Whiskey: A Spirited Story with 75 Classic & Original Cocktails by Michael Dietsch

June 16, 2016 Eric Burke

As I tend to list my favorite cocktail as Whiskey in a Glass, it should come as no surprise that I am not really a cocktail guy. Not because I don’t like cocktails. I like them quite a bit. And not because they are too hard. I love cooking elaborate meals. No I’m not a cocktail guy, because I don’t know what I’m doing. Go beyond a Sazerac, a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned and I’m not sure what to do. There are too many possible ingredients that only seem to come in 750 mL bottles and which you use a teaspoon at a time.

This is why I was looking forward to Michael Dietsch’s new book Whiskey: A Spirited Story with 75 Classic & Original Cocktails. I need help knowing what to make, what types of ingredients I should buy and in what combinations I should use them. Eventually I might be able to get to where I can riff on my own, but for now I’m a relative noob. Plus, I loved his last book on shrubs and even made two or three of them including a Cranberry Apple Shrub that I substituted for the vermouth in a Manhattan for a while.

The first third of the book is a primer on the different types of whiskey. Everything from bourbon to scotch to Japanese whiskey is covered. There is even a separate section for Tennessee whiskey just to make Jack and George fans feel special. The next 20 pages or so are really great for the cocktail noob. Entitled “How to Make a Cocktail” it gives you an overview on equipment, technique, glasses and more.

Then you get into the nitty gritty. The part I wanted to book for. The recipes. The first night I had the book I went through and put flags on the cocktails I wanted to try. Soon I had run out of flags and had to grab a second package. I must have tabbed about half the cocktails in the book. Then it was time for a shopping list. Luckily I was able to buy just a few of ingredients to make a large number of them. Then I got down to research. If I was going to review the book, I wanted to do more than just read it.

There were cocktails in there that I’d always wanted to try, but never had, like the Vieux Carré. There were the standards that are in every book like the Manhattan, etc. But then there were ones I had never heard of as well. Things with exotic names like Algonquin, Bardstown, Lion’s Tail and Fanciulli.

One thing I liked about the book is that along with each recipe you get a little of it’s history. A little information about it. Plus, if you are a history buff like I am, a nice touch was that the recipes are organized by historical period. Feel like having a Prohibition-party? You know what to make. Feel like something modern? Turn to the back.

To say I enjoyed my research would be an understatement. My wife and I spent at least two weeks going through the book and making everything we had the ingredients for and then buying the ingredients to make some of the others. This is a book I can easily recommend to any whiskey fan looking to expand a little beyond Whiskey in a Glass.

Curious about what’s inside? Michael has graciously given permission for me to republish one of my favorite recipes in the book. I really like this one.

Fanciulli

Ingredients

2 ounces of bourbon (Bulleit is suggested though I can attest that other fruity, light bourbons work as well)

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce Fernet-Banca

Procedure

Fill a mixing glass 2/3 full of ice
Add bourbon, vermouth, and Fernet-Branca, and stir 15 seconds, or until chilled and diluted.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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My Wandering Eye: Chateau De Laubade VSOP

May 19, 2016 Eric Burke

Tomorrow I am going to visit family in Wisconsin. And as such it is only fitting that I explore my father’s favorite drink. Yep, my eye is wandering again and once again I’m down the brandy aisle.

Last year, I gave my father Chateau De Laubade VSOP Armagnac for Christmas. As I’ve stated before, he likes his brandy, but usually buys regular release Korbel. Because until recently, I’d yet to explore brandy most of the time he got presents that I had never tasted. And though he shares, it’s usually a pull from the bottle or an 80 proof drowned in ice. So I decided to give it a try. Chateau De Laubade is a Total Wine exclusive. As such, this one was available in a 200 mL bottle so I didn’t have to lay down too much cash to try it. In this case, it was $12 or so.

Chateau De Laubade VSOP

Purchase Info: $11.99 for a 200 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Floral with plump raisins, baked apple and sweet caramel.

Mouth: Trending toward dry with a full mouthfeel.

Finish: A long but delicate finish with caramel, raisins, spice and floral notes.

Thoughts: This has a lovely nose and finish. I’d say most of the flavor hits you during the finish. During my initial tasting, I used a Glencairn as I normally do for these reviews and wasn’t impressed. Because when I’m not doing a tasting, I normally drink using different types of glassware, I tried this again using a small snifter style glass. It is amazing what a difference it made. I picked up much more on the nose and mouth and enjoyed it much more. At $40 for a 750, this isn’t a bargain, but it is easily as good as many of the bourbons that have recently entered it’s price point.

My wandering eye is a series reacting to the crazy rising prices in the bourbon world. We’ve reached a place where even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mediocre bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. See if another spirits category offers something that is downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits, but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point.

My Wandering Eye: Copper & Kings American Brandy, Cask Strength

May 12, 2016 Eric Burke

Copper & Kings Cask Strength American Brandy for Ace Spirits

As we all know, bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mediocre bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. See if another spirits category offers something that is downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits, but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point.

Today, I’m playing in the top end of the price range by purchasing a single cask brandy picked by a local retailer. I’ve run across Copper & Kings on numerous occasions while visiting Kentucky. They often have a spot in various BourbonFest events. So I’ve tried a few of their releases in the past. I’d never purchased one though. Until I tried a sample at a local liquor store.

I was in there looking for inexpensive bourbons to include in Bottom-Shelf Brackets for March. I got to talking with my friendly neighborhood booze vendor about the things I was buying when he mentioned their barrel of Copper & Kings. I was intrigued and asked for a sample. Before I knew it there was a bottle in my hand and I was walking to the register before I found two in there. But a lot of things are good in the store so let’s see if this holds up to closer inspection.

Copper & Kings American Brandy for Ace Spirits

Purchase info: $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Ace Spirits

Details: 67% ABV. Single Cask. Per the bottle: Non-chill filtered. No added boisé, sugar or caramel colors.

Nose: Caramel and chocolate covered raisins, a slight smokiness and oak.

Mouth: As you might guess at 134° proof this is really hot. If you can push past the heat, you will find a sweet fruitiness.

Finish: Long, warm and fruity.

With Water (about 100° proof): The fruit really comes to the forefront and is backed with caramel, oak a slight smokiness and a really nice level of warmth. The finish is still long warm and fruity but is sweeter too.

Thoughts: This is really too hot to drink neat. Which even the producer admits on the side of the bottle when they tell you to enjoy it on the rocks, with a mixer or in a cocktail. With some water though, this is a delicious spirit and is highly recommended. It has a spot on my bourbon shelf for as long as it lasts.

Now speaking of cocktails, I think I might have to try this one I found on the Copper and Kings website…

My Wandering Eye: Mount Gay Barbados Rum: Black Barrel

April 19, 2016 Eric Burke

As we all know, Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. There was a time when Cognac in a snifter was visual shorthand for rich luxury. But these days a $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. As a response to this, my eye has started wandering down other aisles of the liquor store just to see what I thought price had kept me from checking out.

When my eye first wandered down the rum aisle, I found an inexpensive rum that sadly tasted like an inexpensive rum. After checking in with a friend of mine who is a rum aficionado with what I should be looking at for a rum that might appeal to a bourbon drinker he quickly told me about the Mount Gay Black Barrel.

By a strange coincidence my wife, who was unaware of the previously mentioned conversation, was looking for a gift for me. She was talking with one of the employees at my local liquor store. The guy is pretty knowledgable and so she asked him what she should pick up for a bourbon drinker who was looking to branch out. He recommended the Mount Gay Black Barrel and so she bought it.

Well that was enough for me. The question was asked twice, to two very different people, and the answer was the same both times. I had to try it and I had to share the findings.

Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum

Purchase Info: ~$35 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 43% ABV, Bottle number: AZ 86491

Nose: Molasses, caramel, wood and hints of banana

Mouth: This tastes like a soft, warm ginger/molasses cookie in a glass. Ginger spice, molasses, sweetness and yum.

Finish: Continues the mouth. Fades gently.

Thoughts: This is really tasty. I wouldn’t call it a bourbon replacement—if I want a bourbon I won’t reach for this—but if I’m not feeling particularly specific on what I’m looking for then this will certainly be in the conversation. It tastes like one of my favorite cookies without being too sweet about it. Big fan of this one.

My Wandering Eye: Korbel 12, a Twelve-Year Old California Brandy

March 8, 2016 Eric Burke

Quite a while ago, a friend of mine gave me an unmarked sample and asked my wife and I to try it and report back. Assuming it was a whiskey sample, we went ahead and tried it, found we really liked it and told him so. When we asked him what kind of whiskey it was, he got a smirk on his face and told us that it wasn’t whiskey, it was brandy. In fact, it was an expression from a brandy producer that I had been vocally dismissive of.

My father, like most of his fellow residents of Wisconsin, loves Korbel brandy. At one point it seems, fully one third of the bottles of Korbel produced ended up in the state (only a case or so of those going to my father’s place). And being the whiskey snob I was, I couldn’t understand why one would drink brandy when they had the opportunity to drink whiskey. Especially the regular expression that was usual in my father’s house.

So when my friend told me the mystery sample was a 12 year old expression from Korbel, I was pretty shocked. I mean, I had no idea that such a thing was produced. Which goes to show the value of a blind tasting. All my preconceived notions of what is good and what isn’t fell away and only the liquid was left. And my, what a liquid it was.

When we started discussing the My Wandering Eye… series, my friend mentioned that the store he got it from still had a few bottles. Needless to say, I ran up the next day and bought one.

In case you’re new to the series, let me recap. Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. A $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. As a response to this, my eye has started wandering down other aisles of the liquor store.

Korbel 12 Year Old California Brandy

Purchase info: ~$40 for a 750mL bottle, Top Valu Liquor, Columbia Heights, MN.

Details: 12 years old, 40% ABV

Nose: Fruity and floral. Apples, brown sugar and oak. It reminds me of a richer and fuller Woodford Reserve nose.

Mouth: Lively tingle on the tongue and floral. Brown sugar, figs, allspice and oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length with lingering sweet figs.

Thoughts: Let’s just put it this way. This was the first non-whiskey to get a home on my American Whiskey shelf. That is the shelf I go to the most and this deserved a place where I would reach for it often. It is rich, sweet and hits all the same notes I look for in a bourbon.

Even at only 80 proof, it has enough heat and flavor to impress while drinking neat. Something most whiskeys can’t do these days. I’d say that at right around $40, it is as good or better than many bourbons of comparable price. This is what I was hoping for when I started this series.

My Wandering Eye: Berneroy XO Calvados

February 23, 2016 Eric Burke

Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. A $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. So my eye has started wandering. I’ve done an Aquavit and a rum so far and now I’m about to take a walk down the brandy aisle.

For the last three years, I’ve been making a batch of hard cider each fall. I go to the orchard, buy the varieties I want and proceed to cut, chop and crush my way into 6-7 gallons of fresh apple juice. It’s good fun. I even built the cider press. It takes a few months to ferment, clarify, bottle and age but by the next spring I have enough cider to last me through the following winter.

So it isn’t entirely shocking that the first time my eye wandered in the brandy aisle it landed on an apple brandy. In this case, specifically a Calvados apple brandy. Calvados is an apple brandy made in various subsections of Normandy region of France. As you might have guessed there are plenty of laws governing what can and can not be called Calvados, but I’ll let you google those for yourself. Because the price was right, that wandering eye of mine settled on the XO version of Berneroy Calvados. This should mean it is at least 6 years old.

Berneroy XO Calvados

Purchase info: $15.99 for a 375 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN. (This was listed as a Spirits Direct selection at Total Wine, which they want you to think means that it is cheaper because it is an exclusive.*)

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Dried fruit and caramel.

Mouth: Thick, supple mouthfeel. Dried apple, brown sugar, clove and more than a hint of spirit flavor. Water enhances the sweetness and reduces the spirit presence.

Finish: Dried apples, clove and a little bitterness linger along with a hint of a burn.

Thoughts: Glassware seems to make a difference on this one. My initial tasting was done neat in a glencairn and rated it a solid meh. Nothing wrong with it, but not for me. As I wrote this, I revisited it in a small brandy snifter that I picked up at Jim Beam, of all places. After trying it again and trying it with just a few drops of water, I’m upgrading it to a like. For me, the spirit flavor was accentuating the wrong portions of the dried fruit forward parts of the drink while in the glencairn. In the snifter and after adding a little water, I found that I was actually enjoying the dried apple notes. It also makes a better Old Fashioned than many of the bourbons I’ve had. I used brown sugar and aromatic bitters.

*Not always cheaper. By a quirk of Minnesota law, liquor stores are prohibited from carrying exclusive products. This means many local stores buy the exclusives and then undercut Total Wine’s price. Which is nice since these products tend to have the highest markup at Total Wine. Everyone wins…well except the massive megaretailer.

My Wandering Eye: Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

February 2, 2016 Eric Burke

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum in the snow, because fuck winter.

I hate winter. I make no secret of this. And today we are in the middle of receiving our first big snowstorm of the year. Which, if forced to be honest about it, is quite nice because it is actually really late for a first major snowfall of the year.

Because I’ve been a fan of rum drinks for most of my drinking life, one of the traditions I have is to drink rum drinks on the night of a large snow storm. It’s my way of giving the storm the middle finger and enjoying something that reminds me a little more of summer. It is only fitting that tonight My Wandering Eye wanders over to rum.

As I discussed in the intro to this series, regular bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank.

This was the first rum I bought for this series. I had an entire list of things that I had tried before, liked and wanted to review. But as often happens when I am in the liquor store, a sale caught my eye. I had a bottle in my hand (I’ll save which for when I actually pick it up) when I saw a stack of Pyrat XO Reserve Rum at the end cap. It was on sale for $19.99 down from $33.99. Figuring that was a decent deal, I put down the bottle in my hands to save a little money. After all wanting to save money was one of the reasons my eye started wandering in the first place.

From what I can tell online, Pyrat XO Reserve Rum is a blend of about 9 different rums, sourced from around the Caribbean, ranging from as young as two years old to as old as 15. Maybe. No one is saying for sure. After blending, they are aged further and then hand bottled in Guyana.

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

Purchase Info: Purchased on sale at Blue Max in Burnsville, MN for $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: Bottled in Guyana. Bottle # 3535790. 40% ABV

Nose: Sweet. Molasses and ginger with a warm earthy note underneath.

Mouth: Very sweet. Cola, citrus, mint and baking spices.

Finish: Short and sweet with lingering cola and mint.

Thoughts: Very tasty. This is a little too sweet for me to drink neat, but I find I like it just fine with a splash of bitters and a little ice. Though it isn’t a whiskey replacement, it does just fine as an ingredient in even a simple cocktail.

My Wandering Eye: Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye

January 21, 2016 Eric Burke

Disclaimer: I consider Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode to be my friend and in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times. He also keeps me well supplied with Aquavit so I should also note that this bottle was free.

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels.

As I discussed in the intro to this series, bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that I can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank. So when my friend Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode spirits invited me to have a drink with him and try his new Limited Edition Aquavit, I knew I needed to take a look.

Holiday on Rye is a version of his normal Holiday Aquavit but aged for 18 months in used rye whiskey barrels instead of his usual used wine barrels. It was also bottled with a nice proof bump clocking in at 50.24% ABV as opposed to the 42% of the original. Holiday Aquavit normally sells for $28-$30. Here in the Twin Cities Limited Edition Holiday on Rye is retailing for the very non-insane price of $30-$35.

So you may be asking yourself, “What is aquavit anyway?” That is a good question and before I jump straight into my review I should probably answer that for you. Like gin, aquavit is neutral spirit infused with herbal flavors. In the case of gin, the base flavor is juniper berries. In aquavit’s case it is caraway. And like gin, you are allowed to use more than just the base flavor. In the case of Holiday Aquavit and Holiday on Rye, caraway is joined by dill, juniper, orange peels, mint and allspice. Unlike a sweet and spicy bourbon, this is a savory drink.

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase info: This bottle was kindly given to me by the owner of Gamle Ode. In the Twin cities, I’m seeing it online in the $30-$35 range for a 750 mL.

Details: Bottle 425 of 426, 50.24% ABV.

Nose: Mint, dill, juniper and citrus.

Mouth: Delicate on entry with a sweet spice that sneaks up on you as it moves back. Bright and energetic.

Finish: Lingering flavors of mint, dill and citrus.

Thoughts: I like this a lot. Yes, it is produced by a friend of mine, but I can easily say that it is worth a look if you are in a market where it is sold. It is bright and energetic on the palate, probably from 18 months spent in rye whiskey barrels, and the infused flavors are amazingly well integrated. This is a savory treat for lovers of unique flavors.

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