The Rye Whiskey Served At The Finest Parties
An impressive amount of this high-octane rye was consumed at my party, along with LOTS of other booze. (Photo by me)
Lost Lantern’s Far-Flung Rye was my Whisk(e)y Of The Week in Forbes a couple of weeks ago. When I was first sent a sample, along with samples of Lost Lantern’s entire new Midwest Series featuring distilleries from the heartland (or flyover country, depending on where you live I suppose), the publicist who sent them apologized for the fact that they weren’t full bottles. I told her that 50 ml is plenty for me to base a review on (full-sized bottles are 700-750 ml), that my apartment is already overrun with booze, and that there are so few of these babies out there — fewer than 500 bottles of Far-Flung, about 200 bottles each of the others — that I’d feel bad taking one of each out of circulation. “I’ve seen what happens at your apartment,” she replied. “If I could send a full bottle, I absolutely would!”
What happens at my apartment is Drink Tony’s Liquor. Every couple months or so, I invite the cream of NYC’s boozy community — writers, bartenders, brand folks — as well as out-of-towners who happen to be around, to come to my apartment and try to reduce my stash a little, as at this point I have more good booze than I could drink in a lifetime. In that respect, my fests are a failure, as bottles are almost never emptied and a few well-meaning guests wind up bringing stuff for us to try, meaning that by the end of the night my supply has actually increased. But from a standpoint of fun, general bonhomie, and deliciousness tasted (food as well as drink), Drink Tony’s Liquor has been, without exception, a rousing success.
Well, it just so happened that shortly after my review ran, I had another Drink Tony’s Liquor on the books. And over my protestations, I was sent a full bottle of Far-Flung Rye, which I happily put out for consumption. Now, let me preface this observation by telling you there was a lot of booze consumed. Even some of the hardiest livers in the biz were slightly overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of high-octane spirits. And yet, the bottle of Far-Flung Rye, a 120-plus proof cask-strength behemoth, was more than half consumed by evening’s end. And these titans of the industry, people who are veritable founts of knowledge about spirits and cocktails, were asking me, “So what’s the deal with this Lost Lantern stuff?”
If you too would like to know what the deal is with this Lost Lantern stuff, check out my writeup for the good humans at Forbes! Link is -> HERE <-.