News & Notes - 11/20/20

Happy Friday!

Thanks to everyone who’s been helping us test our new will call system with the website this week. Lots of people taking advantage of our ridiculous $24.99 price on Lagavulin 9 year and the other Game of Thrones whiskies.

Here’s what’s happening in the world of booze this week:

• Our friends at Four PIllars have done it again! Two years in a row as the world’s best gin. Now do you believe me when I tell you it’s the best gin in the world?

• We just got a bunch of Old Tub Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon in today and I’m very excited to try it. This came out during my hiatus from retail, so I’ve never tasted it. Let me say this: things have completely flipped with Jim Beam since I left. They used to have—in my opinion—one of the less interesting portfolios in Bourbon, but now I’d have to say they’re the best value option for mid-tier quality around, and the quality has gone up, up, up since the Suntory merger. The new Baker’s 7 is OUTSTANDING. Knob Creek 9 year old at 100 proof is rocking my world (and having the age statement back helps with credibility). Now we can get 4+ year old, 50% classic Beam for $18.95 with Old Tub. How can you not help but get excited, especially when I read reviews like this?

• Watches…..the more I read about them, the more I realize it’s just another version of the whisky industry. I’ve been going through this book called 100+ No BS Watch Tips and if I ever wrote a book, this is the format and the style I would use—quick points, lots of cussing, etc. In any case, I was fascinated that at one point 80% of all watch movements (the motors) all came from one manufacturer; meaning you’d start a watch design and marketing company, but the base of the watch was outsourced. However, one day that movement manufacturer, owned by Swatch, decided they didn’t want other companies getting rich off their materials, so they shut off access. Sound familiar? This is exactly what happened with blended whisky. Everyone used to buy from what is now Diageo, until they cut off supply. That’s why every corporation in the world began buying up distilleries in Scotland—so that they could have enough whiskey for their blended brands like Chivas, Dewar’s, etc—once they could no longer purchase from Diageo distilleries. Apparently the same thing happened with watches, so now companies have to produce their movements in-house—and they’re expensive. Just like when small distillers do everything in house. It costs more.

-David Driscoll

Catching Up With Heaven Hill: An Interview with Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll

It was roughly three and a half years ago, when I was rummaging around Louisville with my buddy Joe Heron from Copper & Kings, that I first met Conor O’Driscoll. I wanted to see the new Angel’s Envy Distillery, which at that time wasn’t open to the public.

“I know the distiller,” Joe said to me.

The distiller at that time was Conor, who let us in through a side door and gave us our own private tour. Being that we’re distant relatives, he and I exchanged numbers before we left and continued to keep in touch.

A few years later, I about fell over with excitement when I saw that Heaven Hill had named Conor as its new master distiller. If you’re not familiar with the company, Heaven Hill is a gigantic family-run whiskey business out of Bardstown, KY that makes many of the industry’s best Bourbons and rye whiskies. Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Rittenhouse Rye, Larceny—the list goes on and on.

While the offices are in Bardstown, Heaven Hill’s Bernheim Distillery is Louisvillle, where Conor lives today. The warehouses are also in Bardstown, but the distillery went up in flames back in 1996 when whole place caught fire. That’s when Heaven Hill transferred its operations to the gigantic Bernheim site, one of the most massive distilleries I’ve ever visited.

I caught up with Conor this last week to say hello and see what was new in his world. Our conversation is below:

David: As you know, I’ve been out of the retail industry for the last two and a half years. I’m trying to play catch up. Tell me: do people still like Bourbon? 

Conor: (laughs) Short answer: yes. Longer answer: yes, yes, yes! We’ve been talking about the boom for ten years, but now it’s a sustained solid growth. We don’t see any signs of it slowing down. COVID hit the on-premise side of our business hard, but the off-premise is still strong. One of our values at Heaven Hill is to be nimble and we’ve really been able to do that. 

David: What are some of the ways you’ve adapted to COVID?

Conor: We put a brand new, high-speed, bottling line in this past Spring and we’ve hired new people at the facility. We’ve also trained more people to help support Evan WIlliams and Elijah Craig as those brands continue to fly off the shelf. Doing all of that while keeping our people healthy and safe has been a challenge. We’re not immune from the impact of COVID—no pun intended—but we have done a good job of keeping people safe and keeping up with demand.

David: How about production?

Conor: At the distillery, it’s been full speed ahead. We are the world’s largest single site Bourbon distillery, and we’re running it as such. We’re finding ways to make more whiskey, while focusing on quality and consistency, while improving our productivity. So those have been some fun challenges. We’re running the place harder and faster than it’s ever been run. 

David: Is it a big change from what you’re used to?

Conor: Most of my career was at Brown Forman, where I worked for 14 years. Then a year and a half at Angel’s Envy. I came here in January of 2019 and it’s been awesome so far. Running the distillery and doing the master distiller stuff has been fun, but working for the Shapria family and Heaven Hill has been the best part.

David: What’s been the best part about working for Heaven Hill thus far?

Conor: The fact that we are independent and family-owned is a real breath of fresh air. The owners of Heaven Hill have a strong connection with the daily business. I speak with Max Shapria about three times a week. If there are answers I need, he’s just a phone call away. There’s not this layer of bureaucracy in between. Max really understands the business too—from the everyday minutia, to the price of corn, all the way to the big picture stuff. It helps drive our nimbleness. When we need answers, it’s quick. In a dynamic business such as this, it makes all the difference.

David: Is the size of Heaven Hill’s distillery a bit overwhelming to run?

Conor: We’ve got the same challenges as any distillery, just on a larger scale. I’ve worked in small, medium, and now extra large distilleries now and I can tell you: this is an efficient distillery. There is a ton of experience and knowledge here. Some people have been here for thirty years and I get to tap into that experience, taking what I know and then adding it to the mix. No matter how much you’re making, it’s the same five steps: milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, put it in a barrel. We’re milling a million pounds of grain a day. We’re distilling about 500,000 gallons a day. Keeping track of those logistics to drive quality and consistent whiskies is a challenge but it’s a fun challenge. 

David: I knew Bernheim Distillery was big, but I didn’t realize it was that massive in scale.

Conor: We have 17 fermenters. Each one is 124,000 gallons, We fill and therefore have to empty four of those each day. When fermentation is done four days later, we pump that liquid into the stills. We have three stills. We distill four fermenters a day. So that creates enough distillate to fill 1400 barrels a day. We do that 24/7, year round, except for a few weeks in the summer.

David: What about new projects?

Conor: Obviously new product development was going on before I got here, but if you look at what we’ve brought out in the last twelve months, we have Larceny Barrel Proof, the new Parker’s Edition, which is a 10 year old aged in heavily charred barrels. We just brought out a second line extension of Elijah Craig as well, which is a toasted barrel finish. We also brought out the Heaven Hill 7 year BIB. 

David: I obviously missed the Larceny release. Had no idea that existed.

Conor: The Larceny Barrel Proof is absolutely fantastic whiskey and our SRP is around $50. We have thrived for 85 years by producing great whiskies and not gouging our consumers. Look at Henry McKenna 10, which won best whiskey at SF Spirits. We obviously could have charged more after demand went up, but we still sell it for a great price. The secondary market does it’s thing, but our relationship with our consumers doesn’t change: great whiskies at a great price. That’s been part of our DNA from the get go and I think consumers recognize that.

David: Any long-term projects in play?

Conor: At the distillery level, we’re working on a project called grain-to-glass. We have a field across from us in Bardstown about 250 acres where we’ve started growing grains to make whiskey here. We’ve got corn and wheat going, and from that we’ve made a high-rye Bourbon, a high-wheat Bourbon, and a high-rye rye. We’re partnering with local farmers and conservation groups to bring back rye as a Kentucky cash crop and we’ve grabbed the bull by the horns with this movement. Rye was historically grown as a winter crop here, and as a cover crop to hold the soil together. 

David: So you’re investing in local farmers to grow rye locally as well?

Conor: If farmers are planting rye as a cover crop, why not do it as a cash crop too? We’ve got local farmers that can now be profitable producing it and we’re buying it to make whiskey. This will be the third or fourth year we’ve been distilling from local grains. It still has several years to go before it’s on the shelf, but we’ve been playing around with different barrels. Our friends at Independent Stave have huge knowledge on what types of oak are available and how toasting and charring can bring out different flavors. We’ve done different types of Kentucky oak and European oak as experiments. Lots of fun stuff.

David: What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve learned about Heaven Hill?

Conor: Easily the breadth and depth of the portfolio. I have a personal anecdote. When I first started here, the liquor store around the corner from my house had a bottle of what I read as Pikeville Rye, and I was thinking to myself: who is making rye in Pikeville, KY? Turns out it was Pikesville named after the old Maryland brand and it was my company that made it! We have so many different options and so many whiskies in our book. We're not a one trick pony. We’ve got the unicorns that people chase after, but we’ve got great stuff at every price point.

David: What other changes are happening at Heaven Hill?

Conor: We’re in the midst of a huge renovation and expansion of the visitor’s center in Bardstown. Most of that will be coming on line next year: expanded retail space, three new tasting rooms, and there will be a restaurant and bar with an outside deck overlooking the warehouses. You can go into the rooftop and bar and you can see the new warehouse where we’ve put up a new glass wall so you can see the barrels aging as you have a cocktail. It’s pretty spectacular. Also there will be some new deep dive educational opportunities. There are some self guided options where you can come in and look at yeast under the microscope. I haven’t been down in a couple of months due to COVID, but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty spectacular.

David: I have to ask: how is it working out being an Irish whiskey maker in the middle of Bourbon country?

Conor: They love me, how could they not? (laughs) They put an Irishman in charge of the distillery, so not sure if I’m living the dream or living the stereotype. I’m the first master distiller of Heaven Hill that hasn’t lived in Bardstown. And I’m the first Irish distiller. Parker Beam was the MD for 56 years which is longer than I’ve been alive, so his presence still looms pretty large here.

-David Driscoll

Adding Functionality: Will Call Pick-Up Is Live!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after 11+ years in wine and spirits retail, it’s that Amazon Prime has completely changed the way we view shipping charges.

We not only expect shipping fees to be minimal when we order online, in most cases any type of shipping fee whatsoever is a dealbreaker.

When I look at the abandoned carts on the Mission website, there’s no doubt in my mind as to why the potential customer changed his or her mind: SHIPPING FEES.

If you’re buying a bottle of wine or whiskey for $30 and suddenly you have to pay an additional $17 to ship it, that’s a completely different value proposition. That’s why will call pick-up is a MUST for any retailer that wants to compete online. You absolutely, positively have to provide customers with a way to reserve their purchases and secure limited allocations without forcing them to ship each time they do it.

For customers who live out of the area, the “Hold” option is also essential.

I have plenty of friends who live in the Bay Area and want to order from Mission, but don’t necessarily want to ship each time they purchase. Instead, they prefer to make continual purchases, aggregate a solid case of bottles, then maximize their volume when it’s time to ship. If it’s $17 to ship a bottle via Fed Ex, but $24 to ship 12 bottles, most people would prefer the latter.

And we haven’t even gotten to GSO shipping yet! A cheaper option for those who live in California. But we will.

In the meantime, we’ve activated Pasadena Pick Up on the website, which means you can buy and pick up later, but also means those of you who live out of the area can hold to ship as well.

If you simply put “Hold for Shipping” in the comments when you select Pick Up - Pasadena, I will store your bottles in our warehouse and wait for your instructions to ship. Then, when you’re ready, just send me an email and I’ll gather up all the booty.

That way you can purchase at your own speed, secure the bottles you want, then pay the lowest possible shipping charges when you’re ready to take possession.

For those wondering if we plan on launching will call service for Sherman Oaks, Glendale, Glen Oaks, and Woodland Hills, the answer is: YES! Very soon. Just gotta work out some operational flows before we start expanding.

Curbside as well? Of course! Just call us when you’re out front.

We’re just getting started here. Lots of changes still to come!

-David Driscoll

Suntory, Nikka, and Mars: The Taketsuru Triad of Japanese Whisky

Masataka Taketsuru: the godfather of Japanese whisky

There are a great many articles about Masataka Taketsuru, the man who built the foundations for the Japanese whiskies we know and love today. If you’re a fan of the genre and you want to know the intimate details about how the tradition started, you should definitely check out them out:

Like this one at the Nikka website.

Or this one at Dekanta.

But I’m here to tell you the story you won’t find in most of these articles.

Let me start by quickly summarizing what many whisky geeks already know:

• Masataka Taketsuru went to Scotland in 1918 to learn how to make Scotch whisky.

• He came back in 1920 with a Scottish wife named Rita and in 1923 he went to work for the company that would become Suntory.

• There he used his expertise to help build Yamazaki: the first whisky distillery in Japan.

• In 1934, Taketsuru left for the northern island of Hokkaido to build his own distillery called Yoichi.

• In 1940, he launched Nikka whisky, Japan’s second whisky company.

That’s the story in a nutshell. Taketsuru goes to Scotland, comes back with knowledge, helps create Suntory, then goes on to found Nikka.

The rest is history!

But not so fast. There’s a third whisky company you may not know about also linked to Taketsuru called Mars. They too have been making whisky for decades, and the core lineup consists of simple, easy-drinking expressions of distinction that won’t cost you half a mortgage payment.

Here’s the skinny:

This is Kiichiro Iwai: the guy behind the guy.

Allow me now to add in a few lesser-known details to the aforementioned bullet points:

• Mr. Iwai was Taketsuru’s boss and the man who introduced Taketsuru to the higher ups at Shettsu Shuzo, the company that commissioned the trip to Scotland.

• Shuzo underwrote Taketsuru’s trip to Scotland because the company wanted to build Japan’s first whisky distillery.

• When Taketsuru returned from Scotland, the Shuzo company was going through financial difficulties and decided not to invest any further in Taketsuru’s knowledge.

• Taketsuru left Shuzo as a result and went on to found Suntory, but the notes the company had commissioned remained.

Despite Taketsuru’s departure, Iwai was still passionate about making whisky and decades later was recruited as an advisor to a sake company called Hombu. In 1949, Hombu acquired a license to produce whisky and Iwai helped build its first whisky distillery using Taketsuru’s notes as a guide.

Today, the company is called Mars and its entry level blended whisky label is called Iwai, paying homage to the man who originally helped bring whisky to Japan by facilitating the education of Taketsuru.

I’m a big fan of the three basic Iwai expressions because:

• They’re inexpensive.

• They’re elegant and typical of the mellow Japanese style.

• They taste good.

The standard Iwai blended whisky uses single malt from the Mars Shinshu distillery and marries it with soft grain whisky to create a ridiculously smooth palate. For $33, it’s a hot deal.

The Iwai 45 is pretty much just the standard Iwai at a higher proof.

The Iwai Tradition has a higher malt content, a higher dose of Sherry maturation, and a slight bit of peat smoke. Like its counterparts, it’s elegant, seamless, and incredibly soft on the palate. It’s my favorite of the trio, by far.

And here’s the part of the story you really won’t find elsewhere (it was told to me by the team at Mars, so take it for what you will):

• Apparently, Taketsuru was engaged to the president of Setto Shuzo’s daughter before leaving to Scotland.

• As we know, he returned to Japan a married man—but not to the president’s daughter.

• Some say the reason the Shuzo company never built the whisky distillery with Taketsuru was more about the romantic fallout of Taketsuru’s new Scottish wife, than about financials!

-David Driscoll

Patina: The Maturity of Connoisseurship

My friend Ewan, who works for Diageo, recently sent me down a weekend-long rabbit hole into the world of vintage watches that had me reading message boards and Instagram comments for hours at a time, while marveling in the parallel nerdism that clearly connects horology to alcohol appreciation.

But rather than bore you with all the detailed connections I wrote down, and the endless meta-syntactical similarities, I’ll just say this: patina.

What is patina? That’s what I asked myself yesterday, having spent hours on the couch crunching numbers on second-hand Rolex movements.

Patina is basically age. Or wear and tear. Or the individual wrinkles that time bestows upon us. And it’s a thing with watches.

As this article from Christie’s spells out: “One of the most interesting evolutions in vintage watch collecting has been the desire to move away from watches that have been restored and polished to look ‘like new’ in favour of watches in original condition with honest patina. Nicks, scratches and fading that may have developed over the course of decades of wear can enhance a watch’s desirability.”

In other words, if you’re buying a vintage watch you may end up paying more for one that has been beat up over the years, rather than one that has been carefully maintained and restored. That’s because patina sells.

It reminds me of the Levi’s phenomenon a while back where Japanese tourists specifically wanted vintage denim that had dirt from an actual rodeo crusted across the front. The authenticity of the jeans was more important than the physical condition of the object itself.

And guess what? This phenomenon isn’t just limited to watches or clothes.

An article from Gear Patrol goes deeper: “There was a broad evolution in collecting, across many different categories, to prefer original, untouched, and unrestored pieces compared to those made to look ‘new.’ That is the case for coin collecting, where coins that had cleaning in the past are hardly sellable. Likewise, cars that are too heavily restored are also becoming harder to sell as people now are beginning to prefer unrestored cars with their original paint and seats. Likewise, paintings that have had significant restoration are also more difficult to sell today than in the past.”

So is there a patina parallel to alcohol? Yes, of course there is.

If we’re talking about wine, I would say that the tenets of terroir and hands-off production have long valued the inherent flaws and individuality of both land and nature when it comes to character. In short, it means that wines with earthy or funky flavors from natural causes are often more sought-after than wines that are clean and polished.

If we’re talking about whisky, I’d say the rise of cask strength single barrel expressions over the last decade mirrors the patina evolution in time pieces. Rather than find the oldest, smoothest, perfectly-blended expression of Scotch available, consumers have gravitated over to raw, untempered, individual casks of whisky that may be unbalanced or jagged on the palate, but in turn have more character and personality.

What the rise of patina in the watch industry alludes to is a maturity of connoisseurship. It’s the same with alcohol. Over time, as you come to appreciate any genre, you start to look for greater meaning. And you start to ask what exactly it is that you’re paying for. Sometimes a product that is too perfect can seem inauthentic because that’s not how reality works.

It reminds me of the scene from the Matrix where we find out there was a previous iteration of the Matrix that failed because human minds wouldn’t accept a world without imperfections.

Ultimately, we come to value authenticity because of its flaws, rather than in spite them.

-David Driscoll

Chew On These

With over fifty new Scotch whisky distilleries recently launched or in the works right now, gone are the days when a new single malt whisky would attract immediate press and fanfare from enthusiasts around the world.

Remember when Kilchoman originally launched? That was a really big deal back then. Everyone wanted to try it.

But do you also remember when Ballindalloch, Inchdairnie, and Dalmunach announced their plans to create new single malt distilleries?

I don’t either.

As I try to get reacquainted with the world of Scottish single malt, there are all sorts of new faces I’ve never even heard of, many with prices that seem quite high for whiskies that seem quite young. With the current tariffs on single malt Scotch, and the industry bursting with so much new blood, I have to wonder if the investment in a new distillery is still paying off for investors.

With all the time it takes to get going, and all the other unrelated booze you have to push in order to bring in revenue, I’m wondering why more producers don’t take a page from the Ian Macleod playbook. Rather than follow the ubiquitous start-up model, Macleod has been quietly revitalizing Scotland’s underutilized and lesser-known distilleries into some of the best in the business. Starting with the purchase of GlenGoyne in 2003, Macleod’s slow, quality-oriented approach has demonstrated real results and real value over the last fifteen years.

The proof is in the glass. Look at GlenGoyne and Tamdhu as two great examples.

The GlenGoyne Legacy and the Tamdhu 15 year are not only among the top single malt bargains I’ve tasted this year, they’re just flat out great whiskies. Neither dram reinvents the wheel, they’re just really tasty Sherry-matured single malts that offer a texture, weight, and viscosity that makes my mouth very happy. I know old-fashioned Highland single malt at a normal ABV doesn’t move the needle in today’s ADHD marketing world, but even after thirteen years in the business I still get excited about a whisky that tastes better than I expected.

When I first broke in the booze business, the major marketing efforts were moving away from Scotch whisky tradition. No one wanted to be boring. New whiskies needed to be big, bold, and edgy with over-the-top ABVs and explosive flavor profiles. The only way you could sell a single malt described as “mellow” or “delicate” was if it had an age statement of 25 years or more attached to it.

While exciting flavors and exuberant descriptions are what bring new drinkers to the market, they’re merely the top of the marketing funnel. As the funnel narrows and consumers become more educated, a large portion of drinkers invariably gravitates towards complexity and restraint. We’ve seen the same thing happen with wine culture, with lower-alcohol and more food-friendly expressions becoming much more popular with the general public, rather than jammy Zins and inky Syrahs.

Because of my beginner’s mindset, I wasn’t paying much attention to traditional, dependable GlenGoyne distillery back in 2010, but it has become one of my go-to standards over the past year, and undoubtedly one of the best values in all of whisky. Compared to Macallan 18 at $299, you can get a bottle of GlenGoyne 18 for $139.99 and it’s comprised of mostly first-fill Sherry butts. You can also get the 21 year for $199, which is the same price as the Glenlivet 21. I know which one I would choose: the one that’s absolutely drenched in mouth-coating, lip-smacking Sherry.

That’s what separates the GlenGoyne whiskies from other bargain malts like the Glenlivet or Glenfiddich: rich, supple, chewy texture. You don’t drink Glengoyne as much as you sink your teeth into it, especially the brand’s new Legacy: Chapter One edition. Bottled at 48%, unchillfiltered, and practically oozing with first-fill Oloroso Sherry character, it’s every bit as inviting as something like Macallan Rare Cask. But it will cost you about $200 less per bottle.

Because of its immense value, Glengoyne’s Legacy release was one of my favorite malts of 2019, bested only by the Tamdhu 15 Year Old, another distillery purchased by Ian Macleod back in 2011. Sweet to the first sip, but bolstered by rounded, mouth-coating waves of honey, dried fruit and caramel, there are few—if any—distillery releases as good as the Tamdhu for $125. I would put it against Macallan 18 and Balvenie 15 any day of the week, and a notch up from Aberlour 16 for sure in terms of complexity and depth of flavor.

There’s a toffee note on the finish that goes on for at least five minutes, teasing my mouth into taking another luxurious sip. I adore this whisky, but it’s important to point out that I don’t get anywhere near the same level of satisfaction from independently-bottled Tamdhu casks that pull stocks from the previous regime. That’s because Ian Macleod invested in top notch Oloroso barrels from Jerez and upgraded the quality of the wood, enhancing the spirit and heightening the quality. When you buy the distillery bottle, you get all that investment right on your tongue.

The investment hasn’t stopped there, however. In 2017, Ian Macleod decided three times was a charm, purchasing the long-dormant Rosebank distillery from its property owners, while simultaneously securing the trademark and back-stocks from Diageo. One of the lost legends of the Lowland, Rosebank never quite garnered the same cult prestige of Diageo’s other fallen treasures like Port Ellen and Brora, with its lighter, triple-distilled character and fruity charm. Set to reopen in 2020, Macleod plans to slowly release Rosebank editions from the 80s and early 90s, while setting out to revamp its third outfit. This project, however, will require a much larger overhaul, as almost all of the existing equipment has been stolen over the years, as well as a heavier marketing effort to convince malt fans globally that Rosebank’s Lowland style is something worth seeking out.

Given the company’s fifteen year track record, I’m not betting against them. Rather than build a completely new start-up from scratch, Ian Macleod has clearly shown the benefits of applying talent to an already existing infrastructure. I’m confident more longtime whisky drinkers will continue to take notice.

-David Driscoll

Four Pillars Returns With Best New Gin of 2020

There are two things in this world that I am unabashedly passionate about: good people and good booze.

As I was telling some of my co-workers yesterday, one of the best feelings in this industry comes when your favorite wine or spirit is made by someone you genuinely respect and care for. That’s been the case with Four Pillars gin since the moment I met Cameron Mackenzie and Stu Gregor a few years back. They walked into my store with a bottle of their Rare Dry gin and I instantly fell head-over-heels for both their incredible, orange-scented elixir and their kind, open-hearted Aussie demeanor. We’ve been friends ever since.

If you’re unfamiliar with Four Pillars distillery, let me quickly get you up to speed: it’s a boutique operation in Australia’s Yarra Valley, about an hour outside of Melbourne, that makes gin and only gin. No whisky, no vodka, no liqueurs or any of that stuff. Just gin. Only gin.

Not only do they make gin, they make what is for my money some of the best gin on the planet—if not the best.

I’m not alone in that assessment, either. There are other more professional entities that have bestowed various titles and honors of that nature upon Four Pillars multiple times over. “World’s Best Gin.” “Best Gin in the World.” That type of thing.

Why is the gin from Four Pillars so good? I’ll give you two important reasons straight away:

1. FOCUS OF FLAVOR: The Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin is unmistakably orange-focused in its flavor. It’s like smelling a big bag of fresh oranges and then tasting that citrus all over your tongue when you sip it. When you mix a gin and tonic with the Rare Dry, you’re actually supposed to add an orange slice instead of a lime. In comparison, the Navy Strength expression is finger lime-focused. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of other herbs and botanicals in the Four Pillars recipes, it’s just to say that their gins have very specific characters that are very, very, very well curated.

2. TEXTURE: What immediately grabs most drinkers when they first taste Four Pillars gin is the purity of flavor. Second, however, is the texture. These pot-distilled beauties have a supple mouthfeel and somewhat weighty texture on the palate. They’re so easy to drink that at times I’ve poured myself a straight glass of Four PIllars gin like I would a fine single malt Scotch. That’s been especially true over the last week with the new Olive Branch gin.

Cameron working on a batch of gin at the distillery

So let’s talk about the new Olive Branch gin, the newest kid on the Four Pillars block and a savory delight that I am unhealthily obsessed with at the moment. Imagine if someone distilled a Dirty Martini into a spirit, so that you didn’t need to add any olive juice or any olives! In essence, that’s what the Olive Branch gin amounts to: pure briny goodness, but inherent to the gin itself, not resulting from additives or flavors!

Using three types of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and olive leaf tea from the world-class groves of Victoria's Cobram Estate, the team at Four Pillars then added botanicals like rosemary and bay leaf to bring out the flavors of the Mediterranean (even though they're really from the Cam’s garden), with native macadamia nuts and lemon myrtle as well.

I’ve been carrying a bottle around with me all week, sampling friends and colleagues, and these are some of the more detailed and scientific responses I’ve heard thus far:

• “Wow, that’s really good.”

• “Holy shit, that’s incredible!”

• “Oh my God, that’s amazing.”

When something tastes as wonderful as the new Four Pillars Olive Branch gin, professionalism goes out the window and human emotion takes over. You’ve got all the specs above, but in the end all I really have to say is: wow, wow, wow.

-David Driscoll

Precision and Finesse Along the Central Coast

The view from Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills

I’m not going to act like I didn’t get into Central Coast Pinot Noir because of the movie Sideways.

Maybe that’s not cool to say out loud, but as the late rapper MC Breed once famously said: “There ain’t no future in yo frontin’.”

I stopped drinking Merlot in 2003 just like everyone else. I made the switch to Pinot Noir because it was trendy. Might as well just be honest about it.

Shortly after watching the film, I bought my first bottle of Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir. At $20, it was the most expensive bottle I had ever purchased at that point. But it was worth every penny. When all you’ve ever known is cheap red wine from the nearby supermarket, a wine like Au Bon Climat can completely change your life.

Raj Parr, the co-founder of Sandhi winery and the wine director for the Michael Mina restaurants, feels the same way. He’s been open about just how much the wines from Au Bon Climat and the guidance and generosity of its esteemed winemaker Jim Clendenen have inspired the efforts at Sandhi—a wine that I am obsessed with right now. It’s a big reason why Sandhi sources fruit from the Sanford & Benedict vineyard, where Clendenen has also purchased fruit since the 1987 vintage. Because Jim was such a pioneer in seeking out cooler growing regions and fermenting naturally and without additives, it’s no surprise that Raj would want to follow in those footsteps.

If you’re new to Pinot Noir (or if you’ve seen Sideways and remember the monologue), it’s not an easy grape to ripen. That being said, it’s one of the three main varietals in Champagne, so even if you don’t have the warm temperatures for red wine, you can still make sparkling wine with all the acidity. In fact, that’s exactly what people thought Raj Parr was planning to do when he teamed up with winemaker Sashi Moorman in 2007 to purchase land in the Santa Rita Hills and plant a vineyard. Having chosen a site at the very western end of the appellation, near the town of Lompoc, people thought they were crazy. How could you ripen fruit in such a cold and windy section of the region? Today, however, it’s one of the most coveted sources of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the state.

Domaine de la Côte

Naming it Domaine de la Côte, Raj and Sashi planted their south-facing hillside with the most interesting cuttings they could find; a variety of rootstocks from legendary California vineyards like Swan, Calera, and Mount Eden. They broke the estate up into sub-vineyards based on the different elevations and facets in the soil profiles—six individual sites across roughly forty acres. The land is farmed without chemicals, organically whenever possible and the wines are made with as little intervention as possible. Not to spoil another wine movie for you, but in the popular documentary Somm 3, Domaine de la Côte takes top honors, which is why you won’t find a bottle on any retail shelf from here to Manhattan. Today, wines sell for $100+, if you can even locate one.

But if you’ve managed to read this far down, I’ve got good news for you: 70% of the fruit in the 2018 vintage of the Sandhi Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir comes from Domaine de la Côte, and that wine will only cost you $30. If you’re a whiskey drinker, then I’ll break it down this way: if Domaine de la Côte is Pappy, then Sandhi is like Weller 12 year. The wine is absolutely gorgeous, like a river of soft and supple cherries running over your palate, but balanced with ample structure and acidity. To top things off, much of the remainder comes from the aforementioned Sanford & Benedict vineyard, so any way you slice it you’re getting some of the best Pinot Noir that California has to offer.

But as good as the Pinot Noir from Sandhi is, it’s the Chardonnay that has me spinning at the moment. Not only the fantastic Central Coast expression for $25, but the three single vineyard expressions at $50 that are as close to white Burgundy as Southern California gets. In fact, the Central Coast Chardonnay—and the partnership between Raj and Sashi as a whole—started when Raj was looking for a by-the-glass Chardonnay at his RN74 restaurant and couldn’t find anything he liked at the price point he was searching for. He ended up creating his own option with Sashi instead, sourcing fruit from vineyard sites along the Central Coast that fit the cool-climate profile he wanted.

While RN74 is no longer open, its customized, by-the-glass pour lives on in the Sandhi Central Coast Chardonnay. The wine is a great introduction to the Sandhi style with nuanced aromas of both citrus flowers and fruit that turn slightly creamy with the oak influence, but never flabby. If you’re after richness infused with the individuality that is terroir, then you need to check out the single vineyard expressions. I popped the 2017 Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay last night at dinner and it was so supple, and so packed with lemon cream and white flowers that it blew my mind.

But the real star of the show right now, and perhaps the most beloved of the three, is the 2018 Bentrock Chardonnay because it bolsters the citrus and the white flowers with minerality and a savoriness that really counterbalances all the weight. Or if you wanna get a taste of what Domaine de la Côte’s white fruit can offer, grab a bottle of the 2018 Sta Rita Hills, made for the first time entirely from estate Chardonnay!

I’ve been in the wine industry going on fourteen years now and having spent most of that time pining for Chassagne-Montrachet and Chablis, I’m somewhat embarrassed that I haven’t given more attention to the incredible wines made just up Highway 101. Raj and Sandhi are making wines that showcase the potential communion between man, earth, and vine. Find a good piece of earth, plant some vines, and get the hell out of the way. Let nature do its thing. Nurture the process. Put it in a bottle.

That’s Sandhi in a nutshell.

-David Driscoll