Spice

Puni Alba

Puni Distillery was founded in 2010 in the Venosta Valley, the middle of the Italian Alps, by the Ebensperger family. Two years later, in 2012, it distilled its first whisky in two copper pot stills. That whisky had a mash bill made up of malted barley, malted rye and malted wheat. The Puni Alba was one of the first two whiskies made by the distillery, released in 2015 (the other being the Nova). Alba, of course, is one of the names Scotland was known by in the centuries leading up to England’s first major invasions (900-1286) by Edward I. It has since been adopted by English-speaking scholars to apply to a specific Scottish political period in the High Middle Ages. Alba is also the Italian word for dawn. Puni uses both of these references highlight both the dawning of a new era in Italian whisky and the fact that it was finished in casks previously containing scotch from Islay after maturing for a few years in ex-marsala casks from Sicily.

By Adam | August 5, 2024 | Foreign | No Comments |

Jersey Spirits Wildwoods Applewood Smoked

Jersey Spirits was founded in 2013 by John, Sue and Betty Granata and began production in 2015. A true family affair, John and Sue’s daughter Noël has grown up with the distillery and now serves as operations manager and lead distiller. The distillery is a grain-to-glass operation and is in now rush to grow just for growth’s sake. They are invested in their community, the tasting room serving as a frequent local gathering spot, and are not afraid to serve their spirits either on their own or mixed into a cocktail. For a micro-distillery, Jersey Spirits offers a wide offering of gins, vodkas, rums, moonshines and bourbons. The Wildwood series is named after a resort city in New Jersey and is the banner all their single malts appear under. The Wildwoods Applewood Smoked is made from barley sourced from Rabbit Hill Farms in South Jersey and then smoked over an applewood fire. Other single malts are the Cherrywood Smoked and Celtic Riviera.

By Adam | July 5, 2024 | Foreign | No Comments |

Mark and Andrew Morrison began distilling in 2016 in a building that used to house the Minglewood Coal and Ice Company, a company that lasted nearly a century providing ice and coal to Wayne County until its closure in the 1950s. Located in Wayne Country, Ohio, the distillery has been seeking to make a name in the region, banking on word-of-mouth to fuel their growth instead of overextending and sacrificing quality. Their portfolio has white spirits like vodka and gin but they have a much larger variety of whiskies, ranging from bottled-in-bond bourbon and rye to a few flavored whiskies. The Minglewood Winter Rye is distilled from local winter rye, the plant being especially useful by lasting through the winters so it would grow rapidly after the snows left for early spring foraging.

By Adam | May 20, 2024 | Foreign | No Comments |