Breaking Bad (preconceptions)- Bourbon

Hey Everyone,

It has been four years since I moved to Scotland, and therefore, nearly all of my experience with any sort of alcoholic beverage has been influenced by this tiny country with a highly disproportional influence on the drinks business. Living here, I have had much more contact with Traquhair House beers than Budweiser (which I do not lament) and have understandably given much more thought and attention to Whisky here rather than international variants. I've had my share of J.D. and wasn't impressed. I've tried a few bourbons here and there and at best found them not particularly interesting but pleasant, and at worst to be sickly sweet, boozy abominations which can fill no other purpose than to make Coke alcoholic without any noticeable change to the soft drink's flavour.

Today, however I am attending a tasting of the portfolio offered by the respectable distiller Buffalo Trace which includes a bit of a biographical experience, as it includes some of their 'White Dog' which, in Scotch-speak is basically new make, and in America would be considered more or less Moonshine. I have tried several such spirits, including new make from Balvenie, Ardbeg, Glenglassaugh and Bruichladdich and have found them often to be unpleasant, but a recognisable forerunner to the aged spirit years down the line. FOr a run down of my tasting notes, for the individual whiskies, have a look here.

Anyways, Jim Murray, the guy who puts out the Whisky Bible each year and makes tremendously sweeping statements about whisky, which can only be explained by a very specific and difficult to understand set of tastes, freaking loves this stuff. I don't really know what has made him fall so in love with American Rye whiskey, as he consistently gives rye and bourbon very generous scores, whereas single malts from Scotland draw more stringent criticisms. My only reasoning is that he either doesn't see the point in criticising a nation of such one-dimensional whiskies, or he doesn't understand them.

Either way, my experience today revealed to me that while there is a pleasant and sweetly fragranced world of bourbon and rye whiskey out there which lends itself so spendidly to session drinking, contemplating the world, and cocktails, the whiskey itself does not take long to get your head around. Sure there are different aspects to the individual bottlings, and even some traits which can pass for a fleeting complexity, but the truth, in my eyes, is that all of these whiskies had an overriding flavour of woody vanilla, banana and booze, leading inevitably to an alcoholic, watery finish.

I am not saying I didn't enjoy these whiskies... I most certaily did, but I did not see any kind of weight or body which didn't rely on either wood or alcohol content. And while I liked the blender a lot and enjoyed his presentation, I don't believe that Buffalo Trace's whiskey is what the campaign says it is. If this is the best of American whiskey, then I don't think Scotland really needs to be concerned about it's position as the king of distillation.

By all means, enjoy some good bourbons, and definitely enjoy some Buffalo Trace, because for what it is, it is good. But I'm just not really convinced.

Much Love,

G

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pizza and Wine

Hey Folks,

I know we always hear about the ongoing search for foods and wines to match each other and produce winning teams of balanced flavour.  We hear of the surprising matches between Chinese food and Gewürztraminer, where the floral, spicy profile in the wine matches the intense, concentrated flavours of the Chinese sauces, as well as Riesling and pad thai. but I am tonight enjoying a wonderful paring on a bit of a budget.  Pizza for £3 and a bottle of wine for £7.99.

After a long day working in the shop, slowly recovering form a sinus cold and the aches and pains of a 14-hour day traveling to and from a trade-tasting in Manchester, I was feeling rather exhausted.  I just wanted to sit down, have something simple to eat, something relaxing and simple to drink and perhaps write a note to my readers.  In the divine scheme of things, my plans seem to have worked out and here I am, with a nice, hot cheese pizza and a glass of wine which I consider nearly perfect for the occasion.

Simple, inexpensive and satisfying.

It's a Biferno 2007 Rosso Riserva  from Camillo de Lellis, and it's making me lower the bottom end of my 'Sweet Spot' from £9 to £7.  Composed of Montepulciano, Trebbiano Toscano and Aglianico, essentially whatever grapes come to hand in the Tuscan countryside, it's a part of that class of inexpensive wines which I love so much.  The fact that the wine is cheap has nothing to do with low quality.  It is because the grapes grow so naturally and easily there and require so little labour, and the vines look after themselves pretty well.

It's simple, it's rustic and it has all those aromas and flavours of sour cherries and perfume which defines good, classic Italian wines.  As I consider this wine, I think about all those wines meant to imitate the long-lived high end Bordeaux, made with international grape varieties blended with native grapes, and part of me wonders why bother?

Of course, it is natural that a wine maker would want their art to achieve the highest level possible, and to produce something long-lived, with the ability to develop complexity and become a work of art that only time can create.  However, it should never be deemed to be a superior style of wine.  The blend of grapes here shows that the origins of this Biferno are in the soil and the native grapes grown since the Etruscan era.  It harkens back to the days when a wine maker could have cared less about what the names of the grapes were that went into his blend, so long as it came out right.  It was an organic process and one that developed over centuries and perfected itself, with the human element only complimenting, never dominating.

As I sip it, and munch happily and greedily on my pizza, I reflect on my appreciation for the humility of certain wines.  As kith and kin to a farmer's brew of cider, it is perfect to pair with the simple pleasures of the Italian larder.  It makes me think of the satisfying life-style of the Italian peasants of another era sitting down in the evening hours on the hillside overlooking their fields and drinking from the wine skin.  For that reason, needing something to sit back and relax, this sort of wine does just the trick.

I highly recommend, for a truly satisfying, rehabilitating night in, find a friend, get a pizza, split a bottle of wine and just chill out.

Much Love,
G