My dream event has come true over the past year! I've always wanted to host spirit/cocktail tastings featuring local distilleries (whenever possible) with our amazing beloved Boston bartenders and distillers leading the way.
It finally came to fruition after a conversation over a nightcap (whiskey of course) with Veronique Le Melle, President & CEO of the Boston Center for the Arts, following my first time judging the Movers & Shakers 2014 Cocktail Competition at Cyclorama.
My initial plan, as a big fan of whisk(e)y, was to introduce women, in particular, to spirits thought to be more traditionally masculine...bourbon, scotch, etc.
Collaborating with the BCA was perfect, as I could bring art and booze together at the same table. I was excited to be able to bring the art of cocktail and spirit creation to the forefront.
Spirits should be enjoyed as pieces of art. So much work and passion and thought goes into their crafting. I've learned so much more about spirits and the #ArtoftheCocktail since beginning to blog more about them and meeting many talented industry people while they were behind the stick, working magic at their stills, and through events I've attended as an Enthusiast Member of the Boston Chapter of USBG (United States Bartenders Guild).
Once I realized that narrowing down the audience may not be the best idea to sustain a growing event, I then wanted to be sure to at least feature some of the inspirational women in the industry who are doing major things here in New England, from positions as Brand Ambassadors, Managers/Owners, Distillers, and leading Bartenders.
We have so very many to choose from here in Boston and many of them are my personal friends and associates. We, of course, included many of our brilliant gents as well.
I have been lucky enough to form a beautiful collaboration with the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) South End in their Mills Gallery space!
Attendees can enjoy a private viewing of the current exhibition before and after the presentation of #ArtOfTheCocktail
Cynthia Woo, Associate Director of Engagement at BCA and I work hard to host a new event, on average, every 4-6 weeks.
Over the past year, we have invited and thoroughly enjoyed the following:
October 1, 2014: The Labor of Liquor
My dear friends, head distiller of Privateer Rum out of Ipswich, MA, Maggie Campbell and beloved bartender (previously of Easter Standard) turned Privateer VP of Sales Kevin Martin taught our guest everything they could ever want to know about rum, from its origins, to its fascinating history here in New England.
Guests were surrounded by images of labor by experimental filmmakers.
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| Photo Courtesy of Privateer Rum |
Kevin created a punch named "The Equinox" made with 2:1:1 Cinnamon stick infused silver Privateer rum: Pure Maple Syrup: Fresh Lemon Juice and Angostura bitters.
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In addition to this mini bacon bourbon cupcake, Sarah Cohan of The Sweetery Boston provided us with other booze-laced confections like ginger rum molasses cookies and a bananas foster cake with rum caramel glaze!
Here's an interview with Maggie Campbell, Head Distiller of Privateer Rum:
How did you get into your field?
I happened to run across the Oban distillery in Scotland traveling in my college years. After school I became a sommelier and worked closely with fine spirits and different distillers as part of my work. These two experiences inspired me to take my tasting skills and knowledge and become a distiller myself.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I get to communicate and celebrate with people through my product. At the end of the day I can see the real physical result of my work and share it with others. I hear about wedding cocktails, drinks over an amazing meal, their neat pour to relax after a long day, or celebrating a holiday with a family toast. People are usually happy to see me and connect my work to an enjoyable moment.
What is your favorite Rum Cocktail?
It depends on the experience. I order fresh lime daiquiris if I'm having a day drink, tiki drinks at sunset, or a rum old fashioned for after dinner.
Can you give us a sneak peak of what participants will learn on October 1 - a certain specific process? A certain cocktail?
What is a crafted spirit, and why it matter how it's made. How to hold your own in the world of booze and how to drink well at home.
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| Me enjoying a private tasting at the Privateer Distillery in Ipswich, MA |
December 15, 2014: A Winter's Toast
The fabulous ladies of Booze Époque (who happen to be two of my most favorite Boston ladies) helped our guests prepare to serve their holiday guests bowls of deliciously boozy punch!
Meaghan Sinclair and Harmony Dawn are well known in the industry not only for their tremendous talents creating tasty and beautiful craft cocktails, but for their charisma.
Having started up Booze Époque as the first cocktail catering company in Boston, Meaghan and Harmony bring whimsy to any event they attend or host including private cocktail, holiday, and special events as well as classes. If you're also a literary buff, you can expect for their tales throughout any session to feature that genre as well.
Meaghan began their presentation reading "The Shortest Day" by Susan Cooper to get the crowd in the spirit (no pun intended) and honor the upcoming Solstice.
After which she covered the history of holiday cocktails. The days were short, dark and hard. People wanted to relax at the end of the days with a hard, delicious drink.
The tradition of Wassail (what was left of the apple harvest, covered with ale, put in a ritual bowl of white maple) would be made before gathering your closest friends and family and go caroling in the town. It was thought to be welcoming the good energy to help the next harvest in England.
Wassail was originally created in the British Isles and is thought to be the first punch that probably every existed by some people.
Apples that were kept in storage cellars well into December/January after the harvest were baked in ale or wine. Carolers would go from home to home carrying candles. Each home sharing their bowls' contents with visitors.
They served their recipe the night before at an event. It was made from apples baked in beer (Nut Brown Ale and Sam Winter Lager) and mixed with port and extra spices- it's like a toddy+mulled wine combo.
At our December tasting, Grand Ten Distillery out of South Boston provided all of the spirits used in a variety of punch recipes throughout the night including a "not your grandma's" eggnog and "cold" toddies.
The ladies, in keeping with our theme to send guests home with punch recipes they can make for the holidays at home, presented a Cold Comfort Toddy recipe as it can be difficult to serve consistently hot cocktails at your holiday party of say 20 guests.
Not every cocktail lends itself to a be a great punch, so Meaghan and Harmony chose classics that are easily scalable.
Eggnog
Once you make it yourself, you'll give up on the pre-bottled stuff.
Harmony walks up through the history of eggnog. She reminds us that it hails from her home country of England (British Isles) as far back as 1700s when 'nog' was a term used when referring to a 'strong beer or any brewed product'.
How did it become the rich, creamy cocktail of American history?
It started with possit a curdled milk and ale or wine punch. "Recipes for it appear in other 15th-century sources: boil milk, add either wine or ale "and no salt", let it cool, gather the curds and discard the whey, and season with ginger, sugar, and possibly "sweet wine" and candied anise. In 16th-century and later sources, possets are generally made from lemon or other citrus juice, cream and sugar. Eggs are often added."
Used as a cure all with the upper class using ambergris (whale 'excrement' often used in perfume) and sherry.
Bread was often added to thicken its consistency. It was essentially a layered cocktail with the eggnog on the bottom for drinking and a thick layer on top to be eaten with a spoon.
Eggnog in New England was largely made with Medford style rum, a spirit now recreated by Grand Ten Distillery a few years ago in South Boston. I toured their distillery and conducted an interview for my blog while the Medford rum was in the still for the first time.
You can read about my experience, here.
Guests had a blast making their very own punch!
March 30, 2015: Demystifying Scotch
Other than bourbon and ryes, Scotch has to be one of my favorite spirits. Its diversity alone is enchanting and keeps things interesting. Bar Manager and Industry darling Naomi Levy took our guests on a tasting tour of Scotland.
Discussing each of the 5 major regions (Highlands, Lowlands, Campbeltown, Islay, and Speyside) producing Scotch and discussing their imparting characteristics based on history and location (inland, coastal, etc.). While some guests left with a better understanding and even new found love for Scotch, others realized (as many novelist do) that it's the peaty ones that have often turned them off, not all Scotch in general.
Take this notation (far right corner) made by one of our guest and personal friend of mine:
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| "No Thanks" A not made in reference to the heavy peaty/smoky flavors of the Islay Scotch! |
It was an awesome development to witness, and the main reason why I wanted to start hosting these tastings.
We tasted the following:
Chivas 12 yr (a blended Scotch)
Glenmorangie 18 yr (a Highland)
Laphroaig 10 yr (An Islay)
and
Glenfiddich 12 yr (a Speyside)
Naomi covered everything from the germination and malting of the barley through distillation of the wort and aging.
I'm a huge fan of learning the legality behind what allows you to call a spirit by its name...
The rules of Scotch:
Previously Scotch whiskey regulations focused mainly on the production. As of 2009, the focus has been on defining and regulating production, packaging, advertising, and labelling of bottles.
Scotch whisky must be
1. Produced in Scotland using malted barley and water. Other grain cereals can be added.
2. It must be fermented using yeast only and distilled at an ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 94.8% (190 pr00f in the US) and bottled at 40% (80 US proof)
Most Scotch is distilled twice to bring up the ABV for the distiller's target
3. Aged in oak barrels in Scotland for at least 3 years (barrels are not to exceed 700 liters)
4. Can contain plain E150A caramel coloring
There are 4 designation of Scotch whisky:
1. Single Malt Scotch Whisky is produced at one distillery and is made from only barley and water. It can be sold at different ages (at least 3 years), aged in different oak barrels, etc. It must be distilled in pot stills.
2. Single grain Scotch Whisky- distilled at a single distillery, can include other whole grains other than malted barley. "Single" refers to the number of distilleries involved in production, not the grain.
3. Blended Scotch Whisky- a blend of single malts and single grains. Some blends include 3 whiskeys. It is a highly skilled endeavor to blend and make them good and keep it consistent over 100s of years. So never look down on blended Scotch.
Here is a further breakdown of Blended Scotch:
Blended malt Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single malt Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
Blended grain Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single grain Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
Blended Scotch whisky means a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch whiskies.
Our guests learned to sniff for nose notes and prime the mouth prior to tasting for palate notes.
We had so much fun shouting out our thoughts (this is the best part f tasting groups for me!)
Here are few of their notes during discussion:
(a blended Scotch whisky)
Nose: vanilla, raisin, caramel, banana laffy taffy, grass
Palate: vanilla again, paper, pear and other orchard fruit *Keep in mind that is can more interesting to expand on the description of, for example "fruity"...is it dried fruit (the older the Scotch , the more dried fruits and woody notes may be picked up), is it orchard fruit or tropical, etc.
Nose: flowers (common in Speysides), less abrasive, cherries, blackberries, brambleberry, orange peel, baking spices (cinnamon)
*One should also consider cooking spices while tasting.
Palate: figs, nutty (walnut, almond), metallic
The 3rd sample was a Highland
Nose: Confectionary (candied or bruleed bananas), salt, campfire, fruit: apple, orange marmalade
Palate: Barley, malty, long finish (gets sweeter over time), dried fruit-apricot
Our Final tasting was a Islay
Naomi was sure to cover this glass to ensure that the smoky peaty Scotch didn't overpower the room as the tasting progressed.
Nose: Once everyone moved past the smoke, people picked up brine (seaweed, and salt), stone fruits (peaches and apricot)
Palate: burnt paper towels, like chewing on wood, mesquite, fireplace, bacon, meatiness
*Note: Blue cheese and smoky scotch work well together.. salt and smoky are a match!
Laphroaig is smoky because they char their wood barrels to the highest char level. They request the highest char level from the cooperage plus they are getting the brine flavor from the sea. It's not just the peated barley.
The 5 major regions where Scotch whisky is produced:
Lowlands: Has the least number of distilleries. The Scotch produced here is characteristically the softest and lightest, with grassy and dried hay aromas.
Our guests didn't experience a Scotch from this region.
Highlands: It is more difficult to generalize a Scotch out of this region because of size. There's so much variation. It is important to know where the distillery is in the Highlands region because Scotch, as with wines, has terroir which has a huge impact on its taste. . Some people will focus on whether the product comes from a distillery that is inland or coastal.
Speyside: Most distilleries here (sub region of highland) produce mellow, sweet, fruity notes. Heather fields grow everywhere here.
Islay: Most but not all Scotch whisky produced here is big and smoky. Islay is know for producing campfire, peaty Scotches. An exception is Bruichladdich-a non-peated Scotch
Campeltown: also has full bodied smoky Scotch, though not as heavily peated as Islays.
The Islands are all encompassing.
Coastal vs. Inland
Most of the flavor comes from barrel aging (in addition to terroir and grain). Scotch can be aged in used American oak (e.g. bourbon barrels) and now we see used French oak (e.g. Sherry barrels). The two different species of oak tree imparts the flavor, not necessarily the sherry or the bourbon that was there previously. Knowing what type of barrel your Scotch choice was aged in is also important.
From American oak, you may pick up tropical fruits and even dill. French oak may impart more vanilla notes.
The location of where Scotch is aged also has a direct effect on the barrel.
Barrels are liquid tight, but not air tight therefor some spirit will be lost to evaporation. We all know this to be called, The Angel's share.
Air can also get into the barrels. This includes seaside air and heather fields. These impart taste.
Scotch makers can legally add caramel coloring
(e.g. Macallan) which ensures consistency. Environmental temperature ensures how quickly wood imparts color and flavor so this obviously can be different across seasons. This is why some distillers will add coloring, for consistency across bottles.
Take away this little gem...the year on the bottle (when the distillery was "founded") is the year they got caught! They've likely been making that whisky for hundreds of years before that!
The next installment will cover:
Sherry Tasting with Devon Burroughs of Audubon Boston (May 4, 2015)
Gin Tasting with Sahil Mehta of Estragon Tapas (August 12, 2015)
Mezcal Tasting with Devon Burroughs (October 19th)
Coming December 14, 2015, Bourbon Tasting with
Kevin Morrison of Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks
I will also include a few interview question answered by the session leaders.
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