So what were the popular bourbons? The 3 clear winners were:

1. Woodford Reserve – this great bourbon (in a lovely bottle), was the clear favorite. At 90.4 proof it’s not as strong as some of the other contenders and the balance of flavors and sweetness appealed to every taster. It’s generally about $30/bottle at BevMo which is an great price for an excellent bourbon.
2. George T. Stagg – One of my favorite bourbons, this one split our tasters. Those who liked it, loved it. Those who thought drinking 140.6 proof (this is a 2006 bottling) bourbon was like being punched in the mouth (even with a bit of ice to open it up and cool it down), were less enthusiastic. The Stagg is just loaded with flavor, and even while you can feel it warming your body the conversation with your tongue and brain continue. It’s generally in the $75/bottle range (prices vary pretty widely), if you can find it.
3. Elijah Craig (18yr) – This is a single barrel bourbon that’s aged much longer than the average bourbon (bourbons have to specifically label how long they’ve aged in the barrel if it’s less than 4 years. As such, many bourbons are allowed to mature for only a bit over this magic number) but is still plenty spicy. This was one of the first bourbons tasted, so it’s hard to say how much it’s popularity was influenced by it being one of the few clearly remembered, but it’s always been a bourbon I enjoy. It’s age leads directly to it being more expensive, and I typically see it at BevMo for about $45/bottle.

Other bourbons tried (in no particular order):

• Bulleit – a debate opened up on how to pronounce this popular bourbon.
• Four Roses single barrel – Another of my personal favorite bourbons, the Four Roses was well received by some but the strong 100 proof turned other folks off of it.
• Elmer T. Lee – less remarkable than hoped, people generally liked it but couldn’t think of anything that set it apart.
• Eagle Rare single barrel – This one comes with a “hand selected by BevMo!” sticker on it, but none of us could figure out why.
• Russell’s Reserve (10 yr) – has a strong, almost smoky taste that a few of us enjoy but several tasters were put off by.
• Maker’s Mark – this is the bourbon that most folks tend to have in their cabinet, and it’s generally seen as a high caliber bourbon when compared to what else is hanging out on a drug store shelf. It was tried late in the tasting, and unanimously voted as the worst of the bunch. Not that it was bad, per se, but it had a more shallow, sweet taste when compared to the many other fine bourbons in the shootout.

So that’s the verdict, folks! The Four Roses and George T. Stagg remain my favorite, but I’m delighted that Woodford Reserve was so popular as I agree it’s a fine option. I’ll be sampling the Bulleit more in the near future, as that’s a recent acquisition, and continuing to slowly acquire other tasty bourbons as time goes on.

Other highlights of the evening include:

• Pam won “Hero of the Week” for deciding that a Negroni is actually intriguing and kind of tasty instead of just terrible. Pam may just be the first female of my personal acquaintance to feel this way.
• When we started the tasting who are the first over to get it moving? All women. Here I thought it was going to be a manly gathering! Some of the fella’s did meander over and a few joined us for the whole tour, but it was contrary to how I would have predicted the drinkin’ crowd to be.
• Speaking of heroic women: who pushed us to try every bourbon on the table? Amy. Peter and Mirko joined in to complete the Shootout with us but Amy totally wins Badass of the Party.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, I had a blast and hope y’all did, too. Next in line is probably either a scotch tasting or another Tour of Gin.

Simple and tasty! It’s pretty sweet, the bourbon and the cola combining for that, but the bitters gives it a little edge and some minimal depth. It’s also great for curing headaches, although that may be more the bourbon than the cola.

1. This is all AE’s fault
2. This drink is horrible. Do not attempt at home.
3. It looks worse in person. It tastes much worse.

Ok, now that we have the warnings out of the way, allow me to present:

It’s been claimed that we attempted to make this in college, which I believe. It’s also been claimed that we made more than one, which I also believe. It’s limy and you can taste that there are good things in there. It’s just that they all come together in a rather aggressive combination. Now, to be honest, I didn’t have any of the right ingredients on hand so I used a darker rum, cointreau and a combination of cranberry pomegranate juice and sugar (my homemade grenadine is just about the last thing in the old apartment). I also halved all the proportions, which ends up with a lot of 1/4 oz measurements which are easy to get out of whack.

Thankfully we also made gin martinis in college. They were pretty much just cold gin, but I could really use one right now.

I recently acquired some apricot brandy and have been on the lookout for cocktails that used it. The first few attempts haven’t been worth the time but the Golden Dawn is kind of fun. Most recipes call for Calvados (an apple brandy, of which I have no real substitutes) but it’s also sometimes made without. Given what I have on hand, I mucked about with it a bit and here’s how I’ve been serving them.

Some folks garnish with an orange slice or cherry, but I prefer without. This is a simple drink, I’d love to try it with an apple brandy to see if it’s a little more complex and interesting, but as is it’s refreshing, sweet but not terribly so and visually kind of fun. Besides, it’s a rare excuse to use that homemade grenadine.

Of course, the best way to start is with a request! What follows is a great novelty cocktail for Christmas. Note that “great” here applies to novelty and not to the quality of the cocktail itself. The cocktail is too sweet to drink especially with the large amount produced by the original recipe I picked up. As such, I halved those measurements and the smaller version is what you’ll see here. While I can’t imagine wanting two in a row, it really does taste remarkably like an oatmeal cookie, which is reason enough to add them to the list of things to serve over the holiday season.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Especially to the many loyal readers who still reads this blog. The two of you are much appreciated.

Webtender – evaporated milk, eggs, vodka, lemon, sugar, vanilla extract

Recipezaar – egg yolks, extra fine granulated sugar, vanilla extract, brandewijn (Dutch brandy)

eGullet – egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar, dutch brandy, water

Bigosbar – scroll down for: eggs, sugar, vanilla essence, vodka

A lot on my plate – egg yolks, sugar, evaporated milk, lemon juice, brandy

Brew Plus – scroll to end for: fine sugar, vanilla pod, water, egg yolks, vodka

As per request, I recently embarked upon playing with the Rob Roy. This drink is very simple, pretty much the Manhattan of the scotch world. Now, I’ve made many a delightful Manhattan, and the proportions normally stay more or less the same. Unfortunately, with a Rob Roy, all such bets are off.

Let’s start out with the basic recipe:

Simple, no? Unfortunately, the cocktail, and especially the amount of sweet vermouth to use, varies highly depending on the scotch. I made the above with Johnny Walker Green and it about blew my socks off. Alas, not in a good way. The peat in the Walker absolutely drowned out the vermouth and I didn’t like the results at all. However, using Chivas Regal (12 year) makes a delightful drink that even Christy enjoys (she’s no fan of the brown alcohol).

While I think there’s a lot of room to play with the peatier scotches, this drink works very easily and very well with a more balanced scotch, which is perhaps why most folks tend to reach for a blend. I’m a big fan of Islay whisky, in fact it’s my preferred region of single malt, I love the peat and salt they often have, but if you’re making a Rob Roy out of one of those you might either want to scale back on the vermouth (basically just adding some accent) or really bump it up so it can compete.

The picture above isn’t one of mine, instead it’s from morgueFiles! Feel free to check out the original.

The point of this diatribe isn’t the weather but rather what to drink. While you’re probably spending this month drinking bourbon (you don’t hate freedom, do you?), fall is also a great time to become reacquainted with that delight of delights: scotch. To help that process out, here are two good links to start the process off.

1. First off, Robert Hess at The Spirit World has written an article all about scotch whisky. If you have the time, look around the other articles on The Spirit World especially Hess’ recent series of articles each covering a different whisk[e]y.
2. The other link is a video, a really enjoyable presentation by Charlotte Voisey called From Glen to Glen – Scotch in the Shaker. It’s a 10 minute video about how single malt scotches are made and it’s worth your time (although I still don’t get the “in the Shaker” bit of the title).

   This video is hosted on the Small Screen Network which hosts a series called “The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess.” I am a total Robert Hess fanboy. His other videos are great, usually showing just Hess creating a cocktail. Be warned, however, the theme music that plays at the beginning and end is much louder than his voice, which results in me being blasted out of my chair at the end of every episode.

Looking for a way to celebrate this fine month? Personally, I recommend drinking some fine bourbon straight up. I prefer to reach for Four Roses Single Barrel or the George T. Stagg, but there are many wonderful options.

Of course, mixing bourbon in a cocktail is also a fine, patriotic maneuver. The default is a manhattan, although I tend to prefer them with rye. Try adding a dash of the maraschino juice for something a bit different! If you want a slew of cocktail options, perhaps start at last February’s Mixology Monday XII: Whisk[e]y. Sure it’s not just bourbon, but there are a number in there. Finally, there’s Straight Bourbon’s list of Bourbon drinks.

On the off chance you are operating under the misunderstanding that you don’t enjoy bourbon, but still want to celebrate all that’s right with America, it’s worth giving bourbon buttered pecan ice cream a shot. It just might make a believer out of you!

I’m off to celebrate some of America’s finest accomplishments! U-S-A! U-S-A!