We are pleased to announce three new, rare whiskey selections at the Ash. 

The first two are from a new concept of Diageo's called Orphan Barrel Distillery.  The Barterhouse ($15)  and Old Bloward ($25)  are bourbons that are 20 and 26 years respectively.   The Orphan Barrel concept takes advantage of  lost and forgotten barrels of whiskey that is apparently not all that uncommon in the industry.  

The other special offering is a bottle of Yamazaki 18 ($35).  This rare and select whisky is now available at the Ash.  We have one bottle and no prospects of replacing it soon.     It is on par with Macallan 18 or Johnny Blue.  

At this time we are only making these available to our Whiskey Club Members.  Another great reason to join!

In honor of this day, Nice Ash will offer our regular customers the opportunity
to be Nice Ash Whiskey Club members for a day.   You will receive
$1 off any whiskey. 

Ok.  Ok. You  whiskey club members who are now complaining that we are giving away honorary 1
day memberships to the coveted Nice Ash Whiskey Club we have a special deal for  you.   On Saturday only, we will offer you the following  specials:

$2 off any whiskey under  $12
$4 off any whiskey between  $12,50 and $20
$6 off any whiskey over $20

Now that's a  deal!  

Oh yeah, for those of you  who haven't become a whiskey club member; what are you waiting for?
Our Whiskey Club members save every day.   For  just $30 (you get $5 off your first drink)  you get $1 off every whiskey  every day.  In  addition, on Tuesdays and Sundays we offer $3 off  whiskeys over $10 and $5 off whiskey over $20.   We offer discounted  rates on our whiskey tastings.  

As a special incentive any new Whiskey Club Members on Saturday,  May 17th will receive a bag of free whiskey stones ($17 value) with your year long membership.
 
We offer over 100 whiskeys, so what are you waiting for?  Get your Ash in here on May 17th and join the Whiskey Club!  

Those of you who come in the evening will get the special treat of hearing Mitch Cooper's band, an awesome
experience!

Saturday, May 17th is World Whiskey Day.     World Whiskey Day invites everyone to try a dram and celebrate the water of life.   

 In honor of this day, Nice Ash will offer our regular customers the opportunity to be Nice Ash Whiskey Club members for a day.   You will receive $1 off any whiskey. 

Ok.  Ok. You whiskey club members who are now complaining that we are giving away honorary 1 day memberships to the coveted Nice Ash Whiskey Club we have a special deal for you.   On Saturday only, we will offer you the following specials:

$2 off any whiskey under $12
$4 off any whiskey between  $12,50 and $20
$6 off any whiskey over $20

Now that's a deal!  

Oh yeah, for those of you who haven't become a whiskey club member; what are you waiting for?
Our Whiskey Club members save every day.   For just $30 (you get $5 off your first drink)  you get $1 off every whiskey every day.  In  addition, on Tuesdays and Sundays we offer $3 off whiskeys over $10 and $5 off whiskey over $20.   We offer discounted rates on our whiskey tastings.  

As a special incentive any new Whiskey Club Members on Saturday, May 17th will receive a bag of free whiskey stones ($17 value) with your year long membership.
 

We offer over 100 whiskeys, so what are you waiting for?  Get your Ash in here on May 17th and join the whiskey club!  

Those of you who come in the evening will get the special treat of hearing Mitch Cooper's band, an awesome experience!

Rocky cigar rep John will be handing out swag with your purchases tonight!   Getcher Ash in here and get some great Rocky deals.

Just a quick reminder that anyone who picks more correct choices than my mock draft will receive a free beer and cigar!    What are you waiting for, do it!

I told you in my prior blog that I'm a NFL Draft geek and this will prove it.   I like to look at all the possibilities with the draft and one of those is trading picks for higher picks or multiple picks.  One tool that has been used is Jimmy Johnson's draft value chart he used to build the Cowboys into 3 time Super Bowl Champions in the 1990's.    It is provided below for your amusement.   BTW, there are newer charts that tend not to give as much weight to the top end of the first round but this is the original.   Have fun!  Would you trade up or down if you were drafting for the Packers.

As many of you know I'm a die-hard Packers fan and basically a Packer Geek.   I am challenging everyone to a contest.    Who ever can pick more selections than my draft will get a free beer and cigar!  I win all ties because I make up the rules!   You have to enter your selections prior to the beginning of the NFL draft on Thursday 5/8/14.   You must leave your selections on this blog or on our Face Book page to quality.  Be sure to leave your name and email address so I can let you know if you won.    Best of luck to everyone.   Here is my mock draft for the NFL draft.    

Round     Player                               School                           Position
     1            Ryan Shazier                Ohio State                  Linebacker
     2           Jace Amaro                   Texas Tech                  Tight End
     3           Terrance Brooks        Florida State              Safety
     3           Caraun Reid                  Princeton                     Def.  Tackle
     4           Preston Brown            Louiville                        Linebacker
     5           Tre Boston                     North Carolina         Safety
     5           Jeff Janis                         Saginaw State            Wide Receiver
     6           Russell Bodine             North Carolina          OG/C
     7           Tajh Boyd                       Clemson                         Quarterback

The FDA recently released the deeming document detailing how they want to regulate the cigar industry.  In 2009 the Tobacco Control Act was passed giving the FDA regulatory oversight over cigarettes, roll your own and smokeless tobacco.   Now they are looking to gain oversight over all "Other Tobacco Products" (OTP) including premium cigars.  

According to the deeming document “once a tobacco product is deemed, FDA may put in place ‘restrictions on the  sale and distribution of a tobacco product,’ including age-related access
restrictions and advertising and promotion restrictions, if FDA determines the restrictions are appropriate for the protection of the public health.”  They would also apply the same criteria to approving new cigars as is currently being used with cigarettes. 

This means they could fully regulate how cigars are package and sold.  Potential limitations include mandating generic boxes and presentation essentially eliminating the branding of cigars, new taxes, banning flavored cigars, restricting access to walk in humidors and imposing restrictive testing requirements which would especially hurt small boutique operations.    It would be very costly and time consuming to bring new products to the market.

One of the proposals would exempt "premium" cigars over $10.   This is a poor choice because over half of the cigars sold in the premium market are between $6 and $10.   See chart below.

What can you do?  Well you can take some time to submit comments to the FDA on their website:  http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2014-N-0189-0001

You can also sign the petition from Cigar Rights of America at:
http://www.cigarrights.org/main.php

This is very important because if the FDA imposes their draconian regulations your cigar choices will become much more expensive and limited.  It will become much more difficult for businesses like the Nice Ash to stay in business.   Please take action today, it only takes a couple of minutes.