Knowing your meal

A new generation of urbanites is learning where there food comes from in an intimate fashion. Woe betide a society that willfully ignores the connection between animals and food on the table.

Second Careers in winemaking

Today's New York Times has a good piece about people choosing to open vineyards and wineries as second careers. A friend of mine once remarked that one way to make a million dollars is to start out with ten million dollars and buy a vineyard (thanks, Ole).

What's open

I've got some people coming over in mid-December for a mini-scotch tasting and I realized that most of my bottles were biased to Islay, so I've spent the last few weeks trying to expand my Highland exposure, including adding the Glenmorangie 18 year old and the Dalmore 12 year old. This got me to thinking about what is the perfect age for a scotch. Obviously the first answer is "it depends", but I think some scotches lend themselves to perfection, or nearly so, at certain ages. I've convinced myself of this in the last few weeks as I have had the opportunity to taste some older (20+ year olds) scotches, and not always been that impressed.

I used to think that 18 was a perfect age, but then I started to taste some other scotches that were wonderful at younger ages and then tired or woody even at 18. For instance, the Bowmore 15 year old is a beautiful malt, the 18 is excellent, but the 25 is very woody. The Highland Park 18 year old is close to perfection, but the now bygone 15 year old Laphroiag is a fantastically balance malt. And the Dalmore 12 year old is amazing; I would think more age would detract, rather than add, to its flavor profile. The Ardbeg young whiskies were amazing examples of young malts that had plenty of character.

Many distilleries have started to migrate towards no age statements on the bottles, which eases the burden of having enough of particular aged stocks. Some turn out really well, others not so much. I don't know how much of that is a commercial decision and how much is a decision based on the quality, but I have read and heard that many age statement blends (e.g., Johnnie Walker Black 12 year old) often contain much older whiskies (by law they can't contain younger whiskies). In the end, though, it comes down to what you like and want to drink, not the age on the bottle. Some people love Glen Grant five or eight year old; others think the Macallan 53 year old Lalique is the pinnacle of taste. The great thing about scotch is that there is a malt for every taste and wallet. Slainte!

Voltaggio!

For those who have watched Top Chef on Bravo this year, Bryan Voltaggio is a familiar face. We recently had lunch at his restaurant, Volt, in Frederick Maryland. In typical fashion, I did not know about this restaurant until I saw the show, but Leslie has been wanting to go there for more than a year since she first read about it. As part of our anniversary celebration this year, we made a day of traveling up to Frederick (about 45 minutes north of DC), exploring the downtown area, and having a later lunch at the restaurant.

Volt is in a large, stone town-house in the downtown area, near all the kitschy shops and restaurants. This is fine dining with a slight hip twist (if you consider all the servers wearing chuck Ts with their suits hip). And the lunch menu is a bargain -- three course for about $20, and not skimpy courses at all. Add $15 and you get wine pairings, including with dessert. I decided to test the kitchen's mettle by ordering... roast chicken. I think Jacques Pepin said once that a true test of a chef is making the simplest thing (omelet, roast chicken). I was not disappointed. It was flavorful, moist, and perfectly seasoned, with crispy skin. Dessert could have been better, however. We had the baked pear with crumble and ice cream, but the pear was still very hard and crunchy -- probably not ripe -- and the crumble was slight. Despite that, it was a wonderful dining experience, and the waitstaff were excellent. Definitely worth the trip.

Tasting Fancy Wine

A recent post on the Atlantic's Food channel offers an excellent idea -- go to a pre-auction tasting to sample high-priced, much sought-after wines and decide if they are really worth the expense. I suspect most wines in the multi-hundred dollar a bottle price range are not significantly better than some very good $50 or even cheaper wines. But I don't actually know that, because I have not had the opportunity to sample the more expensive bottles. And, it is nerve-wracking to think about splashing out, say, for a Bordeaux first growth and discovering you don't like it that much (that would be $750 or more not well spent).

A couple of Ardbegs

There is no getting around it -- Ardbeg is not for the faint of heart. It is a very rewarding drink, however. I have spent some quality time with a couple of Ardbegs recently -- the Ardbeg Still Young (an eight year old) and the Airigh nam beist from 1990.

First the Still Young: It has a light straw color, but a truly powerful, yet soft nose. It is bottled at 56% abv, so one must be careful, but the trademark Ardbeg notes are there. Sea air, straw, and some burnt sugar. It has a sweet peatyness on the tongue. With water some floral notes come out, and a little seaweed (but nothing like Laphroiag). Even with water, it has nicotine spice when I drink it. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but shows that a young whiskey can be a great whiskey.

The Airigh (which means Valley of the Beast, and is apparently a 16 year old) is also a light golden straw color, but less smokey than some other Arbeg's (such as the fantastic Uigeadail). There are plenty of sweet, flowery notes overlying some real heft. It has a "thick" nose to it -- it just smells like a substantial dram, in a good way. The mouth feel is full and coating, with some bite and spice.

Both are wonderful drams, and worth the effort to seek them out.

Bowmore 25 Year Old

The Bowmore 25 year old (this one is still in the old-style bottle, so it is probably a 2007 bottling) is a deep copper color with lots of sherry, burnt cake, and some rubber on the nose. It is a little thinner than I expected on the tongue, and some wood comes out. With water it develops some winey (not whiny) hints, more Christmas (fruit) cake. Like port wine. It is sweet and very smooth; a soothing dram, but the burnt notes and some of the wood don't impress.

I came back to this one a couple of times and still find something a little off-putting in the nose. I get biscuit this time. I want something better, but the nose just seems wrong/off/strange to me. I can't put my finger on it. With water the traditional Bowmore notes (including some of the trademark plastic) comes out, but it is very subdued. And lest you be misled, I like the plastic notes on the Bowmore. The Sherry incluence is still there, but not overpowering.

Overall, this Bowmore is not all that a Bowmore can be. I've had some independent bottlings (such as from Berry Bros, Cooper's Choice, and Old Malt Cask) that are stupendous. This official bottling leaves a little to be desired.

Scotch Tasting Event

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Single Malt and ScotchWhisky Extravaganza here in DC, held at the JW Marriott downtown. This was my first time at an event of this type featuring whisky. I've been to a number of wine events that are somewhat similar -- large crowds trying to stretch their glasses out for a few drops of liquid, lots of gulping of said liquid, and many conversations demonstrating various levels of education about the product.

It was a bit difficult to really get a sense of the scotch being poured, but many of the representatives there were pretty knowledgable and engaging (though not universally so -- one or two didn't have a clue about the products). I enjoyed talking to a number of representatives, including the folks from Morrison-Bowmore (pouring Bowmore and Auchentoshen), the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America (the sponsors of the event), Ardbeg, and Glenmorangie. At best, though, I can only say what I liked and what I didn't like, and what I would definitely want to explore further.

On the plus side, the Balvenie had some great drams, including the 17 year old Madeira and the 21 year old portwood. Highland Park was pouring their 25 and 30 year olds, which was a treat, but the volunteers didn't know a lot about the whisky, or at least were not sharing too much information. I already mentioned Ardbeg (new Corryvrecken is great) and Glenmorangie (the Astar is okay, the 18 year old much more sophisticated). I also tried the Suntory's 12 and 18s, and the Hibiki ("balance") blend, all three of which are wonderful whiskies. The Laprhoaig 18 year old I took back to a table to enjoy with my dinner (the buffet had some great choices, but was constantly ransacked by ravenous, and I suspect a bit tipsy fans). The Laphroaig is a smoother dram than the 15. I've managed to secure a bottle (finally!), so I hope to spend a bit more time digging into it over the coming weeks. I was also surprised that I liked some of the Auchentoshens (the three wood is quite good) -- I've had the 12 year old before and found it insipid and lacklustre. Finally, I enjoyed the Scapa 16 year old, which apparently was one of the fan favorites that night.

Now the down-side (and again, with the caveat that I am offering first impressions without spending a lot of time over each). Johnnie Walker Blue disappoints in its lack of complexity. The Chivas Regal 21 year old Royal Salute was flat and wooden. I find most Glenmorangies okay, but nothing stellar. And the Michael Collins Irish single malt and blend were not my cup of tea. Dewars had several of their drinks on tap, so to speak, and I found the Signature unimpressive, while the 18 year old Founder's Reserve worth a second go (watch this space for more in depth on that one in the future). Old Malt Cask was there pouring a New Zealand single malt (Milford) that was awful. I skipped the Glenrothes, Glenfiddich and the Macallan (I've tried their entire range before and posted on my thoughts).

I had a good time and enjoyed the opportunity to try a lot of different whiskies, though I don't think I need to go back year after year, simply because most of the offerings are official distillery bottlings which won't change much from year-to-year.