The Distillates Tasting Series

A Tasting Series for The Honest Nerd.

Spirits are vehicle for stories. For connections between humans. To distill the land to something so expressive and unique as a moment in time; to give hands a voice; That is art. And yet so often distillates are encapsulated is so much marketing bullshit or corporate hooah that the true fan can’t find the heart beat. This tasting series was born from relentless curiosity and a love of chitter chatter.

The Community: The Distillates nurtures a private slack group to coordinate tastings, splits and group buys. We are a community of ~200 active and fairly obsessive spirit enthusiasts from around the globe; heavily centered in Europe & USA but with members in Australia, Asia and Africa. We’ve grown to include a great mix of uber-geeks, highly reputable shops (e.g. Off Premise, Baytown), indie bottlers (e.g. Grape of The Arts, L’encantada,New England Barrel Co), and importers (e.g. PM Spirits, MFB, Armagnac.de).

The Tastings: I lined up a distillates tasting series intended to stretch our imagination. I want to introduce new spirits, highlight different parts of the globe, and surface brands that aren’t globally recognized or provide unusual angles on well established houses. We’re talking about “warehouse tastings”; Pillaging casks, deconstructing blends, exploring aging or specific marques, and trying experimental batches. My goal is to tickle our curiosity and make people think. And more than anything, we wanted direct access to the makers and the dreamers. So we are bringing you along for the ride.

How this Works

The Set: The brand and I coordinate a lineup of something special. The sets are typically between 6 – 12 samples @ 30-50ml depending on the game plan. They set the price point. I don’t mark up the sets at all and our money goes 100% to the brand. We cap each tasting between 30 – 60 sets depending on the brand, to keep it as a real conversation. Many brands make their own samples, but for those which do not, we bridge the gap ourselves.

Shipping: The sets get sent all over the world, in large part thanks to the brands and importer support. In some cases, the brands aren’t used to shipping direct to consumer and then we coordinate with importers and proxies in Europe and the USA who are willing to help. We have participants from Asia, Africa, Australia as well, but will figure out shipping on a case by case basis.

The Conversation: Once all the sets have landed, I work with the brand to figure out a Saturday that works for them. We typically do these evening European time, mid day Americas time. While I wish we could pre-book the tasting date at time of sale, we have had shipping take weeks and we have had it take many months, so patience it is. Then we get on zoom for a handful of hours with the distiller, master blender or bottler and we pull back layers. The methods and the madness. Both art and heart.

How to Participate

These are invite only but that doesn’t mean they are exclusive. Just that I like to coordinate who is attending. To get invited, join the group on Facebook, and DM me (Shane Pearlman) or join us on the slack community. Please note that these are private tasting events, and participation is not guaranteed.

I’ve got some pretty amazing confirmations, and a lot in the works, with household brands, major up and comers and some fun and bizarre jaunts. I’d love for any and all help from y’all and your network to make additional amazing ops come to life. Think we should try something? The more doors we open, the more fun this gets.

Tasting Series: Eau De Curiosity

New Announcements coming soon. Join us on Slack or Facebook.

Tasting #18 : Cognac, Pineaux & Armagnac Oh My : Cognac Lheraud  w/ Clément Gardillou & we hope Mr Lheraud (Owner) Announcing Soon

Tasting #17 : Experimental and Old Calvados : Christian Drouin (Calvados) w/ Guillaume Drouin (Owner) Announcing Soon

Tasting #16 : The Art of Aging Whisky : Michel Couvreur (Whisky) w/ Jean-Arnaud Frantzen (Master Blender) Sold Out

Tasting #15 : Rare Armagnac Collection: The New Ho(pe)ntambère & Pouchegu Strikes back (Armagnac) w/ Cindy (GM) & Sylvain (Master Distiller) Sold Out

Tasting #14 : Dusty Rums from the 50s & 60s (Rum/Rhum) w/ Emile Smits from Catawiki Sold Out

Tasting #13 : L’encantada Unreleased Domaines 2023 (Armagnac) w/ Vincent Cornu Sold Out

Tasting #12 : Dram Fool Twin Laddies (Scotch) w/ Bruce Farquhar & Collin Fraser Sold Out

Tasting #11 : The Poitin Revolution : Killowen & Baolleach (Poitin) w/ Brendan Carty & Michael O’Boyle Sold Out

Tasting #10 : Capreolus & Somerset Apple of My Isle (Apple Brandy) w/ Barney Wilczak & Matlida Temperley Sold Out

Tasting #9: Dreams of Shochu w/ Jake Tennenbaum Sold Out

Tasting #8: A bloom in the desert, Neta Micro-batch Agave (Mezcal) with Nikki Nakawa & Max Rosenstock Sold Out  

Tasting #07 : Belgrove Distillery Warehouse Tasting (Rye Whisky Tasmania) w/ Peter Bignell Sold Out

Tasting #06 : Ron Aldea Warehouse Tasting (Rhum “Agricole” from La Palma) w/ Jose Manuel Quevedo & Francisco Perez Sold Out

Tasting #05 : Dunsville’s Warehouse Tasting (Old Irish Whisky)  With Graeme Millar & Jarlath Watson Sold Out

Tasting #04 : Eau de Terroir (Marc de Bourgogne) w/ Nicolas Julhes Sold Out

Tasting #03 : Grosperrin Pre WW2 (Cognac) w/ Guilhem Grosperrin Sold Out

Tasting #02 : L’encantada Unreleased Domaines 2022 (Armagnac) w/ Vincent Cornu Sold Out

Tasting #01 : JLP Folle Blanche Family Cask Vertical (Cognac) w/ Amy & Jean Pasquet Sold Out