Imbibe Mondays: Spiced Rummed Cherries

"He who likes cherries soon learns to climb." - German Proverb

The more cocktails my wife and I make at home the more maraschino cherries we have been going through. So naturally the progression to homemade maraschino, brandied, and rummed cherries was inevitable. Rummed cherries won out as the first experiment mostly because there was still a bit of Kraken Spiced Rum left on the bar. The Kraken, which I am sure I will review at some point based on its sheer novelty factor, really complements these cherries because of the spices present within. Not to mention, despite the branded image it exudes (quite brilliantly, if I may add) and the fact that it is more often than not mixed with cola rather than drank neat; it is quite a flavorsome and well made product, but more on that some other time.

Rummed Cherries:

½ cup soft demerara sugar
½ cup water
1-2/3 oz fresh lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Half scored vanilla pod
1 pound sweet pitted cherries
1 cup aged rum (I used the Kraken)
6-6, 8 oz short canning jars

Rummed Cherries Directions:
Step 1: Wash and pit cherries. I had never pitted cherries in my life and I didn’t have a cherry pitter, so I searching youtube for a how to guide to pitting cherries I found Nedah from Leankitchen.com. She used the “paper clip method,” which somewhat tedious, allows for just one hole in the cherry without cutting it all the way open.
Step 2: In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except the cherries and rum and bring to aboil. 
Step 3: When liquid begins to boil, reduce heat to a light simmer, add cherries and simmer for 5 minutes.
Step 4: Remove from heat, and add rum to cool everything down. Add to Jars.  You can either keep jars in the fridge or can them (directions below). I suggest leaving two jars in the fridge for easy access and canning the rest.
Step 5: Enjoy in a cocktail or on top of cake!

For Canning Cherries: Heat a large stock pot of water to a simmer. Using 8 oz short (half pint) jars, fill with finished rummed cherries and close with lid and band tightly. Place jars in boiling water for 10 minutes, covering jars in one inch of water. Here is a Ball Brand preserving guide if needed.

Posting Forecasts: The City

"One day if I do go to heaven – I’ll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco." - Herb Caen

This weekend I will be spending a few days in "The City" with my brother and father. Always considered my second home when I was growing up and the place where I was introduced to the wider world of Jazz,  professional baseball, and tequila (no thanks to my brother), this city holds a very special place in my heart. However these next few days will definitely not be spent anywhere near the Fisherman Wharf or Ghirardelli Square. My main goal, besides some serious relaxing time and hiking Mt. Tamalpias, will be visiting some great pubs and watering holes, touring the St. George Distillery in Alameda, and if possible Distillery 209. So along with a new bourbon and rye which I am very excited to review, many new posts to come. Until I return, drink what you like, and make it a double!

An Emblematic Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey: Redbreast 12 Year Old Whiskey Review:

“Redbreast is the secret restaurant tucked away in the back of the strip mall that only a handful of people know about. The atmosphere is great and the food divine, but no one is sure that they should tell other people about it because either it’ll become too crowded (and thus will be impossible to get a table) or the increased production by the staff in the back will affect the overall quality of the place.” – Kate Hopkins in 99 Drams of Whiskey

I’m always amazed with Redbreast 12 year old. The simple fact is that over time our palates change; we can’t do anything about it. We begin to gravitate towards certain brands and move away from others. At least this is how it has been for me. Currently I have been drinking more bourbon than anything else, so when the time came to retaste Redbreast 12 I was a bit worried how I would take it. Would it stand the test of time, holding the place on the shelf as the “whiskey which started it all” for me? The answer is yes. Passing with flying colors I actually enjoyed this more than ever.

Awarded the 2011 “Irish Whiskey of the Year” award and given a 96 rating by Malt Advocate, Redbreast 12 is a whiskey which truly shines. But before I go on, what is Irish whiskey anyway? How does it set itself apart from its Scottish brethren to the east? Generally, for starters, Irish whiskey is triple distilled and Scotch whisky is distilled twice. But the character which develops from both processes can vary significantly, so one can only talk of twice/triple distilled with a grain of salt. The more significant factor in distinguishing Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky is the fact that Irish whiskey (traditionally) was pure pot still whiskey. The pure pot still process is one of producing whiskey in copper pot stills from malted and unmalted barley. In the olden days pure pot still whiskey was simply called Irish whiskey – now that has changed over the years since the larger distilleries (Jamison’s and Bushmills) have come along and made things nice and smooth for everyone, partially taking away the pot still process, and thus taking away some of the complexity. But Jameson, Power’s, Midleton Very Rare, and other Irish whiskey brands do contain portions of pot still whiskey, providing tasters with a unique Irish experience. 

Redbreast 12 is a complete (100%) pure pot still whiskey. And apart from Greenspot, it is the only pure pot still whiskey widely available in the United States. Produced at the New Midleton Distillery by the Irish Distillers, Redbreast has a 12 year version and, only recently released in the United States, a 15 year old version. But from what I have heard Redbreast 12, with its more traditional pot still notes, outmatches the 15.   

Redbreast 12 Year Old Review:

Price: Around 39.99 for a 750ml bottle.

Packaging/Labeling: Beautiful green bottle with a lovely cap cover. The label almost borders on cheesy with the perforated edges, but that is only a small complaint.

***Packaging/Labeling Update: Not a huge deal, but Redbreast just changed its label (at least within the last few months) which uses a similar design but higher quality material. Much more ascetically pleasing.

Alcohol Content: 40% alcohol by volume, 80 proof.

Color: Pale Gold.

Nose: Young and green. Creamy and silky notes. Strong notes of bitter honey and bitter brown sugar. Not heavy jack fruit as I've seen in 100 malted barley whiskey. Some of the character borders on rye.

Tasting: This is a polished whiskey with loads of complexity. There is a green bitterness with a sweet disposition. The sweetness matches golden raisins which is then superseded by a salty spiciness. Nougat and strains of cookie dough. Brazilian nuts, Kiwi fruit and vain of tobacco-ed oak and ginger. The spice is extremely long lasting which develops into a liquorish creaminess left on the finish.

Conclusion: I was surprised by some fairly popular blogs labeling this whiskey as Speyside in nature, which honestly makes little sense, not to mention the same blogs going onto say that Redbreast was not on par with the complex rich Speyside single malts... What?! Not only is this trying to compare apples and oranges, yes, fruit none-the-less, but it simply goes against what many are saying and it goes against the extremely different processes that make up Irish and Scotch spirits. It needs to be understand that this is an extremely unique whiskey, which holds a different style and character of its own. As classic an Irish whiskey one can buy, this is a very highly recommended whiskey because of its complexity - just don't put this in a cocktail, it deserves its own glass.

Imbibe Mondays: Bourbon Cake-in-a-Jar with Bourbon Butter Sauce, Whipped Cream, and a Rummed Cherry:

"A bad review is like baking a cake with all the best 

ingredients and having someone sit on it." - Daniel Steel

It's time for the first baked product of Imbibe Mondays. Anyone who has been perusing the blog world for baked treats will know very quickly that the cake-in-a-jar is currently the thing to do and looking at various recipes my wife and I thought we should give it a go. The thought of putting jars in the oven was a little strange at first, but being that we have been doing some canning as of late (i.e. heating glass jars in boiling water) it wasn't too much of stretch to move onto baking with glass. This version of the cake-in-a-jar was most appealing not simply because of the use of whiskey, which is the whole reason for blogging it here, but because the flavor arrives beautifully. And when it comes to the bourbon butter sauce, the alcohol doesn't cook out entirely, leaving you with a stronger and more pronounced baked whiskey product  in line with something like a rummed tiramisu.

I do want to give a shout out to our neighbors and their friends who graciously tasted and sampled the finished product. Needless to say, we didn't have leftovers!

Also to Sprinkle Bakes, from which much of the recipe is adapted.

We used tall and short jars. Any will do, just make sure they are 8 oz.

The main key is to fill the jars halfway - they rise quite a bit so filling the jars more than halfway will cause overflow.

Note: that the sauce is thin, so the skewer makes the perfect size hole for the sauce to seep into.

Yes, they're good!

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee (instant coffee works fine)
1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp. Bourbon whiskey
1 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 tsp vanilla extract

10 - 8 oz. or 12 oz. glass canning jars

Directions for Cakes:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Step 2: Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl and set to the side.
Step 3: In a medium saucepan, add coffee, whiskey, butter (cut in slices), cinnamon, and cocoa powder.  Place over moderate heat and whisk until butter has melted.  Remove from heat and add the sugar.  Whisk until combined and pour into a large bowl. Give a small amount of time for it to slightly cool. 
Step 4: Whisk eggs and vanilla extract and gradually pour into chocolate mixture.  Add flour mixture and whisk until combined.  Note: that the mixture will be very thin.
Step 5: Place canning jars on a cookie sheet and fill each with batter halfway. Bake for 45-55 minutes. 

Bourbon-Butter Sauce:
1/4 cup Bourbon (I used Bulleit Bourbon)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup water

Directions for Bourbon Butter-Sauce:
Step 1: Combine ingredients in a small saucepan, and cook gently over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Then remove from heat.
Step 2: After the cakes have cooled for ten minutes, with a skewer, poke holes in each of the cakes.Divide up sauce evenly between all jars.

Final Step: Top cakes with whipped cream (recipe below) and rummed cherry.

Homemade Whipped Cream (2 cup heavy cream yields about 4 cups whipped cream):

1 pint heavy cream and flavorings in mixing bowl. Note: Avoid ultra-pasteurized cream.

3 teaspoons of vanilla extract per cup of cream

3 tablespoons of sugar

Directions for Whip Cream:

Step 1: Add all ingredients into mixing bowl.

Step 2: Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat cream. Starting slowly, increase speed of the mixer until it can go as fast possible without splashing. As the cream thickens, turn the speed up. The end product should form a soft peak which bends over at the top when you remove the whisk. As it starts to lighten, begin checking for this soft peak. Once this peak begins to form, slow down, so as not to over whip (essentially making it into butter). If needed adjust the flavorings as you go along.

Step 3: Top on Bourbon Cake-in-a-Jar.

Total Time: 5 minutes

*After a few hours, it will start to lose volume. But you can mix it again and it's still good to eat, even after a day or two.

Adventures in Moonshine: A Book Review of Max Watman’s Chasing the White Dog

“Authenticity is evasive and hard to understand in America. Why were there half a dozen honky-tonk beer joints in New York City at the turn of the century? I don’t know what to make of Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, or the French Quarter in New Orleans. For that matter, I don’t know what to make of my own town, in which the historical review board insists that the houses continue to be built as if it were the middle of the nineteenth century, to maintain an authentic cohesion, without stopping to consider that nothing is more artificial than building nineteenth-century houses in the twenty-first century.

It’s a slippery thing. There is no denying that the French Quarter is really the French Quarter or that Fisherman’s Wharf is built on the quays. These places have found themselves, due to the pressures of commerce or culture, in a state of aggravated self-consciousness, compelled to emulate and replicate their salient features until artifice overtakes authenticity.”

– Max Watman from Chasing the White Dog

Checking out from the brewers shop with flaked maize, 6-row pale malted barely, flaked rye, rye malt, a 3-gallon carboy, champagne yeast, a hydrometer, and a thermometer, Max Watman's cashier (Bella he calls her) explains to him that she isn't going to enter his information into the computer, saying, "You were never here." Watman is up to something and Bella knows it. For fear of imprisonment, for Bella and Watman both, it was better pretending that nothing was going on. Watman was in pursuit of the white dog and the first hurdle was to get out of the shop as quickly as possible.

Watman’s book Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw's Adventures in Moonshine, is about moonshine. It is about drinking moonshine, making moonshine, and the history of moonshine. What separates Watman’s account from all the previous history books and novels written about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, Prohibition of the 1920s, and “backwoods-boozers” of the South is that, when one comes to the end of page 290, the legends and mysticism behind the outlaw spirit dissipates, yet the allure is still just as appealing. As with any introduction to the history of distilled spirits, one begins to understand that much of the alcohol resting on ones bar is the product, not simply of quality producers winning out over the less able-bodied distillers, but rather it is the culmination of a complex and intricate history. After reading Watman’s book one is brought into a world which is quite uniquely an American phenomenon and yet completely separated from the multinationals of Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, two of the torch holders of American spirits.

Marvin 'Popcorn' Sutton, one of Watman's crucial characters,
sits next to his still in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
In 2007Sutton was arrested for illegal sales of alcohol.

Watman’s book, though very well received, has generally received flak for providing “historical interpretations [which] are not always reliable.” But on reading his book I find his interpretations are not necessarily unreliable, rather they draw the reader into the history of white dog from an entirely different vantage point – one not generally received by traditional interpretations. The book doesn’t detail the exciting times of Al Capone, the movements of temperance and those licentious speakeasies of New York. Though he does touch on each, Watman’s focus is one of self discovery, his journey of producing his own home-distilled white lightning, and one which details the genuine and personal lives of those who have been producing the stuff for the last century. One learns the largest illegal moonshine black market is located, not in the South, but in Philadelphia, and that many moonshiners, though some matching the classical “backwoodsy” glamour we are all familiar with, are fairly "normal" family-oriented people just trying to make a living. One of the most important features of the book being the historical linkage Watman creates between moonshiners, new and old, with micro distillers of today.

Not that this is some kind of revisionist account. With the allure of the history still very present in this book, this is not a thorough and detailed history of moonshine, or spirits in general. Rather it is a starting point where one can get their feet wet. Intriguing and wonderfully written, one is hard-pressed, finishing the book, to resist the urge to take a trip down to their local liquor provider and pick out a bottle of white lighting. Highly recommended, this is a fun and exciting account of one mans journey into the world of moonshine.