My Wine Education

Jim Beam Red Stag: Black Cherry Infused Bourbon

Back in February we announced the news that Jim Beam was releasing a black cherry-infused bourbon. My thought at the time was that they were shooting for the same crowd that enjoys flavored vodka - sort of young, hip crowd. I'm obviously not young and hip. I prefer my vodka pure and please don't mess with my bourbon.

That said, I was willing to give Jim Beam's new venture a chance. I wasn't going to judge it sight unseen or untasted. (Kevin, on the other hand, is a bourbon purist. He went into this already disliking it.)

Two weeks ago we picked up a bottle of Red Stag at Party Town, who seemed to be the first in the area to carry it. The rep had, of course, told the staff amazing things but the staff hadn't all tried it. We were left on our own.

Again - I went into this with an open mind. I don't mind the Wild Turkey American Honey, but at least Wild Turkey bills that as a liqueur. This is still bourbon.

Kevin instantly hated it. Much to my surprise, so did I. The best comparison I've got is cherry Nyquil. Bleh. It looks like bourbon, but one whiff and you smell can already smell the cough syrup. There's an aftertaste of syrup and plastic that is fairly unpleasant. I know it's supposed to be infused with natural flavors, but it sure doesn't smell/taste that way.

In an effort to be fair, we thought we'd mix it. When I travel and want a mixed drink, I go with either Beam or Jack and Coke. In theory, this would be a cherry Coke, right? While a Coke definitely improves the flavor of the bourbon, there's still the plastic aftertaste. We also tried with Sprite, much to the same effect. There's a chance this might add an interesting flavor to Bourbon Slush. My Slush recipe uses peach tea bags, and this might add a little more oomph to that, but I still worry about the aftertaste. I'm not sure how it would work with a Manhattan, but I think I've given up trying.

I really did want to like this - I love bourbon and I enjoyed the idea of extending my options. I do believe that it should be billed as a liqueur and not a bourbon, which has a strict definition. Either way, we give it a firm .

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Jim Beam Changes Bourbon

Hi everybody! This is our opinion of the Jim Beam Red Stag Black Cherry Infused Bourbon Announcement from February. You can also read our more recent review of how it tastes.

Breaking news in the wine & spirits world today, with the reviews popping up of Jim Beam's Red Stag.

Wild Turkey American Honey started a trend that really needs to stop. Now adding whiskey and honey to tea when I have a cold is a long standing family tradition to help strengthen your immune system, so we do reach for the American Honey - with tea - when we're sick.

Image from: The Bourbon Blog

With the announcement of Red Stag, a black cherry flavor infused bourbon, Jim Beam has done something that really should not have been done. I let cans of Beam and Cola slide. I even turned a blind eye to cans of Beam and Ginger Ale as some people prefer to mix their drinks. In fact, if Beam Distillers had decided to can the Black Cherry directly into the cola they might have had a product targeted at consumers who would want to drink something like this.

Sadly, Jim Beam makes some very nice bourbon drinks, Booker's and Basil Hayden both jump to mind. This marketing ploy needs to stop before we have as many different flavored bourbons as we do vodkas.

My friend Jeff made the following simple 5 year plan for Jim Beam to regain the trust of bourbon drinkers:

Step 1: Discontinue this line.
Step 2: Apologize to loyal bourbon drinkers
Step 3: Don't do anything this dumb for 5 more years.

If you disagree with Beam's direction on this, please contact Jim Beam on their website here: http://jimbeam.com/contactus.aspx

- Kevin

Whiskey Clubs

"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." - Groucho Marx                

Hello all, this should be the last week before returning to the standard Friday weekend callout in this spot, but today I'm going to highlight a few different clubs that are run to help promote distilleries. If anyone knows of any I missed, please add them in the comments and I will try and get a complete list put together. Reviews of what I have received follow after the jump, but here is the quick list.

Bourbon

Four Roses - Mellow Moments Online Sign-up form
Maker's Mark - Ambassador Sign-up form
Woodford Reserve - Stables Sign-up form
Wild Turkey - Rare Breed Society - Go to the website, then click on Rare Breed Society
Heavens Hill Bardstown Bourbon Society - No Online Sign-up without Secret Code?

Scotch

Laphroig - Friends of Laphroig
Johnny Walker - Striding Man Society
Talkisker (Diagio) - Friend of The Classic Malts

Woodford Reserve Bourbon Dinner

A few weeks ago, Michelle and I had a chance to have a bourbon-inspired dinner by Woodford Reserve's chef David Larson. He offered a tasting demo at the Party Source and we were treated to

Course 1: Woodford Reserve with Gravlax

Course 2: Woodford Reserve Lemonade with Tomato Watermelon Salad

Course 3: Woodford Reserve Corn Pudding and the Best Roast Chicken

Course 4: Cold Lemon Souffle and Bourbon Flavored Coffee

A Rainy Day in Bourbon Country

Kentucky Week continues here at My Wine Education. Today, a quick spin down the Bourbon Trail. Tomorrow, details on the Northern Kentucky Wine Festival.

Every year we go to the Maker's Mark Ambassador's weekend, which involves a day at Keeneland, and the following day at the Maker's Mark Distillery outside of Bardstown. This year, we only made it to the distillery and skipped the race track. The weather didn't cooperate with us this particular Saturday, but we still had fun. For all of our photos from this year's rainy trip, view the Flickr set.

Bourbon country is an easy day trip, although it would be an excellent weekend excursion as well. Drive 90 minutes south of Cincinnati down I-71 and head east on the Bluegrass Parkway at Lexington. As you're heading down the parkway, you'll pass Keeneland, a castle, and then you'll start seeing signs for distilleries.

On a whim, we decided to stop at Woodford Reserve on our way to Maker's Mark. Woodford Reserve is right outside of Versailles. For those of you not familiar, Versailles is where many of the famous race horses are born. The drive to get to Woodford Reserve, through the picturesque main street of Versailles and past countless horse farms, is beautiful, even in the rain.

It was just chilly and wet enough that we passed on taking the tour of Woodford. From the porch of the large guest house, we could see the white buildings filled with bourbon barrels. I am a particular fan of Woodford Reserve, as I think it captures the right amount of sweetness and oak and still manages to be smooth. We were able to try a sample of Woodford. I was impressed with the little cafe and gift shop (where I did spend a small amount of money). Woodford also has two horses - Angelshare, who actually wins races, and Distill My Heart, who just had a foal.

We left Woodford, hoping to return on a nicer, warmer day. As we continued down the Bluegrass Parkway, we passed signs for Wild Turkey and Four Roses distilleries. I wish we had the time to stop. We continued on to Bardstown and followed backroads into Loretto, the postage stamp-sized town where you can find Maker's Mark. I love to visit Maker's Mark. You're surrounded by lush green farmland and rolling hills. As you come out from behind one of those hills, you're presented with Maker's Mark, which is filled with dark wooden buildings and red doors and shutters.

Because it was a Maker's Mark Ambassador celebration, we were allowed to dip our own commemorative bottles on the actual manufacturing line. On a regular day, you can dip a bottle, but the dipping station is located in the gift shop. It's neat to put on the heavy apron, gloves, and safety glasses and escort your own bottle down the line and into the wax. At the celebration, we were also given tastes of a 1-yr old and 5-yr old bourbon, straight from the barrel. The difference in the smoothness and flavors was amazing. The 1-yr old cut straight through you, and I'm pretty sure it cleared up my sinuses for a moment. The 5-yr old had begun to take on a lot of the flavors in the barrel, including vanilla and oak.

As we left Maker's Mark that afternoon, we passed Heaven Hill Distillery. Heaven Hill, makers of Elijah Craig and Evan Williams, has recently opened the Bourbon Heritage Center. This is another place where we'll return when the weather is nicer. We skipped the tour again, and headed straight for the barrel-shaped tasting room where we tried two different types of bourbon. This was a fantastic tasting, similar to a wine tasting or a beer tasting in a professional environment. We were given scents to identify within the bourbon, and taught how to hold the bourbon in our mouths to identify different flavors.

On our way home, we had dinner at a little restaurant across the street from Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home, which is lovely. Then we headed out, passing the Jim Beam Distillery & Education Center on our way. We headed home through Louisville and not 2 hours later we reached our front door.

As you can tell, by the number of distilleries we passed in our 10 hour day, the Bourbon Trail is close enough that you could spend a weekend bouncing slowly from distillery to distillery, enjoying each tour and learning the differences in how each distillery treats Kentucky's favorite spirit. Even if you don't enjoy bourbon, the distilleries are generally incredibly photogenic, and the surrounding landscapes are unique to Kentucky. Bed & breakfasts, particularly in Versailles, Springfield, and Bardstown, dot the tree-lined towns with Victorian houses. It's a lovely picture and a trip I look forward to taking.

Irish Whiskey Tasting

Ah, Irish Whiskey. The 1/4 of me that is fully Irish demanded that I celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style, so Michelle and I headed over to Party Source to trade in green beer for an Irish Whiskey Tasting. The tasting was led by the EQ center's Jay Erisman. We recently came across a Forbes.com article on the Top 10 Irish whiskey's and were pleased to learn we had tried 5 of them in this tasting

On the list:

• Bunratty Potcheen
• Redbreast
• Power's Gold Label
• Bushmill's Black Bush
• Michael Collins Single Malt
• 1951 Knappogue Castle
• Connemara

Ireland has 3 current distillers, Bushmill's  (Northern), Midleton (South), and Cooley in the central area. These three account for all current Irish Whiskey production. This consolidation occurred in the mid 1900's and there were only two distillers until 1995 when Cooley came back onto the scene.

When we arrived, we were given a dram of Bunratty Potcheen. Potcheen (or Poitin) is probably best compared with good old Kentucky Moonshine. Potcheen, up until recently, was for export only and was illegal to sell in Ireland. That has changed over the last few years, but it's always nice to see a bottle marked For Export Only in bright green lettering. The smell was reminiscent of bubble gum, mostly Bazooka Joe. The flavor was fresh and minty. The overall impression was of sweetness. I thought this was a nice way to start, Michelle created a new smiley for this :-0, meaning she was overwhelmed by the alcohol and burning.

My Rating:

As a note, after the first taste on many of these, I added a drop of water to the whiskey. Michelle added a drop of water to all of them to help her, as she's not a big spirits drinker to begin with.

Review and notes after the jump

- Kevin

Bourbons: Blind Tasting

We have a lot of bourbon in our house. After all, Kentucky does pride itself on inventing bourbon. We picked up two new bottles Saturday night on the recommendation of our new friend Michael at Cork and Bottle. I'm not one for drinking my whiskey straight, but Kevin can handle it. Therefore, he is officially the beer & spirits guy here at My Wine Education. That said, I turn this post over to my ever capable husband.
- Michelle
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I was looking through our bar area and noticed a large number of different bourbons. I decided to take advantage of the situation and this past weekend I had Michelle prepare a 5-bourbon blind tasting. Michelle poured roughly a shot of each bourbon into 5 different glasses sitting on top of daily calendar pages for the 5th through the the 9th of March.  I then sampled each drink without knowing the contents.

For tasting criteria, I took into account that Michelle likes bourbon mixed with Diet Cola,  while I look for enjoyable drinks that stand on their own. With that in mind, I rated my drinks on the following criteria:

1. Flavor, when consumed Neat (No ice, no water)
2. Ability to mix with a heavy syrupy cola-type beverage

With those criteria in mind, I present the following tasting notes after the jump.

Laphroaig 10 Year Islay Malt

Ah, the Islay malt. It's a different beast than my usual Highland single malt and a very different drink. This was my first foray away from the Highlands in some time and I found it to be a very refreshing change.

The Laphroaig distillery has added the Friends of Laphroaig program to their multi-lingual website in order to allow people who enjoy the complex flavor a place to meet others with at least one thing in common. The hook for their Friends program is the ability to be granted a lease on a 1 foot by 1 foot plot of land in the Laphroaig estate. In the interest of full disclosure, I happily submitted my information and received my Deed in the mail just a few weeks later.

Laphroaig is also a distiller who freely admits that every bottle will be a slightly different experience. Not necessarily a huge shift, but they strive for quality over consistency. I find that a nice switch from some of the homogenized aspects of  what I have come to expect from the places that serve the same thing billions of times without any variation. I also appreciate their honesty in saying that not everyone will like what they provide. They make what they make and hope you enjoy it, but if not I get the feeling they would like to part friends and hopefully meet again in the future. Once again, it is nice to find a group that is willing to stick with what they do instead of trying to please everyone.

The first thing to notice about this malt is the initial aroma of what can best be described as fresh mulch. The peaty, almost boggy, smell  is enough to discourage Michelle from venturing any further, but the  reward is on the complex flavor that defies the words used to describe the wines that are usually reviewed on this site. In the flavor, a smoky taste comes forward and mixes with an oily texture and the still present peat is covered by a slight seaweed flavor to provide a very enjoyable drink that warmed me on the recent cold nights. I usually drank it with just a touch of cool fresh water.

Final Comments: A Scotch lovers drink. This is not one that is accessible or easy to enjoy, but for those of us who truly love the taste and terroir of Scotch, this is a fine example of what the small island of Islay brings to the table. Hopefully I will be able to contrast with the 10 year Ardbeg I received as a gift a little while ago.

My rating:

- Kevin

Bourbon and Horses

I know this is a wine blog, but humour me for a moment. I live in Kentucky (even if only barely across the border). I'm usually not overly supportive of my state, but I am a horse lover and a lover of the races. There is no race more exciting to me than the Kentucky Derby. I've been to the Derby a few times and now I generally watch from home or a party, as Grandstand tickets are pricey and the "infield" just doesn't appeal to me anymore. There have been very few years when I haven't put on a hat for the race even if I'm sitting at home in my bathrobe. You can't have Derby Day without a lovely, floral hat.
The other great component about Derby Day is the bourbon. Kentucky bourbon comes in all forms, from very rough to very smooth. My two favorites are Maker's Mark and Woodford Reserve. I've visited the Maker's distillery, and I assume the Woodford distillery is similar. Those distilleries proved something to me I hadn't known before. The Kentucky landscape, once you get out of the cities, is truly gorgeous. There's something just very "kentucky" about both Woodford and Maker's. Can you have terroir in bourbon?
I know Mint Juleps are the drink of the day for Derby. Have you ever had a Mint Julep? It's not the best tasting drink. Have you ever made a real Mint Julep? Making a true Mint Julep is a pain, as it involves your stovetop.
Therefore, I stick with bourbon slush. The key to a good bourbon slush is the type of bourbon you buy. As I mentioned, I prefer Maker's and Woodford. I find Maker's to be  a little rough, but it has a pleasant sweetness about it. It's not one that I can drink on the rocks, although I have many friends who do. Woodford is not quite as sweet, but is incredibly smooth. I can drink Woodford on the rocks, which surprised me.
Don't forget to watch the Kentucky Derby at 5 pm on Saturday. At the moment I think I'm cheering for "Lawyer Ron." However, I've got 3 horse racing shows on my Tivo that I need to get through before the race tomorrow so that I can semi-accurately judge my picks. Not that there really is accuracy in this sort of thing. I tend to pick based on the jockey I like + a horse with a great name. Best of luck to you!
Recipe for Bourbon Slush after the jump.