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I thought of Wahalla when I read this 
THE humid streets of Waco, Tex., may not have much in common with the misty glens of Scotland, home to some of the world’s best malt whiskeys.
Not much, that is, until last month, when a single-malt whiskey from the Balcones Distillery in Waco bested nine others, including storied Scottish names like the Balvenie and the Macallan, in a blind panel of British spirits experts.
It was the first time an American whiskey won the Best in Glass, a five-year-old competition to find the best whiskey released in a given year.
Balcones, said Neil Ridley, one of the organizers, is everything you’d expect from a young American: brash, robust and full of flavor. “It was like putting a New World wine against an Old World chateau,” he said.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. American whiskey is all about corn and rye; malted barley, the primary grain in the Scotch variety, traditionally plays a minor role in bourbon recipes. And single malts have long been considered an exclusive province of Scotland.
But suddenly, American malted whiskeys — most of them single malts — are popping up, some to loud acclaim. “There’s been a wave this year,” said Sean Josephs, a co-owner of Char No. 4, a restaurant in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, that features a bar flush with domestic and imported whiskeys.
Four years ago, when Mr. Joseph helped open the place, just a few oddball American single malts were available. The past year’s arrivals include Pine Barrens, a whiskey made by Long Island Spirits, on the island’s North Fork, and Leviathan, produced by the Lost Spirits Distillery outside Salinas, Calif. “They’re pushing the convention forward about what American whiskey is.”
The rest here
THE humid streets of Waco, Tex., may not have much in common with the misty glens of Scotland, home to some of the world’s best malt whiskeys.
Not much, that is, until last month, when a single-malt whiskey from the Balcones Distillery in Waco bested nine others, including storied Scottish names like the Balvenie and the Macallan, in a blind panel of British spirits experts.
It was the first time an American whiskey won the Best in Glass, a five-year-old competition to find the best whiskey released in a given year.
Balcones, said Neil Ridley, one of the organizers, is everything you’d expect from a young American: brash, robust and full of flavor. “It was like putting a New World wine against an Old World chateau,” he said.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. American whiskey is all about corn and rye; malted barley, the primary grain in the Scotch variety, traditionally plays a minor role in bourbon recipes. And single malts have long been considered an exclusive province of Scotland.
But suddenly, American malted whiskeys — most of them single malts — are popping up, some to loud acclaim. “There’s been a wave this year,” said Sean Josephs, a co-owner of Char No. 4, a restaurant in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, that features a bar flush with domestic and imported whiskeys.
Four years ago, when Mr. Joseph helped open the place, just a few oddball American single malts were available. The past year’s arrivals include Pine Barrens, a whiskey made by Long Island Spirits, on the island’s North Fork, and Leviathan, produced by the Lost Spirits Distillery outside Salinas, Calif. “They’re pushing the convention forward about what American whiskey is.”
The rest here
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