Allotment Dram - Jack Daniel's Rye

For those of you that follow us on Instagram (if you're not, why not? - click the tab at the top of the right hand column), you will know that we regularly post pictures of our 'allotment dram' - the whisky we are enjoying whenever we visit our allotment in North London to do some work or gardening. In these strange times, we have decided to bring this to life and record a brief tasting of each one, along with an update on the allotment's progress.

Matt visits the allotment again as we experience an unseasonably warm spell of April weather and this time he has selected the Jack Daniel's Rye, a fairly recent addition to the famous Tennessee distillery's range of whiskeys, as his 'allotment dram'. We hope you enjoy.

#allotmentdram 

Inbox > February 18, 2011

Inbox is back after its festive break and is ready to bring you more news! Inbox is a weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has found its way in to our email inbox. Sadly, we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive, so Inbox has been born! It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we will write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information if you want to. Here are this week's findings ...
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Ardbeg > new website launched
The title says it all really – Ardbeg, the cult distillery on the island of Islay has launched a new version of its website. Your can visit this site at www.ardbeg.com. The new site offers insight and information on the island of Islay and the distillery, tasting notes of their whiskies (which are categorised by taste and expression), plus links to the Ardbeg Committee (which is free to join) and the online mail order shop.

Dalmore > new release announced
The famous distillery in the northern Highlands of Scotland has announced details of a new whisky release – Dalmore Castle Leod. The whisky is a limited edition of just 5,000 bottles and will retail at a recommended price of £100. It is named after Castle Leod, which was built in 1606 and is located near to the Dalmore distillery. The castle is the family home of the MacKenzie clan, who have traditionally had a strong association with the distillery and its whisky. The packaging features a painting of the castle. The whisky has been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, before being transferred in to red wine barrique barrels for the last 18 months. These casks had previously held Premier Cru Cabernet Sauvignon wine from the Bordeaux region of France. For further information, visit www.thedalmore.com.

Jack Daniels > new pre-mixed drinks launched
March will see the launch of a range of pre-mixed drinks from the world famous Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee. These will be available in most markets in the USA and will go by the label of The Perfect Mix. The range will feature three lines of their popular Old No.7 with different mixers - Jack Daniels & Cola, Jack Daniels & Ginger and Jack Daniels & Diet Cola. Each are packaged in recyclable aluminium bottles and will be sold in packs of four with a recommended retail price of $10. Each drink has an alcoholic strength of 5% ABV.

Mount Vernon > George Washington’s whiskey recreated
A group of history enthusiasts are bringing an old whiskey recipe back to life. The whiskey was originally made by George Washington, America’s first President, at his Mount Vernon distillery. At the end of the 18th century, Washington’s distillery was the nation’s most successful and few people are aware that he also ran other successful businesses, as well as running the new country! Now, a historical group led by Master Distiller Dave Pickerell and Distillery Manager Steve Bashore have rebuilt the Mount Vernon distillery on the original site and are making whiskey in the traditional way of the 1790s. Check out this informative video clip to see them in action.

The search for interesting whisk(e)y cocktails begins with Lynchburg Lemonade

We're on a mission this summer to try to find some interesting and different whisk(e)y cocktails. We will try some old favourites as well as hopefully managing to find some new ones. Whisk(e)y is beginning to be marketed internationally as a more flexible cocktail ingredient and we are keen to see what is coming out of this trend.

Starting with an old favourite, and a regular on the cocktail list of many bars worldwide - Lynchburg Lemonade. It is named after Lynchburg, a city in the American state of Tennessee, home of the Jack Daniel's distillery.

In Spring 2006, the drink's creator, Tony Mason, filed a lawsuit in the Madison County Circuit Court against Jack Daniel's Distillery claiming, among other things, "that the defendants had misappropriated his formula, or recipe, for a beverage known as Lynchburg Lemonade". He sought compensatory and punitive damages of $13,276,335. After approximately four days of testimony, the jury found in his favour, however, the trial court refused to give Mason's requested compensation leaving him instead to walk away with the lesser amount of one dollar.

Lynchburg Lemonade
1 part Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
1 part triple sec
1 part sours mix
squeeze of lime juice

Shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a glass over fresh ice, top with lemonade then garnish with a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry.

This is quite a sweet cocktail and the whiskey is by no means over powering. It would be a good cocktail to get a non-whiskey fan interested and really does suit a lovely sunny summery day.