There are lots of things you can get shipped to your house. I think Amazon is actually Skynet in disguise. Their newest offering of one hour delivery of things in your pantry is a little too..instant. What I don’t have a problem with is someone sending me delicious whiskey. I can get these nifty “tasting packs,” that have five 1.5 ounce bottles of different kinds of hooch. Curious about Asian whisky? There’s a pack for that. Feeling a bit like rum instead? There’s a pack for that. Plus, if you find one you like, you can even get the full size bottle later. Sounds pretty straight-forward, right?
The welcome kit the guys at Flaviar.com sent me to test drive their service has an excellent, international selection of whiskies. Irish, Swiss, Japanese, Scotch, and India, all in clearly marked bottles. The packaging is compact, but keeps your treasures safe while they’re making their way to you. With the bottles are two small inserts – one to introduce you to tasting (vs. drinking), another that talks about each sample. The how-to guide suggests inviting a couple of friends over to help taste – or you can keep it for yourself, I won’t judge.
The sample sizes are big enough to give you a good taste of each whiskey. At 1.5 ounces, they’re about the same size as what you’d get in a whiskey bar. Your first kit is $25, which is a mere $5 per sample. I’m pretty sure you won’t find these whiskies for that price. With a subscription, your cost is bumped up to $40. A whopping $8 each. Skip a couple of those pumpkin spiced horrors each week, and have a great whiskey instead. You can trust the guys at Flaviar to just send you their selection each month, or you can switch to another kit. If you decide you like what you’ve had in a previous kit, you can upgrade to the full-sized bottle.
To make your life even easier, Flaviar even offers an app that includes The Flavor Spiral – your own spirits encyclopedia! If you’re out shopping, and want to know more about a particular spirit, Flavor Spiral put over 10,000 bottles at your finger tips. But with great power comes great responsibility – if you use it to be That Guy at the bar, you didn’t hear about Flavor Spiral from me.
What’ve you got to lose? Sign up now!
Plus, if you’re fast, here are the codes to save on your Halloween party adult “treats”:
HALLOPACK15 – 15% off tasting packs / HALLOBOTTLE10 – 10% off bottles.
Here are my tasting notes from two of the samples – I’ll do the other three next time, so stay tuned. Sláinte!
Writers Tears
One of my favorites, Writers Tears is an Irish whiskey, that has plenty of flavor despite its relatively low proof (40% or 80 proof). It’s the light color I’d expect from an Irish whiskey, and has delicious honey-caramel-oak notes. I mostly mix the other Irish whiskey I drink, but not this one!
Nikka Yoichi 10 year
Off to Japan for our next choice. The founder of Nikka studied in Scotland before opening his Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido, where this whisky is still made. The nose is much lighter in peat than the taste, with a little bit of a beef jerky note to it. Tasting it, the peat is wrapped in a blanket of sweetness, that balances it out nicely. Voted Best of the Best by Whisky Magazine in 2001, it’s a great introduction if you’re curious about peated whiskies.
**As noted, Flaviar did provide the first pack to me for my review, but my opinions are my own. If you use the link above, it is an affiliate link, which means that FortheLoveofBooksandAlcohol team and I get a small percentage (shared, not double). Just trying to keep the government folks happy, this is the end of the fine print.**
Article: Jeanne Runkle
