Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Usually when a cider company and a beer company collaborate, you end up with a hopped cider or a barrel-aged cider, both of which can be great but what if the brewery adds yeast instead?
Well, then you get a new hard cider on a new canning machine that Balcom Canyon Cider now has. Malibu Brewing Company was the partner, and the result is…
The second batch of Stone Arrogant Bastard Whiskey (made with Foundry Distilling) is now out. “this version was aged even longer (4+ years) in new charred oak barrels. Made with 100% malted barley, it’s truly an American Malt Whiskey worthy of the Arrogant Bastard name.”
The limited supply will be available in California, Iowa and Texas but NOT at Stone Brewing locations. You can thank our nations patchwork liquor laws for that.
We are starting to see the shoots of the Beachwood Distilling with a new cocktail menu at the Bixby Knolls location starting with rum, gin and (unfortunately) vodka too.
With many reviews of breweries, I give allowances for youth. Finding your footing is a process. And I will have to reserve some judgement until I can taste their spirits near but on first blush, the cocktails are pretty darn good.
I went with a classic Gin and Tonic but using the orange gin vs the botanical. I found it to be well in balance with citrus and gin and a light quinine touch to it. My beer and cocktail buddy Rich had two other gin cocktails, despite the allure of the special tiki glasses, and liked the Saturn and its constellation of ingredients over the lime tinged Gimlet.
I am excited to see how this spirits program develop.
In my reviews of N/A beer, I often lament that an IPA should be easy. Just throw all the hops at it. That often does not work. I currently hold the position that an N/A bourbon should be straightforward as well. Get some oak notes, get some vanilla.
Let’s see what Spiritless and their distilled non-alcoholic spirit for Bourbon cocktails, Kentucky 74 does…
I can smell a load of spice coming off of this. Is it Fireball? There is also a strange secondary aroma as well. Granted, before I get too far. I am not cocktailing, just tasting straight. Very thin and more spiced like a rum. How this applies to a traditional Bourbon cocktail eludes me. Glad I didn’t spend the $35 bucks for a bottle.
I am a hearty supporter of taking your time with your drinks. No beer bongs or shots for me and bartender and writer Danny Childs has taken his work as an anthropologist and ethnobotanist and merged those studies in the botanical world and bartending into the new book Slow Drinks.
And it must be quite good since he won a James Beard Foundation Award. Makes me wonder what I could forage here in Glendale.
Distilling at the Beachwood Brewing location in Bixby Knolls is coming soon. As I have posted about earlier, the former Liberation Brewing space is to be the distilling HQ for Beachwood and a recent social media post had this to say…
“Get ready for specialty cocktails with Beachwood’s house-distilled gin, vodka, and rum, plus new delicious bites! And yes, we’re still pouring our award-winning craft beer.”
Usually my collaboration talk is between 2 breweries but today we are going to talk about 2 Towns Ciderhouse and their international cider collaboration with Japan’s Son of the Smith cidery.
Son of The Smith in Nagano is headed by Kota Ozawa, Takuro Ikeuchi, and Nobumitsu Miyajima and they “provided a unique yeast strain cultivated from raw Japanese maple sap and honey. This yeast was propagated in 2 Towns’ lab and used to ferment fresh-pressed Pacific Northwest apple juice in mead barrels selected by Ikeuchi. One barrel utilized the Japanese wild yeast, while the other employed a distinctive Brett strain from Takush’s favorite home brew originating in Alaska. The result is a blend of these two fermentations, creating a cider with complex, layered flavors.”
The cider is named Twin Peaks and it “is a bone-dry, unfiltered farmhouse-style cider with an ABV of 7.3%. Crafted from a blend of Pacific Northwest apples, this cider features an expressive apple-forward profile with delicate notes of stone fruit and floral character from the Japanese yeast. The Brett strain adds a mild Brett finish, enhancing the cider’s overall complexity.”
It was inevitable. If there was a special Deadpool Aviation Gin bottle then there was going to be a Wolverine one as well. This will probably be hard to find and harder to find both.
Now, where is the Wrexham bottle?
I love hidden stories of history being brought back into the light and Love & Whiskey by Fawn Weaver does that while also showing how Uncle Nearest Whiskey came to life.
It is quite a tale. A distiller lost to history who is rediscovered and in a very short amount of time becomes the namesake for a new whiskey from people who would normally not be in the whiskey business.
After finishing the book, my first thought was how did Weaver have the energy and time to do all this? She read about Nathan “Nearest” Green then flew to Tennessee and from there Uncle Nearest was born. First as a book idea and then as a whiskey. She and her husband then had to learn the place and the people and create something that was a true value add to the community. All the while getting the needed funding and being very careful to not step on the toes of Jack Daniels and the behemoth Brown Forman too much.
This book easily straddles the past and future. It is a propulsive read with short chapters that keep you reading just one more. What struck me was how well Weaver built cultural capital with the people of Lynchburg and how quick she was to make decisions on creating a scholarship fund and creating a tourist attraction distillery.
I also came away real hungry for food from some of the restaurants in town. With an Uncle Nearest Cocktail as well.
and maybe there will be another chapter…
So, yes, this is not beer related or cider or spirits. In fact it is my fourth pick of alcohol but the really short video does show how one little thing can be done that really changes the flavor of your favorite drink. Plus the name is real cool too.