I arrived yesterday, and was lucky enough to kick off the event with two amazing parties – a welcome reception hosted by Beefeater Gin at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, and a classic New Orleans garden fete at the Elma Mansion hosted by William Grant & Sons (the group that brings you Hendricks Gin, Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Sailor Jerry and more). Once again, a pretty good time! Many thanks to Beefeater and William Grant & Sons for a warm (very, very warm) welcome to New Orleans.

My first session of the conference was this morning – a guide to tasting spirits with the true master of the craft, F. Paul Pacult. I’ll admit right from the start – I kinda suck at tasting spirits. I mean, I can drink ‘em with no trouble at all, but my ability (and particularly my vocabulary) to describe what I’m tasting is severely limited (and limiting). All the more reason why I was excite for this session.

Paul took us through the 49 – yes 49 – criteria he uses to evaluate spirits, including the visual (clarity, sediment, color), olfactory (dryness/sweetness, aromatic intensity, acid intensity, base materials, fruits, nuts, spices, etc.), and gustatory (flavors and intensity on entry, midpalate, and aftertaste). It’s an intense experience to say the least, but by breaking down the process into categories, then into individual attributes (with choices), the difficulty involved in expressing what you’re tasting fades away.

To get us started, we tasted six different spirits: Absolut 100 vodka, Plymouth gin, Jameson Gold irish whisky, Chivas 12 blended scotch, Scappa 14 single malt, and Martel XO cognac. This provided a great framework for tasting different types of spirits, and would make for a great self-guided tasting at home.

To benefit from Paul’s expertise on your own, be sure to order his latest book, Kindred Spirits 2, which includes Paul’s review of over 2,400 different brands and varieties of spirits. 

Stay tuned for more updates from NOLA. For more in real-time, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@cocktailspirit).

Cheers!

-Josh

With that out of the way, I hope you’ll indulge me. I’m about to geek out about whisky.

If you’ve never been to a whisky distillery, stop what you’re doing (well, finish reading this post, then stop what you’re doing) and book a trip. The greatest concentration of distilleries in the US is in Kentucky, along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The process of making whisky is fascinating, and while not everyone enjoys it the way I do, I find the smell of a distillery intoxicating (even before I’ve had anything to drink!)

The distillery at Maker’s Mark is no different. And it has quite a history! I was able to spend most of my day with Victoria MacRae-Samuels, the Director of Operations, and Dave Pudlo, the Distillery Education Director. I took about 20 pages of notes, but I’ll try to distill it down to the essentials. (I know – awful, awful pun.)

The History

The distillery itself was first established in 1805 as Burks’ Gristmill and Distillery. It was purchased in 1953 by T.W. (Bill) Samuels Sr. and his wife Marjorie. The Samuels family had been distillers for generations, but they had recently sold their family distillery and trademarks. They purchased the Burks property simply to have an already-established location (which happened to have a reliable water source on-site) where they could continue to produce whisky in small batches, mostly for family and friends. 

They started to develop their recipe from scratch. The main criteria that Bill Samuels Sr. had laid out was a desire for a very “drinkable” bourbon – one that was smooth and round, without too much burn. Rather than produce a variety of different batches that would then need to be aged for years, Bill and Marjorie settled on their proportions of corn, wheat, and malted barley by baking batches of bread.

I was always curious about the Maker’s Mark name (and symbol). Victoria educated me on this one. Marjorie Samuels was apparently quite a collector of pewter objects. And apparently, the highest quality pewter always had a “maker’s mark” to identify its creator. Inspired by this tradition, Maker’s Mark got its name, and its symbol (which you’ll see embossed on every bottle). Being a fairly creative person, Marjorie played quite a role in the bottle design, as well. They used hand-torn labels, and dipped each bottle in wax to evoke the style of quality cognac. Marjorie even hand-lettered the first bottles (and her lettering design is still used today).

The first barrel of Maker’s Mark was bottled in 1958, and the recipe hasn’t changed since. It’s clear from talking to the staff at Maker’s Mark that the heritage of the brand is very important to them.  Much of my conversation with the staff centered around ensuring that Maker’s lived up to “the way Bill wanted it.”

The Whisky

We actually have two different bourbons to talk about today. First – the classic Maker’s Mark. As we talked about earlier, Bill Samuels was aiming for a very round, “drinkable” bourbon. One of the ways that goal is achieved is through the proportional blend of corn, malted barley, and red winter wheat. The attention paid to the sourcing and quality of the ingredients at Maker’s genuinely surprised me. Not that I expected them not to care, but for an operation of their size, I was surprised to still see the degree of hands-on individual attention that was paid, including actual people physically inspecting the ingredients upon their arrival. The staff are well educated about the sourcing of the ingredients, and they’re given broad latitude to refuse a shipment from a supplier if it doesn’t meet strict quality standards. And of course, careful attention is paid to the water, which comes directly from a lake on the property.

We won’t go through the whole distillation process here, but I’ll say again, if you’ve never had the opportunity to watch whisky being made, find a way to make that happen. Most major distilleries offer tours – take one. It’s a fascinating process.

Once the cooking, fermentation, and distillation is complete, the raw whisky (what we’ve come to call “white dog”) is put into new American oak barrels to be aged. It spends between 6 and 7 1/2 years in one of the 24 warehouses on the Maker’s property, each of which holds upwards of 20,000 barrels. Each warehouse is 6 stories. Barrels enter on the top floors, where the temperature is highest, and where they’ll generally spend three summers. Over the remaining years, the barrels will be rotated down to cooler temperatures as new barrels come in.

Tasting the original Maker’s Mark, you’ll find, I think, that it lives up to the spec that Bill Samuels established back in 1953 – a smooth nose, and a smooth taste, very drinkable, with hints of vanilla, caramel, and baking spices, followed by a nice round finish (a little quick for my normal taste, but in general, a very good quality in bourbon.) It makes for a great introduction to bourbon for those who insist they don’t drink whisky (in other words, those who just don’t know any better yet.) And given how well rounded it is, I think it also makes a great palette for building cocktails.

Maker’s “46”

Now we come to the real reason for my trip – to taste Maker’s 46. A key fact worth underscoring is that this is the first new expression from Maker’s Mark since they started producing bourbon over 50 years ago. Maker’s has become a classic recipe – a “known good” quantity – and the general philosophy at the distillery has been “don’t screw it up.” But after half a century or so, it was time for something new.

What I found most surprising about Maker’s 46 was that it begins as fully-matured Maker’s Mark. Rather than start from the very beginning, the Maker’s team were seeking a new expression of a classic recipe. To achieve this, they worked closely with Brad Boswell – a 4th generation cooper from the Independent Stave Company of Kentucky. They evaluated a variety of different wood profiles, landing finally on the 46th choice (yup… 46) – French white oak staves that are seared on each side very quickly, at very high temperatures. Ten or so of these staves are then added to a barrel of fully matured Maker’s Mark, which is then aged for an additional two or three months.

The result is a bourbon vaguely reminiscent of Maker’s Mark, but bolder in every way. The aroma is more intense, with more apparent spiciness and caramel. The flavor follows suit – with a very similar profile of vanilla, caramel, and baking spices like cinnamon, but expressed in a much more complex way. I particularly appreciate the spiciness, and the much longer finish – a lingering sweet and spicy mix that I much prefer, especially when sipping a bourbon neat (which I will tend to do occasion.)

I think Maker’s has once again achieved their goal – a drinkable, accessible bourbon that lives up to the values set forth by their founder, but at the same time, presents a bolder, modern choice.

In reading this, I know I sound gushy. All I can do is assure you that my sentiments are sincere. I don’t do “reviews” very often because I won’t write about things that I don’t enjoy (I leave the bashing to others). When I do enjoy something, I’m happy to share it with you. Though my bottle of Maker’s 46 is off limits. Get your own.

Thanks again to Victoria and Dave for showing me the ropes and giving me the history I so appreciate (I love a good story). Thanks as well to Natalie Stone, Herb Stucker, and the rest of the staff at Maker’s Mark who took time out of their day to indulge my inner whisky geek.

Cheers!

Josh

Let’s start, though, with a quick recap of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. Described as “part festival, part fête, part conference, part cocktail party,” the Manhattan Cocktail Classic included five days of seminars, parties, tastings, and other assorted revelry with some of my favorite people in all of New York City.

Due to a previously scheduled trip this past week (which I’ll tell you about very soon in an upcoming post), I was only able to enjoy the first few days of the MCC. Yet I still managed to enjoy a plethora of amazing cocktails, and great times with great friends. My weekend included the following:

-The Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala: An evening of music, dancing, performance art, food, and of course, a slew of cocktails prepared by some of the countries top mixologists.  Among my favorite cocktails that evening were a South Side (using gin, lime, cucumber and mint) prepared by the good folks at Tanqueray, and a very refreshing mint julep prepared by the team at Bulliet bourbon. But of course, the best part was getting all decked out to spend the evening in a beautiful space with my fellow cocktail connoisseurs.

-Behind the Bar at Death & Co.: I’ll make no secret of the fact that one of my favorite bars in the country is Death & Co., located on 6th Street in Manhattan’s East Village. Of course, I’m hardly alone in that opinion. Death & Co. is consistently listed among the best cocktail bars in the world, and with good reason. So along with my fellow twitterati @sweetblogomine and @daisy17, I spent last Saturday afternoon learning everything there is to know about one of my favorite haunts, directly from owner David Kaplan, Head bartender Thomas Waugh, and bartenders Joaquin Simo, Brian Miller, Jessica Gonzalez, and (briefly :-p) Jason Littrell. Of course, as they shared their stories from behind the bar, they also introduced us to the new summer menu, which is going to keep me busy for quite some time.

-The Three Hour Tour: Organized by The Tippling Point crew (Jason Littrell, Gianfranco Verga, Paul Tanguay, and Tad Carducci), this was easily my favorite event of the weekend; in part because we were lucky enough to have simply perfect weather for a cruise around Manhattan. Of course, the cocktails didn’t hurt eaither. Two cocktails in particular stuck out:

The Scotch Fix prepared by Jackie Patterson of Heaven’s Dog in San Francsico:

-1.5 oz Ardbeg 10 year old scotch
-1oz 1:1 honey syrup
-3/4oz Fresh lemon juice

The Landing Strip prepared by John Lermayer of The Florida Room in Miami:

-1.5oz 10 Cane rum
-1.5oz fresh pineapple juice
-1oz coconut water
-1 dash of lime juice
-1 dash simple syrup
-2 dashes Angostura bitters
-4 sage leaves

Of course, this was just a sampling of the events that took place over the course of five days. You can find the full list at http://manhattancocktailclassic.com/events.

Many thanks to all of the amazing bartenders, brands, and enthusiasts who made the first annual Manhattan Cocktail Classic a resounding success. And thanks especially to Lesley Townsend, director of MCC, for bringing this wonderful event to New York. And special thanks as well to my wonderful friends from the cocktail world: Lindsey Johnson, Dave Harrison, Laren Spirer, Karen Nachbar, Leo Borovskiy, Lincoln Chinnery, Kathleen Reynolds, Selena Ricks, Hal Wolin, Emily Malinowski, Jenean Chapman, Jordana Rothman, and everyone else who made the weekend so much fun.

Cheers!

-Josh

In thinking about what cocktail would help make a smooth transition, and get the power of positive thought moving, I turned to the Gold Rush. This cocktail is essentially a cold version of a hot toddy, just without the wintery spices (which, as I try to channel warmer weather, is fine by me.)

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz bourbon
3/4oz fresh lemon juice
3/4oz honey syrup

The honey syrup is very easy. My friend Meaghan Dorman, who has made this cocktail for me at Raines Law Room, suggests a ratio of 3:1 honey to hot water. To make a small bottle of honey syrup, I added 9oz of wildflower honey to 3oz hot water and just shook really hard. Worked like a charm.

Once you have the honey syrup ready, combine it with the bourbon and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake hard, and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

Here’s to spring – it couldn’t come soon enough!

Cheers,

-Josh

This cocktail is actually named after the French 75-mm field gun; a commonplace piece of artillery during World War I. Apparently this particular gun was known for its recoil system, which allowed for much smoother operation than had previously been possible. Once you try the cocktail, you’ll understand how appropriate that is. (History once again courtesy of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails; a must-have for any bartender’s bookshelf.)

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz gin
1oz fresh lemon juice
1/4oz simple syrup
Champagne

Combine the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup with ice and shake well. Strain into a tall glass – either a Collins glass, or ideally, a champagne flute – and top with champagne (or other high-quality sparkling wine). Stir gently, and garnish with a long lemon peel. Some like to add a cherry as well, but I generally prefer to skip it. The choice is entirely yours.

This cocktail offers one of the more surprising combinations in the bartending world – gin and champagne. But with the lemon and sugar to balance things out, it works beautifully. And as Ted points out in talking about the appropriateness of the cocktail’s name, “….smooth, yet packs a wallop.” So true.

Cheers!

-Josh

I was introduced to this cocktail during my trip down to New Orleans last year for Tales of the Cocktail – it’s a mainstay at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Moteleone (which is where Tales takes place).  As Ted Haigh tells it in his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the name comes from the local term for the French Quarter – le Vieux Carre, meaning “the Old Square.” The cocktail was invented sometime prior to the 1937 publication of Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Them, by Walter Bergeron, who worked behind what would eventually become the Carousel Bar. It fell out of favor for years, but I loved the one I had in New Orleans last year, and I really loved the… let’s just say more than one… I had at Rye House this past week.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1oz rye whiskey
1oz cognac
1oz sweet vermouth
1/4oz Benedictine
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 dashes Peychaud Bitters

The preparation is simple: combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir well, and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a simple lemon twist.

The result is a smooth yet complex cocktail, sure to transport you directly to Bourbon Street.

Cheers!

-Josh

This excellent holiday punch actually comes by way of Josey Packard of the bar Drink in Boston. You can watch Josey make the punch via this video from Rachel Maddow’s show:

Here’s the recipe (you can find the full details on Rachel’s website). Heed their advice – when playing with alcohol and fire, caution is the word of the day. Have a fire extinguisher handy.

Prep:

Acquire a pyrex bowl or other heat-treated (or otherwise fire resistant bowl).
Stud 3 oranges with cloves.
Roast them for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees, until softened.

Warm the alcohol for the punch (immerse a container of it in hot water).
Set the spices aside, for the pyrotechnics.
Also warm the diluting ingredients.
Have some sugar on-hand.

Spices for pyrotechnics:

Ground cinnamon
Ground allspice
Ground nutmeg

Alcohol:

1 pint dark rum
1 pint brandy

Diluting ingredients:

Juice of 3 oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
Pint of apple cider
Pint of water

On-hand, for continued extinguishing:

Pint of apple cider
Pint of water

Procedure:

Pre-heat punch bowl with hot water from the tap.
Put roasted oranges in hot, newly emptied bowl.
Pour heated alcohol mixture over oranges.
Use a match to ignite alcohol.
Be aware at all times of how hot the bowl is by touching the outside of it frequently.
Toss pinches of the spices at the flame carefully.

Extinguish the flame by pouring the heated juice/cider mix over the punch.

If the punch doesn’t completely extinguish, pour more cider or water over the mixture.

Cheers!

-Josh

Standing at the intersection of politics and cocktails is one of my favorite people – Rachel Maddow. Host of the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, she is a former Rhodes Scholar who holds a DPhil in politics from Oxford. She also happens to be an absolute connoisseur of classic cocktail culture.  For nearly a year now, Rachel has been seeking a breakthrough on one of the closely held secrets of the Obama White House: What kind of cocktails are the Obama’s serving at their infamous cocktail parties!? Finally, that breakthrough came this past week when Rachel herself attended a White House holiday party.

Rachel reported this momentous news in the Cocktail Moment section of her show this past Friday:

At this particular cocktail party, cocktails were mixed by Derek Brown – bartender at my favorite DC cocktail bar, The Gibson.

The menu:

The Emerson
Old Tom Gin
Sweet Vermouth
Lime Juice
Luxardo Maraschino

The Stone Fence
Laird’s Applejack
Apple Cider
Fee Brothers Aromatic Bitters
Mint

The Robert Frost Cocktail
Sherry
White Port
Bourbon
Sugar
Orange Bitters

Rachel ended this segment with a quote that demonstrates why she’s so awesome. “Remember, martinis do not contain vodka.”

Cheers,

Josh

First – let me talk briefly about scotch. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how scotch became the quintessential non-threatening, no meaning implied gift, but there it is. For some reason, Johnnie Walker Blue has taken hold as the guaranteed-to-impress brand. I actually do like Johnnie Blue, but let’s be honest – it’s a bit pricey, no? (At $150 per bottle, I’d say yes.) The folks at Chivas sent me a sample of Chivas Regal 18 to taste, as well as a sample of Johnnie Walker Blue for the sake of comparison. From my vantage point, they’re actually tough to compare, as they have very different flavor profiles. I find Chivas to be generally sweeter (in a caramel sort of way), with a nice smoky finish. With Johnnie Blue, the smokiness is more up front, and the sweetness that follows tastes more like bittersweet chocolate to me. 

Don’t get me wrong – both Chivas Regal 18 and Johnnie Walker Blue are fine blended scotches. But with Chivas 18 averaging $55 per bottle vs. Johnnie Blue at $150, I think Chivas 18 might give you a bit more bang for the buck. Just my two cents though.

As for other holiday gifts, for those not particularly inclined towards scotch (who are you, anyway?), there are many other options. I’d thought about pulling together a boozer’s gift guide, but so many of my friends have beat me to it, I thought I’d just go ahead and share some of my favorites:

-Hal Wolin of A Muddled Thought has been publishing an ongoing series on good gift ideas for the spirited individual in your life.
-Selena Ricks of The Dizzy Fizz has a two part gift guide: Part 1 with excellent DIY ideas, and Part 2 with a selected list of educational materials (you can never know too much about booze).
-Our friend James over at NY Barfly has a great list of places to drink over the holidays (we’re working our way through the list one by one!)
-Paul Clarke at Serious Eats has a very comprehensive list for the budding mixologist.

If you’re looking for something to buy the overworked and underpaid Spirited Cocktails staff (you know, me), I wouldn’t turn down my very own Meehan Bar Bag from Moore & Giles. Just sayin.

Happy holidays!

Cheers,

Josh

This past week, I joined some of my favorite people – fellow bloggers @nybarfly, @lincolnwrites, @selenawrites, and @sweetblogomine – to taste Harlem, a new spirit distilled in Holland (named after the Dutch town Haarlem), and based on an herbal blend that the Dutch call Kruiden. At first blush, one might notice some similarities to Jagermeister, in that Harlem is definitely a dark, herbal spirit, intended to be poured as a shot, and definitely best served ice cold.

However, while I’m not really a “shot person” either way, I found Harlem to be much smoother than Jager; certainly herbal, but more well rounded with a nice citrus finish (the result of a strong presence of mandarin in the blend.) We tried Harlem in a few different combinations, include as a straight shot, on the rocks, and blended with common mixers like Cola and Ginger Ale. (I actually found the Harlem and Ginger Ale to be my favorite!) These mixed variations could be served either as shots (1oz Harlem and .5oz cola, for example), or over ice as a tall drink.

While Harlem has been a closely held family recipe for decades, they’re just in the process of launching in the US now. It has started to show up in major markets, and will be rolled out across the country in the coming months. The suggested retail price is around $22 for a 750ml bottle.

Unfortunately, our resident blogger/mad scientist @halw (of amuddledthought.com) wasn’t able to join us for the tasting, but I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of cocktails he can whip up with Harlem. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

Josh