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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $79.94
6 bottles: $78.34
This eight-year-old Calvados « Finition en Fûts de Porto » (Porto cask finish) stayed several months in small...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $46.74 $49.20
Made with a mix of 80% rye and 20% malt, this whiskey is scented with honey and hops. The palate is distinctly drying...
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90
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $35.94
12 bottles: $35.22
An average of seven years old, Manoir de Montreuil Réserve includes some brandies up to 20 years old in the blend....
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VM
92
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $35.94
The apples are a mixture of the four categories: sweet, bittersweet, acidic and bitter composed of numerous include...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $36.83 $39.60
12 bottles: $34.25
McKenzie Rye Whiskey is made from local rye grain and is distilled using old-time techniques. We age this whiskey in...
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Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $58.27 $61.34
12 bottles: $45.60
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $34.94 $37.00
Maple and oak aromas introduce this whiskey. The palate echoes the maple note, then explodes with dry spices: clove,...
WE
88
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $74.94 $76.80
• Straight Rye Whiskey distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. • Mash bIll of 95% Rye and 5% Malted Barley. •...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $79.94 $82.80
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.92 $41.10
12 bottles: $37.91
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Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $42.18 $44.40
12 bottles: $39.90
Showing a nose combining earthy aromas of barley cake, toasted walnut, and campfire smoke with more fruit driven...
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UBC
89
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $33.63 $35.40
6 bottles: $27.60
A blend of young Calvados, distilled with extreme care in a copper column still. Aged more than 2 years in oak casks....
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $44.95 $48.00
6 bottles: $44.05
A blend of young Calvados, distilled with extreme care in a copper column still. Aged more than 3 years in oak casks....
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $49.89 $52.80
12 bottles: $48.89
Calvados made from a majority of pears can have a wild, volatile edge, that I find here in this six-year-old bottling...
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92
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $40.94 $43.20
12 bottles: $40.12
This three-year-old bottling from AOC Domfrontais is made from 70% pears and hearkens back to old-school Calvados in...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $33.94 $34.80
12 bottles: $33.26
It is distinguished by intense aromas of fresh apples. Its color is clear with pale yellow undertones. It is ideal to...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $32.36 $34.80
12 bottles: $30.78
Number 19 in the 2020 Top 20. This new, higher proof Iwai (pronounced EE-why) was designed for cocktails; however,...
WKY
91
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $47.43 $51.00
12 bottles: $43.32
This carmine dram has a soft, mellow nose of raisin, earthy red wine notes, wet slate, prune flesh, stewed rhubarb,...
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WKY
88
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $249.94 $349.94
Showing an attractive straw-gold color, this mature whisky has bright flavors of baked cereal grains, toasted vanilla...
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UBC
92
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Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $78.66 $82.80
Kurayoshi Distillery lies between Osaka and Hiroshima in the foothills of Mount Daisen, where it produces single malt...
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WKY
92
UBC
90

Calvados Japanese Whiskey Rye Whiskey 2009 NV

Whisky might not be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of Japanese fine produce, but over the past one hundred years, this fascinating and multi-faceted country has diligently forged a unique whisky identity which is growing in popularity, and which is entirely its own.

The story of Japanese whisky begins in 1918, when Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland to undertake a tour of single malt distilleries in the Highlands, and bring home a knowledge of whisky and distillation skills. He returned full of inspiration, helped no doubt by his new Scottish wife, and alongside his friend, Shinjiro Torii, set up what would become a successful whisky industry.

Today, the Japanese whisky industry is spread over a relatively small handful of distilleries, which continue to use Scottish techniques and recipes, but with a hefty dose of distinctly Japanese experimentalism. This is displayed most obviously in the barrelling techniques the Japanese use - to create a distinctly Oriental set of tasting notes, native Japanese oakwood casks are used for ageing, alongside casks taken from plum wine producers, which impart a beautiful set of floral flavors to the whisky.

While some distilleries produce some excellent single malts, the majority of Japanese whiskies are blended, which reveals a unique set of flavors and aromas ranging from honeysuckle and orange blossom, to toffee and acetone.

Rye Whiskey is enjoying something of a renaissance of late, with sales rocketing in recent years thanks to a growing interest in strong, unique flavors, and small, independent distilleries. Rye Whiskey is a drink which is all about powerful, bold flavors, with plenty of spice and bitterness when drunk young. Aged, however, it takes on a deep set of subtle notes which are beautifully mellow and complex, and becomes a fascinating example of what whiskey can be when made with expert hands.

In order for an American Whiskey to be labeled a Rye Whiskey, it must have a mash content which is no less than fifty one percent rye. This separates it from Bourbon, and it is this which gives it its distinctive flavor and spiciness. Toffee, cinnamon, caraway, cloves and oak are typical tasting notes, and ‘straight rye’ whiskies - which are aged in charred oak barrels - take on plenty of the smokiness of the wood, adding a further, fascinating facet.

Rye Whiskey has its spiritual home in the northeastern states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and cities like Pittsburgh produced vast quantities of Rye Whiskey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most the old distilleries were closed during the prohibition era, after which time rye whiskey more or less disappeared completely, but the twenty-first century is seeing old recipes being resurrected and released to rave reviews.