Women Who Whiskey: D.C. Edition!

Ladies and gentlemen, you are cordially invited to Women Who Whiskey's first ever event on the road! 

Please join us for for an elegant evening of delicious whiskey and cocktails in good company at Beuchert's Saloon, a premier Washington speakeasy dating back to Prohibition!

Who: You and friends! 

Where: Beuchert's Saloon, 623 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington D.C. 

When: Saturday, May 25, at 7:30 pm

Why: To drink, eat, and be merry! 

Hope to see you there! 

Whiskey Classes at Char No.4 Every Saturday!

Char No.4, one of my favorite whiskey bars in the city, will be hosting whiskey classes every Saturday! 

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this Saturday, since I'll be in D.C.--hosting Women Who Whiskey: D.C. Edition at Beuchert's Saloon, 623 Pennsylvania Ave SE--but I'm super excited about trying out a class in the future! 

Below is the email I got from Sean, the owner, about the new class. 

Hi All,

Due to popular demand we've decided to host a whiskey class every Saturday. You can visit our website to see the calendar of classes for the upcoming month and purchase seats.

Below is some information about the class we're doing this Saturday.

American Barrel Hunters

There is a long history of whiskey-making of middlemen, known as rectifiers, buying barrels of whiskey distilled by others to create and age their own bespoke bourbons, ryes and other whiskeys. 

Please join us on Saturday where we will taste some of our favorite whiskeys that celebrate both the craft of the distiller and the shrewd selection of barrels by these blenders and bottlers. Allan Roth, one of our resident whiskey experts, will guide you through tastes of Breaking and Entering, Old Bardstown Estate, Willet Rye, High West Rendesvous. As usual, snacks from our kitchen will be served.

Admission is $45 per person including tax and gratuity.

Call 718-643-2106 or click here to reserve your seats. We sell out quickly, so a quick response is suggested if you want to guarantee yourself a spot.

   

Best,

Sean

-- 
Sean Josephs
Char No.4 - Proprietor
196 Smith St. (btw Baltic & Warren)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.643.2106 - www.charno4.com
Subway - F or G Train to Bergen

Happy World Whiskey Day!

Bottoms up! 

Vanilla Old Fashioned

Try this tasty twist on a traditional Old Fashioned from Fabric Paper Glue!

Ingredients:
2 oz Bourbon
1 tsp Vanilla Syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions: Stir ingredients with ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

Head over to the blog to see how to make the vanilla syrup!

Overproof Old Fashioned

When you're making a stirred cocktail, you always want to consider how temperature and dilution will affect the final drink. For an Old Fashioned variety you want something higher proof that won't just taste like water after a couple minutes. We use Charter 101 at the bar, which is an overproof bourbon from Kentucky by Buffalo Trace, but really you can use any 101-proof bourbon. Wild Turkey 101 and Four Roses Single Barrel are a bit easier to find, and would work really well for this drink.

Ramblin' Man, from Esquire

From The Silver Dollar, Louisville, KY

• 2 oz Charter 101 bourbon
• .25 oz honey syrup*
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitters
• 4 drops Sheldon bitters**

Put 1 dash of Peychaud's bitters into an old fashioned glass and add the honey syrup and bourbon.  Stir to taste with ice, pour into a separate old fashioned glass over 3 ice cubes and garnish with Sheldon bitters (do not stir ).

* The honey syrup is 2 parts honey: 1 part water, boiled until slightly thickened.

** Sheldon Bitters are house-made sassafras bitters, with notes of cinnamon and cherry bark. You can substitute with Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic bitters or Scrappy's root-beer bitters.

See more Esquire Cocktails of the Week!

Scotland's Whiskey Regions

We’ve all heard of Scotch whisky, most often referred to simply as “Scotch,” which consists of malt or grain whisky made in Scotland. And most of us know that the country is divided into a number of geographic areas that produce the beloved liquor. But what exactly are these various districts and how do the flavors vary? Let’s take a look.

Islay: The tiny island of Islay is nicknamed “Whisky Island,” due to its concentration of eight producing distilleries. Its whiskies are the strongest flavored of the four regions and renowned for their dryness and strong peaty smokiness. Examples of distilleries include Bowmore, Lagavulin and Laphroaig.

To read more about the different regions of Scotland on Food Republic, click here.

Double Chocolate Bourbon

"Prichard's Double Chocolate Bourbon - Is a perfectly balanced bourbon with a mellow chocolate, (Not Sweet) background flavor. If you like chocolate and bourbon. You will like this bourdon."

Not sure how I feel about this, but I would try it...

Can a Cocktail Make You More Creative?

Slate actually wrote about this very thing, researching whether or not artists who drank often mixed their imbibing with their creative efforts. 

And what did they find? Apparently many great artists would side with Sam. Slate writer Mason Currey notes that "Even the alcoholics recognized that drinking made their creative output a little too effortless." The painter Francis Bacon or the writer Earnest Hemingway would often drink large quantities while out with friends in the evening, but would rarely mix that with work (both did rise quite early in the morning, regardless of the previous late night, and get right to work). Similarly, F. Scott Fitzgerald blocked out some of the day to be an alcohol-free work period, recognizing that he wasn't nearly as productive when mixing the two. 

Read more about cocktails and creativity on The Kitchn.

1 Part Whiskey + 1 Part Whiskey + 1 Part Whiskey = Your New Favorite Cocktail

1 Part Whiskey + 1 Part Whiskey + 1 Part Whiskey = Your New Favorite Cocktail 
There's something alchemical going on in this cocktail: Old Overholt, Jack, and Johnnie, equal parts, over ice. No bitters, no twist. No artisanal tonic water. And somehow, improbably, almost magically, it's a revelation. (At Brooklyn's Five Leaves, they call it Whiskey in a Jar.) All of the subtle flavors that differentiate scotch and rye get drowned out, and all that's left is the point of overlap—the harmony. Sweet, refreshing, just a little bit woody, and boozy as you'd expect it to be. It's kind of the perfect summer cocktail—at the very least, it's the easiest one to make at home.

Read about more Whiskey cocktails on GQ here. 

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon is a Steal!

This 12-year old expression (the age statement is relegated to the back label) is bottled at full cask strength and non-chill filtered. (What does that mean? I address chill filtration here). The kicker? It's listing at an MSRP of $40, which in the current whiskey landscape (where cask strength bourbons are rare, and often go for $60 to $90) is an absolute steal. But value is about more than price, so let's pop the cork and see what's in the bottle.

Read more about Elijah Craig Barrel Bourbon on Serious Eats Drinks.