Is That Cognac No. 5 You're Wearing?

Possible new design trend: liquor vessels that look like giant perfume bottles.

In the past couple months, I've been sent bottles of Collingwood, a new Canadian whisky from Brown-Forman, and Fussigny Cognac XO, which is back on the U.S. market after a few years' absence. I didn't know whether to drink them, or dab a little behind each ear.

Fussigny Cognac was acquired by entrepreneurs Jean-Dominique Andreu and Patrick Giudicelli in 2008, and is now imported to the U.S. by Castle Brands. Fussigny's line consists of Sélection, Supérieur Fine Champagne, and its flagship XO Fine Champagne. The latter is a beautiful, elegant brandy which avoids the sweetness that plagues so many of the leading Cognacs.

Collingwood is Brown-Forman's latest attempt to reinvigorate the Canadian whisky category. The company has raided its vast whiskey holding north of the border to create this blended whisky, then triple-distilled it and finished it by resting it with toasted maplewood. The resultant taste is unusual—smooth, floral, citrusy and toasty, with maplewood very noticeable. 

Nine-Decade Whiskey Flight to Be Sold at Plaza

The nine whiskeys from the Brown-Forman library—dating from the 1930s to the present day—which I wrote about in a previous post, will be sold as a flight at The Rose Club at The Plaza.

The limited-time offering (The Plaza has only one bottle of some of these Bourbons) will be available for the month of February (or while supplies last). The ridiculously low price of the flight is $25—absolutely crazy cheap when you consider that all but three of these bottles are no longer available, and you get 1/2 ounce of each. 

Once again, here's the line-up:

King Blend 1930's
Old Forester 1940's
President's Choice 1950's
Old Forester 86 1960's
Frost 8/80 1970's
Jack Daniel's 1980's
Woodford Reserve Batch #1 1990's
Master's Collection - Seasoned Oak Finish 2000's
Early Times 354 - 2010's

Nine Decades, Nine Whiskies

Prohibition Era whiskey.

Those are three words that will easily secure a spirits journalist presence at a liquor event.

The other day, the folks at Brown-Forman invited a select group of booze journos to taste through a collection of whiskies from their library, the earliest dating from the 1930s. The event was meant as a way to publicize the distillery's latest release—the return to full-Bourbon status of Early Times. (I've written about this everything-old-is-new-again product here.) But the tasting had a historical appeal all its own.

The seven whiskies pulled from the Brown-Forman stores were: King Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the 1930s; Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the 1940s; Old Forester President's Choice Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky from the 1950s; Old Forester 86 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the 1960s; Frost 8/80 Dry White Whiskey from the 1970s; Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 from the 1980s; Woodford Reserve Distillers Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the 1990s; Woodford Reserve Masters Collection Seasoned Oak Finish from the 2000s; and the new/old Early Times, representing the current decade.