Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel bourbon by Buffalo Trace Distillery was rated by the Washingtonian Magazine as “The World’s Greatest Bourbon” in 1995. Price ranges anywhere from $40.00-$60.00, so this can be an expensive bourbon. I was able to score a bottle for $38.00, but having tried it I can say I would easily pay more for this one, and probably will in the future!
Here’s one for anyone with a sweet tooth: Glayva whisky liqueur, which claims to be the best liqueur in the world – I’m not sure I’d go that far (in fact I am sure that I wouldn’t), but it is pretty good! In general liqueur terms I personally prefer the whisk(e)y cream variety, though that could very well be down to the fact that I’ve had far more of it.
The good folk at Glayva were kind enough to send me a sample to review for you guys, so in order to ensure that I did it justice I decided to try it neat, as well as according to the 4 mixer suggestions on their website. The nose, when neat, offers up a warming concoction of zesty citrus – come to think of it, it’s quite similar to how your fingers smell after you’ve peeled a clementine (I know there’s tangerine in it, but it smells more like clementine to me) – along with cloves, herbs and honey. So far, so good! On the palate it is lusciously thick and creamy and the honey, herb and citrus notes are still very much present and dominant, along with a bit of aniseed and… something slightly tangy that I can’t quite put my finger on. A word of warning: it’s very moreish! I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s too sweet – but so far as I’m concerned, that’s the nature of a liqueur.
The time during which the Edinburgh fringe festival is on – just under a month, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, of non-stop madness (there are some 2,500 different shows, most of which run 6 days a week, and an endless number of visitors) – is both knackering and invigorating, fun and soul-destroying, not to mention ridden with borderline alcohol abuse for the vast majority of its visitors; residents included. Indeed, I have only experienced sleep paralysis (where you become ‘aware’ before your REM cycle has finished, thus you’re paralysed and hallucinate) twice and both times were during the festival – it can be caused by sleep deprivation and excessive alcohol consumption, you see, the two hallmarks of a good fringe festival.
If you’re looking for a bargain price bourbon, you may be interested in Heaven Hill Old Style. Heaven Hill is very cheap at just $9.00 a bottle, but you’ll notice something which stands out about it right from the off, which is that it’s bottled in glass and not plastic, despite the low price. Heaven Hill Distilleries is based in Kentucky and is family owned and operated since 1935. They have created a number of different bourbons but this is perhaps one of their best-known concoctions.
I was invited to my friends in Denmark over the New Year, Aarhus to be precise, and decided to go for it – I’m growing a bit tired of the Edinburgh Hogmanay, anyway. Thanks to our Irish friends I managed to get there quite cheaply, which is always a bonus. That said, I think I’ll stay away from Ryan Air from now on – but don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the details of my travel arrangements.
There is, to my knowledge, only one Danish distillery, and unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to visit it nor try their produce while I was there. My hosts are not the biggest of whisky drinkers – I don’t hold this against them, though, as they make up for it with a passion for beer. I’ve always been under the impression that not too many breweries existed in Scandinavia, and that the ones they do have largely produce standard lager (bleh!). Obviously there are some well known and noteworthy exceptions to this rule such as Nils Oscar, Mikkeller and Haandbryggeriet, to name one from each country, but on large… Well, I didn’t think they had much to offer.
As it turns out, though, I was wrong. Beer is apparently a growing trend in Scandinavia, and microbreweries are – or so I’ve been told – thriving. During my visit I had the opportunity to try several Danish beers, and I may come to write reviews of them all, but the most noteworthy experience was our visit to Sct. Clemens brewery. Sct. Clemens in situated right in the middle of Aarhus and offers a selection of 4 beers at any given time, all of which are brewed in the very room you drink them in. Seeing the massive mash tuns, coppers, and fermenters that your beer has been brewed in as you drink it adds a fantastic atmospheric quality to the experience, I loved it.
One bourbon I’d been reading about repeatedly all over the web is the Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel, named after the Master Distiller by the same name who joined the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky in the mid 20th century. Since what I’d been reading was praise on every account, my curiosity was naturally stoked, and I finally caved in and bought a bottle. $28 isn’t cheap, so needless to say my expectations going in were high.
How did my investment pay off? The Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel was a lovely deep reddish amber color in the bottle, consistent with 14 years of aging. It was immediately clear to me when I picked up the bottle that the consistency was smooth and thick.
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