Whiskey Note 4.26

It's time for our spring Member whiskey samples and I'm excited to share more about the three whiskey options from which you get to pick. If you haven't picked up your sample, your next chance is the Member Blending event on April 21st, and the final chance is our May 5th Sip Locally event with Montrose-based Storm King Distilling Co, or May 20th, at our Women's Cocktail event. Make sure to return your last sample bottle to exchange for a new selection.

Sample A

Sample A is aurora from the brand-new Archer Eland, which launched in December 2025.

Wendy Peveich, the owner and blender of Archer Eland, is a whiskey friend of mine. I met Wendy four years ago at a Bourbon conference in Louisville. Back then, she was the National Brand Ambassador for Penelope Bourbon and played a big role in their nationwide success. I kept trying to get her to visit Colorado for an event with our club, but her busy travel schedule always got in the way. Thankfully, we managed to catch up a few times in Denver. I could tell all the traveling was getting to her, and by the end of 2024, she left Penelope and went off the radar for a bit. In early 2025, I started noticing hints she was dropping on social media and from our chats in 2024 that something big was brewing. Last August, I was thrilled to be invited to help her out at a "Rye" workshop during a conference in Louisville. That's where she revealed the launch of her new brand, Archer Eland, and introduced three of her new rye whiskey blends. I loved every single one and couldn't wait to get my hands on the bottle when she launched in December of 2025.

<From an article in Columbus Monthly> "Wendy's path to owner and blender of a spirits company took a different route than most. Trained as a cardiovascular nurse practitioner, she worked on the front lines during COVID-19. This “traumatizing period” left her searching for another outlet. “I always wanted a creative space where I could kind of dissociate from what we were experiencing,”

Archer Eland, launched on Dec. 1, is named for Peveich’s zodiac sign—she’s a Sagittarius, represented by an archer—and her Zimbabwean mother’s totem animal, the eland."

Wendy has skillfully blended four different Rye Whiskey varieties, using rye whiskey distilled and aged by Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio. Since she lives in Columbus, she works at the Middle West Spirits facility and has access to a variety of aged barrels.

This first release includes the following Rye whiskey expressions:

solstice - 4 years at 52%

cashmere - 7 years at 63%

suede - 7 years at 63%

Your sample is the aurora, which combines 4 and 7-year barrels, bottled at 55%. Her rye whiskeys have a mash bill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye.

She mentions that this blend was the toughest to perfect and get "just right".

All four varieties are delicious, offering a wide array of flavors and delightful aromas that are quite surprising for rye whiskeys.

They're all reasonably priced between $65 and $85. You can order bottles directly from Middle West Spirits. Recent reports say that cashmere is only available in very limited quantities.

Cocktail Suggestion Orchard Old Fashioned featuring 2oz Archer Eland's aurora, 1/2 oz maple demerara syrup, 1 dash black walnut bitters, and 1 dash Aromatic Bitters. Serve in a rocks glass with a single ice block and garnish with a lemon peel.

Sample B

Sample B is a Michter's Barrel Strength Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. This whiskey is from a single barrel, Barrel # 24B0481. Michter's doesn't release its mashbill, but it is at least 51% Rye with the remaining grain recipe consisting of corn and malted barley. This Michter's is NAS (non-age statement) but is rumored to be in the 5 to 7-year range, and the proof on this particular bottle is 55% ABV.

A small group of us got to participate in a guided tasting with Owen Martin, head distiller of Angel's Envy, and Ted Simmons, a New York-based spirits reporter, last month. I wanted to the remaining whiskey from this bottle with our club members.

What is known today as Michter's was founded by John Shenk, a Swiss Mennonite farmer, in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, in 1753. In its earliest days, Shenk's produced whiskey from rye grain, a favorite local crop in the Pennsylvania Blue Mountain Valley where the distillery was located. In the mid-1800s, Pennsylvania Dutchman Abraham Bomberger purchased the distillery, and it became known for many decades as Bomberger's. The passage of Prohibition in 1919 forced the distillery, along with other American spirits producers, to shut its doors to the public. Although the distillery did reopen after the repeal of Prohibition, it changed hands many times over the next few decades. During the 1950s, Lou Forman, one of the distillery's then-owners, created the modern Michter's brand name by combining portions of his sons' names - Michael and Peter. The Pennsylvania distillery was closed permanently in 1989 as the whiskey industry faced a prolonged downturn in America. In the late 1990s, Joe Magliocco & Dick Newman filed for the unused and abandoned Michter's trademark and resurrected Michter's in Kentucky.

Some of the unique production processes used by Michter's include using barrels with "air-dried" staves rather than kiln-dried staves. The cut oak sits in the coopeage lots for 18 to 60 months before being cut into staves and assembled into barrels. Michter's believes that longer open-air seasoning reduces some of the more astringent compounds found in the wood, resulting in a smoother whiskey with better flavour. Next, their barrels are toasted prior to charring to allow for more interaction with sugars and other compounds in the wood that impart additional flavor and color. Barrel entry proof is at 103 proof (industry average is between 110 & 125 proof). "This costly step creates a richer whiskey with less water added the day of bottling. This was historically regarded as the gold standard in Kentucky, and the lower proof creates a richer barrel chemistry that allows for the concentrated sugars in the wood to dissolve more readily."

This bottle, and other barrel-strength Rye Whiskeys, retail at $120. It's likely that this bottle is sold out since it was released in 2024.

Cocktail Suggestion: Paper Plain 0.75 oz. Amaro Nonino, 0.75 oz. Aperol, 0.75 oz. Michter’s Barrel Strength Bourbon, 0.75 oz. Fresh lemon juice, strained.

Combine the Amaro Nonino, Aperol, Bourbon, and lemon Juice in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosty. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and serve.

Sample C

Sample C is a French Single Malt Whisky from Brenne Whiskey.

Eight years ago, at a Denver Whiskey Club event, I had the honor of meeting Allison Parc, the owner of Brenne Whisky, as she shared her whiskies.

Allison Parc, a former ballerina, turned to entrepreneurship and began importing single-malt whiskies from countries not known for making whisky. During her travels, she was introduced to a 3^rd generation farmer and cognac distiller. After various conversations, she ended up writing a check to him with her entire savings and together, launched Brenne Whisky. The brand was first released in NY in 2012, and she delivered those initial orders to liquor stores and restaurants using a New York Citi Bike. The brand took off and was initially acquired by Sampson and Surrey, which helped to open up distribution across the country and marketing support to help the brand grow. In 2023, Heaven Hill acquired Samson & Surrey and all of their brands. While Allison is no longer involved in the day-to-day operation of Brenne, the whisky is even more delicious than when I first discovered it.

This whisky is crafted with two types of barley grown right next to the distillery in France, using the same alembic still that’s used for making cognac. This gives it a unique and fruity flavor. After distillation, the single malt is aged in new French Limousin Oak barrels and first and second fill XO Cognac casks.

6-8-year | 40% ABV

If you're interested in adding this whisky to your liquor shelf at home, I've seen Brenne Whisky on the shelves at Lucky Me 3 (30th and Patterson), or inquire at Full Monty Liquors and ask Monty to order a bottle for you.

Cocktail Suggestion: With the delicate, fruity, creamy flavours of this whisky, my favorite suggestion for this whiskey is a Whisky Highball. Simple and allows the whisky to be showcased.

2 oz Brenne Single Malt Whisky

2 dashes of Angostura Bitters

Top with Soda Water

Garnish with a fresh Lemon or Orange

Use a Collins glass with ice