Whiskey Wednesday: A Grainy Hedonism

Hedonism is one of the most acclaimed products of popular blender Compass Box. What makes it different from most popular Scotches is that it's a grain whiskey.

In the language of Scotch, malt whiskey is whiskey made from malted barley. Grain whiskey is the whiskey made from any number of unmalted grains, which could include barley, corn, wheat or rye. Grain whiskey added to malt whiskey is blended whiskey.

Grain whiskey often gets a bad rap because of the tendency of some blenders to use inferior grain whiskies in their blends. However, there is nothing inherently inferior about grain. In fact, almost all of America's best Bourbons and rye whiskies would be labeled "grain whiskey" if they were produced in Scotland as they are made from a mixture of unmalted grains.

Hedonism is a vatted grain whiskey, meaning that it is a mix of grain whiskies from different distilleries. Under new rules recently issued in Scotland, such a whiskey will now be called a blended grain whiskey.

Tasting

Compass Box Hedonism, vatted grain whiskey, 43% alcohol by volume, non-chill filtered, natural color. Compass Box is an independent blending company. $90-100.

The nose on this is pure Bourbon...sweet, corny Bourbon. The taste is much lighter. It has some bourbon, but also some sweet fruit and some barley too. Clearly, corn and barley are at play here. I don't taste rye, but I suppose a small amount could have snuck in as well.

In terms of whiskies I've had, this tastes a lot closer to American whiskey than malt, which makes sense since, as I noted above, American whiskies are mostly grain whiskies. Interestingly though, the whiskey I think it comes closest to in flavor is Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, an American single malt. They both have the same light, fruity notes, though Stranahan's has quite a bit more fruit.

This is a nice, light whiskey. Good for a summer's day, and I'd even consider it on the rocks. While I enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away by it. It's interesting for its uniqueness and for the insight it gives into the other Scotch whiskey, but I wonder if it isn't respected more for these qualities than for its objective taste.

Next Week: Finally, Speyside

The Return of La Nueva Flor Blanca

Last year, I did a pupusa round up and discovered LA's best pupusas at a small Beverly Boulevard shop called La Nueva Flor Blanca. The pupusas there were near-perfect. They were served hot as coals and generously stuffed with fillings. Especially lovely was their chicharron, a spicy, crunchy, ground pork that, when mixed with red beans and cheese, made the perfect pupusa revuelta.

Alas, within weeks of my review, LNFB was shuttered by the Health Department and stayed closed. But now, nearly a year later, they are back open with the same Salvadroan-Guatemalen menu. It's hard to describe my excitement at this new turn of events. Needless to say, I paid a visit within the first week, and my expectations were high.

These were roughly the same pupusas. Large, searing hot patties of masa, generously filled with the various pupusa fillings, but something was missing. It was the spice of the pork, the key to LNFB success: the chicharron had changed. I can't explain it, but it's less salty, less porky, less crunchy, and overall, less transcendent.

Some inquiries in broken Spanish revealed that the woman who was the primary cook at this site in its previous incarnation now works at a new LNFB branch in South LA (Vernon and Broadway). It turns out there are a number of LFNBs run by an extended family, though there appears to be some variance form spot to spot. (There also appear to be other restaurants of the same name which may or may not have a connection, familial or otherwise).

Of course, LNFB Beverly just reopened, so I don't want to judge to harshly, and even without the magic chicharron, these are still darned good pupusas, so I will give it some time and hope against hope for the return of the transcendent chihcarron.

UPDATE: A week later, this place was up an running like it had never disappeared. The chicharron is back in all it's porky, spicy glory and the pupusa revueta is back as the best pupusa in town. Great platanos too!

La Nueva Flor Blanca
4271 Beverly Blvd. (North side of Beverly between Kinglsey and Normandie)
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 662-9493

Hat's Off to TiGeorge

Week after week, writing about the wonderful bounty of foods of all flavors and styles that are available to Southern California, it's easy to pass over the news that food is becoming a scarce commodity in much of the world. As global food prices rise, riots have broken out in much of the impoverished world as people wonder where the next meal will come from.

Given all of this, it's heartening to read about food service professionals such as George Laguerre, proprietor of the wonderful TiGeorge's Chicken, which may be LA's only Haitian restaurant. Wedensday's LA Times ran a feature on Laguerre in the Food Section.

The story told of his inspiring life but also about how he is giving back. Laguerre has started a program to ship propane burners to people in Haiti, which allow people to cook without the use of wood, which causes deforestation.

So stop by TiGeorge's for one of the excellent veggie plates and give your support to someone who's doing more than cooking great food.

Whiskey Wednesday: Who Owns Your Whiskey - Edrington Group

In part 2 of our occasional series on who owns your whiskey, we present a brief profile of Edrington Group. Edrington is a British based spirits company which is focused almost entirely on Scotch.

Their profile includes the following:

Single Malt Scotch

Glenrothes
Glenturret
Highland Park
Macallan
Tamdhu

Blended Scotch

Cutty Sark*
Famous Grouse

Other Spirits
Brugal Rum (Dominican Run)

*Cutty Sark is jointly owned with British wine merchant Berry Brothers & Rudd which also is jointly involved in marketing The Glenrothes.

While their protfolio is nowhere near the size of Diageos, they have some very well respected and top selling whiskies. Famous Grouse, a blended Scotch, is the best selling Scotch in Scotland; The Macallan is the third best selling single malt in the world [2006 figures]; and both The Macallan and Highland Park are among the most critically acclaimed malts in the world. Of late, the company has made a concerted push to increase the market share of The Glenrothes, another Speysider with a somewhat lighter and less sherried profile than Macallan.

There are many more companies out there, so I will continue to occasionally profile these corporations. Next week, however, we will take a break for something a bit more hedonistic.

Beautiful, Boutiful Beoreks at Taron Bakery

Taron Bakery is an Armenian bakery on Hollywood Boulevard just behind the big Kaiser complex. They make a limited number of delicious Armenian pastries. Their specialty is beorek (alt. spelling boerek), meat and cheese pies popular in that intersection of Europe and the Middle East.

When you walk in, you will see two shelves of pies behind the counter and the hostess will tell you what they have that day.

They make four kinds of Beoreks: cheese, spicy cheese, beef and spinach. I tried all but the spinach and they were excellent. The beef is nicely spiced, the cheese is salty and oniony. The spicy cheese is flecked with red pepper bits, but only enough to add flavor, not any real heat. The crusts are salty, chewy, wonders, not quite the thickness or chewiness of pizza crust but close, with a nice browning on the oiled surface.

The other mainstay at Taron is the lahmajune, sometimes referred to as Armeninan Pizza. It consists of a layer of spiced, ground beef sandwiched between layers of flat-bread the consistency and thickness of a lavosh. It's somewhat more heavily spiced than the beef used in the beorek.

So, next time you're in the mood for some good meat and cheese pies, check it out in Hollywood or at their branch in Glendale.

Taron Bakery
4950 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-4809

1117 S. Glendale Ave., #D
Glendale, CA 91205
(818) 553-1883

Carmela Ice Cream

Recently, at the Sunday Larchmont Farmers Market, I noticed a relatively new stand, Carmela Ice Cream, which serves gourmet ice cream and sorbet made in a small downtown factory. The flavors available were intriguing: meyer lemon, brown sugar vanilla and others made from produce purchased at farmers' markets.

It turns out that Carmela is pretty much a one woman show, founded by traveling foodie Jessica Mortarotti. Mortarotti loved the interplay of flavors in the foods she tasted on various travels. I asked her what gave her the inspiration to make ice cream:

I am a self-taught chef and have always had a genuine love for unique spices, fresh herbs, etc. I recognized a niche in the gourmet dessert market for ice creams that are more geared towards people looking for something fresh, hand made and unique. Ice cream seemed like the perfect blank canvas. I actually didn't even know how to make ice cream when I decided to start this business - so there has been a big learning curve.

As a lover of farmers' markets and someone who buys her ingredients there, Mortarotti made the novel decision to market her ice cream exclusively at local farmers' markets. Right now, she has stands at Thursday's South Pasadena market as well as Larchmont Boulevard's Sunday market.

Her stands are generous with the samples, so I tried a few including Aztec Chocolate (with chili); Mexican Chocolate (with cinnamon); and salty caramel. My favorite of these was the salty caramel. It was ultra-creamy with a subtle caramel taste and just a dash of salt. It was distinctly less dense than most caramel ice creams; I think it's that subtlety I like the most. The ice cream has a light, airy texture, and retains that wonderful, fresh-churned consistency.

The ice cream sells for $9 per pint or $3 for a small paper cup.

Check it out!

Whiskey Wednesday: Who Owns Your Whiskey?

For those of us who are whiskey freaks, whiskey is many things: a passion, an intellectual pursuit, a fitting end to the day (or beginning?) or maybe even an obsession. The truth is, however, that whiskey is also a business, and like communications, media and almost every other industry in the global economy, whiskey distilleries acorss the globe are being consolidated by a few large corporations. These corporations often own whiskies of mutiple origin (e.g. Bourbon and Scotch) as well as other beverages.

As with all industries, the issue of globalization and consolodation is complex and controversial, and while I have my own views on the subject, I don't intend to use this forum to promote them.

However, I think it behooves us all to know which companies own our whiskey and what they are doing with it. To that end, when I review whiskey in the future, I will include the owning corporation, and from time to time, I will profile a whiskey company and their portfolio.

We will start that process today with the elephant in any room discussing whiskey ownership: Diageo.

DIAGEO

Diageo is the largest alcoholic beverage company in the world. It was formed in 1997by a merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan. It is publicly traded and headquartered in London.

Among its holdings are:

Single Malt Scotch (working distilleries):
Auchroisk
Benrinnes
Blair Athol
Caol Ila
Cardhu
Clynelish
Cragganmore
Dailuaine
Dalwhinnie
Dufftown
Glendullan
Glen Elgin
Glenkinchie
Glenlossie
Glen Ord
Glen Spey
Inchgower
Knockando
Lagavulin
Linkwood
Mannochmore
Mortlach
Oban
Royal Lochnager
Strathmill
Talisker
Teaninich

Single Malt Scotch (shuttered distilleries):
Banff
Brora
Coleburn
Convlamore
Dallas Dhu
Glen Albyn
Glen Esk
Glenlochy
Glen Mhor
Glenury Royal
Millburn
North Port
Pittyvaich
Port Ellen
Rosebank
St. Magdalene

Major Blended Scotch Brands:

Bell's
Black & White
Buchanan's
Haig
J&B
Johnnie Walker
Old Parr
Vat 69
White Horse
Windsor

Irish Whiskey

Bushmills

American Whiskey

Bulleit Bourbon
George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey

Canadian Whiskey

Crown Royal

Other Major Alcohol Brands:

Bailey's Irish Cream
Ciroc Vodka
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Don Julio Tequila
Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
Gordon's Gin
Guinness Stout
Harp Lager
Red Stripe Beer
Romana Sambuca
Smirnoff Vodka
Tanqueray Gin/Vodka

In addition, Diageo has distribution rights for Jose Cuervo Tequila.

As you can see, this is a massive company with a very deep portfolio. Most people probably would not guess that Captain Morgan and Port Ellen share a common ownership, but there it is.

In terms of single malts, Diageo's greatest innovation has been the classic malts range, a special promotion of a selected whiskey from each Scottish region. The classic malts range allows a bar or restaurant to say that they have a wide range of malts by simply purchasing the range, all from Diageo. The precise malts in the range change from time to time, but the marketing of these "classic malts" has been laregely responsible for the US popularity of Lagavulin, Oban, Dalwhinnie and Talisker.

Interestingly, despite the popularity of the classic range, the one thing the Diageo profile lacks is a top-selling single malt. None of their malts crack the top 5 in sales.

In the future, I'll try to profile more whiskey companies and their holdings, just so you know who owns your favorite whiskey.