Southern California Whiskey Club

There is a theory that, in order to make a Sunday night more palatable, one should attend a Sunday night whiskey tasting. We tested this theory at the first meeting of the Southern California Whiskey Club in late January and found it to be true. 

The inaugural meeting of the SCWC was held at Far Bar in Little Tokyo and featured wheated bourbons from the Stitzel-Weller distillery. The Kentucky-based distillery closed in 1991*, leaving behind an expansive portfolio, including the storied Pappy Van Winkle. 

Bar Made and 38 fellow Club members tasted our way through 1/2 ounce pours of 11 whiskies (full list below). Our friend Chris, founder of the SCWC, presented each bottle, gave a brief description, and then stopped by each table to pour and answer questions. 

The format of the club was relaxed and casual, with an interesting mix of members comprised of alcohol industry reps, casual whiskey fans, and serious drinkers. Everyone was there to drink, talk, and to learn. In order to underscore the casual vibe of the Club we'll share the Club rules with you:

1. Have fun and allow others to have fun!
2. No telling others how they should drink their whisky! (If you want to drink your whisky over fruity pebbles cereal, that is fine). It is yours to enjoy.
3. Please be respectful of the places of business that allow us to have our meetings at their location.
4. No mean drunks
5. If you are a mean drunk, please remember rule #1.

SCWC's next meeting is coming up in March and is a Tax Stamp Night. If you're interested in joining you can find out more information and contact Chris here.

Stitzel-Weller Night Whiskey List

1. Cabin Still 1989
2. Cabin Still 2012
3. Old Fitzgerald BID DSP-KY-16
4. Old Fitzgerald BID DSP-KY-1 2012
5. Very Special Old Fitzgerald BHC Louisville 1994**
6. Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 year Current Release
7. Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year 2010
8. Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year 2012
9. W.L. Weller Special Reserve 7 year 1995***
10. W.L. Weller Centennial 10 year BHC Louisville 1994
11. Rebel Yell 90 proof Bourbon 1982 Tax Stamp

*Stitzel-Weller recently announced that they would begin distilling again, as has been confirmed by several sources.
** Mike's favorite of the night
*** Abby's favorite of the night

Cocktail!

On Friday night Bar Made went back to school with the Institute of Domestic Technology to study cocktail making*. We mixed up bottles of bitters and limoncello, then used our newfound cocktail knowledge and an assortment of homemade liqueurs and extractions to craft a unique drink. 

Our class was taught by the Institute's founder, Joseph Shuldiner, and Plow & Gun coffee co-founder Daniel Kent. Joseph and Daniel walked us through how to make extractions using herbs, dried fruit, and Everclear before letting the class loose on a table filled with extractions grouped into floral, earthy, bitter, and fruity categories. Students were encouraged to taste the pure extractions before adding them to our bottles. Our favorites were the lemongrass, peppercorn, and wormwood. #bitterparty

From there we moved on to making liqueurs using citrus rinds, simple syrup, and more Everclear. Samples of a batch of limoncello that Joseph made were passed around, and the flavor was far superior to many of the bottled varieties available at liquor stores. Once you realize how easy it is to make a bottle of bitters or a liqueur using whatever you have on hand, it seems weirder to not make this stuff yourself. 

Joseph and Daniel were funny, knowledgeable, and eager to make you as excited about cocktails as they are. One of our unique cocktails tasted like ab-so-lutely nothing, and the instructors were there to taste and offer suggestions how to improve the final product. One half of Bar Made has taken a class at the Institute before and we see many more classes in our future.

*The setting was Greystone Mansion, a historic, much-used filming location. Specifically the setting was the speakeasy in the billard room in the basement bowling alley of Greystone Mansion. More specifically, this. 

New Year!

Bar Made's New Year's Resolution is simple: to not drink more, but to drink better. 

When the idea for this blog was conceived back in the summer of 2011, our first goal was to write about products that would help people discover new beers, liquors, and drinks. People tend to graviate towards the familiar, and even seasoned drinkers such as us can spend night after night drinking martinis*, Corpse Reviver #2s, and cans of Licher. 

We came up with this cocktail in the early hours of 2013 and would like to share it here as a reminder to get behind your bar and get creative. This cocktail was created to go along with an Italian meal we were making, but the bitterness and balanced sweetness would go well with almost anything. 

The Argyle
This recipe makes 1 cocktail; double measurements to make 2 drinks.

2 oz. grappa
1 oz. maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 oz. Cynar
1/4 oz. simple syrup**

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker; add ice
Shake until frost forms on outside of shaker
Strain into coupe, garnish with a Luxardo cherry

*Abby's preferred martini is 3 oz. gin (preferably Hendrick's); 1/2 oz. Dolin Dry vermouth; dash orange bitters; garnished with an olive; stirred, ice, coupe, downed, etc. Mike's preferred martini is 2 oz. gin (any gin will do, he says); 1 1/2 oz. Dolin Dry vermouth; dash orange bitters; stirred, ice, lemon twist, research historial beer recipes, preferably Presidential ones. 

**We originally made this drink with 1/4 oz. simple syrup, but ended up liking the one without more. Include it if the mood strikes!

Westvleteren 12

On a wet, misty Los Angeles afternoon we picked up a tiny, cheap Christmas tree and toasted it with glasses of Westvleteren 12, one of the rarest beers in the world. 

As soon as you start drinking craft beers, you begin hearing about Westvleteren. Everyone talks about this beer but few people get the chance to taste one, as a plane ticket to Belgium is the usual price tag.

When an unprecedented 15,000 cases of this beer were released in the U.S. on 12/12/12, fans allegedly camped out overnight for it, participated in lotteries for it, and everyone had something to say about its price. Stores across the country were inundated with requests for the "bricks", which included six 11.2 oz beers and two glasses. 

Because of the hype surrounding this beer, it is hard to objectively say whether or not the $85 price tag is worth it. For (some) beer enthusiasts, it almost certainly is. This special release is, for many, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to drink this beer, and $85 is much cheaper than a trans-Atlantic flight. We were lucky enough to get a six pack and waited four days to try it so we had enough time to sit down and enjoy the beer properly.

Tasting Notes

We recommend taking a bottle out of the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to drinking. 

Nose: honeyed dates with fruity esters and light alcohol spice.

Palate: very textured and effervescent right out of the bottle; caramelized Belgian candi sugar up front, with a complex, fruity mid-palate; dates, dried figs, apricot, and honey; finish is surprisingly dry with a lingering hop bitterness.

Driven by spicy alcohol and fruity esters, Westvleteren 12 is a balanced, well-structured quad. 

The Diki-Diki

 




The Diki-Diki is a simple drink, which is why we made it tonight’s accompaniment to Pizza Night. Pizza Night is the night where we are too tired or hot to cook so we make other people do it for us. Pizza Night can occur multiple times a week. 

The Diki-Diki consists of only three ingredients, including two complex liqueurs: Swedish punsch and Calvados. Swedish punsch is a reddish-brown liqueur from Sweden that was recently made available in the U.S. under the brand name Kronan. It is sugar cane based and tastes earthy, smoky, and toasted. Calvados is an oak-aged apple brandy from Normandy. Young Calvados tastes like fresh apple cider but takes on notes of leather and becomes tannic as it ages. Similar to true Champagne and cognac, which both have to be from certain regions to carry that name, true Calvados must be from the Normandy region of France. Domestically produced versions are called applejack or simply apple brandy.

In this cocktail the rich earthiness of the punsch pairs well with the fruity earthiness of the Calvados with the acid and freshness of the grapefruit juice acting to tone down all that dirt.

Admittedly this wasn’t a great pairing for pizza as the fatty cheese ruined the depth of the Calvados and punsch. The Diki-Diki is better as a stand-alone cocktail that we recommend trying because of its ease and delicious, fresh taste.

The Diki-Diki

This recipe makes two cocktails.

3 oz. Calvados

1 oz. Swedish punsch

1 1/2 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

Measure the ingredients into a shaker, fill shaker with ice, and shake. Shake well.

Strain into cocktail glass.

Lillet Rosé!

A bottle of Lillet Rosé never lasts more than a few days in our house. Surprisingly versatile, Lillet Rosé can be sipped by itself or added to a cocktail. The rosé Lillet is sweeter and less dry than the blanc and has notes of stone fruit and herbs. 

Rosé Reverse Martini
Pictured at right. This recipe comes from the booklet attached to bottle of Lillet. It is strong and delicious! The following recipe is for one cocktail; double the measurements to make two drinks.

4 oz. Lillet Rosé
1 oz. Hendrick's gin*
2 dashes orange bitters

Combine ingredients in a cocktail glass, add ice.
Stir well!
Strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with an orange peel


Corpse Reviver #2
Pictured at left. This is a classic that we really shook up by simply replacing the standard Lillet Blanc with Lillet Rosé.This recipe makes two cocktails.

2 oz. gin
2 oz. Prunier (an orange liqueur similar to Grand Marnier)
2 oz. Lillet Rosé
2 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 dashes of absinthe

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice. 

Shake well!

Strain into a glass.

*We used Hendrick's because we had it on hand but you can use any gin.