Bryan Davis Returns Yet Again

You absolutely cannot stop Bryan Davis. After his original Lost Spirits Distillery in Salinas went down, Bryan took his reactor out to the East Coast and began distilling rum. When that didn't go as planned he came back to California, built a new still, and started making navy strength rum in Salinas again. Now he's opened up a huge warehouse space in downtown Los Angeles where he'll be continuing to move the brand forward. These two new Abomination releases should help accomplish that task (by the way, if you don't know who Bryan Davis is then jump back a few years here, then again here, and then here again). This time around, rather than using his own whisky distillates, Bryan contracted a bunch of peated new-make spirit from Islay and ran it through his reactor (and if you don't know about his reactor, then click here). The result is classic Bryan Davis, albeit without any of the funkiness or earthiness his earlier whiskies carried. I think fans of the genre will be pleased. I also think Islay lovers will want to give these a whirl. There's at least one thing I know for sure: you cannot stop Bryan Davis. You can only hope to contain him. He may lay low every once and a while, but when he pops up again he's always doing something incredible; kind of like Brad Pitt's character in 12 Monkeys, except I don't think Bryan is trying to bring about the end of the world (at least I hope not). 

Lost Spirits "Abomination - The Crying of the Puma" Peated Malt Whiskey $49.99

Lost Spirits "Abomination - The Sayers of the Law" Peated Malt Whiskey $49.99

The only distinction between the two expressions is the type of wood used in the reactor. The Crying of the Puma uses toasted oak from a late harvest riesling barrel, whereas The Sayers of the Law uses charred oak from the same cask type. Both whiskies bring huge smoke, lots of woody notes, and carry Davis's calling card of concentrated oak flavor with unabashed power. Think of Kilchoman on steroids with tons of chewiness. 

-David Driscoll