On January 23, 2015, starting about 9:15 AM, some 193 vehicles were involved in a massive pile-up on both sides of Interstate 94 between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan. One of the trucks was carrying a load of fireworks; it caught on fire shortly before noon.
There exists surreal footage of skyrockets bursting in the afternoon blue sky above the carnage at Click here to watch.
Dear friend of fine spirits,
Scotch lovers: The Exceptional Malt has just come arrived. It’s one of the best I have ever tasted: balanced, complex, full of flavor. The Exceptional Grain (2013) was the 2nd-best spirit Paul Pacult (spirit journal) tasted among all the hundreds he received, 2013-14.
Our immodest claim: the finest mezcal in bottle is Alberto (Don Beto) Ortiz’s Mezcalero Special Bottling no. 1, distilled from wild hillside south-slope madrecuishe. I happened to taste it on a visit to his distillery: he was holding it until someone wanted to pay extra for it. Are you kidding? I contracted for it on the spot.
Jeff Kessinger’s superb Firelit coffee liqueur has come our way: he had to move from his original distillery and recently went back into production near Napa. It’s about a perfect mix of great coffee and just enough brandy. The beans in this batch are from Papua/New Guinea: deep true-coffee flavors/aromatics.
We ran out of the Maison Surrenne 1946 so we had a few bottles air freighted in.
Mezcalero no. 13 is on its way from Oaxaca as I write: a tepeztate (rich & spicy) & tobalá (fine and elegant) mezcal. From San Luis del Rio., Mezcalero No. 14 will arrive in September.
Devin Cain cleans the 17HL cognac still after each run of Low Gap whiskey. Reviewers often tell us it’s the cleanest whiskey they see. The Rye is an amazing distillate and a real bargain.
In response to many enquiries, I announce with regret that Flossie the Cat (cover of April catalogue) was an April Fool invention. The dog-cat xenotransfusion on page 1 was however true.
Regards/Ansley Coale