I bought my first barrel of bourbon this week. It's something I've always wanted to do and I think Elixir finally has enough real whiskey drinkers to merit it.

So, this is how it works: Whiskey is aged in storehouses and on multiple levels, not only on racks, but sometimes on different floors as well. Due to temperature differences in those locations, the spirit inside a barrel will age differently depending on its location in the storehouse. This applies to any barrel-aged spirit. Because of geographic effects on climate differences, the amount of time a spirit is aged can vary. For example, in Kentucky there is a 100 degree temperature swing throughout the year; in Scotland, the swing is more subtle; in Mexico, there's not much of a swing. When the temperature changes, the wood expands and contracts, forcing the spirit in and out of the wood at different rates and for different durations. All of this has varying effects on the eventual flavor of the end product (as does the make-up of the barrrel...but that's another story).

So, when a whiskey maker makes a single malt (the same whiskey from the same distillery, as opposed to a blend of different whiskeys), they will generally take the whiskey from multiple selected barrels and blend them to make one large batch of whiskey with the same flavor profile. When the distiller decides that a particular barrel from a set is not up to par with the rest, it is usually utilized for a lower grade or commodity bottling (like a "well" breand).

In this case, I was given the opportunity to taste and select amongst 6 different individual barrels of Eagle Rare 10 Year old bourbon. My friends Thomas Waugh, from Range, and Josh Duford from Elixir, sat in on the tasting and gave me their feedback as well. We took our time and eventually I came to the decision that Barrel No.129 was the one I liked best. It had a beautiful nose, was very well balanced on the palate and maintained a long finish that was sweet and spicy. It was excellent neat, with a few drops of water and in some cocktail trials. I will post my tasting notes here at a later date, but my thanks to Thomas and Josh for their insight and to Bill Hart for bringing the samples.

The first bottles will arrive in early March and we'll have a party to celebrate. In the meantime, please be sure to come by on Thursdays in January and February to meet some amazing whiskey personalities and learn a lot about Whiskey. All the info is right here: www.elixirsf.com/cocktailclub.htm See you then!