Escape From LA, February 2013, recapped

I'm aware that hearing about someone else's Vegas experience holds limited entertainment value for the audience, so I'll try to be brief and entertaining.

Friday -- I drove directly from work to Las Vegas.  Arrived at MGM @ 11:30.  My brother, Jason, and I are so old and tired that we promptly fell asleep.  No gambling.  No drinking.

Saturday -- Gambling.  Drinking.

Oddly, I awoke at 7:20am.  Who wakes up in Vegas at 7:20?  We got out to the lackluster Excalibur buffet by 8:30.  Breakfast done by 9:30.  So early!  What to do?  Gamble, the tables are cheap in the morning.

At the video poker machine, I went from $100 to $5 in 10 minutes, then on what looked to be my final hand, I hit full house, then straight, then full house.  I decided to part from the machine at that point.  Joined Jason at the craps table where we fared well.  We departed up.

We hit the road, putting some distance between us and The Strip.  I fared well, again, at the video poker machines at The Palms.  Jason and I went to The Mob Museum downtown -- their media production was great -- then later headed to Nora's: good Italian food, great whisky prices.

From there we went back to the hotel and opened a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold Label (more on that some time down the road).  Then we went to Craftsteak, THE BEST whisky selection on The Strip.

Then I stumbled over to a video poker machine and won $250 on a $5 bet.

Okay, I'm not really kissing the machine.  It would be healthier to lick a gas station urinal rim than kiss a Vegas touchscreen.  Anyway, the kiss is close enough.  The machine deserved it.  I was now up $372 on the first day.  Success.

Sunday -- Less drinking.  No gambling.

That's right, I left with my winnings intact.  I hit the gym, then walked about 7 miles up and down The Strip.  I was witness to a particularly curious scene, documented here.  Grabbed some good pizza from New York New York.  Hit Mon Ami Gabi at Paris for dinner.  We wandered the Forum shops, but didn't buy anything because I'm cheap.

Monday -- I awoke at 5am and drove directly to work, arriving 10 minutes early.  This is not recommended.  Three days later, the sleep deprivation is still whuppin' me.  I'm surprised I made it this far into the post.  I'm surprised you made it this far into the post.

---

Whisky thoughts:
Vegas is a great place for whisky drinkin'.  The prices are rarely cheap, but the selection is grand...

...MGM Grand in fact.  That casino alone has a number of great whisky stops.  There's a random bar (I think it's this one) near the hotel elevators that has the old version of Springbank 21yr.  Wolfgang Puck has a bar there with several shelves of high quality stuff, including some Japanese selections.  Then there's Craftsteak.  The prices can be steep, but the pours are 2oz.  The choices are many many many, including a number of indies.  I had a cask strength Bunnahabhain 17yr 1988 Malt Trust.  It was dark as cherry cola and was VERY SHERRY.  There were plans to return on Sunday night to spend some of my winnings, but bedtime was very early.  I shall return.  If you have a chance to visit Craftsteak, Larry at the bar is a great guy who loves to discuss all things booze.

The Palms has a bourbon bar in the middle of the casino.  They appear to have almost everything.  Like Craftsteak, they have Pappies 15, 20, and 23, if you're Van Winkle hunting.

And, as always, I have to give The Whisky Attic its proper due.  (My 2012 posts about it are here.)  Professor Carmer is brilliant and his whisky selection is terrific!  I shall return there on my next Vegas trip.

Time to start planning my next Vegas trip.  How about it, Jason?

In the can: A Vegas Story

A man stands at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard South and East Flamingo Road, calling out to passers by.
       "Save the Ta-Tas!"
       His graying pile of sandy blonde hair began its climb over his ears years ago.  An aqua blue windbreaker, zipped up to his chin, keeps out the increasingly brisk overcast desert winter afternoon.
       "Save the Ta-Tas!"
       To his right, his wheeled plexiglass-encased cart displays a half dozen identical white plastic signs with black lettering reading:
       "Save the Ta-Tas!"
       Most of the passersby disregard his barking.  Many of them have just maneuvered around the forty to fifty bundled-up short men shoving glossy nude escort card-sized adverts in every direction.  But the huckster has something of additional substance to offer the crowd.
       "Ladies and Gentleman!"
       He holds his arms up, cradling something gingerly in each hand.  He winds his right arm up like a hurler, then flings the unseen object onto his cart's flat transparent tabletop.
       WAP!  It splats down, a flesh colored puddle.
       WAP!  He slams the second one onto the table.
       The puddles begin to move.  Part of the crowd stops to watch.
       Slowly sucking themselves up from the table, the rosy peach blobs rise, each unhurriedly forming a shape.  Gradually they stand up, jiggling, getting rounder, growing...
       ...until there, on top of his cart, stand two golf-ball sized wiggling rubber breasts, complete with red areolas and pointed nipples.
       The man stands beside his cart, proudly gesturing with an open hand, "Want to help save the ta-tas?  Get yourself a pair of these itty-bitty titties."
       Some of the audience remains in place, staring at the tiny wobbling breasts.  But most of the watchers continue on, passing the closed-for-renovation signs for Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon.
       A voice calls out from the parting crowd, "Excuse me!"
       Digging her way through the crush of bodies, a determined silver-curly-haired woman in a light green jacket rushes towards the cart.
       Approaching the shimmying mams, she asks in a sharp Russian accent:
       "Excuse me, you have the canned puzzi?"
       Hurried gamblers and tipsy shoppers squeeze around her.
       The man replies, "Huh?"
       "You know.  The puzzi.  In the can."
       "Um, n......no. Ma'am, all of my proceeds go to breast cancer research."
       "Oh," she says.  Her shoulders sink and she slouches away to the nearby escalator.
       The continuing stream of tourists pushes on.  The traffic lights change.  A dozen motorcycles thunder by.  Scooping his two little products off the cart, the man in the aqua blue windbreaker begins his sales pitch again.
       "Ladies and Gentleman!"

Happy Friday! Quick ramblings and an escape...

Last night David Driscoll wrote a lovely piece on the romance of big brands.  The flu may have knocked Driscoll stone sober, but it's given him time and clarity to muse deeply.  Here's a link.

Mr. Feldman is back to posting on Coopered Tot.  Always a good thing.

Oliver Klimek of Dramming.com fame has a new blog: Culinary Atrocities.  It's delicious.

And then there's...

ESCAPE FROM LA - FEBRUARY 2013 edition

(Source)

I am (desperately) escaping LA for Vegas this weekend.  My brother, Jason, is flying out from the East Coast and I'm driving in, directly from work.  We were there last year around this time for his birthday.  All sorts of amazing stuff happened.  This time, I will be satisfied with just drinking and gambling.  You can do those things in Las Vegas, right?

Single Malt Report: Bowmore Dorus Mor

To my fellow cynics out there:  Yes, the love-a-thon continues here at the Single Malt Report.  I wanted to start the year on a positive note by reviewing some lovely drams before diving into the riskier stuff.  Will this be the last of the glowing reviews?  Intentionally, yes.  But I hope everything I try this year is terrific.

Distillery: Bowmore

Ownership:  Morrison Bowmore (owned by Suntory)

Region: Islay

Type: Single Malt Whisky (Small Batch

Maturation: First fill ex-bourbon barrels

Age: minimum 10 years

Alcohol by Volume: 55.1%
Limited release: 2,400 bottles

As mentioned in last week's Bowmore post, this is the 4th batch of the Tempest line.  In Europe, it's still called Tempest.  But in the US, a "Tempest" winery from Washington State blocked their use of that name here.  Bowmore in turn had fans choose the new name via Facebook.  Voters decided between "Dorus Mor" and "Whirlpool".  Needless to say, they chose wisely.  I don't want my whisky named after a dishwasher.

Not whisky.

Dorus Mor is the Gaelic name for the tempestuous waters around Islay.  Using a little Gaelic on the label, as seems to be the fashion at Islay distilleries, Bowmore made this all work out in the end.

(UPDATE: Dorus Mor is a narrows north of Kintyre and northwest of Jura, near the Corryvreckan. Here's a link. Thank you to Mike, who gave us the scoop in the comments section!)

I loved the Tempest batches 2 and 3.  At cask strength, Bowmore's spirit shouts out loud.  And rolling it all up in American oak vanilla is a great call.  I was excited to try the newest batch.

NEAT:
The color is a yellow gold with a hint of green.  The nose leads with a bourbony vanilla.  A flash of dark chocolate, then honey-roasted peat.  Some smoked orange peels, soil, and moss follow.  There's even a bit of Band-aids, a characteristic found in some of Bowmore's normally-peatier Islay neighbors' whisky.  The palate projects citrus and vanilla first, then peat and smoke second.  There's some milk chocolate, stone fruit (think apricot) juice, charcoal, and honey in there too.  It finishes up with charred moss, burnt orange peels, vanilla, roasted nuts, and cigarette smoke.

WITH A SPLASH OF WATER...
...more citrus opens up on the nose, along with a lot more oak.  The peat goes in retreat.  But it storms back in the palate along with the smoke.  There's a little bitterness in the finale, though some fruits (maybe fresh cherries?) linger on.

My notes from the original tasting read: "peated vanilla ice cream".  Someone else said Dorus reminded him of smoky angel food cake.

I want Mor.

---

Regarding the bottle's expense, I've found that I'm getting tired, both of rising whisky prices and of ranting about them.  But I would be remiss if I didn't discuss Dorus Mor for a moment.

Some young cask strength Islay comparables:
1. Port Charlotte PC 6, 7, and 8 - $100-$120 (18,000 - 30,000 bottles per release)
2. Lagavulin 12yr CS - $100-$120 (current release, 31656 bottles)
3. Ardbeg Supernova - $100-$130 (original release, 21000 bottles)
4. Kilchoman cask strength - $100-$120

The above whiskys must have been considered by Morrison Bowmore when deciding Dorus's price.  Otherwise, why would they raise the US price 50% from that of the last batch of Tempest (2011)?  The first three above comparables had releases many multiples larger than that of the Dorus Mor.  Though the Kilchoman cask releases were much smaller they have been more numerous and the whisky younger.  While this is not a defense of the Dorus Mor's price, it is an attempt to guess at an explanation.  But it's a damned pity because here's another bottle I'm priced out of.

BUT if those comparable whiskys are within your own buying range, then Bowmore's Dorus Mor should be considered on the same level.  At cask strength, this is unlike anything else in Bowmore's range.  It's a hearty burly citric vanilla smoke stack of a drink.  It's tremendous on a winter's night, near a crackling fireplace.  It'll warm the innards and delight the senses.  (Take that, PR firm, and run with it.)

For the rest of us, perhaps we should snoop around the European retailers...

Availability - Some liquor specialists
Pricing - U.S. suggested retail price will be $120
Rating - 90

Single Malt Report: The Balvenie 21 year old Portwood

Goodness, it feels like it's been forever since I've reported on a single malt.  So, we'll get to two (or three?) this week.  I'll start with a whisky that was on my previous Dram Quest.  The Balvenie 21yr Portwood.

There have been a few posts here about my struggles with "finished" whiskys.  To me, finished whiskies almost never feel like a complete piece.  The elements often remain separate.  Rarely does the character from the wine cask integrate with the malt.

There is undoubtedly a true art to whisky-making.  A wine-cask-finished major release requires the blender to commingle well over 100 separate casks into a single product with a nose and palate that's not only consistent, but also fits into the company's brand.  The producer likely has to test up to 1000 separate barrels of whisky, with each vessel bringing along its own quirks.  So when this process actually works, it's an impressive bit of craft.

When I find a finished whisky that works, I'm first in line to be one of those momentarily sated consumers.  But those finishes usually don't work for me.  Especially port pipe finished whisky.  I've tried about a dozen, and would rather not sample them again.  Well, except for this one.

I'd first tried it at a Balvenie tasting and was surprised by how well the malt, port, and wood was woven into a single whisky unit.  I shouldn't have been surprised since this whisky had been recommended to me by many folks.  Yet I went into the experience with my grudge against port-ed whisky.  But I found the Portwood so nice that I made sure to pick up a dram in a Master of Malt order.

Distillery: Balvenie

Ownership: William Grant & Sons

Region: Speyside (Dufftown)

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Maturation: Most of its life in re-fill American oak, then a short period in ex-port pipes

Age: minimum 21 years

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

The color is dark gold, like a bourbon.  The nose starts with maraschino cherries in a jar of molasses.  Then there's lots of orange zest, fruit punch, ripe stone fruits, and maple syrup.  After about a half hour, it smells of a dessert of bread pudding with a light port.  Great silky body and texture on this one.  Milk chocolate and raisins start the palate.  There's some sweet cream, vanilla pudding, cinnamon, salt, and whole wheat bread with honey butter.  The late-night finish blooms with raisins in honey, citrus and brown sugar, and finally a healthy dose of pipe tobacco.

Yeah.  Seriously, screw water.  I only drank this one neatly.  It needed no assistance.

Balvenie Master Blender David Stewart really is a master of his craft.  The 12yr Doublewood (the original single malt report!) is honeyed, creamy, and easygoing.  The Signature and Single Barrel are less rounded than the Doublewood, but are more interesting for the same reason.  The Carribean Cask is desserty delicious.  The 17yr Doublewood is, well, a 17yr version of the younger Doublewood.  My Tun 1401 experiences have left me speechless.  The 30yr is dynamite.  And now he's made a port-finished whisky that is all of one piece.  I know Mr. Stewart is in the process of retiring but I'm sure he feels good to have brought so many good products to so many happy drinkers.

Availability - Many liquor specialists
Pricing - $140-$160 (US East Coast and Europe), $180-$200 (California), a 47.6% verison goes for 120GBP at Duty Free
Rating - 90

Three whisky events in four days: Part Three

(Part One here)

(Part Two here)

Ulitmately, there was...

MONDAY -- STITZEL-WELLER WITH THE SCWC

There's a new club in town: the Southern California Whiskey Club.  It's the brainchild of Chris Uhde and Michael Ries, two awesome whiskey guys I've met at a number of other booze events.  You'll note the 'e' in the "Whiskey" part of their club name.  Thus Monday night's event was a Bourbon Whiskey meeting.  And not just any bourbon whiskey.  Stitzel-Weller bourbon whiskey.

This was another step in my further education on American whiskies.  A year ago today, I didn't know a darn thing about the aged spirits produced in my country.  My whisky knowledge was (like most of my thoughts) focused overseas.  Since my proper introduction to rye and bourbon last February, my interest in these more local liquors has grown.

So on Monday there I was in the midst of a five part taste-off between old Stitzel-Weller bourbon and its modern compatriots.  It went as follows:

1.  Cabin Still (1989) versus Cabin Still (2011)
2.  Old Fitzgerald BIB DSP KY-16 (S-W) versus Old Fitzgerald BIB DSP KY–1 (Heaven Hill)
3.  Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12yr BHC Louisville 1994 (S-W) versus Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12yr current (Heaven Hill)
4.  Pappy Van Winkle 20yr bottled in 2010 versus Pappy Van Winkle 20yr bottled in 2012
5.  W.L Weller BHC 10yr Centennial Louisville edition versus Jefferson’s Presidential 18yr

Yes, your eyes may be drawn to #4 there.  And for good reason.  Collectors are going absolutely bananas for all Pappy juice.  Especially the known Stitzel-Weller Pappy juice.  Since the Stitzel-Weller distillery closed in 1992, the 2010 Pappy is definitely S-W.  There's a debate as to how much actual Stitzel-Weller spirit is in the 2012.  Much, most, or all of it may be from Heaven Hill's Bernheim distillery.

The Van Winkle brand (as well as the W.L. Weller brand) is currently owned by Buffalo Trace.  The news came out a couple weeks ago that the Stitzel-Weller distillery is actually being reopened......by Diageo.  (Insert cheer or grumble here.)

Back in the day, Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle personally preferred the palate on wheated bourbons -- "a whisper of wheat" they used to say -- so that was the product they focused on at the distillery.  And wheated bourbons are what we tasted at the Monday night event, held at The Daily Pint.

Looking over my notes and thinking back to Monday night, there are two consistent elements to each of the five comparative tastings: the S-W whiskies had brighter, bolder, more vibrant noses while the finishes on the current releases were muted.  Here are my notes:

Cabin Still 1989 -- Bright candied nose. Sweeter than the 2011, but not sacchrine.
Cabin Still 2011 -- Sandier, dustier nose.  Mild palate, a little bit of clay in there.
Old Fitzgerald 1991 -- Maple syrup on buttermilk pancakes. Thick solid palate.
Old Fitzgerald 2012 -- Quite muted. Hay, grasses, grainy notes.
Very Special Old Fitz 12yr 1994 -- Chocolate, maple syrup, and light floral notes.
Very Special Old Fitz 12yr current -- Milder (again), grassy.  A touch sour.  Not as very special.
Pappy 20yr 2010 -- Fills one's skull with the vibrant oaky wheat whisky flavors. Some brandied cherries in there. I prefer this one's palate.
Pappy 20yr 2012 -- Nose is heavier, darker (does that make any sense?). Spices, molasses, bananas.  I prefer this one's nose.
WL Weller 10yr Centennial -- Pretty good, preferred
Jefferson's Prez 18yr -- Decent, but not that memorable

Sorry for those last two.  Socializing had begun in earnest by that point.  I was talking to a nice chap about spirits of all kinds.  That was actually one of the best parts of the event was the laid-back chatty atmosphere.

Chris didn't tell the crowd what we should be tasting nor which whiskey we should like better.  Instead, we all were given the space to sort out what we liked best.  That's exactly how I think events should be run.  Whisk(e)y is a mercurial personal thing.  In my case, I liked the newer Pappy's nose better than the S-W Pappy nose, while I liked the elder one's palate better.  But I liked Old Fitzgerald 1991 the best, even more than the Pappies.  Its nose was insanely delicious, and it didn't taste half bad either!  The Very Special Old Fitzgerald '94 was great too.  I found the contemporary Heaven Hill bourbons to be very mild and largely forgettable, aside from their mildness.

I personally wouldn't drop $100+ on any of these, though I can understand why Pappy would carry a big price in the primary market.  I'll keep my commentary on the secondary market to a minimum for now.  Ultimately, I agree with Southern California Whiskey Club folks; these amber treasures were made to be appreciated by more senses than just sight.  They were created to be tasted.  They were created to be shared.  I mean, it's whiskey, damn it.

Many thanks to Chris and Michael for this great opportunity.  I'm looking forward to the next event!

Three whisky events in four days: Part Two

(Part One here)

And then there was...

SUNDAY -- GLEN GARIOCH & BOWMORE

If you are on the western coast of the United States and Johnnie Mundell is holding a whisky event in your town, be there.  He is and has been a rep for Morrison Bowmore and Campari America.  Like Martin Daraz, he's a hardy Scotsman who can handle a room, weave a tale, educate the mind, and pour whisky all at the same time.  I've been to three of his Bowmore events, one Glenrothes event, and now this Glen Garioch + Bowmore event.  I'm such a fan of this guy that I'm going to stop gushing before this gets awkward.

Too late!

On this particular evening, Johnnie climbed on tables...

...read Burns's "John Barleycorn"...

...and poured the following:

Glen Garioch 1797 Founder's Reserve
Glen Garioch 12 year
Glen Garioch 1994 Vintage
Glen Garioch 1991 Vintage

Auchentoshan Three Wood

Bowmore Legend
Bowmore 12 year
Bowmore 15 year Darkest
Bowmore 18 year
Bowmore Dorus Mor

He had these paired side by side as such:
GG Founders Reserve and Bowmore Legend
GG 12 year and Bowmore 12 year
GG 1994 and Bowmore 18 year
Auchie Three Wood and Bowmore 15 year Darkest
GG 1991 and Bowmore Dorus Mor

I've reviewed a number of these already, in fact I think I've reported on most of the Bowmores multiple times.  The only Garioch that I'd reported on before was the 12 year and I still find it bloody fantastic (maple syrup, vanilla beans, and dried apricots this time).  I'll try to focus on stuff newer to me.

Bowmore Legend ($25, 40%) and Glen Garioch Founder's Reserve ($35, 48%) are both in the 8 year range and carry their youth well.  Legend is a lot better than I thought it would be: some light peat, light on the sweet, and very drinkable neat.  The Founder's carries more oomph, due to its ABV and no filtration.  It's bready and full of cereal notes, some white fruits on the nose and a touch savory in the palate.

Likely my second favorite of the night, the Glen Garioch 1994 ($120, 53.9%) has a gorgeous nose:  a massive hit of salted taffy and butterscotch.  The malty palate has a touch of peat and salt.  The Glen Garioch 1991 (54.7%) isn't available in the states (yet) but was the softest and most graceful of the bunch.  Also lightly peated, there was a similar butterscotch character as well as some citrus juice notes.

The Bowmore Dorus Mor was the biggie, for me.  The limited release Bowmore Tempest bottlings are my favorite official Bowmore bottlings.  They are 10-year-old cask-strength first-fill ex-bourbon-barrel bruisers.  A year ago, a California winery named "Tempest" threatened suit if Bowmore was to release another Tempest whisky in The States.  So Bowmore responded by changing the name of Tempest Batch 4 to "Dorus Mor" on the US bottles.  The Dorus release will be even smaller than the previous Tempests and it's the first by the great Rachel Barrie since she moved over to Morrison Bowmore.  It's going to be released here very soon and it's not going to be cheap.  But it's very good.  I will have an official report on Dorus within the next week or so.

Many many thanks to Johnnie for all these great things!

For part three, we head West...