Spirits
• Glenfiddich tastes whiskey atop Mount Everest!
Glenfiddich seems to grab attention to charitable causes like ‘Glenfiddich for Haiti victims’ special edition bottle in the past, but now are now working for the Walking with the Wounded Everest 2012 expedition, which is about a fundraising challenge for the wounded personnel of the defense forces. The event will have 4 adventure mountaineers, 1 [...]
• Van Winkle 12 Year: A Whiskey You Should Know
Twice a year, the Van Winkle brand releases just a smattering of its bourbons. If you’re lucky to get your hands on one (there’s only about 50 cases in NYC) it’s worth the hunt. Here’s the lowdown on a lesser hyped expression, the Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Yr. “Lot B.” The Bourbon: Van Winkle [...]
• Notorious Belfast prison reinvented as distillery
A notorious Belfast prison that held Irish Republican Army inmates during the worst of the city’s sectarian strife is to be transformed into a Whiskey distillery as Northern Ireland tries to reinvent itself and its struggling economy. A wing of the Victorian-era Crumlin Road prison, which closed in 1996, will house the first whiskey production [...]
• ‘Ardbeg Day’ comin’ up for whisky buffs around the globe
The upcoming celebrations of the first ever global ‘Ardbeg Day’ come at a time when there is unprecedented interest in the single malt category in Australia, according to the whisky’s new brand manager, Damon Ross-Walker. Ardbeg Day will be celebrated on June 2, with Olympic-themed parties happening across the globe inspired by the London 2012 [...]
• 10 Pantone Colored Cocktails to Sip for Spring
Every year Pantone declares a “color of the year,” setting the stage for trends for the next 12 months. For the first time this year, Pantone partnered with Sephora to honor the 2012 color, Tangerine Tango, and we’ve been seeing the orange hue not only in makeup, but in clothes and accessories, too. One area [...]
• Top 10 Emerging Whisky Trends
From Japanese blends to new high-tech apps, db surveys the whisky landscape and runs through some emerging trends. Events like the Whisky Lounge London Festival 2012 give an opportunity for brands, producers and enthusiasts to discuss emerging trends and showcase their own unique twist on the whisky blend. This year’s Whisky Lounge event was no different as it threw [...]
• Forget the shot glass! Try cooking with tequila instead
Not since contaminated bathtub gin claimed lives during Prohibition has a spirit been saddled with as insalubrious a reputation as tequila. On North American shores, it has long been the domain of Spring Break and body shots while, in its native Mexico, tequila is (and always has been) a sipping drink to be enjoyed with [...]
• Flavored Whiskies Leading Spirits Market Growth In 2012
Flavored whiskies were the fastest-growing spirits type in the U.S. market in the first quarter of 2012—rising 154.8% to 94,000 cases in Nielsen channels—and the segment figures to be a hotbed of both innovation and competition looking ahead. The category (defined by Nielsen as including flavored whiskies and whisk(e)y-based liqueurs) includes three Impact “Hot Brands”: [...]
• Cooley, aka Beam, pulls plug on independent whiskey makers
The growing global demand for Irish whiskey has seen the Cooley Distillery cease supplying spirit to some independent whisky makers, according to a report in the Irish press. Lord Henry Mountcharles has been producing Slane Castle Irish whiskey, named after the family’s ancestral home, since 1999 using spirit bought in from the County Louth distillery. [...]
• American Distilling Institute Artisan American Spirits Awards
Distillery of the Year Bubble Cup Award Peach Street Distillers Best of Class Artisan Distilled Whiskey Corsair Artisan Distillery – Grainiac 9 Grain Bourbon Artisan Distilled Brandy Jaxon Keys Winery & Distillery – Jepson Old Stock Brandy Artisan Distilled Rum Turkey Shore Distilleries – Old Ipswich Tavern Style Rum Artisan Merchant Bottled Smooth Ambler [...]
• The Top 10 American Whiskey Distilleries To Tour Now
On the rocks, neat or with splash of spring water—instead of ordering your favorite pour from a bartender, why not taste whiskey straight from the source? We combed through hundreds of facilities across the country and picked the top 10 American whiskey distilleries that merit a visit right now. Don’t live near Kentucky’s Bourbon County? [...]
• Whisky Matured in Space! A Genius Idea Out of Scotland
What’s better than a fine single malt? How about one that’s been matured in zero g? Space whisky is here, thanks to a Scottish distillery that decided to blast a barrel up to the ISS for a bit of out-of-this world maturing. Nope, this isn’t a joke. It’s all part of an experiment to see [...]
• World Whiskies Awards 2012
JAPANESE DISTILLERY – YAMAZAKI – WINS ‘WORLD’S BEST SINGLE MALT WHISKY’. Japanese whisky continued its dominance of World Whiskies Awards this year; with Suntory scooping one of the top titles and Nikka securing the blended malt title for the fourth year running. For the first time a South African blend, Three Ships, took the title [...]
• Behind the Scenes of the 2012 SF World Spirits Competition
At an industry event last year, I had a spirit rep get in my face and declare, “Those spirit competitions are bullshit!” The ironic thing is that this statement came after I told him that it was at the competition where I first tried his product and fell in love with it. From the outside, [...]
• The SF World Spirits Competition Judges 1,215 Entries – A New Record
The San Francisco World Spirits Competition held its esteemed judging on March 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th, at the Hotel Nikko in downtown San Francisco. With continued growth in its 12th year 1,215 premium spirits were submitted from 60 countries, making it another record-breaking year, up 10% over last year. The San Francisco competition is [...]
