Whiskey Or Whisky? Whatever Fills Your Tumbler.

From time to time, Marina and I have injected our food education with a little amateur mixology, because what's food without a good cocktail or a shot of something? Last year, for instance, on one of our most brilliant dates, Marina surprised me with a town car ride out to the Cliff House at Sutro Baths to attend a mixology mix-off between four bartenders from four of the hottest cocktail bars in the city. Think Battle of The Bands, but with cocktail shakers instead of electric guitars.

Yes, perhaps this could be considered in the vein of Nero fiddling while Rome burns, but hey, with a good cocktail, the burning of the city just looks festive. And there's nothing wrong with applying a little erudition to things one likes. Look at High Fidelity. No, seriously, look at it, if you haven't. Great film, especially with a glass of something.

In the spirit--so to speak--of educating ourselves, we signed up for a Whisky Primer class at 18 Reasons, the local food/drink education center of the Bi-Rite Market. It was taught by Peter, the author of a terrific blog, The Casks.

Here's an amazing thing: if you put twenty or twenty-five people around a long wooden table for a class, and then add samples of five different whiskeys, the class loosens up rather quickly. Who knew?

As an example, compare one of the notes I wrote at the beginning of the class--"single malt-only barley, made in one distillery"--with some other examples I wrote at the end--"you can spell it whisky or whiskey; they won't punch you in the face either way" and "when I win the lottery, we will take a Scotch tour. In Scotland."

Here are some of the other fascinating things we learned:

--To be called bourbon, it must be aged two years in a brand new barrel made from charred American oak. This isn't necessarily because of a scientific need for new barrels each time, but because the cooper's union wanted it so, which guarantees a lot of work for barrel-makers. Yes, coopers have their own union, which I think is just terrific.

--As whiskey matures and ages, as atmospheric conditions change and the wood of the barrel expands and contracts, a bit of the spirit evaporates, which is called "the angel's share." Don't tell me that's not brilliantly poetic. No wonder writers drink.

--Scotch from the Isla region is aged for at least 10 years in ex-bourbon casks on the beach--now you know where the bourbon barrels are sent by the coopers. How picturesque is that? I'll tell you: 8.77 out of 9.

Here are my (obviously subjective) impressions and descriptions of the five whiskeys we sampled. We had them in pairs, the first two, the third and fourth, and then capped with the fifth:

1) Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Bourbon
--Spicy and hot, sweet on the front of the tongue, spicy on the back of the tongue. The taste and the heat of it lingered the longest of any of the samples--although that could be that my taste buds dulled as more and more whiskey washed over them. Water mellowed the kick of it by quite a bit.

2) Sazerac 6 Year Old Rye Whiskey
--The difference with rye from bourbon? Much more rye, and I could taste it. I tasted rye bread, olives, and onions, and the phrase "Deli Whiskey" came to mind. Heavier on the tongue, and I preferred the bourbon.

3) Powers 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey
--This was the only triple-distilled whiskey. The rest were double-distilled. As a result, it was purer, lighter, and mellower. It had a light and fruity taste, and was probably my favorite of all we sampled. All the more reason to travel to Ireland some day, perhaps as an addendum to that Scotch tour.

4) Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood
--From a family owned distillery from the Speyside region of Scotland, matured first in ex-bourbon casks, then in sherry casks. The family does everything but farm the barley. Someone shouted out that it tasted like chocolate, which totally influenced my reaction, which was akin to reading the Introduction to a classic novel, which I never do. Oh well. (You can see the loosening up of the tone of my notes at this point, can't you?) It was warm, coiling up in the throat like a dragon, and mellowed well with water.

5) Laphroaig 10 Year Old Scotch Whisky
--This is the one matured in casks on the beach, which makes it famous for "pungent, maritime tones." I think this is the brand served at Ben's wedding. It is smoky, powerful, with a taste of peat. It was paired with a piece of dark chocolate, and I loved that, which says a lot, because I am generally not a fan of dark chocolate, which is usually too bitter for my liking.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening, very informative, and intoxicating--intoxicating in the sense of knowledge gained, I mean, and the accompanying sense of power. What did you think I meant?