GUD BLOG
Old Forester 100
Quite a while back, Todd slammed a marketing campaign for Old Forester bourbon. Rightly, I think, he suggested that a serious drinker would consider the particular marketing effort — which involved promoting some pretty awful drink ideas — so absurd as to not want to drink the bourbon. We later blind taste tested it against some others, and it fared well, though not as well as Buffalo Trace.
That said, in our tasting, we only covered a somewhat random handful of whiskeys, so I was kind of excited when Dave at the Sugar House decided to host a bourbon tasting tonight.
Here’s what I wasn’t expecting: Old Forester 100 would be my favorite.
The line up of 6 total whiskeys was (in order) Four Roses, Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig 12, Old Forester 100, Old Granddad Bonded, and Henry McKenna.
I tasted each straight and then tasted each with a bit of water as well (we were given one ounce pours), and I most admired the OF 100 for its round, balanced flavor and lack of any noticeable off flavors either straight or cut. (I shouldn’t have been surprised: I probably drank 8 ounces of the stuff last Saturday night.) None of the whiskeys were noticeably “bad,” though I was surprised that Buffalo Trace was my second least favorite (next to Elijah Craig). I was equally surprised that the Henry McKenna didn’t clearly assert itself as a top two or top three choice and that Elijah Craig 12 year was so grassy and flat. It just wasn’t as complete of a drink. Among the 80ish proof bourbons, Four Roses was the clear winner. Compared to the McKenna, a higher proof spirit, I think I preferred the Old Granddad.
For straight drinking, the OF 100 seems pretty unmatched in the price range. For mixing… Well, more experimentation will be required.
2012.04.02 Evan Hansen at 9:59 pm | 3 Comments
A Pleasure So Exquisite
Blogging about eating or drinking some really exquisite, rare treat always feels funny to me. Mostly, I like to do it for the sake of aiding my memory, generally enfeebled by bourbon-pickled brain cells. And I like reading other people’s tasting notes too. But conversely, it feels a bit like bragging, which kind of sucks.
Despite that, I just had to write last night’s tasting notes down, both for posterity’s sake and for sharing. It’s a rare opportunity (for me, anyhow) to sit down with three good friends and drink five bottles of aged Bordeaux in great condition. Such an occasion requires some documenting, even if as the writer I’m the only one who ever bothers to read it.
We gathered in a cleaned out (sort of), empty cinder block building in Detroit, four of us with five wines, a small folding table, and a few chairs.
1979 Haut-Bages Liberal (Paulliac)
There are sensations, some hard to describe, unique to older wines. Initially quite musty, damp, and funky, the aromatics on this wine gave way to a lot more lively fruit. From the onset, it tasted fresh and alive with some grippy tannin in the finish; but as the evening wore on and we re-visited the wine two more times, light, fleshy fruit flavors dominated with a really bright, youthful acidity. Delightful stuff.
1978 Prieure-Lichine (Margaux)
Aromatically challenged to start, this might have evolved the most over the course of the evening. Early on, there was just a bit of soft fruit on the nose. Eventually, it became noticeably more menacing (in an exciting way) with darker, woodier notes. Tasted perfectly fine from the get go, albeit with a bit of a vegetal finish, but it got considerably more nuanced, meaty, and leathery as the evening wore on with a much more focused, almost minty quality at the end of each sip.
1981 Palmer (Margaux)
Steve commented during our first glass of this that he thought 1981 was a bit underrated, and based on our limited evidence, I think we all agreed. There was a big, distinctive cabernet sauvignon nose with just a bit of a gnarly, rustic edge to it. Immediately captivating. Definitely the weightiest, fullest, richest of our three oldest wines. Quite tannic but still fruity, acidic, and ripe. Killer wine worthy of the venerable name (and totally bad ass label).
1998 Gruaud Larose (St. Julien)
Disclaimer: I love this producer. It’s rustic, edgy, and funky, and I think it’s magnificent. I’ve had the good fortune of tasting some great vintages of this wine, and it’s never disappointed me. This was no exception. Dense and still young, though not so wound up as to seem premature to have opened it. As the evening wore on, the aroma showed more juicy, grapey, dark fruit qualities and finished with a sharp, savory characteristic.
1996 Leoville-Poyferré (St. Julien)
In a word, this was INTENSE. Still too young. All coiled up and restrained, just about ready to explode. This is on its way up to a glorious place. Toasty, woody aromatics. Soft tannins. Dark fruit and lively finish but still reserved. This just envelopes one’s entire palate and finishes with a subtle stony edge. It’s a big wine, but it was still quite elegant. Great drinking now, even better later.
I’d discussed with Steve in the past how it seems like there are just certain nights when everything clicks. This was one of those nights: Five older wines, each one alive and entirely spot on. We should have hit the casinos afterwards. (But instead we had beer, a decision with which I have no argument.)
Cellared wines are an entirely different beast from what’s typically available in the store, and despite the pretentiousness one could quite easily read into the cost and/or effort involved in drinking aged wines, anyone who were to spend time with bottles like these would comprehend and possibly participate in the obsession. A perfect night.
A Pop Up, Prosit!
German food might be a bit undervalued in the States. People eat bratwurst and drink lager to be sure, but restaurants that serve a lot of schnitzel, spätzle, and sauerkraut aren’t terribly common. We’ve got a few here in the area, and they’re perfectly fine, but I was nonetheless pretty excited to hear that the meat making mavens at Porktown Sausage and wine (and pretzel) guru were teaming up for a German-themed pop-up called Schnäck at Eastern Market’s Supino Pizzeria.
From my perspective, the first (hopefully of many) iteration, held last night, Sunday, March 18, seemed to go pretty well.
Putnam was pouring a solid kolsch-style beer on draft as well as serving the always delicious Kapuziner Weisse and three different German wines. (For what it’s worth, I think Kapuziner is easily one of the best wheat beers in the world; it has that marvelous banana/clove aroma without the same estery flavor and sweetness. It finishes dry despite the aroma, and it’s one of the few wheat beers that I find “sessionable” as a result.)
All of the food was good – I’m pretty sure we tried everything on the menu except the charcuterie plate – though as I recall the sausage and pretzel were the universal favorites among our crowd. Porktown really has their knackwurst formula down to a science, it seems – perfect flavor, perfect texture – and Putnam’s pretzel is a can’t miss item, especially with a dollop of their mildly spicy homemade mustard. The meal ended with a pleasant surprise: Molly O’Meara from Beau Bien made an apple strudel. Not too sweet and surprisingly light, which struck me just right on a day that closed in on 75 or 80 degrees.
Check out the Schnäcksters on Facebook.
2012.03.19 Evan Hansen at 8:06 am | 2 CommentsWine Soak: Sauvignon Blanc
Gourmet Underground Detroit is pleased to announce Wine Soak: Sauvignon Blanc.
As the warmer months approach, our thoughts wander to breezy spring evenings and glasses filled with refreshing, white wine. We’ll explore the varietal, Sauvignon Blanc, from origins in France to its place in the New World.
Because Sauvignon Blanc is grown in so many regions, we’ll be able to travel a diverse wine path from dry to off-dry to sparkling. If you’re hip to discovering new wine in a casual environment with a fine group of people, Wine Soak is where it’s at.
Wine Soak: Sauvignon Blanc, will be held from 8 until 10 p.m. on Saturday, April 14th at a private gallery in Ferndale. Limited seating is available for $30 per person. Cost includes a pre-game glass of sparkling wine, 2 oz. pours of six different wines, and an assortment of light snacks.
Wine Soak is a wine tasting and discussion series designed for all levels, from novice to professional. Each event covers a different varietal, region, or theme, with a brief review of wine basics, sampling of six to eight different wines, and a rotating venue. No posing. No bullshit.
Click this link to reserve your seat
Lazy Journalism
It seems pretty unlikely to me that anyone would mistake my drunk blog ramblings as “journalism,” but just in case, let’s be clear: I’m not a journalist, and I don’t know all the pressures that a journalist faces. And I don’t really know all the work that goes into making good journalism.
I do, however, know punk ass crap journalism when I see it.
Last week, annarbor.com – the electronic replacement for the old Ann Arbor News – ran a piece about how Tim Horton’s was going to replace Lab Cafe on Liberty Street. Internet chaos ensued, with hoards of Ann Arborites bemoaning the loss of some decent coffee and locally made pastry, ostensibly to be replaced by stale Timbits and shitty coffee in mammoth cups.
Except here’s the hilarious thing: IT’S NOT ACTUALLY HAPPENING.
It could someday, I suppose, but it’s not now. The intrepid drunk blogger that I am, I wandered down there on my coffee break last week to talk to the fine folks at Lab. Since it’s a regular source of coffee (not to mention DELICIOUS MACARONS), I needed to get the skinny. What they said (paraphrasing here) is basically that they were renegotiating their lease and that they were deciding whether to stay in that location or move down the street. Annarbor.com apparently called for a comment, and Lab balked, basically noting that they were in the middle of a business deal and it wasn’t the right time or place to be talking about this publicly.
Naturally, annarbor.com ran with the story anyhow. After the resulting chit chat online and all the confusion, Lab’s landlords cut off their very preliminary discussions with Tim Horton’s, who would have been a potential replacement if (and only if) Lab Cafe chose to move.
Is there a replacement story in annarbor.com? A retraction? A sticky comment on the original story? Not that I can see anywhere. The result of the story was that an indie coffee shop has panic among its customers and possible pressure placed on it to move with its lease prematurely, and the story itself was entirely bullshit.
It’s one thing to be wrong. It’s quite another to be so wrong and so irresponsible that you cause a business to have to explain itself to its customers because of someone else’s mistake. It’s a shame to see that kind of thing.
But on the plus side, according to the folks I’ve spoken with at Lab, the cafe isn’t going anywhere – at least, they’re not unless they want to. So we’ll see what happens, but it’s a safe bet that it won’t be what thousands of people read on annarbor.com.
2012.03.07 Evan Hansen at 8:10 am | 1 CommentHippo’s — An Occasional Coney Dog Alternative
Ask any local what singular dish is quintessential Motor City snacking and their likely answer is the Coney dog. Whether you’re feeble with a hangover or just plain hungry for a big plate of unhealthy, there is nothing quite as satisfying as a natural casing hot dog slathered with beef heart chili, minced onion and yellow mustard in a spongy, white-bread bun. It’s a dog remarkably impractical to eat with your hands. In fact, if you can pick it up without making a mess of yourself, you might as well call it a chili dog.
But on the rare occurrence you might feel like a change, look no further than Chicago. Actually, Chicago is kind of far, so look no further than Rochester Road, slightly north of Maple, for a Hippo Dog.
Hippo’s crafts an authentic Chicago-style dog. It starts with a steamed, Vienna Beef wiener resting in a poppy seed bun and then “dragged through the garden” by topping with mustard, onion, shockingly green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, sport peppers and a dash of celery salt. It’s a heady combination of soft, warm, comforting, crunchy and fresh. Don’t even think about ketchup. Save that for your fries.
Like many of Chicago’s hot dog stands, Hippo’s is spare on the inside. Seating consists of a counter that runs along two sides of the building beneath large windows. Walls are adorned with accolades, signed photos of local news celebrities and nods to the Windy City. Bright yellow is the color scheme. During the busy weekday lunch hour, it’s not uncommon to see toolmakers rubbing elbows with mid-level executives. The cheerful staff is always ready with a greeting, and there’s a stack of newspapers near the door if you like to read a bit as you lean into your lunch.
In addition to a diverse menu of other styles of hot dogs (including the Coney), you can chomp a char-broiled Polish Hippo, Cajun sausage, Italian sausage, bratwurst, a Maxwell Street Polish sausage covered with grilled onions or a Chicago Avenue Polish sausage complete with sauerkraut and a pickle. Hippo’s has an entire library of tube steaks, most of which cost less than four bucks.
But the real draw is the classic Hippo dog for only $2.15. Being a Detroiter, there is no way I could ever admit that a Chicago-style hot dog is somehow superior to a Coney, though it is nice to have a place like Hippo’s around for an uncommon diversion.
Hippo’s is located at 1648 Rochester Rd. in Troy and a newer location at 35520 Groesbeck Highway, Clinton Township.
2012.02.16 Todd Abrams at 12:00 pm | 2 Comments
