Richard’s Blog

Drinking in Charleston

/ / Bourbon, Cocktails, Irish Whiskey, Richard's Blog, Scottish Whisky

One of the best things about Atlanta is how easy it is to get to great vacation destinations from here. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is arguable the busiest in the country and you can fly to almost anywhere from here. Another attraction is the central location in the south. I took advantage of this last weekend and drove over to Charleston, South Carolina with my wife and friends, Sam and Sandra.

My wife’s mother is from Charleston and our friends have been there many times, however it was my first visit. Charleston is a wonderful old southern town. It’s beautiful. The people are friendly. There are plenty of great things to see, do, and eat. We did all of those and packed as much fun into a three day weekend as we could. But what about drinking?

For a beer lover there’s plenty to enjoy. Irish pubs populate a number of streets in Charleston with good selections. The locally made Palmetto Amber is a nice one if you want to go local. Whiskey can be a bit more fickle. There are a lot of 4J bars around the city but there is hope. We found a few bastions of whiskey in the arid sea of beer and cocktails!

First, there are those with small but well chosen selections. These tended to be in the bars of restaurants. High Cotton on East Bay Street and Pearlz Oyster Bar jumped first to mind. Both have great food (High Cotton was hands down the best meal I had in Charleston) and they have a small but well selected whiskey menu.

Second, there is the multitude of Irish pubs all over Charleston. Most are big on beer, light on whiskey. When you go into Tommy Condon’s over on Church St. it looks much the same. However, the secret is to ask what they’ve got behind the bar. Tommy Condon’s has a very respectable selection of Irish whiskey but you can’t see it. It includes favorites from Powers, Paddy’s, Jameson, and even Redbreast. Just ask your server or bartender.

Lastly, if you want to seriously get your drink on there are only two places I found. There is Club Havana on Meeting St. and Husk on Queen St. Husk has a fantastic selection of bourbon, rye, and American whiskey but you will pay for it. They have far and away the highest markup on their liquor. You’ve been warned. For everything else there’s Club Havana. They have a very nice selection of scotch, bourbon, and rums at not astronomical prices. They sit above a Tinder Box and you can bring up the cigars you buy downstairs and smoke up in the bar and lounge. Colleen at the bar was a great bartender and if you want to adventure out beyond the whiskey, give their rum flight a try. It’s a really cool place I wish we had in Atlanta.

That’s my Charleston report. I had a great time and if you go you probably will too.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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Brown-Forman goes north of the border

/ / Bourbon, Other Whisk(e)ys, Richard's Blog

Brown-Forman, makers of Canadian Mist are coming out with a new Canadian whisky. Collingwood is “mellowed” using maple wood. Here is the press release Brown-Forman sent over:

Brown-Forman Releases Collingwood Canadian Whisky
Introducing the only toasted Maplewood mellowed Canadian whisky

February 14, 2011, Louisville, Ky. – Brown-Forman announces the release of Collingwood, a new premium Canadian whisky which is set to hit shelves in February. Collingwood will be the only Maplewood mellowed Canadian whisky available on the market.

Every batch of Collingwood starts with the finest Canadian grains, pure spring water from Ontario’s Georgian Bay and its very own, hand-crafted, Maplewood mellowing process. The whisky is triple distilled for smoothness and then matured in white oak barrels. In Collingwood’s unique finishing step, the whisky rests with toasted Maplewood to complete its smooth character.

“By now, people have figured out fancy bags and bottles don’t make great whisky, it’s what’s inside that counts,” said Brown-Forman Master Distiller Chris Morris. “With passion and perseverance, we set out to create nothing short of the smoothest Canadian whisky ever made. Collingwood has arrived to set the new standard for smoothness and to revolutionize the Canadian whisky category.”

The gentle Maplewood mellowing process Collingwood undergoes is something unique in the Canadian Whisky category. It has a refined character that can be enjoyed on the rocks or mixed in a whisky cocktail.

Collingwood’s unique over-cap, flask shaped package was created by the media & design group at Brown-Forman based in Louisville, Kentucky.

“The brand objective was to communicate and personify smoothness to the discerning whisky drinker,” said Webb Blevins, Global Creative Director at Brown-Forman. “We believe Collingwood is the smoothest whisky ever made, and because of this, we wanted the package to really show off the liquid inside. We tried to immediately communicate premium without shouting or trying to impress, because Collingwood is for those who have nothing to prove to anyone but themselves.”

Collingwood will launch an ad campaign to coincide with the product’s release in several trade magazines and out of home billboards in launch markets. Available in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas initially, more markets will be added later in 2011. Each bottle is presented at 80 proof with a suggested retail price of $26.99 for a 750ml bottle.

The good folks at Brown-Forman are sending over review samples of Collingwood and the new Early Times bourbon. I will post reviews as soon as I can.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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February Administrative Update

/ / Richard's Blog

Only the first week of February and I’m already breaking my resolution. Well, the delay of our February reviews is beyond my control. I have a young daughter who’s in daycare. For those who don’t know, daycares are breeding grounds for every version of the common cold. As a result, my nose and palate were out of action all last week. I plan to have a review of Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood out by mid week and a Travel Retail version of Balvenie out by Friday. February’s theme is William Grant and Sons. We’ll be posting reviews of a few select Balvenie and Glenfiddich drams this month.

On an administrative note, you may have noticed that Matt’s been a little quiet the last few weeks. His work schedule among other things are taking up a good bit of his time. Unfortunately, running the website doesn’t pay the bills. 🙂 I’ll be holding down the fort and Matt will post when he can for a short while until things calm back down. The content will keep coming on a normal schedule. The only thing I ask is that if you are a reader, marketer, producer, or distributor and have a pertinent communication please copy me on it too so that we can make sure you get a response as quickly as possible.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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