Drink the Bottles

  About two months ago, Heaven HIll Distillery announced an additiont to their limited edition whiskey lineup - Grain to Glass expressions finished in Chinquapin Oak barrels.  The innaugural release offered a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and a Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey, all with the Beck's 6225 grain backbone.  Chinquapin Oak is a specific type of American white oak, found primarily in Central and Eastern North America.  We have a bottle of the "normal" HH Grain to Glass Bourbon in our home bar and we really enjoy that one, so we were really stoked to taste the three expressions that were generously provided by Heaven Hill back to back. The Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey has a dark brown, almost aged copper appearance and it carries a mash bill of Rye (63%), Corn (24%) and Malt (13%).  The bottle suggests this is a 7 year age stated whiskey by the bottled and released years, but specific dates aren't provided...

Today I want to explore the wine glass industry and whether or not different styles of wine glasses are really that  important in how you smell, taste and enjoy your wine.  For many years, I purchased dozens of different styles of wine glasses, from port to Champagne, to Cabernet, to Riesling, to............well, you get the point.  Why did I do this?   While I'm still asking myself this question, at the time, as a fledgling wine writer, it made sense to me.  I mean, in literally every wine publication I read or web site I visited, including forums, were ads for beautiful, lead-free crystal wine glasses that were the "best" for enhancing my wine enjoyment experience.   Well heck, these people must know much more than I do, so I better get them all!  (Or so I thought). So why do we buy so many styles of wine glasses?  Or maybe a better question is, why do the larger wine glass companies create and market so many styles of wine ...