Tonight was amazing. We hosted 20+ of our friends for Pappy's Pizza Party. So much whiskey, pizza, and ice cream.

I have no patience for pretentiousness when it comes to whisky. So we thought, how should we take the piss out of the aura around Pappy Van Winkle, BTAC, and the like? The answer - pair it with pizza and ice cream!

So we ordered a number of pizzas from our favorite local joint, Blue Square Pizza, as well as several frozen pizzas from St. Louis and Chicago - Imo's, Giordano's & Lou Malnati's. We had salad which was mostly veggies from our local CSA, Small Farm.

Dessert was ice cream from the BEST place around - Erikson's Ice Cream. And chocolate from Goodnow Farms.

I put out some nice Glenmorangie, the Compass Box Whisky Hedonism 10th Anniversary, some Willett, Van Winkle from the 10 through the 23, the BTAC collection circa 2012, and a few others.

Friends brought even more pizza, a chocolate cream pie, cookies, a Four Roses Single Barrel, several bottles of Weller, a Penelope, and more I'm probably forgetting. We had a lot of whisky.

We ended up pulling out the Glenmorangie Milsean to compare with the Harrison Ford. The Middle West Spirits Pumpernickel Rye and Ported Pumpernickel for a few who hadn't yet tried them, same for the Copper & Cask Roxie and The Doctor Is In, and even more.

And we killed the Pappy 23!

Fantastic evening - good food, good whisky, and good friends.

Whisky is for sharing, not for staring.

#Whiskey #Whisky #Scotch #Bourbon #Rye #Glenmorangie #CompassBox #Willett #BTAC #PappyVanWinkle #BuffaloTraceAntiqueCollection #MiddleWestSpirits #CopperAndCask

Picked up a few things tonight at Julio's Liquors. Tonight's Whisk(e)y Wednesday at Julio's Liquors was Fettercairn Whisky, and it's cracking stuff. We sampled the 12, 16, 24, and 28 - and a bonus The Dalmore 17 year that will hit the US shelves soon.

Admission to the event included a bottle of the Fettercairn 12, but I couldn't resist picking up the 16 - and the one bottle of 24 left in the state. 😉

The 28 was good, but a lower proof and chill-filtered, unlike the younger expressions. I felt that it lost a little of the bright, orchard fruit notes that I really liked in those. I put the 24 ahead of the 28 for my palate, so I did not pick up the 28.

Definitely worth checking out, IMHO. If you like the light, floral Highland style of Glenmorangie, you might like Fettercairn as well.

I also picked up my pre-order of the new Loch & Key Whisk(e)y Society Proof and Wood Tumblin' Dice 'Dungeons & Donut' 13-year Barrel Proof Straight Rye Whiskey.

Also, as a tip, do not sleep on the next L&K pick of Middle West Spirits pumpernickel rye when it comes in. You're welcome.

#Whiskey #Whisky #Scotch #Rye #Fettercairn #TumblinDice

Recent pickups from Julio's Liquors and Burlington Wine And Spirits

From Julio's I grabbed several recent Loch & Key Whisk(e)y Society picks:
- Bully Boy Distillers 'Wicked Dahka' Single Barrel Bottled-In-Bond Straight Bourbon
- Rittenhouse Rye 'Orange Crush' Straight Rye
- Proof and Wood Tumblin' Dice 'The Big Papi' 11-year Barrel Proof Straight Bourbon
- Middle West Spirits '38 Special' Single Barrel Straight Rye *Dark Pumpernickel*

If you missed out on the 38 Special, I'm sorry. I love rye, and this dark pumpernickel is fantastic. Just different from other ryes and very interesting, a great dram. Middle West does have a pumpernickel rye in their core lineup, which is also great, as long as you can catch it when it is in stock. They sell out fast

We tried these at the recent Middle West Whisk(e)y Wednesday at Julio's Liquors, and everything was great. I tried to be responsible and limit myself, but I did also end up grabbing their Double Cask Collection Ported Pumpernickel Rye. This is their pumpernickel rye that gets secondary aging in French tawny port casks.

The port brings a whole different depth and experience. I wouldn't say better or worse, just different. I really enjoyed both - obviously, given I bought both - but your palate may vary.

And this past week's WW was Maker's Mark, and we all brought home a 375ml of the standard Maker's Mark Bourbon. It's a solid bourbon, can't complain.

I was also over at Burlington Wine recently for a rum event and picked up a couple of bottles that had arrived since the last time I was there. They're both independent bottlings of Hampden Estate Rum, a favorite of mine.

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1998 HD Edition No.6 Cask 6 23-year Cask Strength Rum

Raising Glasses & Nobilis Rum Papilio 6-year Single Cask, Cask Strength Rum

The Papilio is the C<>H (C Diamond H) mark, the 7th heaviest out of the eight marks Hampden distills, so it has some character. You don't often see the heavier marks bottled outside of a blend. The 1998 HD is HLCF (Hampden Light Continental Flavored), the fourth of the eight marks, and one that is quite commonly bottled by itself.

#Whisky #Whiskey #Bourbon #Rye #Rum #BullyBoy #Rittenhouse #ProofAndWood #TumblinDice #MiddleWestSpirits #MakersMark #HampdenEstate #TheColoursOfRum #RaisingGlasses #NobilisRum

This week’s KCAL On The Rocks is a wonderful Special Release high proof Rye from Jack Daniel’s.

#kcalontherocks #kcalrocks #kotr #stevebrazill #razz #whiskey #rye

The auction lots kept coming with bottles from High West Distillery and Westland Whiskey.

On the High West side:

- Cask Collection Batch 24G19, a blend of straight whiskeys finished in oloroso sherry barrels

- Barrel Select Batch 37386, a blend of straight whiskeys finished in a cacao nib barrel

- 14 year Light Whiskey batch 1. I had an 'oops' and ended up with two of those.

- Valley Tan Utah Whiskey

- The Noble Share, a blend of straight whiskeys finished in Marques de Casa Noble Anejo Barrels

- Rocky Mountain Rye 21 year Batch 7 & Batch 10. As a bonus, the batch 7 version is bottle 777!

And for the Westland, I'm filling in gaps. I picked up three different editions of Garryana.
- The 2016 Edition 1/1
- The 2017 Edition 2/1
- The 2019 Edition 4/1

I'm still hunting for the 2018 3/1, and then I'll have the complete (as of today) run.

#Whiskey #Whisky #HighWest #WestlandWhiskey #Rye

The auction haul wasn't all Scotch, there were some North American goods in there as well, courtesy of WhistlePig Whiskey. And one WP-adjacent bottle.

- The 11 year old Encyclopedia of Rye Whiskey Volume One. I've had the second volume for ages, but in the auction where I picked that up I was sniped at the last second and lost volume one. Now I've finally filled in that gap.

- Farmstock Rye Beyond Bonded

- The Whistlepig + Liquid Death collaboration Wheat Whiskey.

- A Single Cask Nation 12 year bottling aged in Tokaji Casks. That intrigues me - and I expect good things from an SCN bottle.

- Lastly, all the way from Australia, a Mr Black Spirits cold brew coffee liqueur "Barrel Rested in WhistlePig Whiskey Casks. I love Mr. Black as a coffee liqueur, so I'm curious to see how the casks influence this.

#Whiskey #Whisky #Rye #WhistlePig #SingleCaskNation #MrBlack