Aug. 10: Drammers San Francisco...
Fellow Drammers!
We're delighted to invite you to our next Drammers San Francisco event, which will be this coming Wednesday at 7pm, and a big thank you to Fatema for hosting us again (address: 111 Chestnut Street, Apt 501, 94111). Details on what we'll be drinking below!
Btw, if you want to mark your calendars, we're planning to do our next 2 Drammers Portland events on Sunday, October 9th and Thursday, December 1st. In any case, we hope you can join us this Wednesday!
Cheers,
Charlie, Fatema, Mayur and Drammers Club
BOTTLE LINEUP:
First up, we have 3 ultra-rare barrels of Mexican Whiskey from Sierra Norte Distillery in Oaxaca Mexico:
Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey - Green Corn Single Barrel. 52.8% abv
Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey - Rainbow Corn Single Barrel. 61.2% abv
Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey - Yellow Corn Single Barrel. 48.3% abv
Sierra Norte made huge waves when their bourbon-style yellow corn whiskey was named by Whiskey Advocate as one of the Top 20 whiskies in the world across all categories, and their master distiller Douglas French has taken that several steps further. Applying what he learned cultivating seed banks in his decades of building the Scorpion Mezcal brand, when he turned his hand to whiskey, he worked to isolate individual corn varietals, planting and refining them over decades to produce separate whiskies distilled using only white corn, or yellow corn, green corn, black corn, purple corn, and more recently red, green and rainbow corn. They’re all made like a bourbon (but in Mexico, so you can’t call it bourbon, which by definition has to be made in the United States). The mashbill is 85% corn, 15% malted barley, distilled on the same small copper pot stills that he uses to make his Scorpion mezcal. When our club visited Oaxaca last October, we picked 3 special single barrels. The first was a mind-altering variant of their award-winning yellow corn whiskey, with huge green pepper/jalapeno notes, very different from his standard release. Next, he let us buy the very first (and to our knowledge still the only) barrel of rainbow corn whiskey that he has ever released. And most precious, he let us buy one of only two barrels of green corn whiskey that he barreled before abandoning the green corn project (it just wasn’t adapting to the Oaxacan environment, so he had to let it go — making our barrel incredibly rare, one of only 2 barrels he ever produced, and he’s not making any more of it).
Clynelish Single Malt Scotch, 10yo, Single Malts of Scotland, Jack Rose Single Barrel, 1 of 213 bottles (cask ref: 800314, d. 17.05.2011, b.13.07.2021), 60.4% abv
Caol Ila Single Malt Scotch, 13yo, Single Malts of Scotland, Jack Rose Single Barrel, sherry hogshead, 1 of 260 bottles, cask ref 313260, d.04.07.2008, b.14.07.2021), 59.4% abv
1792 Full Proof - Drammers Single Barrel (Charlotte Chapter Pick)
1792 Full Proof - Drammers Single Barrel (Boston Chapter Pick)
Our club was given the incredible opportunity to pick 2 barrels of 1792 Full Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon, made at the historic Barton 1792 Distillery, owned by Sazerac (same company that owns Buffalo Trace). These barrels have just arrived to our retail partner yesterday. One barrel was selected by our Charlotte chapter, the other by our Boston chapter. Although I tried something like a 0.5 ounce pour of each, the decision was entirely up to those chapters. Bottled at "Full Proof" of 62.5% abs, they do not carry an age statement and the mash bill is not disclosed, though they are thought to be approximately 8yo (earlier press releases cited 8.5 years of aging) with a mash bill of 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% barley. Fair warning - 8 years plus cask strength = low yields. The Boston barrel only yielded 114 bottles, the Charlotte barrel 162 bottles, and we keep 24 bottles of each to use for club events. That leaves a mere 90 bottles of the Boston barrel and 138 bottles of the Charlotte barrel total for club members. Of course they are available exclusively to Members of Drammers Club, and Members can get these barrel picks here ($69/bottle).
New England Barrel Co. - Drammers Pick (Finished in a Lord Hobo Stout Beer Cask)
Last but not least is another single barrel that our Drammers Boston chapter selected. New England Barrel Co. is an independent bottling company based out of New Hampshire, and it is all the rage in the Northeast, and our Boston members jumped on it early. We welcomed their founder James Saunders as a guest speaker for our kickoff Drammers Boston event, and followed that up by tasting through some of his special releases. When we got wind of this barrel - Kentucky Bourbon sourced from Green River and finished in a Lord Hobo stout beer cask. Our Boston chapter made the way up to the NEBCo offices a few months ago and picked a barrel just for our members, and it is yummy -- like a Milky Way candy bar in a bottle. And it too is hot off the presses, it arrives to our retail partner tomorrow morning, and as I type this I'm on my way there now. Can't wait! Btw, since we selected this barrel, Green River Distillery was acquired by our friends at Bardstown Bourbon Company, so that's definitely a nice vote of confidence!
That's our lineup! We hope you can join us!
Anyone who has been to one of our events can invite friends to join..