Distillery Tour: Maker's Mark

On the same trip during which I visited MB Roland Distillery I also had a chance to tour the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY about an hour south of Louisville. Maker's has long been my go-to whiskey when I'm at a new bar or restaurant because it is consistently delicious - straight-up, on the rocks, or as a Manhattan - and it is available almost everywhere you go. Seeing the place where this iconic, red-wax-capped whiskey is made would be a nice treat indeed.

I missed the first few minutes of the 3:30pm tour because this distillery is really tucked away into the rolling hills of Kentucky's bluegrass region, and it took a few minutes longer to get there than my GPS predicted. I was cutting it close to begin with because I couldn't help but stop at for a few minutes at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site which you pass on the way to Loretto when approaching from the south. As I rolled through the small town of Loretto I could tell we were getting close to the distillery because I started to see large complexes of barrel-houses along the side of the road. The red-and-black paint-jobs on the barrel houses indicated to me that they must belong to Maker's Mark, but it was still a winding 10 minute drive from the time I saw the first barrel-house until I crossed a small bridge across a burbling brook and saw the sign welcoming me to the Maker's Mark Distillery.

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Oh Taste & See: Seagram's VO Canadian Whisky

Like many whiskey drinkers who I know, I often skip right past the Canadian whisky shelves of my local liquor store. For some reason Canadian whiskies seem to lack the character and personality of their Scottish, Irish, or American counterparts. Maybe it's just poor marketing or the fact that they're mostly packaged in very uniform, boring bottles, with the exception of Crown Royal and its wide, squat bottle in its purple velvet pouch. Or maybe I'm just biased against Canada.

In any case, my expectations are always low when tasting a Canadian whisky, but occasionally one will surprise me. Today the surprise comes from Seagram's VO blended Canadian whisky. VO has been around since 1913 and is a 6 year old whisky bottled in one of those tall, boring, brownish bottles. I've been drinking VO for a while, but I can't remember ever sipping it for taste. I usually use it as a mixer for whisky sours or other drinks where the flavor of the spirit is masked behind other, stronger flavors. As I poured myself a glass tonight I expected a drinkable, but uninteresting whisky - lucky for me those expectations were a bit off base.

The nose on VO doesn't do anything to raise expectations. The scent is pretty weak and what smell I did detect is mostly rubbing alcohol with just a little oak and vanilla in the background. As I took a sip the first thing I noticed was how smooth and easy-to-drink the VO is - perhaps this is why it makes such a good mixing whiskey. Blended whiskies are supposed to be smooth, so mission accomplished there. The nice thing about VO is that it also has enough flavor to keep things interesting when enjoyed on its own. I picked up the vanilla and oak tastes again, along with a rich, buttery sweetness that carried through into the mellow finish. The finish was the thing that surprised me most - the VO stays with you for a nice long while with the oaky taste fading to sweet butter and finally to a light minty heat.

At about $15 per 750mL bottle VO is an affordable whisky that is ideal for mixing and good enough for sipping on its own when you're looking for an easy, smooth drink. Its lightness makes it an ideal summer-time whiskey and a great way to ease first-timers into whiskey drinking.

Whiskey Jim's Perfect Mint Julep

The mint julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, and although I'm about a month late for Derby Day, I think mint juleps are a great drink any time the temperature starts to creep into the 80s or 90s. Here in Philadelphia we've had a couple weeks of scorching hot temperatures, so mint juleps certainly seem appropriate. The mint juleps that I make for Derby Day, and any other time I can get my hands on fresh mint, are loosely based on a recipe from The Bartender's Guide by Peter Bohrmann.

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Craft Distillery Tour: MB Roland Distillery

My mom has a habit of sending me clippings from the local newpaper back home in Kentucky. Usually she sends my high-school friends' wedding announcements or articles about local political happenings. Sometimes these clippings hang on the fridge for a week or two, but mostly they go straight into the recycling bin after a quick read. One article she sent recently caught my interest though. It told about a new craft distillery that had opened right down the road from my hometown in Pembroke, KY.

The idea of craft-whiskey being produced in Pembroke blew my mind. This is the Pembroke where I used to ride four-wheelers on my friends' farms and once spent hours trying to steal a road sign reading "Welcome to Pembroke, Population 1,000." The Pembroke where the population includes large numbers of Amish, Southern Baptists, and other groups for whom alcohol is a taboo subject. This I had to see.

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Oh Taste & See: Elijah Craig 12 Y.O. KY Straight Bourbon Whiskey

For my first whiskey review I thought I'd finish off the bottle of Elijah Craig 12 Year Old (EC12) bourbon that's been slowly disappearing from my bar over the past few months. Elijah Craig, the man, was a Baptist preacher from Virginia who migrated to Kentucky in the late 1700's and is credited by some as the 'inventor' of bourbon, or at least of the process of aging bourbon in charred oak barrels.

Elijah Craig 12 Year Old, the whiskey, is one of the premium products made by Heaven Hill Distilleries of Bardstown, KY - one of the 800-pound gorillas of the bourbon world. EC12 is an excellent bourbon all around, as attested by the numerous accolades and rave reviews that it has been receiving for years, but to me where EC12 really shines is in its value. The tag on the bottle claims that EC12 was a "small batch" bourbon before the term "small batch" even existed. Too me "small batch" is, in many cases, a marketing term used to justify single-barrel pricing for non-single-barrel whiskeys that really aren't much better than mass-produced blends. For EC12 however, Heaven Hill keeps the price competitive with more mass-market bourbons making this one of the best all-around values you'll find. At  $20-$24 per 750ml bottle, EC12 is in the same price bracket as Jim Beam Black, Wild Turkey, or Maker's Mark - all great bourbons, but not quite in the same league as the more expensive bourbons that EC12 can go head-to-head with in terms of quality, presentation, and complexity.

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Whiskey Book Review: Chasing the White Dog

For some whiskey aficionados, myself included, the renegade, outlaw spirit of whiskey is part of its overall appeal. It's as if we think that by drinking a product that has gone through various stages of legality and social acceptability throughout its history we can ourselves become just a bit more bad-ass, in that James Dean, John Wayne sort of way.

The book Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw's Adventures in Moonshine, by Max Watman explores this rebellious side of whiskey lore and also delves into the world of curtains-drawn kitchen experiments in home-distilling. To anyone with an interest in whiskey or quirky Americana, this book is absolutely intoxicating. I found myself unable to put this book down - it is so well written that even the later chapters, chronicling the tedious details of a modern-day Virginia moonshine trial, draw the reader in like the best TV crime-dramas.

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Welcome to Whiskey Jim's Ramblings

Welcome to my blog about all things Whiskey. I hope you enjoy reading and responding to what I have to say about my favorite beverage, and if you would ever like to hear my thoughts on any specific whiskey-related topic, no matter how tangential the relationship, just let me know.

First things first, I'd like you to know how I came to name my blog Whiskey Jim's Ramblings. Obviously, my given name is Whiskey Jim, so that explains that part. I chose to use the Whiskey spelling of the word (as opposed to Whisky) because, again, it's my given first name, and because I was born and raised in Kentucky where our native spirit is usually spelled Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and I would feel like a traitor spelling it any other way. However I don't feel treasonous in the least when drinking products labeled with the Whisky spelling.

I chose the title Ramblings for two reasons: first, as you may have already noticed, I tend to ramble (definition #2). While writing this blog I fully intend to ramble on-and-on about the intricate details of the world of whiskey. Second, whiskey has long been the beverage of choice for ramblers (definition #1) - from kilt-clad highland troubadours of the British Isles to the lonesome cowboys of the American west, to the modern-day restless hipster roaming from bar-to-bar in search of inspiration. To a rambler like you or me, whiskey is a great companion when exploring what's beyond yonder hill.

Now that you know where we're going, sit back, pour yourself a glass, and enjoy. Hell, make it a double...