Results for: "Faultline"

There's no question in my mind that the most rewarding aspect of my job is the ability to create products for my customers that I truly love. When I first took over buying spirits at K&L, we already had a few store labels on the wine side, but at that time spirits was just a tiny blip on the radar, and considering purchasing enough product to merit a store brand was nearly unthinkable. But in a true “if you build it, they will come” spirit, we began traveling to Scotland and finding parcels of Scotch and rum that we simply couldn't leave behind. My colleague at the time, David Driscoll, and I spent hours driving around Scotland, ideating on what to call the new brand. We wanted something that connected our stores and also exemplified our commitment to doing things differently from our competitors. We wanted to show that we were not simply merchants, but curators and creators of the world's best products. The name Faultline fit that ethos perfectly. It has since become a somewhat legendary label, producing everything from inexpensive blended Scotch to absinthe, gin, old rum, and everything in between. The brand became more and more difficult to curate as the demand for great spirits exploded, stocks dwindled, and prices soared, but the tides do shift quickly in the world of wine and spirits. We're now entering a new era for spirits and K&L. We've opened a store in New York, what I consider an earth-shattering achievement, and we've begun to locate stocks of incredible value once again. We've also entered a new era for our department, with a new generation of exciting visionaries taking the reins to produce exceptional products like this. Candidly, it wasn't entirely easy for me to relinquish control of this special label. I've been intimately involved in nearly every expression we've ever put into bottle, but we couldn't have found a more capable and deserving steward of this great brand than the wonderful Stephanie Manning. I also cannot completely express in words just how much energy it takes to create a product like this from the ground up, and creating one with such incredible style and quality is next to impossible. This ridiculously wonderful rye whiskey is truly the single-handed work of one person. I'm certain that Stephanie would insist that I played some role in the creation of this product, but she'd be doing so out of politeness more than anything else. So now the most rewarding moment in my career is seeing this beautiful brand given a new chapter by the wonderful people I work with. I can sit back and simply enjoy it! A true gift from a great friend. So let's go! The color is a simply stunning mahogany (1.6). The nose starts tight but opens quickly into territories previously uncharted. There's something about experiencing a new flavor profile like this that is at once exhilarating and off-putting. Sometimes I forget I haven't tried EVERYTHING out there. The deep, dried plummy fruit couples perfectly with the dark rye spice and tense, almost wild earthiness. This is the “Sir Davis” recipe from MGP, but we're in a world apart from that whiskey. Expect a full-throttled cascade of aromatics: toasted pecans, stone fruit compote, cola nut, balsa wood, allspice, wildflower honey, birch, and coconut husk. On the palate, it's perfectly vibrant and balanced, with dense, jammy sweetness cut through the center by dark herbal rye, woodsy exotic spice, and a lifted early hint of new leather. It's simply delicious and unique without being weird or overtly odd in any way. The only problem with this one is we'll likely never be able to recreate it precisely, nor would we ever want to. The fleeting nature of any special product adds so much to its allure. All I can say is bravo, Stephanie, and thank you!

The secret history behind K&L Faultline Indiana Bourbon is one of my most prized memories as a buyer at K&L. Nearly two decades ago, when we first began to deploy a larger-scale strategy for K&L's spirits department, my colleague David Driscoll and I were determined to launch a store label. For years, K&L had sold wine under several private brands, but we had never done the same with spirits. We did not want to simply repackage other people's goods as our own. We would seek out the very best products we could find and bottle them under a label that exemplified our commitment to doing things better. We were drawing a line in the sand, making clear that nothing less would ever go into this special new label. If we couldn't get the quality and price we wanted from our suppliers, we'd create our own products that met the highest standards possible. And thus, Faultline was born. It was a seismic shift in how spirits retailers operated at the time. The name was a tip of the hat to the very real fault lines running beneath our California stores, connecting them in both geological and metaphysical terms. After the success of our first batches of Cognac, gin, single malt, and rum, we knew we had to put a bourbon together. It was not so easy to buy barrels in bulk in those days. While there are old stories of fine MGP rye stocks being offered at ridiculously low prices, the bourbons had already become dear. So when my friend John Little sent us a huge set of samples of great 10- and 7-year-old MGP for Smooth Ambler's single barrel program, I asked how many we could have. He said there were no real limits. After tasting through the set and liking several barrels, but loving none of them, I dumped my samples into a glass to see what would happen. A sort of magic spell was cast at that moment. The beauty of blending revealed itself to me right before my eyes, or more accurately, my nose. Together, the two whiskies simply sang, without any effort or real work. It was an epiphany. With a world of possibilities now open, we began tinkering and blending the lot, selecting certain 10- and 7-year-old barrels and carefully bringing them down to 100 proof. The resulting blend would become a staple on our shelves for the next half decade. But with the sale of Smooth Ambler to Pernod Ricard in 2017, our source dried up. That, in conjunction with the unprecedented bourbon explosion, tabled Faultline Bourbon for many years to come. Now, nearly 10 years later, the cycle begins again: amazing bourbon, available at incredible prices, blended to the flavor profile we have always loved. This rich and complex bourbon does what mature high-rye bourbon can do so well. It melds the sweetness of corn and oak sugars perfectly with the deep, satisfying spice of the barrel. The whole thing is tied up neatly with a bow of beautiful rye character, while the slow proofing we employ adds texture and depth throughout. You might argue about the nuances of this batch or that, but nothing can dethrone Faultline Bourbon as the king of K&L's bourbon shelves.

The 2019 Faultline Vineyard is composed mainly of Cabernet Franc and Merlot with a small portion of Cabernet Sauvignon. Matured for 18 months in 70% new French oak, it has intense aromas of red and black currants, tobacco and bay leaves, aniseed and dried flowers. The full-bodied palate features concentrated, detailed, spicy flavors. It’s structured by plush tannins and seamless acidity and has a long, flavorful finish. (EB)