Russian Tea, the BourbonGuy Way

Well, I’m back. I hope that you folks didn’t mind the content rewind while I recovered from the nasty cold that my wife picked up on an airplane and brought home with her. Now that I’m back, I thought I would share one of the things that helped get me through the coughing fits. Nothing helps coughing or the sore throat that it can bring quite like a hot drink. And if that hot drink has a touch of bourbon in it, well, that just makes things a little nicer, doesn’t it?

According to Southern Living, Russian Tea is a staple hot drink listed in many an old church cookbook down South, though it seems to be virtually unheard of here in the Upper Midwest. The recipe that I grew up drinking used three-quarters of a cup of Lipton Instant Tea, a cup of powdered Tang, a packet of Kool-Aid lemonade, a teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves, and enough sugar to make you love it. My mom used about a cup and a quarter. I usually cut that down to a cup or less. (Though if unsweetened Kool-Aid packets are as hard to find for you as they are for me, you can leave out the sugar altogether and substitute enough of a presweetened lemonade mix to make two quarts of lemonade into the mix instead.) Then you’d add a few spoonfuls of the powdered mix into a cup of hot water and enjoy.

Now, as I said, my family has been making this instant powdered version of Russian Tea for years (sans bourbon, sadly). And, once I moved out of the trailer court and mixed with folks that had never lived in a house with wheels, I used to get a lot of strange looks from coworkers when I would bring the drink mix out. Apparently, the thought of instant tea, Tang, and Kool-Aid offended their more upper-class sensibilities. But they’d usually come around once they tasted the spicy, sweet concoction.

And so, in the back of my mind, I always had the idea of trying to recreate the recipe from the non-instant forms of the ingredients. The sort of thing you could brew beforehand and then warm up for a family gathering instead of trying to make it a cup at a time. In my experiments, I used the same ratios as the instant version. I didn’t use your usual Lipton teabags for my version. I wanted to eliminate the grit at the bottom of the cup that the spices bring to the instant version, so I thought of using Chai instead. Now my local grocery store didn’t have a chai in their tea section for some reason, so I settled on Good Earth Tea’s Sweet and Spicy teabags instead. And damn if it didn’t turn out even more delicious than the original recipe.

And better yet, it paired great with an ounce of bourbon.

Russian Tea, the BourbonGuy Way

• 6 parts Good Earth Sweet and Spicy tea, brewed according to the instructions

• 2 part lemonade

• 2 part orange juice

• 1 part Wild Turkey 101 bourbon

Mix together the tea and juices. Warm the mixture to about 170° F. Add bourbon and serve in a mug. Garnish with an orange or lemon slice, if you are feeling fancy.

We mixed up a large batch to keep in the fridge and then just reheated it as we went. But you could just as easily do it a cup at a time. The recipe above fits my favorite mug if you define “one part” as one fluid ounce. I think I nailed it with this one. Instead of just being my “oh shit, I’m sick” drink, this recipe will be coming back for the long northern winters as well.

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From the BourbonGuy Archives: WHAT TO TRY WHEN YOU HAVEN'T TRIED MUCH YET.

Never fear, folks. I am on the mend. But as recently as yesterday, I still had some majorly F’d-up taste buds. And so we take another stroll through the last decade of articles and reviews to find something interesting and informative that you might not have read before. If you were around in 2017, rest assured knowing that new content is coming Thursday. Provided that nothing weird happens in the meantime.

It's not unusual for people to send me an email me with questions about how they can get started on their bourbon journey. Often, they've dabbled, but are looking to get more serious. 

With Bourbon, there are a surprisingly significant number of flavor profiles on the shelf. It's weird. Almost all bourbon is made with the same three or four ingredients: corn, barley, and rye or wheat. And yet, the flavors produced range from floral and fruity to spicy and dry with an entire library of flavors in between.

I'd say that the quickest way to find out what you like is to try different things. But don't jump straight to the top shelf and only buy barrel-strength bourbons with age statements in the double digits. Don't get me wrong. These are probably very fine bourbons. But I wouldn't start there. First, they are expensive. And if the goal is to try as many as you can, it is helpful if you don't have to miss a mortgage payment to do so. Secondly, if you were to take a big swig of George T Stagg unknowingly, you are probably going to sputter and choke and possibly decide that bourbon is not for you.

So, what to do? Well since bourbon has so many flavor profiles, I think that the best idea is to run to the store or your local bar and try some of the delicious, yet affordable offerings out there that show off these distinct flavor profiles. And yes, I've compiled you a shopping list.

Maker's Mark

Due to being owned by one of the largest bourbon producers in the country, this red-headed darling is available at almost every liquor store and bar you'll come across. Made with wheat as its flavoring grain, Maker's Mark is a sweet and soft bourbon. It shows caramel, custard, fruit, and baking spice. It's inexpensive, ubiquitous, and very tasty. This is a great bourbon for trying to decide if you like sweeter bourbon flavors.

1792 Small Batch Bourbon

Produced by the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, KY, this bourbon is a great example of a dry bourbon. Dry bourbon is a little different than dry wine, but it follows some of the same ideas. Namely, that sweetness is not the major flavor component. All bourbon is sweet, to an extent, but I find this bourbon brings a lot more peppery heat to the party. It feels like it evaporates in the back of your throat. This is a good one to see if you like drier bourbons and peppery spiciness. 

Buffalo Trace

When speaking of bourbon, spice can mean two different things. It can mean spicy like the heat of a red pepper or it can mean spicy like the ground spices you put in cookies. In the case of Buffalo Trace, we are talking about the latter. Buffalo Trace bourbon leads with cinnamon and nutmeg flavors before adding in maple and custard flavors. Buffalo Trace is the perfect bourbon to see if you like bourbons that feature baking spice as their main flavor component.

Four Roses Small Batch

Most of the time, floral flavors are a by-product of the yeast used for fermentation. Along with carbon dioxide and ethanol, these little guys create flavor compounds that, if treated nicely, survive through distillation and maturation. Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon is a perfect example of a floral bourbon. Floral and fruity notes start at the nose, mix with sweetness and spice in the mouth and hang around into the finish. If you want to know if you like floral and fruity bourbons, try Four Roses Small Batch.

Wild Turkey 101

At six to eight years old, Wild Turkey 101 is a good example of what some extra time spent in the barrel can bring you. It is filled with the flavors of sweet caramel, ginger, and oak. Think you don't like the taste of oak? Remember that 100 percent of the color and more than 50 percent of the flavor of a bourbon come from the oak barrel it is stored in. Wild Turkey is a complex, yet inexpensive bourbon, and it is a good choice to see if you like oakier bourbons. 

So there you have it. Five bourbons to get you on your way. After you identify what you like and what you don't like about each bourbon, then you can start expanding your horizons. And of course, it goes without saying that you should be taking notes along the way. After you've been at it for a while go back and revisit some of the ones you tried early on to see how your palate has changed. I think you'll be surprised to find out that you now like some of the ones you didn't previously or that you don't care for some of those you thought were favorites. 

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From the BourbonGuy Archives: Whiskey Party Lights

Yep, you guessed it. I am still under the weather. I’ve been on the couch watching a lot of movies while trying to stop coughing. The cough is bad enough that it feels like my skull is trying to force its way out of my forehead. It’s sucked. But, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of thinking. And one of the things I’ve been thinking about is updating the set Whiskey Party Lights that I originally made almost a decade ago.

Since I’ll probably be revisiting that this summer, I thought I’d refresh my memory of how I did it the first time. And heck since I’m too sick to write much anyway, I might as well share it with you folks too. It really is a fun project…though looking back on it, I think I was a little risky with the drill press. Probably best to build a jig for that first so you don’t get your fingers caught in the bit. I’ll share the revamped version in the next couple of months when it is completed. Lots of testing to do first.

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I like camping. If you do it right, it’s a nice way to have a glass of bourbon around a campfire. If you do it wrong, it’s a nice way to have a sore back every morning. I used to prefer camping the wrong way. I slept in tents for years. Then I realized that I could still have the campfire, but sleep in a bed.

I recently bought a camper. Now I camp the right way. All the bourbon, none of the sore back.

When you buy a camper, strange things go though your mind. Things like: “I need all new utensils to eat with. The ones in my house aren’t nearly good enough to take outside.” And: “I think I should buy a truck.” And: “Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to hang lights from an awning.”

I had all of these thoughts at one point or another. Some I acted on, others I didn’t. One I acted on was the awning lights. I looked at a bunch of places to see if there was anything fun to be found. Guess what? There wasn’t. I mean some people like flamingos enough to hang them from an awning. Others like toy cars. But I’m a bit judgemental. And I assume others are too. If I was going to be judged for something, it should at least be something I liked. And so Whiskey Party Lights were born.

Here’s how I did it:

Step One: Gather all the minis you’ve been hoarding. I needed 50. (If you are a collector, turn back now. You might find this disturbing.)

Step Two: Drill holes in the caps. I found the easiest way to drill some test holes in some test caps and find the one that fits best. You’ll want the fit to be snug so the bottle doesn’t fall off of your light. For my lights, I needed a 25/64” hole. NOTE: Don’t even try this without a drill press. I do not want to hear reports of someone slipping with a handheld drill and destroying something important—furniture, fingers, etc.

(Editor’s Note from 2023…also build a jig to hold the bottles. I’ve since realized that this is still a little too dangerous.)

Step Three: Spray paint with clear paint. I tried about three different kinds and ended up using Krylon ColorMaster Acrylic Crystal Clear. Not only does it provide water restistance to those with paper labels, but it gives the bottles a frosted finish. This helps to difuse the light a bit and allows the bottles to act more like light bulbs. If you use Maker’s Mark, you may want to tape off the wax if you don’t want it frosted.

Step Four: Let dry. The paint I used took about an hour until it was able to be handled.

Step Five: Fit the bulbs into the caps. I used bottles with both metal and plastic caps. If I were to do it over, I would choose the plastic. The metal is thin and bends. So if you have a cool old dusty you want to use, you’ll need an alternate method of support. I used craft wire to wrap around the neck and hooked it over the wires. I did find that many bottles with metal caps would accept plastic so that is an alternative as well.

Step Six: Hang them up! I bought stainless steel party light hangers from Amazon. They have a clip on one end and a hook on the other. Now you're ready to sit under the glow of 50 LED whiskey lights, drink a bourbon and start on the next set.

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From the BourbonGuy Archives: Bourbon and Beer Chili

So, my wife caught something on the airplane back from her trip last week and was nice enough to share it with the group. As such, I am digging back into the archives and resurfacing an article published way back in 2017. Since she was nice enough to share her cold, I will be nice enough to share her award-winning chili recipe. Enjoy! (Ignore the 2017 weather report, though the description of the cold is still spot on.)

It's a cold, damp, and rainy spring day outside today. The kind of day that I know is necessary for a lush green summer but still not the type of day that is all that fun to live through. Especially when you are sick with a cold. I have the kind of cold that affects the upper respiratory. So, of course, that means no fun tastings either. 

But wait! There is one thing that would be perfect on a day like today, a big bowl of Chili. I talked to my wife about it and she was gracious enough to share her secret and award-winning (office chili cook-off winner is an award, right?) recipe with you fine folks.

Bourbon and Beer Chili

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of beer – Heavy stouts or hoppy IPAs both work nicely, Stouts make for a sweeter finished product.

• 4 oz of bourbon – Make it something you like to drink. We use Old Grand-Dad 114 or Wild Turkey 101. The sweeter the bourbon, the sweeter the chili will be.

• 1 pound of stew meat – we use beef or venison

• 1 pound of Italian sausage

• 1 large onion chopped

• 4 cloves of minced garlic

• 12-ounce can of tomato paste

• 2 – 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce

• 2 cups of beef stock

• 2 cans of chili beans (We use 1 spicy Bush’s and 1 of the Black chili beans)

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon of Cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons Chili powder (or more to taste)

• 1 tablespoon of Mexican Oregano

• 1 teaspoon ground Cayenne pepper

• 2 Dried Chipotle and 1 Dried Serrano Peppers – chopped or otherwise broken up. (We grow our peppers. Then we dry and smoke the jalapenos into chipotles or just dry the serranos.)

Instructions

• Start boiling the beer and bourbon in an 8-quart stock pot.

• In a large skillet, brown the meat. It helps to do the Italian sausage first and then the stew meat. Add to the pot.

• Brown the onions and garlic in the skillet you used for the meat. Add butter or oil if needed. Add to the pot.

• Add the rest of the ingredients. Feel free to add any other spices you like in Chili.

• Heat until boiling and then simmer for at least a half hour for the flavors to meld.

• This is better reheated the next day so prepare it the day before.

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New Riff Straight Malted Rye Whiskey

So last week my wife left me…Shit that sounds bad. Let’s try this again.

Last week my wife took a trip to visit a long-time friend and help her out with a fan convention that her friend was putting on. I was left alone to pretend to be a bachelor. I had big plans of eating lots of junk food, watching a lot of movies, just really learning into the whole I don’t have to be a responsible adult thing.

And it turns out that I wasn’t. Responsible that is. Because I ended up mistaking just how long a container of leftovers had been in the fridge, giving myself what seems to be a mild case of food poisoning. It’s been fun. I felt like I was prepping for a colonoscopy at one point. Now I’m just hanging around feeling nauseated and trying hard not to do anything that will upset that. The upside is that I did get to watch a lot of movies once the pups I was watching went home. I just had to do it while laying down and with frequent pausing.

All of that is to say, this is to explain why there wasn’t a post on Tuesday and why this post will be mostly quoting from the website of tonight’s whiskey.

New Riff Distilling is pleased to introduce a new, regular extension to their award winning lineup: New Riff Straight Malted Rye Whiskey Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration. This style of whiskey is made of 100% malted rye grain, which is quite rare, even in today’s craft distilling scene. Malted rye is rye grain that has undergone the process of malting. When you malt a grain you alter and, arguably, improve and refine its flavor. That’s exactly what’s happened here, as the typically spicy flavor of rye becomes polished, refined, and subtle.

New Riff Malted Rye is elegant. Graceful. It presents plenty of spice but in a much more sophisticated fashion than our standard 95% rye. It actually makes more sense to us to think of it as a malted whiskey first, and a rye whiskey second. At a generous six years old, our New Riff Malted Rye Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration is the oldest New Riff whiskey yet released, and will remain at six years as something of an exclamation point atop our standard portfolio.

Now, if you’ve been around a while, you will know that I don’t usually like whiskey with malted rye in it. Much less one that is 100% malted rye. But I also have yet to find a New Riff whiskey that I didn’t like so I figured that if anyone was going to make a malted rye whiskey that I liked, it would be them. So I bought it. Let’s see how it tastes.

New Riff Kentucky Straight Malted Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $60.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.07

Details: Bottled in Bond. 50% ABV. Six years old. Mash bill consists of 100% malted rye. Non-Chill Filtered.

Nose: Wintergreen, plum, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Thick and sweet with spicy cinnamon, wintergreen, and baked fruit.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cedar, plum, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Well, shit! This is damn good! If you'd handed it to me blind, I wouldn't have guessed that this was a rye until the finish when the cedar notes arrive. The mouth is thick, sweet, and rich, which isn't something I usually find in rye whiskey. Especially at less than barrel-proof. I guess my initial thought was correct when I speculated that New Riff would be the most likely to be able to put out a malted rye whiskey that I'd enjoy. And on top of that it makes a damn fine Old Fashioned. This one is certainly worth a look.

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Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon, Batch 14

This is part two of a two-part series on Penelope Bourbon and their recent purchase by MGP. On Tuesday we talked about Penelope Bourbon and why they are currently in the news. Today, we are going to take it easy and jump right into the tasting notes. We are coming up on a holiday weekend after all and I’m sure you are all busy.

In backup, this bourbon is very similar to the 80° proof Four Grain. It is still blended from three different bourbons from MGP. The final composite “mash bill” percentages work out a little differently at 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye and 3% Malted Barely. Guessing that is due to a slightly higher percentage of the MGP Wheated bourbon being used in this one. The proof is obviously different, what with it being barrel strength. The batch I’m looking at is batch 14 and that has a proof of 112° proof. This batch has also been aged for 4 years instead of 26 months.

On Tuesday, I said the following about the 80° proof version:

Thoughts: This is a well crafted bourbon. I can see why MGP would want to pick this brand up, especially since it seems like the blender is staying on. That said, I doubt I will be picking it up again. For almost $40, I want more than "26 months" in the barrel and 80° proof. Hopefully the new owners will adjust the price -to-value ratio a bit, though I'm realistic enough to have my doubts. That said, in a vacuum, it's a tasty bourbon... as long as you are the one buying.

So now that my two largest issues with the bourbon have been addressed, let’s see how it tastes.

Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon, Batch 14

Purchase Info: $63.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.27

Details: 4 years old. 56% ABV. Batch 14. Blend of three bourbon mash bills combining to the ratio 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye, and 3% Malted Barley. Barrels have a #4 char, the heads have #2 char. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Milk chocolate, red fruits, and caramel.

Mouth: Sweet with vanilla and chocolate, spicy cinnamon, and strawberry jam.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of caramel, raspberry jam, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Wow! What a step up from the 80° proof version. The nose is like a delicious dessert. That continues into the mouth with chocolate and a delightful jammy note. And then it continues again with a sweet and spicy finish. I'm actually shocked at how good this is. I'm going to keep an eye out for another bottle from this batch for the ol' whiskey closet. I really like this one.

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Penelope Four Grain Bourbon

So the big news in the whiskey world over the last few weeks is that MGP is buying another of their customers. This is a trend for them. They started the entire customer facing push by buying the George Remus brand a few years ago. Then they bought an entire liquor producer in Luxco. I’m sure there have been others, but the one we are focused on today is Penelope Bourbon. According to MGP, the acquisition is part of their “premiumization strategy.”

Started in 2018 by Mike Paladino and his wife Kerry, along with their friend Danny Police, Penelope was named after Mike and Kerry’s baby girl. Along the way, their MGP sourced bourbon has won quite a few awards over the years. Which it should, MGP makes damn fine bourbon. The big news these days is that the founders are now about $100 Million richer than they were back in 2018. I’ll let the MGP PR folks tell the tale. They get paid more to write than I do, might as well let them do it.

MGP Ingredients, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGPI), a leading provider of distilled spirits, branded spirits, and food ingredient solutions, today announced that its Luxco, Inc. subsidiary has reached a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of Penelope Bourbon LLC (“Penelope Bourbon” or “Penelope”) and its related assets. Founded in 2018, Penelope Bourbon is a family and founder-owned and operated American Whiskey company with a diverse portfolio of high-quality whiskeys in the premium-plus price tiers.  The acquisition includes all intellectual property and inventory of bottled product, as well as Penelope’s aging whiskey inventory on a debt-and-cash-free basis. The upfront consideration is $105.0 million in cash to be paid at closing, with further potential earn-out contingent consideration of up to a maximum cash payout of $110.8 million measured through December 31, 2025 if certain performance conditions are met, reflecting the brand’s current growth potential.

Not going to lie…since MGP was the one making the whiskey, this seems like an awful lot to pay for a few labels. But heck, that’s why I am a dog sitter who writes about whiskey for free and not someone who has the extra cash to acquire a bourbon company, right?

So based on the fact that this news was big enough to even land in Chuck Cowdery’s latest newsletter, I decided to go pick up a couple of these oh so prettily named bourbons. I do love the name Penelope, after all. Up first is the “affordable” option. The 80° proof Four Grain Bourbon. Penelope blends three different bourbon mash bills from MGP to form their bourbons. They don’t say but based on the math, I’d guess it includes one of the “ryed” bourbon recipes, the 45% wheat recipe, and maybe the 99% corn recipe? No idea but they say that the final mash bill of this one is 75% corn, 15% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. So based on the math I think we can eliminate MGP’s 49% malted barley bourbon.

In any case, let’s get to why we are here. How does this hundred million dollar baby taste?

Penelope Four Grain Bourbon

Purchase Info: $38.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.60

Details: Blend of three bourbon mash bills combining to the ratio 75% Corn, 15% Wheat, 7% Rye, and 3% Malted Barley. Barrels have a #4 char, the heads have #2 char. Non-chill filtered. 40% ABV. 26 months old.

Nose: Grain-forward, vanilla sugar, mint, and nutmeg.

Mouth: Thin and gentle with just enough spice to keep you interested. Notes of nutmeg, almond, and a touch of mint and orange zest.

Finish: Gentle and on the shorter side of medium length. Light notes of cinnamon, bitter citrus, and oak.

Thoughts: This is a well crafted bourbon. I can see why MGP would want to pick this brand up, especially since it seems like the blender is staying on. That said, I doubt I will be picking it up again. For almost $40, I want more than "26 months" in the barrel and 80° proof. Hopefully the new owners will adjust the price -to-value ratio a bit, though I'm realistic enough to have my doubts. That said, in a vacuum, it's a tasty bourbon... as long as you are the one buying.

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Blood Oath Pact 9

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

In previous years, I’ve shared my love of many of Lux Row Master Distiller John Rempe’s creations, including many of the Blood Oath series. They are always one-time recipes. Most of them have included some sort of finished bourbon in the blend. This time they are using Oloroso Sherry casks, which I usually don’t care for. Sherry will often overpower the bourbon. The thing that I think may save this is that, from my reading, only one of the bourbons used in the blend is finished in the sherry cask.

Anyway, let’s hear what Lux Row has to say about all of this.

Blood Oath Pact 9 combines some of the finest extra-aged bourbons Rempe could find, including a 16-year ryed bourbon and a 12-year ryed bourbon, as well as a 7-year ryed bourbon finished in Oloroso Sherry casks from the Sherry Triangle region in southwest Spain. These casks impart unique woody and ripe-fruit aromas and flavors to make Blood Oath Pact 9 a memorable pour. “Blood Oath Pact 9 contains three great bourbons, and the Oloroso Sherry cask finish has resulted in a deep, dark amber liquid with long legs,” said Rempe. “The Oloroso Sherry casks also bring out tasting notes of sweet sherry with hints of ripe fruit on the nose, as well as flavor notes highlighted by ripe fruits including figs, plums and raisins, with notes of molasses, chocolate and tobacco. This bourbon also provides a long-lasting finish characterized by fruit notes and complemented by hints of spicy oak. I’m proud to share Blood Oath Pact 9 with bourbon lovers.”

So let’s see how this one tastes, shall we?

Blood Oath Pact 9 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $129.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 49.3% ABV. Blend of three bourbons: a 16-year, a 12-year, and a 7- year that was finished in Oloroso Sherry casks.

Nose: Brown sugar, red fruit, spearmint, chocolate, vanilla, and honey.

Mouth: Dry and spicy with notes of dark chocolate, cinnamon, red fruits, and toffee.

Finish: Medium length and warm with notes of Cinnamon gum, dark chocolate, and red fruits.

Thoughts: This is very good. From the nose, I expected it to be sweet, so the dryness in the mouth was pleasantly surprising. I'm really a fan of the chocolate and cinnamon gum combo on the finish as well. I like it. Even though the price went up $10 this year, my very frugal accountant of a wife declared that she'd gladly pay the suggested retail if we found it. So interpret that how you will.

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