Why So Bitters?

I’m leaving the bitters giveaway drawing open until the end of the week so get your comments in if you want one of the very first bottles of Nobler Experiment Orange Bitters. For those of you somewhat unfamiliar to the world of bitters, you’ve probably seen this iconic bottle (picture below) sitting at almost every bar you frequent and somewhat more bizarrely next to the strawberry daiquiri mix on an end-cap in every supermarket. But as I’ve mentioned before, the availability of uniquely flavored bitters for sale, and even more uniquely flavored bitters in restaurants and bars (pepperoni bitters? really?) has absolutely skyrocketed. So, what the hell are bitters in the first place?

Maybe a more interesting question: where did bitters originate? While modern medicine is great and all, there is something pretty fantastic about a bunch of folks mixing up concoctions and selling them as cure-alls long before Advil and Pepto were in everybody’s medicine cabinets. Herbs and roots were observed to have certain effects as “cures” throughout human history and once distillation became more understood, it was a seemingly natural transition to “bottle” those perceived effects. By infusing the alcoholic distillate with these same herbal essences (mainly cascarilla, quassia, gentian, orange, and quinine) the original apothecaries could create symptom base remedies for the local communities.

But it was in 1824, when a German Physician, Dr. Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, fighting alongside Simon Bolivar in Venezuela, took these local cures to a whole new level. His now famous Angostura Bitters, named after the town they originated in, was intended to limit and reduce the effects of sea-sickness. Almost 200 years later, one of my first experiences with Angostura helped prove that Siegert wasn’t simply selling voodoo. Working in a restaurant, your daily caloric intake consists of coffee, crap, more coffee, alcohol, and probably cheese. We always had so much cheese! And that, my friends, is not a recipe for stomach comfort. But with a little seltzer splashed with Angostura (okay, and maybe some more coffee) it was always easy to rally. Good work Doctor!

So that takes care of Angostura, but you better not try to give your friend from Louisiana a bottle of these and call them bitters. Because in Nawlins, there is only brand of bitters you should be putting in your Sazerac and that’s Peychaud’s. Created in 1830 by a Creole apothecary, these bitters are similar in ingredient list to Angostura but are a bit lighter and sweeter as a final product. And if you haven’t had a true Sazerac, you should probably stop reading this and go find one. For this reason, Peychaud’s often gets credited for the bitters transition to cocktail contributor from simple cure-all.

So why all the crazy new flavors and countless available commercial brands in the last few years. What the hell have we been doing for 2 centuries? Well, once again, we can chalk this up to the most recent cocktail craze. Bitters, as a flavoring agent are a tremendous tool for adding strong and/or nuance flavors into a drink without large volumes or dilutions. If you are looking for a few options to add to your liquor collection (besides my orange bitters of course), I’d say definitely start with a bottle of lemon and a bottle of celery. You’ll find yourself adding these two to everything. You’ll even love a few splashes in an ice-cold seltzer. I know, I know, there isn’t booze in seltzer. But sometimes even the Noblers need to hydrate!

Drink Often But Slowly

Look, I try my best not to be a New York snob. In fact, for full disclosure, my biggest concern when moving here now about five years ago was being the guy that solely referred to New York as “THE CITY”. So much for that…

But seriously, there is no better place to witness the emergence of spring than in the city. Dammit, I mean New York. The energy is electric, the clothes seem to disappear, and everyone seems to be drinking outside. Which is my favorite part for sure. But it all seems to fly by so fast. With weekends packed with activities and non-stop weekday happy hours, all of a sudden it’s October and were bitching it’s cold again. But this year, I’ve got a slogan to live by.

Drink often but slowly. (Things sound more intelligent when they are in italics, right?)

There is no better way to share an experience or to get to know someone than over your favorite glass of bourbon, or by sharing a great bottle of wine; these details are the catalysts to great memories. And the more you savor them as they occur, the more memorable they truly are.  Oh, and of course, don’t forget to instagram the shit out of those memories as well. Otherwise they never really happened.

It’s been a crazy few weeks and it mostly feels like a whirlwind but it’s time to take a step back and slow down. I’m kicking off my Spring/Summer motto with an awesome whiskey and beer tasting at Idle Hands with some close friends for my Birthday and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s already been a great Birthday week with a night out at Talde in the BK and a cauliflower crust pizza “cake” on Sunday (thanks Nancy!). And I can tell you one thing…

Tonight the first part of that motto will not be an issue!

 

Gunpowder and Revelry: The Proof Test

The team over at Serious Drinks has been creating some fantastic 101 write-ups for all things booze related. These posts and the blog on the whole is one of my favorite go-tos on a daily basis. I won’t re-hash the whole article as I posted a little on the matter not too long ago but I had to share this little piece of history…

It turns out, the term “proof” comes from the historically boozey environment of the open ocean waters. The British navy offered a daily ration of Rum to the sailors on-board and naturally this meant a good estimation of a voyage was needed. Sailors had the tendency to be suspicious of the crewman divvying up the rations because diluted rum just doesn’t do the job. In order to prove that the booze was full strength, they devised a simple test. With a little gunpowder and probably a bit of revelry, the “proof” test was simple. In order to catch on fire, the rum had to be around 57% ABV or 114 proof. If it didn’t, I don’t think it was a good day to be the one in charge.

Maybe I’ll start diluting the booze for the Gatherings and see how quickly the Noblers start lighting stuff on fire…

From Sugars to Booze, We Thank the Yeast

Our second batch of Cow Thieves is almost ready to pop and I’m really excited to get into these guys. Just a few more days in the bottle, and they should be fully carbonated and delicious! We sampled a bit of the “pre-bottled” batch and these pilsners came out really exciting. This time around we chose two distinct hop varietals to use for each batch of one common pilsner recipe. This is just one of the seemingly endless variables beer makers can play with to produce all sorts of good stuff. Thinking ahead to the next production, I’m thinking we might look towards the yeast selection as a means to get even deeper. Considering fermentation has been around for all of humanity, it’s pretty ridiculous that it’s been less than 200 years since we’ve been able to fully explain it…

Fermentation is the process in which microorganisms convert simple sugar molecules to carbon dioxide and alcohols. For thousands of years, humanity was experimenting with the production of alcohol without this fundamental knowledge. Because while I may head down to the hipster beer store in Brooklyn and have my choice of hundreds of commercially packaged yeast varieties, fermenting microorganisms also happen to live everywhere. Ancient cultures were most likely pleasantly surprised that their grape juice and honey waters started to bubble and rendered them a bit more tolerant of the day-to-day, but I can only imagine how quickly that curiosity turned into obsession.

With little more than good old trial and error, the proper conditions of temperature and oxygen availability were analyzed as batch after batch of alcoholic beverages were produced. I don’t imagine they were as picky in the early stages but as wine, beer, and booze production became common place, it’s absurdly impressive how far along the industry was at the time fermentation was finally fully defined in the 1850s by Louis Pasteur (seen above).

So why do we even need all those varieties at the hipster beer shop?

It turns out, all micro-organisms are not made alike. This shouldn’t surprise you so much considering we as humans are all so unique and special. But these little guys have all sorts of distinguishing characteristics (most of which sound familiar). From the food they prefer to their ability to create and then subsequently tolerate levels of alcohol, individual strains of fermenting yeast have the ability to really impact the final product. 

Sounds like I’ve got a lot of experimenting ahead of me…

“The Belly of an Alligator” and My Geeky Video Debut

One of the driving forces behind my love for whiskey is the geeky science behind it all. Almost 6 years ago now, my boss (at the time) and I, had the opportunity to set up a distillation demonstration for Science Friday. In preparation we fermented fresh squeezed cherry juice into essentially a cherry wine which we would then distill into a cherry flavored liquor. As you can see, the process, particularly at that scale is pretty damn simple. But we weren’t producing 72,000 bottles in one day…although maybe it’s time to give Kent a call and see if he’s interested in re-starting the still!

The great thing about the resurgence of American Whiskey is the amount of really amazing press that comes with it. Take this Maker’s Mark Distillery Tour from Business Insider for example. Rather than re-hashing the details here, go take a look at this amazing photo gallery. The quantity and execution are unbelievable!

My favorite shot is that of the wood barrels (seen above). As I’ve mentioned before, the charring of the barrels is one of the major distinctions in the bourbon aging process. That “caramelization” of the wood produces that ridiculously delicious exchange of flavor and sweetness Bourbon drinkers thrive on.

Let’s be clear

Picture this:  You are out shopping this week with your two whiskey lover gift guides in tow (here and here). You find yourself perusing the liquor store looking for something new, or out of the ordinary. You stumble upon the whiskey shelves and your eyes are affixed on the variety of brands, bottles, and browns. You stop and admire the Hudson Baby Bourbon for it’s beautiful bottle and then confusion sets in. What the hell is this…

Okay, in defense of Hudson, they aren’t the only one capitalizing on this frustrating liquor trend. See, the beauty of whiskey, both in flavor and in appearance comes in large part from the barrel aging process which we’ve been over before (here and here). But “white whiskey” or “moonshine” or “white lightning” however you prefer it, forgoes that often lengthy aging process leaving you with a clear, somewhat flavorless, yet seemingly highly marketable booze. And I get it. With all the energy and interest around the Prohibition (see: The Nobler Experiment), picking up a bottle of moonshine must feel kind of cool.

But don’t be mistaken. What you are popping into isn’t that different from vodka. Great for mixing, not so great on it’s own. So should you avoid these “white whiskeys” altogether? Well, that’s up to you. But maybe don’t go out of your way to drop up to $40 on a bottle. All clear?

One of the Brews Brothers…

A few weeks back I posted about my growing desire to brew my own beer. Not so much so that I could become some great brew master, but more because I was curious as hell to see how the process went. Well, after brewing 5 gallons each of American Pale Ale and an Indian Pale Ale yesterday, I can truly say, it’s pretty damn awesome.

These brew kits make the process incredibly straight forward. If you follow the instructions, you should end up with a decent product in the end. That being said, much like folks describe baking, there isn’t much room for error. Time and temperature seem to be the two most important factors which is why I’d say it’s definitely at least a two man job. My partner in crime yesterday, Larry Gordon, had brewed his own beer a few years back which made all the difference in getting it done without any major issues (we think). We now have close to 120 bottles worth of beer fermenting away to be bottled and to be potentially even ready for Christmas.

I’m pumped to see how they turn out and share our brews with everyone…bottling and labels to come next!

Extractions

The idea of flavored liquor often brings back memories of a gag-reflex induced by a cherry vodka shot or  even worse, the cloying sweetness of a mango rum cocktail. Luckily those vivid memories have been efficiently replaced over the last few years with infusions…

“Infused” liquors to be enjoyed on their own or mixed in cocktails are not a recent phenomenon. Throughout history, extracting the flavors of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices in alcohol was commonplace. Some of the most popular spirits continue to be made in this way. However, the “home” or “small batch” infusion process that has begun to re-invigorate this practice in bars and gatherings around the world has made for some pretty exciting stuff (I don’t think ancient civilizations were sipping on pork infused liquors…)

But while infusion sounds really cool, this process should really be dubbed what it is…an extraction. As discussed before at the nobler, flavor components are made of small molecules. Take this tomato and black pepper vodka I made last year for my version of a straight up bloody mary. The flavor molecules from the ingredients are literally extracted by the alcohol. This same concept is used for all sorts of extraction methods because of how “easily” molecules dissolve in alcohols. For this reason, when purity matters, it’s a perfect process for an infinite number of creative opportunities.

Honestly, this is a no brainer to start trying at home. Use anything you like (fruits tend to impart the quickest and most obvious flavoring) and I promise you, you will never buy a flavored vodka again.

Proof…

…I guess I got my stagger back.

I remember my first go around with some Southern Comfort 100 proof. As a young college student, I had mastered the Nalgene cocktail to go. That is until my roommate Daniel picked up a bottle of the 10% more alcoholic SoCo. Lets just say that night didn’t end up so well…

But the issue of proof goes beyond the numbers and a few ruined nights. In fact, it’s actually quite interesting. As we’ve talked about before, liquor is qualified by being distilled from a fermented beverage. Liquors can contain as low as 20% alcohol (40 proof) and can legally be sold as high as 95% alcohol (190 proof). But seeing that nothing good can come from a bottle of everclear, most liquors worth mention fall somewhere between 35% and 50% alcohol. So who cares?

For true liquor lovers, the range has nothing to do with how buzzed you can get, and everything to do with complexity and smoothness. Because of the volatile nature of alcohol, the more alcoholic a liquor is, the more likely it will have “bite” during consumption. That is, unless that “bite” is smoothed out by proper handling. As simple as it is made to seem, ethanol is not the only product of fermentation. Therefore, a smooth liquor requires exacting and effective distillation and in some cases, proper aging to ensure the balance is set correctly. Some of the best whiskeys for example are close to 100 proof but contain a negligible “bite” as compared to most 80 proof vodkas.

One more point of interest is the regularity of the 80 proof liquor. I attempted to do some quick research on where that number came from but without much luck. It feels as though as distillation became a true commercial venture, 80 proof became the unspoken standard (at least for most clear liquors). Now as whisky and small batch distillation are once again becoming true American passions, the game is a bit more wide open. I guess you could say the proof is in the liquor…

The Basics: Barrel Aging

While I have nothing in particular against clear liquors like vodka and gin, they certainly do lack a true depth in character. A glass of whiskey on the other hand…

Because whether it’s in your home or at the bar, a glass of whiskey is more than just a beverage. There is a unique feeling imparted on the partaker that only these few fingers of amber gold can produce. And it all starts with a barrel.

Brown liquor is an awful name. Because to me, one of the greatest nuances between brands and styles of whiskey is the vibrancy that is more than just “brown”. The “amber gold” as I referred to a glass of whiskey earlier comes from an aging process distinct to all whiskeys: barrel aging. To be clear, whiskey is a generic term for distilled liquors that are aged in wood. But as made evident by the many folks around the world that just shuttered at my description, whiskey “types” are highly regulated. Bourbon for example, is solely produced in America, must be made from a mash of at least 51% corn, and aged in new charred oak barrels along with a few other guidelines. So what is so special about this barrel aging?

Wood barrels, particularly oak, have very distinct chemical and physical properties. These properties act in a few beautiful ways. Have you ever wondered why there is such a distinct vanilla flavor to some whiskeys? Vanillin is just one of the many compounds in the wood that infuse into the liquor during aging. In fact, the reason this flavor is so prominent in bourbon is the “charring” of the barrels before use. But imparting flavor and color isn’t the only job well done here. Wood is porous and in this way acts as a “filter” for the aging whiskey. Impurities and un-desirable components can be absorbed or altered by the wood making a perfectly smooth product.

It must be clear now why tasting along the way is so important. Because with whiskey, it’s not about age, it’s about maturity.