If you live in the Boston area, Crema Cafe in Harvard Square has a wonderful cherry bourbon banana bread pudding that you should definitely treat yourself to this weekend.
Happy weekending!
Bloody Bourbon and Five Horses Tavern
I love a good Bloody Mary. Unfortunately, I’m often hesitant to order one when I’m at a bar or restaurant because a bad Bloody Mary is absolutely terrible. There’s no in-between with these things. A good Bloody Mary can be refreshing and can cure some of the worst hangovers, while anything less tastes like the worst liquid in the history of liquids. By now you’re probably wondering why I’m waxing pathetic about a vodka-based drink, so I’ll get to it.
This weekend, Rachel and I had brunch at Five Horses Tavern, which is a local bar with a great selection of beer and (you guessed it) bourbon. So when I saw they had a “Bloody Bourbon” variation on their brunch menu, I had to set aside my inhibitions in the name of research. The Bloody Bourbon as it appears on the menu is: Four Roses, house mix (which I assume to be some variation of V8 or tomato juice), A1 sauce, dash mustard, and a splash of a dry stout. The result is a tasty bourbony version of a Bloody Mary that we will try to recreate at home in the future.
The other picture here is the whiskey portion of Five Horses’ bar. That’s all (or at least mostly) bourbon under the TV. I’m a big fan of their whiskey chalkboard up top, too. Finally, you probably can’t see it in the picture, but there’s a bottle of Pappy 20-year hanging out in the top right shelf. (Here’s another photo from their website.)
Sushi & Bourbon
You may be wondering why anyone would pair bourbon with sushi. We would have asked the same question before we had dinner at Oishii and discovered their ginger manhattan. It was so good! Its flavors were much lighter than one would find in a traditional manhattan, and it still maintained quite a complex profile. Think of the basic bourbon and ginger flavors, then add in the smoothness of Domaine de Canton and a bit of the dryness of sake.
We will be trying to replicate it at home, so stay tuned for updates on that endeavor.
We also tried the emperor’s old-fashioned, but our memories got a little fuzzy as the night wore on and we failed to capture all of the ingredients in this cocktail. Rest assured that it was delicious.
Please forgive the lack of mouth-watering photos. The restaurant lighting, apparently designed for romantic mood-setting, rendered our attempts atrocious.
Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout
On our last day in Virginia we stopped to have lunch at Comfort in Richmond, which we highly recommend if you are in the area. Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout from Bluegrass Brewing Company has been on our radar for a while, and we were delighted to see it on tap.
Its first impression left a bit to be desired, as the head on the glasses we were poured was small and rapidly dissipated to near nonexistence. It is a fragrant beer with quite a boozy smell, actually. The oak and vanilla from the barrel came out strongly in both fragrance and flavor. Notes of chocolate, malt, and coffee were strong mid-palate (it is a stout, after all) and the finish is very smooth, almost too smooth. I would prefer a bit more carbonation in this overall, but I found it a very enjoyable accompaniment to our Southern lunch of ham sandwich with potato salad (me) and catfish sandwich with french fries (Patrick).
(Source: therewillbebourbon.net)
There Will Be FUEGO!
While wandering Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall (thanks to the recommendation of Rob Iracane), we stopped into Commonwealth Skybar for a quick drink. Naturally we sat right in front of the whiskey section, as you can see above.
I ordered the one cocktail on the menu that explicitly said bourbon was included, the Fuego.
I forgot to take a picture of the drink because we were more focused on relaxing after the flying, driving, getting lost, and getting found of the day. At any rate, the drink was delicious. It seems like a pretty simple adaptation of the classic whiskey and ginger combination. They used Jim Beam Devil’s Cut bourbon, which lends its cinnamon spice to the drink nicely. I believe they added a bit of actual cinnamon to the drink as well. So, next time you’re putting together a bourbon and ginger, think about spicing up your drink a bit with some cinnamon.
Also, this drink + this review made me really want to check out Devil’s Cut. Also, they got Kid Rock to make fun of blogfriend Seth, who drove me around hunting for House Spirits whiskey last time we were in Portland.
(Source: therewillbebourbon.net)
Chicken & Waffles with Bourbon Maple Syrup
Before this weekend, I’d never had chicken & waffles before. Crazy, right? I mean, I love fried chicken and I love waffles. Who doesn’t? Crazy people, of course. I’ve also been curious about bourbon maple syrup, since I love maple syrup, and we already know bourbon and syrup are a great combination. So in the name of research, Rachel and I got some friends and said, “Hey! You guys! Meet us at Tupelo for brunch! They got chicken and they got waffles!”
This is the plate of heaven that was presented to me. Not pictured is a delicious bowl of cheddar grits, which I ordered despite knowing this would fill me up BECAUSE BRUNCH THAT’S WHY! The chicken was fried chicken deliciousness, the waffle was waffley tastytimes, and the bourbon maple syrup was perfect. The bourbon flavor really stood out. At one point, one of our friends said the bourbon flavor reminded him that he was still hungover. I took this as a good sign, because who doesn’t like a little bourbon flavor with their brunch? CRAZY PEOPLE, of course!
Pig Fig Bourbon Bliss
Since starting this blog, Rachel and I have gotten more and more texts, tweets, and emails on the lines of, “OMG you need to see/taste [insert bourbon thing]!” (Note: we totally love when this happens.) This time it was Walt “Crimedog” McGough alerting us to the bourbon and bacon cocktail he was about to drink. You might remember Walt from the time he gave us a surprise Blanton’s tasting. He’s back to tell us about The Fig’N Pig. Walt is an amazingly talented playwright. If you’re in the Boston area this weekend, go see his play The Farm, which has been receiving rave reviews.
Last Sunday was a great day. Lovely fall weather, great company, a trip to the South End Arts Fair, and more. I thought things couldn’t get much better, until we decided to stop in at Post 390 and get a drink, and upon looking at the menu I saw this:
Needless to say, it was ordered immediately. When “bacon” and “bourbon” are used in the same sentence, there’s really not much discussion to be had. Had I had my wits about me, I would’ve asked the bartender what exactly “House Smoked Bourbon” entailed (or at least what brand they started with), but I was a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of my future beverage. Luckily, in no time at all it was there:
This drink was pretty fascinating, overall. The aroma really does have a heavy bacon presence: It’s salty, it’s warm, and it’s inviting. The first sip, on the other hand, is all about the sweet: the fig and orange mix together to give you something akin to an old-fashioned. It’s good, but it had me thinking I’d been had a little bit. “Where’s the bacon?” my mind shouted. “I was told there’d be bacon.”
And then the aftertaste hit. And hoo boy, was there bacon. After that initial sweet taste, a satisfying, smoky, bacony goodness cuts through, and leaves you with just the right hint of deliciousness. Without the initial sweetness, it’d be completely overpowering, but as it is it’s more of an afterthought that leaves you feeling good.
The last thing to notice: this drink is smooth. There’s no fire or burn to speak of (only smoke). I’m sure that has a lot to do with the mountain of crushed ice that it’s served with, but I also think the citrus and simple syrup go a long way to neutralize it.
In all, the Fig’n Pig is a very satisfying cocktail that probably works better as a one-off than a staple. It’s probably not something that I’ll be trying to replicate at home, nor will it enter into my rotation, but it is absolutely recommended, and not just for the novelty factor. It made for a sweet, smoky capstone to an already great afternoon, and there’s not much higher of a recommendation that I can give.
Finishing the Bourbon Derby by Yu Miyagawa
Editor’s Note: I’ve had a fascination with Portland, Oregon’s Pope House Bourbon Lounge ever since my brother mentioned it to me about a year ago. So when Yu—an avid sports fan—said he finished the Bourbon Derby by trying 50 different bourbons, I asked him to tell us about it. This is his story. Follow him on Twitter and Tumblr.
It started as many good ideas do—over winter break, huddled over a bar with a friend on a gray Oregon afternoon. The task was clear enough. Drink 50 different bourbons and get your name on a plaque, a t-shirt, and 10% off bourbons. Our immediate reaction was to note how easy it’d be. In a childhood defined by numbers as milestones (56, .400, 755), “50 shots” seemed the most accessible. And with that, we ordered a Black Maple Hill small batch.
We devised a strategy. Similar to the great NBA coach Larry Brown’s philosophy, we believed there was a right and wrong approach to success. It wasn’t about a win at all costs, drink as quickly as possible and cross the finish line in two months aesthetic. We wanted to treat the way we drank each bourbon as an art itself. And we started strongly too—I look at my tally card and names jump out of the first ten—Blanton’s, Rowan’s Creek, Four Roses single barrel. But we quickly regressed after the initial excitement wore off. We went from Larry Brown to Larry Flynt, from philosophical examination of trusting the process to the dirtiest, low brow, and most obscene of the barrel. (I want to send a shout out to Rebel Yell and Old Crow, the blurred softcore porn of the bourbon game.) Further relating this idea to basketball, it doesn’t bother me when players don’t try for all 82 games because life is a grind and the middle is very sluggish and very boring. We started our journey last January and ended it in September. The Marches, the Aprils, the Mays in between? We went to McDonald’s afterward.
We regrouped around our 40th bourbon and decided to go out strong like Kobe in the clutch (no Truehoop). But I digress. Technically, here are some of the my favorite bourbons: Baker’s, Henry McKenna single barrel, Old Forrester Signature, Old Pogue, Temperance Trader, Hirsch small batch, and Prichard’s double barrel. If I had to choose one to drink right now, Old Pogue would be my choice (my friend says maybe Michter’s 10 year or Hirsch, but he has to try them all again to make sure).
An important part of drinking that many bourbons was drinking the bad bourbon. I had to taste the difficult to appreciate the good, the really good, and the really, really good. And of course, it was a journey and along the way, we talked to a lot of people, ate a lot, and thought a lot about the story of the faces engraved on the label, the family name, the history behind it all. Then one day I woke up and felt confident that I knew something about bourbon, that I could hold a conversation without looking clueless and most importantly knew what I wanted in a bourbon—that perfect balance between sweetness and flavor, warmth and conversation.
College nights were spent throwing cheap ping pong balls across the room into cups with even cheaper beer. After we graduated, my friends decided to move on to wine, a symbol of our growing maturity. Then that got boring (as did growing up) and I don’t remember what we drank after that. My mid 20s are rolled into one never ending night scrolling through old jukeboxes that ate our carefully creased dollar bills and never looked back. But drinking no longer became the thing, it became a thing we did along with several other things. A couple weeks ago, we went back to Pope House to finish our last bourbon. It was 6 p.m. and an NFL Sunday game was on TV. The familiar shelves of bottles were proudly displayed in front of us. We went out with a bang—Parker’s Golden Anniversary, and by then we knew the drill. Look, smell, sip, and make a small note of the richness in flavor, the smoothness of the after taste, and the faint conversations in the background.
Hungry Mother = Disneyland
Hungry Mother is my Disneyland. There are few places, restaurant or otherwise, that make me as giddy as Hungry Mother. In fact, a random Twitter joke about the place is what led to the creation of this blog. They cook locally sourced Southern food with French techniques and provide an atmosphere that is upscale but not pretentious. Unlike some other nice restaurants, I absolutely never feel like I should shut up, no matter how boisterous my table might get. Hungry Mother also has amazing bartenders to match their amazing food.*
When we go there, we usually just order a “Bartender’s Choice” and tell them to include bourbon. This time though, some good friends gave us a few drink suggestions the night before. Rachel started the night with the first suggestion, a Geneva Convention.
This is not the Geneva Convention with Vodka, Everclear, and Goldschlager, which sounds like something college kids would make in bulk. This Geneva Convention (AKA “no.72” on the Hungry Mother menu) had Eagle Rare bourbon, chartreuse, and sherry. There were other ingredients that we can’t recall, but we’re sure they also represented the peaceful and boozy union of many different countries.
The other tip we received is that Hungry Mother happens to carry Pappy Van Winkle.
I ordered the 20 year, and it tasted a little bit like heaven. Being the wordnerd that I am, I couldn’t help but drink this and think of Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and the following sentence: “With some difficulty he got down into the glen: he found the gully up which he and his companion had ascended the preceding evening; but to his astonishment a mountain stream was now foaming down it, leaping from rock to rock, and filling the glen with his babbling murmurs.” It made me wish I had a stream of bourbon flowing my way.
Walt “Crimedog” McGough let the bartender decide, and they gave him a Red Hook #2.
I don’t remember exactly everything in this besides Eagle Rare bourbon. I can’t say much more about this, since it wasn’t my drink, but Walt assured me it was tasty.
I then let the bartender decide, and this showed up:
I was never told what it was called, but it included Buffalo Trace bourbon, sweet vermouth, and angostura and peach bitters. I guess that makes it sort of a sweeter Manhattan, maybe? It was delicious, just like everything else. I’m fairly certain I’ll be riding a Hungry Mother high for most of this week.
*For the record: I ordered a tomato tart appetizer, a pork plate entree (with cheek, sausage, and a rib) on grits and collared greens, and a chocolate pot dessert with bourbon creme. Rachel ordered a market salad, bluefish entree, and a blueberry crostata dessert, as well as “Rachel P.’s cookies” for the table, for obvious reasons. Our conclusion was that Rachel P. at Hungry Mother (i.e. pastry chef Rachel Polonsky) makes cookies at least as well as this Rachel P.
Friday Night Bourbon Research at Highland Kitchen
After completely dominating the week, Rachel and I decided to celebrate Friday night with some delicious food and bourbon research. We went to Somerville’s Highland Kitchen, which is a fantastic local restaurant and bar that we don’t go to nearly enough. (Somehow this was only our second trip there.) We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table, so we got some drinks and hung out at the bar.
That’s a Bulleit on the rocks on the left and a Rarely Eagle on the right. The Red Sox and Brewers also made an upside down appearance on the bar. Bulleit has been recommended numerous times and did not disappoint. It had a deep oaky flavor and what seemed like a hint of vanilla before sliding into a smooth but lasting aftertaste. Rachel gave me a wide-eyed, “ooooh that’s goooood,” upon first taste. The Rarely Eagle is described on the menu as:
Eagle Rare bourbon
St. Germain
lemon juice
orange blossom water
It tasted like pineapple juice, bourbon, and deliciousness.
When dinner came around, Rachel jumped on to gin and ordered a Pimm’s Cup, while I got a Mark N Stormy.
The ginger overpowered the Mark N Stormy at first, but once I spotted the huge chunk of ginger floating around and removed it, it got a lot better. I think the ginger killed my palette, though, because the flavor lingered until I finished the drink.
For dessert I had a bourbon pecan pie that I didn’t take a picture of because it looked and tasted like every other pecan pie you’ve ever had (delicious).
