Category Archives: Grapes and Grains

Map of the Baltic States

Earlier this month, the Baltic country of Estonia was approved for its first protected geographical indication (PGI), as awarded by the European Union. The product of choice is Estonian vodka. Vodka has a documented history of production in the area of Estonia that dates back to the 1400s.

According to regulations, PGI-indicated Estonian Vodka must be produced entirely in Estonia using raw materials grown in Estonia and Estonian water. Estonia now joins Poland, Lithuania, Finland, and Sweden as EU countries that have PGI status for their vodka.  An application for Norwegian vodka is pending.

The Estonian city of Tallinn

A trip to Estonia might be in order, if only to taste the vodka and experience what the Lonely Planet website considers one of the “best value” destinations for 2018. While you are there, you can visit the old town center of Tallinn—one of Europe’s most complete walled cities, the Kumu Gallery—a 7-storey limestone, glass, and copper art museum, and the Great Guild Hall—built in 410 and housing historical exhibits documenting the history of the Baltics through art, music, literature, language, stamps, and coins.

References/for more information:

• http://news.err.ee/639108/commission-approves-geographical-indication-status-for-estonian-vodka
• http://bnn-news.com/estonia-s-first-protected-geographical-indication-goes-to-vodka-173924
• http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/markets_and_companies/?doc=134552
• http://estonianworld.com/life/tallinn-is-lonely-planets-best-value-destination/

Post authored by Jane A. Nickles, your blog administrator

Empire Rye logo via: www.empirerye.com

It all started at a craft spirits conference in late 2015, during that hour when all of the best work gets done at a conference: the late-night, after-hours drinking session.

It seems that at a particular table, a group of New York State craft distillers had gathered and the conversation turned towards the state’s nascent craft whiskey industry. According to Tom Potter, founder of New York Distilling Company, a group of them “shook hands, and decided to do something” to differentiate and protect those distillers using local products and high-quality craft production methods.

Not long after, the Empire Rye Whiskey Association was born. According to their website, the association intends to be “an homage to New York State’s pre-Prohibition rye whiskey-making heritage and a testament to the ingenuity and industriousness of its contemporary distillers.”

The standards for a whiskey to be labeled as an “Empire Rye” include the following:

• The mash bill must include a minimum of 75% New York State-grown rye grain (which may be any combination of raw or malted)
• It must be distilled to no higher than 160 proof
• It must be aged for a minimum of two years in charred, new oak barrels—and placed into the barrel at no more than 115 proof
• It must be produced entirely at a single New York State distillery—including mashing, fermentation, distillation, and barrel maturation—and made (excepting maturation time) in a single distilling season (January 1 through June 30 for the spring season, or July 1 through December 31 for the fall season)
• Products so produced may display the “Empire Rye” logo on the bottle.
• A product made from the Empire Rye whiskeys of more than one NY distiller may be created and labeled as “Blended Empire Rye”

Photo Credit: Empire Rye/Facebook

Empire Rye is not a protected geographical indication, nor is it defined by state or federal law—for now, it remains a trademark and certification mark used by members of the Empire Rye Whiskey Association. But who knows what the future may bring? This is some tasty whiskey.

Examples of Empire Rye are widely available up and down the east coast of the USA. I was also able to locate three examples on retail shelves in central Texas (each bottle I found was priced in the $40 to $50 range). For those in other locations, online retailers or a trip to New York might be your best bet.

Members (and whiskeys) of the Empire Rye Whiskey Association (as of October 2017) include:

• Black Button Distilling – Small Batch Straight Rye Whiskey
• Coppersea Distilling – Bonticou Crag Straight Malt Rye
• Finger Lakes Distilling – McKenzie Single Barrel  Rye Whiskey
• Kings County Distillery – Straight Rye Whiskey
• Taconic Distillery – Founder’s Rye
• 

  457697 – field of rye and blue sky

  Tulhilltown Spirits – Manhattan Rye Whiskey

• Van Brunt Stillhouse – Van Brunt Stillhouse Rye Whiskey
• Yankee Distillers – Yankee Rye Whiskey

References/for more information:

• https://www.empirerye.com/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/dining/drinks/empire-rye-whiskey-new-york.html
• https://thewhiskeywash.com/whiskey-styles/american-whiskey/empire-rye-whiskey-rises-new-whiskey-style-new-york/
• http://www.syracuse.com/drinks/index.ssf/2017/10/empire_rye_could_this_be_new_york_states_signature_distilled_spirit.html

Post authored by Jane A. Nickles, your blog administrator

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The air gets a little smokier in May as Americans fire up the grill for National Barbecue Month. For this summertime exercise, the team at Moonshine University, the epicenter of bourbon, looked at BBQ sauces from all over the U.S. and did a big taste testing to see which bourbons paired the best with each sauce. Let that stew in your work jealousy for a while. The Moonshine team tried each sauce with both pork and chicken and then narrowed down what bourbons to match to based off the initial tasting notes of the sauce. Here’s Moonshine University’s top BBQ and bourbon pairings.

Alabama White Sauce: This mayonnaise-based sauce hails from northern Alabama. Beyond mayo, this sauce includes: apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper. We found the sauce to be very mayonnaise forward, much like ranch dressing with a slight vinegar tinge.

• Bourbon Pairing: Booker’s – The higher proof of the Booker’s was mellowed out by the oil in the sauce, letting a lot of the flavors in the bourbon to come out in a way they didn’t on its own. We thought dialing back the alcohol burn really opened the bourbon and since the sauce wasn’t wildly flavorful, we didn’t feel anything was lost in the bourbon or in the sauce. It was a nice juxtaposition pairing : the mellowness of the sauce, with the boldness of the bourbon.

 South Carolina Mustard Sauce: This sauce, as the name would indicate, is a mustard-based sauce instead of your typical ketchup or tomato base. The flavor profile is like many of the red barbecue sauces, sweet and spicy. We loved this sauce. It was slightly sweet, a little tangy, and carried a nice balance between apple cider vinegar and mustard. It was loudly exclaimed by a member of the tasting panel, “Ain’t nothing wrong with that sauce!”

• Bourbon Pairing: Maker’s Mark – Maker’s Mark was a perfect complement to this sauce. The sweetness of the bourbon matched the sweetness of the sauce just right and both flavor profiles complemented each other perfectly. Every time you took a sip after a bite or a bite after a sip, different flavors popped out, often blending together to create a tangy mustard with a sweet, subtle oak flavor. Leaving a light candy flavor aftertaste.

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Texas BBQ Sauce: While Texas has many different regions that all prepare their meat differently, we’re going to focus on the sauce. Texas BBQ sauce is one of the styles people traditionally think of when they think of BBQ sauce. It’s a tomato-based sauce sweetened with molasses or brown sugar. The sauce we ended up with was a mild sauce and not very spicy at all. It was very tomato forward with black pepper and other spices coming in mid-palate and leaving us with a spicy finish.

• Bourbon Pairing: Woodford Reserve – We found that Woodford Reserve was the right proof and flavor profile to complement this sauce. The proof added a little heat to the somewhat mild sauce, so the kick up in spiciness was a nice addition. Not to mention the rye notes that come out in Woodford rounded out the sauce and gave it a spicy flavor throughout. The spiciness of the rye in the bourbon pair perfectly with the spices in the BBQ sauce. It is a combo that really brought out the best in each other.

North Carolina BBQ Sauce: The Carolinas know their BBQ and it’s evident by the showing of 3 different styles of sauces on this list.  The ketchup-based version would fall under the realm of a ‘traditional’ type of sauce.  This particular sauce was very sweet, had notes of molasses and was mild, but had a rich umami, or meaty, character to it.

• Bourbon Pairing: Buffalo Trace – After taking a bite of BBQ with this North Carolina sauce on it and taking a sip of Buffalo Trace, something magical happens. This relationship birthed a completely new flavor that we didn’t pick out of the sauce or bourbon individually.  The two together brought out a smoky and oaky character that was fantastic. Plus, the bourbon lessened the intensity of the sweetness and allowed a caramel note to pop out. The flavors blended well with one another creating an entirely new, sauce and flavor.

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Eastern Carolina BBQ Sauce: This other offering from the Carolinas comes from the coast. This vinegar-based sauce is generally spicy.  Starting with vinegar instead of ketchup, this sauce is much thinner than all the others on this list, however everyone on the tasting panel was big fan of spicy and a big fan of this sauce.  It was vinegary, hot, spicy, bold with big flavors.  Overall a great and well-balanced sauce.

• Bourbon Whiskey Pairing: Bulleit Rye – This is the only whiskey on our list that isn’t a bourbon, but when we tasted the sauce we knew what would pair perfectly, Bulleit Rye. Bulleit Rye has big, bold flavors that can hold up to the sauce.  Bulleit Rye has a delightful dill note, that when coupled with the sauce, gives the experience an almost pickle back note.  Generally, not something that would be desired, but with BBQ it’s a perfect flavor that gets created.  The bold flavor of the sauce and whiskey balance each other out and complemented each other perfectly.

Memphis BBQ Sauce: Memphis knows a thing or two about BBQ as well and is one of the most popular styles of BBQ. This sauce is a ketchup-based sauce that is generally sweet, peppery and a little peppery. Everyone enjoyed this style of sauce quite a bit. It hit every part of the mouth with a good flavor and it had a wide breadth of characteristics, not to mention the really nice pepper and coriander notes.

• Bourbon Pairing: Wild Turkey 101 – A sauce with that much going on needs to be paired with a bourbon that has a whole lot going on too but in the same smooth, well-balanced way. That’s how we paired Wild Turkey 101 with this sauce. The Wild Turkey amplified all the best parts of the Memphis style sauce by adding nice, fruit notes, a subtle smoky note and gave the whole combination a full umami experience.  The 101 proof of the Wild Turkey was cut back by the sauce letting the flavors really come out. The combination also produced a delightful, sweet and spicy finish that lingered enjoyable on the tongue.

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The debate about which region has the best BBQ will carry on for years to come. Personally, we like them all. But the same debate happens in the bourbon industry as well. Again, no favorites here. But the Moonshine U tasting panel tried to find common ground by pairing two of our favorite things together into something we can all agree on. Cheers to National BBQ Month!

About Moonshine University: Moonshine University was founded by David Dafoe in 2013. The bourbon epicenter opened its doors on the Distilled Spirits Beverage Campus in Louisville, Kentucky to educate entrepreneurs on how to launch a successful distilling business from concept, to distilling, to bottling.  Moonshine University houses the Stave & Thief Society, a bourbon certification program. It was established to promote Kentucky’s distinguished bourbon culture. Stave & Thief Society will lead bourbon enthusiasts, restaurants, bars, hotels and retail employees to become Executive Bourbon Stewards through a standardized training program.

Thanks to Moonshine University for the press release. Photo credits: Phil Icsman.

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Field to Glass… The Re-emergence of the American Farm Distillery – by Elizabeth Miller, CSW, CSS

Estate-bottled.  Terroir.  In the wine world these have long been terms that evoke respect for certain bottles and fetch higher prices.  It’s significantly less typical to see an estate bottled spirit, where all the variables of production occur in the same location… until recently!  Thanks to the reemergence of the farm distillery, gazing out from the distillery tasting room on a field of grains is now a more common experience for the spirits lover.

The movement goes by many names: grain to bottle, farm to glass, field to bottle.  Whichever the term, distilleries are now embracing farming and producing real land-based products.

Every bottle starts at the beginning: the base ingredient.  If you are a distiller in the United States or a famous whiskey producing country like Scotland and Ireland, you likely do not grow your own base ingredients or even source it close to your distillery.  You say to your broker, “I need this grain, or that botanical.”  The farm distillery eliminates that degree of separation.

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However, at Coppersea Distillery in Ulster County, New York, fallow and weed-choked pastures have been reclaimed for grains that produce their corn, bourbon, rye and barley whiskey. We really shouldn’t be surprised!  The farm distillery is the natural outgrowth of the craft distilling renaissance.  It’s becoming difficult to choose from the explosion of spirits choices at your favorite bar or retailer.  Favorable state legislation plus a powerful locavore movement has produced a boom in distilling licenses throughout the country.  Of those new craft distilleries, the American Distilling Institute found over 10% now are farm distilleries that either grow their own base ingredients or source them from local farms.

While the farm distillery seems new, it’s really a return to the beginning.  Long before the first American commercial whiskey distillery was founded in 1783 in Louisville, Kentucky, farmers were finding extra profits in their grains.  European colonists had arrived to America with the practice of whiskey making, and distilling bumper crops was both profitable and efficient.  The spirits could be stored almost indefinitely and it was easier to store and transport compared to enormous bales of grain.

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Breadbasket regions became home to hundreds and hundreds of distilleries.  In New York, where more than 1 million bushels of barley were being harvested in the 19th century, over 1000 farm distilleries flourished. Prohibition, however, ended this era, and the breadbasket regions of American ran dry… until today.  The Staley Mill Farm & Distillery in New Carlisle, Ohio—family owned since 1818—ran their handmade copper still long before Prohibition.  In the next few years, their 160-acre farm will yield organic corn and rye to fully supply their resurrected distillery.

The farm distillery is not the easy street.  There are substantial time and financial investments in purchasing seeds, field conditioning and procuring equipment.  Carefully planned harvesting, drying practices, finely calibrated humidity control, storage and transportation are all crucial to the final product and the bottom line – but the risks are worth it!

A farmer distiller has complete creative control, and can introduce something previously attributed only to wine: terroir.  Dave Pickerell, formerly Master Distiller at Maker’s Mark and Whistle Pig, is currently with Hillrock Estate Distillery in the Hudson Valley Highlands where 100 estate-owned grain fields surround the craft distillery.  In the Whiskey Advocate in 2010, Pickerell wrote of the uniform expression of whiskey by most of the major distillers, who all buy commodity grain.  His vision of the future includes “new expressions of whiskey… representing a new sort of terroir, where true geographical differences in the U.S. can not only be expressed but also clearly differentiated.”

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Spirits lovers can expect a continued deeper connection to the land in their bottles, from one corner of the United States to another.  In Colorado’s North Fork Valley, the Jack Rabbit Hill and Peak Spirits farm and distillery is practicing biodynamic farming.  The Barber family celebrates six generations on their 158 year-old farm in Schoharie Valley, New York.  Their distillery turns out their 1857 Vodka from not only their own potatoes but also the property’s spring water.  Estate owned malt houses and the propagation of heirloom grains are just a few perks we should expect from the growing farm distillery movement.

The next time we open a bottle, we can expect so much more, thanks to the reemergence of farm distilleries.  We can expect the taste of history, the taste of America and true taste of fields of grain.

Elizabeth Miller is the General Manager of Vintology Wine & Spirits and the Associate Director the Westchester Wine School in Westchester County, NY.  She has very happily traveled extensively throughout New York State visiting farm and urban distilleries.  Her blog ‘Girl Meets Vine’ is found at http://www.elizabethmillerwine.com/girlmeetsvine.

Today we have a guest post from Mark Rashap, CWE who, fresh from a holiday trip to Japan, gives us a practical guide to sake. Enjoy!

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I hope you were able to read, enjoy, and garner some sight from my previous saké post, Tasting Saké from a … Champagne Perspective.  Focusing more on the sensory perception and the metaphorical side of saké, I left the practical and general explanation of saké for this post.  I hope to distill the pertinent information about the uniqueness of production, variety of styles, and different classifications that are important for any beverage professional in the US to know and understand.  For a more comprehensive yet still manageable guide, I would recommend John Gaunter’s The Saké Handbook.

Let us first tackle the differences in production from that of wine and beer.  First and foremost, all fruit, during their ripening cycle, naturally produce fermentable sugars (glucose and fructose).  This is obvious because when you taste fruit before fermentation, it will be sweet on the palate.  Grains are made up of starches, or long chain carbohydrates, that must be broken down through a process called saccharification.  In beer production, this is done in the mash by mixing water and grain, mostly barley, at various relatively high temperatures.  Enzymes in the grains are activated to break down the starches, then the sweet liquid is cooled so alcoholic fermentation can occur.  In saké production, rice grain cannot go through saccharification on its own, so a mold called Kōji-Kin (the Kōji is steamed rice plus the Kōji-Kin) is added and, under very controlled circumstances, winds up permeating the entire batch (or Moromi).  Because this saccharification happens at temperatures equivalent to those for alcoholic fermentation, both processes can and must happen simultaneously in the same vessel.

You might read very detailed accounts of how the Kōji is made, such as being cultivated in small slotted boxes and moved around every hour. All this is done so the mold is properly developed and consistently permeates the entire Kōji.  Additionally, a yeast starter, or Moto, occurs separately to ensure a healthy yeast population.  However, don’t let all this Japanese pomp and circumstance confuse you; all these processes are done simply to create a batch that has fully functioning saccharification and fermentation at the same time.  Every brewery does things slightly different, but this is the take home point.

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Let’s review: rice is polished (more on this later).  It is washed, soaked, and steamed.  Part of it goes to the Kōji and part of it goes to the yeast starter.  These two separate batches are incrementally combined along with more water to ensure consistent mixing.  Saccharification and fermentation occur simultaneously for anywhere between 18-32 days.  It is pressed, usually filtered, usually watered back from 20 to 16 percent ABV, usually pasteurized twice, and bottled.  Violá!  When any of those “usuallys” don’t occur, there is a different name described below.

Now that you have the general idea of production, let’s talk about some variations and classifications.  All saké is classified as either Junmai, which means strictly made from water, yeast, kōji, and rice, or as Honjōzō, which has a small amount of brewer’s alcohol added just before pressing.  In my tastings, Junmai saké tends to have more delicate, pure, and subtle flavors, and Honjōzō sakés tend to be a bit fuller and rougher around the edges which might be desired in some situations.

The next uber-important variation of production is the amount of polishing before the brewing takes place.  With the varieties of rice commonly used for premium saké production, there are proteins, fats, and minerals occupying the outer layers of the rice grain that tend to cause off flavors in the finished saké.  Therefore, the outer layers are polished away to reveal the pure starches in the center of the grain.  It is easy to get confused by the percentage that is removed vs. the percentage left behind, so it is a good idea to get in the habit of referring to the polish as a percentage of what is left behind because that’s how the Japanese categorize it (called the Seimaibuai).  So, table rice will have a polish leaving 90% rice behind, cheap saké will be 80%, and most general saké is 70%.  Now for the important terms:  Ginjo is 60-50% left behind, and Daiginjo is between 50-35%.  So, the yields can be very low, and for the very best sakés only 35% of the grain remains after polishing!

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So, to reinforce our understanding of this, within the Junmai (no distilled alcohol added) category: 70-60% grain remaining is simply called Junmai, 60-50% is Junmai Ginjo, and 50-35% is Junmai Daiginjo.  Within the category of Honjōzō (which is brewed with added distilled alcohol), simple Honjōzō is 70-60%, Ginjo (notice you don’t say Honjōzōginjo, it’s just Ginjo) is 60-50% polish, and Daiginjo is 50-35%.  I supposed you need to taste the difference between all these different categories for yourself for it to really sink in; do it comparatively just like when you’re trying to grasp the difference between Burgundy and Cali Pinot Noir.

Now there are a myriad of other styles, most of which are quite obscure, but there are a number worth detailing:

• Nigori (cloudy):  this is saké that is unfiltered or filtered using a rough mesh.  The rice sediment left behind does give a sweeter profile.
• Taru Saké: Sake which is aged in cedar barrels and has a woodsy aroma
• Namazaké: unpasteurized saké.  This must be kept cold or else a haze and undesirable aromas will form.  It is thought of as fresher and livelier.
• Tokubetsu (special):  bottles do not have to indicate what is special, but is usually a higher grade seimaibuai (polish) or special variety of rice.
• Genshu: saké to which no water was added to bring down the alcohol to 16%.  These usually have 20% alcohol and have more robust flavors.  Popular as Genshu on the rocks.

It is easy to get wrapped up in all the minor details making understanding saké seem like an unattainable goal.  However, I believe that the information in this post will be a great foundation around which you can start to recognize the most important production terms on the label and make an educated guess as to what will be in the glass.  Of course, just like wine, we need to not be afraid of a different language, taste a wide variety of saké styles, take notes, and retain that information.  I hope that will be fun and rewarding!

Post authored by Mark Rashap, CWE. Mark has, over the past ten years, been in the wine world in a number of capacities including studying wine management in Buenos Aires, being an assistant winemaker at Nota Bene Cellars in Washington State, founding his own wine brokerage, and working for Texas-based retail giant Spec’s as an educator for the staff and public.

In August of 2015, Mark joined the team of the Society of Wine Educators as Marketing Coordinator to foster wine education across the country.

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