The Mystery Whisky of Caesarea

"Labels" generally have a negative connotation attached to them. We tell ourselves not to judge books by the cover yet we always, and usually negatively, seem make snap assumptions at first sight.

A great study at the University of Bordeaux had students who were majoring in Oenology (the study of wine tasting and making) taste two wines: a red and a white. The "red" was the same white wine just with added food coloring. Despite this, the students vividly described the "berries and various tannins" that they tasted in the red. Who said "labels" are only found OUTSIDE of the bottle?

The label on this particular Whisky found in Caesarea, Israel, was its pristine crystal decanter and the rumor that it hailed from the UK and was over 20 years old.

It was delicious. The sensory exploration prior to sipping was nearly as exciting as the first dram.

Whisky tasters are known as "nosers" as a Whisky is almost entirely evaluated by the sense of smell before being sipped.

The color was somewhere between burnished and deep copper.

Swishing the Whisky around the glass produced medium tears on the side of the glass indicating a mid level (40-45%) alcohol percentage.

It lacked the musky barber-shop smell that I usually find off-putting when I uncork a special mystery bottle.

Rather, it was floral scented and had a distinctive grassy aroma with a subtle hint of sage which is characteristic of Lowland Malts .

The taste lived up to its scent with the sweet taste buds at the tip of my tongue activated with the smooth flavor of this mystery Whisky.

Life IS better without labels.

Cinco Bizarre Drinkos De Mayo

You asked for it, and just like most greasy spoon pizza joints WE DELIVER! 5 weird drinks to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. These drinks are so bizarre that they make the weirdest choices on gastro-giants Delish.com, WeirdWorm.com, Skyscanner.net and last but certainly not least BarsAndNightClubs.com! If this is not enough bizarre boozy reading to put the mojo in your Mayo, read about our recent tequila follies!

Here is our rundown:

1. Taking the Number 5 Spot on SkyScanner.net 's 9 Weirdest Alcoholic Drinks list is a frightening Vietnamese Snake Wine! This creepy concoction is produced by infusing whole snakes in grain or rice alcohol. The fermentation process de-fangs the venom, so to speak, as it is no longer toxic. If this is not creepy enough, many bottles are topped off with scorpions. Double shot? We think not! 

2. While not Number 1 on BarsAndNightlubs.com Top 5 Weirdest Alcoholic Drinks List, we agree with Jenna Boister when she calls Baby Mouse Wine the, "most gag-worthy," that she encountered while doing this somewhat reviling research. This bizarre beverage is considered to be a "Health Tonic" by some Koreans and Chinese. Baby mice are put inside the bottle and left to ferment in rice wine. This may be the drink of choice for Garfield to wash down his lasagna, but NO THANKS!

3. Topping that Spirits that Surprise chart at Delish.com we have Bakon Vodka! We have seen bacon chap stick, mayonnaise and nearly every other condiment combination imaginable in the wake of the Epic Meal Time's Epic Success! We have no doubt that this award winning vodka will impress Ceaser dinkers en mass, but don't expect to see this at your next Bar Mitzvah as it has real bacon! Its website proclaims: "Pure. Refreshing. Bacon," and all of the Bakon Vodka awards attest its success!

4. What goes with Beer? Pizza! Right.... well yes, usually. WeirdWorm.com leaves us slightly grossed out, yet slightly curious with their Number 1 spot on their 7 Weird Alcoholic Beverages List: Pizza Beer! This radically brewed ale was created by Tom Athena Seefurth in 2006 with the goal in mind to create the world's first "culinary beer." While no doubt much more delicious than having the piece of crust floating in our playoff pint, we need more research to determine if this beer is, as the its website proclaims, "...so good it deserves a wineglass!"

5. We want the weirdest drink that YOU have heard of! Newfoundland Screech? The mythical toe-shot from Alaska? Send us your entry in the comments section, or tweet us at @WhiskyandWings , we want to hear! Happy Cinco De Mayo

Victorian Rum Diary

It has been a historic, and eventful, trip to British Columbia's sleepy capitol Victoria for this half of the Whisky and Wings team (the other busy depleting Puerto Vallarta's tequila supply).

To kick off this adventure we ignited our BBQ experience with some of the finest limestone water filtered bourbon from Kentucky: 12 year old Elijah Craig. This fierce firewater came from none other than Rael Katz, another whisky enthusiast who knows a how to separate the drams from the dregs.

In Rael's words: "

I found the bottle of 12yr old Elijah Craig in Seattle several weeks ago. I am well aware of the limited selection of Bourbons we have in Canada and knew I should take advantage of my stay in Seattle.

Initially what attracted me to the Bourbon was the bottle and it's eloquent look. I also wanted a bottle that was fairly reasonably priced and Elijah Craig was just this. At approximately $30USD (which is a great price for a Canadian!) EC was a smooth and very flavourful glass of Bourbon.

Call it personal biases or not but the drink went down mch better with a few rocks in the bottom of the glass. But even neat, this is a fine drink.
As most drinks go, the 18yr old batch is said to be slightly better than their 12yr old batch, but this claim is still to be tested by our team of experts. Until then, stick with the 12yr old bottle and you won't regret it!"

How To Drink Your Own Whisky On A Plane

In this life there will always be hidden secrets and myths. There are stories from Native American Indians, the Aboriginal Dreamtime, Korea, India and many other countries. Explore such things, and you will find out how the Kangaroo got his tail, how Coyote created the human being and what happened to the ungrateful tiger.

Today we delve into the profound and elusive world of in-flight drinking culture; a culture that is veiled in myth and mystery. Not even a word, a paragraph or even a book could encompass all there is to know about the human fascination with high altitude alcohol consumption. What is certain is that information is the key to maximizing your in-flight drinking experience.

Many of you who are reading this may have heard of the infamous "mile high" club and other crude and often vulgar stunts humans have attempted in-flight. We are not in the business of promoting such behaviour. The following paragraph explains a proven, little known and unadvertised procedure on how to drink your own alcohol on a plane in a civilized manner.

The procedure is simple. Buy a bottle of any whisky you wish duty free. Upon boarding the plane take a survey of the stewards/stewardesses working. Find the one that looks most amicable and easy going. Confidently take them aside and tell them you would like him/her to open the bottle of whisky and serve it to you with ice at your behest. They will assert that that the consumption must be kept to a respectable level. Oblige them. Be cooperative. Prove yourself as the harmless lush looking to make the best of their in-flight experience.

I was informed of this procedure by an Israeli whisky guru who I had the pleasure of meeting while flying into an Arab country (Jordan). I have successfully done this on many international flights since.

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YAMAZAKI: The Worlds Best Single Malt Whisky?

When one thinks of Single malt whisky, Japan is often the last country that comes to mind. Or is it? Japan is actually the second biggest producer of single malt whisky in the world. And according to Whisky Magazine, Japanese whisky continued its dominance of World Whiskies Awards this 2012; with Suntory scooping one of the top titles and Nikka securing the blended malt title for the fourth year running. Who knew?

The Japanese have excelled at not only distilling whisky, but also putting it on the map as a global front runner along side countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, USA and Wales. The World Whiskies Awards is open to proprietary bottlings and exists to inform and educate consumers throughout the world about whisky.


Some have rated it from superb to mediocre. In terms of price, between 2009 and 2012 the price of each bottle has ranged from 700 to 1100 dollars a bottle! Chris Bunting, author of the book Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments gave the following review:

 Nose: like a nice breakfast with a hangover - rich jams and Weetabix, with the heavy wines and ports from the night before still on the breath. In the mouth, you are immediately manhandled by dark jams, red wines and tannins. There is a lot of vanilla and wood in there with a delicious memory of quietly opening my mother's kitchen cupboard for a twisted spoonful of Lyle's black treacle. Later on, it dries in the mouth. Some very good judges of whisky have been underwhelmed by this Yamazaki. I enjoyed it.

Yamazaki, the name makes the decision for you!

Risky Whisky: Can YOU Stomach this $250,000 Dalmore '62 ?

In a very informative article highlighting nearly everything one needs to know about unopened bottles of whisky and their values, Darcy O'Neil distills in the reader some interesting points. Later we discuss the momentous sale of the Dalmore '62 bottle!

Arab Dictators - Totalitarian Whisky

Because of its position as a status symbol, whisky holds a strange but special place for dictators and totalitarians. Johnnie Walker is one of the most accessible whiskies in some of the most inaccessible places in the world.

Whisky is the favourite drink of the late Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian authority. Saddam Hussein, also known as the butcher of Baghdad, had a fondness for whisky and cigars despite praying and reading the Koran. Colonel Gaddafi’s favourite tipple was the old Johnnie Walk, when he was not being toppled.



The leaked cables by wiki-leaks expressed King Saleh Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as have having concerns about drugs and weapons smuggled from nearby Djibouti. Then he was joking that he is not concerned about whisky being brought into the Islamic republic, “provided it’s good whisky.”