If you haven’t been keeping your eyes open or have been avoiding the more cutting edge bars, you might have missed Monkey Shoulder. But the small yet mighty brand has been making a growing splash. I first discovered it at the Whiskey Experience put on by Butter Run Saloon. This was hands down the best public tasting in the Detroit Area in 2014. That sad part is, nobody heard about it. Maybe 50 people were present and there were over 100 whiskeys to taste. Classes were even hosted from three different brand ambassadors. One of them was Freddy May from Monkey Shoulder.

Freddy was a treat. Right off the bat we knew we were in for a show. This native Brit is over the top energetic, incredibly charismatic and extremely knowledgeable about booze. He has been in the States for 6 years covering various William Grant & Sons products. Prior to that, he was working with single malts back in the UK. He specifically requested Monkey Shoulder when it was scheduled to come to the U.S. and now he focuses on that.

He gave us a brief note on Monkey Shoulder; how it is the first triple malt scotch (blend of three Speyside distilleries), how its matured in ex-bourbon casks and then aged together in a marrying tun. The big question was, ‘Where does the name come from?’ Turns out it is an injury that the malt masters would get from turning the grain. From what I have read, it is actually quite painful so I will not be trying to live the brand that much.

We sipped the product straight. It has a bit of weight to it with rich flavors of spice, smoke and just a hint of peat. Following that we tried two batched cocktails. Since there were only a few people in the class (remember only 50 showed up), Freddy got to work on getting everyone a souvenir. He took an up-turned shaker tin, placed the lip on the top of the metal Monkey Shoulder medallion and gave it a whack with the heel of his hand. Off popped the casting and he passed them out.

Why have you not heard of this? Where is all the advertising? Where is the Scottish pirate saving damsels in distress or stealing his barrels back from a giant eagle? It takes a lot of work to launch a new brand especially in the U.S.. Monkey Shoulder took a creative approach and launched it in Chicago and Austin just in the bars. This drove up some amazing word of mouth and lead the East and West coasts (the typical place to launch a brand) clamoring for the product. When it finally did launch in retail, there was a steady demand. The product sold out 3 batches in the first 2 months. It really starred in cocktail bars where the bartenders could experiment with it. Traditional bars, where the product was mostly enjoyed neat, took a little while to catch-up.

The Gallow Green, of NYC, had a memorable cocktail, according to Freddy, called the McKittrick Mule. It was a mix of Monkey Shoulder, ginger, tangerine, sage and lemon. A spot in Texas was making ice balls with the scotch for a fun addition to cocktails. The product is “unapologetically simple” says Freddy and works great straight or in a cocktail.

I thought the liquor might work well mixed with a Fentiman’s Dandelion & Burdock Soda. 2 oz of Monkey Shoulder topped with soda was really sweet. Cut back with half soda water and half Fentiman’s and this was good to go.

Check out the product on your next shopping trip. It will impress your straight scotch loving father or work as a mixer as well.

Budmo!