Stop in and try something new in the Spirits Category. A single estate grain to glass distillery has caught my attention. Farmer turned distiller, Mike Swanson, is focused on single varietal ryes. He and I met in Austin last weekend at the Bastards Ball when we were both pouring our creations for a few hundred enthusiastic members of the Whiskey Tribe.
Despite all indications of fall weather, next week is going to be balmy by New England standards for October. We are pouring two crisp and delicious white wines also.
It’s that time of year for our annual unicorn whiskey event. We’ll keep the instructions simple. There will be 3 separate tasting sessions. You can only sign up for one session. Each session is limited to 50 people. You taste 4 whiskies in the session you sign up for. When you arrive, you will be handed a wee Glencairn for your tasting. Hang on to and don’t try to make off with it. After your tasting, you will return it for a free raffle ticket. If your ticket gets picked at conclusion of the 4 tasting sessions, you will get a chance to buy one of the unicorn bottles at close to MSRP + a $25 Project Interrupted fee (this your donation to our local charity).
Each session will have 3 of our single barrel picks and 1 bottle that is has “Unicorn” status. The tasting list will not be revealed till the day of the event. Signing up for the last session might give you a shorter wait time for the drawing but you don’t know what unicorn bottle tasting you will miss in the earlier sessions. 😉
While you’re waiting your turn, there will be a food truck in the parking lot in front of the store. Bring cash and chow down while you wait in anticipation of getting that special bottle. At 2:30 pm we will start to call out the tickets. You have 30 seconds to pick your bottle.
It’s that time of year for our annual unicorn whiskey event. We’ll keep the instructions simple. There will be 3 separate tasting sessions. You can only sign up for one session. Each session is limited to 50 people. You taste 4 whiskies in the session you sign up for. When you arrive, you will be handed a wee Glencairn for your tasting. Hang on to and don’t try to make off with it. After your tasting, you will return it for a free raffle ticket. If your ticket gets picked at conclusion of the 4 tasting sessions, you will get a chance to buy one of the unicorn bottles at close to MSRP + a $25 Project Interrupted fee (this your donation to our local charity).
Each session will have 3 of our single barrel picks and 1 bottle that is has “Unicorn” status. The tasting list will not be revealed till the day of the event. Signing up for the last session might give you a shorter wait time for the drawing but you don’t know what unicorn bottle tasting you will miss in the earlier sessions. 😉
While you’re waiting your turn, there will be a food truck in the parking lot in front of the store. Bring cash and chow down while you wait in anticipation of getting that special bottle. At 2:30 pm we will start to call out the tickets. You have 30 seconds to pick your bottle.
It’s that time of year for our annual unicorn whiskey event. We’ll keep the instructions simple. There will be 3 separate tasting sessions. You can only sign up for one session. Each session is limited to 50 people. You taste 4 whiskies in the session you sign up for. When you arrive, you will be handed a wee Glencairn for your tasting. Hang on to and don’t try to make off with it. After your tasting, you will return it for a free raffle ticket. If your ticket gets picked at conclusion of the 4 tasting sessions, you will get a chance to buy one of the unicorn bottles at close to MSRP + a $25 Project Interrupted fee (this your donation to our local charity).
Each session will have 3 of our single barrel picks and 1 bottle that is has “Unicorn” status. The tasting list will not be revealed till the day of the event. Signing up for the last session might give you a shorter wait time for the drawing but you don’t know what unicorn bottle tasting you will miss in the earlier sessions. 😉
While you’re waiting your turn, there will be a food truck in the parking lot in front of the store. Bring cash and chow down while you wait in anticipation of getting that special bottle. At 2:30 pm we will start to call out the tickets. You have 30 seconds to pick your bottle.
…at the American Distilling Institute’s Spirits competition, Silver shined on all three of my entries. While not gold, it’s not too shabby for my first rodeo.
Kings Code Batch 1 Riona
Boston Harbor Distillery Lawley’s Barrel Aged Gin “Je Ne Sais Quoi”.
Locke+Co Landmark Series Rye “Pikes Peak”.
I created three different categories of spirits. They all made an impression on the judges. To say I’m pleased with the results is an understatement. But I already knew that from the positive feedback from my loyal customers.
About 2 years ago, after purchasing over 100 single barrels of spirits for my store, Canterbury Liquors, I started to think that there must be a better way than just “stealing’ the top one percent of spirits from a distillery. Picking a great single barrel is like shooting fish in a barrel if you have a good palate and nose. In the process, I felt like I was robbing the distillery of the ability to make their core products better by taking away the “best” barrels.
So I started a personal mission to “Make whiskey better by blending”. Word got out that I was doing this and before long, it was no longer a hobby or a personal mission. Albeit part time, I have a handful of distilleries that I am working with to make their core whiskies better and to create special releases.
During a recent email exchange with John Glaser of Compass Box, the GOAT of whiskey blending, he asked if he could steal my line about making whiskey. He’s certainly been an inspiration for me in my blending endeavors.
One Last Word, pun intended, the gin projects I’m working on have their own line – “Making Gins with a Purpose”. Je Ne Sais Quoi is the first in the lineup. A barreled aged gin crafted to be in an Old Fashioned Cocktail in place of whiskey. If you still claim you don’t like gin but you like Old Fashioned cocktails, just come see me. I will break your “Gin Aversion Meter”.. I have been known to break “Peat Meters”. Just ask my crew.
Where to buy:
Kings Code Batch 1 is available in Canterbury Liquors, CT, RI, MA and at kingscountydistillery.com.
Boston Harbor Distillery Lawley’s Barrel Aged Gin “Je Ne Sais Quoi”. is available at Canterbury Liquors and at Boston Harbor Distillery
Locke+Co Landmark Series Rye “Pikes Peak”.is available in CO and at Canterbury Liquors this summer. Stay tuned.
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!
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.
I know most of you like your spirits neat, as do I. But sometimes, a cocktail is just what you want and you don’t want some watered down drink made with subpar ingredients. We’re here to teach you how to make some simple standup cocktails, that would rival some other straight pours out there. Does this proposition pique your interest? Then sign up already since this class is limited to only 12 participants.
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
Canterbury Liquors
180 Westminster Rd #3 Canterbury,
CT
06331United States+ Google Map
QS04 The Rye’d Choice is a 6 year old Putnam Rye at 66 ABV from Boston Harbor Distillery is being released this Friday Aug 4th 2023. If you already know about my Putnam Rye picks, you know what to do. If you don’t, and you chase cask strength ryes of allocated status, then you might want to come see us. Also, to be perfectly evil, we are introducing you to another brown spirit category, barrel-aged gins.
QS03 Je Ne Sais Quoi is a gin we formulated a year and four months ago to become a great sipping gin and also to make an incredible gin Old Fashioned.
5 pm to 6:30 pm this Friday, Aug 4 meet the Founder, Rhonda Kallman and Head Distiller, John Stark, of Boston Harbor Distillery. They’ll be available to autograph your bottles and answer any whiskey questions you may have.
