A Muddled Thought

Apprentices, Corey Bunnewith, Eamon Rockey and Eryn Reece prepping a seminar.

I recently received an email in my inbox from Michael Dietsch of A Dash of Bitters and the man running this year’s Tales of the Cocktail Blog Site, www.talesblog.com. He asked if in addition to covering the behind the scenes experience of the Apprentice Program, if I could share some details on the application process behind the apprentice program.

I’m hoping the following helps shed some light on the application process.

The application for this year’s Apprentice Program went live on the Tales of the Cocktail website around February of this year, with notifications of acceptance going out around the beginning of May.

There were several sections of the application that had to be filled out before submission.
Some of these were pretty basic, such as name, work place, home city and whether or not you’ve served as an apprentice the previous year.

After filling out the basics, you moved to questions such as whether or not you’ve ever worked events with more than 500 attendees and have batched cocktails for large groups. And when they say batch, they mean by the bucket load. Think about making 3-5 cocktails, each for about 200 people within 90 minutes of an event starting and then serving these to a room full of people. Once you can wrap your head around this concept, you slowly begin to understand what being an apprentice means. Now think about doing this from 8am to 6pm each night, with nary a time for a break. Think about running around a large-scale hotel between events making sure everything is ready for that next seminar. This coupled with late nights out, is part of what being apprentice is about.That and the bonds and friendships you form with your fellow cap brothers and sisters. People that after pulling an all-nighter and working four out of the five seminars that day will sacrifice, much needed downtime to help you pull off that last seminar of the day.

Jumping back to the application, there are a few more questions involving the aforementioned batching experience, including a math problem. Yes a math problem. A boozy math problem, that begs the question why didn’t our high school math teachers use whisky and gin to demonstrate why we should have been paying attention back when we were still in school? So the math question at hand involved taking one cocktail with a plethora of ingredients in different measurements (ie: ounces, milliliters, and cups) and calculating how many ounces of each you would need to serve a large group of people.
If memory serves the number in question was about two hundred. One suggestion, if you do apply for next years apprentice program, get accepted and also happen to possess an Iphone. purchase an application called Converter . It’ll save you a few headaches since it lets you convert ounces to cups, milliliters to ounces, and everything else in between. But be careful not to drop your Iphone in a vat of whisky cocktails. Disclaimer-To my knowledge no iphones suffered this fate during the week.

After completing this section, you’re asked to submit both your favorite cocktail and an original recipe and explain the inspiration behind how this recipe came to be and why all the ingredients worked in the cocktail.

At this point you’re approaching the end to the submission process, but there are still three more questions. Two of them are yes or no questions- “Would you like to be an apprentice leader? “ and “Would you like to be part of Commis?”

If you answer this first question with “yes” you’ll more than likely be put in charge of running the prep, batching and serving of cocktails and spirits for a few of the seminars. Trust me it’s not as bad as it sounds, as you’ll be working with between 2-4 other caps for the seminar. So trust me it’ll be okay. Once you’ve clicked yes or no on this, the next question is regarding Commis. You’re probably thinking what is a commis exactly? In the culinary world, commis means a chef’s apprentice. And in the world of caps, it mean’s you’ll be one of about five leaders of the group, reporting directly to Don Lee who heads up the CAP Program. These folks have both my respect and my sympathy, while we all busted ourselves in the kitchen day and day out, this group of apprentices that served as commis, were always there when a crisis occurred, most of the time they were there before, able to avert any issues that came up. Whether this was missing ingredients, or a presenter trying to change all the recipes for their seminars two hours before the seminar was to occur. Gents, my hats off to all of you.

And the final question, “How’d you get into Cocktails?” With this last answer, you’re given the opportunity to tell your story, how you arrived at this application in the first place, and demonstrate your passion.

One last step, as with any application, references were needed.
With a few clicks of the keyboard you’re finally done. Time to click the submit button.

Once you click that submit button, it’s all over. You’ve gone ahead and done it. There’s no turning back now, you’ve applied for the Cocktail Apprentice Program. Now comes the waiting. If you’ve just read this and are thinking of applying for the Apprentice program, good luck and hope to see you next year.

As I write this, I’ve been back in New York City for about 24 hours —and the exhaustion is finally hitting me. After landing yesterday at 4pm, running home, showering, and unpacking, I headed to a USBGNY Mixer, which then led me to home and eventually passing out. My dreams were filled with recipes and images of batching cocktails—memories left over from the previous week.

About a week ago I posted that I had planned to chronicle a diary of what it’s like to be a Tales of the Cocktail Apprentice (or CAP). After hitting the ground running the first day, I began to realize that I might not be able to juggle both the media side and the Apprentice side as well as I had originally planned to. Once in the kitchen, any time I had hoped to have a camera in hand was replaced with an Oxo 32oz measuring cup or a knife. I’m not sure I’d have had it any other way.

After the majority of the Apprentices arrived Monday afternoon, we had a few hours to settle in before we started off the week. We were treated to dinner—some amazing fried chicken with all the fixin’s—along with some Stella at Jacques Imos.

Ann and Paul Tuennerman at Jacques Imo's

The night eventually led us to New Orleans cocktail haven Cure, where most of us put the night to rest as we had an early morning call—the first of many.

The backbar of Cure.

The Apprentices at Cure.

Our second day on site—the Tuesday before Tales—started off with a meeting of all the Apprentices, CAP leaders, and Tales Staff. This, of course, included a cocktail. Unexpected to all attending the meeting, this also included a blessing from a voodoo priestess.

A sign of the week to come.

Ann Tunnermann, aka Mrs. Cocktail, and Paul Tunnermann., aka Mr. Cocktail, were kind enough to bring in a voodoo priestess to bless all the Apprentices and Tales Staff. Did it work, you ask?I’d like to think so, since all made it through the week relatively unscathed.

After each and every Apprentice was blessed (Thanks again Ann and Paul), we collected our Apprentice gift bags. Attached to each bag was the ever-so-important Apprentice badge, which enabled us complete access to Tales throughout the week without ever an issue. Along with these badges were our aprons, our Apprentice chef jackets, a Tony Abou Ganim (TAG) Bag and TAG Muddler, and a thank you bottle of Chartreuse V.E.P.

My Apprentice Badge-Finally...

Don Lee addressing the team on the first day.

Corey Bunnewith of Russell House Tavern modeling the Apprentice apron.

So what does being a Tales of the Cocktail Apprentice mean?

Work. And lots of it. Anyone thinking about applying for next year’s program should keep this in mind. By the end of the week, you’ll have pain in places on your body you never knew could feel pain.

The day of an Apprentice typically starts around 8:00 or 8:30am if you decide to sleep in. The work day usually ends at 6:00pm or so, at which point you shower (trust me—after working in a hot kitchen all day, you need one), find dinner, and then head off to whatever parties are happening on a given night. The night (morning) usually ends between 2:00 am and 4:00 am at the Old Absinthe House. Aside from this typical daily framework, the rest of the week is anything but “typical.”

For example, one of our assignments involved supplying two hundred liquor bottles half-filled with water for Stanislav Vadrna’s Seminar, “Ichigo/Ichie: One Chance/One Meeting the Way How to Synchronize the Bartenders Mind/Body,” in which he discussed the proper styles and techniques to make your guest feel at ease and get the most out of their visit to your bar.

The two hundred bottles were used by the seminar attendees to practice the art of opening and closing a liquor bottle.

200 Liquor bottles half-filled with Water for Stanislav Vadrna's Seminar.

Another seminar assignment involved placing down several hundred glasses for a tasting of straight spirits.

And we haven’t even gotten to the part about the cocktails.

Speaking of which—let’s talk cocktails—all those lovely libations people imbibed in throughout the week at each and every seminar. Most people likely enjoyed them without much of a thought about how the drinks got there. If you’re imagining a few guys using those 64oz shakers to shake up a few drinks then let me share with you what actually happened.

Well, before they got to you and other seminar attendees, the cocktails were prepared by the bucket load. Using lots of math (try batching cocktails for close to 200 people on the fly without a calculator!), a great deal of talent, and a few dashes of love, the Apprentices used the buckets pictured below to prep each and every cocktail.

The buckets where each cocktail started its life.

Here are some of the tools we used to get them out to folks looking like actual cocktails.

And some more…

And no cocktail would be complete without a few key items. First of all, lots and lots of booze.

The below picture is from the “Booze Room” from which Apprentices would pull from once we figured out many bottles of a particular spirit a recipe called for. For example, if a presenter called for 100 Gin and Tonics with two ounces of gin per glass, we would more than likely pull eight 750ml bottles of gin, as each bottle contains about 25.6 ounces of gin.
This task often proved to be interesting when we had to adjust the recipes due to an inadequate supply of ingredients being received for a particular presentation.

The Booze Room

And what cocktail would be complete without some citrus or other fruit?

The Citrus Room.

So is participating in the Apprentice program worth it? In my opinion, an emphatic , ”Hell yes!!!” However, if you apply and are lucky enough to be accepted, keep in mind that you’ll be pushed to work possibly harder than you’ve ever worked with little time for breaks during the course of each day. On the other hand, the rewarding feeling of knowing that you took part in something so much bigger than one person and that you were involved in pulling off some amazing feats—not to mention the friends and contacts you make in the process—definitely make the whole experience worth the effort.

Would I do it again next year? I’d definitely like to, if the group will have me.

Ah, the group. I’m not sure the Apprentices could ask for a better group of leaders than the ones we were given. Don Lee, John Deragon, Leo Robitschek, Mike Ryan, Jeff Grdinich(aka Keebler), and Eric Simpkins ran a tight ship (well, as tightly as a ship can be run when its crew starts each day with shots of Del Maguey Tobala or Fernet) during five incredibly intense days of anything a boozy imagination could conjure, —all whilemanaging to keep it cool at all times, regardless of the situation. Our week included seminars that involved the use of chainsaws, moving liquid nitrogen from one side of the state to the other, among many other crazy situations; but with our leadership, we managed to pull through the week in one piece.

The Previously Mentioned Chainsaw in The Kitchen.

As I mentioned earlier, I unexpectedly put the camera aside fairly early on, so after the first day any pictures that I managed to snap were via the trusty ol’ iPhone. Luckily I managed to take a few of the kitchen that first day.

One of the Caps, Franky Marshall of Clover Club at work in the Kitchen.

Other highlights of the week included a presentation on Mezcal by Mr. Del Maguey Himself—Ron Cooper, with a special appearance by Dave Wondrich.

Ron Cooper and Dave Wondrich presenting to the Caps.

A Cointreau Tasting presented by Erin Williams, Cointreau’s Resident Mixologist.

The Cointreau Tasting Mat.

The Spirit Awards.

The Apprentices at the Spirit Awards.

A couple of Apprentices at the spirit awards.

The way saw it, since I started off the week with coffee and a cocktail, I might as well end it in a similar fashion with coffee and a beer at the airport.

Last Drink in New Orleans-Post Tales of the Cocktail.

And a special thanks to my fellow Apprentices that I had the pleasure of working with throughout the week. A greater group of partners in this booze filled endeavor, one cannot ask for. After this week, I consider them all close friends.

Adam Robinson
Bradley Bolt
Bradley Farran
Brian Matthys
California Gold
Cassie Fellet
Chad Doll
Chris Hannah
Christine Nielsen
Christopher Churilla
Corey Bunnewith
Cristiana DeLucca
Cristina Dehlavi
Daniel de Oliveira
Don Lee
Eamon Rockey
Eric Simpkins
Erica Pearce
Eryn Reece
Evan Martin
Frank Cisneros
Franky Marshall
Jamie Kilgore
Jared Schubert
Jeff Grdinich
John Deragon
Jonathan Armstrong
Kimberly Patton-Bragg
Leo Robitschek
Luis Bustamante
Matthew Eggleston
Meaghan Dorman
Michelle Peake
Mike Ryan
Naomi Schimek
Navarro Carr
Neil Kopplin
Nicholas Jarrett
Patrick O’Brien
Rachel Kim
Robert Leavey
Sharon Floyd
Sierra Zimei
Sudeep Rangi
Summer Voelker
Sylvia Cosmopoulos
Ted Kilgore
Thomas Klus
Thomas Speechley
Tiffany Soles
William Dollard

From the far southeast region of Scotland, known as the Speyside Region comes Ardmore Traditional Cask. Released in 2008, Ardmore Traditional Cask is the first bottling from the Ardmore Distillery, after several years without any new offerings coming out of the distillery.

Ardmore Traditional Cask is a fully peated malt, which means that all barley used to create the whisky is dried using heated peat fires. This creates a spirit that begins with the lure of seductive peat, touches of cinnamon and dough. These flavors lead into notes of smoked Apples, hints of bacon. and barely there touches of cocoa, that play second fiddle to orange zest and honey.
In an odd yet pleasant surprise the Ardmore Traditional cask finishes with the presence of a smoky sarsaparilla on your palate.

Ardmore Traditional Cask retails for between $45-$50 per 750 Ml Bottle.

Final Score: 9/10

After an interesting conversation with a friend about the joys of the Corpse Reviver #2*, I was inspired to create a loose interpretation playing off the notes in the Ardmore traditional cask. I replaced the gin component with the Ardmore traditional cask, the Cointreau with Solerno Blood Orange Liquor, the Lillet with Cynar to add a bit of a bitter kick and finished it off with Herbsaint to replace the absinthe component.

Burning Alarm Clock. A combination of Ardmore Traditional Cask, Solerno, Cynar, Herbsaint, Aromatic Bitters and Lemon Juice.

Burning Alarm Clock

1 ¾ oz Ardmore Traditional Cask
½ oz Solerno Blood Orange Liquor
½ Cynar
1 oz Lemon Juice
2 Dashes Herbsaint(90 Proof) New Recipe
2 Dashes Aromatic Bitters

Shake with Ice. Serve up

*Corpse Reviver #2
1 oz Gin
½ oz Cointreau
½ oz Lillet Blond
¾ oz Lemon Juice
Dash of Absinthe

This past May a rare occurrence in the spirit world took place at New York’s Campbell Apartments when extremely rare vintages of Cherry Heering, the cherry liqueur made famous being a component of the Blood and Sand and Singapore Sling Cocktails were opened and tasted. These vintages included a bottle remaining from 1890 and 1950. And were opened and compared to a modern day offering.

Including in the individuals selected to taste these vintages were, Jackson Cannon, of Boston’s Eastern Standard; Jörgen Tilander, owner of the Cherry Heering® liqueur ,Akiko Katayama, an established international writer and former Iron Chef judge and Tony Abu Ganim, The Modern Mixologist.

After comparing the two vintages along side the the present day offering of Cherry Heering, the tasting panel’s favorite was the 1890 vintage. Tony Abu Ganim, noted that the additional time the spirit spent in the bottle allowed new flavors of cigar and cocoa to develop.

Will Cherry Heering have another one of these vintage tasting events? Only time will..

A Blood and Sand Cocktail made with the Vintage Cherry Heering. The other ingredients include equal parts of scotch, orange juice and vermouth.

After looking at a few different spirits in our Spirited Father’s Day coverage over this past week, we’re wrapping up with two final whiskies from the Classic Malts family of whiskies. With a range that includes brands such as Singleton, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie and Lagavulin, the portfolio’s whiskies range from $36.99 with Singleton 12 Year Old(taken a look at here) to the Lagavulin 16 priced at $89.99(taken a look at here).

Our last two spirits both come in right around the fifty dollar price point and won’t take leave much of a dent on your wallet come gift giving time.

First up, hailing from the Northwest Coastal Isle of Skye, is Talisker 10.

Upon opening the bottle of Talisker 10, you’re hit with a nose filled with aromas of fiery oranges and soft cocoa.
Once you bring this intriguing whiskey to your lips, it tugs at your palate and introduces itself with hints of sea salt, black pepper, and lime with glimpses of sweet cherries,. Notes of smokey hazelnut lead into a finish reminiscent of what would happen if you combined cocoa and bacon, and created a new flavor taking the best characteristics of both flavors.

Talisker 10 Year old retails for $49.99

Final Score 9/10

Our second whisky from the Classic Malts family, is Glenkinchie 12. Coming to us from the lowland regions of Scotland, Glenkinchie is aged in American Oak Refill casks(casks used previously to age American whiskey) and while it hints at peat here and there throughout each sip, it’s a slightly softer whisky than that of Talisker 10 Year old.

Glenkinchie 12 year old opens up with touches of fresh grass, floral characters and subtle hints of spice and smoke with occasional hints of crème de menthe. A playful spirit that doesn’t take itself too seriously and manages to balance light notes with just the right touch of subtle seductive smoke. These light yet smokey notes lead into a finish brimming with cinnamon, berries and characters of espresso.

Glenkinchie 12 year old retails for $43.99

Final Score: 8.5/10

Okay so we’ve been mostly covering brown spirits such as bourbons and whiskies for the last few days during our Spirited Father’s Day Coverage. Well we’re taking a break for a day from those darker colored spirts to something on the other side of the spectrum, a clear spirit, that of Vodka.

But we couldn’t take a look at any old vodka for Dad. We had to find something that just like some of our father’s was a bit different. And Dad if you’re reading this wherever you, we mean that with a lot of love. So we decided to take a look at Jean Marc XO.

A vodka that in its creation defines unique, Jean Marc XO has its origins in the Cognac region of France. and was brought to life by Jean Marc Daucourt. In his goal to create a vodka that in its purest form was a shippable spirit, Jean Marc combined four French wheat grain’s to create his unique flavor. These grains, Orvantis, Azteque, Ysengrain and Orvantis are removed from the connected chaff to remove any possible bitterness.

Once this is done, the grain is combined with spring water native to the surrounding cognac region and distilled in small batches using French Copper Alambic stills a total of nine times. A process used in the production of wine known as micro-oxygenation, is then introduced into the resulting spirit. Micro-oxygenation allows the spirit producer to slowly control the introduction of oxygen to the sitting wine or in this case vodka, which has been known to both produce a cleaner end result. As a final step, Jean Marc XO is charcoal filtered through Limousin oak.

This process, which is said to take weeks from start to finish, creates a vodka that’s unlike anything you’ve likely tried before. With hints of sweetness and the subtle presence of oranges on the nose, this is but a mere tease of what awaits your palate.
Hints of vanilla, through and through each sip, notes of cinnamon play in the background as the presence of pineapple and citrus surprise your palate. Yes, this is a vodka your tasting, and yes it’s complex as some of those brown spirits your usually pretty fond.

Jean Marc XO down to the basics is incredibly smooth, with subtle flavors throughout each sip with those last bits ending with an overall warming sensation.

Final Score 9.5/10

With Summer in mind, and playing off some of those vanilla, cinnamon and pineapple notes that jumped out in my palate during tasting through Jean Marc XO, the following cocktail came to be.

The Sum Together

1 ¾ oz Jean Marc XO Vodka
¾ oz Don Q Gold Rum
Bar Spoon Green Chartreuse
½ oz Cinnamon Syrup
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Pineapple Juice
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Serve in Highball or Julep Cup with Crushed Ice.
Garnish Spent Lime Shell with two drops of Green Chartreuse, flamed.

The Sum Together. A combination of Jean Marc Xo Vodka, Don Q Gold Rum, Green Chartreuse, Cinnamon Syrup, Lime Juice, Pineapple Juice and Angostura Bitters.

After taking a look at Four Roses Bourbon and the Johnie Walker line of Blended Whiskies earlier in the week, we now come to one of the greats of Islay Whiskies, Laphroaig 18.

Laphroaig, the infamous Islay whisky- What’s the first thing you think of when you hear, this? Is it a hearty, yet pleasantly defined smokey spirit? If so you probably haven’t had a chance to try Laphroaig after it’s been aged and bottled at 18 years. For most people who’ve tried the Islay spirit they’ve tried either the ten-year old or quarter cask offering and have instantly associated all of Laphroaig’s offerings with heaps of smoke. But what happens if you give that same spirit a few more years, or eight to be exact in the barrel? You end up with an oh so lovely whisky in the form of Laphroaig 18.

Those added eight years, seem to mellow that smokiness that most people associate with an Islay whisky such as Laphroaig. And at the same time bring out so many more flavors and nuances.

With that first sip of Laphroaig 18 seductively smooth notes of melted chocolate overwhelm your entire palate. Hints of peaches and occasional notes of lavender appear in the background with sea salt, allspice and a light mellowing presence of smoke leading you through each sip with a finish of fresh grass, burnt orange zest and hazelnut.

With such well developed flavors and just a tad bit of smoke within each sip, Laphroaig 18 manages to still maintain a bit of that ballsiness that Laphroiag has become known for, while gaining a bit of mellowness from that added time in the barrel.

With a Retail Price of $140, this is something that can be sipped with friends, family and doesn’t break the bank when it comes to a gift for Father’s Day.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Last year we took a look at Four Roses Small Batch, the 2009 bottling. With Father’s Day coming up, we figured we’d revisit the latest edition of this spirit as we were left pretty impressed last year.

And again Master Distiller Jim Rutledge leaves his mark on us. With the 2010 release of Four Roses Small Batch, we were left with just as an amazing impression we did when we first tried last year’s Small Batch offering.

Jim was kind enough to break how this incredible spirit is created. But we before we go into the details of how specifically Four Roses Small Batch is created, we first need to go back a step and understand how all Four Roses products start.

Any bourbon originating from the house (or distillery) of Four Roses starts off with ten unique bourbon recipes.

Courtesy of Jim Rutledge:

The recipes are created by combining 5 proprietary yeast cultures with two mashbills. The two mashbills are very high in rye grain content – more than any other Bourbon distillery – which generates a gentle spiciness in the flavor profile, which is uncharacteristic of Bourbon. The mashbills:

Mashbill Code: E B

Corn 75% 60%

Rye 20% 35%

Malted Barley 5% 5%

The basic characteristics of the five yeast cultures are:

Code
V – Light Fruit
K – Gentle Spice
O – Rich and full-bodied Fruit
F – Herbal Essence
Q – Floral Essence

By combining the individual yeast cultures with each mashbill 5 unique flavors/recipes are generated with each grain recipe – or 10 flavors/recipes in all.

All ten recipes are used as a target formula for our Yellow Label, and the formula tweaked to provide product consistency from bottling run to bottling run.

One recipe (“B” mashbill in conjunction with “V” yeast) is used consistently for Four Roses Single Barrel.

Now on to the details on what makes up Four Roses Small Batch:

Small Batch uses 4 recipes: ~70% each of B and E mashbill and K yeast + ~30% each of B and E mashbill and O yeast.

It takes approximately 18 total barrels of the four recipes to achieve, as close as possible, the target flavor profile.
Note: The recipe we use for our Single Barrel Bourbon is not one of the 4 recipes used for Small Batch.

Now that we’ve taken a look at how Four Roses Small Batch is created, we can get to the fun part. What’s it taste like?

Well folks, as mentioned earlier, Jim’s done it again!!

The latest bottling of Four Roses Small Batch starts off with a sweetness that grabs you and just makes you smile. Hints of cinnamon and blackberries lead the way into incredibly well defined notes of cardamom, orange marmalade and cocoa. As you slowly allow the spirit to take over and seduce your palate further, touches of allspice and vanilla reveal themselves in cream like finish.

At a retail price of about $30, Four Roses Small Batch is at the perfect price point for a gift for dad. Whether it’s Father’s Day or just to say thanks for not killing you during those teenage years.

Final Score: 10/10

Johnnie Walker, the blended whiskey known for its infamous label system. Five bottlings, five colors. With Father’s day around the corner, the Johnnie Walker portfolio seems to have an offering available to fit any price point. Starting in the low twenty-dollar range all the way up to the two hundred dollar price range. Depending on what kind of flavor your dad prefers, you should be able to find something that fits the glass of any whisky loving dad.

Starting with Johnnie Walker Red, coming in at about $23 per bottle, the spirit is created by blending approximately thirty different young single malts including youthful impressions of Caol IIa, and Talisker together with grain whisky. The blending of these thirty whiskies leads to Johnnie Walker inheriting a flavor profile that starts off with notes of smoke and cinnamon that slowly mellows into hints of caramel, candied apple and pears. Upon bidding your palate adieu Johnnie Walker Red finishes with hints of cocoa, hazelnut and the minute presence of marshmallows.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Moving along to the next Johnnie Walker offering, we come to Johnnie Walker Black priced at $34 per a bottle, and is blend of roughly 40 whiskies including Talisker and Cardhu that aged 12 years or more. Once you get past that description and allow Johnnie Walker Black to hit your palate, your greeted with the soft seductive allure of smoke dancing on your tongue which slowly transforms into playful candy-like notes of caramel, slight touches of menthol, and black licorice. The final presence of Johnnie Walker black on your palate is touches of heat, candied oranges and crème brûlée.

Final Score: 9/10

Johnnie Walker offers a gift pack that includes four out five of its bottlings. The one that they happen to leave out is Johnnie Walker Green. Why you might wonder. Well it’s a bit different than the rest of its siblings. While the Red, Gold, Black and even Blue offerings are blended whiskies, the Gold, she’s a bit different. Rather than a blended whisky(which uses grain whisky as a component), Johnnie Walker Gold is a blended malt.

What that translates to is that it’s actually a combination of four single malts that have each been aged for fifteen years. These four single malts include such whiskies such as Cragganmore, Talisker, Caol Ila and Linkwood. The results of blending these four whiskies together is a spirit that opens with minute touches of fiery black pepper that as it slowly spices up the palate is softened by mellow yet smokey notes of sweet pears. As you continue to take in the whisky, these notes of sweet pear slowly morph into characters of sweet milk chocolate. Johnnie Walker Green closes out with additional touches of heat ,notes of vanilla and further notes of luscious milk chocolate. Johnnie Walker Green is priced at $60 per bottle.

Final Score: 9/10

If your seeking something slightly more matured than the 12 old whiskies that make up Johnnie Walker Black or even the 15 year old whiskies that comprise Johnie Walker Green, then the Gold might just what you’re looking for. Priced at $85 per bottle, Johnnie Walker Gold is a blending of 15 different whiskies each aged at least 18 years and in n our opinion the most impressive of the entire range. From that first sip Johnnie Walker Gold notes of vanilla, chocolate, and hazelnut combine to create the picture of something akin to the perfect desert combination. After tasting through the first three Johnnie Walker offerings, I was taken back with the different personality that the Gold possessed.

While the entire Johnnie Walker family is palate pleasing, the Gold offering is something that defines the term exquisite.
Once your palate begins to take in these for mentioned flavors, notes of honey,and the subtle presence of smoke before ending with a finish filled with notes of ripe pear, cinnamon and additional touches of vanilla.

Final Score: 10/10

We now come to the final Johnnie Walker offering, Johnnie Walker Blue. Recognized around the world as an incredibly elegant spirit. With a price of $220 per bottle it’s meant for those individuals that appreciate the rarer spirits. Created by an undisclosed blending of rare whiskies, with each bottle numbered, it definitely stands up and shows your palate who’s in charge throughout each sip.
Before you even pour yourself a glass, once you’ve begun to open the bottle your hit with a nose filled with elegant and defined notes of sweetness.

Once you get past this nose, your greeted with a scotch that begins with touches of baked apples that segues into nuances of cocoa, hazelnut and sweet honey that finishes with more of those sweet honey notes and a mild hint of peat .

Johnnie Walker Blue fits the bill if you’re looking for a truly complex whisky that as you take each sip begins to reveal further characters to your palate.

As an added bonus, Johnnie Walker Blue is offered with personalized engraving around Father’s Day as well as Christmas. More information about personalized engraving can be found here.

Final Score:9.5/10

Editors Note:While we recognize the rarity of the whiskies that go into Johnnie Walker Blue Label, The Gold Label with an equally impressive flavor profile and lower price point was our favorite of the entire Johnnie Walker Portfolio.

I had the pleasure of first tasting Greylock Gin, during the summer of 2009 at a visit to PDT in New York’s East Village. The first time I tasted it, I knew I was tasting something truly unique in the gin category.

After speaking with Chris Weld, the master distiller and owner of Berkshire Mountain Distilleries( otherwise known as BMD) he gave me the short but quaint story of how Berkshire Mountain Distillery came to be. The origins of which can be traced back to a nearly completed 8th grade project in which young Chris was attempting to build a working model of a still. Something he would have accomplished, had his mom not stopped him after finding out it was a bit of a federal offense.

Years later Chris went on to become a emergency room physician’s assistant and migrated from New England to the West Coast, a place he called home with his wife up until several years ago when the Weld family decided to move back to New England. During the search for a new home, they came across an old, slightly neglected apple farm that housed about 400-500 apple trees. After restoring the farm back to its original glory, the Welds had the idea of opening a distillery. Initially Chris had planned to create an apple brandy, until the realization that one cannot survive on apple brandy alone. This brings us to the year 2007 when Berkshire Mountain Distilleries came to be. With some assistance from fellow distillers who advised Chris, he began distilling Ragged Mountain Rum, Ice Glen Vodka and Berkshire’s first gin, Greylock, which was followed roughly a year later with Ethereal Release One.

During our conversation, Chris mentioned that Berkshire will be releasing both a corn whiskey and a bourbon later this year. For now we’ll be taking a look at both of Berkshire’s Gin offerings.

With Greylock Chris had a gin meant to be sipped on its own or to be used in classic cocktails such as a Gin and Tonic, Martini or Gimlet A year or so later, came Ethereal, a limited edition bottling whose botanicals change slightly with each new bottling and is targeted directly at the mixology community.

As with all of Berkshire Distilleries Spirits, both Greylock and Ethereal start off with natural spring water located on the same land as the distillery itself and is fed from a nearby mountain range.

This natural spring water along with botanicals including juniper, coriander, angelica, orris, cinnamon, orange peel and licorice give life to Greylock Gin a gin that upon that first introductory sip, greets you with notes of citrus teasing the forefront of your palate before leading the way into hints of vanilla, butterscotch(yep you heard that right), the occasional hint of orange, coriander and black pepper. Greylock finishes with hints of spice before leaving a final soft citrus sensation on your palate.

Taking the botanicals used in Greylock, Chris adds lemon, cubeb root, pepper, spearmint, nutmeg, rose hips and elderberry to produce the limited release Ethereal. A recipe that changes with each release, during our conversation Chris mentioned the third release of Ethereal will feature grapefruit.

The combination of these new botanicals to Greylock’s formula leads to a gin that opens with nutmeg, very forward notes of orange, fresh grass, and crème de menthe. Light touches of lavender and nuances of sweet rye and harvest spice make an appearance before the spirit finishes with touches of floral, additional subtle characters of crème de menthe and a final caresses of your palate by smooth hints of vanilla.

A Short Journey
1 ¾ oz Greylock Gin
Bar Spoon Orange Marmalade
½ oz Vanilla Syrup
¾ oz Sombra Mezcal
2 Dashes West Indian Orange Bitters

A Short Journey. A combination of Greylock Gin, Sombra Mezcal, Orange Marmalade, Vanilla Syrup, and West Indian Orange Bitters.

The Gineva Convention
1 oz Greylock Gin
1 oz Bols Genever
¾ oz Maraschino
¾ oz Green Charteuse
¾ oz Cinnamon Syrup
2 Dashes West Indian Orange Bitters

The Gineva Convention. A combination of Greylock Gin, Bols Genever, Maraska Maraschino Liqueur,Green Chartreuse, Cinnamon Syrup, and West Indian Orange Bitters.

Breaking The Barrier
1 ¾ oz Ethereal Gin
Bar spoon Vieux Carré Absinthe
Muddled Peppercorns
½ oz Crème Y’vette
½ oz Orange Juice
2 Dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Breaking the Barrier. A combination of Ethereal Gin, Vieux Carre Absinthe, Muddled Peppercorns, Creme Y'vette, Orange Juice and Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters.

Just Passing Through

1 ½ oz Ethereal Gin
½ oz Lillet Rouge
½ oz Allspice
½ oz Demerara Syrup
2 Dash Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters

Just Passing Through. A combination of Ethereal Gin, Lillet Rouge, Allspice Dram, Demerara Syrup and The Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters.