My First Book & the ADI Spirits Conference

View fullsize

Life is good...so good in fact I haven't had a chance to post anything new for awhile. The first piece of exciting news is that the book I helped write A World Guide to Whisk(e)y Distilleries has been published by White Mule Press, the publishing arm of the American Distilling Institute (ADI). I came onto the project about a third of the way through and saw it to completion. The book attempts to list all the commercial whisk(e)y distilleries in the world, from Alaska to Zimbabwe and the products they make. So if you are an avid whisk(e)y enthusiast that likes to visit distilleries or you want to know where your favorite product is made you'll probably find this useful.

I'm excited that I have a couple more book projects lined up with White Mule Press but at present I have been busy editing two books for them, one on gin and a second on rum production. These projects have been particularly demanding of my time which is partially why I haven't posted anything recently.

The other piece of exciting news is that I attended the 10th Annual ADI Spirits Conference & Vender Expo, that this year was held in Denver. The conference brought together about 900 distillers, soon to be distillers, and the still, label, glass, barrel and branding vendors that service the craft distilling industry. It was a blast to meet both new and seasoned distillers who were passionate about their craft and committed to growing successful businesses. One of my highlights from the conference was sitting in on David Smith's gin tasting. David writes for a number of publications as well as his site Summer Fruit Cup. We tasted some stand out gins from the US, UK, and France. If you're a big fan of gin a couple to look out for are FEW Barrel Aged Gin and Warner Edwards Harrington Dry Gin.

During the gala dinner ADI announced the results from their 7th Annual Judging of Artisan American Spirits. The Best of Class winners were: Ballast Point Spirits, Devil's Share Malt Whiskey; Valentine Distilling Company, Liberator Gin; Balcones Distilling, Texas Rum; Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine, Apple Pie Moonshine; and Jepson Vineyards, Old Stock Mendocino Brandy. For the full list of winners check out ADI's website.​

Now that I'm back from Denver I hope to get back into my routine of posting once or twice a week.

DIY Spirit Aroma Kit: The First Batch

View fullsize

Supplies for the aroma kit.​

A little while ago I went to Rainbow Grocery which is a local CoOp to pick up some herbs and spices for my Spirit Aroma Kit. I took the 2oz amber glass bottles and filled each one about two-thirds full. I have been editing a book about gin so some of the herbs I picked were inspired by common gin botanicals. I bought Angelica Root, Anise Seed, Ceylon Cinnamon, Cilantro, Green Cardamom, Juniper Berry, Lavender Flower, Lemon Grass, Licorice Root, Orris Root, Star Anise, Vietnamese Cinnamon, and Whole Black Peppercorns. The total cost for the thirteen herbs and spices was less than $10 which is a positive sign that my kit will be significantly less than the commercial kit.

Next I got my herbs together, pulled out my bottle of vodka, a small funnel and some small white labels. For each bottle I measured out 2oz of vodka and using the funnel, poured it into the bottles up to the neck. On the label I wrote the name of the herb or spice, the date, weight of the contents and volume of vodka. After I applied each label I gave the bottles a shake to make sure the vodka saturated all of the contents. Once each bottle was labeled and shaken I placed them in one of my kitchen cabinets to steep.

View fullsize

First batch of aroma bottles

Based on what I've read about tinctures this steeping process can take up to six to eight weeks to reach its full potency. In the mean time I am going to get more herbs as well as some grains from the my local homebrew store, San Francisco Brew Craft and fill some more bottles.

DIY Spirit Aroma Kit

Last year the Commonwealth Club of California hosted a panel discussions entitled “Distilled in the Bay Area: How to Drink Like a Locavore.” During the Q&A, one question that seemed to be on the minds of many in the audience was, how to improve one's ability to detect and describe the aromas present in spirits? The panel of distillers offered a few suggestions. Their primary suggestion, which I've heard before, was to hold a tasting with some friends. At the tasting you pick a couple spirits of the same type (i.e. gin, bourbon, scotch, rum) and as you smell and drink them you talk with your friends about the aromas and flavors you are noticing. It is helpful to do this in a group because not only will different people notice different things but they may also use different words to describe whats in the glass. I can say from my own experience these types of events are very helpful. Numerous times I have had an experience where I have been stuck trying to describe an aroma and a friend offers their suggestion which perfectly describes the sensation.

The second suggestion the panel offered to improve one's ability to recognize aromas was to practice with an aroma kit. An aroma kit is a collection of small vials that contain aromatics that match the name on the label. For instance vials labeled oak, green apple, black cherry, clove, smell like their name. The purpose of these are to practice associating the smell of an aroma with its name so that when you come across a similar aromas in spirits you can identify them. However, the only commercially available aroma kits I was able to find were geared towards red wine drinkers and very expensive. I was primarily interested in aromas found in spirits and I not that keen to spend hundreds of dollars on a kit that some reviewers complained came with vials that didn't smell at all.

I was almost ready to give up on the idea when my brain connected a conversation I had with a friend about herbal tinctures with my homemade vanilla extract. A number of years ago some friends gave me a vanilla extract kit for Christmas. The kit consisted of a 4oz bottle three whole vanilla beans and a bottle of vodka. To make the vanilla extract I slit the beans, placed them in the bottle, filled it with vodka and let it sit in the cupboard. Since alcohol is a solvent the vodka dissolves a little of the vanilla bean infusing it with its flavor and aroma. Tinctures are similar in that they use alcohol to extract healthful properties from various herbs. I put these together and I thought maybe I could make my own spirits aroma kit.

To do this I bought some 2oz amber glass bottles with the plan to fill them with various herbs, spices, other aromatics common to spirits and 40% vodka and see what happens. Future posts in this series will show my process, the results and hopefully prove to be a low-cost alternative to buying a commercial aroma kit.

Update: Read about making my first batch of spirit aromas.

SF Beer Week

San Francisco Beer Week is quickly approaching and I'll be covering a number of events from the opening gala through to the last day.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Beer Week, it is an annual event sponsored by the San Francisco Brewers Guild to promote and extol craft beer. This year Beer Week runs from from February 8th through February 17th and includes about 425 events spread out across the Bay Area and as far away as Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz.

In previous years I had gone to one or maybe two events but this year I plan to attend quite a few more. Below is a list the events that I'll be trying to make it to and if anyone is interested in joining me, feel free to come along.

Friday, February 8th:  6pm SF Beer Week Opening Celebration 

Saturday, February 9th: 12pm, Mikkeller Yeast Series @ The Press Club;   3pm, It’s Alive!!: Sipping Session with White Labs @ City Beer Store;   6pm, Speakeasy’s Tap Room Grand Opening Party @ Speakeasy Ales & Lagers;   8pm, Wine Barrel-aged Beer Tastival @ Beer Revolution

Sunday, February 10th: 12pm, Beer Judging 101 @ Pyramid Alehouse;   5pm, Sour Sunday Beer Flights @ Rosamunde Sausage Grill.

Monday, February 11th: 4pm, Meet the Brewer of Southern Pacific Brewing @ Zeitgeist

Wednesday, February 13th: 3pm, Evening with Anchor Brewery @ Pi Bar;   6pm, Meet the SF Brewers Guild and try Green Death! @ Speakeasy

Friday, February 15th: 12pm, Speakeasy’s Beer Week Brewery Blowout;   6pm, Serpents & Stouts: Exotic, Dark, & Delicious @ Ale Arsenal.

Saturday, February 16th: 1pm, Blind Beer Tasting @ Pyramid Alehouse;   4pm, Rogue Farms Flights @ Rouge Public House.

Sunday, February 17th: 12pm, Yerba Mate Education @ Cerveceria de MateVeza