Great New Products At The Finest Spirits Munich 2016

At the beginning of the press walk we were welcomed by the host of the event Frank-Michael Böer and after a short introduction started exploring the trade show at the booth of Campari. There we were first handed a glass of Glenfiddich 15 Years which of course is not the rarest of single malts, but always a save harbour when it comes to taste. Next we were shown the stand of Andrea Caminneci. He introduced us to a relatively new single malt from the Speyside Distillery. The Spey Tenné is their entry level single malt and after it spent its initial maturation time in bourbon barrels, it was finished in Tawny port casks for six months. The finish of this rather young No Aged Statement (NAS) whisky was more prominent in the aroma with some raspberry notes, rather than in the taste. After that we visited the Pernod Ricard booth and were introduced to the new blended scotch whisky Chivas Regal Extra. This new expression of Chivas Regal is composed of various single malts which were aged in Oloroso sherry casks and of course grain whiskey. The tour ended with two cocktails, the first one at the Diageo Master Class bar was an Apple Pie Mint Julep consisting of Bulleit Bourbon, mint, apple and cinnamon syrup and apple juice. The second cocktail we were offered were a choice of four different vodka drinks at the Finest Spirits Bar. We could choose between a Moscow Mule, two different White Russians and a Vodka Lemon. Since, I wanted to explore some other booths on my own and I had an inkling that I might be offered a few other drinks, so I skipped the vodka cocktails and set out on my own.

From Navy Strength gin to cask aged vodka

My first stop was at the small booth of A Wee Taste Of Scotland to try the new NB Navy Strength Gin. Now I could tell you a lot of interesting thing on their other products like the famous Prometheus 27 Year Old, the Makar Gin or details like the relaunch of NB Gin with a different label, but to make things short: The Navy Strength Gin is really exceptional! It is made with the same level of perfection as the regular NB Gin bottling, but on steroids! The Navy Strength is just an unbelievable complex combination of juniper, citrus notes and herbal botanicals. I only can imagine that they would suit a Martini very well indeed. It also does not have to fear the comparison with other Navy Strength gins on the market. In fact, I only have tried one competitor who manages to produce this style of gin with similar complexity. The only drawback with the NB Gin will be its price which probably will burden your budget with around 70 € for a 0,7 litre bottle.

Next up I went to the Borco Markenimport booth and followed the suggestion to try the Teeling Single Malt. The special thing about this Irish Single Malt is not the bottling at 46 % or the fact that it is neither chill-filtered nor coloured, but the finishing in five different fortified wine and wine barrels. Cabernet Sauvignon, madeira, port, sherry and White Burgundy to be exact. The whisky itself was probably distilled at the Cooley distillery and was not sold with it to Jim Beam in 2014. Right now, after Teeling had finished their new distillery in Dublin in 2015, they are distilling their own spirit there. – I really enjoyed the Teeling Single Malt! It is not the most complex whisky in the world, but at the same time rather complex for an Irish one. Even though this again is a No Age Statement whiskey you will not notice its youth when sipping it. Moreover, all of the Teeling whiskies carry a fair price tag and the combination of all those things makes this bottle my value-for-money tip when it comes to the Finest Spirits 2016. Maybe, even for whisky in general.

When I was almost ready to leave the Borco stand I was asked if I also wanted to try some of the American whiskeys they had lined up. Of course, I found it very hard to say no to such a tempting offer and was then introduced to Thomas Domenig, independent spirits expert, writer and former bartender. After I had admitted that I never tried the Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon before, I was given a dram and Thomas and I had a long and very interesting talk about bourbon and American whiskey in general. Obviously, I had to address the fact that bartender’s favourite bourbon, Elijah Craig 12 Years, will in the future no longer carry an aged statement. Which on the one hand is sad, but according to Thomas the new bottling will consist of mainly eleven year old bourbon with none of the whiskies in the mix being younger than eight years. In is eyes this could make the whiskey a little bit more accessible. You can read more about this on Chuck Cowdery’s blog. Another very interesting fact was that the mash bills for the Evan Williams bourbons and the Elijah Craig bourbons are the same. However, the important difference between the Elijah Craig and the Evan Williams Single Barrel is the location of the barrels in the warehouses. While the Elijah Craig comes from barrels which were stored at the bottom floors the ones for the Evan Williams Single Barrel come from the top floor. Apart from that, Thomas also told me that Heaven Hill are currently expanding their distillery and they will built gigantic new warehouses.