Enjoy whiskey. That was Dave Broom’s message – and happily taken by a crowd that gathered on a rainy Saturday afternoon to try out some whiskies in cocktail from one of the pre-eminent whisky authors. “Ask questions,” he told us. “Otherwise it’s just one boring, long Scottish rant.” Like that’s a bad thing when it comes to whisky. I showed up for a Scottish rant. Dave Broom – author of my ultimate whisky guide, The World Atlas of Whisky – was at Char No. 4 to tell us to mix our whisky. You heard that correctly – to put mixers and ice in our whisky. He said forget the rules. It’s not just for men (yep – got that message!). It’s not just for people of a certain age (around 20 seems a good time to start drinking it…). It’s not just for after dinner (do people eat dinner at noon? Is that supper?) It doesn’t have to be drunken in a tumbler (whew! Because I use jars sometimes). And it can be mixed. Also, it’s not serious. It should make you smile. Dave put forth the idea that drinking whisky and enjoying whisky are two different things. With his newest book, Whisky: The Manual, he is looking at how to enjoy whisky by mixing it up. This is the tastiest spring cleaning I have come across. Apparently Diageo had some extra barrels to get rid of. Like when you buy some distilleries and those distilleries happen to be Stitzel-Weller (former home of Pappy) and Bernheim and they have some extra barrels of whiskey in the corner that are maybe 19-21 years old. You know. Happens. Thus began the Orphan Barrel Project to unload that extra whiskey in limited edition bottles. What did you do last weekend? Oh, I spent Sunday at Bourbon Academy. That’s right. Eight hours of whiskey history and whiskey at Brooklyn Kitchen. This class was US history through the eyes of whiskey and the development of bourbon. And let’s be honest, isn’t that the most realistic and fun way to experience it? Led by Mike Veach of Filson Historical Society out of Kentucky, this class started with frontiersmen having their “eye-opener” shot of whiskey first thing in the morning before taming those wild west farms when Kentucky was the edge of the US. Many brought their stills with them when they settled in Kentucky in the 18th century. The class then followed Kentucky whiskey history through the Civil War and Prohibition and World War II and then that sad time when whiskey sales dipped…followed by today’s resurgence. I normally want to take home the whisky after a tasting. But last night, I wanted to take home the speaker. Jura Master Distiller and Global Ambassador Willie Tait had a charm that completely stole the spotlight from the whisky he was introducing. And it’s hard to distract me from whisky. He talked about Scotch the way Pablo Neruda describes avocados, so by the time we came to the drinking part of the tasting, I felt as if I should talk to my glass seductively a little before just drinking it down. After tasting a good selection of Van Winkle whiskey recently, I feel I can honestly make a few observations: 1. It’s a whole lot of hype. $1,000 for a bottle of bourbon is too much. Hundreds of dollars for a bottle of bourbon is too much. 2. It’s fun hype. As long as I’m not paying $1,000, to be a part of the tastings and chat it out with people is interesting and entertaining. 3. It’s good stuff. Not going to lie. If it wasn’t so hard to find and not so expensive, I would be a happy pappy drinker regularly. |
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November 2017
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