Eggnog - drinker beware

This is a tradition for me. My wife and I throw a holiday bash, and get people hammered on eggnog. I grew up on non-alcoholic eggnog, and it's always been a treat. Now that I can make the real stuff, I'll never go back. I have passed this recipe around, but I tweak it slightly each year. 

Below follows a recipe that will completely destroy you. It's about 50% booze. it is DANGEROUS. WARNING. 

Every year I change up which bourbon, rum, and cognac/brandy/armagnac I use.  Two years ago I went with Buffalo Trace bourbon, Zaya rum, and Pierre Ferrand Cognac respectively. Last year, it was Absach Uralt (german brandy), Ron Matusalem Gran Reserve rum, and Elijah Craig 12 year bourbon. This year, I chose a wheated bourbon in Weller Antique, the much lauded Diplomatico Reserva, and a Bas Armagnac for the first time - Marie Duffan. Much happier with these (at least after the initial taste test).

Warning: raw eggs. Yada yada. I've never gotten anyone sick in 10 years of making this but use at your own risk. For more information on this, and to ease your fears please watch below. Moral of the story - put booze in your nog.  

Ingredients:

18 super fresh eggs

1.5 lbs confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

4 cups bourbon. 1 750ml bottle bourbon = 3.17 cups, so you will need just over a bottle.

2.5 cups aged brandy/cognac/Armagnac

2 cups apricot or peach brandy (you’ll only need 2 cups)

1.5 cups aged rum (not spiced)

3 quarts half and half

2 pints heavy cream

2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste or two/three vanilla beans scraped.

Directions:

Separate 18 eggs. Place eggwhites in a container and set aside.

Beat all 18 yolks until just incorporated Beat in gradually 1.5 lb. confectioner's sugar

just sugar and egg yolks. hnnnnnnnng. 

Add very slowly, beating constantly: · 1.5 c. bourbon · 1.5 c. brandy/cognac/Armagnac

These liquors form the basis of the "nog. Let mixture stand covered for 1 hour to dispel the "eggy" taste. After at least one hour, beating constantly, add in: · 3 quarts half and half · 2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste or two/three vanilla beans scraped · 2.5 cups bourbon · 2 cups of peach or apricot brandy · 1.5 cups aged rum (you can substitute more brandy or bourbon if you hate rum)
· 1 cup brandy · 2 pints heavy cream

Refrigerate covered minimum for 3 hours. the longer it sits the better it tastes.

Also, diluting this with regular milk is fine for the general population. It's strong stuff at just around 50% booze. The calories also pack a wallop.

Additionally, for a lighter eggnog, you can add whipped eggwhites you reserved at the beginning of the recipe. It will add lightness and body to the drink. Fold egg whites lightly into the other ingredients just before serving. If you are making eggnog ahead of time, you can use pasteurized eggwhites, but they may be tough to whip. Alternatively you can freeze the eggwhites and defrost before whipping without a problem.

Serve sprinkled with fresh nutmeg and cinnamon to taste.

Yield is just around 2 gallons plus

Whisk(e)y 101 - Part 1: the basics

Does bourbon have to be made in Kentucky? What's the difference between Scotch and Whiskey? What's it even made of? What do all those terms on the bottle actually mean? Is it whiskey or whisky?

There are a TON of myths surrounding whiskey, a ton of things that are misunderstood, and a ton of terminology that is insanely confusing. Hopefully, this will be the first in a group of posts that help people understand what is actually going on.

For today, let's focus on two main things: what it's made of, definitions, and geography.

What is Whiskey in the first place? Here's the cut and dry definition from Wiki:

Whisky or whiskey (Spoiler alert - both spellings are correct - but more on that later) is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn (maize), rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak.

The 'grain mash' means the grains that you steep in water to create a flavor liquid that you distill into whiskey. Just like making beer. This mix is called the mash bill. This helps in some cases to define the kind of whiskey one is drinking. Here are some of the typical mash bills for several different kinds of American whiskey (they vary largely globally, but it's a start):

• Bourbon whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% corn (maize)
• Corn whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 80% corn
• Malt whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted barley
• Rye whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% rye
• Rye malt whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted rye
• Wheat whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% wheat

You get the idea. There are flavors associated with each kind of whiskey, but alas, another time.

It's helpful to think about whiskey in 3 major, largely geographic, categories (at least from our U.S. centric perspective): Scotch, Bourbon, and everything else (all in the whiskey family). The reason for this is actually due to the legal definitions of each of these things. In brief, here are the definitions:

Bourbon: Comes from the U.S.

• Must be made in the good ole' U.S. of A. Let me repeat that - there is no further definition regarding location within the United States. Bourbon does not have to come from Kentucky. In fact, a ton of it comes from Indiana.
• The mash bill (the grain mixture all liquor is made from - we'll get into that later) must be at least 51% corn. The rest can be whatever the distiller chooses, though there are lots of standard recipes.
• The must be no other flavor additives other than the water used to make the liquor. I will put my foot down and say because of this, Jack Daniels is NOT bourbon. They allow the bourbon to pass through charcoal which alters the flavor of the whiskey and therefore is an additive. This is not the sour mash (a process all distilleries use) they tout on the label, but is a tradition of Tennessee whiskey.  JACK AIN'T BOURBON.
• It must come off the still at 160 proof or less, put into the barrel at no more than 125 proof and be bottled at no less than 80 proof.
• It must be aged in new (not previously used to store other liquors, as with Scotch) oak barrels. Can't age it in maple or hickory or something else fun. You could, but it just can't be called bourbon anymore.

Scotch: comes from Scotland.  Like Champagne vs. sparkling wine.

• Produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and grains (no requirements on type of grain).
• Must be aged at least three years, in oak casks.
• The age on the bottle is of the youngest whiskey used in the blend (if it is a blend).
• Containing no added substances, other than water and plain (E150A) caramel coloring.
• Must be at least 80 proof.
• Comes from one of five main regions: Highland, Lowland, Islay, Campbeltown, Speyside. Each region has tastes that are generally associated with it (often having to do with the peat that is used to roast the grains - way way more on that later). See this map for more details:

All of the other whiskeys: Canadian, Indian, Japanese, U.S. (everything not bourbon), and everything else. Recently a whisky from Japan was named best in the world by someone who really knows their stuff if you care. India consumes more whiskey than the rest of the world combined. There are worlds upon worlds of whisky within the genre, all places to explore. 

Next time: What do all those words mean??

Straight, bottled in bond, single barrel, small batch, age statements, etc. All of these things have definitions that we'll get into in Part 2, coming up in a few days.

For now, grab whatever bottle you have handy and figure out where it's from. Do some research and learn what traditions are going on in what you're drinking. It'll taste better. I swear.

St. George and the Dragon or: how I learned to stop hating flavored vodka and fell in love with a distillery

It all came from the enchanted orange tree – or in this case, the mandarin blossom vodka, but more on that later. I am a firm believer in the idea that that there is rarely a drink in which you should use plain vodka. If you want to avoid calories – all hard liquor is essentially calorically the same, across the board (about 100 cals per 1.5 oz), and if you don’t want to taste your booze, you shouldn’t get to drink it. If you choose vodka to avoid a hangover, drink in something else in moderation  -I personally never have a hangover from gin. There. I’ve said it.

As with most people, I was exposed in college to the disasters that are flavored vodkas in their mass-produced forms like Smirnoff, Absolut, etc. These are undeniably undrinkable and not worth anyone’s time.  Drinking alcohol should be something you take pride in, and it’s called an adult beverage for a reason.  You are, hopefully, an adult if you’re reading this blog, and someone who cares about the final product of a cocktail.

The challenge in finding a good flavored vodka is that marketing has brainwashed us on both sides of the coin. For whiskey snobs like myself, I wouldn’t touch the stuff for fear of being seen with a clear glass in my hand, and on the other side, the average person drinking flavored vodka probably isn’t concerning themselves with something that is drinkable straight, choosing rather to hide it in some sort of pomegranate abomination.

In the early days of my whiskey hoarding, I had picked up a single barrel California whiskey from local bay area distiller St. George. It was completely intriguing, and unlike anything I had tasted before, somewhere in between a highland scotch, full of fruit, and the malt roast of bourbon. Needless to say I was in love, and decided to do some digging into the distillery.

One of my first steps was to visit the distillery. This could be an entire post in itself, but it is an AMAZING experience. You get to try a bunch of their stuff, and go see the copper stills etc. Located by the old navy yard on Alameda Island near Oakland, St George was one of the first craft distillers in America, being founded in 1982. It is a tour where you learn a ton about what they do and why they do it. They are the distillery behind several of my favorite consumables, but here is their full list:

Under the St George name:

· Three wonderful gins (Terroir, Bontanivore & Dry Rye). Each of these has its own flavor profile, focusing on earthy, floral, and spicy respectively.

·  Single Barrel Whiskey. One of my favorite yearly releases and a credit to American whiskey.

· Their wonderfully named Breaking & Entering sourced bourbon. Sadly it looks like this is no longer being produced for the time being.

· A new coffee liqueur called Nola, which I haven’t tried yet. I have high hopes for this.

· A wonderfully grassy Absinthe Verte that is how I normally introduce people to absinthe. Features wormwood, anise and fennel, hyssop, basil, tarragon, lemon balm, meadowsweet, mint, stinging nettles, and other herbs.

· Agricole rum (both aged and unaged). Literally tons (23!) of fresh sugar canes are pressed onsite. I have yet to try the unaged, but managed to recently score a bottle of the aged. Absolutely unlike any rum I’ve ever had – in an amazingly good way.

· Unaged, firey, and not for the faint of heart Pear and Raspberry Eau de Vie. The Pear has 15lbs of Bartlett pears per bottle and the Rasberry has 20 lbs of berries per bottle. These are vegetal and spicy, but maintain the essence of their fruit origins.

· Sweet and luxurious Pear and Raspberry Liqueurs.  These are both Christmas in a bottle, and are decadent treats for cocktails or sipped straight as dessert in their own right.

· Aged Apple Brandy that puts every calvados I’ve had to shame. The nose on this is crisp tart apple, and the finish has tons of the French oak it’s aged in. Spectacular.

Liquors that started under their name and have been spun off or sold:

· Firelit - a brandy coffee liqueur made with single source coffee beans from artisan roasters like Blue Bottle. Now currently an independent company in Napa, the company is staying true to its St. George roots with its recipes.

Finally, the focus of this post: Hangar One Vodka. Sadly no longer produced by St George, this brand was started them, but sold in 2010 to a NJ company for distribution. It is now (summer of 2014) made in a distillery next to St. George in Alameda, CA. I have not tried any of the newest formulas, so I recommend going to the liquor store right now and picking some of the old ones up. However good news! St George is in the process of formulating new vodka recipes - they should be out around Thanksgiving 2014, so it's a long few weeks wait.  All the following comments are based on the old formulas. Here are their old flavors, now being produced by Hangar One:

Regularly produced:

· Straight - Blend of Viognier eau de vie with spirit made from Midwestern wheat.

· Mandarin Blossom - Made with the blossoms from mandarin orange trees. 100 lbs. of mandarin blossoms for two batches of the stuff. this is like walking into an orchard.

· Buddha's Hand Citron - Made with the rare Buddha's Hand citrus variety typically used for its fragrance. This is what every lemon/citrus vodka wants to be when it grows up.

· Kaffir Lime - A lime whose leaves are typically used in Southeast Asian cuisine, Hangar One distills both the kaffir lime leaves and skin. This is not your typical otterpop lime vodka. This is complex, and as the owner of a kaffir lime tree, I can tell it's 100% spot on. Hilariously you don't eat the actual Kaffir lime - it's too bitter to eat (I've tried). But the fragrance is legen- wait for it - dary.

Limited editions:

· Maine Wild Blueberry, Fraser River Raspberry, Spiced Pear.  These are fantastic and true to the fruits they use to distill these. Grab them if you see a dusty bottle hiding on a shelf.       

· Chipotle - Made with a blend of jalapeños, chipotles, habaneros, and bell and purple Morita chili peppers. The chipotle is like opening a bin of dried chilies in a Mexican grocery store (also makes the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had).

I am not going to spend the next two days describing how amazing these are, but look at the photo of the bottles I own;  you can tell that I love them. I will say this:

 I HATE VODKA. I LOVE THESE. Every one of them.

 These are drinkable straight. In fact, they are fantastic straight. Vodka straight – flavored vodka on ice. Shudder. I hate even writing it, but it is true. They are stand-alone liquors that bring what they promise to the table. The kaffir lime isn’t a green otterpop – it’s a complex, uncompromising essence of kaffir lime. As previously mentioned, I can’t wait for the new vodkas coming out of St George.

All this to say that sometimes when you find a distiller (or brewer) that you love, it can pay to follow their releases. You get to know what they’re about, their perspective on flavors. St. George is one distiller that I can wholeheartedly recommend without reservation. Give any of their products a try and explore drinkable flavored vodkas.

Please check out www.stgeorgespirits.com for more info.

p.s - I'm certainly not getting anything for pimping these guys - just love their products.

testing 123: The Negroni

Well, this will be the inaugural post of the blog. This will focus on all the things I am passionate about - BBQ, liquor & cocktails, shaving excellence, woodworking projects, furniture & design, DIY, cooking, and, in general, taking your life into your own hands. 

I add to the noise of millions of blogs with no agenda other than to document some of my adventures.  If you're reading this - no doubt you know me, and are in someway seeking my indulgences.  Without further disclaimers - number one, 123 go: the Negroni.

Standard Negroni

Equal parts of each (I tend to like large cocktails so I went with 1 oz):

Campari

Gin

Sweet Vermouth 

It is traditionally served on the rocks, though since this is my blog, I believe it should be served up, and I prefer it in a coupe as opposed to a rocks glass. If you shake this cocktail, I'll have your head. There are only only three reasons to ever shake a cocktail: juice, egg whites, or cream. If you shake my martini, manhattan, or negroni - you're just wrong.   

Background:

Tonight the idea of the Negroni. This one is the first drink that I hated/tried Campari in. I remember five or six years ago, I was trying to educate myself on cocktails, and I made myself a Negroni. I powered through it, but if I'm honest, I couldn't stand it. I hadn't yet found myself intoxicated with the intentional flavor 'bitter' yet. 

Here's what happened - I made myself drink the whole thing. It was not enjoyable. Several months later, I was at a restaurant and saw one on the menu and decided to order it. When it arrived, I tried and it lo - the heavens shone forth and I heard angels. 

Bitter is a flavor that (as will become evident in this blog) I have come to embrace. To me this experience is the perfect example of neuroplasticity that we all need. Often our brains experience something completely foreign and we hate it - there is a visceral reaction. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring caused riots in Paris the first time it debuted, and yet a year later it was received with thunderous applause. We should push ourselves. 

But stepping off my soapbox and into the drink: The Negroni is a classic cocktail, alongside the Manhattan and the Martini.  For beginners, follow the recipe so you know what it should taste like before you start making alterations. 

A quick overview of each ingredient: 

Campari: One of the classic Italian liqueurs, Campari is extremely complex and bitter, while still being fairly sweet.  At 24% it's super boozy, but not light either - it can sneak up on you. It is arguably in the amaro family, but more in the aperitif family as it's traditionally used before a meal and not after it - go argue amongst yourselves about it.  It has defined an entire group of liqueurs: Aperol (sweeter and orangey & 11% alcohol), Luxardo's Aperitivo (hints of grapefruit and in between Aperol & Campari in terms of sweetness), and several others - Gran Classico, Cappelletti Americano, Aveze Ameres Sauvage, etc. Each one has its characteristics, and I encourage you to try them. I'm sure we'll be getting into each one later. Tonight, I went with the standard Campari. 

Gin: I'll breeze over this one because it deserves at least three posts on its own, but suffice it to say there are a few types of gin: classic London dry (very juniper forward) and modern style gins. Both have their advantages in a Negroni. I tend to prefer Broker's London Dry - which is my favorite cocktail gin. Tonight however, I used a local Santa Cruz gin - Venus. 

Vermouth: This ingredient is one of the most maligned & misunderstood ingredients in booze. Ignore any of the brands you probably know (Martini & Rossi and Gallo) and go with any of these: Carpano Antica, Punt e Mes, Vya, Dolin, Cocchi and maybe Noilly Prat if you have to.  The other massively important thing about vermouth is that people are unaware of what it is - it's fortified wine. And like wine, vermouth goes BAD if left out. That means the bottle of vermouth that's been in your bar for 5 years - it's time to throw it out. In general you have two options - go for the fridge once the bottle is open - that'll give you a few weeks in my experience, or go buy wine preserver argon gas and spray it in the bottle. The gas is heavier than air, thus pushing the air out of the bottle and keeping it from oxidizing. My strategy is to normally buy the smallest bottle of vermouth I can (375ml) and plan that the next few weeks of cocktails will involve vermouth to use it up. If I sense it's been in there too long, I'll reach for the gas. 

As the recipe states, mix the ingredients in a shaker with some ice, and STIR (DO NOT SHAKE). Serve in whatever glass you like, you have my preferences above, but I don't claim those to be that important or a deal breaker. 

The best part is exploring substitutes. Do an experiment with several variations of gin, or different vermouths. Hell, even Campari can be exchanged for one of its cousins. You can name the drink whatever you want since that's how cocktail's work I guess, but to me they're all just Negroni variations. My current favorite is with Gran Classico instead of Campari, Broker's Gin, and either Carpano Antica or Vya sweet vermouth. You could even be adventurous and try the classic cousin of the Negroni, the Boulevardier, which places bourbon instead of gin. 

The important thing is that as a man (or woman) you should try this drink. It will expand your horizons even if you don't love it the first time. Campari is an addiction as flavors go, and we in the western world aren't that familiar with bitter as a positive taste. Whatever the result, I'm curious as always to hear if you completely disagree with me/think i'm full of it, whatever. I hope you enjoy the cocktail and learned something. Enjoy the Negroni!