Michter's Straight Rye

This is not a formal tasting of Michter's Straight Rye Whiskey as I partook under less than, ahem, laboratory conditions. That is, I sampled this fine whiskey while sitting with a friend at a bar in DC's West End. But, I felt I had to convey my impressions of the drink. It is a dark, deeply coppery rye and has the expected spicy, sweet, lively notes on the nose. This experience grows as one tastes it, demonstrating a surprisingly smooth and fully round taste on the tongue. It is a long-lasting, satisfying rye; the furthest from rotgut one can get with rye whiskey. Definitely seek this one out!

Virginia Single Malt

Yes, there really is such a thing as Virginia Single Malt whisky. Wasmund's comes from Copper Fox distillery in Sperryville. I have heard a lot over the last year or so about this distillery and was excited to try out their products. I will try the rye whisky at a later date, but I couldn't resist trying the single malt, which comes from a pot still. The whisky is bottled at 48% abv, and my bottle came from batch number 41, a 19 month old whisky that is aged in applewood, cherrywood and oak casks with chips. That probably explains the dark color after less than two years, which is pretty coppery. The main thing was the nose, which is quite powerful. And powerful not in the best way. I found it off-putting, like a piece of hard rubber that just overwhelmed anything else in the whisky. Even after more than 30 minutes in the glass, it was still pretty strong. The taste is all right, but that smell, oh that smell!

The new book about Ferran Adria

There's a pretty caustic review of the new biography of Spanish avant garde chef Ferran Adria in the New York Times today. It's actually quite amusing to read, in fact. The latest issue of Wine Spectator is more charitable, but still finds the descriptions of the dining experience lacklustre -- which they kindly put down to the impossibility of describing "genius", they say. I don't know if the review is fair to the book or not, though I have found the NYT pretty reliable, but it is nice to have a more definitive statement from a reviewer on whether a book is worth my time, money and effort to read.

Saturday night dinner

From Giorgio Locatelli's wonderful (and heafty) cookbook, a great fish dish that goes well with red wine. Cod on a bed of lentils and a parsley sauce to add some extra depth. The lentils are simmered in veggie stock with herbs (garden-grown sage and rosemary, and some store-bought bay leaves), pancetta, onion, carrot, leak and celery. The cod is simply cooked with some light oil in a non-stick skillet and finished with butter. The lentils are supposed to mimic a risotto in a way, providing a nice bed to set the lentils into without being too soupy. That puddle you see around the edge is a bit of the butter sauce from the pan I cooked the fish in. I was a little disappointed with having so much come out, but that may have been from having a tad too much vegetable oil in the skillet to start.

Macallan at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival

It's probably appropriate that one of the more pretentious single malts would end up at one of the more pretentious food and wine expos. Not that I am poo-poohing the two, but there is some logic in the pairing the two of them. It would be an interesting juxtaposition (clash?) if Bruichladdich, for example, showed up at Aspen -- particularly Jim McEwan! You can see a short video about it at the Macallan's US website: <a id="art6" name="art6"></a>Food & Wine Classic in Aspen

Fannie's Last Supper

Chris Kimball of America's Test Kitchen fame has a new project that is really cool -- making a 12 course Victorian era meal with period instruments so to speak. You can see a preview and pre-order the book here.