Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.
Do you ever get a little argumentative when you've imbibed a little too much? Alcohol consumption often does loosen up the tongue. After a few drinks with my best friend Ben, I recently got all belligerent about Scotch cocktails.
Anybody who knows me knows I love my American whiskeys: bourbon, rye, wheat, even corn whiskey. I'll always prefer bourbon over Scotch -- although, I do enjoy plenty of Scotch whiskeys too. But I've rarely had a Scotch cocktail that made me want to come back for more.
Reason #3,493,802 why I love the internets, from the Foodzie info page for Luca Chocolate's Bacon Box:
This box started from a special request from a blogger for something with bacon and chocolate. I knew the marriage of the two flavors (sweet and salty) would be delicious! I crafted two different bacon and chocolate truffles, both of which you will find in this box.
And #3,493,803 from BonBonBar's Foodzie page:
The combination of Single Malt Scotch and Dark Chocolate is one of the more special sensations in the confectionery world. From the first taste to the seductive aftertaste, new and complex flavors emerge that seem to enhance both the Scotch and the chocolate. Our Scotch Bar rounds out the experience with chewy caramel and delicate flakes of Maldon Sea Salt. We use Talisker 1992 Distillers Edition Single Malt Scotch, from the Isle of Skye. It was transferred from traditional bourbon oak into amoroso sherry casks to finish its maturation.
And what is this magical Foodzie, this bringer of joy and seemingly hallucinatory foodstuffs? It's an online market for small artisanal food producers, and seemingly a win-win for both the vendors and customers. Because there's little overhead involved, the makers earn roughly double what they would on a traditional in-store sale, and the savings are passed on to customers -- who also have the benefit of one-stop shopping for some pretty appealing foodstuffs that might not otherwise find on their local stores' shelves.
All products are personally tested and vetted by the site's founders, three food-loving friends who met at Virginia Tech and went on to found the company in North Carolina. Their current roster includes thirty vendors of meat, cheese, coffee, tea, and many other edible goodies including plenty more of those whack-a-doodle chocolate constructs all the kids are so wacky about these days.
If you'll pardon me, I'll be off to stick my face into an Appalachian Wedge.
There's nothing like the warm flavor of Scotch Whiskey, and just in time for Christmas, Bruce Watson runs through the best cheaper bets to make this Santa season perfectly Scotchy.
Meanwhile, it's time to let it snow with some homemade marshmallows which will give you a quick winter project and keep your cups of cocoa full of cheer!
In the single malt competition, Yoichi 20 years old, which is distilled near the city of Sapporo on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, beating out a number of other ostly Scottish brands. Judges chose Yoichi 20 for its "amazing mix of big smoke and sweet blackcurrant," "explosive aroma" and "big, long and sweet finish." The best blended whiskey award went to Suntory Hibiki, the same brand that was used in the movie Lost in Translation (hence, "Suntory time").
So, is it a coincidence that National Scotch Day falls on a Friday?
Answer: Yes, but the coincidence works out well. Now you can knock down a few after you leave work for the weekend, just like they do in 1950s movies where men worked in suits.
The first drink that comes to mind when I hear the word Scotch (besides Scotch on the Rocks, of course), is Scotch and Soda. Here's a recipe (it's scotch and, um, soda). Here's a recipe for a Blood and Sand, from the 1922 Rudolph Valentino movie. Actually, here's a whole page of Scotch recipes. Please be aware that some of the drink names on that page are NSFSEAE -- not safe for senstive ears and eyes. You've been warned.
Did you know that the first print ad for Johnnie Walker, which appeared in 1883, featured a Scotsman bawling over a broken bottle at his feet? Me neither, until I read Modern Drunkard's Ten Greatest Alcohol Icons of All Time. The jaunty chap with the top hat, tails and walking stick didn't appear until 1909. Originally known as the "Regency Buck," the iconic figure underwent a name change to become "The Striding Man." I also learned that Johnnie Walker is Superman's libation of choice.
It comes as no surprise that the whimsical Guinness Toucan appears on MD's list. The bird was introduced in the 1930s and had a 50-year run until its retirement in 1982. While many a tippler is familiar with this brightly colored fellow sporting a pint of the black stuff balanced on his beak, few know the little poem that accompanied the original advertisement: "If he can say as you can/'Guinness is good for you'/How grand to be a Toucan!/Just think what Toucan do." Most of the other icons on the list, including Mr. Boston, the Bacardi Bat and The Wild Turkey were familiar to me with the exception of The Hamm's Bear. Heck, I've never even heard of Hamm's Beer much less the wacky cartoon bear that represented the brand in a series of commercials that involved all sorts of high jinks ranging from pie fights and such to more serious capers such as robbery and arson. Rather than list all of the icons here I thought I'd let folks read through the MD piece.
Wood finished single malt Scotch is a style that has a solid past, but until recently you only saw a few examples of it. In the past few years they have started becoming more common. Scotch is traditionally aged for up to ten or more years in used Bourbon Casks. With wood finishing the Scotch is additionally aged for two or more years in casks that previously had another libation aged in them, usually a wine or fortified wine such as Port, Sherry, Madeira, Burgundy, etc. This makes the Scotch very complex and full flavored, the wine soaked wood bringing in additional layers of flavor and characteristics that you wouldn't normally have.
Wood finishing is now becoming a hot trend because the resulting product has a sweeter and fruitier taste that is more accessible to the new Scotch drinker than some of the more traditional, smoky, and full bodied Scotch's. The style started to be fully examined in the 1970's with a lot of research and experimentation going on. Of course the makers of Scotch are traditionalists, so there has been an uproar about whether the style is being used to cover up weak tasting and flawed Scotch, but after the dust settled down the style has become accepted as valid. It is now a solid part of the single malt market with many extremely fine examples to enjoy. For some reasonably priced and very nice examples check out this list from an LA Times article.
With the holidays chugging along it's the time of year for giving special gifts to our friends. I like to give spirits to raise my friends spirits during the holidays and this year there are more products available than ever, especially for Scotch lovers with tons of limited edition and special bottlings available. My mouth is watering just reading about them and I am quivering in my seat in anticipation of a taste or three. Here is a baker's dozen that Forbes.com brought to my attention and you can't go wrong with any of these fabulous Scotch's. Just the type of gifts I hope I end up receiving this year. Hint, hint! Some may be beyond your budget (and mine) but we can all dream, can't we?
A $38,000 bottle of Scotch whiskey, The Macallan Fine and Rare Collection, 1926, made the top of Forbes Magazine's list of the most expensive whiskies in the world. Bottles of the stuff are sold out, but apparently you can still get a $3,000 dram in some restaurants and bars. Coming in second, at a perfectly respectable $10,000 a bottle, is a 1939 Macallan. Forbes' resident boozehound Nick Passmore tries to put some of these outrageously priced bottles in context by describing the current movement towards not only collecting, but actually drinking and appreciating ultra-premium spirits. Unfortunately, like other Forbes lists, you have to use a painfully clunky separate browser window to view information on each bottle.
Thanks to the blogosphere I learn something new
every day. Today's fun fact: The District of Columbia, has overtaken the state of Wisconsin as the top brandy consumer
per capita.
Pardon my ingorance, but I had no idea Wisconsites were so fond of the nectarlike distilled wine. Apparently it's been a staple of Friday night
fish fries in the wintry state for years. Though I can see the need to sip such a warming libation on a cold Wisconsin
evening, I can't imagine how brandy grew to become so popular there. Some theorize that a large number
of German-Americans were exposed to brandy when they attended the 1893 World's Fair in Cincinnati.
As for
brandy's popularity in D.C., who can say? I always thought the U.S. capital was more of a bastion of Scotch and
bourbon.
Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual
foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this
market as they can, but there are some who are none too happy about the current
market.
In India, sales of whisky have enjoyed a fifty percent increase in the last year and a Scotish Whisky Association
(SWA) representative said that "India is the industry's number one trade priority." That is where the trouble
starts. The SWA is protesting the 212-525% taxes and tariffs on their imports, which the Indian government and
distillers say is necessary to protect local products. Indian distillers, in turn, are protesting the fact
that the EU does not permit them to sell their own brew as "whisky" in Europe because it is molasses-based,
not cereal-based. The Indian distillers, like magnate Vijay Mallya, say that having to call their beverage an
"Indian spirit" hurts sales and the EU's labling requirements amount to protectionism, especially since they
are not asking to call their products "scotch," and are willing to use the label "Indian
whisky."
Efforts towards a settlement have failed thus far, but the EU is apparently conducting negotiations to see if a
resolution can be reached.
In 2003, Royal Salute produced 255 bottles of its 50-year-old whisky to celebrate the anniversary of the Coronation
of Queen Elizabeth II. The whisky was distilled in 1953, aged for 50 years, then bottled.
Now we've covered high-end and
ultra-expensive
spirits here at Slashfood before, but I don't ever recall a bottle of Scotch whisky that could be traded in for a
pretty decent car. Wow.
The remaining bottles were also sold for a minimum price of $8,888. I think you could still buy a car with that,
too.
With
St. Patrick's Day looming up ahead of us it's time to think - not about corned beef and cabbage and beer, which
combined has always struck me as a gastric disaster waiting to happen - but rather about the real Irish diet, which is,
of course, whiskey and a dash of water.
Everywhere I go I encounter confusion amongst the good and drunk people of this country as to what is the
difference between Irish whiskey and "regular" whiskey. They also don't seem to know that bourbon is a
whiskey, and yet whiskey is not always bourbon. And, here's an interesting one, Jack Daniels is NOT bourbon, because
it's made in Tennessee. So I thought before you go embarrassing yourself in front of all those fireman and police at
the bar this Friday, I'd share my encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.
Let's start with Scotch, just to get it out of the way. Coming as it does from Scotland, it's distilled from
"malt" (sprouted barley, dried in a drum) and flavored with burnt peat moss as part of its distilling
process, which since that moss is not to be found elsewhere makes Scotch its distinctive smoky self.
Luxist pointed out that The Macallan has bottled some of their finest
50-year old single malt scotch. Not
content with the ordinary bottles that were available, it commissioned custom blown glass bottles in the shape of
the barrels that the scotch was aged in. The bottle itself will have a crystal stopper and will be packaged in a
leather and silk box. 470 bottles of the scotch will be packaged, with 20 for sale in the UK and 100 for sale in the
US, with prices starting at $6000 per bottle. The gold-colored whisky has strong flavors of cardamom, black cherries,
and chocolate. It should be pointed out that The Macallan has a registry on their website where you can confirm
ownership of your bottle in order to prevent someone else claiming ownership, I suppose. Custody is an issue that
cannot be taken seriously enough.
A distillery in Scotland is planning to produce the world's
strongest whisky. The single-malt whisky will be distilled four
times, while whisky is ordinarily distilled only twice. At 92 percent alcohol, the malt will have more than double
the alcohol content of ordinary whiskies. The distillery is engaging in the project in an attempt to replicate the
Scottish drink described in a 1695 travel book, The Western Isles of Scotland, which contains what is
considered to be the world's oldest whisky-tasting note. The book also includes a warning that the drink takes effect
immediately, so by imbibing any more than two spoonfuls, "it would presently stop his breath and endanger his
life". Despite the warning, the distillery manager believes that the whisky will have a floral note to it. They
expect to produce approximately 5000 bottles.
There's nothing like the warm flavor of Scotch Whiskey, and just in time for Christmas, Bruce Watson runs through the 
Let's just call this year "Suntory time." 
So, is it a coincidence that National Scotch Day falls on a Friday?
Did you know that the first print ad for Johnnie Walker, which appeared in 1883, featured a Scotsman bawling over a broken bottle at his feet? Me neither, until I read Modern Drunkard's 
Wood finished single malt Scotch is a style that has a solid past, but until recently you only saw a few examples of it. In the past few years they have started becoming more common. Scotch is traditionally aged for up to ten or more years in used Bourbon Casks. With wood finishing the Scotch is additionally aged for two or more years in casks that previously had another libation aged in them, usually a wine or fortified wine such as Port, Sherry, Madeira, Burgundy, etc. This makes the Scotch very complex and full flavored, the wine soaked wood bringing in additional layers of flavor and characteristics that you wouldn't normally have. 
With the holidays chugging along it's the time of year for giving special gifts to our friends. I like to give spirits to raise my friends spirits during the holidays and this year there are more products available than ever, especially for Scotch lovers with tons of 
A $38,000 bottle of Scotch whiskey, The Macallan Fine and Rare Collection, 1926, made the top of 
Thanks to the blogosphere I learn something new
every day. Today's fun fact: The District of Columbia, has overtaken the state of Wisconsin as the top brandy consumer
per capita.
Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual
foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this
market as they can, but there are some who are 
With
St. Patrick's Day looming up ahead of us it's time to think - not about corned beef and cabbage and beer, which
combined has always struck me as a gastric disaster waiting to happen - but rather about the real Irish diet, which is,
of course, whiskey and a dash of water.
Luxist
A distillery in Scotland is planning to produce the 
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