BourbonBlog.com drinks at Char No. 4 in Brooklyn, New York on this video episode. This whiskey bar and restaurant features over 150 American whiskeys, including rare finds like Maker’s Mark Black and Blanton’s Japanese Exports. BourbonBlog.com interviews Brad Danler Char. No. 4 General Manager.

Popularity: 1% [?]

photo from Bourbon Chase 2009 by Erin Cutler, The Bourbon Review Magazine

The Bourbon Chase Race Organizer Mike Kuntz tells BourbonBlog.com today that the 2010 race is sold out, nearly eight months prior to the event. The total number of registered teams for 2010 is 200, a 33 percent increase from the number of teams that participated in the inaugural race in 2009.

The 2010 Bourbon Chase will take place October 22-23, 2010 with teams of relay runners covering 200 miles of scenic byways featuring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the world-renowned Bluegrass horse country. The 2010 Bourbon Chase will again conclude with the finish line and a festive party in the heart of downtown Lexington at Triangle Park.

Despite rainy conditions, the 2009 Bourbon Chase Relay was a major hit with the participating teams. “For the inaugural year, we set a goal to register 150 teams and were excited when we hit that mark several months before the race”, Mike Kuntz tells BourbonBlog.com. “Nearly all of the 2009 teams are returning and there has been a lot of excitement and buzz surrounding the 2010 Bourbon Chase Relay.”

photo from Bourbon Chase 2009 by Erin Cutler, The Bourbon Review Magazine

“The organizing committee is striving to make the Bourbon Chase Relay the best overnight relay in the country, not necessarily the biggest,” Kuntz tells BourbonBlog.com. “We decided to open the race up to an additional 50 teams for the 2010 Bourbon Chase. It’s hard to believe we’re already sold out this early in the year, but we have capped our registration at 200 teams as we want to make sure we take great care of our runners.”

The 2009 teams featured runners from 40 states and two countries. The 2010 Bourbon Chase Relay has attracted teams from across the United States and Canada.

“We were thrilled with the success of the 2009 Bourbon Chase Relay and spoke with many people who were visiting Lexington for the first time last fall. Participants were very impressed with the scenic beauty of the Bluegrass and the hospitality of the Region” said David Lord, President of the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We are delighted to bring the Bourbon Chase Relay back in to downtown Lexington for the Finish Line Celebration and look forward to working with the organizing committee to ensure a great race for 2010!”

For more information about the 2010 Bourbon Chase Relay visit www.bourbonchase.com
For more information about Lexington’s Bluegrass Region visit www.visitlex.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Brandy Library in New York has over 1,600 spirits including Bourbon whiskey, Scotch, and whiskey from all over the world that literally become books on the wall in this library. Join  BourbonBlog.com as we tour Brandy Library’s elegant ambience with an untouchable selection of rare whiskeys as we interview Beverage Director Ethan Kelley in the video episode on this link and below.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Four Roses Bourbon tells BourbonBlog.com that another barrel strength single barrel Bourbon will be added to the collection of Four Roses limited edition releases. This one is a 17-year-old single barrel that will commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the opening of the distillery building in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

BourbonBlog.com gives you the first review of the Four Roses 100th Anniversary Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon on this link.

This 17-year-old rare Bourbon has been selected from the OBSV recipe – which is the same as Four Roses regular Single Barrel – but different because of the extra age. OBSV is one of Four Roses’ 10 Bourbon Recipe.

“We rarely let any of our Bourbon get this old, but we’ve held onto these barrels because they were maturing so slowly,” Master Distiller Jim Rutledge tells BourbonBlog.com.

The Four Roses 100th Anniversary Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon will be released early this coming April 2010 just in time for the Kentucky Derby. Bottled at barrel strength and non-chill filtered, the distillery will produce only about 2,300 bottles to be distributed nationally.

“Every year our goal is to select the most special recipe aged to perfection,” Rutledge tells BourbonBlog.com. “A milestone anniversary deserves a milestone bourbon and we believe this release is one-of-a kind.”

The Four Roses Distillery, on the banks of the scenic Salt River, is a special find on the Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Trail route. The facility was built in 1910 and features a unique Spanish Mission-Style architecture rarely seen in Kentucky.

A gold etching of the distillery building is featured on the back of the limited edition bottle, adding to its appeal for the Bourbon enthusiast or collector.

In addition to this celebratory Bourbon, Four Roses is also seeking the oldest living person to have worked at its Lawrenceburg distillery. Once found, later this year, the individual will receive the No. 1 bottle of the limited edition Bourbon released autographed by Rutledge as a collector’s item.

“Over the years, we have seen so many team members who are so committed and dedicated to our bourbon,” Rutledge explains to BourbonBlog.com. “The Four Roses Distillery could not have reached this level of success without a dedicated, loyal and hard working staff. I applaud our entire team, and look forward to the future of Four Roses Bourbon.”

Popularity: 8% [?]

Stephen Dennison is a Chef/Mixologist, Beverage Consultant and a regular contributor to BourbonBlog.com

Like writing a short story, a cocktail tells a tale just 30 seconds long and takes the reader on a mental journey. Whereas a good book communicates the information through the sense of sight, the libation does so through the sense of taste. When designing a new cocktail, one should heed some of the same rules that apply to the literary realm, most notably the purpose of the work. We have fallen into the assumption that all cocktails are to be placed onto a drink list, given a catchy name and served over a bar with hopes that some bartender on the other side of the world will have heard of our work and be able to replicate it when approached. This shouldn’t be the case, as I hope to show there are many situations that can call for a wide variety of expressions from a creative point-of-view.

To begin, the target audience must be considered. Are you speaking to the Cosmopolitan/ Lemon-drop, or the Sazerac drinker? Adventurous or conservative? Young or old? What are their perceived expectations with regards to time of preparation? Would they enjoy the show inevitably associated with some crafted cocktails, or do they shun such flashy presentations? Considering these topics will allow you to give the individual exactly what they are looking for in the experience and will replace these minor criticisms with praise, because you will have given exactly the experience they desire.

Next, the question of perspective: The author must speak with 1st, 2nd or 3rd, yet the bartender must choose a voice that is classic, modern or a hybrid of both. This is a very subjective expression that is amorphous and truly is a place where the individual’s own aesthetic should shine through. For me to list examples would only press upon you, the reader my own personal opinion and I feel this would defeat the very purpose of my words here, so leaving this open-ended seems to be apropos.

An important and commonly overlooked aspect is format. The writer must consider whether they are writing a short-story or novel. The bartender must consider their own time of preparation, with the distinction that they must do this at various levels of repetition. Is this work to be placed on a cocktail list, to be reproduced by other bartenders? Is it an event-specific offering to be served at a wedding or festival? A contest drink to be produced 5 times? Easy to be reproduced by the nonprofessional- at home, as in a cocktail-class setting? A thing of humor and perhaps an example of a new technique found? I cannot stress enough the importance of this consideration, as I see the cocktail culture deepening and widening for quite sometime and feel that these various formats will continue to present themselves in unexpected and ever-changing ways…

Finally, the actual purpose of the writing: are you informing, entertaining or persuading?

Informational: These are the drinks designed to introduce the already inclined, to a deeper level of understanding. Bio-nutritive, organic, super-premium or exotic/emerging brand cocktails are amongst the types of cocktails that fit this mold. I feel the food-friendly offering is the most oft-overlooked style of drink in this class. You are essentially taking what they know and love to a new level and enhancing their understanding of what is possible in the grand and beautiful world of cocktails.

Entertaining: These drinks are designed, in both execution and user experience to, well, entertain. Bizarre flavor combinations, exotic textures, unusual garnishes and novel bartender flare fall into this category. These should always be applied with great consideration and a light touch, as they tend to have a love/hate relationship with the general public. Yet, like Michael Jackson, they invoke such a passionate response, they certainly deserve respect for their artistry and aplomb. Besides, they are a lot of fun for all involved and tend to become the life of the party.

Persuading: These are the drinks designed to introduce the uninitiated to new possibilities that they may or may not enjoy. Until now, we have dubbed this ‘guest-education’ and I suppose that is an apt term as well, yet I do feel this distinction must be made. With these drinks, we attempt to persuade a person into a flavor profile they hereto haven’t enjoyed, usually by the gentle application of a particular flavor profile. We hope to cajole the Riesling drinker into Pinot Grigio, so to speak. Spirits we normally use in a primary flavor profile are pushed to a secondary or tertiary role, in hopes they will develop an appreciation. The gin gimlet becomes a Singapore Sling. We can also restrict the flavors through the use of dampeners, like egg-white, as in the Ramos Gin Fizz. It is a great technique, with the largest chance of winning our audience over and serving the shared goal of creating more and more cocktail enthusiasts.

With luck I have informed, persuaded and entertained you with my thoughts on this subject. I hope my viewpoint has sparked within you, some new ideas that will emerge and come back to me and influence my own perspective. I truly feel this is what it is all about- the free, unadulterated exchange of information becoming the seed sowed, flowering on the field of the zeitgeist. Until that time… cheers!

Stephen Dennison is a Chef/Mixologist, Beverage Consultant and a regular contributor to BourbonBlog.com .

Popularity: 11% [?]

Kenny Callaghan invites BourbonBlog.com to Blue Smoke BBQ and Jazz Standard in NYC, one of a the tastiest barbecue restaurants expressing Americana in the City and possibly in the country. Watch BourbonBlog.com’s Blue Smoke video episode on this link and below as taste their homemade everything, Bourbon selection, ambience and every drop of the sauce along with us.

For more on Bourbon bars across the country, visit BourbonBlog.com.

Special thanks to Kenny Callaghan, Chris Mills, Theresa Mullen, and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group.

Popularity: 7% [?]

University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Calipari will appear on a limited edition Maker’s Mark bottle expected to be available beginning April 2. Marker’s Mark, the University of Kentucky and Keeneland unveiled a limited-edition bottle of the world-famous bourbon this afternoon presenting the bottle as seen pictured to to left.

Marker’s Mark tells BourbonBlog.com they plan to produce 24,000 bottles bearing Calipari’s face on the blue dipped bottle. They will likely sell for about $49 each, and Maker’s Mark will donate proceeds from the sales — estimated to be about $300,000 to an extension program that is bringing the UK Symphony Orchestra and students from the UK School of Music into public schools and communities throughout Kentucky.

Maker’s Mark President Bill Samuels Jr. tells BourbonBlog.com, “John Calipari brings so much excitement to Kentucky and he deserves to be honored for the phenomenal results he achieved with the men’s basketball program in such a short period of time.”

In his first season at UK, Calipari has coached the Wildcats to their 2,000th win and their first No. 1 ranking since 2003.

Since 1997, Maker’s Mark has released a limited-edition bottle, with proceeds benefiting various UK projects. This will be 2010 edition of the Maker’s Mark “Most Beloved” series,

This is the second year that proceeds will support the UK Symphony Orchestra and the School of Music’s outreach program to visit third- and fourth-graders across the state.

Maker’s Mark made a three-year commitment to the music outreach program. If all the 2010 bottles sell, they will probably raise about $300,000, Bill Samuels Jr. tells BourbonBlog.com. He hopes to find matching grants that could raise $1.5 million to $2 million over the three years for the outreach program.

The Maker’s Mark funds will go to establish an endowment fund to guarantee the future of the program.

There is a bottle signing is scheduled for April 9, 2010,  the day of the Maker’s Mark Mile. It will be held trackside at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky with Calipari, Bill Samuels Jr. and Keeneland President and Chief Executive Nick Nicholson in attendance.

Popularity: 74% [?]