On Tuesday night I got the chance to attend a tasting organized by Appleton Estate, the famous Jamaican rum producer. The tasting was led by Joy Spence, master blender at Wray & Nephew (producers of Appleton Estate). Joy was an interesting character. She had a fun and not-too-serious approach to rum, but the look of concern on her face when she described how the Hilton was using her 21 year old rum to mix cocktails indicated that her easygoing demeanor only extended so far. There was no doubt she was serious about her work. Tickets were fully booked by the time I realized this tasting was happening, but Jak Jakicevich of Glengarry Wines kindly managed to squeeze me in after a last minute cancellation. The tasting was more action-packed than any other I have been to, adding up to a very entertaining evening. I was glad to be able to make it. (more…)

I did a comparative tasting of three different piscos back in November. Given that I have since acquired a couple more piscos, it seems a good idea to do a repeat tasting. I was originally intending to write this new pisco review back in December. I delayed until now because I had been hoping to be able to include a third pisco. Sadly this was not to be. (more…)

Glenborrodale Castle in Argyll, home of Adelphi Distillery Ltd.

On Thursday evening I went to a whiskey tasting put on by The Adelphi Distillery together with online retailer Whisky Galore, and hosted by Glengarry Wines. (more…)

I should probably have written Whisky Live, but the extra ‘e’ somehow seems to add something to the word.

On Saturday I attended Whiskey Live in Auckland. Whiskey Live is a whiskey event that creeps around the globe dousing various cities in whiskey for the day. The Auckland event was mostly about Scotch, with a single lonely ‘Bourbon’ producer, a little whiskey from Tasmania and New Zealand, and I think some Irish whiskey floating around somewhere. In the U.S. there is probably a little more American whiskey. Maybe the Auckland event could have done with some more American whiskey, but then that might have distracted the focus a little.

At any rate there was a huge range of Scotch whiskey. All the Scotch distilleries I knew of were represented, plus plenty I had never heard of. The range of whiskey was impressive enough, but the venue provided the finishing touch. The Civic Theater is a truly amazing piece of art deco architecture and filling a grand old building like that with fine whiskeys and a crowd gathered specially to sample them made for a somewhat magical occasion.

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Despite being most popular beer style in the world today, Pilsner is probably not my favorite type of beer. I generally prefer ales to lagers, and I often prefer stronger beers to weaker ones. However, Czech Pilsner is quality stuff. No surprises there since although the world tends to associate Pilsner with the Germans, in fact it was the Czechs who invented the style. (more…)

I got hold of some Lillet the other day. I really like Dubonnet so had been looking forward to trying Lillet. Dubonnet and Lillet both belong to the ‘quinqina’ category of flavored wines, namely quinine flavored wine-based aperitifs. Dubonnet is red while Lillet is white, though Dubonnet also produces a less well known white version and Lillet also has a red version. The situation is a little like that with vermouth, where vermouth producers typically offer both sweet and dry versions. (more…)

I have always had a soft spot for pisco and its trendier Italian cousin grappa. Both are rustic, unaged grape brandies. Pisco originated as a way for Peruvian grape growers to use poorer quality grapes considered unsuitable for wine production which otherwise would have been discarded. From these humble beginnings pisco gradually grew in popularity and grapes started to be planted specifically for its production. In contrast, Italian grappa is distilled from the skins, stalks, pips and other material remaining after wine making. In most countries this material would be discarded or used as animal feed, but in Italy it is collected and distilled to produce grappa. (more…)

My excellent friend Nathan brought be three bottles of rye whiskey from the US yesterday – Wild Turkey, Old Overholt and Rittenhouse. I haven’t had too much of a chance to play around with them yet, but the Wild Turkey is excellent stuff, and while the Old Overholt and Rittenhouse are a little lacking in aftertaste they are still nice mixers that are distinctly different to bourbon.

The Wild Turkey makes an excellent Manhattan – dry and spicy with good depth of flavor. It really does taste totally different to a Manhattan made with a quality bourbon, though I must admit a Woodford Reserve Manhattan is also very good. The Old Overholt and Rittenhouse are nice enough in a Manhattan but they don’t have the backbone of the Wild Turkey. Old Overholt and Rittenhouse don’t taste too bad in an Old Fashioned, but would probably be best in drinks with juices and other ingredients – i.e. drinks where the whiskey isn’t doing all the work. Comparing them with Blantons Bourbon, Blantons still makes a far superior Old Fashioned and I’m not a big Blanton’s fan.

Right now I’m trying the Rittenhouse in a Capetown Cocktail (1 1/2 oz rye, 1 oz Dubonnet, 2 dashes Orange Curacao, 1 dash Angostura Bitters, stirred over ice and garnished with a lemon twist). The Rittenhouse works nicely in a drink like this. It is drier than bourbon would be, just a little spicy, and the bitter and herbal flavors of the Dubonnet help make up for its lack of finish.

I need to hurry up and make some more drinks with these rye whiskeys while my bar here in Shanghai is still intact. I’m planning to leave China soon which will mean saying good bye to my bar.

One interesting thing to note though is this. . . I remember seeing a recommendation to use Jameson Irish whiskey as a substitute for rye in a Manhattan. Since tasting some real rye I can see some logic behind this suggestion. I think I’d recommend Jameson over the usual Canadian whiskey substitution. Jameson is more astringent than sweet, but it does have a little of the spiciness of a true rye. It certainly has more character than the Canadian Club that bartenders tend to use for Manhattans.

P.S. I also tried a Wright Brothers Cocktail (1 oz rye, 1 oz port, 1/2 oz lemon juice, sugar syrup to taste, an egg white – shaken over ice). The rye taste didn’t really come through but it was not a bad refreshing drink.