Ingredients:
Jim Beam Black eight-year-old bourbon or the equivalent Bloody Mary mix (preferably homemade, but your favorite mix will do)
Hickory bacon salt
Two slices of thick-sliced crisp bacon
Celery (the “L” of the BLT here)
Rim a tall glass with hickory bacon salt. Make a Bloody Mary as you usually would in your favorite way, but use Jim Beam Black Bourbon instead of vodka. Take two slices of thick-sliced flavorful gorgeous crisp bacon and make an “X” over the glass. Take a bite of the bacon and sip and you have a BLT. Let’s face it, vodka adds no flavor whatsoever to the Bloody Mary, but the eight-year-old bourbon adds those great barrel notes after aging, that compliment the Bloody Mary. The bacon, well, if I have to explain that, you shouldn’t be drinking it!
I attend the annual New Orleans convention celebrating the art of the cocktail–Tales of the Cocktail. Whatever you do, go next year. Go to the website and find seminars to attend and make plans to attend the different dinners and events. I’ve found that New Orleans as a city makes the best Bloody Marys by far. My guess is they are more familiar with hungover people than most cities. Right behind the host hotel, the Monteleone, is a little corner bar called the Chart Room. I call it the “Back Door of the French Quarter,” so you know I love it. During Tales of the Cocktail, you can find master distillers, ambassadors and the top mixologists in the world there at any given time. I walked by one morning and saw my buddy Phil who owns the famous whiskey bar in New York, Daddy O’s, my buddy and teammate, Matt, and a few others sitting at the bar at the crack of 11:00.
SPEAKING OF BACON…
Every Tuesday night at Harris Grill in Pittsburgh is “Bacon Night,” With free bacon at the bar from happy hour, and just a dollar at the tables “’til the pigs go home.” My friend Lori Martin turned me on to the Harris Grill, its owner Rodney and Bacon Night. How can you not love a place that has Bacon Night? Next time you’re in Pittsburgh on a Tuesday night, head on over and enjoy some bourbon and bacon. (5747 Ellsworth Avenue–in the Shadyside neighborhood–412.362.5273-www.harrisgrill.com.)
OLD TUB BOTTLED IN BOND TOAST
Fred Noe is the seventh generation of Beams to run the Jim Beam distillery…which just happens to make them one of the most illustrious distilling families in the world. Yet Fred takes the time to text or call me and wish me a happy birthday. He takes the time to talk to anyone who is interested in bourbon. He is more than a mentor, he is a friend.
The Bourbon Fest 2007 previewed the first bottles of Jim Beam with Fred Noe’s image added to the family pictures on the label. They had a big media event for that special day, of course. There was an empty rocking chair to represent each of the six previous generations, and Fred’s dad, Booker’s, chair had his fishin’ hat and can on his. Fred and Booker used to travel around doing the Great Whiskey Debate. The Great Whiskey Debate was something that was created by their PR partner and friend, Jim Kokoris, at which Booker or Fred would debate that bourbon was the better whiskey of the world, and Richard Patterson of The Dalmore Scotch would debate that scotch was the better whiskey of the world. It is a great event to witness. One of the “props” they used was a full bottle of Old Tub Bottled in Bond Bourbon (a brand that was first made by third-generation David Beam and continued until the 1970s). Jim and Fred always said they’d open that bottle some day. So later that week when we were all at the Bourbon Q BBQ celebration, Jim brought that bottle of Old Tub to the party to give it to Fred.
Fred took that bottle of Old Tub Bottled in Bond Bourbon, and everyone took turns getting pictures with it. Now you can’t get Old Tub anymore, but Fred insisted we not just open the bottle but finish it off. I mean, how many times do you get your picture on the side of one of the biggest icons of American history? But still, a lot of people I know would have saved that bottle and never opened it. Not Fred. We all took a taste and toasted Fred’s milestone on the porch of Colonel Jim Beam’s house with all that history around us…It’s a moment I’m sure I could never describe as vividly as it happened, but I know I will never forget it as long as I live.
My cousin Bobby up front, me, Hickory, Fred, David, Virgil and Bourbon Festival enthusiast.
Left, Old Tub Bottled in Bond. Right, Mine and Hickory’s buddy (and bass player) Chris Douglas taking in the magic and greatness of the Old Tub.
When you see a collection of professionals like this, you know it’s going to be a long day and night, so you definitely need your vitamins. I then introduced them and the bartender Julie to the BLT. They didn’t have bacon, but Julie made up the best damn Bloody Mary with Old Grand Dad bonded in it…and let me tell you, it was delish. I will not rest until Old Grand Dad is the Pabst Blue Ribbon of bourbon, and I won’t rest until all the Bloody Marys made around Bourbon Street are made with bourbon in them. Help me spread the word.
BOURBON MIMOSA
Ingredients:
Knob Creek bourbon, or your favorite that works with this Chilled sparkling apple cider
Cinnamon
In a champagne flute add a shot of Knob Creek bourbon and then top off with chilled sparkling apple cider. Sprinkle some cinnamon on the top. If you want to get real fancy, garnish with a thin slice of apple and slide it on the rim.
This drink is an absolute hit when I attend Kentucky Derby morning parties before we go to the race track. For any occasion you would be drinking a regular mimosa, think of this as an alternative. It’s a great way to enjoy bourbon, especially for vodka and rum drinkers.
COOK LIKE A WHISKEY PROFESSOR
I don’t cook much, but when I do, I like to cook with bourbon. (Surprise!) Here are a few of my favorites for you.
Bernie’s Spicy Bourbon Chicken
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Your various favorite spices
½ cup brown rice
Broccoli, or any combination medley of your favorite vegetables
Chicken broth
Old Grand Dad Bonded 100-proof bourbon whiskey
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice chicken breasts in half. On a piece of aluminum foil, place each boneless chicken breast in its own piece of aluminum foil on the shiny side. Make sure the foil is long enough to be able to hold chicken inside and fold at both ends.
Sprinkle your favorite seasonings and spices on the chicken. I like ground cayenne, cumin, freshly ground black pepper, poultry seasoning and a little ground paprika for really nice color. Don’t be bashful with any of these spices. After seasoning both sides, you may add broccoli or any other veggies, too. Then join the long end of the foil at the top and fold shut. That leaves the two ends of the foil. Fold one end shut and then add up to a tablespoon of chicken broth and the same amount of bourbon. Seal the final end. You’ll figure out which amount of broth and Old Grand Dad you like after you make this recipe a couple times.
Place the chicken in the foil on a baking sheet on the center rack for 20 minutes. Prepare a half-cup of brown rice while the chicken cooks.
The chicken will be perfectly done after 20 minutes. Be careful opening the end of the foil (the steam escaping is very hot since you just pressure-cooked it in the sealed foil). Pour the bourbon/broth “gravy” in a bowl, and then the chicken. Slice the chicken in the broth with the veggies, and add rice.
The best thing about this is you can make several of these aluminum packs of chicken and put them in the fridge. It just takes the time to preheat and 20 minutes of cooking. Perfect for dinner for one or two, but it can also be perfect for a dinner party. It looks like you’ve slaved and prepped all day. They’ll never know how easy it is.
Bernie’s Bourbon Cream
Wine glass
Mint chocolate chip ice cream
Baker’s seven-year-old, 107-proof bourbon
This is the easiest dessert to serve at home or take to someone’s house. It’s always a hit. All you do is take a wine glass and add a couple scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream into them. Then pour over it a shot of Bake
r’s seven-year old, 107 proof bourbon. Garnish with some fresh mint and, if you want to get really fancy, add some fruit, but that’s it. When your guests spoon out the ice cream and the bourbon, it’s just like a mint julep dessert! So simple, and you’ll be the star every single time, especially with the after-dinner drinks you make with the leftover bourbon!
Bourbon: Our Native Spirit
As a nation, “… we have improved man’s lot and enriched his civilization with rye, bourbon, and the martini cocktail. In all history has any other nation done so much? Not by two-thirds.”
–Bernard DeVoto, THE HOUR: A Cocktail Manifesto
In 1964, Congress declared bourbon the native spirit of the United States. Why would the U.S. government take the time to bother with bourbon? It’s because bourbon whiskey developed in tandem with United States history. Let’s face it, folks, if there was no bourbon, there’d be no NASCAR! And what would America be without that?
Bobby G., Fred Noe and me (photo courtesy of the author)
BOTTLING BOURBON
Bourbon was first bottled and labeled in 1870 by a pharmaceutical salesman named George Garvin Brown. One of his friends was a doctor who was a Civil War hero with a sterling reputation, and the doctor would often complain that the bulk whiskey he prescribed (barrel whiskey) wasn’t consistent. He would say he just couldn’t rely on it. Being an enterprising man, George Brown bought several barrels of bourbon, used a hydrometer to measure the proof, bottled it, and sold it as superior medicinal bourbon. For credibility, he put the name of that noted physician and Civil War hero, Dr. William Forrester, on the label, and Old Forrester was born. After Dr. Forrester passed away, the distillery dropped one “r” and the Old Forester brand is still around today. As a matter of fact, it is the only bourbon that was available before, during and after Prohibition. I quite like the Signature 100 proof.
Other distilleries adopted this practice of bottling and labeling their bourbons, but mostly after 1897 with the Bottled in Bond Act. George Garvin Brown and his brother J.T.S. Brown went on to found Brown-Forman in Louisville, Kentucky. J.T.S. Brown was the preferred bourbon of Fast Eddie Felson, played by Paul Newman, in the movie The Hustler. J.T.S. Brown bourbon is still around today, too. What does the J.T.S. stand for? John Thompson Street Brown–I love that name.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law. Then the United States Senate in 2007 unanimously passed the resolution declaring September as National Bourbon Heritage Month. Like I said, it had to be a unanimous decision by the Senate. Bourbon is the one and only alcohol that is designated as our native spirit. So it is not only delicious to drink bourbon, it’s also your patriotic duty!
Just think about all the rich history and heritage surrounding bourbon: how the United States has used bourbon and whiskey as money and paid our troops with bourbon whiskey; the way bourbon has become its own style of whiskey, unique from Irish, scotch, Canadian, and Tennessee whiskey; the corn that gave it sweetness and the charred barrels that gave it magic, color and characteristics. Just think about all of the family names that are still in the bourbon business: Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Dr. James Crow, Edmund Taylor, the Medleys, the Ripys, Albert Blanton, George Washington, Colonel Oscar Pepper, the Beams, Pappy Van Winkle, the Samuels, the Browns, the Wathens, the Willets, and on and on. It’s great to see people embracing bourbon in the manner they have in the past 10 years. I believe that with the increased interest people have in visiting the Bourbon Trail and all the distilleries on it here in Kentucky, the industry might easily double and triple in size. But don’t worry about the quality. Remember, we can’t cut corners.
I think that what Ben Parley Moore witnessed in Kentucky in 1857 is still true today. When you meet my fellow whiskey professors, distillers, ambassadors and me, you will surely be greeted by gentlemen with our hearts in our right hand, and our right hand in yours, and surely in our left a bottle of unequalled old bourbon.
He’d drink a quart - each and every day
Of some good store bought Jim Beam
Doctor Forester said “Hey Pappy” you better cut it down
But then the good doc passed away, so who’s to say!
(Last chorus tag the ending with
He’d throw Old Fitz if he didn’t get that Sour Mash, and now he’s drinking with Booker far away!
The angels’ share is surely higher now today
Verse 2
When the weekend rolled around, oh the stories they would flow,
Like branch water pourin’ down Knob Creek.
Evan Williams start to sing - Brother Elijah’s voice would ring
And Jimmy passed the jug to Fred and Elmer T.
CHORUS
Verse 3
Wild Turkeys they all were, and like Eagles they were Rare
They bottled & bonded all the day.
And on into the night, at Basil Hayden’s shear delight,
They’d tell stories ’bout the whiskey men they were!
18 bourbons referenced:
Old Grand Dad – Heaven Hill – Four Roses – Jim Beam – Pappy Van Winkle – Old Forester – Ancient Age – Old Crow – Maker’s Mark – Knob Creek – Evan Williams – Elijah Craig – Booker’s – Wild Turkey – Eagle Rare – Basil Hayden’s – Elmer T. Lee – Old Fitzgerald
Other bourbon referenced:
Red Eye–Bottled in Bond – Angel’s Share – Branch Water – Sour Mash
Whiskey men referenced:
Jim Beam – Doctor William Forrester – Pappy Van Winkle – Evan Williams – Elijah Craig – Jimmy Russell – Fred Noe – Elmer T. Lee – Basil Hayden – Booker Noe
Three of my favorite labels: Knob Creek Small Batch, Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve and my tattoo (based on the Old Grand Dad and Old Crow labels). Bottled in Bond, of course!
Appendix:
Frequently Asked Questions
You can imagine that as a whiskey professor, I get asked a lot of questions about our native spirit when I tour the country. A lot of them get repeated, so I figured that putting down some of the most frequently asked questions here might help. Also, after reading this book, you just might know the answers yourself. Cover up the answer and see how well you do:
When distilling the distillers beer or mash into white dog, are different cuts of the distillate used to make different labels of bourbon (e.g. more middle run for higher quality labels vs. more first cut or tails for lesser quality)?
When you use a column still, you don’t make “cuts” as you do with a pot still for single-malt scotch. With pot stills you trim off the heads and tails on each batch. Column stills are very efficient. You only have to trim off heads when you start the still up, and then it brings the spirit off the still at a constant proof 24 hours a day, as long as you run the still, which is usually five or six days. Then you only trim off the tails on the last day. We do that with all our bourbons, not just small batch. There’s no such thing as “good cuts,” “bad cuts,” or “best cuts. They are all the best cuts. What separates the bourbons therefore is age and proof. A greater age on a bourbon and higher proof can make the bourbon more expensive. But they are all made with the same exacting, high standards by the laws that define bourbon from other whiskies. (i.e. 51% corn, distilled to no more than 160 proof, aged in a brand new charred- oak barrel at no more than 125 proof, bottled at no less than 80 proof, with nothing added to the bourbon other than water to get it to barreling or bottling strength).
Even when using pot stills and separating heads and tails on each batch, they would never use the heads and tails, only the heart. There would be too many fusel oils and congeners in the heads and tails.
Are there any bourbons distilled outside Kentucky? If so, what are they?
Ninety-seven percent of the bourbon in the world is distilled in Kentucky. But there are more and more bourbons made outside Kentucky as the popularity of bourbon continues to climb. The biggest brand made outside Kentucky is Virginia Gentleman. Hudson Baby Bourbon is being produced up i
n New York. There are bourbons being distilled in Austin, Texas, Colorado and Florida, too. But these are tiny little craft distillers and probably will be available only in their local markets, kind of like a local brew pub. So bourbon can be distilled anywhere in the United States, but since the overwhelming majority is distilled in Kentucky, a lot of people think that it has to be made in Kentucky. That is one of the myths of bourbon.
What type of glass is best for drinking bourbon neat?
I like to use a snifter or a nice rocks glass, sans the “rocks.” I like a glass that I can get my nose into a bit. But that’s a personal preference. There are some who like a tulip-shaped glass, and those are nice, but I can’t get my schnoz into them, so I like a snifter. Try some out and see what works best for you; there are no rules. When you visit, you’ll find out that we bourbon drinkers are not as pretentious as the scotch drinkers.
I have put together a whiskey cellar with roughly twelve different bourbons right now. Most of these are sealed with a cork. How should store them? On their sides? Upright? How long will they keep before they go “off”?
Keep your bourbons standing straight up, and if the corks are a good seal, they should never go “off”. Unlike wines, bourbons are distilled at a higher proof, so they won’t get “corked” or go bad. Bourbon will not age in the bottle, either. Just keep them out of direct sunlight, and you’ll enjoy them for years. But don’t wait years to enjoy them; we’ve got lots of barrels resting in our rack houses for you, so enjoy all you want … you keep drinking it, and we’ll keep making it.
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