Three Ryes to Try

Three Rye Whiskeys to Try

Women Who Whiskey: Birthday Edition!

This event was a WWW first!

It was a Whiskey Tasting to celebrate my 28th birthday.

The lovely hostesses: Maggie, Barbara, Amanda, and Julia (me)

My roommates Maggie, Amanda, and Barbara--all Women Who Whiskey members--and I hosted the event at our upper west side apartment.

Amanda and Maggie

I had decided on an original line up of five bottles--a bourbon, two ryes, and two scotches--but a few guests brought bottles of whiskey as birthday gifts and we decided it was only appropriate to include them in the line up, bringing the up the total to eight bottles, and expanding the selection internationally. 

Some smiling guests

The original line up before the addition of Yamazaki, Bushmills and Glenfiddich

The final line up was served in the following order:

1) Rowan's Creek Bourbon - John Rowan was a statesman and judge who dabbled in Bourbon makin' on the side. A light, spicy flavor. 

2) Templeton Rye - A small-batch Prohibition era recipe, and Al Capone'swhiskey of choice (and my personal favorite). Smooth and sweet, with a slightly spiced finish. 

3) Redemption Rye - An excellent bargain. Retails between $25-30, but tastes like $60 rye. 

4) Yamazaki 12 Year Single Malt Japanese Whiskey - Would be a scotch if it weren't from Japan

5) Bushmills 10 Year Single Malt Irish Whiskey - A marriage of the new world and old world whiskies, with a hint of the sweetness of Bourbon and Rye.

6) Glenfiddich 12 Year Single Malt Scotch - A lighter, less potent but still delicious scotch

7) Balvenie Doublewood 12 Year Single Malt Scotch - A smoother, more vanilla flavor

8) Lagavulin 16 Year Islay Single Malt Scotch - A robust, smokey, peaty deep flavor 

Paige, Kim and Maura, WWW members

The ladies of Women Who Whiskey, smiling! 

Andrea, Julia, and a very enthusiastic William

All in all it was a wonderful evening--both as a birthday celebration and as a Women Who Whiskey event. 

Manhattan Bars With Fireplaces

On those chilly winter nights, warm up at one of these bars with a fireplace!

20 Things You Didn't Know About Alcohol

4  According to the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis, our zest for alcoholic beverages derives from our distant ancestors’ impulse to seek the ripest, most energy-intensive fruits.

8  That process can also happen in your digestive system, spiking every 100 ml of blood with 0.01 to 0.03 mg of alcohol.

9  Seriously, officer! Japanese doctors have observed patients with “auto-brewery syndrome,” in which high levels of candida yeast in the intestines churn out so much alcohol that they can cause drunkenness.

11  A lean, muscular person will be less affected by drink than someone with more body fat: Water-rich muscle tissues absorb alcohol effectively, preventing it from reaching the brain.

13  The times they are a-changin’. In 1895 Anheuser-Busch launched Malt-Nutrine, a 1.9 percent-alcohol-content beer prescribed by physicians as a tonic for pregnant women and a nutritional beverage for children.

14  Until 1916 whiskey and brandy were listed as scientifically approved medicines in the United States Pharmacopeia.

15  Drinking and driving: Surplus wine in Sweden is distilled into ethanol, mixed with gasoline, and sold to service stations.

Read the rest here! 

Bands Who Love Whiskey

There Sure Are a Lot of Bands With the Word Whiskey in Their Name

What Your Drink Says About You On A Date

"Whiskey, neat: You're hot. Regardless of gender."

Scotch In A Can!

Apparently this is a real thing! 

Women Who Drink Every Day...

... Have Better Sex! 

"According to a new study, women who drink two glasses of wine every day say they're having better sex than their teetotaling counterparts. To be fair, that could be the wine talking."

Read about the study here.

Rye Whiskey Is Back!

"IN gold-rush-era San Francisco, bars lined every block of the Barbary Coast, the area where pioneer mixologists — back when they were called bartenders — honed their craft. Rye whiskey was their staple. A hundred years later, a visitor would have been lucky to find one or two rye labels on the shelves of bars in major American cities;bourbon had taken over as the American whiskey.

Over the last few years, though, that has changed, as rye has emerged as a go-to craft spirit of the moment."

As a rye lover, this is great news for me. Read more here. 

Bourbon & Brown Butter Brownies

Bourbon & Brown Butter Brownies

(makes 16 brownies)
250g good quality bittersweet chocolate (if you want them to be less gooey/fudgy then only use 175g)
100g butter
120ml (about 1/2 cup) bourbon
2 eggs
3 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
75g (about 1/2 cup) plain flour
190g (about 3/4 cup) sugar

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease very well and line the bottom and two long sides of a 20x30cm slice/brownie tin (can be substituted with a 20cm square cake tin but you may have to bake it slightly longer as it will be thicker). Let the baking paper hang over the long edges, it will make it easier to lift brownie out later. Prepare the brown butter; place butter in a small saucepan on low heat until it melts, continue to stir over low heat but keep a close eye on it, as it begins to bubble and the milk solids separate and settle at the bottom of the pan. Stir it frequently at this point, so that the milk solids do not settle at the bottom of the pan for too long and burn. Continue until the mixture turns brown and smells nutty but take care not to leave it for too long or it will taste burnt. Remove from the heat.