Key Points
The rising mercury notwithstanding, I have spent these last few weeks absolutely soaked in this brown spirit of choice for a majority of Indians..
In fact, blended whiskies with pronounced ageing are becoming an extremely popular category, going up against the standard aged single malts and there are two advantages they have over the latterfirstly, they can be priced better, and secondly, and more importantly, blending allows us to arrive at a more amenable and easy-to-appreciate-for-all smoothness and balance in the final taste, whereas a single malt will show more distinction and individuality..
And then we move on to Bourbons where I had a quick but rich interaction with Benji Purslow, the brand-am for Heaven Hill distillery that makes Elijah Craig and Evan Williams Bourbon whiskies..
Elijah Craig was (allegedly) the first person to invent barrel-aged Bourbons (they were mostly unaged white spirits or spirits flavoured with fruits before that, and sure there are other origin stories but lets not split hairs for now.) Today, they make loads of styles and variants (no barrel-finishes though) and even won an award for being sustainable..
Benji also attributed the rising popularity of bourbons like Elijah Craig to the early twenty-noughties when the world moved on from basic whiskey-cola drinks to reviving classics and more delicate cocktails..
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