This from regular contributor Jim Chevalier on the origin of charred barrels: Would you believe there’s an Encyclopedia of Cognac? (In French, naturellement). You will learn there among other things that it was the Dutch who decided to distill wine in the region in order to save on transportation costs. With the rather entertaining result […]
READ ONSo far I’ve discussed a few of the ways bourbon distillers manipulate the taste of their products: distilling at a lower yield (and thus a lower proof), aging at a lower proof and of course aging in new oak wood barrels. Important as those various techniques are, their impact is nothing compared to that of […]
READ ONOne point that fascinated me at Friday’s lecture was the impact of seasonal changes on whiskey. Traditionally, distillers have left barrels of bourbon to age in unheated warehouses or barns all year ’round. It was of course the only practical thing to do once upon a time, because let’s face it, even if there was […]
READ ONBecause Scots are cheap, reader Tom. Being Scottish myself, I know what I’m talking about. Barrels are expensive things to make, especially when there’s not much indigenous wood left in your country (visit the moors sometime and you’ll see what I mean). For the Scots, barrels were always doubly expensive. Not only did they have […]
READ ONI mentioned below that the strictures around alcohol levels in the bourbon distilling and aging processes may come off as a little esoteric to the non-specialist. I suppose they will, however you are about to become a specialist in whiskey distillation, so that shouldn’t frighten you. Read on! All distilled spirits start out as beer, […]
READ ONMore than any other, the thing that makes Bourbon unique is that it’s aged in newly-made, charred oak barrels. But why are they charred, and who ever thought to do that? It wasn’t whiskey-makers in Kentucky, it was Cognac makers in France. For indeed Cognac is the only other spirit in the world that is […]
READ ONIn order to legally call a whiskey “bourbon”, it must meet a small but important set of criteria. First, it must be made in the United States. Next, it must be made from a mixture or at least 51% corn (the fermenting “mash” can be up to 100% corn, legally). It must be aged in […]
READ ONI had always been told it originated in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and that anything called “bourbon whiskey” has to be made there. Not true. Very little bourbon is actually made in Bourbon County. Did bourbon originate there? Probably not. No one really knows where the name “bourbon whiskey” actually came from. One story that’s gained […]
READ ONThose of you who drop in daily may have noticed I didn’t do too much blogging on Friday. The reasons were twofold: 1) I had the day off and was feeling lazy, and; 2) I spent a good chunk of the afternoon attending a lecture on whiskey making. No, I’m not going to put up […]
READ ONCharlotte Russe sounds like a fancy Continental dessert, and it is. So how improbable is it that for a time — from about 1900 to 1960 — Charlotte Russe was one of the most popular street foods in New York. Of course it differed quite a bit from the classic version. “Charla droosh”, as interpreted […]
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