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Back to the world of two favorite C’s of mine, cider and charity as 2 Towns Ciderhouse has announced the release return of its F*Cancer branded cider which is in collaboration with fellow Oregonians Silver Moon Brewing and Crux Fermentation Project. This years label design brings some names into the frame which is a cool way to honor and applaud.
As, maybe?, promised. Here is my review of Aaron Goldfarb’s Dusty Booze.
By the time you reach the end of Dusty Booze, you will not at all be surprised that there are people who collect famous distillery water. Not a rare spirit, no, but vintage waters.
This fascinating look into one corner of the collectors niche has two things going for it. One is the through spine about a collection of liquor from an old Howard Hughes office that had sat untouched for years. Second is the inclusion of a how to or what to collect if you wanted to start “dusty hunting”.
Now I should go back and explain what that term means. It is the art of finding old and therefore probably dusty bottles of vintage spirits. And some of these are old. From different eras of distillery ownership to grains grown using older agricultural methods to the type of heat source used.
It is about connecting a liquid time capsule of the time that the bottle was filled and the years preceding that it was aging.
This book is filled with characters. But the one drawback of the book was that most of them were of the same ilk. A person with a collectors mentality, who had time and money to be able to spend thousands of dollars to buy, for example, eight thousand miniature liquor bottles and then pick out the five hundred that interested them and selling the rest. Each individual dusty hunter seemed, well not at all individualistic.
But on other hand the diversity in the spirits was wide. Cognac, gin and even creme de menthe were covered. And the world was covered too. Scotland to Japan to Germany and the U.S. all played a part in this craze.
Goldfarb is funny and personal and sarcastic throughout the book and that side-eye style works really well to puncture the fact that this is a book about booze.
And that Howard Hughes office. Well, it was in the same building as the long gone Hollywood Brewery.
Here in Los Angeles, we get our fair share of Prairie Artisan Ales, mostly the big stouts which leaves me hopeful that I will see this new release from the aforementioned Prairie Artisan Ales with American Solera, and the third member bourbon maker Pursuit United Spirits drop a 3 Way Beer Collaboration called Not Subtle. “an Imperial Stout aged in Pursuit United Bourbon barrels.”
I have listened to the Bourbon Pursuit podcast and hope to get my hands on a Pursuit bourbon since my visit to Louisville was too early to see their tasting room on Bourbon Row but this beer might be the first I get.
Tree House is known for some buzzworthy beers that back in the day would generate long buying lines. Now they have two gins that I would stand in line for.
First up is their Hildegard Von Bingen New England Gin which “balances the sweet flavor of malt with a potent dose of resinous hops and juniper.”
Then there is the lower proof variant Bee’s Knees made with the above gin but layering in Lemon, Honey and Natural Flavors.
Both sound quite tasty to this gin fan especially the use of hops.
When it comes to special edition spirits, I am not usually inclined to think twice about them if the label is the only difference between it and a lower priced standard version.
And as much as Ryan Reynolds is associated with Aviation Gin (whose space in Portland is really cool and should be on your gin bucket list), I don’t know if a Deadpool Gin is cool, now if it was a Sloe Gin, mind changed.
If you are like me, there is always another book needed. And if you need more cider info then I have a book recommendation for ya’. It is American Cider by Dan Pucci and Craig Cavallo which gives “a new wave of consumers the tools to taste, talk about, and choose their ciders, along with stories of the many local heroes saving apple culture and producing new varieties.”
Craft beer went through (as did I) a keepsake / cellar phase but when you talk Bourbon the shit gets real weird and in Dusty Booze: In Search of Vintage Spirits by drinks writer Aaron Goldfarb you get story after story of the hunt for old bottles of you name it, whiskey, tequila, rum, and even chartreuse.
I heard Goldfarb talk about “dusties” on the Bourbon Pursuit podcast and the stories are wild so I am heading to my local library to order.
I don’t usually go for flavored ciders, I tilt towards just the apple please. But I am intrigued by Benny Boy’s Madame Ruby’s a bourbon barrel-aged cherry cider.
Here is the short description from the brewery / cidery, “10 months in the making, she’s tart, she’s fruity, and slightly boozy.”
If you are past the enthusiast phase and want to know more technical info when it comes to distilling, there is a new podcast for you, Craft Spirits & Distilling Podcast, with hosts Sydney Jones of FEW Spirits and Molly Troupe of Freeland Spirits.
I haven’t had a FEW spirit but I really liked the gins from Freeland and their bottles are way cool so I will certainly check this podcast out. Find it from your podcast app of choice.
When I think of Alaskan Brewery, I do not envision lush tropics or gin but the brewery does have a Rainforest Gin & Tonic and in my experience, to date, G&Ts are the most consistent RTDs out there.