A card, just for me? Thanks!

And welcome to another edition of Bars You Must Try! Today we’re going to visit the Columbia Room, and if by today you mean February 9th, which was when I went, the first day it reopened to the public since closing in the Passenger on NYE 2014, which made me so excited I made reservations for right in the middle of what was to be our last staff meeting con call, leaving me standing in Blagden Alley taking the call and freezing my butt off before going inside to see the new joint.

The Mural is pretty, especially with JP standing in front of it

But man oh man, is it nice. I walked up the stairs, through the Punch Garden (which I believe is opening tomorrow!) and met Derek in the Spirits Library, where Alex was serving up drinks. The Library is a more casual place with drinks a la carte and a chance to try some rare liquors. But I’ll come back there in a moment.

Menu for then (not for now, ‘s different now I believe)

After Derek took my coat I was escorted into the Tasting Room. If you’d visited the Columbia Room’s previous incarnation, you knew it to be quite the intimate spot, as it was quite easy to have someone accidentally touch your intimate spots you were so close together. Now, it’s a bigger room with more seats (and cool booths behind you) and much, much more comfortable. I’d gone for the five course drinks (three drinks with food is $75, all taxes and gratuity included, and the extra two drinks costs an extra $25) because of course I did. Out came the Shoot One, a delightful riff off Coca-Cola, and away we went.

I could’ve drank it all day but it was too small to drink all day

It’s amazing how quickly two hours can go when they’re spent in an atmosphere like this, with amazing drinks like these, and with people so passionate, knowledgeable, and entertaining as JP Fetherston, Derek Brown, Adriana, and their crew. Each drink was beautiful and delicious with the accompaniments pairing perfectly with them.

I WANTED TO STEAL THIS GLASS SO BAD

(Oh, and if you’re looking at the menu, I went for the Robert Frost Cocktail despite the incredible amount of venison I’ve been eating this winter because bourbon. The presentation was AWESOME on that with charcoal on the side, I should’ve taken more pictures but I didn’t because I am not good with the picture taking as you can tell by the pictures I do manage to take.)

Pick one! I dare you! PICK ONLY ONE!

As we finished up in the Tasting Room, JP told me he wanted to buy me a drink in the Spirits Library. I walked over to the bar – it was fairly packed by this point – and perused the menu while Alex (whom you may remember from Southern Efficiency) finished up the drinks he was working on. I did my best to pick just one drink which was very difficult, but I feel that I chose well.

With the E!-V-! OH OH OH! no wait only two OHs.

Why? Because I chose the Steady Cocktail, a combination of gin, dry vermouth, Elixir Vegetal de la Grande-Chartreuse (which is g-ddamned delicious, and no, I won’t look up how to put all those accent marks into WordPress), with a garnish of three beautiful drops of extra virgin olive oil and accompanied by complimentary olives (they told me I was very pretty that day).

Oh wait I did take a picture of the Robert Frost with food

Friends, please believe me when I tell you that it was quite the wonderful drink.

The kelp water and oyster leaf gave me my veggies for the day!

I could’ve stayed in the Spirits Library and hung out all night, sipping all of the cocktails on the list until I stumbled home. But, alas, I knew I needed additional sustenance to maintain my svelte figure, so it was time to take my leave and hopefully not get as lost leaving as I did arriving.

VEP Green chartreuse + egg yolk + meyer lemon = AWESOME

If you’d like to experience the Tasting Room, you need to make reservations via their website. The other parts are open seating. Let me know if you want me to join you!

Have you been? Comment on Twitter or Facebook!

What do we have here?

So, remember in my last post when I talked about bartending for the first time and how I wanted to do it again?

I spent all spring basically saying that, but not really doing anything?about it. I was lazy, admittedly, and it felt weird to look for a job like that when I had a day job. Besides, who’d want to take the chance on a guy with no service industry experience?

Also, I was going out less and less. I was trying to watch my spending, for one, and also just enjoying being at home.

I also kept saying I needed a new day job. “I’m going to work on my resume,” I’d say, “and look for a new job.” Only I didn’t. Partly out of fear I’d be fired if my job found out (not likely, but not completely unfounded) but mostly out of (again) laziness. I didn’t like my job, but I didn’t realize how MUCH I didn’t like it, and I was in a rut.

Then, two weeks ago yesterday I got called into my boss’ office and laid off. One week severance for every year I’d worked there, so 10 weeks, fortunately. Also, we were 2 weeks behind on pay, so I still had a full paycheck and half of another coming.

Just to warn you, I don’t always smile like this.

After I got all my stuff from my cube piled into my car (where it still sits, to be honest), I got on my phone and posted a short status to Twitter and Facebook. “Shit-canned.”

That was a bit of a mistake, since it meant my whole drive home, trying to use my traffic app (I love Waze), I kept getting text notifications.

Still, I felt loved. And better yet: happy. I’d always imagined being laid off would be the worst thing in the world to happen to me, but instead it’s been one of the best.

One of the Facebook messages I got was from Tom Brown, who had recruited me to bartend at the Passenger NYE. He told me to come see him.

The next day I wandered over to Slipstream in Logan Circle. Tom was there and we chatted. He thought I might be a fit there but didn’t have the hours to offer me, so he told me to go meet his friend Ric at Dino’s Grotto. He needed a new bartender there. I’d never been there, but I’d heard good things about it, and later that night I made my way there. We chatted a bit, and Ric told me to come back Sunday morning at 11 AM for a brunch shift.

Erp.

Here comes Sunday. I show up in dress pants, button down shirt, dress shoes. Overdressed, obviously. And also poor choice of shoes, I was sliding everywhere. I didn’t bring a notebook or pen, but Ric had one for me. I didn’t bring a wine key or lighter. I was unprepared.

Unlike most of Ric’s new bartenders, who have service experience but not cocktail & liquor knowledge, I was the opposite. So we started off slowly. He showed me how things should be, showed me when I made mistakes, and basically just let me practice.

Tuesday I was back, and I did better. Still not what you’d call?good, probably, but better. By the end, he said to come back Thursday for a final training day. I came in, working with a different bartender, and took the lead on most of the things while she made sure I didn’t completely screw up.

Friday night I worked with Ric. He liked what he saw, I was doing much better.

Sunday I worked my first solo bar shift for brunch and dinner. In the morning I was scared I was going to screw something up; there’s so much to prepare, especially with things like mimosas and bloody marys which are only ordered at brunch. I made some mistakes, got made fun of for not having the right shoes (which were on order), but I got through the day and 13 hours of work.

Then Wednesday night I got called in, worked what’ll be one of my shifts from here on out (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday). I had my shoes, I knew better what to do, I felt more confident – and I think it definitely showed in my service. The server working upstairs in the dining room said I made more money then the previous bartender would have as she wouldn’t have worked the room as well (and that I probably stole at least one of his tables by doing that!).

So I’m learning. It’s fun. It’s creative, it’s physical, it’s demanding, and I like it a lot. I bought a nice new wine key and I’m about to buy a back-up. If you’re around DC, come by Shaw (9th St NW between T & U) and visit Dino’s Grotto. We have great food and great drinks. And you might be able to tell me what mistake I’m making this time.

(And maybe, sometime, we’ll be able to do some Scofflaw’s Den type related activities there!)

– SeanMike

The bar at Tender

One of the “advantages” of my job is that I get to travel regularly. Last week, my job took me to Pittsburgh, PA, and West Springfield, MA. I decided to drive because, well, I prefer driving over flying, and it gave me a chance to listen to BABYMETAL over and over and over again.

I highly recommend that.

I actually volunteered for the Pittsburgh gig – I’m from Morgantown, WV, originally, and I have friends in the ‘burgh. I arrived too late Sunday to do anything fun, but we got done quickly on Monday and I planned on leaving Tuesday. So avoiding the protests at UPMC I jumped into a cab and went to Tender, a bar where my friends Craig (aka Doctor Bamboo) and Nathan work – I’ve known those guys since the CSOWG days.

Super Punch!

Tender is a really cool bar. They don’t do a lot of beers on tap there (across the street, evidently, is quite the beer bar) but they have a solid cocktail program.

Something else they have is Super Punch Jannamico – call it the Malort of Pittsburgh (though much better tasting). Imported really only in that area, it’s a bitter, herbal amaro with a bit of a sticky sweet side to it. I don’t find it as infinitely quaffable as Fernet Branca, but on the other hand, it’s still good, and has an amusingly translated back label.

Super Punch Back Label

Originally, I hadn’t planned on necessarily eating at ?Tender because, well, I hadn’t really thought my day through completely at this point. After all, I’d been trudging through snow drifts earlier in the day looking at equipment that, well, I have no idea what most of it does, so I could write a report about for work. Huzzah, and stuff. I was also still coming off the stress of the drive up to Pittsburgh – I’d stopped in WV to visit my grandfather, who has been struggling, and an incoming snow storm made driving very stressful the entire day.

However, Mondays at Tender are burger days. I haven’t eaten a lot of burgers lately due to the whole “diabetes” thing as well as the whole “cholesterol” thing and to be honest, I’d rather not die quite yet. But they were very cheap on Mondays ?($7 wha?!?!?) and everyone kept telling me how great they are. Sure, they work there, but whatevs, I’ll give it a shot…

Menu and a “Second Spring”

Holy crap. I had the Blue Burger – blue cheese, fried egg, onion jam, balsamic aoli on a 1/3rd pound burger – and it was FANTASTIC. It was quite possibly one of the best burgers I’ve eaten in longer than I can remember. For me, it was the perfect size (not too thick, not too thin) and the chef just rocked it.

Seriously, folks, try it.

I washed it down with Craig’s Second Spring: Templeton rye, Cardamaro, creme de framboise, black walnut bitters. Also quite tasty. All of the drinks on the menu were marked with the initials of the creator so I made sure to try his and Nathan’s.

Food and drinks (lots of drinks) in me, I’d made plans to meet a friend of mine at another bar (Bar Marco). The USBG NE meeting was in town, which included folks from DC, and they had an event there that night. I hopped an UberX and went over there.

DIGRESSION TIME

I use Uber a lot here in DC. In Pittsburgh, they weren’t there the last time I was, and my encounters with Pittsburgh cabs were basically that they were unreliable, hard to find, and usually driven by some form of lunatic.

The bar at Bar Marco

Now UberX is there and I have to tell you, the guys driving those cars were FANTASTIC. And right now the rates are cheap as hell – it cost me $4 to get to Bar Marco from Tender, and $5 to get back to the hotel. (The unmetered car that took me to Tender cost me $20.)

HEY YINZ! USE UBERX! (If you sign up, use “UBERSEANMIKE” as your code and I think we’ll both get stuff and stuff.)

Bar Marco was a pretty cool place, maybe a bit smaller than Tender. They do chef specials on Monday but I was stuffed from Tender.

On the other hand, I got to see an old DC friend I hadn’t seen in ages – JP Carceres!

Wall art at Bar Marco

It was great to be able to talk to him for a little bit and get the lowdown on how life has been treating him since having to deal with DHS. He said he’s going on a bit of a vacation and going to do some research and experimentation on some projects, and then we’ll have to deal with him again. He definitely seemed to be in good spirits which is always good to see.

Unfortunately for me, I went back to my hotel to drop off the bottle of Super Punch that I’d…found…and fatigue overwhelmed me. It’d been a long week already, and the next day I had to drive back to Arlington (and then up to Massachusetts!) so I called it a night and did what we politely call “pass the %*@! out”.

It also reminded me of two things: 1, I need to visit Pittsburgh more often. 2, we need to get the band, errr, bloggers back together and hang out. Craig suggested that and I think that’s a FINE idea. So expect some email on that sometime here soon.

Cheers y’all!

– SeanMike

I got sent to Austin by work this past week. I’d never been, so it was time to do a bit of exploring. My hotel was basically right on the UT Austin campus, and I have to say first and foremost: what a great city. Friendly people, great food, great drinks, all of it. I can’t wait to visit again.

After a long day of travel (while my coworkers were enjoying a snow day), I got checked in and started checking out the area for something to eat as I was starving. I ended up at the Dog and Duck Pub. There I had some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Well, let me rephrase: the fish was amazing. The chips were fine – nothing to complain about, by any means, but the fish was the real star. They also had quite the beer selection which I had lots of fun working my way through. Anyone who knows me knows how I love to work my way through a beer selection, especially the local ones when visiting a new city.

The next night was dinner with coworkers at a Mexican place that was…errr…fine. After doing my show-related stuff, and deciding I didn’t really feel like going to a Billy Idol/bunch of other guys concert (yes, I KNOW, but that’s just how I felt that night), I wandered up and down 6th Street. I stopped in a place or two, most of which were very friendly, if dead, then ended up at the Firehouse Lounge. It’s in a hostel, of all things, reachable through a hidden door in a bookcase.

“OMG!” you shout. “Speakeasies are so, like, a few years ago!” Don’t let the entryway fool you – it’s a very friendly, laid back joint with some amazing cocktails. (And some great names for them, such as one called “She’s Only 17″ that featured Ilegal mezcal, Campari, and St. Germain.) The night I was there it was open mic night and there was some serious talent rocking the joint. They also don’t have table service on those nights, so people had to go to the bar (where I was sitting) and I got to chat with a number of great folks.

To be honest, I just wanted to go back there the other nights but I knew I should keep exploring.

My last full day in town consisted of me at the show non-stop, living off only granola bars and Diet Cokes. Needless to say, by the time I got back to the hotel I was starving. My hotel (the AT&T Executive Education somethingoranother) had two bars that were constantly full, it seemed, and my friend Nick Crutchfield (formerly of Charlottesville, now here in the DC area) suggested Peche. Google Maps said it was 1.2 miles away so I started walking.

I got stopped on the way there when I saw Austin Ale House and decided to investigate (and watch some Thursday Night Football, as I have Peyton Manning as my QB). While I was there I got the carne asada, which was a fantastic dish but way too much for me. (A sign of how I’m slowly learning in my old age: the roasted jalapenos/cheese combo was SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD and also kicked my butt, heat-wise, so I?stopped eating it. WTFLOL.) The beer menu was good, but I was hoping for more local beers. Having satiated my hunger with their whole local/organic/delicious menu, I wandered down to Peche.

It ends up the poorly-marketed after-show event for the conference was next door, so I got to hear the Beastie Boys cover band play while inside. (A side note: doesn’t that just seem wrong? After MCA died, he didn’t want their songs used in advertising, so to me a Beastie Boys cover band seems a bit wrong. But that’s just me.)

Inside, it was a pretty cool space, and though it’s marketed as an absinthe bar (and it has quite the selection of absinthe and memorabilia related to it) it has many good drinks on the menu. I got to say hi to one of Nick’s friends there and had several drinks (to be honest, too, a couple were comped) and some good conversation.

I wasn’t really hungry, but they had country fried beef tongue on the menu. Thin slices of tongue, perfectly breaded and fried – that was just such a fantastic dish.

The final part was amusing, to me: the security line at the airport was HUGE. Despite the line, TSA handled it well, and people stayed mostly in good spirits. While waiting, a woman in front of me started soliciting advice from folks about cigars for a secret Santa thing coming up. No one else knew anything, so I volunteered some information. I kind of figured since I’ve written about it some, I should help out – she thought it was incredibly fortuitous, and hopefully my advice will work for her.

So, if you have a chance: go to Austin! And if you have suggestions as to other places to try when I get a chance to return, leave a comment on Facebook or Twitter. Now that I know how cheap and easy it is to get there from DCA, I’ll need to return!

This week, we started getting back to “normal.” Morning & night temps in the 50s/60s and no humidity. Ahhhhh! Now if we can get a few degrees colder I’ll be in heaven.

But with these weird temps and weather patterns the question arises of what to drink. It’s October so it feels like a brown, bitter & stirred drink seems appropriate. However, the temperature can make it feel like the only thing you should be drinking is something with rum in a tiki mug. So what to do?

In these situations I’ve found the perfect bridge beverage. Granted, this is completely and highly subjective but I wanted to share anyway. Here you go:

The Boulevardier
1.5oz bourbon
1oz Campari
1oz sweet vermouth

-Stir with ice and garnish with lemon peel.

If the recipe looks familiar it should as this is essentially a bourbon-based negroni. It has the same cool-down properties a well made negroni has yet has that depth of flavor and warmth that only an aged spirit can bring to the party.

Give the Boulevardier a try and let us what you think.

Cheers!

Some of the land on the Woodford Reserve Estate.

Have you ever had a road trip where everything just went right? The timing was impeccable, the weather perfect, no drama at all?

Over Memorial Day weekend my old friend Roy, his brother Matt, and I did the nine hour road trip from Washington, DC, to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, basing ourselves out of Louisville. For reasons I couldn’t really specify other than perhaps laziness, I’d been reticent to go, but it ended up being an absolutely fantastic experience.

Buffalo Trace Water Tower

We left Roy’s house right around 5 AM on Friday morning. From that area, it’s not a bad drive – I-66 to I-81 in Winchester, then on to I-64 in Lexington, VA and straight on to Kentucky. We took turns driving which made things easier – I had the most experience with driving 64 through West Virginia, so that was my part both ways. Calling ahead, we learned there was a 2 PM tour at the Buffalo Trace distillery, which was on the way into Louisville. Thanks to some prudent driving, we arrived just in time for it.

Now, here’s the first thing that we didn’t know. We had made up plans for who would be the designated driver. We were very worried about that, up to the point that if we’d had more people we’d considered renting a van or other service to drive us around. What we discovered is that you can only get 1 ounce of whiskey, total, at any distillery, so between that and the time between distilleries, not to mention the tour time, you ain’t gonna get drunk unless you bring some of your own.

Also, prices at the distillery are not better. I’d recommend only getting what you can’t get elsewhere (such as Buffalo Trace’s Bourbon Cream liqueur). To give two examples: a fifth of Buffalo Trace bourbon was $26. In DC, at Costco, you can get a handle for $27. And at Heaven Hill, a fifth of Larceny wheated bourbon was $30, while at the Liquor Barn near our hotel it was $22.

Grounds at Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace was a good one to start with for several reasons. First off, it was very well run and did a good job of covering the basics of bourbon distillation and Prohibition. Unfortunately, you didn’t really get to see a lot of the distillation process in person. You did get to see more of the bottling process than we saw at other tours (though at Maker’s Mark, that was due to it being a weekend day). They took us through the area where they hand label and prepare Blanton’s bottles for shipment.

Buffalo Trace Warehouse

You did get to visit one of their warehouses. My picture of barrels there didn’t come out well, but not to fear: we took five tours in total while in Kentucky, and you got to see lots and lots of barrels. (The only one that didn’t show us the warehouses was Four Roses, as their warehouses are about an hour away from the distillery. You have to make an appointment for a tour there but I’d recommend it – that was the only one we heard of where you could taste straight out of the barrel.)

After Buffalo Trace and some purchases (including cigars and cigar cutters for myself and Mr. Fawley) we headed into Louisville to check into our hotel and get some food. For food, we went to the Silver Dollar. That, my friends, was a fantastic restaurant. We had some great food (though I will recommend if you try the fried chicken livers and the onion rings, please do not forget to brush your teeth before bed or you will be despondent come the morning), great drinks, and great service. We walked around the corner afterwards to Apocalypse Brew Works and had a couple of beers before calling it a night.

Just outside the Willett tasting room

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed out to the distillery I was most excited to see, Willett aka KBD. We’d made reservations for the tour which was a good thing as it was full on the list when we got there, though the large group that was supposed to be part didn’t show and so we had room for walk-ins. It ends up our extremely friendly tour guide is moving to the DC area so we gave her some recommendations on good bars to visit. She’d been worried that she wouldn’t be able to get any Willett in DC!

For those of you who don’t know, Ledroit often brings in single barrels of Willett for resell. You can also get the Willett pot still regularly, and occasionally I’ve seen the “Vintage” whiskeys, though I don’t typically recommend those. I picked up some Old Kentucky and Kentucky Vintage while there as I’d not seen them before, and I liked them a lot at tasting.

Fermentation tank at Willett

Here we actually got to see (and smell, and feel the heat of) the fermentation tanks. If you’re not familiar with the process, to start making bourbon (or any other whiskey for that matter) you have to start with a mash. For bourbon, it’s required by law to be at least 51% corn. The rest is either barley, wheat, or rye. This is made to ferment – sour mash refers to the fact that they retain some of the mash from the previous batch(es) to start the current batch. The fermentation creates a distiller’s beer which smells sweet and kind of tastes like corn cereal mush (we discovered at other distilleries).

Copper Pot Kettle at Willett

After fermentation it’s distilled – they have a columnar still and a copper pot still. If you’ve seen the bottles of Willett’s Pot Still bourbon, you’ll recognize that shape. After cutting off the heads and tails (see video below), getting the whiskey to the proper proof, it’s put into barrels to age. Like most of the distilleries, Willett uses tall warehouses so that the whiskey (they make both rye and bourbon) will age at different temperatures over the years.

You can even buy your own barrel, if you’d like. They’ll bottle it up for you (as required by law) and bang, you’ve got 200-some bottles of whiskey.?I cannot express strongly enough how much I want to do that!

Here’s a video of the heads and tails coming off, plus some pictures of the landscape. I can’t get over how beautiful the Kentucky landscape was. There might even be a picture or two of barrels!

VID_20130525_102957_706

The pond at Willett will help run a water wheel soon

Distillery building, columnar still, grain bin at Willett

Barrel run at Willett

Another pond and warehouses at Willett

Barrels at Willett

After we stocked up at Willett, it was time to go to our next stop. We headed to nearby Heaven Hill. Our tour wouldn’t start for about an hour, so we ducked over to Mammy’s Kitchen in nearby Bardstown for a great country lunch. Seriously. The Ultimate Fried Bologna sandwich was FANTASTIC.

Heaven Hill does not do distillation on premises, so we could not see that portion of the process. They don’t really talk about it, but quick Googling can show you stories of the fire that they had back in the 1990s. (Also, while they don’t talk about it, the other distilleries will!)

Heaven Hill warehouses

The tour at Heaven Hill basically consists of a video talking about how wonderful they are, then a short walk over to a warehouse to look at tons of barrels. After that, you walk back through their large Bourbon Heritage Center, which has lots of cool exhibits, and do a sampling of some of their whiskeys.

Tasting and judgment (at Heaven Hill)

One of the nifty things they did there was to provide two small vials before your tasting. These had different scents in them and helped to practice your nose before smelling and tasting the whiskey.

While the Heritage Center was nice, this was one of the tours I cared for the least. By this point, we knew the laws and stories regarding bourbon, and so when our tour guide got some small details wrong it was annoying. Like Buffalo Trace, not being able to see the distillation was also disappointing, as rack after rack of barrels isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to look at.

(One example of small details wrong: most distilleries will tell you that the portion of the alcohol that evaporates off during aging is called the angel’s share. Also, it was pointed out to us that the black stuff you see on the walls of the warehouses is mold, and all of them get that. Some clean it off, some don’t. However, our tour guide told us that the black stuff on their warehouses was the angel’s share. If I remember correctly – and it has been a month – she referred to the part commonly known as the angel’s share as the devil’s cut, which other distilleries define as the bourbon that seeps into the wood of the barrel during aging. That’s the stuff that Jim Beam is using a rinse process on the barrels to get for their new Devil’s Cut bottling, and Maker’s Mark, also owned by Beam, will start doing as well.)

HELLO DISTILLER! at Maker’s Mark

Following Heaven Hill we drove over to Maker’s Mark. Of all the tours we did, this one was definite the slickest corporate-wise. The visitor’s center is done up like it was in the olden days, except with a phone that rings to tell you a story about Maker’s Mark, talking portraits, and other silliness. It was probably the most crowded distillery we’d been to at this point but it was also very well managed.

There’s a lot of the little things at Maker’s Mark that are interesting to note. For example, the shape of the bottle is carved into all of the shudders on the windows. Their warehouses are black, to hide the mold. There was a very friendly cat who visited us. And you got to see the entire process of bourbon, from fermentation to distillation to aging to bottling (except we only saw the bottling line thanks to it being a weekend, it wasn’t in operation).

Columnar Still at Maker’s Mark

One thing about Maker’s Mark is that it’s a wheated bourbon – that’s a fairly small number of the bourbons out there. If I remember correctly, there are only 5 or 7 labels of wheated bourbon in Kentucky. (Heaven Hill has one, Larceny, and you have Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46. Though more on 46 in a couple.)

Fermentation Tank at Maker’s Mark

Maker’s was the first distillery to let us taste the fermenting mash. That was pretty cool. They also have a heads and tails part of the distillation portion of the tour but unfortunately were not distilling in that section when we were there. After that, you get to visit the bottling line, where (as a fun fact) each bottle is sterilized with a shot of Maker’s Mark bourbon before being filled. They also told us of the occasional bottle getting an extra deep dip into the wax and how some people consider those bottles collectors items.

After viewing all that and the warehouses, they also showed us how Maker’s 46 is different. Maker’s 46 has the bourbon removed from the barrel and additional charred white oak staves added to the barrel, then refilled with the bourbon. To me, that seems to violate the spirit of the bourbon laws, if not the letter, but they insist it can still be called bourbon.

Finally, we got to taste their white dog, regular label, and 46 in a nice tasting room surrounded by barrels with plaques on them. The barrels are part of their ambassador program where you can get your name on one, and when the bourbon is ready, you can buy it.

After we were done for that day it was back to Louisville. That night we went to the Blind Pig for dinner – another fantastic choice of venues with great food and service. From there, we walked over to Rye for a few more drinks. It was quite quiet there, and my friends like more crowded places, so we walked down to the Garage Bar for a few more drinks. After that, we hit an Irish bar called Molly Malone’s and I made the decision it was time for bed. The BP near the hotel was out of alcohol so I went straight to sleep – my friends stayed out much, much later.

Four Roses

We knew Four Roses opened at noon so we got up in time to get there, along with the requisite stop at Waffle House on the way. That was the best Waffle House ever, probably because we were so hungover and starving.

We ended up on the second tour of the day at Four Roses. The tour was probably one of my favorites, thanks to the honesty about it. They admitted that their product had been crap for a number of years while owned by Seagram’s. They talked about how they have a variety of mash builds, and different yeast strains, and how they use those to make a consistent product.

Mash and yeast, at Four Roses

The distillery has a much different style than the other ones, more of a Spanish style. Inside, it was also more crowded and automated, something they are not shy about telling you about (though we wonder if some of the other ones just hide behind the guise of everything done by wizened old men).

Outside at Four Roses

I will admit, Four Roses is one of my favorite bourbons. For the price and the consistency, it’s a regular go to for me. At the gift shop, you can pick up some of the rarer single barrel selections that are selected by the distiller. I got a bottle of the OBSV (Delicate Fruity (Pear, Apricot), Spicy, Creamy) aged 11 years 10 months and bottled at 61.6% alcohol (123.2 proof).

But enjoy some pictures of the inside of the distillery…

After Four Roses, we made the longer-than-expected trip to Woodford Reserve.

Woodford Reserve Visitor Center

Unfortunately for us, the tours were sold out by the time we got there. We were given a drink ticket for a taste of Woodford and wandered the visitor center a bit.

There was some decent displays there. There was no real direction to the tasting and it just reminded me that I don’t care for their product that much. Of all the ones we visited, Woodford has the least amount of products to try or buy in terms of alcohol of all of them.

Press to smell white dog. Uh, okay, I guess. At Woodford Reserve.

It was also incredibly crowded there, but not surprising given the weekend and such. When we left, we came back the way we came, and I only learned too late that the other way has the ruins of some other older distilleries you can see. Ahhh, well.

Being done with that, we decided to visit Churchill Downs on what ended up being family day. Yay horses!

Churchill Downs

It was very pretty on the inside. I was actually kind of surprised at how run down it seemed on the inside.

Once we got in and found our way around we got the requisite mint juleps. They had fruit-infused Woodford if that was your thing – for me, it was not. I got a basic one so I could keep the glass, really.

I am not a gambling man. I’ve never really seen the thrill in it. When I was in Reno, staying at a casino for work, I put $20 down on the Steelers opening game because I felt like I should try it once and I hated it. I didn’t want to bet on them but their my favorite team and I knew that Denver would beat them. I was right. It didn’t make the game more exciting it made me sadder that I’d wasted $20.

However, my friends wanted to make some small bets on the horses. I decided to place $5 on one horse to win, and see what happens. I just needed one with a good name. And guess what?

The ticket for Gentleman’s Kitten

WAIT YOU’RE KIDDING ME NO FUCKING WAY WTF

That’s $34 cold, hard cash, baby.

Yeah. I won. IT FELT GREAT AND I’M NEVER DOING IT AGAIN.

Go out while ahead, I say.

That night we hit Proof on Main for more great food – which I ordered WAY TOO MUCH OF – and then wandered the streets. There was a festival going on called Abbey Road on the River, which seemed pretty cool if you’re a Beatles fan.

But, really, from there it was all pretty much done. The next morning we got on the road for the long drive home.

This was one of the most fun trips I’ve ever done in my life. The scenery is beautiful, the people are fantastic, the food awesome. If you haven’t tried it you really, really must. I can’t wait to go again.

Cheers y’all!

This Independence Day, at least here in the Washington, DC area, has been marked with a record setting heat wave and levels of humidity that almost necessitate a scuba tank. It’s seriously hot around here!

So while lounging around the Den yesterday watching Jaws & Independence Day, I, of course, whipped up a few refreshing beverages that really beat the heat. The names are less than desirable, but my brain was like fudge.

One thing about drinking when it is this hot out, I want ice & lots of it. So I tend to drink tiki drinks and long drinks in chimney glasses that will keep the heat at bay for a little while. These drinks definitely fit that mold.

For the first drink I wanted to utilize some of the great looking peaches I got at the market. And when I think about peaches and summer drinks my mind instinctively goes to whiskey. So this is what I came up with.

Peach-Whiskey Cooler
Muddle 1/4 of a fresh peach with .75oz simple syrup.
Add:
1oz fresh lemon juice
1oz Bonded Applejack
1.5oz Rye whiskey
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fee Brother’s Peach Bitters

Shake and double strain into an ice filled chimney glass. Add soda water to fill and gently stir. Garnish with mint, a slice of peach and/or some lemon peel.

This drink fit the bill perfectly. You may think that the whiskey & applejack make this a heavier drink but in reality it is very light. The peach, lemon & soda mixture make this incredibly refreshing and the rye and applejack give just enough body to let you know you’re enjoying a potant potable.

The next drink I came up because I wanted to have a little English gin during my Independence Day celebration. I had a pink grapefruit hanging around and knew that some of the fresh rosemary we have growing on the balcony would be a great tasting mix.

Grapefruit-Rosemary Cooler
Muddle a 4 inch strip of grapefruit peel, a 2 inch stalk of rosemary and 1 oz simple syrup.

Add to that:
1.25 oz fresh grapefruit juice
2 oz gin (I used Beefeater 24)
2 dashes Bittermen’s Burlesque Bitters

Shake & double strain into an ice filled chimney glass. Top with soda water to fill and gently stir to combine. Garnish with some grapefruit peel & rosemary.

This was great! Light and citrusy without being cloyingly sweet. I could drink these all day during this heat wave.

So what kind of drinks do you make to beat the heat? Leave us your suggestions in the comments.

Cheers!

Unfortunately, I didn’t find any Shoo Fly pie but I did find a few interesting things that will lend themselves to cocktail making very well. First was the jams and jellies. Tons of flavors and all looked delicious. Jams and jellies are a great way to add flavor, sweetness and texture to cocktails. The best thing I found though were shrubs!

A shrub is usually the juice of a fruit mixed with an acid and sugar. Most of the time the acid is vinegar. The Tait Farms Cherry Shrub I bought is made with cherry vinegar, lemon juice and cane syrup. On the first sip, you get a burst of fresh cherries. Then, on the back end, your lips start to pucker and your tongue will tingle from the acidity.

For a great article on shrubs and how to make them, check out the Serious Eats article.

I picked the Cherry Shrub because right now, DC is in the middle of the famed Cherry Blossom season. As a result, I’m constantly thinking of a way to create fantastic cherry cocktails. This shrub definitely made a great addition to the following cocktail. It’s sweet, tart, refreshing and has a pleasant cherry flavor.

District Cherry Blossom
1.5 oz London dry gin
1 oz Cherry Shrub
.5 oz simple syrup
.25 oz maraschino liqueur
.25 oz lemon juice
2 dashes Bittermens Burlesque Bitters

Shake all ingredients with plenty of ice. Strain over fresh ice in a chimney glass and add seltzer water. Stir briefly to combine and garnish with mint.

I’m curious, what are your favorite cherry flavored cocktails? Let me know in the comments!

It isn’t a secret that autumn is my favorite season. I love the cold air and early evenings. There is nothing better than curling up on the couch under a warm blanket on a cold day watching hockey, football, or hell, even reading a cocktail tome.

But another reason I love the fall is that it is my favorite cocktail season. Tiki drinks and refreshing gin cocktails are replaced with whisk(e)ies and bitter amaros. Pineapple and coconut are replaced with apple and cherry. Limes are supplanted by lemons as the citrus of majority in my fridge.

I mention apples and cherries in particular because I love playing with those flavors this time of year. I love mixing with calvados, Applejack, or maybe some Leopold Brothers apple whiskey or apple liqueur. Bringing some cherry to the party may come from Cherry Herring, maraschino, kirschwasser, or my latest toy, Maurin Quina.

Another thing I love to mix with is apple cider. We had an apple press growing up and every fall made our own fresh-pressed apple cider. It was fantastic! Unfortunately you can only find pasteurized cider for sale nowadays. But if you own a juicer, you can make your own! Lately I’ve been boiling apple cider down into a thick concentrated syrup. Amazingly, along with the concentrated appleness, it develops an amazing tartness. This really comes in handy it you don’t want to add lemon, but need that acidity to balance out your cocktail. To make it, simply boil down apple cider until it has reduced by 75%.

I decided I wanted to play with the cider syrup and thought it would play very nicely with scotch. So I pulled out my new bottle of Great King Street blended scotch from Compass Box and set to work. This is what I came up with:

Orchard Bonfire
1.5 oz blended Scotch
.5 oz cider syrup
.25 oz honey syrup (2 parts honey & 1 part water)
1 barspoon pimento dram
1 dash Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Shake & double strain into a cocktail glass rinsed with a smokey scotch. (I used Peat Monster.) Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

What do you like to drink when fall arrives? Leave a comment and let us know!

Cheers!

PS. Scofflaw’s Den celebrated it’s fourth birthday earlier this month. We thank all of our readers for sticking with us and we plan on providing a lot more content and recipes for you to enjoy for at least another four years. -Marshall

Ya know, so you can criticize me for what I missed or maybe check out some place you haven’t been to before. Whatevah!

(In chronological order!)

Marigny Brassiere: Went here to watch the World Cup and had a very fine po’ boy. Also some good beer on tap.

d.b.a. New Orleans: No food – just good beers and a large whiskey selection. Also, great music. Also, don’t order Campari and Red Bull or you will get hit by your companions.

CURE: Fantastic cocktail bar. Great bartenders. Good food. A must-visit.

12 Mile Limit: I want a bar like this near my house. An amazingly fantastic dive bar with a very interesting (and cheap) menu, including pulled beef brisket from a Weber out back and $6 cocktails. And a pool table. Yay.

Bar Tonique: Finally made it there, and one of my drinks was made by a bartender from CURE. Que sera sera. Had tons of fun, though I never did get my copy of the book I saw there…

Antoine’s: A classic New Orleans joint. $.25 martinis at lunch are worth every penny (take that as you will). Fantastic food.

Napoleon House: Look, I went here a lot. Muffalata is fine – not the best in New Orleans, but not bad by any means. Solid Pimm’s Cups.

Sylvain: Amazing food, great cocktail program, friendly staff.

Adolfo’s: Order the local fish, from what I understand.

Cochon Butcher: HOLY CRAP that was good. Boudin, head cheese, pork belly sandwiches, mac & cheese, hot dogs…not to mention the cocktails.

The Carousel Bar: It is what it is. For Tales, it’s a must visit almost every day. If not Tales – you should go once, at least.

The Rib Room: Overpriced. Not bad, not good.

Coop’s Place: FANTASTIC. Smoked duck quesadillas, fried chicken, jambalaya, crabmeat stuffed jalapenos, just … damn good eatin’.

Cafe Beignet: Not as good as Cafe Du Monde and nowhere near as crowded. Worth it, IMHO, to fix that beignet craving without fighting the hordes.

Felix’s: I like this place. Not hard to get into most of the time, blackened alligator, oysters…

Original Pierre Maspero’s: Tourist trap, but wasn’t awful.

NOLA: An Emeril restaurant. Wasn’t bad, but – eh.

Curious for more details? Let me know.