Apr. 2: Drammers Portland......
Hello Portland Drammers!
We're excited for our next Drammers Portland meeting, which will take place on Saturday, April 2nd at 7pm. John Farinola, the head of our Drammers Portland chapter, has generously agreed to host us again (address: 2505 SW Hillcrest Drive, 97201). As always, anyone who has been to one of our events is welcome to join and to bring friends. We've pulled together a fun lineup, including:
Glenmorangie - The Tribute. LVMH owns both Ardbeg and Glenmorangie, and we tend to think of Ardbeg as peated and Glenmo as unpeated, but that wasn't always true. Historically, Glenmorangie used to peat their barley too, and as a tribute to that, Dr. Bill Lumsden, their Head of Whisky Creation, created a rare lightly peated bottling with a hint of smoke. It's only available at the distillery itself and some travel retail (we found a bottle at the Glasgow airport, and tucked it away to use for this tasting). 43% abv.
Buffalo Trace Bourbon - Single Barrel. Next up, we've got 3 single barrels distilled at the Buffalo Trace distillery, including this one, a single barrel of their core range Buffalo Trace offering, which we selected in person at the Buffalo Trace distillery a few months ago. This will be arriving two days before our event, so you'll be among the first of our members to get to try it. We would have had this bottled at cask strength if we'd been given the change, but sadly Buffalo Trace allows bottlings of their single barrels at 45% abv.
Eagle Rare - Indianapolis Chapter Pick. Next up we've got 10yo bourbon from the same distillery, from their esteemed Eagle Rare line. The members of our Indianapolis chapter were the lucky ones to pick this barrel, and as I write this, I haven't had a chance to taste it yet myself. But our Indy members have been raving about it, and it is arriving in the next week, so we'll have it in hand to taste for this event. 45% abv.
Sazerac Rye - Warsaw Chapter Pick. Next up we’ll try a rye, also distilled at the Buffalo Trace distillery. It uses their core 6yo rye, same recipe as goes into their normal release, but this is a single barrel that our members in Warsaw, Poland selected. Bright confectionary sugar notes on the front end (much more pronounced than their usual release), and if you let it sit for awhile, it gives way to orange marmalade notes that we don’t usually associate with Sazerac Rye. As per Sazerac’s policy on these single barrels, it’s bottled at 45% abv. This barrel sold out quickly, but we set aside a few bottles for tastings like this one.
Paul John Indian Single Malt - US Chapters Pick. This barrel was a long time in coming, selected by our members at an online tasting over a year and a half ago (our Mumbai members also picked a barrel, which hasn't arrived yet, but is coming). This was a very unusual barrel, aged in a 2nd fill ex-bourbon cask, but more importantly aged in their small underground warehouse, which was designed to try to slow down the aging process (the climate in Goa puts so much pressure on the barrel, it normally loses up to 18% of its volume in the first year alone). A rare treat and we're not aware of any other single barrels having been released from their underground warehouse. Cask strength.
Balcones Texas Single Malt - Stout Beer Finish. Next, we'll turn to two Drammers-exclusive bottlings from our friends in Waco, TX, we've done 4 with them overall, and they are all fabulous. Here we've got their American Single Malt finished in a stout beer cask (it was actually then further finished in a rum cask). Absolutely delicious.
Balcones Texas Rum - Single Cask. We're proud to say this is the first-ever single barrel bottling of rum from our friends in Waco. This particular barrel was aged in an ex-Old Forester bourbon cask and bottled at cask strength.
That’s our tentative lineup. We say tentative only because honestly we’ll probably add something to this, and also if an opportunity comes up, either for another fun bottle or even a fun guest speaker, we might shake it up a little bit and make the lineup even better, ha. In any case, we hope you can join us! We’ll have some food on hand as part of the price of the event (likely pizza).
Cheers,
Charlie, John, Chris and Drammers Club
Format: In person tasting
Location: 2505 SW Hillcrest Drive, Portland, OR 97201
Price: $40/person for Drammers Members / $50/person for Drammers Observers and newcomers