Dietsch Michael. - Whiskey: A Spirited Story with 75 Classic and Original Cocktails

Copyright 2016 by Michael Dietsch

All rights reserved

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Dietsch, Michael, author.

Title: Whiskey : a spirited story with 75 classic and original cocktails /

Michael Dietsch.

Description: Woodstock, VT : The Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, [2016] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015044032 | ISBN 9781581573251 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Cocktails. | Whiskey. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX951 .D5155 2016 | DDC 641.2/52dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044032

ISBN 978-1-58157-577-4 (e-book)

To my parents: Patricia, who doesnt drink whiskey,
and Virgil, who did

Writing a book is at times a sprint and at other times a marathon. I want to thank Ann Treistman and the team at Countryman Press and Norton, including Sarah Bennett; production whizzes Devon Zahn and Natalie Eilbert; and copy editor Diane Durrett. Thanks, too, to cover photographer Kristy Gardner. I again especially want to thank Nick Caruso for his beautiful design. Nicks done a wonderful job on this book and both editions of my first book, Shrubs, and I couldnt be happier.

I want to thank my publicists, Jill Browning and Devorah Backman, for helping me get the word out about Shrubs. The book reached a wider audience than I ever envisioned, and I owe much of its success to them.

Many thanks again to my agent, Vicky Bijur, for her warmth, wisdom, and tireless advocacy.

Several of the interviews and photographs stemmed from a Spring 2015 trip along the American Whiskey Trail, hosted by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). I want to thank everyone at DISCUS, especially Alexandra Sklansky, who coordinated the trip. Many thanks as well to Greg Davis, Chris Morris, Eddie Russell, and Fred Noeall of whom answered questions I had about the history and processes of making good whiskey.

For their contributions, inspiration, and encouragement, I want to thank Brooks Baldwin, Meriko Borogove, Paul Clarke, Camper English, Andrew Friedman, Ted Haigh, Robert and Nancy Hess, Maggie Hoffman, Lindsey Johnson, Adam Lantheaume, Hanna Lee, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Lauren Mote, Matthew Rowley, Manuela Savona, Robert Simonson, Chuck Taggart, Sean Timberlake, Keith Waldbauer, and David Wondrich.

My kids, Julian and Mirabelle, are a constant inspiration, if mainly to spur me to sell enough books to keep their toy box well stocked. My wife, Jennifer Hess, was again the photographer for these recipes, spending much of her weekends shooting and styling and coaxing, all the while helping wrangle the aforementioned children. Jen, sweetheart, you are done! Thanks for seeing me across the finish line.

Chapter 1
WHAT IS WHISKEY?

Chapter 2
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL WHISKEY

Chapter 3
HOW TO MAKE A COCKTAIL

Chapter 4
HISTORIC WHISKEY COCKTAILS

Chapter 5
MIXER RECIPES

On a mild day in the spring of 2014, I stood on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River. An abandoned railroad bridge sat in the near distance, awaiting conversion to a bungee-jumping platform. The river was 200 feet below me, the equivalent of 20 stories down a steep, verdant hill. And I was sipping bourbon whiskey at the newly inaugurated visitors center at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Earlier that day, I toured the distillery. I had passed massive grain silos to start the tour in the fermentation room, which was filled with gigantic vats of bubbling liquid that smelled very much like yeasty corn porridge. I stepped briefly into the blisteringly hot, jungle-humid stillroom before retreating into an air-conditioned hallway. I saw a room larger than a gymnasium, filled with brand new, charred-oak barrels, waiting to be filled. Then I donned a hairnet (and a beard-net) and stepped into the bottling plant, high-tech and brand new, with bottles on conveyers getting filled, labeled, capped, and sealed.

That evening, while savoring the finished product and gazing down at the river, I marveled at the processessome scientific, some artfulby which simple grains such as corn (or maize), barley, rye, and wheat become whiskey. Mostly, though, I appreciated my good fortune: a beautiful view, a lovely drink, and a day full of bourbon whiskey.

Whiskey, to me, is a spirit with a story. The story starts with a humble grain, such as corn or barley. Using techniques both ancient and modern, distillers manipulate the grain to get to its sugar content. Yeasts eat the sugar and excrete alcohol. The process happens in giant fermentation tanks. This liquid, which tastes somewhat like an unhopped beer, then gets pumped into stills, where it undergoes a round or three of distillation, becoming unaged whiskey. This liquid goes into barrels, which are then stored in warehouses. The flavor of the resulting whiskey depends on a lot of factors: What kind of wood the barrel is made from, and how that wood was charred, toasted, or otherwise manipulated before the liquid splashed in. Warehouse location plays a role, too: Whiskey on upper levels ages faster than lower-level whiskeys. Climate? Sure. Scotch ages more slowly than does bourbon, for example, which is why you see many 20-year-old Scotches on the market, but few bourbons of that age. The Kentucky climate murders bourbon at about the time when it would be old enough to vote.

Sometimes you can smell the story in the glass. Certain Scotches smell of sea air or heathery meadows of the Lowlands. Sometimes you can taste a winey sweetness from the reused sherry casks a particular Scotch might have aged in. Bourbon smells of the vanilla and caramel compounds it picks up from charred-oak barrels. Rye smells similar, but with a spicier character that might remind you of pulpy, hard-boiled detective novels.

Whiskey cocktails also tell a story. Cherry Bounce comes straight from Martha Washingtons recipe diaries and tells tales of revolution and nascent nations. The Manhattan has its origins in an exclusive social club on Fifth Avenue; the Prince of Wales similarly calls to mind wealth and comfort. The Rob Roy speaks of swashbuckling adventure. The Algonquin calls to mind Dorothy Parker; the Cablegram speaks of an era before world wars and cold wars. The Old Pal and the Paddy are avuncular and comforting. The Preakness, the Ward Eight, the Godfather, and the Monte Carlothose drinks know whom not to double-cross.