2013 Faultline Pre-Arrivals, Baby
It's on. Whisky Season 2013 is back in full effect with our own private Faultline label exclusives. In case you didn't know, all of the labels have so far been designed by K&L customers. If you're a graphic designer, you may want to start throwing your hat in the ring.
Today we've got three new casks to pre-order that should be here around late-September/early-October. There are another six Faultline casks coming up after these. Check out David OG's notes below:
1997 Bowmore 15 Year Old Faultline "Palm Tree" Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky PRE-ORDER $89.99 - This cask, from one of the true historical gems on the Queen of the Hebrides, is the perfect example of why I believe Bowmore should still be considered one of Scotland's best distilleries. The distillery itself is a working museum and the distillery bottlings are usually very safe and well crafted. After some "difficulty" at the distillery during the 80s and early 90s, speculation is that they were pushing the distillery to hard. Since then the Bowmore distillery has come roaring back producing some of the most consistently delicious juice we've tasted over the last several years. It's not in their nature to take risks or challenge the market place, but it's certainly in ours. Part of the reason we haven't been able to sell a Bowmore under the Faultline label yet is that when it's good, it's obvious. The bottlers are coveting their stocks and that means that highend product from the 70's which cost $300 two years ago, is going for $900+ today. We're not buying that stuff because there's just no way we could sell it all. Suppliers see those numbers, look at their young Bowmore stocks and salivate. We were incredibly lucky to find this medium aged Bowmore at this fabulous price. This is full force Bowmore in all its beautiful intensity. It's powerfully smoky and exotic. The label pays homage to a famous independently bottled Bowmore from the 1960s (David OG).
2001 Royal Lochnagar 10 Year Old Faultline Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky PRE-ORDER $54.99 - This powerful little Lochnagar is basically the only independently bottled around Lochnagar and certainly the only cask strength version on the market in the US we've seen released recently. We managed to get a great price on this cask from the little distillery deep in the Cairngorm mountains. After ten years in a hogshead this whisky already has a lot going on. The wonderful fresh character of this miniscule distillery is at the forefront. Grass and fresh apples, with whiffs of something tannic in the background, maybe it's a bit of black tea. Texturally rather rich for the age, but it's not a massive malt. Slightly waxiness as it finishes on the pepper and grass. Fun stuff and it should be around for a little cause this cask contained just over 300 bottles, but it won't be this price forever. (David OG)
1979 Faultline 32 Year Old Single Barrel Cask Strength Blended Scotch Whisky PRE-ORDER $99.99 - (NOTE: Proof is 53.1%) This is just some sort of ridiculousness. When we stumbled across this absolutely wacky cask in a warehouse in Southern Scotland, we hadn't even realized it was in the realm of legality to sell this sort of whisky. This is from a lot of whiskies all distilled in 1979. At some point in its maturation, it was blended and rebarreled in a single sherry hogshead. It's highly likely that was done relatively recently, but honestly it could have been done two decades ago. We think that this whisky may have come either from a larger blender who was planning to add this to one of their house blends and either lost it in the warehouse or sold it as part of a larger parcel. Otherwise, we think it could have perhaps been a lot owned by a smaller broker which was ultimately consolidated as the whiskies began to evaporate. Either way, this stuff is totally unique. We have no knowledge of another cask strength single cask single vintage blended whisky being released in this country or any other for that matter. If you know differently please let us know. What's really important about this whisky is that it's absolutely delicious. It's got all the complexity and depth of the best blends and is exceptionally well balanced even at full proof. Plus, the price is uncomfortably low for the age and quality of the whisky. This is truly a unique gem plucked from a dingy warehouse, which ended up polishing up perfectly. (David OG)
-David Driscoll