Whisky Advocate Spring 2022

It’s a great time to be a whisky drinker—okay, sometimes it’s harder to find those special releases than it used to be, mainly because whisky has become so incredibly popular. But it’s still a fabulous era, because quality across the board has never been higher. When it comes to variety, that’s an even better story. Name any whisky style, and you’ll find a wider array of choices nowadays than at any time in memory. All this is particularly true of rye whiskey, which is our focus for this issue. As rye’s popularity dwindled during the decades after Prohibition, by the late 20th century there were scarcely any ryes on the market at all—let alone any talk of a selection. But rye’s revival has inspired a new generation of distillers, and…

WHISKY TIME TRAVEL Dear Whisky Advocate, I read with great interest and delight Jonny McCormick’s recent Tasting Lesson [Fall 2021] regarding the triggering of memories and special moments through the aromas of whisky as it relates to the biochemical similarities of aromatic compounds found in old books, leather, and wood. My own “Ratatouille moment” came through a dram of Lagavulin 16 offered to me by my old friend and guitar teacher on a stormy night while trying to work out a Doc Watson finger pick piece. The moment I lifted the glass to my nose, I was immediately transported back to the varnish and oil-soaked workbench of my great grandfather. It was a powerful and pleasant moment triggered by the congeners unlocked by the pouring of the peaty whisky, and…

For Jeff Lewis, buying a bottle of whisky but not opening it is a hard concept to swallow, so it’s safe to say that the bottles he scored as a result of winning Whisky Advocate’s 2021 Top 20 sweepstakes won’t stay sealed for long. “I typically have five to six varieties open at any given time,” he says. “[My wife Zoe and I] have read the tasting notes of each of the Top 3 whiskies, and they all sound amazing—we’ll definitely be opening them.” Along with a bottle of the 2021 Whisky of the Year, Lagavulin 11 year old Offerman Edition: Guinness Cask Finish, Harris will be receiving a bottle of Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series 2021 Release: FAE-01 and Teeling Blackpitts, supplementing his shelves with single malt scotch, Kentucky…

Whether looking for a no-nonsense shot-and-beer bar or a fancy joint with a miles-deep whisky menu, a weekend in Philadelphia will provide. The city is eminently walkable, too. From any Center City hotel there are dozens of options for food, drinks, and attractions in one of America’s most historic cities. A walk down Broad Street—downtown Philadelphia’s main north-south drag—offers views of the city’s late-19th century City Hall, the Civil War-era Union League (now a private club), and the city’s leading arts venues, like the Kimmel Center and the Academy of Music. And just blocks east or west of Broad Street are some of the city’s best places to eat and drink. Staying in Center City is the best option for a mostly walkable trip, with convenient public transit that gives…

As the Mint Julep—a combination of bourbon, sugar, mint, and ice—and the cocktails below prove, adding mint easily molds whisky into a spring beverage. “Mint lifts whisky up and enables it to be a lighter beverage than it normally plays,” says Tony Burgesen, bartender at The Bower in New Orleans. “Mint’s subtle sweetness melds effortlessly into the caramel and vanilla notes of most whisky, while the refreshing coolness of mint plays with the higher notes of whisky, like white pepper and grass.” The Cloverleaf Created by Bennett Hofer, bartender, Union Horse Bar, Lenexa, Kansas “Named after the racing pattern of a barrel race, this cocktail will take your taste buds for a ride,” Hofer says. “First the fresh and bright citrus notes activate your senses. Then the fresh mint combined…

Root beer is a familiar flavor, and is frequently cited as a tasting note for bourbons and ryes. It has positive associations for most people who enjoy its sweet, smooth, spicy flavors, and evokes memories of root beer floats from our childhoods, of wiping the creamy foam away from our lips and playfully testing the buoyancy of that shrinking scoop of ice cream in the glass with our jabbing straws. The reason why root beer works as such a generous descriptor for whiskey is the spectrum of flavor across root beer types. Easily confused with sarsaparilla, which is traditionally made from the sarsaparilla vine, root beer was originally made from the roots of the sassafras plant. This contains a natural compound called safrole, or 4–allyl–1,2–methylenedioxy–benzene, which has a chemical structure…