The Alchemy of Absence

Issue No. 112 — July 16, 2026

Your daily discovery of 8 exceptional wines and spirits

In This Issue

Bourbon Scotch Whisky Irish Whiskey Tequila Gin Rum Red Wine White Wine

Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Brand: Rabbit Hole

Distillery: Rabbit Hole Distillery

Proof: 95 (47.5% ABV)

Age: NAS

Color: Pale gold with honeyed edges

MSRP: $50–$65

Mash Bill: 70% Corn, 10% Malted Wheat, 10% Honey Malt, 10% Malted Barley

Barrel Type: New charred American oak (Char #3)

Wheated: Yes

Nose: Opens with fresh honeycomb and baked pear, followed by a wave of shortbread and light vanilla. A subtle corn sweetness underpins everything, with wisps of dried chamomile and soft wheat.

Palate: Silky entry with butterscotch and toasted wheat, moving into gentle baking spices and a thread of caramel. The mouthfeel is notably soft, almost pillowy, with a faint nuttiness emerging mid-palate.

Finish: Medium length, closing on vanilla wafer and a whisper of oak tannin. Clean and uncluttered.

Bourbon Kit Aromas: Vanilla, Butterscotch, Wheat, Corn, Oak

The Verdict: Rabbit Hole's four-grain mash bill, heavy on malted wheat and honey malt, creates a bourbon that's about texture as much as flavor. It's a study in what happens when you engineer smoothness without sacrificing character. An excellent sipping bourbon for those who find rye-forward profiles too aggressive.

Classification: Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Brand: Auchentoshan

Distillery: Auchentoshan Distillery

Proof: 86 (43% ABV)

Age: 18 Year

Color: Burnished amber with copper glints

MSRP: $100–$130

Region: Lowland

Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley

Distillation: Triple distilled in copper pot stills

Maturation: Aged 18 years in a combination of American oak bourbon casks and Spanish oak oloroso sherry casks

Cask Type: Ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry casks

Peat Level (PPM): 0

Chill-Filtered: Yes

Nose: Rich dried apricot and orange marmalade over a bed of toasted oak and vanilla cream. A subtle floral lift — almost rosewater — emerges with time, alongside a gentle honeyed sweetness.

Palate: Rounded and elegant, with dried fruit and milk chocolate giving way to hazelnut and a soft butteriness. The triple distillation delivers remarkable purity, letting each flavor stand in clear relief.

Finish: Long and gently drying, with lingering notes of toasted almond and faint orange peel. The absence of smoke lets the wood and fruit have the final say.

Whisky Kit Aromas: Dried Fruit, Vanilla, Orange, Nut (Hazelnut), Honey, Floral (Rosewater)

The Verdict: Auchentoshan's triple distillation strips away heaviness and congeners, creating a whisky defined by what's been removed. At 18 years, this approach yields extraordinary elegance — delicate but never thin, complex but never muddled. A masterclass in Lowland refinement.

Classification: Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Brand: Waterford

Distillery: Waterford Distillery

Proof: 100 (50% ABV)

Age: NAS

Color: Bright straw gold

MSRP: $75–$95

Mash Bill: 100% Irish-grown malted barley (Rathclogh farm, single origin)

Distillation: Double distilled

Maturation: Predominantly first-fill American oak bourbon barrels with a portion in French oak

Chill-Filtered: No

Nose: Bright barley grain leads, followed by meadow grass and white peach. Underneath, there's honeycomb, a faint floral lift, and a mineral quality that suggests wet stone after rain.

Palate: Clean and crystalline, with green apple and fresh-cut grass giving way to vanilla custard and a hint of almond. The texture is medium-bodied and precise, each flavor arriving in sequence rather than colliding.

Finish: Moderately long, with lingering barley malt and a return of that stony minerality. A whisper of clove spice at the very end.

Whiskey Kit Aromas: Malt, Green (Cut Grass), Peach, Honey, Almond

The Verdict: Waterford's terroir-driven philosophy strips away everything except the barley and its origin. No peat, no unusual cask finishes, no blending across farms — just the expression of a single field rendered through malt. This second edition from Rathclogh farm shows increased depth and confidence over the first release.

Classification: Reposado, 100% Blue Weber Agave

Brand: La Gritona

Distillery: Destiladora El Pandillo

Proof: 80 proof (40% ABV)

Age: 8 months in ex-American whiskey barrels

Color: Pale straw with faint green highlights

MSRP: $45

Agave: 100% Blue Weber Agave, sourced from the Highlands of Jalisco, cooked in stainless steel autoclaves

Cooking Method: Agave is cooked in autoclaves, milled, fermented with proprietary yeast in stainless steel, and double-distilled in stainless pot stills with copper coils. Rested approximately 8 months in ex-American whiskey barrels. Bottled in distinctive recycled green glass with hand-numbered labels.

NOM: NOM 1533

Additives Free: Yes

Nose: Bright cooked agave leads, followed by wet river stone, lime zest, white pepper, and a whisper of vanilla. Grassy and clean, with none of the oak-forward sweetness common to the category.

Palate: Silky and medium-bodied, with cooked agave at the core wrapped in citrus pith, green herbs, and a mineral salinity. Subtle vanilla and a light peppery warmth emerge midpalate, but the wood remains a quiet supporting player.

Finish: Dry, savory, and lingering — chalky minerality, lime peel, and a faint anise note that fades slowly without heat.

Tequila Kit Aromas: Agave (Cooked), Citrus (Lemon, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit), Earth (Mineral, Soil Notes), Pepper, Vanilla, Grass

The Verdict: A reposado that refuses to shout — Melly Barajas lets the agave and terroir carry the conversation. Understated, elegant, and one of the great values in agave spirits.

Classification: London Dry Gin

Brand: Fifty Pounds

Distillery: Thames Distillers (Charles Maxwell)

Proof: 87.6 (43.8% ABV)

Age: NAS

Color: Crystal clear

MSRP: $30–$40

Style: London Dry

Botanicals: Juniper, Coriander, Angelica Root, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel, Liquorice, Savory

Base Spirit: Neutral grain spirit

Distillation: Single-shot distillation in a small copper pot still (300-bottle batches)

Nose: Classic juniper leads firmly, backed by citrus peel — lemon and orange in equal measure. A subtle coriander warmth and faint violet emerge underneath, with a clean, almost austere minerality.

Palate: Juniper-forward and unapologetically dry. The mid-palate broadens with coriander seed, angelica root earthiness, and a hint of liquorice. Citrus zest stitches the botanicals together without overwhelming them.

Finish: Clean and crisp, with lingering juniper pine and a peppery warmth. Nothing overstays its welcome.

Gin Kit Aromas: Juniper (Pine), Lemon, Orange, Coriander, Angelica

The Verdict: In an era of elaborate botanical lists and flavored gins, Fifty Pounds goes the other direction — a small number of botanicals, distilled in deliberately small batches to keep the spirit focused and precise. Named for the punitive £50 tax imposed on gin production in 1736, this gin's restraint is both its philosophy and its strength.

Classification: Single Blended Rum (Pot & Column Still)

Brand: Foursquare

Distillery: Foursquare Distillery

Proof: 112 (56% ABV)

Age: 16 Year

Color: Deep mahogany with amber edges

MSRP: $90–$120

Base Ingredients: Barbados molasses

Distillation: Blend of pot still and column still distillates

Nose: Rich toffee and dark chocolate open the nose, followed by dried fig and leather. Toasted oak provides structure, while a whisper of orange peel and coconut add brightness. No cloying sweetness — just depth.

Palate: Full-bodied and commanding, with muscovado sugar and coffee leading into dried fruit and tobacco. The pot still component delivers weight and funk, while the column still provides elegance. A streak of vanilla runs through the mid-palate.

Finish: Extraordinarily long, with roasted cocoa, leather, and a slow fade of oak tannin. The proof carries flavor rather than heat.

Rum Kit Aromas: Toffee, Chocolate, Dried Fruit, Leather, Oak, Vanilla

The Verdict: Richard Seale's Exceptional Cask Selection series is a benchmark for unadulterated aged rum. Shibboleth — the word itself means a test of belonging — asks whether you can recognize quality without sugar, coloring, or marketing. Sixteen years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, bottled at cask strength with nothing added. The answer is in the glass.

Classification: Regnié AOC

Brand: Domaine Marcel Lapierre

ABV: 12.5%

Primary Varietal: Gamay

Blend: 100% Gamay

Vineyards: Lieu-dit selections across Regnié cru, granite soils at 300-400m elevation

Maturation: Semi-carbonic maceration, wild yeast fermentation, no added sulfur, no fining or filtration

Color: Translucent ruby with violet rim

MSRP: $22–$30

Nose: Bursting with fresh cherry and crushed raspberry, alongside a violet floral note and a whisper of granite dust. No oak influence at all — just pure, unadorned fruit.

Palate: Light-bodied and electric, with bright cherry and a subtle peppery spice. The tannins are barely-there, replaced by a vibrant acidity that lifts the fruit. A faint earthiness anchors the mid-palate without weighing it down.

Finish: Short to medium, clean and refreshing, with lingering berry and a mineral echo.

Wine Kit Aromas: Cherry, Berry (Generic), Violet, Floral (Rose)

The Verdict: The Lapierre family pioneered natural winemaking in Beaujolais, and their Regnié bottling is a pure expression of that philosophy — no added sulfur, no commercial yeast, no new oak. It's a wine defined by what it refuses to include. The result is Gamay at its most transparent, a wine that tastes like the granite hillside it came from.

Classification: Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Cru Communal Clisson AOC

Brand: Domaine de la Pépière

ABV: 12%

Primary Varietal: Melon de Bourgogne

Blend: 100% Melon de Bourgogne

Vineyards: Old vines on granite soils in the Clisson Cru Communal, Loire Valley

Vinification: Hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed, wild yeast fermentation in underground tanks, extended sur lie aging, no malolactic fermentation, no oak

Color: Pale straw with greenish tints

MSRP: $20–$28

Nose: Crushed seashell and wet stone dominate, with lemon zest and green apple providing understated fruit. A faint yeasty note from the extended lees contact adds depth without richness.

Palate: Bone-dry and taut, with citrus pith, green apple, and a saline minerality that evokes the Atlantic coast. The texture has surprising weight from sur lie aging, but never tips toward creaminess. A hint of gooseberry emerges on the second sip.

Finish: Long for the category, with persistent mineral and citrus notes. The finish is the wine's signature — it keeps going when you expect it to stop.

Wine Kit Aromas: Citrus (Generic), Apple (Green), Gooseberry, Green (Cut Grass)

The Verdict: Muscadet is the ultimate wine of absence. No malolactic fermentation, no new oak, no residual sugar, no aromatic grape variety to hide behind — just Melon de Bourgogne and its terroir. Marc Ollivier's Clisson bottling, from granite soils with mandatory extended aging, proves that austerity and complexity are not opposites. This is one of the great values in French wine.

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Robert R. Mohr, CPA, CGMA, WSET Level 3, WSG Certified Spirits Specialist — author of America's Spirit, Scotland's Spirit, Ireland's Spirit, The Ultimate Northern Italian Wine Journey, The Tequila y Mezcal Revolution, The Definitive Pocket Guide to Chablis, The Definitive Pocket Guide to the Côte d'Or, and Strategic Tuning. Published author of the Aroma Academy Tequila/Mezcal and Distiller's training kits.

The Still & The Vine is a daily publication of the School of Wine and Spirits.

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