Indholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2019 i Whisky Advocate

Casamigos Añejo, 40%, $50 Co-founded by George Clooney. Aged in reconditioned whiskey barrels, it is consummately smooth and smacks of tropical fruit, leather, and rich woods. Cazadores Reposado, 40%, $22 This reposado delivers sweet middle ground for those who want a touch of age along with agave’s spicy and savory charm. This highland reposado fits the bill, pairing agave flavors with meaty fruit, caramel, and cinnamon. Cincoro Añejo, 40%, $130 Basketball legend Michael Jordan co-created this blend of highland and lowland spirits. A distinct crème brûlée gloss is joined by orange, butter rum, bread dough, toffee, and vanilla. Don Julio Reposado Double Cask, 40%, $65 A 2-week finish in Lagavulin casks contributes peat smoke met by caramel, cinnamon, and tropical fruit. For less smoke and more mango look to the…

In November 2018 a bottle of Macallan 1926 60-year-old, which had been hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon, set a whisky auction record when it sold for $1.28 million. Few of us can afford a whisky that is such a certifiable work of art—inside and out—but you can still dress up your backbar. These more affordable artistic whisky labels, many of them limited editions, will transform your bar into a bona fide gallery. Johnnie Walker Blue Label Year of the Pig IN THE BOTTLE Blue Label blended scotch, 46%, $250 ON THE BOTTLE Johnnie Walker continues their Chinese calendar series, with 2019 bringing the Year of the Pig. Chrissy Lau, a native of England living in Sydney, draws upon her Chinese heritage for inspiration with the pigs on three panels…

Brora 1978 40-year-old 200th Anniversary, £4,500 Brora Distillery should begin operating again in 2020, but meanwhile this commemorative limited edition has been released in the UK only (but can be delivered to the U.S.), limited to just 1,819 bottles in a nod to the distillery’s founding in 1819. The first 40-year-old release in 2014 was a vintage 1972 Travel Retail-exclusive that has fetched over $57,000 at auction. Although collectors pay up for Brora’s classic year (think Bowmore 1964), this anniversary bottling is likely to be highly sought after in years ahead despite being drawn from a later vintage.…

Cities evolve. Typically, it begins with the arrival of pioneers in an underused neighbor-hood, people willing to accept some risk in return for cheaper rent and other benefits. Traditionally these pioneers were artists and other bohemians. In many cities today, that includes craft distillers. This is craft distilling on a small scale, hyper-local, public-facing, primarily retail level. Increasingly, you can find not just one but several of them clustered together in a big city’s formerly crappy but becoming hip-and-trendy neighborhood. Because alcohol production, distribution, and sales are so heavily regulated, local laws hospitable to such enterprises are essential. In Pennsylvania, for example, craft distillers may operate full bars and restaurants at their distilleries, and at satellite locations, where they can sell their house-made products by the bottle or glass. They…

Marvin R. Shanken has been the editor and publisher of Shanken’s Impact Wine and Spirits Newsletter since 1973, and in 1988 was inducted into Scotland’s Keepers of the Quaich. Shanken has decades of experience conducting blind tastings for both Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado, for which he is also editor and publisher. In 2010, Shanken acquired Malt Advocate magazine, which later became Whisky Advocate. He became editor and publisher in 2016. Jeffery Lindenmuth began his association with Whisky Advocate more than 20 years ago, and became executive editor in 2016. Lindenmuth has traveled the world covering whisky and other spirits, and visited distilleries throughout Scotland, Ireland, Japan, and the U.S. He is a staff reviewer for the Buying Guide and is the lead reviewer for American whiskey. Jonny McCormick, contributing…

Burlington, Vt. • stonecutterspirits.com Visitors to Highball Social, the Burlington, Vermont outpost of Middlebury’s Stonecutter Spirits, are unlikely to find the same cocktail twice. That’s because the menu changes four times a year, offering original recipes under such themes as Alice in Wonderland, Monopoly, and Jaws. According to Stonecutter Spirits co-founder and president Sas Stewart, the playful drinks are designed to encourage experimentation. “We couch everything in these themes to make it an easy entry point for folks to try things that they wouldn’t normally,” she explains, noting that it also means people come back repeatedly to see what’s new. A recent menu for Chinese New Year featured cocktails for every zodiac sign, from the Ox (Stonecutter Spirits Heritage Cask whiskey, cognac, lapsang souchong tea, lemon, allspice dram, and Peychaud’s…

Park City, Utah highwest.com Utah isn’t typically at the top of the list for cutting-edge cocktails, but High West’s Park City Saloon could change that. The venue leans into the restraints imposed by the state’s unusual liquor laws (like capping the base spirit of a cocktail at 1½ ounces) through its bar lab mentorship program, which encourages staff to concoct original creations to make up the menu. All drinks are whiskey-based, pairing well with the saloon’s menu of filling fare, much of it whiskey-laced. It’s easy to narrow in on a cocktail to suit your palate, as the menu is organized into four sections: Light & Long, Refreshing & Rich, Stirred & Strong, and Short & Sour (switching to Hot & Decadent in the winter). While offerings vary depending on…

Detroit, Mich. twojames.com A large “TWO JAMES” sign hanging off the side of a low-slung warehouse beckons visitors to belly up to the circular bar at Detroit’s first licensed distillery since Prohibition. A former taxi-repair shop, the high-ceilinged space now serves locals and tourists as an upscale drinks haven boasting a roster of classic and original cocktails made with Two James’s whiskeys, rum, gin, vodka, and other spirits. The unique drinks often call on familiar templates but add surprise through small tweaks, like the Whiskey Sour riff Hoffa’s Hey-day, which uses J. Riddle peated bourbon, ginger, and chili bitters to add some kick to the lemon, honey syrup, and apple cider that round it out. The Amarillo by Morning combines Catcher’s rye with cedar-infused vermouth, orgeat, and Dram Apothecary palo…

Many drinkers are quick to inspect the back label of a whiskey bottle to determine the origin of the liquid inside—whether it was actually distilled by the people who sell it or if it was sourced from elsewhere. Often, the answer is both. That’s the approach taken by Smooth Ambler Spirits (SAS) and their aptly named Contradiction bourbon—a blend of straight bourbons combining about one-third house-distilled whiskey with the balance sourced from another distiller. While a popular approach now, this was once a novel idea, says national sales and marketing director John Foster, who has been with Smooth Ambler since 2009. “At first there were two camps,” he says. “You either made everything from scratch and everybody else was a poser, or you sourced everything and pretended you made it.”…

GRAPHIC DETAILS Dear Whisky Advocate, As a distiller using pot stills, I was confused by the article regarding triple distillation [Make It a Triple, Summer 2019]. The graphics all show the “foreshots” and “feints”” (aka tails) going back for redistillation. Some distillers differentiate between foreshots and “heads” but the terms are not specifically defined. In some cases, foreshots mean higher-proof alcohol that has less flavor, or it may mean the lower alcohols (methanol) that come out of the still before ethanol. Somewhere in the process the methanol should be extracted, but if it is always recycled it will continue to increase in concentration. We refer to the “cuts” as heads, hearts, and tails. The heads are primarily methanol and we discard that portion. The hearts go into the barrel, and…

Most of us forget about seasonal pro-duce as the chill of winter arrives, but for bartenders it’s peak season, as they prepare for the bounty of blood oranges, lemons, and grapefruit to arrive from California and south of the Mexican border. Great citrus can do much more than dress up an Old-Fashioned or add zing to a Whiskey Sour. The bright acidity of citrus can balance the peat of an Islay malt or a sweet bourbon when pressed into service. Ferdinand the Bull Created by Brock Schulte, bar director of The Monarch, Kansas City, Mo. Whisky and orange is a classic combination, but blood orange gives this cocktail the per-fect wintry twist. A touch of smoke accentuates the rich, tart citrus flavors, Schulte says. 1 oz. Russell’s Reserve 10-year-old (or…

If you've ever uttered the words, "This whisky is so good I could just smell it," your dreams are about to come true. With these stylish room fragrances, you can drift off to sleep on a perfumed cloud of Islay scotch or inhale bourbon aromas while basking in a warm tub. Forget the aerosol can and indulge in some whisky lovers' aroma therapy.…

Browsing the store shelves and the back-bar isn’t always a reliable indicator of a scotch distillery’s size. That’s because some very large distillers dedicate much of their production toward supplying the malt component for blended Scotch whisky, leaving their names almost unknown. Other seemingly ubiquitous distilleries might reserve all their production for bottling as single malt, although they are actually quite small. Here, we visualize the capacity of a few scotch malt whisky makers, from the massive to the miniscule What are Liters of Pure Alcohol? Distilleries produce spirit at varying levels of alcohol and also dilute it to different levels for bottling and sale. To account for these variations, we compare the alcohol portion of the production only. For example, a cask of whisky holding 200 liters at 60%…

U.S. RECORD Karuizawa 1982 Single Cask No. 8497 Hammer Price $2,500 Christies, New York, June 2019 In 2012, London’s Specialty Drinks released a pair of Karuizawas—one bourbon barrel-matured and one sherry cask-matured—with carp labels. This 30-year-old bourbon-matured is unique because most releases after the distillery closed came from sherry casks. Skinner Inc., Boston sold this bourbon-matured for $1,400 in 2015. WORLD RECORD The Macallan 1926 Fine & Rare 60-year-old Hammer Price £1.2 million /$1,537,443 Sotheby’s, London, October 2019 This set the record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction at Sotheby’s The Ultimate Whisky Collection sale. It was the first bottle to challenge the record set by Christie’s, London in November 2018 for whisky from the same cask. The price came close to $1.9 million with…

This is the time of year when I’m frequently asked about whisky recommendations for gifting friends, colleagues, and loved ones. You’ve probably experienced the same thing if you’re the whisky lover in your family or office. If you are spending the holiday season working in a whisky store, then I raise my Santa hat to you, as every hour you will be kindly rescuing those lost souls with deeply furrowed brows, paralyzed with indecision before an intimidating wall of innumerable whisky choices. The conversation usually follows the same trajectory. Invariably, the giver doesn’t have the faintest idea about the recipient’s favorite brand, what they currently drink, or what bottle of whisky their heart truly desires. We’re starting at rock bottom, so if I’m asked, my ploy is to offer a…

For the whisky drinker, few moments will ever rival that of tasting a 50 year old scotch. And right now, we are witnessing the release of the last bottles from casks laid down in the 1960s—a decade de-fined by tumultuous changes in the world: the Civil Rights protests, the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, the assassination of J.F.K., the Moon landings, and Hendrix playing The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock. Although blended scotch was king at the time, the 1960s also marked the inception of the single malt Scotch whisky revolution. And today, there are more 50 year old single malts to choose from than ever before. Only an infinitesimal number of special barrels have gone the distance of 50 years, and their rarity and longevity always command top dollar.…

Brooklyn, N.Y. • nydistilling.com It can be easy to miss New York Distilling Co., tucked into a residential Brooklyn block next door to a fire station. But the understated distillery boasts one of the best cocktail bars in a neighborhood known for them, turning out perfectly executed drinks while maintaining a low-key vibe. Described by beverage director Marissa Mazzotta as a “bartenders’ bar,” The Shanty focuses on simplicity, offering a mix of classic, updated, and original cocktails made with thoughtful ingredients. Eighty percent of the menu features one of New York Distilling’s spirits, but The Shanty also uses whiskies and spirits of all types from across the country and globe. Try the refreshing Searchlight (Ragtime rye, Combier orange liqueur, lemon juice, and ginger syrup), complex American Dream (Apple-jack-Finished Ragtime, Zucca…

Kansas City, Mo. • jriegerco.com When a distillery is co-founded by a star mixologist, it’s a solid bet that the cocktails served there will be world-class. And J. Rieger & Co.—the brain-child of Andy Rieger and cocktail heavyweight Ryan Maybee, who operates Kansas City’s Manifesto and The Rieger—certainly delivers in the drinks department. Its new distillery in the historic Electric Park neighborhood offers not one, but two bars, each serving inventive cocktails featuring the distillery’s whiskey, gin, vodka, and amaro. The Monogram Lounge is an all-day space that opens at 9 a.m.: start with a coffee or dive immediately into a Shift-Kicker, made with Kansas City whiskey, sherry, berries, and citrus—no one’s judging. There are also draft cocktails and large-format punches. With ample Wi-Fi and plenty of food options, you…

Santa Fe, N.M. santafespirits.com In the heart of artsy Santa Fe, just a few blocks from the Palace of the Governors and the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, sits the cozy tasting room and bar of Santa Fe Spirits. Once a private home, the venue offers a quiet respite for locals and a relaxing spot for tourists to taste some Southwest whiskey flavor. Adobe walls and arched, wood-beamed ceilings create the perfect space to while away an hour or two sipping cocktails made with agave, sage, and other regional ingredients. Limited to serving only New Mexico spirits, the Read Street bar focuses on its own stable of single malt whiskey, apple brandy, vodka, gin, and Atapiño liqueur, an unaged malt whiskey infused with buttery piñon nuts and ponderosa pine…

Louisville, Ky. rabbitholedistillery.com While building the distillery on East Jefferson Street in Louisville, Rabbit Hole’s construction team would go up in a boom to see what the view from this third-floor cocktail haven would be when complete. It’s excellent, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Butchertown neighborhood and the Big Four Bridge, providing an ideal balance for the soaring heights of the glass-enclosed still room down the hall. Despite the breathtaking views, Overlook’s inventive drinks, all made with the distillery’s bourbons, rye, and gin, are what leave the strongest impression. The bar’s program was designed by Proprietors LLC, the company behind New York City cocktail den Death & Co., and features perfectly executed classics like the Suffering Bastard and Whiskey Sour, along with original creations and the occasional special offering. The…

86 Smooth Ambler Spirits Contradiction Bourbon 46%, $40 A mixture of 27% house-made wheated bourbon and 73% Indiana-made rye-recipe bourbon. Oak-driven, herbal licorice, beeswax, dried peaches, forest floor, autumn leaves, and cut grass 84 WhistlePig FarmStock Rye (Crop 003) 43%, $73 Combines 52% straight rye whiskey made at WhistlePig farm from rye grown there, with 48% straight rye sourced from Canada. Herbal, with hints of vinous fruit and spices and an abundance of oak 91 Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion Series #1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon 49.45%, $60 A blend of 60% house-made 2 year old wheated and high-rye Kentucky bourbon and 40% 11 year, 7 month sourced Kentucky bourbon. Cooked dark fruit, cola, chocolate, nuts, well-integrated spice, espresso, and oak 84 Spirits of French Lick The Wheater Straight Bourbon 45%, $45…

The Buying Guide provides ratings of whiskies from around the world with an emphasis on new releases available for purchase in the U.S. Complete tasting notes are provided for all whiskies scoring 84 points or more (on the Whisky Advocate 100-point scale). Lower scoring whiskies are included at the discretion of the editors, and some may appear exclusively on whiskyadvocate.com. RATINGS AND PRICES Ratings are to provide a relative comparison of quality with reference to both directly competing products and whiskies in general. Price is not a consideration when arriving at ratings. Prices shown reflect the suggested retail price. When none is available, we establish a representative retail price. Actual retail prices may vary. Whiskies sold in the U.S. have prices marked in dollars; any whisky priced in other currency…

Eager fans filled the Marriott Marquis ballroom on October 4th seeking outstanding whiskies, as well as the distillers, blenders, and experts who produce them. The evening began in a truly memorable way as a select number of Golden Ticket winners—selected via lottery from among VIP ticket buyers—entered early to enjoy a taste of Clynelish Select Reserve, a rare bottle from the 2014 Diageo Special Releases Collection, with the Whisky Advocate editors. Attendee Derek Jackson, who was selected for the Golden Ticket pour, called the Clynelish icing on the cake. “It was great to meet several others who have vast knowledge of whisky and to see consumers who take it seriously,” he said. Jackson had given a set of tickets to his younger brother for his 50th birthday; he, his two…

From classics like Drambuie—a liqueur of scotch, honey, herbs, and spices—to honey and whisky mash-ups from Jack Daniel, Crown Royal, Jim Beam, and Bushmills, whisky and honey are the bee’s knees. “The flavors of honey and whisky, particularly bourbon, were just meant to go together,” says Erick Castro, co-founder of Simple Serve and head man behind projects such as San Diego’s Polite Provisions bar and the documentary series Bartender at Large. As a natural product with a range of types and intriguing characteristics, honey isn’t just one flavor, but many. “One of the coolest things about mixing cocktails with honey is that there are so many varieties out there to choose from,” says Castro. “I would generally try to pair honey varietals with complementary flavors, as opposed to contrasting flavors,…

Wood-aged tequila has a surprisingly short history, and American whiskey barrels have dominated it. While some tequila makers have borrowed from the Scotch whisky playbook by using wine, sherry, port, and cognac casks for aging or finishing their spirit, most typically look north for their vessels. Price is the obvious reason. The most popular styles of American whiskey require new barrels, so a steady flow of less expensive used wood exists. But more-over, these vessels smooth the edges and add a dose of familiarity to a drink that can seem peculiar to American palates. Whiskey barrels impart a measure of caramel sweetness and evoke the natural vanilla tones in a drink that tends to be spicy and tart in the raw. While most casks have gone incognito (Jack Daniel’s and…

The ten-year challenge meme shared on Facebook led thou-sands of people to post images of themselves in 2009 beside an image from 2019. Embarrassing hairstyles and regrettable outfit choices were all put out there for public consumption. In late 2009, Bonhams brought the whisky collection of American millionaire William S. Folsom to auction, so let’s see what those bottle prices look like today. Folsom amassed a collection of 3,000 bottles which Bonhams sold through a series of auctions in Edinburgh, Hong Kong, and New York. While dedicated whisky auctions had been around for 20 years in Scotland by this point, they were scarce in New York in December 2009. The auction, which can still be viewed on Bonhams’ website, opened with the Springbank Millennium set with accompanying miniatures which sold…

U.S. customers buying from UK-based whisky auctions are affected by the trade tariffs imposed between the U.S. and European Union. The tariffs target exports of single malt scotch, American, and Northern Irish whiskeys, among other products. In addition to the normal delivery and customs charges, expect to pay an extra 25% of your winning bid to cover the tariff to bring your bottles into the U.S. Consider taking advantage free storage in case the tariffs are overturned, as Whisky Auctioneer extended free storage through May 31, 2020 for U.S. buyers, and Scotch Whisky Auctions is offering six months of free storage. Alternatively, pursue tariff-free bottlings: blended scotch, grain whisky, Irish whiskey made in the Republic, Japanese, and world whiskies. As always, before bidding check with the auction house about all…

There is a restaurant in down-town Toronto where each weekend, even in the icy depths of winter, people seeking brunch wait patiently in line outside the front door. I’ve eaten there—on a weekday when there was no wait—and while it serves a perfectly good eggs Benedict, it’s not the sort of place that, for me, inspires rapturous accolades. Yet there it is, every Saturday and Sunday, the line. By my reckoning, there are two possible reasons for this: either these people have a far superior appreciation of brunch foods than I, or, for them, the wait is part of the elaborate ritual that forms part of their weekend. I strongly suspect it is the latter. The delight of anticipation is, of course, hardly limited to brunch or even to restaurants…

George Dickel 13 year old Bottled in Bond (Distilled in Fall 2005) 50% • $36 PANEL RATING 94 TENNESSEE WHISKEY At the start of 2019, a Tennessee whiskey would have been considered a long shot to be named Whisky Advocate’s Whisky of the Year, but this Dickel came barreling from behind with the poise and power to impress our blind tasting panel. Its value is unmatched—serving up a full 13 years of barrel age at 50% ABV for just $36. Such bargains result because Tennessee whiskey lives in the shadow of bourbon, which can easily command three or four times the price at this age. Tennessee actually yielded a flurry of high-scoring new releases in 2019, many of which we suspect trace their roots to George Dickel’s recently renamed Cascade…

Fifty year old whiskies go through such a rigorous selection process that it’s highly unlikely a bad one will get bottled. Gordon Motion recalls a distillery manager (not from Highland Park) once pressing a 1960s cask sample into his hands and enthusing about its greatness and encouraging him to consider putting it out as a single cask release. Motion recalls, “I sniffed it and thought, ‘Wow, that smells fantastic.’” The following week, Motion returned to the promising sample, and thought that he had better taste it. “It would have taken your fillings out,” he says bluntly. “It was so bitter.” “We have some casks in the sample room that have gone beyond the point where we would be happy releasing it,” comments Stuart Urquhart. One cask yielded only a single…

Louisville, Ky. • michters.com Every tour at Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery ends in the bar, where guests are taught how to mix (and then enjoy) a whiskey cocktail. Even without the DIY experience, the drinks by themselves are worth a visit. Michter’s consulted with cocktail historian David Wondrich for the “Classics” section of the menu, which features not just the Man-hattan (in both bourbon and rye variations) and Boulevardier, but the Whiskey Fix, a refreshing combination of Michter’s US*1 bourbon, lemon juice, and raspberry-pomegranate syrup, and the Fort Nelson Crusta, a mix of bourbon, yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice, demerara and honey syrups, and creole bitters, served in a footed glass with a sugar-crusted rim. (You won’t find an Old-Fashioned on the menu, but just ask and the bartenders will mix…

Bardstown, Ky. bottleandbond.com Bardstown Bourbon Co. isn’t shy about celebrating not just its own whiskeys, but also its many partner brands at Bottle & Bond. Across the cocktail menu, names like Belle Meade and Jefferson’s share equal billing with Bardstown’s own Fusion Series, Discovery Series, and other bourbons. Collaboration is the keyword here, with a whole section dedicated to cocktails made with Bardstown’s Collaborative Series of whiskeys, like the recently featured Mack the Knife, combining Collabor&tion bourbon finished in Copper & Kings brandy casks with Averna amaro and Angostura orange bitters. (Tip: If Bardstown is offering a red wine cask-finished bourbon, ask for a New York Sour made with the whiskey and topped with a float of the wine.) Collaboration extends to the bar’s barrel-aging program, which director of product…

Denver, Colo. thefamilyjones.com The best bars create an atmosphere of hospitality so comfortable that it’s like being at home, but The Family Jones takes it one step further, turning its menus into albums stuffed with vintage family photos—including some of its employees. Dedicated to seasonality—and limited to offering only spirits that it produces—The Family Jones makes almost every ingredient in-house, from the rosemary amaretto in the Colorado Sour to the spiced house blanc, a white vermouth-inspired botanical liqueur used in the Salted Grapefruit Spritz. Food and beverage menus change seasonally, so there’s always some-thing new to enjoy—but if that’s not enough, there’s the “Bitchen Creation: You pick it, we mix it” customizable cocktail option. Besides its vodkas, gins, rum, and Stopgap Jones rye and bourbon (sourced from Ohio and Tennessee…

MEMBERS of the Missouri Craft Distillers Guild recently learned how a bill becomes a law—no Schoolhouse Rock! cartoon necessary—as they collectively lobbied for House Bill 266. “I’m a distiller; I’m here to make spirits, as are the rest of my peers. We never thought that we’d really get into legislation on the state level,” David Weglarz, guild president and owner and head distiller of StilL 630 in St. Louis says. That involvement proved fruit-ful however, as on July 11, 2019 Missouri bourbon was legitimized. “All the distillers in the guild have been working toward calling their reps, traveling to Jefferson City, and really trying hard to get this passed,” Weglarz told Whisky Advocate shortly after. “So we’re in a brief moment of celebration as we scramble to try and put…

TATTERSALL Distilling is one of the more adventurous craft distilleries. The Minneapolis-based company produces barrel-aged gin, blackstrap rum, aquavit, amaro, absinthe, and, of course, whiskey. But even among dozens of products, a high-proof single malt with distinctive barbecue notes from the mesquite and apple-smoked malt along with dark-roasted chocolate malt stands apart. Tattersall Signature Series single malt whiskey is the result of an unlikely collaboration with local chef Justin Sutherland, most known for competing on Bravo’s Top Chef. Sutherland thought it would be perfect to serve alongside the food at his meat-heavy restaurants like the pig-centric Handsome Hog and steakhouse Fire & Whiskey. In fact, more distillers seem to be reaching outside their internal ranks for ideas, whether that means enlisting the opinions of chefs and bartenders, or merely diehard…

Best Values Whiskies with solid scores, modest prices, and wide availability. BLENDED SCOTCH 90 Dewar’s 8 year old Caribbean Smooth Rum Cask-Finished, 40%, $22 A delicious dram with a sunny disposition, this drums out aromas of butter biscuits, raisins, vanilla sugar, cane honey, and abundant tropical fruit notes of guava and papaya. It’s a light and nimble blend that weaves through white chocolate, biscuit notes, chewy granola bar, apricot, and mandarin. Spices rattle around a fruit core on the finish. Rum powerhouse Bacardi acquired Dewar’s in 1998; they should have done this years ago.—JM WHEAT 88 Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Straight (Batch 0037), 45.2%, $35 The loveliest qualities of wheat grain are present in this delicate whiskey. It starts off with banana-nut muffin, orange Creamsicle, toasted wood, lemongrass, and bubble…

Attentive students will recognize these lecture notes as the second installment of Prof. Sullivan’s commonplace book, a string of pearls of wisdom gleaned from careful study, even exegesis, of the literature of having a short one or two at the end of a long day. Keep to just that one or two, however, lest you be rendered stotious, my favorite Hibernian neologism, although who first neologized it is lost to time. I recently stumbled upon its Caledonian cousin, and my new favorite word, mericulous, in Denise Mina’s new tartan noir (another honey of a neologism, don’t you think?) mystery, Conviction. Stotious and mericulous both mean, roughly, legless. Used to be pixilated, before the techies usurped that lovely word. See how much you can learn from reading? That’s why I do…