posted on 21 April 2009 by tony
I had an exciting Monday night this week. Last night, Jeff and I sort of snuck into the Lairds event going on at Drink. We got to try all of the varieties of apple brandy Laird & Co. produces, watched an interesting sideshow about the history of Applejack and then we pretended to be bartenders for awhile, mixing some cocktails behind the bar and generally being ridiculous. I learned how to flame spritz an orange peel, which is an exciting new trick I hope to unveil soon. It was a great time. To commemorate this, I will be reviewing Applejack and providing a cocktail recipe featuring this delicious spirit. Go and read them.
-Out.
Tags: applejack, daily thoughts, out and about
Category: The Liquor Blog | Comments (1)
posted on 16 April 2009 by tony
Last night, I went out drinking with my old crew. Good times were had, many cocktails were consumed and I spent more than I responsibly should have. Anyway, while I’m out, I end up at an establishment that I probably shouldn’t call out by name, but can allude to. So this bar, named for the mythic home of the Norse pantheon, has a spirits list that I’m attempting to select a gin from. After I settled on Hendrick’s, I continued to peruse the list, as I like to know what bars are offering what spirits. I like to think of this as field research.
As always, my eyes are swiftly drawn to the dismally short bourbon list. And, wouldn’t you know, this bar has decided to list both Jack Daniel’s and Southern Comfort as bourbon. Now, I can almost understand the mistake with Jack. At least it’s whiskey. But Southern Comfort is a liqueur, saying so right on the bottle. I mean, seriously, bourbon deserves a level of respect higher than this. To top it all off, they had a separate, “small batch” list which was the list of higher end bourbons they carry. Now, the term small batch was invented by Jim Beam as a marketing strategy to differentiate the Small Batch collection from other whiskeys, especially single barrel. Before that, it had no actual meaning.
Personally, I am outraged and offended, and I hope at least someone else out there will be too. Please, visit or call this place, purportedly where Valhalla is located, and tell them that bourbon is bourbon and to keep Tennessee whiskey and liqueurs on a different list. There are rules man, and I feel they should be observed.
-Out.
Tags: bourbon, daily thoughts, gin, whiskey
Category: The Liquor Blog | Comments (1)
posted on 26 March 2009 by tony
That title is a bit disingenuous. While a meal was in fact provided, Jack didn’t so much wine me as whiskey me into a mild stupor. Why, why you cry out? Well, because they love me. Here’s the rundown.
Maybe a month ago, we entered a display contest involving Jack. We received a statue to decorate of the man himself and were told to build a display based around it. I got my buddy Mr. Tim to paint the statue, and built what I thought was a lackluster display to feature him. Tuesday night, Dan and I went down to Bar Louie in Foxboro for a fantastic southern style dinner, a whiskey tasting and the contest results. I had a blast. We discovered a number of new Jack Daniels based drinks, and that Jack straight off the still tastes essentially like grappa.
To make a long story short, much to the shock and dismay of myself and Daniel, we lost the statue contest. I feel like the fix was in, but what can you do? We did garner an honorable mention in the display catagory, which was a pleasant surprise, but cold comfort at best. Next year man, we are going to rock that house.
-Out.
Tags: daily thoughts, whiskey
Category: The Liquor Blog | Comments (0)
posted on 4 March 2009 by tony
The question I put to you is simple: Where the hell is the Old Potrero? I have been hearing from Anchor they were going to hook me up with a few bottles for over a year now, and I still have no whiskey. Do me a favor. If you want some of that honey colored goodness from California to warm you bellies, email Anchor Distilling and tell them Downtown needs some love. Then we can all enjoy some west coast whiskey.
-Out.
Tags: daily thoughts, whiskey
Category: The Liquor Blog | Comments (0)
