Bigscotty Drinks

It’s been a while since I’ve posted tasting notes. I’ll not belabor that with any lamentations, but will just jump into what I’ve been drinking this week.

Templeton Rye
Three bottles of this rye from Iowa have been in my home for some time. I love rye, but never really got what people were seeing in this one. Someone gifted us a crystal decanter for Christmas so I poured a bottle into it. Maybe a little bit of air getting in through the stopper (which isn’t air tight) for a month let this open up in some way. I’m not even sure that’s possible, but The Possibly Unlicensed Pyrotechnician came over to do some work for us, and we rewarded him with Templeton. Suddenly, I tasted a few notes I had been missing, but the biggest thing I noticed was the harsh finish I had associated with it originally was gone. In a word, it was balanced and smooth.

Ristretto’s Rwandan Dukundekawa Musasa
This might be my favorite local roast at the moment (especially for pour-over), though I think Extra Special KDB and The Danish Ambassador disagree.

Los Vascos Colchagua 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Extra Special KDB and I are going to Peru this summer so I’ve been trying to find some Peruvian wines. Basically, this means settling for Chilean wines (though I’m still looking locally and online). I was in a hurry when I picked this up, and totally forgot my history with cabs. I can’t remember anything about this wine except trying to drink it. Leaving it open over night didn’t even let it open up to anything that was…next…

Haden Fig 2010 Pinot Noir
This Willamette Valley Pinot was a very nice way to bounce back from the Los Vascos. I found a subtle earthiness, a berry note that I couldn’t quite place (raspberry or black berry), and I had an immediate craving for beef (a ribeye in particular). I blame the mystery berry note on this being opened late in the evening, after many other drinks. The Haden Fig comes in at $24 a bottle, but I swear I got it at Whole Foods for $20.

Reginato Sparkling Rosé of Malbec
I was reluctant to shell out $17.99 for a sparkling rosé, as there’s always something that makes me want to spend $10 or less on anything that’s a rosé. This Argentine treat makes me think I’ve been missing out. The only bad thing to say, is that the bottle only lasted about twenty minutes when Extra Special KDB and I sat down to dinner.

Trumer Pils
Sometimes, there’s no better way to cap off thirty minutes of cardio than a pilsner. I’m sure you’ve been there.

Zonin Prosecco
For Sunday brunch at home, there’s no better bargain than this $6 Prosecco. It’s great in a grapefruit mimosa with soft boiled eggs, cheese, bread and olives. It’s also great after a 5K run. It’s possible that Zonin is only making this available at Trader Joe’s, but I haven’t confirmed that yet. Buying a case of it is a real temptation right now.

This really isn’t any kind of secret, and tons of folks already know about it. That said, I just wanted to let folks know about Oregon’s Liquor Store and Product Search Page. In short, you can search for what’s in stock at any liquor store in Oregon. It’s probably of little use if all you want is a bottle of Jack Daniels, but it can save you lots of time when you’re tracking down a special bottling or limited supply item.

It eliminates the need to search for a liquor store’s phone number, call them and inquire if they have that Limited Bottling of 18 Year Old Super Oaked Bourbon you’ve been hunting.¹ You can just search for what you’d like, and see who has it. You can search for a specific product within a 10-60 mile radius of your location OR you can browse by product category (which can get a little tedious).

Search results will show you who has it, how much they have on hand, case price and everything else you need.

The reason you can do this is that Oregon is a liquor control state. In short, that means Oregon owns the liquor until the time you purchase it, and they kinda like to keep tabs on it.²

The biggest heartbreak I see when searching is that nobody in Oregon seems to have anything from High West Distillery and the recently released 2011 Four Roses Limited Edition Bourbon hasn’t shown up anywhere. As you can see from the search results above, I was able to track down some Thomas Handy…Yay for Team Booze!

I don’t like chai.

Let me rephrase that. I don’t like chai so much that I’ll go out of my way to make it, and I never order it when I’m out some place. Extra Special KDB was flipping through this month’s Portland Monthly in which Deena Prichep offers up a recipe for chai that resulted in a simply stated demand. “This chai shall be made at the earliest of opportunities.” With cardamom and saffron on hand from making bitters, there was little standing in the way of proceeding.

Here’s Deena’s recipe for two from the article.

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp loose black tea (Darjeeling if you have it, or standard orange pekoe)
• 1 tsp ground whole cardamom pods
• 1 large pinch saffron
• 4 tsp sugar

Instructions

1. Place milk in a saucepan with the black tea and ground cardamom, and bring to a full boil.
2. Add saffron and sugar, and reduce heat to low.
3. Simmer for a few minutes to infuse the flavors, then pour through a strainer to remove solids.
4. Serve warm.

Somewhere between step 1 and 2, I began to smell something that reminded me of a soap, bordering on hints of bleach. I was concerned that I hadn’t rinsed the saucepan, but eventualy decided it was the cardamom, Darjeeling and saffron all coming together. Extra Special KDB was just getting a strong cardamom aroma. The more I smelled, the more I could start discerning each aromatic at work, and they eventually seemed to fuse together as things simmered. Lots of strong smells at work when your nose is three inches from the pan.

I enjoyed about half of the serving before my palate just started complaining about the things that I normally dislike about chai. I want it to be straight black tea. I want it to be a latte. I want it to be less sweet. I want it to be hot chocolate. Some of these are contrary to one another, but I want it to be anything but what it is at the time. That said, I still can’t say it’s bad. The Darjeeling is there with its nice floral qualities, and saffron is there giving color and sweetness. It’s all working to do its thing; it’s just not doing it for me. When you consider the recipe uses about $3 worth of saffron, it’s not the cheapest of drinks to try. Extra Special KDB loved it, and finished mine. That might be all the endorsement anybody needs.

I’ll pass, but it’s a quick and easy chai to make if you’re entertaining folks that want some chai.

I made Grapefruit Bitters last week, and just got a chance to taste and mix the first batch into a few cocktails. I’ll start by saying this isn’t exactly aromatic bitters, but a quick infusion of vodka, Campari, vermouth and grapefruit. I did it mostly just to play with some ingredients on hand while other bitters recipes sit and do their thing over the next few weeks. I adapted the recipe below from the folks at CHOW.

Ingredients

• 1 grapefruit
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup Campari
• 1 cup vodka
• 3/4 cup sweet vermouth

Instructions

1. Cut and juice the grapefruit. Reserve the juice, and coarsely chop the rind.
2. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves, and let the syrup simmer until it thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.
3. Add chopped grapefruit, and cook until the grapefruit releases all its juice (or about 5 minutes).
4. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
5. Combine cooled grapefruit syrup and chopped rind, reserved grapefruit juice, Campari, vodka, and sweet vermouth in a large mason jar. Stir, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

I deviated from the recipe just a bit. Instead of an hour to infuse, I let it sit for three days with moderate agitation each day. I double strained, bottled it and served it up a few different ways. Keep it refrigerated, and it will last about a month.

Taste #1
The first taste test was a .5 ounce pour of the bitters into a wide shot glass. My immediate thought was that it could be strained more, but it seemed to be more of a cloudiness than any kind of sediment or pulp. The nose test results were an immediate “this smells strongly like Campari and I may have wasted a grapefruit.” The sample taste indicated that the vermouth and vodka had been totally overpowered. I did not finish the taste simply because I didn’t want to blow my palate out of my mouth with the strong Campari taste since I was going to be testing it more. Extra Special KDB liked it, and drained it.

Taste #2
I wanted some sweetness and some carbonation to deal with the bitterness on the palate, and decided to make a sparkling cocktail. I was out of club soda and other sparkling anything except for a few bottles of Lamarca Prosecco. I did a simple 1:1 ratio of the prosecco and bitters in a rocks glass with ice. A quick stir, and I found something very pleasant, very light and fruity with the Campari held at bay just long enough to let the grapefruit play a little more. The problem is that the bitters settle quickly to the bottom requiring extra stirring. Not a big problem. I didn’t quite finish this taster either.

Taste #3
The same ingredients as Taste #2 except that I went with a 2:1 ratio of prosecco to the bitters with more vigorous stirring when first mixing it up. Nice taste where the prosecco comes to the forefront, almost a bit too much as the bitters takes a total back seat. I think a 1.5:1 ratio of prosecco to the bitters might be where this cocktail gets dialed in.

Taste #4
A basic Negroni with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and the bitters (instead of regular Campari). Well, what can I say? It tasted like a Negroni. Extra Special KDB liked it quite a bit, but my palate was worn out by this point and I kept thinking about how tasty it would be to have more prosecco. So, I had more. That is, the rest of the bottle.

Final Verdict
I think this experiment is not worth the effort unless you’re a huge Campari fan. Even then, you may never get an actual taste of the grapefruit or other ingredients involved with the infusion. The grapefruit is evident to the nose, but not the tongue which was one of the things I was anticipating the most. That said, who wants a Negroni?