Whisky Live New York 4/11/12

My first Whisky Live. Sadly I had to work late and arrived, frazzled, after 8. I was immediately soothed. Even though I was barely able to cover 1/3 of the floor I had peak experiences, fascinating conversations and drank plenty of amazing and exciting whisky and cognac. Here are the highlights:

Killer Frapin Cognacs

Larry Neuringer of Palm Bay

Frapin Cognac. My first sight on walking into the room was Frapin Cognac. All my favorites were on display and then two high end offerings, the VIP XO, and the Extra Grand Champagne, that I had been dreaming of trying - but never would have dreamed would be there. The VIP XO amped up the strengths of the Chateau Fontpinot XO with an even more effusive floral nose, august noble midpalate bursting with crystalized bitter orange, jasmine blooms, leather and rancio, and a long killer finish with walnut skins, luxury oak and bliss. The Extra Grand Champagne (top of the line except for the crazy kilobuck crystal decanter job) has been a dream tasting of mine ever since Paul Pacult put it in the 2011 hall of fame - see #5 on the page: http://www.spiritjournal.com/tastenote.htm Well - blow me down, Larry Neuringer of Frapin's US distributer, Palm Bay International generously poured me one.  It was sublime - taking the VIP XO's flavor profile even further into the stratosphere.  I took a 3cl sample so I'll be doing a full review in the weeks to come.  5cl samples are going for $80 on Ebay, so this actually just about paid for the event cost right there in the first 10 minutes!  I was LOVING IT.

Bastille 1789 Cognac Malt Whisky

Palm Bay also distributes an exciting new barley malt and wheat whisky from Cognac called Bastille 1789.  Distilled in alembic stills in the Cognac fashion and then aged in casks made from French Limousine oak, cherry and acacia woods, the flavor profile is startling different.  The nose is spiced with South Asian notes of curry, paprika, maybe some ginger.  The entry is unexpectedly sweet, then followed by a lean and drying midpalate that is elegant and refined and an unexpected sweet and herbal effusion of woods on the finish.  I took a sample of this as well and am excited to write a full critical review of this as well in the weeks to come.

Al Young + Four Roses 2012 Single Cask

Four Roses' Al Young was there pouring the astonishing new Four Roses 2012 Single Cask.  This is the higher corn mashbill recipe OESK, 52.5% abv.  The nose was rich and huge and refined with a profusion of floral notes and big fruits.  The entry big and round and glorious.  The midpalate elegant, strong, refined and richly cognac-like with citrus and herbs.  Lovely drying tannins on the finish.  This is clearly one for the ages.  Jim Rutledge shows that Four Roses is still pushing the art form of Bourbon to new heights.  This is a bourbon that, tasted immediately after the Frapin Extra Grand Champagne shows that American Bourbon is a spirit that, at its highest levels, clearly rivals the very best of the world's spirits.  Hats off to Rutledge and the Four Roses crew.  I'm seriously buying this one.

Balcones' Chip Tate

Balcones - Having tasted and reviewed Balcones Brimstone I was intrigued by the clearly high level of crafting, but wasn't totally convinced.  Brimstone is bold and original - but it is out there as a flavor profile.  I wasted no time in parking myself in front of master distiller Chip Tate and tasting the whole line.  It was, literally, a conversion experience.  Chip poured and explained and guided me through the line.

Texas Whiskey - a malt whisky - had eucalyptus scents in the rich wooded nose; rich sweet malt honeyed entry and a lovely dusty oak finish with a feel of the Texas terroir.  I was, frankly wonderfully surprised and pleased by the refined and delicious presentation.  This is the best US craft malt whiskey I've yet tried.

Rumble  - a fascinating distilled product made from sugar and figs (so it's part rum and park eau de vie).  Blackberries, wine, and meade.  Lovely.

"Magical" Rumble Cask Reserve

Rumble cask reserve (cask strength).  OK - here is where the wheels of my resistance fell off.  This is an astounding product with the grace, refinement, and sheer deliciousness of the best rums I've tried - but it's not a rum.  This is one of those magical spirits that rival the top spirits in a range of categories - rum, cognac, eau de vie etc... I must get a sample for review.  (out of bottles)


Baby Blue and True Blue - blue corn 100% corn mashbill corn whiskeys.  Baby Blue is rich and sweet with a young vigor.  True Blue, the cask strength expression is another of those refined landmark products that rivals the great spirits of the world.  I took a sample of this for a full formal review in the next few weeks.  True Blue was astounding.  I begin to fall head over heels.  But Chip wasn't finished yet.  He poured me a parting shot of a rare limited edition of  Balcones Brimstone called Barrel 1200, or "the burned barrel".  It was huge.  The nose took Brimstone's sweet mequite brushfire notes to another level of high resolution fidelity and enormous terroir.  On the palate it was titanic, and yet elegant and refined.  Ultimately astounding.

There were other highlights too and many more drams: Old Pulteney, Glenfiddich.  I met David Allardice of William Grant & Sons.  We had a dram of Glenfiddich 15 Solera.  I took a sample for future review.  The healing continues and I'm beginning to understand and come to grips with the Glenfiddich floral honeysuckle honeydew melon Speyside flavor profile.  I had a wonderful interlude with Amrut, including tasting most of the line including Intermediate Sherry and the new release, Kadhambam - aged sequentially in bourbon, sherry, brandy, and rum casks.  Gal wrote a detailed review of it in Whisky Israel.

An important mention.  George Manska was evangelizing and selling The NEAT glass.  The Scotch Noob reviewed the NEAT glass last week.  I picked one up and plan to corroborate his work (and add the Reidel scotch glass into the mix) in a review in the near future.

My biggest regrets were that I missed the following tables because of short time:
Glenmorangie / Ardbeg
Breckinridge
Corsair
Smooth Ambler

All in all, a night to remember and treasure.  I can't wait for the next one.  I learned a lot.  Come early, stay light, carry lots of empties!  A magical room where everyone is happy and everyone you see is pouring for you!