Is a $500 bottle of whiskey from Nantucket worth it?
This fall, Triple Eight distillery is releasing the largest inventory of The Notch, its award-winning pour
NANTUCKET — Behind the bar at Cisco Brewery, head distiller Bryan Jennings was tinkering and testing the copper pot still like a scientist. On this recent Thursday afternoon, the still was 3 degrees off, just enough to mess with his brewing concoction.
Outside, the complex was already bristling with customers ordering craft beer, frosé, and specialty cocktails. Unbeknownst to them, the distillers behind one of the best whiskeys in the world (at least according to the numerous awards it’s won) continue the work toward perfection.
“[The Notch] is something that’s very hard to get, very hard to find,” said Jennings. “And supposedly, it’s very good,” he joked.
But if you want to own a bottle of The Notch limited edition single-malt whiskey aged for eight, 12, or 15 years, it will cost a premium: The 15-year is going for $500 a bottle.
This fall, Cisco Brewer’s distillery, Triple Eight, is releasing the largest inventory of The Notch in its 15-year history in Boston. Based in Nantucket, Cisco Brewery also has Seaport and New Bedford locations. The Notch, named for saying “not scotch” too many times, will release only about 400 cases, with six bottles each.
The high cost comes from a commodity standpoint, said head blender and founder Randy Hudson. But a lot goes into making the whiskey — care, money, space, and employees housed on an expensive island.
“It’s [the whiskeys’] quantity, and our focus is on the quality,” said Hudson. “So it’s tough to tell someone they have to spend $500 for a bottle of whiskey, but I’m not telling anyone to buy it. Really — I’m not. I am not a salesman.”
Hudson said the location is key to making it so special, pointing toward one of visitors’ first impressions of the island — the salty air.
“They usually breathe in deeply” when they step off the ferry or onto the tarmac, said Hudson. “That’s what the whiskey is bathing in constantly here. I think it makes a difference.”
As Jennings called it, the “liquid money,” or the aging whiskey, is housed in barrels in a warehouse behind Cisco Brewery. The wooden beams let in the unique environment, made up of windy nor’easters in the winter and tropical storms in the summer.
“It’s underestimated how much that element plays a part in how the whiskey becomes beautiful over time,” said Hudson.
The ingredients make the whiskey special, said Hudson. The whiskey uses a heritage grain called Maris Otter, and the stills, one two-story high with arranged winning medals, produce differing tastes. The distillery is also hand-bottling whiskey at a relatively old age.
“It’s not often that you find eight-year-old whiskey is the youngest — we also sell 12 and 15,” said Hudson. “We take our time with it.”
The business sure did. The makings of the whiskey began when Triple Eight was launched in 2000 by the families behind Nantucket Vineyard (est. 1981) and Cisco Brewers (est. 1995). The combo made sense to produce a hard alcohol. After all, whiskey is distilled beer.
In 2008, Triple Eight released its first single malt whiskey, The Notch. The success seen in international awards pushed the distillery to continue trying new things, such as aging the whiskey in barrels previously used for other spirits such as bourbon, rum, or brandy. Now, 23 years later, the distillery hopes to bring more light to its famed whiskey.
This arm of the company is still developing and evolving, said Hudson. He has 18- and 20-year-old whiskey sitting in the warehouse, so it’s hard to say where it will go.
However, Jennings noted that the real money maker is not the whiskey, but the cranberry and blueberry vodkas.
“I mean, people love those,” he said.
Even people who come to buy the whiskey, Jennings said, make a point of buying the vodkas. (It doesn’t hurt that those bottles retail for about $30 a bottle.)
However, the whiskey has a true following, said Jennings. He sees super fans who seek it out at every tasting event he travels to. It is also a great gift for a big wedding weekend or celebration.
There are also collectors. Every so often, Jennings sees a private plane land and a personal assistant rides over to the distillery to buy a case and goes straight back to the airport.
Jennings said he produces the whiskey to be drunk, even if some customers only chose to display it on their Zoom background.
“It’s like buying an action figure and never taking it out of the box,” Jennings said.
But The Notch keeps customers coming back, said Steve Selby, the owner of Kappy’s Fine Wine & Spirits in Hyannis and Falmouth. Sometimes, people buy an item like this for the novelty of it, but he’s had customers come back a second or third time for a bottle. He said at that price point, it is “pretty impressive.”
“It’s not just a gimmick,” said Selby. “They actually enjoy the liquid inside.”
Daisy Sosa, who runs the Instagram account “The Whiskey Wench,” said she first fell in love with whiskey while attending a military college more than 20 years ago. She began drinking it to fit in with her school’s largely male population but continues to love it.
In February, she sampled the 12- and 15-year-old The Notch at a whiskey event outside of Boston. Both were smooth, nicely spiced, and didn’t have the burn effect in the throat.
“If somebody came up to me and asked, is it worth it? No, it isn’t because it’s [priced] with an island premium,” said Sosa. “There’s a lot of great other whiskeys out there that taste similar to The Notch but are more affordable.”
But, she added: “It’s good whiskey.”
‘It’s underestimated how much [the Nantucket environment] plays a part in how the whiskey becomes beautiful over time.’ BRYAN JENNINGS (above), head distiller