Sauced

Gulpable Gift Guide 8: Age Your Own Whiskey Kit

Tired of waiting for locally made brown booze? Age it your own self, says Woodinville Whiskey.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 20, 2010 at 03:49PM 1 Comments

Woodinville Whiskey keeps the juice moving with Age Your Own Whiskey kits. If you want one before December 25, call the distillery.

So here’s the trouble with being a brand-new distillery: You have to make money, but you don’t have any aged product yet because you’re brand new.

What to do?

You can sell vodka—people love the vodka. You can sell gin. Some people love that, though those people tend to be pretty particular, so good luck tearing them away from their Hendrick’s and their Plymouth. You can also make white dog—unaged—whiskey and sell that, which is what, in addition to selling vodka, the men at Woodinville Whiskey did.

And now—clever fellows that they are—they’ve created an age-your-own whiskey kit. For $149.95 you receive a two-liter, new charred oak whiskey barrel, two bottles (or 1.5 liters) of cask-strength (110 proof) un-aged whiskey and two nosing glasses. Don’t look at me like that, that’s what the glasses are called.

Because the barrel is small, aging is accelerated. So within a few months, says Woodinville Whiskey’s Cameron Rogers, you’ll have something worth tasting. Rogers says the distillery is also planning to release an unaged rye down the line, so whomever you give this to can age that next in the same barrel.

Call the distillery right away if you want one of these kits before Christmas.

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Tags: Whiskey, Woodinville, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide, Home Bar

The Gulpable Gift Guide #7: Bartending Books

Expert advice on the best drink-mixing how-tos from a local barman.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 16, 2010 at 10:19AM 0 Comments

What to do with this stuff? You’ll find the answer in books!

Listen, I’m not a bartender. I work at a magazine. I spend a lot of time talking to people and researching stuff and studying up, but I’m not behind a bar every night mixing drinks.

Andrew Bohrer (Mistralkitchen) is a bartender, and a good one at that.

He also keeps a blog. (Can I say that? “Keeps” a blog? It sounds vaguely British. Is making up phrases that sounds vaguely British as pretentious as affectedly employing British expressions as if they were my own? Not sure. ) Anyway on this blog, Bohrer has provided some very expert, thoughtful advice on which bartending books to buy.

Read that here.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Books, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

The Gulpable Gift Guide #6: The Old Fashioned Cocktail Kit

Give the gift of the world’s greatest (when properly prepared) mixed drink.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 15, 2010 at 12:32PM 3 Comments

There’s nothing wrong with picking up a bottle of wine, slapping on a bow, and offering it up to hosts at a holiday party. It’s a rather nice thing to do, in fact. But if it leaves you feeling empty inside, I have another idea for you: a make-your-own old-fashioned cocktail kit.

Collect the following.

1. Fruit: Buy a small mason jar and fill it with homemade maraschino cherries. I have a recipe from Mike McSorley (Tini Bigs) right here.

You’ll also want to buy a few oranges to toss into the kit.

2. Bitters: A traditional old-fashioned calls for Angustura bitters, which you can buy at QFC or Fred Meyer or on the internet. But you might also consider buying some locally made Scrappy’s Bitters to promote experimentation. Orange and maple, for example, could both be fun to play with. You can buy those at DeLaurenti or 12th and Olive.

3. Booze: You can make an old-fashioned with bourbon or rye, for a spicier effect. I tend to have Makers Mark ($23) around the house so that’s what I often use. Blanton’s bourbon ($56) is wonderful too and boasts the coolest bottle in all Bourbontown—something to consider when giving a gift. Rittenhouse Bonded Rye is an excellent value at $22. But how is that going to help you if you can’t get any at Seattle liquor stores? Try (Ri)1. It’s $39.95 and widely available.

I love the herbal quality of an old-fashioned made with Ransom Old Tom gin from Portland, Oregon (another cool bottle), which costs $37.25, but that may be an acquired taste.

Bourbon is safest.

4. Glasses: Including glassware upgrades this bad boy to a premium gift. If you want to go for it, might I suggest these, the most elegant old-fashioned glasses I know.

I’m assuming your giftee has sugar (for the simple syrup) at home, but you can always throw in a fancy pack of some gourmet sugar and/or a fruit-peeling tool and/or a bartender’s spoon to complete the kit.

Either way, grab a basket or gift bag large enough to hold all the goods, toss ‘em in, and that’s pretty much that. Though you might consider attaching a card to your kit with a link to Robert Hess’s excellent instructional video on how to make a proper old-fashioned. I consulted it last Christmas before making OFs for my family, and they went over gangbusters.

Good times. Happy holidays.

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Tags: Cocktails, Whiskey, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

The Gulpable Gift Guide #5: Ice Sphere Molds

This year: Fancy ice balls for everyone!

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 10, 2010 at 04:10PM 0 Comments

The ice sphere mold from Muji. You pour the water in through a hole in the top.

Muji makes an inexpensive ice sphere mold that is an awesome gift for anyone who likes to sip straight spirits and also has an appreciation for life’s little novelties.

The ice balls that emerge from this silicon mold are not perfectly round. They tend to flatten out a bit on one side. To experience perfect spheres in Seattle one has to learn Japanese ice-carving techniques or go to a bar like Vessel or MistralKitchen.

But the three-by-three Muji mold is only $11.75, after all. And let’s not forget that the planet Earth—the only home we’ve ever had—is not perfectly round either. At least not according to NASA anyway, and NASA is like completely obsessed with planets. So it would know.

Oh and you can also get ice sphere molds locally at Daiso, but I can’t vouch for those. But you should definitely go to Daiso anyway because it’s so fun to do that.

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Tags: The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide, Ice Molds

The Gulpable Gift Guide #4: Local Spirits

Easy-to-love bottles from around these parts.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 08, 2010 at 11:15AM 3 Comments

Give them local boozes to mix into holiday cocktails.

I spent some time thinking about all the local booze that has started to show up since the distillery laws changed.

There is some good stuff out there, and local spirits make for fun presents, but for the gift guide I wanted to choose bottles that would be well received by all kinds of home bartenders. Because let’s face it: If you offer Aunt Betty a bottle of white dog whiskey, she’s going to think she got punked. (That said, if you are shopping for a moonshine fan, you can buy some from Woodinville Whiskey.)

Here are the crowd-pleasers:

CACHACA Cachaca is a Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugarcane that you may have tried in a caipirinha cocktail. Novo Fogo cachaca is made in Brazil, as you might expect, but the company is based here in Seattle. Does that qualify it as a local spirit? Not exactly, but I still think it makes a good gift.

There’s the novelty factor of course, cachaca is not all that well known in the states. But I also find both products from Novo Fogo are very drinkable; everyone seems to like them. I suggest picking up the unaged Silver ($27.50) for rum fans, and the aged Gold ($34.95) for whiskey sippers.

GIN What I like most about Voyager, a London dry-style gin from Pacific Distillery in Woodinville, is that it’s very versatile in cocktails, so it will earn its keep as a true workhorse of the home bar. Voyager is $25.90 at state stores.

VODKA Interbay distillery Sound Spirits has received high marks for its Ebb and Flow vodka, converting even vodka snobs with its distinct barley character. Ebb and Flow retails for $24 $31 at the liquor store, or you can also buy it at the distillery. Hours vary, so call ahead.

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Tags: Local Spirits, Gin, Vodka, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

The Gulpable Gift Guide #3: Local Wine

Drink your way through holiday shopping this weekend in Woodinville.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 03, 2010 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

The gift of wine Stock up on local bottles this weekend in Woodinville.

This December 4 and 5, a bunch of Woodinville Wineries are participating in the St Nicholas Day Open House—your opportunity to do all your holiday shopping while drinking, and to do so far away from the fluorescent lights and cell phone-accessory kiosks of the dreaded shopping mall.

You pay $50 for a two-day pass, $40 for Saturday only. (Sunday only passes already sold out). You go to Efeste (where you should really spring for a bottle or two, love those wines) to pick up your wine glass. You take this glass all around Woodinville and taste the local wines. You pick out your favorites and give them to people as gifts.

Check out all the participating wineries and buy tickets here. And if you’re the sort who likes to do some homework before embarking on these such endeavors, you might consult our list of the best 100 Washington wines.

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Tags: Wineries, Wine, Wine Tastings, Woodinville, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

Gulpable Gift Guide #2: Stocking Stuffer Beers

Five brews to stuff in their stockings and make them smile.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Nov 30, 2010 at 11:27AM 1 Comments

The Duchesse will surprise their palates.

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The Duchesse will surprise their palates.

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The Sleighr will be there when they need a nighttime nip.

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The Witches Brew is for the label whores.

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The Avalanche is for local flavor.

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The Matilda, she is cause for celebration.

Buy these beers. Put them in someone’s stocking or offer them up as host’s gifts at holiday parties. Prepare for happy times.

Duchesse De Bourgogne (Belgium)
Style Flemish red ale
Where to buy Bottleworks
Why to buy Don’t even get me started. The Duchesse explodes with fruity flavor, and is complex as a good wine but satisfying as a tasty brew. Best beer ever?

Ninkasi Sleigh’r (Oregon, USA)
Style dark doüble alt ale
Where to buy Trader Joe’s
Why to buy Let’s say it’s midnight on Christmas night, and you can’t sleep because the air mattress is leaking again. Accept reality: your parents will never buy a new air mattress. Go down to the kitchen, grab a few chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of creamy, malty, chocolate-rich Sleighr. See how suddenly everything’s a little better.

Snoqualmie Falls Avalanche (Washington, USA)
Style winter ale
Where to buy Malt and Vine
Why to buy Your East Coast relations keep saying Northwesterners don’t know how to create hoppy beers that are still balanced. It’s time to shove an Avalanche in their faces.

Witches’ Brew Golden Ale (Belgium)
Style Tripel
Where to Buy Online, at some Whole Foods
Why to buy Allow me to be a label whore for a moment: Look at that bottle! It also tastes good—spicy, with citrus notes.

Goose Island Matilda (Chicago, USA)
Style Belgian pale ale
Where to Buy Madison Market
Why to Buy Goose Island just came to the Pacific Northwest market this year, and there’s a lot to celebrate in these clean, gorgeous brews from the Chicago brewery. Matilda is the crowd-pleaser of the group: spicy (coriander), fruity (orange), and creamy, and it tastes great with food. Share the love, I like to say (though not out loud, since it’s a pretty lame expression).

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Tags: Beer, Gift Guide, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

Gulpable Gift Guide Idea #1: Punch

David Wondrich’s new book is a no-brainer gift for booze lovers.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Nov 16, 2010 at 01:28PM 1 Comments

Punch by David Wondrich, a book to delight the boozephile in your life.

Category Affordable ($50 and Under)
Best For Aspiring home bartenders; culinary book collectors; Esquire-subscribing, life-of-style sorts.

Who is David Wondrich? He’s the only cocktail author to win a James Beard award, and he is also the reigning king of cocktails at Esquire. All hail. Wondrich’s new book Punch: The Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl presents an excellent opportunity to make the boozephile in your life very happy.

It details the history of punch—the mysteries surrounding its origins, how British soldiers used to make it when their wine supplies spoiled, etc. There are also 44 punch recipes. Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to mix one punch a day for 44 days? This book could ruin someone’s life! But it the best possible way!

Punch is $23.99 and in stock right now at Elliott Bay Book Company.

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Tags: Cocktails, Cocktail Recipes, Books, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide