Oinks

I had the pleasure of running by one of our newest (1 year this month), and making a big name for themselves, Charleston breweries today to pick up a few special releases. I’ll be discussing the others in a post later this week but the one I want to hit on now is the collaboration between Eviltwin Brewing and Westbrook Brewing. A 10.3% Barleywine called Freudian Slip brewed by gypsy brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø at the Westbrook brewery. If I’m not mistaken,  this is the first Eviltwin brewed in the U.S., and I just happened to be the lucky pig who bought the very first OZs ever sold. And it’s damn good. A true to form barleywine that’s deep, rich, balanced and surprisingly has little alcohol heat for the 10.3%. Very drinkable, which at 10.3% is both awesome and terrifying. If you’re not familiar with Eviltwin and Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø it really is a big damn deal he chose Mount Pleasant and Westbrook Brewing to bring his gypsy beer caravan to the US for the first time. He’s somewhat of a cult legend in beer circles and the fact he chose to brew here in our somewhat sleepy little southern town is pretty special.

There was an Imperial Stout collaboration as well today that for some reason I completely missed the notice on… or something. I’m blaming Scott from the Beer Exchange for not alerting me when I walked in.

I’m not sure what the availability will be on this one, but if you love barleywine (or just fantastic fucking beer) like I do, try and get you some. You’ll be happy. And that’s what it’s really all about. Happiness, beer, and pork.

A feature I’m adding with mobile posts while out and about eating, drinking  or whatever.

If you haven’t been to the Butcher and Bee, go now. Seriously drop everything and go right now.

I’m a bourbon drinker, or rather, I have always been a bourbon drinker. Sure I’ve had a fair share of scotch, both single malts at restaurants as an after dinner drink and blends at parties, but I never really knew much about what I was drinking. I knew I liked Lagavulin, only because that was the first Single Malt I can remember drinking and the name stuck with me. Other than that I’ve always gone for bourbon throughout my drinking life. Be it in overly sweet Beam or Jack* and coke in my not so legal drinking days to Makers on the rocks and Pappy van Winkle neat (when I can get my hands on it). Most of my family are bourbon drinkers so it was always around me. Except for my grandfather. He was a scotch drinker. And when he could it was Glenfiddich. So I figured this would be a good place for me to get back to reviewing whisky (no e in the this case) on this too long forgotten and neglected blog.

Glenfiddich is easily  the world’s best known brand of scotch and had a large part in bringing single malts to the United States and the rest of the world. Along with being Scotland’s largest distillery, producing 10 million litres per year,  they are also not surprisingly the largest selling brand of scotch claiming some 35% of sales worldwide. The distillery was founded by William Grant and his family in 1886 in Dufftown in the Speyside region of Scotland. The name Glenfiddich means “Valley of the Deer”, reflected by the antlered buck on the label on their trademark green glass triangle bottles. It has remained in family hands since they founded it, in part due to the shrewd marketing they employed in the 1960′s and 70′s when they helped pioneer the familiar gift tube packaging so common among single malts today. This along with realizing the value of duty-free sales allowed them to survive the harsh environment many Scottish distillers faced (and crumbled under) during that time.  Getting its water from the Robbie Dhu, Glenfiddich uses stills that are exact replicas of their first models, including “Every bump and dent“. They’re serious about keeping it “real”.

Now that you know the history of the whisky, what’s it like having a dram? As a long time bourbon drinker I normal pour a glass over ice in a tumbler. Having been schooled before on the “correct” way to enjoy a dram of single malt, I poured the Glenfiddich into a brandy snifter (Glencairn glasses are on the way) neat, and saddled up to dive in. It’s a nice golden color with and the nose has obvious fruit and vanilla to it. More so than I expected. And much different from what you get off a bourbon. It’s not as fuel powered as some other whiskies I’ve had but you can feel the alcohol. A difference I blame on my years of pouring bourbon over ice. Having a taste you immediately get a hit of honey and some apple juice. I’m not great at picking out various flavors at this point, but it’s very pleasant and easy-going, though… easy-going. Sweet, a little spicy and approachable. Very easy drinking. It does have that distinctive scotch finish (though not very long), something completely different to bourbon. I can see why Glenfiddich is popular around the world. It’s not that complex but it drinks well. Makes sense why my grandfather had it as his go-to whisky (thanks Pop!). It’s easy drinking, reasonably priced as far as single malts go and readily available in nearly every liquor store (outside a few shady ones) I’ve patronized. I doubt it’ll be one that I keep on hand, but it’s got its place.

So that’s the start, I have a few other bottles on hand (Probably Talisker 10 year old or Glenmorangie Original 10 year old next) that I’ll be addressing in the coming weeks and I might pick up another to review before the end of the year.

*I know Jack Daniels isn’t technically bourbon

I’ve decided on a theme, for now, so new posts will be coming soon.

In the hopper: some notes on a few whiskys I’ve tried, a few beers,  restaurant posts and ramblings.

Soon to be the home of my ramblings on whisk(e)y, food, beer and whatever else is currently inhabiting the obsessive section of my mind.

There will be some chaos while I get posts imported, change up the theme, add some photos and do some housekeeping… but here we are.