May 3, 2024 @ 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
What are you doing the Friday before Cinco De Mayo? No excuses to not come to experience this rare opportunity and exquisite tasting of Herradura tequilas. It’ll be all gone by Saturday.
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Go for the gold they said…
so I did and that’s what I got at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2024. Kings Code Batch 1 Riona snagged a Gold Medal in this year’s competition. If you haven’t met Riona (Gaelic for Queen), you should. Kings Code is a project in collaboration with Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, NY. It started as a proof of concept project that Colin Spoelman, Laura Graham and I came up with to see if it would fly. Well, fly I did, to Europe, Cork, Ireland in particular to buy some exceptional whiskies to put in the blend. Then off I went to Lovingston, Virginia, to scoop up some of the best American Single Malts I could lay my palate on.Back at the Blending Lab (aka spare bedroom), I tasted and drew some cryptic diagrams. I concocted this blend to grab your attention. From the start, she lures you in with the prettiest nose from the American Single Malt in an STR cask. She fills and arrests your palate with American Single Malts in ex-bourbon cask and Pedro Ximénez cask. Her finish is powered by Clonakilty Irish Whiskey finished in Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes cask. Delicate stone fruit, peach and nectarine, white flowers linger in the back. Despite the youth of the components, this blend shows balance, elegance and complexity.
Grab a bottle or two while they are still available. I made only 800 of them. You can buy them in fine whisky stores in CT, MA, RI and at Kings County Distillery. You can get a pour at the bars that know their whiskies.
In CT, The Store Bar & Grill in Torrington, The Engine room in Mystic, Vinted in West Hartford, Zinc in New Haven, Flinders in Stamford.
In RI, the Courtland Club and the GCB (Graduate Center Bar) at Brown University.
PS look for Kings Code Batch 2 A Touch of Bessie this June. She’s smoking hot and older than Riona.
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Whiskies from the MidWest
April 13, 2024 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Yes, Middle West Whiskies is what we’ll be tasting today. No surprises that this part of the country has produced lots of good whiskies, but these ones are distilled and aged in Columbus, Ohio instead of Indiana and Kentucky. If you’ve never had them or heard of them, then all the more reason to stop in for a taste. Other than the bourbon cream, which is delicious by the way, I think we bought everything that was available in CT a couple of months ago. You know what that means!
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Wine and Japanese Whisky Tasting
December 16, 2023 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
It’s that time of year, you’ll need all kinds of beverages to make the holiday hustle and bustle tolerable, for some but for others, a joyous time. Well, whatever it is that drives you to drink, be it our incredible selection or other things we don’t need to talk about, come see us this weekend. We have wines and some Japanese whiskies you need to try. Besides we’ll be tasting and pre-selling our Kaiyo Single Barrel Whisky in Mizunara and Oloroso casks that should be quite delightful. And if you ask nicely, some Paul Sutton Heritage Bourbon also. So buckle up and cruise on in for some goodies.
Free
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Meet the Maker of Kings Code Batch 1 Riona
November 19, 2023 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Join us us this Sunday at Kings County Distillery for the official launch of Kings Code Batch 1 Riona. Colin Spoelman, owner of Kings County, Irene Tan, owner of Whisky Mentors and Laura Graham, owner of Drink With Food will be present to talk and taste whiskey with you. This limited edition (820 bottles) whiskey is an exquisite blend of American Single Malt and Irish Single Malt that has already won the palettes and hearts of those in CT and TX who had a chance to taste it.
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Barrell Bourbon Tasting Extravaganza
November 11, 2023 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Tasting this Saturday also from 3 to 5 pm. All high end bottles of @barrellbourbon to taste and priced to make great holiday gifts. Don’t miss this tasting!!! Come earlier an join us for our holiday wine tasting too.
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Single Malt Whisky from Tel Aviv, Israel
Earlier in the year we procured a single cask of ex-bourbon and peated single malt from the Milk and Honey (M&H) Distillery called Bee in my Bonnet. I named it that because this is an absolutely delicious and powerful single malt whisky that we should all be talking about and sharing sips with, It is lightly peated, so it’s a great gateway whisky for those trying to learn about peated whisky. It’s not a phenolic peat so those of you who think peated whiskies smell like bandaids, you will appreciate this. In addition, being ex-bourbon casked brings loads of honeyed sweetness and vanilla as well as a good level of char from being aged near the Dead Sea. The massive diurnal temperature change in the area is akin to aging whiskies in Texas so we know this whisky is going to be flavorful despite its youth.
On October 12th, 2023, Thursday evening from 6 to 7 pm, stop in for a taste of our pick as well as the core range from the distillery and meet Tal Chotiner. the M&H VP of international sales with close to 25 years of experience in the world of whisky. Tal used to work for Diageo in Israel and was a Johnnie walker Brand ambassador for the Middle east and “single malt advocate” from Diageo. When Tal is in Israel his job is to interrupt Tomer’s (Head Distiller & Blender) work with crazy ideas and stupid questions… I’m sure he has cool stories for us.
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M&H Distillery Tasting
October 12, 2023 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Come and join us for a tasting of the M&H lineup of single malt whiskies (including our single barrel pick) and meet the M&H VP of international sales with close to 25 years of experience in the world of whisky. Tal Chotiner used to work for Diageo in Israel and was a Johnnie walker Brand ambassador for the Middle east and “single malt advocate” from Diageo. When Tal is in Israel his job is to interrupt Tomer’s (Head Distiller & Blender) work with crazy ideas and stupid questions…
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A new chapter is about to begin in the life of Whisky Mentors
Many of you came from far and near this past weekend to get a chance to purchase an allocated or unicorn bottle of whiskey. You were treated to a taste of 4 whiskies from our private barrel collection. Thank you for doing this to support our local community in Canterbury, CT. Some of you came because you already know about the care with which we select our whiskies and others came based on word of mouth. Regardless, you know we do not compromise on quality. Purchasing single barrels of whiskey, gin, rum, tequila and any other spirits seems to be something many retail liquor stores clamor to do. We stopped counting how many barrels we have purchased in the 4 short years we have been opened once we got past one hundred of them. It’s not because we are now jaded. Rather it’s because we realize that we are taking the top 1% of the distillery’s product when we do that. This practice tends to hurt the craft distillery more than it helps then in the long run. At the end of the day, what do we really want? We all want to drink good whiskey and great whiskey on occasion.
As part of this effort, we have started collaborating with various distilleries to bring you great whiskey by blending. The very first of a commercially available blend, Kings Code, is available this fall in the Northeast and it is in collaboration with Kings County Distillery.
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Whiskey Tasting Part 3
September 9, 2023 @ 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Join us for a special whiskey event this Saturday. There will be 3 separate tasting events from 1 to 1:20 pm (Part 1), 1:30 to 1:50 pm (Part 2) and 2: to 2:20 pm (Part 3) . We will taste a bourbon, a rye, a single malt and an Irish whiskey for each event. There are only 50 spots available for each tasting. You can only sign up for one of the 3 tastings so everyone can get a chance to try some good whiskies. The whiskies to be tasted have not been determined yet but you can be sure they will be good. As part of attending this FREE event, you will receive a raffle ticket at the door which you want to hang on to for dear life for Project Interrupted 2 that will take place promptly at 2:30 pm and end at 3:30 pm. When your raffle ticket gets called, you will have a chance to select from over 100 bottles of rare and allocated whiskies. For that privilege, we ask that you donate $25 for each allocated bottle you purchase ( in case there are fewer people than bottles) and this donation will go directly to our local non-profit organizations ( volunteer fire department, school and library) as we have done in previous years.
Free