Hopefully, you had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by the ones you love. For the first time, my mom and brother ventured out to spend their Thanksgiving with us.  My brother loves to geek out on history and since it was closed for renovations on their last visit, the American History Museum was a must-do. It's also a pretty safe bet as there is something for everyone. My mom would have spent hours admiring the First Ladies' exhibit had we not pulled her way.

Even after having checked it out several times already, I was excited to see there was a new exhibit on the history of food in American culture. I was in awe of Julia Childs' kitchen. I think she was on to something with the peg board. Don't be surprised if you see it make an appearance in my kitchen.

As I've learned more about classic cocktails like the sazerac, sidecar,  and old fashioned to name a few, I've wanted to do whatever I can to perfect them when I make them at home. Knowing that fresh, homemade pasta is better than a box, I figured the same had to apply to a bitter.

We've already established I like a good deal, so it should come as no surprise that I couldn't resist the Groupon for a "make your own bitters lesson" at the Georgetown Spice and Tea Exchange.  This store smelled amazing with a wall of such fragrant spices and herbs. I may have came home with a purchase or two.

The class was disappointing for the price, even though it was a deal. I honestly think I would have been better off purchasing a book from Amazon. The instructor was knowledgable, but wasn't very organized or effective at sharing that information. It's really unfortunate because I had high hopes. Instead, I need to find a book or just pay the local liquor store a visit. Suggestions? Do you make your own bitters? Or maybe you have a favorite cocktail you'd recommend? It is Friday, after all.

Last Saturday I hosted a bourbon tasting for a few friends of mine.  All of the attendees are bourbon enthusiasts, so we decided to taste our way through the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection.  If you are a bourbon rookie, when you hear Jim Beam you probably think of the ubiquitous white label bottle.  But we wanted to step up a bit from that so we chose the Small Batch Collection. The Collection consists of Basil Hayden's, Booker's, Baker's and Knob Creek.  Each of the bourbons in the Collection is aged for a different amount of time and they are bottled at different proofs.  Basil Hayden's even uses a different mash bill (recipe), so there is quite a lot of variance across the collection.  Which is what makes tasting your way through them so much fun.

Nicole, also known as the greatest wife in the world, prepared the tasting in such a way that none of us knew which bourbon was which.  She poured us samples ahead of time so none of us would know which was which.

After we tasted our way through, we voted on which one we liked best and which one we liked least.  Water and ice were available to dilute as necessary.  The winner was Knob Creek, which got three votes (Basil Hayden's got one).

This was mildly unsurprising as Knob Creek is a very recognizable bourbon, and there's a reason for that.  It is really well balanced and has a nice sweet finish that is quite pleasant to drink.  At 100 proof, it is right in my personal preferred proof.  If you're new to bourbon and want to start expanding your tasting experiences, I highly recommend Knob Creek. (Even if you aren't new to bourbon, it might be time to stop chasing Pappy or the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and give Knob another try.)

Basil Hayden's got one favorite vote.  B-H is quite a bit lighter than the other bourbons, as it is 80 proof.  The other notable thing about B-H is that it is made with more rye than the others.   This gives it a spicier flavor.  Our tasters described it as "soft and smooth" which makes for nice drinking on a hot summer day.

The least favorite bourbon was Baker's, which was also unsurprising to me.  I've had Baker's on a couple of occasions and I can't say that I've ever really enjoyed it.  Our tasting panel found it woody and hot, and adding some water or ice did not really improve it. The best I can say about it is that it is boring--it doesn't stand out against the other bourbons in the Collection.

The last bourbon, Booker's, was apparently safely in the middle.  I've always enjoyed Booker's quite a bit, but the proof--130--can be a real turnoff.  Booker's almost always requires some dilution, but it is a whale of a bourbon. It's got lots of bold flavors, but if you can dilute it down just right, it strikes me as an incredibly flavorful, sweet bourbon.  My impression is that our tasting panel was a bit impatient with Booker's, as it takes some planning to dilute it down to each taster's preferred proof.

I should mention that we had a really nice spread of food to keep our stomachs full--again, thanks to my wife for that.  We made a special trip to the grocery store to buy some supplies and we put out some snack mix, potato chips, pretzels and had some shredded chicken sandwiches made in the crock pot.  Nicole was nice enough to bake us some cookies--they were a huge hit.

Via

Keith and I just can’t have a social gathering of any kind without a little bourbon. Case in point, we spike the apple cider at Thanksgiving with it. We didn’t serve champagne for our toast at our wedding. Instead it was a bourbon-based cocktail.  It makes a nice substitution for orange juice in a mimosa for brunch. And well, it’s just one of those things we pour when we want to have our own little celebration at home on Tuesday night.

With all of that in mind, Keith is frequently on the hunt for those rare, hard to find bottles. And when he finds one, the hunt is just as important as the sharing. Well, tomorrow is a day for sharing. Keith is having a group of guys over for a bourbon tasting. They’re going to focus on the Jim Beam small batch collection, which includes: Booker’s, Basil Hayden, Bakers, and Knob Creek. (I only wish the Knob Creek Rye was in our area to throw that in too.)

Why do I care especially since it’s a group of guys that will probably mess up my clean house? If you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it right. That means I’ve created special “place mats” that will have a place for the four cups. It will be a blind tasting, so all they will know is the letter identifying each. I’ll leave Keith an envelop identifying each. (I’m going to slip out for a little day drinking of my own with Andrea.)

I’m also going to be the responsible one, or as much as I can given I won’t be there. What goes with bourbon, but barbeque? Given safety and convenience is key, I’m going to throw something together in the slow cooker. Thinking it will be a feast of shredded chicken sliders, slaw, and chocolate chip cookies. Although, the more I consider this, I should proceed with caution. I don’t want to make them too comfy and find a house of boys when I return.

I’ll have pictures of at least the set up and tasting notes on Monday. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a nice weekend with perhaps a splash of bourbon. Seriously, bourbon makes it better.