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Fellow Drammers!
We're very excited for our second meeting of our new Drammers Club Portland Chapter this Thursday, March 12th at 7pm! In any case, once again we've got an incredible lineup of whisky for this week's meeting. Fair warning, when it comes to whisky we get a little extra nerdy, so these are absurdly long descriptions -- our feelings will not be hurt if you skip them, ha. On to the whisky -- drumroll please....
- Invergordon Single Grain Scotch, Aged for 45 Years -
Obviously any scotch that is aged for 45 years demands our immediate attention, but here it's important to note this is single grain scotch, not its far more famous cousin single malt scotch. A 45yo single malt scotch, made from 100% malted barley, would cost many thousands of dollars per bottle, but single grain scotches, even super old and heralded ones like this, continue to skate under radar. Although the name confuses some people, single grain scotches can actually include multiple grains in the mashbill (the "Single" refers to it having been made at a single distillery, as opposed to a blend of different distilleries, which is what most single grain distillate is made for). That mashbill often in the past included corn, btw, so in some way this category straddles between what is typically thought of as "scotch" and bourbon. In any case, it is extremely rare to find anything aged this long, and as the evaporation took effect year after year, the flavor just became more concentrated and more and more tasty. This is a rare chance to try this and promises to be one to remember.
- Ardbeg 19yo "Traigh Bhan" Islay Single Malt Scotch -
Next up IS a single malt, and no doubt an intense one at that. Although many argue with good reason that the famous regions of Scotland (Highland, Speyside, etc.) are purely marketing terms that signify nothing in terms of flavor and should be ignored, if any region was (imperfectly) a signal of something, it might be "Islay", known for having the peatiest, smokiest scotches around (helped in no small part by the fact that Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Bruichladdich are all there). A few things to note here -- first, the annual "Feis Ile" (transation: "Islay Festival") of scotch is coming up in May and a small group of our members are going, mostly from our NYC, LA and Tel Aviv chapters. While it is very nearly too late to join, it is not impossible to join. Now is also probably a good time to mention that as a member of our Charlotte chapter, you're welcome to attend any of our meetings around the world (for example, earlier this week on March 10th in NYC, we're hosting Ardbeg's global brand ambassador -- one of the most famous names in whisky -- David Blackmore, along with their new national Ardbeg director Cameron George). In any case, this Ardbeg is a special release, in part because it's the first to carry an age statement in nearly 20 years. Matured in ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 46.2% abv.
- Laphroaig 13yo "Chieftain's" Bottling - Sherry Butt Cask Strength -
Continuing our pre-Feis Ile prep (about 10 of us are planning to go to the Islay festival in Scotland in May!), we'll be tasting another Islay bottling from the distillery that is beloved by many as the smokiest of all the major scotches (they also malt some of their own barley!). Unlike the Ardbeg bottle, which was released by the distillery, this Laphroaig was sold to a so-called "independent bottler" who released it under their own label (hence "Chieftain"). That used to be common, but Laphroaig has stopped selling their casks, full stop, so these are increasingly rare (and the prices are going bonkers for anything, let alone one released at cask strength and aged in a sherry barrel). The reviews on this one have been outstanding. And again, it's worth noting that we're in discussions to host their master ambassador Simon Brooking at our NYC chapter on April 14. Ok, now on to the American whiskies...
- Westland - Drammers Exclusive Cask #3240 -
This would be called a scotch if it was made in Scotland (it is 100% malted barley) but since this was made in America, it is known instead as an American Single Malt. The key here is that Westland used to run a private cask program, but (like Laphroaig as per above) they have stopped selling private casks altogether, in their case deciding to shut it down for at least 5 years. Luckily we have a great relationship with them, having hosted their master distiller in the past, so when we heard they were shutting down their private cask program we jumped into action, and we're very proud to say that our club secured the last two casks sold under their private cask program. One is heavily peated, one is lightly peated, and only Drammers members have access to it (through our website, and we'll try to bring a few along with us to the meeting if anyone wants any). At this month's tasting we'll be trying the more heavily peated of our two casks. This one ages for 42 months in a first-fill ex-bourbon cask, and yielded 204 bottles at a whopping 60.2% abv.
- Medley Bourbon - Drammers Exclusive Selection (NY Pick) -
Like the Westland bottle, this is exclusively available to Drammers members. Medley is a storied name in the bourbon business going back centuries, and recently resurrected by our friend Sam Medley and his father, who worked for decades at many of the most famous bourbon distilleries. Last year, they decided to set aside their 25 best barrels (out of thousands) that had matured for 8 years to be made available only to select whiskey clubs, and we were very proud to be selected for NYC, Los Angeles and Denver. Each chapter got together with Sam, tasted a bunch of special barrels, and took a vote to pick a favorite, this is the NY pick, which was bottled completely unfiltered and at cask strength (124.28 proof!). It is delicious neat, and opens up beautifully with a few drops of water. Btw, in future meetings we'll be having more bourbon in the lineup -- didn't want you to think this lineup reflected a preference bourbon, in fact we're planning a field trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September which you're all invited to join!
- Baltimore Spirits Co. "Epoch" - Maryland Rye -
Maryland used to be one of the most important centers of whiskey production in the United States, with over 40 distilleries making their signature "Maryland rye" (usually a majority rye mashbill, but with other grains too, so a somewhat smoother taste than the "Pennsylvania rye" that was also popular back then and was 100% rye in the mashbill). Well, after WWII, rye wasn't cool any more, so much so that not a single one of the distilleries reopened, sadly. We were honored to host the founder/CEO of Baltimore Spirits Co. at the kickoff of our Baltimore chapter last week, and this, their take on the Maryland Rye whiskey, really stood out. It is in such demand, it is nearly impossible to find except at the distillery itself (it's available at a few stores in the DC/Maryland area, but sells out within hours of a new batch hitting the shelves). Very tasty stuff.
- Milk & Honey "Whisky in Bloom" Young Single Malt - Lightly Peated -
Now let's take a quick detour to one of our favorite world whiskies -- the Milk & Honey distillery in Tel Aviv, Israel. We are enormous fans of this distillery, and in fact their head distiller Tomer very generously brought their entire team to our kickoff meeting in Tel Aviv over a year ago. Well, they've finally entered the US market just in the last few months, and in fact our good friends at Impex imported them! Very happy to see these starting to hit the shelves, including this lightly peated distillate (like the Westland bottle below, if this was made in Scotland, it would be called a single malt scotch, having been distilled from 100% malted barley). It will be interesting to see what you think of this whisky (which matures at a much faster rate since the climate is so much warmer in Tel Aviv) in comparison to the much peatier scotches maturing at a slower climate. Suffice it to say you'll never see a 45yo Israeli whisky -- everything would have evaporated from the barrel long before absent effectively air conditioning it, ha. Note that we'll be hosting their CEO at our NYC chapter on April 1st and we're planning to pick a private barrel just for Drammers members with our Tel Aviv chapter later in April.
- Capon Espadin Rezpiral Mezcal - Drammers Exclusive Selection -
While we certainly mostly drink whisky at Drammers Club, we're open to trying any spirit that demands attention, and we love mezcal in particular, organizing an annual trip down to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead each October (which we've done for the last 3 years). In that time, we've met tons of great mezcaleros, and invited some of them to come speak at our club (we hosted the maestro mezcalero behind Noble Coyote mezcal last week actually). This brand, Rezpiral, really got our attention, and we've had several of our members go to Oaxaca to volunteer for their rare agave fields, which they give (as in for free) to family-owned mezcaleros and then buy back the mezcal at market prices in an effort to support these independent producers, many of whom are the best in Mexico. When they came to present at our NYC chapter a year ago, this particular product stood out as our favorite, so we arranged for a Drammers-exclusive batch. We'll explain the process in more detail at the meeting, but it is a difficult process that results in an extra-sweet agave, and we had it rested in glass for over 6 months (also unusual) resulting in something truly special.
That's our lineup, and one helluva lineup if we do say so ourselves! We hope you can join, please be sure to RSVP (www.drammers.com or charlie@drammersclub.com).
Best regards,
Chris, Charlie and Drammers Club!