Four new South African whiskies caught my eye this month — from Metanoia’s experimental single cask to two 23-year-old Bain’s finishes and Boplaas’s oldest release yet. Plus: five questions on silent distilleries, new releases, industry news, reviews, bourbon and what’s worth buying in SA right now.
I’m away on holiday with my family this week, so the digest might be a bit smaller than usual. I’ll leave you with my thoughts and impressions from my Thursday attendance of The Only Whisky Show last week. I’ve been to every TOWS since it launched, and it never disappoints. The selection of whiskies is … Read more
“Nae coopers, nae whisky — that’s what we always say. Without these skills there wouldn’t be a whisky industry.” — Kyle Cooper, Speyside Cooperage [1] Fair point, and one we don’t make often enough. We talk endlessly about distillers, blenders and the mysterious alchemy of oak, but rarely about the people who make sure the … Read more
Olaf Meier has one of the coolest jobs in the whisky world: deciding, glass by glass, what an entire global membership gets to drink next. As Chairman of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Tasting Panel, the German-born storyteller has tasted many thousands of casks and written thousands of tasting notes over more than two decades … Read more
Let me share an excerpt of the brilliant documentary, Neat: The Story of Bourbon When Dad rolled out the 6 millionth barrel, Julian Van Winkle gave me as a gift to my Dad this bottle of 20-year-old Pappy.So I take the bottle and I open it up and I pour a little bit in his … Read more
Mitch Bechard has spent the better part of two decades convincing people to fall in love with whisky — first as a Diageo ambassador working golf clubs and global markets, then repping William Grant & Sons brands in the US, and now from his own base in Speyside, where he runs CopperCairn, a bespoke whisky … Read more