Bourbon Tasting Masterclass: a meeting of bourbon bloggers!

Whistley Sour   26th June 2015   No Comments

Bourbon is a drink that’s made to be enjoyed in the company of others and every once in a while you get an opportunity to enjoy it with people who really know their bourbon.  And few people know their bourbon better than Tom Fischer, the man behind bourbonblog.com.

This week I had the very special honour of being invited to a bourbon tasting masterclass with Tom, who was in the UK on vacation and had naturally been called upon to lead a tasting session at London’s top bourbon bar, JW Steakhouse on Park Lane.

IMAG3589I’ve called this article “a meeting of bourbon bloggers”, but this was by no means a meeting between equals. Tom’s been covering the bourbon scene for a decade and has been featured on media outlets from CNN to the BBC.  He’s the man the media go to if there’s something they need to know about the bourbon industry.  So to be his guest for an evening of bourbon tasting was a special privilege.

Firstly, a word about the bourbon bar at JW Steakhouse.  You won’t find better anywhere else in the UK.  You’ll rarely find anything that comes close.  ‘Hard to find’ applies to a lot more bourbons over here than in the US, but at JW you’re looking at some real rarities.  There are a few different ages of Pappy on the shelf, along with a number of pre-prohibition bourbons.

It all began with a warm welcome from Tom, as well as Karina Elias – the beverage manager at JW Marriott – when the dozen or so present were given what has to be the best Old Fashioned I’ve ever tasted, made with Jim Beam Signature.

IMAG3577I had a look at the menu before we went through to the private function room, and had it not been just the wrong side of pay-day I may have allowed opulence to lead me to a T-Bone steak and a glass of Van Winkle 15 year.  Nevertheless nobody went hungry, as it turned out that a southern style BBQ platter was part of the plan for the evening.  (I apologise for not apologising for how often meat works its way into my bourbon commentary.)

Tom had selected seven whiskeys for us to try together that evening. What I especially enjoyed was that instead of telling us what flavours and notes we should be picking up in each one, he instead spent time telling us about the people and places behind the bourbons and then asked us what we were tasting and smelling.

It would be an indulgence to include the notes I made for all seven whiskeys, but as six of them were new to me suffice to say I was scribbling excitedly for much of the evening.  Tom started with Angels Envy, a bourbon which is devilishly difficult to find in the UK.  This is a 4 year old bourbon that is finished in Port barrels, which gives the nose a thick and fruity character, with plum and smoke, and a dark yet delicate flavour with chocolate, fortified wine and lots of grain softness.

IMAG3574One quite literally unique offering was JW’s own Jim Beam Single Barrel.  This whiskey came from a barrel which was personally selected from the distillery by Karina and then purchased, bottled and transported back to the JW Steakhouse bar.  I understand that this was the first ever Single Barrel Jim Beam selected in this way, and with its huge burst of caramel, cinnamon sweetness and a pokey spice with a dusting of caster sugar, I’d say Karina chose her barrel very well indeed.

The Four Roses Small Batch and the George T Stagg – a 67% barrel strength monster that finished the night, tamed with a piece of Hershey’s chocolate – were both excellent inclusions.  My personal favourite was actually the Copper Fox Rye (I do love a rye whiskey, me…) which had a remarkably evocative nose – it reminded me of being in a historical building with ancient oak doors and wrought iron fittings!  There are also notes of malt, sandalwood and clay.  The pallet is very smooth and easy drinking; the grains come to the fore accompanied by a metallic sharpness, with hints of bitter lemon and sage.  This spirit (it’s not allowed to be called ‘whiskey’ in the EU because it’s under 3 years old) kind of breaks preconceptions by being profoundly flavoursome for such a young drink, helped no doubt by the inclusion of applewood and oak chips in the barrel during aging.

TIMAG3583he 1973 bottle of Old Grandad from a private collection impressed everyone, with its sweet spice and citrus, notes of orange, cinder toffee, cream sherry and even something that reminded me of a Turkish coffee!  But as if that wasn’t enough, Tom and Karina blew us away by offering us a taste of a 1916 bottling of Old Forester. This was my first pre-prohibition bourbon and I had to spend a moment of self-reflection before deciding I was even worthy to partake of such a venerable drink.  It was as memorable as it ought to have been, with hints and notes of rich antique leather, cream sherry, clove and cinnamon, dried fruit, dates, rye bread, oak and treacle.

So much more could be written about the fantastic evening I had with some great people and exquisite bourbons, but this is a bourbon blog, not a memoir, so I’ll content myself simply to say that if you’re ever in Kentucky and hear about a session that Tom is running, try to get a look in.  And if you’re near Marble Arch in London, don’t pass by JW Steakhouse without popping in for a drink.  Heck, as often as opportunity allows; you may well find me in there.

(A final note – apologies for the awful photography in this entry, I didn’t have my usual photographer with me and only my HTC phone for snapping with!  I’ll replace the pics with others if I can scavenge some from the others who were there that night.)

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