EmbellishPod

Holiday’s with family can be hard for a lot of reasons. Each of us has our own special reason to need to take the edge off during a family gathering. In lieu of some commercial grade therapy a little help from the Russell’s can ease the transition.

It's the time of the year where you need to find a gift for a whiskey loving friend. Follow what I have to say and you'll certainly get them a present.

Whiskey Nosing Kits:
Nose Your Bourbon - https://noseyourbourbon.com/
Bourbon Real Talk - https://www.bourbonrealtalk.com/collections/aroma-kit-and-sample-storage/products/american
Aroma Academy -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A5OOA4M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_V84637GN229PR22RE1XS

Whiskey Library Kit:
Boston Rounds - https://glassbottleoutlet.com/collections/multi-pack/products/2-oz-amber-boston-round-with-black-cone-cap-20-400-v4-v20
Box for Library - https://www.bourbonrealtalk.com/collections/storage/products/2-oz-whiskey-sample-bottle-decorative-storage-box

Whiskey Note Kit:
Scroll & Ink Notebook - https://www.scrollandink.com/collections/tasting-notebooks/products/bourbon-or-whiskey-tasting-book-handbound-in-leather
Fisher Space Pen - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WGD13U/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_4AKR210WG604PFSSF86Y Smoker Kit: https://foghatsmoker.com/

Drinkware:
Snute Neat - https://snuteglass.com/product/snute-neat/
Cuisivin Glendall - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0733VRB3M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_R83JKGKBSAJH9FH62SNG
Acopa Select - https://www.therestaurantstore.com/items/233906
Kornbluh Handbown Glass - https://www.instagram.com/kornbluhglass/

Travel Accessories:
Aged and Ore Sample Bottle Flight - https://agedandore.com/collections/featured/products/bottle-flight
High Camp Flask - https://highcampflasks.com/
Ragproper Flask - https://ragproper.com/

There aren't many beverages that get people riled up quite as much as those from the spirits industry, but if you had to pick one non-alcoholic beverage that would divide households and friend groups it's probably coffee. This is what might be whiskey adjacent, but it's far more related.

Stave and Bean
https://www.staveandbean.com/

Few Cold Cut
https://www.fewspirits.com/

Mr. Black Espresso aged in Whistlepig Casks
https://mrblack.co/us/

Women of Whiskey
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1FYd2YFJD9ZyMSNtS1p53w

Pairing wine with food has been a thing for as long as wine has been a thing. Once Craft Brewing took off there was a resurgence of interest in pairing beer with food other than this is beer, drink it with your wings/pizza/steak. Now that Whiskey is center stage it's time to pair it with food...so how do we pair it and what can I do with this bag of candy I stole from my children.

I shamelessly stole this idea from "This is My Bourbon Podcast" https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisisMyBourbonPodcast

Links of Interest:
https://www.today.com/video/how-therapy-helped-a-war-veteran-launch-a-bourbon-empire-125271621815

Repeal Day Expo December:
Repealdayexpo.com

pairing candy articles:

https://uproxx.com/life/twelve-bourbons-to-pair-with-chocolate-according-to-bartenders/
https://huckberry.com/journal/posts/bourbon-was-made-for-halloween
https://www.whiskyadvocate.com/7-halloween-whisky-candy-pairings/
https://www.gobourbon.com/bourbon-halloween-candy-pairing/

This week I'm identifying these one off conversations that lack any real joining thought other than my own musings as Small Batch Sessions Also what the heck does Small Batch even mean. And Sour Mash. Does it really matter?

Alchemist Cabinet Article on Sour vs. Sweet Mash: https://alchemistcabinet.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/sweet-mash-vs-sour-mash/

Links of Interest:

Repeal Day Expo: https://repealdayexpo.com/

AfroFusion Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afrofusion-louisville-edition-tickets-196658660347?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Does the source of water really matter?

How is the water used? Is it just lore?

lets talk about this and more tonight.

Links of Interest:
Bourbon Turntable - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAK-6VNl2uI
Chill Filtered - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUT8G6kZ8P2cgnyu8q9rfaQ
Friends Book - https://www.amazon.com/Michael-W.-Glover/e/B01B775SA6?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000
Evergreen in Louisville - https://coxslouisville.com/locations/evergreen-liquors-nulu
Bourbon Turntable - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwaJFnKr8uj9WRHQj-dzB_g

There's a ton of content out there right now that alludes to the fact that Bourbon is broken or somehow on the verge of collapse. Lets take some time to talk about it.

There are a ton of words that really get on the nerves of Whiskey Snobs. This episode we talk about a bunch of them and ramble incoherently for about half an hour. Enjoy.

Growing up in Kentucky there’s only one type of whiskey, it has an E(unless your name is Maker’s Mark) and it has a legal definition because it’s Bourbon.

All Bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon. And that’s legally the truth now but it wasn’t always. Standards of identity in the United States insure that this particular appellation of whiskey is relatively similar no matter what you buy.

It also ensures that bad actors don’t come into play and color some pure grain alcohol, add some flavor and call it bourbon.

It would be nice to say that this is new concept that we developed here but that’s not really the case. Maybe we formalized it but the identity of spirits was more of a given than a regulation in the past.

Once I got older I learned about Rye, which is could be a sibling to the Bourbon appellation. Then there is Scotch. Scotch is the third cousin twice removed to early American whiskey concepts.

It similarly has standards of identity ensuring production methodologies that became formalized in the 80’s then revisited in the mid 2000’s.

There are a host of other whiskey versions, some regulated and some not regulated…..yet that are left out there for the rest of us to explore. Today’s episode is going to be an exercise in exploring some of these spirits.

Last week we talked about whiskey that wasn’t bourbon and we are going to do that again today.

Topics Discussed:

New World Whisky
Nikka
Kavalan
Starward

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for 2021. Last Wednesday I kicked off a YouTube Live to recap my experience and thoughts. Maybe it’s helpful to you as you think about attending next year or want to see what this year was all about.