Part two of my American Whiskey adventure took me across the border from Kentucky to Tennessee, home to Jack Daniel’s. Having Nashville as my home base allowed me to soak up some of the flavours of America’s country music capital and check out some of the the world’s most famous honky tonks along the 24/7 party strip that is Broadway Avenue.
Features
Features
Ah Tequila – one of the bartenders’ favourite poisons. You already know Margaritas, Tommy’s, El Diablos, Tequila y Sangritas and Palomas, but have you ever sampled the exotic wonders of Dale DeGroff’s Copa Verde (literally the ‘green cup’)?
The industry is led by government regulation, consumer demand and the Big Four drinks firms: Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, Bacardi and Fortune Brands/Jim Beam (soon to split). Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking are nigh-on impossible when you work for such a big firm, the more enlightened ones are even gracious enough to admit it.
I was in the middle of reviewing the recipes that have been sent to me during the year when I came across a cluster of drinks submitted by the good folk at Rickhouse in San Francisco.
This is a stretch, but the Sazerac – at least a mix of absinthe, bitters and Cognac – was possibly being consumed around Sydney in 1825.
For much of history Champagne had been known for its still wines; simple, fruity and produced for domestic markets (like Paris).
So this is Habana! – I’m sitting in a canary yellow 1953 Chevy cruising down the Malecon in Havana and the car’s radio is playing a mambo mixed with a lot of static. The weather is hot, and the breeze coming through the window has a salty taste that’s mixed exhaust fumes.
This trip to Middle America was something I always wanted to do over the past 12 years of publishing Bartender magazine but never had the balls to just book it and go myself.
Luxury. There are definitions, portfolios and fabled verse that tell us what luxury is, what it isn’t and where it should be found. But of all things luxury would the pleasure of a cocktail be high on the list?
We discovered aging by accident. Long before Coffey patented/nicked the idea for a continuous still, our forefathers found a way to make rough liquor taste better – barrels.
As a former English professor, I can admire this passage for being terse without fading into dullness. As a cocktail fiend, however, it leaves me unsatisfied. What did they order? Martinis? Scotch Highballs? Pink Ladies for the mugs and straight rye for the others? I want to know. I think it makes a difference.
God, I love this town! I wish I could live here for a few months each year, as a few days it’s just not enough to do anything but just scratch the surface of this great city. I would go as far to say it’s the most exciting city in the world with the best of everything, especially when it comes to eating and drinking, all packed in on this not-so-little island.