A Spirited New Year’s Day

(Original Caption) Palm Springs, California: President Ronald Reagan relaxes and takes in little … [+] football on New Year’s Day at his residence on the Walter Annenberg Estate in Palm Springs, Ca. The president is shown watching the Fiesta Bowl on television, where USC and Penn State are doing battle on the grid iron in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by © Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive)

Bettmann Archive

So entrenched is the tradition that one should pop the cork of a sparkling wine at midnight New Year’s Eve, that there’s no sense is suggesting a wonderful new whiskey, gin, tequila, Port or other spirit at that hour. I will go along with tradition (if I can stay awake—since Dick Clark’s demise, nothing seems quite the same), but on New Year’s Day I think it a capital idea to have a nice relaxing day, watch one of the endless bowl games on television—are there really games named the Cure Bowl, the Lending Tree Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Cheez-It Bowl and the ReliaQuest Bowl?—sitting on the couch, preferably before a fireplace, and sipping a fine Cognac, Irish Whiskey, Single Malt Scotch or añejo tequila. That said, here are some quite special new items on the market right now that will mellow the pain over LSU’s loss to Purdue in the venerable Citrus Bowl.

Roasting and steaming the agave fruit is the essential way to make mezcal.

Lobos

LOBOS 1707 MEZCAL ($59)—Mezcals in the past have rarely had prices this high, but then Mezcals have too long been an afterthought for tequila drinkers. One of the problems is that lesser examples are made deliberately too smoky. Lobos 1707, which does date back to 1707, in Los Altos, Mexico, by Diego Osorio, is a smoother mezcal, not hot like so many, so it’s good for sipping. The company also recommends using it in a “Dirty Paloma,” whatever that is.

One of the few mezcal made by women in Mexico,

Dona Vera

DOÑA VEGA TOBALÁ ($130)—What did I just say about mezcal prices? Here’s one at the top of bill, made in small batches from high desert agave by a woman, Sonya Vega, as a lightly smoky version with sweeter profile along with citrus and elegant earthiness.

SMITH BOWMAN CASK STRENGTH BOURBON BATCH #2 ($99)—I didn’t think bourbon could be made outside of Kentucky, but this example from Fredericksburg, Virginia, made from the last of the barrels laid down by Former Master Distiller Joe Dangler, clocks in at 114. 5 proof, aged a minimum of 10 years . It’s got a light peppery bite, but it’s also smooth and lingers long on the palate. Bowman goes back to the years before Prohibition, but the distiller was moved in 1988 and has been a frequent award winner ever since. The mash are called “Mary” and “George,” parents of the Bowman brothers. The whole operation is run by six people, with Dave Bock at distiller.

STRANAHAN’S DIAMOND PEAK ($80)—Stranahan claims to be the favorite American single malt. I don’t know about that, but they got a head start a while back and their new Diamond Peak, which each year will feature a different. This year’s release features a Bushmills Irish Single Malt barrel finish with a nice mix of mellowness, faint caramel sweetness and barley toastiness.

A rare single malt Irish whiskey just now being imoported to the US.

Dingle

DINGLE SINGLE MALT WHISKEY ($100)—This is the Irish distillery Dingle’s debut in the U.S. market for its Dingle Expression, comprised of malt whiskey matured in ex-Bourbon (39%) and PX Sherry Casks (61%) for six or seven years. Single malts are still rarities in the Irish whiskey category, and it is a triple-distilled, non-chill filtered whiskey bottled at 46.3% ABV, made by Master Distiller Graham Coult using first-fill casks, which marries richness to the Sherry casks’ sweetness.