Whisky Advocate Fall 2018

We encounter many passionate whisky lovers, but fans of big, peaty, smoky Scotch whiskies are in a league of their own. There is something about the allure of smoke, whether in whisky, cigars, or even barbecue, that ignites the senses. And it seems that once seduced by this flavor, you’re always left wanting more. In Bog to Bottle (page 63), we trace the path of peat to reveal how Scotch whisky distillers of Islay capture the smoky flavors that define their iconic whiskies. With our look behind the scenes at Bowmore, Laphroaig, Bunnahabhain, and Bruichladdich, you’ll discover how these distillers use turf to craft liquid gold. Peat smoke surfaces in a great variety of Scotch whiskies. Beyond just fueling massive meaty flavors of tar and bonfire, it can appear as…

“YAY! I love that you have a young woman on the cover of your latest magazine.”—Maureen Smullen COVER CONTROVERSY Dear Whisky Advocate, Photoshopping a glass of whiskey into the cover really degrades the sincerity of your commitment to whiskey drinkers. Plus, if you are going to do it, make sure the glass is not 180 [degrees in] the wrong direction so the light refraction is on the wrong side of a sunset photo. Take a little more pride in your work, if you are going to represent a whiskey drinker, please. Paul Welch Dear Whisky Advocate, Your choice of a cover photo for the Summer 2018 issue was tone-deaf at best, and frankly at odds with some of the thoughtful commentary in that very issue. In his welcome “Plea for…

Kansas City, Missouri is at once historic and modern, both sophisticated in its tastes and irreverent in its maker-fueled energy. It’s the kind of place where distillers collaborate with farmers and brewers, and coffee roasters cross-pollinate with chefs and bartenders in all corners of the fifteen-county metropolitan area that's anchored in Missouri and creeps into Kansas. Every visit comes with risks, warns Ryan Maybee co-founder of J. Rieger & Co. and owner of Manifesto, an intimate craft cocktail bar. “If you come to Kansas City, you’ll end up wanting to live here.” Day One Kansas City is a car town, but the KC Streetcar is a great alternative. The two-mile route puts you within easy walking distance of downtown’s attractions, plus it’s free. It’s also handy to Hotel Phillips, an…

Matthew McConaughey remembers the first time he enjoyed bourbon, conjuring up the details as though it happened yesterday. “I was duck hunting with my dad in Arkansas and I was in high school,” he says. “It was about eleven degrees and there was a hole in my wader, and I was wet and cold. Real cold. But we’d only been out there an hour or so and we weren’t going back soon. So my dad pulled out a flask with some bourbon in it and said, ‘Sip on this. It’ll warm you up.’ And it saved the day for me.” These days, McConaughey prefers warmer environs, with the only chill provided by an occasional single ice cube (and only if the weather is really warm). “Really, I take it neat.”…

It's simple physics. Moist air meets a cold glass, presumably chilled by an icy Manhattan or whisky on the rocks, and condensation forms. Eventually, gravity goes to work, and there's a puddle on your prized Stickley. Fortunately, there is a low-tech solution in the humble table coaster. Given their important job, why should glasses get all the love? These coasters are a functional, and beautiful, stage for any whisky.…

Rock and rye is every bit as peculiar as its name portends—a blend of citrus and rye whiskey sweetened with crystallized sugar, sometimes known as rock candy. But what’s even more unlikely is the sudden surge of interest in this whiskey liqueur with 19th century roots. Spawned by the introduction of Hochstadter’s Slow & Low in 2013, more rock and rye revivals are joining the ranks of the few remaining holdouts, like Leroux, Mr. Boston, and Jacquin’s. Oddly enough, rock and rye’s first role was as medicine. By the late 1870s virtually every pharmacy in the nation was stocking their shelves with some proprietary recipe, often promoted as a sort of cough syrup. As a medicine, rock and rye was taxed at a lower rate than liquor, adding to the…