NIGHTCAP: December
Welcome everyone to Nightcap December. You made it through the holidays hopefully intact and not too angry at Santa for not delivering the entire BTAC lineup like you asked, but hey, Santa has to deal with the same nonsense everyone else does, and he refuses to carry Fireball, so his allocations are light. Buckle up, I have got a long nightcap for you with pictures again, because you crazy folks like pictures. Let’s get right into it.
One of these was in the top three things I drank this year. You can guess which one, probably.
This article is interesting, and also leaves me filled with a sense of foreboding . A rye malt is debuting in India, and lord help us Rye fans if the Indians develop a liking for the Rye profile. If you think there’s a shortage of prestigious Bourbons because of demand, convert just 2% of the population of India from Scotch drinkers to Rye drinkers and you wipe out Rye. Globally. You can’t find Willett? So sad here’s a tissue. How about not being able to find Jim Beam Rye? This terrifies me on an irrational level.
In April of 2022, Eboni Major who was formerly a blender at Bulleit filed a lawsuit against Diageo alleging harassment and discrimination. Diageo of course disputes the claims and said in their statement to the NY Times- “Diageo celebrates and values diversity on all levels, and our long track record demonstrates a real commitment to creating a culture that supports inclusivity. When we learned of Ms. Major’s concerns and allegations, we took them very seriously, thoroughly reviewing each of them with great care utilizing internal, as well as external resources, and where appropriate we have reinforced training and guidelines.”
The only thing I loathe more than marketing gobbledygook is legalese mumbo jumbo, so let’s gas up the snark machine and get to work. Let’s explore the track record they’re so proud of and I’ll start simply- WHY DOES DIAGEO CONTINUE TO HAVE ISSUES WITH FEMALE EMPLOYEES?
Why have they learned nothing since Hollis and their hamfisted handling of the Bulleit family saga? Why is it so hard for Diageo to treat people fairly, with dignity and some basic fucking decency? Apparently Diageo continues to have work to do and if the latest allegations are found to be true (it’s headed to arbitration), they should shitcan their impotent HR department and make things fucking right and stop having to issue these dreadful “we take these things very seriously blah blah no we don’t cuz they keep happening” press releases! Also I’ll continue to not drink Bulleit because Tom is and was, a shitass of the highest order.
Now, is everyone at Diageo bad? Absolutely not, they have some incredible people there. But companies need to stop defending the bad people, as it costs them great talent, prestige, and money in the long run. Which leads to our next bit…..
Eboni Major is releasing her first blend since departing Diageo (who continues to have issues with female employees, yeah, this is gonna be a running gag until they stop having issues with female employees.) and its on preorder right now. She had planned to do a rye initially, but ended up doing a Kentucky blend for Dread River Distillery in Alabama. You can read the brief piece on it here.
Not talked about very much, but this French Oak Barrel aged Bourbon was a very interesting pour.
2023 should usher in a big coming out party for Bardstown Bourbon Company (I will avoid the abbreviation and the inevitable giggle reflex) as they release three different core products that showcase their own 6-year-old distillate. I have found that most of their previously released products didn’t hit me in any particular way so I never developed any kind of meaningful relationship with their whiskey. 2023 could change that, and now that they think their whiskey is ready for primetime, I’ll be ready with my $69.99 (it’s like they want me to giggle) for the Rye release.
Sticking with the giggle factor for a moment, I have to tip my hat to WhistlePig for not just offering another decanter for people to collect, but to really embrace the nose to tail movement. This decanter for PiggyBank 10-year-old rye (not to be confused with PiggyBACK) forces you to pour the whiskey out of the backside of pork. Yes, it comes out of the PiggyButt. Pay attention folks, the whiskey is poured out of the porkbutt. You cannot make this up. It seems the decanter is in itself an historical homage to ones that were once produced in the 19th century in Ohio (is this why the Buckeye state continues to be the butt of so many jokes?). The whiskey inside is the typically terrific 10 year Canadian rye at 110 proof, and the decanter is 1000ml. It’s priced at $200 which I mean, you’re paying for the pleasure of pouring 250ml more Canadian rye, out the back end of hog which is definitely something else and come on, isn’t that worth the extra scratch just for the inevitable TikTok clout? That’ll do Pig, that’ll do.
I made the prediction recently that Matthew McConaughey would end up owning Wild Turkey one day. With the celebriwhiskey craze continuing I just couldn’t see why MM wasn’t doing something more than a glorified paid partnership. Well, it seems that the contract between him and Wild Turkey has expired and the two are parting ways with no impact on LongBranch aside from MM’s signature being removed from the label. Watch the crazed collectors clear the bottles that feature his signature off the shelves…… No clue as to what is next for MM, but I cannot believe he won’t turn up in the spirits category somehow somewhere with all of the continued celebrity money grabs that are taking place. I mean, Clooney and pals were paid ONE BILLION DOLLARS for not whiskey. Imagine if MM had owned LongBranch….. It remains to be seen if my prediction was right, that’s what is fun about prognostications, if you leave out the date, one day I could be right and I’ll never tire of telling you!
This is still one of the best things ever bottled.
I mean, it had to happen. Star Trek people are as nutty as Elvis people, so you can bet the Enterprise that this latest release of Romulan Ale Rye Whiskey from Star Trek Spirits will sell out simply because it exists, and yeah, I’m buying one thank you very much, however….. I’ve checked the hailing frequencies and we have some incoming gobbledygook to run through the universal translator, so let’s set our phasers on snark.
“ROMULAN ALE RYE WHISKEY
The Rye Whiskey used in Romulan Ale Rye Whiskey was designed from start to finish to be exceptional. Its roots are deep in history and technology. We started with ultra-premium rye whiskey. It is a mash bill of 95% Rye and 5% Malted Barley, which gives it a sweetness and flavor complexity after aging in newly charred White Oak Barrels. Next, we utilized a 150-year-old yeast strain, used in some extraordinary and well-known Rye Whiskeys. After aging for 2+ years just across the Ohio River from Kentucky, it was ready for bottling.”Ok, ultra-premium, 95/5… so, MGP. 150-year-old yeast strains. So, MGP. 2+ years, so MGP. And jusssssssst across the Ohio River from Kentucky….. so MGP. JUST SAY MGP. We all KNOW THIS. MGP MGP MGP. It’s not from Romulus or Remus, it’s from MGP! KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!
But wait, there’s more.
”But we took it a step further with the second distilling process, creating an ultra-smooth finish, even at a very high bottle proof. In collaboration with a world-renowned food scientist, we opted for a rare and technologically advanced vacuum distillation process. Distillation under a vacuum creates lower temperatures, enhancing both flavor and aromatics. We'd like to think that distillation in the future would also be done in similar low-pressure environments. As it turns out, distillation in a vacuum happens to make smooth and complex whiskey!”I honestly don’t know where to begin on this one. I’ll just toss in a few things, one it’s science that has been used for years in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, I don’t say this to freak you out, it’s just not that big of a deal. It typically is done in distilling alcohol to reduce decomposition of the enzymes which in theory (it’s not determined if this process actually does much for distilled spirits) should improve flavors and reduce the undesirables. Regardless, it’s done more frequently than you think, but what makes me really question the point of it all… is that it’s ROMULAN ALE. It should knock you on your human Federation ass harder than a Klingon boxer. Smooth is not what I’m looking for. Aren’t you glad I looked this up for you? The things I do for this blog.
One of these is one of the greats right here. No joke, the Booker’s just dominates everything it gets in the ring with.
If alternative lifestyles puzzle or offend you, don’t click on this YouTube link to a Spanish J&B Holiday commercial. It’s things like this that really show how representation can matter, and touch hearts. This would probably be viewed as a huge brand risk here in the United States due to our varying levels of tolerance and acceptance, but it was nice to see that the international markets can handle it. Brilliantly shot, and words aren’t necessary to understand the kindness and impact that was being communicated. Bravo J&B, bravo. It would be incredible to see an American brand do something like this, but I’ll not hold my breath. Sadly we just aren’t there yet as a society.
Key in the Lake Whiskey Podcast came to Tales of the Cocktail and Jake wrote about his best bar experience in 2022. You can read about it here. I can proudly say that New Orleans offers many magical experiences like this, if you’re willing to avoid all of the obvious places.
Sazerac is changing up the distribution nationally for the Pappy’s and BTAC’s…. we will have more discussion on this in the future but I am left wondering currently- Will this change finally alter the current need for stores to carry non-Sazerac shit, when they already have to carry actual Sazerac shit, for a chance to get the good Sazerac shit? Time will tell I suppose.
C’mon Fred, this one slaps ya mamma.
Quick hits to end the year-
I’ve been banging my head trying to come up with my Bourbon of the Year under my criteria that they must be more or less widely available, and non-unicorns. I’ve got nothing. Knob Creek 18 is the closest, but it’s not easy to lay hands on. So whatever.
Fred’s top 100 bottles of the year is nonsense. It’s so large a list it becomes a bloated beached whale that is utterly meaningless. We all know how it plays out…. BTAC, Old Fitz decanters, Bookers, a bunch of wheated, and oh you can find 8 on the entire list without hunting or overpaying. Boring. Also, it didn’t include the absurdly grand Heaven Hill 17 year. Now the list isn’t just boring, it’s farcical.
Remember a few years back when Beam wanted to price Bookers as a premium bottle at $99 and the whiskey world shat itself? They quickly backpedaled but here we are…. $99 and frankly it’s worth that for most batches.
The Call Me Miss Cleo documentary on HBO/MAX was entertaining and enlightening. I had always thought she had been the brains behind the scam, but she was merely the face of the scammers. I love learning that what I thought to be true, wasn’t entirely, and had more nuance than expected.
In keeping with the psychic theme for a moment, I predict there will be more acquisitions in 2023. Even though they say they don’t, I believe in my soul that Kentucky Peerless has a price, now whether anyone will pay it is another story. New Riff, Castle & Key, Sagamore, they’re all maturing into strong brands, and whenever that happens, it seems like the fleet of money trucks show up and flood the parking lots with scratch. I think anything with a working still that has capacity, is open game, so any bets?
I think that we are in a place where we have a glut of brands and labels, and that likely means that some micro-distilleries will shutter as it’s becoming increasingly impossible to stand out without big money behind the brand. Which means, there will be an awful lot of barrels hitting the brokers. Look for some really wild single barrels over the next decade with mysterious origins.
Whiskey labels have become increasingly stale. There needs to be more panache and less FDPH* labels. I love the Filmland Spirits stuff and I hope we get more interesting styles in the coming years. * Farms/Dead People/Horses
The best Bourbon I tasted this year was Heaven Hill 17, closely followed by Knob Creek 18. I found the bourbon category to be very stagnant this year with a smattering of good high end releases. Overall this was a down year in Bourbon.
Social Media for me continues to decline into the dreariest of places. The voices I valued most have become washed out and overtaken by the influ-tainers. Reels which took over from photos and conversations have become rote, incestuous and disposable. The whiskey community has more or less become memeified, paid, or judgmental (Yep, I’ve got my hypocrisy hat on today sue me for being judgemental.).
Quick rant- I hate the re-share accounts that just post everyone else’s stuff. It’s lazy, cheap, and wretched. Either make your own art, or abandon the need to feed that algorithm. You won’t get more media samples at 22,000 followers than you did at 18,000, and taking a break may give you inspiration to actually do something creative for the first time in years.
I had a glass of Pappy Van Winkle 15-year at Barrel Proof on Christmas Eve. It was fine, but one should never, ever drink it side by side with Bookers rye. Another needless reminder that rye is superior to bourbon in every single meaningful way.
My bar reset is in progress, I’m down to 48 open bottles. My goal is to have 30 open bottles and to kill one before I open anything new, never going over 30 opens. Sounds easy right? Well, in January I had 104 opens, it took me quite awhile to get here. I need to hustle up, I have some things I really want to get into, and I’m going to designate half the opens to my essentials. 6 Rye’s, 14 Bourbons, and 10 of whatever I fancy at the moment. Likely those will be Rye’s too, but we shall see.
Blade and Bow 22yr debuted with an MSRP of $1,300 to “thwart the flippers.” Sure. And my Chrysler has a jetpack and can go underwater. It’s $1,300 because it’s old ass Stitzel-Weller and Diageo wanted the money for themselves. No shame in that, but I hate when they act like they were doing it to protect the whiskey drinkers. It shows how far we’ve come when I can recall that in early 2019 it was $600 at the gift shop and was readily available. Nothing is safe from the flip or the price increase anymore.
There are rumblings that some collectors are beginning to tire of whiskey, and are moving to Armagnac (seriously you can get 30+ year bottles for less than Elmer). We shall see if this becomes a trend or not, but the thing about collectors markets, is that eventually people get bored or frustrated and move on to something new. The whiskey collecting boom will have to end one day, so look at the middle range collectors (not the big money folks who will pay $53k at Sotheby’s for a bottle of Pappy) to get a sense of when.
This is definitely a wild gift idea. A whiskey webcam experience. No snark, this is just different.
Jefferson’s is getting a distillery thanks to a $250,000,000 investment from Pernod-Ricard. The distillery will feature a visitors center and will have 7.5 million proof gallon capacity which is incredible. I repeat myself here- capacity capacity capacity. Everyone wants and needs it. Pernod-Ricard owns a lot of places with capacity- Rabbit Hole, Smooth Ambler, TX… I’d think this news wasn’t good news for Kentucky Artisan Distillery but everyone needs that capacity (I repeat myself often it would seem) so someone will still need their output.
Not to be outdone, KBD aka Willett is investing $93,000,000 in wait for it, wait for it….. CAPACITY!
Frankly, this is one of the best decanters of all time. 1000ml of pork butt pours…. Legend.
That’s it for this month and year. I was personally extremely busy with work, so I didn’t get out as much as I would have liked so I wasn’t able to share a lot of “support local” content with you. Next month I promise to include some great food and drink options here in New Orleans.
I’ve got some very fun things to do in the coming months, Kentucky in January, Chicago in February, New Orleans Bourbon Festival in March, Las Vegas/New Mexico/Colorado in April… and I can’t wait to share the meaningful experiences with you all.
As always, thank you so much for spending some time with me and my musings, I really appreciate you taking the time. If you have any feedback or jokes, please drop them in the comments.
Have a terrific 2023!
- Mickey Pinstripe