Tony Sachs, who is a self-declared Drinker of Spirits, Listener of Music, Watcher of Baseball, Writer of Words put together this list of what he considers the Best New Spirits of 2011.

Click here for the full article (which includes tasting notes and pricing).

10. Bols Barrel-Aged Genever
9. Drambuie 15 Liqueur
8. Brugal 1888 Rum
7. Grand Marnier Quintessence Liqueur
6. High West Double Rye!
5. Pierre-Ferrand 1840 Original Formula Cognac
4. Auchentoshan 1999 Bordeaux Cask Matured Scotch Whisky
3. No. 3 London Dry Gin
2. Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Malt Scotch Whisky
1. Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve Bourbon

With honorable mentions going out to
Honorable Mention: Don Julio Anejo Claro Tequila
Honorable Mention: High West Silver OMG Pure Rye
Honorable Mention: Johnnie Walker Double Black
Honorable Mention: Ron De Jeremy Rum
Honorable Mention: The Vodka By Ransom

It’s that time of the year to re-cap the best of 2011.

What’s hot?  What’s not?  I honestly don’t have a clue, but here’s what I do know about what happened this year.

The craft spirit industry is on fire with over 200 small distilleries producing vodka, gin, whiskey, and liqueurs all over the country. (I have yet to hear of one making American tequila – if there can even be such a thing???). Here in Oregon, Portland alone has thirteen distilleries and then there are other small batch distilleries sprinkled throughout the state such as Superfly, Oregon Spirit Distilleries, and Stein Distillery. The practice of opening a distillery has become so commonplace that there is now a website ran by the state of Oregon giving you a step-by-step guide as to how to do it! link here

What are people around the country excited about this year in the craft market – surprisingly a lot of people are talking about whiskey! I have felt that all of the new whiskeys I’ve tried need five or six more years in the barrel – but word on the street is that some of these distilleries are turning out a respectable product.

 Northwest

In the Northwest people are excited about

Black Mariah Marionberry Liqueur :::::

Sweet and thick, made with locally harvested marionberries, local botanicals, and hazelnuts this will make you laugh in Chambord’s face when it comes to making a jaw-dropping kir royal this New Year’s eve.

 The West

In the West, people are raving about

Dancing Pines Chai Liqueur which won double gold medal winner from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition this year. The liqueur is distilled in a hand-crafted copper pot still with their own blend of chai tea made from whole leaf black tea and five secret spices. Jacob T. who told me about this delicious sounding liqueur said, “I’ve never really tasted anything like it before: balanced, complex bouquet, sweet ….but not too sweet, perfect in a hot drink or over ice cream! They really did a nice job!”

Roundhouse Imperial Barrelhouse Gin  :::::

My favorite new spirit I tried this year was Roundhouse’s new barrel-aged gin. They took their award-winning gin and decided to barrel age it for six months and it is delicious. It tastes like a fragrant well-balanced gin met a honey=kissed bourbon and fell in love so you could fall in love with it.

The Midwest

In the Midwest, there’s hype about Templeton Rye.

Jeff H. who told me off this whiskey said, “It’s out of Iowa and they allegedly were one of Capone’s major producers during prohibition. It’s delicious!” Templeton claims that they have been producing whiskey for eighty-five years. Their claim to fame is that during prohibition they secretly produced in very small quantities for a few select customers.

The Northeast

In the Northeast people are pysched about what Tuthillton Distillery is creating out of New York and about a very small distillery called Ryan & Wood which is in the small town of Gloucester, Massachusetts right on the Atlantic Coast.

Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey is crafted from New-York grown corn and aged in small American Oak barrels. As for their rye, Hudson was the first distillery to make rye whiskey in the state of New York in 80 years. It is crafted one small batch at a time.

Sarah S. who told me about this spirit said, “Baby Bourbon or Manhattan Rye … oh So freaking amazing! why? because when I sip on them, the subtle flavors pop in just the right way…I’m not a whiskey drinker either…”

Ryan & Wood Rye :::::

Frederic Y. told me about Ryan & Wood Rye, “Tastes like a fuller flavored Sazerac 6. And unlike many small distilleries’ whiskeys, it was well worth the price.”

Ryan & Wood might have one of the most beautiful stills I have ever seen – it looks like a musical instrument.  It is 600 liter alembic copper pot still which was crafted in Germany.  See a photo of it here.

The South

What’s hot in The South? (Well more than the weather.)

Southern Corn Whiskey :::::

Clare H. told me about this Southern Belle, “I love it with just a cube or two of ice to allow a sweet spicy flavor with just a little bit of heat.”  Getting your hand on a bottle might be a problem as the distiller Thirteenth Colony Distillers  did a tiny run of only 400 bottles last year.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As for the the cocktail world, I was able to ask Alan Dietrich, national sales manager for Crater Lake Vodka, a bit about trends he’s seen this year.

What spirit surprised you?

::::: There has been a huge jump in interest in gin this year. It’s really noticeable in the number of inquiries we have received to create private label gins.

What trends have you seen in the bar scene?

::::: I have noticed an increase in the number of bartenders trying to create new drinks. The mixology trend appears to be growing.

What trends did you notice in mixology?

::::: I have also noticed that the established mixologists are tending toward simpler concoctions. They seem to be acknowledging that the average drinker is not very sophisticated yet. It might just be the holidays but I have seen a number of new champagne drinks showing up on menus and in the trade press. I have also seen a growing interest in Prohibition era cocktails – maybe due to the Ken Burns series?

What will 2012 hold? Keep me posted.

thank you Public Domain for the 2011 photo

I am constantly looking for new and interesting liqueurs to try and perhaps mix into a cocktail. There are days that I feel like there is nothing new to try as I wander the liquor store aisles looking for anything that doesn’t look in the slightest bit familiar. And then there are other days when I’m trolling about the Internet or a hard-working rep brings me spirits that I never new existed. That is how I ran across Crispin’s Rose Liqueur, which is in my top ten of spirits I’ve tasted this year.

Crispin’s is distilled in Medicino County in California by a Crispin Cain and Tamar Kaye (who only make this one product). They start fermentation with fresh apple juice mixed with a little bit of honey and then allow for a five-day pot still distillation (want to know more about distillation – click here). They use a cognac still that they purchased in France in 1981. They believe the still to be over 300 years old! After distillation they press estate-grown rose petals into the spirit to create what is one of the most beautiful liqueurs I have ever tasted.

This fine specimen is not easy to come by as they are a very small producer and it costs a pretty penny as it is highly allocated. But there is one place you can buy it online: www.thecaskstore.com

Drink it alone after dinner or with a little sparkling lemonade on a hot summer’s day.  Either way you will be intrigued by this little piece of liquid heaven.

As for how it tastes:

Nose: It smells like bright rose petals, baked apples, and caramel. (Seriously, it is one of the finest things I’ve ever smelled.)

Flavor: Warming and sweet with hints of vanilla and roses.

Finish: Not a long finish, leaves the lips slightly sticky with a pleasant hint of sugar left on the tongue.

Ivan Chong from Craft Distillers was very kind is sending me some Hangar One Vodka samples to show off what they are doing in their small distillery in the San Francisco area.  As for anyone that is afraid that I might just write a glowing review as many a product review sites do – let me assure you that there is a little more Simon Cowell in me than Stuart Smalley.

Anyhow Hangar One Vodka doesn’t use any artificial flavoring and distills from wheat in pot stills.  For those of you interested in difference between pot and column stills – please check out tomorrow’s post.  But it shows how much Hangar One cares about their product as pot still distillation is much more time-consuming and expensive.

I didn’t know much about kaffir limes before I looked into their vodka.  Chong even sent me some kaffir lime samples – which the boys in the kitchen went ape shit over and I had to confiscate one back so I was able to taste it.  The kaffir lime grows in Southeast Asia and is a main stake in Indonesian cuisine.  The juice tends to be more acidic than a conventional lime found in every grocery store in the U.S.  Hangar One actually almost created a shortage of kaffir limes, as they owned every available commercially available kaffir lime in North America.  They were selling heaps of lime vodka and it didn’t occur to them that supply might outweigh demand.  In a tizzy they went scouring the West Coast for any chance of a kaffir lime.  Starting to lose hope – they found a nursery that had an abundant supply thanks to Sunset Magazine having an article about how every home needs a kaffir lime tree.

As for how it tastes:

Nose: It smells like lime candies – a bit like the green Popsicle from when you were a kid.  Not very hot (which means you can’t smell the alcohol that well – for those of you who don’t read tasting notes all the time).

Flavor: It’s really dynamic and layered compared to other flavored vodkas.  The lime works well with black pepper on the front finishing with a hint of juniper.

Finish: Nice sweet finish for a vodka.  My guess would be the wheat that it’s distilled from.

After reading a recent article about smoked beers, I have no doubt that we need to carry one at the bar. Especially since our fare is New Ranch Cuisine, focused on cured and smoked meats as a centerfold to our menu. So the first sample came last week, Spezial Rauchbier Lager. Spezial Brewery is the oldest brewery in Bamberg (1536) which is located in Bavaria on the Regnitz River and is one of the few towns in Germany that was not devastated from bombing in World War II. Spezial does all of its own malting and smoking at its brewery in downtown Bamberg. In this beer they use 40% smoked malt and 60% Bavarian barley malt, which gives a slight smoky flavor to the beer but not as much as I was hoping for. Pours a nice deep amber color. The nose is fruity as in over-ripe apple with a touch of peaty smoke. It is sweet and malty on the palette with vanilla and very little smoke. The finish is not very long and the smoky flavor does not linger. Not quite what I was looking for, hoping that the next sample is smokier. This brewery also makes another Rauchbier that is 70% smoked malt and 30% barley malt, so maybe we can get a sample of that.

We just got in the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier for summer and by accident our rep sent us the Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier. Pretty much any beer drinker knows that Weihenstephaner is the oldest running brewery in the world (although a neighboring abbey Weltenburg says that this claim to fame belongs to them). Regardless, Weihenstephaner is well known for their wheat beers and it is their dunkelweiss that turned me on to drinking beer, as I had absolutely no palate for beer before this experience and thought it all to be quite boring as it all just tasted like beer. The Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier is a beautiful wheat beer that is perfect for summer. It pours a beautiful golden color with just a hint of cloudiness. The nose is banana, citrus, and a hint of clove. Flavor wise there is a smidgen of citrus with a gorgeous creamy finish. It is by far the best Hefeweizen I have ever had.

The Kristall Weissbier was very light in style and if I had blind tasted it, I would have never guessed it was a wheat beer, but rather a lager. The color of it is a crisp clear yellow. There is still a hint of banana but minus the clove of the other Hefeweizen, it is also lacking the creamy finish of the Hefe but still had a refreshing finish with some nice hints of lemon zest. It was interesting but too light for most people’s expectations of a Hefeweissbier. I’m glad the regular Hefeweizen came on this last order.

We also got a new IPA two weeks ago, Lompoc’s C Note. It is an Imperial Ale which means that the brewer altered the style of the beer to make it bitterer. In the beer world there is actually a bitterness scale (IBU International Bitterness Unit) which is used to determine how bitter a beer is. Typically heavier beers have a higher IBU because the beer needs more bitterness to be balanced, but they might not taste as bitter because they used more malt to balance the flavor. There is no way to measure a beer over 100 IBU’s and the Lompoc C Note claims that they have over 100 IBU’s. To put things in perspective, most American lagers (Budweiser, Coors, Miller) have and IBU of 5. Porters tend to have between 25 to 40. Stouts tend to have between 25 to 60. And IPA’s tend to have over 40.
Lompoc named this beer the C Note because they are using all the C hops, Centennial, Crystal, Cluster, Chinook, Cascade, and Columbus. It is brewed in Portland, although I’ve been surprised that there is not a lot of name recognition. I’m sure time will change that. It pours a hazy amber color. The nose is very floral with a little bit of lavender and lemon. Has a very dry mouthfeel with lemon and pine and a long bitter finish. I personally like something a little more rounded with more grapefruit (i.e. Pliny the Elder) but this is a fairly-well balanced IPA and the bitterness is smooth and long, not abrupt as in the West Coast IPA.
It was also the week of bitters as my long awaited Angostura Orange bitters came in. I’ve wanted them for a long time and was hoping the liquor store would stock them, but that never came to fruition so I ordered them online. I also got a bottle of Regan’s orange bitters and Peychaud’s bitters (embarrassed we didn’t always have them). This in addition to the bitters I made last month, which all turned out quite well (although the cardamom in the Bitters IV is a bit too strong – will tool around with that in the near future) has made for very little space on the bar top (need a shelf just for the bitters). I cannot tell you how I love the Angostura Orange bitters, they got excellent reviews and they are the best orange bitters I have ever had. They have a much deeper complex flavor that the Fee Brothers (which taste like Fanta Orange) or Regan’s. There is cardamom, lemon zest, and cinnamon which add an intricacy that you don’t find in other orange bitters. The flavor is long and involved with the flavor of orange essential oils bursting through at the end.

I just ordered some bottles that I am quite excited about, so when they come I’ll keep you posted: Franca Menta, Strega Strega, and Aalborg Akvavit.