John the Barman
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Posts posted by John the Barman
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Handy is Saz 6yr at Cask Strength. The present bottling is a 5-6yr from what I'm told. While the barrels may be selected to provide for a spicier whiskey, the fruitiness of Saz 6yr still comes through. In my opinion its the proof that makes Handy the amazing product that it is. I wonder if Jeam Beam, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, Tutlletown, Kentucky Bourbon Distillers or Four Roses will add to the Cask Strength Rye Market. Thank you Buffalo Trace and Anchor Steam for Handy and the 18th Cen Spirit.
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I've mixed with it. Good spirits make good cocktails. Ri1 makes average ones because its an average spirit. Its still Rye. Its just quick finish, no complexity Rye. Sours with muddled berries work well because of the latent fruit, but I would never use it in a stirred drink.
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I think the best we can hope for in the next few years is a regular supply of the bottlings that are out there right now. I really don't think we will see new expressions in the 8 to 15 year range for at least 5 years from now because current demand for great bottles like Sazerac 6yr and Rittenhouse 100. Fritz is right in the article. We need to learn to drink young Rye. At least for awhile. I hope someone follows the Old Pertrero 18th century spirit model. 2+ years at 124.1 proof. 100% malted rye is harder to do, but the age and proof aren't. If 1 or 2 kentucky distilleries put just a few days a year to a whiskey like this, we would be in good shape before too long.
And Jim Beam needs to change that stupid bottle out. Ri 1 is an insult to any one that loves the stuff. The whiskey is ok for sours and such, but the bottle is so stupid i don't even pick it up for beginners.
Of course, like everyone else who knows the whiskey, I think it should be discontinued and re-bottled at 100 proof(or even cask strength
) as 5+ yr Overholt or Jim Beam Rye. I've been told that Ri 2 and Ri 3 will eventually come out. Its uncomfortable to think about.
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As someone that has worked with large format ice that is chipped from large blocks, please trust me that it would be nearly impossible to work with that style of ice without using your hands. At my current employment we use kold draft and I rarely touch the ice with my hands in front of guests because both the volume(as in so many people watching the drinks being built) and the ease at which kold draft cubes can be managed. With large format ice that just isn't an option.
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That's a great list. I'll be there if i'm ever in Philly, thats for sure. Is the Hirsh Canadian rye series straight rye or is it like other Canadian whisky, lacking a majority grain? We've thought about getting them but i assumed they didn't contain 51% rye. How's the flavor?
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I'm currently on a quest to find the whiskey bars in the US with the largest rye selections. At Seven Grand we now have 23 different bottlings, and we are always looking for new ones.
What's your list? I admit to being somewhat surprised that there are as many as 23 different bottlings of rye whiskey. I assume most of these are of the high-end expensive sipping variety?
Really, what we lack is more variety in mixing ryes.
Jim Beam
Old Overholt
Pikesville
Wild Turkey 101
Rittenhouse 80
Rittenhouse 101
Sazerac
Ri 1
WT Russels Reserve 6yr
Michters Small Batch
Van Winkle 13yr
Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Cask Strength
Sazerac 18yr
Hudson Manhattan Rye
Old Potrero 18th Century Spirit
Old Potrero Straight Rye
Michters 10yr
Kentucky Vintage 21yr
Kentucky Vintage 23yr
Hirsh 22yr
Black Maple Hill 23yr
Old Potrero Hotalings
Rittenhouse 23yr
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I'm currently on a quest to find the whiskey bars in the US with the largest rye selections. At Seven Grand we now have 23 different bottlings, and we are always looking for new ones. What are some places with comparible numbers? If i'm ever in a city that gets mentioned, I know where i'm heading after i get off the plane.
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In Pennsylvania the liquor is sold only in the state run LCB stores. I was in yesterday and I need a bottle or rye. My choices were exactly one: Jim Beam. There are many I like better but unless I want to travel 35 miles across the border it is what i can get.
My question is this: When you walk in to your local liquor store what sort of rye selection can you expect to see? And I do mean walk in and pick up, not a special order or a long trip to a special store.
Thanks
Most basic liquor stores in LA won't have any, but if they do it will be Wild Turkey 101 rye or Jim Beam. Better stores have Sazerac. The best only have obsurce rye's on the shelf long enough for someone who knows what they are too see them.
Rye is the new vodka. Execpt it takes years to make and tastes great..
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I have ordered from barproducts many times and find them to be a fine resource, prompt shipping, good products.
I can't speak for Toby in regards spear ice at The Violet Hour, but I do know that Heaven's Dog, here in San Francisco, after failing to find anything suitable at the container store, had custom plastic ice trays built for spear ice to fit in tall glasses. It would be difficult, to nearly impossible, to cut an ice spear thin enough.
Though we do use big fat square hand cut cubes for drinks in rocks glasses.
i'm curious about the custom ice trays, where do you even go for something like that? is there a market for custom trays or cube, bar, and spherical ice? i found one place that sold spherical ice trays, but the spheres were only 2" or so. i would think that 2.5 or even 3 would be a better choice.
I have used the spherical ice trays and the produce horrible ice. Apparently ice is not meant to freeze in a sphere. The best sphere i've seen comes from the japanese sphere maker that you can see on youtube and their web site. It costs too much for anything over 30mm though. One day....
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Apparently it is possible to get a decent whipped foam out of egg whites which have been partially denatured by pasteurization, but it can take anywhere from four to ten times more whipping time.
Do you think dry shaking a pastuerised egg sour quite a bit longer can improve the results, or is that only with foams.
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It's been cooked.
Very true. Thank you.
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Although pasteurised egg white says it is pure, 100% egg white, it doesn't create the same head and body in a sour as raw egg. Why is this?
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Hi guys,
First, great news for everyone in LA, we have a regional mgr there now, and he has started to build a fantastic install and service network. Also, we now have financing options in SoCal (as well as other parts of the US.)
Larger cubes: we're working on it. (Toby, we're working on an idea for ice to come out of our machine and ready for the Japanese sphere device.)
Audrey: It's a fantastic and challenging idea (hot-swap evaporators.)
Stacking: Kold-Draft is definitely stackable. Many locations have gone this route. This is a simple installation. This method costs slightly more upfront; however, having redundancy prevents the location from losing all of its ice production should a machine go down. (Ice machines never break though, right?)
One additional point: for the best ice quality and machine longevity (regardless of manufacturer), definitely clean the machine. I know that this is both obvious and annoying to do; however, even with a Kold-Draft that cleanses itself with each cycle, cleaning is critical. (We recommend 1-2 times per year.)
Kindest regards,
Which size sphere device? Larger then 55mm is now avalible, and a a 65mm sphere from machine ice would great.
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Someone recently told me that removing Kold draft from the bin and droping it into a another freezer for awhile can make in stronger for shaking with. Any thoughts?
If the other freezer is at a lower temperature, then of course this would be true.
I have found that this is actually not true. Ice like many things gets more brittle the colder it gets.
I like the temp of KD as is because you don't have to coddle it for a while before you start shaking. You see that warm up period at places like D&C and M&H because the ice is so freakin' cold. So speed wise,with KD you can drop in the cubes and GO!!!
Once you shatter a cube you have to stop and strain, because you are then shaking with cracked/crushed ice.
Toby
#1
Do you think they were refering to the short time period the ice would spend out of freezeing are before re-entering a frezzer? Could that make it harder? Would it possibly round the sharp edges very slightly, making it less likley to shatter? I've been told that the warm up period at D&C and M&H is more for rounding the ice(although i definitly bow to you on this one Tody). I do slow figure 8's at first with Kold draft because i find that it doesn't shatter nearly as fast. So I guess the real question is: Is it the round edges that keeps it from shattering or the warming process?
#2
Kold draft machines are stackable, according to the website. The top unit can have an additional top unit added to it. It should make twice as much ice of the same quality. Does anyone have experience with this?
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At Seven Grand we love the ice, but have had problems with machines here and there. We placed it in a room without enough ventilation, a dishwasher and another large ice machine. The ice came out with huge dimples. When ventilation was added to the room, the machine produced ice of good quality again. When the machine got too cold from direct A.C., a similar thing happened. It works great when to surrounding temp is around 70 without being directly cooled. Some people have said Kold draft sucks to maintain in LA cuz our water sucks. I could see that.
Someone recently told me that removing Kold draft from the bin and droping it into a another freezer for awhile can make in stronger for shaking with. Any thoughts?
Also, what about shaking styles with Kold draft? Most of us try not to break up all the ice, at least right away. I've tried short shakes after doing a fiqure 8 motion to soften the edges and gotten the coldest/least watered down/smoothest. Any advice?
John Coltharp - Seven Grand
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A well made Bee's Knees is great for a newbie.
2 oz Gin
3/4 lemon
3/4 honey (brought down to 75% strength by stirring with hot water)
shake, strain into a chilled Cocktail("Martini") glass
no garnish
add a blackberry or two and fine strain for a simple variation.
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The Compass Box line of blended and pure malt whisky is really incredible. Asyla for the first timer, Oak Cross for the Speyside lover, and Hedonism for anybody who wants something unique. All the whiskies are approachable, complex, and enjoyable.
Find a whiskey bar and ask for tasting portion options or custom flights.
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I've heard there is a Hoshizaki ice machine that puts out 2 in cube ice, but it's only avalible in Japan. Does anyone know how to get something like that into the country? Can it be brought in through customs? Will it violate rules concerning bar permiting?(I'm in Los Angeles) How much does it cost? I don't know how to translate any of the information on their website.
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2 1/2 by 2 1/2 cube or 3 by 3 cube for shaking and rocks glasses. 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 by 6 for collins glasses.
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These are great. Does anybody know where to get trays made to specific sizes? I'm looking to fit them to the glass as close as possible.
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Does anybody have a good place to order custom ice trays for large-format ice? 2in by 2in cubed or 1in by 1in by 4in? Things like that.
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True. Jim Beam is the only real disapointment of the 3. Overholt Manhattans with Antica are pretty amazing for the buck. I dig using a vermouth that's more expensive then the rye.
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I hear ya. When a bar does have basic rye, it tends to start with Overholt, then go to Jim Beam and/or Wild Turkey 101. Of the three i think Wild Turkey wins hands down. Not as complex as whiskeys in the next level of quality above it, but drinkable as hell. Plus the proof makes it great for classics.
I really hope Ri1 gets a new bottle. Jim Beam is not helping the bartenders of america bring back rye by giving it a vodka bottle. Put it into something people can associate with history and age. Your never gonna turn a red bull-vodka drinker on to rye in cocktails with a flashy package(well, you night be able to actually, but please don't, we want them drinking in overcrowed clubs, not in our bars).
Thomas H. Handy Old fashioned anyone?!
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I think the whole reaction saying "oh my god! what are those idiots at Father's Office going to do when someone orders a Ramos Fizz?!" is a bit misplaced. Like many articles on cocktail developments, and especially those by the LA Times, this one simply asks the wrong person. I don't know if there are any serious cocktailian bars in LA along the lines of what exists in NYC and a few cities around the country, but regardless... Father's Office in LA does not seem to be one.
All true...sadly, LA is not a great cocktail town (though I did just find a new bartender at Campanile who looks promising). The original Father's Office in Santa Monica is a great place - they were one of the first micro-brew pubs in LA, and they have fantastic food - and I look forward to trying out the new location, which is much, much closer to me. But, Yoon was probably far from the best person to go to on this subject. I wouldn't call up Dale DeGroff for an article on sous vide.
I know it's a little late, but check out some of LA's cocktail bars these days. Seven Grand, The Edison, Hungry Cat, The Association, Comme Ca, Sona, Providence, Cole's, Tiki Ti, The Doheny, Malo, STK, Bar Centro, Ryan M's cocktail lists at SBE locations (Katsua, S Bar,...). Many more great, fresh juice drink programs in the area are going into effect at the moment. As important as any others is the soon to open 'The Varnish.' Eric Alprin and Sasha have something really special on the horizon with this bar. Next time anybody wants to take a trip to LA LA land, drop by Seven Grand. I promise we stir our spiritus drinks. I'll point you in the right direction. - John Coltharp, -lead barman, Seven Grand whiskey bar
All About Rye Whiskey (Part 1)
in Spirits & Cocktails
Posted
Yes, thank you. I must have been mixing up 6 yr 5 month for 5 to 6 years. Even at this somewhat young age, Handy is mind blowing.