Great Whiskeys For Summer Weather

When the temperature starts to increase, we don’t forgo whiskey. We simply add ice (and maybe some ginger ale, club soda, or tonic). Here are a few suggestions for drinking on the rocks or in your favorite Highball cocktail.
Jun 21, 2017
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    Fruity & Sweet
    Launched in May 2017, this Irish Single Malt is a bottling released by the Tipperary Boutique Distillery. For each batch, six first-fill ex-bourbon barrels are chosen to be married by Malt Master Stuart Nickerson. This sourced whiskey is a non-age statement release which uses water from Ballindoney Farm in Tipperary to cut the whiskey to 47% ABV. The whiskey is non chill-filtered.
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    Spicy & Sweet
    Tullamore D.E.W. Original is a blended Irish whiskey comprised of single malt, grain, and pot still whiskey. It's triple distilled and aged in three types of casks: refill barrels, ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. D.E.W. are the initials of a Mr. Daniel E. Williams, a gentleman that worked for Tullamore back in the late 1880's. He made his way up the ranks from shoveling barley to Distillery Manager to owner. He stamped his initials on the bottles as a sign of quality and they have remained since.
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    Vanilla & Tart
    Diageo re-entered the growing Irish Whiskey category early 2017 by releasing Roe & Co, a blended Irish whiskey made from grain and malt whiskeys. Roe & Co Irish Whiskey matured in bourbon casks, a great proportion of which were first-fill barrels. Bottled at 45% ABV without chill-filtration. (SRP $34.99)
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    Fruity & Vanilla
    Hitting the market in May 2014, Auchentoshan American Oak, a triple distilled single malt, is aged in 1st fill American oak ex-bourbon barrels. As such, this would be an excellent stepping stone for bourbon drinkers who would like to give scotch a try. This will be a permanent bottling to the brand's line-up and will replace Auchentoshan Classic as the entry level whisky in their portfolio.
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    Sweet & Full Bodied
    Suntory Whisky Toki is a blend of selected malt and grain whiskies from the Hakushu, Yamazaki, and Chita distilleries. Unlike their previous blended expressions that focus on malt from Yamazaki as the key component, Toki highlights Hakushu malt aged in American oak and balances that with grain whisky from Chita distillery. Single malts from Yamazaki that have aged in American and Spanish oak complement the blend.
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    Fruity & Sweet
    Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye whisky is a blend made from a 90% rye mashbill. A natural line extension for Crown Royal given the craze for rye and Canada's reputation for producing rye whisky. Crown Royal currently has approximately 2 million barrels of whisky maturing in 46 warehouses in the area around Gimli, Manitoba, Canada.
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    Vanilla & Rich
    George Dickel No. 12 is made from a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% barley. Of course, as this is a Tennessee whisky (their spelling), it does go through the Lincoln County process of filtering through sugar maple charcoal. However, instead of the whisky being continuously dripped through a large vat of charcoal like Jack Daniel's, Dickel distillate is placed in a vat along with the charcoal and allowed to sit for a few days before it is drained. Aged for an unspecified amount of time in new, charred American oak before bottling at 90 proof.
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    Fruity & Spicy
    The Great King Street is a line of blended whiskies from Compass Box. The Artist's Blend is the first in the series and is comprised of over 50% malt whisky from both the Highlands and Speyside. First fill ex-bourbon, first fill European oak Sherry butts, and new heavily toasted French oak are all employed in the aging of this blend.
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    Vanilla & Sweet
    Maker's Mark Bourbon is a wheated bourbon made with a mash bill recipe of 70% locally-grown corn, 16% red winter wheat, and 14% malted barley. This recipe was created by Bill Samuels, Sr. who baked bread with different grains to settle on his mash bill rather than trial and error with distillation. His wife, Margie Samuels, is responsible for the shape of the bottle, the signature label, and the red wax topper. Maker's Mark is aged in char #3 new American oak barrels for 6-7 years. It is bottled at 90 proof.
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    Sweet & Rich
    Grain whiskies are the base for most blended whiskies throughout the world. Nikka has decided to use the column still (aka Coffey still) rather than the more modern continuous stills to retain more character to their final product. It is quite unusual, however, to bottle and sell this product instead of using it for blending. The grains used here are primarily corn with a splash of barley.