Jul. 6: Drammers Barcelona Kickoff!......

Drammers Club is an international whisky and spirits club that meets regularly in 35 cities around the world, and we’re very excited to announce that we’ll be doing our first event in Barcelona on July 6th starting at 7:30pm! The idea is to put together a global community of people who care about whisky, mezcal and other special spirits, and then we’ll get together every 6 weeks or so in Barcelona (in person) to celebrate and taste new spirits. And what better place for us to meet than the great whisky bar La Whiskeria, we can’t thank them enough for hosting us for our kickoff event (address: Carrer De Les Sitges, 3, 08001).For our initial meeting, we’ll be tasting:

• Clynelish Single Malt Scotch, Aged 20 Years, from Thompson Bros. This is a private barrel pick that our Drammers Club did with our friends at Dornoch Castle / Thompson Bros. independent bottlers. They let us try this unusual bottling of Clynelish aged for 20 years in an ex-bourbon cask (we actually first tried it at 19yo and let it sit for a year). Although they couldn’t put Clynelish on the bottle (it simply says “distilled in Sutherland”), we can say it here, and what’s interesting in particular is that Clynelish’s trademark “waxy” note is much more muted here, giving a rare opportunity to let the other house flavors of Clynelish shine through. Bottled at 50% abv.

• Highland Park, Single Malt Scotch, Aged 13 Years, Private Cask. Next, we’ll try another Drammers Club barrel pick, this time from our friends at Highland Park, and we’re very proud to say it’s the first time Highland Park ever agreed to sell a barrel to a whisky club in the Americas, an incredible honor for us. During covid, our members in the USA got together online and voted to select this particular barrel. It is aged all 13 years in a first-fill European oak sherry cask (as opposed to simply being “finished” in one for 3 months at the end of its maturation process). Today of course the overwhelming majority of Scotch is aged in ex-bourbon casks, so seeing a Highland Park bottling aged in European oak allows more of the spices and dried fruits to shine through, especially towards the end of the palate. And of course the sherry shows up loud and proud here, you won’t have trouble finding that. Btw, bottled at 63.9% abv!

• Caol Ila, Single Malt Scotch, Aged 11 Years, “Rambler” bottling. Our club hosted an event in Warsaw last weekend, where one of our members presented a series of bottles he had been involved with bottling for the Polish market, all of which likely have never before been tasted in Barcelona, and we’ll be tasting 4 of them this evening. First up, we’ve got a bottling from the Caol Ila distillery on Isla, known of course for their especially peaty and smoky scotches. This one was aged 11 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead. 1 of 243 bottles released. 58.1% abv.

• Mannochmore, Single Malt Scotch, Aged 12 Years, “Rambler” bottling. Another release in the same series, this time a very rare chance to try a bottling from the elusive Mannochmore distillery. Our Club has been doing tastings regularly for over 13 years, often multiple tastings a week, and I don’t think we’ve ever opened a Mannochmore bottle before. It is owned by Diageo, and no doubt most of what it makes goes in to their blends. 1 of 270 bottles, 57.6% abv.

• Benromach Single Malt Scotch, Aged 10 Years, Single Barrel. Next we’ll try a pair of bottles selected by our friends at The Gentleman’s Lodge, a whisky club that has overlapping members with our Warsaw chapter in Poland. This is a Speyside Single Malt Scotch, distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2018, matured in a first-fill bourbon cask, one of 226 bottles released. 59.8% abv.

• Craigellachie, Single Malt Scotch, Aged 10 Years, Single Barrel. Another selection from our friends at The Gentleman’s Lodge, this one from the celebrated Craigellachie distillery, distilled in 2007, aged for 10 years and bottled at 52.1% abv, 1 of 252 bottles released.

• Don Mateo Mezcal - Cupreata Agave. Last, but certainly far from least, we’ll switch things up and try a special mezcal. Although we mostly focus on whisky here at Drammers Club, we also like to try other special spirits, especially when it comes to mezcal. One of the members of our Berlin chapter is from Mexico City and opened the first true tortilleria in Berlin (Tortilleria Mexa), where he also sells hand-picked mezcals. His favorite of the bunch is this release, which is special for a couple reasons. Nearly all mezcal you will find commercially today is made in Oaxaca using the most efficient and easy-to-grow of the agave varietals — the espadin agave. But there are many other agave types that produce very different flavors, and (perhaps even more interesting) the terrain where the agaves are produced makes a shockingly big difference on the flavor. That makes this mezcal, which uses cupreat, a wild agave, particularly special, and the fact that it is made in the province of Michoacan is especially rare. 46% abv.

That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us! Although it’s rare, every once in a while a bottle breaks en route to the venue for one reason for another, so it’s always possible the lineup will change (though in that case we’ll likely replace it with something even more rare!). Please feel free to contact us with any questions at charlie@drammersclub.com.