My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff
The nose on 43.4% expression is very floral with some wheaty breakfast biscuits and spicy notes. The taste is very smooth with baked spiced apples (maybe even slightly burnt) caramel and honey. The finish has some slow building heat along with some Bovril (salty / meaty) notes. Reminded me of good Texas barbeque brisket with strong spice bark. Overall a ittle too much burnt, salty and bitter notes with not enough sweetness to balance it for me.
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Location: Fogo de Chao, Denver, CO
Date: July 2020
Price: $13.50
Recipe: Buffalo Trace, Carpano Antica, Blood Orange, Angusturo Bitters
Garnish: Orange peel
Served: Rocks
Comments: A little Orange peel or Triple sec or Orange bitters is good, but this was overpowered by Orange juice. It was fine, but not a Manhattan.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: The Tavern, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
Date: July 2020
Price: $14.00
Recipe: Spencer's Manhattan which according to menu is ... Rye Whiskey, Drambuie, Bitters
Garnish: 3 cherries
Served: Up
Comments: Drambuie in a Manhattan? No Vermouth? That was a first. The color strongly suggests that vermouth was in the recipe.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Total Wine and More, Houston, TX
Date: June 2020
Price: $24.99
Recipe: According to packet... whiskey, vermouth, caramel color
Garnish: I added 2 Luxardo Maraschino cherries
Served: Rocks
Comments:Way over priced even for 100 ml.... but it was much better than I expected for a recipe that included "caramel color"
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Home, Houston, TX
Date: April 2020
Price: Free
Recipe: 50 ml Tullamore DEW, 15 ml Dolin Sweet Vermouth, 5ml Luxardo, dash Orange Bitters
Garnish: Burnt orange peel (website said cherry but I didn't have one)
Served: Rocks
Comments: Very good, first Irish Manhattan, recipe from Tullamore DEW website. Orange bitters and Orange peel maybe too much Orange.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Home, Houston, TX
Date: April 2020
Price: Free
Recipe: Wild Turkey Forgiven, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, Luxardo, Orange Bitters
Garnish: Burnt lemon peel
Served: Rocks
Comments: Really good, very happy with my progress at the halfway point...
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
My original idea for this blog project was to try 101 Manhattans (any similarity to 101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die is purely coincidental) from the various hotels, bars and restaurants around the world that my work took me too. The basic idea was that #101 would be the Manhattan finest I could make after all that research. Confined to home in April 2020 I thought I would make Experiment #50 my “best so far” and I have to say it was very good. The recipe I used was as follows:
As I can’t seem to decide if I prefer Rye or Bourbon I went with Wild Turley Forgiven (which is a Bourbon / Rye blend), 1.5 oz and has enough alcohol at 45% ABV to push through the sweetness. Next were a couple of classic of ingredients, 1 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth and a good dash of Angostura bitters. The now not-so-secret ingredient, courtesy of Mike Raymond at Reserve 101, is Luxardo Cherry liqueur (1 oz) which adds the classic cherry note and that lets me experiment with the garnish. I went with bitter note from a strip of lemon peel (that I scorched with cigar lighter to release the oils – a trick I saw at the Oak Room in Buenos Aires) to bring balance to the sweet liqueur. Shaken together and served on the rocks it was pretty good even if I say so myself.
Manhattan 101 is going to be even better…
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
It has been a while since I visited a distillery. In fact the last blog entry on a distillery visit was back in 2017 when I visited the site of the not yet open Dartmoor Distillery. The last time I was actually in one, excluding The London Distillery, was the Anchorage Distillery in February 2017. So I thought I would take advantage of the COVID quarantine to conduct some virtual distillery tours after I saw an article online about virtual tours in Imbibe (link below). As I have been to three of them before (Four Roses, Buffalo Trace and Glenturret) I will start with the ones I have not yet visited physically which include a Tequila Distillery, a Japanese distillery and three in the UK; Sipsmith, Laphroaig and Talisker.
I am sure some of you will point out that as I didn’t actually visit the site I can’t count these visits in my official list. To those people I say, in the words of The Pub Landlord … My Blog, My Rules.
So yes, they count.
https://imbibe.com/news/8-virtual-distillery-tours-to-entertain-you-during-coronavirus-lockdown/
Location: Georgia James, Houston, TX
Date: March 2020
Price: $11.00 USD (22 x 2)
Recipe: Menu says "Rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, angostura"
Garnish: None
Served: Rocks
Comments: First "to go" Manhattan under relaxed TX laws due to COVID 19 was great one
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Like so many people around the world I am stuck in the house and working from home for at least 4 weeks (and probably more) so I am going to take this opportunity to catch up on my long neglected blog and post some whisky notes and reviews over the next month. I tried to write a few tasting notes last night as a warm up and was shocked how out of shape my "tasting muscles" have become. My notes looked as barren and empty as the toilet paper shelves in my local supermarket. Much work to be done....
Location: Oyster Bar, NY, NY
Date: March 2020
Price: $14.00 USD
Recipe: Makers Mark, Sweet Vermouth, Angostora Bitters
Garnish: 1 orange peel
Served: Rocks
Comments: Classic components to make excellent Manhattan in Manhattan at reasonable price
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Le Bernadin, NY, NY
Date: March 2020
Price: $21.00 USD
Recipe: Michter's Rye, Montanaro Dry Vermouth, Amaro Averna, Bendictine, Angostora Bitters
Garnish: 1 black cherry
Served: Up
Comments: Complex and expensive but not sure about the Dry Vermouth, lacked sweetness.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii