On a perpetual quest to find the perfect pint, the dynamic dram, and the champion cigar. A Master of Science in Brewing and Distilling with hands-on experience in the beverage world. Reviews, news, event coverage, and everything in between.
Cheap bourbon is a fickle mistress. There are few bourbons that maintain both a low price and a palatable taste. Take for example Fighting Cock bourbon by Heaven Hill. It's a decent, six year old whiskey that clocks in at a healthy 103 proof. It's about, oh I dunno, $16~ish a liter. It is a decent bourbon for mixing but drinking it straight is a measure in sheer willpower. I'm not sure what it is but I can't drink that stuff neat no matter how much I try. And then there's Early Times. That's cheap and readily available. But I can't drink that in any fashion. It smells like corn soaked in paint thinner and tastes equally wretched. Budget bourbon is hard to come across and those that do find one jealously horde it.
For me, I have a broad range of cheap bourbons and, unlike some people, I'm willing to share. Fighting Cock and Buffalo Trace make it onto my bill of fare rather frequently and that's cool. But thanks to travel retail, I've found my favorite budget bourbon. Wild Turkey 101. Eight years old, 101 proof. It's a manly whiskey. It's got a kick like a mule and makes me think of the stuff they swilled down in Wild West taverns in the mid 1800s. But unlike that stuff, it tastes pretty damn good. And the best part? I'm equally comfortable mixing it (the higher proof holds well in a mint julep) and drinking it neat. Here she is in all of her bottled glory:
How does it look in the glass?
Looks miiiighty delicious. Here's the particulars:
Nose: It smells like freshly hewn wood and corn oil. What must be a decent rye content gives some paprika and mustard powder-like spice. Busted, worn leather as well. Reminds me of the barn on my godparent's farm.
Taste: Honey and corn oil sweetness tempered with wood. Floral as well but I can't quite narrow down what it is. This fades to a robust vanilla and oak coupled with, strangely, a taste not unlike burnt ends from brisket. That mustardy/paprika rye taste is there too but buried deep. Finish is not warm, but biting and bracing like a bonfire on a chilly night.
When you can get a liter bottle of this for $20 at travel retail, you can't go wrong. This is the "girl next door" bourbon. Sure, there's prettier, fancier, more costly belles at the ball...but more often than not the best thing is something you've always overlooked. Although, frankly, I feel that way about just about all bourbon. There's your fancy scotch, your Japanese whisky, your Irish too. But that girl next door, that southern belle, always calls to me strongest. And I generally heed. Funny, that.
For 50 years, the Samuel's family and the Maker's Mark distillery in Loretto, KY held firm. With the ever increasing bottle count of some companies, Maker's Mark bucked the trend by offering one, and only one, product. Sure, they bottled it at different ABVs and slightly different ages (read: Black and Gold), it was pretty much the same as the original.
Then they released Maker's 46.
Even for a "new" whiskey, it's not far removed from the original Maker's Mark. Maker's 46 starts with a base of standard Maker's Mark at five years old (EDIT: Maker's Mark is actually 5.5-7 years with an average of about 6 years.Then they add a healthy dose of voodoo and bottle it. And by voodoo, I mean wood staves. They age their bourbon in new American oak (new oak is mandated by bourbon law) but that extra voodoo step is the addition of toasted, French oak staves. While their traditional American oak casks are charred (high temperature, very quickly that blackens the outer layer of wood and helps to break down some of the chemicals in the wood), the French oak staves are toasted, which happens at a lower temperature for slightly longer. This "toasting" (EDIT: They call it searing but I like toasting because toast is delicious) of the wood leaves the staves looking and smelling like freshly made toast. Two sets of these staves are inserted into the barrel (inserted into, not replacing the staves) and this is then aged for an extra nine weeks.
Let's just say it makes a big difference.
I like Maker's Mark but it's not my preferred bourbon. It's relatively cheap and very easy to find here in Scotland so if I want to pick some up I go for it. I can get a 750ml bottle at Costco for about 14 quid (~$23). But for me, the winter wheat just makes it too mild. It's nice for when it's hot out or I need a less aggressive whiskey for a cocktail...but I prefer a rye bite and spicy fire to my bourbon. I need "oomph". This is where Maker's 46 comes in.
Veni, vidi, whiskey.
You can see, from the above picture, that it is a favorite. Technically, I can't claim to have demolished that entire bottle. Maker's Mark was kind enough to send me a bottle of 46 to debut at the campus Whisky Society and debut it did. It was voted the favorite of the night and resulted in many other bottles leaving the room with barely a dent in them. Thankfully, the Maker's 46 was not want for attention that night.
There she is in all of her amber, fluid glory. Just look at it. Beeeautiful. I shed a tear, I must admit. Here are the notes:
Nose: Heavy toffee. Creme brulee. Maybe maple syrup? Cayenne pepper powder. Aggressive wood too, like a carpenter's workshop. Black coffee? Ripe banana.
Taste: Black pepper. Coffee follows through. Old wood (note: this isn't based on smell. I used to bite the pews in church pretending to be a T. Rex when bored during mass). Got a deeply hidden, earthy quality to it as well, which is kinda odd. Lemon oil and furniture polish. Finish is lingering and slightly tannic.
Overall, it is a skillful blend of the soft, sweet, maple sugar and vanilla qualities of the Maker's Mark but with more of a substantial, robust, and prominent flavor profile (coffee, pepper, aggressive wood). Maker's 46 is a slightly more fragrant amplification of the benefits of the standard Makers along with a hearty dash of much needed flavor potency;. And in the Bacchus household, it is much preferred.
*Insert me going on, at length, whether you want me to or not, about my love of cider here*
I'm a fan of Woodchuck ciders. They're widely available and, for the most part, quite drinkable. While some of them I'm not too keen on (I'm looking at you, Pear) the Dark and Dry/Amber are classic cider stand-bys when I want cider and I go to the store. The coolest thing is they put out seasonal offerings which tend to tickle my palate. This is a comparison between the Winter and the Spring offerings. Here we go!
Woodchuck Oak Aged (Woodchuck Winter) - Nose is just plain apples. I think there's a predominance of Granny Smith or such because it has that tart, crisp apple smell to it. No oak smell to it at all, which saddens me. I want it to be an oaky bastard. Taste is quite nice though. Woodchuck is a rather sweet cider in its own right (I typically go for the Dark and Dry and even that's a touch sweet for a cider). The oak on this is definitely prominent in the taste and it provides balance to the sweetness. Mmm, this is a nice cider. Pleasantly sweet with a medium bodied oak profile on the finish. The color on it is gorgeous too. It's like an amber ale.
This would be a perfect cider to try out something I've always wanted to try...
The Stonewall Jackson.
The Stonewall Jackson is elegant in its simplicity. It's just cider and bourbon. Reputed to be what the old hard-nosed old bastard of T.J. Stonewall (Thomas Johnathan) used to drink in excess. If it's good enough for a Southern boy then well, shit, I want to try it. Add a touch of Elmer T. Lee here...
Oh...oh gods. Oh man. Oh man...It tastes like victory. Victory, success, and admiration. This must be what they serve to people upon entering Heaven. There's no huge gates up there. It's just St. Peter behind a bar called "The Pearly Gates". When you come in, he checks your mortal tab. If it's not too high, you just start drinking and this is always on special. I...I just want to fill a bathtub with it and wallow in it like a drunken pig. I may wean my future children on this stuff. It's terrific. I have not lauded something this hard ever on this blog. You know it's gotta be good. This Oak Aged NEEDS to be a regular release. It's too good not to be.
Woodchuck Spring Cider: Alright, I don't know what they did to it...but it smells like flowers. I can't remember exactly what flower smells like what but I think it smells like lilly. It's scaring me. It smells like my mom's flower garden. No sign of apples in there, just fresh flowers. Taste is...odd. Flowery and sweet, it kinda tastes like a flower-fordward wildflower honey. It has a buttery component to it and...weirdly enough, kinda tastes like crushed Sweet-Tarts. Jeez, it tastes like flowers too. I dunno about this one. It doesn't taste like cider but rather chewing on flowers drenched in honey after a spring rain.
If that's your bag, go for it but...damn....I don't think I like it. This gets shelved with the Woodchuck Pear for me. I'm not gonna add bourbon to it because in order to make a Stonewall Jackson, you have to start first with cider, not fresh pressed daffodils.
As (hopefully) you know by now, I am hopelessly infatuated with the Blues. On Christmas Eve last year, when families would be listening to "Deck The Halls" and wrapping presents, I spent six hours listening to online blues radio and reading articles on Muddy Waters. That was my Christmas Eve and I regret nothing. You also may have caught the hint about my prodigious love of bourbon as well. One of the things I've always loved was sitting around, drinking good bourbon, and listening to some sweet, sweet blues. Then it hit me: why don't I pair them? Thus, I give you the In With Bacchus Bourbon and Blues Pairing Seminar. Bear in mind that these choices are my personal preference and are subject to debate which I gladly foster. If you've never heard much blues or want more where this came from, just let me know (with your email) and I'll pass along a bunch more Youtube videos for you to enjoy. But, for now, we begin:
Muddy Waters: paired with Elmer T. Lee
Muddy Waters, one of the kings of Chicago Blues and the champion of Chess Records, gets paired with Elmer T. Lee. Both have the "quiet riot" factor to them. Muddy has such songs as Hootchie Cootchie Man and Mannish Boy, both relatively easy-going rollicking Chicago blues but, like the example above, Muddy can really belt out some powerful shit when he wants to. Same with the Elmer T. Lee. The Elmer T. Lee starts off slightly soft and mellow but builds to an unexpected crescendo of power at the end with a hauntingly lingering finish. Perfect fit.
John Lee Hooker: paired with 1792 Ridgemont Reserve
John Lee Hooker is a man with a vast recorded catalog. Completely disregarding the fact that you were only supposed to record with one company at a time, he went ahead and recorded hundreds of songs across multiple records. Hooker was incredibly unconventional in his musical stylings; one of the reasons you rarely hear Hooker with a band is because he didn't stick to traditional musical theory when he played. He kinda adlibbed it. His voice was rough and powerful and his guitar playing, while simple, suited his lyrics and singing better than anything complicated could have. Thus, the 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. What I prefer to call a "barroom brawl in a bottle", it has potency and a grittiness to it, complemented with an mellow simplicity to it.
Bobby "Blue" Bland: paired with Buffalo Trace
Bobby "Blue" Bland didn't sing the blues, he crooned them. His version of "St. James Infirmary" is like blue velvet. I chose Buffalo Trace for the same reason. A deep, flavorful bourbon with a silky smooth and sweet quality to it, it matches Bland's style to the T.
Booker "Bukka" White: paired with Booker's
Name similarities aside, I chose to pair Booker's with Bukka for one simple reason: strength. Bookers, a delicious cask strength monstrosity from the Beam family has sheer alcoholic power on its side but, once you get used to it, its palate really opens up and it is actually a fabulous spirit, undilute. The same goes for Bukka White. His vocal range is limited and he has a gravelly voice that doesn't really sound like it would be make for a pleasant listening experience. But this vocal authority and roughness, once acclimated to, allows the listener to truly experience the breadth of Bukka White's emotions in his songs.
Eric Clapton: paired with Jim Beam Black Label
Eric Clapton is one of the more prominent, widely available "blues" artists. Taking most of his cues from the person next on the list, Robert Johnson, Clapton puts out a variety of revamps of Johnson's songs, along with a collaboration CD with B.B. King. I chose Jim Beam Black Label for the same reason. Black Label isn't bad, has a decent flavor profile, and is widely available. However, in my opinion, there are finer bourbons out there. Same with Clapton. I don't mind his stuff but there are better blues-men out there.
Robert Johnson: paired with Hudson New York Corn Whiskey
Robert Johnson: the legendary blues player. Died at the age of 27, under mysterious circumstances. Historians don't even know which grave is his; there are three to choose from. An enigma to music historians for many years, he has provided backbone to the blues revival by spurring the interest of bands such as Cream/Clapton and Led Zeppelin. His invention of the walking bass-line, now a common theme in blues and in some blues rock, cemented him as not just an unknown but as a solid guitar player. I chose Hudson New York Corn Whiskey because it shares several traits with Johnson. Being a corn based, white dog whiskey it is literally the stepping stone and base to bourbon, much like Johnson was the stepping stone to blues for many. Their whiskey is also sweet and mild but not lacking, like Johnson's voice. And despite this sweetness, it has depth and a potent ABV to back it up. Like the whiskey, the song above has a mellow sound to it but it has a deep, complex, and strong message behind it.
Charlie Patton and Howlin Wolf: paired with Wild Turkey 101
Charlie Patton was the inspiration between Howlin' Wolf. Wolf mimicked Patton's rasp of a voice in his recordings. Both were talented guitarists and no slouches when it came to songwriting. I chose Wild Turkey 101 over the 80 proof because the Wild Turkey 101, I feel, is the far better proof. The whiskey, Patton, and Wolf all have moments where they perform using a lower, softer side but I feel that in all three cases, the higher octane variants are truly the best.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee: paired with Blantons
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee are a blues duo of great repute. With Brownie playing harp and Sonny playing guitar and kazoo (sometimes), their music is definitely delicate and easeful. The same can be said for Blantons. A very easygoing, light spirit that should not be underestimated. Since Blantons is bottled at a healthy 46% it, like Sonny and Brownie, has an intensity that shouldn't be neglected.
Lightnin' Hopkins: paired with Maker's Mark
I chose Maker's Mark over Buffalo Trace for Hopkins solely because of the spice aspect of Maker's Mark. I'm not sure if it's the winter wheat or just the transparency of the rye from the mash bill through the bourbon but the finish on Maker's really has a delicious spice at the end. This pairs well with Lightnin' Hopkins who has the same embellishment on quite a few of his songs.
Son House: paired with Rittenhouse Rye
Son House actually lived in Rochester for about twenty years until his rediscovery in the mid 60s. I chose Rittenhouse Rye due to its tenacity and fire. Like the bourbon, Son House's songs (what few there are) have a beautiful zest and vim to them. The above song is one of my favorites of his and I think it is the best pairing to go with the Rittenhouse.
There you have it. That's just a taste of what I like to do for fun. I may do another one of these because it was fun as hell and I didn't actually get to cover everything that I wanted. So...I guess I'm forced to do another one.
I really don't need cigars, per se. I want cigars, this is true. I had been meaning to try Illusione cigars for the longest time but nowhere in the lower Hudson Valley carries them. This makes me a sad panda. The only place that carries them is Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe. That's right, shoppe. The extra "pe" means quality and refinement. Except they let myself and my friend Pat in there. Not a good call on the refinement part.
Situated in Colonie, this small-ish looking store packs a wallop. They originally were in an even smaller retail space the last time I went (they have since moved to a more spacious area) and, let me tell you, their humidor is huge. You could rent beds in that mamma jamma. The woman there was extremely helpful and tolerant of me doing the happy dance. I pretty much was doing a happy dance and squealing like a very happy piggy. Their humidor is a smorgasbord of stogies. They had oodles and oodles of Illusiones (save for the culebra which NO ONE HAS). They had every cigar made by General Cigar or at least 90% of them. Strong lines of Perdomo, Alec Bradley, C.A.O., Tatuaje, and Rocky Patel. They had the Room 101 cigars blended by Camacho for Matt Booth but I couldn't afford them after greedily cramming Illusiones into my meaty mitts, so I'll have to go back for them. What a shame...
Here's the haul:
This is the only picture of cigars I have. I kinda blanked out and forgot every defining quality of my existence in that humidor, so I forgot to take pictures. Sorry I'm bad at this. From left to right, we have the mj12, Eperney Le Elegance, the mk, Eperney Le Petit, and the 68 "Bombone". It was expensive (this was about $50) so that's all I bought. I guess I'll have to return to get the other stuff. What a pity...
This would be a worthy trip in it's own right but, honestly, we spent all of about 25 minutes in the cigar store. We didn't even smoke there. Why? Well, we had other business to attend to. Namely a distillery tour. Harvest Spirits, LLC. has been making (according to quite a few) some exceedingly fine spirits at the Golden Harvest Farm in Valatie, NY. What a coincidence! It was only about 20 minutes away from the cigar store. And they were distilling today. Don't mind if I do. We got to the farm and went inside to the tiny farm stand. I was pretty sure this was where the distillery was but the farm stand only had apples, donuts, and cider. I felt kinda odd asking "where's the booze" but I did, only to find out it was around the corner in the back building. We meandered through the snow to the glory that is their distillery. The signs for the distillery were a rather moot point if you got within 30 feet of the building because the air hung heavy with the smell of sweet apples and heavy, heavy hooch. It smelled like victory in apple form. We entered the rather large distillery building to be greeted by a woman busy labeling bottles of Core Vodka. The sales guy/distiller, Collin, offered to give us a short tour and do a tasting with us. The tour was brief and general but I didn't mind. I was slackjawed at their still set-up. Here are some pics. First are the cider fermentation tanks:
Here she is, the Harvest Spirits pride and joy - their German 5-stage column still:
Finally, their rectifying/condensing column. Oddly enough, it was just a straight up copper column and it didn't look like it was jacketed with a condensing water jacket/cuff:I believe Collin said that the still had 39 stages in total, with 5 on the distillation column and 34/35 on the rectifier. Ain't she a beauty? She and her masters make some damn fine spirit as well. The tasting started with their Core Vodka, distilled 3 times from an apple cider they ferment in the tanks shown above. It was quite nice and exactly what I was hoping for. Let me explain.
One thing that I hate about today's vodka is how it's distilled ninety times and then sextuple filtered through activated charcoal made from the logs of Abraham Lincoln's log cabin (or, if you're Dan Akroyd, Herkimer Diamonds). Honestly, if you want your vodka to not have a taste, just buy lab ethanol. Vodka SHOULD have a taste. It shouldn't be a thin, overfiltered and overdistilled drink that you just pour down your throat. It should be thicker and rich, with a consistency and flavor. Core Vodka has this. The nose is a butterscotch and the vodka itself is incredibly smooth with faint notes of crisp fall apples and a slight buttery taste and mouthfeel. An excellent vodka. They also make something they call "pearvados", a calvados made of a distilled pear slurry. We managed to try this not just from the bottle but from a char #2 new American Oak cask that they're aging some "super pearvados". The bottled version, cut to 80 proof, has some pear sweetness and flavor but also an odd mustiness that I found strange. The barrel proof one was a lot better, with that mustiness very muted but with strong pear and peppery spice, along with rich but not overwhelming oak. Collin said that they'll be bottling the Super Pearvados at cask strength which, I feel, is an excellent and wise choice. He also said that the bottling would be pretty soon as they didn't want it to get too "oaky" which I also agree with. The sample we tried was 2 months aged and it had a nice light oak edge to it. I'd hazard a few more months and she'll be sitting pretty.
Finally was the Cornelius Applejack, the real reason I came to Harvest Spirits. You know my love of apples and apple cider. I drink a lot of it. You also know of my penchant for bourbon as well. Their Cornelius is distilled from their cider and aged in ex-Woodford Reserve barrels. Oh man, it is great. So great it warranted a bottle purchase. The price was a touch high ($40) but it was worth every penny. They've already sold out of two barrels worth and I got bottle #203 from batch 3. So hop to it if you want a bottle of this nectar of life. I'll have a more formal tasting of it later this week.
Note: all bourbon and no food in tummy makes Scotty a drunk boy. Jim Beam Distillers Edition don't suck, I will give it that. More formal write-up when I stop having trouble typing.
Since it was a nice day, the gods of nicotine and alcohol beckoned me to the deck. A nice cigar, a healthy pour of bourbon, and a magazine rendered me useless for a few hours. The bourbon of choice tonight was a Elijah Craig 12 year. A decent bourbon neat, with a no-frills bourbon taste of vanilla and oak. However, over ice or with a little water it opens up into this super buttery, butterscotch bomb that makes me a happy panda. Really, I was impressed. I had a sip neat and decided that it was too hot and I just didn't feel like slamming down a rocks glass of 80 degree bourbon along with a cigar. Thus, a few ice cubes were added, despite my general insistence on neat beverages. It was quite cracking, I have to admit. Probably the best bourbon I've had over ice, it suited it well. And the Don Lino Africa I had didn't hurt it either. Yum.
In other news, about two weeks until my next surgery, then its no-holds barred, baby!
