Issue 173 · September 15, 2026
The Grain of Mercury
Theme: Quicksilver in Craft
Eight bottles that capture the elusive, shape-shifting nature of flavor — spirits and wines whose character refuses to sit still, revealing new facets with every sip.
Some bottles reward patience. Others reward attention — the kind of focused tasting where each return to the glass delivers something the last pass missed. These are liquids with a mercurial quality, flavors that shift and rearrange themselves as temperature changes, as the spirit opens, as your palate recalibrates. It's not instability. It's complexity expressing itself in motion.
Today's lineup spans eight categories and eight distinct stories of transformation. From a bourbon whose mash bill creates internal tension to a white wine that pivots between mineral and fruit with each sip, these are bottles that ask you to stay curious. Pour, wait, return. The glass has moved on without you.
Today's aroma theme follows the mercurial thread through our lineup — flavors that shift between categories and keep your palate guessing. Focus on how the same descriptor, like vanilla or dried fruit, expresses itself differently across spirits and wine.
Don’t see your special bottle? Request a review at reviews.schoolofwineandspirits.com/request-review — we’ll get to it. See every bottle we’ve reviewed to date at reviews.schoolofwineandspirits.com.
Bourbon Stellum Vega Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey
Barrell Craft Spirits created the Stellum brand to showcase individually selected barrels from heritage distilleries, with each single barrel bottled without dilution at the distillery's natural proof.
Classification: Cask Strength Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Brand: Stellum
Distillery: Barton 1792 Distillery (sourced)
Proof: 116.64 (58.32% ABV)
Age: NAS
Color: Burnished copper with amber edges
MSRP: $55–$70
Mash Bill: Undisclosed (high-rye bourbon mash bill)
Barrel Type: New charred American oak
Single Barrel: Yes
Nose: Immediately pours out rich butterscotch and toasted oak, followed by a rush of dark cherry and dried orange peel. Give it a minute and you'll find leather and a faint wisp of tobacco emerging beneath.
Palate: Full-bodied and dense, with waves of caramel and baking spices rolling over cracked pecan and cocoa. The high proof delivers heat but never overwhelms — instead it pushes the flavors outward, each sip revealing a new layer of charred oak and brown sugar.
Finish: Long and warming, with butterscotch lingering alongside dry leather and a final note of rye spice. The oak holds its ground well past the swallow.
Cocktail — Burnished Old Fashioned — 2 oz Stellum Vega · 1 barspoon demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · 1 dash orange bitters · Stir over a large ice cube, express an orange peel and drop it in.
Pair with: The charred oak and leather in the bourbon mirror the bark on a slow-smoked brisket, while the butterscotch sweetness lifts against a dark coffee and chili rub.
Scotch Whisky Tomatin Cù Bòcan
Tomatin Distillery, nestled in the Monadhliath Mountains south of Inverness, periodically produces small batches of peated malt spirit that they bottle under the Cù Bòcan name — Gaelic for 'ghost dog,' after a local legend.
Classification: Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Brand: Tomatin
Distillery: Tomatin Distillery
Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
Age: NAS
Color: Pale gold with straw highlights
MSRP: $75 - $90
Region: Highlands
Mash Bill: 100% malted barley (peated)
Distillation: Double distilled in copper pot stills
Maturation: Matured in a combination of first-fill bourbon and first-fill oloroso sherry casks
Cask Type: Ex-bourbon and ex-sherry
Peat Level (PPM): 15 ppm
Chill-Filtered: Non-chill filtered
Nose: An unusual greeting of gentle peat smoke wrapped around ripe peach and vanilla custard. Underneath, there's a floral quality — almost rosewater — that keeps shifting against the smoky backdrop.
Palate: Medium-bodied and surprisingly bright, with honey and malt sweetness riding alongside measured phenolic smoke. Dried fruit and a hint of clove spice emerge mid-palate, giving the whisky a restless, evolving character.
Finish: Medium length, with peat smoke gently receding to leave behind warm honey and a trace of cocoa on the tongue.
Cocktail — Highland Penicillin — 2 oz Tomatin Cù Bòcan · 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice · 0.75 oz honey-ginger syrup · Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass over fresh ice, garnish with candied ginger.
Pair with: The delicate peat mirrors the salmon's smoke, while the whisky's honey and peach notes complement the sweet glaze and the fish's natural richness.
Irish Whiskey Writers' Tears Red Head Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Walsh Whiskey created the Writers' Tears range to honor Ireland's literary tradition, and the Red Head expression takes its name from a character in the works of Oscar Wilde, finished exclusively in Spanish oloroso sherry butts.
Classification: Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Brand: Writers' Tears
Distillery: Walsh Whiskey Distillery (sourced/blended)
Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
Age: NAS
Color: Rich amber with ruby undertones from sherry cask finishing
MSRP: $50–$65
Mash Bill: 100% malted barley
Distillation: Triple distilled
Maturation: Matured in ex-bourbon casks, finished in oloroso sherry butts
Chill-Filtered: Non-chill filtered
Nose: Opens with dried fruit — figs and raisins — layered over honeyed malt. A warm baking spice note carries clove and a hint of cocoa, with a pleasant earthy undercurrent.
Palate: Creamy and medium-full, with caramel and dried fruit dominating early before clove spice and dark chocolate emerge. There's a woody depth from the sherry cask influence that gives the palate real structure.
Finish: Medium-long, with lingering cocoa and dried fruit slowly giving way to a warm, slightly earthy oak note.
Cocktail — Dublin Cobbler — 2 oz Writers' Tears Red Head · 0.5 oz ruby port · 0.5 oz fresh orange juice · 0.25 oz simple syrup · Shake with ice, strain into a wine glass filled with crushed ice, garnish with seasonal berries and a mint sprig.
Pair with: The whiskey's dried fruit and cocoa notes dovetail naturally with a rich chocolate torte, while the sherry cask influence bridges beautifully to a warm fig compote on the side.
Tequila Excellia Añejo Tequila
Excellia was born from an unlikely partnership between a French wine merchant and a master tequilero, united by a shared obsession with how wood transforms spirit. While most añejos rest in American whiskey barrels, Excellia's founders sourced casks that once held Sauternes — the legendary sweet wine of Bordeaux — reasoning that the residual sugars and botrytis character in the staves would act like quicksilver on highland agave, catalyzing flavors impossible to achieve through conventional aging. The result is a tequila that moves like liquid mercury between Old World refinement and New World terroir, a cross-pollination of craft traditions that feels both ancient and restlessly innovative.
Classification: Añejo
Brand: Excellia
Distillery: Destilería Subterra (NOM 1616)
Proof: 80
Age: 18 months in French oak ex-Sauternes casks
Color: Burnished gold with amber highlights
MSRP: 59.99
Nose: An opening wave of roasted agave gives way to a shimmering interplay of honeycomb, toasted almond, and dried apricot. Beneath it, wisps of baking spice and a delicate floral note — almost like orange blossom water — emerge with time in the glass, hinting at the wine-cask influence.
Palate: Silky and medium-bodied, with a mercurial quality: cooked agave sweetness flows seamlessly into butterscotch and crème brûlée, then pivots toward dried stone fruit and a gentle, almost saline minerality. The Sauternes cask lends a honeyed richness that never overwhelms, while white pepper and cinnamon keep the palate lively and in constant motion.
Finish: Medium-long, with lingering notes of toasted oak, vanilla custard, and a faint echo of candied citrus peel that fades into a clean, mineral dryness.
Cocktail — The Mercurial Sour — 2 oz Excellia Añejo • 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice • 0.5 oz honey syrup (2:1 honey to water) • 0.25 oz Lillet Blanc • 1 egg white • Garnish: 3 drops of Angostura bitters on the foam, dragged with a pick into a quicksilver swirl. Dry shake all ingredients vigorously for 15 seconds, then add ice and shake again until well chilled. Fine strain into a chilled coupe.
Pair with: The rich, honeyed butterscotch notes of Excellia Añejo find a natural counterpart in the caramelized fat of seared duck breast, while the apricot in the glaze echoes the dried stone fruit character imparted by the Sauternes casks. A subtle chipotle heat in the sauce mirrors the white pepper spice on the palate, and the tequila's mineral finish cuts through the duck's richness, resetting the palate for each successive bite.
Awards: Gold Medal — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2019, 93 Points — Wine Enthusiast
Gin Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Ceramic Bottle
In the tiny lakeside town of Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, PJ Rigney built The Shed Distillery in a restored nineteenth-century ironworks — a place where metal was once shaped by fire. That alchemical heritage runs through every batch of Gunpowder Irish Gin. The signature botanical, Chinese gunpowder green tea — so named because each leaf is hand-rolled into tiny pellets resembling gunpowder shot — was discovered by Rigney during travels along the ancient Silk Road. Combined with oriental botanicals like star anise and meadowsweet gathered from the hedgerows around Lough Allen, it creates a gin of perpetual transformation. The Ceramic Bottle edition wraps this mercurial spirit in a hand-glazed vessel inspired by the blue-and-white porcelain that once traveled the same trade routes as the tea itself. It's a bottle that asks you to hold quicksilver in your hands.
Classification: London Dry Gin
Brand: Drumshanbo
Distillery: The Shed Distillery
Proof: 86
Age: NAS
Color: Crystal clear with bright silver meniscus
MSRP: 39.99
Nose: An opening salvo of gunpowder green tea — smoky, vegetal, almost metallic — layered over fresh grapefruit zest and star anise. Juniper arrives mid-breath, resinous and assertive, flanked by meadowsweet honey and a whisper of dried lime blossom. There's an intriguing mineral quality, like rain on slate, that ties the botanicals into a shimmering, mercurial whole.
Palate: Silky entry that immediately splits into two currents: a bright citrus vein of lemon and grapefruit, and a deeper, spice-driven undertow of cassia bark, coriander seed, and white pepper. The gunpowder tea asserts itself mid-palate with a lightly tannic, almost oxidative edge — quicksilver in texture, shifting from sweet to savoury with every moment. Orris root provides a powdery anchor, while juniper stays steady and herbaceous throughout.
Finish: Medium-long and surprisingly warm. The peppery spice lingers alongside a gentle grapefruit bitterness and a trailing note of green tea smoke. A final flash of lemon oil evaporates cleanly, leaving a dry, slightly metallic afterglow that recalls the liquid-metal theme of this issue.
Cocktail — The Mercury Drop — [object Object]
Pair with: The gunpowder tea in the gin finds a direct echo in the delicate smokiness of tea-smoked duck, while the spirit's citrus brightness mirrors a sharp grapefruit gastrique spooned over each slice. The duck's rich, mineral-edged meat — seared to a rosy center — amplifies the gin's peppery warmth, and the gastrique's sweet-sour tang parallels the meadowsweet and cassia spice notes. A side of watercress dressed in lemon oil completes the circuit, giving a fresh, herbal counterpoint to the smoky, mercurial interplay.
Awards: San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2023 — Double Gold, International Wine & Spirit Competition 2022 — Gold Outstanding, World Gin Awards 2023 — Best Irish Contemporary Gin
Rum Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary
Maison Ferrand's Alexandre Gabriel selects aged Barbadian rums from the West Indies Rum Distillery and gives them a secondary maturation in small French oak cognac casks at the Château de Bonbonnet in Ars, France.
Classification: Aged Barbados Rum
Brand: Plantation
Distillery: West Indies Rum Distillery, Barbados
Proof: 80 (40% ABV)
Age: NAS (blend of rums aged up to 12+ years)
Color: Deep mahogany with copper highlights
MSRP: $45–$60
Base Ingredients: Barbados sugarcane molasses
Distillation: Column and pot still blend
Nose: Rich and inviting, with caramel, coconut, and dried tropical fruits. Vanilla dominates the background while orange peel and a faint coffee note provide complexity. There's a pleasant oak depth beneath everything.
Palate: Velvety and full, with toffee and chocolate leading into spiced oak and a burst of dried fruit. Banana and coconut emerge as the rum opens up, giving way to a roasted quality that anchors the sweetness.
Finish: Long and warming, with toffee, vanilla, and a last trace of roasted coconut that fades slowly.
Cocktail — Cognac Country Daiquiri — 2 oz Plantation XO · 1 oz fresh lime juice · 0.75 oz demerara syrup · Shake hard with ice, double strain into a chilled coupe, garnish with a lime wheel.
Pair with: The rum's caramel, banana, and vanilla notes are a natural echo of the dessert's buttery, rum-flambéed sauce, while the toffee and oak add depth the dish doesn't have on its own.
Red Wine Brovia Barolo Ca' Mia DOCG 2019
The Brovia family has farmed vineyards in Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d'Alba since the 1950s, and today sisters Elena and Cristina carry forward their father Giacinto's commitment to long maceration and large Slavonian oak aging.
Classification: Barolo DOCG
Brand: Brovia
ABV: 14.5%
Primary Varietal: Nebbiolo
Blend: 100% Nebbiolo
Vineyards: Ca' Mia vineyard, Serralunga d'Alba
Maturation: Long maceration, fermentation in stainless steel, aged in large Slavonian oak botti
Color: Translucent garnet with brick-orange at the rim
MSRP: $75–$100
Nose: Opens with dried rose petals and cherry — that classic Nebbiolo greeting — then deepens into tar, dried herbs, and a subtle gamey note. The aromatics shift with every swirl, moving between floral elegance and earthy intensity.
Palate: Medium-to-full bodied with firm, chalky tannins that frame bright cherry and berry fruit. Violet and mint emerge mid-palate, joined by a toasted quality from oak aging. The structure is serious but not punishing.
Finish: Very long, with cherry, dried rose, and cedar slowly fading into a mineral-driven close.
Pair with: The wine's tannic grip and gamey undertones complement the rich, slow-braised veal, while its cherry brightness lifts against the earthy depth of porcini mushrooms in the risotto.
White Wine Coenobium Ruscum 2021
In the Sabine Hills of Lazio, behind the walls of the Monastero Suore Cistercensi, a small community of Cistercian nuns tends ancient vines with a devotion that mirrors their spiritual practice. Their Coenobium Ruscum—named for the wild butcher's broom that grows wild among the vines—is crafted with minimal intervention: spontaneous fermentation, extended skin contact, aging in old wood, and no added sulfites. The result is a wine that feels alive, constantly shifting in the glass like liquid mercury. Imported to the US by the visionary Neal Rosenthal, this wine has quietly earned a cult following among natural wine devotees and sommeliers who prize its uncanny ability to be simultaneously ancient and alive. Each vintage is an act of faith—no recipe, no formula, just the nuns' intuitive reading of what each harvest demands. The 2021 vintage captures a warm growing season tempered by cool autumn nights, producing a wine of unusual depth and luminosity.
Classification: White Wine (Blend)
Brand: Monastero Suore Cistercensi
Winery: Monastero Suore Cistercensi
Color: Deep burnished gold with amber glints, hinting at its extended skin contact and oxidative aging
MSRP: 22
Nose: Beeswax and dried chamomile open the glass, followed by bruised golden apple, toasted almond skin, wild honey, and a whisper of saffron. A flinty, almost metallic mineral thread runs beneath, evoking mercury pooling on stone.
Palate: Medium-bodied with a waxy, almost oily texture. Flavors of quince paste, preserved lemon, hazelnuts, and dried apricot unfold in measured waves. There is a saline, almost briny undertone that provides tension, while gentle tannins from skin contact give the wine unexpected grip and architecture. The midpalate shimmers with an elusive, quicksilver quality—bright acidity darting through the richness.
Finish: Long and meditative, with lingering notes of bitter almond, dried herbs, lanolin, and a chalky mineral echo that slowly fades like light on water.
Cocktail — The Cloistered Spritz — [object Object]
Pair with: The wine's waxy texture and saline minerality find a perfect counterpart in the creamy, peppery embrace of cacio e pepe. The toasted walnuts echo the wine's nutty undertones, while the sharp pecorino mirrors its tangy acidity. The dish's simplicity—just a few ingredients elevated by technique—parallels the nuns' winemaking philosophy perfectly.
Train Your Nose: Today's Aroma Spotlight
Today's aroma theme follows the mercurial thread through our lineup — flavors that shift between categories and keep your palate guessing. Focus on how the same descriptor, like vanilla or dried fruit, expresses itself differently across spirits and wine.
Each bottle below maps to aromas you can isolate with your kit before your next pour — then see if you catch them in the glass.
Today's Kit Reference
| Today's Product | Key Aromas | Train With |
|---|---|---|
| Stellum Vega Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey (Bourbon) | Butterscotch, Charred Oak, Cherry, Leather, Pecan | Bourbon Kit |
| Tomatin Cù Bòcan (Scotch Whisky) | Peaty, Honey, Peach, Vanilla, Clove Spice | Whisky Kit |
| Writers' Tears Red Head Single Malt Irish Whiskey (Irish Whiskey) | Dried Fruit, Honey, Clove Spice, Cocoa (Dark), Earthy | Whiskey Kit |
| Excellia Añejo Tequila (Tequila) | Agave (Cooked), Honey, Butterscotch, Almond, Vanilla, Citrus (Lemon, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit) | Tequila Kit |
| Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Ceramic Bottle (Gin) | Grapefruit, Juniper (Herbaceous/Waxy), Peppery, Lemon, Cassia Bark, Meadowsweet | Gin Kit |
| Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary (Rum) | Caramel, Coconut, Toffee, Dried Fruit, Oak, Vanilla | Rum Kit |
| Brovia Barolo Ca' Mia DOCG 2019 (Red Wine) | Cherry, Floral (Rose), Violet, Toasted, Cedar | Wine Kit |
| Coenobium Ruscum 2021 (White Wine) | Honey, Nut (Almond/Coconut), Apple (Green), Toasted, Floral (Rose), Citrus (Generic) | Wine Kit |
Explore the School of Wine and Spirits
Train your nose to catch these fleeting, shape-shifting aromas with our curated aroma kits designed for structured tasting practice. Our Aroma Masterclass Kits are designed to teach it to you, one aroma at a time.
Our books on Amazon go deeper into the science and history behind every sip — from America's Spirit, Scotland's Spirit, Ireland's Spirit, The Ultimate Northern Italian Wine Journey, The Tequila y Mezcal Revolution, Chablis, and Côte d'Or pocket guides.
Explore our Aroma Masterclass kits and books at schoolofwineandspirits.com
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The glass is always moving — your palate should keep pace.
Until tomorrow's pour — cheers.
The Still & The Vine is a daily publication of the School of Wine and Spirits.
Stellum Vega Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey
Stellum
Stellum's single barrel program consistently punches above its price point, and the Vega expression demonstrates what careful barrel selection can accomplish with well-aged sourced bourbon. At cask strength, it's a hands-on pour — add water deliberately and watch the profile shift from power to nuance.
Tomatin Cù Bòcan
Tomatin
Tomatin's peated expression is a study in duality — smoke that enhances rather than dominates. It's an excellent entry point for drinkers curious about peat who aren't ready for Islay's full assault. The whisky rewards return visits; each pour seems to emphasize a different element.
Writers' Tears Red Head Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Writers' Tears
Walsh Whiskey's Red Head bottling showcases what oloroso sherry casks can do to well-made Irish single malt. It's richer and more contemplative than the standard Copper Pot expression, with a shifting interplay between fruit and spice that keeps you reaching for the glass. Non-chill filtered at 46%, it holds up well to a few drops of water.
Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Ceramic Bottle
Drumshanbo
Drumshanbo's Ceramic Bottle expression is the same celebrated liquid — slow-distilled with oriental botanicals including gunpowder tea, star anise, and meadowsweet — but housed in a striking hand-glazed blue ceramic vessel that feels like holding a flask of alchemical mercury. The gin itself is a study in transformation: each sip shape-shifts between bright citrus and deep spice, never settling, always quicksilver. It's craft with restless, mercurial energy, perfectly at home among this issue's boundary-pushing selections.
Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary
Plantation
Plantation XO remains one of the most accessible aged rums on the market, offering real complexity at a price that invites regular pouring. The double aging — first in bourbon barrels in Barbados, then in cognac casks in France — creates a layered profile that shifts between island warmth and continental refinement. It's a versatile bottle, equally at home sipped neat or as the backbone of an elevated cocktail.
Brovia Barolo Ca' Mia DOCG 2019
Brovia
Brovia's Ca' Mia vineyard sits in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba, and this 2019 delivers the muscular structure that vineyard is known for alongside surprising aromatic finesse. It's a wine that genuinely changes over an evening — decant it and come back every thirty minutes to find a different wine. Traditional Barolo done with a steady, confident hand.
Coenobium Ruscum 2021
Monastero Suore Cistercensi
Made by Cistercian nuns in the hills north of Rome using ancient, low-intervention methods, Coenobium Ruscum is a wine of profound paradox—rustic yet refined, simple yet deeply complex. Its mercurial character shifts with every sip, from honeyed warmth to steely precision. This is a wine that resists categorization, embodying the quicksilver restlessness at the heart of this issue's theme. A contemplative masterpiece at a remarkably humble price.
Excellia Añejo Tequila
Excellia
Excellia Añejo embodies the 'Quicksilver in Craft' theme perfectly — the unconventional French oak Sauternes cask finishing creates a tequila that shape-shifts on the palate, never settling into one dimension. The technique, borrowed from cognac aging traditions, gives this añejo a fluid, almost elusive elegance that rewards patient sipping. At its price point, it's a brilliant example of how cross-cultural craft can transmute familiar agave into something luminous.
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