Whiskey Del Bac Distiller’s Cut Summer 2023
Stephen and Elaine Paul founded Hamilton Distillers in 2011 in Tucson, born out of the question if smoke drying barley with mesquite wood could impart something unique to a whiskey. After a lot of experimentation, it turned out that the answer was yes. While the distillery eventually settled on their core line, they were continually experimenting with different ideas, the essence of what got them started in the first place. Some of those early experiments involving mash bill and maturation have started to see the light of day over the last couple of years, including their line of Distiller’s Cuts, which are released thrice a year and named after the seasons. The Distiller’s Cut Summer 2023 was a true mixing of elements. One batch was aged in new American white oak and finished in ex-rhum agricole barrels (rhum agricole is a style of rum made from freshly-squeeze sugar cane instead of molasses, often made in the French West Indies). A mesquited tequila petit eau (water aged in tequila barrels, which does in fact absorb some alcohol from the wood over time) was added and the whole was given a base of the Classic before being blended in stainless steel tanks. Nicknamed “Abbey’s Blend” after Abbey Fife, one of the Hamilton’s distillers (though now in marketing) who was responsible for creating this particular offering.
Puni Alba
Puni Distillery was founded in 2010 in the Venosta Valley, the middle of the Italian Alps, by the Ebensperger family. Two years later, in 2012, it distilled its first whisky in two copper pot stills. That whisky had a mash bill made up of malted barley, malted rye and malted wheat. The Puni Alba was one of the first two whiskies made by the distillery, released in 2015 (the other being the Nova). Alba, of course, is one of the names Scotland was known by in the centuries leading up to England’s first major invasions (900-1286) by Edward I. It has since been adopted by English-speaking scholars to apply to a specific Scottish political period in the High Middle Ages. Alba is also the Italian word for dawn. Puni uses both of these references highlight both the dawning of a new era in Italian whisky and the fact that it was finished in casks previously containing scotch from Islay after maturing for a few years in ex-marsala casks from Sicily.
Swift Single Malt
Swift is a small single malt-focused distillery founded in 2012 by Amanda and Nick Swift, both Texas natives. Having traveled the world to learn about the art, science and business of whiskey-making, the Swifts clearly took a page from the homelands of whiskies and import all their Two-Row barley from Scotland before making the wort with water purposefully mimicking those from Northern Ireland and the Speyside region of Scotland. Even the yeast is a single malt-specific variety from Speyside! After distilling in two copper pot stills from Portugal, they take the narrow cuts and put them into barrels from either Kentucky or Portugal. Being a true micro-distillery, almost all the work is done by Amanda and Nick themselves, bucket by bucket, drop by drop, barrel by barrel. Their flagship offering, the Swift Single Malt, is a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Their hard work appears to be paying off, however, as Swift bottles have expanded beyond Texas onto shelves across the country.