Alcademics.com

Talking About Aperitifs at SF Chefs August 5th

During the forthcoming (and awesome) SF Chefs event, I'm speaking on a panel.

Prime Your Palate

August 5th, 11 - 12 AM, Westin St. Francis, San Francisco

Information and tickets here.

Join Fine Cooking’s Senior Editor Denise Mickelsen, libation expert Camper English of Alcademics.com and bar stars Neyah White and Brooke Arthur for a pre-tent palate priming. We’ll discuss (and taste!) a delicious category of drinks that many Americans are unaware or wary of—aperitifs.

These light, low-impact, before-dinner drinks are just the thing to prepare your taste buds for a full day of tasting. Don’t miss this lively discussion about what makes a great aperitif and which bars in San Francisco offer the best examples. Attendees will leave with a new understanding of aperitifs, some recipes to try out at home and a roaring appetite ready for San Francisco’s finest food.

We've already picked the three drinks we'll be serving during the hour:

• Brooke Arthur's Sparkling Chrysanthemum
• Neyah White's Japanese Whisky Highball
• The classic Negroni Sbagliato

 

A Sneak Peak at Jim Beam's New Visitors' Center

I previously visited the Jim Beam distillery in Kentucky and got a great in-depth tour of the facilities (read about it here), but until recently regular tourists have only had a pretty mediocre visitor's experience. They didn't get to see the actual distillery as it's a very industrial workplace. 

Now they're greatly expanding the visitors' center, with a set of new outdoor displays as to the history and process of making Jim Beam, plus a big new building. Tourists will also take a shuttle and get to go to the bottling line - which I saw and wrote about before and it's pretty amazing, even if you've seen 30 other bottling lines. 

Below are some pictures of the new exhibits.  

 

The old Jim Beam visitors' center that will become the tasting room

A display of vintage distilling on the new walking path

Future cooperage exhibit at new Jim Beam visitors' center

New Jim Beam visitors' center

Picture of new Jim Beam visitors' center

Tim Philips of Australia wins World Class Bartender of the Year 2012

Last night Tim Philips of Australia won the Diageo Reserve World Class Bartender of the Year 2012 award after 4 intense days of competition here in Rio de Janeiro. More details to come, but here are a few snaps.

The ten finalists at World Class in Rio

The list of finalists is here:
http://popit.nu/drinkar-2/world-class-2012-10-finalister-kvar/

The winner is announced tonight- check in with twitter feeds:
@WorldClassLive
@Alcademics

World Class Semi-Finalists Announced

I'm in Rio with Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals. Out of 40+ competitors from around the globe, the 16 semi-finalists have just been announced. The semi-finalists are from:
Italy
China
USA
Dubai
Singapore
Australia
Trinidad
UK
Taiwan
Thailand
Japan
Lebanon
Spain
Denmark
Belgium
Netherlands

Cocktail Menu: The College Hotel in Amsterdam

Here is the menu for The College Hotel in Amsterdam. The menu was done by Luuk Gerritsen. Luuk is soon moving to Curacao, but the menu will still be in place for a while. 

I see: burnt grenadine, homemade lemon curd, grapefruit cordial.

Have a look below. 

Alcademics Reporting Live from Rio!

Hello - I'm in Rio de Janiero covering Diageo's Global World Class Finals. Last year I was in India for this amazing contest and luckily was able to weasel my way onto another trip.

I'll be posting here when I can, but for up-to-the-minute reports and pictures, check out:

- Twitter @WorldClassLive This is where I'll be helping to report live during the cocktail challenges, along with pictures of drinks and bartenders.  To join the conversation, please tweet with the #WCRio hashtag. 

-Global World Class Finals Facebook page

-Pinterest WCSociety

 

 

Maker's Mark Distillery Visit 2012

This spring I visited the Maker's Mark distillery, along with seven other American whiskey distilleries in Kentucky and Tennessee. I had previously been to Maker's Mark and wrote about my visit here. As you'll read, I learned a lot of different stuff on this trip. 

 Maker's Mark uses a mashbill of 70% corn, 16% soft red winter wheat, and 14% malted barley. Bourbon must be a minimum of 51% corn but 70+ is normal. Malted barley is always used to aid in fermentation, and the remaining percent is usually made of up rye or wheat, more often rye. 

At Maker's they prepare the grains a little differently than at other distilleries. They use a roller mill to crunch up the grains, rather than a hammer mill. This cracks the husk of the wheat but leaves it intact. The husks do go into the boiler with the other grains, but they boil it at a relatively low temperature so it won't break down and become available to the yeast for fermentation. They also cook their grains (to prepare them for fermentation) in an open-topped cookers, rather than pressure cooking them. 

The grains are then fermented with yeast for three days. 

The fermented grains are then distilled, up to 120 proof in the column still, and then up to 130 in the doubler. We smelled the two distillates: The first was very oily and minerally. After the second distillation it smelled fruity and light, like a typical white dog. 

They put the new spirit into barrels at 110 proof. Most of the warehouses for Maker's Mark at six storeys tall. They are the only bourbon distillery that rotates all of their barrels throughout the aging process. Barrels are first racked on the top floors, then moved after two years and then moved lower again after another two. 

Maker's 46, a new bourbon from Maker's Mark, begins as the same distillate, aged for the same amount of time. It is then aged an additional 8-11 weeks in barrels with 10 seared French oak staves in the barrels. They do this only in the winter, as that way the liquid sucks flavor out of the staves rather than sucking liquid into the wood of the staves as it would do in the hotter months of summer. I think the final product tastes like wood-spiced Maker's Mark- pretty tasty. 

Visiting Maker's Mark

Free tours are available. Check the Maker's Mark website for more information.