Oct. 24: Drammers San Diego...
Hello San Diego Drammers!
You're invited to join us for a tasting of rare whiskies and other spirits on Thursday, Oct. 24th at 7pm. We'll be tasting 8 expressions, a great mix of Scotch, bourbon, rye and more, which you can read more about below. A big thank you to Shubham for hosting (address: 1401 Union St, San Diego, CA 92101). As usual, we’ll order in light food (likely piza, included with your ticket), and as always, arranging a ride home is highly recommended.
Cheers,
Charlie, Stephen, Shubham and Drammers Club
BOTTLE LINEUP:
Russell's Reserve - Drammers Single Barrel Bourbon. Earlier this year, a group of our chapter heads came together at the Wild Turkey Distillery to select this single barrel of Russell's Reserve. The barrel we selected was distilled Oct. 1, 2014, dumped on May 14, 2024 and bottled on June 11, 2024. Barrel #23-0035, aged in Warehouse TY-K, Floor #4, aged 9 years, 7 months, 13 days. Bottled at 55% abv / 110 proof (as many distilleries do these day — instead of cask strength, they pick a number just below cask strength so they don’t have to refile the label with the TTB for each single barrel). The barrel yielded 186 bottles.
Wilderness Trail - Drammers Single Barrel Bourbon. Next up is our single barrel from Wilderness Trail — barrel no 771648, aged 5 years, 3 months, aged in an ISC (Independent Stave Co.) classic #4 barrel, rickhouse E-N25-10-4, Yeast strain FP1. Wilderness Trail as many of you know specializes in wheated bourbon, which is the case here, and they also use a sweet mash process (so they do NOT use backset from prior distillations in subsequent mashes, unlike most distilleries). Drammers had selected a single cask of Wilderness Trail a couple years ago that was accidentally lost by the distillery (they accidentally used it in a small batch blend, ha, which does happen from time to time). So, this is a barrel we’ve been waiting for for a long time now. The barrel yielded 204 bottles.
Loch Lomond - Glengarry Single Malt Scotch 10yo. This is our second single barrel with Loch Lomond Glengarry, this time aged all 10 years in a Sauternes cask. Single malt Scotch from a distillery just barely far enough North to qualify as a Highlands distillery. Our last single cask with them (aged in a Bordeaux cask) was recently named the #1 single cask of Scotch in the world for 2024 at the San Francisco Spirit Awards, and maybe we're biased -- but we think this single cask is just as good, sweet, if a little brighter.
Westward - American Single Malt - Drammers Pick. This distillery is based in Portland, Oregon and is not only our favorite distillery in that city, it's one of the most important American single malt distilleries in the country. Our Portland members selected this single cask, an exceptional version of their flagship, which has huge malty notes. The distillers behind this distillery came from a brewing background, and you can taste that in their whiskies. Bottled at cask strength, as always.
Kilchoman - Islay Single Malt Scotch - Batch Strength. Kilchoman Distillery was the first new distillery on Islay in nearly 100 years when they launched nearly two decades ago. With all their releases over the years, it's a little surprising to learn that this brand new Batch Strength release is just their 3rd "core range" offering, bottled at 57% abv (just slightly below cask strength).
L'Encantada 12yo Armagnac Single Cask. This company exploded on the scene during covid, bringing special single casks of Armagnac to the world at cask strength. Armagnac is of course a grape brandy produced under strict rules in that region of France, and most of it goes into lower-proof blends, making these cask strength release single casks particularly sought-after. At a recently online tasting with their Cellar Master Vincent Cornu, this release emerged as a particularly tasty release of the 6 we tried.
Reina Sanchez - Ensamble Mezcal. Reina Sanchez is one of the reigning queens of mezcal in Oaxaca, and we've been proud to bring in batches of her mezcal for our members. This new ensamble (blend of agaves) is part of Series 7 from our friends at Rezpiral, and it is especially tasty.
Plus one more surprise pour!