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Col. E.H. Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Bourbon. That’s a mouthful of a name and a whiskey that lives up to it. In his excellent book Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey, Charles Chowdery has an entire chapter on Taylor who he calls “the single most significant individual in the history of American whiskey”. A Colonel only as an honorary commission given to him by the Governor of Kentucky (think Col. Sanders) and not a distiller he was instrumental in transforming american whiskey from a farming by-product to a significant industry and working to promote and protect that industry including pushing for the Bottled-in-Bond act of 1897. According to Chowdery, Taylor was directly involved in founding at least seven distilleries. One of these did business where the Buffalo Trace distillery stands today. And that’s where this particular Bourbon comes in.

In April 2006 a Tornado ripped through a few of  Buffalo Trace’s warehouses destroying much of the roof and walls of warehouse C exposing 24,000 barrels of whiskey to the elements. This warehouse was built by Col. E.H. Taylor in 1881 and the whiskey was part of Buffalo Trace’s E.H. Taylor line. The barrels were unharmed but while repairs were made to the warehouse they stayed in the open air and heat of the Kentucky summer. The blistering heat caused an high rate of evaporation with around 64% lost to the “angels share”, near twice the normal amount. Figuring they had something special, in 2011 they bottled 93 barrels from the top floors of the warehouse between 9 years 8 months and 11 years 11 months at Bonded 100 Proof, slapped a long ass cool sounding name (and fairly steep price tag around $70) on it and shipped it out.

This is a big bourbon. The nose is citrus, spicy rye, vanilla and caramel. Taste is more rye, burnt caramel, dark candied orange, and some more hints of citrus and spiciness with a slightly creamy background. Finish is long and has more orange, burnt sugar, cinnamon and spice. All that time out in the KY sun did a trick on this whiskey. Temperature extremes are known to increase aging whiskey’s interaction with the wood of the barrel. This whiskey proves that and some. It screams deep concentration of flavors and wood yet remains fairly balanced. At bonded proof you get some alcohol burn but it fits in well with the dense flavors and complexity. While not widely available it’s worth picking up if you come across any. It does have a steep price tag at around $70.00 but with the back story and fact you probably won’t find this particular circumstance again it is well worth it. 100 Proof Recommended

Ahh yes Islay. That wind battered Scottish island from which the manly whisky comes. Smokey, peaty, peaty smokey, and big enough to put hair on your chest (and other parts). Ok that’s maybe a bit much but yes, Islay whisky has its own style even when it varies from it. While this is the first Islay I’m going to review, it’s not the first I’ve tried (make sure you pronounce it correctly… ‘eye-la‘ not ‘iz-lay’ ,  you’ll only make that mistake once in the company of scotch hounds or Scots). But in this price range it is by far the most bestest, greatest life changing thing ever. Really. I mean it like a 13-year-old means Skrillex is better than the Beatles. Well, sort of. Anyway… It’s a damn fine whisky. Ardbeg is on the south-west shore of the island and is a relative neighbor to a couple other famous Islay distilleries,Port Ellen, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. Though it was officially established by the MacDougall family in 1815, like many older distilleries it was probably in existence in some form or another years before. Cruising along for a century producing whisky mainly used in blends it ran into trouble and ceased production in the early 1980′s but reopened in 1989. Glenmorangie plc. acquired Ardbeg in 1997 and has since made a big push in the whisky world. I guess you can say it is a cult whisky judging by how many of its fans swarm after it. This in some part can be attributed to their slick marketing and fan club called the Ardbeg Committee and also in part to the halt in production in the 80′s and the limited availability that it created during the 90′s. This made the  old casks sitting in blenders warehouses jump in their desirability and value. Smart bottlers seized this opportunity releasing independent bottlings which added fuel to the cult status fire. Some claim quality has suffered under new ownership and management but I would have exactly no idea about that having only tasted their 10-year-old for the first time this past year. And I love it. I don’t care. Really. So much so I’ve savored the bottle since December and have just now purchased a replacement. The first re”peat” performance since diving into scotch… sorry. That was horrible. I’m ashamed.

Tasting notes. It’s a light straw color. Nose is light and crisp but layered with ocean, smoke, light citrus, lemon and some vanilla background. Mouth feel is oily but not heavy. Taste has a big hand-full of pepper surrounded by sweetness, smoke and seawater. Giving it a little time, some oak and more sweetness opens up always surrounded by campfire smoke. It finishes long and warm with more smoke and pepper and some other spice, maybe clove. If you want a smokey peaty whiskey to try, this is your bottle. It’s not going to crush your face like some other Islays, but it’s no kitten either. It’s well balanced. All of its parts enhancing each other. In this price range, easily one of my favorites. It will remain a mainstay. 46% ABV highly recommended

The duck club at the Tattooed Moose has made a well deserved name for itself in Charleston. A must try. You can’t go wrong with duck-confit, bacon, Hawaiian bread, smoked cheddar, garlic aioli and some of that rabbit stuff. “Said to be the best sandwich ever made!”

Yes that’s Four Loko

Ah yes, Irish Whiskey. We drinkers and frequenters of bars all know it or of it. We’ve had our share of Jameson on the rocks or shots of Bushmills. They’re good. Nothing wrong with them at all. But because of my experience with them in various smokey underground Irish pubs as purely a vehicle for knee-walking plasterization, that’s all I’ve ever though about Irish whiskey. That is until about a year or so ago. Enter a revival of the technique / product called pure pot still Irish Whiskey, or what is now called, single pot still Irish Whiskey. Single pot still is a traditional method of distilling Irish whiskey, made from a mash of malted and un-malted or “green” barley typically triple distilled in a… you guessed it, pot still. Unlike blends such as Jameson, Black Bush, Bushmills Original and Tullamore Dew among others, pot still whiskey is not mixed with grain whiskey. It is all malt, but not necessarily single malt (though it can be). And it is called “single pot still” because it is whiskey that all comes from one distillery. The story goes that sometime in the late 1700′s some enterprising distillers started adding green barley to their mash as a way to avoid taxes on malt. The resulting flavors and creamy texture ensured this practice would continue (well that and the tax avoidance). Due to a combination of famine, the  Coffey still, world wars, the Irish Civil War, the Volstead act in the USA and the rise of Scotch Whisky traditional Irish Whiskey struggled through various times in the 1800′s and much of the 1900′s. In the 1970′s Irish distillers pooled their resources, added some focus on exports and opened up new distilleries such as Old Midleton distillery in County Cork which included pot stills. Up until 2011 the only single pot still Irish Whiskeys in production were Green Spot and Redbreast.

Redbreast 12 year old is the current darling of the Irish Whiskey world compiling numerous gleaming reviews and awards. I’ve eyeballd it for a while and finally pulled the trigger. I’m glad I did. Color: pale gold. The nose for me started out tight. I couldn’t get much out of it. I let it sit for a while and it started to open up with fresh apples, pear, banana, vanilla oak and citrus with a little creaminess. Very fresh smelling. Taste bore more fresh apples, ginger, toasted sugar and some white pepper spice. Further along some anise and a chocolate like character come across. The whiskey is not what I’d describe as overly sweet, if anything I would describe it as fresh. Mouthfeel is chewy and slightly oily and with some creaminess which I believe comes from the un-malted barely. Really enjoyable. I found the more I spent with a dram the better it got. Opening up to the point I’d describe it as lively. Finish is long with more pepper, some orangey thing (technical term there), anise and caramel sweetness. It’s a keeper. Makes me look forward to trying other higher end Irish Whiskeys that are making their way to the market.  40% ABV Recommended

Rev. Elijah Craig is often touted as the father of bourbon, allegedly being the first person to age corn whiskey in charred wooden casks in the late 1700′s. He built a distillery in the area near where Bourbon county KY would later be formed. There is significant doubt to whether Craig can be attributed the honor of the father of Bourbon, but he’s definitely one of if not the best known pioneers of the quintessential American whiskey. Produced in Bardstown, KY by Heaven Hill distillery The Elijah Craig Single Barrel Bourbon 18-year-old is sold as the “oldest single barrel bourbon available in the world”. During the long aging process 2/3 of the whiskey is lost to the angel’s share (that means it evaporates). Each bottling is from one single barrel (hence the name) aged 18 years. Quite the wait.  The used barrels are then shipped to Scotch distilleries or to beer brewers like Goose Island for their Bourbon County Imperial Stout (want).

The bottle I was lucky to grab was barreled on 5-31-1990. First thing, I’d suggest drinking this neat, un-chilled. I know for a lot of casual bourbon drinkers this isn’t normal but trust me and try it. Adding ice or too much water will kill some of the complexity and intensity. Color: Dark honey.  The nose is powerful and layered with oak, char / smoke, maple syrup, vanilla and what comes off like model glue. Seriously. And not in a bad way.  Intriguing. The taste is spicy up front with more maple syrup, some vanilla and caramel sweetness,  a creamy note of some sort, pepper and more oak char and leathery dryness. While it is an overall smooth whiskey, there is some bite to it. And I like that. I want my whiskeys to have some kick to them. It has a viscous body, coating your mouth with its complex flavors and some tannic dryness. This bourbon finishes long with more tannin, vanilla and maple sweetness and a little pepper spice.  Priced around $40.00-$45.00 it’s a bargain. I really love this bourbon and will be keeping a bottle on hand if possible. I did try in on the rocks, but you miss out on so much with a whiskey like this when you kill it with ice.  A little water will open it up a bit and bring out additional sweetness but I prefer it without. 90 proof  Highly recommended