One Brand to Rule Them All

[Dave Grubb]

I'm relieved!

[Sandman]

For my B-Day yesterday my buddy bought me a bottle of Glenlivet Nadurra.... Now that's good stuff!!

Scotch is aged in used Sherry Barrels.. when you have an opportunity, taste Spanish Fino Sherry from Jerez de la Fronriera.. you will taste where Scotch gets the barrel taste..

But be warned .. have clean hands.. the Fino Sherry is so dry that you will have to pry your tongue off of the roof of your mouth..

[Sandman]

Try some Rye. Templeton or Bullelit. Templeton is the more expensive of the two, I generally go with Bulleit. Old Overholt is good, too. Do go messing it up with Coke or 7-up though. I like it with a touch of water and ice.

The coke or 7Up is for bottom shelf and blended.. not the good stuff..

JTS Brown is $16.99 a handle.. bottom shelf..

[Kevin]

Scotch is aged in used Sherry Barrels.. when you have an opportunity, taste Spanish Fino Sherry from Jerez de la Fronriera.. you will taste where Scotch gets the barrel taste..

But be warned .. have clean hands.. the Fino Sherry is so dry that you will have to pry your tongue off of the roof of your mouth..

I very much enjoy sherry and port but some of the prices on that stuff - sheesh!!

[Mike]

I recently decided to try Hennessy Very Special cognac. The jury is still out, but it is a nice sip.

[Kevin]

Hennessy is mighty good, but at my favored store, has anti-theft electronic devices on the bottle. Apparently, it is the most stolen brand in the store. I guess if you are going to steal, steal the good stuff. Cognac is my preferred drink. I like smelling the wine in it.

Bourbon drinkers might enjoy Tyrconnell Single Malt. It is an Irish Whiskey aged in ex-bourbon barrels. They do odd things with their products, such as aging them in madeira barrels, sherry barrels, etc. Their Single Malt is light and sweet.

[Honda]

Before I stopped drinking back in the fall Jim Beam black was my bourbon of choice I never found anything that I liked better.

[Sandman]

I very much enjoy sherry and port but some of the prices on that stuff - sheesh!!

Remember.. I’m talking Fino Sherry.. not Cream Sherry that the The Brits introduced us to..

The Sherry capital of the world is out the back gate of Naval Station Rota Spain.. Jerez de la Frontiera.. Jerez is sometimes spelled Xerez .. locals pronounce it “Hair-eth”.. Brits pronounced it Sherry..

Brandy and whiskey are produced in the same manner.. Brandy uses fruit, whiskey uses grain.. I did sound and projection at a Brandy tasting in the Smithsonian Castle.. the paying audience raved.. I “didn’t get it”.. the tasting was wasted on me..

https://catoctincreekdistilling.com/products

[Mike]

...... Apparently, it is the most stolen brand in the store. I guess if you are going to steal, steal the good stuff...

The Houston area has a liquor store chain named "Specs". It is a huge chain and they have huge stores Think Lowes or Home Depot type stores only with sprits. When I decided I wanted to try Hennessy, I couldn't find it in the store. I asked a clerk and was told it was behind the counter at the customer service desk. That surprised me because they have much more expensive bottles sitting on shelves just waiting to be stolen.

[Dave Grubb]

First---happy birthday Bo

Now---onto the aging of Scotch.

All bonded Bourbon (which can only me made in specified counties in the US---by law):

Bottled in bond is a label for an American-made distilled beverage that has been aged and bottled according to a set of legal regulations contained in the United States government's Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits,[1] as originally laid out in the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. As a reaction to widespread adulteration in American whiskey, the act made the federal government the guarantor of a spirit's authenticity, gave producers a tax incentive for participating, and helped ensure proper accounting and the eventual collection of the tax that was due. Although the regulations apply to all spirits, most bonded spirits are whiskeys in practice.

To be labeled as bottled-in-bond or bonded, the liquor must be the product of one distillation season (January–June or July–December) by one distiller at one distillery. It must have been 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 where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled.[2][3] Only spirits produced in the United States may be designated as bonded.

Some consumers consider the term to be an endorsement of quality, while many producers consider it archaic and do not use it.[3] However, because bottled-in-bond whiskey must be the product of one distillation season, one distillery, and one distiller – whereas ordinary straight whiskey may be a product of the mingling of straight whiskeys (of the same grain type) with differing ages and producers within a single state – it may be regarded as a better indication of the distiller's skill, making it similar in concept to a single malt whisky, small batch whiskey, or single barrel whiskey.

....and all others who want to be bourbon are aged in NEW charred oak casks. Actually, the most focused of producers select barrels made with oak from very specific regions---not all oaks are the same and they impart different flavor. The fact that these barrels can only be used once has created a major secondary market for the producers who sell them to the Scotch makers:

To be called “scotch” of course, the liquid has to have been distilled and aged in Scotland. But it also must be made with a fermented mixture that includes water and malted barley and has to have been aged for at least three years (although no distillery in its right mind would bottle a whisky so young) in oaken barrels that are no larger than 700 liters (185 gallons).

While the distillate’s components have a definite influence on a whisky’s character, it is the barrels in which the spirits are aged that have the most dramatic effect on the finished product’s color and taste. For years, American oak ex-bourbon barrels and European oak sherry casks have been the norm for aging Scotch whiskies. But now for the first time, the regulatory whisky-maturing door has been opened wider, for the SWA has just approved the aging—not just the finishing—of single malts in a wider selection of oak, including barrels previously used for maturing spirits such as tequila, mezcal, cachaça, baijiu and shochu, to name but a few. In time, this may introduce a whole new spectrum of single malt whisky flavors. Traditionalists are of course alarmed, and the new vanguard intrigued, as are more than a few master blenders and distillers.

If you like read more here.

[Kevin]

Think of the heart attack these traditionalists are going to have over one day old Scotch.

I remember back in the 1970s when compound bows came out. Traditionalists shot recurves with all their quirks and difficulties. One generation later, recurves are for a very small segment of the hunting population. Cheap and easy beats tradition each time.

[Dave Grubb]

Look at the business model of producing a product that then has to lay in your inventory for years before it can come to market---compared to one who can go to market tomorrow

That wait stiffles new comers and all but the very highly capitalized from coming into the market---good if you have a warehouse full of aging product--but even there to fund an expansion limits your ROI to, at minimum, 7 years---that is bad business in anyone's book

I frankly know of no bank in this country, that will line up for that kind of return, that isn't an investment it is a hope chest.

[TriGuy]

Buffalo Trace Distillery KY. Bourbon Barrels from whence my bottles of Blanton's Bourbon originated

[Dave Grubb]

The art of aging.

There seems to be as much controversy in the process of aging than in the length of aging. Some move their barrels up and down in their aging barns that are subject to ambient temperatures--others control temperature. One thing that seems to have some agreement is that after 12 years of aging the quality begins to fall and the tendency is to become bitter.

[Sandman]

Just stumbled on an old article on the subject

https://www.whiskyadvocate.com/diffe...gp-distillery/