Spirited Cocktails

I had the opportunity yesterday to sample Maker’s Mark (premade) Mint Julep at Astor Wines & Spirits  (@astorwines). I must admit, I didn’t expect much. If nothing else, the making of a Mint Julep is a time-honored tradition, and the idea of purchasing a Mint Julep in a bottle wasn’t particularly appealing to me. I must admit though, after tasting it, I was pleasantly surprised!

It was definitely on the sweeter side as mint juleps go, but if you’re having a Derby party this year and the idea of hand-crafting mint juleps by the dozen just doesn’t appeal, I think this would be a fine substitution (and if you make a good show of it, most people will never know!)

The only catch is that this bottled mint julep is fairly hard to find. Astor Wines & Spirits here in New York was carrying a small inventory, but the Makers Mark representative there told me that distribution was still pretty limited. It’s worth a shot though!

If you’re interested in making your own Mint Juleps by hand (certainly the path I would recommend, especially if you can’t find this special-edition Makers Mark), check out Dale DeGroff, the king of cocktails himself, making Mint Juleps trackside over at the Lush Life site.

Cheers!

A good chef should be discriminating about their ingredients. And they should taste everything.

Last night I got home rather late, and I was running low on the essential cocktail ingredients (simple syrup, lemons and limes, etc.), so I decided to keep things simple and appreciate the fundamentals. I poured myself a bourbon on the rocks. I found I was fortunate to have a variety of bourbons to chose from (Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve, Hudson Baby Bourbon, Bookers, Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, and others), but yesterday I decided to open a bottle of Basil Hayden’s, which I had received as a holiday gift from a loving family member.

One of these days I’ll do a full tasting (if you really twist my arm) and provide an ordered list of my favorites… though I wouldn’t even know where to start. In the meantime though, a few quick notes about Basil Hayden’s.

This is one of the “small batch” bourbons produced by Jim Beam. It uses more rye in its mash than many other bourbons might, and while I tend to like more “corn forward” bourbons, I still enjoyed it immensely. And at a very reasonable $35/bottle on average, it’s certainly an affordable way to expand your taste for bourbon.

I know I’ll get some flack for drinking it on the rocks. Many purists prefer their bourbon neat, as the ice will invariably alter the experience. I can’t really disagree with that, and many times when tasting a bourbon for the very first time, I’ll try some neat. But at the end of the day, I like my bourbon cold. Sorry.

So while the majority of our site will be dedicated to the craft of the cocktail, we think it’s very important to develop an appreciation for the key ingredients on their own. Among our favorite of “key ingredients” is bourbon, and we encourage you to give it a try!

Cheers!

The folks over at LiquorSnob.com have a recipe for the very timely Swine Flu Cocktail. It has all the necessary ingredients:

• Absinthe (medicinal, of course)
• Tequila (from our friends in Mexico)
• Bacon-infused Bourbon (obviously)
• And Lemoncello (why not?)

You can find the full recipe here. Enjoy!

Tuthilltown Spirits – makers of one of my absolute favorite spirits, Hudson Baby Bourbon – is inviting people to an immersion experience in the craft of distilling whiskey.

You can find details about the event via their Facebook page (Facebook login required). Here’s the basic rundown though:

Tuthilltown Spirits offers you the chance to make your own whiskey right at the distillery. A small group of whiskey aficionados will join the distillery team at Tuthilltown on two successive weekends, roll up their sleeves and make whiskey.

This program includes all you need to put up a three gallon barrel of whiskey in new charred American oak. We’ll start with deciding the grain bill for the whiskey batch. Combining technical instruction and practical experience you’ll grind, mash and pitch the batch during the first weekend, followed by a second weekend of stripping, rectifying and barreling the whiskey. Four months later we’ll reconvene to proof, filter and bottle the whiskey. Each participant completes the program with thirty 375ml bottles of whiskey and their barrel and the experience of a whiskey lover’s lifetime.

Includes all first class accommodations (6 nights over course of program), meals (including dinner and spirits tastings each weekend) and materials, tools, instruction, oak barrels, bottling.

Of course, they don’t go into details on cost (one can presume this would be pretty expensive), but I bet it’d be a helluva good time! If anyone decides to go, let me know. (And take me with you!)