whiskey – Just Get in the Car

Show Your Spirit for Local Distilleries this Memorial Day

Just Get in the Car — Fri, 22 May 2020 14:20:52 +0000

So what are your Memorial Day plans like this year? No need to answer, I already know: sitting in the back yard with your immediate family, grilling some burgers, having a few drinks, and complaining about the goddamned coronavirus. Just like us.

You are probably trying to figure out how to make it a little better. Maybe you have stopped by the local beer distributor or supermarket and gotten a case of your favorite beer. But you may be tired of beer and looking to make something a little more adventurous. So why not try something with a bit of the hard stuff in it?

Believe it or not, there are a bunch of distilleries in the Philadelphia area. Like other local businesses, they can use your help right now. Have you tried looking on the PLCB website for anything? You will probably just find their top sellers, which won’t include any PA distilleries. Well, good news. We have put together a list of some local distilleries that make some awesome stuff. Curbside pickup is available from the PLCB – why not give your local store a call and plan a Memorial Day with some delicious mixed drinks made from local distilleries? Or better yet, stop by or order direct from the distillery. Help them out, try something new, and make everyone’s Memorial Day weekend better!

POP’S MCCANN WHISKEY

Pop’s McCann is one of my new favorite whiskeys. It’s a triple distilled Irish whiskey, finished in American oak barrels, before it is bottled in Michigan. It’s got a smooth taste, and goes great in lemon flavored drinks. But I prefer it straight, over some cold whiskey stones. It may not be made in the Philly area, but it is created, owned and promoted by a Philly guy.

Pop’s can be found at most liquor stores in the Philadelphia area. If your local store doesn’t carry it, reach out to them on Facebook, and they will make sure you get directed to one that does. You can also find a bunch of cocktail recipes there.

For Memorial Day, there may not be a better whiskey to drink. Pop’s McCann is built on a love of heritage and family history, making it the perfect drink to raise up a toast to honor your ancestors, forefathers, and all those veterans who gave us the ultimate sacrifice. If you want to raise a toast in a more formal way, check them out on Facebook: the owner will stop by your place and raise a toast to you and whoever you want to remember.

DAD’S HAT

Over the past few years, I have been getting more and more into whiskey. Most people fluctuate between bourbon, Irish whiskey, and scotch. But have you tried rye whiskey? Its spicier than bourbon, and was the go-to whiskey for Pennsylvania, before Prohibition virtually destroyed it. In 2011, Dad’s Hat emerged out of Bristol as the first PA distiller of rye whiskey in over 30 years.

Today, they make five delicious variations of rye whiskey. My favorite is the Straight Rye, which has been aged for four years and made from Pennsylvania grain. Check it out – or choose one you will enjoy! You can probably find some of their stuff at your local store – or order direct from the Dad’s Hat website.

FIVE SAINTS

Five Saints can be found in the historic Humane Fire House in Norristown. We had plans to visit the distillery for a tour right when COVID hit. We have been delayed, but we still have plans to get there once this is over. In the meantime, you can stop by their bottle shop or your local liquor store to try some of their stuff.

They have award winning small batch vodka that I have not tried, and a white whiskey that I am sipping while I write this. But my favorite thing from them is the Tuscan Style Gin. I am normally not a gin fan, but the herbal flavoring of this is fantastic. Facebook and their site offers a few cocktail recipes that I need to try. I also think it would be fantastic with some Bloody Mary mix or V-8 juice. Their website will direct you to liquor stores that carry their product, or you can try calling up for some curbside pickup.

KIKI VODKA

Kristin is sipping a lemon drop cocktail made with Kiki Vodka right now. The corn is distilled six times to make it one of the smoothest vodkas you can try. If you are looking to get some right now – good luck. They have been struggling to keep up with demand for their vodka, especially while they focus on making hand sanitizer. But you can try getting what you can from their distillery in Hatfield, or their vodka bar in Pottstown.

BRANDYWINE BRANCH DISTILLERY

Just before COVID shut the world down, I made an emergency stop to one of our local liquor stores and bought a bottle of their Resurgent Young American bourbon. It is distilled in Kentucky, but gets bottled in Elverson, which is just outside Morgantown. It has a nice peppery / vanilla flavor and is worth getting a bottle or two. But if you are like me, you probably want to try one of their other whiskeys or gins, too. When COVID is over, take a visit to their distillery, and check out some food from their bistro as well! In the meantime, visit their website and order a few bottles – free delivery for Philly area residents!

NEW LIBERTY DISTILLERY

A few years ago, I took a tour of New Liberty with some friends of mine. The distillery is in a pretty cool building – an old stable in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia. Within their walls, they are distilling some great whiskey. Besides bringing back the Kinsey and Maryland Club brands, they also have some of their own whiskey brands – Pennsylvania Dutch Malt, Bloody Butcher Bourbon, and Millstone Rye. I have enjoyed a few of the Kinsey, Maryland Club and Pennsylvania Dutch Malt whiskeys – and can’t wait to try the Bloody Butcher.

PHILADELPHIA DISTILLING

Philadelphia Distilling was the first distillery to open in the state since the end of Prohibition. They opened in an old factory in Northern Liberties in 2005 and have a pretty nice tasting room and gift shop (I may have stopped in after my tour at New Liberty, which is nearby). Blue Coat gin is their signature spirit. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. You can order online, or get it delivered through their website.

Despite our love for whiskey and other spirits, there are far too many distilleries in the area for us to have tried everything. Here are some other local distilleries to order from and try out. Let us know what you think…we are going to try and check all of these guys out, too!

Stateside Vodka: https://statesidevodka.com/

Despite the name, they also just released a black label bourbon. You can find them in PA liquor stores, but the distillery also for Delivery & Pick-up at their Philadelphia distillery.

Pollyodd Liquors: https://www.pollyodd.com/?page_id=28

Pollyodd is a South Philly distiller of Italian style lemoncellos. They currently offer 10 different flavors to choose from. Their website includes a list of PA state stores that sell their product, but not all their flavors can be found in the stores. You can call the shop in South Philly directly for an appointment: 215-271-1161 and try something you want.

Pezone Row Home Grown Cello: https://www.pezonecello.com/

11 different cello flavors, some of them seasonal. Usually available at Reading Terminal Market. Their website has a list of state stores that carry their product. Or call them direct at: 215-416-1432

Red Brick Craft Distillery: https://www.redbrickcraftdistillery.com/

Philadelphia distiller of whiskey and rum. Curbside pickup and delivery available through their website.

Palmer Distilling: http://www.palmerdistilling.com/

Liberty Gin and Manayunk Moonshine. List of stores carrying their product is available on their website.

Hewn Spirits: http://hewnspirits.com/

Bucks County distillery for rum and whiskey. Curbside pickup and delivery available.

Bluebird Distilling: https://bluebirddistilling.com/

Make rum, gin and whiskey. Distillery in Phoenixville is open for daily bottle sales, or call your local liquor store.

Pennsylvania Distilling: http://www.penndistilling.com/

Gin, rum, vodka, rye whiskey and bourbon made in Malvern. Online ordering is available; or stop in your tasting room to get a bottle.

Boardroom Spirits: https://www.boardroomspirits.com/

Free hand sanitizer (bring your own container). You can purchase online at their website for pickup from their facility in Lansdale or home delivery. They offer ready made cocktails, as well as a variety of whiskies, rums, and other spirits.

Manatawny Still Works: https://www.manatawnystillworks.com/

Pottstown Distillery. All orders for gin, whiskey, rum and vodka are online only from their website, with curbside pickup at their distillery.

Faber Distilling: https://www.fabereasydrinking.com/

Distillery near Quakertown that makes rum, gin and white whiskey. Right now, they are focusing on hand sanitzer. Support that, buy some liquor when this pandemic is over.

1675 Spirits: https://www.1675spirits.com/

Small batch distillery of vodka and whiskey in Bucks County. Order direct online, or pickup from their distillery in Bensalem.

So enjoy your Memorial Day this weekend. Cookout with your family, enjoy the summer, and support some local businesses that have been hit hard by COVID by purchasing some locally owned and produced spirits.

Let us know what drinks and cocktails you like, and we can compare notes when we finish trying everything, too!

- Shawn

Exploring Louisville with The Kentucky Bourbon Boys

Just Get in the Car — Fri, 24 May 2019 17:54:06 +0000

Ah, bourbon. Besides jazz and anything from the Kardashians, it may be America’s greatest artistic output. And bourbon making is truly an art form. There are some simple rules to follow: it has to be made in the US, be at least 51% corn, aged in a new, charred oak barrel, and be between 80 and 160 proof. Distillers can add other grains, such as rye, wheat and malted barley, but nothing else to create flavor. So no sugar, honey, fruit etc. Within these limitations, distillers are able to create some amazingly varied spirits, and some of the best whiskey in the world. Though bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, a true aficionado knows that the best bourbon is made in Kentucky.

My college friends and I are all turning 40 this year. We somehow convinced the wives to stay home with the kids and let us “celebrate” out of town. However, I think that they were either just happy to see us go, or were planning on holding this over our heads for the next 40 years. Despite still having the maturity of 16 year olds, we are no longer satisfied with shots of Goldschläger and 30 packs of Red Dog. Our palates are slightly more sophisticated now, and we are all people that appreciate art. Since one of us had recently been to New Orleans, and LA was too far for a KUWTK tour, we decided that bourbon was the way to go. So we made a trip to the heart of Bourbon Country: Louisville, Kentucky.

It was my job to set up the distillery tours and tastings for the trip. With over 36 distilleries on the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail alone, this looked to be quite a task. Some are in dry counties, so you can tour, but not sample. For each, we would need to figure out the tour times and prices, and coordinate driving multiple cars back and forth, which didn’t seem like such a great idea when we were planning on sampling bourbon all day. So I began looking into tour groups to help me figure this out. After looking through several different companies, I found one that seemed just right for our crew: The Kentucky Bourbon Boys.

The Kentucky Bourbon Boys do private and customizable tours for your group, big or small. The price was right: two distillery tours, a tasting at a third, lunch, snacks and transportation all day for about $150 a person. Between that and the dozens of positive reviews, I figured these were my “boys”. After some careful consideration (OK, drinking), I chose a couple distilleries around Louisville and got ready for our trip. The only other thing I needed to do after that was let them know what I wanted for lunch. They sent out a confirmation about our itinerary, and also offered some other suggestions for things to check out during our stay.

The day of our tour came and Roger, our driver / guide for the day, came to pick us up where we were staying. We didn’t have to travel to some central meeting point and get on a bus with a bunch of strangers. The tour was just the six of us and our host. He brought a bag of snacks, some water, Gatorade, as well as a sense of humor and a lot patience, which probably came in handy for dealing with our six dumbasses all day. By coincidence (honest!) four of us went on the tour in red polos and khaki shorts. We looked like a crew of greeters from Target on our lunch break. After we loaded onto the bus, we went to our first stop: Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Stitzel-Weller is one of the more impressive distilleries I have seen. The grounds have some large buildings that were used to store hundreds of thousands of gallons of whiskey. While the original distillers went out of business, the grounds (as well as the aging whiskey casks in those tall buildings) were sold to Diageo and turned over to another Kentucky bourbon maker: Bulleit. We joined a larger group for this tour, where a bachelorette party assumed our red shirts meant we were the tour guides. One of the women assured us the girls would have followed us “anywhere”…but only after we told them the truth! Damnit!

The tour here was probably the most impressive: our guide walked us through the distilling process in their experimental lab, showed us how some of the barrels were stored for aging, then brought us into a nice big room for the most important part: sampling. We got to try four different whiskeys they make, explained the different processes used for them, and gave us some scoring sheets to help us identify the flavors. I just focused on drinking the whiskey in front of me – the paper and pencil made me feel like I was taking some kind of whiskey SAT.

With our bellies warmed with whiskey and bourbon (yes, there is a difference – all bourbons are whiskies, but not all whiskies are bourbons), it was time for lunch. We made our way back to downtown Louisville for lunch at Against the Grain Brewery. Lunch was preordered, so it was ready for us when we got there. Though it was not included in the cost, we all decided to get a sample of their beer while visiting – also well worth it. If you find yourself in Louisville, make sure you stop by for some of their beer as well as their brisket with a side of their Brussel sprouts. They were delicious.

Next stop was a tasting at a distillery that was new to me – Kentucky Peerless Distilling, also in downtown Louisville. They are a craft distillery that only uses sweet mash – fresh yeast, as opposed to reusing previously fermented yeast from other batches. Our host there was very friendly and knowledgeable – she told us all about their history and processes, while also giving some insight into each of the whiskies we were trying. We also found some nice red shirts for the other two guys in our group to purchase in the gift shop. Sadly, they decided they were too cool for Team Target.

Finally, we made our way east of the city to the one I was most looking forward to: Kentucky Artisan Distillery, makers of Jefferson bourbon. Though the facility was smaller than Bulleit’s, they also gave a pretty impressive tour – they even had some sour mash in open vats so that we can have a taste. And don’t worry – they scooped it out. I didn’t stick my nasty-ass hands in your beloved bourbon. They also told us about one of the most interesting whiskey aging processes I have heard of – they stick a bunch of barrels on a ship that travels around the world for eight months a year, aging and mixing the whiskey as it goes from the Artic to the Equator along the ocean. Jefferson’s Ocean had an interesting flavor as a result. It was not my favorite of their offerings, but I was impressed with the creativity in aging and flavoring it. You should set up a visit and try it for yourself.

With our tours for the day over, Roger was still cool enough to drive us around a bit more. We stopped at the Louisville Slugger Museum store so we could pick up some mini-bats (OK, weapons) for the kids. After that, he brought us back home to drop off some of our things, so we could head out for the night unencumbered. He then brought us to a cool bar he recommended: Holy Grale, a former Unitarian Church converted into an awesome bar with some great food. Sacrilicious!

whiskey – Just Get in the Car

Show Your Spirit for Local Distilleries this Memorial Day

- Shawn

Exploring Louisville with The Kentucky Bourbon Boys

~ Shawn