Balblair Highland Single Malt Scotch: '91 and '97 Vintages Arrive in the US

On May 13th I was invited to the Edison by Balblair Single Malt Scotch to sample their new 1991 and 1997 vintage releases.

Balblair is one of the oldest distilleries in the Highland region of Scotland dating back to 1790.


The evening was festive at the Edison and with a couple of spokesman from Balblair introducing the vintage bottles and offering their time and expertise to us attendees eager to know about this interesting venture.

Balblair is doing in-house, what independent bottlers do, taking an exceptional distillate from a great year, and bottling it with care. Regular batches of scotch go into blends or are put down to rest and released by their age, like an 18 year old scotch.

Balblair is hand picking special malts at their distillery to release by vintage, and the '91 and '97 are the first to enter the US market.


Both vintages are aged in American oak and have sensuous fruity aromas and flavors. The 97 a harmonious blend of fruit that intensifies in the smoother 91, which has a more complex spice character. The Balblair scotch was a hit with the crowd of whiskey hounds including Eat, Drink, and Be, Merry, EstarLA, and Gourmet Pigs.

Balblair is a house with a tradition of excellence and is offering these hand crafted single malt scotches for the first time in the US.

Thanks to John Eccleston for the invitation, and you can read more about Balblair at their website.As for myself, I will be sitting on the balcony tonight enjoying the Balblair 91 with a fine cigar.

LA Wine Fest 2010

This weekend, June 5th and 6th, The LA Wines Fest takes place at Raleigh Studios. At the festival you will find more than 130 wineries, spirits and thirst-quenching craft beers, great food, and over 30 lifestyle vendors, this is a weekend you will not want to miss! Sample over 500 different wines from at least 14 different countries. Meet and greet with LA’s top Master Sommeliers, wine educators, winery owners and vendors, and enjoy food from LA’s top restaurants.

The LA Wine Fest will be supporting the Hollywood-Wilshire YMCA and International Children's Tumor Foundations via raffle tickets sold at the event. This is definitely Cause for toasting.

The event also features some interesting seminars including sake, bourbon, wine and cheese,and scotch.

See you there. More details can be found at the festival's website.


LA Wine Fest 2010

Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6 , 2010 from 2-7 pm
Raleigh Studios
5300 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-5111

The 7th Annual Malibu Wine Classic 2009

The biggest surprise this year at the 7th Annual Malibu Wine Classic was the strong presence of Malibu wineries, both in sum and essence. It's no longer a small band of producers like Rosenthal, the Malibu Vineyard, and Saddlerock.

Along for the ride were wineries from Santa Barbara County, and local restaurants from the neighborhood pizzeria to the posh Sunday brunch establishments, but the real story here were the wines.

Even Farah Griffin, Miss Malibu Teen USA 2010, and grandaughter of the late Merv Griffin wasn't here just for prestige. Her family produces malbec and chardonnay for Malibu's Griffin Vineyard. Could this beauty queen have a future as an oenologist?

While some buzzed about Tori Spelling sightings, I was more excited about seeing Muriel Hemingway, of Personal Best and Star 80 fame, among so many other movies and television appearances. Muriel was working the booth for Fortun Foods finishing sauces, her new career as a cookbook author and advocate for holistic living showed that the Malibu Wine Classic is about the food and wine, not Hollywood.


So, grab your glass and and a date, it's time to mix and mingle.


Although I was initially taken in by the habitation of Santa Barbara County wines, I seized on the opportunity to see what Malibu had to offer, and some of the other wineries I've bypassed on my many trips to Santa Ynez.

Summerland winery didn't disappoint. I enjoyed a fine pinot and chardonnay, the Trio, a blend of Syrah,Grenache, and Mourvedre made for a delicious rhone style wine.


The Malibu wineries have done well with natural chardonnays aged in stainless steel to bring forth crisp and fruity unoaked wines. It was a clean break from the usual California Chardonnays so reliant on malolactic fermentation. There were some nice young pinots as well.

I was able to sample Malibu wines from Drake, Griffin, the Malibu Vineyard, Malibu Sanity,Casa Dumetz, and Hoyt wineries. I was caught off guard by how nice the wines were.


Drake Vineyard, Malibu


Malibu Sanity, Malibu

Santa Barbara was well represented by notable wineries such as Alma Rosa, Consilience,Scott Cellars, Foley, the elegant sauvignon blancs of Fiddlehead, and Ken Brown.





Alma Rosa

Ken Volk from Monterrey County brought another dimension to this celebration on undiscovered California Wines.Ojai was represented by Old Creek Ranch Winery.

All wineries present made for a superb gathering. Among those counted were AJB, Anglim, Blair Fox, Brander, Bridlewood, Buttonwood, Calcareous, Cantara, Carr, Cass, Ciello, Clesi, Clos Selene, Cordon/Santa Maria Winery, Core, Curran, Demetria, Derby Wine Estates, DiBruno, Dragonette, Gioia, , Herman Story, Jaffers, Kaena, Laetitia, L'Aventure, Linne Calodo, Lone Madrone, Lucas & Lewellen, Malibu Solstice, Rancho Ventavo, Robert Hall, Rosenthal Malibu Estate, Sans Liege, Sextant, Sierra Madre, Scott Cellars, Silver, Stolpman, Strange Wines, Stafford, Sweeney Canyon, Tablas Creek, Tantarra, Tercero, Terry Hoage Vineyards, Vihuela Winery, Villa Creek, Vina Robles, Vino V Wines,and Westerly


The food took a backseat to the outstanding wines but there were plenty of eats and a few standouts.

STK made a sweet and savory short rib well suited for the event's fruity wines. And, they kept serving long after most booths had called it a day.


The kumamoto oysters at the Water Grill booth were a hit and didn't last. I scurried off to find a nice Malibu white wine to pair with this tender bite



The Sunset impressed with the Valdivia Ranch cherry tomato with prosciutto, goat cheese, and a clever shot of dressing as a chaser.

Other restaurants included Monsieur Marcel, Casa Escobar Malibu, Charlie's Malibu, Joe’s Pizza of Bleeker Street, The Four Seasons Hotel, Moonshadows, SaddlePeak Lodge, Beachcomber Cafe/Malibu Pier Club, an Spumoni.





Any event in Malibu wouldn't be complete without a babe or two.



The Malibu Wine Classic was a material event. A place to get to know the diverse wine regions of California off the beaten path, with special attention to the local Malibu wine scene.Quality wines,welcoming booths, and winemakers eager to get to know their consumers.

It's an affordable event, for a noble cause. Proceeds for the event go to Childhelp, a non-profit dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.

The Malibu Wine Classic should be on your calendar for next summer, a great way to spend a summer day with a date or friends.Meet your winemakers, chefs and enjoy the vibrant local crowd.

I'd like to thank Emily Olsen of One Group for inviting me to this fabulous event.




See you in 2010!
Malibu Wine Classic

Signatory Scotch Tasting

Cragganmore Speyside

Bunnahabhain 27 yr and a smoke

The taste

Chris Uhde of Signatory Scotch Whiskey

Last month I attended a private scotch tasting put on by Signatory Scotch Whiskey, an independent bottler of rare Single Malts that would otherwise be lost to the blenders like Johnnie Walker.Special whiskies spared the indignity of becoming mediocre conglomerates, but without these commercial blenders there would be no rare single malts, so let's hear it for the blenders!!Chris Uhde, a representative for Signatory gave us a lecture on the production of scotch from malting,mashing and fermentation,distillation, maturation,filtration, to bottling.This process is easily found on the web, but the thing I found most interesting was the dynamics of scotch production.It's 15% the barley which can be from just about anywhere, 15% the technique, and 70% comes from the barrel used.Hogshead(250 liters), sherry butt(500 liters), and American bourbon(180 liters) are the three sizes, and the use of peat,coal or gas fires during malting also imparts characteristics to the final product.It was a surprize to discover that the barley didn't have to be from Scotland, and that Scotch was more about the traditions and other factors besides terroir.The aging of the scotch is another important element where the scotch mellows and gains complexities;this ends once the scotch is bottled.

Scotch facts
Must be distilled at a Scottish distillery from water and malted barley, to which only other whole grains may be added, have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems, and fermented only by the addition of yeast,
Must be distilled to an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume so that it retains the flavour of the raw materials used in its production,
Must be matured in Scotland in oak casks for no less than three years and a day,
Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colouring, and
May not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.

The Signatory guys took us on a taste tour of Scotland through our sensory vessels.On this trip we visited:
Regional profiles

Highlands: It is difficult to generalize a profile of style because of the vast area, but highlands tend to be more full-bodied and flavored with less peat and more malt taste.

Lowlands: This area is in the south on the English Border. The style is lighter, fruitier and dryer in style.

Islay: The Islay is famous for its peaty, salty, iodine-like style.

Islands: Again, because of the vast region, it is difficult to generalize. But because of the location to the ocean, they tend to have a “salt sea air” taste that will be accented by peat depending on the distillery.


Campbletown: These few malts are slightly peated and smokier than the flavors of the Highlands.

The Scotch:
1. Littlemill lowland 16yr(86 proof)

2.Tullibardine Highland 13yr.(86 proof)
Both of these were light and smooth, and pleasurable.

3.Cragganmore unchilled filtered Speyside 10yr.(86 proof)
One of my favorites of the night with a white burgundy finish.This is going in the collection.

4.Edradour Highland 10yr.(86 proof)
This was my least favorite of the night, a mediciny nose, not unpleasant but didn't impress.

5.Glen Scotia Campleton 12yr.(86 proof)
Aged in a bourbon cask, vanilla notes, but the finish was a little weak and mediciny.

6. Highland Park unchilled filtered Orkney 13yr.(86 proof)
Had a grappas quality with mid-palate fruit.Excellent.

7. Glen Elgin Cask Strength Speyside 16yr.(119 proof)
Cask strength(no water added), concentrated sweet flavors, aged in a sherry cask.We were instructed to add water, but I liked it full strength just as well.

8. Caol Ila unchilled filtered Islay 11yr.(86 proof)
Well, I liked this one before the tasting.Caol Ila is one of my favorite scotches, aged in a hogshead cask.

9. Ballechin portwood finish limited release(86 proof)
Lots of glorious peat, and another big hit of the tasting.

10. Bunnahabhain Cask Strength Islay 27yr.(116 proof)
It was a treat to taste this expensive and powerful scotch, again didn't need water but tried it both ways.

The tasting was a success, with 9 out of 10 scotches being solid, and 4 gems.We tasted another 4 after the fact in the party spirit that ensued but I had put the pen down by then and was enjoying a fine cigar.Chris and Signatory were amazing, informative, professional, and brought some stellar spirits.

I'm pretty involved in my tequila, cachaca, and wine collecting, but will definitely look for Signatory scotch bottlings as spirits I can trust, gotta get that Cragganmore soon.

Signatory Scotch Whiskey at Total Beverage Solutions

http://www.totalbeveragesolution.com/signatory/

Tequila Expo Tijuana 2008

Tres Tonos, from Amatitan, Jalisco

Tequila con Vibora, para curar sus infermos

El Tesoro de Don Felipe

Los Chamucos,"Si Amenece, Nos Vamos!!!!"

Alma de Mujer, Adrenalina, and Cava de Oro, a great tasting at the Expo.

The Tequila Expo in Tijuana has been calling for the past couple of years and finally, I made it out.I ran through twice in between engagements these past two weekends, tasted over 35 brands, had between 50-60 tastes of platas, reposados, and anejos; drank tequila con vivora(tequila with floating dead rattle snake), chased with beers, ate foods from Oaxaca and D.F.,enthusiastically sampled Fresca, and socialized with the fine tequila industry people on La Revo in front of the Fronton Jai Alai.

First of all, the Expo has a $60.00 peso cover charge, less than $6USD, for an all you can sample bacchanalia of tequila.Surprizingly,everyone was well behaved.As you know, these days TJ is pretty quiet, so the Expo had a crowd, but it wasn't full both times I went.The event was well attended by locals, out of towners from Mexicali to Guadalajara, and some US tourists.Once inside, two tents stretching from 7th to 8th were packed with booths of single product tequila producers, and companies with a full roster of brands.There were some food and specialty beverage booths, but the majority of them were all about tequila. Some mariachis were present to evoke the other spirit of Jalisco.

The tequila region includes 5 states:Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacan,Tamaulipas, and Nayarit, with the latter being the only one that grows the agaves but doesn't make tequila.Over 95% of tequila is produced in the state of Jalisco, from agave azul grown in the region.Mezcal is made using other agaves in a stubbornly more traditional process in Oaxaca, Michoacan, and Guerrero.The only offering here for this elegant spirit at the Expo was the stomach turning tourist hallucinagenic, Gusano Rojo.Other agave plant spirits in Mexico include Bacanora from Sonora,Sotol from Chihuahua,Agave Azul from Sinaloa(used to be tequila until the DOM was established excluding Sinaloa), and the moonshine Raicilla, recently bottled and sold legitimately, also made in Jalisco among other places.

This year's Expo was exciting to see and know some new brands and talk to the representatives of my favorite producers, and to learn a thing or two about my favorite pastime.I'm up to about 50 bottles in my collection.Most were eager to talk and share information about their tequilas, and the prices were right.Wholesale prices are across the board at the Expo.So, come with a wad of cash and a smuggler's compartment in your car.

These are almost all the tequila brands I tasted in the two days and the city and state in which the agaves grow.Anejos(1 year of more in roble blanco-white oak), Reposados(3mos. to under a year in roble blaco), Platas(silver) and Blancos(white), no Oros(gold) or jovens(young) were tasted, or around as far as I could tell.

Amatitan,Jal.

Oro y Plata

Tierra Azul

Tres Mujeres

Tres Tonos

Atotonilco El Alto,Jal.

Caballito Cerrero
Chamuco
Don Anastacio

Lapis

Arandas,Jal.

El Tesoro
El Arenal,Jal.

Adrenalina

Alma de Mujer

Cava de Oro

Don Valente

Volcan de Mi Tierra

Guadalajara,Jal.

Caballito Cerrero

Don Anselmo

Guanajuato
Corralejo(Cd. Abasolo)

Quita Penas(Cd. Abasolo)Crema de tequila

Jalisco
El Agave(select agaves from the highlands of Jalisco)

Jesus Maria,Jal.

AhaToro

Clase Azul

Los Altos,Jal.

Oro Azul

Tamaulipas
Chinaco(Cd. Gonzalez)

Tequila,Jal.

Arette

Gran Jubileo

Honorable

Oro Azul

Pura Sangre
Zapotlanejo,Jal.

Con Orgullo

No Information

Molino Rojo

Territorio Azul(organic)

Non-Tequila
Sinaloa

Los Osuna 100%Agave Azul

The outstanding tequilas were Tres Tonos anejo and reposado,Don Anastacio anejo,Arette anejo, blanco and reposado,El Agave anejo and reposado,Corralejo anejo,Clase Azul anejo and reposado, AhaToro anejo and reposado,Cava de Oro anejo,Gran Jubileo anejo, and Alma de Mujer anejo in the high end category.

Other high end tequilas that were enjoyable but didn't excite were the Oro Azul anejo,Tres Mujeres anejo, Lapis anejo,and Chinaco anejo.These are tequilas that I like, but for the price there are many better.I would probably get the Chinaco just to have something from the state of Tamaulipas in my collection.

In the mid-range priced tequilas: Volcan de mi Tierra(Mex. only) knocked me out(bought a bottle),Adrenalina reposado,San Anselmo(Mex. only) anejo and reposado,Pura Sangre and the plain bottle of Tres Mujeres anejo.Without the fancy bottle, this tequila is affordable and a little more interesting in its new price range.Los Osuna's agave azul from the state of Sinaloa was already in my collection, but it was nice to see how well it stood up to the big names.I recommend Los Osuna, highly.

Interesting low end tequilas: the Caballito Cerrero reposado is good to drink straight, and affordable enough to use for palomas, margaritas, and other cocktails.

Tequilas gone bad, yuck! La Duena reposado was unpleasant and harsh for such a fine looking bottle,I couldn't finish the Real de Mexico reposado or the Oro y Plata reposado, they were Cuervo Gold quality.

Best slogan:Los Chamucos(The devils), a good tequila in its own right has flying devils on the label with the phrase,"Si Amanece, Nos Vamos" translation"If the sun come up, we're outta here!"

Best new distillery(new to me):LETICIA HERMOSILLO RAVELERO, with Alma de Mujer, Adrenalina, and Cava de Oro.All these tequilas were great with attractive bottles and the substance to back them up.The Adrenalina is a real Mexican style with sweet flavor and just enough burn to remind you what you're dealing with.The more smooth Alma de Mujer had orange peel flavors and makes a sippin' tequila for the US market, but also for the sofisticados of Mexico.

Most different tequila:Territorio Azul is an all organic tequila that has an interesting flavor that set it apart from everything else I tasted.Could it be the way tequila used to taste before modernization?I want to drink this a few more times to understand it better, but I'm very intrigued.

Best of the day:The first day, Tres Tonos anejo which came home with me, and the second Saturday my friend and I agreed on Don Anastacio, both with dark, nutty, and varied flavors bouncing on the tongue.The flavors held through the finish on both.

If you haven't tried tequila con vivora(dead rattler), you are missing a thrill.A powerful blend of cheap tequilas with heat and a leathery taste that will push you over the edge if you aren't there already.

Hottest booth:Fresca, with their cool refreshing grapefruit soft drink, and muchas curvas to make you thirsty.

Best apertif:Quita Pena's crema de tequilas is amazing, great for your girlfriend or wife who doesn't like tequila.Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.

It has been a great year in tequila for me, but this brought it to new heights.My favorites of the year are the AhaToro anejo for my go to sipper, Esperanto for a beautiful bottle and a serious tequila to fill it, and Bracero, the $25 anejo that will amaze.I'm also enjoying 300 Anos reposado Bacanora from Sonora with its Mezcal like notes.Don Eduardo anejo is drinking well for me lately, and is very easy to replace.Haven't found a silver to out shine my Tapatio blanco, though.In general, the tequilas of the highlands of Jalisco, especially Arandas are consistentlythe best.

All I can say is, where were all of you?Did anyone else go?KR, stopped by for a minute but couldn't stick around.The food was great, the mariachis, and the tequilas,Uf!I've been crossing the border every other week practically and am happy to say that the scariest thing I encountered was the Oro y Plata tasting, for those with apprehension over recent news.Walking across has been pretty speedy I might add.

See you next October