New Cocktails: One Eyed Jack

One of my friends recently posted a picture of a mini-menu from the West Side Lounge in Boston. They're starting a weekly Twin Peaks evening and made a set of cocktails specifically for it. The one I decided to make myself is named after the brothel in the TV show - the drink certainly is dangerous.

One Eyed Jack
1.5 oz applejack
0.75 oz Chartreuse
0.75 oz rye whiskey
1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for fifteen seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is dominated by the Chartreuse, but remains fairly balanced, with the applejack's fruit and rye whiskey's grain making themselves known. The sip begins with moderate sweetness, with apples coming in early, followed by herbal notes from the Chartreuse and spice from the rye and bitters, then leaving with bittersweet apples.

Since all I had to begin with were the ingredients, I modeled the proportions on the Widow's Kiss, substituting rye whiskey for the Bénédictine. Since it was going to be a lot less sweet that way, I back off on the bitters to keep things in balance. It's surprisingly smooth and easy going for being a cocktail made entirely with high-proof spirits. It works out well since the two spirits compliment different aspects of the Chartreuse, combing together in a beautiful melange.

Classic Cocktails: De La Louisiane

I was pointed towards this fantastic twist on the classic Sazerac cocktail by Thomas Prieto. It originally comes from the Restaurant de la Louisiane, a famous French restaurant in early 20th-century New Orleans. The recipe was recorded by Stanley Clisby Arthur in his 1937 book New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em.

De La Louisiane
2 oz rye whiskey
0.75 oz sweet vermouth
0.75 oz Bénédictine
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
3 dashes (~0.5 tsp) pastis or absinthe

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for fifteen seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is dominated by the anise notes of the Herbsaint and Peychaud's, herbaceousness from the Bénédictine, with hints of sweet wine and rye. The sip begins with honey and wine sweetness from the Bénédictine and sweet vermouth, becoming herbal rye mid-palate, then leaving with a shower of anise sparks.

This is a really interesting mash-up of the Sazerac and the Vieux Carré. It's less sweet than I would have guessed looking at the recipe - the ingredients balance each other rather well. I would highly recommend this if you enjoy rye whiskey cocktails.

Classic Cocktails: the Blinker

I snagged this drink from Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. The drink first appeared in Patrick Gavin Duffy's The Official Mixer's Manual in 1934. That suggests that it probably came out of Prohibition, when lots of drinks were developed to hide the taste of bad spirits. While I'm using finer ingredients than what would have been available at the local speakeasy, it still manages to hide an awful lot of whiskey.

Blinker
2 oz rye whiskey
1 oz grapefruit juice
2 barspoons raspberry syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice for six seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The nose is full of grapefruit with hints of lemon oil from the garnish and there is a bit of rye and raspberry underneath. The sip begins with mildly sweet grapefruit, which grows towards mid-palate. The rye and raspberry rise alongside. The finish is all raspberry and rye grain.

This drink definitely fits the Prohibition mold. With that said, unless you want the whiskey to hide even more, I wouldn't try substituting bourbon into this cocktail - it probably won't be able to hold its own. If Rittenhouse can barely punch through, no bourbon short of George T. Stagg is going to make much of an impression. Either way, it's either an easy drinking cocktail (build it over ice and dilute it with a squirt of soda water for something a bit snappier in the summer) or a good way to ease someone into rye whiskey.

Beginners Guide to Bourbon and Rye Whiskey

On the heels of my guide to scotch whisky, I thought I would turn to something a little bit closer to home. While rum may have launched the United States, bourbon and its cousin rye whiskey are the spirits now most closely associated with America.

American whiskey production grew out of the settlement of the Ohio River Valley. After independence, white settlers began to move west of the Appalachian Mountains, which had previously been restricted by the British government, eager to keep their colonists close to the coast where they could be more easily taxed. The farmers who grew crops in the extremely fertile region, including lots of corn, rye, and barley, found that it wasn't economically feasible to transport their grain east of the mountains where most of the demand for their products was to be found. However, if those grains were fermented and distilled, the resulting whiskey had a lot more value per pound, meaning that money could be made even after shipping it over the Appalachians. This fueled the almost insatiable appetite for liquor during the 19th century, when the average American drank about five gallons of absolute alcohol in a year (this translates to roughly one 750 mL bottle of 80-proof liquor in a week).

Column still at Wild Turkey via Alcademics

These early whiskeys would have been rather rough 'n ready, with thousands of small distilleries producing spirits from whatever grains were cheapest at the time. Most would have been using small copper pot stills and without the tools to precisely measure alcohol concentration, relying on experience and guesswork to judge when to make cuts. That meant significant amounts of unpleasant compounds from the heads and tails of a run would have made it into the hearts cut. Batch variation would have been significant - without purified yeasts to inoculate the wort and less rigorous decontamination of their equipment, wild yeasts and bacteria would often infect the mash, producing all sorts of peculiar compounds. Direct fired stills making for uneven heating of the wort, producing another set of potentially off compounds. Barrel aging would have been more often than not incidental, a product of shipment rather than planning. Which is all to say that these whiskeys would have been very different from the mellow and refined spirits we know and love today.

Now there are very tight regulations about how bourbon and rye whiskeys must be produced if the distillers want to label them as 'straight' bourbon or rye whiskey. First, bourbon must be made from a mash of between 51 and 80% corn, with the balance being made up with rye or wheat (the flavoring grain) and malted barley (the enzymes in malt convert starches from the other grains into fermentable sugars). Distillation must be to no more than 160-proof (80% alcohol) and the distillate must be diluted to no more than 125-proof (62.5% alcohol) for aging in new charred oak barrels. At that point it can be called bourbon whiskey. To gain the 'straight' moniker, the bourbon must be aged for at least two years. Bottling, whether straight bourbon or not, must be at least 80-proof (40% alcohol). American rye whiskey conforms to the same requirements, except that the mash must contain at least 51% rye, with the balance being made up with corn and malted barley.

The main axis for understanding bourbon and rye whiskey is the percentage of rye in the mash bill. Rye both adds spiciness to whiskey and covers up some of the inherent sweetness from the corn. Just outside the spectrum are wheated bourbons, which use wheat as a flavoring grain instead of rye. This makes for a much softer bourbon, without the chili pepper burn found in most rye recipe bourbons. The most well-known wheated bourbon is Maker's Mark, but I generally prefer Weller bourbons. At the beginning of the rye recipe bourbon spectrum, go for something like Buffalo Trace with 8% rye in its mash bill. Rye flavors will be present, but tend to give way to corn sweetness. In the mid range, Wild Turkey, Ezra Brooks, and Evan Williams bourbons are all made from a 13% rye mash bill and most of Jim Beam's whiskeys are made with a 15% rye mash bill. Here rye becomes a more significant presence, but is still in balance with the corn. Above this, we enter what is generally thought of as 'high rye' territory. Four Roses uses two different 'high rye' mash bills, one at 20% and another at a whopping 35% (the latter is the source for Bulleit bourbon). Jim Beam maintains a legacy 30% rye mash bill for their Old Grand Dad and Basil Hayden expressions. In those whiskeys, rye will be more more prominent, making the bourbon both more spicy and less sweet.

From there exists a bit of a gap until you hit rye whiskeys. At 51% rye in the mash bill, Jim Beam (and their Old Overholt label) Rye and Sazerac 6 Year are just over the legal line. So while these are definitely rye whiskeys, with all the spicy herbal flavors that implies, they also retains a fair amount of corn sweetness, making them a good bridge between the two styles of whiskey. From there, it's a jump to whiskeys made with 65% rye in their mash bills - Rittenhouse, Wild Turkey, and Russell's Reserve. These are very spicy and much drier than bourbon. Finally, LDI/MGP uses a 95% rye mash bill for whiskey that is now released by a wide range of independent bottlers from Bulleit to Willett to Templeton to Redemption to George Dickel (if it's a new rye whiskey brand, then it's probably from LDI/MGP - they're the only distiller with spare rye capacity). To get above that, you'll have to turn to Canada - Alberta Distillers makes a 100% rye mash bill whisky. While usually blended into Canadian whiskies, it is also sold as Alberta Premium and now bottled by a number of American independent bottlers, ranging from Jefferson's to Masterson's and Whistle Pig.

The other axis to look at is age. Because bourbon and rye are aged in new charred oak barrels, they soak up flavor very quickly. This means that even a year or two can make a significant difference in flavors. It's best to keep the mash bill of the whiskeys you're comparing the same or similar to remove that variable from the equation. Many distillers offer whiskeys from the same mash bill at different ages, such as Buffalo Trace (~4-5 years old) and Eagle Rare (10 years old) or Wild Turkey (6-8 years old) and Russell's Reserve (10 years old) or Weller Special Reserve (~7 years old) and Weller 12 Year. Older whiskeys will tend to be more oaky and tannic, but also with more caramel and toffee flavors.

While this feels like a lot of information, hopefully it gives you a few places to start or expand your exploration of American whiskeys. Bourbon and rye are fantastic choices these days because there are still so many great whiskeys available for under $30, making it a very economical way to drink well.

Mixology Monday LXX: Inverted

This month's Mixology Monday is hosted by Stuart over at Putney Farm. He wants us to think about the various ways that cocktails can be 'inverted'.

"We wondered if we could apply the same “inverted” approach to Mixology Monday and, at first, didn’t think it would work. But then we asked ourselves, what does “inverted” really mean? Well, here is the definition:

1 - To turn inside out or upside down 
2 - To reverse the position, order, or condition of

Hmm…it appears that the definition is pretty broad. It seems that “inverted” really just means something “flipped on its head”.  And that can mean almost anything, and leaves plenty of room for creativity. So we are going with the “inverted” theme. You can invert the ratios of spirits, liqueurs or bitters in a cocktail, but we suggest you go beyond that and “invert” whatever you want. Spirits, name, ingredients, proof, color, geography, garnish and glassware are all fair game. An apéritif made with Navy-Strength booze? Give it a try. A beer-based cocktail that tastes like champagne? Sure. A clear Manhattan? Worth a shot (and good luck with that). The only thing we expect is the unexpected. Have fun."

In trying to think about what to do with that, I went for a fairly straight-forward inversion: halve the liquor and double all of the other ingredients in a cocktail. The victim - the Vieux Carré

Carré Vieux
0.5 oz rye whiskey
0.5 oz cognac
2 oz sweet vermouth
0.5 oz Bénédictine
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for fifteen seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose has a very strong grape note from the vermouth and cognac. The bitters and Bénédictine peek out, but have a hard time holding their own. The sip begins rather sweetly, balanced between grapes from the vermouth and herbal sweetness from the Bénédictine. The cognac dominates mid-palate along with some citrus, slowly giving way to the various bitter ingredients. The finish is grape and chocolate.

The sweet vermouth becomes the center of gravity for the drink, around which the other ingredients can only orbit. While it's good, I feel like it highlights the logic behind the original. Even using a rather pungent vermouth like Punt e Mes, it still comes off as almost cloying, despite the extra bitters. I think this would actually make a nice aperitif-style drink if you cut the measurements in half and lightened it with soda water (the acidity would also help to neutralize some of the sweetness).

Mixology Monday LXIX: Fortified Wine - Madeira

Another fortified wine entry for Mixology Monday, this time with madeira. This recipe was a lucky find on the Mixilator, the always entertaining random cocktail generator, which I tweaked a shift towards the sweeter end of things.

Madeira is largely unknown these days, despite being one of the favorite drinks of the Founding Fathers (it was drunk both at the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution). Like many fine drinks, it was slain by Prohibition and never regained its rightful place in American drinking habits. However, it's a fabulous choice of wine, both because of its flavor and because its production methods make it one of the sturdiest wines around (bottles produced in the late 18th century are often not only drinkable but astoundingly good). While not common in cocktails, it can be found in a number of pre-Prohibtion tipples.

The Defalcating Honeymoon
2 oz madeira
0.75 oz Angostura bitters
0.5 oz rye whiskey
0.25 oz orgeat
0.5 tsp Green Chartreuse

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice for six seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose requires the drink to warm before opening up completely with notes of madeira, rye whiskey, and savory spices. The sip begins with subdued grape and almond sweetness, then subdued bitterness, more savory spices and herbs, leading to darker wine notes, and leaving with a final herbaceous and nutty puff.

This is a bit of an odd duck, with a fortified wine base, a lot of bitters, and Chartreuse. Yet it all manages to come together nicely. The original version didn't have orgeat, which I think is necessary to keeping all of the ingredients in harmony. As with other cocktails made with significant quantities of Angostura bitters, it also develops a lovely foam. While it took a few tries to get right, I'm quite happy with how this drink turned out.

Looking forward to all of the other Mixology Monday entries to come.

Whiskey Review: Redemption Bourbon and Rye

While at the Great American Distiller's Festival here in Portland, one of the booths that caught my eye was serving up the spread from Bardstown Barrel Selections. While there, Dave Schmier served me everything their range of bourbon and rye whiskeys, which was quite educational. All of their whiskey is sourced from MGP (formerly LDI). However, as I didn't get to spend as much time as I like to with these spirits, my notes are more sketchy.

Temptation Bourbon

Nose: balanced corn, rye, and wood

Taste: sweet and sour up front, moving into caramel, mild wood spices and raspberry

This is the medium rye recipe bourbon of their bunch, with a mash bill of 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% malted barley. This is a rather young bourbon at only two years old and a fairly low bottling proof of 41%. While a perfectly decent bourbon, nothing about it really stood out to me. While LDI puts out solid juice and there are surprisingly few rough edges on this for being so young, there is also little to recommend it over other bourbons. Worth a try, but I won't be working to buy a bottle.

Redemption Bourbon

Nose: more depth, seems older, a whiff of berries, corn/wood, rye grain

Taste: corn sweetness, wood spices, mint, young-ish but very drinkable

This is the high rye recipe bourbon, with a mash bill of 60% corn, 38% rye, and 2% malted barley. Redemption is the same age as Temptation, at roughly two years. However, it does get bottled at a higher 46%, which helps to give it more oomph. While I enjoyed it more, it's not good enough to recommend it over other high rye whiskeys like Old Grand Dad or Bulleit seeing as they're all around the same price.

Riverboat Rye

Nose: very minty, citrus, light caramel, pine

Taste: thin, lots of pine, some caramel

This is the standard 95% rye/5% malted barley recipe from LDI, but aged for less than four years (if I remember correctly, it's closer to a year for most of the juice) bottled at 40%. This is meant to emulate what rye whiskey was like back in the 18th century, when aging in barrels was usually an incidental side-effect of transport. It is very clearly a young rye, with so much pine that it almost tastes like gin. For me it was more of an interesting experience than something I would want to drink regularly, but it might work better in cocktails.

Redemption Rye

Nose: much more wood, lots of pine, rye grain, cacao

Taste: sweet up front, lots of rye spice and pine, green, drying

This has the same mash bill as Riverboat Rye, but is aged for at least two years before bottling at 46%. It definitely shows more maturity than its younger sibling, but is still decidedly youthful. Again, not something I would be too keen to sip regularly (Rittenhouse BiB and Sazerac 6 do a much better job), but the higher proof means that it would be an even better choice for making cocktails.

As Chuck Cowdery pointed out, whiskeys like these are most likely bottled at a younger age specifically so that they can be balanced out by the other ingredients in cocktails, rather than having the internal balance necessary for sipping whiskeys. What might appear to be a defect from one perspective can be an asset from another.

Whiskey Review: Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye 2011 Release

Thomas H. Handy rye is named after the barman and owner of the Sazerac coffee house who reformulated the original cognac-based Sazerac cocktail into one made with rye whiskey. This whiskey is one of the five elements of the much-lauded annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. However, it differs significantly from the others in being a relatively young, six year-old spirit, while the most wear much more age, especially the 17 year old Eagle Rare bourbon and 18 year old Sazerac rye. In essence, what TH rye offers is the absolute best young rye whiskey to be found in the Buffalo Trace rickhouses, bottled at barrel proof and without chill filtration. It's as close as you can get to drinking straight out of the cask. For better or worse, it hasn't garnered nearly the same attention as its older siblings, often sitting on shelves months after the others have been whisked away by ravenous whiskey connoisseurs and specialist bars. Which is just fine by me, as it has a charm all of its own, distinct from its more oak-heavy brethren.

I first encountered Thomas Handy rye last year when I decided to treat myself to some fine whiskeys as a late birthday present. I had rye on the brain from enjoying Rittenhouse and Sazerac 6 Year, so the BTAC ryes were my first stop. I was still very new to sipping neat spirits and that was my first encounter with truly spectacular whiskey. I left the bar determined to get my hands on some more. While I wasn't able to secure any Sazerac 18 from last year's release, I was able to get ahold of a couple of bottles of TH rye.

Thomas Handy Rye 2011 (64.3%)

Nose: strong fruity notes, rich vanilla and caramel/toffee/maple syrup, corn sweetness, oatmeal, whole wheat sandwich bread, oak tannins, cinnamon, dry cocoa powder, alcohol is definitely present. After adding a few drops of water, the nose becomes softer with less fruit, while gaining a hint of baked apples and additional baking spices, primarily cloves, and some fresh cut wood or sawdust.

Taste: lots of corn sweetness up front with strong vanilla notes, evaporates on the tongue into big maple syrup, volcanic pepper, oak, rich berries/wine, leaving with prickles of spice, dark chocolate and a drying alcoholic heat. After adding some water, the initial sweetness becomes a little more subdued, but it carries through the palate more strongly, and while the overall is less effervescent and the fruit somewhat disappears, baking spices, especially clove, also come out strongly at the back of the mouth along with fresher wood.

Finish: sweetness and vanilla, still drying with a lingering burn

Surprisingly, this actually feels much more like a bourbon than a rye to me. Admittedly, the Sazerac mash bill is only 51% rye, which means there is still plenty of corn in the recipe. But without more distinctive rye elements like mint, it reads much more like a high rye bourbon.

Ultimately what you're getting is everything good about the basic Sazerac 6 Year turned up to 11. The entire experience is big and bold, yet it still manages to be engaging rather than overwhelming. While barrel proof whiskeys can sometimes be unduly harsh and require water to properly tame them, this can be comfortably drunk (in small sips) without any discomfort. While TH rye doesn't have the same cachet as the other members of the BTAC, I think it stands on its own quite well and is quite worth the money Buffalo Trace charges for it. You get a superb whiskey in the prime of its life, perfectly poised between fiery youth and gentler age.

In the interest of science, I also tried TH rye watered down to 45% and 50% ABV, in much the same fashion as my experiment with Macallan Cask Strength.

45% Dilution

Nose: noticeably lighter, rye grain most prominent, hot multigrain breakfast cereal, vanilla, slightly musty, a hint of fruit

Taste: seems very young, lots of sweet grain, very smooth, oak only shows up near the back along with some bittersweet chocolate and a drying sensation

Finish: vanilla, grain, a touch of oak, somewhat bitter

50% Dilution

Nose: still grainy, but less so, multigrain cereal, orange peel, vanilla, creamier, a little soapy

Taste: about halfway between the 45% and full strength - still grainy, but creamier - especially mid-palate, more alcohol attack at the back of the mouth, slightly woody - but not tannic, a bit of stewed fruit, a little chocolate, more body than 45%

Finish: fruit, grain, residual heat/black pepper

What I find most interesting about these dilutions is how much more youthful the whiskey seems at lower strength. It's all about the grain and the wood seems to be fighting a losing battle to instill some maturity. This is in marked contrast to the full strength whiskey, which seems mature beyond its years.

I think this just goes to show that barrels have to be picked for bottling with their final strength in mind. Some will shine straight out of the barrel, with undiluted character. Others will take more water to reveal their best face. And just because it's good at one strength doesn't mean that more or less water will make it better. Once again, I tip my hat to the master blenders who have the skill to recognize how whiskeys can be refashioned into a harmonious whole.

Rye & Sherry Cocktail Series

After my latest sherry post, I decided to dive back into the world of sherry cocktails. This time I wanted to go for something with a bit more heft, which meant reaching for the oloroso. And figuring that rye whiskey might compliment it well, I went searching the Cocktail Database for ideas. Lo and behold, there were a handful of solid looking drinks to choose from. Just to keep things simple, all of these drinks were made with Rittenhouse rye whiskey and Lustau Don Nuño Dry Oloroso sherry.



Oddly, this cocktail doesn't have any gooseberries to speak of. Sadly no info for how it acquired the name, but it's an interesting tipple.

Gooseberry Cocktail
0.75 oz rye whiskey
0.75 oz sherry
1 oz lemon juice
1.5-2 tsp simple syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Despite using Rittenhouse rye, the nose is dominated by the dry sherry notes, with hints of lemon oil and rye grain. The taste begins with a mixture of rye and sherry, giving the sip an almost nutty quality. The lemon comes into force as the sip continues, just barely constrained by the simple syrup. It ends with crisp acidity, making my mouth water a bit.

This is a bit of a peculiar cocktail, as the rye and sherry struggle to hold out against the lemon assault. It's definitely a drink for someone who likes their cocktails tart, though you can shift the balance by adding more simple syrup. It also gets a little less lemony as it warms up, especially on the nose as the rye grain becomes more prominent and the palate becomes just a bit sweeter. I think this would make a good aperitif cocktail as it's relatively light on the alcohol and definitely stimulates the salivary glands, leaving your palate cleansed and wanting more. In other situations, I'd be tempted to up the amount of rye and sherry to make a more standard sour-style cocktail, but try it this way first.



The next drink comes from Hugo Esslin's 1917 cocktail book Recipes for Mixed Drinks. An interesting name given that many of the ingredients would be thought of as fusty and old fashioned these days (though rye is making a comeback). However, I'd say this drink ultimately fits modern tastes just fine.

Up to Date Cocktail
1.25 oz rye whiskey
1 oz sherry
0.25 oz orange liqueur
2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for 15 seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is full of the rye whiskey's grain notes, as well as Indian spices - cinnamon, tumeric, cumin - and just a hint of wine from the sherry. The sip opens with mild sweetness and orange notes from the liqueur, then transitions to rye and Ango bitters spices, finishing off with dry flavors of cacao and oloroso sherry.

This is a really good cocktail. The combination of ingredients is far more than the sum of its parts, especially with the savory spices that are prominent throughout the drink. If you want something like a Manhattan, but just a hair sweeter, I would highly recommend this drink.



This drink comes from Patrick Gavin Duffy’s “Official Mixer’s Manual”. I agree with Erik Ellestad that this is a sort of petit punch, as it's rather light and not terribly sweet. I think you could batch it up to serve on a warm day when you want something lighter but not limp to serve.

Sherry Twist Cocktail Variation
1.5 oz sherry
0.75 oz rye whiskey
1 oz orange juice
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz orange liqueur

Combine all ingredients and add a couple of cloves and a pinch of chili pepper. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

The nose is light - a spark of clove and a melange of rye grains and dry sherry, with almost jammy raisin and baked apple notes. This drink begins fairly tartly with a solid thump of lemon, followed by mellow orange, segueing back into a bump of rye graininess and tartness from the sherry, with another hint of raisins. The finish is almost all sherry, predominantly the yeasty flavors, with lingering hints of spice, especially from the pepper, which gives it just a small prickle of heat.

This drink actually improves a bit as it warms up, with more pronounced spices on the nose and warm nuttiness near the end of the swallow. I used chipotle pepper in this one and I think the smoky flavor went really well with the rye whiskey. Overall I like how, despite everything else you're adding, it still retains a lot of sherry character, with flourishes of tartness and spices while remaining relatively dry. If you want a stiffer drink, it would also be possible to swap the proportion of rye and sherry to come up with something pretty tasty.



As you might have noticed throughout this post, Erik Ellestad has also covered a number of these drinks. He has a whole series of sherry cocktails, a number of which include rye whiskey, so head on over to Savoy Stomp if you want some more.

How I Taste Spirits

Since I've been doing a lot more detailed spirits reviews over the last year or so, I figured it'd be a good time to explain the process I use to taste and evaluate them.

To begin with, having proper glassware helps a lot. While there's nothing wrong with drinking out of a regular rocks glass, it's a lot harder to catch the smells coming off of the spirit when it's in a wide-mouthed glass. While the standard for spirits tasting is the Glencairn glass, official ones are often rather pricey unless you purchase in bulk. I've found a couple of alternatives that have worked pretty well for me.

One the right is the Vinoteque snifter that I originally purchased from Kitchen Kaboodle. Unfortunately it appears that they don't carry it anymore, but you can still find it in sets of 6 from other online stores. It has the shape you're looking for in tasting glasses, where a wider bowl constricts to a smaller opening at the top of the glass. This gives the spirit a large surface area for volatile compounds to evaporate and then concentrates those volatile compounds around the lip of the glass. On the left is one of the glasses that comes in the Arran 10 Gift Set. Those glasses have a very similar shape to the Vinoteque, but they're a little bit smaller, which means that you can still get a decent sense of the nose from a fairly small 1/2-3/4 oz pour. I like these glasses a lot as they're very stable and will right themselves even when tipped over. Admittedly you do have to buy some whisky to get them, but it is very good whisky.

My usual strategy is to pour just enough spirit into the glass that it reaches the widest spot in the glass. That way there spirit has the most surface area that it's going to get. I usually start my reviews by letting the spirit sit in the glass for 5-10 minutes before I start writing notes. It takes a little while for the volatiles to build up to a high enough concentration in the air within the glass. In the meantime, I'll usually sip some water to clear my palate as much as possible. Once I start smelling, I like to smell from different angles around the edge and just within the rim of the glass. Compounds will concentrate in different parts and so you can find different smells in different places. With that said, I don't like to stick my nose right in the glass as that usually leads to getting a nose full of alcohol, which can get in the way of finding more subtle elements.

As per some of the advice I got at Cocktail Camp, it's usually best to be wary about the impressions you get during the first sip of a spirit. Even if it's been a while since your last drink or meal, there will always be some residual flavors from whatever was last consumed. That first sip will help to coat the palate and wash away anything besides the spirit I'm trying to taste. After that, I usually try to take small sips so that my palate isn't overwhelmed by the rush of alcohol, especially with higher proof spirits. I want to let the spirit move across my tongue in a controlled fashion so that I have the time to get a handle on what I'm tasting at each point. While the tongue map theory has been been disproven, spirits will present different flavors as they move across the mouth. It's likely a complex interplay between the threshold detection of various flavors by different parts of the tongue, how different compounds dissolve and volatilize, and the kinetics of flavor compounds binding to taste and smell receptors. Which is all just to say, if you're trying to analyze a spirit, don't just toss it back. It takes time to tease out the various elements that present themselves and letting this spirit linger in your mouth will help that process.

When it comes to taking notes, I'm pretty old-fashioned.

I have the tiniest handwriting

I have a Moleskine notebook that I use for taking notes. It began mostly because I happened to have it on hand, but it's turned out to be a good choice because it's easy to slip in a pocket when I'm going out to a bar and want to take some notes about whatever I happen to end up drinking.

I break down my analyses by nose, taste and finish, then further by what I get drinking the spirit neat or after adding a few drops of water. I mostly just write down impressions as I find them, but with taste I do try to add descriptors to indicate where on the palate I noticed the flavor so that I can reconstruct the temporal experience.

Unless I'm drinking at a bar, I'll always try to taste a spirit on multiple occasions on different days. It's rare that I feel like I can tease out everything a spirit has to offer in one go and it helps to solidify my opinion if I can find the same or at least similar flavors over the course of multiple tastings. This means that the reviews I post here are, unless otherwise noted, composites of multiple experiences. Like I said, I  can usually find what I think of as a coherent whole for a spirit, but there are occasions where I've found something one time and never again. While consistency is a good thing to strive for, I have found that tasting a spirit in a different place can make a significant difference in what I can find in it. I don't know if that's a matter of different environments having different ambient smells or simply different contexts nudging my brain into having a slightly different experience, but it can be valuable to see whether or not that makes a difference for you.

Lastly, don't feel bad if you can't find the same laundry list of flavors in a review you just read. It takes time and experience to train your brain to pick up the more subtle elements. Just compare my first attempt at a detailed review with my latest whisky review. In reviewing those ryes, I was only able to pick out the most prominent elements of the spirits - namely grain, vanilla and spice. After trying more spirits and getting a better sense of how to break down and describe what I'm tasting, there's a lot more to be found. So as with so many things, it's not that the reviewers are inherently better, it just takes practice. Additionally, have a broad base of experiences tasting different foods will help to form associations with flavors and smells that will make it easier to put a name on what you're tasting and smelling in a spirit. It's hard to explain something if you don't have the words to describe it.

With all of that said, everyone's experiences are unique. Just because one person finds a particular flavor or smell in a spirit doesn't mean that you'll find exactly the same things. There's an incredibly complex relationship between what's in a spirit and what your brain says that it's experiencing. With so many variables, nothing is 100% certain. That's why I've never put numbers on the reviews I post here because I don't think that there's any way for me to be completely objective in rating one spirit as better or worse than another. What I taste is going to change from day to day depending on the setting, what I've ate recently, my mood, and any other number of variables. I'd much rather just tell you what I've been able to get out of a spirit and let you decide whether or not it sounds appealing.

If you're interested in trying taste spirits in a more conscious, deliberative fashion, I hope some of these tips have been helpful. I think there's a lot to be gained from paying close attention to what a spirit has to offer, but ultimately the goal is just to enjoy what you're drinking, no matter how you're doing it.

Cocktail Camp PDX, Part II

Now for Part II in my set of posts about Cocktail Camp PDX.

The Lunchtime Social Hour was run by New Deal Distillery. There were a handful of cocktails being made, but I only got a chance to try one:

Ginger Fizzle
1 oz New Deal Ginger Liqueur
0.75 oz rye whiskey
0.75 oz lemon juice
1 oz dry sparkling wine

Combine all ingredients except for the wine, shake with ice, then strain into a chilled glass and top with the sparkling wine and a dash of Angostura bitters.

The nose presented the sparkling wine, a hint of rye, the spice of the bitters and a bit of vegetal ginger. The sip opened with bitters, sour lemon and ginger, the sparkling wine coming in mid-palate, finishing with the ginger bite, with a fruity note that reminded me of pineapple weaving through it all. Overall a decent drink, but it just didn't quite come together for me. Which is a shame, because I like the set of ingredients, but I might have to tweak the proportions to make something that will fit my tastes.


The first talk of the afternoon was the Perfect Host, presented by Morgan Schick of Jupiter Olympus, a cocktail consulting and events company. This was designed to give people a sense of how to put together a cocktail party and build a menu with sufficient breadth to keep people interested, but not so broad that it's impossible to have every single ingredient on hand. One way to deal with this is to stick to the basics - drinks like Manhattans, Gimlets, Martinis and the like can all be made with a handful of ingredients, many of which will pull double- or triple-duty, allowing you to make a decent number of drinks without a huge back bar. Additionally, by introducing only a few other elements - homemade syrups, some simple infusions - you can generate new and interesting twists on those drinks without greatly expanding the number of necessary ingredients.

A Manhattan variation, the 17,000 (the number of islands in Indonesia, where Batavia arrack comes from), was served during the Perfect Host talk:

2 oz bourbon
1 bar spoon Batavia arrack
1 oz sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice and strain into a glass

Sadly this one just didn't do much for me. Admittedly, that's largely due to the fact that Manhattan-style drinks just seem too bitter, but I felt like the arrack wasn't balancing well with the other ingredients. I'm tempted to play around with it on my own, but it seems like a tricky one to get right.


The Afternoon Social Hour was sponsored by Campari, which meant that all of the cocktails a) contained Campari and b) were designed to be aperitifs. The first one I tried was a relatively spicy number by David Shenaut:

The Souracher
0.75 oz 100-proof rye whiskey
0.75 oz Campari
0.75 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
0.75 oz lime juice

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, strain into an ice-filled Collins glass and top with ginger beer.

This one just didn't quite tickle my fancy. Mostly ginger and vermouth on the nose. The taste led off with some sweetness from the ginger beer, creamy lime mid-palate, and finished with bitterness from the vermouth and Campari mixed with the grainy spice of the rye. The flavors felt a bit muddled, though they integrated a bit better after some of the ice had melted. As with the Ginger Fizzle, I felt like there was a good drink inside it, but it needs some tweaking to really fit my tastes.

After the Souracher, I sipped a drink from Allison Webber that rescued an otherwise somewhat lackluster set of cocktails:

Belle Époque
1 oz Campari
1 oz Spanish brandy
0.5 oz Palo Cortado sherry
0.5 oz Dolin Blanc vermouth

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

This was a seriously good drink. The nose was sweet and spicy, with big fruit and vanilla - overall a fantastic sweet/savory balance. The sip was a reprise of the smells, in the same order, with a bitter, slightly salty finish. Given how heavy it was on bitter aperitif-oriented spirits, it came together with shockingly good balance. Every element had its place, presenting itself and then making way for the next piece. My mouth waters just to think about having another one of these cocktails.


The last talk of the day was an Introduction to Aperitifs, presented by Neil Kopplin of Imbue Vermouth and Tony Devencenzi of Bourbon & Branch. The talk began with a small history of aperitifs. Their historical antecedents go back to the medicinal tinctures that had been created since time immemorial from herbs and spices steeped in alcoholic beverages. Their definite beginning came with the invention of vermouth in 1786 by the Italian merchant Antonio Benedetto Carpano. Carpano soaked a mixtures of herbs and spices in white wine, then dyed it a deep red. This was what would come to be known as sweet or Italian vermouth. The drink became popular and a few decades later, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Frenchman Joseph Noilly created a pale, drier variety of vermouth that we know now as dry or French vermouth.

Another class of aperitifs are known as quinquinas, originating with Joseph Dubonnet in 1846. Dubonnet's drink was developed as a delivery method for the malaria-fighting bark of the South American chinchona tree, which contains quinine. These aperitifs have a particular quality of bitterness that it different than that found in vermouths. Other bitter aperitifs emerged over time, such as Campari, Aperol and amari bitter liqueurs like fernet, Cynar or Jägermeister.

What all of these drinks have in common is a bitterness that makes them good to drink before a meal. This is because the brain associates bitter flavors with poison, which stimulates the salivary glands in an attempt to dilute the ingested compounds. In the case of aperitifs, this helps to prepare the mouth for the meal to come. Additionally, aperitifs usually have a fairly low proof around 20-30% ABV. This makes them relatively light on their own and even more so when lengthened with soda water or other non-alcoholic drinks. As Neil put it, this makes them 'sessionable' as you can spend time drinking them without becoming significantly intoxicated.

Neil talked a bit about the creation of his own aperitif, Imbue bittersweet vermouth. This is another one of those Oregon products that came about because people were sitting around drinking and decided that they wanted to make something new and interesting with all of the great materials that this state has to provide. After a lot of experimentation, they came up with a vermouth that is somewhere in between a sweeter traditional blanc vermouth and dry vermouth, which is more bitter. I got to try some mixed with ginger beer and a dash of Angostura bitter. The results were pretty tasty. I'll be picking up a bottle once I've gotten through my current bottle of sweet vermouth.


Overall I really enjoyed Cocktail Camp. I got to learn a lot and drink some very tasty drinks. I'm looking forward to seeing what the event looks like next year.

New Cocktail Classics: the Trinidad Sour

This drink comes from the inestimable mind of Giuseppe Gonzalez, previously of NYC craft cocktail haunts like the Clover Club, the Flatiron Lounge, Dutch Kills, and most recently half of the brains behind the fantastic PKNY tiki bar. This is one of his brilliant creations that warps the way cocktails are usually constructed.

Trinidad Sour
1 oz Angostura bitters
0.5 oz rye whiskey (100-proof)
0.75 oz lemon juice
1 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is surprisingly subdued - the bitter's cherry, cinnamon, and allspice blend nicely with the rye whiskey. The lemon pokes out as well. The sip leads off with mild sweetness, quickly transitioning to the spice of the bitters and rye, with just a hint of nuttiness from the orgeat. This leads into a finish of lemon and residual bitterness.

Overall I'm shocked with just how good this drink tastes, given the completely bizarre proportions. And this is coming from someone who usually thinks that sweet vermouth is far too bitter on its own. The bitterness doesn't really kick in until the end of the sip, but even then it's more of a palate cleanser rather than beating the crap out of your taste buds as expected. The bitters and orgeat give it a wonderfully thick mouthfeel. To add to the enjoyment, the drink is an incredibly deep, rich crimson with bit of frosh on the top of the drink. My hat goes off to Giuseppe for creating such an incredible cocktail.

Second Anniversary - Another Year of Booze Blogging

As per last year and in keeping with traditions, it seemed like a good time to reflect back on the previous year of blogging.

•I'm still really enjoying blogging, though there times when it feels like I've let its demands get ahold of me too much. It's funny, but I just don't drink fast enough or often enough. However, the liver transplant surgeons of the world would probably disagree with that assessment.
•It's amazing what a regular posting schedule has done for my traffic. It took about a year and a half to get my first 10,000 page views, but only four months to get the next 10,000. My one New Year's resolution was to post twice a week and I've pretty much stuck to that. And tried to make up for it when I've slipped. Hopefully I get can get to three times a week or more at some point, but there is that small matter of the rest of my life in the way. Time will tell.
•It's been very interesting dipping my toe into the world of whisk(e)y. From those first few tentative steps through rye and bourbon, I've since come to love grain-based spirits from across the globe. It's pushed me to think a lot more about the details of the spirits I drink, both on their own and in cocktails. However, it's also kind of an expensive hobby.
•On that note, it's been interesting to note the relative output of the cocktail and whisk(e)y blogospheres, as it feels like the former has been ebbing a bit while the latter picks up more and more steam. Admittedly there's a little confirmation bias there because I've been searching out new whisk(e)y blogs, which means they're more likely to be active, but the updates on the sidebar have definitely taken on a new pattern.
•With that said, tiki continues unabated (thanks, Doug). Sometimes with a vengeance.
•I've really enjoyed sinking my teeth into the world of rhum agricole. After a rough start, we are definitely good friends now.
•Still not much of a garnisher, but I'll dabble from time to time. Getting a channel knife for Christmas helped.
•Still enjoying making my own ingredients and looking forward to covering more of them in the future.
•Still thankful to the Horde for all the traffic and the booze conversation that comes my way via the OTAN.
•While there are some really excellent distilleries in the area, as I noted last year, some of the newer entrants are incredibly disappointing. I'm hoping they'll step up their game, but they're in a tricky position.
•I've found some great new places to get a drink and should be reviewing a few more soon.

Once again, thanks to everyone who's read my blog over the last year and here's to many more to come.

Whiskey Review: Jefferson's 10-Year Straight Rye

After nearly disappearing from the market, rye whiskey has been clawing its way back into respectability (and occasionally great acclaim) over the last decade. While most of this whiskey is made in the United States, rye is also made in Canada. However, this whiskey is rarely bottled as straight rye, instead being blended into Canadian whisky to add flavor. As an additional quirk, this flavoring whisky is 100% rye, without any corn or barley.

A few companies have approached the distillers of this whisky and purchased barrels to bottle as straight rye whiskey. Whistle Pig took this approach and has garnered all sorts of accolades in the process. However, it also costs a pretty penny. Now McLain & Kyne, previously known for "very small batch" bottlings of Kentucky bourbon, have tossed their hats into the ring and have also bottled some 10-year old 100% rye whiskey. Even better, it retails for about half the price of Whistle Pig.

Tasting Notes


Nose: light grain with an undercurrent of brown sugar or caramel, a hint of rye grain, very slight alcohol underneath and cool mint, becoming herbal with a twinge of chocolate and berries after a drop or two of water

Taste: honey sweetness up front, rye spiciness, creamy with a transition to intense mint, rhum agricole. The flavors seem to be dependent on how the whiskey is drunk, with most of the rye spiciness developing in the middle and the mint coming at the back of the mouth

Finish: very long, minty and herbal with a bit of pepper

This is a great whiskey. M&K have selected a really solid rye and put it out at an incredibly affordable price point. In Oregon right now it's only $34, which is a very small bump up from the baby Sazerac, Russell's Reserve, and Bulleit 95 for a significant increase in age and quality. There's a little more competition once it gets up around $40, but I'd still call it a good buy then. There's enough going on that you can spend a decent amount of time dissecting the various flavors, but it's also pleasant enough to be a relaxing drink at the end of the day. My only complaint, which syncs up with other opinions, is that it could use a slight boost in proof. Somewhere between 100-110 would hopefully ratchet up all the flavors without cutting into profit margins too much. So all said and done, if you like rye, or even whiskey in general, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try.

Heading to Jerez: Lustau East India Solera Sherry

While I've mentioned Lustau sherry once before, I didn't get to talk much about this particular class of fortified wines.

Much maligned due to a lack of understanding of how best to store, serve and drink it, sherry is slowly regaining the profile that it deserves. The English word sherry is a corruption of the Spanish region of Jerez, where all sherry is produced. It shares similarities with port, in that both are fortified with neutral grape spirits during the aging process. There are a number of different styles of sherry that vary both in terms sweetness, ranging from bone dry to sticky sweet, and oxidation, from fresher finos to old olorosos. While sherries are naturally dry due to complete consumption of the natural sugars, some will be mixed with sweeter wine varieties such as Pedro Ximénez or Moscatel to produce sweet sherries. All sherries are aged in barrels under a natural layer of yeast that prevents oxygen from contacting the aging sherry. For the flor to survive, the sherry must be between 14.5% and 16% alcohol. Below that percentage, the flor will not properly form. Above, the yeast die and the sherry will start to oxidize. Some sherries, such as finos and manzanillas, are aged entirely under the flor. Others such as amontillados and olorosos will be fortified above 16% alcohol to kill the flor and allow oxidation. Sherry it traditionally aged in the solera system. A set of barrels is established and transitions occur at regular intervals. Finished product is withdrawn from the oldest barrels and refills from the next oldest. This proceeds up to the newest barrels, which are filled with new product. This means that there is always some of the old sherry left in the barrel, which continues to be aged and mixed.

Lustau East India Solera sherry is designed to replicate an accidental product. Sherries were shipped around Africa to India where the barrels experienced a wide range of temperatures in a humid environment. It was found that this developed an extraordinary smoothness and complexity. Lustau replicates these conditions by aging the sherry in warehouses which are kept very humid and where the temperatures are allowed to vary widely. This sherry is a blend of oloroso (85%) and PX (15%) wines aged betwen 15 and 50 years.

On the nose, this sherry is full of raisins tinged with walnuts and almonds. The taste, while distinctly sweet, is not cloying and finishes with more raisins, nuts and a touch of chocolate. This is a fantastic dessert wine that would work well in a lot of the same places as a tawny port. Additionally, as it has already been aged for decades and has a relatively high (20%) alcohol and sugar content for a sherry, it should last a while in the fridge.

While perfectly good by itself, I wanted to play around a bit and see what I could do with it in a cocktail.

East Indiaman
1.25 oz 100+ proof rye whiskey or bourbon
0.5 oz East India Solera Sherry
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.25 cinnamon syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze a twist of lemon of the top and drop into the drink.

While basically a twist on a whiskey sour, I was pretty pleased with how this drink turned out. While the sherry plays a supporting rather than leading role in this drink, it is an essential component. As I noted above, this sherry has Pedro Ximénez grapes in its mix, which give it quite a bit of sweetness. The nose is full of lemon oil, grain from the whiskey, spices from the syrup and bitters, with just a hit of raisin from the sherry. The taste is wonderfully layered, with the whiskey and sherry dancing around each other, bolstered by the sourness of the lemon juice and snappiness of the bitters. The bitters also help to bring out a bit of the nuttiness in the whiskey and sherry. You're going to want a rather stiff whiskey here. I've tried a few different types including Russell's Reserve Rye and Old Grand-Dad 114. I like it a bit better with rye whiskey as the bold, spicy flavors of rye stand out more than bourbon does. Rittenhouse Rye would be an obvious choice, but something like the 110-proof Willett 4-Year Rye would probably be absolutely perfect.

Rumsky: Experiments in Blending Spirits

While I kind of trashed Russell's Reserve Rye not too long ago, it did make me think about how the whiskey could be salvaged. Especially in cocktails, it just felt too thin. I mentioned at the time that bitters could help, but they didn't provide compete satisfaction. So what could beef it up?

The solution is rum.

A good aged rum should have depth in spades. The rich molasses and chocolate flavors of Demerara rums are especially good in that respect. So what happens when we put the two together...

Russell's Reserve Rye X El Dorado 12 Year Rum

Now this is what I was looking for. With a 3:1 ratio of rye to rum, everything I like about rye is still present, but instead of being unidimensional, the rum buttresses those flavors with caramel, molasses and chocolate. Dark fruit flavors creep out of the glass and the swallow delivers on the promises of the nose. It's fairly safe to say that this is more than the sum of its parts.

Weller Antique 107 Bourbon X Smith & Cross Rum

In this case I decided to take the opposite tack. A rum with almost insufferably potent flavors mixed with an extremely smooth wheated bourbon. With that said, they both pack a punch in their own rights as the Weller is 107 proof and the Smith & Cross is navy proof at 114. Using the same 3:1 ratio of whiskey to bourbon, it was initially still too much. Between the high proof and intense esters of the rum, there was a solid burn going down. However, after a few drops of water and a couple more minutes in the glass, the blend settled down into something much more enjoyable. While still dominated by the rum, sweet brown sugar began to emerge and a hint of grain from the whiskey. The high ester rum still hits you full in the face with funk, but it's a much more pleasant experience. This is something I will definitely be drinking again.

Ezra B. Single Barrel X La Favorite Rhum Vieux X Rhum J.M. Élevé Suis Bois

This blend centered around tempering and enhancing the characteristics of the La Favorite Rhum. While retaining some of the characteristics of rhum agricole, it smells and tastes like it was dosed with charred barrel extract. A little goes a long way. The Rhum J.M. has spent much less time in the barrel and retains more of the almost brandy-like agricole flavors that have been obliterated in the La Favorite offering. The Ezra B has a savory spiciness that compliments the two agricoles. In a 1:1:1 ratio, this blend turns out to be fairly pleasant. There are a lot of strong flavors here, but they manage to mesh reasonably well. The burnt wood, brandy and grain all dance around each other, no one ever quite dominating. It gets sweeter and almost creamy with a bit of water. Unsurprisingly, there's a bit of heat as two of the three spirits are right around 100 proof. All in all, I'm not sure that this was the best blend, but it was an interesting and worthwhile experience.

In some respects I feel like this is an extension of the tiki drink methodology. You take flavors from one spirit that aren't found in another and put them together to make flavors that can't be found in a single spirit. There's a lot more experimentation to do and I look forward to trying this again.

Rye on the Brain: Kicking it up a notch with the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

So, yeah. Rye. Seems to be most of what I've been drinking lately, in no small part because it's a lot easier to pour a dram at the end of the day than to put a proper cocktail together.

As I've been promised a bottle of something that I wouldn't normally try myself, I decided to try the best ryes that I could find. And as far as I can tell, it's pretty hard to beat what the Buffalo Trace Distillery puts out as part of their annual Antique Collection. A new set of bottlings is put out each year in the fall and includes three bourbons and two ryes. They all cost a pretty penny, but represent some of the oldest and best liquor to come out of the distillery.

Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey - 2009

This is a very hefty barrel-proof bottling at roughly 129-proof that was aged for about six years. These are fairly distinct features from most of the other collection, which tend to be much older and lower proof (the George T. Stagg being an exception). With that said, this is a magnificent whiskey.

Neat, the nose has a fairly standard set of rye grain, vanilla and spice flavors. The spice is somewhat augmented by the strength of this whiskey, as they both run fairly hot. The taste delivers on the promise of the smell with an almost brutally long finish that lasts even after a sip of water to cool down. I won't say my mouth was actually getting burned, but it wasn't too far off. But all in a rather enjoyable fashion.

After a few drops of water, the whiskey opened up a bit to reveal some chocolate. The grain flavors receded slightly, more of a reminder of where the whiskey came from rather than being up in your face like more pedestrian bottlings. Time and a little more water brought our molasses and greater sweetness.

After I was done, the glass retained an amazingly amount of odor, which was redolent of grain, milk chocolate and fruit.

I really would have liked to be able to measure this properly to bring it down to a more recognizable 100- or 90-proof, but my wallet only allow for a small-ish pour and I didn't want to drown it. I'm pretty tempted to buy a bottle, so I may be able to report back with more info at a later date.

Sazerac 18-Year Rye Whiskey - 2010

This whiskey has won any number of accolades, twice winning "World Whiskey of the Year" from Jim Murry's Whiskey Bible. Though some other reviews had made me a little bit wary that it would live up to the hype, it more than delivered in my opinion.

Neat, the nose was explosive with honeyed sweetness, mint, orange and a hint of spice underneath. To give you a sense of just how rich this smell was, after lifting my notebook off of the top of the glass, I could instantly smell it without even leaning forward. The taste mostly recapitulated the smell, with surprisingly little bite or heat for a rye whiskey. The finish was rather short, but very smooth.

Adding a bit of water transformed the nose into berry jam with rye grain underneath. The taste contained very subdued grains behind huge honey sweetness. The taste did seem just a bit thinner and the peppery spice actually kicked up a notch. The finish was ultimately still fairly short.

The residual whiskey left in the glass after I was done still contained smells of orange, grain, chocolate and fruit that lingered for more than an hour. This was still such a potent smell that the uncovered glass sitting on the table could be detected from several feet away.

In summary, if you get a chance to drink either of these whiskies, go for it. They're not cheap pours, but the the experience is more than worth the price of entry. After finishing the Sazerac, I posted "This is going to ruin me for all other whiskey for all time". While a bit of hyperbole, it really was that good. I'm currently trying to hunt down a bottle of the Sazerac 18-Year and considering a bottle of the Thomas Handy, which is a little bit easier to find. Either way, you can bet that I'm going to be nearly the first in line when this year's bottlings come out.

Whiskey Reviews: Moderately Priced Ryes

While I've already waxed lyrically about one of my favorite rye whiskies, Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond, there are a growing number of ryes coming out at a similar price point. So while I should probably be drinking gin & tonics on this warmer-than-average (for this summer at least) day in Portland, I'm going to delve back into the world of rye. In another departure, I'll be talking about these purely as sipping whiskies, as I'm finally gaining an appreciation for that aspect of spirits. With that said, I'm still new to the game, so there are probably aspects that I'm missing.

These two ryes are ripe for comparison as they share a number of qualities in common: they are both aged for 6 years and bottled at 90 proof, as well as being sold at almost the same price.

Russell's Reserve Rye Whiskey

This whiskey is produced by Wild Turkey and is meant to be a step up from their standard and 101-proof ryes. The mash bill is a split of 65% rye, 23% corn and 12% malted barley, which puts it well above the minimum 51% rye required by law. As noted above, the whiskey is made of up spirits that were aged for at least 6 years and comes to us at a very reasonable 90-proof.

Neat, this whiskey has a bit of alcohol on the nose, as well as a slight tinge of vanilla and a very robust amount of raw or toasted grains. The smell tickles the nose, promising that rye spiciness that is a hallmark of the spirit. The taste is made up primarily of the aforementioned grains, with a burst of chile pepper on the swallow. The spicy burn tends to linger, though in a not entirely unpleasant fashion.

A couple of drops of water subdue the smell and flavor to a degree, bringing it a little bit closer to bourbon territory without giving up its distinctiveness. The back of the mouth spiciness is, however, completely undiminished.

With all that said, I feel like this is a fairly simple rye. 90% of what's going on is either hot spiciness or rounded, somewhat mellow graininess. With time in the glass, the balance shifts a bit towards the grains and it calms down a smidgen to reveal some of the corn in the mash bill, but you're still left with pretty much the same drink.

In cocktails, I feel like Russell's Reserve Rye is a bit disappointing. It lacks the robustness of Rittenhouse and doesn't stand up for itself nearly as well in a basic whiskey sour. A small dash of bitters can mostly rescue the drink, but given that this is also more expensive that the Rittenhouse, I feel like it's hard to make a really compelling case for Russell's other than in terms of availability. However, if you give this one a try and like it, I'd also suggest trying the Russell's Reserve 10 Year Bourbon. There's a clear family link between the two and it still has a fair bit of rye character while being balanced by a higher proportion of corn.

Sazerac 6 Year Old Rye Whiskey

Produced by the Sazerac Company of Sazerac cocktail fame. While only administration of the company is still carried out in New Orleans, the association with the birthplace of the company is still strong. Distilling of the company's spirits is done by Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky. Known primarily for their bourbons, there are a number of different ryes that are now being put out as well.

Sazerac rye has a slightly different mash bill than the Russell's above, being composed of 51% rye, 12% malted barley and 37% corn. The difference is readily apparent as this rye is much less aggressive. The nose is mellower, while retaining a slight prickle from the rye spiciness and whiff of alcohol. A bit more vanilla and a touch of fruit are added to the mix. The higher proportion of corn is also evident in the taste, which has more corn sweetness with a less explosive spiciness and less of the straight grain flavor of the Russell's. A couple of drops of water turn down the dial just a bit without washing out any of the flavors.

I feel like this is a really good rye for bourbon drinkers. While all of the requisite rye characteristics are present, there is enough bourbon character underneath to provide something familiar as well.

Right now, I'd still have to recommend Rittenhouse over either of these ryes. It's cheaper and has a depth than neither of them can match. However, it's also kind of tough to find, so in a pinch I'd go for the Sazerac. It's much more balanced and has a bit more depth. The Russell's could actually be a pretty good rye if it just mellowed a bit and got some more complexity. If we're lucky, Wild Turkey will decide to put out an older version in the future. I have a feeling that with some more maturity it would end up being a pretty good whiskey.

Whiskey Tropicals

My recent review of bourbon and rye whiskies got me thinking about new ways to incorporate whiskey into tropical drinks. While whiskey may not have quite the same range as rum, there still quite a bit of variety that can be mixed to provide new flavor combinations that are unlikely to be found in a single product.

An Is Fearr
1.25 oz Bushmill's Black Bush Irish Whiskey
1 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye Whiskey
0.5 oz orange liqueur
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz orgeat
0.25 oz simple syrup (or to taste)

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled old fashioned glass.

Apologies if I got the Gaelic wrong. The internet can only help so much.

The Bushmill's Irish whiskey is something of an odd beast as it's aged in used oloroso sherry barrels for  some of its life, which adds a distinctive fruity raisin flavor to the usual single malt character. There's also just a hint of wine, which makes me think of the brandy notes in rhum agricole. Rittenhouse has tons of spicy character, somewhat analogous to a full-bodied Jamaican rum. So it made a certain amount of sense in my mind to put the two together into a sort of whiskey Mai-tai.

Ultimately, this is following the basic path of tiki drinks: start from a simple sour and elaborate by using multiple liquors, fruit juices and sweeteners to make a complex yet unified drink. Here we've started off with a simple whiskey sour, and elaborated on the ingredients to make something distinctive. By combining a floral, fruity whiskey with a funky, somewhat raw whiskey the drink has a number of different layers of whiskey flavor. The lemon juice gives it a bit of zip, while the orange liqueur gives it some sweetness and rounded fruity flavor. The orgeat has a distinct nuttiness that syncs up well with the whiskies.

While I'm not the first person to think of making a whiskey-based mai-tai, I'd like to think that this is a decent elaboration and in keeping with the spirit of tiki drinks. 

Highland Breezes
1.25 oz Elijah Craig 12-year bourbon
0.25 oz McCarthy's Single Malt Whiskey
0.5 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye
0.25 oz Trader Tiki's Passionfruit Syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz orange juice
0.25 oz cinnamon syrup
0.25 oz Don's Spices #2 (50/50 mix of vanilla syrup and allspice dram)

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

While a bit of a departure from the original, the inspiration for this drink came from the Waitiki corner of the Cocktail Journal. I wanted to find a way to integrate the smoky flavor of scotch, a notoriously difficult liquor to mix with, into a tiki drink. Again, I'm far from the only person to head in this direction, but I think the results speak for themselves.

Unsurprisingly, the scotch tends to dominate the nose. There's a heavy dose of peaty-smoke, though a healthy whiff of cinnamon isn't too far behind. The smoke is much more subdued on the tongue. There is a distinct grainy flavor from the whiskies, with a rounded fruitiness from the citrus and passionfruit and various spicy notes from the syrups. Altogether a quite pleasant drink to sip. Especially if you're like me and have an organic chemistry problem set to wrap up.

While I should be returning to the world of rum in the near future, it's been fun to see how far I could push distinctly American, Irish and Scottish spirits into the faux-tropical world of tiki.