A Tasting Series for The Honest Nerd.
Next Up : Tasting #22 : The Good Wood Project with Distiller Nicolas Kröger from Wagemut
Tasting date: Saturday May 30, 2026 @ 8pm German Timezone – online via Zoom
Price: 50€ inc VAT + ship
Set: 16 samples @ 2cl @ 45%
Language: English
Purchase: Armagnac.de shop https://www.armagnac.de/products/fasssprache-tasting-set
Join Nicolas and I for a wonderful and mad night going deep into one of the fundamentals joists that holds up a world class spirit. Prepare yourself for the good wood project! Bring water, a whole lot of glasses, and your thinking cap, because we are going to get our geek on.
Produced in collaboration between Wagemut Distillery and Wilhelm Eder Cooperage, the project was to control for every factor possible in order to explore the impact of different species of wood on aging. They sourced an ungodly amount of a light 3 year TDL rum, and finish it for exactly 6 months in nearly identically storage conditions into 15 different casks, a big mix of oak types from around the globe, and a host of unusual trees, including cherry, mulberry, pear, walnut, ash, chestnut and kiri. The kit alone is fascinating, and insanely well priced. The conversation will be freaking gold. Nicolas is a very very experienced producer who is a blast to hang with.
How this Works
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 ~350+ fairly obsessive spirit enthusiasts from around the globe; heavily centered in Europe & USA but with members in Australia, Asia, Middle East and Africa. We’ve grown to include a great mix of uber-geeks, highly reputable shops (e.g. Off Premise, Baytowne, Cognac Expert, Armagnac.de), indie bottlers (e.g. Grape of The Arts, L’encantada,New England Barrel Co), and importers (e.g. PM Spirits – USA, Distilled Grapes – Germany, N10 Bourbons – UK, Bien Eleve – USA, Splash International – South Korea).
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. Break boundaries between categories. And more than anything, we wanted direct access to the makers and the dreamers. So we are bringing you along for the ride.
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. 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.
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 – 40 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 handle the bottling ourselves.
Shipping: The sets get sent all over the world, in large part thanks to support from our partner at armagnac.de. We have participants from all over the globe and will figure out shipping on a case by case basis.
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 our mailing list (see below), the group on Facebook, or our slack community (DM me, Shane Pearlman, on Facebook). 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
Join us on Slack or Facebook or get on our email list.
Upcoming Tastings
Tasting #27 : Pineau de Charentes – Amy Pasquet (Partner at Cognac JLP & President of Comité National du Pineau des Charentes) – Tentatively September 19, 2026
Tasting #26 : Sherry Masterclass – Diego Borras (Jerez Cask Broker & Whisky Live Madrid Organizer) – July 11, 2026
Workshop #25 : The Art of Micro Distilling – with Distillers Shane Pearlman & Nimrod Rosenblatt – Tentatively June 20, 2026
Tasting #24 : Eau my Goodness – The best of Austrian fruit EDV – with Distiller and Craft Spirits Bar Owner Nicolas Kroger – Coming whenever Nicolas is ready (TBD May 2026)
Tasting #23 : How to Pick an Armagnac Cask : Chateau Garreau – with Distiller and The Eminently Gregarious Gregoire – Coming Really Really Soon
Past Tastings
Tasting #21 : Yakternatives : French country spirits – with Aurélien from Authentic Spirits – Tentatively April 25, 2026 Sold Out
Tasting #20 : Cage Match, a night of Springbank Handfills Sold Out
Tasting #19 : Dancing through Bourbon & Rye from the New Riff Warehouse with Co-Founder Jay Erisman Sold Out
Tasting #18 : Cognac, Pineaux & Armagnac Oh My : Cognac Lheraud w/ Clément Gardillou & Mr Lheraud (Owner) Sold Out
Tasting #17 : Experimental and Old Calvados : Christian Drouin (Calvados) w/ Guillaume Drouin (Owner) Sold Out
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