tanstaafl2

Seems like the choice of scotch would really drive this one. Are you using a blend?

What 100 proof (or thereabouts) rums/rhums does Clement export to the US? While the blanc in particular is bottled at 100 proof (and higher) in the Islands and in Europe I don't know of any Clement rums bottled for the US market at 100 proof. The highest proof is generally 88 as is the case with the 6 & 10 yo Grand Reserve I picked up recently. Not sure why they don't send 100 proof rhum to the states.

I was pleased with a glass of Clement neat before assembling the mai tai. I can only wonder what the older stuff must taste like, and what the older stuff must cost. Clement VSOP however is only 80 proof. What did you have in mind for 100 proof Martinique? For whatever reason Clement tends not to bring their younger rhums to the US at 100 proof. JM Rhum Blanc, Eleve and VSOP are 100 proof but can be pricey like many rhums. Neisson comes in a 100 proof rhum Blanc, Eleve and Vieux as well but tends to be pricey too as I recall. La Favorite blanc and Ambre may be a little less expensive. I like Depaz which I think is particularly vegetal, is generally available and usually not overly expensive. Although it is a 90 proof rhum. They have a 100 proof version but it doesn't come to the US either to my knowledge.

Hmm. I suspect a certain eGulleteer wouldn't mind another happy accident arriving in the mail!

17? Not sure what that is unless it is an Australian special! Pappy comes in 15 and 20yo "flavors" here. But I agree the rye is worth looking for. Although it is worth noting that it is slowly being blended with Buffalo trace rye as they transition from the vatted whiskey to an all BT rye over the next few years. Sadly the original rye can't last for ever! The last of the all original rye bottles was probably 3-4 years ago. That said it is still pretty good which suggests the BT rye could be pretty decent in its own right.

Is this the same as Brandymel? Or would that be too pedestrian? Not that I am likely to find the die hochland imker mead just lying around! Is there a reasonably available substitutue mead for that? Hmm, wiki says Brandymel is the aguadente sweetened with honey. So perhaps it is not a good substitute unless it can sub for the mead?

Is this the same as Brandymel? Or would that be too pedestrian? Not that I am likely to find the die hochland imker mead just lying around! Is there a reasonably available substitutue mead for that?

Indeed it is sad! A recent acquisition of several bottles of Clement Single Cask barrel proof tres vieux rhum agricole may well be my favorite rum of any stripe at the moment. Probably not going to make it into a Mai Tai though. Too good all by itself! Although I have a few other interesting option to try on the way from Renegade this week.

I guess I should pick up some Unicum just because I can. Hmm, didn't know Unicum warranted a humble brag. It has long been a staple in my bar where it rest comfortably in the freezer waiting for its call to duty!

While I like jenever I am by no means an expert! I did a little taste test refresher this evening. The Bols Corenwyn I have is aged 10 years and is more a fine whiskey to be drunk neat rather than used as a mixer in my opinion. Although it has at least as much malt wine as the US Bols it does not have as much of the sourdough malty flavor that the Bols has. I suspect time in the barrel has softened that considerably as it would do to any white dog spirit. The Bols is unaged and also has at least 51% malt wine like a Corenwyn according to the bottle despite needing only a minimum of 15% to be called oude jenever. I have no idea why it has such a high content of malt wine or exactly what distinguishes it from Corenwyn other than the lack of aging. Perhaps the type of grain is critical and a Corenwyn must have at least some corn? I would guess the Bols is perhaps mostly a rye malt. What ever the reason this no doubt explains its delightfully strong sourdough or malty flavor. I should note I tend to keep it refrigerated for cocktail mixing and this may decrease the taste a bit compared to both the Corenwyn and Boosma oude jenever. The Boosma (I have the oude style as noted) is aged for one year, unlike the Bols (although there is a barrel aged Bols available in the US still I believe), and I suspect it has far less malt wine in it than the Bols although the bottle does not specify. So it is not as malty and therefore less appealing to me for old style cocktails. It is more like vodka/gin with a bit of malt flavoring. Presumably the jonge Boosma would have even less distinctive flavor but I have never tried it. If you can get it I suggest the Bols over the Boosma for cocktails where you want a distinctive jenever influence. I think it is much more interesting. Oddly the Bols reminds me a bit of the Jack Daniels unaged rye. I suppose that shouldn't really be all that surprising.

For the moment there are 2 Rittenhouses, DSP354 from Brown-Forman (made on behalf of Heaven Hill) and DSP1 which is now made by Heaven Hill and slowly replacing the DSP354 (although DSP354 is still pretty common on shelves for now). WT 101 Rye is another relatively "low rye" rye whiskey like Rittenhouse having only 51%, or perhaps slightly more, rye with most of the rest corn. LDI/MGPI rye is 95% rye and 5% barley and so it is not surprising it is more rye "assertive" and has less sweetness and body which comes more from the corn component. DSP354 is to me a bit more bourbon-like than DSP1 and I think WT 101 Rye is probably more similar to the new DSP1 than the older DSP354. That said the difference between all three is pretty subtle in my opinion and hard to pick out in a cocktail that isn't mostly rye.

Mostly has to do with how much "malt wine" is used as I understand it. Malt wine means the proportion of the grain that has been malted versus unmalted grain that results in grain neutral spirits or vodka. The name Corenwyn implies it is "corn wine" although it is also known as grain wine and in reality the malted grain used can be most anything. Typically it is barley or rye but I suppose it could include corn too. Don't know enough about the details to be sure! Corenwyn must be at least 51% malt wine whereas oude jenever like the Bols you had is only required to have at least 15% and jonge jenever has less than 15%. The more malt wine the better I say! I have a 10yo Corenwyn and a 15yo Roggenaer which is basically an all rye malt whiskey with a hint of juniper somewhere in the background. Both are excellent! But these are sippin' "whiskey" to me. If you want to mix with it you probably want a younger Corenwyn. I think it must have at least some age to be a corenwyn but I have seen 2, 4, 6 and 10yo versions at a minimum. From a few years back: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021900685.html "After the flair, I got down to business and sampled the three basic genevers: oude, jonge and corenwyn. Genever labeled oude, or old, is not aged but rather is made according to a traditional recipe calling for at least 15 percent malt wine. It's a recipe the Dutch have used since the 16th century, when a chemist in Leyden invented the spirit by adding juniper ("genever" in Dutch) to distilled alcohol. Oude genever has a funky, earthy quality that is unlike anything else; it has become one of my favorite spirits in the world. Jonge, or young, genever is the most popular spirit in the Netherlands. It follows a recipe that dates from the early 20th century. A more neutral spirit, it still maintains some of the flavorful maltiness of the oude. Corenwyn (corn wine), a cask-aged genever, must contain at least 51 percent malt wine. The spirit's finest expression, corenwyn shares many of the characteristics of fine aged whiskey. Corenwyn and oude genever generally are sold in the traditional earthenware bottles."

Left out another link I had intended to include.

I am still inclined to side with Chuck Cowdery's take on the matter. Jack, George and the rest may be a square but they are still a rectangle too, no matter how much they insist on being called a square!

Particularly fun and interesting when you mix in a couple of "top shelf" brands, if you have them, with a few quality bargain priced spirits to see what people really find that they like. Sometimes useful to try to use similar proof options or consider bringing everything down or close to the proof of the lowest option. Weller 12 against a VW Lot B or WLW for example.

The Bamboo cocktail with Lustau Amontillado sherry, Dolin Dry and a dash each of Angostura and orange bitters proved a success with the caviar brunch. I also brought champagne, gin and several vodka's but the cocktail seemed to be the consensus choice. Thanks for the suggestions!

Sounds like a challenging cocktail! But I appreciate the honesty of the closing commentary...

Whether it is truly Iranian caviar I don't know, only that the host is Iranian (and so may have a black market connection). So it sounds like I need champagne, gin and vermouth! Although the Bamboo sounds interesting for the more open minded. Maybe make a French 75 as well?

I guess I was trying to come up with a spirit that was a bit more regional with the notion of Raki or Arak. Don't have any Persian spirits (although I have some Armenian brandy which I suppose is close as well). But yes, I agree that it would likely be a bit too much in terms of the powerful anise flavor.

Did a bit of searching but didn't see anything that spoke to this question. Ihave been invited to an afternoon brunch that will feature "Persian" caviar. I have no idea how that differs exactly from caviar in general except that the host is indeed Persian being originally from Iran. Would like to take something tasty to imbibe that might fit with this theme. But I tend to associate caviar either with flappers and champagne or brooding Russians drinking vodka (I know, a bit of a stereotype but there you have it). This is not a hardcore cocktail crowd but they might appreciate something light and a bit innovative but I wasn't really sure what direction to try to go. Could always try a champagne cocktail of some sort but I would also be fine with a light cocktail or even a liqueur/apertif on its own or perhaps with a bit of soda water. Kind of like an Americano perhaps although I am not sure an Americano is exactly the right flavor profile I should be looking for. Or maybe it is? Was thinking I might lean towards sweet to balance the presumed saltiness of the caviar? Or perhaps that is the wrong direction as well? Would Lebanese arak or Turkish Raki be too much? Not terribly limited by ingredients. If it is fairly regularly available (I am in Atlanta so the selection is OK but by no means exhaustive) I should be able to procure it if I don't already have it. Just needs to be reasonably simple to make as I don't have much time or inclination to make infusions or the like. One recipe I came across: Grainy Evening 2 oz genever .75 oz Noilly Prat Dry .5 Kirchwasser .25 Maraschino Liqueur lemon twist Might be a bit complex for this crowd but it has the advantage of being one I have the ingredients for on hand. Something in a "wet" martini vein (perhaps 3 or 4:1 gin/vodka to vermouth) had also occurred to me. Thanks for any suggestions!

Better, as I am sure you know, is subjective. Save that DSP 354 until you find a bottle of DSP 1 and then you will be able to do a blind tasting for yourself. Or better yet buy a new bottle of 354 to put aside so that when you find a new bottle of DSP 1 you will be able to open them together and taste them together over a period of time. Can always find a use for Ritt Rye so it certainly won't go to waste!

Interesting that you find it interesting...I've been acting under the impression that it's been shorthand for that distillery for years, at least for some time before this list was compiled in 2010. I believe it was adopted in an attempt to differentiate BF's 354 operation for the 414 in Shively (on the other side of Louisville). My understanding is that the DSP number is registered to the actual producer of whiskey and the equipment they use to include the still. In this case B-F moved the still registered to DSP 414 (which made Old Forester) from downtown KY to the current Shively location where DSP 354 (which made Early Times) and both stills now sit essentially side by side in Shively, which as you note is kind of a suburb in SW Louisville. For some reason they tend to use 414 as the bottling plant number and 354 as the still number. 354 was the Early Times still and 414 was the Old Forester still until they brought them together at the same location some years ago (not sure of the date. Early 80's I would guess). Speculation was that they started refering to all of the operation in Shively as the B-F or Old Forester distillery because at that time Early Times had more of a reputation as bottom shelf whiskey. I am told B-F can run both stills in parallel so the whiskey they now produce could be a product of both stills and both whiskey could come from either still. A DSP is used by a "producer" of whiskey. They could be a bottler, an importer or a distiller but as I understand it they don't have to even have a still to have a DSP. An example is Willett/KBD which has had a DSP (DSP 78) for nearly 30 years but only recently built a new still and began making their own whiskey. The shell game distilleries play can get quite confusing! This site has interesting info from around 2000 although I can't speak to the veracity of all the details! Also it appears I am mistaken in that it was Jim Beams uncle, Jack Beam, who started Early Times and not Jim Beam.

I've noticed a lot of shelves flush with Rittenhouse recently. In other good news, the stuff in the bottle once again appears to have come off Heaven Hill's own still (DSP 1 is listed on the bottles I've seen recently), as opposed to the Early Times make (DSP 354). Was never completely satisfied with the 354, compared to the pre-fire stuff. So, not sorry to see it go. Interesting that you associate DSP 354 with Early Times. I suppose since the new Early Times straight bourbon is called Early Times 354 it is easy to do. DSP 354 is the Brown-Forman Distillery in Louisville (located pretty close to the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville now run by Heaven Hill and where the new DSP 1 Rittenhouse is made) and is certainly where Early Times is made. But the name Early Times which was once the brand made by Jim Beam (yes, that Jim Beam!) in Early Times Station, KY and was bought by Brown-Forman during prohibition basically to acquire the stock of whiskey they had in barrels to have aged whiskey available for the day when our long national nightmare of prohibition ended! As for which is better I suppose it is a matter of ones individual palate. So far I tend to prefer the newer DSP 1 too in blind taste tests although I like them both and would probably have a hard time distinguishing between them in a typical cocktail.

Jim Beam's "Jacob's Ghost" is a quasi white dog bourbon (they call it "white whiskey" which in this case is a reasonably fair designation) from Beam that gets about one year in the barrel and is filtered to make it very light. Unlike a true white dog it does have a little residual barrel color. And it is surprisingly decent tasting all things considered. Thought it might work as a cocktail ingredient but haven't really done much with it so far. Came out around the same time as the JD white dog rye which was also surprisingly decent tasting to me but grossly overpriced at $50 a bottle. The Ghost is half that or less as I recall. I can't seem to resisit new and unusual things! That is one reason my "hobby" is drifting past excessive and well on it's way to absurd...

Oh, believe me when I say I have no objection if someone else wants to make it and let me be their taste tester! Just no skill or interest in doing it myself.