I’m still not exactly sure what sophisticated drinking is.
It appears to involve cocktails.
I like my whiskey neat – so I suppose that makes me unsophisticated.
Regardless of the book’s title – it does explore the histories, stories, characters & tales of 7 major drinks categories.
Brandy
Vodka
Whisky
Rum
Gin
Tequila
& Champagne
I found it a highly entertaining, informative & enjoyable read.
Just one tale illustrates.
In 1852 Charles-Camille Heidsieck was touring America to promote his champagne. With the onset of Civil War Camille ran into a spot of bother, prison & ill health. It took him over 6 months recuperating before returning to France. That’s some length to go for a glass of bubbly!
With my business mostly complete at ProWein I was going to take time out for a spot of sight-seeing in Dusseldorf. A transport strike quickly quashed that option & one of the few busses still running happened to go to the Messe venue – so I further explored!
I spent a while discussing route to market, branding, distillation techniques & sense of place with North Carolina based Liberty & Plenty Distillery.
I enjoyed their Rye brand & was impressed by the White Rum which included American grown sugarcane molasses.
Meyer’s French Whisky also impressed.
While a delve into the elegantly presented bottles of soju on the Korean stand gave a very soft & almost neutral taste experience with the wheat based clear offering while the darker barrel aged did offer a more woody influence.
I did try another company’s soju as well. The presentation is certainly attractive. Yet on my palate the subtle, mild & smooth flavours didn’t particularly excite me.
Award winning Millstone Rye is much more to my tastes.
Their competitively priced blended whisky also offered a pleasing taste experience.
I ventured into full-on-high-strength rum when catching up with the Killowen crowd & was pleased to see an extended range of Dram-in-a-can including single grain & single pot still variants from Two Stacks.
An extremely large bottle of grappa from a company I’d not encountered before delivered a very well refined & elegant taste.
While a fun tasting & packaged shochu provided a more youthful approach to the spirits market.
Some gorgeous rums benefitting from long fermentation times were enjoyed on the Cane Island stall.
With Sild German Whisky showing a solid performance with their core product & fun rum line too.
I travelled into tequila with one company offering a slightly smoky reposado coming from the barrel ageing.
With another offering a visually stunning brand display backed up by a fine tasting blanco too.
It isn’t all about the looks!
The ProWein Tasting Area offered exploration of Award Winning spirit winners.
I initially went with an Armagnac.
Before pushing my tasting palate with a surprisingly flavourful & enjoyable raspberry eau-de-vie. Very nice!
I first purchased Belgian Owl Whisky many years ago & was pleased to see how far they had journeyed in the intervening years.
Now presented in highly attractive premium style bottles the core single malt still impressed.
While an 11 year old malt extracted from a barrel that had lain on a bed of saffron exuded luxurious flavours & presentation.
Rampur’s Sangam World Malt is a worthy flag carrier for this emerging company.
Their Double Cask is certainly worth checking out if you get the chance. This is quality whisky that cuts through a lot of the ill-informed opinion regarding what Indian Whisky can deliver.
Just as Basque Whisky impressed on Day 2. Basque rum brand Txikiteo delivered a flavour bomb with this blend containing a Jamaican element which boosted the enjoyment for me.
Staying with rum, Ryoma Japanese Rum made with Japanese grown sugarcane juice & molasses not only delivered a gorgeous taste experience – it also led to a discussion as to the merits of pubs in Athlone as one of the sales reps had attended the college in my home town!
Chance meetings & connections are all part of the whole ProWein show!
German whisky brand Hellinger was my final throw of the show.
They import bulk Scotch then further mature & finish it in Germany to deliver a very decent product.
Their own distillate isn’t yet mature enough to be called whisky – but their mock-up Hell Dog+1 maturing in wine casks certainly shows potential!
A fine way to end my ProWein adventures.
All the companies here are striving for future potential in coming to this show to increase their brand, secure contacts & ultimately make deals – all for furthering more future potential.
Skeletons in the cupboard of Dariusz Plazewski – founder of Bimber Distillery – have come back to haunt him & thereby jeapardise the future of his whisky businesses.
It appears Dariusz fled Poland to avoid a prison sentence & took up a false identity.
Polish authorities caught up with him – real name Lucasz Ratajewski – for extradition back to Poland on serious charges of conspiracy to murder, drugs & weapons.
Honesty & transparency – buzzwords often banded about in whisky circles – have clearly been breached.
For small businesses like Bimber & Dunphail – also owned by Dariusz – the ‘cult of personality’ looms large with such a dynamic figure playing a key central role in building these brands.
When trust and faith is lost – the brand falls apart.
No doubt there’ll be protracted legal & financial machinations to come – as well as a possible Polish court case – but this is no Pattison Crash situation.
Bimber & Dunphail are niche micro distilleries offering limited edition bottles – made with dedication and passion – often through ballots at quite high prices.
This end of the market is beyond that which I wish to pay & appeals to a minority of the whisky buying collective – which Dariusz has very successfully captured – until now.
I did review his 1st Release however and found it very attractive.
The whisky remains the same – but with trust, honesty & prestige all being broken in an instant – it appears to me Bimber & Dunphail are for the birds.
The vultures will be circling to recoup any investments made & scavenge remaining assets.
From the assertion 90% of all whisky sold is blended yet the media concentrates on the 10% that is Single Malt.
To terroir – the author is dubious about it’s validity yet every distiller is trying to capture it.
Everything You Need To Know is heavily skewed towards Scotch – even when India now makes almost 50% of all whisky produced in the world – yet there is a recognition the hegemony of Scotch on the world whisky playground is beginning to wane.
At times I found myself nodding along in agreement with the authors comments & then rant against other opinions posited
Such is the wonderful world of whisky where rather than absolute rights or wrongs is a multlitude of styles, flavours, spellings, methods of production, route to market & a growing array of countries making the spirit.
From a consumers point of view there has never been such an outpouring of choice.
Long may it last.
Sláinte
India is one of the biggest whisky producers article here.
The rum world appears to be far more willing to embrace new flavours, styles & experimentation than that of whiskey.
Langs Banana Jamaican Rum is one of many flavoured rums to have hit the market lately – and it’s a growing market too!
Langs Rum is part of the diverse range of drinks offered by the Ian MacLeod Distillers empire.
The nose was very sweet & well – banana-y!
The sweetness followed through into a smooth & oily mouthfeel with the banana being complimented by hints of Jamaican funk & a welcome soft tingling spice on the rear.
Makes for a very easy & highly entertaining tipple.
After having a run of underrated bargain basement beauties with Lidl’s Liberté Rum & Dunnes’ JG Kinsey Whisky – I suppose a disappointment was inevitable.
Old Hopking White Rum c/othewhiskeynut
Aldi’s Old Hopking White Rum is presented with a rather plain white label that gives little away.
‘Bottled In Germany’ it says. A common practice using ‘Imported Rum’ from undisclosed sources. Where the sugarcane or molasses came from is not stated – nor method of distillation. At this price point – that information is a bonus.
‘Perfect for mixing’ c/othewhiskeynut
So onto a taster.
Oh dear!
A perfumed floral aroma greeted me.
More reminiscent of my wife’s gin rather than a rum!
This followed through in the palate – which was smooth & mellow – with a mild heat to keep it real – but otherwise no defining character.
‘Imported Rum’ c/othewhiskeynut
Old Hopking is a simple easy sipper – but I wasn’t expecting a rose garden in my rum!
On my last visit to Eden Mill – which is a combined Brewery & Distillery operation on the banks of the Eden River in Guardbridge, Scotland – the opener for the distillery tour was a bottle of their fine Whisky Barrel Aged Beer.
Whisky Barrel Aged Beer c/othewhiskeynut
It certainly loosened up the tongues of the mixed bag of visitors on the day – and was a novel way to introduce the rich variety of drinks including beers, gins & whiskies made at the facility.
Art Of The Blend series c/othewhiskeynut
Bottled at 6.7% the dark beer delivered a gentle aroma of malt. The carbonation wasn’t too strong – more in the style of a traditional Scottish Heavy Ale – with a great outpouring of flavour comprising of caramel, burnt molasses, a hint of dark chocolate & coffee too.
There is also a limited edition Bourbon Barrel offering – slightly sweeter & heavier if possible – with a younger 68 day age statement as opposed to the 93 of the Whisky Barrel Beer.
Whatever your poison – Eden Mill have a drink to satisfy.
WestmeathWhiskeyWorld 