Great Lakes Distillery will release an extremely limited Still & Oak Smoked Malt Whiskey at noon on Wednesday, May 21.
There is just one barrel of this seven-year-old straight American single malt so the 750ml bottles, priced at $89, will go fast. The first 100 bottles come in a wooden gift box at no extra cost.
There were 170 bottles total from the barrel, according to GLD founder Guy Rehorst.
Distilled from from 100 percent malted barley and aged for seven years in used American oak barrels, we're told the nose has toffee, toasted almond and dried fruit notes, while there's caramel, dark chocolate, black cherry, and a bit of spice on the palate. Great Lakes says the long finish has hints of oak, vanilla and light smokiness.
The 90 proof whiskey is only available for sale in the Milwaukee, 616 W. Virginia St., and West Allis tasting rooms.
"American Single Malt is a new category finally recognized by the federal government in December 2024," Rehorst says. "We previously had done some much smaller test batches, but have been producing malt whiskey for over 15 years as part of the blend used in our Kinnikinnic whiskey."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
