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 It’s that time of the year again when my wife and I choose a bottle to add to our collection of Scotch whisky. Over the years we have pulled together a small selection of single malts—a process that continues to work well for us. We don’t drink a lot of Scotch throughout the year so bottles tend to last a long time. Rather than stocking a cabinet all at once, this technique allows us to be more selective as we slowly build an inventory without feeling the expense all at once.
In past years we have often tried to add bottles from distilleries familar to us by choosing a special bottling or a distiller’s reserve, but this time our apporoach was influenced by a series of events that we first read about in the New York Times. An article published back in July chronicled the story about how three
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 This Drink of the Week week is actually three drinks in one. The Eastern Sour is the first of a small family of sour cocktails invented by none other than Trader Vic, one of the founding fathers of the mid-century Tiki movement. Although it isn’t as complex or as difficult as many Tiki drinks, for some people that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The more ingredients—or often, the more obscure the ingredients—the less likely most folks will be able to execute the recipe. At least that was my theory as I looked for a tropical style drink to post this week. I thought we needed a change from all of the Manhattan variations I have been posting.
My source of reference is a groovy little iPhone/iPad app called Beachbum Berry’s Tiki+. This app was developed with the full endorsement of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and it’s filled with recipes that
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 This week we feature a highball that is virtually unknown by most people, yet it is the foundation upon which many popular drinks are based. Our drink of the week is the Mamie Taylor, a Scotch cocktail with lime and ginger beer. According to Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted “Doctor Cocktail” Haigh, the Mamie Taylor was named after a Broadway singer and appeared around the turn of the last century, but within a few years it fell completely out of fashion. In 1900, it was the most popular cocktail of it’s day, and more than a century later, few people have ever heard of it—or Miss Taylor for that matter. Yet this drink has led to many variations that we do remember.
Mamie Taylor 2 oz Scotch Whisky .75 oz lime juice 1 oz ginger syrup 3 oz soda (to top)
Add the Scotch, fresh lime juice and
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 Each Christmas, my wife and I treat ourselves to a new bottle of Scotch Whisky. It’s a tradition we have sustained for a few years now, and I highly recommend it. We don’t drink a lot of Scotch, but we like it often enough to enjoy a little diversity. Because we aren’t finishing them off, bottles hang around for a long time and we are able to grow our working collection. It’s like a closet full of favorite shoes—the more pairs you own and use, the less likely they will wear out. All the while, we are educating ourselves about this spirit and each year we get to try something new.
In years past we have added the Glenlivet Nadurra to our collection, some Speyside bottles from a tasting we attended, and a year ago we picked up Oban’s 1993 Distillers Edition. We have even received Scotch as a
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 It’s Whiskey
It may seem like a broad category with all of the different styles made throughout the world, but once you understand the basic steps of production, whiskey isn’t so hard to understand. In fact, knowing even a little about how it’s made or where it comes from should help you recognize the different characteristics that transform its flavor and what you should expect when trying different styles.
Before prohibition, when a customer asked for “rye”, everyone knew what to pour. Today, many Americans would mistake this for a piece of bread. It’s no wonder there is confusion—whiskey has many different names. Whether you drink rye, bourbon or Scotch, Irish versus Canadian, blended or single-malt—all whiskey is basically the same product. But I would incite feverish debate (if not downright war) to foolishly claim they all taste the same. Subtle differences in the grain used, the barrel aging, the origin, the type of distillation and even the water can have a tremendous impact on the resulting flavor. Many of these factors even have legal implications on how the bottle can be labeled.
Those of you who followed my Kentucky bourbon tour might remember that whiskey in all of it’s forms is essentially fermented grain (beer) that undergoes one or more distillation cycles to capture and concentrate the alcohol. This alcohol distillate is then placed into barrels where it draws its color and most of its flavor from the wood. After it has reached maturity, a decision is made to bottle it, sometimes blending several barrels together or mixing it with neutral spirits to achieve a specific flavor profile.
Depending on what grains (the mash) are used to make the beer, whiskies can earn different names. For instance, in addition to several other important requirements, in order to call a whiskey “bourbon” the mash must contain at least 51% corn. By the same token, a mash bill that lists at least 51% rye can be labeled as a “straight rye whiskey”.
Geography has obviously influenced the choice of grains used to make whiskey, but distillers today carefully adhere to recipes that produce a spirit with specific and consistent flavors. Whiskey that contains rye is known for its bolder character and is sometimes described as having a spicy flavor when compared to other whiskies. This has made rye an ideal standout in mixed cocktails where it is used in popular drinks like the Manhattan, the Sazerac and the Old Fashioned. So, when Prohibition nearly obliterated whiskey production in the US, scofflaws and bootleggers turned to Canadian sources and to moonshiners to fill their demand, and quality American rye all but disappeared.
However, a small family business in Iowa chose to become outlaws and continued to produce their rye illegally. Templeton Rye supplied product to Al Capone’s gang who in turn smuggled the precious goods into speakeasies in Chicago, New York, and even as far west as California. Templeton became known as “the good stuff”.
More Rye Please
At the end of Prohibition, many distilleries had closed down. Even now, there are relatively few brands of rye available with perhaps only a dozen different names on US shelves. Fortunately, that is slowly changing as Americans are once again rediscovering rye whiskey. Today, Templeton uses their prohibition recipe and high quality ingredients to produce a small batch product with limited distribution and very high demand. It seems that “the good stuff” is still an appropriate way to describe it—that is, if you can find any.
As with any aged product, there is significant lag between initial production and final sale. Templeton Rye enjoys
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 I would hardly call myself a wine expert, and yet I think I know enough to navigate a decent wine list. More important is getting to the point of knowing the flavors you like so you can ask the right questions and get what you want. It’s about having confidence in your ability to narrow the choices as opposed to buying a bottle based on its price. But it doesn’t come without experience, and the best way that I know to gain valuable knowledge about wine—or any kind of beverage—is to take the time to taste them.
Last week was a busy one for tasting whiskey in the Twin Cities. A few weeks ago, the world saw the release of Maker’s 46, the new bourbon whiskey by Maker’s Mark. As the bottles were arriving at the local shops, I got word of a Maker’s 46 release party being held
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 You just don’t find many cocktails made with Scotch whisky. Perhaps it’s hard to produce combinations that work well together considering the prominent flavors that are typical of any good Scotch. Nevertheless, a few creations have succeeded, and the Blood and Sand is one of them. I’m not saying the world needs more Scotch cocktails. Those of us who enjoy Scotch will say it’s just fine on its own, but not everyone likes to sip spirits neat. Here’s a chance to try something that is pretty rare in the world of mixology.
As uncommon as Scotch cocktails are, you might expect a working recipe to look better on paper, so when you see what’s in this, you wouldn’t think the combination can work. I have to say that if I set out to create a Scotch cocktail myself, it might take me a while before I would try mixing
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 When I think of tradition, it’s usually related to the holiday season. I suspect for most people, the traditions they follow get passed along year after year from family. My wife, Kimberly and I decided a few years ago that we wanted to establish some traditions of our own. For example, whenever we travel, we try to bring back an ornament for the Christmas tree which we pull out every year to remind us of our experience together. More recently, we started another tradition—Scotch whisky! I have never been a fan of egg nog, so while most folks are drinking their hot cider, Irish coffee or whatever warms their heart during the holidays, we decided to expose ourselves to Islay, Speyside, the Highlands–and slowly build up a nice collection that we can enjoy year-round.
I probably have my brother to thank for this since it was he who gave
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