Warren Delray

Uncle Nearest Founder and CEO Fawn Weaver is no stranger to Warren American Whiskey Kitchen in Delray Beach.

We had the pleasure of hosting her and her team for a luncheon last year and after speaking with her about the Uncle Nearest Whiskey project and her plans for the future we knew she was highly determined and had a feeling she might be destined to do great things.

We had no idea.

Last week myself and our esteemed GM Wayne finally visited the distillery for their annual “Legacy” tour and we left with an entirely new appreciation of the incredible Uncle Nearest story, the amazing whiskey itself, and the ambition and goals Fawn and her team have for the future and for the town of Shelbyville, Tennessee!

Located on a beautiful, sprawling 428 acre lot about 40 minutes from Nashville this is not your ordinary distillery. And we figured out early on that this was not going to be just another distillery tour.

Long story very short Nearest Green, better known as Uncle Nearest, is the former slave who taught a young Jack Daniel how to distill whiskey. This incredible story has only come to light in recent years and it was our friend, Fawn, who has taken that light and shown it to the world!

Visiting this facility dedicated to Nearest’s legacy was essentially like visiting a “Disneyland” for whiskey drinkers (sound familiar Warren friends and fam? lol) and the scary part is having just opened in 2017 they are truly just getting started.

On the grounds: the distillery, the rick house, a huge gift shop, a speakeasy, a full-service bbq restaurant and perhaps the crown jewel: the longest fully operational bar IN THE WORLD (This has been confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records) with a huge stage and dance floor.

Post Malone and Eddy Vedder recently performed here. Nuff said.

Beyond the delicious and well crafted whiskey, the meticulous and beautiful grounds, the amazing staff and the brand’s incredible legacy we learned one important lesson:

Fawn Weaver doesn’t mess around.

I highly recommend her latest book “Love & Whiskey” if you are intrigued by how this amazing distillery and legacy only recently came to be.

Cheers!

Fitz

Barrell Craft Spirits Founder Joe Beatrice goal was to create an exceptional, forward thinking and innovative whiskey company whose sole focus is finding the finest barrels in the country (and outside of it!) and letting his talented team blend those barrels to immensely flavorful, unparalleled and most unique effect. Mission accomplished. But they’re only getting started!

Countless awards have followed in the past dozen years and many of my favorite and most respected enthusiasts and experts in the industry seem to agree; Barrell Craft Spirits is head and shoulders above all and the leading blenders in the United States. Nobody does blending quite like BCS.

Having hosted Joe and his wife at my Warren Bar in the Warren Whiskey Library I was able to pick his brain about all things bourbon and blending and was fascinated to listen to him discuss leaving his successful previous career to purse his passion for whiskey making, flavor creation and finding the best team of tasters and barrels of whiskey for his brand.

After hosting a second dinner experience with them at Warren and discussing my own interest and fascination for blending, Joe and I had lunch in West Palm and he invited me up to meet his talented team and see if we could replicate what I’ve created on my own with the BCS team at their incredible, state of the art facility in Kentucky.

Once there, I was able to meet his blender, Nic, and his operations director, Tripp, and take a tour of this unique and cavernous facility. From the barrels to the new 6 and 10 thousand gallon mixing tanks to the bottling line it struck me there was one common denominator to it all: only the best of everything will do.

In the lab, Tripp and Nic were able to take my blend to the next level sourcing barrels that replicated my ingredients and flavor profile. A couple of tweaks to the finish and soon the first prototype of “Old Fitzpatrick’s Famous Four Grain” was finished. Wow.

In my 15 years of tasting others on literally hundreds (thousands?) of whiskies and gauging their reactions to different tastes and complementary flavors I finally decided to create a whiskey on my own that would appeal to both bourbon newbies and more seasoned drinkers of the spirit. With the help of the expert team at BCS I believe that I just may have.

I love having the platform at Warren to be able to share my passion of all things brown spirits and talking about whiskey with fellow enthusiasts and introducing newbies to this incredible spirit.

But I kind of like actually making some just as much!

Stay tuned.

I recently took a quick trip up to New York State to visit the exceptional Hillrock Distillery in the heart of the beautiful Hudson Valley!

I had a recent visit from the Master Distiller, Alex Eckstein, at Warren Delray and tasted through some of the amazing samples he brought down from his family’s distillery. Wow. After nerding out on whiskey speak for nearly two hours and tasting some truly exceptional spirits it was even more eye-opening to discover that Alex and his parents produce this amazing spirit 100% on-site.

It is a true farm to glass operation!

With my long-time friend and fellow whiskey nerd, Sean, in-tow we flew up to White Plains and took the hour plus drive to see and experience this exceptional operation. Hillrock grows all of its own grain, malts their own barley, distills and barrels every drop and does all of their own finishing in some amazing Port, Rum, Madeira, PX and Oloroso Sherry casks! Truly artisanal and quite unique for a “Mom & Pop” operation their size.

I would highly encourage whiskey lovers everywhere to take a visit and experience this unique labor of love and enjoy not just Cathy and Jeffry’s (Alex’s parents who are involved in all facets) warm and welcoming hospitality but sit back and sip on some of the best whiskey this spiritual advisor has tasted in the last year!

If you can’t make it up to the distillery and are in South Florida, we’re looking to get the family (who have ties to Palm Beach County) down this Fall for a unique, one night only dinner and tasting experience in the Warren Whiskey Library! (We also currently have lots of HR on hand!)

Stay tuned!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been three years since we opened the doors to Warren American Whiskey Kitchen in Delray Beach and that tens of thousands of patrons have graced us with their presence since!

I somewhat begrudgingly left my happy job in downtown Delray to join the Damn Good Hospitality team and this very unique project because I knew something special was happening in West Delray with DGH and a like-minded group of people. I felt if didn’t I’d regret not being a part of it.

I was correct.

The last three years have been nothing short of amazing. We hit the ground running right out of the gate and haven’t looked back. In fact, looking forward (and forward thinking) is one of the reasons I joined this team. None of the principals or management are ready to rest on their laurels, in fact, just the opposite.

Damn Good Hospitality is a group that is always asking; “what’s next?” “What can we do better?” “What haven’t we thought of?”

It’s that “What if?” mentality I believe that separates us from a lot of our peers in the industry. Appreciating our successes but never always thinking about innovation, how we could be even better and my favorite; where can we go and find the best whiskey in the country and bring it back here?!

That all can be challenging but also a lot of fun and exciting to be a part of. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

In the last three years I’ve had the honor and pleasure to host literally hundreds of guests at my Warren Bar in the beautiful Warren Whiskey Library. Included in that group are many famous distillers, some of the biggest whiskey aficionados in the Southeast as well as some people who simply are intrigued by our favorite brown spirit and want to learn more about it! I enjoy hosting all of them. I’m truly spoiled with great guests!

I am also enthusiastic, happy and passionate to help spread the word about Warren Culture and our love of whiskey, great cuisine and hospitality!

I’ll be headed to our newest venture, the beautiful and second Warren in Naples, FL, today to teach and work with their great staff, do a class for their WCC members, and spread the good word about our amazing and favorite brown spirit as well as the culture that is Warren American Whiskey Kitchen and DGH.

What a life!

What an honor!

Here’s to the future!

Fitz

There is a lot to be thankful for and I’d like to use this blog and forum to send my appreciation to everyone that reads this page, reached out for my recent birthday and sent out lots of warm and wonderful messages.

I am also truly blessed to be able to share some whiskey wisdom with others who are passionate about this truly artisanal and amazing spirit. It is also a blessing that my “office” or platform is the most beautiful Warren American Whiskey Kitchen and the stunning Warren Whiskey Library. Not a bad office indeed and I’ve been honored to host some absolutely amazing spirit journies and experiences with so many!

Speaking of, the next Saturday afternoon whiskey class in the library is coming soon: May 18th at 3pm! This just so happens to also be World Whiskey Day and we will be featuring spirits from many points on the globe: France, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Wales and India!!

Tickets are just $49 for the six tastings and seminars and can be purchased by texting me directly at 561-777-4848 or by visiting the EvenBrite website under Warren Delray events. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

And thank you all again for the birthday love and all of your passion, support and shared wisdom!

Cheers!

Fitz

I’ve spent the last week or so taking a deep dive into the world of Irish whiskey and the famous spirit’s tumultous history and it’s been quite an eye-opening journey.

As a Fitzpatrick, a whiskey connoisseur and a spiritual advisor, I thought I knew Irish whiskey fairly well. And I pretty much did. But what I’ve learned in the last ten days or has really been eye opening!

Irish whiskey was the undisputed spirit champion of the world for many decades in the late 1700s and well into the early 1800s. Through Britain’s vast colonies the Irish had an outlet to sell and share their delicious spirit around the globe and production was at an all-time high that’s not been reached since. (But more about that later).

In 1823 an excise agent, Aeneas Coffey, patented what he called a continuous (or column still). This new invention allowed for whiskey (and other spirits like gin) to be produced faster and in much higher quantities.

When introducing it to his fellow distillers and countryman, however, he received much resistance. Irish distillers were convinced that their method, Pot Still, produced a much richer and higher quality spirit. The problem with Pot Still, though, was that production was slow and done in single batches. Still, the Irish resisted.

The Scots!? Not so much! Many Scotch distillers saw this new invention as revolutionary and embraced it as a way to outpace their island competitior and embraced it immediately. The Coffey still flourished in Scotland and so then did Scotch whiskey! By the turn of the century, the tables had turned.

But Irish whiskey still held its own until two very dramatic events. The Irish Civil War (Or War of Independence) in 1822 cut off their connections to Britain’s global colonial markets and the introduction of Prohibition in America was a tremendous blow to their other major export market.

Steady decline over the next few decades brought the Irish whiskey industry to the brink of oblivion. While once boasting over 100 distilleries (far more if you count the illegal stills) by the 1970s they were down to just two: Bushmills in the North and Midleton in Dublin. To make matters worse, those two merged to create “Irish Distillers” and effectively created a monopoly.

So what changed? What happened?

John Teeling happened. When he created the Cooley Distillery and rebuilt the iconic Kilbeggan Distillery in 1987, Teeling effectively broke the monopoly and paved the way for the emergence of others and the resurgence of a now thriving industry. Jameson and their worldwide marketing campaign played an important part as well in the comeback.

Teeling’s sons, Jack and Stephen, opened the Teeling Distillery in 2015 and became the first new whiskey maker in the former world capital of whiskey in nearly 125 years!! Their innovative style has been a huge success and so has the creativity and marketing savvy of many other new distilleries on the Emerald Isle.

As of this writing, there are over 40 active distilleries in Ireland with over two dozen more in the works! Irish whiskey for the last two decades has become the fastest growing spirit in a whiskey industry that has exploded across the globe.

And so we can all sit back, enjoy and raise a glass and a toast to one of the most amazing comeback stories in business history!

Slainte!

Want to taste the Teeling and know more? I will be holding a class in the vaunted Warren Whiskey Library this Saturday at 3pm! Tickets are still available and are just $39 for six tastings and the seminar. Text me direct at 561-777-4848 to purchase tix with me or you grab a seat on EventBrite under Warren Delray!

Double barrel matured, Double Oaked, Twin Oaked, Toasted Barrel. Are we talking about the same thing? Pretty much. But I’ve never met a toasted barrel whiskey (or any of the above) I didn’t like!

You see, that second barrel delivers a deepness and richness you just can’t quite get with only one barrel. Let me explain…

First, understand that all whiskey gets 100% of its color and 60-70% of its flavor from the wood. (the balance is the mashbill or grain recipe, the water used for cutting and last but not least, the yeast strain involved). And with that, 50% of that flavor and color comes in the first twelve months a whiskey sits in the barrel!

So when you give a whiskey that has aged four, six or however many years in one barrel a new life in a brand new second barrel, naturally all those delicious caramels, vanillas and other flavors become deeper, richer and even more enhanced!! The depth of flavor is simply hard to match!

By law, the first barrel must be flame charred charcoal black on its interior for bourbons. With the secondary barrel, however, there are no rules! (We like no rules! Warren Bar is famous for that! lol). Usually the second barrel is “singed” rather than burned on the inside. That simply means that the flame never hits the interior wood but rather is close enough to turn it a brown, dark brown color rather than the charcoal black of the first barrel. That’s what gives you that beautiful toastiness!

Secondary finishing is a hot trend in whiskey these days as port barrels, cognac casks, old wine barrels, sherry casks and all kinds of previously soaked woods are gaining new life and adding delicious flavors and complexity to more and more whiskeys on the market!

At Warren, your spiritual advisor is here to take you on a tour of these whiskeys and help you understand how each secondary barrel impacts the profile and what exact flavor notes they bring!

Which brings us back to the toasteds! Still my favorite! And not adding new flavors to the spirit but simply enhancing those classic flavors from the original oak! Elijah Craig, Woodford, Michter’s toasted, anyone?

Come see me and I’ll taste you on it and tell you all about it!

Cheers!

Fitz

As we await our six barrels of new whiskey from the vaunted Buffalo Trace Distillery (see last week’s blog) I’m going to continue on discussing some of the whiskey that wet my whistle and made it sing in 2023! It was another great year for special releases and many that are more than affordable!

When we were told some people from Hard Truth Rye wanted to come to Warren and try us on their new sweet mash spirits I was fully expecting it to be the local or regional sales reps. Turned out it was Master Distiller Bryan Smith himself! What a treat. And the whiskey he’s making in Nashville Indiana is even more of a treat.

My favorite, the above pictured Chocolate Malted Rye, is without a doubt one of my favorite surprises in 2023. Using the sweet mash method of distilling he learned from Shane and Pat at Wilderness Trail, Mr. Smith has created one of the most intense, sweet and delicious spirits anywhere. It’s unmistakable dark chocolate tones are apparent on the nose and even more present on the palate. This rich, full-bodied rye has just enough spice (think cinnamon) to complement the rich caramel, butterscotch and vanilla flavors that wind into an incredible deep, long and rewarding finish!

Our team was so impressed with the product from this upstart distillery that two of our partners booked a flight that afternoon to visit the Hard Truth Distillery in Nashville, Indiana! The result? Our very own sweet mash malted rye barrel pick for Damn Good Hospitality! (Which just arrived at the restaurant last week!). It is so good!! I highly recommend to all whiskey fans to visit Warren soon and try a dram! (or two!)

2024 is already off to a great start at Warren but now comes news of perhaps one of the most exciting events ever: The Warren & Pappy Van Winkle Grand Dinner & Tasting!

On Wednesday night, 2/21 and Thursday night, 2/22 our culinary team is curated perhaps their most innovative and delicious menus ever to pair with the following: Old Rip Van Winkle 10, Van Winkle Family Reserve 12 Year “Lot B,” the 13 Year Family Reserve Rye and concluding with Pappy Van Winkle 15, 20 & 23 Year famous straight wheated bourbons.

Pappy Van Winkle whiskey has become a global phenomenon. It doesn’t matter in which country you reside, these bottles have become the most talked about and sought after bottles on the planet Earth!

The Buffalo Trace team will be on hand as well as yours truly to help you taste, appreciate and navigate through these six amazing skewers! How many people can say they have tasted each of these most special and amazing spirits. Bragging rights for sure!

Tickets for this momentous occasion are $1000 for non-WCC members and $750 for members. For more information please call our front desk at Warren at 561-455-4177.

Our next round of 6 Buffalo Trace barrel picks should be on their way to Warren soon and can’t wait until we can share our two new Eagle Rare 10 Years, the new Weller Antique 107 and wait for it…. our second ever barrel of Weller Full Proof 114! (Not to mention 2 new barrels of good ole BT!)

Until then, now is a good time to reflect back on some of the spirits that really caught our attention in 2023. And an amazing way. The above Buffalo Trace Gold represens the only barrel of the much sought after spirit allocated to the entire state of Florida! All ours! Don’t ask us how. 😉

This barrel was most unusual and a surprise because our team did not personally select this particular barrel but left it to Harlan Wheatley and his team to send us a good one. The surprise? It wasn’t just good. It blew everyone’s doors off! (Even those of us who were not necessarily big BG fans). The rich and creamy texture of this spirit reminds me of no other!

Earlier in the year I was told someone from Hard Truth Spirits in Indiana wished to visit with us one afternoon. Expecting a regional sales rep we deiced “why not?” and agreed. But lo and behold, to our surprise, it was the Master Distiller Bryan Smith himself! We were able to sit with Bryan for several hours and taste through the entire range of his creations.

We were so impressed with the bold and delicious flavor and balance of this spirit that Brian and Jeff booked a flight to visit the distillery that afternoon! Of course, we now own our very own barrel of this incredible sweet malt. (Another surprise? When asked why he chose the arduous route of sweet mash, Bryan informed me that he learned how to make whiskey from Shane and Pat at Wilderness Trail!) Wow. Two of our absolute favorite distillers! And my idols. No wonder it’s so good!

One last most pleasant surprise? Knob Creek’s legendary distiller Freddie Noe finally acquiesced and agreed to release a KC straight bourbon older than the classic 9 year! And damn, it did not disappoint. I guess with someone like Freddie I shouldn’t have been so surprised but I’d definitely put this bottle in my list of favorite whiskies tasted in 2023! (About the 15 & 18 year? Stay tuned. More on those two releases later).

Check in next week and I will continue the list of most surprising brown spirits of 2023 and will be announcing some exciting new arrivals for 2024!

Cheers!

Fitz