Treasure Hunting in the Berkshires

We went to visit our friend Mickey, who has moved to Albany so his family can care for him. He's the one with ALS who persuaded Major League Baseball to get behind the idea of supporting ALS research because, after all, it's Lou Gehrig's disease. In any event, we weren't far from the Berkshires, so we paid a visit to our friends in Great Barrington.

Because it was a rainy day, and we were mostly going to sit around eating, as always, Andy took me on a field trip -- a tour of Berkshire liquor stores. We visited Domani's in Great Barrington, which carries a nice and varied inventory of all spirits, including an OK selection of malts. Better than average, but nothing really unique or special. Only after we had left did Andy mention that the owner has an upstairs room, with fancy wines and spirits, and probably some pretty nice malts that we didn't get to see. Next time.

Before returning home, Andy drove me to South Egremont, a town of some 16 or 18 residents, where we had eaten dinner once, and where they have a modest looking liquor store called the Spirit Shoppe. That's the English spelling, and maybe it should have been a clue. The place is tiny, and the inventory of spirits modest, so at first it seemed as though we had driven all the way to South Egremont for nothing. But then Andy pointed out the glass cabinet, and I noticed that both the cabinet, and the shelves beneath it, and even the shelves next to it, were stocked with a remarkably varied inventory of malts. After shopping in Federal, I'm not easily impressed with a whisky inventory, but I have to say that these guys, out in the middle of nowhere, caught my attention. They had a fine collection of high end stuff, many whiskies thirty years of age and up, including HP30, reputedly the world's finest whisky, Macallan 30 for several wheelbarrows of cash, a Bruichladdich at 30 plus, and I can't remember what else.

But aside from the eye-catching big numbers, the Spirit Shoppe stocked a wide collection of unusual malts. Just for example, they had three age statements of Jura. Now Jura is not a whisky one sees every day; in fact, there are very few days when one ever sees Jura. It's not one of Scotland's stars, but it's a pretty good malt, and a bit distinctive besides. And to have three age statements, very impressive. There were a number of private bottlings, always a good sign that you're in a better than average whisky store. And there were a number of malts one doesn't see every day, even if they were not big favorites. The owner told us that he often has as many as 200 different malts on sale, although he claimed that his inventory had fallen over the summer, so that he had no more than 85 in stock at that time. He says the current inventory can be viewed at spiritshoppe.com. So check it out.

After much deliberation, I settled on a couple bottles. They had Ballechin no. 2, for the very reasonable price of $99.99. Now I know that I had just picked up a bottle of Ballechin no. 2, courtesy of G-man, but I've decided that when I have a chance to buy whiskies that are no longer produced, I'm buying. Imagine if I had bought all the Hirsch I could have a few years back. Or the first edition of Bruichladdich 15? It's like when we picked up those Talisker 175s last summer for a song, and they're now selling in Union Square for almost $400 a bottle. So an extra bottle of Ballechin can sit in the basement, and wait for the perfect occasion to open it up, and pour out a few drams. In addition, I got a Macphail bottling of Bunnahabhain 14. Very very nice. Wonderful nose, and big, full flavor - much more flavor than the 12. Not as smooth as the 18, and it lacks that luxurious texture that makes the 18 so unique. But still, a distinctive malt, and a great find for our Saturday morning field trip in the Berkshires.

Some people travel all over hell to buy antiques, which to my mind are just someone else's junk that happens to be real old. Other people drive up to the Berkshires so they can look at leaves. That's nice, but what's wrong with the leaves in your back yard? Me, I travel to new places to see what whisky they have on sale. It's kind of like the antique thing, except after we find the old whisky, then we take it home and drink it. With friends. What's better than that?