Categories
Whiskey

New Arrivals: Lost Spirits Seascape II, Leviathan III, Umami and Cask Strength Navy Rum!

Hey All,

I couldn’t be more excited about the incredible line of Lost Spirits products we got in today! These are all extremely limited, some haven’t been available for a while and some have never been available. The Leviathan is batch number three and the Seascape is batch number two, while both the other releases are brand new products. The three single malts use 100% California barley smoked with Canadian peat and are fermented in salt water. Here’s what we got in:

Leviathan III Peated Single Malt: 110ppm (parts per million peat), one of the peatiest whiskies in the world, cask strength (53%), aged in sherry casks. One of the most interesting and unique whiskies you’ll ever try. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is anything like a peated Islay single malt Scotch. Canadian peat has a much different terrior, think evergreen forests: Black Spruce, White Spruce, Balsam Fir, Lodgepole and Jack Pine. The barrels Leviathan ages in were charred slightly more than the other two, adding a little more color and caramely flavors. $64.99

Seascape II Peated Single Malt: 55ppm (parts per million peat), cask strength (65%), aged in French oak late harvest semillon white wine barrels and then finished in rum barrels. Has a beautiful buttery texture and signature honey and jasmine notes that combine with smoke and Canadian peat. It’s the least peaty of the three single malts but a flavorful monster at 65% alcohol. $56.99

Umami Peated Single Malt: The newest member of the peated single malt line up. Umami has around the same ppm’s peat as Leviathan (around 100ppm), and is cask strength (59%), but it’s different from the other two by way of its higher salt content. Each of the three single malts are fermented in salt water but only Umami is ferment in a solution that matches the ocean’s salinity. This creates some very different results as sodium more readily binds to certain flavor compounds producing different flavors in the finished product, and the boiling temperature during distillation is altered allowing for certain esters and phenols that wouldn’t normally come through to make it to the finished product as well. This whiskey is a little fruitier and brinier than its siblings, and it was one of our favorites at the Whiskies of the World Expo a few weeks ago. $69.99

Lost Spirits Navy Style Rum: This is the best rum you’ll ever try! A lot of people throw around the concept that their rum is a whiskey drinkers rum but this is the only one I’ve ever seen deliver on that promise. It starts with baking grade molasses, not the heavily processed and chemically altered black strap that just about every rum distillery uses. This is the real, high quality stuff. After barrel aging Lost Spirits employs a revolutionary technique that simulates the barrel decomposition you’d find in 30 and 40 year barrels. After a certain amount of aging decomposing barrels produce some very desirable flavor compounds, you’ll find these a lot of times in older Cognacs and Armagnacs.

No one has figured out how to re-create this process in a short amount of time, until Lost Spirits figured out a way. The process uses UV light shown threw the oak to expedite production of the chemicals found in old barrels. The rum becomes literally the color of black coffee and is bottled at a robust 68% (cask strength). There is no flavorings, colorings or any other additives what so ever. This is rum the way it was always mean’t to be, and as such I give it my highest recommendation! You want this. $54.99

Available @ Both Shops. Get em while you can. Cheers

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

New Arrival: Ichiro’s Chichibu Japanese Single Malt “The First”!

Hey All,

Just got in the brand new Chichibu Single Malt “The First” at both shops. Chichibu will be extremely limited to start, each shop only got one bottle, but I’m hearing more will be released in winter 2014′. I was very impressed when I tried this earlier, for a 3 year single malt its incredibly refined and drinks way beyond it’s age. The flavors are soft and delicate with notes of wild flower honey, lychee, orange blossom, cereal grain and sandalwood. At 59% it’s one of the smoothest cask strength whiskies I’ve ever had. These will sell out in a heart beat so make sure to look for it around town if you can’t get one of the two bottles we got. $229.99. Good luck! Cheers

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

New Arrivals: Connemara Peated Irish Whiskey

Long over due in both Healthy Spirits shops is the Connemara line of peated Irish whiskies! What is arguably the most flavorful Irish whiskey on the market also happens to come from my favorite Irish distillery, Cooley. Cooley is the only distillery in Ireland currently double distilling their whiskey, which is in contrast to the traditional triple distillation method. This produces a more complex spirit that retains more of the base grain’s flavor, much like a single malt Scotch. Add to that the use of Irish peat, which gives a beautiful smokiness and amazing flavors of terrior, and you have arguably the most unique Irish whiskey out there. Peat, as you probably know, represents thousands of years of condensed vegetation and organic matter. By smoking the barley with Irish peat all the flavors of plant life and earth are captured, making the finished product a transformative experience. The whiskey literally tastes like Ireland, how could you not want to try that?

-Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey $48.99
-Connemara 12 Year Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey $79.99
-Connemara Cask Strength Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey $74.99

Available @ both shops. Come and get it.

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

Last of the Fitzgeralds…….

Hey All,

So maybe you haven’t heard, but this thing called bourbon is becoming pretty dang popular these days. So much so that distilleries like Buffalo Trace and Heaven Hill are out of product across the board. The Fitzgerald brands have become the latest victim, as anything baring the Fitzgerald name is officially unavailable in California for the foreseeable future. Fitzgerald is of course one of the original wheat recipe bourbons which the Van Winkle’s made famous at their now closed Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

While Heaven Hill’s most heavily promoted wheat recipe bourbon Larceny will still be somewhat available, I took it upon myself to grab the last few cases of Fitzgerald 1849 in the state. At around six years old and $19.99 a bottle, it’s hard to beat 1849 in terms of bang for your buck and quality. A very comparable bourbon in terms of price, age and recipe, is the currently unavailable Buffalo Trace W. L. Weller Reserve. Who’s absence in the market seems to only further fan the flames of bourbon geeks everywhere bunkering down as many wheaters (wheat recipe bourbons) as they can get their hands on. Will W. L. Weller and Old Fitzgerald make an appearance on the market again some day. Almost certainly yes, but the days of finding this stuff on the shelves with any regularity may be gone, gone for good.

I got a few more cases at Castro or at Clement by request. Get em while you can my friends.

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

New Arrival: Compass Box The General

Hey All,

Got a small allocation of “The General”, a super limited (1,698 bottles worldwide) 30 plus year old blend that’s one of the most anticipated releases Compass Box has ever done. What really interested me about this Scotch was the idea of the unknown. John Glaser found these amazing barrels that contained a blended Scotch that had been aged, then blended, then re-barreled for over 30 years. They were so old, no one actually knows the component whiskies that went into them originally. It’s sort of history in a bottle if you will, potentially from distilleries that no longer exist. Any way we were only able to nab two bottles. I have them both at the Castro shop or at Clement by request only. Don’t sleep. $329.99 a bottle.

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

New Brews on Tuesday??

Late last week one of our favorite distributors dropped a bombshell of a list into our laps. Now, these guys already have world-class sheets every week but this had some selections to make even my jaded palate tingle. Get some!

The boys at Castro are swingin’:

  • Anchorage Brewing Rondy Brew 750ml spiced saison with brett & French oak
  • Anchorage Brewing/Crooked Stave Between the Staves 750ml Cognac bbl sour ale
  • Jolly Pumpkin IO 750ml red saison
  • Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Peche ‘n Brett 750ml oak aged ale with peaches*
  • Heater Allen Hugo Bock 22oz traditional German-style dark bock
  • Heater Allen Pils 22oz traditional Czech-style pils
  • De Ranke XX Bitter 330ml hoppy Belgian ale
  • Amager Envy West Coast IPA 500ml American-style IPA
  • Amager Gluttony Imperial IPA 500ml Sinner series Imperial IPA
  • Amager Fru Frederiksen 500ml powerfully feminine stout
  • J.W. Lees Harvest Ale Rayoso Sherry 2009 275ml vintage barleywine in Sherry casks
  • J.W. Lees Harvest Ale 2012 275ml vintage barleywine
  • J.W. Lees Harvest Ale in Lagavullin Casks 2012 275ml vintage barleywine in Scotch casks
  • J.W. Lees Harvest Calvados 2010 9.3oz vintage barleywine in apple brandy casks
  • Timothy Taylor Landlord 500ml profound English pub pale
  • Monchshof Schwarzbier 500ml swing-top German black lager
  • Mahr’s Bock 500ml German strong lager
  • Mahr’s Pilsner 500ml bottles traditional German lager
  • Prof. Briem ‘1809’ Berliner Weisse 500ml tart wheat ale
  • De Molen / Narke Goths & Vandals bourbon barrel aged 330ml bourbon barrel imperial stout
  • De Molen/Tired Hands Lost & Found 750ml 100% brett Black IPA
  • De Molen SSS Tripel Stout 330ml Dutch imperial stout
  • BFM Abbaye de St. Bon Chien Vintage 2011 375ml vintage sour Biere de Garde

New brews on the avenues:

  • Anchorage Brewing Rondy Brew 750ml spiced saison with brett & French oak
  • Anchorage Brewing/Crooked Stave Between the Staves 750ml Cognac bbl sour ale
  • Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales- Seizoen Bretta 750ml brett fermented saison
  • Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Peche ‘n Brett 750ml oak aged ale with peaches*
  • Heater Allen Hugo Bock 22oz traditional German-style dark bock
  • MAD Beer Bitter 750ml shiso IPA
  • MAD Beer Sod 750ml popcorn porter
  • MAD Beer Umami 750ml seaweed pilsner
  • Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Monk’s Brew 375ml bourbon barrel Belgian-style strong dark ale 
  • Mikkeller Black Hole 375ml imperial stout with coffee
  • Mikkeller Sort Gul 330ml black IPA
  • Timothy Taylor Landlord 500ml profound English pub pale
  • Mahr’s Ungespundet Lager 500ml unfiltered German lager
  • Prof. Briem ‘1809’ Berliner Weisse 500ml tart wheat ale
  • De Molen/Tired Hands Lost & Found 750ml 100% brett Black IPA
  • BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2012 750ml vintage sour Biere de Garde

*extremely limited quantities
 

Categories
Whiskey

Shhhhhhhh…….it’s a secret.

Hey All,

So on the down low. Weller 12 year behind the counter by request only, limit one per customer. Also be careful who you tell if you want a shot at any. Good luck. Cheers

Nate

Available @ Both Shops

*UPDATE: Sold Out*

Categories
Agave Beer Whiskey

Healthy Spirits Richmond District – WE ARE ONE

 

Categories
Whiskey

New Arrivals: Glendronach 17 year cask strength PX single cask, Ben Riach 19 year cask strength PX single cask

Hey All,

You know what type of barrels I like my single malt Scotch to age in? First fill sherry casks. You know why? Because of all the barrels you can age Scotch in, first fill sherry has the most color, flavor and tannins to give. It’s one of the reasons I’m such a big American whiskey fan, the oakier-more viscous flavor profiles just appeal to me. Now the problem is ex-sherry barrels are in such high demand that the Scotch industry has essentially out grown Spain’s ability to produce them, forcing prices to sky rocket. One sherry barrel is now equal to the cost of 15-20 bourbon barrels. This has seriously impacted the Scotch whisky industry, in fact the majority of whisky is now aging in ex-bourbon barrels.

Which leads to this weeks new arrivals, two incredible cask strength first fill Pedro Ximenez single casks. Both of these releases are one time bottlings, and are also great examples of oak driven, tannic, mouth coatingly awesome single malt Scotches:

Glendronach 1996′ 17 Year Cask Strength Pedro Ximenez Sherry Single Cask: Comes in at a surprisingly approachable 53.2% alcohol, making this single malt concentrated yet perilously drinkable. Flavors of toffee and nougat dominate with hints of roasted nuts, dessert wine, rasins, dates and earth. $159.9

The Ben Riach 1994′ 19 Year Peated Cask Strength Pedro Ximenez Sherry Single Cask: A very special limited peated version from Ben Riach. If you thought first fill sherry barrels were hard to find, try finding heavily peated Scotch aged in first fill sherry. They pretty much don’t exist, mostly because the oak and sherry notes mask the peatier-smokier notes, not exactly ideal for peaty Scotch producers. But this is a different beast, coming in at a robust 51.9%, Ben Riach manages to retain an intensely smokey-earthy flavor profile, but with extremely lush notes of dark chocolate, stewed fruits and toffee-sticky pudding. This is pretty much the balls. Fans of Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition will certainly like this. $169.99

Come and get it!

Nate

Categories
Whiskey

New Arrivals: Glenmorangie Companta Private Edition!

Hey All,

Happy to announce the arrival of this year’s Private Edition from Glenmorangie. This is the fifth release in a series that’s always extremely limited. Each new iteration represents a one of a kind bottling that will never be made again. For “Companta” Master Distiller, and creator of awesome whiskey, Dr. Bill Lumsden traveled to the Burgundy region of France and hand selected some barrels from the Grand Cru vineyards at Clos de Tart. On a separate trip Bill found his way down to the Cotes du Rhone region and came away with some fortified red wine barrels from Rhone Valley.

Using both the Burgundy and Cotes de Rhone barrels to finish Companta turned out to be a match made in heaven. The flavors of berries and plums from the red wine perfectly compliment the notes of honey, citrus and crushed minerals already found in Glenmorangie. Unlike some red wine finished single malts Companta’s wine notes are beautifully integrated and add to the overall depth of flavor without being overpowering or musty. This is an exceptional Private Edition and one to seek out quickly if you want a shot at getting one. Cheers

Nate