Jun. 24 - Drammers Portland......
Hello Portland Drammers!
A quick reminder that our next rare whiskey and spirits tasting is coming up this Saturday, June 24th starting at 5pm. We've got some big bottles that we'll be trying as part of the tasting, including a special bottling we picked up at the recent Campbeltown Malts festival! A big thank you to Chris LaCarrubba for hosting us (address: 3428 SE Salmon St, 97214). We'll order in some light food (likely pizza) which is included, to make sure nobody's drinking on an empty stomach. As always, getting a ride is strongly encouraged. We hope you can join us!
We’ll be tasting through at least 7 different expressions, including:
Longrow 8yo - Open Day Release at the 2023 Campbeltown Malts Festival. This was only available at the distillery for the Campbeltown Malts Festival last month. About 15 of our members made the trip, and we picked up an extra bottle for you to try. Aged 8 years in Oloroso sherry casks. 54.9% abv.
Loch Lomond's Glengarry 12yo. This Drammers single barrel pick just arrived, a 12yo single malt Scotch from the Highlands distillery Loch Lomond. Distilled in 2010, bottled in 2023, unpeated, matured in a 1st fill Bordeaux red wine barrel -- the barrel yielded 281 bottles. 55.0% abv. Of course non-chill filtered and no color added. Cask #21/546-6. Exclusively available to Drammers members.
High West American Prairie Bourbon - Finished in a Rivesaltes fortified wine cask. We're huge fans of this distillery, which is located in Park City, Utah and makes their own whiskey, but also sources whiskey from MGP as they did with this barrel. The High West team prides themselves on their blending skills, which makes single barrels a challenge -- after all, how do you show off blending skills on a single barrel! Their solution is to only release single barrels that are finished in interesting ways, and we were very proud to have the opportunity to select this single barrel finished in a fortified Rivselates wine cask.
High West Double Rye - Finished in a Cognac Cask. Same story as above regarding only releasing single barrels with interesting finishes -- this one is finished in cognac, and I personally find an incredible menthol/mint finish on it, though not everyone does.
Copper & Kings Brandy - Finished in a Tequila Cask. This is another club barrel pick that recently arrived from Copper & Kings distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. They specialize in American brandy and here we've got a single barrel of their grape brandy aged in a tequila cask, bottled at cask strength of 62.5% abv. It’ll be fun to compare this to the grape brandy finished bourbon from Starlight! It is available exclusively to members of our club.
Rezpiral - Simeon Ramirez Mezcal Ensamble of Mexicano Agaves. We had the pleasure of selecting a batch a few years ago that Simeon did with his father Apolonio, that time from a tobasiche agave, which was dominated by vegetal and mineral notes. That pick was a big hit, so we selected a new batch that just arrived -- a mix of 4 varietals of the Mexicano agave, it has a dominant lemon-lime custardy-sorbet flavor, backfilled with vanilla. Yum. Details here, and available exclusively to members of Drammers for $120/bottle, 50.8% abv.
5 Sentidos - Tobala by Tio Pedro. The Maestro Mezcalero behind this mezcal, Tio Pedro, has worked for many top mezcal producers over the years and recently set out on his own, where among other things he produced this small 92 liter batch. This is only just arrived and features wild tobalas he collected and distilled in Oaxaca in June of 2022. He then rested is in glass until December 2022 adjusting with heads and tails to reach the desired flavor and bottled at 47% abv. This batch was selected by our members on our annual trip to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead last year and is available exclusively to members of the club.
That's our lineup! We hope you can join us! As usual, we’ll have light food on hand (likely pizza), which is included. The price is $40/person for Members and $50/person for Drammers Observers and non-members. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Charlie, Chris, John and Drammers Club