Sku's Recent Eats

Budget Booze: Rebel Yell

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

For those of you who think I spend too much time on snooty, high end booze and hard to find dusty bottles, this one's for you: Rebel Yell. And I'm doing it in tandem with two of my most excellent whiskey blogging colleagues, Jason Pyle from Sour Mash Manifesto and Tim Read from Scotch & Ice Cream, so check out their blogs. I should note that when we discussed this joint blogging venture, I advocated that we refrain from Billy Idol references as part of our reviews. Tim and Jason, however, clearly being suckers for the obvious punchline, declined, but in this post, at least, you can be assured that you will see no references to Mr. Idol (well maybe a few).

Formerly a Stitzel-Weller brand, Rebel Yell is now bottled by Luxco out of St. Louis using bourbon from an undisclosed distillery. It's a wheated bourbon so that narrows the field down to three distilleries: Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill and Maker's Mark. Of the three, Heaven Hill is the one most known for selling bulk whiskeys to independent bottlers, so it's a pretty good bet that this is Heaven Hill's wheated bourbon.

Rebel Yell, 40% abv ($10.99)

The nose on this is strong with peanut M&Ms, then lemon. The palate is generically sweet but watery with a bit of the peanut M&M note that was on the nose and a bit of navel orange juice, then it dissipates into a flavorless alcohol, really more like water with something chemical mixed into it. This note goes on to dominate the finish. The palate on this flat and dull with very little substance.

It saddens me that they've turned this Stitzel-Weller brand into a vaguely sweet alcoholic water. Even for the price, there are much better bourbons to be had.

Kiss Me Deadly Rebel Yell, and Luxco, one day we fans of Stitzel-Weller will get our Sweet Revenge. As for me, well, that's the last $11 I'll blow on Rebel Yell.

Bourbon Law: Bourbon vs. Corn Whiskey

2012-01-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

This question comes up from time to time, so I thought I would address it. Bourbon and Corn Whiskey are both made from corn, so what's the difference (other than that bourbon is delicious and corn whiskey is usually rather foul)?

There are three key differences:

1. Barrels. Bourbon, as most of us know, must be stored in new, charred oak barrels (well, technically it doesn't have to be a barrel, but you know what I mean). Corn whiskey does not have to be barrel aged at all, but if it is, it can only be aged in (1) used oak barrels; or (2) new, uncharred oak barrels.

2. Corn Percentage. Bourbon must be made from a mast of at least 51% corn whereas corn whiskey must be made from a mash of at least 80% corn. So you can have a bourbon and corn whiskey that are the exact same mashbill (at least 80% corn), but they must be stored in different types of containers.

3. Taste. Bourbon is good. Corn whiskey sucks. (I actually couldn't find this listed in the regs, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere).

Boos Philly Cheesesteaks

2012-01-29T18:00:00.001-08:00

I love a good Philly Cheesesteak. While I've been eating them for years and know what I like in a cheesesteak, I have literally never set foot in the City of Brotherly Love, so I can't tell you what's truly authentic. I can, however, tell you what's tasty, and the new Boos Philly Cheesesteaks at the corner of Virgil and Fountain is tasty.

This cheesesteak is a hefty overstuffed sandwhich served on a big Amoroso roll. I like them with provolone (yes Cheez Whiz is considered authentic and they offer it, but I've just never been able to do it). The steak was great, thin cut with plenty of pepper. I got mine with onions and then loaded with sweet peppers out of the condiment jar, but you can get it cooked up with mushrooms and peppers as well.

I'm thrilled to have a Hollywood/Los Feliz area option for cheesesteaks, and this is a satisfying one that measures up well to the best I've had. The cheese melts into a nearly transparent state and the bun soaks up the flavorful grease from the cheese, beef and onions, creating a slightly mushy whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It's about the gestalt, and this place has got that down.

You could put ketchup on you steak (or Sriracha, which is also on the condiment table), but I've always preferred to eat my cheesesteaks sans condiments, just letting the beef, cheese, onions and peppers speak for themselves.

Fries are fine but nothing to write home about. Yeah, those are cheese fries with Whiz, I felt I had to get some Whiz in there to be legit.

The biggest downside to this place is the parking. They have a tiny lot (four regular and one disabled space) and street parking is rough. Go off-peak to assure yourself a spot, but do go if you're a cheesesteak fan. And if you're from Philly, as the owners are, let me know how you think it stacks up to the real thing.

Boos Philly Cheesesteaks
4501 Fountain Ave. (parking lot off Virgil)
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 661-1955

Dusty Thursday: Old Crow

2012-01-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

Old Crow is one of the most storied brands of American whiskey. It was allegedly the favorite whiskey of General and President Ulysses Grant. It was eventually acquired by National Distillers which then sold the brand to Beam. At the time Crow had been a competitor to Beam's standard white label bourbon. Beam closed the Old Crow Distillery and then relegated the distinguished brand to the bottom shelf where it remains today.

Today, we will taste a National Distiller era Old Crow. The bottom of the bottle indicates "84" which gives us a 1984 date. It is a 375 ml bottle at 80 proof with no other abv listed. There is no government warning but there is a UPC code.

Old Crow, 80 proof (40% abv), 4 years old.

The nose on this is very nice with with some very light banana, lots of caramel candy and even some white wine notes. The palate has a nice balance of sweet (again caramel, bananas and wine) and some spicier notes that emerge late palate. The finish blends all of this together in a sweet caramel-banana milkshake.

This is a surprisingly nice bourbon. I wasn't expecting that much from an 80 proofer that used to compete with Beam White Label, but it has some great flavor notes and some nice nuance.

One thing I've though about with these dusty tastings is how these dusties measure up to today's whiskeys. We have an amazing wealth of great bourbon today and it seems likely that the specialty bourbon we have available to us today, (the Buffalo Trace Antiques, Van Winkles, Four Roses Single Barrels, etc.), is some of the best bourbon ever, but I wonder if the general quality of bourbon was better twenty or thirty years ago. There may not have been a super-premium category in 1984, but this bourbon knocks the socks off of the bottom shelf 80 proofers of today. Perhaps the price of all of the great bourbon we can drink today is that there are also more people are actually drinking mediocre bourbon. For my part, I'll take an 80 proof old time Old Crow any day.

Talk About Bum Cakes - Big Bottom Bourbon

2012-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like hardly a day goes by without a new release of bourbon or rye sourced from Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI). Here is a list of the current products that I know of which use LDI whiskey.

Backbone Bourbon

Bulleit Rye

Cougar Bourbon & Rye (export only)

High Whiskey

High West 12 year old (and components of their other whiskeys)

Redemption Bourbon and Rye

Riverboat Rye

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Bourbon

Templeton Rye

Temptation Bourbon

W.H. Harrison Bourbon

Willett Rye (3 and 4 year old versions)

To this list we now add another LDI whiskey: Big Bottom Bourbon. Released last year, Big Bottom, based in Hillsboro, Oregon, is marketing a three year bourbon as well as two port finished bourbons at two and three years old. Today, we will taste the three year old. The mashbill is 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% barley.

Big Bottom Bourbon, 3 years old, 45.5% abv ($28)

The nose on this young, high rye bourbon is very similar to the young, LDI ryes, vegetal and spicy, though with just a bit of corn sweetness. On the palate, you get the sweetness first and then the big, spicy rye notes. The finish is long on the rye and caraway.

This is very similar to the Redemption Bourbon, which makes sense given that it's the same mashbill and a similar age (and they are similarly priced as well). Having to pick between the two of them, I'd probably pick the Redemption which melds the flavors a bit more. With the Big Bottom, the flavors tend to come in more distinct waves, like drinking a bourbon with a rye chaser. Young LDI whiskeys are many things, but subtle is not generally one of them. If you like thick sweetness and bold spice on your bourbons, this one is for you.

Trader Joe's Single Malt Irish Whiskey

2012-01-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

I'm always on the lookout for a new Trader Joe's product, be it whiskey or cheese, since they tend to have quality products at good prices, even if I haven't liked their private label selection of single malt Scotch.

Tipped off by one of my faithful commenters, on a recent TJ's trip, I picked up a new TJ's product, an Irish single malt made by the Cooley Distillery. At $20 it's certainly a bargain compared to other Irish single malts on the market, though it is only four years old.

The Cooley distillery makes a variety of styles of whiskey, including blends, grain whiskeys and single malts. They make single malts under the Tyrconnell label and peated single malts under the Connemara label.

Trader Joe's Single Malt Irish Whiskey, 4 years old, 40% abv ($19.99)

The nose on this is fruity and malty with some sherry (though the label says this is aged in bourbon casks) and a bit of peat as well. The palate starts off with dried fruit, sherry and malt, quickly yielding to peat smoke which gradually dominates along with some salty notes that are typical of peated whiskeys. The finish has fruit on the nose but peat on the tongue.

I have to say that given my experience with Trader Joe's private label whiskeys, I wasn't expecting much, but this is a surprisingly good whiskey. It is nicely balanced with distinctive notes of fruit, malt and peat which make it wonderfully drinkable (and I don't care what the label says, there is definitely some sherry in there). I'm guessing this is a vatting of the malts that go into Tyrconnell and Connemara. In fact, I think I like it better than the standard issue of either of those malts.

TJ's deserves some kudos for going for a non-traditional flavor profile for their store label Irish Whiskey. I'm guessing they will hear some complaints from people who aren't used to this range of flavor in their Jameson.

For $20, this is a no-brainer. If you live in the vicinity of a Trader Joe's, go get some.

Introducing Toe Stubbin' Whiskey

2012-01-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

The Buffalo Fiddich Distillery has introduced a new, limited edition super-premium whiskey known as Toe Stubbin' Whiskey to commemorate the Great Toe Stubbing of 2010. Master Distiller Harlen Miller explains:

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was walking through the warehouse, and someone had left a barrel right in the walkway. Well, I didn't see it and I just banged my big toe against it. I tell you, I've stubbed my toe before but this hurt something fierce. There was blood, the nail was broken, and worst of all, I thought we'd lost the whole cask. Well, after I put on a band aid, I sampled the whiskey, and it was terrific; I think the toe stubbing might have made the whiskey even better. That made me think of that old saying, "When life gives you lemons...make an expensive, limited edition whiskey." So that's exactly what we did. We thought about calling it the Toe Phoenix or Toe-r-nado, but in the end, we settled on Toe Stubbin' Whiskey. I really feel good about this. We took something that was a real tragedy and made something positive come out of it.

Toe Stubbin' Whiskey, a vatting of different barrels in the warehouse the day of the toe stubbing, will be available for $95 per bottle. As Miller says, "You're not only buying an expensive, limited edition whiskey, you're buying a piece of history."

Luscious Lamb "Fried with Meat" at Beijing Restaurant

2012-01-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write up Beijing Restaurant for a while as it's one of my new favorite destinations in the San Gabriel Valley. Occupying the second floor of a strip mall on Valley Boulevard just west of Del Mar Street in San Gabriel, Beijing is a momentous house of bold flavors.

The menu has some similarities with the Northern Chinese restaurants in the SGV, which makes sense geographically. It includes a fair amount of offal and lots of lamb dishes, but the spicing here seems much more aggressive than the relatively mild north/northwestern Chinese style restaurants. I should note that English used on the menu here is pretty unhelpful (even by SGV standards), but it does have pictures which are helpful.

I have to start with these little sandwiches pictured above, because they were just phenomenal. The one on the left is lamb in a sesame-wheat bun. The lamb is crisply fried on the outside, fall apart soft in the middle. It's like lamb carnitas. The fat from the lamb soaks into the soft bun making for a huge flavor bomb. This thing was just amazingly good. The menu name for this dish is "Fried with Meat."

The sandwich on the right was similar but with pork, including lots of little fat globules, cilantro and chilis on a white bun. On the menu, this one is "Pork with Cooked Pie."

Another excellent dish was "Lamb Pot" which was a lamb stir fry brimming with whole fried cumin seeds, which gave it a huge flavor punch of gamy lamb and cumin. We also had a lamb noodle soup with a thick, rich broth, tender lamb slices, cilantro and noodles.

Among the non-lamb dishes, sauteed green beans were great, full of garlic and chili. Fried pork dumplings were the size and shape of blintzes and bursting with juice almost like xiao long bao. Lamb dumplings were similar though less juicy and much more gamy. I preferred the pork fried dumplings.

Also very good was the dish called "Out of a Pot," which consisted of braised beef, green beans, potatoes, cellophane noodles and large, flat noodles, all served "out of a pot" with a thick, rich braising sauce. This was a real stick to your ribs dish with great flavor, especially when you dug down into the center of the pot where the braising liquid pooled with the noodles and potatoes.

Another good noodle dish is Fried Ge Da, tiny, pan fried rice cakes with carrots, zucchini and plenty of garlic and ginger. I didn't care as much for the menu item described as "Chinese Pizza," a corn meal crust with scallions. The scallions were fine, but the crust was stiff and bland.

This is a great place and the "Lamb Pot" and "Fried with Meat" lamb sandwiches are quickly becoming two of my favorite dishes anywhere.

Beijing Restaurant
250 W. Valley Blvd., #B2
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 570-8598

Dusty Thursday: Daviess County Bourbon (Medley Distillery)

2012-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Charles Medley Distillery in Owensboro Kentucky has a long and rich history, but like Stitzel-Weller, it was purchased by United Distillers (now Diageo) and closed in the early 1990s. Angostura had purchased the distillery with plans to reopen it but then ran into financial problems and is now looking to sell. Daviess County Bourbon was, from what I gather, a mid-level Medley brand. The label is now owned by independent bottler Luxco out of St. Louis.

The bottle I'm tasting today is 500 ml (metric measurement used) and 86 proof (with no abv listed). The bottom of the bottle indicates "82" which makes 1982 a likely time period. It contains no government warning but does have a UPC code.

Daviess County Bourbon, 4 years old, 86 proof (43% abv)

The nose on this is very nice, sweet bourbon with wood polish and oak. Based on the nose, I was expecting big woody/chewy complexity from the palate, but it's actually more of the light and smooth variety with sweet candy flavors and just a bit of oak. The finish goes back to the woody qualities of the nose.

This is a decent Bourbon but not overly complex, certainly not particularly special or better than anything on the market today.

Don't be Outraged, be Happy: Clix Vodka

2012-01-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

The whiskey community reacted in predictably indignant fashion when news came out that Buffalo Trace was marketing a new vodka. This was not just any vodka. Clix Vodka is, according to BT, distilled a whopping 159 times, and it will retail for $300.

Now, I admit, the only thing sillier than paying $50 for a spirit that, by legal definition, must have no "distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color," is paying $300 for it, and the 159 distillations almost seems like a parody of vodka marketing. This was one of those press releases that I had to double check to make sure it wasn't originally from The Onion.

That being said, we in the whiskey loving community should rejoice at this news. Buffalo Trace has done an admirable job keeping prices reasonable on its excellent bourbons and ryes. There are other companies that would easily be demanding three figures for something like the Antique Collection, but BT doesn't do that. I'm hoping that things like Clix Vodka help them keep our prices low. For every imbecile that buys a $300 bottle of Clix, that's more money that BT isn't charging me for bourbon. All hail the cash cow!

In fact, from now on, I'm going to make Clix my standard recommendation for anyone who is dumb enough to ask me what super-premium vodka is the best (and I get asked this a few times a year). Of course you should buy Clix, it's distilled 159 times!

Bourbon Outlaws: Export Whiskey

2012-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I get an email in which someone sends me a picture of a Bottled in Bond whiskey that is 90 proof (instead of a the legally required 100 proof) or a "straight bourbon" that says on the label that it has caramel coloring, when such coloring is not permissible in straight bourbons. What's the deal? Are these scofflaws? Am I wrong about the law?

The answer is almost always that these are export bottlings. American regulations require that bonded whiskey be 100 proof and that no coloring may be added to straight whiskey, but these regulations only apply within the United States. In fact, the regulations explicitly say that they do "not apply to distilled spirits for export." 27 CFR § 5.1.

While the U.S. has a number of trade agreements that protect "bourbon" and "Tennessee Whiskey" as distinct products of the United States, these agreements, for the most part, only require that products carrying those names be made in the U.S.

Therefore, companies that export American whiskey do not have to comply with the strict regulations that they have to adhere to when producing American products. So for those of you bourbon lovers who aren't in the U.S., caveat emptor.

That being said, my guess would be that if you are buying a brand available in the U.S., it's a pretty safe bet (though not 100%) that it complies with U.S. laws. If you're buying one of the many independently bottled bourbons for export only, you're on your own.

What is the Stinkiest Cheese?

2012-01-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

Time to dip into the old mailbag with this question:

Sku, I love a stinky, stinky cheese. What's the stinkiest cheese you know?

Ah, a question that pulls at my heart strings. Well, there are different kinds of cheese stink and the stink depends not just on the type of cheese but on its age. I love the stench of a blue mold or the barnyard floor smell of aged goat. The downright stinkiest cheeses, though, have to be the soft, washed rind cheeses. I've had some very mild Taleggios, but I've also had some that were super-powerful and Stinking Bishop from England is appropriately named (although it's actually named after a variety of pear). And while Epoisses and Pont l’Eveque are legendarily stinky, their stinky exteriors fade on the palate to reveal a rather subtle and delicious cheese.

If I had to pick out the absolute stinkiest cheese I've had in recent memory, it would have to be Vacherin Mont d'Or, the French cow's milk cheese. I recently purchased one of these from the Cheese Store of Silverlake (shown at the top left in the above photo), and while Vacherin Mont d'Or is always stinky, this one was corpse-waking material...or maybe just corpse. I have a pretty huge tolerance for stench, but I even had trouble getting it down, and my fridge still doesn't smell the same.

So if you really, really want to push the envelope on stench, see if you can find one of these ripe Vacherin Mont d'Ors, but you may want to keep it in a lead box or something.

Dusty Thursday: Early Times Bourbon Circa 1981

2012-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Since I've been writing a lot about Brown Forman lately, I thought I would try another dusty Brown Forman bottle: Early Times Bourbon.

Early Times used to be a regular bourbon offering from Brown Forman. Then, they started ageing it in used barrels (a bourbon no-no) and calling it "American Whiskey." In 2010, Brown Forman brought back a bourbon under the Early Times label while continuing to produce the American Whiskey.

Today's dusty Early Times is from the era when Early Times was always bourbon. The bottle indicates "81" on the bottom so it's likely from around 1981. It is a liter bottle with the metric measurement. Alcohol is indicated by proof only and there is no government warning, but there is a UPC code.

Early Times Straight Bourbon, 80 proof (40% abv), 4 years old.

The nose on this is very light with alcohol fumes and kerosene. This is actually one of the few bourbons that is better on the palate than on the nose, though it is still pretty light. It's got corn syrup and rock candy. The finish is nice and Bourbony. It is light and easy to drink, but it doesn't come together that well and the nose is weak. Mediocre, but I still like it better than the current Early Times American Whiskey.

Early Times has always been Brown Forman's lower shelf offering. When looking for dusties, I'll stick to Old Forester.

My Other Collection

2012-01-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Speaking of hoarding, why do I have so much damn salt?

Fear not though, all of these are open and in use. I'm no salt speculator. (And note that the Morton's table salt there is a dusty from the '70s, before all of Morton's turned to crap).

Yeah, I'll have some salt reviews coming, just you wait.

Why Does Brown Forman Suck So Much?

2012-01-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

There are many mysteries in the world of whiskey, but this is one of the biggest for me. Brown Forman is a hugely successful company. Why does their whiskey almost universally suck? I'm generally not a fan of Jim Beam, the other huge player in US whiskey, but there are products in their portfolio that I can enjoy, such as Old Grand-Dad 114, and they put out some great Scotch from Laphroaig and Ardmore. But with Brown Forman, their whiskey is just terrible. What's the deal?

If you're not familiar with the company, Brown Forman is one of the biggest selling whiskey producers in the United States. They own three whiskey distilleries (Brown Forman, Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's). They also own Canadian Mist, Finlandia Vodka, El Jimador and Herradura Tequila and Southern Comfort.

They clearly know spirits and marketing, so why does their whiskey suck so much? It's easy to reflexively answer that they are just too big, but Diageo is an even bigger company, and it owns some distilleries that are making excellent whiskey.

The three Brown Forman whiskey distilleries are very different. Jack Daniel's is their cash cow. I can understand it sucking, and I don't complain about it. It doesn't need to taste good because it sells on its well crafted mystique. Rock stars, bikers and hipsters all agree that the black bottle of Old No. 7 is cool, and they'd like a t-shirt and some barbecue sauce to go with it. I've never met a Jack product I liked, but given the role the brand plays, that's okay.

Woodford Reserve is the polar opposite of Jack. It's a small distillery making pot still whiskey which does a limited experimental release each year. It's essentially a corporate owned microdistillery. The only problem is, their whiskey runs from mediocre to terrible. Experimentation is all well and good but if you don't start with good whiskey, you aren't going to end up with good whiskey. Garbage in, garbage out.

The eponymously named Brown Forman distillery is mid-way between Jack and Woodford, an industrial distillery but not one that produces on anywhere near the scale of Jack Daniel's. This is where they make Old Forester, a mediocre mid-range bourbon and Early Times, a lower end American Whiskey (bourbon stored in used barrels) which now also has a bourbon label. These whiskeys are boring, boring, boring. Some whiskey fans do like the annual Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. While that is undoubtedly the best bourbon that comes out of Brown Forman, I've never been as excited about it as some others. It just never seems that distinctive.

While Brown Forman has some special releases, one notable thing is that they never seem to release anything at barrel strength. In fact, their only regular higher proof offering is the Old Forester Signature at 50% abv (last year saw a Jack Daniel's special release, the Holiday Select, also at 50%). I'm not one of those people who thinks nothing under cask strength is worthwhile, but I am suspicious about a distillery that never releases anything at cask strength. It's as if they don't believe in the quality of their whiskey in its purest form.

The tragic thing is that Old Forester used to be lovely stuff. For last week's Dusty Thursday, I tasted a bottle from the 1970s that was just wonderful, with more complexity than anything they are doing today. I've had bottles from the 1950s that have an intense, chewy, cigar butt note that reminds me of a well aged Zinfandel. It saddens me that this once great bourbon is a shadow of its former self.

I suppose there is no use in encouraging one of the most successful whiskey companies in the country to change its game, but success is more than balance sheets. I want to see Brown Forman do more than succeed. I want to see them make whiskey worth drinking.

Whiskey Collectors: A Field Guide

2012-01-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the phenomenon of whiskey collectors. Whisky Advocate just did an entire issue on collecting which covered collecting from many perspectives (it's a fabulous issue which on its own probably justifies the annual subscription price). After that hit the stands, numerous web discussions ensued.

The discussion is often framed as a conflict between collecting and drinking, but the lines aren't always so clear. Many of us have collections even though we don't consider ourselves "collectors." To my knowledge, though, in all this discussion, no one has actually tried to categorize the various whiskey collecting types out there. So here is my field guide to whiskey collectors (I'm hoping Audubon will pick it up).

Type 1: The Hoarder

Most common in American whiskey circles, this collector lives with a constant fear that they will one day run out of their favorite whiskey (which is usually George T. Stagg or Pappy Van Winkle 15). As a result, they buy case after case of their favorites, which are usually stored in the original boxes in the basement or attic. Enough is never enough of their whiskey, but they ignore pretty much everything else on the market.

Where to find them: Trolling the internet and calling liquor stores to find more Pappy and Stagg.
Field notes: Don't tell them your Pappy source!

Type 2: The Thrill Seeker

This specimen is the opposite of the Hoarder. They seek new flavors and will never buy the same whiskey twice. In fact, they don't even like to drink the same whiskey twice, which is why they have amassed an enormous collection of opened but mostly full bottles.

Where to find them: On web forums PMing you with offers to trade samples.
Field notes: If you get invited to their place for a tasting, you should go as they tend to be very generous.

Type 3: The Hybrid

This person cannot decide whether all whiskey should be drunk or whether they should maintain a pristine unopened collection, so they dutifully buy two of everything, one to drink and one to save, though they aren't exactly sure why they are saving that one.

Where to find them: Therapy.
Field notes: If they really like a bottle, they have to buy a third so they can drink two.

Type 4: The Librarian

This person can't bear to finish a bottle of whiskey so, when a bottle gets low, it is transferred to a 50 ml mini bottle and goes into the library for future reference. When that gets low, it is transferred to a 25 ml mini. This continues until the transfers are occurring at a microscopic level.

Where to find them: Specialtybottle.com
Field notes: May be overhead yelling into the phone, "What do you mean 5 ml is the smallest bottle you have!"

Type 5: The Speculator

This is the type of person that we all hate but that I'm not sure actually exists. This phantom menace doesn't even drink whiskey and certainly doesn't care about it but has decided that it's a worthy investment vehicle. They make strategic purchases based on what they believe will increase in value in the hopes of turning a huge profit.

Where to find them: Bonham's
Field notes: Wait for the bust, then we'll get all their stuff for cheap!

Type 6: The Dusty Hunter

This collector doesn't trust anything that's less than 20 years old. They will, however, buy anything old, regardless of quality. Their collection is a treasure trove of closed distilleries and extinct labels. They notice subtle variations in tax stamps and have memorized the UPC codes and DSP numbers for every label and distillery. But don't bother them with something recent; they think anything made after 1990 sucks.

Where to find them: That run down store with the sign that says "Liquor/Deli/Lottery"
Field notes: When travelling with this person, build in time for stops at every corner liquor store.

So dear reader, which type are you?

RIP Thee's Continental Bakery

2012-01-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

In all the hub bub over Nancy Silverton's new Farmers Market spots, Short Cake and Single Origin, there hasn't been much mention about the place that occupied that corner for the thirty years previously.

Thee's Continental Bakery low key bakery that made just about everything, from croissants to rolls to sweets. There are people who swore by their hamburger and hot dog buns as the best in town. I personally loved the tres leches cup, a parfait version of the Latin American treat. They also did a mean chocolate marzipan log, great florentine cookies and petits fours.

Thee's wasn't fancy by any stretch of the imagination and it was about as unpretentious as you can get. Often staffed by a lone counter person who was also baking, its memory serves as an amusing contrast to the massively staffed Short Cake/Single Origin.

Thee's wasn't a culinary destination (I rated it as second tier in my "Ultimate Guide" to the Farmers Market a few years back), but it was a nice corner of the market and one that I'll miss even though I'm a fan of its replacement.

Dusty Thursday: Old Forester 86 Proof (circa 1978)

2012-01-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bourbon dusty hunters search high and low for Old Fitzgeralds and other dusty Stitzel-Weller bourbons, but to my mind, the less coveted, more accessible dusty Old Foresters are a great find as well. Today's dusty is an 86 proof Old Forester in a quart bottle. The bottle bottom indicates "78" and 1978 sounds about right given that there is no metric volume measure and abv is stated in proof only; there is neither a government warning nor a UPC code. I live in a pretty dusty neighborhood and like most of my dusties, this one was found within a quarter mile of my home.

Old Forester 86 proof (43% abv), 4 years old.

Wow, this stuff is great. The nose is a perfect balance of wood and caramel. The palate is decidedly rich and full of caramel and some vanilla with lots of wood, again in perfect balance. The finish is all sweet corn and lingers pleasantly for quite a while. This is the whole package with amazing richness for the low proof. Textbook great bourbon.

This is likely what is known as glut bourbon. Starting in the late 1960s, demand for bourbon (and spirits generally) plummeted. Distilleries stuck with a glut of whiskey in the warehouse dumped older whiskey into their standard brands such that a whiskey like this might say four years old on the label but actually contain whiskey that is much older (remember that the age statement indicates the youngest whiskey in the bottle). These days, that older whiskey would go into some premium or specialty bottling, but back then, they were just trying to get rid of it.

So keep in mind, you may not be able to find an Old Fitzgerald 100 proof in the dust bin (I never have), but don't ignore those old Old Foresters.

Sonoma Whiskey Part II: Hooker's House Bourbon

2012-01-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I sampled Masterson's Rye from my home town of Sonoma (well, from Canada really, but sold by a company based in Sonoma - hey, it's something). Today, I look at Kentucky bourbon bottled by another Sonoma company and finished in Sonoma wine casks: Hooker's House Bourbon, bottled by Sonoma limoncello makers HelloCello under the name Prohibition Spirits.

Since they use a somewhat provocative name, I should explain that Hooker's House is a Sonoma landmark, the home of Civil War general Joseph Hooker whose fondness for prostitutes led to his name becoming a general term for those practicing the oldest profession. The bottle pays tribute both to the general but also to those namesakes with a female silhouette on the label.

The whiskey is a four year old Kentucky bourbon with a mashbill of 54% corn and 46% rye grain. This is a huge rye content (the highest I've heard of for a bourbon) and not one I've ever heard coming out of one of the Kentucky distilleries. According to the folks at HelloCello, the barrels they bought were part of a pilot project that didn't go forward so the barrels were sold off. The Sonoma angle is that once HelloCello bought the whiskey, they finished it for nine months in pinot noir barrels.

Hooker's House "Sonoma-Style" Bourbon, 50% abv. ($36)

The nose on this is very nice starting sweet and fruity with quickly emerging vegetal rye notes. The palate is quite fruity, with sweet fruit punch as well as some sweet plum. Later in the palate, rye peaks out from underneath and it turns minty, which is typical of strong rye on the younger side.

This is a very nice bourbon. I'm guessing that some of the fruit forward notes are due to the pinot noir casks ageing but you also really pick up on the high rye mashbill; the fruit and spice give it a nice balance. I've been skeptical of wine finished bourbons but this is very drinkable and very nice for the price.

Lately, there have been a lot of affordably priced, very drinkable bourbons being put out by independent bottlers, which is a great trend. So far, this is my favorite of that genre that includes bourbons like Redemption High Rye Bourbon and Breaking & Entering.

Hooker's House is currently only available in California, but they are hoping to expand distribution.

Sonoma Whiskey Part I: Masterson's Rye

2012-01-03T18:00:00.001-08:00

I grew up in lovely Sonoma, California, in the Northern California wine country. While wine is clearly the beverage of choice for my home town, there are two recent whiskeys that have come out of Sonoma (though neither was distilled anywhere near the town). Today and tomorrow, I'll be reviewing my hometown whiskeys.

If you grew up in Sonoma, Sebastiani was a name you knew. The Sebastiani Vineyard was the biggest winery in town, we saw movies at the Sebastiani Theater, our local elected officials were Sebastianis, and when old man August Sebastiani died we read in the local rag about the Dynasty style struggles between the different branches of the family to control the winery.

Now, the prominent family has entered the spirits world with their new company, 35 Maple, named for the Sonoma street address of their office. Similar to Whistlepig and the recently released Jefferson's Rye, 35 Maple's Masterson's Rye is a ten year old whiskey made in Canada from a 100% rye mash.

Masterson's Rye, 10 years old, 100% rye, Made in Canada, 45% abv ($65)

The nose on this is strongly vegetal, which is typical of these 100% rye mashbills, full of pickle juice and capers. The palate follows through with a goodly amount of spice and even some Worcestershire sauce (Hmmm, Bloody Masterson anyone?) followed by some floral/perfume/soapy notes.

It will be interesting to see if these Canadian straight ryes (mostly being released for the US market) are a new genre or Canadian Whisky or just a fluke due to a few loose barrels of the stuff being available for sale to willing bottlers. They have a unique, bold character that flies in the face of the stereotypically sweet Canadian blend and is more spicy and vegetal than Kentucky style straight rye.

Davin de Kergommeaux, over at Canadianwhisky.org calls Masterson's "the best of the Canadian straight ryes." I've only had two of the three, but in a side by side of Masterson's and WhistlePig, I found both to be pleasing. The Masterson's is bolder in the spice department, but the Whistlepig has a touch of sweetness which lends a bit more complexity, but the truth is, these are very similar whiskies. If you're a rye fan, I doubt either will disappoint. They are comparably priced, though the Whistlepig is slightly higher proof at 50% abv.

Back in Sonoma, 35 Maple has plans to continue bottling spirits, including a gin, a rum and a bourbon. Based on the quality of Masterson's, I'll be looking forward to their future bottlings.

Coming tomorrow: Sonoma Bourbon

Short Cake/Single Origin: More Nancy Silverton at the Farmer's Market

2012-01-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

I recently reviewed Nancy Silverton's Short Order burger joint at the Third and Fairfax Farmers Market. Since then, Silverton has ordered a pastry/coffee shop as well.

Located where Thee's Continental Bakery used to be, Short Cake/Single Origin is really a single stand with two names (much like the Cognescenti "pop up" at Proof Bakery). While I was underwhelmed by Silverton's burgers, her pastries, unsurprisingly, are spot on. I'm already addicted to the chocolate bear claw, and I love the brunette, a sort of blondie (not a brownie or a blondie, but a brunette, get it?) with pine nuts and a sprinkling of thyme.

The coffee at the Single Origin side gives a welcome shot of third wave aesthetic to the tired Farmers Market coffee scene. Single Origin uses Verve coffee from Santa Cruz and brings a real third wave cuppa' to Third and Fairfax, which is more than welcome.

Unlike Short Order, which I found underwhelming, these establishments are an excellent addition to the Farmers Market and worth a trip on their own accord.

Short Cake and Single Origin
LA Farmers Market
Third & Fairfax

The Good Stuff Continued and Introducing Dusty Thursday: Old Weller Original 107

2011-12-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to use my end of year tasting of good stuff to inaugurate a new feature here on Recent Eats. I taste a fair amount of old dusty bottles that I find in corner stores or through generous friends. I usually don't write these up since they are hard to find and not something you can run out and buy. But since there seems to be precious few on-line reviews of dusty bottles, I thought I would start an occasional series, Dusty Thursday, in which I will review old, out of production American whiskeys. These whiskeys give us a window into the past both in terms of how whiskey tasted and the business of whiskey since they often involve distilleries that are no longer operating or brands that have been sold, often multiple times.

We'll start this series today with one of my biggest dusty treasures. Bourbon from the closed Stitzel-Weller distillery is pretty much the holy grail of dusty hunting. Today's bottle is Old Weller Original 107 from Stitzel-Weller. The bottom of the bottle carries a "79" so it is likely bottled around or later than 1979. The bottle has a federal and state (Oklahoma) tax stamp, abv is indicated only in proof, there is no government warning and volume is listed in milliliters (though on the bottle and state stamp, not the label). It also includes a Louisville address; the bottle came in a clear plastic box with gold colored trim. All of these factors point to a late '70s or early '80s bottle. Later, this expression was changed to "Old Weller Antique."

After Stitzel-Weller was closed by the company now known as Diageo, the Weller brand was sold to Buffalo Trace. A few years ago, they removed the 7 year age statement and changed the bottle design.

Old Weller the Original 107, 7 years old, 107 proof (53.5% abv). No. 3038-A.

Wow! The nose just screams Stitzel-Weller with lovely caramel and toffee notes and a very slight citrus note underneath. The palate has intense vanilla, caramel and candy flavors followed by a musty note, like old dusty boxes in the attic. It trails off with some citrus/creamsicle. It has a satisfyingly chewy mouthfeel and even a slight puckering quality. The finish is almost Cognac like in its sweetness. This whiskey manages to be light and rich at the same time.

Tasting this time capsule of a bourbon, I realize what a tragedy it is that this distillery is no longer operational. These old whiskeys really do have a unique flavor profile. It's true that there is still Stitzel-Weller on the market; you can get it in the Jefferson Presidential Selection bourbons or the Pappy Van Winkle 20 and 23 year olds, but those older whiskeys have a very different flavor profile from this seven year old Weller. While Jefferson and Pappy are certainly good, they taste much more like other bourbons on the market today. The extra age and the wood influence that comes with it seems to compromise some of the sweet and mild character that these younger Stitzel-Wellers had. Maybe seven to twelve years was the Stitzel-Weller sweet spot, and the additional oak mutes those qualities that made it so special. If you're ever lucky enough to find some of this stuff or one of the equally great Stitzel-Weller bourbons from the Old Fitzgerald line, raise a glass and shed a tear for the distillery that is no more.

The Good Stuff Continued: Glenfarclas 40

2011-12-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Glenfarclas is an independent Speyside distillery known for its heavily sherried malt whisky. Last year, they made a big splash by introducing a 40 year old. Most 40 year olds released by distilleries are put into hand blown bottles encased in specially carved boxes made out of antique wood made by forest gnomes. Glenfarclas put their 40 year old in a regular bottle encased in a typical cardboard tube and priced it such that you could get it for around $470 retail. Now, that may seem like a lot of money for a bottle of whisky (and indeed, it is), but it is nowhere near what you will pay for other distillery produced 40 year olds. For instance, Highland Park 40 and Glenfiddich 40 both go for around $2,000. And Bowmore 40? That will cost you $11,000. So in the world of extravagantly priced whiskies, the Glenfarclas 40 is a true bargain.

Glenfarclas 40 year old , 46% abv($470)

The nose on this is really wonderful. It starts with Welch's grape juice and then moves into more classically sherried territory with raisins, but it's also got tropical fruit, some maple syrup and vanilla extract. I could smell it all day. The palate starts with vanilla candy and follows up with soft sherried notes, ending on a slightly bitter note. While it's very nice, the palate is not as interesting as the nose. It feels a bit hotter than 46%. Water brings out some nice woody notes that give it a savory flavor. The finish is sherry and vanilla with maybe a bit of creamsicle.

For being so old, this is incredibly drinkable. It's very well balanced, sherried without being a real sherry bomb. If this were an average priced whisky, it would be something I would want to drink every day. Given the price, that's simply not possible. Still, the Glenfarclas 40 is awfully fun to drink, and the more I drink it, the more I like it.

Blue in the Face: Johnnie Walker Blue King George V

2011-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, I reviewed the standard Johnnie Walker color line: Red, Black, Gold, Blue. My conclusion was that while the Blue was the best of the bunch, it was way overpriced. Well at $170 per bottle, the Blue is downright cheap next to its well heeled brother Johnnie Walker Blue King George V which weighs in at $350.

One of the things often touted along with the King George V is that it includes malt from the closed Port Ellen distillery, but that seems less impressive when you think about the fact that there is still plenty of Port Ellen single malt available for substantially less than the George V costs with its undisclosed amount of Port Ellen.

The fact is though, King George V isn't competing for those of us who might buy Port Ellen. This is status whisky, pure and simple. It's for the broker who had a good year or a piece of swag in the awards basket for the Hollywood star. They don't know from Port Ellen, they know from Johnnie Walker Blue.

But how does it taste? Well, thanks to a sample from my pal at Scotch and Ice Cream, I'm able to tell you.

Johnnie Walker Blue King George V, 43% abv ($350).

The nose on this has sweet malty notes with pineapple, bing cherries and wet grass. On the palate it is malt forward but there are some slightly grainy notes (I first tasted this blind and was pretty sure it was a blend based on these grainy notes) as well as some corn syrup. Despite the Port Ellen, there was no discernible smoke. The finish is very light and short.

This is fine to drink, but it's nothing at all special. It's the type of profile I would probably really like at a higher proof. As is, it's pleasant and drinkable, but at this price, I could probably think of a few hundred whiskies that would be much better. So I implore you, don't buy this stuff, it's not for you anyway (unless you happen to be a Hollywood star, hedge fund manager or someone else who delights in status symbols.

The Good Stuff

2011-12-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, the slow week between Christmas and New Year's Day. It's one of the few times in the year when the whole Western world seems to slow down just a little. I've decided to take this time to step back and enjoy life, and that means trying some of the good stuff. Some choice whiskey samples or the bottles I've been saving for a special occasion, because what better occasion than right now. This week will be a celebration of good whiskey (or at least the whiskey that is supposed to be good). Hopefully it will be fun. We'll start tomorrow with something blue.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Uh oh! I guess I've been a naughty boy.

Last Minute Gift Idea: Sweet Confections by Nina Wanat

2011-12-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

I was crushed earlier this year when Nina Wanat shut down her awesome candy company BonBonBars which produced some of the best candy anywhere, ever. But Nina must know the old adage, give me some candy and I eat for a day, teach me how to make candy and I eat for a lifetime, because while BonBonBars is no more, she has a new candy making book out just in time for the holidays.

Sweet Confections: Beautiful Candy to Make at Home, is a fabulous book. It's got some of everything: caramels, fudge, marshmallows, toffee, after dinner mints, you name it.

The best thing about this book is that it is very accessible. I've made lots of chocolate but never made any other types of candy, and I was able to jump right in and make some great things out of Nina's book. The recipes are clearly explained and not overly time consuming. And for the most part, you can do them with ordinary kitchen equipment, although you will need a candy thermometer. Lots of recipes also require a stand mixer, but I found I was able to do fine with a food processer. The only caution I have is to watch how much the recipe makes; some of them make quantities that are larger than you may need (unless you're opening your own candy store) so you may want to halve them.

One thing to be clear about is that this isn't a BonBonBar cookbook. Very few recipes for the old BonBonBars appear (the exceptions are some of their marshmallow candies). My guess is the candy bars were just too challenging for the average home cook, so I will have to wait to see if there is a second volume that teaches me out to make those Scotch bars.

So if you're looking for a great gift for a home cook or lover of sweets, check out Sweet Confections, available for only $12 on Amazon.

2011: The Year in Whiskey

2011-12-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Last year, I complained that it was a pretty ho hum year in the world of whiskey. Well, I'm happy to report that this year was anything but. So let's review 2011: The Year in Whiskey.

Buffalo Trace. Buffalo Trace was on fire this year. Their Single Oak Project is perhaps the most ambitious project ever undertaken by a distillery. On top of that, they released a new label, E.H. Taylor, with two expressions. As if that wasn't enough, they reinvigorated the A. Smith Bowman distillery with a new line of bourbons and ryes. Pretty amazing output from one distillery, though, with the exception of the Bowmans, much of BT's new whiskey this year was more innovative than tasty. Still, the level of output from Buffalo Trace this year was beyond impressive.

Rye Revolution. The rye expansion continues. There were new ryes everywhere in 2011. Bulleit and Willett brought out LDI ryes, Woodford introduced not one but two as part of their Master's Collection, and Beam announced it would come out with a Knob Creek Rye as well, though it may not be here until 2012. Add to that the Canadian straight ryes listed below, and it goes to show that the rye renaissance is far from over.

Finished American Whiskey. Long a staple of Scotch, wine finishing received some attention from American whiskey this year. The year started with the popular, port finished Angel's Envy and ended with a Cognac finished bourbon from the Parker's Heritage Collection. Given these high profile releases, I'd say we will see more finishing experiments in the future.

Pure Pot Still Power. When there is news from the sleepy world of Irish Whiskey, it usually comes from Cooley, but this year the Midleton Distillery woke us all up with three new pure pot still whiskeys: Midleton, Powers and a cask strength version of Redbreast. It's great to see Midleton playing to the whisky lovers and not just finding new ways to market Jameson.

New Canadians. Canada was also hopping with a 30 year old Alberta Premium, and while we won't get it here, there were a number of American bottlings of Canadian straight rye. Following the lead of last year's WhistlePig, we saw similar ten year old ryes coming from McLain & Kyne (Jefferson's) and the Sebastiani wine group (Masterson's- review coming in the new year). It seems that we're finally getting some good Canadians in the US, though more in the American, straight rye style.

Scotch. The world of blended/vatted Scotch got lots of coverage this year with the highly publicized release of Shackleton's whisky. Meanwhile on Islay, Bruichladdich gave us their first 10 year old from the new ownership, and Kilchoman released an all-Islay whisky which was probably their best to date.

Many of us in California (or within shipping distance) spent our spare time counting our money to figure out how many bottles of K&L's amazing new line of exclusive barrel Scotch we could afford. In one year, K&L gave us a whopping 17 privately bottled single barrels, including two single grains and four offerings from closed distilleries.

More Japanese. Lovers of Japanese single malts have literally been waiting years to get more Japanese Whisky in the US. This year we got the good news that whiskies from Nikka and Suntory's Hakushu distilleries are finally heading for our shores.

I could go on and on. Heck, even those stodgy stalwarts Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniel's came out with new expressions. Let's hope these trends continue and look forward to an exciting 2012!

Dear Santa: My Whiskey Wish List

2011-12-18T18:00:00.001-08:00

In my experience, most whiskey fans have a wish list of some sort, a list of the rare bottling they missed out on or the white whale they have searched high and low for. The list may be ever changing, but it's there. I'm no different so I thought, since I've tried everything else to track these down, I'd ask Santa.

I've tried to come up with a list that's not pure fantasy. Sure, I'd love to try the Mortlach 70 or the original Shackleton whisky they found buried in the ice in Antarctica, but that ain't gonna' happen. This is a list of things that, while off the market and hard to find, are somewhat realistic possibilities. In fact, I may be able to eventually wrangle all of them if I really put my mind to it. Some are rare exclusive bottlings, but others are just things I missed or came on the scene too late for. So, in alphabetical order, here they are (Santa, I hope you see this - I'm banking on the fact that the one North Pole hit I get for the blog is you and not one of those heavy drinking elves).

Alberta Premium (25 or 30): If I lived in Canada this would be easy enough, but I don't live there or go there and this stuff doesn't make it south of the border. Of all the Canadian whiskies we miss out on in the US, which includes most of the good stuff, this one is probably the gold standard, a 100% rye Canadian blend that gets consistently rave reviews.

Ardbeg Provenance: This 24 year old Ardbeg released in 1997 is one of the most legendary Ardbegs around. It is the single highest scoring whisky on the LA Whiskey Society website, and they've had several tastings of it, but I keep missing it.

Ardbegeddon: The first exclusive bottling by the PLOWED Society, the famed (or perhaps notorious) American malt tasting group, the Ardbegeddon was a 29 year old sherry aged Ardbeg bottled by Douglas Laing's Old Malt Cask series in 2002. Having been lucky enough to sample PLOWED's unbeliveably good Brorageddon, I can only imagine how great this is, but it may be the hardest one on the list to get. I don't even know if there are any bottles still in existence.

Bruichladdich Blacker Still: This is one I just missed out on. I had seen it on the shelf and passed it over due to its price at the time (two or three hundred if I remember correctly). Well, this sherry malt seems to be loved by everyone and may be Bruichladdich's most sought after recent bottling. By the time I caught on, it had tripled in price.

Eagle Rare 101: I've done pretty well in exploring the obscure corners of the world of American whiskey, which is why you don't see that many listed here, but I've never managed to find an Eagle Rare 101. Before the brand was purchased by Buffalo Trace and made into a lower proof, single barrel offering, it was a 101 proofer. Originally produced by Seagram's, it was subsequently made by Old Prentice and then by Buffalo Trace before they phased it out in favor of the newer bottling. I'd love to try any of the oldies.

Pennsylvania or Maryland Rye: I'm a big fan of rye, but I've never tried one of the old Mid-Atlantic ryes from all of those now closed distilleries. Pennsylvania and Maryland rye were distinct genres of whiskey that thrived in the pre-prohibition years but never fully recovered and eventually, petered out and sold their labels to Kentucky distilleries. Every now and then a bottle of Pennsylvania distilled Old Overholt or Rittenhouse does pop up in an auction, but Maryland ryes like Pikesville and Mount Vernon are harder to find. As a true fan of rye, I'd love to try these old whiskeys from the original rye whiskey heartland.

Van Blankel: A private bottling of Stitzel-Weller whiskey for one individual, a bourbon that's allegedly as subtle and nuanced as a Cognac, the best barrel ever produced by the Van Winkles...I've heard all of these said about the famous "Van Blankel" bottling of Van Winkle 12 year old Lot B, a single barrel bottled for Randy Blank, a regular on the StraightBourbon forum. Like the Ardbegeddon, this is a private bottling, so I don't hold out a lot of hope, but you never know. Hopefully, someone out there will spare me a taste.

Now mind you Santa, I'm not greedy. I understand it might be hard to get a whole bottle of these things. A small sample in my stocking would be plenty.

So, do you have a list?

A is for anCnoc, B is for Balblair

2011-12-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

Balblair and anCnoc are single malts that have only been on the US market for a little over a year. Both are owned by Inverhouse, a subsidiary of Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) which also owns the Pulteney, Speyburn and Balmenach distilleries.

The anCnoc malt (pronounced "ah-nock"), is made at the Knockdhu distillery in Speyside. They bottle a 12 and 16 year old as well as a few annual special releases. I will be sampling the 12 year old.

Balblair is a Highland distillery which releases malts with vintage statements as opposed to age statements. Their latest US release is the 2000, though they just released the 2001 in the UK. I will be tasting the 2000.

anCnoc 12 (Knockdhu Distillery), 43% abv ($27)

The nose on this is about as light and fruity as it gets. The palate is more malty though still quite light. I can see how this would compete for the Glenlivet/Glenfiddich drinker who wants something a bit lighter and with a bit more fruit, but there's not much substance to it.

Balblair 2000, bottled 2011, 43% abv ($55)

I like the nose on this which has malt with dessert wine notes. The palate is chocolate covered cherries, yielding to malt, wait, actually...it's chocolate malt balls. Mouthfeel is a bit thin and the finish is maraschino cherries. This one is definitely on the sweet side.

My take on the current introductory line for Inverhouse: They are fine to drink, but I'm not going to run out and buy them. If you like these profiles (light and malty for the anCnoc, sweet for the Balblair), you might want to check them out, but I found them one dimensional.

Holiday Whiskey (and Spirits) Gifts

2011-12-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

If this is December, it must be time for holiday booze giving. Here are my recommendations for some fabulous holiday gifts for your whiskey loving friends and loved ones.

Scotch: There were lots of new Scotch releases this year, but some of the most interesting were from K&L's exclusive casks. I have only made it through a hand full of these so far, but they have all been very good to great. I recently reviewed the Bladnoch ($90) and the GlenDronach ($116) which are both fabulous. While I haven't formally reviewed it yet, my other favorite so far is the 1975 Banff, though it's a higher end gift ($225). You can find them all on the right hand column of the K&L Spirits Blog.

Bourbon & Rye: Another retailer wins the day here. If K&L is the go to place for private barrel Scotch, then The Party Source, in Kentucky, plays that role for American Whiskey. The Party Source's private barrel cask strength Abraham Bowman Rye ($73) was, in my opinion, the best new American whiskey of the year. They also released a couple of Bowman bourbons, all of this from the newly revitalized, Buffalo Trace owned A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Virginia. Check it out at The Party Source.

Budget Bourbon & Rye: For more budget conscious gifts, I'd suggest two new whiskeys made by LDI (Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana). Willett 3 year old Rye ($36) is a solid, spicy number that will be fun for any rye fan. Redemption High Rye Bourbon ($25) has elements of sweet and spicy and, while the sweet is a bit more dominant, it is an easy drinker and good for the price.

Cognac: At the risk of looking like a K&L shill, my favorite Cognac of the year, by far, was the single barrel, uncut, unfiltered Paul Marie & Fils from Cognac bottler Nicolas Palazzi, sold through K&L's Faultline Spirits label. This is one of the few unfiltered, cask strength Cognacs available, and it is just brimming with flavor. ($130 only at K&L).

Cocktails: If you know a cocktail lover who goes for the classics, you owe them a bottle of the High West Distillery's 36th Vote Barrelled Manhattan. Using their rye, High West makes a Manhattan and then barrel ages it. The ageing takes off some of the sweet edge and gives it a subtle, smooth disposition. Great stuff! ($45).

Happy holidays!

Good Burgers Great Spuds: Short Order at the Farmers Market

2011-12-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Short Order is the new Nancy Silverton burger spot at the Third and Fairfax Farmer's Market. It features a fairly slim menu of grass fed beef burgers as well as pork, lamb, tuna burgers. A brunch menu will be added in January. And they are working on too sister establishments: Short Cake - a bakery and Single Origin - a coffee bar.

I tried the Frisee Lardon Raft, an open faced burger topped with frisee dressed in a light vinaigrette, lardons and a fried egg. The components were all very good, but the burger didn't come together. It felt like an egg on top of a salad on top of a burger, not a single composition. I also sampled the patty melt with pimento cheese sauce, which was good but not any sort of revelation.

I liked these burgers, but they didn't blow me away, and when you are paying $14 for burgers during an LA burger renaissance, you expect greatness.

Now, the "Short Order Spuds" were a different story. These fabulous nuggets are tater tot sized, deep fried potato chunks (including skin). You can get them with a sour cream and chive dipping sauce or with truffle salt. Fried to a golden brown, the shape of these things (almost like mini-potato skins) maximizes the surface area giving you plenty of crunchy crust. They are highly addictive. I could have eaten a much larger serving than the little pail.

I'll probably head back to Short Order, but I may just get a beer and some spuds.

Short Order
6333 w. 3rd st. (The Original Farmers Market at Third & Fairfax)
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Post-Cognac Al Pastor: El Matador Taco Truck

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

What's the best place to get cheap eats after a night of Cognac
(or rum) at La Descarga, the rum bar on Western just south of the 101? The clear answer is the El Matador taco truck. Situated in the parking lot of mechanic on Western that advertises "Smog Transmission" just across the street from La Descarga, El Matador is recognizable for the line that forms every night after dark.

There's good reason that people line up, they've got the full menu of meats including sesos (cow brain) and buche (pork stomach). I went a bit more conventional and tried tacos with carnitas, al pastor, lengua and cabeza. All of these were very good, but the al pastor was a stand out. Heavily seasoned pork (not sure if they spit roast theirs in the traditional style) in nicely fried bits with plenty of crunch along with the satisfying spice. Really addictive stuff.

I may go out late just as an excuse to eat here again. And with four tacos for five bucks, you can't afford not to go.

Tacos El Matador Truck (nights)
1174 N. Western Ave (@ Lexington)
Los Angeles, CA

Jazz Age Brandy: Nicolas Palazzi's Cognac Tasting

2011-12-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

On Monday night I attended a stunning Cognac tasting hosted by K&L at the La Descarga rum bar, featuring Cognac bottler Nicolas Palazzi. As you may recall, Palazzi is a Cognac bottler who seeks out small growers and bottles cask strength, unfiltered Cognacs with no additives. He is truly a pioneer in the Cognac world who is trying single handedly to move it away from the sticky, sweet brandies that most of us associate with Cognac.

We started the night with a sazerac cocktail made from Paul Beau VSOP Cognac (while the sazerac now usually features rye, the original recipe used Cognac). I'm a big fan of sazeracs so no complaints here, but in a tasting I would usually save a cocktail until later, especially one which includes Absinthe, which can deaden the taste buds.

To demonstrate the difference made by filtration, we moved on to a Paul Beau Hors D’Age, which is distilled "off the lees," meaning it is filtered to remove residual dead yeast. We tasted this side by side with a Guillon Painturaud Hors d’Age which is distilled "on the lees" or unfiltered. Lees contact is said to add richness, body, and flavor to the spirit. I did find that the unfiltered Cognac had more going on flavor wise, including a spicy character, but the filtered Cognac was more delicate and subtle.

We ended with a trio of Nicolas' cask strength, single barrel Cognacs under his Paul Marie & Fils label, beginning with the recent K&L exclusive which I reviewed here. We then moved on to his 58 year old Devant La Porte (51% abv) and finally, the L'Artisan, which was distilled in 1923 (41.6% abv). These three were utterly fantastic Cognacs.

One advantage that Cognac has over whiskey is that there seem to be more really old barrels out there. The 1923 was moved out of barrel last year, so this was in wood for 87 years (the oldest whiskey that has been released is 70 years old). Remarkably for having spent a human lifetime in wood, the Cognac was incredibly fruity with very distinct grape notes. In fact, the dominance of the fruit was such that it came off as lacking in complexity, but it was not over oaked.

My favorite of the night was the 58 year old. Distilled in 1951, the Devant La Porte was released last year and goes for around $600. It was fruity but had some wood and complex, caramel notes; it was probably the most whiskey-like of the Cognacs.

The problem with many spirits tastings is that they cover only widely available, basic spirits lines. It is difficult to find tastings featuring very rare spirits. For the $70 cost of this tasting, we got a chance to try some truly rare and remarkable Cognacs. Nicolas Palazzi and K&L Spirit Buyer David Girard really pulled out all the stops. Let's hope we see more of these types of tastings in LA.

Whiskies Worth the Hype: Bladnoch & GlenDronach from K&L

2011-12-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it seems like whisky quality is inversely proportional to the hype surrounding it. I can no longer count the amount of times I've been let down by highly touted special releases. On the other hand, obscure indy bottlings or even budget daily pours are sometimes unpublicized gems. During the holiday season, the whisky hype can get totally out of the control, which is why it is especially refreshing to find some bottles that meet if not exceed the hype.

Earlier this year I wrote about K&L's exclusive barrel series in which the spirit buying Davids of K&L went to Scotland to select their own barrels from both distilleries and independent bottlers. The Davids took up a fair amount of bandwidth talking about how great these barrels were, so expectations were pretty high. Now the bottles are in the store, and I've been able to taste a handful of them, I must say that I agree that, at least with regard to the ones I've tasted, they are some pretty special bottles. Here is a review of two of my favorite so far.

Bladnoch 1992, 18 years old (Chieftain’s), Cask 4195, 270 bottles, 55.3% abv (K&L exclusive $89.99).

A Lowland distillery that was mothballed for much of the '90s and doesn't send its distillery bottlings to the US, Bladnoch is not easy to find. Even finding independent bottlings can be a challenge. The nose on this Chieftain's bottling is of pure, rich malt with a pinch of dried fruit in the back. The palate is also malt forward with sweet grassy notes, fruit cocktail syrup, and perhaps just a touch of a sherry-like quality. The finish is sweet and malty with fruit. This reminds me of some of the best Lowlanders I've had, thick, rich, malty and syrupy (but not at all light, which is the stereotype for Lowlanders that really only applies to Auchentoshan). Good stuff and a very good price for what it is.

GlenDronach 1994, 16 years old, Cask 3186, 56% abv (K&L exclusive $116).

This is the other side of the spectrum from the Bladnoch, a huge sherry monster of a whisky. This whisky consists of two bourbon cask aged malts which were combined and finished in a Pedro Ximenez sherry cask for a short time (around six months). It was bottled by the distillery for K&L. The nose is a full on sherry assault with candied fruit and maybe even a bit of cinnamon. The palate kicks in very sweet; that dissipates a bit s you go, but it stays pretty sweet throughout. You don't get any malt flavors until the finish when the malt really kicks in. Drinking this neat is too sweet for my tastes, but water really does wonders for it, bringing out the malty flavor that's hinted at in the finish. A few drops of water cuts the sweetness and gives it a balance that was lacking when neat.

These are two dramatically different but very good whiskies. The entire list of K&L exclusive bottlings can be found on the right hand column of the K&L Spirits Blog.

How do you know it's LDI?

2011-12-06T18:00:00.001-08:00

I've recently reviewed a number of whiskeys distilled at Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI), and a few people have asked how I know the whiskey is made by LDI. Well, it's easy to figure out. First, though, some background.

LDI is a large Indiana distillery that was formerly owned by Seagram's. It is currently owned by Angostura but is in the process of being sold to a Midwest Grain Products (MGP), a large Midwestern maker of neutral spirits.

Located in Indiana just over the river from Kentucky, LDI is the only major whiskey distillery in the US that does not market anything under its own label. They operate entirely by contract. Companies pay to buy their whiskey (or vodka or gin) and market it under their own labels. The LDI website lists the different whiskeys they make, including mashbills.

Not long ago, it was not possible for a US consumer to buy an LDI-made whiskey. The closest you could come was Seagram's 7, a blended whiskey whose component whiskey was said to be made at LDI, but blended whiskey is mostly vodka and mostly crappy. Then, just a few years ago, small bottlers Templeton Rye and High West Rye put out some LDI rye (in High West's case it was part of a blend with another rye) to great acclaim. This opened an LDI floodgate and now there are a dozen or so bourbons and rye whiskeys that are made at LDI, and it seems like a new one comes out almost every day. Among the more well known are Redemption Bourbon, Redemption Rye, Bulleit Rye, Temptation Bourbon, the new series of Willett three year old ryes, W.H. Harrison Bourbon, Big Bottom Bourbon, High Whiskey, Riverboat Rye and Smooth Ambler's Old Scout Bourbon.

From time to time, people ask me how I know that a given whiskey is made at LDI, since that fact is almost never disclosed on the bottle and often not disclosed at all by the bottler.

There are lots of clues you can look for to figure out an LDI whiskey. When a new sourced whiskey is announced, the press release will usually brag about its heritage. If it's from Kentucky, they will usually say so since there is cache in releasing a real Kentucky bourbon or rye. So if Kentucky isn't mentioned in the press release, I usually assume LDI (and be aware of general staements like "bourbon country" which can include Indiana).

But the proof is on the bottle. The federal regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) require that whiskey labels disclose the state where the whiskey was distilled. If the whiskey is distilled in the state where the company is located, then the address of the company is sufficient to comply with this requirement. However, if the business address is not in the state where the whiskey was distilled, the state has to be stated separately on the label. (There are some limited exceptions to this regulation, but it applies to most whiskey). See 27 CFR § 5.36(d).

LDI is the only whiskey distillery in Indiana, so if the bottle says "Product of Indiana" or doesn't state where it was distilled but the business address is in Indiana, then you know it was made at LDI.

Woodford Reserve Goes Rye

2011-12-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

You'd think I'd have had my fill of the Woodford Reserve Master's Collection this year, what with this almost comprehensive tasting and this follow up. In fact, I fully planned to ignore the release this year, then they went and made rye, and not just one rye, but two. As a rye whiskey lover, I had an obligation, to both myself and my loyal readers, to check these out.

The 2011 rye release is Woodford's first rye and their first time issuing two whiskeys as part of the Master's Collection. They are sold as a set of two 375 ml bottles, so it's the same amount of whiskey as a full bottle, but you get two whiskeys for your $90.

The concept here is similar to the Buffalo Trace Single Oak Project but on a much smaller scale. The ryes are the same except that one is aged in a new, charred oak cask and one is aged in a used cask (they also have different entry proofs). Both are triple distilled in pot stills and made from a mash of 100% rye. There are no age statements.

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection New Cask Rye, 46.2% abv. This one is straight rye whiskey aged in new, charred oak barrels. The distillate went into the barrels at 100 proof. The nose on this actually has some bourbony sweetness which is followed by a big hit of rye spice. The palate has a lot of rye but is a bit tinny as well (a common Woodford note). The finish is fairly bitter with medicinal notes. This reminds me of some of the craft ryes I've had.

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Aged Cask Rye, 46.2% abv. Since this wasn't aged in new, charred oak barrels, it's not technically "rye whiskey" but instead "whiskey distilled from rye mash." These were aged in used barrels that previously held Woodford Reserve bourbon ("aged barrels" sounds a bit better than "used barrels" doesn't it?). The distillate went into the barrels at 86 proof. According to Woodford Master Distiller Chris Morris on WhiskyCast (episode 341), they lowered the proof in order to "coax as much subtle barrel character out as possible."

The color on this rye is much lighter than the straight rye, more of a white wine versus the more typical amber/copper color of the straight rye. The nose is fruity with some white wine notes. The palate has a little bit of that trademark Woodford pot still tang, then some fruit and toward the end some medicinal minty flavors (a little bit of Vicks VapoRub). The rye spice finally comes to the fore in the finish. Overall, there is not a lot of rye character in this rye. Tasting blind, I might have guessed an American malt whiskey.

Conclusion

Point taken. The difference between new and used barrels is huge. I actually like the aged barrel, which had an interesting fruit/rye interplay, more than the straight rye which was a bit harsh.

Should you buy this set? If you like experiments of this type, you might enjoy the comparison, as I did. As with many such experiments, though, the end project is interesting but not particularly good. These weren't bad whiskeys but they weren't particularly good either, and neither was anywhere near what I'd be willing to pay $90 per bottle for. So in the end, I'd recommend this the same way I would the Buffalo Trace Single Oak Collection. If you are a whiskey geek with whiskey geek friends who might split it with you, it will be fun. If you're just looking for a good bottle of rye, look elsewhere.

More LDI Rye: Willett Three Year Old Rye

2011-12-01T18:00:00.001-08:00

It's funny to think that only five years ago there was literally no way for Americans to taste whiskey from LDI. Now it seems that a week doesn't go by without a new release of LDI whiskey.

LDI is, of course, Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana. Located right across the river from Kentucky, LDI is a huge distillery but they distill on a contract only basis, so they don't release any of their own whiskey. Formerly a Seagram's distillery, LDI is currently owned by the financially troubled Angostura, which is in the process of selling it to Midwest Grain Products, a maker of neutral spirits.

If you've had Templeton Rye, Redemption Rye or Bulleit Rye, then you've had LDI rye. It's very seldom marketed as such, but there are clues. "Product of Indiana" on the label is a big giveaway. And in press releases for a new sourced bourbon or rye from a bottler, if they don't mention Kentucky explicitly, LDI is a pretty good guess.

Now Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), the biggest independent bottler of American Whiskey, has their own LDI rye, a three year old released under the Willett label. There are a few different versions of this out there which range in abv. This one comes in at 55%.

Willett Rye, 3 years old, Single Barrel (Barrel 6), 55% abv ($36)

The nose is what I've come to expect from young LDI ryes, strong rye notes, pickle juice, caraway. The palate is a huge mint bomb with plenty of spice and pine. It's a good sock-you-in-the-face rye. The only real flaw is a touch of unpleasant bitterness on the finish.

I liked this better than a lot of the young LDI rye I've had. I appreciate that KBD bottled it at cask strength which is likely what makes it more interesting than many of the more watered down LDI ryes on the market. It's a fun one, at a good price, that's worth a try.

Finishing School: Parker's Heritage Collection Barrel Finished

2011-11-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

I always look forward to the annual release of the Parker's Heritage Collection bourbon. Each fall since 2007, Heaven Hill releases a new version of Parker's, each one completely different from the last. They tend to run from very good to excellent, are reasonably priced and best of all, are relatively easy to find (unlike some brands, Heaven Hill doesn't whip up hysteria with manufactured scarcity).

This year's Parker's is a ten year old, 100 proof bourbon finished for six months in Cognac casks from the House of Frapin.

Parker's Heritage Collection Barrel Finished, 10 yo, 50% abv ($80)

I was wondering if you would detect a mere six months of Cognac barrel ageing, but wow, there it is, right on the nose. The first thing you get is sweet Cognac, followed up by more characteristic woody bourbon notes. The Cognac is equally apparent in the front of the palate, followed up by coffee, oak and then some light minty flavors. There's a lot there, but it doesn't all coalesce. The sum of the parts here may be greater than the whole. The finish is a smoky cask.

This is a good bourbon with some really interesting notes and a very pleasant drinker. Because Parker's is a completely different release each year, it doesn't really make sense to compare them, but I wouldn't count this one among my favorites (a club that would include the first edition and last year's wheater), but it's certainly fun to have around.

Now that I've had a few finished American whiskeys, I'll discuss this growing phenomenon in a future post. Stay tuned.

A Bitter Pill: Four Roses 2011 Single Barrel

2011-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

Every year, aside from their standard single barrel offering, Four Roses releases a limited edition single barrel using one of their ten recipes. This year's is OBSQ, which is the high rye mashbill (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% barley) with the Q yeast strain. It's 12 years old and cask strength. The abv varies depending on the barrel but mine was 55.4%. It retails for around $80.

The nose is pleasant, floral and perfumy with some earthy and vegetal notes. The palate is harshly vegetal and medicinal with a strong bitterness which lasts into the finish. It is so bitter and chemically that I was initially convinced it might be tainted and got another sample.

With some time to oxidize in the glass, the bitterness on the palate subsides a bit, but it still leaves you with an overwhelmingly bitter finish with a mouthfeel like you've just taken an oral anaesthetic. Adding water brings out a soapiness.

I like some medicinal qualities in my whiskey, but this one overdoes it, and from late palate to finish, it's downright objectionable. This is a seriously flawed whiskey that I wouldn't drink again. I'm generally a fan of Four Roses and I've even had some decent bottlings from this recipe; this one is different.

Now, I should note that it seems I'm in the distinct minority in my negative opinion of this one, so I urge you to check out the always excellent (though in this case, totally wrong) Sour Mash Manifesto and Sipology for a different perspective.

High Rye Low Age: Redemption Bourbon

2011-11-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Last year, I reviewed Redemption Rye, a rye made at Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI) for Dynamic Spirits. Dynamic also now bottles Redemption Bourbon, a high rye bourbon also made at LDI. Redemption Bourbon is 60% corn, 38.2% rye and 1.8% barley.

While there are a lot of LDI ryes on the market these days, there aren't as many bourbons, so I was interested to try this one.

Redemption Bourbon, 46% abv, "over 2 years old" ($25)

The nose is...young rye with all its vegetal qualities. The palate begins with a huge sugar-syrupy sweetness, then you get those young rye notes, raw and vegetal. The finish is rye dominated as well. This is simplistic, syrupy and vegetal, but I have to admit, it's sort of fun to drink as a light whiskey that you don't have to put a lot of effort into thinking about. It's worth trying and a bit more interesting than the Redemption Rye.

Felonious Bourbon: Breaking & Entering

2011-11-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

I've often written about the phenomenon of American whiskey bottlers who don't distill, of which there are many, but lately, there is a growing trend in the opposite direction: distillers who are bottling sourced whiskey. High West and Prichard's started with sourced whiskey prior to distilling their own, but now even some craft distilleries that have their own distillate are looking to buy aged whiskey. Recently, we've seen a new group of sourced whiskeys from craft distillers including a bourbon from Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado, Temperance Trader Bourbon from the Bull Run Distillery in Oregon and Old Scout Bourbon from the Smooth Ambler Distillery in West Virginia. Add to that growing group Breaking & Entering Bourbon, a sourced bourbon from the St. George Distillery in Alameda, California.

The St. George distillery is one of the older craft distilleries. They started with brandies and then spread to vodka, malt whiskey, absinthe and many other spirits. But Breaking & Entering is the first whiskey they have released that was made elsewhere.

According to the St. George website, Breaking & Entering was made from 80 different Kentucky bourbon barrels ranging from five to seven years old. We don't know if those 80 barrels all came from one distillery or were from multiple distilleries.

Interestingly, Breaking & Entering is not designated as "straight" on the label. That could mean that some of the whiskey is less than two years old or that it doesn't meet the definition of "straight bourbon" for some other reason (or they could have simply chosen not to use the term, which is not required).

Breaking & Entering Bourbon, 43% abv ($34)

The nose on this has light rye, peanuts and some savory notes. The palate comes on with dry white wine notes, maybe even some apple in the background. Late palate I get some rye spice which continues into the finish with a bit of bitterness.

With 80 barrels in the mix, this could be a little bit of everything, but the nose resembles some Brown-Forman whiskeys I've had. I would guess there is some Heaven Hill in there as the palate reminds me most of some of the Evan Williams Single Barrels with maybe even some Four Roses in the mix.

This is a pretty unique flavor profile, though overall, it's a bit light to my taste.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a holiday break from blogging, but I'll be back next week with five consecutive reviews of recently released American whiskeys starting next Sunday.

And for a fun whiskey read, check out the excellent discussion about whiskey and water in the comments from last week's post.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Pappy Van Winkle: Know Your Bottle Codes

2011-11-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's Pappy time! That crazy time every fall when the Pappy Van Winkle's get released. Pappy Van Winkle, of course, is one of the most prized regular releases for bourbon lovers. The Van Winkle family, of the late Stitzel-Weller distillery, are known to have a diminishing number of barrels of that prized Stitzel-Weller bourbon. Along with those barrels, they also bottle whiskey made at Buffalo Trace (and their rye comes from a variety of sources).

Of late, there has been much controversy about which bottles of Pappy are Stitzel-Weller and which are Buffalo Trace. There doesn't seem to be much doubt that the 20 and 23 year old Pappys are still made from Stitzel-Weller bourbon, but there has been a lot of back and forth about the 15.

Pappy 15 is the most affordable and some think the best of the Pappy line (which also makes it the hardest to get). Based on statements made by the Van Winkles a few years ago, it sounds as if they made a big (and possibly final) run of Pappy 15 bottles from Stitzel Weller in 2009 that held them through the spring 2011 release. This fall, according to this K&L interview with Preston Van Winkle, the Pappy 15 is bourbon made at Buffalo Trace.

But suppose you happen to find a bottle of Pappy on a dusty shelf somewhere. How will you know whether it is the old Stitzel Weller or the new Buffalo Trace version? The answer is in the bottle code. If you have ever visited Tim Puett's Ardbeg Project site, you know about bottle codes. They are codes placed on each bottle that show the time and date of the bottling and they can help you distinguish between different releases of the same whiskey. Tim has demonstrated huge differences in, for instance, the Ardbeg 10 over the years, but you can't tell when the whiskey is from without knowing the bottle code.

Buffalo Trace uses a similar code which can tell you the year your Van Winkle (or your Stagg, Weller, etc.) was bottled. The code is a very small digital stamp that appears on the bottle, usually below the back label. Here's how to read it using two examples:

Example 1: K0780907:21

Example 2: N3001114:13

The first letter is the bottling line at Buffalo Trace; example 1 was the K line, and example 2 was the N line. I don't know enough about the bottling there to know if there is any real significance that can be gleaned from the bottling line.

The second three digits indicate the day of the year that it was bottled. So example 1 was bottled on the 78th day of the year and example 2 was bottled on the 300th day of the year.

The third two digits indicate the year - this is really the most significant piece of information. The "09" on example 1 indicates it was bottled in 2009, so if it's Pappy 15, it would likely be from the old Stitzel-Weller stocks. Example 2 has an "11" which indicates 2011 when they started using Buffalo Trace bourbon.

The final four digits are the bottling time on a 24 hour clock, so example 1 was bottled at 7:21 am and example 2 was bottled at 2:13 pm (14:13).

If you love your Pappy and your BTAC and especially if you go dusty hunting for older versions, it pays to know your bottle codes.

Turkey Day Cheese

2011-11-20T18:00:00.001-08:00

If you're looking for some good cheeses to start off your Turkey Day, here are some I've been enjoying lately:

Toreggio (also known as Roccolo). No, not Taleggio but from the same region of Italy, Toreggio is a cow milk cheese with a consistency more similar to a goat, a bit chalky in the middle, smooth and creamy closer to the rind. It's a washed rind cheese with a subtle, nutty flavor which would go well with any of the traditional cheese plate accompaniments, including nuts and dried fruit.

Caveman Blue. Rogue Creamery in Oregon is probably my favorite maker of domestic blue cheese. Caveman Blue is a creamy, raw cow cheese with a sweet disposition. It plays well with fruit, so slather it on tart apple or pear slices, and I bet it would go down well with either a Riesling or a Beaujolais, if that's how you roll on Turkey Day.

Harbison is a soft, bloomy rind cow cheese from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont. Wrapped in bark, the cheese oozes at room temperature. It starts off with a nice nutty character, then you get just a glimpse of some ripe, aged Camembert type flavors; tasty but not the highest of stink.

So happy Thanksgiving and cheese it up!

Recent Reads: Of Scotch and Werewolves - The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

2011-11-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

I used to be a fan of vampire stories. I love the gothic reportage of Bram Stoker's original Dracula, the eerily elegant portrayals of the Prince of Darkness by Bela Lugosi and Frank Langella, and the impressionistic gruesomeness of Nosferatu. But then Anne Rice came along and ruined the entire genre with her overwritten prose and dandy vampires. Her silly novels led directly to a world inhabited by the schlocky vampires of True Blood and Twilight. Vampires written for overly romantic pre-teen girls, possibly living in the Victorian era.

But we still have werewolves, and Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf makes the case for the vitality of that sister genre. Duncan's novel is a first person diary of the last surviving werewolf, living among us in contemporary society. Duncan's werewolf, Jacob Marlowe, is smart and real, neither elegant nor overly beautiful. He may be 200 years old, but his disposition is decidedly modern, and best of all, he loves his Scotch. The opening scene has him drinking a 45 year old Macallan as his only friend tells him of the death of a German werewolf that was the only other surviving member of his species. He later imbibes some Glenlivet and suspiciously noses a dram that he suspects is Laphroaig when he ordered Oban.

Whisky is a small detail in this work, but it gives me a chance to encourage anyone with a love of the genre to seek it out. It's smart and well written with an ironic sense of humor. You won't be disappointed.

Mail Bag...It's Your Whiskey

2011-11-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest question from the email bag:

Dear Sku,

My two favorite whiskies are Brora 30 year old and Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old. I like to drink the Brora with Red Bull and the Pappy with Coke (50/50). I know these are expensive whiskeys, but hey, it's my whiskey; I should be able to drink it however I want right?

Coke Fiend

Dear Fiend,

If you pose this question on most blogs or whiskey forums, the first response will typically be reassurance. "Yes," the responders all say, "it's your whiskey, you can drink it however you want."

I'm sorry, but that's bullshit. If I buy a rare Van Gough at an auction and decide to use it as toilet paper, that is not okay. I would be misusing a national treasure and being an idiot. I don't care if I paid for it, I'm still an idiot.

You want to buy whiskey to drink with Coke or Redbull? That's why God (aka Brown-Forman) invented Jack Daniel's. Hell, you can brush your teeth with it like Ke$hafor all I care.

What's the difference? Well, JD is plentiful and fungible. There is plenty of it and the spigot will never run dry; one bottle is the same as the next. Brora and Pappy, though, are scarce resources and international treasures, like the last dodo bird. And each annual release is somewhat different. Even as I write this, there are people wondering how they can get just one bottle of the latest Pappy release without having to go on ebay and pay exorbitant prices to some guy who happened to score a case.

So, no, it's not okay to buy this stuff because you have the means and then drown it in cola. It's your whiskey, but with these rare whiskeys comes a responsibility to the whiskey community to not be an idiot.

Disneyland Dining: Stage Door Cafe

2011-11-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I did a write up of the various food offerings at Disneyland. One place I didn't make it to back then was the Stage Door Cafe. The Stage Door is in Frontier Land, just to the right of the Golden Horseshoe ice cream shop. The cafe is a counter where you order food to eat in the outdoor seating area.

It turns out that even more than most Disney eateries, if you can imagine this, the Stage Door is a palace of fried food. In fact, literally everything on the menu is fried, with the exception of the mandatory Disney-healthy-option bag of apple slices. The menu choices are fish & chips, chicken tenders & fries and corn dog & fries. The corn dogs are the excellent Disneyland version available at the Main Street red wagon and the Corn Dog Castle at California Adventure. The chicken was perfectly acceptable and I didn't try the fish.

For dessert, they have funnel cake offered topped with sugar, strawberry topping or chocolate. I had high hopes for the funnel cake. After all, Disney cuisine may have a number of draw backs but their strength is that they know how to fry the shit out of things. The corn dogs are probably the best food in the park, the churros are tasty and the monte cristo sandwiches at the Blue Bayou are legendary. Unfortunately, that deep frying prowess didn't seem to carry on to the funnel cake. Instead of being crisp, it was chewy and stale. I suspect it had spent some time sitting under a heat lamp, which is death for funnel cakes. But the flavor was also pretty non-existent, which is, I suppose why they buried it in strawberry glop and non-dairy whipped topping.

Overall, the Stage Door Cafe is not a bad option if you're looking for something fast and greasy. Just skip the funnel cake.

Quiz Answer: Who Serves the Finest Corn Whiskey?

2011-11-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

So, in answer to the quiz question from last week, where is this establishment that serves the "Finest Corn Whiskey"? The answer is...nowhere. As you may have guessed, this being tinseltown and all, this is a facade. It's not from a movie set, though, it appears on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster at Disneyland.

My daughter is the one who found it one day when she was in line for the ride with my wife. "Look, it says whiskey," she said loudly, "Daddy loves whiskey!" For the rest of the line, my poor wife had to endure the pitifully sympathetic looks from nearby patrons who undoubtedly imagined that the little girl's father was, at that very moment, lying face down in the gutter somewhere.

Had I been there, of course, I would have corrected her..."Yeah, but not corn whiskey."

The Latest Sichuan: Taste of Chongqing

2011-11-06T18:00:00.001-08:00

Taste of Chongqing is a relatively new Sichuan restaurant on Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel. I'm a big fan of the San Gabriel Sichuan stalwart Chung King, so it was hard for me not to compare.

I always start a Sichuan meal with a selection of the traditional cold appetizers. Smoked chicken was fine but lacked the intense smoke of Chung King. Marinated cucumbers were refreshing and nice to eat along with the spicy foods that followed.

Sichuan style fish with peppers is the equivalent to one of my favorite Chung King dishes, hot pot fish, white fish cooked in a spicy broth. The fish at Congqing is tender and nicely cooked but the broth lacks the sizzle of the highly spiced Chung King broth. If you're looking for spice, the deep fried shrimp have it. Big hits of pepper and Sichuan peppercorn, so much so that I had to eat it in very small amounts. Lamb with pickled peppers was one of my favorite dishes with plenty of spice playing well with the gaminess of lamb.

On the less spicy side, sauteed green beans were very nice and they do a fabulous chow mein with a nice smoky flavor.

My initial reaction to the Taste of Congqing is that it is less funky, but also less flavorful than Chung King. I'd rather go for the raw, in your face flavors of Chung King.

Taste of Chongqing
172 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 288-1357

Brandy Friday: Nicolas Palazzi's Cognac Mission

2011-11-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've done a number of Brandy Friday posts over the years, but I haven't stuck to brandy the way I have to whiskey. Part of the problem is the state of Cognac, the premiere brandy. Too much of the Cognac from the big houses is syrupy sweet, and even the best Cognacs have a certain simplicity to them. Added caramel is a given with most Cognac, added sugar is common and very few are released above 40% abv. After my first series of Cognac tastings on the blog, I opined that Cognac was behind the curve compared to whiskey with regard to additives and abv.

But Nicolas Palazzi aims to change all of that. Palazzi is a brandy importer and independent bottler. Born into a wine making family and raised in Bordeaux, he operates PM Spirits in New York, making regular trips back to France to hunt for Cognacs from small producers which he bottles under his Paul-Marie & Fils label. Through buying his own casks, Palazzi is able to release them the way he wants to: single barrel, cask strength and unfiltered. And he doesn't use added sugar, caramel or wood additives (boise) which are common in Cognac production; says Palazzi, "I despise those things."

Suddenly, Cognac is catching up to where whiskey has been for years. Palazzi's first special release for K&L Wines, one of the retailers he works with regularly, was a 58 year old vintage 1951 Cognac that weighed in at $600. Impressive sounding, but at a price that most of us can't afford. Luckily, there were more reasonably priced options to come. Palazzi's latest Cognac for K&L is $130, still expensive, but not outrageous.

There are 200 bottles of this new K&L exclusive. It comes from from the Borderies zone of Cognac, and while there is no age statement, K&L says that it is an XO (XO indicates at least six years old - but I'd guess this is significantly older).

Paul-Marie & Fils Cognac, Faultline Spirits (K&L Wine), 200 bottles, 61% abv ($130 exclusively at K&L)

The nose on this is bursting with fruit, but not just traditional grape/wine notes; there are apples and pears as well and some nice spice in the background. The palate is even more lush with mulling spices, cloves, even some sweet orange, all painted on a canvass of bourbony oak with some pine and fir to boot. Gone is the syrupy sweetness that many Cognacs push to the fore. Instead, there are complex notes of spice and herb. This is a whiskey lover's Cognac if ever there was one, and while it's cask strength, it goes down very easy. A drop of water, as is often the case, brings out the sugar, but makes it lose some of the balance. Drink it neat! The finish is well balanced with sweet wine and oak and then a slight vegetal note, maybe tobacco.

This is a pretty extraordinary Cognac and if you like whiskey, and bourbon in particular, you should give it a try.

I had largely given up on Cognac as anything other than a pleasant but simplistic night cap. Now my interest is piqued. Cognac may finally be getting it.

SMWS Extravaganza: Don't Forget Your Sku Discount

2011-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

November is when the Scotch Malt Whisky Society brings it's tasting Extravaganza road show to California. Don't forget that as one of my valued readers, you can get a discount at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's Single Malt and Scotch Whiskey Extravaganza.

The regular price is $135, but your Sku discount gets you up to two tickets for the member price of $120. To purchase tickets and get your discount, just go to the Society's website and enter SRE2011 in the promotional code box.

Dates and times are as follows:

Los Angeles: Friday, November 11 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica.

San Francisco: Wednesday November 9 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at teh Intercontinental Hotel.

FTC Disclaimer: Sku finally sold out and attends this event free of charge.

Whiskey Quiz: Who Serves the Finest Corn Whiskey

2011-11-01T18:00:00.001-07:00

Did you know that white whiskey was big enough to have its own specialty bar? Somewhere in Southern California is the establishment, shown above, known as the Gold Nugget Dance Hall. As you can see from the picture, they claim, "We Serve the Finest Corn Whiskey."

So, where is this place?

Scary Stuff for Halloween!

2011-10-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Here now, some scary stuff from the archives. Warning: Not for the faint of heart.

Boo!

Recent Reads: Life on the Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas

2011-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Chicago chef Grant Achatz has, in a very short time, become one of the most lauded chefs in the United States. Making his name at Trio in Evanston and then opening his own restaurant, Alinea, the French Laundry veteran has become the American spokesperson for modern cuisine (aka molecular gastronomy) and an advocate of the dining room as theater, the plate as stage.

Achatz's autobiography, Life on the Line, written jointly with his business partner Nick Kokonas, traces his rise to legendary status in a career in which it seemed nothing could go wrong, then turns to his highly publicized battle with cancer of the tongue and the treatments which left this chef without the one sensation he valued above all others: taste.

It's a fascinating story, and a more jarringly real one than most cooking memoirs: the standard cooking memoir turned nearly tragic. Achatz isn't an emotional guy and his take on his own cancer is refreshingly handled without outsized sentimentality. If anything, Achatz' writing seems a bit too emotionally detached when dealing with his relationship with his children and his first marriage. Overall though, he strikes the right balance and comes up with a memoir worth reading.

My biggest complaint about Life on the Line is that about half way through, co-author Nick Kokonas joins as a co-narrator. From that point, the narration switches without warning between Achatz and Kokonas, and while having the second perspective can occasionally be enlightening, more often it's redundant and a bit confusing to boot. While they usually tip you off in the first sentence as to who the narrator is, I found myself losing track in the narration ping pong that plays out between different sections. The muddled narrator-switching, though, is a small blemish on a worthwhile read.

Devil or Angel: Angel's Envy

2011-10-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Released earlier this year, Angel's Envy has been on of the most touted new bourbons of the year. The brainchild of Lincoln Henderson, formerly of Brown-Forman's Woodford Reserve, Angel's Envy is a Kentucky Bourbon from an unnamed distillery finished in port casks.

Wine finishing is huge in Scotch but still relatively rare in bourbon. Jim Beam tried it about ten years ago with a few, very expensive special releases, Woodford Reserve finished one of their Master's Collection bourbons in chardonnay casks, a few of the Buffalo Trace Experimental Collections have included wine finishes, and the upcoming annual release of Heaven Hill's Parker's Heritage Collection will be a Cognac finished bourbon. As far as I know, though, Angel's Envy is the first bourbon to be finished in port pipes since the Beam releases a decade ago (independent bottler Big Bottom now also appears to have a port finished bourbon). How does port interact with bourbon? Let's see.

Angel's Envy, 43% abv ($42)

The nose is full of sweet, floral notes. It's like a rose garden. The palate is also very floral and perfumy. There's a very light character to it. The port is most evident in the late palate and into the finish, which is where it really shows, so much so that the finish recalls port finished Scotch.

This is a decent enough bourbon, but I don't think it lives up to the hype. I should admit that light and floral are not my favorite notes, so in part, this just isn't my style of bourbon. Beyond that though, it's not particularly complex. If you like light, floral and sweet, give it a try.

Scotch & Ice Cream

2011-10-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

No, Scotch & Ice Cream is not a new Ben & Jerry's flavor nor is it some combination ice cream parlor/speakeasy that just opened downtown. It's a new whiskey blog, and one you should read. Founded by my pal and regular commenter Regular Chumpington, Scotch & Ice Cream is his place to document his tastings. I always love to read RC's notes because he has a real gift for doing the whole flavor analogy thing (something that's never been my strong point). His reviews are helpful, entertaining and unpretentious.

And there's more than Scotch, including plenty of bourbon and some really interesting musings. So far though, the site is sorely lacking in ice cream. Come on RC, time to live up to your title.

Check it out!

Important Customer Notice: Buffalo Trace Antique & Pappy Van Winkle Distribution

2011-10-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Valued Customer,

We at Sku's Great Big House of Liquor do our level best to try and please each and every customer. In fact, our spirits directors, the Steves, will be travelling to Mexico next month to procure a specially selected, single barrel, cask strength, unfiltered, port-finished Tia Maria, even though we wrote in our blog last week that not everything should be cask strengh and unfiltered, and aren't we losing some amount of whiskey tradition by placing these demands on our spirits, and what is the purpose of drinking in our culture, and do we prove our importance or even our existence through drinking certain whiskeys and what are the sociological implications of that anyway, isn't drinking, like language itself, a mere construct? But I digress...

Unfortunately, it is simply not always possible to please the neurotic, OCD, border line paranoid-schitzophrenics who make up our dedicated customer base. We already have 10.5 million people on our standby list for the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and the fall releases of Pappy Van Winkle. We have just been notified by Buffalo Trace that we will only be getting one bottle of each of these, so there will, unfortunately, not be enough for everyone. Therefore, we have come up with what we think is a fair way to distribute these very coveted bottles.

Step 1: Lottery. We will pick 150,000 names out of a hat. This will involve the procurement of a very large hat.

Step 2: Quiz. Each of the people who are picked out of a hat will be sent a detailed quiz about these bourbons. Please be familiar with the mashbills, provenance, romantic histories of the various brand ambassadors and other characteristics of these whiskeys.

Step 3: Triatholon. The 10,258 best scorers on the quiz will compete in a triatholon.

Step 4: Cage Match. The top two competitors in the triatholon will engage in a cage match. The winner of the cage match will get the bottle. If it is a tie, the tie will be broken by a game of backgammon.

Remember, you can sign up for more than one bottle, but you will have to participate in each step for every bottle you sign up for, even Eagle Rare 17.

The good news is that everyone who participates gets a free bottle of Rain Vodka!

Good luck and let the games begin. And thank you for choosing Sku's Great Big House of Liquor.

The Devil You Know: Jim Beam Devil's Cut

2011-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

By now, I think most people know the back story of Jim Beam Devil's Cut, which was released earlier this year, but if not, here's the short version: When bourbon is aged, some of the liquid gets trapped in the barrel. After it is dumped, you can sweat the bourbon out, usually by adding water and agitating the barrel. This can reportedly produce liters of whiskey. Beam extracts the trapped whiskey and then blends it with a six year old bourbon. The result is Devil's Cut. The name is, of course, a play on the "angel's share," that proportion of whiskey that evaporates during aging.

I've never been a huge Beam fan, but it's nice to see some new product coming out of them. After years of pretty much nothing new in the whiskey world (excluding flavored whiskey), they've given us Knob Creek Single Barrel, Maker's 46 and now this.

Jim Beam Devil's Cut, 45% abv ($22)

The nose on this is quite nice and very Beam with sweet corn syrup, maybe a bit of cough syrup as well and some fruit candy notes. The palate starts with some nice fruit notes, turns vanilla and then goes flat pretty quickly, becoming thin and watery. It's one of those where you try to hold on to the first taste on the tip of your tongue but inevitably lose it. It's inoffensive but not at all interesting.

It always bugs me when a distillery comes out with an innovation and then blends it with their regular whiskey (see also Ardbeg Alligator). We never know how much of the innovative whiskey is in the bottle or what it would taste like on its own. I'd be interested to taste what the actual "devil's cut" extracted from the barrel, pre-blending, tasted like, but then again, maybe the devil we know is better than the devil we don't.

We All Scream for Sweet Cream

2011-10-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

People who are obsessive about coffee insist on drinking only straight espresso or drip coffee. In their view, milk obscures the fragrances and flavors that make the coffee distinct and exceptional. Whiskey lovers are the same way...ice numbs the palate, and while a little water is acceptable, neat is preferred. Yet in the world of great ice cream, the trend seems to be to create the most bizarre flavor combinations. Everyone wants you to try their new bacon-wasabi-cheddar ice cream.

Well, when it comes to ice cream, I like fun flavors as much of the next person, but I also like to taste it in its purest form, and that means sweet cream. Sweet cream is the basis of all ice cream. A creme anglaise (a custard of milk, eggs and sugar) with heavy cream. Creme anglaise itself is one of the wonders of the world and I am totally happy to eat it straight, but when you add cream and freeze it, it's sublime. Tasting the core ingredients stripped of any additives makes you understand that all ice cream really is "frozen custard."

When I lived in New England, sweet cream was on offered at all the great ice cream places. I've seen it occasionally since then, but recently it seems to have dropped off menus, or maybe it was just never as big in California.

So now, I make it myself in a little ice cream make I recieved as a wedding present many years ago. My only addition is a few teaspoons of maple syrup which adds to the depth of the sweet element but isn't enough to give a maple flavor.

After 40 minutes in the machine, it's soft, white, fluffy and pure. Ice cream at its most basic and wonderful form. Long live the sweet cream!

Buffalo Trace Single Oak Project - The First Release

2011-10-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote about the innovative Buffalo Trace Single Oak Project earlier this year when they announced it. Now I've had the chance to taste through the first release, and I thought I'd give you my impressions.

First, the tasting process is really fascinating. Each release has a number of constants and a number of variables. For the first release, the variables were grain coarseness (fine, average or coarse), what part of the tree the barrel was made from (top or bottom) and mashbill (wheat or rye). Everything else was constant. This gave the taster the opportunity to measure these factors alone.

I came away with this with a few impressions. The bottom cut barrels were almost always more intensely flavored than the top cut. This wasn't always a good thing. In some of the rye recipe bourbons, bottom cut barrels seemed to produce more vegetal flavors, while top cuts were more balanced and elegant.

Grain coarseness is not something I could really pin down as having a distinct impact, though I liked the average grain bourbons better than both the fine and coarse grain.

Interestingly, this whole project is probably less likely to produce a single "perfect bourbon" (as was originally touted) than to give Buffalo Trace an extremely specific idea of what elements produce what flavors, allowing them to fine tune their vatting and know more specifically how to produce desired flavor profiles.

The whole tasting process is fascinating, and I intend to taste through the whole 192 bottle series (splitting it with a group). Should you? In most cases, I would say no.

These are not the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. None of the bottles I tasted in the first series was great. They mostly ranged from good to pretty good, but I can't say I would recommend running out and buying any of them. If you can even get them individually (many stores are selling them only by the case) and you want to get a glimpse of the project without investing in 12 bottles, I would recommend getting a pair of bottles with one variable. For instance, barrels 99 and 100 from the first release are both wheaters with average grains, but one is a top tree barrel and one is a bottom. Taste these two and you will get some sense of the impact of the part of the tree the barrel comes from. You could make similar match ups based on any of the variables which will give you some of the experience.

Would I recommend getting the whole set to anyone? Only the most serious whiskey geeks who have whiskey geek friends to share with. There is no way I would be doing this if I wasn't splitting it. It's just too much not-great bourbon. But if you are a serious geek and have some geek-friends, you will have a unique educational experience.

I'll be tasting through the second release soon, and I'll post my reactions.

No Fry Zone: (fōnuts)

2011-10-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Fonuts, or (fōnuts) as the proprietors spell it, is a shop on West Third Street that sells non-fried doughnuts (i.e. faux-nuts, get it?). It's hard to understand what would make someone make a non-fried doughnut. The first guess might be that they would do it for health reasons, but given that these are decked out with thick, syrupy toppings, filled with creams and even sprinkled with bacon, I'm thinking this wasn't a health decision. Whatever the reason for the decision, they should reconsider.

Like most doughnut shops, Fonuts has cake and yeast varieties. The cake do fine, they are cake after all. The unfried yeast doughnuts have a taste and consistency similar to Portuguese sweet bread. It's not offensive but it doesn't have the yeasty zing of a good yeast doughnut, plus that type of bread has a perpetually stale mouthfeel.

It's sad because the toppings at Fonuts are remarkably good. The Hawaiian doughnut is a round yeast doughnut filled with an almost mousse like coconut cream with a strong coconut flavor; it's rolled in powdered sugar and just a touch of salt. The sugar/salt/coconut combination is unexpectedly brilliant. The salted caramel doughnut has a wonderfully thick caramel topping with a creamy consistency. The maple bacon doughnut has a white glaze which tastes more of vanilla than maple and a nice sprinkling of bacon; it catches the sweet/smoky/salty balance exactly without any unwanted grease. The PB&J has a rich, dark filling with a strong burst of peanut butter. While they run quite sweet, the flavor combinations are wonderful and are clearly made with great care. The problem is that they lose out to the flat flavor of the bread. While eating them, I couldn't help but think, my God, this would make a really great doughnut, like Doughnut Plant great. Eating at Fonuts is like living a pastry tragedy.

I get that this is an innovation or gimmick (the difference can be hard to tell), but please Fonuts, get a fryer and make us some real doughnuts.

(fōnuts)
8104 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 592-3075

The Big Mac Daddy - Macallan 30

2011-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Macallan is one of the most storied single malts. The consummate sherried malt, it's one of the only widely popular malts that is also well respected among whisky geeks. Now, personally, I've never been a huge Macallan devotee, but I generally like the stuff, so when one of my whisky pals and blog commenters, the Regular Chumpington, offered me a sample of the 30 year old, I was more than happy to accept (he also took the professional quality bottle shot to the right - and see his own thoughts on Mac 30 on his new blog).

The Macallan 30 is 43% and goes for a whoppin' $1,000. Needless to say, I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

The nose had grape juice and sweet sherry. The palate was quite sweet with sherry and soap and the finish went fruity. The whole thing was rather thin and lacking in complexity. When you pay $1,000 for a bottle of whisky (well, even when someone else pays $1,000 for it), you expect something profound. You expect to take pages and pages of notes, trying to document the complexities, the deep flavor profile, the ethereal notes that are hard to pin down. None of that was here. In fact, while I didn't do a side by side, my recollection is that the 18 year old is more complex on the palate that this one.

Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't a bad whisky. It was perfectly drinkable, but when you get up to the four figures (or even the three figures), you demand a lot more than something that is unobjectionable.

It seems like Macallan just phoned it in. Hey, they know people will pay huge bucks for a Macallan 30, so dump whatever old, imperfect casks they've got and bottle it up. Very disappointing. Come on Macallan, you can do better than that.

Compass Box's Newest: Great King Street Artist's Blend

2011-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

John Glaser of Compass Box has long been known as a rebel and innovator. He nearly single handedly brought the vatted malt back to prominence and was an early champion of grain whiskey. While Glaser has also made traditional blended Scotch in the past, he is now making a serious push to rehabilitate the long derided category with a new series: Great King Street.

The first release in the Great King Street series is the Artist's Blend. Per the Compass Box web page, the Artist's Blend is composed of:

51.4% Lowland Grain Whisky

23.2% Northern Highland Malt

17.7% Northern Highland Malt

7.7% Speyside Malt

This doesn't tell us that much about the specific distilleries. Many of the big grain distilleries are in the Lowlands, but we do know that Compass Box previously used Port Dundas grain whisky for last year's Double Single. And knowing Compass Box, it's probably a pretty safe bet that one of the Northern Highlanders i Clynelish.

The various whiskies are aged in American Oak casks, French Oak casks and sherry butts. The abv is 43%.

Compass Box has done two big things right in marketing this. First, they've priced it very competitively, second they've released a half bottle. Locally, the 750 ml bottle is going for around $40 and the 375 ml for $22.

Tasting

This has a really wonderful nose. It's very fruity with grapes and cherries and white wine notes. The palate is rich with vanilla, fruit and oak and just a bit of sherry toward the end and lasting into the finish, though the finish is on the short side. Upon tasting, I'd say there is definitely some Clynelish in there because it has some of that Clynelish richness.

It's got a certain lightness and a feint grainyness that let's you know it's a blend, but a really good one, not hugely complex but a real easy drinker. Something you don't need to think too much about but that would be pleasant anytime (and probably do well with ice, soda and such), and I especially appreciate the 375 ml option.

Based on this, I'm interested to see where Compass Box will go with this series.

RIP: BonBonBar - But Still a Chance to Get One Last Order

2011-10-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

BonBonBars are so good that I've written them up several time. Nina Wanat's Bay Area based one-woman candy company makes amazing chocolate bars and marshmallows. She is a true artisan and a whiskey lover to boot, doing crazy things like making a chocolate Scotch Bar with Talisker and a Bourbon Bar with George T. Stagg. Her standard caramel nut bar may be the best candy bar I've had anywhere.

I suppose all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, BonBonBar is no different. Nina announced today that she is closing down the shop. All orders must be in by this Thursday, October 6, so this is your last chance to enjoy these fabulous candies. Get some now!

The saving grace is that Nina just published a candy making cookbook which will hopefully allow some of us to recreate her wonderful creations. I've ordered mine and will post a review when it comes in, but for now, I'm stocking up on the last set of BonBonBars.

Good luck to Nina and I hope she's abel to continue to pursue her passions.

Fair Warning: Eating Carefully at the LA County Fair

2011-10-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

As an annual pilgrim to the LA County Fair, I have learned certain lessons about fair food. If you're not careful, you can leave disappointed and nauseous. If you do it right, you can find some really good eats, but you have to be careful.

Beware the latest deep fried or chocolate covered novelty. With the exception of the excellent deep fried Snickers, these things are almost always sub-par. In particular, the over-hyped Chicken Charlie's, home of the annual "Look What Crap They're Deep Frying Now" news story, is pretty uniformly bad.

Remember, just because you can deep fry it or cover it with chocolate, doesn't mean you should. There are a reason people have been deep frying potatoes and onions for centuries, because they're good, and the homemade chips at the Tasti Chips stand are as good as any you'll find.

What the Fair does have are a number of stands from great local eateries. A carnitas torta from King Taco or a Pink's hot dog beats out pretty much all of the other crap. This year, I was pleased to see that Harold & Belle's, the South LA Creole/Cajun restaurant, also had a stand. So, yeah, you could get a three foot long corn dog and a plate of french fries as big as your head, or you could get a perfectly spicy gumbo, a rich and succulent crawfish etouffee or a shrimp po-boy and a bread pudding with Jack Daniel's sauce (pictured).

Finish it off with a scoop or two of Dr. Bob's ice cream and you will leave knowing you have conquered the culinary obstacle course that is the LA County Fair.

Shackleton's Cookie

2011-09-29T18:00:00.001-07:00

Many whisky fans are familiar with the story of Shackleton's Whisky. During an Antarctic excavation, several boxes of unopened Scotch were found in a hut that had been abandoned during Sir Ernest Shackleton's unsuccessful 1907 expedition to the South Pole. The whisky was flown to Scotland where it was tasted by Whyte & Mackay Master Blender Richard Paterson who used it to create a replica whisky that is now on sale.

But did you know there is also a Shackleton cookie? A cookie from the same expedition was recovered and sold at auction for nearly $2,000. Think this is one of my parodies? Think again. They've even made a replica of a similar cookie, but no word on Paterson's involvement.

What other crap can we reproduce from Shackleton's expedition?

Sku's Q&A: Single Malt Whiskey vs. Straight Whiskey

2011-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a question I recently received that I thought was worth sharing:

Sku, I know that a single malt Scotch has to come from just one distillery or else it's a blend, but what about an American "straight whiskey"? Does a straight bourbon or rye have to come from just one distillery as well?

That's a great question. Because the definition of single malt is more well known to whiskey consumers, I think many people assume that straight bourbons and ryes also must come from a single distillery, but that is not the case. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulations, straight whiskey can include "mixtures of straight whiskies of the same type produced in the same State." 27 C.F.R. § 5.22(b)(1)(iii).

Therefore, you can mix bourbons from two different distilleries together and still call it "straight bourbon" as long as both bourbons were distilled in the same state. Indeed, that is the case with Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select, which includes bourbon distilled at the Brown-Forman distillery in Shively, Kentucky and the Woodford Reserve distillery in Versailles, Kentucky.

If a bottler combines straight whiskeys from different states, they have to call it a "blend of straight whiskeys." 27 C.F.R. § 5.22(b)(5).

Blog Changes

2011-09-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

We're making some changes here at Sku's Recent Eats. No, I haven't yet sold to the Shanken Group and changed the name of the blog to The Sku Aficionado. My changes are much less drastic and sadly, much less lucrative, but there are changes nonetheless.

The End of Whiskey Wednesday

When I started the blog it was principally a food blog with a whiskey post every Wednesday. As the blog has evolved, I find I have more to say about whiskey than food, and I no longer want to confine my whiskey posts to a mere one day per week, so while we will still have whiskey on Wednesdays, we might have whiskey Mondays or Thursdays. For that reason, I'm retiring the title of Whiskey Wednesday (and don't worry, food posts will continue as always but, hey, I'm trying to stay healthy here).

New Lists

A few months ago, I moved my Complete List of American Distilleries and Brands to a new page. I've now added another page entitled List of American Whiskeys which is an alphabetical list of all of the currently available (in the US) American whiskey brands and who makes them. It's largely the same information as the distilleries and brands list, but listed by whiskey brand name instead of by distillery/company, and with a bit more speculation about what is actually in the bottle.

I've also combined all of my whiskey links into a links
page. I will try to do the same for my food links as well.

My next project will be to try and come up with an FAQ page that combines some of the random FAQs from former posts that I have listed now.

Thanks to all my readers for their patience with my low-tech blog. If anyone has suggestions (or if Shanken finally wants to cut me a check), please feel free to email me or leave comments.

Macarons on Larchmont - 'lette Macarons

2011-09-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

'lette Macarons, the popular macaron shop with branches in Beverly Hills and Pasadena, recently opened a shop on Larchmont Boulevard. Needless to say, I had to check it out.

'lette (the name is short for the owner's name - Paulette) doesn't just specialize in macarons, the colorful and increasingly popular little French sandwich cookies, it's literally all they sell, though they come in a variety of flavors. I picked up a healthy sampling.

Overall, the macarons were good (it's tough to make a bad one) but a bit too sweet. Comparing them to my current favorite macarons from Bouchon Bakery, the fillings in the 'lette macarons have a heavier cream in the middle, more like traditional sandwich cookies than the light, airy fillings that you find in the best macarons. My favorites were the passionfruit and coconut which had strong flavors and were a bit less sweet.

The pricing at this place is very odd. One macaron costs $1.70 but the price for two is $4 (more than double the price of one?!?). A box of six will cost you $10.50, again, more than the cost of six individual macarons. Someone at 'lette HQ should work this out. It's fine not to give people a savings, but charging more for bigger purchases is downright silly.

'lette Macarons
122 N Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 469-3620

The Sad Decline of Wine & Liquor Depot

2011-09-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, Wine & Liquor Depot in Van Nuys was the destination for whiskey in the LA area. The shop boasted what was probably the largest selection of independent bottlings of single malt Scotch in the nation. There were hundreds of Cadenheads, Murray McDavids, Douglas Laings and others. The indie bottles were densely stuffed together on two long rows of shelves. It was like Scotch heaven. They also had a great selection of American whiskey, not to mention a lot of brandies, tequila and mezcal.

The store seems like it's been in a slow decline for a while, but it was really driven home to me on my last visit. The rows of indies have been picked over and not restocked, and there are precious few left. Cheap blends and gin now occupy space which formerly held much of the massive indie collection.

There is still a good collection of distillery bottlings and a small collection of rarities. You can get a Loch Dhu, if you dare, a few old Springbanks or George T. Staggs from years past, and the Black Bowmore still sits on its pedestal, out of reach in both height and price.

But the Depot was always about the indies. That's what made it special and what made it a destination for Scotch lovers from across the region and even the country. Now, it's just another pretty good liquor store.

I'm not sure why this happened. It could be the retirement of the former owner; certainly the recession may have played a role or the increased competition as whiskey became bigger and bigger.

There was a time when I looked forward all month to a Depot trip and could easily spend an hour going through their huge stock. That the shop was buried in an unlikely corner of Van Nuys and that it didn't seem to advertise or make any attempt to promote itself whatsoever (or even offer passable customer service) was all part of the charm.

I still go occasionally, but more often than not, I leave empty handed (which never used to happen). Luckily for us LA whiskey geeks, K&L started stepping up its game just as the Depot was entering its decline, so there is no lack of good whiskey to be had, but I must admit, I miss the trips up to Van Nuys, the low key vibe and the still unrivaled selection of years past. But all things must change, I suppose, even one's favorite liquor store.

Introducing a Real Craft Whiskey

2011-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

I know I've occasionally been a critic of the craft whiskey movement, but I know when it's time to jump on the bandwagon, so I am proud to introduce my own craft whiskey. Here's all the information you need for your press releases and tweets.

Sku's Great Grandpappy's Down Home Real California Sippin' Whiskey.

Sku is proud to present Sku's Great Grandpappy's Down Home Real California Sippin' Whiskey. Back when Sku's Great Grandpappy first settled in California, it was only nachural for him to start makin' traditional California-style Rye Whiskey, but unlike most old-time moonshiners, Great Grandpappy had a special formula using only the best California rye, corn, barley, water and yeast. Well, a few years ago we found Great Grandpappy's formula in the attic and we decided that if he hadn't been gunned down by the rev'nue officers and was still around today, he'd want us to make his whiskey, a real down home sippin' whiskey made by kin.

After many hard months of of foolin' with stills, washes and whatnot, we are proud to introduce Sku's Great Grandpappy's Down Home Real California Sippin' Whiskey, the only down home sippin' whiskey from California. Sku's Great Grandpappy's Down Home Real California Sippin' Whiskey is the real thing, and it'll knock your socks off. It's 95% rye and 5% barley and it's been aged just a hair more than a crewcut. Now we could easily sell this whiskey for $80 or $90, but Great Grandpappy wouldn't take a shine to that; he'd want you to buy it now for only $79.99. So grab a bottle, take a swig and you'll be drinkin' like Great Grandpappy in no time.

Sku's Great Grandpappy's Down Home Real California Sippin' Whiskey, Inc., a subsidiary of Sku's Golf, Pharmaceutical & Spirits Industries, 58 Madison Ave. Suite 3082, New York, NY. A product of Indiana; aged 4.7 months; 375 ml. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Yee Haw!

Vegas Journal: Whiskey & Chips at Delmonico

2011-09-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

I always try to sniff out a good whiskey list while in Vegas. Last year, the best I found was the excellent bar at CraftSteak in the MGM. This trip I was staying further up the Strip, but found a very good whiskey selection at Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian, an Emeril Lagasse restaurant.

The Delmonico whiskey list didn't include the absurdly upscale rarities that CraftSteak had (e.g. Macallan Lalique and malts from the '30s) or the selection of independent bottlings, but it had a very nice selection of currently available distillery bottled whiskeys. The list, kept in a small binder and divided by country and region, included at least a half dozen Springbanks and all of the currently available Ardbegs (including the Alligator). The American whiskeys included the complete lines of Van Winkle (including the 23 year old decanter) and High West. Prices at Delmonico are fairly reasonable for Vegas, and the bar staff was friendly but not that engaging about the whiskey list.

And if you sit at the bar, grab an order of the homemade truffle parmesan potato chips, which are possibly the world's best bar snack. The chips are thin cut and covered with crumbled parm. The truffle flavor is probably from a jar, but it's just lightly sprinkled and not drowned in truffle oil like so many other dishes. Each bite gives you crunchy chip, salty cheese and a bit of truffle funk....good stuff.

Random Vegas Thoughts - Coffee & Gelato

2011-09-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

In reflecting on my Vegas trip, there are a few things I wonder about.

Why is there no great coffee in Vegas?

There is probably a greater concentration of good restaurants on the Strip than in any other similarly sized area in the country, but the coffee choices are downright embarrassing. There are passable espresso drinks but not a single third wave type coffee joint. It's ridiculous to go to places of the caliber, for instance, of Bouchon Bakery and have your pastry accompanied by a cappuccino that's not much better than Starbuck's. Even though the Strip is chronically unhip, this should still be a no-brainer for someplace like Intelligentsia or Stumptown. They would be swamped.

What's with all the gelato?

The other weird thing about Vegas is the plethora of mediocre gelato. It seems like each casino has three or four gelato places. Why gelato? When did it become so popular? And do you really need the 80 flavors that most places seem to carry? The cure for this is the awesome frozen custard at Luv It which is a bit north of the Strip and has become my regular stop for dessert after Lotus of Siam. If you go, order a Western sundae or a heavy shake. These are especially satisfying given that we really don't have any frozen custard in LA.

Whiskey Wednesday: Why I'll Never be a Malt Maniac

2011-09-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know the Malt Maniacs, they are no less than the world's most respected single malt tasting society. Founded by Johannes Van Den Heuvel sometime in the late nineteenth century, the Malt Maniacs are an international organization whose annual whisky ratings are among the most influential in the world.

Nearly all of the top whisky bloggers and commentators are members. I'm talking Serge Valentin, Chris Bunting, Dave Broom, Tim Puett, Oliver Klimek, Mark Gillespie, Davin de Kergommeaux, the recently inducted Ralfy Mitchell, and the list goes on and on. Think of a well known single malt blogger and they are probably a member.

But the trick to the Malt Maniacs is you can't just join the club. Like the Knighthood, the Papacy and the Skull & Bones society, you have to be chosen. I'm not sure what process is used to select members, but I'm pretty sure the selection takes place in a weeks long closed door meeting somewhere in Luxembourg and involves some sort of animal sacrifice and a haggis.

Obviously, having a proven taste for whisky and a finely toned palate are two criteria for being a Malt Maniac, but what, you may ask, are the disqualifiers? Well, I've come up with the top ten reasons why Sku is not now and likely will never be a Malt Maniac.

10. Every time a new epistle is published, he sends an angry email complaining about misspelling of the word whiskey.

9. Not clear on the difference between Ulf Buxrud and Ian Buxton, if there is a difference.

8. Spends a lot of time poking fun at their members.

7. Told friends in New York that root canals at the Jazz Dentist were pretty much all done to a soundtrack of piped in Anthony Braxton tracks.

6. Doesn't have a goatee.

5. Not sure he can do a fair rating of 250 2ml samples.

4. Has no opinion on the impact of barometric pressure at different levels of the Port Ellen warehouse in the summer of 1978.

3. Six words: Jim Murray Fan Club Charter Member.

2. Once drank a 40% abv chill filtered single malt.

And the number one reason Sku will never be a Malt Maniac:

1. He secretly suspects single malt Scotch is just poorly made bourbon.

Vegas Report: Bouchon Las Vegas

2011-09-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last time I was in Vegas, the Bouchon Bakery was our go-to breakfast and snack spot. This time, we tried the Bouchon restaurant for breakfast, twice. (Yes, they have Bouchon in LA, but it doesn't serve breakfast.)

Bouchon is located off the Venetzia lobby, which is one floor above the Venetian lobby. The ambiance is a bit more laid back than the Beverly Hills location. Since one of my favorite dishes in LA was the boudin noir, I thought I'd try the boudin blanc for breakfast. I was not disappointed. Served with perfectly prepared scrambled eggs, the white sausage was butter-soft and had a melt in your mouth quality that I've seldom experienced with breakfast sausage. The spicing was mild, but there was an essential meatiness that came through. It was almost like a pate in a casing, but fluffier.

The corn beef hash was also excellent. Consisting of perfectly brunoised cubes of corn beef and potato. Unlike some hashes which are more of a mush, the individual cubes made this more like a beautiful meat succotash, dotted with parsley and nicely spiced.

The hash comes with two eggs; I had them over easy and they were utterly perfect- whites were soft but not runny and a mere pin prick of the fork released the yolk. Bouchon definitely knows how to cook eggs.

The toast and croissants were fine though not exceptional, but slathered with the sweet and tangy marmalades (we had peach and pineapple) anything would have been good.

Vegas Report: Hot 'n Juicy Crawfish

2011-09-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Had a long weekend in Vegas and made my way to Hot 'n Juicy Crawfish in Vegas' Chinatown. Hot 'n Juicy specializes in Louisiana style shrimp and crawfish boils. You pick your seasoning and spice level and they come in a big plastic bag which you eat right on the table with a roll of aper towels to sop up the grease.

We got 2 pounds of crawfish with the hot 'n juicy seasoning (a combination of all of their seasoning). At medium spice, these things were lip burning hot and had tons of flavor. They are weighed down with what must be a pound of garlic, butter and various spices. The seasoning was as good as crawfish boils Ive had in Louisiana, but the mud bugs themselves were pretty puny. Even in the best of circumstances, you get a pretty low yield for your work when shelling crawfish, but with these tiny characters, it was more work for less fish. The corn, cooked in the same boil, was excellent, sweet and juicy and spicy but not too soggy, which can be a problem for corn in a seafood boil.

We also got some nicely fried catfish with a cornmeal breading and some acceptable fries. There are two Hot 'n Juicys on Spring Mountain Road just a few blocks apart. The closest one to the Strip is about a mile and a half west of mid-Strip (where the Mirage is). My only real complaint was I wish they had better beer. These hot and spicy crawfish would have gone well with a full-bodied, flavor-forward beer, but all they offered were the big brands.

Hot 'n Juicy Crawfish
3863 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 750-2428

4810 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 891-8889

Whiskey Wednesday: Manhattan in a Bottle

2011-09-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Barrel aged cocktails are a fairly new development on the cocktail scene. I first heard about them last year from Oregon based bartender and (now mostly inactive)cocktail blogger Jeffrey Morgenthaler who posted about his experience putting cocktails into oak barrels. Morgenthaler experimented with Manhattans and Negronis and reported that after five to six weeks, the oak casks had significantly enhanced the cocktail, adding oak notes and tannins, melding flavors and smoothing the impact of the vermouth.

Shortly thereafter, I heard that David Perkins at High West had done the same thing with Manhattans but was only selling them at the distillery. Now, High West is more widely distributing the barrel aged Manhattan and they recently arrived in California where the going price is around $45.

High West's barreled Manhattan, 36th Vote, is named to commemorate its home state of Utah's vote that sealed the deal for the repeal of prohibition. It's made from two parts High West Double Rye, one part sweet vermouth and two dashes of Angostura bitters for every 2.5 ounces. It then goes into a two year old rye whiskey barrel where it ages for 120 days. It weighs in at 37% abv.

David Perkins recently put on a tasting for the LA Whiskey Society where he let us sample the 36th Vote side by side with an pre-barrel sample. The pre-barrel sample was a fine Manhattan but it was a bit sweet, almost cloyingly so, which may be due to the vermouth (Perkins could only choose from vermouths available wholesale in Utah). It wasn't exceptional and I would have preferred the ones I make at home.

The barrel aged Manhattan was a completely different story; the sweetness had ebbed, the flavors had married and there was a slight woodiness that brought out the rye. It really was a wonderful Manhattan and better than the vast majority I've had in bars. I would happily pour it at home.

Great stuff!

When We Were Fab...Hot Dogs

2011-09-01T18:00:00.001-07:00

The San Fernando Valley has long been a center of tubular cuisine in Los Angeles. The Stand, Carney's and the now shuttered Wiener Factory have been among Southern California's most vaunted practitioner's of the hot dog art form. For the last few years though, it's been all about Fab, a hot dog joint tucked next to a Pizza Hut in a big Von's anchored strip mall on Victory Boulevard in Reseda.

Fab has all manner of dogs and toppings, but they are best known for the ripper, a New Jersey style deep fried hot dog (pictured). I've never had a ripper before and had been meaning to make it to Fab for too long so when I found myself in the Valley, I made a lunch detour to finally check out a ripper.

Along with the famous ripper, the Fab menu includes practically every kind of hot dog from any geography. There are Chicago dogs, Manhattan dogs with hot dog cart red onion sauce, LA street dog style bacon wrappeds and even a "Fairfax Burrito Dog," clearly modeled on an Oki Dog.

Along with my ripper, I figured I should get something from this detailed list, so I picked the house specialty Fab Dog, a charred beef dog with tomato relish, bacon, mustard and onions. The dog itself was good, nice and juicy though not a huge snap. The tomato relish was very tasty, sweet but with a little bit of spicy zing, and the bacon was perfect. Rather than strips carelessly tossed onto the dog as you find at places like Pink's, these were chewy bacon strips sprinkled on top, more like lardons. You could tell from the deep, smoky flavor, that they're using good quality bacon. Now I tend to be more of a hot dog purist - just the dog and mustard, but the relish and bacon were pretty darn good as far as condiments go.

As for the ripper, well, put me in the camp that doesn't really get it. The Fab ripper had a different dog in it than the Fab Dog. It was larger and paler with a lot less spice, almost like a brat, and the deep frying makes the casing tough and chewy. And I should have guessed this, but it comes out of the frier mouth-scaldingly hot. Personally, I like the snap of a grilled or steamed dog. The hard, blistered skin of the ripper just didn't do it for me. I felt like I was eating a hot dog that had stayed out in the sun too long.

All in all, good dogs though probably not worth a special trip unless maybe you grew up in North Jersey and need your ripper fix.

Fab Hot Dogs
19417 1/2 Victory Blvd.
Reseda, CA 91335
(818) 344-4336

Whiskey Wednesday: The Big Guns - Brora & Port Ellen

2011-08-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Brora and Port Ellen, Port Ellen and Brora. The names are spoken with reverence in Scotch circles. Distilleries that made great whisky but for some seemingly unbelievable reason were shuttered long ago. The remaining bottles sell for exorbitant prices and the whisky experts sing their praises. But are they worth it? How much of the reputation is hype? Are the high prices merited or simply a product of speculative collectors banking on a scarce product? Are they really that good?

I've tried whiskies from these distilleries from time to time, but within the last few months, I've had the opportunity to do some rather intensive tastings of both Port Ellen and Brora and thought I would share my thoughts. All together, I tasted seven Broras and twelve Port Ellens. These included a few official bottlings (Diageo inherited the stock of both distilleries and annually releases "official" bottlings), many indies and a few specialty bottlings that are not available to the general public. I won't list them all here, but you can find all of them on the LA Whiskey Society website.

So what did I learn from these intensive tastings? Here are my impressions.

Port Ellen

The twelve Port Ellens I tasted ranged from 26 to 30 years old and were all distilled between 1979 and 1983; all but one were independent bottlings. That's a fairly narrow range, but a fairly representative sampling of what is currently available on the retail market.

All of the Port Ellens were very good and the best were excellent. They ranged from mid-level peating to quite heavily peated, but the flavor profile was fairly narrow (which may of course be accounted for by the narrow range of distillation years I was trying). While these are very good, they aren't particularly unique. There are lots of great peated whiskies out there today, and the profile is similar enough to other peated Islays that it's hard to imagine a Port Ellen cult would exist if the distillery were still open today; rather, it would more likely be considered just another smoky Islay whisky like, say, Caol Ila. That being said, the best of these, particularly the Diageo 7th release and the bottlings by Old Bothwell, rivaled the best of other peated whiskies and were indeed quite special. And while Port Ellens are expensive, the prices on the indie bottlings don't seem that far outside of what you might pay for other similarly aged Islays.

A brief check of some of the major retailers shows that there is still a fair amount of Port Ellen out there. In fact, it may be the most plentiful of all the closed distillery whiskies, so while it won't last forever, my guess is there will still be plenty available for the next few years.

Brora

I tasted seven Broras in two separate tastings. They ranged from 22 to 30 years old and all were distilled between 1972 and 1982; three of them were Diageo's official releases. As a bonus, I also tasted a Clynelish made at the Brora distillery when it was the old Clynelish distillery.

The Broras varied much more than the Port Ellens and had a much wider flavor profile. While Port Ellen was always fairly peated, the Brora distillery varied its peat levels and reduced them quite substantially in the early '80s. In addition, both the peated and unpeated Broras have a quite unique flavor profile that is hard to compare to other whiskies on the market today, particularly the rich and densely flavored late '70s peated malts.

Overall, the quality of the Broras varied more than the Port Ellens, but the best Broras were absolutely phenomenal. My two favorites were the heavily sherried Brorageddon, a 1972 Brora bottled by Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask for the Plowed Society and my old favorite, the 2007 Diageo release, which is a 30 year old. The Brorageddon is long gone, but it is still be possible to snag a 2007. Yes, it goes for $350-$375, but this is one of those fairly rare cases when I do think a whisky is truly worth a price like that.

Summary

Comparing the two based on this admittedly limited sampling, Port Ellens seem more consistent then Broras, but while Brora may be a bit more of a crap shoot, the best Broras are among the best whiskies I've had. In both cases, I would say that these whiskies do deserve some amount of the hype. They won't be around forever, and Broras, in particular, seem to be fading rather quickly, so if you want to try them, start saving up now.

Dodger Blues - Stadium Eats

2011-08-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what's worse, the Dodgers or the food at Dodger Stadium. I know the team is bankrupt and game attendance is in the high dozens, but let's be honest. This is the twenty-first century. There are stadiums out there with full food courts, BBQ, local specialties and other things. And what do we get? Stadium food frozen somewhere in the mid-1970s (hey, is that Steve Garvey on the field?)

Dodger Dogs are a disgrace to the institution of baseball. These skinless wonders taste of baloney more than any hot dog worth its sodium nitrate. The newest innovation is the Doyer Dog, a Dodger Dog with nacho cheese glop on it. Are they really saying that the best way they thought they could improve Dodger Dogs was to throw congealing yellow goop on top?

The sad thing is that the Dodger Dogs are pretty much the height of cuisine at Dodger Stadium. I nearly chipped a tooth trying to bite into one of the churros. The state of these churros really should become an international incident. Costco and Disneyland can get churros right so why can't the Dodgers?

The garlic fries may be the one redeeming food at the stadium, but they're just okay.

Someone please tell me that there is some hidden window where I can get decent eats at this disgrace of a ballpark.

Huge Tree Pastry

2011-08-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

I mourned the closing of Dumpling Master for a long time. When a new restaurant with the unlikely name of Huge Tree Pastry opened in its space I was curious, but not until I saw a good Thi Nguyen review in the LA Times did I give it a try. C. Thi Nguyen, who is one of the contributors to the "The Find" column in the LA Times is one of my favorite food reviewers. He has an engaging writing style, a good nose for sniffing out new finds and excellent taste. If Thi likes something, I'm pretty sure I will too.

Huge Tree is a Taiwanese breakfast spot with all manner of pastries and dumplings. Scallion pies, fried daikon cakes, beef rolls (wheat cake with beef and mustard pickle) and something called salted rice ball, a Chinese doughnut wrapped pork and pickled mustard greens and coated with sticky rice.

The secret to a lot of these dishes is the "mustard pickles," pickled mustard greens. These greens were a great mix of tangy, sour and salty and enhance pretty much anything they go on, an all-purpose relish. I even waked out with an order to go.

Also good was the sweet tofu, which went especially well with the crullers, churro sized fried, unsweetened dough sticks that taste like Indian fry bread.

The only dumplings we got were fried pork but they were quite good and next time we'll try the Xiao Long Bao and as many dishes with mustard pickles as we can find.

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 458-8689

Whiskey Wednesday: Classic Whiskey Cocktails - The Whiskey Sour

2011-08-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Most of the whiskey cocktails I've played with are pretty intense alcohol on alcohol concoctions like sazeracs and Manhattans, but on a warm day, it's nice to have something a bit lighter. It could be a mint julep, but another good alternative is the whiskey sour.

The whiskey sour was a precursor to all of those popular sour drinks: the margarita, the daquiri and the sidecar. It's an easy drink to make and a fun one to sip. The ingredients are such:

2 oz. whiskey (I usually use a good mid-level bourbon)
1 oz. lemon juice
3/4-1 oz. simple syrup (to taste)
1 egg white

As with all drinks containing egg white, do a dry shake (without ice) first, then shake again with ice. Strain into a rocks glass with ice. The traditional garnish is a cherry but I dispense with it and usually also add two or three drops of Angostura bitters right on top, which looks cool as well.

Some people drop the egg white out of squeamishness, but I would encourage you to leave it in. I love the frothy, foamy nature of the drink; without the egg, it's just whiskey and lemonade. Yes, there are risks to using raw eggs. I use only eggs I get from the farmers market, but hey, what's life without a little bit of risk, as long as your immune system isn't otherwise compromised.

Now what would happen if we made on with Laphroaig? Hmm, maybe I'll try it and report back.

Papaya King: The Ten Year Old Perspective

2011-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

When I lived in New York, I used to eat at the papaya hot dog places, so I was excited to hear about Papaya King moving to Hollywood (though I was more of a Grey's Papaya guy). I fully intended to get there and review it, but my ten year old daughter got there first, so I thought I'd let her review it and compare it to her other favorite hot dog spots. Here she goes:

As a hot dog lover myself, I heard about Papaya King, a new hot dog place that sold hot dogs and juice. I thought that I should try it because I love hot dogs and juice, but I found it quite a disappointment.

We were the only people there (not that there was any space for anyone else), and they gave us the wrong food, and they don't have onion rings, only curly fries in enormous servings.

The food was not special. The hot dog was plain and dry. It tasted skinless. The bun was warm and crispy so it was okay, but it is very hard to mess up a bun. The chili was not the hot dog chili I am used to having. It was juicy and full of whole beans and there was hardly any meat. Juice and whole beans is not what you want on your hot dog. You want a big, chunky, meaty, greasy chili.

The curly fries were good. They were greasy, curly and good.

We got strawberry and pina colada juice. The pina colada juice was good. The strawberry was a little bit too foamy but it tasted good, like strawberry, sugar and foam.

After Papaya King, we went to Pink's and Carney's to compare [Eds. note to Department of Children & Family Services - this was not all on the same day!]. They were as good as always and Pink's is defending its title as my favorite hot dog place. The chili is big, chunky, meaty, greasy hot dog chili. The bun was not as crispy, just the way I like it. The onion rings and fries were also good. It was yummy!

Carney's also had good chili but the fries were as ordinary as any fries you would get at any place like McDonald's. Carney's has the best actual hot dog, but if you put everything together, Pink's is the best.

At Pink's and Carney's, you can get most things and be eating very good food. At Papaya King, if you go there, you really only want to get the fries and the pina colada juice.

Going Wako for Fried Pork: Wako Donkasu

2011-08-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

It just so happened that while I was on a fried pork binge (albeit a Oaxacan one), Jonathan Gold published a review of a Koreatown tonkatsu restaurant. I'm a big fan of tonkatsu, the Japanese, panko breaded, deep fried pork cutlet. The stuff is ubiquitous here in Koreatown, but most of it is sub-par - tough, dry meat, fried to death and buried in goopy sauce. But not so Wako Donkasu.

Wako Donkasu, on Olympic a few blocks east of Normandie, is a mostly Japanese style donkatsu. The only trace of Korean cuisine are two very small but very good panchan: a tangy radish kimchi and a wonderfully garlicky dish of sliced, pickled jalapeños.

The pork is tender and juicy with a light, crispy crust. For the sauce, you are initially given a bowl of freshly roasted sesame seeds with a wooden pestle to pulverize them with. The waiter then dumps the sauce on top and you mix the sesame seeds throughout, which gives the sweet and fruity (but not overly gloppy) sauce a nice nutty fragrance.

We also tried the fried New York strip which was also excellent. It was fried just as carefully as the pork but packed in even more flavor and had better contrast when combined with the sauce.

The combo comes with a fried protein (pork, beef or chicken), a pile of cabbage salad, soba noodles, a fried shrimp and a fried potato ball (think fried mashed potatoes). The soba was fine, but nothing special. The things to get here are the fried meats.

This place is dangerously close to where I work and live. I see lots of fried pork in my future.

Wako Donkasu
2904 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(213) 387-9256

Whiskey Calendar: The Sku Discount is Back for SMWS's Extravaganza

2011-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

As the dog days of summer start to wind into the dog days of fall, it's time to start dreaming about fall whiskey tasting season, the period from October to November when all the major whiskey tasting events take place.

This year, for the third year running, Sku readers will get a discount at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's Single Malt and Scotch Whiskey Extravaganza. The Extravaganza includes not only tasting booths from lots of great distilleries but also a chance to taste some of the Society's bottlings which are normally available only to Society members.

This year's extravaganza will be Friday, November 11 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica. Dress is business casual with a jacket preferred (note to SMWS, business casual in LA does not include jackets).

The regular price is $135, but your Sku discount gets you up to two tickets for the member price of $120. To purchase tickets and get your discount, just go to the Society's website and enter SRE2011 in the promotional code box.

And if you aren't from LA, have no fear. The Sku discount works for all of the Society's fall Extravaganzas, including Chicago (October 5), Boston (October 13), Washington DC (October 26), Philadelphia (October 28), San Francisco (November 9) and Fort Lauderdale (December 1). Details on the website.

See you there!

FTC Disclaimer: Sku finally sold out and attends this event free of charge.

Whiskey Wednesday: The Newest Bourbon Blog

2011-08-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

I always appreciate when a fellow bourbon lover starts a blog, even if they still have a thing or two to learn. In that spirit, please check out the brand new and extremely enjoyable Straight Bourbon Blog, where you will find such nifty factoids as the following:

Only whiskey produced in the Bourbon County can be called Straight Bourbon

Straight Bourbon can be made outside of Bourbon County but it can only be called Blended Bourbon

All straight bourbon (this is essential) must be distillated in pot stills!

George Dickel calls their rickhouses dickhouses

Old Grand Dad is an example of a Tennesian Whiskey

Well, like I said, the writer still has a bit to learn about bourbon, but it's an enjoyable read just the same.

The Search for Cemitas: El Delfin Jr.

2011-08-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since the closure of the great but short-lived Pal Cabron, I've lost my best neighborhood source of cemitas...the Mexican sandwiches served on sweet bread. Since then, I vowed to search for other options for my Koreatown cemitas habit, which mostly means checking out the local food trucks.

One of the most visible cemitas trucks, El Delfin Jr. can regularly be found on the south side of Wilshire by the old Ambassador hotel site. The neon-orange truck serves cemitas, clayudas, tortas, tacos and burgers.

Why it's named with the Spanish word for dolphin, I don't know. While there is a small picture of a dolphin, the truck's main logo appears to be an unfortunately Hootersesque picture of a woman with cemitas where her shirt should be. Pal Cabron had its share of strangely drawn busty women as well. Something about cemtias seems to bring out mammary fixations.

They didn't have pork milanesa, so I ordered the cemita de milaensa de res (beef). It was served in the fairly standard manner with quesillo, papalo, avocado, a nice tangy salsa with pickled peppers on the side so you can add them to your taste (which for me means they all go in).

It was not bad, but it didn't measure up to the Pal Cabron standard, mostly due to the bread and meat. In contrast to the Cabron's puffy, perfectly textured, freshly baked rolls, the Delfin's roll was a sad, flat, stale piece of bread. The milanesa itself was thin, overly chewy and lacking in distinctive flavor. That being said, the overall flavor on the sandwich was not bad due to plenty of papalo, a really nice red salsa and the aforementioned pickled peppers. Still, bread and meat are the essential components of a cemita and you can't do that well if you're missing them. It's like messing up on the triple axle in an Olympic figure skating competition; you lose a lot of points.

So on we go...

Saint Benoît Yogurt at the Hollywood Farmers Market

2011-08-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Hollywood Farmers' Market now includes a Saint Benoît yogurt stand. The Sonoma County yogurt maker has had their products at Whole Foods but this is the first time I've seen them at a Southern California farmers market. They were selling both their plain and flavored yogurts as well as a soda made with whey. Their yogurts are smooth and creamy, but I was less impressed with the soda which seemed a bit bitter, but then I've never been a huge soda drinker.

Whiskey Wednesday: Bourbon Law for Whiskey Geeks

2011-08-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

There always seems to be a lot of confusion about American whiskey and recently I've seen some confusion even among whiskey geeks. Lucky for us, the regulations governing bourbon are readily available in Title 27, Chapter I, Part 5 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. They are promulgated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), an agency of the United States Treasury. Using those regulations, here is some advanced bourbon law.

The Basics

Nowadays, most everyone who is a whiskey lover seems to know the basics: Bourbon is required to be made from a mash of at least 51% corn, must be made in the United States (not just Kentucky) and must be stored in new, charred oak. 27 CFR § 5.22(b)(1)(i).

Bourbon has no Age Requirement

It seems to be a common misconception that bourbon has to be aged for two years. That is not the case unless it is labeled "straight bourbon." There is no ageing requirement for bourbon, only the requirement, mentioned above, that it be "stored" in charred new oak containers. If you store it for ten minutes, it is bourbon. Straight bourbon, on the other hand, must be aged for two years. 27 CFR § 5.22(b)(1)(iii). Bourbon that is bottled in bond (BIB) must be at least four years old. 27 CFR § 5.42(b)(3)(iii). If any bourbon is less than four years old, it must state the age on the label. 27 CFR § 5.40.

People seem to have trouble absorbing the fact that bourbon does not need to be aged for any distinct period of time. There are likely two reasons for this common misconception. First, in many whiskey producing nations, including Scotland and Canada, there is a mandatory ageing period of three years. Second, up until the craft distillery revolution of the last four or five years, nearly all bourbon available for sale in the US was straight bourbon and, therefore, required to be aged for at least two years. The concept of bourbon that wasn't straight was mostly theoretical. Now, with the onset of the craft distilleries, there are many bourbons on the market that have been aged for much less than two years.

Bourbon May Contain Coloring

This is really the same issue as with ageing. Straight bourbon may not contain any coloring or flavoring, but no such restriction is imposed on bourbon that does not carry the "straight" designation, 27 CFR § 5.23(a)(3), and added caramel coloring does not need to be disclosed on the label of non-straight bourbon. 27 CFR § 5.39(b)(3). Are microdistilleries using caramel coloring on their non-straight bourbons? We don't know because they don't have to tell us.

Can Bourbon be Finished in Wike Casks?

Once bourbon has been stored in its legally required new charred oak, can it be transferred to wine or other casks and still be labeled bourbon or straight bourbon? Following the lead of Scotch, where finishing has been quite popular for about a decade, several distilleries have transferred bourbon to used wine casks to benefit from the flavoring of those wines.

This is not a clear issue under the regulations. They do state that the addition of any "coloring, flavoring or blending material" can change the designation of the spirit. 27 CFR § 5.23(a)(1). However, "harmless coloring, flavoring, or blending materials" can be added under certain circumstances without changing the designation of the spirit. One such allowance is for the addition of wine if it is "customarily employed...in accordance with established trade usage" and if it does not total more than 2.5% of the total finished product. 27 CFR § 5.23(a)(2). However, no such coloring, flavoring or blending materials, including the aforementioned wine, can be added to straight whiskey. 27 CFR § 5.23(a)(3).

The threshold question with regard to cask finishing is whether the use of a wine cask constitutes a "coloring, flavoring or blending material." I would think not, since there is nothing being added. Of course, the entire purpose of using a wine cask is so that the bourbon will absorb some of the wine which is locked in the wood (or in some cases has actually drained into the barrel). In that case it could be considered an additive but that is a fairly hypertechnical reading.

Chuck Cowdery, the bourbon expert and lawyer, takes the position that once something is bourbon (and presumably straight bourbon), it cannot become unbourbon. So, in his view, if you add something else to bourbon, it only need state that on the label. You should be able to bottle, for instance, straight bourbon and cola as long as it's labeled as such. While cola certainly could be considered a flavoring, this position could be seen as consistent with the TTB regulations since it would not be the case of adding cola and continuing to use the designation of Straight Bourbon. Rather, it would be changing the designation to Straight Bourbon & Cola.

With regard to cask finishing, the TTB appears to agree with Cowdery, having allowed a number of finished products to maintain the straight bourbon designation. The Woodford Reserve Sonoma Cutrer Finish was labeled Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in California Chardonnay Barrels. The recently released Angel's Envy was similarly labeled.

And the TTB has gone even further, approving Red Stag, the cherry bourbon liqueur from Jim Beam, which is labeled Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Infused with Natural Flavors. This one is strange in that it clearly includes flavoring agents which would seem to alter the class and type, but as noted above, this isn't being labeled as just straight bourbon. The label clearly designates that it is straight bourbon with added flavoring. Given that one of the primary purposes of these labeling regulations is to protect and inform the consumer, that seems like a reasonable outcome.

Thus, it seems that the Cowdery rule (one of many, which I will have to list at some point) is correct, at least in the eyes of the TTB. Once a spirit meets the standard for bourbon or straight bourbon, it stays that way as long as the label indicates any additions.

The troubling thing is that based on this logic, it seems that a distillery could also add caramel color to straight bourbon and label it straight bourbon with caramel coloring. That would obviously flout the prohibition on coloring in straight bourbon.

Of course, the TTB isn't perfect and sometimes contrary approvals come down. Hopefully, no one will push the boundries and ask to add coloring. All such issues remain theoretical until someone requests the approval of a label.

If you have any bourbon questions (or opinions) let me know. I have a very affordable hourly rate.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Masa

2011-08-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Masa of Echo Park has been around for about five years, but I'd never made it there until now. The owners are from Chicago and they specialize in Chicago style deep dish pizza. Now, I must admit that I've never been a huge fan of Chicago style pizza nor have I had one in Chicago. In fact, I've only been to Chicago a few time, and when there, I tend to concentrate on hot dogs and Italian beef. Most Chicago-style pizzas I've had in other places are just too doughy for me.

The first thing to know about Masa is that the deep dish pizza takes 40 minutes to bake. Next time I go, I'll call ahead, but otherwise, get some appetizers. I especially enjoyed the artichoke dip which was thick with artichokes, and a nice acid in it and was less cheese-heavy than some versions.

The pizza itself was big and dense. Deep dish pizza must way more per pound than any other food. A single slice of the large pie was sufficient for most people in our group. We ordered the traditional pie which has mushrooms and a nice, well spiced sausage slice on top. The sauce is tangy and packs a big garlic wallop. The crust is crunchy, glistening with oil, though I still feel like it's a lot of bread in there, but at least it was all well cooked.

If there are any Chicago-ites or deep dish lovers out there who've been to Masa, I'd love to hear how it compares to the real thing. For my part, I liked it and will likely head back. They have a large menu beyond the deep dish, including regular pizzas, pasta, other entrees and a particularly enticing sounding croissant bread pudding, which I will undoubtedly need to try.

Masa of Echo Park
1800 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 989-1558

Trader Joe's Cookie Taste-Off: Macarons vs. Whoopee Pies

2011-08-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

I try to avoid Trader Joe's impulse purchases, but it was hard to resist the French-style chocolate macarons, so into the cart they went. And then I saw the whoopee pies. A taste-off would be an excellent excuse to gorge on cookies. So here they are.

Trader Joe's often has a problem of products that look better than they taste and this was the issue with the whoopee pies. The cookies were dry and flavorless, the filling was ultra-sweet, though with decent flavor and good texture. I couldn't eat more than one.

The macarons on the other hand, were very nice. They were filled with a liquidy chocolate ganache with some good chocolate flavor. They lacked the chewiness of really good macarons, but hey, it's Trader Joe's and they were overall quite tasty.

Both types of cookies are $6 for a package of 6. TJ's also has a frozen macaron, but that will have to wait for a future taste off.

Whiskey Wednesday: The Million Point Scale

2011-08-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

There has been much discussion among whiskey bloggers about how best to rate whiskeys. Is it better to use a ten point scale, a one hundred point scale, letter grades, stars, Olympic-style medals or smiley/frowny faces? While these may all have their merits, the fact is that none of them are able to capture the diversity and specificty of whiskey. In response to a recent blog posting on What does John Know?, I revealed my new plan to start rating whiskeys on a million point scale.

From now on, every whiskey I review on this site will be given a rating on the million point scale. Unlike the crude 100 point scale, the million point scale allows me to rate every aspect of the whiskey and judge components that are much too subtle for a mere 100 points. Only with the use of a full million points (out to the second decimal) can you really hope to capture the complexity of whiskey. Here is how it will work.

In judging each whiskey I will look at separate categories, each of which will have a maximum point score as follows:

Nose: 125,362.43
Palate: 172,221.07
Finish: 88,864.37
Appearance: 73,322.06
Cost: 115,468.22
Degree of difficulty: 68,619.08
Coolness of bottle: 22,364.15
Coolness of box: 42,873.45
Way the whiskey makes me feel about myself: 190,153.27
Talent Portion: 25,109.73
Swimsuit Competition: 75,642.27

The total of these scores will be the total score of the whiskey. I have also put together a handy key for judging the whiskey which breaks down ratings into ten point segments and defines what each ten point spread means in terms of quality (i.e. 1-10 is undrinkable and possibly radioactive, 10-20 is undrinkable and possibly poisonous; 20-30 is undrinkable but likely nonthreatening, etc. on up to one million). The key will be available separately as a 568 page booklet which will be sent to my readers for a modest price.

I understand that people who are used to more simplistic scales may be skeptical, but once you observe the million point scale in action, I believe you will see its inherent superiority.

Rollin Out the Beef Rolls at 101 Noodle Express

2011-07-31T18:00:00.001-07:00

It seems crazy that I've gone all these years without making it to 101 Noodle Express, but man am I glad I made it. I hit the Alhambra shop, though there are several branches in the San Gabriel Valley and even a few mall locations.

The thing to get here is the beef roll (pictured above) and after having it this weekend, it is something I'm going to be craving. Marinated beef with a sweet cilantro sauce wrapped in a Chinese pancake. This is everything you want in a snack: savory, sweet, salty and greasy with the added flavor boost of cilantro. It's hard to explain how good this thing is.

There are other good dishes at 101. The dan dan noodles are slightly spicy and are especially good with a few scoops of 101's cilantro sauce that you'll find on the table. Lamb soup with cabbage is a funk-o-rama with big slices of liver and hand pulled noodles. The liver isn't great...it's cooked to dry consistency, but all of that flavor is in the broth and the noodles are nicely chewy. Dumplings are okay, but nothing special and the fried ones tasted a tad off, like they were fried in old oil.

But the thing here is the beef roll, and that's what I'll be going for in the future, possibly pretty regularly. Oh, and they have a pork roll too. Next time...

101 Noodle Express
1408 E. Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 300-8654

RIP Pal Cabron

2011-07-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I am saddened to report on yet another restaurant closing in my neighborhood. Pal Cabron opened with much fanfare and seemed destined for success. It was a spinoff of the popular Guelaguetza Oaxacan restaurant and it had fabulous cemitas, including my favorite La Muy Muy, a pork milanesa with pickled peppers, quesillo and the papalo herb on a big, fresh sweet bun. I was seriously obsessed with this place for several months after it opened.

I still need my neighborhood cemita fix so I guess I better start checking out the local cemitas trucks.

Rest in peace cabron.

Whiskey Wednesday: Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit

2011-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't reviewed a Turkey in a while, so I thought I'd give Kentucky Spirit a spin. It's Wild Turkey's single barrel bourbon at 101 proof.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit, 50.5% abv ($45)

The nose is syrupy sweet, candy corn, caramel and toffee. The palate is less candy and has a nice richness to it with a good dose of wood, and a bit of a perfumy quality. There's a nice long finish with a good balance of sweetness and wood.

Choosing between this and Wild Turkey's Rare Breed, which is a bit cheaper, I'd probably take the Rare Breed which has such great balance, but this is a decent bourbon as well.

A Philly Diner in Tahoe

2011-07-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Completing my Northern California sojurn was a trip to the North Lake Tahoe area, centered in Truckee. Now, I've been to Truckee many times over the years and consider myself pretty familiar with its offerings, but I'd never made it to Jax Diner.

Jax is literally an old, east coast style diner in that the train style building originally housed a Philadelphia area diner dating back to the 1940s. It was shipped to Truckee in the 1990s where it now sits attached to a larger building.

Everything at Jax is homemade from the thick toast to the parmesan dusted potato chips to the crunchy potato salad. The day were there, there was a meatball sandwich special which had thick, moist meatballs on homemade rolls with a nice, tanky tomoato sauce. I was less impressed with the Philly cheese steak in which the beef got a bit too dry and I longed for more peppers.

The shakes at Jax, as one would hope, were excellent. Thick and cold and served with the extra in the metal cup with plenty of malt in the malteds.

We had lunch, but I'm guessing the breakfasts here are great. This will definitely become a regular stop for me when I'm in the Truckee area.

Jax Diner
10144 West River Street
Truckee, CA 96161
(530) 550-7450

Auburn Pie Stop: Ikeda's

2011-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

There aren't too many reasons to head to the city of Auburn at the base of the Sierra foothills, but if you are heading to Tahoe or Reno from the Bay Area, you pass through Auburn on Interstate 80. And just off the Foresthill Road exit is Ikeda's, an old grocery store and food stand where you can get burgers and fries, high end beer and wine and all manner of homemade sweets (brittle, pretzels and nuts covered in all sorts of goo, caramels, etc.). But what you really need to get are the fruit pies. Ikeda's makes fruit pies and cobblers that are hard to beat. They have them all year, but in the summer, they are made with the seasonal fruit that grows in the Sacramento Valley. There is peach, strawberry rhubarb and all sorts of berry. My last trip I picked up a razzleberry (raspberry and blueberry) crumble. The fruit was fresh and the crust and crumbly bits on top are sweet and flaky. Now that's good pie.

Ikedas
13500 Lincoln Way
Auburn, CA 95604
(530) 885-4243

Whiskey Wednesday: Crown Royal Black

2011-07-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

After Japanese Whisky, Canadian Whisky might be the whisky that we in the US are most deprived of. If you read Davin De Kergommeaux's excellent blog CanadianWhisky.org, you will see reviews of all sorts of fascinating Canadian Whiskies, very few of which are available anywhere in the US. Now, Japan is one thing given the distance, but it seems silly that we can't get all of the great whisky being made just north of the world's longest undefended border. For this reason, I get very excited when I see any new Canadian product, so I was happy to review Crown Royal Black.

Diageo owned Crown Royal is, of course, the top selling Canadian Whisky in the US. The newly released Crown Royal Black is higher proof (45% vs. 40%) and was matured in charred oak barrels to give it a more bourbon-like profile.

Crown Royal Black, 45% abv ($23)

The nose on this is very bourbony with doses of corn and rye spice. The palate is less distinctly Canadian than I would expect. It does start off quite sweet, but there is some significant rye in there that emerges and grows stronger. In some ways, it does taste more like a sweet bourbon, albeit a very sweet one, than a typical Canadian Whisky. The finish has some ethanol notes. This is a very approachable whisky, and the stronger rye presence adds some depth to the usually very sweet and one-dimensional Crown Royal flavor profile. It's a pleasant drink and definitely a step up from the regular Crown. It's the type of drink I would definitely order if it started popping up in hotel, airport and other bars with limited selections.

San Francisco Coffee: The Long Blue Line

2011-07-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

So I spent a week in Sonoma but was fairly lazy about going anywhere else (hey, I was on vacation). We did one day in San Francisco visiting friends, but I had as my one food goal a visit to the legendary Blue Bottle Coffee. I've been hearing about Blue Bottle for years, but had never been. In fact, I hadn't been to the Ferry Building since its early inception as a gourmet food court, which predated Blue Bottle's stand there.

The only day we went to San Francisco was a Saturday, so I knew we would be facing a zoo, but I decided I wasn't leaving without a cup of that famous brew. There were three separate Blue Bottle lines at the Ferry Building, two inside and one outside at the farmers market, all about the same in length. The lines didn't look terrible, not much longer than a Sunday line at the Silverlake Intelligentsia, but they were painfully slow. It took nearly an hour to make it through.

And suddenly I was that guy, the dumbass who spent an hour on a Saturday waiting for a damn cup of coffee amongst food tourists and suburbanites in between their purchases of salumi cones and $60 bottles of olive oil.

I had intended to only order coffee, but once I got to the counter I also grabbed a waffle, since everyone else seemed to, and after an hour, I was pretty hungry. It was one of those hand held European waffles, hot of the grill and slightly sweet, nothing I'd rush to order on my own, but a fine accompaniment to the coffee.

And the coffee was a great, the service was friendly, the latte art was beautiful. Was it worth an hour wait? Was it better than the best coffee in LA? These are questions that are just too painful to ponder after an hour in line.

My advice? Try the coffee, but go on a weekday.