Banana

Vicomte 8 Year

A decade or two ago, it might have seemed the very picture of strangeness to have the rise of French whiskies we’re seeing even though the country has long been a large consumer of scotch. The distillery itself is old but the company who owns it is based out of Florida, Venturi Brands. Unlike many current whisky companies, Vicomte and Venturi seem cloaked behind non-functioning websites and precious little information about the whisky beyond what is listed on the label. Though the Vicomte 8 Year was only released in 2015, so it remains to be seen whether it can break into the markets it desires. It is aged entirely in ex-Cognac barrels and the barley is from the Poitou-Charentes region.

By Adam | July 23, 2018 | Foreign | No Comments |

OOLA was founded in 2010 by owner and master distiller Kirby Kallas-Lewis in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. They remain small but have won several awards for their various gins and vodkas. They also produce whiskey and their Whiskey Discourse series is designed to combine different whiskies to see how they interact under different influences. Other entries experiment with smoke and cask finishes. OOLA Three Shores is included in our All-Canada World Whisky Day by reason that it is made up of one part OOLA Waitsburg Bourbon, one part unknown scotch from the Highland region, and one part Canadian rye. So part of it’s still Canadian! They are sourced separately but aged together for at least a year in American Oak.

By Adam | November 15, 2017 | Foreign | No Comments |

Younger than some of the more famous Scottish distilleries, Knockdhu was founded in 1893 by John Morrison in Banffshire. The location was chosen not only for access to water and grain sources, but due to proximity to rail lines in the region. Production lasted for the most part continuously for almost a century, before it closed and sold to Inver House. Production began again in 1989 and continues unabated. Annual production is on the smaller side, around 1.9 million liters (18% of The Glenlivet’s annual output). The whisky is named anCnoc (gaelic for “the hill”) to differentiate it from Knockando, with a core range of 12, 16 and 30 year malts, along with a NAS peated range.

By Adam | September 19, 2017 | Highland | No Comments |