I recently had my very first swig of whiskey and bourbon. I have no good reason as to why I waited so long; maybe I was always leery of “the burn”. But, this weekend, a petite tulip-shaped whiskey glass was handed to me and I crossed over to the other side. With my drink came a quick but thorough education on the finer points of both whiskey and bourbon, including the escalating value of the spirits on the open market. Apparently you can score some serious deals looking for artisan whiskey brands in middle-of-nowhere liquor emporiums…who knew?
The spirits were delicious. But of course, with me being me, I just wanted to look at the bottles and labels. Here are a few whiskey brands I’ve come across that really stand out from the crowd.
77 Whiskey
Made from scratch in Brooklyn, NY by Breuckelen Distilling, this whiskey rocks it old school. They keep it local by only using grain grown in their home state.
Elements of Islay
Islay, an island of the coast of Scotland has an array of distilleries known for producing full strength “medicinal” whiskies with notes of iodine, seaweed and salt. I love how Elements of Islay has embraced the traditional pharmaceutical bottle and made it cool and modern.
Backbone Bourbon
Pretty straightforward- no frills, put some hair on your chest uncut whiskey bottled in Kentucky. The label looks vintage and the confident typeface is perfect for a brand that’s bold like Backbone.
Rhetoric
A thing of beauty, the Rhetoric Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey from Orphan Barrel is aged for 20 years. Notes of smoked vanilla oak inside are reflected in the blonde wood label on the exterior. This label is so pretty it should be framed.
– N.C.
