Tag: bourbon

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Bourbon & Kentucky Report # 2

Tuesday was no reservation day. We picked three distilleries and walked in to see what they had to offer. First up was Heaven Hill and their stable of brands. I picked….

…the Heaven Hill Family Flight with the Evan Williams coming out the winner. The bar was cool as was the history exhibit of the five brothers that have run the distillery.

Stops two and three were Preservation and Makers Mark. Both had great grounds but S IV was more my style. Even on a Tuesday, it was a real cool spot down in a hollow with a creek running through it and bourbon slushies. And black and red coordinated buildings.

Back in the town, we made several visits to the oldest bourbon bar at the Old Talbott Tavern which is where we were staying. It doesn’t really play up the historical aspect as much as I expected and the drinks were fine but I had classier presented drinks. I had more beers there than bourbon.

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Bourbon & Kentucky Report # 1

Travel Day Sunday went smoothly from LAX to Muhammad Ali Airport. Once settling in near the Ohio River, it was time to find some bourbon. And find a flight of rye we did at Doc Crow’s on Main Street with Michters coming out on top of the four.

With the New Riff, second. The middle pair were too hot on the palate for me. Then to finish off the night, my first ever Mint Julep…

Monday brought rain and the Frazier Museum to get some Bourbon history. There was a really well done interactive portion as well including a put the barrel back together section. Plus the gift store has a great selection of Kentucky gifts.

After a horsey detour to the famous Churchill Downs, we headed down to the bourbon capital, Bardstown. Where we are staying at the oldest hotel in the area plus it has the oldest bourbon bar. More on that later. The first distillery stop and only one open in our Monday time frame was Boundary Oak near Fort Knox.

I would avoid the lavender and cinnamon versions and stick to the classic named My Old Kentucky Home which had a nice kick and a really nice corn taste to it. The cask strength Lincoln was nice too.

More bourbon to come!

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In the Tap Lines for September 2022

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This month I will be making my first ever trip to Kentucky, specifically, the Bourbon Trail from Louisville to Bardstown.  So get a snifter out, there is going to be some bourbon talk this month.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from cities that also distill spirits
~ special featured review of Kentucky
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Bourbon Empire by Reid Mitenbuler
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Bourbon Pursuit
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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No Blazer Digits

Since I am in Portland, thoughts turn to my beloved Blazers and former player who almost got us a second ‘ship. Scottie Pippen.

Pippen has teamed with Dave Phinney to create a new bourbon, Digits with a ring absent hand on the label

Here are the details from the distillery.

Barrels
“Each barrel is hand-selected for it’s unique attributes by Dave & Scottie. The youngest Bourbon in the blend is five years old. The barrels were sourced from Indiana and Tennessee and aged at Savage & Cooke on historic Mare Island.”

Mash Bill
75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley

Profile
“In a true reflection of Scottie, the mature Bourbon is lush, velvety and a pleasure to drink with no hard edges.  DIGITS is packed with flavors of vanilla bean, caramel, buttered toast and maple.  Enjoy neat or on the rocks.”

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Featured Review – Old Jetty Barrel-Aged Barleywine 2019 from El Segundo Brewing

Continuing the reviews of beers bought from the Glendale Tap cellar, we go old with the 2019 barrel-aged Barleywine release of Old Jetty from El Segundo Brewing.

This ale was aged in bourbon barrels and strides in at 13.2% ABV. Old Jetty is both prickly and smooth at the same time. There is loads of bourbon character but at the same time the sweetness is restrained. A bit of syrup note here. Great brunch beer.

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Cider Doughnuts

The last time that I was in Portland, I had a spirit-ed doughnut from Blue Star, the Portland chain that also has locations right here in Los Angeles.

Maybe Portland Cider will sell this “inspired by” cider down here to combine forces in SoCal too.

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Rip City Brewery # 2 – Threshold Brewing

The second Portland stop is right on the…

This Montavilla area brewer and blender focuses on (4) styles: IPA’s, funky farmhouse, mixed-culture and bourbon forward stouts.

Here is what I would put in my taster tray:

Triticale Mass, dry-hopped farmhouse ale

Jens Bailed grisette

Brut Punch tart and refreshing IPA DDH w/Comet, Idaho 7, Simcoe and Sabro hops

Casimir The Great, imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels

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Bourbon Re:Found

Usually, I am a gin guy or in a Rye Whiskey mood but when you see that Re:Find has already sold out their first two batches of bourbon, it makes you think they may have something there. Personally, I would like to get a set of 1/2 size bottles of the Rye and the Bourbon as a set.

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Neat


One of the benefits of having streaming services so hungry for content is that you can see documentaries that cover the spectrum of topics. Competitive baristas or a quick history of, say, Bourbon.

Neat – A History of Bourbon is beautifully shot. Stuffed to almost the breaking point with images of Bourbon being splashed into glasses. The film covers major points in Bourbon history such as the Bonded Act and Congress enshrining the drink as only Made in America followed by the creation of single barrel and small batch bourbons. Summarized a bit too much but still clearly expressed.

But the true heart of the story are two people who needed much more screen time, Freddie Johnson and Marianne Barnes. Johnson who is a third generation employee as a tour guide tour guide for Buffalo Trace speaks very eloquently especially about his father and relationships. Very touching stuff. Barnes is the master distiller for a new (as of filming) distillery, Castle & Key—a new Kentucky distillery. She is the first female master distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition and I would love to have heard more about her journey in Bourbon.

Beware, you will want some Bourbon on hand and you may want to make an Old Fashioned at the end.

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4 Whiskies

No, I am not moving from beer to whiskey.  But I am intrigued by it for many of the same reasons that I am amazed by beer.  So I concocted a tasting (while the wife was out of town) of four random airplane/mini-bar sized whiskey bottles.

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1/2 soda and 1/2 whiskey.  Here are the results: (in order of my preference)

1. Bulleit
Sawdust. Caramel.  Coconut.  Barrel. Bit of burn.

2. Canadian
Fruity and perfumey. Mild. Smoothest.

3. Bushmills
Medium peat. Slight burn. Light.

4. Woodford
Smells hotter and thinner. Not much flavor.

I don’t think I will ever become a fan of peat smokiness.  But it defeats the Woodford which was very thin to me and had nothing else to add. Canadian Club had by far the smoothest and least burn with some floral hints but was also kinda light to me.  The winner by far was the Frontier Whiskey from Bulleit.  Loads of wood character and some sweetness as well.  Now I can explore that territory since it seems to be my initial flavor preference.