Van Winkle 12-Year Lot “B” Bourbon
As much as I enjoy rye whiskey, when it comes to bourbon my allegiances lie squarely with the “wheated” camp.
“Wheated” you say? Remember that bourbon is defined as having at least 51% corn in its mash bill. Most distilleries end up using 70-75% corn, filling in the rest with 11-13% rye and 10-12% malted barley. But there are a few whiskies that use wheat instead of rye to fill out that 11-13%. The result is a much different whiskey.
Rye lends a spicy, minty, resinous quality to bourbon that gives the whiskey a vibrancy in the glass that can be really alluring, and also enables bourbon (and rye whiskey as well) to go great in cocktails. Wheat on the other hand lends a softer, gentler, and more rounded quality to bourbon, bringing out the sweetness and giving it body and depth. Picture making caramel sauce and at the last moment having to choose between adding salt to make a… (read more)
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Starbucks Mexican Chiapas
Occasionally I get caught up in the grasp of coffee-buying apathy. Invariably when this happens we end up running out of coffee, necessitating an urgent run to somewhere, anywhere to get coffee.
As result, two of the more recent coffees I’ve been drinking were Trader Joe’s Costa Rica Tarrazu (accessible and satisfactory, if not wholly enjoyable) and this bag of Starbucks’ Mexican Chiapas. While getting coffee at work one day, and knowing that I was buying a cup of Starbucks because we didn’t have any coffee at home for me to bring into the office, I saw this bag of one of their specialty coffees and decided to give it a roll. It was a double-bonus that it was from the same region as a Barrington coffee that I’d just finished.
This coffee is from the Chiapas region of Mexico, and was sourced from two specific farms, Santa Teresa and Guadalupe. The beans were grown at an… (read more)
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Upcoming Event: Whiskey & Barrel-Aged Beer Tasting, Saturday, March 6th @ Amherst Coffee
This coming Saturday I’ll be leading a tasting at Amherst Coffee that I’m particularly excited about, given my appreciation for both beer and whiskey. The tasting will feature 4 whiskies, each paired with a beer that was aged in barrels from the same distillery. The stellar lineup includes both bourbons and scotches, and covers the gamut from bourbon barrel-aged imperial stouts to Scotch whisky barrel-aged old ales.
Here’s the complete lineup:
- Elijah Craig 18-Year Bourbon & Weyerbacher Heresy Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
- Eagle Rare 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon & Mayflower Brewing Co. Bourbon Barrel-Aged Barleywine
- Springbank 10-Year Scotch & Brewdog Paradox Springbank Whisky Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
- Highland Park 12-Year Scotch & Harviestoun Old Dubh Highland Park Whisky Barrel-Aged Old Ale
Holy cow. I want this tasting to be tonight. I’m very excited. All four of these are top-notch whiskies paired with absolutely top-notch, palate-bending barrel-aged beers.This will be a great event.
I hear that seats are… (read more)
Pondering A Brewing Future
I have a dream. This may be a cliche start to this post, but nonetheless it’s true, and it’s what got me to thinking about writing this down. I have a dream of opening my own brewery, and it’s one I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.
I don’t normally use this forum to write about anything but other people’s products. And there’s a reason for that – I really admire well-crafted beers, whiskies, coffees, and wines, and see them as an expression of truly creative people and companies. And I’m most excited when these are people who are clearly passionate about what they’re doing. Just consider Barth and Greg at Barrington Coffee Roasters, or Alan Sprints at Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company, or the creative geniuses at Founders Brewing, to name just a few. These people create amazing coffees and beers that express their own, unique visions. Each of them has… (read more)
Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny The Elder Vs. Pliny The Younger
The “big” news on BeerAdvocate last week was that Russian River Brewing’s Pliny The Younger had overtaken Westvleteren 12 as the site’s top-ranked beer. This was notable since Westvleteren has held the top spot for ages, certainly in the several years I’ve been visiting the site. Since then, the two have see-sawed back and forth, leading to innumerable musings on the site and elsewhere.
Is this really significant? I don’t know. It coincided with the release of Pliny The Younger (a draft-only beer, it’s never been bottled) at Russian River’s brewpub, an event where the beer itself sold out in a matter of hours, in contrast to last year’s release where the beer sold out after several days. So regardless of whatever interest you want to ascribe to this beer assuming the top spot, it is certainly a sign of the (beer) times. We’ve entered a stage in the rise of beer where the release of big… (read more)
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