Shackleton's Cookie

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

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

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

'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

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.

UPDATE:  As noted in the comments, Wine & Liquor Depot changed ownership in 2016 and the new owners have said they are working to improve the selection.  With any luck, it will return to some of its former glory.

Introducing a Real Craft Whiskey

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

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.