This is going to be a short post, since I’ve already blogged about last weekend over on the 3DC site. I just didn’t want you all to think I’ve gone a week without posting 
So go check out my post about my experience bottling up some Bourbon at Big Bottom Whiskey in Hillsboro, Oregon, and my fun new endeavor: barrel aging my own whiskies!
http://www.3drunkencelts.com/miscellany/a-wonderful-whiskies-centered-weekend
Enjoy! I know I did!
A whirlwind trip to Vancouver BC was in the cards for last weekend. Not having more than a vague idea of where we were staying we embarked on the 6 hour drive up with no itinerary and no commitments. I packed my camera, of course, as I knew there would be some great photo opportunities.
We tackled BC like we tackle Portland and any other city we visit: we ate and drank our way through with reckless abandon. Ok, maybe “through” is a bit of a misnomer, as we seemed to gravitate to the Gastown district for 3 of our 6 meals in the city. We dined at L’Abbatoir, Irish Heather, and Salty Tongue… and drank at Shebeen Whisk(e)y House (which had Compass Box’ first bottlings of the Oak Cross and Peat Monster, so naturally I had to imbibe in the Oak Cross). All places stellar in their own right, even if the latter three of the four share a common kitchen.
In between our dining excursions on Saturday we ran about the Vancouver Aquarium, and found our way to three lighthouses: Port Atkinson, Brockton Point, and Prospect Point. The latter two light houses are found on the sea wall of Stanley Park which is also home to the Aquarium.
Out of 461 photos I shot over the course of our trip between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, only 17 were really worth sharing. I’ll admit, however, that I am surprised there were even 17, as I was having lighting issues: either too little with too much motion, or far too much back-light from mid-afternoon sun. In either case, I hope you enjoy some of the following colour and light-corrected images I captured… as always, click the thumbnail to get to the larger attachment page, and again for an even larger version:
I have also posted this same content over at www.3DrunkenCelts.com, but as it also fits as a personal blog post I am retaining it here as well:
On Friday, I had opportunity to attend TOAST, The Oregon Artisan Spirit Tasting event held in the Tiffany Center’s Crystal Ballroom in Portland. Joining me was my good friend Corey, whom also shares a taste for whiskies like myself, as well as gins and tequilas and beer.
The event was similarly structured to Whiskies of the World, so I was immediately familiar and comfortable with the atmosphere. Specifically, it was a single price entry, and the various distillers were free-pouring rather than the pour-by-ticket method employed by other events. I made an initial lap to get a feel for the offerings at each table, and begin a basic game plan. Realizing quickly that I had just begun walking around, leaving Corey in my wake, I paused to explain my intent and reasoning: I am looking for whiskies first and foremost, as well as to prioritize and make sure I got to the most interesting ones first.
There were a number of American Whiskies, bourbons, and ryes showing at this event. Enough so that I was able to focus nearly all my tastes on just the larger whiskies class and not concern myself with the gins and other liqueurs until the end. Of all the distilleries showing their wares, two really struck my interest: Woodinville Whiskey Co. and Big Bottom Whiskey.
The first of the two, Woodinville Whiskey Co. made a great initial impression on me. While their whiskies were well crafted, what made the impression was their “Age your own whiskey” kit. What a great concept! Provide some clear distillate, an oak barrel, and let the drinker manage the aging process on their own. While no one will be going into business based on the final product from the kit, it is sure to bring a new aspect to the home connoisseur, not only for what the kit will produce, but even after you’ve run the 4-5 uses for whiskey/bourbon you can likely even use the same barrel for even more experimentation with barrel aged cocktails and the like… Yes, I already have my name in for a kit once they become available.
And their whiskey? Yup, that’s darned good too… but you’d expect that from a distillery which can boast mentorship provided by David Pickerell, master Distiller of Maker’s Mark fame. Unfortunately, I did not bring my tasting notebook and as such have only a vague recollection of the whiskies I tried here, noting only that I really enjoyed them as a newcomer to unaged whiskies, bourbons and ryes.
The other distillery to really stand out for me was Big Bottom Whiskey, based locally out of Hillsboro, Oregon. Two things struck me about this particular distillery: the whiskies and the people.
First the whiskies: Offered were two bottlings; the first a 3 year aged American Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Being new to bourbons this one struck me as rather mellow in comparison to some I’d tasted earlier the same evening, and with a rather tempered sweetness followed by some distinct tannins on the finish as I’ve come to expect. The second, however, is where the impression was really made on me: this was a 2 year Straight bourbon whiskey Port cask finished. Now, being a Speyside and port wood finish fan, I was eager to taste a bourbon finished in a port cask, and I will tell you I was not disappointed. One would never mistake this bourbon for a scotch, but the similarities were striking to me. Again, there was a tempered sweetness which brought this drink closer to its port wood finished scotch brethren than most bourbons. While unmistakably bourbon, this one showed a complexity I’ve most typically encountered only in the Speyside port finished scotches. Of course, Big Bottom share a not-so-secret relationship with Woodinville as they also used David Pickerell as a consultant when creating Big Bottom. Hey, its a small community, and when you share, everyone wins!
You can bet I will be taking up Ted on his offer to call him around the time his next batch of port finished bourbon will be ready to taste… and maybe lend a hand in the bottling as well!
I did say two things struck me about Big Bottom Whiskey, and indeed the second was the people, though that may be a bit unfair as they don’t really come second to the whiskey, rather it seems to be equal footing. If you are reading this blog, you likely already have a good understanding of who the 3 Drunken Celts are and how, as a group, our attitude and outlook can be a tad contagious if not overwhelming to some… well the fine people at Big Bottom seem to share that zeal. Ted has the same crazy “what the heck, let’s try it” attitude which is the very same reason we love Jim McEwan of Bruichladdich. Like the 3DC, Ted doesn’t take any of this too seriously; he lets the passion and enjoyment come to the forefront of his creations.
If it is one thing I’ve learned over the past ten years, and which was highlighted in the last two tasting events I’ve attended, it is that while the whiskies are a great thing, it is the people and the passions they carry which really make this a fun, interesting, and exciting endeavor for us all. From the distillers to the critics to the connoisseurs, if you don’t have the passion and can’t find the funny, well your enjoyment of any dram is going to diminish as quickly as you can drink it… keep the passion and find the funny, and that same dram will last you far longer than the simple drink ever will.
Now, I think I need to go find some bottles so I can revisit and provide better tasting notes. I am really sad now that I didn’t bring my notebook with me… But I hadn’t expected such interesting things. Ah, yes, another lesson learned. Oh well, at least I had a good time, and I know Corey did as well since our conversation lasted the entire way home on the Max line as we compared/contrasted the various drams, and discussed the overall industry with admittedly inebriated gusto. Yes, it was indeed a good evening
I just posted over at www.3DrunkenCelts.com with a lengthy blog about this year’s trip to Whiskies of the World, 2011. In that post I detail out the tasting notes from the Grand Tasting on Saturday night and provide a simple starter guide for those who may want to learn more about whiskies but don’t know how to begin…
I’ll spare you the details here, though, as I have another post coming tomorrow with pretty pictures to appease you all
Jean came home with two amazing looking slabs of Kobe beef after her normal Sunday grocery shopping trip. Having never made Kobe at home before, I took the opportunity to ogle the meat and snap a few pics while Jean made dinner Monday night.
She also made a redwine reduction sauce with a 1/2 cup of Orin Swift’s “The Prisoner”, one of our favourites and the bottle I chose to pair with the steaks.
You’ll see from the pics below how gorgeously marbled the Kobe steaks were, and how we like them a bit on the rare side Amazing is the best word I can come up with to describe this confluence of gastronomic superstars. The steaks were absolutely worth every penny. mmmm
While his trip was cut short, and we really only had two evenings to catch up, I was still able to snap a few candids while out at Cartopia, one of Portland’s many foodcart pods; plus a few at Cascade Barrel house where we enjoyed each other’s company over some seriously good Belgian style sour beers.
So here ya go, my buddy Raz enjoying some of what Portland has to offer. Again, presented unmodified aside from resizing:
Yes, this was the first time I had poutine, and yes, it really IS all that. Seriously odd; seriously filling; and seriously good eats.
… I expect to not only get OUT during my vacation, but to write as well. And not just measly little blog posts, but real, substantive stuff. Some of which will likely be posted, some probably not, but all in all I expect to see a sharp upswing in posts here either during my week off, or within the week after my return depending on access, etc.
Last night Jean and I met up with Kerri at one of our new favourite downtown finds: Veritable Quandary. We had an outstanding dinner, as expected, and found ourselves engaged in deep conversation for the majority of the evening. It turned into a very relaxing and enjoyable three hour dinner and drinks. During this time we covered a gamut of topics, one of which speaks to my plan for next week…. writing.
I know I have at least one story to tell, but I need time and energy to focus. Time and energy I never have during the work week, and the weekends I’d rather be recovering than ‘working’ on a book/short/story/blog/whatever. I expect next week to find that energy and time and dig in deep with as much as I can to put down as many words to (virtual) paper as possible. What comes of it, is again, anyone’s guess. Which story comes out is also a bit up in the air, though I more distinct ideas about that. In any case, expect me to be fairly silent and then inundate you with posts.
As for my trip…. well, I may even enable Facebook places for the week. Who knows, stranger things have happened
At my day job, I am a knowledge manager for IBM Rational Support. In this position I am helping to drive a concept known as “KCS”, or Knowledge Centered Support. I like KCS, because it allows me to do what I have been doing all my life when it comes to information: reuse.
I’ve always found my patience tried when pushed to repeat myself, so I would fall back into a pattern of reusing information I previously provided. Oddly enough, however, it took me YEARS before I began actually reusing content for one of the questions I am most commonly asked: “What whiskies do you recommend?”
So, two years ago, I answered that question in the form of a blog post on my whiskies tasting group site: www.3DrunkenCelts.com
Since it was around the Christmas holiday, I framed the original post in the context of gifting whiskies to someone else, but the concepts and recommendations are still solid if you are just buying for yourself.
This year, I am going to fall back on the best practices I’ve learned over the years and simply reuse my old content, as it still holds up today:
So, jump on over to my tasting group’s site at the link above and read through my post on buying whiskies as gifts… and maybe even take a look at Raz’ recommendations for non-whiskey whiskey gifts too. Who knows, you may just find that perfect something for the perfect someone, or just for yourself 
A sad day hit the household this weekend; our drip coffee maker developed a leak.
While this was not entirely catastrophic, it did give us the excuse to finally replace our little Mr. Coffee with a proper drip machine that would bring our Stumptown roasts to full flavour. After some solid refreshers on my previous research (I spent a full year researching my purchase of the Rancilio Sivlia and Rocky combination for my espresso setup), I had narrowed our choices down to 2 within hours: a Capresso MT-500 or a Technivorm Moccamaster .
Further discussion and a final trip to a local kitchen store, Kitchen Kaboodle, resulted in us coming home with a Technivorm Moccamaster Thermal carafe drip machine:
Such a beautifully simple drip machine. It has only one switch with two settings: on and off. No timer, no clock, no bells and whistles. The brilliance of the machine is the power it wields, as it is one of the only machines on the market which will actually heat the water to the perfect extraction temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also one of the very few machines (possibly still the only home drip machine) which can boast an SCAA certification/approval for meeting its standards.
Now, with the old coffee maker in the garage, I have disassembled it in preparations and attempts to see if I can rebuild/mod it into a steampunk style Mr. Coffee at the suggestion of a good friend. If I am successful, you can expect a full process write up on this blog.
Of course, while we were at Kitchen Kaboodle, we also ended up replacing our 13 year old Hamilton Beech 7-cup food processor with a new, larger Cuisinart Custom 14 cup food processor:
I think that should pretty much settle any future kitchen appliance purchases for another 10+ years. If we had kids, these two appliances would be handed down to them when we pass; they are built that well!
With that, I’ll go have another cup of Stumptown, perfectly brewed at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Ah coffee, how I love you!
