Baron of Beverage

The Baron and Baroness sit down and taste six commercially available non-alcoholic eggnogs. Join us and find out which ones are our favorites.

Baron had a unique opportunity to bring together a bottle of Old Fitzgerald 101 from the original Sitzel Weller Distillery and taste alongside current release of 17-year-old Old Fitzgerald. A special tasting such as this deserved some special people to taste alongside me, my father - "El Jefe" and my brother - "The Hon".

Holiday beers are always fun and a great way to mix things up for your seasonal merriment. Thanksgiving morning the Baron tastes a juicy Hazy IPA from Westbrook Brewing, My. Pleasant, SC with his morning coffee.

As we prepare to relaunch in December, the the baroness and I find ourselves at a Navy tailgate enjoying one of my my favorite brunch beverage.

It’s been a while, but with the swift onset of closures, cancellations, etc the Baron, Baroness, and friends suddenly found time on their hands. And with the St. Patrick’s DAy holiday it seemed the perfect time to grab a different bottle of Irish whiskey and share a dram with them – outside, around a fire pit, at a safe and “social distance”.

Son on St. Patrick’s Day Eve, we sipped and reviewed Knappogue Castle’s Finish Series Chateau Pichon Baron limited release which is matured in bourbon barrels for a minimum of 12 years, then further aged in casks from the renowned Bordeaux winery.

We encourage you to grab a glass, pour a dram, and join us.

Cheers!

For those who enjoyed our BTWOE* series** Christopher Rhodovi (from The Whiskey Room) and I return with our **Manhattan Project Series – Manhattan Project: Sweet Vermouth (MH:SV). In this project we will be tasting 10 different Sweet Vermouths and then also taste both a Bourbon and a Rye based Manhattan made with it. Our BTWOE series yielded Woodford Reserve as ‘the best’ and so we decided to go with the Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey for its companion in our upcoming series as they are made in a very similar manner other than that one is a bourbon and the other a rye whiskey – thus helping reduce variables.

Since it’s probably on your bar, or at least it once was, first up: Martini & Rossi Rosso

We encourage you to grab a glass, pour a dram, and join us.

Cheers!

 

*-“Best Tasting Whiskies On Earth”, order from the UPROXX article “These Are The Best Tasting Whiskies On Earth, According To Twenty Thousand Whiskey Drinkers“

**-Baron of Beverage (BoB) will run several series interwoven through their regular podcasts, rather than run all contiguous/uninterrupted.

In September my youngest brother gave me a lovely gift of a custom logo-ed barrel for aging custom cocktails [Bitner Brothers Cocktails!], along with similarly branded double old-fashioned glasses – and a bottle of one of his own barrel-aged cocktails, a Sauternes-finished Italian American (Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, D’usse cognac, Cocchi americano, Amaro nonino, and Luxardo)!

As my schedule started to get fuller than usual beginning in late September including (but not limited to):

* Catching up on work post vacation,

* Extra singing work (Bach!) that would stretch through into one of his busiest Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday singing seasons (9 holiday services over 48 hours in two cities).

* Entry into (and continually moving on up) Glenfiddich’s ‘World’s Most Experimental Bartender’ competition

* Life in general

It took until late October for me to even get around to tasting his beautiful creation. We thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to creating our own with his generous gift.

Cheers!

 

For those who enjoyed our BTWOE* series** Christopher Rhodovi (from The Whiskey Room) and I return with a prelude to our first Manhattan Project Series – Manhattan Project: Sweet Vermouth (MH:SV). Given in this project we will be tasting both Bourbon and Rye based Manhattans, we felt it only fair to ourselves and all of you to taste the Rye we will be using on its own first. Since the #1 whiskey in our  BTWOE series was Woodford Reserve, we decided to go with the Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey for its companion in our upcoming series.

With strong notes of rye, intermingled with cherry, black & green peppercorns and core tones of vanilla and honey – we both felt this will be an excellent choice/companion to the Woodford Reserve Bourbon for our Manhattan Project: Sweet Vermouth Series.

We encourage you to grab a glass, pour a dram, and join us.

Cheers!

 

*-“Best Tasting Whiskies On Earth”, order from the UPROXX article “These Are The Best Tasting Whiskies On Earth, According To Twenty Thousand Whiskey Drinkers“

**-Baron of Beverage (BoB) will run several series interwoven through their regular podcasts, rather than run all contiguous/uninterrupted.

It’s been a while since Christopher Rhodovi (from The Whiskey Room) and I have sat down and recorded a podcast – but sometime life takes precedence.

This time of year is definitely know for Thanksgiving cheer (and some celebrate Christmas early now too) – but for bourbon lovers/aficionados, this is also ‘Pappy Season’. That time of year when allocation from the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery make their way to many a local retail store and are quickly snapped up and then sell for astronomical costs on the secondary markets. As fate (and perseverance) would have it, Chris managed to acquire a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year Old and we sat down to taste it and discuss Pappy Van Winkle in general.

We encourage you to grab a glass, pour a dram, and join us.

Cheers!

Drum roll please…. Christopher Rhodovi (from The Whiskey Room) and I have finally reached the ‘top’ of the list, ending our BTWOE* series**. Given the trends in whiskey over the past decade  it comes as no surprise that the #1 whiskey is a bourbon – specifically Woodford Reserve.

At #1, Woodford Reserve came as a bit of a surprise because it’s history in the market is relatively short – and it’s sales volume small in comparison to all the others on the list. But being smaller and younger isn’t necessarily a bad thing as this bourbon delivers on all the classic notes – vanilla, oak, & spices – but adds intense complexity on both the nose and the palate – cinnamon, dried fruits, citrus peels, cocoa, etc. It’s clear thousands of online voters have grabbed a bottle (or several) and noticed. We discuss all of this – as well as how the term ‘Reserve’ for bourbons is unregulated mumbo jumbo (even when it feels deserved), some of Woodford’s processes, and its current place in the bourbon market.

We finish with a preview of our next series – Manhattan Project: Sweet Vermouth

We encourage you to grab a glass, pour a dram, and join us.

Cheers!