Richard’s Blog

A Great Evening in Atlanta

/ / Richard's Blog, Scottish Whisky

I missed out on the Rare XI Balvenie dinner at New York Prime this past Sunday because I was a little under the weather. I have a young daughter and she’s always bringing home colds from day care. However, I found out that New York Prime’s sister restaurant Joey D’s was doing a more casual version on Tuesday night. I called up my buddy Sam and he was game so off we went!

Joey D’s does their dinners outside on the patio, the whisky list is usually one count smaller (no 21 year old in this case), and the food and atmostphere is more casual than New York Prime. The price tag is also a little cheaper too. Tuesday night they were pouring Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood, Balvenie 15 Year Old Single Barrel, and Balvenie 17 Madeira Cask. Oh, and they were REALLY pouring. I think I ended up having seven or eight scotches Tuesday night…not that I’m complaining.

Sam and I get there about half an hour early and sat down at a four top. We were soon joined by Don and DeMark, a couple of gents who bravely came solo. We couldn’t have asked for better table company. Copious amounts of scotch and good conversation flowed all night. Shortly after we sat down we were welcomed by the new Global Brand Ambassador for Balvenie, Sam Simmons. You all probably know him as the venerable . Then the Buckhead Cigar Club representative brought over some very nice La Flor Dominicana cigars and we were off. Dinner included courses of she crab soup, caesar salad, danish baby back ribs, and apple pie a la mode. The food was okay.

We all had a very good time. I will be going back. In comparing it to New York Prime’s dinner there are pluses and minuses to each.

Joey D’s is outside so not as smoky, more casual, the music isn’t too loud so you can still have good conversation, you’re at smaller tables, and they are much more generous with the number of drinks they bring. On the downside the food is just okay. The price tag is $39.99 plus tax and gratuity.

New York Prime offers more variety of whisky with the dinner (usually one more higher end offering), has much better food, and a real guy’s club kind of feel. However, it’s pretty loud when there lounge singer kicks in and there are mostly large tables. Also, it’s indoors so even the seasoned cigar smoker might find it a bit much with all the smoke. The price tag is $59.99 plus tax and gratuity.

Now that I’ve experienced dinners at both restaurants I can say that both are definitely worth while. It really just depends on what atmosphere you would prefer. Hopefully, I’ll see some of you at an upcoming Speakeasy dinner.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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More Information on the New Knob Creek

/ / Bourbon, Richard's Blog

We first talked about the new new single barrel Knob Creek release coming out in our roundup of July’s New Releases. At the time we were pretty short on details. Since then we’ve got a little more information for you. It will be called “Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve” and will be available in the February 2011 time frame. It’s going into the bottle at 60% ABV will be around $40. Here’s a shot of the new bottle:

Oh, and it’s still going to be 9 years old.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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Woodford’s Pipeline

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

I don’t make a habit of swiping content from another blog but if the information is just too cool to leave alone I will lower my standards for the greater good of the whiskey community. That said, I will give credit where credit is due. Woodford gave whiskey writer Chuck Cowdery and Whisky Magazine an exclusive list of what they have in the pipeline for their Master Distiller’s collection. The Maple Finish will be this year’s release which I mentioned yesterday. The coming pipeline is quite diverse and there is no specific year for each of the others. They will all be released over the next nine years whenever they are ready. Without further delay, here’s the list:

Maple Finish (2010) Mature Woodford Reserve bourbon finished in toasted sugar maple casks.
Wine Finish Mature Woodford Reserve bourbon finished in used wine casks (wine type to be announced).
Tequila Finish Mature Woodford Reserve bourbon finished in used Herradura Tequila casks.
Rum Finish Mature Woodford Reserve bourbon finished in used rum casks.
Straight Rye Whiskey, Low BEP (Barrel Entry Proof) Whiskey made from a 100 percent rye mash with an 86° BEP (43% alcohol), aged in new charred barrels.
Straight Rye Whiskey, Historic BEP Whiskey made from a 100 percent rye mash with a 99.8° BEP (49.9% alcohol), aged in new charred barrels.
Rye Mash Whiskey, Low BEP Whiskey made from a 100 percent rye mash with an 86° BEP (43% alcohol), aged in used barrels.
Rye Mash Whiskey, Historic BEP Whiskey made from a 100 percent rye mash with a 99.8° BEP (49.9% alcohol), aged in used barrels.
Straight Malt Whiskey Whiskey made from a 100 percent barley malt mash with a 124.8° BEP (62.4% alcohol), aged in new charred barrels.
Malt Mash Whiskey Whiskey made from a 100 percent barley malt mash with an 86.6° BEP (43.3% alcohol), aged in used barrels.

Honestly, I’m most excited to see what Woodford can do with rye and malt whiskey. I guess we’ve got a few years to wait to find out.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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National Scotch Day

/ / Richard's Blog, Scottish Whisky

Need a reason to raise a dram? Well today is National Scotch Day. If that’s not enough reason to pull out the Peat Monster, Highland Park, or Chivas then I don’t know what is.

If you’re in the Atlanta area, Mac McGee’s Pub in Decatur is having scotch related pairing, specials, and activities this evening from 5PM on. Check it out!

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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Bunker Boys

/ / Bourbon, Irish Whiskey, Other Whisk(e)ys, Richard's Blog, Scottish Whisky

As you might guess, I frequent a lot of discussions about whiskey both online and in person. One thing that always struck me as old is people who “bunker” large numbers of the same bottle. What is bunkering you ask? It’s when you buy more than one bottle of a given whiskey and store it instead of drinking it. People do this for many reasons.

I can understand that if you REALLY like this year’s 2000 vintage Evan Williams single barrel that you might buy another bottle because the whiskey is different every year. What I don’t get are people who go into their local store as soon as the truck delivers the year’s Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and buying every bottle they can carry. Again, people do this for many reasons. However, I find none of them acceptable. Let’s look at them in turn:

1. “I bought all six bottles of George T. Stagg that were allocated to my local store because I love it and it’s my favorite.”

Fine, I get that you like it…alot. But what about all the other great whiskeys out there that you may be missing out on while you drink nothing but Stagg for the next year?

2. “I bought all six bottles of George T. Stagg that were allocated to my local store because they are collectible and will increase in value.”

I know some whiskey collectors. Personally, I’m not a fan of the practice because whiskey is intended to DRINK. It’s not intended to store away from the light of day hoping to cash in five to ten years down the road.

3. “I bought all six bottles of George T. Stagg that were allocated to my local store because I plan to trade them for other super spiffy whiskeys.”

Let’s say that in a perfect world such activities would be completely legal where you live (for the sake of argument) then why not save your cash and seek out those other bottles on your own? You could even put the money into some type of income earning vehicle and be better off when you got ready to make the purchase you really wanted.

4. “I bought all the bottles of the old bottling of Eagle Rare or Weller I could find because it isn’t made anymore.”

See my responses to 1, 2, and 3.

I’m sure there are a whole host of other reasons people bunker whiskey that I haven’t mentioned. However, what really steams my jeans about the whole process is that you’re keeping every bottle you can and you’re preventing others from discovering these great whiskeys. And you’re usually proud of it.

We here at Whisk(e)y Apostle are all about proselytizing the way of the malt. It says so at the top of the page. It’s kind of hard to tell somebody about a great whiskey they should try when you’ve bought all the damn bottles in the tri-county area. I think it’s selfish and kind of a dick move to be honest. Maybe I’m too handholdly-kumbaya about the whole thing. Yes, it’s a free market and you can buy whatever you want in whatever quantities you want but I just don’t think it’s right when it comes to whiskey. You don’t have to change your dastardly ways all at once. Go slow. Maybe this fall just buy five of those six bottles of Stagg and leave one for somebody else. You may not feel any different but the next guy who actually gets to try Stagg this year might have a really good week. Think about it.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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