"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee is back! For the entire month of March, we're serving up fun articles on bars, clubs and beverages – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars poll and more. Follow along with the #DrinkOnMke hashtag too. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
Almost exactly a year after releasing its first whiskey – a bottled in bond rye from two barrels that had been aging for more than four years – Milwaukee’s Twisted Path Distillery is letting loose its second.
This next batch of rye is available – like the last one – in both bottled in bond (100 proof) and barrel proof. The latter clocks in at 140.5, which is even hotter than last year’s release, which concentrated to 134.2, after hitting the barrel at 120.
On Saturday, March 7, the Bay View distillery will open at 1 p.m. and start selling the whiskey. Warning: last year’s sold out in about six hours, so if you want it, you’d likely better show up a bit earlier than the start time.
The bottled in bond – a blend of barrels 13 and 14 – is selling for $65 for 750ml, and the barrel proof single barrel – number 11 – is $40 for a 375ml bottle. There is no limit.
Owner Brian Sammons says while you’re there, Twisted Path’s bartenders will pour the bottled in bond any way you want it, as long as it’s neat, on the rocks, or in classic Old Fashioneds and Manhattans.
Perfect news since my empty bottle of last year’s barrel 9 just went into the recycling bin this weekend!
I haven’t tasted these new batches yet, so I can’t tell you how they taste, but last year’s were both quite nice and different, depending on which barrel you got. One was spicier, while the other more fruity and floral.
You just might have to go over and find out for yourself.
In related news, Twisted Path also recently released a batch of Chipotle Pink Peppercorn Vodka, if that's more your style.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
