Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve
The Glenlivet was founded in 1824 by George and John Smith, and has remained almost continually open for over two centuries apart from a few years during World War II. Currently owned by the Chivas Brothers Group under the Pernod Ricard corporate umbrella, it is currently the largest selling scotch in the United States and second biggest in the world. While a minority of the distillery’s 10.5 million liters per year output goes into Chivas Brothers blends, the vast majority goes into single malts like the Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve. The bedrock of the Signature Collection, this single malt is matured in oaks with a selection of first-fill American oak casks.
Jersey Spirits Wildwoods Applewood Smoked
Jersey Spirits was founded in 2013 by John, Sue and Betty Granata and began production in 2015. A true family affair, John and Sue’s daughter Noël has grown up with the distillery and now serves as operations manager and lead distiller. The distillery is a grain-to-glass operation and is in now rush to grow just for growth’s sake. They are invested in their community, the tasting room serving as a frequent local gathering spot, and are not afraid to serve their spirits either on their own or mixed into a cocktail. For a micro-distillery, Jersey Spirits offers a wide offering of gins, vodkas, rums, moonshines and bourbons. The Wildwood series is named after a resort city in New Jersey and is the banner all their single malts appear under. The Wildwoods Applewood Smoked is made from barley sourced from Rabbit Hill Farms in South Jersey and then smoked over an applewood fire. Other single malts are the Cherrywood Smoked and Celtic Riviera.
Teeling Brabazon Series 2
While Teeling Distillery was founded in 2015, a quick look at their offerings will show releases carrying much older age statements. This is because when John Teeling sold the Cooley Distillery to what is now Beam Suntory, one of the stipulations of the sale was the family taking 16,000 casks of whiskey with them. It is from these casks that many of their older bottlings are derived, whiskey essentially sourced from themselves. The Brabazon series from Teeling kicked off in 2017 and was named after William Brabazon, the 3rd Earl of Meath, who oversaw the development of the New Market area in Dublin that would eventually become the Liberties district where the current distillery resides. There have been four entries in this series as of this writing. The Brabazon 2 was bottled in September 2017 and matured in a various sizes of ex-port casks.