Alcademics.com

Drinks With: Richard Paterson of The Dalmore

Another day, another awesome lunch with a boozemaker: A few weeks ago I had lunch with Richard Paterson, the Master Blender for Whyte & Mackay. White & Mackay is the company that owns The Dalmore and other single and blended scotch whiskies. We didn't get time to discuss whatever exciting things may be happening in the back end of the company, as since 2007 it has been owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, a guy who wants to get laws changed to be able to sell flavored scotch. (Ain't gonna happen.)

The Dalmore is located in the Northern part of the Highlands, north past Loch Ness near Glenmorangie. It was founded in 1839 with money made from the Opium War.

To my mouth, The Dalmore tastes less fruity than most Highland scotch, emphasizing more tobacco, hay, and ash notes than the plum and pear notes of other brands. The 12-year-old to me is all that. The 15 comes in with stronger tobacco, a touch of coffee, and lots of bitter chocolate notes on top of this. 

The Gran Reserva used to known as the Cigar Malt but they changed the name (partially because of the change in smoking laws in the world). Paul Pacult gives this 5-stars and says "For the price, may just be the finest bargain in all of Scotch whisky, single malt or blended." As Paterson noted in our tasting, the Gran Reserva has a much different texture than the others in the line. I get it, but I actually don't like this one at all.  

I do, however, like the King Alexander III. It has six different barrel finishes- former cabernet sauvignon, port, madiera, marsala, Knob Creek bourbon, and sherry barrels. I could taste many of the barrels at the same time in this whisky, but not in endless waves of flavors that come one after another. Interesting stuff.

Groovy news: next year they're changing all the bottles to use the raised metal stag head on all the bottles as is only on the expensive expressions now. Very cool, and this will ensure the bottles stay on in peoples' bars as water decanters long after the whisky is gone.

Drinks With: John Gakuru of Sagatiba Cachaca

The other week John Gakuru, jet-setting (seriously his Facebook updates are from a different country every couple days) international brand ambassador for Sagatiba cachaca, gave a talk at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. 

Cachaca, as we know, is a type of rum (as defined by US laws anyway) made in Brazil from fermented sugarcane juice instead of from molasses, which is the by product of sugar production. The brand Sagatiba has been making a big marketing push internationally and seems to be in the top three high-end cachacas catering to mixologists, along with Leblon and Cabana.

Sagatiba has an unaged ("Pura") and an aged ("Velha") bottling on the market, in addition to an incredibly limited edition called "Preciosa." Each of these products is made completely different from the others, with the only common thread being the Sagatiba name.

The Pura is an example of high-tech distillation, and since I'm a nerd that seems cool to me. They take column-distilled cachaca made into a high-alcohol 'concentrate,' then water it down and redistill it again in another column still. This second still has four separate condensers on it, allowing for some of the resultant product to be pulled off and redistilled additional times. The finished cachaca comes off the still at bottle strength so they do not add water before bottling, and don't add any sugar to the product either though some is permitted.

The Velha is a more agricultural product, made from hand-harvested sugar cane and distilled in large copper pot stills with a natural "cracked corn" yeast. It's then aged for 2-3 years in ex-Jim Beam barrels before bottling. The Velha is a new product on the market so it may not  be in all areas yet. 

The Preciosa is a ridiculously rare and expensive bottling. A distiller put 10,000 liters of cachaca into five giant cognac mixing casks (2,500 liters each) in 1980 to see what would happen, but then died in 1982. Over 20 years later in 2006 the Sagatiba folks pulled it out, filtered, and bottled it. There were 3,300 liters remaining out of the 10,000 and once it's gone it's gone forever.

In the seminar we had a bunch of drinks ranging from the awfully simple (also: awful) Sagatiba and Sprite to the more sophisticated Pumpkin Batida. Gakuru was emphasizing the range of drinks that can be made with cachaca, specifically that you can make more than a Caipirinha with it. He said, "It's not just about lime and sugar anymore."

Drinks With: Francisco Alcaraz of Patron Tequila

A few months back I had a very long lunch with Francisco Alcaraz, Paton Tequila's Master Distiller and Blender at the restaurant Kokkari in San Francisco. Alcaraz is not only the current master distiller, he created the recipe for Patron.

Alcaraz studied chemical engineering at the University of Guadalajara then went to work as an inspector for an organization that was sort of a precursor to the CRT, the tequila regulatory commission. After that he went to work in a distillery and as a tequila consultant.

Alcaraz developed the recipe for Patron at the distillery Siete Leguas (another brand still producing delicious tequila), where Patron was made from 1989 until 2002 before building their own distillery. Siete Leguas had both the traditional tahona (a giant grinding stone that crushes baked agave before fermentation and distillation) and a mechanical shredder (roller mill) that accomplishes the same thing, though these produce tequila with different flavors (and the topic incites long tequila nerd arguments). Patron uses a combination of tahona-crushed and shredded agave in its recipe.  

Other differences from Siete Leguas' recipe include the type of yeast used and the source of the agave.

The agave for Patron all comes from the Highlands of Jalisco, but it is not estate-grown. (That would be a darn big estate!) Alcaraz says they have contracts with seven large growers, and they do buy other agave on the open market. Another brand told me that they were required to buy some agave from small producers, but Alcaraz says that there is no requirement. There is, however, an incentive: The government (not sure if local or state) subsidizes part of the price of the agave to support these smaller farms. 

Furthermore, Patron has long-term contracts with their growers to ensure that they will not be susceptible to the frequent agave market shortages that take place in cycles. (Another way they're preparing for future shortages is to store extra tequila in large stainless tanks to be bottled when needed.)

After agave is delivered to the distillery, it is slow roasted in brick ovens (compared with faster autoclaves that some brands use), fermented in wood fermentation vats, and double distilled. Contrary to industry gossip, Alcaraz says that Patron distills all their own agave, and it is all made at their facilities.

Beyond the regular Patron range, they have two super-ultra-mega=-expensive premium options: Gran Patron Platinum and Gran Patron Burdeos. For the Platinum, they use agave with the highest sugar content, triple distill it, and age it in a large new, uncharred oak tank for one month.  The Burdeos is made from the same raw material as the Platinum, but is aged one year in American oak, then redistilled, then aged 10 more months in French oak, then finished in an ex-Bordeau wine barrel for two more months.

Alcaraz says he doesn't drink tequila out of the Riedel Tequila Glass not because it's not good, but because it's too good. He says it makes tequila taste better than it is. "If there is something wrong I want to taste it!" he said.

He also said something I've never heard before: that tequila improves in the bottle. That's a surprise, but one I don't think I'll ever be able to test- not only do you have to have a long and great sensory memory, I can never wait around while there's a bottle of tequila nearby.

Drinks With: Gardner Dunn of Yamazki Whisky

During Whisky Week in San Francisco I attended a tasting session in Elixir's classroom space hosted by Gardner Dunn for Yamazaki Whisky. One thing that makes Yamazaki unique is that they use five kinds of barrels from three types of wood in their single malts. We were able to taste a 12-year-old whisky aged in each of American, Spanish (ex-sherry), and Japanese oak to compare. The Japanese oak has a dryer, sandalwood-spice (and "green olive felt" according to my tasting notes that make sense only to me) character that carries through to the final blend.

We talk about Scottish whiskies showing either maritime or inland terroir, and Yamazaki shows its origins too. It is influenced not only by the Japanese oak barrels, but also by the local water source that is softer than in Scotland, and by the higher elevation at which the barrels are stored. (They have several distilleries- I'd need to fact check but I think Dunn said the barrels are stored at warehouses at 2000 and 3000 feet in elevation.) This increased elevation means that the whisky is influenced by the wood at a slower rate than in Scotland. To compensate for this, they use hogshead barrels that they say have more wood influence on the spirit. Furthermore, Yamazaki whiskies are filtered through bamboo charcoal.

Until next month, there were just two Yamazaki whiskies released in the US. The 12-year-old comprises of whisky mostly aged in American oak, whereas the 18-year-old contains a majority of whisky aged in ex-sherry wood.  Soon, though, two new releases will hit the market. From the press release:

Credited as the pinnacle of Suntory’s portfolio, HIBIKI 12 Year Old’s blending process combines bamboo charcoal filtering with aging in plum liqueur casks to create a smoothness no 12-Year Old whisky can match.

Handcrafted in the oldest distillery in Japan, YAMAZAKI 1984 combines the best of Suntory’s age-old processing to deliver an individual and mature taste.  It has a distinctive, cinnamon-like flavor, the result of its key malt, aged in Japanese mizunara casks, the hidden treasure of Suntory.

Finally, Dunn gave us a demo of carving an ice ball, which is sometimes done to order in Japan when one asks for a whisky on the rocks. He went from a big square chunk to a large ice ball in just a few minutes. I know that if I tried this, I'd go from a big square chunk of ice to a bloody messy hand in far less time.

 

Drinks With: Bowmore Whisky Folks and Gold Bowmore Tasting

I met with a stack of Bowmore scotch whisky folks for lunch and a tasting at One Market: Eddie MacAffer, Distillery Manager, Andrew Rankin, Master Blender and Operations Director, Jamie MacKenzie, Regional Manager, plus Robin Coupar, US Brand Manager for several of the whiskies in the Skyy Spirits portfolio.

Bowmore is an Islay whisky and one of only five remaining in Scotland where they malt their own barley. (Not all of it, but they say more than most.) Malting is process of preparing grain for fermentation. Barley is brought in, soaked in water to begin the process of germination, then dried with hot air to halt it. This exposes the starch granules yet preserves the enzymes in the barley that will be needed in fermentation.

At Bowmore they dry the malt with a combination of hand-cut peat that adds the characteristic smoky peaty aspect to Islay whiskies, and hot air for the first 15 hours. Then they finish the job with hot air without peat to keep the smoke level in check.  

Here's a photo of the malting floor that my pal (and now 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year) Joe Ray took:

So much for points of differentiation: It was time for drinking. We started with the 12-year-old, then moved on to the 15. The 15-year-old is just the 12 additionally matured in Oloroso sherry butts for three more years. I'd tried these expressions before but was really looking forward to the older stuff. When Islay whisky is aged for a long time it loses a lot of its smoky qualities while retaining some other maritime influences and gaining new qualities. The 25-year-old was like liquid chocolate; just delicious and rich.

But the real treat was the opportunity to taste the Gold Bowmore. This is the third in a line of very old and very expensive releases. The Black Bowmore was 42 years old. The White Bowmore was 43.

The Gold Bowmore, which will be released soon, is 44 years old. And damnnnnnn it's good. It's completely different from the earlier expressions- grapefruit, salt, almonds, and marzipan initially on the nose, opening to more rich, dried fruity flavors. And on the mouth! chamomile, papaya, yellow raisins, banana sandpaper, fino sherry, heaven. Merely listing flavors doesn't do this whisky justice- it is so bright and alive. Hell, I'd love to feel that fresh at 44 years old! 

I have tasted a few other whiskies this expensive ($6250 per bottle) but never anything anywhere near this delicious. I'm still a little bit tingly.

Drinks With: Norman Bonchick of Van Gogh Vodka

Drinks With... is a regular Alcademics feature in which I share what I've learned over drinks with industry notables.

Norman Bonchick is the chairman and CEO of Van Gogh Imports. I met him in early August at Chaya Brasserie in San Francisco to talk vodka, as they're launching a new flavored and a new unflavored vodka.

Talking with vodka people is always interesting, because the conversation is less about artisanal cocktails and more about figuring out consumer trends and trying to make products to match them. Unlike many brands, Van Gogh does 80% of its business in flavors and the remainder in unflavored vodka. They're releasing a new unflavored vodka soon that's unique in its marketing strategy, but more on that when I get a sample.

They've also just released the Dutch Caramel flavor, which is just as tasty as all their others. While other brands have hits and misses in their flavors, Van Gogh is consistently good, at least for the past three or four flavors I've tried. Bonchick told me that he decides on new flavors to launch based on consumer trends and what his distributors request. A while back, another brand of caramel-flavored vodka went out of business so two of his distributors requested it. A few months later and VG Dutch Caramel is on the market.

The other most recent flavor, Acai-Blueberry, was chosen because acai was going to be the next big thing. Bonchick said something like, "You go into the health food store and there's pomegranate, and sitting next to it is the acai. It was a no-brainer." So they developed the flavor.

I asked about the number of flavored vodkas on the market and Bonchick agreed that there is saturation and that new flavors now usually replace older ones rather than be new additions to the line. Asking what flavors would be discontinued, he responded that they do it market-by-market depending on what people want. (He also noted that flavored vodka was a hard sell within San Francisco but as soon as you move outside the city it gets a lot easier.)

Van Gogh is made in Schiedam, a famous distilling city outside Rotterdam in The Netherlands. I am a little bit obsessed with Schiedam because it's a major birthplace of genever and the home of the Genever Museum that I visited when I went to Amsterdam with Bols. Bonchick told me that the original company founder (no longer with them) brought Ketel One to the US. Ketel One is also made in Schiedam, but in Holland they sell the genever Ketel more than the vodka Ketel we all know over here. So they make Van Gogh in Schiedam because of the history with Ketel, in a 100-plus year old distillery.

Another thing I hadn't realized is that the new flavors are all colored- the Pomegranate, Double Espresso, Acai-Blueberry, and Dutch Caramel. Bonchick says that's so when people make the cocktails at home they want them to be as fancy as something you'd get in the bar, but without having to know mixological skills. He said, "We try to make a product that you can just chill and serve and you'll look like a genius (to your friends) because it has color."

Drinks With: Cuervo Tequila Bigshots

Drinks With... is a regular Alcademics category where I share what I learned when meeting with industry notables.

Last week I asked Alcademics readers what I should ask Francicso Hanal Alfaro, Cuervo's Maestro Tequilero and Araceli Ramos, Director at La Rojeña, the Cuervo Distillery. You answered here and on Facebook. I didn't get to ask all your questions but I learned some really interesting stuff.

Alfaro lives in Mexico City and is also one of the people who helped decide on the Riedel tequila glass that I use nearly every day.

Pre-Spanish Distillation?

I first asked about the theory beginning to be espoused by Steve Olson and others that distillation predates the Spanish coming to Mexico. The theory is based on some findings of a very old still and some chemical analysis. It doesn't sound like anything conclusive has been proven by archeologists though. But one contributing theory that was brought up at the Agavepalooza session at Tales of the Cocktail is that as the natives were drinking pulque when the spanish arrived, and if you distill pulque you get rubber instead of delicious tequila. Thus it would take a longer time to develop the technology to distill tequila from the hearts of roasted agave plants than the actual time from the Spanish arriving in Mexico to tequila showing up. The technology couldn't have developed that fast, says the theory.

Though Alfaro wasn't familiar with this pre-Spanish theory, he said that natives in the tequila region (as opposed to the areas where they were drinking pulque- uncooked, fermented juice of certain types of agave) were consuming vina de mescal- mescal wine. "Mescal" he said means something like "the thing that is cooking," and thus vina de mescal refers to baked/cooked agave that is then fermented into wine. So if cooking and fermenting mescal is pre-Spanish also, then the theory that it couldn't have been developed between the time the Spanish arrived and the time tequila was known to exist would not be valid. (This is not to say Alfaro was speaking directly to this theory, he just added his thoughts to my question. Hopefully this will advance the conversation.)

Where Does your Agave Come From, and Are you Hurting Small Agave Farms and Families?

Cuervo gets agave from three different types of source. Most is estate owned. The next most is leased land- other people own the land but they own the agave and tend to the land. (Much "estate-grown" tequila from other brands is on leased land.) Third, they buy agave on the open market.

The important point that I hadn't heard before (my kingdom for a few hours with the CRT) is that they said they have to buy some agave from small farmers by law. A recent paper said that because more brands are buying land, they are putting small farmers out of business. (See the question Neyah proposed in the comment here for more information on why this is important.) Yet as I wrote a while back, the reason brands are buying up land is because of the gluts and shortages in the agave market when left to small players- Alfaro brought this up as well. I really would like to know more about this law to better understand the issue.

Cuervo employs 3500 jimadors (the folks who harvest the agave). They also own most of their land in the Tequila Valley (lowlands), but also some in the highlands and some also in the neighboring state of Nayarit. Some of it is in the area close to Puerto Vallarta (thus very low in elevation) and Alfaro says the agaves grow to be huge there.

Though all the talk in tequila these days is about terroir, Alfaro emphasized that no matter where they grow their agave, they use the same fertilizer and even irrigation to keep it consistent between areas. We didn't get into this as much as I wanted as we ran out of time to talk.

Drinks With: Gaston Martinez for Milagro Tequila

Drinks With... is an Alcademics category in which I share what I've learned when meeting with industry notables.

This July I had a group dinner and drinks at Tres Agaves with Gaston Martinez of Milagro Tequila. Milagro has two lines of tequila- a "core" and "select" line. I've always liked Milagro as a good-priced mixing tequila but had never tried the reserve line.

Milagro is triple-distilled. Traditionally when we talk about 100% agave tequila, we think of double-pot-distilled, but lately more and more brands have been releasing triple distilled products. But the more you distill, the more flavor you take out and the more your tequila tastes like vodka, and then vodka put into wood in the case of aged tequilas. That's the danger of making it too "clean."

In the case of Milagro they twice distill in pot stills, then do a third distillation in a small rectifying column, according to Martinez. The agave is estate grown and is cooked in traditional ovens for around 72 hours, as opposed to faster autoclaves. The distillery is located in Tepatitlan in the Highlands of Jalisco.

The main difference between the two lines of Milagro is the wood used to age the spirit. The core line uses ex-bourbon barrels and the select line uses new French oak. According to Martinez, the difference in flavor is:

Ex-Bourbon American oak barrels: Caramel and black pepper notes.
New French oak barrels: Vanilla and white pepper notes.

Though silver (blanco) tequila doesn't need to be aged at all, the regular silver is rested for 30 days in stainless steel. The select silver gets 35-45 days in oak. The reposado of both lines takes on chocolately notes, with the select being really rich in flavor- not like the spicy repo's I'm used to. The delicious select anejo is actually an extra-anejo (aged over three years), and priced at $90-$100, it is less expensive than most other extra-anejos.

Martinez also shared a cocktail trick. In making hot pepper infusions, he found that instead of infusing hot peppers into the tequila, if you infuse it into the citrus the acid helps absorb the pepper heat much faster- I believe in a few hours as opposed to overnight.