A beautiful new toy.

I have recently discovered the joys of Atholl Brose thanks to my friends at JVS Distribution. This is a Scottish Whisky-based liqueur in the same vein as Drambuie. Atholl is more about the herbs and high notes than the honey syrup in Drambuie and is a great temper when stirred with younger, more brazen Whisk(e)y. I used a half ounce with some Peychoud's to tame a pour of Wasmund's Virginia Single Malt...lovely.

One rockin beer.

http://www.maredsous-usa.com/

Again, I don't want to get into reveiwing product here, but damn this is good beer.

I hit the relativey new bar, Monk's Kettle, with Dom and Kieran tonight and worshipped at the high alter of brew.

Great suds in a great place.

http://www.monkskettle.com/

The Rosle Bar Spoon.

This is, quite simply, the best bar spoon readily available in the US. Get one, then prove me wrong.

Yeah though I walk through the Valley of Rye.... (shamelessly lifted from Dan @ The Teardrop Lounge. Much love bud.)

So my friend and sometime fellow traveler H came in tonight and decided to have an aged Rye fro his night cap. He saw that I had two Black Maple Hill Ryes on the shelf and asked for the 23 year. I assumed he knew what he was about and poured him a healthy one. I could tell immediately that he had never had this one before. I personally don't like it much, the 18 year I dislike just a hair less. While they both are cut to 90 proof, they drink very hot and neither are what I would call particularly mellow. I don't want to get into tasting notes here as that is not the goal of this blog (there are plenty of other places to go for that sort of thing).

Rather, I want to give the opinion I have forming recently concerning Rye as it ages. I quite simply think that Rye should age no more than 10 years. It seems to me that the spirit is too aggressive on the barrel to go longer than that. This theory was shown to be true when I poured H a taste of the Russell's Reserve Rye from Wild Turkey. This comes in at a much younger (and affordable) 6 years and is significantly more drinkable than its older counterpart.

Now that being said, I remedied H's dram by stirring it into a quick Derby cocktail (added Benedictine and Peychoud's) which showed the Whiskey in a completely different light. The addition of the slightest bit of sugar and spice let all those years speak more clearly than they could when left alone with just their own fire. The only problem with this is that this bottle is way too expesive to be mixing drinks with. We give a great deal on it by letting it go at $18 a glass and that just is not right for a mixing bottle.

Conclusion: for sipping, keep it under 10 years, for cocktailing, go as old as you can afford.

VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.bolsaroundtheworld.com/

(for me would be nice)

So this is what I call full circle.

In my quest to reproduce Abbott's bitters (the few times I had them have been quite special), I had also created an incense of sorts. The Almond wood chips that I charred and threw into the jar to simulate barrel-aging came out being super infused with all the spices used in the bitters (those are another story...when I get it locked down). After letting them air dry, they bled Abbott's aromas in my liquor vault for about 2 weeks. I wasn't quite sure what I was saving them for, but I know tossing them in the compost would have been wasteful.

Well along comes Miss Amy Brown, the Pastry Chef at Nopa, who did not hesitate one second when I offered them to her. What she did with them is simply genius. She set the Abbott's incense to steep in milk for a few hours, then used that milk to make ice cream. It's all there, lavender, vanilla, clove, anise, gentian and allspice lovingly carried by cream and sugar.

Upon the urging of a friend's bride, (we WILL meet one day Mardee) I set about to make a drink with the stuff. My answer to her confection? Well some friends of mine at the Alembic had been playing with a Manhattan float a year or so ago and I never saw it happen. I always liked that idea and saw this as the perfect chance. I mulled some tempranillo with cubeb peppers, cherry bark and mission honey (think jasmine and lavender if that makes sense) and hit this fifty/fifty with Russel's Reserve Rye (that makes it vermouth now, right?). I mixed 2 oz. of this syrup with 2 oz. of seltzer and plopped a scoop of Abbott's Ice Cream on top. I couldn't bring myself to put a cherry on it as it would have been just a little too cute, however, a tiny drizzle of Cherry Herring did not offend and looked great.

This was a one shot and won't appear on any menu...but damn, it sure is inspiration to get some more Abbott's going.

I am just home from a three day trip to Portland which was quite and eye opener. The food scene was tremendous and the drinks scene has high hopes and a great attitude. Also, while they are seriously hampered by Oregon being a control state (all liquor comes from the State and his hampered by arcane and senseless restrictions,) they do have the advantage of a growing group of independent distillers who are poised to make the region as well known for it's Spirits as it is for it's Beer and Wine.

First, the producers:
Clear Creek Distillers (http://clearcreekdistillery.com/index.php)
Was actually a little bit of let down, but their range of bottlings is superior. I was unable to score a tour as they only schedule them for the weekends (being an actual bartender...that ain't ever gonna work). The next best was the tasting room which is open to the public. I was hoping to get a bottle of McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey which I have tasted but never really have been able to study. Alas, they we sold out. There are worse problems I guess.

House Spirits: (http://www.medoyeff.com/)
Christiaan was very generous with his time and his enthusiasm for cocktails as well as spirits is beautiful to see. When I rolled into the distillery, I was surprised to find that fellow Bay Areans (Areites, Areaitos, Areaistas ?) Martin Cate (http://www.forbiddenislandalameda.com/fi/) and bride were there as well and halfway into a sample of Medoyeff Vodka. More details will follow, but I will say this was one of the best parts of the trip.

I have been playing with my Sunshine bitters quite a bit recently so I though I would post the recipe since it is so simple.

Take a bottle .750 of a clean vodka. More expensive is not always better, I use Square One, but anything you wouldn't be afraid to drink is fine. Infuse a 2 ounce jigger full of Cardamon pods in the bottle for a full week. (a bit longer for a full liter bottle). Then add a single ounce jigger full of Saffron and infuse that for 2 days or until the threads look bleached. Strain and rebottle. While I developed this for a Sherry based cocktail, it seems to work very well with most clear spirit drinks.

I dont want to love it (hell, I don't even want to admit that it is alcohol), but....I do.

http://talesofcolt45.com/

Cucumbers:

We have decided to focus on cucumber for the rest of August on THE LIST. We have an abundance of them in the restaurant and they are very accesible to the average guest. Lemon Cucmbers in particular seem to give up their essence readily in drinks without too much muddle-work. We recently had a Cucumber/White Pepper Caipirhinia at Cantina which was very clean and easy drinking. This confirmed my idea.

A Pimm's Cup seems to given as an introduction to the section. We personally don't add gin to the drink, donating a healthy pour of Pimm's and letting that be that. I know this is probably not the most traditional drink, but it sure goes over well when it is well dressed with fruit and herbs.

Second, we worked out a riff on a Dark and Stormy called a Light and Breezy. Muddled cucs with Rhum Agricole, Ginger Beer and some fresh Fennel fronds (are they fronds? They certainly don't look like leaves.)

Third will be something with Benedictine as that seems to love Cucumber Oil.

More Later