2018 Whiskies of the World Awards
Our awards event is held once a year in August in Austin Texas. We gather refined palates from the whisky industry and they blind taste the terrific whiskies which have entered our competition. See all of our wonderful judges on our website. The results have been announced and the full list is available here. We had a tie this year for Best in Show: Sons of Liberty Uprising, and Whip Saw Rye! Our Best in Class winners include Balcones, with a Best in Class for their High Rye Bourbon in the category of Bourbon less than three years old, and also a Best in Class win in the wheated Bourbon category for Balcones Wheated Bourbon! Old Forester Birthday Bourbon won Best in Class for Bourbon over 6 years, and Ironroot Hubris won Best in Class Corn Whiskey. We can’t name all of them here, but we really are excited to tell you that Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 won Best in Class for the Heavily Peated Single Malt category, and Penderyn Myth won Best in Class for the cask finished single malt category. Westland Peated Whiskey won Best in Class for smoked American single malt and Few Whiskey took home Best in Class for American Whiskey. Please see our website for a complete list and come to our Texas shows to taste some of the winners for yourself, happening in less than two weeks!
VIP for Texas is selling out! Less than a two weeks to go!
At this time of year we get a fever – whisky fever! The brands start filling out their forms to tell us what they are bringing to the events and with each addition, our mouths start watering and we start dreaming of the tastes we will try this year! There are too many to list them all but you can access the featured brands on the website for Austin, Dallas and Houston. We are so happy to welcome Rebecca Creek Texas whiskey this year. Laphroaig is bringing the Select and their sister distillery Suntory will delight you with Toki! Woodford Reserve will have their newest whiskey – the Kentucky Straight Malt and Amrut will enthrall you with a selection of expressions including Naarangi! Glen Moray and Bruichladdich are returning this year, as is Compass Box and Westland. With over 90 brands pouring 250 expressions, this is just a tiny tease of all that you will have from which to choose when you attend one of our Texas Whiskies of the World events. You can access the complete pour lists from the featured brands pages. Check out our social media posts for more previews!
Austin (#WOWAUS) happens Thursday, September 20, 2018 at Fair Market.
Tickets are available here.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A NEW VENUE!
VIP is sold out! Don’t procrastinate – get your ticket today!
Dallas (#WOWDAL) happens Friday, September 21, 2018 at Frontiers of Flight Museum
at Dallas Love Field. Tickets are available here.
You want to say you went to the inaugural event – book early to avoid disappointment!
Houston (#WOWHOU) happens Saturday, September 22, 2018 at Silver Street Studio.
Tickets are available here.
We had so much fun last year – don’t miss it!
Atlanta (#WOWATL) happens Friday, November 2, 2018 at The Intercontinental Buckhead.
Tickets are available here.
San Jose (#WOWSJ) happens Thursday, March 21, 2019 at Forager
Early Bird tickets are available here.
San Francisco (#WOWSF) Happens Saturday March 23, 2019 on the San Francisco Belle Yacht.
Early Bird tickets available here.
Lets talk about it! Be sure to use the hashtags
when talking about all the WOW shows on social media!
Texas Sponsoring Charity
Our Texas Charity Sponsor for 2018 is Helping a Hero! “Helping a Hero is a 501(c)(3) non profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 2006, that provides support for military personnel severely injured in the war on terror. Our principal activity is to provide specially adapted homes for qualifying service members through partnerships made with the builders, developers, communities, and the veteran. Helping a Hero strives to engage the community in providing services and resources for our wounded heroes and their families. Additionally, Helping a Hero provides additional support programs such as marriage retreats, caregiver retreats, recreational activities, emotional support, and financial support.” -from the website
Whiskies of the World 7 Night European River Cruise in June of 2019
10 cabins are left for Whiskies of the World European River Cruise 2019. If you register by September 30th, you get $100 in shipboard credit to use towards the on-board SPA, gift shop, cocktails, etc. Cruise the Danube River through Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Slovakia on AmaWaterways new ship, the AmaMagna. Of the many exciting features of this trip, we really love that there is a true tasting experience each night for dinner, pairing your food with whiskies. Contact matt@matt.travel with any questions and to secure your spot. Click here for more details!
Whiskies to Talk About
We have so many great whiskies for you to sample at our shows. Every newsletter we like to highlight a few that you can taste at some of our events.
Balblair Single Malt Scotch
Situated just north of Inverness on the coast of Dornoch Firth, Balblair Distillery has stood the test of time with the earliest records dating to 1749, though officially started in 1790! With only a brief 38 year hiatus corresponding with wartime economic downturn, Balblair has hand crafted each vintage to provide the very best the Distillery has to offer for 228 years. Of course whisky making became legal in 1823, but we won’t tell if you won’t! Known for their core characteristics of apricots, oranges, spices, floral notes and green apples, these give way to heavier oils and lipids, and then finish with a leathery, nutty and full-bodied whisky. Distillery Manger, John MacDonald, waits for each whisky to reach its ‘optimum maturation’ aka ‘the peak of perfection’ before he allows it to be bottled. Therefore Balblair ends up as a vintage release, rather than a 10 year or 12 year old, for example. If you want to know the age, you have to know when it was bottled and then consider the vintage, do some math, and voila! All three Texas shows feature some delectable vintages from Balblair this September.
Jim Beam Bourbon
With a 200 year history, Jim Beam not only is one of the oldest Bourbon makers in America, they are also one of the few still being made by the same family after 7 generations! Jim Beam is one of the best selling whiskeys around the world, often being the #1 Bourbon sold by volume! Bourbon was originally made from excess corn that farmers had to grow as part of their agreement to gain free land from the US government as they went west! Bourbon can be made in any state in the US and is defined by being at least 51% corn and aged in new oak barrels which are charred. The charring originally started before the barrels had to be new, as a way to get the other tastes out of the barrel. Originally called Old Tub, the name was changed to Jim Beam to honor the man who brought the distillery back to life after prohibition! Subsequent expressions also are named in honor of the family members who continue to make this great whisky, like the eponymous Booker Noe, for Booker’s Small Batch Bourbon.
Penderyn Welsh Whisky
‘The red dragon inspires action.’ A group of friends took Wales national motto and resurrected a sleeping dragon from the depths of Brecken Beacons in 2004 to make Penderyn Whisky, the first whisky distillery in Wales in over a century. The lost art of Welsh whisky took flight with the single malt ‘Dragon’ collection: Legend, Myth, and Celt. The sweet Maderia finish of Legend, with it’s fresh apples and citrus fruits create a fresh, complex, and well balanced whisky. Perfect for letting sleeping dragons lie. Myth is an ex-red wine and ex-bourbon cask single malt. Just like the sly dragon, don’t let Myth’s upfront sweetness fool you! There’s a refreshing mid-bitterness just before the final pass of flight to its light style. The sleeping dragon has awoken! Rising with fire and smoke, Penderyn Celt, is finished in ex-peated quarter casks. Its light dragon’s breath’s peat smoke rises with sunny marmalade, leaving a long, lingering trail in its wake. Beware of dragons bearing gifts… yet, in this case, you may want to accept this present from Wales, just now available in the US.
Douglas Laing Scotch
Established in 1948, Douglas Lang focuses on artisan, small batch and single cask bottlings of fine Scotch Whisky. The company searches for the finest, and often rarest, casks from Scotland’s Whisky regions, offering the consumer a unique experience of high alcohol strength, no coloring or chill-filtration of the spirit in their independently bottled whiskies. They will be a leader in distillation in the future with the announcement of their new state of the art Glaswegian distillery, Clutha, set to open in 2019. The Exceptional Malts Specialize in Single Malts, Single Grain, Blended Malts, and Blended Whisky with six unique expressions coming to Whiskies of the World this fall. The Epicurean is a Lowland Blended Malt, while Scallywag is a Small Batch, Speyside Blended Malt release, named for a family dog and comprised of deliciously sherried drams. Big Peat Christmas, as the name implies, is a peaty dram of malts only from Islay. Timorous Beastie, named from a line in a Robert Burns poem, actually makes an ironic statement being a big, bold blended malt with no mousiness anywhere to be found! Rock Oyster is a blended malt of only Island scotches, featuring maritime flavors and peat. Gauldrons is a blend of only Campbeltown malts and the name means “bay of storms”, describing the dark coves of west Campbeltown.
Garrison Brother’s Texas Whiskey
Located in the Texas Hill Country, Garrison Brothers Distillery, founded in 2005, is the oldest legal whiskey distillery in Texas. They grow 65 acres of wheat on property, use Texas harvested organic corn, while barley is sourced from the Pacific Northwest. The mixture is milled and mashed, then fermented for four days before going to the ‘copper cowgirl’, a copper pot still. Once distilled, the bourbon is aged in charred American Oak where it picks up rich, deep aroma of butterscotch, nutmeg, vanilla and coconut. Tasting notes include caramelized oranges and fruit, along with touches of melted butter, whipped cream and oak. The finish is smooth, with touches of toffee, milk chocolate and espresso. I don’t know about you, but my mouth is watering! They have seven expressions, from Small Batch and Private Cask to Estacado, a port finished straight bourbon, and for those looking for Texas adventure, The Cowboy is uncut, unfiltered straight bourbon whiskey at 137 proof! One last note: Garrison Brothers has a wonderful Texas sense of humor! We recommend visiting their website at www.garrisonbros.com for a good belly laugh. Be sure to read the FAQ page.
This is just a small sample of the hundreds of whiskies from which you can choose to try at a Whiskies of the World event. There is something for every taste, and it all comes together in one great evening! Gather your friends, don your kilts, your dinner jackets and party dresses, and come on out for an unforgettable night of food, cigars, and whisky! Tickets are now on sale for our 2018 shows in Texas and Atlanta, and our 2019 shows in California!
Cheers, Whiskies of the World
