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I rather think the reserve is true. Only an uncivilized society would penalize and/or imprison an individual for distilling (or brewing or whatever other activity you want to add here) for personal consumption, usually for the sole reason that they are not able to tax it and acquire the pound of flesh of your own sweat equity they feel entitled to when having done nothing to be entitled to it! Unfortunately their are many countries/societies like that. Most, In fact. But I digress. That is indeed a fascinating looking little still!

Not the liquor store exactly but one of my very thoughtful "liquor mules" brought this in from Utah where it is currently only available in state. May be released wider at some point next year. High West Yippee Ki-Yay I picked up some to share with friends but kept a few for myself! A blend of two finished Double Ryes, some of which is finished in Quady Vya Vermouth barrels and some from Qupé Syrah wine barrels. I had a chance to taste a sample from the Vya vermouth barrel a while back and loved it. I feel like this may have a little more Syrah than Vermouth but still quite lovely. A touch of sweetness and rich mouthfeel with red fruit flavor with a bit of earthiness and then a surprise burst of cinnamon on the back of the palate with a nice sustained finish. A lovely companion to the A Midwinter Nights Dram for the holiday season and winter drinking in general. Heck, I would drink it most any season!

Sounds like a perfect role for The Scarlet Ibis. Might have to whip up a few of these for Christmas to try it out!

Sounds good! The Mezcal Vago Tepeztate might work. Really nice citrus-y notes and not too much smoke. But I can probably dig up an interesting tequila to try as well.

Dang, wish I had known this a few weeks ago! I might have to add a fourth panel...

I was! I am!

Might as well finish this little triptych off. The third and final Christmas present to me arrived yesterday! Once again it is a bit of a potpourri of spirits. The Longrow Red is the fourth in the annual series from Springbank and this years is a 12yo finished for a year in French Pinot Noir. Color me intrigued! It will join its three older siblings in a blind side by side probably sometime in the new year. Thanks to a friend who knew I was looking and found and offered it to me I have finally been able to locate one of the Hamilton St Lucia cask strength (122.6 proof) rums that were released last year. This is the 9yo. Hope it lives up to my expectations! Although that may be too much for any spirit to endure... Next up was yet another mezcal, this time a special Los Nahaules imported by K&L. This is a blend of sierrudo agave and an odd looking wild species of agave called cuishe (similar to the Barril in a prior panel of this triptych. Speaking of which the Mezcal Vago Tepeztate noted above is quite good and the Del Maguey wasn't far behind. But I did not have quite the same affection for the two from El Jolgorio. A very prevalent rubber note that I could not come to love. No doubt more romance is necessary! Finally a selection of small house Bas-Armagnac's to include a 2004, 1987 and a 1973

Not sure if post are still indexing or if some things have been lost during the upgrade but my previous post seems to be gone. Was curious how this was made. Is it a 1:1:1:1 with absinthe rinse like a Corpse Reviver as you suggested?

Certainly an interesting bit of history for the American whiskey enthusiast what ever the true source was!

More fun with computers at the holidays as my second shipment arrived today! Merry Christmas to me, part 2. Like the Nardini in the last order the Elisir Novasalus was inspired by discussion here. Besides, you can"t have too much amaro can you??? I also figured it is hard to do a side by side of an unusual wild agave species mezcal. So this solution was simple, get more! With two more brands giving me three different brands made from tepeztate/tepextate I figure I now have this covered. With Smooth Ambler announcing that their rye barrel program had largely run out of whiskey I was surprised to see this was still available. Seemed only appropriate to add one to the cart. Indeed, given it was bottled in January 2015 I was surprised they even had any left. Finally, the follow up to the powerhouse barrel proof "Chad" cognac from earlier this year is out. This time it is a 10yo cognac that had part of the distillate aged in a regular Limousin cognac cask for 5 years while the other part was aged in a presumably fresh high quality Sauterne cask for 5 years. After 5 years they were switched and aged for an additional 5 years before being married together and bottled I wish that I had gotten 2 of the BP Chad last year so this year I took a chance and got 2 bottles. Hope that proves to be a good move!

I am still a bit confused about the vermouth. I presume Dolin Blanc is what you mean by Dolin White in place of the Dolin Dry? That would seem to be the obvious option since it means the same thing but don't think I have seen Dolin labeled as "white" and I am easily confused!

You might find this website of interest but it can't really answer the question of when your bottle was produced. It gives a timeline of the Finch company. Note the year 1856 and then when Finch was bought by Rosenteil in 1920 as distilleries began to consolidate (or close) during prohibition. That quickly became the Schenley Products Company in 1921. Finch and the Golden Wedding brand was a Schenley owned product from that time on but probably got labeled as Finch & Co well into the 30's once prohibition ended. By the 1950's it had become Canadian whiskey but not sure when the straight American rye whiskey was no longer made. Around 1940 before WWII seems reasonable as many distilleries made alcohol for the war effort and then got consolidated or closed after the war. If you don't see the Schenley name on the bottle anywhere than I suppose it is possible that this was pre-prohibition whiskey. But the 30's seems more likely since it notes it is a blend of straight whiskies.. Edit: I see you already found a similar timeline on Bourbon Enthusiast. And the ad you found certainly seems to fit and Mike Veach would be the "go to" expert!

Looks to be well sealed and still has a high fill level. I would be inclined to pop that bad boy open and give it a try. How often are you likely to have a chance to try 50-60yo rye whiskey from Schenley, PA. Feel free to send it my way and I will happily remove all that annoying whiskey in the bottle so your great aunt can rest in peace. Heck, I will even return the bottle! Not like the whiskey is likely to kill you or even make you sick, at least not any more than any other whiskey might...

I do love the holidays. Gives me extra incentive to buy stuff online to try that I might not otherwise get. Plus if I don't have enough for a full box I get to experiment! Merry Christmas to me, part 1. Haven't seen the Nardini locally so decided to order one out of curiosity based on recent discussions here. Got the mezcals made with a couple of different wild agave species I have not had before (barril and tepeztate) on the recommendation of a friend whose palate is usually pretty reliable. Don't know if they are barrel proof but at least they are not a typical 40 ABV. The Barril is 48.2 and the Tepeztate is 45.8. Also haven't seen the new Hochstadter vatted rye locally yet so I got impatient and included a bottle. Finally i added the Barrell bourbon or "Tennessee whiskey" if you prefer. This particular Batch 5 is reported to be straight bourbon made in Tennessee but aged in Kentucky with no clear indication whether it went through the "Lincoln County" process. Aging in Kentucky also means it is not quite true Tennessee whiskey according to a recent new law in Tennessee. It was another curiosity I would not typically order but there have been some good reports about this batch recently, unlike some earlier batches. It is an NDP of course and best guess is Diageo/Dickel since they are known to have made whiskey in Tennessee but moved the barrels to be aged in Kentucky at the old Stitzel-Weller warehouses they own. But I thought a barrel proof Tennessee made whiskey might make an interesting comparison to the new BP Jack Daniels. More to come! Soon I hope...

If you like high proof cognacs then hopefully you were able to get a bottle of the very limited single cask Gourry de Chadeville from PM Spirits which weighed in at a modest 128.6 proof. Although admittedly it was a bit spendy for use in most cocktails at well over $100. That and it was just too darn good to drink anyway other than neat or with just a touch of water! I confess I have not used it in a cocktail of any sort and probably won't. But I bet it would be really good! (The Navarre cognac next to it was no slouch either at 90 proof!)

Yes, the JD single barrel barrel proof is surprisingly decent. Not sure the price is quite as decent but such are the times. Aspirin is not what I would have expected but I suppose it needs trying before drawing any final conclusions. If I make it into that part of town (something I don't do often thanks to the usually miserable traffic) and remember to stop in (also a bit questionable given my "sometimers" disease!) I will have to check it out.

That I have!

Thanks! Just occurred to me that this is the Death & Co. book thread (Duh!) which of course I have and the cocktail is likely listed in there!

Gin Barrel aged orange bitters. That is an interesting combination! Where did you find that? I like the RR SB rye so far based on the one bottle I have so far but I wonder if there will be some consistency from barrel to barrel. Can't recall if they have a barrel number annotated on the label.

Nor does gin have to be limited to tonic (I rarely have a dalliance with vodka). Bitter lemon is often my first and usually preferred choice (as I have noted in the past).

Is there a good reference for this Green Flash recipe? Most I find seem to be some abomination of coconut rum, Midori and other specious ingredients! The glass for the second cocktail looks like glasses you used to get (maybe you still can?) with a bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne!

Hochstadter's generally scratches that itch pretty thoroughly for me when it occurs! But I am not much of one for doing various infusion's on my own anyway.

Always a possibility. Every palate is different!

Had a Diamondback using the original yellow chartreuse recipe (HW Double Rye, Lairds 100 proof brandy) at a bar where we were reviewing cocktails for an upcoming private whiskey dinner and really enjoyed it even though it is a bit sweet. Nice after dinner option with a bit less proof than with the green. The green variant is good as well but certainly different. I agree with reducing the yellow chartreuse a bit to keep the sweetness down. Interesting bit of history on the cocktail here.

I did not find it to be as interesting as you apparently did. Maybe it would work in a cocktail although at the unbelievably high price they are charging it isn't really even reasonable to use it for that purpose. I did not think it very good on its own. Indeed "unreasonable" is probably the kindest thing I could say about it...