I have to confess to total ignorance of the existence of this spirit until you posted up. A little research came up with the following description of it:
"A nice alternative to cognacs or Calvados. It is to Calvados what armagnac is to cognac – a cousin from the provinces (or in this case the colonies) that has more texture, body and aroma. All around, an interesting tipple that is worth a try."
I'll have to search it out now.
Roger that! My family is in the middle of a big move— I’ll crack this once we’re all settled in to our new digs.
Almost finished with what is probably the best Old Fashioned I’ve ever made… Only changed one ingredient from my normal “boxcar” variant of this drink: The cherries.
Was talking to a fellow brown liquor aficionado at a neighborhood wine tasting/gathering last weekend and we got to arguing the merits of different versions of this classic…and he told me “you have to get real candied black cherries instead of regular maraschino, trust me.”
So I sprung for the real-deal $20 jar of Italian Amaretto cherries:
And holy crap. What a difference!
Literally no other change, but the flavor just pops now…and I actually used almost no “syrup” from the jar; just what was on the cherries (double, so I used two) as I dropped them in the glass. Completely worth the 4x cost of regular cherries. Honestly can hardly believe such a small change made such a huge difference in this drink.
I typically ‘cheat’ and use a bourbon instead of rye when I make an Old fashioned for myself, and I‘ve come to prefer a sweet liquor instead of simple syrup (that has to be fresh-made btw), lately have been using praline liquor for that bit of smokiness on top of the sweet. I also tend to use orange bitters instead of an orange peel…so much easier, LOL.
My recipe:
2 parts good aged rye (or bourbon if you want it sweeter)
1 part praline liquor
a few dashes orange bitters to taste
2-3 dashes regular Angostura bitters
1 cherry … and now highly recommend getting real-deal Candied or amaretto black cherries vs maraschino
I typically serve it over a large ice ball from a mold I keep in the freezer, and add a very small splash of water on top to get everything mixing, but just used regular cube ice this time so no need for the splash of water.
$150 is a great deal and $180 is usual these days. Yes that’s for a 750 mL bottle. These are sold on secondary markets as you’ll be hard pressed to find this “in the wild”
Wow.
Oooh, that's not good. I've known drinkers like that before. You really should talk to your spider about enrolling in a 12-step program.
I used to drink quite a bit of knob creek. Always had to be straight room temp for me. I think it’s good shit. Stopped drinking whiskey and just do beer. I was getting to fucked up. 1 beer..a shot…1beer..a shot. Lol
I was just going to ask which ECBP you liked best. 920 is a beast, the others aren't memorable to me. 919 is a good one too. I'm trying to get my hands on a 921. I have a theory that the 9 batches are the best.
Luckily Im in SE PA, so im very close to the NJ, DE and MD border and thats where I find 99% of my juice. Good old Ohio, the land of Weller. I have some bourbon buddies that send me all my OWA 107 from Ohio.
I got to "enjoy" the state store when I was back there for my Dad's funeral.
