A Few Things

Had a blast at Whiskyfest last night, but I was only there for an hour before I had to run. My favorite part about the night was the anonymity. Because I never post pictures of myself on this blog (as a rule) I get to walk freely up to each table and scope out the scene, sometimes punking out people I've met multiple times who have forgotten what I look like. That was a lot of fun. The moment the vendors find out I am from K&L it turns into a sea of handshakes, business cards, and propositions for possible future projects. Which is fine, really, but it was nice to just hop from table to table with ease.

The moment doors opened there was instantly a fifty person line at the Van Winkle table. That's to be expected. You can't get a bottle anywhere, so you might as well get your taste on while you can.

Meanwhile, there wasn't a soul over at the Kavalan table – the Taiwanese whisky making huge waves around the world that has yet to be sold in the states (although it is coming soon). I was most excited for these whiskies, but I was truly stunned that no one seemed to know what they were. Was I the only one who had been reading the internet blogs about these things? I about dumped my spit bucket on the one guy who did come up and haughtily explained to the girl, "I'm limiting myself to just the best whiskies during the VIP hour, so could you just pour me your best one?" Then he proceeded to take a sip and frown, then made a choking sound as if the whisky had offended his throat, and dumped the whisky out right in front of her. What a fucking asshole. Kavalan master blender Ian Chang, on the other hand, super nice guy. We can't wait to work with him and the Kavalan lineup.

If you even remotely like wine at all then you need to come by the Redwood City store today and do the Spanish tasting with Joe Manekin. The tasting will cost you $20 and you'll taste some serious, interesting, high-end stuff. It's as cool of a lineup as I've seen this year at our K&L tasting bar.

I heard this morning that the Signatory casks have hit California and will be ready for delivery soon. We'll do our best to get those pre-orders ready to go ASAP.

I did finally get our Exclusive Malt whiskies and we opened them up. At first I freaked out because something was wrong -- the Bowmore had no peat whatsoever, only new oak. What the hell was going on? Was it even the right whisky? A day later the whiskies had either aerated or recovered from seeming bottleshock. Phew! The point is: if you buy a bottle or if you pre-ordered any of these whiskies they may need a day of decanting. Sometimes whisky is just like wine.

-David Driscoll