Woodford releases seventh in Master's Collection

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Woodford Reserve this week unveiled the seventh release in its limited edition  Master's Collection, which will be released in early November.

This release, called Four Wood, is a unique batching of mature Woodford Reserve bourbon which has been aged in American Oak, as required by law for all bourbons, and finished in barrels made from maple wood, and from those used to mature both sherry and port.

Woodford Reserve began to experiment with wood finishing in 1999. Notes master distiller Chris Morris, "The batching ratios of the three finishing barrels were painstakingly chosen so that no one character dominated the final product. Instead, Four Wood is so balanced that the palate effects of each of the four woods plays a discernible role in the final flavor presentation."

With each release, one of the five sources of flavor is changed for the Master's Collection expressions. The sources -- grain, water, fermentation, distillation, and maturation -- are unique to bourbon whiskey, and altering just one of them creates a totally new flavor profile.

Previous Master's Collection releases were Four Grain, Sonoma-Cutrer Finish, Sweet Mash, Seasoned Oak, Maple Wood Finish and Rare Rye Selection. They are released periodically at the master distiller's discretion, and are bottled only once.

Each bottle is individually numbered and presented at 94.4 proof (47.2% abv). Limited cases are available with a suggested retail price of $99.99 for a 750ml bottle.

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'Whiskey fungus' probe cloaked in silence

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The Millers Lane facility.

• From the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal:

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Diageo Americas Supply Inc., a subsidiary of a British company that makes Bulleit Bourbon, had a November 4 deadline to respond to a Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District enforcement action against a so-called "whiskey fungus" that authorities blame for covering cars and homes with dark spots.

But district officials aren’t saying whether the company met the deadline, and they are withholding all correspondence from the company to the district related to the enforcement action.

The secrecy -- for now, anyway -- is allowed under the Kentucky Open Records law because the district’s enforcement action is still ongoing, officials said in a response to a request of mine to review the records.

Back in September, the violation notices sent to the company cited air-quality infractions at whiskey warehouses at 2349 Millers Lane, and were the first since the district began looking into the vapor problem in the mid-2000s.

The case could be called high profile because it involves a signature Louisville industry -- bourbon. Mayor Greg Fischer, in a response to a reporter’s question, at first questioned the science behind the enforcement action of his own agency, but later withdrew from the matter, citing a potential for the appearance of a conflict of interest. A business partner is among those suing the company over the fungus.

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'Your Whiskey, Your Way' at new craft distillery

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Having your own wine made isn't unusual. There are any number of wineries in many states that will tailor a batch to your specifics. But a new craft distillery that just opened over the weekend in Washington state may be the first to allow customers to help create their own spirits.

Heritage Distilling Company, which just opened to the public in Gig Harbor on scenic Puget Sound, is Washington's -- and perhaps the nation's -- first distillery to have a do-it-yourself component.

Owners Justin and Jennifer Stiefel are offering a program like called "Your Whiskey, Your Way." Customers can order a cask of spirits made to their specificatiopns, or can even take part in the process under the distillery's supervision.

The process is a bit tricky. State regulations do not allow unlicensed individuals to produce spirits without the proper federal and state licensing and permits. Heritage Distilling gets around that problem by doing all but the final stage of the distilling. Customers are allowed to selec a recipe and, later on, run one of the distillery's six micro-stills to complete the process.

"We are the ones licensed. We own all the equipment and have all the responsibility. It only becomes the customers’ product when they pay for it at the end," Justin Stiefel told The Business Journal.

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Adult beverage sales: Up and still rising

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• From Nation's Restaurant News

Sales of adult beverages in the U.S. increased in 2011 and will continue to rise, according to a study by restaurant research firm Technomic. 

Technomic's 2012 BarTAB (Trends in Adult Beverage) report showed that sales of beer, wine and spirits in restaurants increased 4.9 percent in 2011, reaching $93.7 billion and are trending up for 2012 and 2013. 

One reason for that sales growth and its predicted continuation may be pent-up demand left over from the recession, said Technomic senior director Donna Hood Crecca. “Now that we’re into the recovery and consumer confidence is improving, they’re giving in and going for that affordable indulgence,” she said. 

According to the report, one third of consumers say that alcoholic beverages at a restaurant influence their decision to go there, meaning that adult drinks are becoming a competitive differentiator. “Operators are also doing a great job promoting [drinks],” Crecca added.

 “They’re doing beer dinners and tequila dinners. That generates excitement among consumers.”

The study also found that when it comes to beverage sales, beer is, by far, the largest on-premise category, accounting for more than four-fifths of all beverages sold. Imported and craft beers are growing in popularity. Craft beer volumes increased 11 .4%  during 2011, while imported beers grew about 1%, Crecca said.

Go here for the rest of the story, which puts the craft vs. import beer situation in perspective.

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Looking for a perfect Christmas gift?

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The perfect gift. Honest!

Making a list, checking it twice, and hoping to find an interesting item to attach to the names?

May I humbly (OK, blatantly) suggest a copy of my book, "Barrels & Drams: The History of Whis(e)y In Jiggers and Shots"?

It's available at local bookstores such as The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Guilderland and Market Block Books in Troy. It also is available via the usual online sources, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and so on.

"Barrels & Drams" is the culmination of a project I conceived, co-wrote and edited for the New York publishing house Sterling Epicure. It deals with the history, major characters, global reach and other aspects of whiskey through the centuries.

Other contributors to the book are such industry luminaries as James Rodewald, a former editor at Gourmet magazine; Daniel Okrent, a 1964 Pulitzer finalist in history; David Wondrich, a founding member of the Museum of the American Cocktail and a drinks writer for several publications, and "the writer in white," the iconic storyteller Tom Wolfe.

In addition, the unusual design of the book and its cover was honored with a design award this year from the Book Industry Guild of New York.

George Dickel's new rye a bargain price

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George Dickel turns out a very nice Tennessee whiskey. But, like a growing number of distillers, it's putting the spotlight on a new rye.

George Dickel Rye is a straight rye whisky matured in new charred oak barrels for at least five years. The mash bill is 95% Indiana rye and 5% malted barley. It is bottled at 90 proof (45% abv).

Besides the Dickel reputation, another drawing card is the suggested retail price: $25 for the 750ml bottle.

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Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select begins slow rollout

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Sinatra, and Jack, in concert.

Frank Sinatra's long love affair with blues, broads and booze, as he often phrased it, was well chronicled during the iconic singer-actor's lifetime. Now, 14 years after his death, his favorite brand of whiskey is honoring him.

Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select was unveiled this week, the first step in a drawn-out marketing plan.

Sinatra Select, bottled at 90 proof (45% abv), is matured longer than the standard Jack Daniel’s, in "Sinatra barrels" that have carved interior grooves to expose the whiskey to more wood. That results in a faster maturing spirit.

The new expression will be launched -- with an initial suggested retail price of $150 -- at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas Airport in December. It then will be rolled out to about 200 other airport locations around the world in January.

The marketing plan calls for selling Sinatra Select at the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, TN, beginning in 2013, and eventually being made available in other domestic markets.

Why the delays?

“We hope people will both collect it and consume it,” said Jim Perry, managing director of Brown-Forman Travel Retail. "The year 2015 will be Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday. Over the next couple of years, we’ll be building up to that moment."

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