It’s 2020. It’s December. Let’s shut this year down with a brand new whiskey (or whisky) every day. It’s my own personal whiskey advent calendar. +6! Dec. 17, 2020 A while back I tried the 12 year Very Olde St. Nick, and I was so intrigued that I did a bit of research. Here’s the pertinent info on this Very Olde St. Nick 17 year and its brand: 1. Owner Marci Palatella appears to be the only owner ever, despite rumors that this brand appeared to be resurrected and rebranded in 2000 overseas. 2. Olde St. Nick first showed up in the 1980s using old barrels Palatella sourced from the likes of Julian Van Winkle and Evan Kulsveen (Heaven Hill juice). 3. In the past, the Olde St. Nick labels have been flagged by whiskey enthusiasts to be in violation of 27 CFR 5.40 (a) - non straight whiskies without an age statement. 4. In the past, the Olde St. Nick labels have been flagged by whiskey enthusiasts to be in violation of 27 CFR 5.36 (d) - failure to list state of distillation (potentially not a problem if this was distilled in CA, only state mentioned on labels in question). 5. There are rumors Marci has been involved in college admission scandals. 6. Marci claims that Diageo sold Very Olde St. Nick some barrels that Diageo perceived to be aged too long to still have value. (Over 12 years.) 7. These barrels were allegedly crafted under the care of Julian Van Winkle at the old Stitzel-Weller plant, circa 1981. 8. 17 years later, they were vatted to get the juice out of the barrels and shipped to California, for... reasons. 9. Over the next 21 years, the juice sat in steel doing nothing, once again, for... reasons. 10. In 2019, the juice was bottled and released in 375ml bottles at MSRP just under $600. I’ve heard another batch has been released in 2020, but I haven’t seen it. Tasting notes: This nose is predominantly tart cherries. You can smell it from across the room. Hint of lemon, cedar, molasses. There’s a dustiness there too. Body hits with a cherry bomb up front. The natural kind of cherries too. Grape and pear follow after. There’s a strong resemblance to a really solid sangria. Molasses hits on back end of the body. I swear you could sip slowly on this for hours and keep finding new things. I just got maple syrup. Finish has orange, cinnamon, pepper, cherry, leather, cedar. Surprisingly spicy finish given the fruity body. Unbelievably smooth. I include the history of this whiskey and Marci in reverence to the Sagan standard: “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” This whiskey makes some extraordinary claims, but the evidence? It drives me batty that a company could have something this special and be so nonchalant about it. If my juice had a story this special, I’d tattoo it on my face. VOSN won’t even put a meaningful blurb on the back of the bottle. They say. “This Lost Barrel is the very last of some of the rarest Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey in existence.” That’s it. This may be the biggest indicator to me that the story I just mentioned isn’t true. It doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t brag about that pedigree if it were true. On the other hand, it is very rare that a whiskey tastes so special that it can freeze time around you. This drink takes me back to sipping sangria on the coast of Calpe. I enjoy taking a sip and then sitting in silence for 5 minutes before going back. I’ve shared this with good friends, and they’ve been taken aback by the quality as well. All of that makes me want to believe so bad that the story I just told you is true. So I will. ‘Tis the season. I’m day-to-day on my whiskey selection, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments. Merry whiskey to all, and to all a beer flight!