Okay, so I screwed up this weekend. I decided to head out on a whiskey search. Let me tell you that this is no small endeavor. Atlanta is not known as a hotbed of whiskey activity. Finding a quality dram is not as easy as you’d think. Finding a tasty bottle of some rare or hard to find tipple is almost impossible. It’s the nature of the beast. We’re the Grandpoobah of all Blue Law states so what do you expect. But I digress. So I started searching a few of my regular haunts.

First, I went to Total Wine in Dunwoody. This place just opened and it is a new liquor superstore. Think Binny’s in Chicago but with more wine and less liquor. No luck. There was a lot of “been there, done that“.

Next, I trotted on down to Pearson’s Wine Merchants in Buckhead. Pearson’s is actually listed as a “Malt 100” liquor store by The Malt Advocate but going in there now you’d never know it. Pearson’s selection must have declined since grabbing the “Malt 100” notation. There was one high point, Ardbeg 10 Year Old. Since Glenmorangie PLC’s purchase by LVMH and the relaunch of their brands the price of Ardbeg has sky rocketed. In Atlanta the 10 Year Old normally sells for around $65. (It’s 10 freakin’ years old!) But Pearson’s happened to carry it for about $42. Sold! But the initial search continued.

Finally, I rolled into Mac’s on 10th & W. Peachtree in Midtown. I thought I’d seen something here a few weeks ago and prayed that it was still there. As I walked down the bourbon isle I saw it…Parker’s Heritage Collection First Edition 1996! Ooh I was excited. They had two bottles. I snaked one, paid, and walked out happily on my way.

Then I got home. The recent issue of The Malt Advocate noted the second edition of Parker’s with a 96/100 and a pretty phenomenal review by John Hansell. I looked at some back issues and found the first edition in the Q1 2008 issue. Uh oh. There were three listed. All titled the same but one was 61.3% ABV (95/100), the second was 63.7% ABV (94/100) and the third was 64.8% ABV (80/100). Which one did I have? Yep, 64.8% ABV.

I realize this is just an arbitrary rating. But that said, I respect Mr. Hansell’s opinion. I found through trial and error that he and I share a more similar palate than a lot of other whiskey writers. But still, it’s the taste right? Well I was so flummoxed that I couldn’t open it. I’ll dive in later this week and post a review. For now I’m a little annoyed, both with myself and a little bit with Heaven Hill. I understand that it’s 95% my fault for not doing my research. However, I do feel Heaven Hill should have distinguished their bottlings a little better. The idea of three separate whiskies as a first edition seems counterintuitive to me. But I’m just me and what do I know? Anyway, I’ll do some tasting and maybe it will all work out in the end.

Cheers!

-Richard

I’d like to avoid using this blog as a way to vent my frustrations but I’ve got to bring up the bane of my drinking existence…The 4J Bar. What is a 4J Bar you ask? Oh you’ve seen them whether you know it or not. It could be a restaurant, a pub, a hotel bar, or any other trendy or not so trendy place to grab a drink. You’ll know the 4J Bar because when you look up behind the bartender you only see around four different whiskies. Usually they consist of Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, John Walker, and Jameson. This may not be the exact make up of the bar (and I personally have nothing against any of these) but my list is alliterative and you get the gist of what I’m saying. Basically, their whiskey selection doesn’t really exist. I’m not saying that every place that serves alcohol should be a whiskey bar (God I wish!) but especially places that obviously put thought into their beer and wine selections could put a little more effort toward their whiskey.

The kicker is that those four or so bottles of whiskey are bunched in around 400 bottles of vodkas and liqueurs. I’m sorry but you just don’t need that much vodka. You’re paying for the name not the taste (or lack there of). Nine times out of ten that vodka’s going into a cocktail where you can’t tell if it’s Grey Goose or Smirnoff. Show me someone who can and I’ll show you a liar. “But I drink my vodka straight and I can tell the difference.” No you can’t. At best you can sort them into three groups: Premium, mid-tier, and crap. If I line you up with a blind tasting of Grey Goose, Belvedere, Ulitmat, and Stolichnaya and tell you to pick Belvedere out of that group you’ll probably be right…25% of the time.

Why am I harping on this? Because whiskey isn’t like vodka, they all taste different. However, we live in a vodka world. It’s cheaper for the bar to buy and they sell those cocktails for the same price as a quality dram. And the endless herds of Trendy Wendys buy them by the gallons. Buy cheap, sell high, vodka wins every time.

So what can we do about this you say? Say something. Ask the bartender why they don’t stock more whiskies. Tell the manager that you love the food but you’d like to see more whiskies on the bar menu. Mention to the owner what a rising tide there is in the interest of quality whiskies and that they could really capitalize on that with just a little more variety. Make your voice heard. Eventually, if enough of us say something we might start seeing a bottle of Macallan or Rittenhouse.

-Richard