WE HOPE THAT EVERYONE HAD A VERY MERRY Christmas and happy holidays! The new year is under way and we thought what better way to kick it off than to talk about two long awaited barrel picks. Throughout the year we’ve mentioned that our Maker’s Mark Private Select and Jefferson’s Pritchard Hill Bourbon were on the way, and now they have arrived. For this article we’re going to tell you all about these two incredible selections.

The Maker’s Mark distillery prides itself on being unique within the world of bourbon and in the process of creating a single barrel, Maker’s Mark certainly upholds that standard. Let’s take a closer look at what we mean by creating a single barrel. Maker’s Mark hand rotates barrels within their rickhouses from top to bottom, so that every barrel of Maker’s Mark tastes nearly identical, or you could say consistent. This commitment on their end requires a lot of time and effort, so when it came to a private barrel program the question was how to get something unique to customers while still being distinctly Maker’s Mark bourbon. The solution they found was to let customers create their own stave profile that would create a Maker’s Mark cask strength bourbon that was one of a kind. The distillery offers five different staves that each impart a different quality and customers choose a combination of 10 total.

Our selection here at Washington Wine & Spirits is composed of 3 seared French cuvee, 2 Maker’s Mark 46, 4 roasted French Mendiant, and 1 toasted French spice staves. The seared French cuvee staves enhance the texture and mouthfeel with warm caramel notes, molasses, and a long finish. The Maker’s Mark 46 staves are designed to impart rich hints of dark fruits with a long finish of baking spices. The roasted French Mendiant imparts hints of milk chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, coffee, and a long, rich finish. Finally, the toasted French spice staves bring out crisp sweets of ripe fruits and zesty baking spices.

This combination yielded a barrel bottled at 109.1 proof (54.55%) with a rich profile that will evolve over the first few pours. In the glass, it is a beautiful golden copper color. The nose opens with toasted marshmallow, vanilla salt water taffy, hot cocoa, flaky buttery pie crust, and dark amaretto cherries. On the palate we get a pop of bing cherry and vanilla on the first sip. The second sip reveals chocolate chess pie with toasted meringue on top. A buttery texture introduces a long finish with textured vanilla, baked Fuji apples, brown sugar caramel, and cocoa powder all gently linger on and on. The addition of an ice cube will amplify the chocolate and vanilla even further. A great sipper that is perfect for the winter weather.

Our Jefferson’s Reserve Pritchard Hill Bourbon is bottled at 90.2 proof (45.1%) and is an amazing treat. This private selection starts off as Jefferson’s Reserve and is then finished in Chappellet Winery Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. In the glass it is hazy from residuals left in the wine barrel and this gives it a fiery garnet tinged copper color. On the nose it explodes out of the glass with white chocolate covered red fruits followed by hints of aged oak and pastry being baked. The nose of this bourbon is a true delight! In fact, one could nose this whiskey for hours and constantly find something new calling through the ether. We say ether because the nose maintains a small mystery that is always on the edge of recall. I’m doing it still as you’re reading this now. The palate is flooded at first with flavors of cherry and cream cheese Danish pastry. The second sip reveals an undercurrent of cassis laden with berries, cream, and a hint of maple. The finish is as ridiculous as the nose with its length and power. You’ll be left with hints of dark chocolate, dark cherries, sweet vanilla custard, and a touch of baking spice. This is truly a bourbon that you can search for answers in forever. One of our favorite barrels that we’ve picked.

We want to thank everyone for an awesome year in 2022 and we are excited about what the new year has in store. Don’t forget that we also offer the Doe’s Eat Place steaks for you to take home for your own grill. Thank you as always for letting us be your Spirits Guides here at Washington Wine & Spirits.

AS WE GO INTO THE NEW YEAR, we all have so much to be thankful for and our mental health is one of the most important things to keep in check. We can all get so busy and wrapped up in the day-to-day of our busy lives that we don’t make the time to take care of ourselves. Slow stitching and stitching/sewing in general is one of the most therapeutic things that we can do. We have so much happening in The Haberdashery this next year that I feel sure there will be something for everyone’s taste and level of abilities.

Starting in January will be our two different Blocks of the Month (BOM) which include Botanica and Heartland Heritage. Botanica is from Treehouse Textiles by Emma Di Stefano in Australia, it is a wonderful combination of hand applique, machine piecing and English Paper Piecing. There will be numerous techniques to learn in the quilt. The other choice is Heartland Heritage by Inspiring Stitches, this option is a machine pieced quilt and you will learn different techniques of machine piecing as the year goes along. There is a $25 registration fee and then $25 per month for Botanica and $15 per month for Heartland Heritage.

Crimson Tweed will also be starting in January, this is a fabulous wool applique pattern by Sue Spargo that has been rereleased on a limited basis. I believe we have six copies of this book so if you decide you would like to do this, then let me know. Any of you that are familiar with Sue’s designs will recognize that this is a somewhat simpler pattern but nonetheless just as beautiful! Each month you will receive the fabric to complete the block for that month, our fabrics will consist of wool and velvet for the appliques and Essex Linen as the base fabrics.

I cannot wait for The Pin Pillow Club to begin either! This club will be featuring a different pin pillow/pin cushion/pin poppet each month from various teachers that have their own areas of expertise. So, you know what that means-we will have so many different ideas and different techniques to learn from this one. There will be wool applique, machine pieced, hand embroidered, English Paper pieced and the list is endless for this club. This will be a simple, easy way to immerse yourself into the world of sewing.

Another feature for a monthly club will be our 12 Days of Christmas Ornament Club by Corinne Lapierre in England. This will consist of wool mixed felt, book, templates, stitch guides, threads and ribbons to complete an ornament for each month (2 in the first month). When you finish for the year, you will have 13 ornaments in total that represent the classic festive song and bring so much joy to your home. This club will be $10 per month if you just want to pick up your supplies or $20 per month if you need a little instruction.

And, lastly this is one that we are super excited about. Our own Featherweight Club will kick off in January with the first meeting being all about routine maintenance and care of your Featherweight machine that can be done by you yourself without having to take it into someone (as in Robert!). This will definitely be a Saturday Club/Class and will feature something new every month as a fun project to do on your Featherweight. Any thoughts and ideas of projects for this club are welcomed so, let me know! If you do not own a Featherweight, we have several for sale in The Haberdashery so that you can have all the fun that we are having as well. The first twelve participants that sign up will receive a sweet little thank you gift. During our first class, you will be taking home the supplies needed to take care of your machine so that it will last you a lifetime.

Also, if you did not already know, we are a dealer for Husqvarna Viking sewing and embroidery machines as well as sergers. This wonderful company started manufacturing sewing machines in 1872 and celebrated their 150 year anniversary in 2022. It all started in Huskvarna, Sweden in a royal arms factory that realized the need to produce something other than rifles thus this high quality sewing machine was born. And, it keeps getting better and better as new and cutting edge technology is always on the horizon. Another little but so important aspect of what we offer is that we have our own “in house” service department which means we personally service your machine. My husband Robert has had hands on training by Husqvarna Viking and by Ron Adams at The Fabric Shop of Ruston. So, if you are looking to buy a new machine for the new year, then I feel sure we have just what you need and all of the support to back it up!

So, let’s pick our way of therapy for this year and get started!