Jan. 27: Drammers Portland!.......
Hello Portland Drammers!
We hope everyone is well. We've been back and forth about what to do about our Drammers Portland event planned for this Thursday, January 27th given the covid situation, and decided to proceed with something very small (10ish people, vaccinated only please). The fun will start at 8pm and fellow Drammer Martin Hulth has been nice enough to offer to host (address: 1314 NW Irving Street, Apt 605, Portland, 97209). We've got some great whiskies in tow to share for those who are able to make it (since more of our barrel and batch picks are timed to arrive near the December holidays, we've got more of those to share with you than normal this month, some really unusual and fun stuff). Drumroll please...
Glen Scotia 8yo Unpeated Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch, Single Barrel #740 (Drammers Exclusive). So excited about both of our single barrels, 2 of only 4 private barrels they've allowed out (in the US at least) in the last few years. And the timing is particularly good because Glen Scotia was just named a month ago as Distillery of the Year by the Scotch Whisky Association! We’ve got a fun event coming up with their master distiller Iain McAllister in February, but in the meantime we’ll get a sneak peak of these tonight! 56.1% abv (cask strength)
Glen Scotia 10yo Peated Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch, Drammers Exclusive Single Barrel. 55.6% abv. (see above)
High Country American Single Malt by High West. This is an interesting one -- it's about to be released nationwide, we're told, though we haven't seen it start to land anywhere. We picked it up at the distillery in January 2020, just a few weeks before the pandemic, and it's a significant milestone for the distillery in part because it's made entirely in house (most of what they release is either sourced, like American Prairie, or a blend of whiskey they sourced and made themselves, like Double Rye. This is lot 19L04, 44% abv.
Buzzard's Roost Straight Rye Whiskey, Very Small Batch. We just tasted through the entire line of these whiskies at the launch of our Louisville chapter this past Friday with their founder, and the biggest takeaway is that they're the only American whiskey company we know of that is leaning into a #1 Char. Normally the whiskey community rallies behind heavy char #4s, and nearly everything you hear about features either a #3 or #4 char. You almost never hear of a #2 char, and I've never heard anyone brag about using a #1 char until now. The idea is that by giving the barrel a heavy toast, and then lightly charring the barrel, it lets the big vanilla notes of the toast come through, even at a young age (3 years old in this case). MGP sourced btw, though they're working on building their own distillery. 52.5% abv.
Rabbit Hole - Starlino - Distillery Exclusive. Rye finished in a vermouth cask. Not many folks have tried it (we have a Drammers exclusive single barrel of FEW bourbon aged in vermouth, but not a rye). This experimental release was only available in 375ml bottles if you visited the distillery gift shop, which of course we did when we were in town last weekend. 52.8% abv.
Reina Sanchez Madrecuishe Mezcal from Rezpiral. We had the pleasure of visiting Reina, widely recognized as one of the greatest mezcal producers, and one of only a small handful of women recognized as such, during our recent group trip to Oaxaca this past October. We'll have some great photos and stories to share from her palenque. This is as good as it gets for mezcal, and one of our two newest Drammers exclusive batches. 46.6% abv
Tio Chico Sotol from Rezpiral. This is the other Drammers exclusive batch pick, this time a sotol instead of a mezcal -- typically more associated with the North of Mexico, though this was produced in Oaxaca, where it is known as cucharillo. Tio Chico was widely recognized as the best producer of sotol in the region, and since he sadly passed away this past Summer, his final batches have been heavily sought after, though as chance would have it, we had committed to one of his batches a couple months prior. 45.9% abv
Dakabend 4yo Oaxacan Rum. Produced by the makers of Mezcal Tosba, which is available in the US alongside an unaged Dakabend rum, made from pure cane sugar (as opposed to the more common molasses -- so this arguably more in the "rhum agricole" vein of rums, though the 4 years of barrel aging has rounded the palate our enormously. As an experiment they aged 3 barrels of it 4 years ago, which we stumbled upon when we visited their distillery in October of 2020, and they were kind enough to sell us one. These are the only bottles of this to ever leave their distillery in the Sierra Norte mountains, and even if they start making more now, their won't be any for at least 4 years. Hard to get much rarer than that. 49% abv.
We hope you can join us! We’ll have complimentary food as part of the event as usual (likely pizza).
Cheers,
Charlie, John, Chris and Drammers Club