It is with great sadness I read the news of the passing of Truman Cox. He was a good friend, great father and husband and a passionate member of our whiskey fraternity.  Loved ones can never leave too late, but Truman truly left too early.  He will be missed.

Brett Pontoni
Specialty Spirits Buyer
Binny’s Beverage Depot

Truman Cox
From A. Smith Bowman Distillery / Buffalo Trace Distillery, Feb 10th

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Truman Cox, Master Distiller of our A. Smith Bowman Distillery.   Truman passed away on Saturday, February 9 after a short illness.  Truman joined the company in 2004 as Lead Chemist at Buffalo Trace Distillery and in 2011 realized his dream to become the Master Distiller at A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia.   Truman’s passion for our industry was evident to everyone who knew him and he left a notable and positive mark on our company in the time he was with us.

Truman will be sadly missed by his many friends at Sazerac and in the industry.  Please keep Truman, his wife Susan and daughter Emmy in your thoughts and prayers.

After 8500 air miles, nearly 1000 driving miles and one narrowly missed volcanic erruption, the Scotland 2011 trip has wrapped up. This year the journey began on the east coast in Aberdeen, and took us as far north as the Orkney Islands, as far south as Pitlochry and as far west as Inverness. Distilleries visited included Highland Park, Scapa, Glenglassaugh, Glenfarclas, Edradour, Braeval, Allt a Bhainne, Glenallechie, Longmorn, Glen Elgin, Glen Spey and Benrinnes. Over the next few weeks I will get into more detail about some of those stops, but since the purpose of this trip is to source casks for our single cask program, here’s a preliminary report of what is being considered for 2011:

Gordon & Macphail

Craigellachie 1993 – 17 year (refill Bourbon)

Glenallechie 1999 – 11 year (refill Bourbon)

Glenburgie 1996 – 14 year (FF Bourbon. Sorry, couldn’t find a maple syrup and butter bomb this year!)

Mortlach 1998 – 12 year (FF Bourbon)

Tomatin 2001 – 9 year (FF Bourbon)

Scapa 2000 – 11 year (Refill Bourbon)

Bunnahabhain 2000 – 10 year (FF Bourbon)

Caol Ila 2004 – 6 year (Refill Bourbon)

Signatory

Linkwood 1998 – 12 year (Sherry Hoggie)

Linkwood 1995 – 16 year (Hoggie)

Braeval 1998 – 12 year (Bourbon)

Imperial 1995 – 15 year (Hoggie)

Mortlach 1998 – 13 year (Hoggie)

Mortlach 1991 – 19 year (FF Sherry Butt)

Caperdonich 1994 – 16 year (Hoggie)

Glenlossie 1992 – 18 year (Hoggie)

Tamdhu 2004 -7 year (FF Sherry Butt)

Bunnahabhain 1997 – 13 year Heavily Peated (Hoggie)

Bunnahabhain 2001 – 10 year (Sherry Butt)

Bunnahabhain 2005 – 6 year Heavily Peated (Bourbon)

Bunnahabhain 2006 – 5 year Heavily Peated (Hoggie)

Laphroaig 1995 – 16 year (Bourbon)

Laphroaig 2000 – 10 year (Hogshead)

Original Bottlings

Edradour 2003 – 8 year (FF Bourbon)

Pulteney 1995 – 16 year (3 samples, FF Bourbon)

We have plenty of great potentials as we go to round 2. That means sitting our tasting panel down, rescreening the samples brought back and gathering pricing for everything. Many barrels we don’t select exclusively for Binny’s will still make it here as general US releases; they were certainly all good enough to make it through the first round!

   At the beginning of December, we got a number of requests for Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix, which was being released in Europe to much hoopla. At that time the information we were getting was that none was going to be released to the US. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes (or in this case the whisky rising from the collapsed warehouses) it turns out our information was not accurate. We are pleased to announce that Binny’s will be receiving an allotment of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix.

   For those who don’t know about this bottling: in December 2009 and January of 2010 much of Scotland was absolutely pounded by a massive snow storm, especially concentrated in the Speyside whisky making region. This storm was followed by extremely cold temperatures which turned the snow into ice and collapsed the roofs of many building in the area. A number of whisky aging warehouses collapsed because they weren’t built to withstand this once in a century occurence, including several at Glenfiddich. To pay memory to this crisis and the swift reaction of those employees of the distillery who had to clean up the mess, Glenfiddich Malt Master Brian Kinsman created this bottling using casks of varying ages, both ex-Bourbon and ex-Oloroso Sherry casks, that were exposed to the weather. Further inspired by the lifesaving work performed by the regional Cairgorn Mountain Rescue Team helping the local citizens, Brian involved them in the creation of the bottling and the distillery made a donation for their efforts.

   Preliminary tasting notes indicate this is a classic Glenfiddich, all apple, pear, honey, light chocolate and hints of sherry spice. Snow Phoenix is bottled at 47.6% abv and will retail for $89.99/750ml.

Why is Rye Still Hot?

   Cocktails, silly!

   A history lesson: If rum was America’s original dram of choice, it was quickly replaced by Rye Whiskey. We had the material, we had the distilling knowledge, we could make it bigger, better, stronger faster! 

   …

   Wait, that’s the Bionic Man.

   Nonetheless, the facts were true. Given that one of the earliest distillers in the colonies was a guy named George Washington, there was credibility and propriety around rye production as well.

   Enough with the history lesson; we’re more interested about what makes rye tick.

   If Bourbon is a sipping dram, Rye is a cocktail staple. Why? The biggest reason is dry, astringent spice character that rye grain brings to the table. While it’s a key component in most bourbon (rye adds layers of pepper and baking spice to the fat sweetness of a majority corn mash) it can get shrill and sharp when turned up too high.

   However, the addition of other sweet, fat flavors in a cocktail makes that sharp spice character an asset again, a layer of bright, complex flavors popping through the sweetness. We aren’t saying Rye is undrinkable on it’s own; anyone who has sipped Sazerac Straight Rye, WhistlePig, High West Rendezvous, Wild Turkey Russell’s Reserve, and on and on and on … knows this already.

What’s With High Rye Recipe Ryes?

   That’s a mouthful. Here’s the deal:

   The traditional Ryes we are most familiar with are much like bourbon, except the proportion of rye and corn are flipped. Bourbon has a minimum of 50% corn with rye (or wheat) and malted barley as compliments. Straight Rye has minimum of 50% Rye, with corn and malt added as the compliments, with generally no more than 60% rye.

   Things are changing, and we like it. A few Canadian distilleries are producing rye that contains 70% to 100% rye. A few of these are actually starting to see the light of day, most notably the sublime WhistlePig (100% rye) produced in Canada and bottled in Vermont. On our side of the border, the highly allocated Old Potrero whiskies (100%) and the newly introduced Redemption Rye (95%) are following suit.

   We’re glad to see this trend. We expect more to come, especially from microdistilleries, such as our friends at Koval.

   We asked our ace mixology team at the South Loop Tasting Room to create signature cocktails featuring Rye. Check out the Whiskey Hotline Holiday Edition for cocktail recipes and more news from the world of designer distillates.

   A legendary aperitivo from Italy, this Asti native has been made continuously since 1891. It slipped out of broad distribution for years here in the states, leaving cocktail enthusiasts to hunt down this sought after liqueur.

   Cocchi Americano starts with a base of Moscato wine, which is then fortified with brandy and infused with gentian, cinchona bark, citrus and a handful of botanicals in a secret recipe known only by the Cocchi family. It then rests a year in wood prior to bottling. The result is a complex, light and lively combination of traditional bitterness and sublime sweetness. Americano is most commonly consumed simply with a little ice, soda water and a citrus peel or wedge.

   Cocchi Americano is widely believed to be the only thing remotely close to the original Kina Lillet. The classic bitter formula for Lillet was altered in the mid-eighties, dropping the cinchona bark (a bitter Peruvian bark that supplies quinine) and Kina from its name. The result is the softer, and many would say more benign, version of Lillet Blanc that you will find on shelves today.

   Because of its similarities to the retired Kina Lillet formula, Cocchi is now the only proper aperitivo to use in a Corpse Reviver #2, a gin-based drink that features complex and intriguing herbal and citrus flavors. Give it a try:

Classic Corpse Reviver #2

   1 oz gin
   1 oz Cointreau
   1 oz Cocchi Americano
   1 oz fresh lemon juice
   1 dash absinthe

   Mix all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice, stir until very cold. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel twist.

   The explosion of tequila in the last few years has created a lot of confusion surrounding all kinds of spirits distilled from agave from Mexico.

   Here’s a thumbnail sketch.

   The origins of distillation in Mexico date back to at least the 1530′s, brought to the new world by Spanish Conquistadors. They used the most readily available fermentable material in Mexico – agave – a relative of the lily family (not a cactus, as commonly misperceived) with over 100 strains growing across the vast new territory.

   A fermented (but not distilled) drink called pulque was being made with agave well before the arrival of the Spaniards, nearly always by native priests who considered it a gift from the Gods and used it for sacrificial ceremonies and medicinal purposes. When the Spaniards arrived they brought the distillation process with them, and the oldest North American distilled spirit was born.

   “Mezcal” is a catchall term applied to anything distilled in Mexico from agave. Ergo, Tequila is technically Mezcal de Tequila. Tequila can only be produced from blue agave grown in the Mexican state of Jalisco and small parts of bordering states Zacatecas and Michoacan. Mezcal is actually distilled in nine states in Mexico from up to eleven different species of agave, the green Espadin being the most common.

   The closest regional association to Mezcal is with Oaxaca state in the south. Oaxaca is somewhat considered the home of Mezcal by the Mexican government. Another agave distilled product, Sotol, is distilled in the state of Chihuahua.

   Most Mezcal, especially in Oaxaca, is distinguished fromTequila not only by the agave used but by production techniques.Most notably, Mezcal production includes cooking the agave intraditional in ground pits lined with rocks and fired by wood, and distillation in traditional copper pot stills. The variety of available Mezcalavailable is as wide as the selections of agave strains.

   Let’s get to what’s in the bottle.

   The grand daddy of Mezcal for most US consumers is the Del Maguey line, imported for a number of years by Mezcal guru Ron Cooper, produced in and named after the Oaxacan villages where they are born. More expensive than most, but fat, sweet, spicy and in varying degrees smoky, they offer a great representation of regional styles, differentiated by the elevations and areas from which the wild agaves are harvested.  The new Del Maguey Vida bottling is a good introduction to the gems Ron has discovered, retailing for $39.99. 

  New From Durango comes El Malpais Blanco ($24.99), Rojas Especial Blanco ($24.99) and Reposado ($29.99), none for the faint of heart. All three are rich, smoky, herbal and almost briny. These are almost the equivalent of an Islay whisky made with agave! 

   Moving to a softer style and more balance between smoky and sweet is the Scorpion line from Oaxaca. This lineup, still new to Binny’s, is traditional but approachable, and each bottle has an actual scorpion inside! (Actually the exoskeleton of a scorpion, considered a mystical delicay in Oaxaca) Bottlings range from the traditional blanco, reposado and 1 year aged anejo, to the exotic 5 year and 7 year aged anejo.

   From the Mexican state of Zacatecas, you should check out the Casa Curiel line. They drink like well made tequila, as they are made like tequila, from Blue Agave grown just outside the zone around Jalisco that would legally designate them as tequila. We currently offer the standard blanco, reposado and anejo. Also from Zacatecas and coming soon to Binny’s is Felino Reposado, another reposado made in the Tequila style.

We receive a lot of questions and product requests on the Whisky Hotline, we can finally answer yes to the most common one.  Yes, we do have Paddy Irish Whiskey.  For the first time, a limited amount of this Irish staple has hit the shores, and we have bought a pile of it, at least enough to get us through St. Patrick’s Day.  Named for famous Cork Distillers Company salesman Paddy Flaherty in 1912, this light, soft gem consists of a high portion of triple distilled malt whisky.  The owner of the brand, Pernod Ricard, is insisting this is a limited release, we can only hope that they decide to make it readily available.