J's Whisky Diary

Bull Run Distilling, in Portland, Oregon was founded by former brewer Lee Medoff. The Cask Strength Single Malt was launched in 2016 with a  4 year age statement, while their Single Malt product now carries a 5 year age statement. Just a note for anyone not familiar, the "age statement" of a spirit indicates the age of the youngest spirit in the product; a 25 year and a 2 year spirit, when blended together, are 2 years old. Bull Run produce a range of products including an Aquavit and a barrel-aged Vodka. Nearby Burnside Brewing produces wash for the distillery, which places them somewhere on the grain-to-glass spectrum. This, along with their practice of fermenting the wash hot (relatively speaking, at least 80°F) lend their malt a good amount of character. Ester and phenol formation during fermentation are eventually mirrored in the final product, yielding notes of tropical fruit and clove. Medoff has at least 20 years of distilling experience to his name—hardly an amateur ...

For something a little different this week, I'm going to do a side-by-side with two products from The Arran distillery in Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. The distillery opened in 1995 and has operated continuously since then; unusually, it remains independently owned and operated. The two products I'll be sampling today are an unpeated 18 year old single malt whisky and an Amarone cask finished single malt with no age statement. For those unfamiliar with the wine, Amarone is a kind of dry, red Italian wine, produced in Valpolicella out of dried grapes. The drying of the grapes concentrates the sugars and flavors in the grape and produces a strong (15% and up) and distinctly flavored wine. Production of Amarone is painstaking and risky and the resulting wine is comparatively rare and expensive. The Arran Malt 18 year old is sherry cask finished and bottled at 92 proof. The malt pours a clear yellow with gilded highlights. First lifting the glass, it's quite soft on the nos...

Founded in 2004, Stranahan's was an early comer to the craft distilling scene, and the first microdistillery to open in Colorado. Stranahan's is named for co-founder George Stranahan, notably also a co-founder of Flying Dog Brewery, which went so far as to provide all the wash for the distillery until adequate brewing equipment could be procured. The distillery was acquired, in 2010, by Proximo Spirits, notable for their distribution of Jose Cuervo in the United States along with ownership of several other "premium" alcohol brands. Stranahan's produce a range of Single Malts, each with different finishing characteristics, including the annual, unique "Snowflake" release available for only one day each year. Today I'm trying the Sherry Cask Finish; this is batch 2 (out of 3, so far), it is non chill-filtered, given an age statement of 4 years, finished in Oloroso Sherry casks, and finally bottled at 94 proof. The malt pours a muted yellow-gold w...

Glendronach is a Highland distillery founded in 1826 near Forgue, the second distillery to be granted license to produce whisky in Scotland. Though the distillery was briefly mothballed 1996, it reopened in 2001 and is now owned and operated by Brown-Forman. It is a stream-fed distillery, with water supplied by the Dronac burn, which runs through the facility. This is a single-cask offering, part of a yearly Limited Release and selected by Master Distiller Billy Walker. While many Scotch single malts are finished in sherry casks, this malt, distilled in 1994, was fully matured in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry puncheon, and bottled in 2015 after 20 years. The 1994 pours a dark, rich amber, with a bright ruby tint, indicating straightaway the hefty age statement and pronounced barrel character. As soon as you lift the glass its clear that the spirit inside is dripping with lavish sherry character; a perfectly oxidative mahogany cherry pie, lively with citrus highlights, warm with the cask s...

Bowmore, established in 1779, is said to be the first distillery opened on the isle of Islay. Notably, the distillery continues to source malt from the island and has an active traditional floor malting process, however, this is bolstered with industrially malted barley from the mainland. Personally, the distillery holds some significance for me as I once had a torrid love affair with a pour of the Bowmore 15 year old in the inimitable Aero Club bar in San Diego, early in my whisky journey. The experience was eye—rather, mind—opening for me, dramatically expanding the horizons of flavor and complexity that I had so far experienced in a whisky. Undoubtedly, some part of that magic was the product of inexperience and inebriation, but, as they say, you never forget your first time. As far as Islay Malts are concerned, the Bowmore 12 year showcases a relatively gentle peat, so those for whom the power of the bog holds no charm need feel no concern. The malt pours a rich yellow-gold, with...