The Electric Cocktail Acid Test

Part two of an investigation into achieving balance in spirits-driven cocktails.

[Author’s Note: The following post was mostly written back in June to document the second half of my investigations in acidity in spirit-driven cocktails. July saw me at Tales of the Cocktail and then in early August I turned all of my energies to starting up the cocktail program and bar at Daniel Patterson’s restaurant Plum. Due to differences in style and vision, I parted ways with Daniel & Company few weeks after the opening of Plum Bar in mid-November. In the interest of getting back into blogging, I’ve decided to publish my work to date, though clearly there’s more work to be done. As I get some of the questions it has raised answered, I will report back.]

Back in March I wrote about trying to improve a spiritous cocktail I had created (Criollo #2) which on reconsideration, I felt turned too sweet. The concept started out as a kind of ‘Black Manhattan’ with amaro taking the place of vermouth but I discovered that as I added more amaro I was also increasing the amount of sugar. That in turn led me to think a lot about the options we have for bringing acidity to a cocktail. It’s acid which helps brighten and highlight all the other flavors. However, without citrus as an option, we’re at a distinct disadvantage. I focused on the properties of vermouth, which I described as a kind of super-ingredient, bringing not only needed acidity into a cocktail but also many other interesting and complex flavors. I decided at that point to “do some serious science” by which I meant to I wanted to measure the PH of common cocktail ingredients to determine exactly how acidic. or not, they were.

The Gear

The first order of business was to decide how best to make the measurements. Though my analytic chemist brother-in-law recommended using precision PH strips (different from plain PH paper on a roll) I opted in the end for a digital PH meter. These have become pretty inexpensive over the years, with several models less than $100. After some research, I opted to purchase an Oakton phTestr 10, which can be had for as low as $75. (I actually think many of the meters I looked at were just re-skinned versions of this or vice versa.) Key features of this model are:

• A double junction probe (generally considered longer lasting—the probes are filled with reference material that can dry out over time).
• Automatic temperature compensation.
• Support for three calibration points.
• Accuracy of PH 0.1.

I also checked with the manufacturer to determine if it was suitable for taking measurements in alcoholic solutions in excess of 50% (100-proof). It was! Finally, I purchased a set of reference buffer solutions, critical for calibration which must be done before every use. Should you buy a meter of your own, it’s important to note how many and which calibration points are supported. The buffer solutions you buy must match these calibration points. There are in fact two slightly different calibration systems: one called “US” based on the points 4.01, 7, and 10.01 and one called “NIST” based on the points 4.01, 6.86, 9.18). The Oakton meter supports both.

“There’s science to be done!”

To date I have tested over 65 cocktail ingredients, including aromatic bitters, syrups, and common citrus juices. The results are summarized in the table below. (NOTE: you can click on the image to download an easier to read version of the table in PDF.) As a reminder for non-science geeks, PH 7.0 is considered neutral, neither acidic nor basic. As PH goes down from 7.0, acidity increases; as PH goes up from 7.0, alkalinity (or basic nature) goes up. Tap water is generally about PH 7.0, though as it gets “harder” (includes more dissolved salt and minerals) the PH value increases. A lot of tap water is slightly basic.

You’ll notice that with only a single exception (discussed below) common cocktail ingredients range from neutral (e.g. gins and sugar syrups) to distinctly acidic (e.g. citrus juices). The most acidic ingredients are, unsurprisingly, lemon and lime juices which measure below PH 3.0. These then set the “gold standard” for bringing acid into a cocktail. A relatively small amount of these juices can be used balance against a large amount of sugar. All other ingredients are distributed between PH 7.0 (neutral) and PH 3.0 (moderately acidic). If we consider them by class, some interesting patterns emerge.

First are the vermouths, sherries, and madeiras: non-distilled products, all based on grapes. These all fall between PH 3.0 and 3.7 and are as a class the most acidic ingredients after lemon and lime juices. Carpano Antica Formula and Dolin rouge are the most acidic members with a PH of 4.0. As I had previously speculated, it’s the acidity in vermouths complemented by all the other flavors they provide that makes them such welcome additions to spirit driven cocktails, or really any cocktail in which we use them. (And I remain encouraged that my enthusiasm for cocktails using sherry and maderia is well founded.)

Second, distilled spirits which start life or are sold at high proof (i.e. are highly distilled) and which spend no time in wood are pretty much neutral. This covers gin, vodka, “white dog,” and products like Everclear. Any acidity that may have existed in the source material prior to distillation has been eliminated. Contrast these pisco, which is made from grapes, distilled only once, and spends no time in wood. PH for the two piscos I tested were 4.1 (Encanto) and 3.8 (Oro), distinctly more acidic than gin or GNS. Also consider the case of Ransom Old Tom gin, which has a PH of 4.3. The Ransom is allowed to rest in used pinot noir barrels, long enough to develop its distinctive color. It also apparently absorbs some acids left behind by the wine.

You’ll also see that spirits which are aged in wood appear to develop acidity over time. I am hesitant to draw too much of a conclusion about this phenomena since my data set is limited in this respect and there are so many variables when it comes to barrel aging: e.g. type of oak, amount of char, new vs. used, temperature/humidity during aging, previous contents of barrel, etc. Still, it is interesting to note that the most acidic distillates, the 23 year old Black Maple Hill rye and the 18 year old GlenDronach, are also the oldest spirits I had available for testing.

Another interesting ingredient to look at is the liqueur St. Germain. which is almost as acidic as some of the red vermouths. Compare that Cointreau, which is practically neutral. This explains, to me at least, why it’s been such a successful product, meriting the sobriquet “bartender’s ketchup.” While it brings lots of sugar, it’s also pretty well balanced in itself. Adding it, even in large amounts, to a cocktail isn’t likely to upset things very much.

One last observation: there was only one ingredient which measured distinctly basic (high PH). That was the Rothman & Winter creme de violette. This was so unexpected that I measured it twice on two different days just to be sure I hadn’t made a mistake. I am speculating this is caused by whatever has been used to color this product, which is a rather deep violet. I am hoping that the folks at Haus Alpenz will be able to answer this for me at some point (and I will certainly post an update if I learn anything).

There’s Always More to Do…

I will continue to test the PH of new ingredients and update my database. Let me know if you’d like a copy. I am also going to be talking to distillers, to see what they have to say about some of my observations, particularly regarding acidity derived from barrel aging. I’d like to understand what’s going on there better. Are significant acidic compounds present in the wood, which then dissolve in the distillate? Do barrels which have previously held wine or sherry cause distillates then stored in them to become more acidic than otherwise?

New McKenna @ Ledger’s

Just a quick follow up to my posting about selecting barrels of bourbon with the East Bay Study Group back in March. The bottled bourbon has arrived at Ledger’s at last. The group’s first place selection is available as Barrel #8. As the barrel was a relatively low fill you can expect this one to sell out pretty quickly. The second place selection is available as Barrel #9. There’s a lot more of this as the barrel had a surprisingly high fill. (We had expected both to be on the low side.) Both bottles are very reasonably priced at about $25 each.

One thing worth pointing out is that technically these are NOT McKenna bourbons in as much as the barrels we selected don’t necessarily conform to Heaven Hill’s own profile for that product. Heaven Hill has chosen to make the McKenna label available for this particular barrel purchase program (a huge expedience) but was willing to provide a relatively wide range of samples to us try. This is worth keeping in mind whenever you are evaluating a privately purchased and bottled barrel of whiskey. Not all programs are equally flexible (i.e. some programs only offer barrel samples which are more or less “on profile” for the label) but in the case of Heaven Hill and McKenna, we are afforded a great opportunity.

Encore D’Orange

Over the weekend I had the occasion to serve some of the vin d’orange I made at the end of 2009. I actually hadn’t realized it had been over a year since I made this and reported about it on this blog. (If you are one of those people who are always making something new, you know the results of your old projects tend to get lost, which is what happened here.) Since then the vin has undergone several very wonderful changes in color and flavor. It’s developed a distinctly deep orange gold hue. Scott Beattie described it as being like padparadscha, a kind of orange sapphire. The flavors have merged with the bitterness, which was pretty dominating when it was younger, finally coming into balance against the citrus and sugar. It’s also developed a slightly oxidized or “rancio” like character, probably from the extended aging. (Note: it’s been kept in glass but not in bottles filled to the brim.) It’s a total pleasure to drink, neat or over ice.

Knowing that there were still some Seville oranges to be had, I decided to put up some more vin d’orange before they disappeared for the year. I decided to go a bit crazy and put up four times as much as I did last time—I’ve got some plans for this. Stay tuned.

Vermouth in the Balance

Part one of an investigation into achieving balance in spirits-driven cocktails.

A few days ago I had the occasion to revisit an old original cocktail called The Criollo. I created it back in 2009 when I first fell in love with amari (singular amaro), the class of Italian digestive bitters that many bartenders were experimenting with at the time, most notoriously in the so-called “Black Manhattan.” In that cocktail some or most of the vermouth is replaced by an amaro. My particular goal was to bring chocolate flavors into a manhattan-style cocktail that would appeal to adult drinkers—i.e. not be creamy or too sweet. I had found that Mozart (the people who make the Austrian chocolates) had a liqueur (Mozart Black) that claims to contain 87% cacao mass. It wasn’t creamy but still pretty sweet with plenty of chocolate flavor. My thinking was to balance the sweetness of the Mozart Black against the bitterness of the amaro. Here’s what I came up with:

The Criollo (No. 2, AKA The Mozart Black Manhattan)

2 oz. rye
3/4 oz. Amer Boudreau (or Ramazzotti)
1/4 oz. Mozart Black chocolate liqueur
1 barspoon Grand Marnier
1 short dash Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters
1 short dash Angostura orange bitters (optional if you used Amer Boudreau)
Long thin orange peel, for garnish

I liked it well enough when I first formulated it but when I remade it I was struck right away by how sweet it was. Not sickly, but pretty out there. I don’t know why it didn’t strike me so at the time. However, the reason for its sweetness is certainly no mystery to me now: it was the amaro. While we experience them as bitter, most amari contain a lot of sugar. I am guessing anywhere 20 to 30% by volume, possibly higher. Add that to the sugar in the Mozart Black liqueur and then my barspoon of Grand Marnier, and well, my recipe starts to look pretty lopsided. Think of it in terms of major flavoring components:

rye: congeners+wood flavorings
amaro: sugar+bitters/herbs
liqueur: sugar+cacao
liqueur: sugar+orange
aromatic bitters: bitters/herbs

If this were a glass of wine I was tasting, I might apply the adjective “angular,” meaning to me that the flavor is dominated by a couple of notes (in this case sweet and bitter) that don’t particularly harmonize. Nothing much links them together (though the chocolate and orange do help). In my mind, when I picture the flavors of this cocktail, this is what I see:

What this cocktail needed was a major rethink!

Back to Basics

I started by considering my point of origin, the Manhattan and flavors lent to it by the ingredient I had chosen to replace, the sweet vermouth. To be honest, it’s not an ingredient I had given my deepest thoughts to before. I knew which brands I liked but had otherwise taken it more or less for granted. Now however l had reason to really engage with it. Why does sweet vermouth create a balanced cocktail while the combination of amaro and liqueur (a pretty complex set of flavors) fails to do so? For starters, the vermouth is far less sugary. But what else is going on in there? I decided that it would be worthwhile tasting though a number of different sweet vermouths* and cataloging aromas and flavors. Here’s my aggregated list:

vanilla, orange peel, white pepper, wine, licorice, sun dried tomato, cedar, mint, dust, brown sugar, nuts, vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, menthol, baby powder (flowers), anise, cherry, plum, chalk, band-aid, bitter

If I then reduce this list to classes of aromas and flavors, I get this more canonical list:

Acid
Sugar
Herbal/Bitter
Oxidized Flavors
Fruit
Minerals
Savory

Looking at this list, two things occurred to me in quick succession:

First, this single ingredient is capable of providing a very wide spectrum of flavors. It has what I believe flavor chemists call high amplitude, where “amplitude” is defined as the total effect of flavor and aroma in a food. The higher the flavor amplitude, the more broadly it stimulates our taste buds. (Ketchup is the classic example of a food which has high amplitude.) So including vermouth in a cocktail provides a big flavor bang for the buck. Depending on the brand of vermouth used, it tickles pretty much every major flavor receptor in some degree.

Second, neither of the ingredients I used in place of the sweet vermouth provided any significant amount of acid. If you think about all the different sorts of ingredients one uses in spirits-driven cocktails, you can see that while it’s easy to get sugar into the drink, its much harder to get acid to balance things out—that’s the brilliance of citrus in a sour. Vermouth, being based on wine, brings acid along with all of its other flavors. In addition to balance, that acid also helps heighten our experience of all the other flavors as well.

It seems pretty obvious that when we replace vermouth in a spirits-driven cocktail, we’ve got a pretty tough act to follow. It’s kind of a super-ingredient: complex flavors and acid. In The Criollo cocktail, I had found a way to bring complex flavors together (there’s plenty going on in there) but I had lost any acid that might balance against the additional sugar in those ingredients. Obviously I could try adding back some vermouth to fix The Criollo and re-balance it. That seemed like going backward. What I really wanted to know is what other options I might have for bringing acid into a spirit-driven cocktail. It was time to do some serious science!

Next: Putting Ingredients to the Acid Test

[*] – Vermouths evaluated were: Carpano Antica, Dolin rouge, Noilly-Pratt rouge, Vya sweet, and Cocchi Barolo Chinatto. Technically the latter isn’t a vermouth but it can certainly be used as one and I happen to have an open bottle.

McKenna Barrels On Their Way

A little update for those of you who might be following the story of the East Bay Study Group’s recent tasting of barrel samples from Heaven Hill.

First off, Ed agreed with the group’s appraisal of the samples and also agreed that purchasing two barrels made a lot of sense (especially given how fast the last barrel sold out).

Second, the group has been informed by Heaven Hill that the selected barrels have been dumped and bottled. Product is making its way west from Kentucky as I write this. It should arrive within the next few weeks and show up on the shelves @ Ledger’s sometime thereafter. Below is a photo of one of the barrels as it was dumped.

Hmmm, whiskey!

Signs you may be turning pro…

Does your dishwasher look like this in the morning?

Choosing a Barrel of Whiskey: At Work with the East Bay Study Group

If you count yourself as a serious whisk(e)y drinker living in the greater San Francisco Bay area, it is likely that at some point or another you’ve made your way to Ledger’s Liquors on University Avenue in Berkeley. Unlike J. Walker or Cask, this old-school looking store (one of the oldest in California, actually) serves the needs of a highly varied clientele. At the register you’re just as likely to find people buying expensive single malts as someone from the neighborhood picking up smokes, a six-pack, and some lottery tickets. And yes, the inventory is that varied.

If you’re something of a regular at Ledger’s then you’ve undoubtedly also made the acquaintance of Mr. Ledger, AKA Ed, who’s almost always on hand. It’s Ed’s passion for spirits and craft beers which keep the store shelves literally overflowing with treasures, some you won’t find elsewhere. Mention the name of a vermouth or a gin Ed’s not heard of and he’ll more than likely write it down on one of his “lists” and bring it into the store. And if the subject of bourbon or rye is brought up (easy enough to do) and, if your timing is just right, Ed’s very likely to steer you toward one of his private single barrel bottlings.

About buying a barrel…

While barrel purchases have now become somewhat common place, Ed and others like him started doing this when many distilleries had stocks of older whiskeys just “laying about” and which they were more than happy to sell off to anyone showing some interest. Several legendary bottlings emerged from that period, most notably the very old ryes purchased from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers and sold variously as Black Maple Hill, Vintage, LeNell’s Red Hook, and Willet. Those days are for the most part behind us. Old rye stocks are more or less gone and old bourbons, when you can find them, have become expensive rarities.

Today, it’s more typical for bars and liquor stores to be offered the chance to buy a barrel of regular product (e.g. Sazerac rye) which may or may not represent anything out of the ordinary. It can, depending on the distillery, be more or less just a marketing gimmick. Even when you are offered several barrel samples from which to choose (and sometimes you are not—demand being what it is for some products, it can be a “take it or leave it” deal), none of them may be particularly more (or less) exciting than the standard bottling. This is in part a function of flavor profiling, meaning the distillery may not want to release any product that varies too far from a brand’s established taste. (And note that blending and/or carefully selecting barrels as they mature is one way this is accomplished.) I suspect it may also be a function of what I will call laziness: the distillery may prepare all of the barrel samples from the same easy to get to spots in the warehouse. Barrels which have spent their lives aging next to each other (AKA “sister barrels”) are very likely to be similar in taste.

Still, it is possible to obtain an extraordinary product through a barrel program. For starters, it helps if you are working with a smaller distillery (though not all have sufficient inventory to offer barrel purchases) or with a distillery willing to offer off-profile barrels. Second, it helps if you have contacts who work at the distillery with whom you can communicate directly. (Are you on a first name basis with Parker Beam or Harlan Wheatly? You’re ahead of the game!) Finally, it helps if you are perseverant, patient, and willing to taste through as wide a variety of samples as you can obtain, not just from the first set you are given.

Enter the East Bay Study Group

Coming back now to Ledger’s: if you have been fortunate enough to purchase any of Ed’s recent bourbon barrel selections (three from Four Roses, one from Henry McKenna), you probably noticed a secondary label affixed to the bottle that looks something like this:

Selected for Ledger’s Liquors by the East Bay Study Group. Whom, you may then ask, is this mysterious (and generic sounding) East Bay Study Group? Over the course of about a year, in various conversations with Ed, I learned bits and pieces about the group. There are about half a dozen to eight people in the group, including Ed. Most but not all live in the east bay. There is no regular meeting time. Some of the members have worked “in the business” but most are just amateurs who’ve given themselves a serious education in distilling, warehousing, and blending of barrel aged spirits. There are members who have committed to memory the detailed history of all the major distilleries in Kentucky or who have tracked down vintage bottles of bourbon from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s so they can compare them to modern product. Another member can identify where a whiskey was distilled and aged by reading the Distilled Sprits Producer (DSP) numbers off the end of the barrel. Other have great palate memories. Yes, the East Bay Study Group are whiskey geeks of the highest order. And they do like to drink.

A few months ago Ed introduced me to one of the group members who had come by the store to pick up bottles from a recent barrel purchase. After chatting him up for a while and exchanging some emails, I was asked if I’d like to participate in some upcoming tastings. I didn’t need to be asked twice! A few weeks later I got to take part in the evaluation of barrel samples from Heaven Hill’s Henry McKenna brand bourbon. Ed and the group had already purchased one barrel, all of which promptly sold out. The group was now looking to buy a second barrel, ideally a “sister” of the first which had come from a secondary warehouse some miles from the main Heaven Hill facility.

[The ESBG at work, faces obfuscated to protect their identities.]

The first tasting I attended was held in early February, shortly after the distillery sent a set of samples out to Ed. When I arrived I discovered that there were some other whiskeys to be sampled first: six different 70’s vintage Old Taylor and Old Grand Dad bourbons of various proofs. Several hadn’t ever been opened and had intact tax seals. I learned you could roughly date spirits like this by looking at the bottom of the bottles on which the year of their manufacture was impressed. There were also subtle differences in the labels and, as brands were bought and sold over the years, changes in the DSP numbers and city of origin. Some of the bottles had been purchased on eBay but most were “finds” from liquor stores in small California towns where they had stood on some back shelf, gathering dust for the better part of 30 years. (I suspect there’s a central valley road trip in my future.)

After tasting through this “warm up” flight, we moved on to the main event: six barrel samples of Henry McKenna. These samples had been assigned numbers by our host, #10 – #15, which continued the series the group had evaluated when selecting the first barrel. Since the final product would be delivered at 100-proof, our host had also kindly diluted some of each sample with water, ready to taste.

Looking back over my notes, I see that these samples varied quite a bit in terms of nose and flavor, though tea and caramel notes seemed to predominate. Several also exhibited significant tannins—from the wood of course—but not a lot else to back them up. Discussion was lively but it became clear there was no consensus at the table. Each of us was given the opportunity to “defend” our top choices but in the end, no one was convinced by anything we’d tasted. Everyone felt there had to be a better barrel out there waiting to be discovered. And no one wanted to settle, especially after finding such a great barrel last time.

Heaven Hill: A Great Working Partner

It was at this point that I also started to learn a bit more about the specific provenance of the barrels we were sampling. For starters, while the program that the group was working under was for single barrels of Henry McKenna it sounds as if Heaven Hill was willing to offer barrels from a wide variety sources within the warehouse, meaning they were more likely to be off-profile. (Note: some distilleries earmark barrels for their different brands relatively early in their lives and mange them as such throughout the aging process.) In point of fact, the group made it very clear to me that they are extremely pleased with the relationship they’ve forged with Heaven Hill. The distillery has shown a deep commitment to matching buyers with barrels they really want, not just what they feel they can sell. This hasn’t meant that the distillery hits the bull’s eye right away, but it does mean the group can be confident that they will eventually find something distinctive and worth buying.

To this end, the group had been sent samples from two separate warehouses: one in Bardstown at Heaven Hill corporate headquarters, and one in Deatsville, about 8 miles northwest, at the old T.W. Samuel’s distillery. Apparently the barrel which the group had selected last time came from the Deatsville warehouse and had been pulled for them at the recommendation of Parker Beam, Heaven Hill’s Master Distiller, who was consulted after the group gave feedback on the earliest samples sent to them. I had also learned that the barrel which Ed finally purchased had been part of a run of whiskey distilled by Brown-Forman under contract to Heaven Hill (using the Heaven Hill “recipe”) to offset production capability lost in a fire in 1996. This was something discovered after the barrel was delivered and the DSP numbers on the end decoded. (Yes, you may keep your barrel after it’s dumped and bottled for you. Shipping included in the price.)

Though the group had given notes to Heaven Hill requesting samples that matched the profile of the barrel they had previously bought, the distillery wound up sending ones which, while interesting enough, were not on the mark. (One member has characterized them as more like Evan William Single Barrel than McKenna.) It’s hard to know why. I might guess that possibly the notes didn’t get through to the right people or because it was simpler to send samples that had already been pulled. The group would now ask Heaven Hill to send additional samples, please, but might they specifically come from the same section in the Deatsville warehouse where Parker Beam had told them to look last time?

It took another month for Heaven Hill to deliver the new samples. I imagined some marketing person in Bardstown making a call to the manager at the T.W. Samuels warehouse in Deatsville. The instructions would be pretty precise: go to the 5th or 6th floor in such and such a section of the rickhouse. Pull three samples and drive them back here. The manager gathers up the tools for the job: some empty bottles, a funnel, a cordless drill (for putting a hole in the barrel head—faster than popping the bung), a mallet, and some spiles (thin tapered wooden pegs for sealing the hole back up when done). Oh, and a clipboard for recording the location and number of each barrel. There was no telling what the group was going to get. They were hoping for a “honey barrel.”

The next tasting was held on the evening of the 19th March, structured more or less like the first, though fewer group members were present. We “warmed up” by sampling two newly released whiskeys and comparing them to some other comparable releases from the same distillery (both were from Buffalo Trace). One of these, an Abraham Bowman barrel-strength rye from Virginia, was deemed “a winner” by several of us. It was practically explosive, with spicy orange peel notes and a distinctive viscous mouth feel. It’s also worth mentioning one of the comparison whiskeys: a rare bottling of the “baby” Sazerac rye, which is normally 6 years of age. This bottle, which was purchased as a barrel by Sam’s in Chicago before it closed, held 10 year old product. It was distinctly more refined than the regular bottling. I’d have been happy to drink it along with the Abraham Bowman all night long. However, the group some other more pressing work on its plate.

So how about those new McKenna samples?

There were three new barrel samples to try, all from the T.W. Samuels warehouse as requested. Once again we poured tastes from bottles holding 100-proof dilutions. We also poured tastes of the previously purchased barrel so we had a point of reference. We got right down to serious nosing and tasting.

The previous samples, most all of which came from the Bardstown warehouse, had seemed kind of short and ultimately disappointing, especially compared to the barrel that had been purchased a few months back. In stark contrast, the new samples all seemed bold, rich, and easy to love. The first two were notably perfumed and practically floral in the nose. As good as these were, the third sample just blew them away. It was rich and spicy with an array of fruit cake notes: candied fruit/peel and a clean grain aroma. You just wanted to keep smelling it. In the mouth it was concentrated and powerful with a long tail finish, a sign of good acidity.

The group held opinions back for a few minutes more and then someone finally spoke up: “You know, I’m really loving these whiskeys. What do you all think?” Everyone’s response was the same: “Delicious! I would buy any one of these three barrels!” It was clear the group’s persistence had paid off. There were now three candidates for purchase sitting before the group. The question then became: how to pick one?

Someone asks the obvious question at this point: “How would you all rank these?” We go around the table and, incredibly, everyone ranks them same! The third sample (our designation #18, since it was actually the 18th McKenna sample received by the group) was everyone’s favorite. The first sample (#16) was everyone’s second place. The group now knew exactly which barrel they’d be recommending Ed buy, though the final decision would be his after he got a chance to try them on his own. And then I decided to make a bold suggestion: perhaps they should buy both #18 and #16? If, as some group members suspected, these were low fill barrels (as the previous barrel had been), then they’d not be getting much whiskey from them. Rather than risking another fast sell out at the store and another round sampling, having found suitable candidates, why not just purchase two of them now? There was a nodding of heads. The group would be recommending this option to Ed as well.

And speaking of Ed: he won’t be sampling these whiskeys until next week some time. We’ll all be curious to know what he thinks and whether he abides by the opinion of the group. I’ll post a follow up to let you all know. I’ll also be sure to let you know when the new whiskey arrives and goes on sale at Ledger’s so you can try it too.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: It will be at least a couple of months from time the barrel is selected till the day it arrives at the store. Please don’t be pestering Ed for bottles now. Ed does however have some bottles of his previous Four Roses barrels available for purchase while supplies last.

The Bar Guild Does Hangar 1/St. George Spirits

Today I participated in a field trip to Hangar 1/St. George sponsored by the Northern California chapter of the USBG. This was all part of a week of activities held as part of the Bar Guild’s annual meeting. The folks at the distillery kindly put together a very rich and packed set of educational events for us during our visit, beginning with a lovely Mexican style breakfast complemented by some very delicious Bloody Marys, created by Sasha. These were made with the Hangar 1 chipotle vodka, fresh tomatillos, and a bounty of fresh greens and pickled veggies. A perfect complement to a lovely St. Patrick’s day.

Shortly after arriving, I found myself invited to sample a new gin formula directly off the still. (It was the second time this week I had been given such an honor, in fact.) The run was already well in progress when I arrived in the late morning (the heads having already been diverted) and it was still going when we all left around 4 PM. I sampled the run several times just by sticking a finger right into the stream and so was able to observe how the quality of the distillate changed over the duration. (Just try that in Scotland!) The taste was minty and vibrant when I arrived (showing notes of bay laurel and eucalyptus) was became noticeably darker and more earthy by the time I left. (I am told the run was only about half way through at this point.) Samples of the complete collected run were also made available so I got to see how things were “summing” over time. It gave me a great insight into the complexities of distilling and handling the resulting product.

The first formal event after breakfast was a demonstration of the distillery’s new sugar cane press, which will be used to make their agricole-style rum (Agua Libre) once this year’s crop is delivered. Lance Winters gave the demo (using some locally provisioned cane) and talked a lot about how the juice is handled and converted into rum. We were offered a chance to sample the very green tasting free-run juice. Some of us, not satisfied with that, also gave the pressed cane stalks a taste. Om nom nom!

Next, we had a second more critical gin tasting opportunity, led by Dave Smith (AKA Distiller Dave) in one of the upstairs tasting rooms. Here we got a chance to try various runs from the still and then see how they changed, depending on the percentage of alcohol present in the still at the start of a run. There were also samples of spirits which had been treated with just a single botanical, in this case hops. Both samples were quite green and vegetal tasting, though also exhibiting more aromatic notes, scents and flavors we’re more familiar with when expressed in a beer. Dave then blended a very small amount of one of these sample into a batch of the gin. The effect was really quite striking, giving us a chance to see how small amounts of intense flavors can radically change the product.

No rest for the wicked, we also had the great fortune to get a talk about eau de vie by Jörg Rupf, the founder and master distiller of St. George Spirits. I found it very interesting to hear Jörg talk about the origins and influences behind Aqua Perfecta as well as how the eau de vie process was adapted to the creation of the Hangar 1 vodka line (as well as all the other St. George/Hangar 1 spirits). Jörg encouraged us to ask questions. I was very surprised to learn that the Williams variety of pear used in European eaux de vie is in fact the same variety as Bartlett, which Jörg feels makes the best most fragrant pear brandies. (We also previewed a rock video style tribute to Jörg that we are told is going to show up on youtube.com in the not too distant future.)

As a final treat, a few of us got taken deeper into the bowels of the warehouse were we sampled two secret barrels: a bourbon and a rye, both of which were incredibly delicious. (Think fruitcake and spice and cereal. Wow!) Unfortunately, these are likely to be the only tastes any one will ever have as there’s so very little. These were, however, a potent reminder that the folks working here are ever experimenting, ever looking for great new product. Let’s hope some descendant of these experimental barrels makes it way to market one day.

Field Trip to Anchor Brewing and Old Potrero Distillery

It’s been a while, once again. Sometimes I think I get too hung up on making each post some sort of magnum opus. Let me resolve to post more often (cause that’s a good thing, right?) and not worry about breaking new ground each time I do so.

Yesterday I attended a product showcase courtesy of Preiss Imports and the Northern California chapter of the USBG held at the Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco. Believe it or not this was my first ever time inside the place. I had the chance to sample many great spirits as well as getting me some more education on single malt whiskies, this time as done by BenRiach, Glendronach, and Springbank (to name just a few of the luminous brands available for sampling).

I will confess, however, that my heart made the most flip-flops when I trundled downstairs and visited the distillery portion of the premises. Yes, here was the humble copper wellspring from which the lovely lovely Old Potrero rye doth flow. I got to see a bubbling pot of mash as well as a chance to sample the low wine (first distillation) straight off the worm.

Two Quick Infusions to Start the New Year

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I apologize for the long silence. I’m going to attribute that, on one hand, to some fatigue after spending all of summer and fall 2010 promoting the book and basic human laziness, on the other. It’s winter, right, and it’s supposed to be OK to hibernate. So I did.

To get back into the swing of things I made a couple of quick infusions both of which I’d been planing for some months. Both can be done in a couple of days or even less.

The first required obtaining a supply of locally foraged candy cap mushrooms (any one of several Lactarius species though most commonly L. rubidus or L. fragilus) which, when dried, smell intensely of maple syrup and butterscotch. They are most commonly used to make cookies to which they lend their distinctive scent. About year or so ago I heard about Neyah White’s experiments with infusing these into rye so that’s what I set out to recreate.

Rather than ordering the mushrooms on-line I resolved to find a local source. After asking about I was finally put into contact with friends of a friend who were active and avid mushroom collectors. More importantly, they had a pretty large supply of already dried fungi, foraged last year, which they were willing to trade for some of the finished rye infusion. I soon found myself the proud owner of 3 ounces of incredibly pungent mushrooms.

To make the infusion I measured out an ounce of the dried candy caps, put them in the bottom of one of my “infusing jars” and added a full bottle (750 ml) of Rittenhouse rye. Given how incredibly pungent the mushrooms were, I figured that it wouldn’t take terribly long to impart that scent and flavor to the rye. I was quite right. After about four hours I deemed that the two ingredients had spent enough time together and passed the rye though a coffee filter and bottled it.

The result is, unsurprisingly, redolent of maple syrup and butterscotch, both of which complement the spice of the rye. More intriguingly, at least to me, is that it also exhibits a distinct earthy-mushroomy taste. All these notes, the sweet, the earthy, and the spicy, carry on into the finish which is very long. I have to say I am on the fence about this one. It’s a bit much. I suspect that had I used less of the mushrooms and/or left the infusion to sit for less time that I’d have not captured so much of the mushrooms themselves, certainly not so intensely. Still, there is something very alluring about it and it seems to be better after you’ve been drinking it for a while.

Candy Cap-infused Rye

1/2 oz. dried candy cap mushrooms
1 bottle (750 ml) Rittenhouse 100-proof rye
A large wide-mouth jar
Strainer
Coffee filter (like a Melitta #4)

Put the mushrooms and the rye into the jar and seal well.
Let stand for 2 to 4 hours, testing frequently after the first 2 hours.
Strain out the mushrooms and then pass the liquid though a coffee filter.
Bottle the resulting infusion.

The second infusion I made using chinotto citrus from my potted dwarf tree. It set a sizable crop this year and, more importantly, I knew not to wait until they were completely orange to start using them. Chinotto (AKA Myrtle Leaf orange, Citrus aurantium var. myrtifolia) is a small, bitter, but very aromatic citrus variety, commonly grown in southern Italy where it may be used as a flavoring element in certain amari and, it is said, Campari. It’s also consumed on it’s own in the form of an eponymous soda made most famously by San Pellegrino though other brands exist. My concept for this infusion was to follow the template for a Rock ‘n’ Rye but to omit the horehound and instead rely entirely on the chinotto to provide both the citrus and the bitter flavoring element.

Last year I tried to use the chinotto as the basis for a digestive bitters but feel I waited too long to harvest the fruit, leaving them on the tree long after they were fully orange. There’s not a lot of juice in the fruit to begin with and leaving them to ‘hang’ for a long time seemed to have left them even drier. I processed that crop two different ways. First, by maceration with sugar which left me with a small amount of decent syrup. Second, by extracting favor in high-proof GNS (Everclear) which made a very bitter extract (most likely because of the peel) for which I haven’t yet found a good use.*

To make this year’s infusion, I sliced six chinotto oranges to which I added a bottle of Wild Turkey rye. I allow the fruit to steep for just 48 hours and then removed it. I then added about 4 tablespoons of rock sugar (procured from a chinese grocery) and let it sit until dissolved. That’s it.

Chinotto Rock ‘n’ Rye

6 chinotto oranges, washed and sliced.
1 bottle (750 ML) Wilde Turkey 101-proof rye
4 tablespoons rock sugar
A large wide mouthed jar

Put the chinotto slices and the rye into the jar and seal well.
Let stand for 48 hours.
Remove the orange slices with a slotted spoon and discard.
Add the rock sugar and leave until dissolved.
Strain and bottle the resulting infusion.

The finished product smells deeply of orange and captures both the citrus and the bitter flavoring elements of the chinotto. I will say that much as I like this stuff, it’s not as delicious as a classic Rock ‘n’ Rye. In part because it’s missing the slightly minty edge you get from the horehound.

So I’d make a couple of adjustments to the next batch, possibly adding a single regular Valencia orange (bring to add some sweet citrus) and use caramelized sugar in place of the rock candy. I think both “tweaks” will make for a more layered product.

* – I’ve actually now combined the syrup from the macerated fruit and the tincture to make a new base syrup. I then added about 50% by volume of a caramelized simple syrup to give it some balance and depth. The results are pretty amazing and flavorful. I am starting to work on some cocktails that incorporate it.