Author: Tim Knittel

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Craft Bartending – The Old Fashioned

There are three key components to craft bartending:

  1. Quality ingredients
  2. Precise measuring
  3. Perfect technique

This Old Fashioned recipe highlights all three spectacularly.

The Old Fashion is a fantastic cocktail but unfortunately it tends to be mangled more than it’s made right. As much as I praise Mad Men for helping to reinvigorate craft cocktails, Don Draper does not make a hell of a cocktail (spoiler: this video horrifies me).

A few notes on what an Old Fashioned isn’t:

  • It is not a fruit salad
  • It is not a slushy
  • It is not a whiskey and orange juice

A stickler could successfully argue that an Old Fashioned is actually just a bittered sling, citrus optional … and there’s ample historic evidence to support that. But your average consumer has a vision of an Old Fashioned with orange and cherry and I tend toward making what my customer expects rather than something historically accurate.

The Old Fashioned lends to some very nice variations. For example, restricting the fruit element to just the bitters and the expressed orange oil makes for an excellent cocktail that’s more bourbon-forward. Check out this video for this variation (and notice how different it is from the Don Draper version!).

Here’s my recipe and video for the Ultimate Old Fashioned with Spiced Maraschino Cherries:

Old Fashioned Video Preview

http://brandtim.com/2013/01/23/ultimate-old-fashioned-with-spiced-maraschino-cherries/

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Woodford Reserve’s Manhattan Competition – Kentucky Region

Yesterday I had the privilege of judging the first round of the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Experience in Lexington, KY held at Paulie’s Toasted Barrel. Over 30 Kentucky mixologists entered the competition.

My fellow judges were Adam Hayes (Brown-Forman Whiskey Brand Champion), Seth Thompson and Justin Thompson (both of The Bourbon Review magazine).

The competition was divided into two rounds. Each of the judges met with 7 to 8 of the mixologists individually and sampled their creations. Each judge then picked one winner to move on to round two. During round two, each of the four finalists made their cocktail for all four judges. So we all tasted each of the four finalists and discussed to pick the ultimate winner.

It was interesting to me that the four of us judging initially dismissed cocktails that were either (a) not really manhattans or (b) didn’t allow the flavor of the underlying spirit to come through. For (a), we all talked about it to make sure we were in line on where the line was between a manhattan and a bourbon cocktail in general. But (b), on the other hand, was completely reflexive. It wasn’t until I reviewed the process that I realized how important it was that the cocktail additions (mixers) showcase the spirit used and not cover it up. This is one of the fundamental principles of the moden craft cocktail. Oh, and it can’t be too sweet. Cloying cocktails upset me. 😉

Here’s a sampling of my favorites: Continue reading “Woodford Reserve’s Manhattan Competition – Kentucky Region”

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The Woodford Reserve Advanced Flavor Wheel

Yesterday we held our first Advanced Flavor Wheel tasting. This builds on the basic Flavor Wheel tasting developed by Ouita Michel. In the basic tasting participants taste six items – parmesan, toasted nut, dried berry, fresh orange, dark chocolate and sorghum – against Woodford Reserve neat. This type of culinary-aid tasting allows the participants to taste many of the subtle and nuanced flavors in the bourbon that they might not otherwise be able to detect.

For the Advanced Flavor Wheel, participants had an assortment of over 30 different food items to taste against. These ranged from single ingredients – like apple slices, mint springs and country ham – to freshly made syrups and scratch-made rye crackers.

We also served our signature sorghum mint julep cocktail.

This level of tasting allows a very rich palate experience. It’s something very unique and I recommend it to anyone who gets the opportunity.

Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Cheeses
Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Cheeses
Corn muffins, bourbon beer bread, rye bread, toasted pecans, country ham and, of course, bacon
Corn muffins, bourbon beer bread, rye bread, toasted pecans, country ham and, of course, bacon

 

Fresh syrups
Fresh syrups
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That’ll Be $1,000, Please

My fellow bartenders Ron and Keith and myself crafting the 2012 $1,000 Woodford Reserve Mint Juleps. (Yes, someone already made a boy band comment.)

The Woodford Reserve $1,000 mint julep is the 6th most expensive cocktail in the United States and the only one of the top 10 to be offered regularly. (Once a year, anyway.) BTW – the photo in the link is of the KY Derby Early Times mint julep. The 2012 Woodford Reserve $1k Mint Julep was made with Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon, Kentucky spearmint, California lemon mint, barrel-aged mint sugar and barrel-aged vanilla sugar, and looks like this:

It was interesting to watch people’s expressions when we told them the price. Many people thought we were joking …