12/7/2023 0 Comments Astor wines and spiritsWe also have a sister company called Astor Center. We do a lot of promotions, which requires a heavy amount of planning, sometimes 6 to 10 months in advance. We need to maintain a competitive edge, because it’s an incredibly competitive market. We keep track of vintages for all those wines, we do the buying, we track inventory of what's selling or not, and we keep track of what everyone else is doing. There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of time in front of the computer, communicating and disseminating information to sales staff, which is very important because they’re the ones in contact with clients. What other tasks are included in the job? I have three assistants who help me, one helps me taste, another is more administrative, and another focuses more on spirits. We carry about 3000 different wines and 1500 spirits, and I oversee all the purchases. I became the head buyer less than five years after that. The same job was open again at Astor, and I returned to it less than a week before September 11. Having that “full circle” experience of wine is very important. Had it been a pristine vintage, I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much. I worked the 2000 harvest in Germany, which was an awful vintage. I had an opportunity to go with my husband to Europe, who was doing research for his PhD in Berlin. His first love remains whiskey, but he is partial to tequila, rum, gin, cognac, and all things distilled.How did you gain practical experience in wine? His work has appeared in many different national outlets covering trends, new releases, and the stories and innovators behind the spirits. Jonah Flicker is an experienced writer who has been covering spirits and traveling the world, visiting distilleries to taste and discover for many years. Of course, try these whiskies on their own, too, to truly get familiar with their character. Depending on the bottle, you can also use Japanese whisky in classic whisky cocktails, such as the old-fashioned or Manhattan. In fact, the Japanese highball is a simple drink that is very popular in Japan, a combination of whisky, soda water, and a slice of lemon or citrus peel. You can definitely use Japanese whisky in cocktails. Overall, the style of Japanese whisky runs the gamut, from peated to sherry cask-influenced, to light and floral. As it stands now, some bottles include whisky imported from other countries into the blend, but these are starting to be labeled as world whiskies. Recently, regulations have been put into place which should become law over the next few years to properly define Japanese whisky. How is it different from other types of whisky? Blending is very important in Japanese whisky, as many distilleries make different types of whisky which are married together by the master blender before bottling. Single malts and blends are the main styles made, using pot and column stills and aged in a variety of barrel types, including ex-bourbon barrels, sherry casks, and Japanese mizunara oak. Japanese whisky is most similar to scotch whisky in terms of its production methods. Some Japanese whisky is made from rice or corn sometimes it can be a blend of malted barley, rice, and/or corn, depending on the preference of the distillery. This can lend a smoky taste with a lighter flavor profile. Japanese whisky is made from malted barley, which can be peated, borrowing some techniques used in Scottish whisky. That latter, Mizunara, is native to Japan and, therefore, can contribute to the flavor of Japanese whisky, too. Other times they have been aged in Mizunara oak, which imparts something of a sandalwood flavor. Some of them have had bourbon, or at times, they use sherry casks. Most Japanese whiskies are aged in wood casks. It ranges from a pale gold, almost straw-like color, to a rich amber. Japanese whisky can be lighter in color, typically, than other whiskeys you may have encountered before, such as Scotch whisky. For a good bet under $50, try the Mars Shinshu Iwai Japanese Whisky. If you can snag a bottle, you won’t be disappointed. It’s aged in a combination of cask types, resulting in a fruity, spicy, and oaky single malt whisky that is best sipped on its own. Yamazaki 12-Year-Old Single Malt Japanese Whisky isn’t exactly a cheap bottle of Japanese whisky, but it’s arguably the best.
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