Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/453014
32 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.15 TASTING NOTES We're serious journalists here at Louisville Magazine. What that means? A bourbon tasting. The goal? Passing on tips to you. In January, Bourbons Bistro hosted six of us from the magazine (tough gig, huh?). "We're like the Geneva of bourbon," owner Jason Brauner said. We also invited Wine Rack owner John Johnson, whose palate is a little more developed than what we brought to the bottle. W e sampled six: W.L. Weller 12-Year (some of our tasting notes: eucalyptus, cinnamon, mint); Elijah Craig 12-Year (toasted marshmallows); Woodford Reserve Double Oaked (orange marmalade, dried cherries, "like a port or a cognac," "tastes like breakfast"); Rowan's Creek (buttery popcorn); Four Roses Single Barrel ("smoooooth!"); and Old Grand- Dad 114 Proof (fnish hangs on forever). At one point, Heaven Hill Distilleries president Max Shapira, who happened to be at the restaurant, came up to our table, which was covered in bourbon- flled shot glasses. He looked at the bottles. "That's good, that's good, that's good," he said. "I wouldn't say a doggone bad word about any of them." No need to. Each bourbon inspired a "smoooooth!" from at least one of us. When one person said, "Lexington can have horses, and Louisville can have bourbon," Brauner replied, "Nah, we'll take both." He also mentioned Bourbons T-shirts: "Bringing bourbon back one sip at a time." "You did it," publisher Dan Crutcher joked. "Not single-handedly!" Brauner replied. Here's some of what Brauner taught us: "The frst sip of whiskey is always going to be harsh." "The frst sip, you're going to get acclimated; second sip you're getting a little bit better, getting some of the favors; the third sip is where you can really get the favors." "It limits you so much to do a tasting with three bourbons. There's so much variety. I don't think you can do it in three." "Well, three is probably plenty. But I like to be more thorough." "Does anybody drink wine? Of course you do. Well, if I ask you what type of wine you drink, what would you say? There's a huge span of real light Pinots to heavy Cabs. Same with bourbon — there's really heavy and really light and everything in between." "The '60s were all about white liquors. So bourbon crashed. You couldn't give the stuf away. The bottom was the late '70s, early '80s. Popularity started to surge about fve years ago. Part of it is, we are educating the world about bourbon. It's kind of my crusade." "A 'small batch' comes from barrels — could be 20 barrels, could be 200, there are no legal parameters — blended together (and will taste diferent from a standard bottle). It's kind of a marketing tool. A 'single barrel' comes from one barrel. Roughly 200 bottles from one barrel." "You usually start with lighter wines and end heavier, which is what we're doing here." "All bourbon has to be at least 80 proof; maximum is 160. In a tasting, I usually start with 80 proof or so and go up from there." "If it's lighter, it's usually lower in proof." "Open your mouth a little bit to let the favors land on your tongue. Then you just kind of sip it." "One of the reasons bourbon is made here is because of our climate. Cold winters, really hot summers, cold nights in the summertime. As temperatures change, the liquid actually goes in and out of the barrel's char layer. So every time it goes in and out, it extracts favor." "You can cleanse your palate with water or plain bread — something with hardly any favor." "A drop of water in the bourbon just gets everything moving around in there. A little water kind of separates the oils, makes the favors more nuanced. Every distiller I've ever sat down with has dropped in water." "You'll probably hear this a hundred times, but there are more bourbon barrels aging in Kentucky than people." "Feel that in your chest? Well, they say it's a Kentucky hug." B OUR - BON TOWN