Foreign

Glendalough Grand Cru Burgundy

Glendalough was founded in 2011 by five friends and was one of the first craft distilleries in Ireland after the whiskey production on the island had dwindled to four major distilleries at the turn of the millennium. They make a variety of whiskies, gins, and poitín. The image on the bottle is St. Kevin, a seventh-century abbot who lived for several years in Glendalough. One of the distillery’s focus is on the wood, and all their whiskies are aged in an additional cask besides the usual ex-bourbon. The Glendalough Grand Cru Burgundy is a single grain whiskey aged for 3 years in ex-bourbon casks before spending another year in ex-Grand Cru Pinot Noir casks from Burgundy. 12 casks were produced, each yielding 366 bottles.

By Adam | March 17, 2021 | Foreign | No Comments |

Balcones Distilling takes what works and builds upon their creativity. Using the Hopi blue corn found in their other products like the Baby Blue, True Blue, Blue Corn Bourbon, the Balcones Brimstone uses native Texas scrub oak to smoke the whiskey itself fresh after being distilled. This is markedly different from what virtually every other distiller who wants a smoky flavor does, which is smoke the grains themselves before distillation. And if that wasn’t enough smoke, the distillate is then aged in charred American oak barrels.

By Adam | March 5, 2021 | Foreign | No Comments |

Maine Craft Distilling was founded in 2012 by Luke Davidson and Fred Farber. Like many in the new wave of craft distilling, Luke experimented with a private still (in his barn) after malting grain for local brewers and eventually tried his hand at whiskey, inspired by scotch but using ingredients native to Maine. Like a very few Scottish distilleries, Maine Craft Distilling is a malt-to-barrel operation, with many of the machinery from Scotland. While the distillery makes rums, vodkas, gins and brandy – including a curious blueberry liqueur – the Fifty Stone is their only whiskey. Named after the old British unit of measure, fifty stones was traditionally the weight of barley required to make a barrel of whiskey (one stone usually equaled 14 pounds). The barley is smoked using Maine peat and Maine seaweed. Purportedly made in the Highland (we assume that equates to Scottish) style.

By Adam | February 5, 2021 | Foreign | No Comments |