Word: whiskey
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...distilleries trying to reinvent the drink? From my own personal observation, it's that the larger companies, the Pernod-Ricards of the world, are slow to react because they have a safe base. They make a lot of money, so why challenge that? The other aspect is that whiskey, as a whole, is seen as a very traditional drink. So if you do something innovative you're going against the grain, if you pardon the pun. (See reviews of 50 American wines...
Your book also notes how whiskey labels are like historic artifacts. Canadian Club's history, for example, is closely tied with the Prohibition and Al Capone. One of the things that Canadian Club is realizing now is the fact that as they get further away from the Prohibition era, and those ties to gangsters, they can use that now as a marketing tool. Part of that is this rebellious nature of whiskey - there are more tall tales of whiskey than you'll see in wine or beer combined, I'm willing to bet. They want to make it larger than...
What surprised you most about whiskey's history? The amount of history we've lost after Prohibition and World War II. A lot of the companies were bought or moved, many of them went out of business and they didn't think to maintain the heritage of these distilleries. Whiskey was a vital component of the pioneer era; it was used as currency because you couldn't get coins to certain parts of the territories, so they had to find the most valuable product that everyone could obtain, and whiskey filled that void very nicely. If you made whiskey...
...what does your liquor cabinet look like? I can tell you right now I have 63 varieties of whiskey. Those were acquired over the course of "research." I had a little over 100 drinks on the trip. A lot of spitting out, unfortunately...
What's the proper way to drink whiskey? One, you have to have some measure of water, whether it's just a capful or a one-to-one ratio. It lessens the alcohol and brings out the flavors. Every whiskey professional that I've been in contact with added some measure of water. People who just drink it straight are showing off that they can drink alcohol straight. And remember: getting drunk dulls the senses, so if you want to taste whiskey, getting drunk is not the way to do it. It's certainly a nice side effect, though...