IMBIBE

Great King St. Blended Scotch Whisky

Designed by my favorite firm, Stranger & Stranger, and conceived as an entry-level offering for Compass Box Whisky Co. (whose “Lady Luck” product and packaging I featured back in February), Great King St. is a beautiful-looking, heritage-driven spirit brand that has been executed and launched onto the market flawlessly. The vintage typeface and color palette make the whisky look like a brand that might have been around for decades, while the Royal Tenenbaums-style doodle of the street, matte black top seal and brief description of the scotch’s tasting notes lend it a distinctly contemporary edge. I’d be interested to see how it tastes, considering it’s a more affordable line from a well-established purveyor of craft single malts and blended scotches - however, either way the packaging is dead-on. Here’s a little insight from Stranger about the brand conception process for Great King St.:

“It’s a kind of back to basics for them [Compass Box] so we thought the address of their very first Glaswegian office was appropriate and an unusual name for a whiskey. We got architects elevations done of the whole street so we can extend the range.”

As far as I know, Great King St. is only currently available in the United Kingdom - so if anyone has a chance to taste it let me know if the spirit lives up to the new brand.

Imbibe responsibly. 

Highland Park 50 Year

This pricey offering from the venerable Highland Park brand will run you close to $17,000 (yes, that’s three zeros). It’s deemed to be “worth it,” however, by whiskey aficionados due to its incredibly limited run and unique (if not, in my opinion, kind of ugly) packaging options. There will only be 275 bottles of this 50 year old cask-strength liquor available on the market, part of Highland Park’s five refill oak cask series, all of which were distilled back in 1960. The intricate weave on the bottle is pure sterling silver, and it comes encased in a hand-carved oak box complete with matching silver porthole. You’d think for the price, maybe they would’ve sprung for gold or platinum?

Chivas Regal X Vivienne Westwood

The famously eccentric Brit punk-rock designer has teamed up with Chivas to swathe it’s 18-year old offering in a creative wrap-around casing just in time for Holiday 2010. Despite the seemingly random nature of the collaboration, this is certainly a conversation piece to have on your bar come Christmas time.

Johnnie Walker Double Black Label

Black never goes out of style - so it makes sense that the folks over at Johnnie Walker have chosen to initiate a wide-release of their Double Black Label offering starting in March of 2011. Up until now, the blended scotch was only available in a select few duty-free spots around the globe. So what, exactly, makes this label so decadently dark? Well, according to Johnnie Walker and the lucky few souls who have tasted the product - it’s created by taking their standard Black Label, adding some extra peat malts to the mix and aging it in deeply-charred oak casks.

To be honest, I don’t particularly like super-peaty whiskies and I consider Black Label to be one of the more perfect Johnnie products ever made, so I’m a little skeptical about whether or not I will take a liking to the new Double Black variety.Nonetheless, I look forward to tasting it come March.   

Recipe: Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is considered by many to be closely tied to the origin of the term “cocktail,” making for an excellent first recipe post. The story of the birth of the Old Fashioned is dubious - however, the folklore goes that the first use of its name referred to a bourbon drink served in the 1880s at a gentlemen’s club in Louisville, Kentucky called the Pendennis Club. The recipe is said to have been invented by a bartender at that establishment and popularized by a club member (and bourbon distiller) Colonel James E. Pepper. Eventually, the Colonel made his way North and introduced his favorite libation at the Waldorf-Astoria’s famed hotel bar in Manhattan. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Old Fashioned was presumably named after the short rocks-glass that it is served in, often referred to as an “old fashioned glass.” 
So - what exactly goes into this truly original cocktail? Well, there are a few “must-haves” which include:

                     1-2 parts scotch whisky, rye whiskey or bourbon
                     1 sugar cube
                     2-3 dashes of angostura bitters
                     1 orange wedge and maraschino cherry to garnish

This combination, essentially, makes for the classic chemistry of the drink. The devil is in the details, however, and purists often get into arguments when it comes to how to properly accessorize an Old Fashioned. Some use seltzer water to top off the drink. Some garnish with a variety of citrus fruits (this tends to be a West Coast thing and can be called a San Diego Old Fashioned). Some use maraschino syrup or simple syrup in lieu of the sugar cube. All of them claim to be right.

The fact is, you can make it any way you want, but my preferred technique for this cocktail comes from the classic 1948 guide The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, an essential tome of 6 recipes penned by noted New York lawyer and liquor enthusiast David A. Embury. In my mind, he’s the OG “mixologist.” From The Fine Art:

Pour into one old-fashioned glass 1-2 teaspoons simple syrup and add 2-3 dashes of angostura bitters. Stir with a spoon to blend, then add about 1 oz whiskey. Add 2 large cubes of ice (can be cracked but not crushed). Fill glass about 3/8” to the top with whiskey and stir again. Twist an orange peel and drop in the glass. Stir. Garnish with a speared maraschino cherry.

As you can tell, Embury took the actual “building” of the cocktail very seriously and emphasized slow stirring and incremental additions of the spirit. Any way you cut it, as long as you treat this historic recipe with respect and use the best liquids and garnishes available (Embury was famous for stating that a drink is only as fine as its least premium ingredient) - you’ll end up with a classic concoction sure to both impress and refresh.

Imbibe responsibly.