Taconic Dutchess Private Reserve Cognac Cask
Taconic distillery was founded in 2013 by Paul Coughlin and Gerald Valenti as Millbrook Distillery until the change to the present name in 2015, located in the Hudson Valley of New York. A farm to bottle operation, the grains and water are all sourced locally and the distillery has a whiskey-central focus. They are also active in the American Distilling Institute, the American Craft Spirits Association and the New York Distillers Guild. The regular Dutchess Private Reserve is a straight bourbon named after the county in New York the distillery is located in and approximately four years old. This particular edition was aged in new oak barrels for 3.5 years before being finished in ex-cognac casks from Remy Martin for a further six months.
Cowboy Country Gold Spur
We are in a renaissance of whiskey right now in almost any country, sometimes on multiple levels at once. For an example of this, one need look no further than Cowboy Country Distilling. When Tim Trites began distilling in 2015 and opened to the public on Valentine’s Day 2018, he did so as someone who had already spent decades in the industry at a major spirits company, after obtaining a master’s in chemical engineering. Whiskey, the magic of mixing science and art. Cowboy Country is a second act of sorts for Tim, as he is able to specifically make exactly the kind of spirits and liqueurs he’s always wanted to using narrow cuts to get the exact expression he’s looking for. The Gold Spur is a corn whiskey with a mash bill of corn, oats and millet. Like all Cowboy Country spirits, all the ingredients are from Wyoming and it is gluten free.
Ardbeg Scorch
Ardbeg is a distillery that loves its marketing. This is not a slight against the distillery, just a fact of the marketplace. But Ardbeg likes to have fun with their one-off yearly committee releases. No two are alike and they are not afraid to embrace a story. Even if it involves flavor dragons and terrible puns. The Ardbeg Scorch is their 2021 committee release and the box is bedecked with artful flavor dragons breathing, presumably, flavor fire. The Scorch in the name derives from the heavy char Ardbeg gave to the barrels this scotch matured in for an undisclosed period of time. Whether you embrace the fanciful story or not, however, the flavor abides.