Anyone notice that Glenmorangie just destroyed one of their best tasting products? They used to sell a delightful 12 year old scotch simply named “Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish.” The whisky spent ten years in an American white oak barrel, and was then moved to a previously used Spanish port pipe. It was rich and tender with a fruity aged wine backnote. It really was a very well made product.

Well, no longer. The entire line of Glenmorangie whiskies have been relaunched in new packaging, and released under different names. “Port Wood” becomes “Quinta Ruban” after the port barrels the spirit is finished in. The style of the spirit has drastically changed. What was previously sweet and subtle is now brash, cheap, and bitter. I’ve only tasted the Quinta Ruban bottling, but I don’t have much hope for the rest of the line.

For those of you who aren’t aware I’ll fill you in. Things like bottling at minimum whisky proof and finishing in a wine barrel… Those are all things done to improve a poor spirit. In a spirit like this bottling at higher than 80 proof just seems to bring the nastier notes to the forefront. This could be a fantastic whisky, but not until it has had at least another decade in a barrel to round out all these tough and tasteless edges.

Moët Hennessy has destroyed one of my favorite products. When I was bartending it was easily one of my best sellers, and it sold best to well-heeled gentlemen in the 60+ age bracket. Alienating your ideal customers in the name of progress is never a good idea.

Suspicions confirmed via a Scotsman.com story by Rose Murray Brown.

Update! December 7th, 2007
I got a chance to taste the new sherry finish bottling tonight. The Lasanta was better than the Quinta Ruban, but not nearly as good as it had been in the previous iteration. The same complaints apply: Bitterness, a lack of depth, and muddled layers of flavor. To my tounge it seems that I’m seeing something that I can’t quite name. If I had to guess it would be that there’s a large percentage of new white oak in the barrel mix. Sadly, I just don’t think that this is a spirit that shows well in bottling at 46% without chillfiltration.

I just got out of a meeting with Andrew Gray from Bruichladdich, and Chris Tridle from Winebow (the importer). We discussed the upcoming availability of several bottlings that aren’t yet available in the US. There were long discussions on the 125th Anniversary, the Blacker Still, the Celtic Nations, the La Fleurtation, and all the different expression replacements. They brought five bottles for tasting, but as I already sell three of them we just tried the Rocks and Infinity.

Their ten year is slowly running out of stock; it’s soon to be replaced by a nonvintage vatted called “Rocks.” The Rocks uses the entire range of Laddies from 4 to seventeen years. The barrels are bourbon, but the whisky is “ACE’d” in Grenache casks! The wine accent gives it a massive size in the mouth… one of the biggest mouth feels that I’ve ever found in a bottle. There’s a sharp oily note on the back that makes it great for cold, wet, weather.

The Infinity vats three different sherry cask vintages together. The peating is 15ppm; and the whisky has similarities to the Glenfiddich 15 Solera, but without the sluggish heavy notes. The bottling is named after the finish which “goes on towards Infinity.”

Also great news is that Bruichladdich is in discussion with the gent at Black Maple Hill (whose name I can’t remember) to see about bringing the Murray McDavid lines into the states.

The meeting was a delight, and Mr. Gray was a credit to his company. He gave me all kinds of interesting information that hasn’t been released publicly yet. Normally I’d spill the cup, but I think that I’ll wait until the distillery makes it common knowledge.

Last week, I just placed a special order for an ultra rare distillery bottling of both Lagavulin and Talisker.   What makes them so special is that they are both 30 years old.  That means that for thirty years those whisky barrels had to sit in a warehouse undisturbed; I’m always impressed when I see planning on that scale.  To be honest it astounds me.

For me fancy whisky bottles are an investment; I’ll buy them and shelve them until I open a small joint, or sell them to local collectors.

First off, I rarely drink at all.  It’s funny because I have a ton of liquor in my kitchen.  When you’re a bartender you just kind of pick up a bottle here and a bottle there.  One time I traded a Gamecube for one great bottle and eleven bad ones (and promptly sold the great one for my profit).

I thought that I’d record everything on the shelves because there’s an amazing dichotomy between the good and bad booze I have in the cabinet.    I’ve left off the minibar and the wine I have stored elsewhere.

Bring on the show!

My buddy Bruce and I were having a meeting over nightcaps, and one of my customers bought a bottle of Crown Royal XR and was nice enough to share out a bit.

This extra rare bottling of Crown was made from remaining barrels from the old Seagram’s distillery in Waterloo, Ontario. The distillery closed in 1992, and was later destroyed by fire. Working on the principle of the “Ruined Stills of Scotland” the whiskies produced there will never be duplicated though they are already being imitated at other Seagram’s distilleries.

The idea is that these whiskeys are so rare and wonderful that they can only be released in limited numbers once per year. In other words, it’s a ~$150 gimmick for the Christmas season. Jim Arndorfer’s Brew Blog has a great writeup on the packaging, marketing, and celebrity tie-ins.

I have an amazing respect for Andrew MacKay’s whiskey blending skills, but I’m really dissapointed in this product. I’m reminded of corn whiskey that has spent too many years in a barrel. Too much wood, some of it dry rotted from the outside in, has been imparted to this spirit. The result is a muddy blended whiskey lacking distinct layers of flavor.

You’d be hard pressed to get $10 a fifth for that kind of swill in Kentucky.

Most of my customers are unfamiliar with the library of liquors that I stock behind the basement bar at Brennan’s Speakeasy. I make reccomendations based on what they’ve drank in the past, and what I like the taste of on a given day.

I’m fortunate that I order the liquor for the bar, and I get a chance to bring in ones and twos of rare bottles that most bars don’t carry. Thanks to that, I’m able to taste everything almost as soon as it comes down the pipe. Barring the esoteric niceties that I pick up for tastings; here are a few of my reccomendations on hard liquor. I’ve tried to list things that nicer bars and restaurants will carry.

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I came across this great video of a Canadian company making a Ketel One liquor luge. A luge is basically a fancy ice sculpture through which booze (normally vodka or jagermeister) is poured for a chilling effect. It’s a pretty festive way to make a martini, or to roll out a round of shots.

It’s nice to know that Ketel One is willing to provide these to bars for promotional events; I’ll probably be putting in a request for one in the upcoming year (I’ve got a couple of ideas tucked away).

Click below to see the video! Read the rest of this entry »