The Rum House - New York City |
Istanbul is a big
rock town and Jack Daniels didn’t miss that opportunity. It was the first big
American Whiskey brand distributed widely and we all did our best to welcome
this iconic brand. It was Slash’s choice after all. Who were we to judge? But then,
soon enough, Jim Beam entered the competition… I don’t remember exactly why,
but I started to favor Jim Beam and continued to do so for a long time.
So that’s the
story of how I met bourbon for the first time in my life. Jim Beam White Label
was my first bourbon that I deliberately chose to order. Every time I see that
bottle it triggers beautiful memories from my hometown. Let’s count it as my
first memorable bourbon.
In 2003 I moved to
New York as a whiskey enthusiast and was hungry to learn and to taste as much
as I could. While I was educating myself with different expressions of old
established brands like Heaven Hill, Four Roses and Wild Turkey, I was constantly
making new whiskey friends and also meeting people from industry almost every
day. I was on the clouds… There is one bottle in particular from those days
that stands out though: Booker’s. - I first tasted it in a bar in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn when Williamsburg had only a few bars on Bedford Avenue,
and I instantly fell in love with it. That bourbon was nothing but glamour. Its
artisan-looking label and bottle was very clever marketing. It was hard to
believe that it was a Jim Beam product. It was expensive for a bottle of
bourbon but certainly affordable, especially when you think that it was over
120-proof. At least that was my excuse. In years it changed from time to time
but it’s never disappointed. I would put Booker’s in the number two slot of my
Bourbon story.
Bukowski Tavern - Cambridge |
Moving from a
major city to another is not an easy thing to do. I knew that I couldn’t keep
my long distance love relationship with Istanbul and I desperately was trying to
be a New Yorker. I started to follow the Yankees and Giants, was on a mission
to learn every street in the city by walking for hours every day, was attending
every possible social gathering to meet people in my neighborhood, was trying
to support local artists and also to be more conscious about using local
products. So, me discovering Hudson Whiskey wasn’t a big surprise. When they
launched their first line-up I was all over their products. I loved the idea,
the story behind it, and most importantly their spirits tasted good. I really
don’t know how and when I met Gable Erenzo from Tuthilltown Spirits exactly but
his personality sure did help to reinforce my thoughts. Since then I visited
the distillery twice and, if I am not mistaken, sampled every single product
they’ve bottled till now. I am still a big supporter and hope to see them
continue to keep up the spirit. I would put Hudson Four Grain Bourbon in the
third slot on my Bourbon story list.
Dorock Bar - Istanbul |
After years of
tasting whiskey I started to grow a different kind of appreciation for good
cheap whiskeys. I really think that it is an extremely hard job to find a
recipe that will yield a good whiskey with a reasonable cost and then age,
bottle and distribute it worldwide and still be able to sell it for around 20
bucks. I think it is mind-blowing and way harder than releasing a superb single
cask whiskey with a four-digit price tag... My unhealthy attraction to dive
bars and my quest to find good cheap whiskeys combined together and I started to
hit low-key bars wherever I travelled in the States. From my experiences I
started to have my favorite low shelf bourbons — I chose two brands among them
I respect the most and I would like to list those as my numbers four and five: Evan
Williams Black Label and W. L. Weller Special Reserve.
I think the most exciting
thing about bourbon is that by law bourbon distillers are allowed to try so
many different recipes. We only know that 51% has to be corn, but the rest is
all left to the master distiller’s vision. The possibilities are endless.
Personally if I walk in a bar the thing that makes me most excited is to see a
bottle on the shelf that I never tasted before. It is Bourbon Heritage Month
after all, and I think that’s the best way to celebrate it — go out and taste a
bourbon you’ve never tasted before. And if you feel like you can share your thoughts below
in the comments box. I would love to hear them all..!
Robert's Western World - Nashville |
[edited by Teresa Hartmann]
*Originally written for and posted at The Alcohol Professor on September 12th, 2014.
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