Aug. 16: Drammers Oaxaca with Pistola Indian Agave Distillate......

Hello Oaxaca Drammers!

Drammers Club and La Pulquisima are  are delighted to invite you to a special whisky and spirits tasting this coming Tuesday, August 16th starting at 7pm.  We'll be joined over Zoom by the founder of a mezcal-like agave distillate produced in faraway Goa, India.  We met him there during our recent events in Mumbai and Delhi, and when we asked if he'd had a chance to talk to the mezcal community in Oaxaca at all, he said he would be honored to but hadn't yet.  When we mentioned we'd be there soon to host a tasting, he had a bottle sent over which we brought back with us to share at this tasting.  We'll also be tasting an array of fine whiskies, which you can read about below.

Cost:  400 pesos/person (approximately US$20/person)

We hope you can join us!

Cheers,
Drammers Club

Bottle Lineup for Tuesday:

We'll be tasting a wide array of different types of whisky on Tuesday, and our headliner will be an agave distillate being produced in Goa, India. Their founder will be joining us over Zoom to tell us all about it:

• Maya Pistola - 100% Agave (Reposado). This is batch number one, made from Agave Americana (so, to our understanding akin to arroqueno) that is grown and mashed in India, double distilled on a copper pot still. We'll have to confirm with the founder Rakshay, but we believe there is only agave distillery in India. There is at least one other agave distillate brand that we know of in India (Desmondji) which we believe is made at the same place, though with the exception of the state of Goa it is sold as a blend (not 100% agave). This new brand Pistola appears to be taking things to another level, and they appear to be taking their cues initially at least from the tequila space, offering blanco, reposado and anejo expressions. We discussed how aged agave distillates were not as common / popular in Oaxaca and he said he had heard that and wanted to know more. This bottling was released at 40% abv.

We'll also be trying an array of whiskies and other spirits at this tasting, probably including:

• Clynelish Single Malt Scotch, 10yo, Single Malts of Scotland, Jack Rose Single Barrel, 1 of 213 bottles (cask ref: 800314, d. 17.05.2011, b.13.07.2021), 60.4% abv

• Caol Ila Single Malt Scotch, 13yo, Single Malts of Scotland, Jack Rose Single Barrel, sherry hogshead, 1 of 260 bottles, cask ref 313260, d.04.07.2008, b.14.07.2021), 59.4% abv

• Middle West Spirits - Dark Pumpernickel Straight Rye Whiskey. Pretty sure this is the only pumpernickel rye we’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting here at Drammers Club, and it is surprisingly tasty for a 3yo whisky. Distilled in Columbus Ohio. 48% abv, batch #26.

• Hontambere - 39yo Rare Armagnac Collection. Our friends at the Las Vegas Whisky Club selected this rare barrel of armagnac aged 39 years! Distilled in 1983 and bottled at 55.7% abv. The bold fruit notes on this one are unbelievable.

• Copperworks Peated American Single Malt Batch #42. This past Tuesday the members of our Seattle chapter hosted an event at the Copperworks Distillery, where among other things, we had a chance to taste this whisky - a single malt whisky made like a Scotch, but made in the US (thus “American Single Malt”). Turns out this is the first American single malt that uses peat from the USA (just about everyone in the whisky world sources their peated malt from Scotland). And it turns out the US peat tastes very different, much milder, at least in this expression.

We hope you can join us!