Arrette Unique from Tequila Rack

Several weeks ago, I was in my local ABC store on Leesburg Pike, when I spotted some interesting bottles in the 'tall cotton' case. Right next to the Glenlivet 21 (picked up a bottle of that too), I saw several tequilas I'd never seen before.

Always one to experiment with new findings, I asked the owner what he knew. Apparently not much... However, he did mention that other connoisseurs he knew were buying them on a regular basis. I said 'What the heck', and picked up one of each.

Tequila Rack tequilas are designed for tastings. From their website:

The International Tasting Group has sourced several of the finest boutique Tequileras in Mexico and assembled their products of Micro Tequilas as a collection to be sampled and compared. Each Tequila has its own unique story.
The flavor variations come from the differences in the soil within the appellation of origin where the Weber Blue Agaves are grown, as well as the kinds of water and yeast used in the distillation process and the length of time and types of barrels used for aging. The color of each brand depends on how long it has been aged and what type of barrel was used. These differences all combine to give an array of flavors, aromas, textures and mouth-feels to our collection of Mexico’s finest Tequilas.

So let's take a look at each brand. I'll be featuring a new one every few days.

Arrette Unique

Named after the horse ridden in the 1948 Olympics that led to two gold medals for Mexico, Arette is distilled at the Tequileria El Llano, one of the oldest Tequilerias in the town of Tequila.

This tequila is classified as 'Extra-Anejo', having been aged in white oak casks for 6 years. It lends a wonderful woody flavor, with a smooth texture.

Lots of aromas and flavors of vanilla and caramel with touches of flowers and a lovely earthiness.

Flavor is a blend of very nice agave with baking spices, wood, and even some orange peel. The finish lasts forever.

This is a fantastic tequila. Seriously. While it's on the expensive side, and hard to find, it's worthwhile for ANY tequila lover to find a bottle. I'd buy it at twice the price.

Tesseron Cognacs

I've been a fan of Tesseron cognacs for quite some time, but they have remained in relative obscurity until a few months ago. At least in the circles I run in. Thanks to David Nathan-Maister at Finest and Rarest, some light has been shed on the brand. So much so, that I thought I'd go out and replenish my supply and do some reviews. A big shout out to Joe Riley at Ace Beverage in Washington DC, who had a good selection from the line.

First, a bit of brand history, blatantly copied from David's Tesseron page, which is one of the most informative I've found on the brand:


Cognac Tesseron is one of the great secrets of Cognac. Abel Tesseron created the company in 1905, relying at the time on two separate estates, one situated in the Grande Champagne area (Boneuil) and the other in Petite Champagne (Saint-Surin). He adopted a long term policy of buying up stocks of the oldest and finest eaux-de-vie, carefully conserved in a twelfth century crypt. Despite a very low public profile, this little known firm is today revered in the region, as owners of the largest stocks of great old cognac in existence. In their legendary innermost cellar or paradis, lie an incredible 2200 glass demijohns (most around 25 litres) of cognac dating from between 1825 and 1906, painstakingly built up by three generations of the Tesseron family. This treasure trove of 19th century cognac is supplemented by hundreds of oak casks of the very finest cognac dating from the first half of the 20th century. There is no comparable collection in Cognac or anywhere else - the Tesseron holdings are unique, and irreplaceable.


And now my thoughts on each:

Lot 90 'Selection': aromas of pears, membrillo, maple and soda bread. Taste is young, with leather, honey and dried fruits. A great ever day cognac. Good for Earthquake cocktails too.

Lot 76 'Tradition': Only made from Grande Champagne cognacs. A deeper and richer color than the 90. The aroma is also more delicate. Tea and mulled fruits. Flavor is citrusy with a noticeable rancio from the aging. The grape base is quite evident. Very smooth finish.

Lot 65 'Emotion': A special gift decanter edition. Nose of plums, leather and nougat. Flavors consist of tobacco, nuts, honey and baking spices. A dash of water brings out wonderful dark chocolate notes both in the nose and the flavor.

Lot 53 'Perfection': Absolutely gorgeous topaz/copper color. Deep and exotic. Lots of chocolate and old books on the nose. Figs as well. The flavor and texture is thicker and spicier than the younger line. Lots of dark chocolate and white pepper. Fantastic stuff.

Lot 29 'Exception': The only cognac to ever score a perfect 100 from Robert Parker. I can see why. This is exceptional cognac. Lots of leather, chocolate, oak and even cherries on the nose. The flavor is full of the same, along with a wonderful rancio (organic, earthy, mushroomy, umami type of aroma and flavor indicative of aged eau de vies). Spectacular.

Ten Gins and how to best drink them

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of gin. Not only is it a staple for creating many of the best cocktails, but it also works so well just splashed with some club soda or, more widely, with tonic water. And where would the martini be without gin? Yes people, martinis are made with gin, not vodka!

In any case, as gin has grown in popularity due to the cocktail renaissance, more and more brands are being discovered on local shelves. With that in mind, I decided to put together a list of 10 that you'll commonly find in the DC area. My hopes are to give you a good idea of how you can use many of them, since the flavor spectrum is quite wide-ranging. In the next few weeks, I hope to add another 10 or so, including some of the more household names, like Tanqueray, Bombay and Beefeater. But since those already probably have a place in your bar, I wanted to give you some info on brands you might be considering adding.

Keep in mind, this is only one man's (my) opinion on each of the brands and what suits my palate best, but I though it might be interesting for those of you who like gin.


Plymouth
Nose: Juniper and citrus
Taste: Light with hints of lavender. A bit drier than Voyager (below)
Best for: Any normal gin cocktail, but especially for those sensitive to too much juniper
Best Tonic accompaniment: Fever Tree, Stirrings or possibly Q


Voyager
Nose: Clean, flowery, a touch of mint and pine
Taste: Also very clean. Refreshing juniper with just a hint of sweetness
Best for: Any cocktail calling for a good gin. Works equally well in sweet, citrusy or savory cocktails.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Fever Tree, Stirrings, Q or Fentimans.


Leopold
Nose: Pine, earthiness, some flowers and a touch of caramel
Taste: Minty and a bit on the savory side due to the orris. Light flavors of peppermint, Pumello and anise.
Best for: Cocktails that call for gin as well as a darker spirit such as a whiskey. Also for gin cocktails that call for Chartreuse. Good G&T also.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Fentimans


Bulldog
Nose: Mainly Juniper, but an extremely weak aroma overall
Taste: A bit sweet. Unbalanced and a bit more viscous than most gins
Best for: Cocktails involving fruit juices
Best Tonic accompaniment: Not recommended for G&Ts, because it gets overwhelmed by the tonic, but if pressed, I’d recommend Schweppes.


Bluecoat
Nose: Pine and aloe with crisp and dry juniper and citrus
Taste: Herbal. Juniper and orange peel. A hint of candy cane
Best for: Most gin cocktails will work well, but citrus ones especially.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Fever Tree


Hendricks
Nose: fresh citrus, juniper, flowers and cucumber
Taste: bright and refreshing with hints of juniper, white pepper and lavender. Cucumber as well, of course.
Best for: Artisinal cocktails. Especially those calling for tea, vegetal or savory ingredients.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Fentimans


Barcelona
Nose: cloves and mint. LOTS of vanilla.
Taste: Extremely sweet for gin. Flavor similar to vanilla mints with hints of juniper. Similar to an Old Tom style more than a London Dry style.
Best for: Sweeter cocktails that might get adversely affected by too much juniper flavor.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Not recommended for G&Ts because of the sweetness, although it worked OK with Hansens.


Sunset Hills
Nose: Juniper and alcohol
Taste: sweet and a bit chalky. Unbalanced.
Best for: basic house G&Ts.
Best Tonic accompaniment: Schweppes or Canada Dry.


Genevieve
Nose: similar to a beer spirit with hints of distilled barley, not unlike an unaged malt whisky
Taste: sweet juniper, with spices and an earthy texture. Again, eerily reminiscent of an unaged whisky
Best for: Old style cocktails; many of which used Dutch style gins.
Best Tonic accompaniment: I don’t recommend this style of gin for G&Ts.


Haymans Old Tom
Nose: extremely light. Not much discernible.
Taste: very sweet with hints of holiday spices and pecan pie
Best for: vintage cocktail recipes calling for Old Tom gin
Best Tonic accompaniment: I don’t recommend this style of gin for G&Ts.

Absinthe Tasting with Gary Vaynerchuck

So, here it is! After working on this for close to a year, we finally found a date that would work for both of us. Click below to be taken to the WS site where you can view the video (30 min.).






Here's the back story:

I've been watching Gary do wine tastings on his site, WineLibraryTV.com for quite a while now. I've always enjoyed his high energy, no pretense approach to wine. It brings it out of the stuffy shadows and snobbery that a lot of people equate with wine specialists. If you didn't know, his show is available on iTunes, so it can be automatically downloaded each day.

Anyway, back in July of last year, I was surprised to see an episode of Scotch pop up, and I got to thinking: if he is branching out and doing other things, he'd probably be interested in trying an absinthe episode.

I emailed him the next day, explaining to him who I am and a little about absinthe. I told him that in many ways, I liken absinthe to wine, in that after it's properly diluted, it has the same relative strength, and just as much depth of flavor.

I heard back within the day, with Gary saying he loved the idea! Planning the date proved to be harder than anticipated, but we finally nailed it down about two months ago.

All in all, it was a great experience. My only disapointment was that we were forced to cut out one of the brands I brought due to time constraints. Sorry to Marc Bernhard and his wonderful absinthe, Pacifique. I didn't have a choice in the matter.

Latest Absinthe Tasting

It's been too long since I last updated the blog, but I've been overwhelmed with projects, both in my real job, and outside of it. Since noone here cares about my finance stories, I'll totally skip over that and update you instead on everything else!

1) Big news on the absinthe education front. I've enlisted the help of several Wormwood Society members to contribute to an upcoming absinthe feature in a prominant magazine. It will be both the cover story and also an 8+ page spread. It should be great! I'll hold off on announcing which publication until everything is finalized.

2) I'll be visiting with Gary 'Vay-ner-CHUCK' on WineLibraryTV to go over several brands of absinthe that are now available in the US. We tape on April 8th. I'll post airing info as it becomes available.

3) The latest date for the TasteDC Absinthe Tasting event has been set for May 14th again at the Chi Cha Lounge in NW DC. I believe the house absinthes will still be featured (Kubler, Lucid and Pernod) as well as several others that I've been able to procure, which at this point will probably be Marteau, Leopold Brothers and Obsello with a potential showing of Pacifique. The last event went fabulously, although I did have some trip ups with the history presentation. I'd tried to throw too much into too little time and it got a little sloppy. This time it should go much more smoothly, since I know exactly how much time I have.

4) Posted a point/counterpoint article regarding some new 'absinth' (notice there's no 'e') products coming to the U.S. market over on The Real Absinthe Blog.

Upcoming entries:
1) A post about the last absinthe tasting event
2) Another Scotch tasting event recap
3) A roundup of the WineLibraryTV taping

See you around!

Bruichladdich Octomore edition 01.1

I was lucky enough to be able to snag one of only 6000 bottles issued of the Octomore. Clocking in at approximately $200, it ain't cheap, but it's a piece of history. It also sold out before it even hit the shelves.

Octomore contains 131 ppm (parts per million) phenol, making it the world's most heavily peated whisky. According to the distillery, it's three times more peated than any other whisky on the market. Although, that's obviously not taking into account the new Ardbeg supernova, which is calculated to be 100 ppm.

Overall, I was really impressed with how delicate the peating was. I was expecting to be punched in the face with an ashtray full of spent churchills, but instead, the smoke gently played on the tongue and married well with the honeyed sweetness that is characteristic of it's young age. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of smoke. But it's not overwhelming. Unlike the sharpness of the smoke from something like the Lagavulin 16, this whisky has much more depth.

It's invigorating, with lots of vanilla and pear competing (or should I say playing nice) with the tar and cigar smoke. The mouth feel is velvety, and the finish lasts forever. Overall, this is a wonderful whisky. Much more appealing than I'd imagined it would be. I'm hoping to be a contender to get a bottle when they release the 10 year and 15 year editions.

Scotch tasting on 1-16-09

I had been discussing Scotch with a client of mine when he mentioned that he had a Scotch club that meets once a month or so to review a few. I offered to do a tasting out of my personal stash, which was well received.

After going over a few options as to what to present, we decided on a rundown of the Whisky producing regions of Scotland. Since the Highlands area has such a wide diversity of flavors, I chose to include two separate offerings from that region.

We went over some of the basics of Scotch, including how it's produced, the laws surrounding Whisky production in Scotland, and also what influences the flavor of the final product. Then we got into the drink!

From lightest to heaviest:

Lowlands: Auchentoshan 16 y.o. 58.9% - A.D. Ratray Special bottling
Nose: soda bread, sweet meringue and citrus
Flavor: citrus, honey, malt and grass
Notes: Very easy to sip. I'd consider this closer to the profile of an Irish whisky than a Scotch.

Central Highlands: Edradour 10 y.o.
Nose: creamy and nutty with a light sweetness
Flavor: Sweet with almonds with a gentle hint of smoke. Dry on the finish

Speyside: BenRiach 16 y.o. 46%
Nose: hazlenuts, honey and toast
Flavor: malty, fruity and sweet with soft mulled spices and vanilla. Just a touch of smoke.

East Highlands: Glen Garioch 15 y.o. 46% - Whisky Galore Special Bottling
Nose: Lavender and oak
Flavor: medium bodied, fuller mouth feel than the previous three, slight smokiness, quite peppery in the finish.

Campeltown: Glen Scotia 12 y.o. 62.3% - Gordon McPhail Special Cask Strength Bottling
Nose: Spicy with hints of mulled wine and plums
Flavor: Very peppery, spicy and oily with good peating
Notes: Watering brought out strong notes of milk chocolate

Islay: Lagavulin 16 y.o.
Nose: cognac and chocolate with a touch of clover
Flavor: heavy and oily. Starts sweet and finishes very smoky.
Notes: Water brings out a bit of plastic in both the aroma and flavor

Overall, the tasting went wonderfully. The crowd favorite for the evening was the Glen Garioch.