Category: Spirits, Wine & Cider

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Featured Portland Cider Review – Community Cider

I really like the whole community aspect of craft beverages. Maybe because the U.S. seems so easily divided these days so I was very pleased to see that Portland Cider had a Community Cider, using apples and pears from around Portland. To make it even more positive, it’s charity cider too.

CC pours a super light yellow. Nearly shades of seltzer. It has the typical cider aroma of apple and apple skin. Initial taste is bright and sweet. The pear really shines through to add an extra dimension. There is a tiny bit of a spice note but overall, a down the middle cider.

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Featured Portland Cider Review – Imperial Peach Tea

I went big with the first choice of Portland Cider’s appley offerings, straight to an Imperial, with peach tea.

Before I describe it, here is the website description, “A rich, golden imperial cider from crisp Northwest apples and mouthwateringly juicy Washington peaches. Steeped Assam black tea from Steven Smith Teamaker adds an extra zing that puts this cider a notch above the rest.”

To start, for this to be successful, I need to taste an apple base followed by peach tea. A spiced apple flavor is there and I am picking up some tea tannins in the background. Past that though, I am not getting much. It is tasty to drink but, to me, the imperial, the peach and the tea are well hidden. I kinda expect peach to be background but tea should be there.

Good but not firing with all cylinders.

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Big Sur

Calwise Spirits is just down Ramada from Firestone Walker and they are releasing a gin finished in DBA barrels. Below is the fascinating journey from idea to finished gin.

“To help create “Old Tom” Big Sur Gin, Firestone Walker generated a mash of traditional brewing grains with a complement of wine grape juice, all fermented with native yeast and bacteria. This base was then distilled by Calwise, imparting a unique imprint into the flavor profile of the original Big Sur Gin. 

Then, in the established Big Sur Gin fashion, Bergh infused the gin with organic wild herbs that are largely native to California’s iconic Big Sur coastline, including white sage, yerba santa, bay, fennel and elderberry as well as the essential juniper. 

“We also enhanced the traditional recipe by including botanicals such as coriander and orange peel, which were suggested by Brewmaster Matt Brynildson,” Bergh said. “We added rose petal as an ode to David Walker’s British roots.”

Bergh worked with Brynildson, Sensory Research Analyst Craig Thomas and the Firestone Walker brewing team to create the mash, acquire the right barrels and guide both versions of Old Tom Big Sur Gin to fruition. 

The resulting gins provide both common and contrasting qualities. The main version of “Old Tom” Big Sur gin is fragrant and elegant, while the version matured in DBA barrels has a richer, almost whiskey-like color and taste. “

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Bourbon Buddies

Collaboration is not just for breweries, Broken Barrel, who I have written about on this very blog and this month the L.A. whiskey maker has released a new whiskey with the Los Angeles Distillery. 

Here are the details…

“These 5.5 year single barrels culminate the five years the two whiskey brands have known each other, and also mark the five years since Seth bought his first barrel of whiskey to tinker with. The team selected three wheated single barrels – all partnered with Total Wine California where these limited edition releases will go next week.”

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Brandy Review – Pommeau from Benny Boy Brewing and Cidery

I know what you are thinking, first all the gin talk crept into the blog, then bourbon back in September and now brandy? Yes, but this is brandy made here in Los Angeles by Benny Boy.

Let me preface by saying I am by no means a brandy master. What I can do is give you my thoughts on it in comparison to beer, cider and bourbon.

The initial nose is a touch hot but not in an unpleasant clear the sinus way. Then there is a big sweet and juicy apple cider note. You are getting apple brandy for sure. The taste is quite viscous and sweet. Almost asking to be part of a cocktail that can provide a counterpoint. I would have liked a barrel component here or maybe a spice note to counteract the sweet of the apple juice. But maybe with a year or two of age, this might find a sweet spot.

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A Different Whiskey Stone

Stone Imperial Stout. Classic craft stout.  It is also now the base for Stone Imperial Whiskey.  In partnership with Iowa’s Foundry Distilling Company, the “whiskey is made with the wort of Stone Imperial Stout (liquid resulting from the first stage of the brewing process), distilled and aged in 30-gallon charred oak barrels for 30 months.  This is a monster of a whiskey clocking in at 127 proof.”

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Go, Go

Engine Gin has an ingenious way to G&T on the go.

The gas can is such a great way to tie in the brand plus makes for an excellent talking point with friends and is very speakeasy.

I could see Upshift Brewing in El Segundo or Transmission Brewing in Ventura doing something similarly auto related.

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Fall Beer Cocktails

Beer cocktails aren’t the flashy hip choice in bars but I ran across a Fall beer cocktail video on YouTube that I thought I would pass along to y’all …

Of the three, the second, The Fence Hopper strikes me as the one that I would like to make primarily due to ease of creating but the Rattleskull sounds good to.

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1st Visit – Broken Barrel Whiskey Co.

I returned from Kentucky with an increased knowledge and excitement about bourbon. While on the trip, I nailed down a visit to Broken Barrel Whiskey Company right here in Los Angeles.

Here are highlights from my interview with Benhaim….

It is not often that you get offered the chance to take an ax to a bourbon barrel but Broken Barrel Whiskey Co. is shaking the spirit game up, in more ways than one.

You have to start with the barrel staves.  It is the logical next step from Benhaim’s first spirit venture, Infused Vodkas just taken to the next, grander level.  Swapping fruit and vodka for wood and whiskey.  The staves are not limited to former Bourbon barrels but include rum, mezcal, sherry, Armagnac and even Amburana just to name a few.  And it is not chips or chunks, it is the whole stave.

It is so integral to the product that when Benhaim first coined the name Oak Bill, his teams first response was, trademark that.  Which he did.  The Oak Bill is now as prominent on the labels as the malt bill and Benhaim envisions the term being used far into whiskeys future.

Another shake to the status quo is that the finishing is done here in Los Angeles and not in Kentucky (Owensboro to be specific).  My big question was, why not a location in Kentucky, or a distillery here.  Bring the “juice” closer, as it were.  The answer was a bit of a wistful, maybe in the future.  The business is in that small “for now” phase where everyone pitches in on bottling day.  

I should pause here to talk about the whiskey that I tasted in Benhaim’s office which is stacked floor to ceiling with bourbons, gins, rums and vodkas.  So many that a computerized inventory is needed lest you forget a bottle in the back of a shelf.

I started light then moved up to cask strength before sampling two other smaller batch offerings.  California Oak has an Oak Bill of 80% Cabernet cask and 20% French Oak. It is 88 Proof and super easy to drink and a great vehicle to show off the wood notes.  Next was the Small Batch which used 40% Ex Bourbon, 40% New French Oak and 20% Sherry cask.  I tend to gravitate to whiskey that doesn’t Kentucky Hug you real hard so the slight wine note from the sherry helped cut the increased proof.

Next was the rye, which is another pull for me.  I find the spice a big plus in creating a balanced drink.  Broken Barrel’s Heresy Rye was my favorite of the tasting with another super small batch rye that was entered into competition, code name Magic Rye.

Both the Rye and the cask strength have the same Oak Bill as the Small Batch.  But I found the Cask Strength to be a bit too burly at 115 Proof. By that point in the tasting my mind starting wandering to what beer barrels would be great to splinter and add.  Perhaps a Pastry Stout or a Baltic Porter.  Or go big and age a Triple IPA in wood and then see if the hops pulled into the whiskey.

Purists may scoff but I see a blank canvas where creativity can flourish.  There will be some weird or wrong tastes along the way, Benhaim pointed out that Scotch staves do not work at all, but when a combination clicks.  It could be magic just with a few swings of an ax.

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Pommeau

Benny Boy’s apple side of the ledger has a special release, Pippin Pommeau. 

Here is the brewery description, “Pommeau is a 1-yr old apple brandy blended with apple juice, and then barrel-aged for another 1-2 years. The result is a 19% glorious, boozy apple elixir we’ve dubbed “the spirit of the apple.” The style hails from the Normandy region of France, but ours is as California as it gets –  made with 100% California Newtown Pippin apples, and distilled by our friends at The Spirit Guild in DTLA.”

You can sip this small batch spirit for the first time at their AppleFest Fall Festival Nov. 12 &13 (straight from the barrel).