Drink Local: ASW Distillery Fiddler Bourbon

ASW Distillery Fiddler Bourbon

If you’re in Atlanta and enjoy a fine drink, you need to be watching our local distilleries, who are all up to some very cool things. This week in Creative Loafing, I shared the goods on the new Fiddler Bourbon from ASW Distillery. My take? This is a must try for local whiskey enthusiasts, thanks to a  reasonable price, a unique mash bill (45% wheat), and the fact that ASW is very open about this being a foraged spirit that they are fiddling with in the aging process. And it’s delicious. So grab a bottle quick if you are interested – there’s not much to go around.

Here’s the news from Creative Loafing:

The facts: The new Fiddler bourbon whiskey comes from a line of “foraged” spirits to complement ASW’s house-distilled products — meaning ASW bought the stuff from another distillery but have fiddled with it in some way, mainly through aging in different types of casks and blending. This particular release came out Nov. 1 and amounts to a mere 450 bottles, or roughly two barrels. It is a high-wheat bourbon, meaning that wheat makes up a good percentage of the mash bill — 45 percent for this particular whiskey. Other notable wheated bourbons on the market are Maker’s Mark and Pappy Van Winkle, both of which have a much smaller wheat component than ASW’s. This Fiddler release is relatively young — “aged at least 18 months,” according to ASW, in full size new American oak barrels followed by quarter casks. Suggested retail price is around $35.

How it tastes: At 86 proof, Fiddler makes for a smooth and balanced sipper… READ THE REST AT CREATIVE LOAFING.

 

 

Monday Night Brewing Goin Crazy

Cheers to Atlanta’s own Monday Night Brewing for rolling out their first big time batches of Eye Patch Ale and Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale NEXT WEEK. These guys have been building up to this day for a while now, chronicling the process for public consumption, and you can be among the first to taste these new beers from the keg. Hop City (a Thirsty South favorite) will kick it off on August 8 with growler fills at 5:30PM. Leon’s Full Service in Decatur (another Thirsty South favorite) jumps in the following night, August 9, behind the bar at 6pm. Best wishes to Monday Night Brewing as they take another step towards beer greatness. Check their website for other launch events, or follow them on Twitter.

Near Wild Heaven (Beer That Is)

From a rooftop facing the heavens (and downtown Atlanta), Decatur’s own Wild Heaven Craft Beer celebrated the launch of their Invocation Belgian-style Golden Ale and Ode To Mercy Imperial Brown Ale in bottles. These two fine beers have been available on tap around Georgia and select spots in Alabama for many months now, and have gained quite a fan base, so seeing them in bottles is another good sign of support for our local beers. (Caveat: Wild Heaven is currently brewed – and bottled – at Thomas Creek Brewing in Greenville, South Carolina, but has plans to move production to their own brewery in Avondale Estates next year)

If you haven’t yet tried these beers, do yourself a favor and give them a shot (we especially dig the Invocation – delicious).

In other beer related news… next week is CRAFT BEER WEEK! (May 16-22)

Look for intersting specials at all your favorite beer bars around town (here’s a list of our favorites by the way, including The Porter, seen below). Cheers!