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Category: Tasting Notes
The Hall of Flowers, held twice per year in Santa Rosa, California acted as my muse bringing together the best and the brightest to my trained palate. But don’t take it from me directly, you simply must travel to California yourself and take the journey. As I found covering the craft spirits business and writing six books on the topic, there are different levels of good. A couple weeks ago I led a panel at the Berlin Bar Convent for Park Street University on Cannabis Cocktails. The consensus at the end of the panel was encouraging. High quality craft spirits manufacturers are genuinely intrigued by the combination of their excellent craft spirits and the addition of hemp based CBD. Unfortunately here in the USA, even the mere reference to THC is much more oblique. Through marketing, anything can be invented. Just look at the worm in Mezcal. If you ate one of these things please contact me. And if you drink rum based on the color of the liquid in that expensive bottle, you’ve been hoodwinked again. Most of what you pay extra for has been caramel colored. Oh gosh, why would they do that? Because there are no rules in rum! Rhum? Well that’s another story for another day. They have rules, but you are confused. I’m positive. No need for that in cannabis.
I’m a massive fan of the “High” end of the cannabis flower business. It stems from my background in boutique rum for about a year. In a life much unknown to my cannabis friends, I was the national brand ambassador for a craft-centric rum company owned by a Russian company. They brought me to the Moscow Bar Show and they helped me in my quest to seek and sell the finest craft spirits over the mundane, mass-produced corporate ones. Their specialty was un-manipulated rum, which brings me to my current day dilemma. Too many multi-state cannabis brands focus on mass quantities of any given cultivar. I’m happy that their deeply corporate metrics allow them to grow three hundred thousand square feet of only a couple strains of cannabis, but really what I’m looking for is an adherence to quality over sheer quantity.
From the very first glance, be it on an angle, or straight into your hand, lighting your tiny, but mighty joint and inhaling deeply brings solace. Through inhaling the healing vapors you can feel into your very soul that Sundae School mini-joints are something extremely special. If you think that you’ve tried excellent cannabis in the past I implore you to seek out Sundae School’s offerings in the cannabis vein. The tiny tin boxes come emblazoned with the messages of the moment. Eureka. Uplift. Brain, Cardio, Boost. They are known professionally as Bullets. I’ve always thought of this size of joint as a dog-walk joint, just enough to walk your dog and make a new friend at the same time.
Sundae School is the smokable incarnation of much dreaming.
Categories
Lyfted Farms: Not Just Cannagars
Lyfted Farms: Juicy Indoor Grown Flowers
The literal definition of quality often has many names. But the name that is right in front of me on my desk involves the uncommon spelling of the word, Lyfted. Lifted in its normal derivation and spelling usually means elevated. When something is brought up to a higher level it’s lifted. Lifted intellectually, lifted flavors, just raising the overall bar to a higher level. In the alcohol-mixology world I would say that this describes a lifted cocktail is one with a little extra lagniappe to it. Or just better tasting with better balance. You would assume that lifted meant the top of the line, the most gourmet. You might be right, rabbit, you are certainly correct.
Warren Bobrow: iPhone XAuthentic Artisan Canna Cigar
Artisan Canna Cigars: Always Handmade. One of the Best Things in Life
Be still my heart. Being far from wildly successful as an entrepreneur or sitting in that high paid “Catbird Seat” I can understand what it’s like to yen for the very best. Maybe it’s a failing of mine, but I’ve always possessed a keen appreciation for the very best things in life. These can be wildly expensive, so I may have to forgo them until I can afford it, or not at all!
Warren BobrowDeliciousness Encapsulated
The market for botanically enriched, “health” drinks have exploded over the past few decades or so. There are hundreds of products on the market that promise wellness and health, but nothing could prepare the consumer for the coming wave of micro-dosed; CBD and THC liquids made specifically for wellness. It’s true! All that is required is a healthy thirst and the desire for something different. Case in point with the Monk line of drinking botanicals. This ultra-luxury line of tiny 4 oz bottles are scientifically calibrated to micro-dose just the right amount of CBD/THC to the careful imbiber. Careful because the dosage of CBD/THC is in the micro amounts- nearly undetected after enjoying the scant few sips of this ‘magical’ elixir. What each bottle represents are flavors and health-giving qualities similar to the days of the early apothecary, when fragile herbs and spices made their way into preparations that the pharmacist concocted to order. Not unlike the early preparations that made their way to the cocktail bar with drinks meant to heal the gut, like the famous Sazerac, or perhaps you’d be interested in knowing why Angostura is so helpful when you have a stomach ache, or are seasick? It all comes around again with the deep desire to write the first book about creative mixology that uses cannabis. There is a large distinction between non-Cannabis augmented health drinks and quality products like Monk’s Drinking Botanicals. What we have here is a modern framework, one that is more flavor-driven as opposed to effect-driven, with varieties like the brightly aromatic and refreshing grapefruit/cayenne. This delicately spicy, yet not overly sweet concoction is precise and carefully combined to offer amusement, candor and excitement into every careful sip. Careful because the cayenne element is not overwhelming, but it is right there in front of the brightly delineated richness of the pink grapefruit juice. The combination resembles a fine craft cocktail- especially with the balance and the depth of the ingredients. They almost taste as if the grapefruit was freshly squeezed and infused with the cayenne peppers.
Japanese Whisky: Quiet Perfection
A quiet pursuit of excellence is taking place by the careful and studied guidance of Eric Tschudi, the affable and youthful beverage director of Shuko. His hand-chosen selection of esoteric, Japanese Whiskies will certainly intellectualize even the most altruistic guest in your dinner party. And then there is a private dining room that intrigues the carefully interested. This space is the most private room, set deeply down in the subterranean part of the former bakery- a quite hidden, inner sanctum, located in the depths of 47 East 12th Street in New York City. This is certainly not a tourist restaurant, nor does it have any signs announcing the constantly changing approach to an educated curiosity that takes place within the walls daily. There are no lines of paparazzi craning their necks towards the stars, nor very much in the way of foot traffic on this part of the street, set just off the teeming hustle and bustle of soon to be, lower Broadway. Find some parking just across the street, just up the way a bit and stretch your legs, but only so much. The scent you detect in the air may well tinge of sea salt water on this tiny spit of land only a few short blocks from the churning East River. The Japanese inspired liquids are driven by the culinary treats that emulate from within the tabla rasa walls. And all of these surprises are completely undetected from the street. A hidden gem surrounded by so much darkness.
Warren BobrowReal Rum, not manipulated rum
In life there are certain accomplishments that are sometimes quantified by the quality of the spirits that you sip. If you doubt the words of a rum expert, all you need to do is look at the groaning shelves at your favorite package store. Rum has just about exploded in popularity in recent decades after a hundred or so year slumber. Sure you could count on a booze-cruise rum punch while sailing with your friends in the islands- you probably want to forget what highly manipulated rum can do to your gut and your aching head. But this is not a piece about what happens when you drink manipulated, (read: lousy) rum on a stern of a pitching sailboat. This is about drinking some of the very best rum that money can buy. And while you’re learning about what is special about Foursquare Rum, the suggestion is first and foremost, that you are worth it. This is not booze-cruise rum, nor is it rum that deserves a place on the very top shelf of your bar, never to be opened. Why? Fear perhaps has much to do with it. You do deserve to drink Foursquare. Recognize this fear of the unknown and you’ll come to a magical place where quality and cost become a misnomer. Where success is not measured by expense, but by quality. Where experience matters, like that picnic boat you ogled over in your youth, or the first time you experienced a glass or two of really well aged wine, or slurped some really rare Scotch Whisky. It’s important to note that while Foursquare is not inexpensive, there are rums on the market that far exceed it in cost. Many of these pretty label and fancy bottle rums are manipulated in some manner. Why is that? Because they can, it’s because they are permitted, because no one really cares to know. From caramel coloring to sugar being re-added for a sweet mouth-feel, to globs of thick glycerin to even out the creaminess across the palate- to all sorts of things that would get a rum judge in trouble, just by mentioning that so-and so’s rum is being manipulated.
Categories
Drink Maple
When I drink the finest whiskies in the world in a crystal glass, I want to control all the things that I can do something about.
I want to first make sure that my glass is clean and free of any scents or chemicals from my dishwasher. It’s always my intention to hand-wash my tasting glasses, but even then the way to wash them is to use no soap, which often leaves a film and an off-putting taste.
Yet not washing them with soap is problematic at best. So, what to do? The first thing that I do is buy a gallon of white vinegar. I soak my glassware in a 40/60 wash (vinegar to cool water) overnight in a non-reactive bowl made of glass or, better yet, a food safe bucket. Any smells or flavors are neutralized by the low PH and high acidity of the white vinegar. Then instead of throwing out the washing solution, I’ll add it to a bucket and disinfect my mop heads. It’s pretty amazing stuff. Got fruit flies in your kitchen? Put out a dish of white vinegar, cover with plastic wrap and put a couple holes in it and say hello to a 1 way swimming lesson!
When it’s my turn to test new liquors or combinations of liquor and water, I want a perfectly clear glass without any residue of soap or a smear of lipstick, or the worst offender, garlic pasta.
Barrell Bourbon Whiskey is exactly what I want in my tasting glass, but the only downside is the fact that it’s just after 11:30 in the morning. I want to taste the sprits but I don’t want to get plastered on the 120 plus proof spirits at this tender hour of the day! So, what to do?
A couple years ago, I stumbled upon a somewhat new product at the International Fancy Food Show in NYC, named Drink Maple and it’s just that. It’s USDA Certified Organic Maple Water straight from the tree. But how do they do this? What, do you crush trees?
The last time I cut down a maple tree it was just after Hurricane Sandy lay waste to the forest up where I used to live in Jockey Hollow. I was stacking wood and came upon a fallen maple tree. My chain-saw got stuck several times because of the high liquid content of the wood. Maple is very hard to burn in a woodstove unless it is perfectly seasoned- and that might take a couple years of sun, freeze, snow, ice, and thaw.
There’s a lot of liquid in there. I suppose the owners of the Drink Maple company have figured out how to tap this liquid in large enough amounts to make a product like this viable. When I think of the wood and what caused my chain-saw to lock up, I couldn’t imagine extracting the liquid in a manner that is financially viable and still delicious.
It’s delicious…subtle, and lush. Truly gorgeous stuff against my tongue and lips. Inside the lovely, curvaceous bottle is something cooling and lithe. It’s conversational and intellectual without being overt, trite or dare I say, trendy. Maple Water is not trendy. It’s been around for longer than you have.
Maple Water has a subtle sweetness, a silky and opulent mouthfeel. It is thirst quenching and strangely calming. And when a mere splash is added to a glass of Barrell Bourbon Whiskey, magic truly happens. I really feel strongly about this:
- Mouth-feel: Soft, rich, pure, exotic spices and fresh sea breeze across the lips
- Scent: Subtle, sweet yet highly exciting (like real, freshly gathered branch water)
- Palate: Creamy and dense, a froth, bursting from the ground- pure and fresh across the tongue, a swirling tornado of lusciousness and pleasure
- Finish: Long finish of sweet maple gives way to deeper notes of spice and freshly cut herbs, a tangle of sweetness lingers then extends on and on to the multi-minute completion
USDA Organic and Verified non GMO, and it’s also jam-packed with electrolytes and natural antioxidants. When added to Barrell Whiskey, the pure maple water becomes greater than just water. Maple Water is just spectacular when mixed with some of the finest Bourbon Whiskey that money can buy.
The Cocktail?
Take one ounce of the Barrell Bourbon (or their magnificent whiskey of your choice) and contemplate…gorgeous stuff. Add a mere splash of the Drink Maple liquid. And know you have in your perfectly clear glass one of the best things in the world. And you can buy these in New Jersey, today…right now!
Take one ounce of the Barrell Bourbon (or their magnificent whiskey of your choice) and contemplate…gorgeous stuff. Add a mere splash of the Drink Maple liquid. And know you have in your perfectly clear glass one of the best things in the world. And you can buy these in New Jersey, today…right now!
http://www.barrellbourbon.com/
http://www.drinkmaple.com/