May 2013
17 posts
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My favorite WhiskyFest moment
A couple of weekends ago I attended my first WhiskyFest, in Chicago. For those who don’t know, WhiskyFest is an annual series of events - also held in San Francisco and New York - sponsored by Whisky Advocate magazine at which whisky/whiskey makers across the spectrum offer samples of their wares. At WhiskyFest Chicago, there were more than 300 products to try, including special...
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“I need something to eat.”
“Ice doesn’t count?”
– Interplay between new partners Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm) and Don Draper (Jon Hamm) as Don drinks Ted under the table at work, on “Mad Men.”
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Taste: Angel's Envy Rye & Zacapa 23
The recent WhiskyFest Chicago featured more than 300 brands from across the spirit spectrum. That’s how I found myself sampling both a rye whiskey finished in rum barrels and a Guatemalan rum finished in whiskey barrels. What I discovered: When worlds collide, good things can happen. Here’s more on each.
Angel’s Envy Rye
100 proof; aged at least 6 years in oak barrels and...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
During Prohibition, a rum-runner named William Frederick McCoy was known for never watering down his product - when you bought spirits from him, you were sure to get the genuine deal. Some say this is the origin of the phrase “the real McCoy.”
Source: “Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American History,” by Michael Veach, bourbon historian
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Have a cocktail, Old Sport
Baz Luhrmann’s 3D version of “The Great Gatsby” opened this weekend, and earlier this week, Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald-Leader had a nice story about the novel’s ties to Louisville - Daisy Buchanan is from the city, and she marries Tom in the “Muhlbach” Hotel, obviously a stand-in for the Seelbach Hotel.
Like Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald was...
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Louisville to join the Bourbon Trail
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour will get an eighth stop - and the first-ever in Louisville - when Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opens this fall at 528 W. Main St.
Main Street in Louisville was once known as “Whiskey Row” for all the whiskey-related businesses that populated several blocks along the Ohio River. The city still produces one-third of the...
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Bourbon Classic to return in 2014
The Bourbon Classic, a weekend of cocktails, culinary delights, bourbon tasting and education, will return to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2014.
Like this year’s inaugural event, the 2014 Classic will again include a cocktail competition, focused on classic and contemporary bourbon cocktails paired with a chef’s bourbon-themed culinary...
Taste: Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage 2003
Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage 2003
86.6 proof; bottled on March 22, 2013 (just shy of 10 years); $29/750ml
Nose: Vanilla, honey, some herbal notes; very soft and sweet.
Taste: Buttery soft on the front and middle of the palate, with a very slight burn on the back. The vanilla and honey are prominent first, along with those botanicals; oak and cinnamon take over the finish.
Verdict:...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
In 2012, Kentucky distilleries filled one million barrels with bourbon (1,007,703, to be precise) - the first time they’ve hit that milestone since 1973. That brought total inventory to 4.9 million barrels, which means there are more barrels of bourbon aging in the Bluegrass than there are people (4.3 million). Just one more reason it’s great to be a Kentuckian.
Source: Kentucky...
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87 bottles of bourbon on the wall
“Kentucky’s Mash Appeal.” That’s how the Kentucky Distillers’ Association billed the bourbon and whiskey options from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that were offered at a Derby Eve soiree at the Governor’s Mansion on Friday night. There really were 87 - although you had to know the password to taste the good stuff (Wild Turkey Tradition, I’m looking at...
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“I often like working with a hangover, because my mind is crackling with energy...”
– Irish painter Francis Bacon (Oct. 28, 1909-April 28, 1992). How many of us feel this way post-Derby, I wonder? (Fun fact: Margaret Thatcher once referred to Bacon as “that man who paints those dreadful pictures.”)
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Hello, Mudder
Today is the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. Just before the race, thousands of people will sing our state song, “My Old Kentucky Home” - you know, the one that begins, “The sun shines bright on my Old Kentucky Home.” Well, someone apparently forgot to tell the sun, because today’s forecast is for rain, pretty much all day.
This may affect one’s choice...
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“Pluck the mint gently from its bed, just as the dew of the evening is about to...”
– Mint julep recipe attributed to Henry Watterson (1840-1921), Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of The Louisville Courier-Journal, and a Bourbon Babe Kentucky Derby tradition
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Secretariat: Chills, 40 years later
Forty years later, it still gives you chills. Watching video of Secretariat blazing down the home stretch in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, winning the third leg of the Triple Crown by 31 lengths, a crowd gathered at the Kentucky Derby Museum earlier this week cheered as if they were seeing it live.
The occasion was the unveiling of a limited-edition bottling of Four Roses commemorating the 40th...
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“I’ve been here for less than 24 hours and I’ve had more pork and...”
– Moth Mainstage storyteller Brian Finkelstein, host for “On the Rocks: Stories from the Distilleries,” taped at the Brown Theater in Louisville on April 24.
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April 2013
24 posts
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Mix: White Julep
Last month, I tasted Jacob’s Ghost, the new white whiskey from Jim Beam. It’s aged for at least a year in a charred white-oak barrel; the tinge of resulting color is filtered out, leaving it clear, but the aging gives it a sweeter flavor than many so-called white dogs. I still wouldn’t drink it straight, but when my friend Joy Perrine, mixologist extraordinaire, told me about...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
The impetus for the modern drinking straw was… the mint julep. Tired of his natural rye-grass straw (the standard at the time) shedding in his drink, Marvin Chester Stone patented a wax-and-paper version in 1888. In the 1930s, Joseph B. Friedman improved upon Stone’s idea by creating the bendy straw. And so we discover that something good did come from the mint julep.
SOURCE: The...
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Meet a new Angel at pop-up bar
As promised, here is news about another Derby week doing: Angel’s Envy is bringing back its Kentucky Derby pop-up bar at 400 E. Main St. at Preston (directly across from Slugger Field) this week.
The bar will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday (closed Wednesday) and again from 5 p.m. to midnight Friday through Sunday. Bartenders will be serving Angel’s Envy, the...
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Welcome to Derby week!
Col. Bourbon here and I would like to welcome y’all to Derby week, whether you are visiting from afar or are fortunate enough to call old Kentucky home.
There’s a lot going on in the week leading up to the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports, and some of it isn’t even associated with bourbon, believe it or not. But let’s start things off with some breaking news from the...
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Taste: Willett Single Barrel
Willett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel
4 years old; proof varies
$44.99/750ml
I recently visited Willett Distillery, just outside Bardstown, Ky., for the first time (see below) and purchased a bottle of their 4-year-old Single Barrel. This one was 113 proof.
Aroma: Very light and sweet; caramel corn and butter.
Taste: Lots of corn sweetness, some caramel. There is a slight burn, but...
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Taste: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
134.2 proof; 12 years old
$39.99/750ml
This limited-edition, non-chill-filtered bourbon was released by Heaven Hill in late March and capitalizes on the recent trend toward higher-proof offerings.
Aroma: Lots of vanilla, caramel and oak; sweet, but with a definite bite from the alcohol
Taste: Sweet caramel on the front, but watch out: That is followed quickly by a...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
The tool used by master distillers to draw a small portion of bourbon straight from the barrel for sampling is called a whiskey thief. Resembling a large straw, it is typically made of copper.
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Earth Day report: Will climate change affect...
We had kind of a strange winter in Kentucky this year - very little snow, just a few cold snaps, and overall pretty mild. Since the variation in seasonal temperatures plays a huge role in bourbon production - the liquid expands into the staves of the barrels during our (usually) hot summers and contracts during our (usually) cold winters, drawing flavor and color from the wood with it - I started...
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Minty fresh
So, judging a julep recipe contest is harder than I thought it would be. I know, I know: I can feel the eyerolls from here. Tough job, Bourbon Babe! But hey, you taste 10 different - VERY different, in some cases - juleps and try to pick a winner. Especially when you sense that some of the very best ones are toward the end, but then wonder if they truly are the best ones, or if they just seem...
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A doggone good cause
You’ve heard of the hair of the dog? Well, if you make the winning bid on this Col. E.H. Taylor collector series, you’ll take home five limited-edition bottles of whiskey and benefit the dogs (and cats) in the care of the Franklin County (Ky.) Humane Society.
The set includes one bottle each of the E.H. Taylor Single Barrel, Barrel Proof, Rye, Old Fashioned Sour Mash and Tornado...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
Strictly speaking, today’s Shot isn’t about bourbon. It’s about something that pairs beautifully with bourbon in cocktails: bitters. One of the best-known names in bitters is Peychaud’s. The brand is owned by Sazerac, which is based in New Orleans. But did you know that all the Peychaud’s in the world is made in Kentucky? Every bottle is filled in Building 3 at...
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A barrel of fun at Pinot's Palette
“Paint. Drink. Have fun.” We did all of that last week at Pinot’s Palette, a new paint-and-sip studio in St. Matthews. While Pinot’s and other similar studios ply amateur artists with wine for inspiration, Pinot’s has added a twist: Bourbon Night. We sampled Woodford Reserve and Woodford Double Oaked while creating our masterpieces.
When I saw the sample of the...
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“Old Fashioned, please.”
– Don Draper, ordering a drink at dinner on “Mad Men”
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Join me for juleps at the Ice House
The Bourbon Babe is thrilled to announce that she - er, “I” - will be one of the judges this year for Four Roses’ 10th Annual Rose Julep Recipe Contest. I’ll be joined on April 18 at the Ice House by My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan, nationally acclaimed bartender Joy Perrine and wine/spirits journalist Fred Minnick to sample variations on this classic theme by...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
Proof is the percentage of alcohol by volume, doubled. For example, if a bourbon is 90 proof, that means it is 45 percent ABV. But where did the term “proof” come from?
According to bourbon historian Michael Veach, the term harkens back to a time when distillers “proved” a spirit by mixing it with gunpowder and setting it on fire.
“If it sputtered and smoked, it...
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A warm refuge from the cold
When I visited Minneapolis, Minn., for a conference a couple of weeks ago, I expected to find cold, snowy weather - and I did. What I didn’t expect to find was a great bourbon bar. But that is exactly what I did find - and it was all thanks to social media.
Several weeks ago, I posted a blog entry about pairing bourbons with Girl Scout cookies. A fan of cookies and bourbon in Minneapolis...
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Mastering the mint julep
It is slightly less than one month until the Kentucky Derby, which means that people around here are starting to talk about mint juleps. It can be difficult to make a good mint julep; many of them end up way too sweet, or tasting sort of like mouthwash. If that’s been your experience, help is on the way.
Master mixologist Joy Perrine, the “bad girl of bourbon,” will...
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Taste: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel
Russell’s Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon
110 proof; no age statement
$49.99/750ml
This new expression from Wild Turkey’s Jimmy and Eddie Russell is bottled at a higher proof than Russell’s Reserve (110 vs. 90) and is “non-chill-filtered,” meaning the distillery isn’t chilling the whiskey to filter out fatty acids before bottling it. What does...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
The color of a bourbon can tell you two things about it: its age and its strength. While there are some exceptions, a lighter-colored bourbon will as a general rule be younger and lower-proof than a darker one. Note: This guideline won’t work with other types of whiskeys, whose makers are free to add color to their products. By law, nothing can be added to bourbon but water.
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“What’s my favorite proof of whiskey? Well, that depends on the time of...”
– Fred Noe, Jim Beam master distiller, answering a question on a panel at the Bourbon Classic in Louisville. (Booker’s generally has a proof between 121 and 130.)
March 2013
16 posts
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Penny Chenery: 91-proof personality
“If you like bourbon, this will be fun,” Four Roses master distiller Jim Rutledge told Secretariat owner Penny Chenery as he escorted her into the brand’s bottling facility in Cox’s Creek, Ky., where she was to select two single-barrel bourbons to fill a special decanter and bottle commemorating the 40th anniversary of her horse’s incredible Triple Crown sweep.
...
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Taste: Early Times 354
Early Times 354 bourbon
Aged 4 years, 80 proof
Suggested retail price: $15/750ml
People are always asking me to recommend bourbons - particularly bargain bourbons. Today we’ll taste a great bargain: Early Times 354. The Early Times name has been around for a long time - in fact, in the 1950s, Early Times was one of the best-selling bourbons in the United States. But years ago, the...
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Heaven Hill hits a milestone
Heaven Hill Distilleries became only the second continuously operating distillery, and the first private family-owned one, to fill bourbon barrel No. 6.5 million on Tuesday at its Bardstown, Ky., facility.
The independent family owned and operated distillery - the last in the bourbon industry - has just around 1 million aging barrels of bourbon in its inventory, according to a news release from...
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
While many bourbon fans like to exhibit a superiority to their Scotch-drinking friends, the truth is that bourbon owes its resurgence to that other whisky. The popularity of single-malt Scotch led master distiller Elmer T. Lee to introduce single-barrel Blanton’s bourbon in 1984. Single malt, single barrel - hey, consumers aren’t always the brightest bulbs. But the gambit worked, and...
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An instant Classic
This past weekend saw the debut of an event aimed at bourbon connoisseurs: the Bourbon Classic. Held at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in downtown Louisville, the Classic brought together a great blend of master distillers, top-notch chefs and other bourbon experts for two days of tasting, learning, mingling and shopping.
I was out of town and had to miss Friday night’s festivities, in...
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“You got any whiskey? Hell, I’d even drink vodka.”
– Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker), looking for a temporary escape, “The Walking Dead”
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Tuesday's Shot of Bourbon Trivia
The term “brand name” arose from the practice of branding a distillery’s name on the head of a barrel of whiskey.
SOURCE: Filson Bourbon Academy
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Flavor wheel of fortune
Much of the bourbon reporting I do is planned well in advance. For example, I’m looking forward to learning a lot at this coming weekend’s Bourbon Classic at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. (Don’t have your tickets yet? Click here.) And looking even further ahead, I’ll be attending the Bourbon Academy at Woodford Reserve in August.
But sometimes, serendipity plays a...
