Just A Bunch of Things I Found on Vacation

I am an impulse buyer. Sure, I can make it through a grocery checkout line without buying a candy bar. But it isn’t likely that I will leave a liquor store, festival or distillery without buying at least something. Here are a few of the ones I picked up last month while visiting Tennessee and Kentucky. Even though some of them travelled almost as far as I did to get there.

Lincoln County Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup

Until my teenage years, we never bought syrup. My family made it. We tapped the trees and boiled the sap into syrup. But then we had a fire and the sugar shack we boiled sap in burned down. And since it was a collaboration between my grandparents and one of their cousins, the shack never got replaced. My brother has decided to carry on the tradition though, in order to teach his kids. I however buy mine from a 92-year-old lady who has been making it forever.

So, one could say that I am quite the connoisseur of maple syrup. Either that or you could say that I’ve been spoiled by amazing maple syrup my entire life. And I’m pretty biased. I really do think that the best maple syrup comes from the upper midwest. Fight me Canada. That said, I do like trying new things and so when I saw Lincoln County Reserve selling Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I knew that a bottle would be coming home with me. And funny thing, that syrup was made in Wisconsin. Merrill, Wisconsin, a city of fewer than 10,000 people and an innumerable number of maple trees. This bourbon was aged in 10 gallon used bourbon barrels from Distillery 291 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

But is it any good? In a word, yes! It’s buttery with a nice bourbon flavor. The bourbon is not overpowering bringing a lot of brown sugar and caramel notes. It has a great mouthfeel, nice and thick. And let me tell you, it is amazing on French Toast and sausage. Highly recommended.

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Freddie's Old Fashioned Root Beer

Let me tell you about my college life. I had a wife, a kid, a job, and a major that was deceptively time-consuming. You might think that a fine art degree would be a cakewalk, but at least at the university I went to, you’d be wrong. Multiple all-nighters per week were extremely common as, due to our finances, I tried to fit a five-year plan for college into as few quarters as possible. One way we saved money was by renting an old farmhouse about a half-hour outside of town. Honestly, it was a pretty nice place. It was maintained by the local student-housing property management company. Meaning it was not maintained at all except by the elderly owner who was paying the property management company to, supposedly, do all of that for him.

Anyway, this farm was near a very small village of about 800 people. There was one grocery store, though it didn’t carry much. But one thing it did carry was Dr. McGillicuddy’s Root Beer Soda. I had no idea that the liqueur brand had lent its name to a soda, but every time I went to that tiny store for something, a bottle of that root beer came out with me. Eventually, I finished college, moved, and couldn’t find anywhere that carried the stuff. Until I first visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Apparently, Sazerac was the producer of that root beer, and one of the few places it could be purchased was at the distillery. I was super happy to pick up a six-pack every time I visited.

In 2019, Sazerac rebranded that root beer after beloved tour guide Freddie Johnson. He is a great guy and this is a great root beer. So I think it is a great match. But how does it taste? Caramel at first, followed by wintergreen. Unlike some root beers, the wintergreen is not overpowering though. This is subtle. After that is vanilla. The vanilla lasts long after you swallow. The thing that makes this so good is how well-balanced these flavors are. They're melded together so well that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins. It has a nice creamy mouthfeel as well. This is my favorite root beer. A good part of that is nostalgia, but let an old man have that, ok?

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MB Roland Kentucky Dark Cherry Moonshine

This was a gift from my friends at MB Roland, but I found a great use for it so I wanted to share. Thought I’d mention that since everything else on this post was purchased.

The folks at MB Roland are some of the nicest people I’ve met. And one side effect of them being so nice, I gave their whiskey a try shortly after they opened. That whiskey was the start of my personal whiskey journey. So I guess what I’m saying is that if you enjoy reading BourbonGuy.com, on some level you have them to thank.

We visited them while on vacation, spent the afternoon just hanging out, and since they are good friends we were given a bottle of MB Roland Dark Cherry Moonshine. Something we hadn’t tried before. I’m a big fan of this in cocktails. Especially this Cherry Manhattan from FoodandWine.com. Scroll down the page, it’s worth it. But since this could be consumed alone, let’s give it the ol’ tasting notes treatment.

Ripe, dark cherries on the nose. The month is sweet with a strong, natural dark cherry flavor. No artificial flavors or cough syrup flavors here. Very little alcohol flavor so be careful drinking neat if you really love cherries. Works great in cocktails like the one above. I could also see this playing nicely with lime juice in a cocktail or even a highball. It does need to be refrigerated after opening, but a little fridge space is a small price to pay for delicious cocktails.

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Old Forester Oleo-Saccharum Lemon Oil Syrup

I first heard about Oleo Saccharum in David Wonderich’s book Punch. I reviewed it here. Spoiler, I really liked it. It’s basically sugar and lemon peels left together until the sugar draws the lemon oils out of the peels and dissolves in it, creating a syrup. Easy to do, if a little time-consuming. So it was with interest that I saw this little bottle of premade Oleo-Saccharum at the Old Forester Distillery Gift Shop in Louisville, KY. I was staying in the Whiskey Row Lofts which are basically upstairs and had the thought that I might make a few cocktails with it. I did not and so it came home with me.

But what did I think of it once I did open it? It has a strong lemon nose. It’s very sweet and lemony on the mouth when you taste it by itself. It does really well in the champagne cocktail on the bottle (1 oz bourbon, 0.5 oz syrup, 4.5 oz brut sparkling wine, ice, lemon twist). It’s good, but at the end of the day, a lemon oleo-saccharum is too easy to make for me to buy this again. Especially since you use a quarter of the bottle for one cocktail. Maybe if I was on the road, travelling. But not for home use.

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Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week and Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup

The cocktail syrup reviewed below was provided by Heaven Hill as part of a media kit announcing Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week. Also included was branded merchandise which I will be holding onto for a future giveaway. These were provided with no strings attached.

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I’ll admit it. I’m late to letting folks know about this. In fact, I’d missed the press release when this was announced and only found out about it when a media kit arrived on my doorstep. I don’t normally reprint Press Releases, but I’ll be quoting the included Press Release below as I think that the cause they are promoting is a good one.

Dear Friend of Heaven Hill Distillery,

Welcome to the inaugural Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week. While we knew the original concept for this week would be great, as 2020 morphed into a banner year of unprecedented times we quickly understood the greater impact we could have on the hospitality industry. Many of our friends and family in this community have felt the effects of COVID-19, so to support them we have committed to raising up to $100,000 for the Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation from this week's events.

You'll see some familiar faces on our schedule at OldFashionedWeek.com, where you can register for events or donate. The event lineup includes 'Old Fashioned Bar Trivia' with Heaven Hill Distillery Ambassadors Bernie Lubbers and Jack Choate, 'The Art of Crafting Ice' with Portland-based bartender and author Jeffrey Morgenthaler, and ‘Elevating Your Home Bar’ with Devin Kennedy, bartender at Pouring Ribbons.

Chef Richard Blais headlines the week as host of an "Old Fashioned Cocktail Hour" on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Included in this media kit are several items to assist in your preparation of an Elijah Craig Old Fashioned, as well as other necessary cocktail accessories for your home bar. The Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Syrup was specifically formulated to highlight the flavor profile of Elijah Craig Bourbon within this classic cocktail. Starting at 8 p.m. eastern time, Chef Blais will take you through a night of discovering the Greatness Within® the hospitality community as he shares recipes, tips and tricks, and Q & A sessions with special guests. This live event will be available on OldFashionedWeek.com, as well as streamed on Elijah Craig's YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Join us as we raise a glass to celebrating one great cocktail for an even greater cause through Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week.

Though my own businesses have suffered throughout the pandemic, I know that there are others out there that have it worse than I do. I still have the income to pay the bills and even buy whiskey. Many, especially in the hospitality industry do not. If you have the means, please join me in helping out by making a donation to the Restaurant Workers Community foundation at OldFashionedWeek.com.

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Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided as part of a media kit. Pricing was not included but a google search showed it selling online for about $12.

Details: 4.06% ABV. 40 calories per 0.5 fl. oz.

Mouth: Orange, lemon, ginger, cinnamon, and a bitter note.

In an Old Fashioned: (I followed the recipe on the bottle of 2 oz Elijah Craig to 1 tablespoon of syrup in an ice-filled glass garnished with a cocktail cherry.) Sweet, cinnamon, ginger, Vanilla, mint. As they stated, it plays nicely with Elijah Craig in an old fashioned.

Thoughts: I like but don’t love this. It makes a sweeter Old fashioned than I, personally, care for. But then my favorite Non-Alcoholic drinks are black coffee and soda water with bitters in it. The flavors pair very nicely with Elijah Craig, so if you like a sweet Old Fashioned and don't feel like making a batch of simple syrup, then this is the perfect option for you. I probably wouldn't buy it for my home bar due to the sweetness level, but I can certainly see a place for it for those with a sweet tooth. Or for those who need to make a batch of Old Fashioneds for a gathering... Once we can have gatherings again.

Though when we can have gatherings again, I’ll probably be heading to a bar to have my favorite bartenders make it for me. And tip them generously for their work.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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Making Bitters Using a Sous Vide Cooker

A long time ago I found a set of instructions online that detailed how you could make infused vodka in an afternoon instead of in weeks. It was written by a bartender at what seemed to be a high-end bar. Now you might wonder why anyone, much less a skilled bartender, would want to make an infused vodka. Today, that might be a good question, but flavored vodka was a big thing at the time. And, hopefully, there will be always a certain kind of establishment who will take pride in offering a house-made product to discerning patrons.

But back to those instructions. I found these long enough ago that they no longer exist online. But they were so stupidly simple that I never had to go back to look for them again. Now I didn’t know this at the time, but the instructions were describing a large industrial-grade Sous Vide cooker. I didn’t know what Sous Vide was, but I could understand the concept behind it. Keep a water bath at a precise temperature for a determined length of time. Easy peasy. Using a very large stockpot, a thermometer, and a quick hand on the stove controls, I used those instructions to make a lot of infusions. I was mostly just playing around, but the lemon peel infusions were the first step in some mighty tasty limoncello.

Now being the kind of guy who likes to make things for myself, I’ve been making orange bitters at home for years. I even wrote about it way back in 2014. Originally I used the Orange bitters recipe in Brad Thomas Parson’s book Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All. But these days, I’ve modified the recipe some.

A couple of years ago I bought my first Sous Vide cooker. I love to cook, I’m a gadget guy and heck, Sous Vide cookers were finally available for less than $100. I’ve made the best steaks I’ve ever tasted using that thing.

This year, I finally realized that I could put these two things together. Instead of waiting for three weeks for my bitters to be done, I could use the Sous Vide cooker to easily make warm infused bitters. Now the warm infusion method doesn’t work for everything. Just like a cold brew tea and coffee taste different than a warm brew, using the warm infusion method will change the flavor. If you are infusing fruits, the result will taste more like cooked fruit than it will fresh fruit. But in some cases, this is actually beneficial so just keep that in mind.

And since this experiment worked so nicely, I thought I’d share my recipe with you.

Spicy Blood Orange & Tangerine Bitters

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Old Grand-Dad 114

• 2 oranges

• 2 tangerines

• 2 Blood oranges

• 4 Whole cloves

• 1/2 star anise

• 8 green cardamom pods, cracked

• 1/2 tsp cassia chunks (or broken cinnamon stick)

• 1/2 tsp gentian root

• 1/4 tsp Black peppercorns

• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds

• 1/4 tsp whole allspice

• 1 cup of water

• 1 ounce rich (2 to 1) simple syrup

Equipment 

• Sous Vide Cooker 

• Food Dehydrator (optional)

• Y-shaped fruit peeler

• 2 mason jars

• Measuring spoons

Instructions

1. Read all the directions and gather your equipment. 

2. With a Y-peeler, zest 1 orange, 1 blood orange, and 1 tangerine. Make them a nice, thick zest and don't be afraid to get some pith on them. Give the zest a rough chop with a large knife. Keep the pieces kinda big as they will shrink.

3. Dry your chopped zest. I use a food dehydrator, but you can also use a baking sheet in a 200° oven.

4. After your dried zest is finished, zest your other three citrus fruits. I avoid the pith on this step, but it won't hurt if some comes along for the ride, you are making “bitters” after all. A little extra bitterness isn’t the end of the world.

5. Place your fresh zest, 1/4 cup of dried zest, and all your spices in a quart-sized Mason jar. Add 2 cups of Old Grand-Dad 114. Close the jar and give it a shake. Make sure all the ingredients are covered, if not add more bourbon and close tightly.

6. Fill your stockpot (or whatever you use for sous vide cooking) with water, set your cooker to 160° F and float your mason jar in the stockpot. There should have been enough headspace in the jar to allow it to float upright. Once the water comes to temperature let it cook for an hour and a half, shaking occasionally. After the cook is complete, do not empty your water bath unless you are finished for the day. You will need it again. 

7. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Set the infused bourbon aside. 

8. Place the solids and one cup of water in a second Mason jar and float in your water bath. Set temp to 160° F and let infuse for 45 minutes. 

9. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Give the solids a squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.

10. Combine the infused bourbon and infused water together. Add rich simple syrup. Let run through a coffee filter to remove any sediment. Let cool.

11. Decant into small bottles. It is natural for more sediment to settle out, just give it a shake before using. If something starts to grow in the bottle, please discard it. For best flavor, use bitters within a year or so. 

So, right after I finished this, I realized that I didn’t have any bottles. I’d been reusing the same old Angostura bottles for years and had finally tossed them thinking that I’d easily have emptied more when the time came to need them. Well, I did. But then I tossed them too not remembering that I need to save them. After some searching online, I found out that they were called Woozy Bottles and are the same bottles used in hot sauce. The smallest amount that I could get from Amazon was a case of twelve. Needing only four, I wondered to my wife what I would do with the other eight. It was then that she said the most mind-blowing thing: “You know, you could always make other kinds.”

I’m going to be honest with you, that thought had never crossed my mind. So I set out to think of what other kinds of bitters I might want to make. Well, my wife likes cherry bitters in her Old-Fashioneds so that was a no brainer. And I knew just the thing to base it on: my Orange-Spiced Cocktail Cherries. These have been a big hit with everyone who has tried them ever since I developed the recipe. And, since I already had many jars of these cherries in storage, I could even use them to make the bitters. Once again I got out my trusty food dehydrator and got to work sucking the moisture out of them.

Spiced Cherry Bitters

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Old Grand-Dad 114

• 1/2 Cup Dried Orange-Spiced Cherries

• 1/4 cup Orange-Spiced Cherries

• 1 TBSP Dried Orange Peel

• 1 TBSP Gentian Root

• 1 TBSP Cassia Chunks (or broken cinnamon stick)

• 1 TBSP Whole Allspice Berries

• 1 TBSP Juniper Berries

• 1 Star Anise (broken up slightly)

• 1 cup of water

• 1 ounce rich (2 to 1) simple syrup

Equipment 

• Sous Vide Cooker 

• Food Dehydrator

• Small knife

• 2 mason jars

• Measuring spoons

Instructions

1. Read all the directions and gather your equipment. 

2. With a small knife, cut about a cup of Orange-Spiced Cherries in half. Dry your cherries in a food dehydrator (I got impatient and pulled mine out when they were about three-quarters dry, they still worked great).

3. Place your dried cherries, 1/4 cup of non-dried cherries, and all your spices in a quart-sized Mason jar. Add 2 cups of Old Grand-Dad 114. Close the jar and give it a shake. Make sure all the ingredients are covered, if not add more bourbon and close tightly.

4. Fill your stockpot (or whatever you use for sous vide cooking) with water, set your cooker to 160° F and float your mason jar in the stockpot. There should have been enough headspace in the jar to allow it to float upright. Once the water comes to temperature let it cook for an hour and a half, shaking occasionally. After the cook is complete, do not empty your water bath unless you are finished for the day. You will need it again. 

5. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Set the infused bourbon aside. 

6. Place the solids and one cup of water in a second Mason jar and float in your water bath. Set temp to 160° F and let infuse for 45 minutes. 

7. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Give the solids a squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.

8. Combine the infused bourbon and infused water together. Add rich simple syrup. Let run through a coffee filter to remove any sediment. Let cool.

9. Decant into small bottles. It is natural for more sediment to settle out, just give it a shake before using. If something starts to grow in the bottle, please discard it. For best flavor, use bitters within a year or so. 

Of course since I’d gone this far, it’d be silly to not do an Aromatic Bitters as well, right?

Arok’s Aromatic Bitters

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Old Grand-Dad 114

• 1 TBSP Molasses

• 1 TBSP Gentian Root

• 1 TBSP Cassia Chunks (or broken cinnamon stick)

• 1 TBSP Blade Mace

• 1 TBSP Whole Allspice Berries

• 1 TBSP Dried Orange Peel

• 1 tsp Green Cardamom Pods (cracked)

• 1 tsp Whole cloves

• 1 Star Anise (broken up slightly)

• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns

• 4 pieces Dried, Sliced Ginger Root

• 4 Orange-Spiced Cherries

• 1 cup of water

• 1 ounce rich (2 to 1) simple syrup

Equipment 

• Sous Vide Cooker 

• 2 mason jars

• Measuring spoons

Instructions

1. Read all the directions and gather your equipment. 

2. Place your molasses, cherries, and all your spices in a quart-sized Mason jar. Add 2 cups of Old Grand-Dad 114. Close the jar and give it a shake. Make sure the molasses is dissolved and all the ingredients are covered, if not add more bourbon and close tightly.

3. Fill your stockpot (or whatever you use for sous vide cooking) with water, set your cooker to 160° F and float your mason jar in the stockpot. There should have been enough headspace in the jar to allow it to float upright. Once the water comes to temperature let it cook for an hour and a half, shaking occasionally. After the cook is complete, do not empty your water bath unless you are finished for the day. You will need it again. 

4. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Set the infused bourbon aside. 

5. Place the solids and one cup of water in a second Mason jar and float in your water bath. Set temp to 160° F and let infuse for 45 minutes. 

6. Strain the solids out through a piece of cheesecloth. Give the solids a squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.

7. Combine the infused bourbon and infused water together. Add rich simple syrup. Let run through a coffee filter to remove any sediment. Let cool.

8. Decant into small bottles. It is natural for more sediment to settle out, just give it a shake before using. If something starts to grow in the bottle, please discard it. For best flavor, use bitters within a year or so. 

So there you have it. Four bottles each of three different kinds of bitters all in one afternoon. Not too shabby. If you are curious, I got all my spices from my local Penzey’s Spices location except the Gentian Root which I ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs. Neither of them are sponsors, I don’t take sponsors, I just like these stores. Oh and the labels above are original Eric Burke designs cut out using my Cricut. I told you like making things myself.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Copper Mule Cup from MoscowMuled.com

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from the proprietor of MoscowMuled.com. They were wondering if I would like to take a look at them and maybe showcase them on the site. Now, I’ve never had the chance to make the Moscow Mule cocktail. Mostly because I do not stock vodka in my house. So I was going to pass on this opportunity.

But before I did, I wanted to do my due diligence and checked out their site. When I got there, I realized that these were beautiful mugs. I also saw that they were relatively inexpensive at less than $20 for a set of two. I sent the link over to my wife, and she responded with, “ooh! Pretty!”

Now, if you’ve met my wife, you will know that she loves glassware. We have so much that we can’t use them all. And when I suggested that maybe we sell or donate some of our extras, she responded with, “but they are our friends!” So she might have a glassware problem. That said, I suffer from at least a touch of it myself, so who am I to talk?

Once my wife was on board, I got to looking through the site a little more. One of the first things I noticed during this expanded look through the website was a link in the top navigation that says “Giving Back.” Moscow Muled, as a company, is set up as a Social Enterprise. This means that their primary goal is not just to make a profit, but also to make the world a better place. In this case, Moscow Muled gives 15% of its profits “to several non-profit organizations that work to stop impaired driving.”

I thought that was pretty cool. So I let the company know that instead of taking up their offer of a review unit, that I’d be placing an order instead. And I did. $19.50 + $5.50 shipping, and a couple of days later, I had two very pretty mugs arrive in my mailbox.

So how are they? Well, I really like them. They are really pretty (have I mentioned that yet?). An iced drink stays cold forever, even though these are not insulated mugs. At 16 fluid ounces in capacity, these hold enough for spirit, mixers, and a generous amount of ice. The company says you can use them for hot or cold drinks, but they do transfer heat or cold quite well, so I’m not sure I’d really want to use them for a hot drink. It was bad enough holding them after washing in hot water. My only nitpick is the size of the handle. I have pretty big hands and think that these would be much more comfortable to hold if the handle was a little wider as it rested on my pinky finger. Overall though, this was $25 well spent. After having used them quite a bit in the last couple of weeks on Kentucky Mules, I honestly wouldn’t have blinked if they had charged one and a half to twice that.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Underberg Natural Herb Bitters

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you are like most Americans, today you overate. You had turkey and stuffing and cranberries and potatoes and gravy and pie and mac and cheese and maybe a little wine. Or maybe you are like me and the only turkey you had was the WIld Turkey that you picked up at the liquor store last night that you sipped while you made a nice lasagna instead of any of the traditional fixings. In any case, there is a high probability that you had more food than was comfortable for you. And it is in the spirit of that overindulgence that I present to you a magical remedy for such a feeling.

Underberg Natural Herb Bitters.

This is a truly magical digestif that really does settle ease the stomach after a good meal. I first learned about it in the book Bitters by Brad Thomas Parsons. The book itself is fascinating and I reference it every time I make a new batch of bitters for myself. Anyway, Mr. Parsons lends an entire two page spread to the topic of Underberg. And it was with descriptions like the following, I was immediately intrigued.

The inky elixir within the distinctive straw-paper-shrouded 20-milliliter single-serving bottle isn’t meant to be sipped or added to a cocktail, but instead is designed to be tipped back in one quick shot, either straight from the bottle or poured into an ornate drinking vessel designed specifically for this purpose. (Parsons, B. T. (2011). Bitters: a spirited history of a classic cure-all, with cocktails, recipes, and formulas. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. p 98-99.)

It wasn’t until I stopped at Binny’s Beverage Depot in Bloomington, IL on my way back from Kentucky that I finally found the stuff in the wild. One taste and I was hooked. The flavor was unlike anything I’d had before. And true to its promise, having one after a meal became my favorite way to help settle a too-full belly.

But it wasn’t long before I thought to myself: “I know this isn’t marketed as a cocktail ingredient, but it could be used that way, right?” And so I set upon the googles to see if I could find myself a recipe that satisfied my curiosity. A site called the Humble Garnish posted the following article: Underberg – The Unusual German Bitters and 7 Cocktails to Use It In which featured the following cocktail recipe:

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As a fan of Underberg, I thought the cocktail was great. It really showcased the Underberg. IT was very bitter and had a ton of baking spices. The drink was a bit mouth-numbing. I have to say though that this is the type of drink that I would find fascinating in a craft cocktail bar, but it left a little to be desired at home. I guess it just needs a bit of ambiance.

After I tried that, I decided to just swap it for the Angustora in an old fashioned. There, it worked great. I’d recommend going a bit heavier than usual on the simple syrup and I liked bourbon more than rye. But with that in mind, I thought it was great. I really liked it.

That said, the best use is probably the original. Throw it back as a shot after a good meal and welcome the peace it brings to both the mind and the belly.

Wondering what it tastes like?

Underberg Natural Herb Bitters

Purchase Info: $5.99 for a 3-pack of 20ml bottles at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN or $24.50 for a 15-pack on Amazon.

Details: 44% ABV

Nose: Menthol, anise, clove

Mouth: Licorice, cinnamon, menthol

Finish: Cinnamon, cloves, mint, lingering warm

Thoughts. I really like this. I usually buy it as a 15-pack from Amazon. Minty and warm. Lots of spices. It works great after a big meal. And being as it is Thanksgiving, we can all probably use that.

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A BourbonGuy Look at a Random Selection of Amaros (and Related Items)

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the book Amaro by Brad Parsons. It was eye opening to me because at the time I bought it, I knew the author but not the subject matter. I honestly had no idea what an amaro was and was shocked to find that, depending on how broad of a definition you use, I had two of them in my cocktail station.

Since the time of that review, I have literally tripled the number of “true” amaros that I keep in the house. That’s right, I’ve gone from one to three. By the expanded definition that Mr. Parsons’s book uses, I had three and now have five. But that doesn’t sound nearly as impressive.

Speaking of the definition if I am going to take a look at a random selection of amaros, I should probably spell that out for you, shouldn’t I? The definition that I use is the subtitle to the book that first defined it for me. Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs is the full title so I use “bittersweet, herbal liqueur” as my definition. I’m not running an encyclopedia of non-bourbon spirits here so I don’t feel too bad about being more general in my definition than a site that specializes in the category would use.

Now most of these came into my house on the wings of a cocktail recipe. You obviously need Campari for a Negroni or a Boulevardier. Fernet-Branca was something that was sent to me as a sample well before I officially accepted samples and I kept buying it because I really enjoy the Toronto cocktail. Ramazzotti I bought because I was intrigued by a recipe I found for a Black Manhattan, but not knowing anything about Amaro, I bought what I could afford. Averna I bought to make a Black Manhattan when the store I was at didn’t carry Ramazzotti. And Amaro Montenegro I bought because it was used in a drink that I really enjoyed during my last trip to Vegas.

So now that you know how I chose all of these, let’s look at each one individually. I’m going to give you a little background info drawn from Mr. Parsons’s book, as well as my nosing and tasting notes. Since the Black Manhattan was what started me dipping my toes into the world of amaro, I’ll look at whether or not it works in a bourbon version of that recipe using Heaven Hill 6 year old Bottled in Bond (now discontinued). If it doesn’t work in that, I’ll give you the recipe of a cocktail that I do like it in.

Amaro Montenegro

Background info: 23% ABV. Produced in Bologna, Italy. Known ingredients include orange peel and vanilla.

Nose: Floral, cloves, mint, ginger.

Mouth: Cola, orange, ginger, light herbal notes. Faint lingering bitterness.

Does it Black Manhattan? Yes. The resulting drink is herbal, floral and sweet. It complements the bourbon nicely.

Ramazzotti

Background info: 30% ABV. Produced in Canelli, Italy. Known ingredients include bitter orange, cardamom, clove, galangal, myrrh, star anise and sweet orange.

Nose: Black pepper, anise and citrus.

Mouth: Sweet. Follows the nose with citrus, anise and black pepper notes.

Does it Black Manhattan? Yes. The resulting drink brings out the cherry and baking spice notes of the bourbon.

Averna

Background info: 29% ABV. Produced in Caltanissetta, Italy. Known ingredients include lemon and orange essential oils and pomegranate.

Nose: Molasses, a slight smokiness, rosemary leaf.

Mouth: Caramel candy, wintergreen, root beer, and cinnamon.

Does it Black Manhattan? Yes. The resulting drink is sweet and brings out the herbal and baking spice notes of the bourbon. Tastes like you mixed the last two in some proportion

Fernet-Branca

Background info: 39% ABV. Produced in Milan, Italy. Known ingredients include aloe ferox, bitter orange, cardamom, chamomile, cinchona bark, galangal, laraha, laurel, myrrh, rhubarb root, saffron, and zedoaria.

Nose: Menthol, nutmeg, flower petals.

Mouth: Menthol, peppermint, lightly burnt sugar, an underlying bitterness, and lingering herbal notes.

Does it Black Manhattan? NO!!!. The resulting drink is just menthol and bitterness. Though I basically knew this wouldn’t work going in due to the relatively high quantity of amaro in the drink. Instead, might I recommend the Toronto?

the Toronto Cocktail

2 oz Rye 
1/4 ounce Fernet Branca
1/4 ounce Simple Syrup
2 dashes of aromatic bitters

Campari

Background info: 24% ABV. Produced in Milan, Italy. Known ingredients include water and alcohol. They won’t admit to anything else according to Mr. Parsons.

Nose: Bitter orange peel, a hint of mint.

Mouth: Very bitter. Very sweet. Lingering bitter orange peel and floral notes.

Does it Black Manhattan? Not really. The Campari overpowers the bourbon. Instead, might I recommend a Negoni, a Boulevardier, or if you are feeling up to the bitterness, a Bitter Black Manhattan?

Negroni

1 oz Gin
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Campari

Boulevardier

2 oz Rye or Bourbon
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Campari

Bitter Black Manhattan

2 oz Rye or Bourbon
1/2 oz Ramazzotti Amaro 
1/2 oz Campari
2 dash Orange Bitters
Orange Peel (for garnish)

I’m going to tell you right now, that I understand that this is not an exhaustive list. But these are the ones I’ve tried, liked and continued to buy. I do think I need to continue to look further afield though. After this experiment, I’m interested enough to do so. If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments.

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A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins

Two of the gins featured in this article were sent along by the producers as part of a previously disclosed review sample. They are Filibuster Dual Cask Gin and Tommyrotter Cask Strength Bourbon Barrel Gin. I would like to thank both companies for providing these samples with no strings attached.

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So. Gin?

Gin?

Yeah. Gin.

Do I know anything about gin? Not really. I know that last summer I read an old article by David Wondrich on the origin of the Gin Rickey. I know that gin is neutral spirit (essentially vodka, don’t @ me) flavored with juniper and other botanicals. I know that gin cannot legally be “aged” or have an age statement, though it can be “rested” or “finished” in a barrel for an undisclosed amount of time. I know that a lot of my non-whiskey drinking friends tend to favor gin. And I know that last statement is why I had a few different bottles in my house last year when I read that previously mentioned David Wondrich article and decided that a Gin Rickey sounded like a fantastically refreshing summer drink.

So I made one using the gins I keep on hand for friends. I loved it. Of course, I’d already made the occasional gin and tonic so I wasn’t a stranger to the combination of citrus and gin. But something about the dry quality of of the Rickey struck me as exactly what I would want on a warm summer afternoon. It is actually now my go to drink when I’m sitting on the deck in the warm summer weather.

Ok so here I am with a gin drink that I really like. As you do, I decided to expand my uses for gin. First I moved over to a Tom Collins. Super tasty, but I liked the Rickey better. Then I tried a Negroni, I’d made one before and found it kinda meh, but fell in love with a riff where I swap the vermouth with Averna. (I’m thinking that maybe I just don’t like vermouth.)

Of course, being the obsessive geek that I am, I needed to find out which gins I liked best. I mean how could I live with myself if I was enjoying a decent gin in my rickey when an amazing one was out there for the drinking? And just for the hell of it, I decided to bring you along for the ride.

A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins

The ones I ended up with were a mixture of gins I had on hand because of friends, those I ran across at craft distillers and a couple that had been sent to me by craft distillers who had provided them to me along with whiskies that they wanted me to review. The lineup is as follows.

Beefeater

Details: Owned by Pernod Ricard. Flavored with: juniper, lemon peel, coriander seed, almond, seville orange peel, orris root, licorice root, angelica root, and angelica seed according to the Beefeater website. 47% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $15.49 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, Lemon zest, mint, faint baking spice.
Mouth: Lemon Zest, mint and spice, juniper.
Finish: almost sweet, after a bit a hint of lemon.
Thoughts: Not nearly as juniper forward as I would expect from the nose.

Beefeater 24

Details: Owned by Pernod Ricard. Flavored with: Japanese sencha, Chinese green tea, grapefruit peels, juniper, lemon peel, almond, seville orange peel, coriander seed, orris root, licorice root, angelica root, and angelica seed according to the Beefeater website. 45% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $24.99 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, mint, lemon zest. (softer than Beefeater)
Mouth: Mixed citrus, mint, there is an herbal note.
Finish: Minty with a little juniper.
Thoughts: Considering how similar the nose on the 2 Beefeaters are, I'm actually surprised how different they are. I like how spicy this one is.

Hendrick’s

Details: Owned by William Grand & Sons. Flavored with: orris root, yarrow, angelica root, orange peel, juniper, caraway seeds, cubeb berries, lemon peel, chamomile, elderflower, coriander seeds, rose petal, cucumber according to the Hendrick’s website. 44% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, mint
Mouth: Spicy with a lot of juniper
Finish: long juniper finish
Thoughts: This is my least favorite so far. It is very juniper forward and I don't care for the spices I'm getting. I don’t get any cucumber.

Bombay Sapphire

Details: Owned by Bacardi. Flavored with: juniper, lemon peel, coriander, angelica root, orris, grains of paradise, cubeb berries, cassia bark, almond and licorice according to the Bombay Sapphire website. 47% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $23.99 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Savory, Coriander, old dry wood, hints of juniper.
Mouth: lemon, cinnamon, Coriander
Finish: mint, hints of juniper. after a while-distinct lemon
Thoughts: This is a tasty gin. Not the "pine trees" stereotype of non-gin drinkers at all. I could almost drink this one straight... almost.

Vikre Boreal Juniper Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Duluth Minnesota. Flavored with a combination of foraged wild botanicals and traditional gin botanicals according to their website. 45% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $32.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Black pepper.
Mouth: Flat and muted in the mouth.
Finish: Mint, juniper, lemon.
Thoughts: This is pretty flavorless until the finish. It isn't unpleasant, there is just little to draw me in when tasted neat.

Filibuster Dual Cask

Details: Craft distillery in Maurertown, Virginia. Finished in both American and French oak casks. 45% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally. This was a review sample.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Savory, Rosemary and a touch of juniper
Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Savory Basil.
Finish: Long-lasting lemon, oak, hints of juniper.
Thoughts: This isn't bad at all. The basil notes are interesting (in a good way).

New Riff Kentucky Wild Bourbon Barreled Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Newport, Kentucky. Flavored with: angelica, orris and licorice root, and three kinds of citrus, wild juniper berry, American Spicebush, goldenrod, Rye Whiskey New Make. Finished in used bourbon barrels for 5-7 months. 47% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally. Can be purchased in Kentucky for $31.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, orange peel , just a hint of smoke
Mouth: Sweet, juniper, orange
Finish: lemon pledge
Thoughts: I want to like this a lot more than I do. That lemon pledge finish kills it.

Tommyrotter Cask Strength Bourbon-Barrel Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Buffalo, New York. Finished in new, charred American White Oak barrels. 61% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally, this is was a review sample.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Mint, caramel, ginger.
Mouth: Cinnamon, lemon, ginger,
Finish: ginger, molasses, touch of juniper
Thoughts: This is really good. As a bourbonguy, this is the only one I would drink neat.

Cocktails

So, now that we have the tasting notes out of the way, let’s get down to the reason why I actually had them in the house to begin with: cocktails. My wife and I tried each of these in three cocktails. A standard Negroni, a Tom Collins, and of course my beloved Gin Rickey. It really shouldn’t be, but I found it a bit interesting to see the differences in each of these. Especially when comparing tasting notes (neat) to the flavors I got in each cocktail. But instead of going over all the tasting notes again, I’m just going to give you our “rankings” for how much we liked each spirit in each cocktail.

Negroni (equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari)

Eric’s: Tommyrotter, New Riff, Beefeater, Vikre, Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24, Fillibuster, Hendrick’s

My wife’s: Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24/Beefeater (tied), Vikre, Tommyrotter, New Riff, Filibuster, Hendrick’s

Thoughts: Not at all surprising that I preferred the aged spirits in this cocktail, the barrel aging makes it taste like a cross between a typical Negroni and a Boulevardier. A bit surprising that my wife preferred the London Dry style since she was very resistant to participating in this tasting at all based entirely on previous experience with that style when she was younger.

Tom Collins (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water)

Eric’s: Beefeater, Beefeater 24, Bombay Sapphire, Vikre, Hendrick’s, New Riff, Filibuster

My wife’s: Beefeater, Beefeater 24, Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick’s, Vikre, New Riff, Filibuster.

Thoughts: we basically agreed here. The London Dry style was our favorite.

Gin Rickey (gin, lime juice and soda water)

Eric’s: Beefeater 24, Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick’s, Vikre, New Riff, Filibuster

My wife’s: Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24, Beefeater, Vikre, Hendrick’s, New Riff, Filibuster.

Thoughts: The two Beefeaters were my winners. Which is awesome since Beefeater is the cheapest one in the lineup. My wife has more expensive tastes and preferred the Bombay Sapphire. Neither of us were high on the barrel aged versions.

Conclusions

So based on these “oh so scientific” tests, it seems that in the summer I need to keep only a Beefeater or two and a bottle of Bombay Sapphire on hand. I’m going to pass on the Hendrick’s from now on. I was not a fan. It also seems that for these summer drinks there is little to be gained from venturing into Craft territory as any differences they are playing with are lost in my favorite cocktail. On the other hand, when the weather starts to cool and I am looking for a more spirit-forward cocktail, I should certainly venture over to the Craft gins and look for a barrel aged version to use in the occasional Negroni.

There you have it: A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins. Will gin fans agree on my conclusions? Maybe, maybe not. I admit, I am a total gin novice. But honestly, I found it too interesting not to share. Especially with other bourbon lovers who may be looking to expand their range into a refreshing long drink for summer.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Scrappy's Bitters

A couple of months ago, I got a bottle of Legent™ from Jim Beam. Among the marketing materials that I received with the bottle was a book of cocktails that featured Legent™ as their main ingredient. As you might have guessed, I was intrigued. There was a problem though. I like cocktails, but I really only keep the ingredients on hand for those that I really like. Ones that I will make often. Unfortunately, the cocktails that come in marketing materials need to be unique in order to position the brand’s…

Ugh, I hate marketing speak so let’s just say they use a lot of ingredients that a normal person would not have on hand. Hell, many bars wouldn’t have some of these ingredients on hand. So when I decided that as part of the review I was going to try one of their featured cocktails, I chose the one that involved the least amount of spending on my part.

I chose the Kentucky Kyushiki mostly because the only thing I needed to buy was a bottle of bitters. That particular cocktail is basically a riff on an old fashioned. Just bourbon, flavored simple syrup and lavender bitters. Now, I had no idea where to find lavender bitters, but a quick search of the Total Wine website showed me that they had a sampler pack from Scrappy’s Bitters that had a bottle of Lavender Bitters in it. Yay!

So there went twenty dollars toward a half-ounce bottle of bitters that I wanted and three more that I really didn’t care about. And so, of course I decided to spend another twenty dollars on the other four pack so I could try their entire line. You know, for science. Or something.

When I test bitters, I tend to do it in the most reproducible way possible. Namely I make my favorite non-alcoholic drink (bitters and soda water) and then an old fashioned. Both are very simple drinks where the differences from drink to drink are solely from the bitters. I used Maker’s Mark as it is a pretty plain palette to paint the bitters across. The impressions below encapsulate both testing methods.

Scrappy's Bitters

Purchase Info: $20 each for two sample packs of four half ounce bottles each at Total Wine, Burnseville, MN.

Orleans: Strong anise notes on nose and mouth. Brings out a lot of spicy notes to a Maker's Mark old fashioned while maintaining the anise notes.

Aromatic: Cinnamon and clove flavors at the forefront, not as richly flavored as Angostura at the same dilution. Adds a little baking spice to the old fashioned. I'd choose Angostura over this.

Orange: Jellied orange slice candy, hints of spice. Maintains the orange candy flavor in the old fashioned. If you choose this over Regan's or Angostura orange, use it sparingly. The orange flavor easily overpowers Maker's. Though I wouldn’t choose it over either of those unless you really like orange candy flavors in your cocktail.

Celery: Strong celery notes on the nose and mouth. Almost salty tasting along with fizzy water. Adds an interesting herbal finish to the Maker's Old-fashioned. I mean that in the most minnesotan way possible. I do not like celery and this has a lot of celery. However in a rye old-fashioned, this sings. Really good pairing with the herbal notes of a good rye.

Grapefruit: Sweet Grapefruit on the nose. Generic citrus on the mouth. This reads as orange in the old fashioned. It actually works better as an orange bitters than the orange did.

Chocolate: Dark Chocolate nose. Milk chocolate and caramel mouth. This turns the old fashioned into a liquid candy bar. Nice dark chocolate notes on the finish.

Lavender: Floral lavender on nose and mouth. Mouth brings lemon zest. as well As to be expected, this adds a floral note to the Maker's old fashioned. Honestly this works better with Beam-branded products than it does with Maker’s.

Cardamom: As to be expected, cardamom notes predominate on both nose and mouth. This brings out a lot of baking spice to the old fashioned. Including a nice "Christmas note". Not sure I’d want this all the time, but I can see uses for it occasionally in the right cocktail.

Thoughts (After fizzy water): Most of these are fairly straightforward. For the most part these are pretty one-note affairs. For example the Orleans is just anise. As opposed to Peychaud's which has anise and other herbal and bitter notes, or the Orange which is just an orange candy flavor as opposed to the orange and spice melange of Angostura's Orange Bitters. In fact it seems many of these are lacking in much bitter flavor at all. They remind me of Fee Brothers in that respect. Great for use as a flavoring, but not really as a bittering agent.

Thoughts (After use in a Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned): Overall, I think the Orleans is my favorite. It takes your typical aromatic bitters note and adds a hit of anise which really elevates the drink. I like the lavender in the Kentucky Kyushiki and it works very nicely with Beam-branded bourbons. It also works nicely in a gin and tonic. Other than that, most of these I don’t know that I will find a use for. The orange and aromatic aren’t as good as the two big guys and the rest I’d only use every once in a while. As far as I'm concerned, the Orleans and the Lavender are the two I will continue to buy full bottles of, and the rest I’ll struggle to finish the half ounce bottle. As always your milage may vary.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!