It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The time when folk post all their best Whisky Santa tweets and splash daily images of advent calendars for all to see on social media. I’ve certainly been guilty of both. Not so much the former for a good while now but most definitely the latter in more recent times.
By 2nd December this year, I was already fed up of at looking at my own social media. It took just two days. Virtually the same image as the day before with just a different 3cl bottle. This was undoubtedly fuelled by the fact that my timeline was also full of very, very similar posts from others. Give or take a few Star Wars figures and cuddly toys.
The dilemma, for me at least, revolves around the psychology of reciprocation: the good folk at Atom Brands kindly sent me a Drinks by the Dram advent calendar and I felt I should reciprocate by posting every single day up to and including Christmas Eve telling the world which whisky or whiskey was hiding behind every little numbered door.
Quick; easy; ticks the box. Problem is, it just doesn’t really say anything of any value to anyone, does it? And certainly doesn’t do justice to the whiskey or those who made it.
So, I’ve decided to revise my approach. Thinking about why I opted for this advent calendar in the first place, rather than one containing Scotch whisky, it was simply to learn more about American whiskey. And falling back on an effective learning strategy used consistently as a teacher, one way to reinforce your own learning is to explain it to someone else. And so that, folks, is what I’m going to do. Selfish, I know.
Each dram will be listed below in order with a brief comment; it may well take me a good while to post a write-up on each one. But if it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly. If any of them pique your interest, click on the link to read more about the history and background of the distillery or company together with my tasting notes and a few opinions thrown in for good measure. And, if none of them do, I’ll just wish you a Merry Christmas now 😊
Dram 1: Whistlepig Straight Rye
Dram 2: Balcones Texas Rye 100 Proof
Dram 3: Sonoma Distilling Co. Cherrywood Rye
Dram 4: Jim Beam Single Barrel
