Oct. 3: Drammers Austin!......
Austin Drammers!
Our next Drammers Austin tasting will be Sunday, Oct. 3rd at 7pm. We always pride ourselves on having rare bottles, but this time we've really outdone ourselves -- we're coming hot off visits to both Islay in Scotland and to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, so we've got a bunch of fun festival-only and distillery-only exclusives! Check out this lineup...
Very Old St Nick - Curia - Kentucky Bourbon Fest Exclusive. We'll be coming to Seattle straight from the Kentucky Bourbon Fest, and we've got some fun bottles in tow to share. The team at Preservation (behind Very Old St Nick and Rare Perfection) released this bottle exclusively at the fest. It's a bourbon bottled at 47.6% abv, and since it was released under the Very Olde St. Nick line, you know it's not a young whiskey. I'll try to find out more before we get there, but this is definitely a one-off-shot to pick this up.
Maker's Mark 2021 - KY Bourbon Fest Release. Another exclusive bottling to the festival, this time a cask strength Maker's Mark released in conjunction with retail legend Justin's House of Bourbon. They list the stave types included in the custom release, which include 4 seared French cuvee staves, and 3 roasted French Mendiant staves, 54.45% abv.
Lagavulin 2020 Feis Ile Bottling. In a normal year, people can only get this bottle if they travel to Islay in May for the big annual Feis Ile, and camp out overnight for one of the mere 6,000 bottles that are released (keep in mind that over 10,000 people come to Islay for the fest). But with covid making the fest virtual in 2020 and 2021, we were able to scoop up a bottle just a few weeks ago by being among the first tourists to come to the Island after they reopened! This is bottle 1,924, aged 20 years., a blend of refill and PX hogheads (Colin Gordon selected them when he was the Distillery Manager there before changing jobs to be the distillery manager at Ardbeg a few months ago, and we had the pleasure of visiting with him for 30 minutes while we were out there (there's a video of it up on our website).
Compass Box - Myths and Legends II. A blend of malt whiskies of different ages from the same Speyside distillery. It was released as part of a trilogy of limited releases designed to show that process matters more than provenance. Reportedly has aromas of tropical fruits and butterscotch and a spicy palate. 46% abv.
Bardstown Bourbon Co. - Distilley Exclusive Collection - Triple Stave Finish. Released to coincide with the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, this special release was only available at the distillery when we picked it up a few days ago and is almost certainly now sold out. It is a blend of straight whiskies finished with oak staves. 54.% abv.
2 Expressions of Buzzard's Roost Rye. Bourbon Bistro was arguably the first major whiskey bar in Louisville, a game changer that was way ahead of its time, and today it is rightly celebrated as one of the powerhouse drivers of bourbon culture in Kentucky. So it was particularly exciting to learn on our recent trip that they have launched their own line of of whiskies - Buzzard's Roost! We'll be trying two of them this evening -- a straight rye in a peated barrel (!), bottled at a delicious 52.5% abv (batch 1), and another straight rye in a toasted barrel, also bottled at 52.5% abv (batch 2). These releases were limited to 800 and 1100 bottles respectively, and our understanding is that they are really not available outside of Louisville or maybe one other nearby market. We've tasted them, and we're really excited about them.
That's our lineup! And you never know with us, we often show up with a bonus surprise or two for those who arrive early. We hope you can join us! We’ll also provide yummy pizza as usual. A huge thank you to Dan Salter and Richard Dodson for organizing!
Of course, we're only getting started here in Austin, and looking to continue to grow our chapter, so if you know anyone you think might be a good fit for the club, please feel free to invite them to join us.
Cheers,
Charlie
FORMAT: In person tasting
WHEN: Sunday, October 3rd, 7pm
WHERE: 11405 Madrid Drive, Austin 78759
PRICE: $40/person for Drammers Members or $50/person for Drammers Observers