Alcademics.com

Speaking of small-batch spirits

The Associated Press has a good story on the trend, focusing on Tuthilltown Spirits in New York. Here are some key facts.

• They saw their chance in 2002, when New York introduced a new class of distilling license for small producers that carries a fee of $1,450, as opposed to $50,800 for the old license. (Woo! Let's move to New York!)
• "It took us about 2 1/2 years from a dead stop knowing nothing about it until 'We can turn this thing on and make alcohol,'" Erenzo said. (On the other hand, I don't have that kind of patience.)
• Small-scale distilleries like this were common in America before Prohibition wiped the slate clean. New York, for instance, now has only 16 licensed distillers, including some larger operations in New York City and wineries that specialize in fruit-based spirits like brandy and grappa.
• They are among some 90 craft distillers active nationwide, according to Bill Owens of the American Distilling Institute.
• Tuthilltown also rides the wave of the "buy local" movement. Their vodkas are made from local apples.

Labels: craft_distilling, news, trends

The lines, ever-blurring

Yesterday I went to the Hangar One Vodka/ St. George Spirits distillery in Alameda for a party. I've been to their tasting room before but never back to where the stills are. (The area is only open to the public for the Saturday tour.)

They have what looks to be three itty bitty little stills back there. That seemed a bit small to me for all the vodka they produce, and it turns out not everything that gets bottled there runs through them.

Most smaller gin and vodka distilleries operate like this one: They buy column distilled vodka from a larger manufacturer, work some magic on it in a pot still, and bottle it as their product. In the case of gin, they soak herbs and citrus in purchased vodka and redistill it into gin.

At Hangar One, they take grape wine and distill it into vodka- that's the magic. Then they blend this grape vodka with wheat-based vodka made elsewhere to create their final straight vodka product. The wheat vodka part of the finished goods doesn't go through their still.

For their infused vodkas, they let the fruit (or other flavor) soak in purchased wheat vodka and distill it into really flavorful vodka product, then blend this with more of the plain wheat vodka to bring it down to the desired flavor level of the final product.

So without knowing the specific quantities of each of the liquids involved (and assuming this is a trade secret) the line seems a little blurred as to whether this company and others are making flavored vodka or instead making then blending vodka flavorings. On the other hand, if my definition of making flavored vodka meant that all the vodka has to have flavor in it before being (re)distilled, there probably isn't a single product on the market that would qualify.

I suppose I should state that this is not a comment on the quality of the final products, just me nerding out on the definitions.

So perhaps that's a less romantic picture of how craft distilled products are made, but all the craft is still there, just on a different scale than most of us conjure up naturally. But this may help explain why these tiny distilleries are able to sell products at prices not that much higher than those of all column-distilled brands. And in the case of the ultra-expensive designer vodkas where the price reflects more the millions spent in marketing them than the care in making them, these small batch spirits seem like a real bargain.

Labels: distillery_tour, gin, vodka

Terrible News!

Imagine my horror when I picked the Sunday newspaper off my neighbor's front steps today and read the headline:

"A LIFE WITHOUT BARS"

After I stopped screaming I looked closer and found it was an article about a once-battered woman who killed her abusive husband and how she's now been freed from prison. Oh, okay then.

I don't think it's right to scare a person like that.

Labels: funny, news

Tonic Taste Test

In my tonic article in the Chronicle, I only briefly mentioned the tastes of the tonics neat, not having the time to do a full taste test with different gins. But how often do you drink tonic without gin?

In a lucky coincidence, Time Out New York did a taste test of three of the tonics I mentioned in my story- Fever Tree, Stirrings, and Q Tonic Water, with three different types of gins. Read it here.

On a separate note, I would like to call for an official moratorium on publications calling their booze stories "Raising the Bar." It's been done to death.

Labels: tonic

Mixing New Orleans cocktails

Thanks to Todd Price on eGullet who pointed out these videos. In them, Chris McMillian of the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans demonstrates how to make some famous local cocktails.

In the Ramos Gin Fizz video he tells us that some people add a couple of drops of vanilla to the drink, and also shows that for egg white drinks such as this one, you should first shake the drink without ice, then add ice and shake it more. Good info here.

In the Sazerac video we learn not just how to make it, but this piece of trivia I hadn't heard before: When absinthe was made illegal, it was also illegal to use the word absinthe on the bottle. Herbsaint, an absinthe substitute, is not coincidentally a near anagram of the word 'absinthe' (just with an extra 'r').

He also has videos up for the Pimm's Cup, Margarita, and the Martini.

Labels: gin, recipes, rye, video

Boutique Tonic Water

Finally my tonic water story came out in today's SF Chronicle:

The Evolution of Tonic Water

In the quest to make better cocktails, today's bartenders rethink each ingredient in a drink and try to improve it -- from the cheap, mass-produced version, to a higher-quality version, to the artisan version, to the locally made artisan version, and finally to the homemade version.

We've seen this with spirits (from Tanqueray to 209 Gin) and juices (from bottled juice to locally grown fruit). But until a few years ago, nobody had given too much thought to tonic water.

This bitter, sweetened, carbonated quinine-based beverage is an odd mixer. Unlike soda it's rarely consumed alone, and unlike juices and seltzer water it's rarely an ingredient in more complex cocktail recipes. Most of the time, tonic is served only with gin or vodka and a wedge of lemon or lime as garnish.

In the average bar, tonic comes spitting out of the "gun," the squirter that mixes flavored syrup with seltzer water as it shoots into your glass. But now many venues pour boutique-brand tonic and other sodas from bottles. One venue even makes it in-house.

Read the full article here.

Labels: camper_clips, tonic

Wine-Finished Bourbon

Another piece by me in today's Chronicle:

Bourbon with a Chardonnay chaser

Over in Scotland, wood-finished whiskies are all the rage. Most Scotch ages for years in barrels that previously held bourbon or sherry, and recently several distillers have been transferring the whisky in its final years to barrels that held Port, Madeira or Burgundy, where it picks up additional flavors. Now American whiskey producers are giving it a try.

Jim Beam released Port and Cognac-finished whiskies several years ago as part of their Distillers' Masterpiece collection. This month, Woodford Reserve bourbon is rolling out a limited-edition Master's Collection Sonoma-Cutrer finished whiskey that first aged for five years in new charred American oak barrels, then four more months in used Sonoma-Cutrer French oak Chardonnay wine barrels from which it picks up more fruit and citrus notes. It's available in California stores for $89.99.

-- Camper English

Labels: bourbon, camper_clips, whisky

Summer camp- at a special discount

In today's Chronicle:

Summer camp for cocktail drinkers

The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay hosts a Mixology Weekend Aug. 3-5 as part of its "Inside the Kitchen" summer series. The hotel offer five 2-hour courses taught by some of the Bay Areas best bartenders -- Thad Vogler (Jardiniere), Todd Smith (Bourbon & Branch), Scott Beattie (Cyrus), Greg Lindgren (Rye), and David Nepove (Southern Wine & Spirits, pictured at right).

Each session tackles a different topic ranging from Farm-Fresh Cocktails to the Spirits of Latin America, and all classes include hands-on cocktail-mixing instruction for several drinks.

Students can attend courses a la carte for $95 per class, or buy them all for $460. That's not cheap, but each class is limited to 14 students and includes free bar tools. With the skills learned, you might consider it a savings plan to reduce your future bar tab. Book early to ensure a spot at www.insidethekitchen.net.

-- Camper English

BONUS: They've allowed me to offer a discount! Alcademics readers get $10 off any of the classes at Mixology Weekend- just enter "cheers" as the promo code when you sign up at www.insidethekitchen.net. I'll be there attending at least one of the events.

Labels: bartending, camper_clips, events, SanFrancisco