20 and Jefferson Presidential Select labeled as Stitzel-Weller. The original brand from Stitzel-Weller was Old Fitzgerald (now owned by Heaven Hill) I hope I one day will be able to try bottlings like Very Old Fitzgerald, Very Xtra Old Fitzgerald and Very Very Old Fitzgerald from Stitzel-Weller. And hey, rumours says Stitzel-Weller will reopen!
6. A. H. Hirsch
A. H. Hirsch is a range of bottlings from a distillery in Pennsylvania, all distilled within the same week in 1974 and most of it dumped from the barrels in 1990 as 16yo. I recommend that you read Chuck Cowdery's book "The best bourbon you'll never taste" for further info.
7. Rosebank
To me Rosebank is THE legendary lowlander. Closed in the 90's. Triple or 2½ times distilled (or both, people are arguing about this). When people are talking about the Lowland catagory and how it's supposed to taste, they basically talk about how Rosebank tastes. Or did taste. The rest of the Lowland is more or less as different as the rest of Scotland without being peated.
If you think Old Benriach, Port Ellen, Convalmore, Lochside, St. Magdelene and Old Glenglassaugh should have been on the list, I can't really disagree
Should this rare rye have been on the list. I think so
You don't have to go way back in time to find spectular AND affordable whisky.
SMWS 35.71 "like a hug from your mom", released 2012
Benromach 55yo.
I wish I had a bottle
(Photo stolen from TWE)
Martin Mills. Best bourbon I ever tasted. Who wants to sell me a bottle ?
Next list will be: Things to do in Edinburgh, especially if you like whisky!
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