Mike's homemade Four Grain

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Mike's homemade Four Grain

Unread postby Mike » Wed May 09, 2007 5:35 pm

I haven't had a sip of bourbon in three days..............hand running! So it was time. I just didn't know what I wanted from the pretty sizable cache that I keep in my saloon (my lovely wife insists that it is the laundry room, but sometimes she is like my dog and I have to say.........'Have you no imagination, woman?').

You know, y'all, I am a nice guy........not worth much to be sure..........but I do try to let by gones be by gones, so I pull out the Russel Reserve 90 proof thinking I ain't had a sip in quite a while and hoping today would be different. Well, y'all, t'aint different.........worsetest WT product made in my judgement, they need to quit it. A short sip was more than enough (could something be wrong with this particular bottle?).

So, it is back to the laundry room, er, I mean saloon, for something else I ain't tried in a while. Well, now a while back I vatted some William Larue Weller ('06 version), some Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, and some Bernheim Wheat in 1/1/4 proportions.

According to my old math (you know the old math, don't you?........you use your fingers a lot), this works out to 95.3 proof (good thing our fingers have three joints, else I woulda never got the .3), in the sweet spot for bourbon by my lights.

This homemade four grain makes for a wonderful bourbon. It really has all I like in a bourbon, rich and thick sweetness, robust spice (without being too peppery), a hint of oak and char, and a long finish that has staying power.

OK, y'all line up and I'll just give you a sip............watch it, no breaking in line there, bunghole, even though I know you were here first.........and Bourbon Joe, yo cup is too big.... and no MikeK, I don't have any old barrels laying around in back of the saloon.....and yes, Gary Gillman, I am sure about the proportions.......and yes, Mike Veach, in exchange for a review, you are allowed a second sip...... and no, Brendaj it ain't Pappy, but it is a Van Winkle Rye in there.........and Tim, you only get a sample if you agree to write one of your interesting reviews...........and Gayle, take some pitchers, will you? and I will save you a sip........and Chuck, how am I going to give you a sip if you keep up that scribbling, scribbling........sorry, Mark there ain't enough for the baby........and Brewer, old buddy, you get a homemade beer to go with your sip..........and Chris, 'bout time you got here........and John Lipman, look for the aroma of lollipops, roses, cardboard boxes, balsa wood, new potatoes, and New York on Sunday.......and of course, LaNell, I will make some to sell, ..........and Angleshare(s), you are right, it is only fair for the cat to get a sip if Barleycorn does........and abcgroup, whilst you sip, did yo momma really name you that?.........and Stoopsie, I thought you would never get here, you looking good, and how are the younuns?..........and fricky, ain't that the same bucket Bourbon Joe wanted me to fill for his sip?.........and Hondo John, you get a double portion just cause you from Texas and you old like me, and besides I like you............WHOA! My God! Look, the line goes around the corner............who can bless this stuff? If somebody don't, it gone run out soon, soon! 'Barleycorn, you say you gone bless it?' 'Well, I reckon you got a better claim to it than me'. Good job, ole buddy, the bottle is full again!

Step right up, folks........wait, ain't I seen yo face before?...........'Alright bunghole, but don't try this again, I don't care if you are a Saint!'
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas
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Unread postby bunghole » Wed May 09, 2007 8:07 pm

:laughing9: :thumbleft: :rofl2: :1st:
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Unread postby EllenJ » Thu May 10, 2007 10:31 am

MMMMmmmmmmmm... Balsa Wood!

Harper...
......Handy...
............Van Winkle candy,
Four Roses,
......And Lollypops,
And Lollypops and Roses...
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Unread postby gillmang » Thu May 10, 2007 11:38 am

That's a good one, Mike, I am sure it is great.

However, try W.L. Weller 3:1 with ORVWFFR and lose the Bernheim wheat (since you want to keep age with age for this mingling). The old leather notes of the rye work well in the seamless old wheater.

By the way, did you mean to say one of the flavors of your mingling is like the New York TIMES on a Sunday...? If you meant the city itself, and since summer is approaching, I'd be less impressed with this element of the flavor. (In joke for those who know Manhattan in hot weather). But since you said balsa I assume you were referring to fresh newsprint in a bundle.

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Unread postby Mike » Thu May 10, 2007 7:09 pm

gillmang wrote:By the way, did you mean to say one of the flavors of your mingling is like the New York TIMES on a Sunday...? If you meant the city itself, and since summer is approaching, I'd be less impressed with this element of the flavor. (In joke for those who know Manhattan in hot weather). But since you said balsa I assume you were referring to fresh newsprint in a bundle.

Gary


That was just bullsht aromas, Gary, for John's benefit.........as to the aroma of New York on Sunday, I wouldn't have a clue........just pulled it out of my a _ _ ........er, I mean hat.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas
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Unread postby bourbonv » Fri May 11, 2007 10:06 am

You left out John's favorite dark fruit - Black Olives!
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby gillmang » Fri May 11, 2007 10:32 am

Actually, I think John has by now converted completely to the metaphorical school of whiskey description. Every time I see him he describes perfectly well the tastes of the whiskeys in metaphors and similes such as we use here every day. He also is perfectly capable of writing it all down here, but I think he just doesn't want to bother. John, you were missed at the recent Gazebo of SB, I got there at about 9:30 p.m. but did not see you and Linda. Another time.

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Unread postby bourbonv » Sat May 12, 2007 4:02 pm

Gary,
I agree. John is a virtual treasure trove of tasting knowledge and everytime I drink with him he points out Black Olives as his favorite "dark fruit" aroma - not that he finds it in bourbon, but he has his hopes. Everytime someone writes "dark fruits" without being specific. John checks to see if it is black olives!
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby gillmang » Sat May 12, 2007 5:28 pm

And sorry we didn't see you either Mike.

Black fruit to me connotes more blackberries, Bing cherries, dark plums. Although, olive is a fruit to be sure. I get black fruit in a number of whiskeys including (lately) the Louisville Charter 12 years old, or BMH 18 years old (and the 23 too, maybe more so).

Olives to me raises the idea of salt, and I don't think I can recall a bourbon that was salty-like. Many malt whiskies, yes, but not bourbon or rye. American straights can be acid, but that is different. Still, I am sure John knows what he is looking for, and maybe there is black olive in some whiskey, and now that I think further on it, it is the bitterness of some whiskeys, combined with a dark fruit taste, that he might be driving at.

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Unread postby bourbonv » Sat May 12, 2007 5:51 pm

Gary, Gary, Gary,
I think you are missing John's point here when he discusses black olives - people need to be more specific when they do their tasting notes because black olives is a dark fruit.

Dark fruits do indeed include those items you mention and a few others such as prune, wild cherry and dates. The thing is if some says they taste dark fruits they need to then follow up with a specific example or else John is going to mention the black olives.

Gary,
I am sorry I missed you as well. Maybe in September we will get together. Maybe even drag John along and we can discuss "dark fruits" more in depth!
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun May 13, 2007 7:47 pm

Thanks, Mike, and I get what you are saying, but still, as a compendious description, black fruit isn't so bad. It means (to many I think) a plum or blackberry-like taste, sweetish and maybe sub-acid. I know John can be playful and introduce variations such as black olive, but the core of what is meant by the term is understood by many. I would say olive is not a fruity taste in the sense generally accepted since cured olives have a briny, vinegar-like smell. Some green olives can be fruity in the usual sense, though.

This (in my mind at least) raises another question (one often discussed in malt whisky circles): can a Bourbon be salty?

Second derivative question: can a Bourbon be vinegary?

Gary
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Unread postby bunghole » Sun May 13, 2007 9:46 pm

gillmang wrote:
This (in my mind at least) raises another question (one often discussed in malt whisky circles): can a Bourbon be salty?

Second derivative question: can a Bourbon be vinegary?

Gary


NO & NO! Sour; tannic, and bitter - yes, but salty or vinegary?! :scratch: :think:

You've been getting drunk and going out to eat fish and chips with malt vinegar again haven't you? :hungry2: :clapthumbsup: :hello3:
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Unread postby gillmang » Wed May 16, 2007 9:58 am

Hey, some drinks strike some people a certain way. I've heard all kinds of metaphors applied to bourbon whiskey (recently, "angular", huh?). Sometimes the acid in rye-oriented whiskeys seems almost saline (some earths can be saline sort of), or maybe cutting water can impart it. I am not saying a whiskey every really struck me that way, but when I was thinking of black olives, it occurred to me some people might have detected such things in whiskey. By the way some malt whisky has a hint of salt, it can derive from being aged in warehouses along the North Sea. A fellow I know who worked in a Scots distillery told me flaking salt would sometimes appear on barrels in coastal areas.

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Unread postby EllenJ » Wed May 16, 2007 11:24 pm

Mike (and Gary), I believe we've all three of us found black olives in at least one of those prohibition medicinals from the Getz museum. Oh, wait! I think that might have been "stuffed" olives; you know, the ones with the pimento notes?

We missed y'all, too, and others who we'd hoped to see more of. We just got caught up in visiting with friends at the Jailer's, and never got over there.
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