Watch our video to learn the enjoyment of comparative tasting and how to host your own.
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Watch our video to learn the enjoyment of comparative tasting and how to host your own. Whether you’re an established whisky club or just friends getting together at your favorite whisky bar, tasting several expressions around a theme, can help you develop a greater appreciation of the varieties of whisky, and set the stage for education, camaraderie, and fun.
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Bursting with your Favorite Flavors
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In the last decade or so, enthusiasts have discovered the beauty of barrel-proof whisky. Sometimes known as “cask-strength,” it’s exactly what it claims to be: whisky bottled straight from the barrel with no water added. While aging times and locations will cause fluctuations in the final reading, most barrel-proof whiskies will check in somewhere around 110 to 130 proof.
Barrel-proof whisky is packed with aroma, flavor, and especially texture, with a chewy, almost oily mouthfeel. If you typically enjoy lower-proof whisky, these might sound too hot to handle, but you always have the ability to add water to cool it down a bit.
Maker’s Mark® Cask Strength
Caramel, honey, marzipan, cotton candy, cinnamon, and clove
54.35% | $45
Laphroaig® 10 Year Cask Strength
Signature peat, iodine and salty flavors, with rich vanilla and a long finish
58% | $85
Booker’s® Bourbon 2021-03 “Bardstown Batch”
Vanilla, brown sugar, and baking spice with a warm finish
63.95% | $90
Alberta® Premium Cask Strength Rye
Caramel, vanilla, chocolate, black currant, spice, and dark fruit
63.7% | $80
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Finishes & Blends Add Unique Complexities
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Aficionados crave the latest and most innovative ways of creating flavorful whiskies. Lately, that has meant experimental finishes and skillful blending techniques. The idea of “finishing” whiskey began in Scotland around 1983 when distilleries started taking well-aged scotch and putting it into sherry butts for additional maturation, imparting lovely sherry notes into the whisky. More recently, the practice is utilized by distilleries in Ireland, Japan, and especially America, where purveyors are using different char levels, “toasting,” and the addition of unique barrel staves. Blending is another way distilleries have found to be au courant, with many adopting the Japanese practice of intensely layering different casks and finishes to create a harmonious final product.
Maker’s Mark 46®
Cherries, plums, caramel, cocoa powder, and toasted tobacco
47% | $35
Basil Hayden® Toast
Toasted oak, dried fruit, vanilla, and caramelized sugar
40% | $50
Legent® Bourbon
Spice and fruity from the sherry casks. Red-wine casks add tartness
47% | $50
Laphroaig® Quarter Cask
Hints of coconut, banana and vanilla, with seaside, smoky peat
48% | $75
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Flavorful Expressions from the East
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It may seem that Japanese whisky is a recent phenomenon, but the country actually has a long history with whisky making, starting with the establishment of Yamazaki Distillery in 1923. For most of the 20th century it exclusively made blends, but everything changed in 1984 with the launch of Suntory single malt Yamazaki.
Today, the single malts of Yamazaki and Hakushu Distilleries are as well-regarded and coveted as any from Scotland—soft and fruity, with hints of mizunara oak and smoke, and tons of complexity. While Suntory’s blends, like Toki and Hibiki Japanese Harmony—using grain whiskies from Chita Distillery—continue to innovate and break new ground, their harmony of flavors is perfect for sipping neat or in Japan’s iconic Highballs.
Suntory Japanese Whisky Toki®
Basil, green apple, honey, then grapefruit, green grapes, and thyme
43% | $40
Hibiki® Japanese Harmony
Rose, sandalwood, rosemary, honey, and candied orange peel
43% | $90
Yamazaki® 12 Years Old
Peach, coconut, mizunara (Japanese oak) and raspberry
43% | $150
Hakushu® 12 Years Old
Peppermint, melon, cucumber, grapefruit, and subtle smoke
43.5% | $150
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America’s Distinctive Spirit Examined
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Despite the numerous requirements that make bourbon a “distinctive product” of the United States, there’s still plenty of room for diversity within the category. All bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn, but the secondary grains used, the ratio of the mashbill, and years of aging in the barrel can make for radical differences in aroma, flavor, and texture. “High-rye” bourbons offer spiciness, while “wheated” bourbons are beloved for their sweet, inviting character. New charred oak barrels are another requirement, meaning, essentially, the older the age statement, that more rich caramel, vanilla, and, oak spice will be released from the wood. The following show the incredible breadth of our country’s most beloved spirit.
Knob Creek® 9 Year Old
Rich, sweet, woody, fruity, with oak, vanilla, and caramel
50% | $35
Basil Hayden® 10 Year Old
Oak, vanilla and rye, then caramel sweetness and more rye spice
40% | $70
Maker’s Mark® Original
Floral, toffee, caramel, roasted almonds, vanilla, and fruity essences
45% | $30
Baker’s® Bourbon Single Barrel
Blackberries, dried fruits, licorice, and cinnamon
56.6% | $50
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Our Country’s National Spirit, Explored
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1. GREAT AMERICAN BOURBON 
2. HIGH-PROOF POURS 
3. JAPANESE WHISKY TASTING 
4. NOT FINISHED YET! 
5. TASTING ACROSS THE HEMISPHERES 
6. CUSTOMIZE YOUR OWN Use This Mat for a Customized Tasting |
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This tasting features two innovative tequilas from Avión that display how this prestige brand uses advanced aging techniques to create rich, flavorful tequilas.
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This virtual tasting features two innovative tequilas from Avión that display how this prestige brand uses advanced aging techniques to create rich, flavorful tequilas that are redolent of the finest whiskies, while still showcasing the inherent qualities of finely roasted, hand-harvested Mexican agave. Featuring special guest, global brand ambassador Carlos Andres Ramirez, who will lead everyone through the night’s tasting.
Aged for 44 months in ex-bourbon barrels, this extra añejo tequila offers the aroma of roasted agave with hints of warm vanilla and spice. The color of a fine single malt scotch, Reserva 44 is likewise meant to be sip and savored neat or on ice, which will unlock a complex infusion of ripe, luscious fruits underscored by fragrant American oak.
The rare tequila that will appeal to both blanco and añejo drinkers, this blend of both añejo and extra añejo undergoes a filtering process in order to remove its color and likewise enhance its fruity and floral characteristics. The result is a crystal clear tequila that retains the aroma and flavor of one barrel aged, with notes of oak, vanilla, baking spices and nuttiness, alongside subtle agave notes of minerality and citric acidity.
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Explore how Freddie Noe, 8th Generation Beam Family distiller, has created a truly unique whiskey with his Little Book limited release. Noe will dive into the most recent Little Book annual release, Chapter 05: The Invitation.
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This virtual tasting looks at Little Book, the unique, multi-distillery blend released annually. Special guest, Freddie Noe, 8th Generation Beam Family distiller, was dubbed “Little Book” by his grandfather Booker Noe; following in his footsteps, he created his own uncut, unfiltered, and always one-of-a-kind limited release.
Freddie Noe curates and blends barrels from across the globe to create something greater than the sum of its parts. This current release, the fifth in the series, is composed of three bourbons and one rye of varying ages. It offers notes of caramel and toasted bread with hints of brown sugar sweetness leading into a light linger of warmth.
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The latest expression in John Dewar & Sons’ unique French Red Wine Cask Collection, Aberfeldy 18 Year Old, is finished in barrels from the prestigious Côte Rôtie appellation. Wine cask finishing has become one of the
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The latest expression in John Dewar & Sons’ unique French Red Wine Cask Collection, Aberfeldy 18 Year Old, is finished in barrels from the prestigious Côte Rôtie appellation.
Wine cask finishing has become one of the hottest trends in Scotch whisky and Highland distillery Aberfeldy has certainly led the charge. Founded by John Dewar & Sons, Aberfeldy was built in 1898 in a lush valley where the distillery uses high-quality water drawn from the nearby Pitilie Burn, renowned for its gold deposits which lend the brand the nickname “Golden Dram.” In 2019 Aberfeldy launched its French Red Wine Cask Collection.
The first release in the series was Aberfeldy 15 Year Old, finished in Pomerol casks from Bordeaux; it was well-received by critics and fans alike. 2020 followed with an 18 Year Old expression finished in Pauillac casks, also from Bordeaux, which was recognized as a Top 20 Whiskies of 2020 by Whisky Advocate. For the third bottling in the series, Malt Master Stephanie Macleod has chosen casks from the Côte Rôtie appellation in the northern tip of France’s Rhône Valley.
“This style of wine has got these wonderful fruity notes, but also floral notes,” says Aberfeldy’s Malt Master, Stephanie Macleod.
Being from the birthplace of Syrah, Côte Rôtie wines are predominantly made from that grape, however up to 20 percent of Viognier can be used. The wine offers aromatics such as dark fruits as well as pepper and spices. Yet there is an elegance to the body, with sensuous and silky textures that caress the palate while still offering a freshness on the finish. This is surely due to the unique way its fruit is grown.
Côte Rôtie can be translated to mean “Roasted Slope” and the region is indeed home to some of the steepest vineyards in all of France, with southeast-facing slopes amongst well-draining granite soil. The climate is also described as “Continental,” meaning there are blazing hot summers yet frigid cold winters with precipitation throughout the year. The vineyards are, thus, terraced to keep the soil from eroding while retaining the warmth of the sun. As you can imagine, this means supply of this prestigious wine—and, in turn, its aging vessels—can be quite limited.
Macleod still recalls the day the emptied Côte Rôtie casks came to the Aberfeldy distillery. They were opened up and the immediate aroma was overwhelming. “It was just amazing. I felt there and then this was going to work.
The casks bestowed an expressive and seductive quality to the Aberfeldy single malt, whose unusually long fermentation process produces a whisky abundant with rare, honeyed notes, as seen in the highly-awarded core range which includes a 12 Year Old, 16 Year Old and 21 Year Old. The whisky now bursts with intense notes of raspberry, lingonberry and red currents smothered in honey. Some people might find it evocative of an Eton Mess—the traditional English dessert made of strawberries, meringue, and whipped cream—but this is clearly red wine cask finishing at its finest, as Macleod notes:
“It’s just a match made in heaven for Aberfeldy.”
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