What would James Bond really drink ?

No more Martinis for Mr. Bond!

Who drinks Martini anyway today?. It's just so the seventies..

I am pretty sure that if James Bond didn't drink Martini, most people would never have heard about it. (That's what I thought, I've been corrected, see later)

But now he quit Martini. Apparently. According to the press Bond is now going to drink Heineken!. How cool is that ?

Bond is classy, sophicasted and cool.

From Sean Connery

to Daniel Craig

But he won't be holding glasses like that in his hand anymore. It's now gonna be Heineken. Standard International Lager. Is that cool or is it just me ?

Heineken IS cool

Cool people drink Heineken. 

People like me drink real ale. 

Quality beer has a bit of an image problem... I think. Would Bond really drink Heineken or would he rather have a London Pride ?

I know what I would drink :-). But drinking real ale is probably too associated with middle-aged bearded overweight men. And they don't have the kind of big money needed for marketing neither, as a big company like Heineken. Product Placement > Coolness

I would honestly have thought Bond would quit smoking before change his drink. Or maybe quit drinking totally?

 I do think a glass of organic orange juice would be more noted than the absence of a cigarette though. 

So maybe... or maybe not, Bond will have an image problem with a (can of) Heineken in his hand. Heineken will for sure not have an imageproblem being in the hand of James Bond.

Personally I think he should upgrade cocktailwise and go for a Manhattan, a Mojito or maybe a Mint Julep. But I bet the good people over in the mixologist department have a far more qualified opinion on this

I asked Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist and she said "Martinis still hugely popular. So is retro and reinvention of the classics" Her specific suggestion for a modern Bond drink was the Black Rose

I also asked Kerry from Whisky in the City and she said "The 'Mad Men' effect is bringing back the old classics." Kerry suggests Bond would pick up: "Aged tequila with lime twist in the style of an old fashioned"

Basically they couldn't agree more without picking the exact same, so I am more or less outvoted 2-1 by the lovely ladies (no surprise)

This is a whisky blog. Most people here would say, why doesn't Mr. Bond drink a whisky ? But is drinking whisky cool enough for Bond? 

Do whisky have the right image. I know what kind of image the whisky companies like their drinkers to be. Something like this

Minority

But that's a minority. In reality we look like this

Classy moment at Limburg 2011

Some of the whisky companies are big spenders in the marketing department. They should be able to afford a dram for James Bond. He would end up drinking Johnnie Walker, Macallan, Glenfiddich or Dalmore most likely. 

I think it would be far more cool if Mr. Bond walked up to a bar and asked for a Caperdonich 72

What do you think ?

Whisky Round Table May

Is hosting Mays

Blogger Question with the following question

The Parting of the Sensory: Scotch has long been thought of as a drink for rich old men.  Although that’s changed over the last decade, scotch is still something of an older man’s drink.  However, as humans get older our senses start to fade and our acuity decreases.
Is a 1959 Bunnahabhain wasted on a man whose taste buds are starting to forget the difference between green fruits and grapefruit?  In other words, is well-aged whisky wasted on the old?
Is this the wrinkled old man in the convertible, or is it the much deserved reward for having achieved success in life?  Can our palates retain sensitivity throughout middle age, or does experience more than make up for any loss?

Read the answers from a series of whiskyblogger, my self included here : http://bit.ly/JMLggl

Willet

Kentucky Bourbon Distillers is sort of what we (us scotch drinkers) would call an independent bottler. Sourcing casks from distilleries and bottling them

There's a little difference. Willet is actual the name of a distillery, which was working from the mid thirties up to the early eighties.

There's a scandinavian connection to the Willet distillery. Even Kulsveen, a native norwegian, and son-in-law to Thompson Willet, purchased the property, founded KBD in 1984. The distillery has reopened  this year. But inbetween the Willet name has lived on as a range of bottlings. Hard to your hands on in Denmark, but I succeded in finding a couple of excellent bottlings in my holiday travels

Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon
13yo 62% Barrel no. 3718
Distilled 14. May 1996

This is one of the most well balanced and complex bourbons I have tried. Wood, Syrupsweetness, Vanilla, Nuts, Caramel, Butterscotch it's all there in perfect harmony. The whisky is thick and oily like a wooden custard cream. The high ABV is only slightly felt. Delicious

Rating 91


Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Rye
25yo 47% Barrel no. 1372
Distilled 10. May 1983

The typical floor varnish I usually get in old ryes is toned down and spiced up to a delicious nose, with only a hint of the classical rye spicyness. The balance is great. The palate is a wood explosion dryness with a thick layer of orange flavours accompanied by a hint of nuts. The wood is very dominating but the whiskey is very delicate still. Woodylicious with a fantastic caramelcandy finish

Rating 89

Three quick Benriachs

BenRiach 15 yo OB, Pedro Ximenez-finish, 46%

Nose: Fresh, sugar sherry, light and elegant, summery. It actually brings distant memories from summers gone by.

Taste: Juicy sugar sherry sweetness. Dark, burnt sugar and plenty of oak. A modern dram with a decent quality.
Rating: 84

BenRiach Horizons 12 yo OB, triple distilled, sherry finish, 50%

BenRiach Horizons

Nose: Lovely oloroso sherry, toffee and orange chocolate, vague rubber notes (rubber band), burnt nuts and prunes.

Taste: Young. Feisty sherry with dark coffee notes and bitter nuts. It's a powerful horizon we're looking at here, so no extra softness for being distilled three times. Good whisky.
Rating: 86



BenRiach Authenticus 25 yo OB, 46%
Nose: Peaches and fruit drops - or is it fruit caramel? Beautiful nose with the smoke drifting quietly behind the fruit curtains.

Taste: Peaches and mango. Again the smoky element is carefully present and mixes in with the tropical style very, very well. A delicate experience.

Rating: 89



Concluding comment: During the last 7-8 years, careful and innovative ownership, along with the delicate quality of the whisky, has raised the profile of Benriach distillery and it's bottlings from a point of oblivion to a wide popularity. These three drams are fine examples of good quality Speyside whisky.

Pappy van Winkle family Reserve 20 years old

Pappy van Winkle family Reserve 20 years old 45.2%

Pappy van Winkle

This whiskey is made at the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. Stitzel-Weller closed in 1992 and has among bourbon drinkers reached the same mythical status as Brora and Port Ellen has for scotch drinkers.

Pappy van Winkle worked for a wholesale company named W.L Weller and Sons in the beginning of last century. He eventually bought it with a partner, and they also purchased the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery , with brands like W.L Weller, Old Fitzgerald and others. In 1935 they opened a new distillery and named it Stitzel-Weller.

Stitzel-Weller was sold (to what is now Diageo) in 1992, Weller brands was sold to Buffalo Trace, while Old Fitzgerald followed the distillery. The distillery was closed as Diageo moved all their production to Bernheim. Bernheim was sold to Heaven Hill in 1999 and Old Fitzgerald is today a Heaven Hill brand. The Weller brands is owned by Buffalo Trace.

Traditionally, bourbon was (and is) made from corn, rye and barley, but Weller is known for being a wheated bourbon, made from corn, wheat and barley. This gives a softer, smoother, no rye spice, bourbon, very different from other bourbons.

Originally van Winkle whiskies were sourced from old Stitzel Weller stock, but production has moved to Buffalo Trace. Today, both Buffalo Trace and van Winkle is owned by the Sazerac Company. The van Winkle company is still run by 3rd and 4th generation van Winkle. Stitzel-Weller closed in 1992, it only takes a bit of math to figure out if van Winkle whiskies are from Buffalo Trace or Stiitzel-Weller. 20yo released in 2012 should still be from Stitzel-Weller stock as far as rumours goes.

(An exception to this is the van Winkle rye which was sourced from other distilleries, at least originally)

Nose : oranges cakes, delicate wood
Palate : Bitter oranges, nutty, creamy, with the wood not being overpowering at all. This is smooth, soft and delicate. Very drinkable, the is absolutely no need for adding water
Finish : Medium intensity, but long, very very long. The orangewood lingers forever. Fantastic

This is just not like any other bourbon I have tried. So delicate and subtle, and the first bourbon where I get nutty flavours.

This is one of those whiskies that puts a quiet happy smile on your face

So should we be worried that future bottlings of this will be from a different distillery. Yes and No. It will most likely not be same. Time will tell. But if you have tasted 12yo Old Rip van Winkle and BTAC's William Larue Weller, you know that these whiskies are also great.

As a whisky entusiast I am only excited to see what kind of Pappy 20's the future will give us. Just to be safe I have stocked an extra bottle of this

Rating 92


I reviewed PvW 15 last year here : http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/high-west-bourye-and-pappy-van-winkle.html

A couple of Rittenhouse 100's

Bottled in Bond, now what is that ?

To be labeled Bottled in Bond the following requirements have to be met (from Wikipedia) :

To be labeled as "Bottled-in-Bond" or "Bonded," the spirit must be the product of one distillation season and one distiller at one distillery. It must have been stored (i.e., aged) in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 (U.S.) proof (50% alcohol by volume). The bottled product's label must identify the distillery (by DSP number) where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled.

Rittenhouse is the rye brand label of Heaven Hill. They have a range of different Rittenhouses, I've reviewed a 25yo before here.

I got a couple of bottlings. The standard, reddish label and a single barrel bottled by The Whisky Exchange in London, greenish label.

The first thing that hits me is that the back labels states "Distilled by DSP-354". This is actually the Early Times distillery (owned by Brown-Forman). So Heaven Hill must be distilling their Rye at one of their competitors distilleries. Brown-Forman is the owner of Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve, Old Forrester etc)

Now on to the whiskeys. They are very similar, but not the same

These are sweet fruity ryes, with the typical rye spicyness being well hosted by the sweetness. I get a dominant banana flavour, which for me is typical Rittenhouse. Loads of floor varnish which always hits me in bourbons, the huge new wood impact on the sweet corn I guess. This is a rye, yes, but the mashbill contains a lot of corn, Rittenhouse is reckoned to be close to 51% rye, some barley (10%-ish?) and the rest is corn

The single cask is more fullbodied and rounder and slightly less rough and less woody in its expression. The rye spicyness of the singlebarrel reminds me of classical gin flavours

Finish : More Bananas

Rating 83
Rating 88 (TWE single Barrel)


This just proves that single barrels is something that needs to be explored with bourbon and ryes as I have been doing for years with single malts

Arran Eagle

1. Arran The Golden Eagle 1999 46% bottled 2012

I grew up with with Arran. Whiskywise that is. They started operating just a few years after I got aware of the higherqualities of malt whisky. Since then, I've been following this distillery since it's firsts bottlings. For good and for bad. They made a lot I didn't like, like their finishes or the whisky was simply too young still for my taste. But I don't like finishes in general, nor whisky that is bottled before it should be. The first time I reckoned something worthy came out of Arran was some single cask bottlings bottled a few years, then the magnificient Peacock, followed by the 12yo and the 14yo

The Eagle is the 4th and final of the Icons of Arran, which so far has given us Peacock, Rowan Tree and Westie. They have all been named after animals (or a tree) that has close relations to the Arran Distillery

The Golden Eagle

Nose : Sweet candy mixed with wood spices
Palate : Very complex for its age, a mix of tropical fruits, like peaches, mango and pineapple topped with candies, with plenty of sweet vanillaed wood spices. There is also a layer of fresh youthness in this whisky which reminds me of earlier Arrans
Finish : Medium

This is a remarkable whisky for two reasons. It has candy like flavours I usually only find in a lot older whiskies. It also has a sense of freshness, like something poured straigh from the cask. It's excellent value for money, and I am sure this, alongside with the Peacock will be a bottle you wished you bought when you sit without one next year!

Rating 86