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FOOD&DRINK
BOTTLES ROCK IT
Innovative bars carbonate
and cap their own cocktails
Ease of drinking is an
underrated cocktail
quality. Bar-goers
who avoid slosh-
prone champagne
coupes for the ben-
efit of their pants
(
and dignity) might
be persuaded to try
ethereal gin and whiskey
drinks if they came in, say,
beer bottles. That’s part of
the appeal of a new trend: bars
buying carbonation and bottling
machines, adding fizz and seal-
ing up cocktails in-house.
Ace in Denver, Colo., takes
that easy-drinking
concept a step further
by stashing a mix of
whiskey, Mekhong
(
a spicy-sweet
Thai spirit) and
oolong tea in a liter
bottle that serves up
to six. “Instead of just
doing a one-and-done,
carbonated drinks can
be the type of beverage
RARE BREEDS
Collectible whiskeys
get their day in the sun
BY JACQUELINE DETWILER
EARLIERTHISYEAR,
when themost expensive
whiskey ever sold at auction went for a stag-
gering $94,000, scotch expert andGlenfiddich
brandambassadorHeatherGreenewas si ing
right next to the winning bidder. “It was very
exciting,” she says. “Whiskey has become an
item that people love to collect, akin to a rare
piece of art or a beautiful bo le of wine.”
But suppose you’re not in the market for
a $94,000 bo le of liquid gold. Can you still
buy a rare whiskey worth saving for a special
occasion? Sure you can.
The first option is to try a periodically
released specialtywhiskey, created by cherry-
picking the best casks froma batch, maturing
thewhiskey in unusual kinds of wood ormix-
ing different ages of spirit. The ultrasmooth
PappyVanWinkle’s FamilyReserve 23-Year, for
instance, isdrawnonly frombarrels in thevery
center (i.e., themost climate-stable area) of the
brand’s Kentucky warehouse. The Dalmore’s
fruity King Alexander III scotch, meanwhile,
combines booze aged inport, bourbon, sherry,
Madeira,Marsala and cabernet sauvignonbar-
rels. Either can turn a party into a soirée, and
a tipple into an ROI.
Those who are more interested in collect-
ability should look for limited editions, which
most major distilleries release about twice a
year and which disappear a er they sell out.
Greene’s picks for this winter include The
Balvenie 50 and theGlenfiddichMaltMaster’s
Edition. Both of these—like all whiskeys—
stop aging once bottled,
so you can keep them
indefinitely. That is,
assuming you don’t
come upon one
of those special
occasions (like, er,
“
Thursday”).
RICHAND
PRETTY
The
Dalmore’s King
Alexander III,
which goes
for more than
$200 a bottle
IN THEMIX
Randy Layman of
Denver’s Ace
Even as Irish whiskeys command an ever-larger
hegemony on bar shelves, there’s a new country
jockeying for market share. Japanese whiskey
has been around since the late 19th century, but
it wasn’t until 1924 that the country opened its
first commercial distillery, Yamazaki. Today that same distillery’s
spicy, buttery 12-year single malt is increasingly appearing on the
menu of any whiskey bar worth its brandy-soaked cherries. And
nightspots throughout the U.S.—including The Box in New York
City and Karyn’s on Green in Chicago—have begun incorporating
the spirit into specialty cocktails, alongside such industry standards
as Maker’s Mark and Buffalo Trace.
Where
Sláinte!
Meets
Kanpai!
Making delicious whiskey is big in Japan
