Seasonal Drinking: Lesser-Known Spirits for the Fall and Winter that Will Hit all the Right Notes

It seems to happen as quickly as the flip of a light switch: suddenly, on the bar cart, I find myself searching more for warmth over refreshment, brown over clear, smooth over sparkling, and red over white. The seasons turn, and I transition from gin and tonic to bourbon on the rocks and stay that way until May (except during winter detours to the Caribbean).

This transition is, of course, a time-honored path most of us follow. However, it can also put you in a rut. That is why, this year, I’ve decided to try something new.

I’m setting the course in the same general direction but with a few subtle modifications: I’ll stroll further down the aisle and pull some brands I haven’t tried before, keep an eye out for something special, and mix up a trickier cocktail.

Here, for inspiration, are three recent finds that will hit all the right notes – a few of which you probably haven’t heard of before.

The tale of the Joseph Magnus triple-cask bottling that has been swirling around the bourbon business for the past decade or so is one of those astonishing albeit hard-to-prove backstories involving an ancient stash, a reverse-engineered recipe, a descendant discovering the fiery passion of his ancestors.

However, given the swath of robust brands from the golden age of American distillation that never reappeared after Prohibition, these stories, although farfetched, are not out of the realm of possibility.
 

The story: Joseph A. Magnus produced his first bottle of whiskey in May 1892. After discovering a niche market for wholesale liquors, he built up a liquor empire based out of Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 26. His flagship label was Murray Hill Club, a higher-end, widely advertised brand.

Fast forward to 2007: Jimmy Magnus, the entrepreneur’s great-grandson, discovers a bottle of 122-year-old Murray Hill Club Whiskey. He then tracks down an unopened bottle of Joseph A. Magnus whiskey, dated May 1892. Enter scientists, a reformulation, and a brand is born.

The operation’s Master Blender, Nancy Fraley, is among the most respected noses in the business. Her resume includes time at Still Austin and consulting on hundreds of other award-winning bottles. She’s also known among the upper echelons for bringing French techniques to the bourbon world.
 

For Magnus, Fraley finishes 12-year-old bourbon in a triple cask process using Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximénez, and Cognac casks. It all happens in Highland Park, Michigan.

I gathered friends to test the $100 bourbon for myself. One can indeed get all the woodsy bourbon goodness from this juice, but there’s a mid-range that bursts with well-integrated flavors delivered from the barrels. There’s also a faint tannic quality from the two sherries, a vinous roundness, and stewed fruits and candy from the Cognac. It’s almost a parlor trick, and it’s delicious.

I sometimes forget that the very name of the behemoth Beam Suntory indicates a global partnership. A new offering from the company embodies this approach (though Scotland, not America, provides the first half).

That first half is Ardray, developed by the company’s Chief Blender for Scotch, Calum Fraser, whose resume includes Laphroaig, Bowmore, and The Macallan, among others. The second half is Suntory’s team of blenders in Japan.
 

The resulting combination is an enticing blended bottling that provides a tasty before-or-after-dinner dram. It’s a successful attempt to marry the two distilling traditions, and this year, it won two World Whiskies Gold Awards – one of which was for taste in the “Blended” category.

Part of the success, I think, is the heat: Ardray Blended Scotch Whisky comes in at 96 proof, giving it a good bit of bite (your basic Dewar’s, for reference, clocks in at 80 proof). But the reason you’ll enjoy having this around as temperatures cool is that its warmth is smartly offset with a light mouthfeel and enticing flavors, both floral and a little herbaceous.

There’s a classic honey note, but stronger still is a creme brulé layer. Above all, hints of stewed apples and pears, the flavors of the holidays, waft in. Classic Japanese whiskies can sometimes have too much finesse, but this one has some force as well.
 

There’s a classic honey note, but stronger still is a creme brulé layer. Above all, hints of stewed apples and pears, the flavors of the holidays, waft in. Classic Japanese whiskies can sometimes have too much finesse, but this one has some force as well.

The company says that Ardray is meant to honor the traditions of Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Suntory, who made his first whisky in 1923. The name itself, Ardray, translates (from Gaelic, I suppose?) to “towards the light,” which is apt, seeing as this light-gold spirit does a nice dance in the glass.

It’s pretty, with a complex nose, walking a middle ground that ought to interest newbies and seasoned Scotch drinkers alike, so long as they aren’t looking for full-tilt smoky peat.
 

And oh, that second Gold Award? Bottle design. It matters less than nearly everything else, but this $90 whisky arrives in a smart, contemporary bottle and, along with what’s inside, will likely get a conversation going.

We’ve written here at Watchonista about the brilliance of Alexandre Gabriel, owner and Master Blender of Maison Ferrand and Stade’s West Indies Rum Distillery. His product line is interesting and accomplished, but, in particular, his limited editions offer rum drinkers a wonderland of pleasures.

Every so often, he releases something especially precious and equally hard to find. So, start hunting right now for the Planteray Rum Jamaica 1984, a 40-year-old 100% pot still rum from the Clarendon Distillery in Lionel Town, Jamaica (est. 1949), selected from a single cask.
 

Jamaica 1984 sat for 35 years on its home island and received five years of finishing in southwest France in ex-Ferrand cognac casks. Such double aging is a trademark of the house. The result has a tremendous depth of ripe fruit flavors and a lovely tannic grip from all the time in wood. The telltale tropical punch notes of Jamaican rum are there, undaunted by the cask-strength 114.4 proof.

This is a special-occasion nip, or, at $1,900, an exceptional holiday gift for an exceptional recipient. It arrives in a bespoke wooden box, each bottle individually numbered (and bearing a little numbered medallion carved from the original cask).
 

Rum aficionados will recognize the “MMW” marque, which stands for Monymusk Wedderburn, indicating both the pot style and, more generally, a properly aged rum. Is all the fanfare gilding the lily? Sure, but what a flower!