Oh Taste & See: Angel's Envy Bourbon

Angel's Envy Bourbon has been generating buzz in the bourbon world for a while now, and it's finally starting to become readily available in many areas nationwide. I had a chance to taste it a while back at the Philadelphia Whiskey Festival. At the time it made a great impression, and now I've had the chance to taste a bit more and I still really like it.

The short back-story behind Angel's Envy is that it is the pet-project of bourbon-industry legend Lincoln Henderson, formerly Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve. By finishing Angel's Envy in used Port casks he brings a new flavor profile to Kentucky bourbon, and the result is a whiskey that can claim a deep-rooted link to bourbon heritage as well as a refreshingly daring modern twist. Each bottling of Angel's Envy will be unique, and therefore uniquely labeled with a batch number on the cork. While this first batch (Expression 10/10) is good, I expect the product to evolve into a truly classic bourbon as Mr. Henderson fine-tunes this ground-breaking style of bourbon.

Read more »

The 2010 Philadelphia Whiskey Festival

Last night I attended the seventh annual Philadelphia Whiskey Festival put on by Philadelphia Magazine. This was the first time I'd attended this event, and my first surprise was the crowd - apparently Philadelphia has a lot of whiskey drinkers and they have no problem coming out on a Wednesday evening. After waiting in line for half an hour to get to the check-in table I finally got a wrist band and made my way into the crowded Ballroom at the Ben - a lovely venue for sippin' whiskey.

Philadelphia's Whiskey Festival isn't all about whiskey - there are also plenty of vodkas, rums, and even a few gins and liqueurs available for tasting. I tried a couple amazing rums (Mount Gay 1703 Old Cask and Ron Zacapa stand out) and a disgusting (to me) local phenomenon known as Root, but I mostly stuck to the whiskey (and some whisky) of which there was plenty.

Read more »