How do I drink it?

The most common question I get is in regards to how I actually drink whiskey. Generally I drink it neat (straight), or with one small ice cube. I will rarely drink it in a cocktail. I suppose the most popular whiskey cocktail would be "Jack and Coke". I don't really care for that. It's interesting, there are several well known whiskey based cocktails, such as the Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Whiskey Sour, but these are not very popular to the general drinking public. It seems that 90% of cocktails made these days are vodka based. My theory on this is that whiskey is already the most complex spirit in the world, with tremendous depth and variety in its flavor profile. Mixing it with soda or sweet bar mixes just doesn't work. People make cocktails with vodka because you have to do something to give the vodka some flavor. Think about it, who drinks vodka straight?

Anyway, like I said, the most I usually put in my whiskey is a little water. However, people assume that 'neat' is the way real whiskey 'connoisseurs' drink it. In fact, some of the machismo surrounding the issue can be annoying. Here is an interesting article addressing this topic. The truth is, the proper way to drink whiskey is whichever way tastes best for you. Most whiskey enthusiasts start out drinking it in cocktails, or in my case, with a tumbler full of ice. Gradually, as the palette develops, the desire for additional ingredients will naturally fade.

Even though I prefer my whiskey straight, there are occasions where it would be nice to drink it in a cocktail, so I have been trying different cocktails to see which one is right for me. I haven't had much luck in this search until recently when I tried bourbon and ginger-ale. My first attempt was 'Canada Dry and Jim Beam Black'. This was pretty good, but I didn't care for the aftertaste. My next attempt was 'Schweppes and Wild Turkey 101'. This was very good and without the funny aftertaste. My third attempt was 'Seagram's Ginger Ale and Very Old Barton bourbon'. This combination tasted like the first, including the aftertaste. I have concluded that this will require a more scientific approach, and I will begin to collect different Ginger Ales until I have enough to conduct a documented testing session. Stay tuned.

While we are on the subject of tasting, below is a pretty good video on the basics of whiskey tasting:

Getting my Irish up

St. Patricks is upon us. I'm German and Swedish, but in and around the Chicago area, everybody is Irish on St. Patty's day. I remember hearing that Chicago has the most Irish citizens of any city in the world, except Dublin. It's a big deal around here. Ireland is one of the great Whiskey producing countries in the world. At this particular time, when I venture away from bourbon, it's usually to have some Irish Whiskey. It has a lightness and smoothness that is a nice change of pace from bourbon.
I have a couple of Irish whiskeys in stock right now, Jameson and Tullamore Dew 12. The regular Jameson might be the most accessible whiskey on the market, which would account for the growth in recent years. When I drink bourbon, it's usually neat or with a small chunk of ice. With Jameson, I fill a tumbler with ice and pour a full glass of whiskey. When it gets diluted by the ice, its even lighter and more refreshing, almost like iced tea! It's just light and smooth with a very understated whiskey flavor. The Tullamore Dew 12 year old is more of a classic expression, with more aged taste and pronounced flavor. It's more of a sipping whiskey. Click here for a review of Tullamore Dew.

To get us started, check out this link for nice review of Irish Whiskeys. Also, In case you missed it when it originally broadcasted on St. Patrick’s day last year, the History Channel’s Modern Marvel’s series “Whiskey” show will be rebroadcasted on March 17, 2009 at 10 AM and 4 PM. As mentioned in some earlier posts, this show is an excellent primer for the budding Whiskey enthusiast.

Delilah's in Chicago

Well, ever since I got into Bourbon, I have been trying to find a local place to sample different kinds. Through some research, I found that there are several bars in the city of Chicago that have a large whiskey selection. One in particular, Delilah's, is universally chosen as the best, and actually has a national reputation and one of the great whiskey bars. My brother-in-law recently invited me to spend an evening in the city, followed by Blackhawks hockey game the next day. This was a great opportunity to finally visit Delilah's. The short version of my visit is that tasting several new whiskeys was a lot of fun, but the overall experience was a bit of a disappointment.

Delilah's is small, very dark bar in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The decor is punk rock meets Elvis. There is really nothing special about the place physically, but I didn't care, I was there for the bourbon. And they do have a lot of bourbon. Two things, however, kinda put a damper on the experience. First, the bartender that night was a real drip. I tried to engage him in talk about whiskey and bourbon, but he didn't bite. All he wanted to know is what I was ordering next. He was actually rude to my brother in law. This is a small place, when your bartender is a killjoy, it affects the entire atmosphere. The second thing that tempered my experience is that I was the only whiskey drinker in the bar! My brother-in-law and his buddy are not whiskey drinkers, and neither was anybody else when I was there. I had anticipated that I would be talking bourbon with somebody that night, but it just was not meant to be.

As mention earlier, the tastings of the different whiskeys was very fun. I tried four that night. After about four or five whiskey tastings, you taste buds are about shot. Here's what I tried:

• Old Commonwealth - I tried this on the recommendation of a member of the Straightbourbon.com message board. This was tasty, but a little 'hot' for my liking. It's 100 proof, and I don't mind high proof bourbon, but the alcohol was a little too pronounced. This is a hard to find bourbon though, so I was really happy to try it.
  
• Delilah's House Brand (Wheater) - This is created by the folks who make Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, known for their 'wheat' based mash bill. I have tried the Pappy Van Winkle 15 year and 20 year. This bourbon was about the same, except it is aged 10 years. It was just a little 'thinner' and less complex than the older version. Very nice.
  
• Delilah's House Brand Rye Whiskey - I couldn't get much info on this one, but it was the best whiskey I tasted that night. Nice rye spiciness and excellent balance.
  
• Jameson's 18 year old - Jameson's regular whiskey is usually my first choice when I venture away from bourbon. I really enjoy it. I have been wanting to try the 18 year old, but it's $80 a bottle, so this was the perfect opportunity to try it economically. I was disappointed. It didn't taste that much different from the regular Jameson. It was a little smoother, but for the price, not that much better. I am hoping that since this was my fourth whiskey of the night, that my taste buds were dulled. I will give it another try sometime in the future.
  

In conclusion, I'm glad I went to Delilah's, even though I was a little disappointed with the visit. Next time I'll make sure I go there with some whiskey enthusiasts and hope that I have a different bartender. By the way, the 'Hawks' won 4-2.

Blitz the builder

Well, I have acquired enough bottles of whiskey that I needed to start thinking about a proper way to display them. I don't have a bar at my house, so my options are limited. I decided to incorporate my whiskey display into our existing wall to wall bookshelves in the family room. I don't think Mrs. Blitz was too thrilled with result, but I like it.

I figure that I can fit about 20 bottles in this set-up if I space them closer. That's a good amount for anybody, and should suffice for quite a while.

Learning to taste

As I embark on my bourbon journey, of course the goal is to try as many bourbons and other whiskies as possible. For now I am mostly concentrating on bourbon. I have tried about a dozen so far, and I am getting a little frustrated. Part if this is the nature of bourbon. In order for a spirit to be called bourbon, it must follow a fairly strict recipe/process. Since all bourbons follow these guidelines, it is difficult for them to produce something distinctive and clearly different from each other. The variances are subtle, especially to a new taster. I expressed this frustration in a post on the straightbourbon.com message board. The members there gave me some good advice. First was patience. Many of the experienced tasters there said that it took them six months to develop the ability to pick out nuances in different bourbons.

The second piece of advise I received was to develop the ability to isolate the 'rye' content of a bourbon. Some bourbons have a higher rye content than others. By conducting side by side tasting of these different bourbons, I was able to start to differentiate between bourbons for the first time. The first side by side tasting I did was Makers Mark (actually a wheated bourbon) and Wild Turkey 101 (high rye). The difference was clear. I am making progress! I even bought a bottle of straight rye whiskey (Rittenhouse) to compare the heavy rye flavor to my other bourbons.

Wheat is the other ingredient that is easy to isolate with a little practice. Examples of wheated bourbons are: Makers Mark, W. L. Weller and Pappy Van Winkle.

Blitz, meet your Pappy

On Christmas, my 22 year old son generously gave me a special present. It was a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20 year bourbon. This is one of the most expensive bottles of bourbon available, and is considered one of the 'Holy Grails' of bourbon drinkers. I was expecting to get a nice bottle of bourbon from him, but I didn't expect this. It actually felt a little too soon in my bourbon journey to experience something at this level. It's as if I just started a baseball card collection and somebody gave me a Babe Ruth rookie card. It looks a out of place in my little whiskey collection of a half dozen low-to-mid-shelf whiskies. Also, I was concerned that I was too inexperienced a bourbon taster to appreciate such a vintage.

It took me about a week to find the right time to taste the Pappy. The result? Keep in mind that I am not at the point of providing specific tasting notes, I can just provide a general impression. One can definitely tell it is well aged, because there is a very strong oak character. Some have labeled it too 'woody'. It's a wheated bourbon, so it is smoother than most I have tasted. It was so different from anything else that I have tasted, that my first impression was not positive. However, after I was accustomed to the taste I began to appreciate this fine bourbon. It's wonderful as a special occasion pour.

Is it worth the money? That's usually the first thing people ask. I think that's the wrong question. Does it taste five times better than a good mid-shelf bourbon? I don't even know how you can measure that. It's more about the experience. Based in ticket prices, is a Super Bowl game ten times more enjoyable to watch in person than a regular game? For me, Pappy is worth the price to try, and now share, one of the great bourbons available.