Spirits Crafting…
The crafting of spirits involves a complex blend of art and science, exploring unique flavors, ingredients and production techniques.
Spirits have deep-rooted cultural and historical significance in society. The study of spirits crafting provides insight into the traditions, rituals and heritage associated with these beverages.
Zero-proof alcohol spirits are also explored.
The Bourbon Timeline
Explore “The Bourbon Timeline” by John Ollenburg, achieving impressive SEO rankings as the second and third search results among over 466,000 listings on Google, Edge, Safari and other popular search engines. Read.
Featured Visit: Cedar Ridge Distillery
Cedar Ridge was the first licensed distillery in Iowa since Prohibition. A grain-to-glass operation, it’s worth the exploration.
Why We Love Whiskey So Much…
Disclaimer: This is not an in-depth, technical article… Just a fun opinion!
When I have a good Whiskey/Whisky in my hand I know it is time to relax! Add in a good cigar and I know its really time to exhale. (Pun intended) Why is this? What is the trigger? All my Whiskey loving friends share the same utopia. When a big deal is inked, we celebrate with it! Does the spirit release so called endorphins?(1) Clear spirits don’t have the same effect on me. Now, in my early drinking days I did usually drink Jack Daniel’s. That was the early 1980’s.
Whiskey goes back a long way in our country’s history, which made sense because we had an abundance of the crops that went into making American Whiskey. Our founding fathers drank it, presidents drank it, (2) we drink it! It makes us proud to drink it. There are clubs dedicated to it. Why, it’s even good for you! (3) In 2007 the US Senate declared September to be recognized as National Bourbon Heritage Month. It’s designed to celebrate “America’s Native Spirit” and the significant historical, economical and industrial role the bourbon industry has played in the country’s history. Bourbon month! COOL!!
Can you answer the why of this statement?
“All Bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is Bourbon!” (4)
That all said, I don’t have a favorite whiskey. There are way too many good ones out there. Almost 30 countries make whiskey, including America, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, India, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, France, Australia, Mexico to name a few. It truly is a global industry. You don’t have to break the bank to enjoy whiskey. There are many outstanding ones under $50.00. How you drink your spirit is completely up to you! I prefer neat.
Ollenburg LLC invests into PaQui Tequila
Learn more about PaQui Tequila here, or contact us for an introduction.
PaQui Tequila
Scotch... A personal journey
My first-time trying scotch I was 18-19 years old. Legal drinking age was 18 back then! I believe it was 1980. I worked second shift at a grocery store. We usually finished up at 11:00pm. A few of us went to the corner bar right by the store. Our assistant manager ordered me a shot of scotch. I never had it before. It was a standard rail blended scotch, as I remember. I downed the shot and thought to myself, “this is terrible!” I did not drink scotch again for 10+ years. I thought all scotch tasted like this. I slowly started learning a little about the whisky, and my perspective changed.
Fast forward to 2001… I followed my passion and changed careers. I pursued a job in the wine & spirits industry. My first job was at a retail store. A local icon in the industry took me under his wing and taught me a lot about scotch, wine & spirits in general. I spent one year in retail. I then was asked to join a young distributorship. My education really took off. Our first scotch supplier was Signatory. They are an independent bottler. https://www.signatoryusa.com/ Signatory sources malts from distilleries in Scotland, selecting the best single batches and bottling only the finest casks within those batches. They bottle one cask at a time. The bottlings are then labeled as Signatory but also have the distillery’s name on the label. It was a great supplier to have in our portfolio and learn about many of the individual scotch distilleries. Our supplier rep was a wealth of knowledge, and I absorbed everything! We later added Gordon & MacPhail to our portfolio. https://www.gordonandmacphail.com/. I highly recommend you seek out whisky from these two independent bottlers.
Now if you're new to Scotch as I once was, I do suggest you start with a Highland or a Lowland single malt Scotch, as they can be much easier on the palate. Another great starting point would be blended scotch, the largest category (including Johnnie Walker, Dewar’s).
If you were to start with an Islay whisky, you may not like it and may never have Scotch again. Islay whiskies can have a briny smokiness to them, a rather acquired taste, but once you get to know them and taste more of them you will enjoy them. This smokiness comes from the peat moss they burn in the kiln when they're malting the barley. A couple of my favorites are Lagavulin and Ardbeg. If you're looking to dive into a Scotch journey, reach out to me, I'd love to take that journey with you and guide you through it.
John Ollenburg, CBP
With a good friend, I recently had the treat of sampling this whisky from Sweden’s High Coast Distillery, one of the world’s northernmost whiskey distilleries. The distillery is located at 63 degrees North. Just where the 63rd latitude cuts through their warehouse, this unique bottling is aged for 63 months in 63-liter bourbon barrels, 63 decimeters (20.6 ft) above ground, and at 63% ABV. There was a very pleasant peatiness on the nose. The heat hit hard and fast on the palate, but dissipated quickly. You were left the most wonderful long mouthfeel I can remember in a while from a whisky. A trip to Sweden would be worth it to purchase one of these gems!
