Tag: whiskey

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Winner, Winner, Whiskey Dinner

I have a confession. Until last night, I had never been to a “whiskey dinner.” Heck, I’ve rarely ever had whiskey with my dinner. Cocktails? Sure. Wine or beer? Most definitely. But whiskey? Neat? At my house, the whiskey typically comes either before or after dinner, not during dinner. (However, “whiskey breakfast” is an altogether different story… )

Well, I must now confess that whiskey can work wonderfully well with dinner. The right whiskey. With the right food. Ideally, in the right restaurant so I don’t have to do all the thinking about what dish goes well with what whiskey myself. And it does require thinking. Whiskey pairing across multiple courses is not as easy as wine or beer pairing, so a thoughtful chef can make a big difference.

I don’t often drink whiskey with my dinner, but when I do, I prefer to be at Empire State South drinking High West whiskey. Yeah, that’s how I roll.

So what about this particular whiskey dinner made it work? First, High West happens to distill (and bottle) some simply wonderful whiskies. Second, the range of their whiskies, from the clarity and slightly yeasty tropical fruit of the Silver Western Oat, to the deep caramel spice of the 21 year old rye, really allows for some intriguing pairings across multiple courses – from light seafood to hearty wabbit (yes, wabbit) to rich dessert. There really aren’t many American distilleries that could provide that type of range at such a high level. Third, we were in the very capable hands of a kitchen and (sous) chef who really dig whiskey and food as happy partners. The real mark of a successful pairing dinner is in how well the dishes and the drinks complement each other and reach a sum greater than their individual parts, and course after course in this meal hit that mark.

I won’t bore you with the details (but, really, the braised rabbit shoulder and ricotta cavatelli with the Double Rye was brilliant, as was the 21 year old rye with the muscovado flan, and…), but this meal showed me that whiskey dinners can be every bit as good as great wine or beer pairing dinners. And if you happen to see another pairing of High West and Empire State South? Winner, winner, whiskey dinner.

Random scenes from the dinner follow, including a few entertaining moments from High West head honcho David Perkins, who presented “10 Things You Really Should Know About Whiskey.”


Thing #10… on the origin of whiskey, or something about men in frocks huddling together closely on a boat…


Thing #7…. I have no idea what this was about, but seeing a squirrel drinking beer will always get the crowd hyped.


Thing #6… this had something to do with High West’s new OMG Pure Rye, but all I could think about was how that guy on the pole could really use a few rounds of rye himself.

Image at top: “The Vicious Circle” – a lovely riff by bartender Kelly Thorn on an Algonquin, with a bit of rye in the background behind some Dolin blanc vermouth, blanc de blancs sparkling wine, pineapple juice, and a touch of caraway.

Full Disclosure: I was at this event as a guest of the distillery.

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The Quintessential Southern Cocktail

Garden & Gun is a fine journal of Southern culture. This month’s issue features 50 great Southern bars (though, ahem, the Caribbean is included as part of the South!?), as well as some fine Southern spirits. What caught my attention though was a small graphic showing how Garden & Gun‘s Facebook fans voted in a poll to determine the “quintessential Southern cocktail.” The choices were the Bloody Mary (Southern? I don’t think so), the Mint Julep (decidedly Southern, but frankly a bit of a specialty drink in my opinion), the Old-Fashioned (quintessential, yes; Southern, not so much), the Sazerac (ahhh, yes), and the Bourbon & Ginger (quite Southern, but a bit too easy).

As if my comments didn’t hint at it, my choice would be the Sazerac – that classic cocktail of the classic cocktail city of New Orleans, a drink of great character, especially when made with a good rye whiskey. As for those Facebook voters, they chose the Mint Julep first, then the Bourbon & Ginger, then the Old-Fashioned, then the Bloody Mary (bloody hell!), THEN the Sazerac. Dead last. A sorry Southern state of affairs. I can forgive the Mint Julep win, though the commercialization of it as the drink of the Kentucky Darby (brought to you by Yum! Brands, and Budweiser, and Ram trucks, and Early Times, and Woodford Reserve!) gets under my skin a bit. But to put the Sazerac below the Bloody Mary! Blimey. Maybe those Garden & Gun Facebookers just don’t know what they’re missing. They need to get down to New Orleans, or to their town’s best cocktail bar, and reconnect with the Sazerac, THE quintessential Southern cocktail.

The Sazerac

1 Sugar Cube
2 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (I suggest Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond)
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Absinthe (or Herbsaint)
Lemon Peel for garnish

In an Old-Fashioned glass, muddle the sugar cube with a touch of water to soften it up. Add some ice cubes, then the rye, then the bitters. Meanwhile, add a splash of absinthe to a second, chilled Old-Fashioned glass and swirl around to coat the inside of the glass, then pour out the rest. Strain the rye and bitters into the absinthe-washed glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel. Enjoy.

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Rye Battle: Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye vs. High West Rendezvous

Following up on a battle of two exemplary wheated bourbons, we now bring you… BATTLE RYE! My “catch” of the year in 2011 was securing a prized bottle of the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye. One bottle. It’s not easy to come by. I’ve been able to try this rye on a few occasions in the past, each time walking away swearing it was the best I ever had. The Van Winkle Family Reserve is labeled “13 years old,” but rumors abound (actually, confirmed by Julian Van Winkle III) that the actual time in the barrel was quite a bit longer. Word is that the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye was actually put into tank (to stop the aging process) at 18 or 19 years of age back in 2005 or so, and was sourced from a combination of long gone Medley rye and Cream of Kentucky rye. The art is in the blending, the selecting, the determination on when to stop aging. Whatever it is, my various tastings of it have confirmed that it is a tremendous spirit and among the best ryes available anywhere.

As for a worthy competitor… Sazerac 18 is the obvious choice (and may be of common provenance), but I also think that a few of the ryes out of High West are up to the task. High West’s 21 year old rye is monumental, akin to Pappy 23 in what those last few years of aging do to transform the whiskey into something altogether magical, but, alas, I don’t have any more of that around (and it is quite a bit more expensive).  I do have a bottle of High West Rendezvous Rye, though, which is a blend of 6 year old and 16 year old ryes – putting the average somewhere near Van Winkle’s labeled (though not true) age of 13 years old – and priced not too far off the Van Winkle price. Fortuitously for comparison sake, the High West Rendezvous and the Van Winkle Family Reserve also have similar proofs – 92 and 95.6 proof, respectively.

High West sourced their 16 year old rye component from Barton stock, with an 80% rye mashbill, and their 6 year old rye from LDI, with a 95% rye mashbill. I’m just about sick of seeing LDI rye pop up under various guises lately, but they do turn out a pretty good product, and have somehow managed to maintain inventory levels at a healthy enough rate to supply all these various bottlings.

Here are my notes on an epic battle rye:

High West Whiskey Rendezvous, A Blend of Straight Rye Whiskies
Batch No. 41, Bottle No. 446
92 Proof
Approx. $42 Retail

Golden honey color. Powerful but elegant nose, honeysuckle and mint/menthol and Bit-O-Honey, with mellow green wood underneath and just a hint of smokiness – not peaty, but reminiscent of an elegant single malt Scotch. A bit of butter rum, touches of honeyed Sauternes. Intoxicating stuff, manages to be highly feminine and seductive yet still with some muscle, like a dancer leaping into the air.

Tasted neat, the Rendezvous kicks in with a nice burn, tingling on the tongue, layers of that menthol and lightly burnt caramel and anise. The texture is pleasantly lightly syrupy, permeating the taste buds. The green wood appears on the midpalate, and the rye spice and that hint of smoke come on more strongly in the finish. A few drops of water does lighten it up a bit,  but to my tastes does not do it any favors – I prefer this one on its own, dancing at full strength.

Excellent stuff – worth the tariff, not to be encumbered in cocktails.

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, 13 Years Old
No. B0198
95.6 Proof
Approx. $50 Retail

The additional age on this is apparent – much deeper copper color than the Rendezvous. Thicker texture, too, clings to the glass like a thin maple syrup.  The nose is deeper as well, more wood, more spice, more brown sugar, all in check. Cinnamon emerges in subtle bursts on top of toasted pecans, is that a dark chocolate covered cherry passing by? Maybe a juicy purple grape? It’s hard to pin down what makes this exceptional, other than the fact that it is just so harmonious and builds and builds and builds, then segues into something slightly different but just as wonderful.

On the tongue, the Van Winkle definitely has more presence, more chewiness. Again, neat is the way to go. The spice comes in quickly here, not quite cinnamon, not quite allspice or nutmeg, not quite mint, not quite pepper, but somewhere in between all that. Dark brown sugar, vanilla and figs and toasty wood follow, and a sweet rye spice burn carries on through to a long deep finish. The long time in the barrel does seem to impart a more bourbon-y profile than the High West, but this is still definitively rye. I do get toasted pecans again at the tail end of this (not sure why I’m picking up that note on both of these – maybe because I was cooking with toasted pecans a few nights ago). Where the Rendezvous is a lovely dance partner, the Van Winkle is a warm leather coach that embraces you.

Maybe I’m a sucker for the Van Winkle mystique, but this shouts WOW to me as much as the Pappy 15. Amazing stuff. If you see it, grab it before it’s gone.

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* Thirsty South Rating Scale:

Wow – among the very best: knock-your-socks-off, profound, complex liquid gold!
Excellent – exceptional in quality and character, worth seeking out, highly recommended
Good Stuff – solid expression of its type/varietal, enjoyable and recommended
Fair – fairly standard or exhibiting obvious though minor flaws
Avoid – move away folks, nothing to see here, a trainwreck

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Wheated Bourbon Battle: Pappy Van Winkle 15 vs. 2011 William Larue Weller

This year’s edition of the Buffalo Trace “Antique Collection” and the latest release of Pappy Van Winkle both recently hit store shelves (and both slightly more recently disappeared from store shelves). The Antique Collection includes the Eagle Rare 17, the Sazerac 18 Rye, the George T. Stagg, the Thomas H. Handy Rye, and the William Larue Weller Bourbon; and this year’s release was met with some tremendous reviews from bourbon enthusiasts. I was lucky enough to get my hands on exactly one bottle of this year’s William Larue Weller, a wheated bourbon just like Pappy Van Winkle 15 (also made at the Buffalo Trace distillery). The Weller fact sheet reads that it’s made from Kentucky corn, North Dakota wheat, and North Dakota malted barley. I’d love to know the exact mash bill distinction (if there is one) between the Weller and the Pappy just for comparison sake, because these two great wheated bourbons make for an interesting contrast. The Weller was put in the barrel in 1998, and while it bears no age statement on the bottle, Buffalo Trace confirms that it was 12 years and 11 months old at bottling. If you’re the kind of bourbon fan who geeks out on the details, you’re in luck: new white oak, #4 char, charred for 55 seconds, barrels from Independent Stave in Lebanon, KY, 114 proof at barrel entry, 130 proof off still, kept on the 4th and 5th floors of Warehouses N/O/P, 57.2% of the original whiskey lost to evaporation(!), only 45 barrels made, etc. Three cheers for (very close to) full disclosure from the folks at Buffalo Trace.

You won’t find that kind of detail on the elusive Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 year old, which is one of my all time favorite bourbons. I actually give it a slight edge over its older brother, the 20 year old Pappy Van Winkle. It’s supremely balanced and layered, a true joy to sip over the course of a long evening. The Weller? Despite the similar mash bill and similar (well, not too far off) age, it’s quite different if you ask me. There’s the fact that the Weller is bottled at barrel strength, a whopping 133.5 proof, so an apples to apples comparison is not quite so direct with the Pappy (which clocks in at 107 proof). Suffice it to say, I am very happy I got my hands on the Weller, but also very happily confirm that there is something very special about Pappy. (And an important note to many of the bourbon geeks out there – I’m still on last year’s release of the Pappy 15, so this is not the current release which many assume to be a full switchover to the stock distilled at Buffalo Trace rather than the final Stitzel-Weller stock)

Here are my notes:

William Larue Weller Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 2011 Release
133.5 Proof
Approx. $70 Retail

Lovely rich, deep amber color. The nose is BIG. Like a brown sugar praline pecan pie with some dark cherries thrown in. Are you hungry for dessert? There’s some ginger spice in there too, a touch of cinnamon. Truly impressive, not for the faint of heart, or the dessert-averse.

Tasted neat at barrel proof, this has some sharp heat from the alcohol, a good burst of that rich sweetness, and a surprisingly delicate presence of corn. While I love the nose at full strength, and recommend just breathing this baby in for a while, I prefer adding a nice bit of filtered water to open things up and get it down to a more manageable proof for sipping. I found that the water tones down the sweet intensity on the nose and brings out a bit more nuance, an almost herbal green woodiness beneath the dark caramel sugar. The entry smooths out as well, bringing in some bread-y notes, both corn and wheat bread are there, intermingling. There’s a bit of ginger and baking spice, too. The caramel and brown sugar remain through into a long finish that picks up some steam (and heat). A very satisfying sip, but I think the full strength nose is what really sets this one apart.

Overall, this earns highest honors – a full fledged WOW – for the nose, but a slight tick down (merely Excellent) for the full experience.

Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 15 Years Old
107 Proof
Approx. $70 Retail

Like I said, this is one of my all time favorites, and it’s intriguing that the Pappy and Weller are so different.  Compared to the Weller, the Pappy 15 is a touch lighter in the glass, still a nice rich copper / amber. The nose is more subtle, more nuanced, less overtly sweet. Sure, there’s caramel and brown sugar in there, but the baking spices are much more prominent. New notes pop in and out, dark fruits, touches of vanilla and toasty wood, but the overwhelming impression is one of tremendous balance and depth.

On the tongue, Pappy is richer, fuller, a bit more like an embracing coat of honey (though far from cloying or syrupy). That sense of balance continues, sweet molasses gingerbread into more spices, a warm leather boot kicking time. I don’t get the corn here at all, which is so evident on the Weller. The warmth is deep and lingering, and it just leaves you shaking your head with a smile for minutes after each sip.

Pappy 15 is truly a WOW if there ever was one.

Also… be sure to check out our Rye Battle, featuring Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye and High West Rendezvous Rye

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* Thirsty South Rating Scale:

Wow – among the very best: knock-your-socks-off, profound, complex liquid gold!
Excellent – exceptional in quality and character, worth seeking out, highly recommended
Good Stuff – solid expression of its type/varietal, enjoyable and recommended
Fair – fairly standard or exhibiting obvious though minor flaws
Avoid – move away folks, nothing to see here, a trainwreck

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Giving Thanks

I am thankful for so many things, one of the smallest of which is the camaraderie, conversation and just plain fun that has come of sharing the Thirsty South. On our table there will be a very good bottle of the single barrel Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey that was picked out for my father-in-law’s 85th birthday on a recent trip to Tennessee whiskey country. And a turkey that is still sitting peacefully in a lemon/herb brine in the fridge. Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Cheers!