My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff
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
Location: Perry's Steakhouse, Houston, Texas
Date: October 2019
Price: $15.00 USD
Recipe: Redemption Rye with Vya Vermouth and bitters
Garnish: 2 Luxardo cherries
Served: Up
Comments: Great and nicely balanced Manhattan but could have been chilled more. Maybe next time I will try on the rocks.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
I am very happy to announce that I will returning to Houston Texas this summer after almost 4 years working overseas. Most of that time has been spent in Dubai which has not been a great place to blog about whisky but once I am back in Texas I hope to refresh the website (which is well overdue) and promise to try and post more regular blogs and whisky reviews that everyone out there can then just ignore much more frequently. In summary, everything will be just like it was before....
Not long after I wrote the blog a few weeks ago the news was full, as I once predicted, of news around fake whisky (so actual fake news). An example story from BBC is below but in summary twenty-one out of fifty five bottles of rare Scotch were proven to be outright fakes. In short I felt this required me to update my prior blog to include my new, Fourth Law of Whisky Invesment as follows:
Law 1 Investing: Allocate for investment in Whisky exactly the same amount of money you would be willing throw onto a fire and watch burn
Law 2 Buying: If you are reading on the internet or in a magazine about a great investment, then it isn't. Law 3 now applies.
Law 3 Selling: Appear in a series of magazine articles and internet postings about how great whisky investing is. Then sell your shit.
Law 4 Owning: The "rare" whisky you own is quite possibly a fake and worthless. For that reason do not under any circumtances allow it to be checked. Law 3 still applies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-46566703
Location: Xian Bar, Bossa Nova Mall, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Date: December 2018
Price: 80 rials ($21.53 USD)
Recipe: Requested Makers Mark
Garnish: Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: For this price it had to be good... and it was. Much better than previous visit to Rio (Experiment #27)
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: The Chart Room, QE2, Dubai, UAE
Date: December 2018
Price: 75 AED ($20.42 USD)
Recipe: Described as Bourbon whisky (no e) and Martini Rosso
Garnish: Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: As you might expect for the iconic QE2 it was excellent, balanced sweet and woody but perhaps missed the bitters
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii