Author Archives: Greg

Journeyman Whiskies and Gin

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journeyman whiskies and gin

Journeyman is an organic distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan, who opened their doors in 2011. I was initially attracted to them for several reasons, all of which centered around the care and beauty that they impart on their packaging. Their bottle design is uniquely stunning: they’re wax-sealed in various colors, and the labels are extremely well designed with a rough-printed tactile feel to them. Their distillery and tasting room are beautiful, too, with parts dating back to the 1800’s. Before I’d even tasted their booze, I was pretty damn enamored with the beautiful bottles I was holding in my hands.

Journeyman distills vodka, gin, and a range of whiskies, and I got to try a few of them.

Ravenswood Rye Whiskey. I am consistently running low on my rye supply because it is my favorite whiskey variety. Ravenswood is a quality and terribly smooth-drinking whiskey. As I drank, I tasted the familiar cinnamon-spice grains, but was immediately surprised by a cool, sweet finish. “Is that wheat?” I thought, and after looking it up on Journeyman’s site, I found it contains a “heavily wheated organic rye from Kansas.” The play between the wheat and rye base makes for a spicy-sweet rye that I didn’t dare mix with anything. This one’s going to be drunk neat until the bottom of the bottle. Ravenswood will run you $45.

Bilberry Black Hearts Gin contains bilberries, also called “black hearts” because of the richness of their color. This gin has an interesting flavor profile, beginning with juniper but finishing with a mild, earthy, fruity bite. Not a citrus flavor, like many gins have, but more like a London Dry-style with a faint, berry finish. It tasted very good in a Screwdriver. Bilberry Black Hearts is $35.

Buggy Whip Wheat Whiskey. Like I noticed in Ravenswood, wheat adds some natural, pleasant sweetness to a whiskey, and Buggy Whip very easy to drink. It may remind you of other high-wheat whiskeys like Maker’s Mark. Buggy Whip is a limited release from Journeyman, but when you find it, a bottle will run you about $40.

What is a cocktail?

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definition of cocktail

The very first definition of “cocktail” is believed to be published in an answer from the editor of The Balance and Columbian Repository in 1806. It said: “Cock-tail, then, is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” This definition–shown above–is still a helpful guideline for drinkmaking, though it certainly shouldn’t bind you to particular ingredients. For instance, I noticed this definition doesn’t include citrus juice, which is used pretty often.

Let’s describe each element:

Spirit: gin, whiskey, vodka, brandy, tequila, rum, wine, vermouth, even beer.

Sugar: granulated sugar; a liqueur (which is a sweetened liquor); simple syrup; maple syrup; agave syrup.

Water: diluted ice from mixing the cocktail; club soda.

Bitters: cocktail bitters, like Angostura or Bitter End; digestive bitters like Fernet Branca or Campari, which are also considered liqueurs.

So let’s put it all together in a classic simple cocktail, the Manhattan:

  • 2 oz rye whiskey (spirit)
  • 3/4 oz sweet vermouth (let’s call this a spirit and a sugar)
  • 2 dashes bitters
  • stir with ice (water) and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with a cherry

Hudson Manhattan Rye

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hudson manhattan rye

Hudson Manhattan Rye whiskey from New York is one of a very healthy catalog of spirits from Tuthilltown Spirits. Their whiskeys are packaged in uniquely short, stout, wax-coated bottles, most of them half-sized at 375 ml. These are hand-bottled, hand-numbered, small batch whiskies.

I found Hudson Manhattan Rye to have a pretty complex set of flavors. Rye is the spicy grain in the whiskey world, and this is certainly spicy, but I also discovered a tobacco flavor to Manhattan Rye that is rare in a whiskey of any variety. Imagine the sweet woodiness of a vanilla or cherry pipe tobacco, imagine that in a rye, and you’ll realize this whiskey is one of the more unique flavors in the liquor cabinet.

Whiskey lovers should add this to their wish list. Rye lovers will should enjoy it, too, because the variety of flavors you experience in one sip is significant. Hudson Manhattan Rye will run you about $45 for a bottle.

 

Burnside Bourbon

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burnside bourbon and j.r.'s revenge

Burside is a 4-year-old bourbon from Eastside Distilling. Though Eastside touts it a “bold and spicy,” I found Burnside to be smooth to drink straight and it’s got more corn-sweetness than I expected from their description. My favorite bourbons tend to be the most balanced: sweet from the corn, spicy from rye and barrel aging, strong and smooth. Burnside fits this bill as a strong (48% ABV) and well-balanced booze.

I used Burnside in this cocktail from the Bartender’s Bible:

J.R.’s Revenge

  • 1 1/2 oz bourbon
  • 1/4 oz Southern Comfort (I used Bold Black Cherry)
  • 2 dashes of bitters
  • stir on ice and strain in a chilled cocktail glass

UBONs Bloody Mary [+ Giveaway]

ubons bloody mary

The Bloody Mary is THE drink for Sunday brunch. Up until now, I’ve avoided posting a Bloody Mary recipe for one primary reason: they’re not simple. The simplest recipe I’ve found was from The Cocktail Spirit, and it has 9 ingredients: vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, celery salt, worchestershire sauce, black pepper, horseradish sauce, ancho chili powder, and a celery stalk garnish.

When I want a Bloody Mary, I buy a mix and put vodka in it. I’m generally very cautious about using mixes, though, because many commercial mixes contain nasty goblins like high fructose corn syrup or MSG. Usually, Trader Joe’s mix is the one I go with.

I do think that if care is used in the mixture and it remains natural, a mix can make for the simplest cocktails of all. Which brings us to Ubon’s BBQ Bloody Mary Mix: an all-natural mix that’s made by award-winning Ubon’s (pronounced YOU-bons) of Yazoo, Mississippi. The mix itself is incredibly tasty and it makes a great Bloody Mary, the best one I’ve ever had. The recipe is simple (of course), but make sure to add the vodka first because Ubon’s is thick and it’s easier to mix this way:

Ubon’s Bloody Mary

  • 1 oz of vodka (I used Cathead, also from Mississippi)
  • 4 oz Ubon’s BBQ Bloody Mary Mix
  • garnish with a celery stick, pickle, asparagus, olives, onion, lemon wedge, crab claw, etc.

I’m giving 3 lucky readers 2 bottles each of Ubon’s BBQ Bloody Mary Mix. Just leave a comment below telling me what you drank during the Super Bowl last night and you’ll be entered to win. Drawing will be held on or about February 18, 2013.

Brenne

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brenne bottle and glasses

Brenne is a single malt whisky distilled in France, aged for 7 years, and finished in Cognac barrels. Launched in October 2012 in New York City, Brenne is available at several locations, in New York and online, for about $50.

Because this is a high quality single malt whisky, the only fitting way to drink it is neat – straight from the glass, no ice, at room temperature. Brenne smells of cognac and dried fruit as you raise the glass, and the whisky flavor comes in as you sip it.  Brenne has a quality scotch-like taste with traces of apricot and spice. It’s got a great flavor and I’m interested to see how its unique qualities make an impact on the whisky market.

Daiquiri

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below deck silver rum and a daiquiri

A Daiquiri is a classic cocktail that’s simple to make: it’s rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. There are several ways to adjust the ratios of those 3 ingredients, but the best recipe I’ve tried is from Portland bartender Jeffery Morgenthaler. It seems fitting to use a Portland rum in this drink, so I used Below Deck Silver from Eastside Distilling. You can also experiment with aged rums like Zacapa.

Daiquiri

  • 2 1/2 oz rum (I used Below Deck Silver)
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • shake with ice
  • double strain into a chilled cocktail glass (pour through the shaker and a mesh strainer)
  • lime wheel garnish

The Mixing Glass

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yarai mixing glass

Together with a cocktail shaker, a mixing glass is a pretty essential bar tool, and until recently, I didn’t have a good one. A mixing glass is better for making stirred drinks, like a Martini or Manhattan, but I’ve just been using a regular pint glass for those. A cocktail mixing glass, though, give you both a wider bottom (insert Spinal Tap joke here) and a pour spout. By far, the most popular mixing glass is the Yarai (pictured above), which sells for about $40.

griffin low form 500ml beakers as cocktail mixing glasses

Being a bit of a cheapo, I looked for a more affordable alternative and I found 500ml Low Form Breakers on Amazon. Like the Yarai, these beakers are 500ml and have a pour spout, but they are considerably less expensive (I got a 6-pack for $15). Outside of the obvious elegance factor with the Yarai, the only other difference is that the beakers have a slightly wider mouth, though your strainer will still fit. They match the Williams Sonoma beaker jigger, too (shown above).

Cherry Bomb Whiskey

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cherry bomb whiskey

Cherry Bomb from Eastside Distilling in Portland is one of those unique liquors that when I first heard about it, I was immediately dying to try it. Now I’m really excited to have it in my liquor cabinet.

The bottle contains a rich, maroon, murky liquid – part of Eastside’s vow that real Oregon cherries are actually in there. When you open the bottle, you smell whiskey, and this surprised me as I imagined something more candy-like, I suppose. Here’s the important thing though: this isn’t cherry liqueur, it’s cherry whiskey, and it’s not sweetened by anything other than the cherries themselves.

When you take quality aged whiskey and seep fresh local cherries in it, this is what you get: a very flavorful, sweet, and smooth drink. I imagine this is probably a great opportunity to make some simple cocktails with a cherry twist, but Cherry Bomb tastes so good on its own, I just keep drinking it that straight. This is a great choice for an after dinner tipple as it’s an alternative to a sweeter after-dinner liqueur. Cherry Bomb has a really familiar and comforting flavor, like a glass of whiskey served with a hot slice of cherry pie, a little bit tart and a little bit sweet.

Cherry Bomb will run you $24 for a 375ml half-bottle and it’s available online, at many places in Oregon, or at the distillery in Portland’s Distillery Row.

Zacapa 23 Rum

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zacapa 23 rum

A while back, I asked the Cigar Smoking Man what he likes to drink when he’s smoking a cigar, and he mentioned Zacapa.

Zacapa 23 is from Guatemala, a blend of rums that have aged in barrels from 6 to 23 years at 7,500+ feet above sea level. This rum is comparable to a fine bourbon or scotch, and Zacapa recommends drinking it straight or with a large ice cube to cool it slightly.

The scent of this rum is sweet initially, but as you drink, you’ll taste barrel-aged richness and spice. Because rum is distilled from sugar cane, it can be a lot sweeter than a whiskey or brandy, but Zacapa is not so sweet. I found it to be strong and smooth, with faint traces of sugar, spicy chocolate, and toasty wood. I drank it neat – no ice – and found it to have a great and palatable flavor. Zacapa 23 is a quality aged rum that’ll run you about $45. Older brother Zacapa XO, a richer and more elegant variety, is $99.