Posts

Posted on

In the Parking Lot with a Rattletrap

It’s a bitter cold January morning. The sky is gray, slightly ominous even. In an empty parking lot off N. Decatur Road in Atlanta sits a rattletrap, one of those old VW vans, a Westfalia the perfect junky color of orange rust, just like a jacket I had back in the ’70s. Three guys are hanging out inside the crowded van, puffs of smoke (or is it steam?) appearing every few minutes. Surely they’re up to no good, right?

Well, turns out, they are up to good. That VW Westfalia is packed with a nice old La Marzocco churning out espresso from Intelligentsia Black Cat beans (one of my favorites). Jordan and Dale and friends are staked out in the parking lot, serving up stealthy shots of espresso while their nearby coffee shop awaits the slow progress of city inspectors. You can feel their eagerness, anticipation, to graduate from the tight confines of the Westfalia (christened “Rattletrap Coffee“), parked catty-corner to Emory, into the full time space that used to be occupied by Octane Emory (and Method before that). The new spot will be named Steady Hand, which surely they are perfecting as they stretch to pour a perfect shot of espresso inside that little van. Despite the turnover from Method to Octane to Steady Hand, this space is a proven spot for a neighborhood coffee joint, and Jordan and Dale’s experience with Method previously has paved the way for some improvements that will make the new shop even better. The space is almost unrecognizable from Method days, in fact, as they’ve opened up a wall of windows and reshaped the counter to allow more seating and light. And these guys are clearly coffee addicts/enthusiasts/geeks – they are dedicated to making a great cup for folks who have figured out that they can do (much) better than the Starbucks just a few doors down.

Once Steady Hand is open, look for the Rattletrap around town as a mobile dispatch of deliciousness, but in the meantime, go hang out in the parking lot around the old VW van, and bring your best ’70s jacket to keep warm.

Rattletrap Coffee / Steady Hand Pour House
1593 N. Decatur Rd.
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted on

Thirsty Reading: Boozehound, by Jason Wilson

See this book? The one with the multitude of darkly enticing bottles and casks on the cover? This is a dangerous book. A book that will cost you dearly. A book that will drive you to drink. A book that just may turn you off vodka forever (OK, that last part is not so dangerous).

Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits by Jason Wilson is dangerous not because of its somewhat subversive stories of what constitutes a good drink, but rather because it will likely compel any fan of spirits and cocktails into the dangerous realm of obsession that the author clearly occupies. A world where chasing down rare brandies or long forgotten liqueurs is a path to wallet depleting joy and illumination.

Mr. Wilson finds a way of weaving tales that will leave you tipsy and laughing and thirsty for more. The book is literally a tour through some of the world’s great libations, their history, their path through glorious popularity or confounding decline. A jaunt into the agave fields of Mexico juts up against a tale of teenage tippling in suburban New Jersey. Secret formulas of herbs and uncommon ingredients are juxtaposed against the hyperbolic and highly suspect modern marketing “backstories” that seem to come with every new bottle on the liquor store shelf. Cocktail recipes appear at the end of each chapter to entice the mind, to further the already deeply felt urges that the stories implant – WHERE can I track down that rare Calvados, HOW can I live without that Creme de Violette, WHY is my collection of Italian Amari so minuscule???

Beware. Reading Boozehound is dangerous stuff. Now I better get over to the liquor store to pick up my bottles of Dubonnet, Benedictine, Amaro Montenegro, Creme Yvette, Luxardo Maraschino, rhum agricole…

Posted on

Bourbon Bounty at Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee

barn

Blackberry Farm sits amongst the bucolic hills of eastern Tennessee, a retreat for lovers of rustic elegance and the ideals of farm-to-table Southern goodness. Enough has been said elsewhere about the excellence of their hotel and restaurant – Blackberry Farm has been rated the #1 resort, small hotel or country inn in the U.S. many times over- so we’ll concentrate on their incredible bar program, and, more specifically, their bourbon collection. Now, we must preface this by saying that one must be a guest at the hotel to access the bar – this is no neighborhood hangout. And staying at the hotel requires a small fortune (or a large fortune, depending on your point of view). Nevertheless, once you’re settled in to the cozy confines of Blackberry Farm, especially on a cold winter day, the bourbon beckons.

menu

While the wine list is one of the most ambitious in the Southeast, the whiskey selection is inherently closer to the ideals of this Southern farmstead. They say: “After all, we are surrounded by the core of American whiskey production. Of course our collection is comprised of both American and international whiskies. However, the one closest to our hearts are the ones produced closest to our homes. We like to believe that our region is at the forefront of the American whiskey revival, and the amber glow that emanates from within our bars clearly represents our passion for brown spirits. … our selection of artisan American whiskies demonstrates the skill, craftsmanship, and traditions of American Master Distillers.”

There are close to a hundred selections of American whiskey on the menu, ranging from a $5 pour of George Dickel #12 Tennessee Whiskey to a taste of rare experimental batches from Buffalo Trace (or equally rare A.H. Hirsch of W.L. Weller aged bourbons) that will set you back a very pretty penny. There are Pappy Van Winkle bottles hand selected for Blackberry Farm’s beverage manager and mixologist, Andrew Noye. There are multiple vintages of single barrel releases. It is a veritable bounty of bourbon.

three

On a recent cold and blustery December night, we were guided through the bourbon offerings by Jesse behind the bar, a knowledgable bourbon guide if there ever was one. He discussed Blackberry Farm’s intentions to be a bourbon nirvana, and they are certainly getting close. We opted to go for two bourbons we hadn’t tasted before – a Black Maple Hill 21 year old and an A.H. Hirsch 16 year old that was originally set in barrels back in 1974 by Michter’s Distillery in Pennsylvania – plus a good ole Elmer T. Lee single barrel. It was an interesting lineup – the Elmer T. Lee’s nose just about knocks you out with butter caramel popcorn, the A. H. Hirsch is laden with spice and vanilla, and the Black Maple Hill 21 presents a complex and deep puzzle of aged mysteries. Choosing a favorite among them was nigh impossible, as each one was completely unique and full of character.

Like that Black Maple Hill, Blackberry Farm’s bourbon library is full of mystery, with only a few lucky souls able to explore it in depth. It is a rare opportunity to venture back in time, to savor some American artistry in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains.

farm

collage

book

Posted on

Between the Mountains and the Masses: Tennessee’s Ole Smoky Distillery

sign

Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is a town best known for its fudge shoppes, pancake houses, ski slopes, wax museums, and hillbilly golf. Oh, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just down the road, a true national treasure. But somewhere between the beauty of those Smoky Mountains and the tourist wasteland that is Pigeon Forge (just down the road in the OTHER direction), glimpses of the rural roots of eastern Tennessee can be found. The misty hills of eastern Tennessee have produced such wondrous yet disparate things as Benton’s bacon and Dollywood, Blackberry Farm and Fannie Farkle’s Family Fun Parlor. No matter how you look at it, each of these things somehow point to the genius and ingenuity of the Tennessee mountain spirit. And no product better symbolizes that mountain spirit than the legendary moonshine that sprang forth from these mountains and the foothills of the Smokies. And so it seems rather perfect that smack dab in the middle of Gatlinburg, settled not among the trees but among the wax museums and pancake houses, sits a fully functioning moonshine still. A “legal moonshine” distillery – the Ole Smoky Distillery, home of Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine. Now, “legal moonshine” is indeed a bit of an oxymoron, but let’s forgive the name and take a closer look at Ole Smoky.

distiller

Ole Smoky Distillery has been around only since July (2010), but they’ve managed to capture the spirit that has imbued this region for centuries. From the “100 year old family recipe” that is the basis for their unaged corn whiskey, to the simple but gorgeous mason jars and 1900-era letterpress labels that hold their products, to the way that they manage to fit in on the Gatlinburg strip while still somehow maintaining an air of unblemished authenticity, Ole Smoky is doing things right. Every jar of their moonshine is every bit as much a product of local culture and spirit as it is a 100 proof spirit.

jars

On a recent trip through the mountains, we stopped in at Ole Smoky and chatted with one of their proprietors, Tony Breeden, and one of the distillers, Jason King. Their distillery and tasting room (and gift shop and liquor store all in one) is indeed smack dab in the middle of Gatlinburg, and everything is out in the open – the whiskey is fermented and distilled right there before your very eyes, with descriptive signs to help explain what’s going on and how they do it. The in-your-face openness is just about as far away as you can get from that other stuff known as moonshine that has been hidden away and whispered about for centuries. But they clearly aim to capture that spirit, as Tony said, “we set out for authenticity, let’s do this as authentic as possible so people around here will be proud of it.”

Their still is a souped up version of a backyard moonshiner’s still, custom built by Kentucky’s Vendome Copper & Brass Works, the revered engine that helps most of bourbon’s great distilleries run. Each batch starts with locally grown and milled corn, which turns into 400 gallons of mash, which then produces about 40 gallons of corn whiskey. All right in front of your very eyes. Jason gave us a brief walk through their process, which is clearly a mixture of local tradition and contemporary know-how. Likewise, that 100 year old family recipe works at this scale thanks in part to the advice of Dave Pickerell, former master distiller at Maker’s Mark, who consulted on scaling up the Ole Smoky recipe to fit their new equipment and batch size.

After viewing the corn whiskey being made, visitors can move on to a free sampling of Ole Smoky’s products – right now, they have a 100-proof “White Lightnin” that is distilled six times to reach a near-vodka character, the 100-proof “Original Unaged Corn Whiskey” which is their true take on moonshine, and jars of beautiful moonshine-soaked maraschino cherries. They also hand out a recipe for “Apple Pie moonshine” with each jar of White Lightnin’, and sampled a batch of that as well at the distillery.

corn

For us, the star of the show was clearly the unaged corn whiskey, crystal clear, full of fresh corn notes, a pleasant slightly-syrupy mouthfeel, some crisp floral notes and hints of butter throughout. (Full tasting notes here) The White Lightnin’ may be good for mixing, but the multiple distillings take away the corn character, the moonshine-iness of it. And those cherries – delicious, beautiful, a great gift or cocktail garnish.

cherry

So what’s ahead for Ole Smoky? As of this week, they’ve reach seven states, including Georgia (which is literally hitting the shelves right now). They should be in 15 states within three months, plan on doubling their space in Gatlinburg next year and possibly milling corn on site, and continue to play with new products, both food and spirits, that reflect the local culture. They’ll surely be walking that line between the mountains and the masses, the authentic and the commercial, the “legal” and the “moonshine.”

Please check out our visits to the other great Tennessee distilleries. And we’ll leave you with a few more photos of Ole Smoky, smack dab in the middle of Gatlinbug, Tennessee:

gatlinburg

openjar

vendome

works

fermentation

lightnin

Posted on

The Thirsty South (non) Holiday Gift Guide & Help for Searchers!

It seems every magazine, website, and person-on-the-street has assembled a handy gift guide to help you spend money this holiday season. We considered it, briefly, but in the spirit of the season, decided instead to give something back to our readers. We thought a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle for every reader might do the trick, but couldn’t find enough to cover everyone. Instead, we realized that so many people find their way to Thirsty South by searching for specific things on Google, or Bing, or Yahoo!, and that, in the past, we haven’t always had exactly what they were looking for. So, today, as our holiday gift to you, dear readers, for some of our most common actual queries (all in bold below) we will answer your question or at least try to point you in the right direction. The search terms that lead folks to Thirsty South tend to revolve around moonshine, Pappy Van Winkle, Perrine Prieur’s wine shop, and deep fried peanuts. Go figure. Here we go, in no particular order…

Thirsty South: yes, you found us, congratulations!

Deep Fried Peanuts / Southern Fried Peanuts / Shell n All Peanuts: well, we did feature this Southern delicacy as “the South’s greatest beer snack” – to actually find some, we suggest driving to your nearest suburb, continue on out into the countryside another 15 miles or so, then seek out the nearest gas station, which is where you will find deep fried peanuts in a bag hanging from a plastic chip bag holder. Related terms: best beer snacks, Uncle Bud’s deepfried peanuts, do you eat the shell of deep fried peanuts (yes, we do)

Legal Moonshine: there is such a thing as legal moonshine these days, though we feel the expression is a bit of an oxymoron, like honest politician, or female mailman (?). Nevertheless, there are several brands of “legal moonshine” out there – we recommend you try Ole Smoky Distillery out of the hills of eastern Tennessee or swing by Buffalo Trace in Kentucky for some of their legal “White Dog” if it’s “legal moonshine” you’re after. Related Terms: is there a legal form of moonshine, store bought moonshine

Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey: this is of the decidedly-not-legal variety of moonshine, we mentioned it here, and you can learn more here or in the really excellent book called Chasing the White Dog. Some say Popcorn is still around if you look hard enough… Related Terms: mason jar moonshine, moonshine real thing

how long to store my moonshine in a oak barrel / hillbilly moonshine recipe: well, legally, we’re not going to help you out on this one, though we think the answer to the first question is “until you’re ready to drink it”

Pappy Van Winkle: we gotcha covered if you’re looking for info and pretty pictures, but do check out their website as well, and if you’re trying to find an actual bottle of the stuff to buy, good luck, call around to as many local liquor stores as you can find! Oh, and the answer to the second related term below is – “whichever one you have in front of you!” Related Terms: old rip van winkle if you can still find it, what is the best aged pappy van winkle?, pappy van winkle 23, old rip van winkle

Pappy’s Drinking Shirt: hmmm, no clue on this one, go ask Granny maybe?

how big is a small batch of vodka: isn’t this part of a famous Zen koan? Another question that can only be answered with a question…

Sweetwater Brewery Square Footage: wow, talk about specific searches, and why do you really want to know? But we actually did come close to answering that one in our tour of SweetWater Brewery!

flying with herbal incense: wow again, this must have something to do with SweetWater 420, right??

whats around Sweetwater brewery: see prior query, plenty of herbal incense maybe? The immediate area around SweetWater is mostly warehouses, industrial buildings, and a few random gallery spaces. It’s very close to the Buford Highway extension though, so a world of food choices is right down the road, as is all of midtown Atlanta.

H. Harper Station, Atlanta: a wonderful place for a drink (especially whiskey based cocktails) and some good food in Atlanta, we featured it here, and here’s their website. Related Terms: Daisy Buchanan (cocktail recipe towards the bottom here), harper bar atlanta

Beer Growler, Athens: a new shop that recently opened in Athens, GA, the first legal place in Georgia to buy freshly filled growlers-to-go of excellent craft beer (in modern times). We’re hoping the red tape in Atlanta can be cut through for something similar… Related Terms: beer growler new law GA

Perrine Prieur / Perrine’s Wine Shop: for some reason, we get a lot of people searching for Perrine’s Wine Shop. A first look when they opened was one of our first posts, and we continue to include them in our Thirsty Guide to Atlanta as a great place to buy a bottle of wine.

Shave and a Haircut Drink: hmmm, maybe people are searching for this place in New York, or maybe they want to find the recipe for this cocktail with a decidedly manly name, or maybe they really are just looking for our favorite place to get a shave and a haircut and a side of Jack Daniels, too… Related Terms: haircut Norman Rockwell, beer haircut atlanta, Norman Rockwell with a beer

Woodford Reserve Maple Wood Finish: we did indeed discuss this new release from Woodford Reserve, with mixed feelings, though in the end found it to be a nice (though very expensive) contributor to a fine cocktail. Related Terms: Woodford Reserve Maple, Woodford Reserve Masters Collection, maple wood bourbon

Local Three, Atlanta: a new kitchen and bar in Atlanta that is drawing a lot of interest, most likely due to the fact that the fine folks from Muss & Turner’s have something to do with it, and the fact that Elvis, the Dude, and plenty of pigs are omnipresent there. Related Terms: Local Three cocktail menu

Glass Bottle Chandelier: we’re guessing you weren’t looking for this featuring a lovely chandelier from the Bonny Doon tasting room in Santa Cruz – try this instead

Leon’s Full Service cocktail recipe: we’ve got at least one for you, the Witch Hunt (complete with a helpful video!), and here’s another from Imbibe Magazine. Related Terms: apple cardamom syrup (recipe included in our post), where to get a drink in Decatur Georgia (so many choices – Leon’s, Cakes & Ale, Iberian Pig, BrickStore Pub, and Mac McGee’s among our favorites)

Dahlonega Plateau: ah, the Dahlonega Plateau – home to Georgia’s best wine growing hills and chock full o’ minerals and tourist destinations. Related Terms: Georgia wine, Montaluce, Blackstock

13th colony distillery: A relatively new craft distillery in Georgia, we’ve got some tasting notes for you on their Southern Corn Whiskey, Vodka and Gin, and learn more here. Related Terms: distillery in Georgia

Ale Yeah Hop City: two great Atlanta beer shops, not sure why you’d search for them simultaneously, but both are worth a visit (or two or three or more). Related Terms: craft beer Atlanta

While there are many more searches we could address, we’ll stop here in the interest of time – it is, after all, the holiday season, and we know you folks are busy. Dear readers, we do hope we have been able to answer some of your most perplexing questions, keep on searching Thirsty South style. Happy holidays!