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NY Whisky Fest

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:34 am
by Brewer
Looking forward to seeing some of you tonight at WhiskyFest! :D It should be lots of fun. At some point later in the week, I'll provide some of my impressions, as I hope others who attend will also do so.

BTW, a great time was had last evening seeing Jimmy Russell at LeNell's. He was signing bottles, and chatting with everybody. He's doing a seminar at WhiskyFest tonight, which I'll be looking forward to.

Bob

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:58 am
by bunghole
:thumbright: I wish I could be there with everyone. Sounds like a great time! :bounce:

:arrow: ima :cheers:

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:17 pm
by Brewer
Yeah that would be nice. We'll have to have a toast for ya! :cheers:

Bob

Date for next years event

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:44 pm
by The Whiskey Viking
Hi

Although envious :cry: I wish all off you fortunate ones the best. I hope you’ll have a good time tonight. If anyone of you should stumble across info on next year’s event (in particular the date), I hope you’ll be sober enough to remember it in the morning. It now seams 99.9% certain, that I should make it to next year’s event. If everything goes well I hope to see some of you then.
Right now I’m considering whether I should extend the trip and visit KY afterwards. It’s practically in the neighbourhood - just around the block. :lol:
And remember don’t do anything I wouldn’t have done.

Thomas

Re: Date for next years event

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 2:31 pm
by Brewer
The Whiskey Viking wrote:Hi

And remember don’t do anything I wouldn’t have done.

Thomas


Why of course not Thomas. Whatever would make you think we'd do anything you wouldn't do? :?: :wink: I do expect that we'll have a grand 'ole time tonight. Are you curious about next years event in NYC &/or Chicago? I'll try to inquire about it tonight, but you can always check things out at Malt Advocates website.

Bob

Re: Date for next years event

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:01 pm
by The Whiskey Viking
Brewer wrote:
The Whiskey Viking wrote:Hi

And remember don’t do anything I wouldn’t have done.

Thomas


Why of course not Thomas. Whatever would make you think we'd do anything you wouldn't do? :?: :wink: I do expect that we'll have a grand 'ole time tonight. Are you curious about next years event in NYC &/or Chicago? I'll try to inquire about it tonight, but you can always check things out at Malt Advocates website.

Bob


Bob

I hope I'm not insulting anyone from Chicago, but NY would be my prefered choice.
The MaltAdvocates homepage doesn't yet reveal anything about next years event.
Thomas

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:11 pm
by Mark
Well, after getting in late last night I am lying down now for an hour or two nap and will be at the event tonight with Chris and Kristin. See all who are attending tonight! :cheers:

Bottles of interest

Unread postPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:42 pm
by The Whiskey Viking
Hi

I just looked at the list of whiskies offered to you lucky bastards tonight.
If I had to recommend some scotch to you bourbon nuts, I would say you couldn’t "afford” to miss the following:

Ardbeg:
• Uigeadail – One of the latest expressions. In my opinion it’s up there with the much famed 1977Vintage

Bowmore:
• 17 yr. – Not as heavy peated as the Ardbeg and Laphroig

Highland Park:
• 18 yr. – One of the greatest whiskies in the world. Honey and heather. :thumbleft:
• 25 yr. – Different from the 18. A great whisky not as “drinkable” as the 18 though. Leave it in your glass for ½ an hour. The extra proof will vapour off and the drink will open up.

Laphroaig:
• Cask Strength – 10YO but a hell of a lot better than the standard 10YO

One last piece of advice, save those Ilays whisky for last. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of the more subtle tastes if other whiskies

Thomas

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 11:56 am
by Brewer
:D :D :D

Last nights 'Fest was a great event! In addition to seeing some old friends and new friends, I got to chat with Kris Comstock, Ken Weber, Elmer T Lee & Julian Van Winkle from BT; Parker Beam from Heaven Hill, Jimmy Russell; and Jim McEwan from Bruichladdich. Great folks, all.

In addition to the chatting, there was some very tasty products to try. Here's some of the "special" items: I purchased 1 "charity" dram...Ardbeg Provenance, distilled in 1974. Damn was that good...loads of peat smoke, salty, and a very long smoky finish. Nancy couldn't believe the level of smoke. Also from Ardbeg, I tasted the Uigeadail, and wasn't overyly impressed with it. It wasn't bad, but just didn't knock my socks off. I really enjoyed the Bulleit bourbon, and it was great to hear that it should be available soon in NY. At the Kulseveen table, there was a 26 year old Willet bourbon that I luckily was able to taste, and it was absolutely wonderful. Also available was another pretty old bourbon called St. Nick (?) that was the darkest bourbon I've ever seen and tasted. It too was quite good. I once again tried the 10 Year Old Michter's Rye, and I've decided that it's good enough that I'll have to splurge on a bottle. I was told that its more like 20 years old, than 10 years old. Another single malt that was very good was Bruichladdich's 20 Year Old; I enjoyed it much more than their 1989 Full Strength bottling. I also tried the the Yamazaki 12 Year Old from Japan. It was pretty good. I spent the most time with our friends at the Buffalo Trace/Van Winkle tables. Enjoyed a good pour of BT with Kris Comstock and Dave Ganano. Blanton's is always good, GTS is ALWAYS good, Pappy 20 is always very fine. Opposite the BT table was Heaven Hill. Initially, the '95 Evan Williams was not available, so Nancy and I enjoyed the '94. Towards the end of the evening, the gal at the HH table saw me, and called me over. She had the '95, and I got a nice pour of it. Very, very good. Seemed somewhat similiar to the '94 which I enjoy a lot.

I know there's a bunch of non-Straight Bourbon references here, but I wanted to give an overall update.

Bob

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:03 pm
by The Whiskey Viking
Bob

Just being able to chat with these guys would make it worth wile for me.
We have our own whiskyfest here in Denmark (mainly scotch). Although JM always stops by, the biggest celeb would be one of the Mitchell’s from the Springbank distillery.

Although I love Islay whisky the Bruichladich range for some strange reason has never been my cup of tea. I prefer the Ardbegs, Laphroigs and Lagavulins.
Also in general I prefer the original bottling instead of the independent ones. It’s not because I’m snob or anything. Most of the independent bottling’s, the whisky is not stored at the distillery itself but around Elgin. The typical Islay character, imparted at least in parts by the location of the warehouses adjacent to the Sea is diminished.

I have to compliment you on your self-restraint. If that was all the whisky you had…
Usually I end up tasting 20+ different whiskies - I have to admit the last 5 or so are most for fun :drunken: , and I usually end up drinking something I already know and love.

Regards,

Thomas

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:50 pm
by Chris
I have to compliment you on your self-restraint. If that was all the whisky you had…


I was glad to not be the guy we saw afterwards, hunched over the garbage pail with his friends offering 'moral support'... :lol:

Whiskeyfest was very good... Definitely the highlight was that old man winter... It was great to meet a bunch of the 'east coast' crew in person and be able to taste all those bourbons...

-Chris

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:03 pm
by dgonano
We had a great time. Well worth the entrance fee.

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:23 pm
by Mark
:lol: Oh man, that guy at the end was too funny... And quite a few people people taking pics of him like that was even funnier :twisted:

Meeting everyone there was great and even better was finally putting faces to quite a few people I have spoken with in the past but never met. Here's to getting together again in the future :cheers:

Unread postPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:37 pm
by Nokia
It really made the night to finally meet a number of you...Mark, Chris and Kristen, Bob and Nancy and Dave G. And thanks for pointing me in the direction of the '95 Evan Williams toward the end of the night. I agree with Bob that the Michter's Rye is worth seeking out, and nice that there was a 50ml bottle of it handed out in the Fest bags so I can taste it under other conditions.

I think a mandatory item for next year is an earpiece for my cellphone so I can actually hear where to meet people in that main room. It was just a little loud in there. Well it was great to meet everyone.

-David

Unread postPosted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:12 am
by tlsmothers
Also available was another pretty old bourbon called St. Nick (?) that was the darkest bourbon I've ever seen and tasted


That had to be the darkest bourbon I've ever seen, too. A 20 year old bottling that some woman out in California has the Kulsveens bottle for Japan. I'm sitting here at the store right now, looking at a bit in a glass. Yup, that handsome young man Drew stopped by the store today and shared the 17 and the 20 Nick. We talked about getting him back to NY to do a tasting at LeNell's and maybe even do a special bottling for the store. Can't wait for them to fire up those stills again!

Last year I went by myself and didn't know anyone. I had just opened the store. This year was fantastic to feel like so many friends were joining in the fun, on both sides of the table.

Sat in on the Parker Beam seminar. Enjoyed tasting several HH whiskeys side by side...white dog, Georgia Moon, Mellow Corn, Old Fitz, Elijah Craig 12 and 18 to name a few. I love that Southern drawl of Parker's.

Made some great connections so stay tuned. LeNell's will have some more goodies to offer soon!

And pals, if you ever see me beyond my limit, don't let me puke in the hallway for all to take pics of. :roll: Lordy, lordy...just hide me away somewhere. That poor guy didn't know when to say when. Of course, it's hard to hold back at that kinda event.