WHISKY!!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

$125 now!

fuck me, around 2000 it was still selling for $53

[bradm]

Tonight, I poured the last around-an-ounce-left of the half bottle of the 1968 Bruichladdich Cask Strength (52.6% alcohol/volume) I had left, a Gordon & MacPhail bottling I bought at a whisky shop in a shopping mall in Edinburgh, on a week's vacation there after a business trip to the UK. It burns like fire going down, like the bizarre love child of a VSOP cognac and nicely harsh Isaly whisky.

Aloha,

Brad

[Thorgnor]

livet for me

fiddich isn't nearly as smooth, IMO

2nded

[Schwa.]

...and Bourbon Wednesday was born. This stuff is delicious. did a shot to start it off and it went down super smooth.

32$ for a 26oz'r.

highly recommend.

[bradm]

...and Bourbon Wednesday was born. This stuff is delicious. did a shot to start it off and it went down super smooth.

32$ for a 26oz'r.

highly recommend.

Recommendation seconded. Thanks, Schwa. This stuff is really nice, with a kind of sharp (peppery?) taste to it, and it imparts a really warm glow when you drink it.

Aloha,

Brad

[bradm]

On the advice of my brother, I picked up a bottle of the 8-year-old Dun Bheagan Islay (LCBO product code 576397). It's really good, maybe not as rich and balanced as, say, Lagavulin, but it's only $50/bottle, whereas Lagavulin is $125/bottle.

I've had it a few more times now, and really like it. I may start to keep it on hand as my default Islay. It has a really strong medicinal quality to it, backed up with and balanced by just enough smoke.

Aloha,

Brad

[bradm]

Does anyone have any recently-found good whiskies at the LCBO? I've got a $50 Christmas gift card to cash in, and I'm thinking about a bottle of the Balvenie Double Wood (which is over $50 by about $10, but who cares), but I'm open to recommendations.

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

love the Balvenie, fave at the "cheapish" price point

[arcane]

Balvenie is definitely a good value.

[SolarGarlic]

Ive heard Amrut Single Malt is pretty good. It's an Indian made Whisky and I believe in that price range.

I haven't had it but thought I'd toss something different out there...

[Davey Boy 2.0]

...and Bourbon Wednesday was born. This stuff is delicious. did a shot to start it off and it went down super smooth.

32$ for a 26oz'r.

highly recommend.

sound. tippling a bit back now, lovely

[Esau.]

Wisers Small Batch has been the choice around here lately.

http://www.artofdrink.com/spirits.php?name=Wisers+Small+Batch

[Schwa.]

Wisers Small Batch has been the choice around here lately.

http://www.artofdrink.com/spirits.php?name=Wisers+Small+Batch

Good Stuff!!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

A British scientist is developing a drink that he claims will give a similar kick to spirits but without the harmful effects, Maurice Chittenden writes for The Sunday Times of London. "The small liquid shot would give the same lift as a few drinks after work.

But those enjoying its benefits could then take an antidote before driving home. There would be no hangover and no damage to the liver.

David Nutt, chairman of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he was dismissed last year, is developing his synthetic alcohol at Imperial College London. He says the 'Nutt slammer' could be on the market by the end of 2012 if money is available for clinical trials."

[Davey Boy 2.0]

G&M:

It seems logical enough. If Canadian whisky is supposed to be a reflection of Canadian raw ingredients and skill, why not age the stuff in barrels made from Canadian oak? Though few people know or perhaps care, virtually all Canadian whisky is aged in barrels made of wood from U.S. forests. The reason: supply.

Most forests responsible for the main species used in whisky aging, quercus alba, or white oak, lie south of the border, in Minnesota and the eastern and southern states, most notably Kentucky and Missouri.

That's where wood for U.S. bourbon and big-brand Canadian whisky tends to be sourced.

But the species also grows in pockets of Southern Ontario, a fact that gnawed on independent Canadian distiller John Hall of Forty Creek whisky fame. He had for years wondered whether our cooler-climate, slower-growing - and therefore tighter-grained - trees would impart more finesse to the finished product.

Now Canadian whisky is coming home.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Hall began taking online orders for Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve, a new spirit he finished for three years in Canadian oak barrels following a primary maturation in U.S. oak.

The result is sublime. I tasted a barrel sample a couple of weeks ago at Mr. Hall's Grimsby, Ont., headquarters, where the spirit will be bottled for a September release.

It's full-bodied yet deliciously smooth with notes of vanilla, raisin and fig that evolve into a spicy, honey-nut cereal quality.

Mr. Hall, who's lingered over more barrel samples than I, thinks it even carries a note of maple. How's that for Canadian? "I really am very happy the way it has turned out," Mr. Hall said as we savoured glasses in the tasting room at Kittling Ridge, a Niagara winery he also owns and which shares space with his expansive Forty Creek distilling operations. "I don't know what is going to happen when the whisky tasters compare it to others. It's just very unique." Mr. Hall made about 16,000 bottles of Confederation Oak Reserve ($69.95), which, like his other excellent whiskies, is distilled from all three main whisky grains: corn, rye and barley. Most will be sold through his website (FortyCreekWhisky.com) and distillery boutique, with the balance made available later this year through LCBO stores in Ontario. Each bottle will carry a number, so customers can reserve a bottle to match a birthday or anniversary.

Oak is a key flavour component in whisky, arguably more influential than the base grain from which it's distilled. As the spirit matures (for a minimum of three years in the case of most fine whiskies, but usually much longer), it draws out colour, texture and flavour through the pores, imparting nuances that can range from vanilla to coconut to buttery sweetness. Barrels also can be charred to various degrees, lending a toasty quality. And chemical changes can alter flavour, turning, for example, harsh acids into fruitiness.

There are three main oak species used in making whisky and wine, quercus alba and two species native to Europe, quercus petraea and quercus robur. Oak is the preferred wood for both whisky and wine because of its physical strength and purity. It contains none of the harsh resins that can that impart off flavours.

Mr. Hall's excellent Canadian oak adventure began with a few giant trees he discovered in Brant County, 60 kilometres from the Niagara distillery. At 3.3 metres in diameter, they were slated to be chopped down because of their old age, estimated at about 150 years. That meant they started life in or around 1867, hence Mr. Hall's patriotic whisky name, Confederation Oak.

In contrast, fully grown oak trees in the southern United States take just 60 to 80 years to reach full maturity, the product of a warmer climate that accelerates growth. The result is a trunk with wider grains and lower levels of astringent tannins but a more assertive flavour - more coconut and sweetness than the subtler vanilla and nutmeg-like spiciness of slower-growth oak.

Lovers of fine Bordeaux and Burgundy wines may appreciate the subtleties of Canadian oak. That's because French oak trees, the choice of most premium-wine producers, grow just as slowly in France's cool climate, reaching roughly 150 years before harvest. (That said, some wineries do rely on American oak for aging robust wines that can harmonize with the bolder profile of the U.S. wood.) As it turns out, Confederation Oak Reserve isn't entirely Canadian. The barrels were made south of the border. Big domestic-whisky brands, such as Seagram, once produced barrels in Canada from U.S. oak, but no more. So Mr. Hall consulted with a fledgling Niagara company, Canadian Oak Barrels Inc. of St. George, Ont., which recently began supplying a few domestic wineries such as Lailey Vineyard of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., with barrels made from Canadian wood that's dried here but is sent to a Missouri cooperage for manufacture.

"I'd be embarrassed to say what the barrels ended up costing," Mr. Hall said with a smile. Here's a hint: While French oak reigns supreme at about $950 for a new, 225-litre barrel, double the cost of its U.S.-oak counterpart, "Canadian is in the middle, but slightly higher now because of the dollar," said Matt Roberts, sales representative for Canadian Oak Barrels, which has even sold barrels to foreign wineries.

There's also some American flavour in Confederation Oak Reserve.

As with his other Forty Creek whiskies, Mr. Hall matured the individual corn, rye and barley components in U.S. oak for six to 10 years.

The components were then blended into a single batch and left to harmonize in the Canadian barrels for three years.

Why not use Canadian oak exclusively? It's a stylistic preference as well as a cost issue, Mr. Hall said. "It brings my whisky to a point where I can then use the real valuable barrels like a Canadian white oak barrel for the finishing, to give it all the nuances it needs." Still, I wouldn't mind sampling an all-Canadian Forty Creek whisky.

I may even be prepared to pay more than $69.95 for the pleasure.

[bagochips]

DE lish!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

BEPPI CROSARIOL decanter@globeandmail.com Literary quiz time. Who penned the following? "O Whisky! Soul o' plays and pranks! Accept a bardie's gratfu' thanks! / When wanting thee, what tuneless cranks / Are my poor verses!" If you failed to guess Robert Burns (from the ode titled Scotch Drink ), it may be time to get thine self into a remedial poetry class. Whisky was the Scottish national bard's muse, of course.

It was also likely a complicating factor in his premature death at age 37.

I regret that Burns, whose Jan. 25 birth 252 years ago will be honoured by kilt-wearing, haggis-swallowing bravehearts at ceremonial Burns' Suppers around the country this Tuesday, never got to savour what most of us would call the good stuff. By 2011 standards, the general quality of Scotch in the 18th century was frightful. Heavy taxes kept the industry under ground, with bootleg moonshine the order of the day.

More surprising to many connoisseurs, perhaps, is the fact that much of the stuff looked and tasted unlike what we now call whisky.

Years of wood-cask mellowing, which gives today's Scotch its amber hue and most of its flavour, became the norm only in the 19th century.

Many Burns-era Scots sipped their clear, colourless drams fresh, sometimes even warm from the still. Russians and Eastern Europeans might have identified most of that "Scotch" by another name: vodka.

These days, there are fine whiskies from such unlikely places as Japan, India and Canada that, in spirit though not in international trade law, merit the name Scotch - certainly as much as any liquid that Burns imbibed.

Japanese Scotch? It's better than it sounds. Wish I could say the same of haggis.

Here are some favourites of the recent and forthcoming releases of limited-quantity, premium whiskies (all prices Ontario).

Lagavulin Aged 12 Years Single Malt, Scotland SCORE: 95 PRICE: $110.50 Bottled at 57.9-per-cent alcohol, the younger sibling of the classic 16-year-old Lagavulin offers less smoke on the palate but just as much complexity. I would argue it shows even better harmony.

The high alcohol percentage carries the flavours well without the overbearing heat. It reminds me of an unsupervised children's science experiment gone awry: Cheerios in a blender with liquid smoke, sea water, toffee, vanilla and a couple of Band-Aids.

Only in this case it all tastes very right.

Bowmore Tempest No. 2 Aged 10 Years Single Malt, Scotland SCORE: 94 PRICE: $73.95 Weighing in at a cask-strength 56-per-cent alcohol, this is the linebacker of Bowmores. It's powerful but seamless, with well-integrated smoke and salty tang wafting across flavours of cereal, citrus, caramel and spice. Just 2,000 cases were made of this second small-batch release from the distillery, and it's a bargain here: in Britain it sells for about 50 pounds and the suggested U.S. retail is $100.

Nikka Whisky Single Malt Yoichi 10 Years Old, Japan SCORE: 93 PRICE: $110 Starts out punchy, with a strong left hook of spice, then delivers fruit, grain and smoke in equal measures, with a waft of iodine and sea breeze in a moderate, Bowmore-like Islay style. Whisky magazine ranked it Whisky of the Year in 2002.

Amrut Fusion Single Malt, India SCORE: 91 PRICE: $68 Distilled in India from Indian and Scottish barleys, Amrut is well-rounded with a satisfying balance of flavours, which hint at barley, creamy vanilla, fruit, smoke and spice. It controls its 50-per-cent alcohol well. Amazing fact: Jim Murray, London-based author of the Whisky Bible , ranked it No. 3 in the world for 2010, with a score of 97 out of 100. In spirits circles, that's a coup for India on a par with the Slumdog Oscar. My quibble: The flavours appear on stage at the same time; I'd prefer some plot twists and more of a dramatic arc.

Benromach 10 Years Old Single Malt, Scotland SCORE: 91 PRICE: $74.95 Big on grain and savoury character, mostly malted barley, grass and smoke. I expected more fruit notes from this whisky, which spent a year in casks that had formerly contained Sherry - after an initial nine years in the standard ex-Bourbon casks used for Scotch. The Sherry wood delivers a deliciously nutty nuance.

Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve, Ontario SCORE: 90 PRICE: $69.95 Independent distiller John Hall has been producing some of this country's finest whiskies from a location in Niagara, where he also makes Kittling Ridge wines. Distilled from corn, rye and barley, and initially matured in U.S. oak, the spirit was finished for three years in barrels made from Canadian oak sourced 60 kilometres from the distillery. Full-bodied and smooth, with notes of vanilla, raisin, fig, spice and honey-nut cereal.

The Famous Grouse Gold Reserve Aged 12 Years, Scotland SCORE: 90 PRICE: $39.95 A premium edition of the popular and very good blend, this Famous Grouse is malty and rich, with an essence of dried fruit, then a kick of spice followed by grain, building complexity before turning soft and smooth on the finish. Great value.

The Spice Tree Malt Scotch Whisky, Scotland SCORE: 89 PRICE: $67.25 From Compass Box distillery, this spirit shows a fat underbelly of dried citrus, apricot and malt, with a cream texture that turns tangy and spicy on the finish.

Glen Breton Rare Aged 10 Years, Nova Scotia SCORE: 87 PRICE: $90.05 The only single malt produced in Canada, by Glenora Distillery in Cape Breton. Made entirely from barley, it delivers the essence of single malt Scotch, but there's quirky character to it, a sort of honeyed-apple flavour.

The toasted-wood essence could do with some tighter integration into the main flavours, but I like the creamy texture and peaty note in this medium-bodied effort.

[Ms.Huxtable]

Scotch Whiskey in a Can

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Danger!

[bradm]

In logistically amazing lieu of me having to lug a bottle from Toronto back to Ottawa after Christmas, my brother gave me an LCBO give card.

Merry Christmas, Redeemed:

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

that's got Islay written all over it

I found 5/6 full bottle of Bowmore at the back of the liquor pantry the other day– better than finding money in pants, I'll tell you what

[bradm]

It's completely Islay, but more down the thin end of the scale, like Port Ellen, than a heavier one like Lagavulin.

Aloha,

Brad

[bradm]

I saw

Canadian Club "Sherry Cask" in the LCBO today. Has anyone tried it?

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/wine/beppi-crosariol/canadian-whisky-our-home-and-native-hooch/article2426507/

[Davey Boy 2.0]

just coined a term~

Quisky: a quick whisky

as in "Lesh av a quisky"