Moreover, I just spoke about the value of blogs in helping to promote bars at Tales of the Cocktail this year; so I definitely need to put my keyboard where my mouth is. After recommending to so many people the value of blogging while standing alongside the likes of Paul Clarke, it would be a dreadful shame to not devote more time to engaging people through blogging about cocktails. Additionally, if you pick up the most recent issue of Nightclub and Bar Magazine (or check it out online here), you can read about how Anvil Bar & Refuge’s existence occurred predominantly because I chose to start this blog over three years ago. So, in short, I am a blogger again and that is not going to change. Learning the differences between bar-owner, bar-manager, and bar-tender since Anvil’s opening has my mind spinning; so be ready – I’ve got lots to discuss.

In time I will get to these topics, but I thought I would start by giving an update about what’s going on in Houston. Drink Dogma has always been inspired by the work that I do as a professional bartender, and I think it is important to this blog to update what I am working on currently so that it provides a context for further discussions. So, read on if you’re interested; otherwise stay tuned. I’ve got a jigger rant coming soon…

ANVIL BAR & REFUGE

Anvil Bar & Refuge has been opened for over six months now, and things are going extremely well. The global cocktail community, local food and cocktail enthusiasts, and our friends and regulars have been so overwhelmingly supportive that it nearly makes me blush at the thought – and to be clear about how much this means to me, I’ve never blushed in my entire life - never. Most recently we’ve received several recent local recognitions from the Houston Press’ Best Of Houston Issue and My Table Magazine awarded based on public votes. I would like to thank everyone who voted for our bar and showed overwhelming support for us among all the wonderful bars in Houston. To be singled out repeatedly and recognized by so many is extremely encouraging and the driving force behind our success.

I have created an Events and News page tabbed at the top of this blog for those interested in keeping up with promotional activities and developments at Anvil. Be sure to check it out and read about the additional of cask beer, our upcoming Halloween Tiki party, “The List” of 100 classics we think everyone should try at least once before they die, our seasonal menus, and other developments.

OTHER COCKTAIL PROJECTS

In addition to the cocktail action at Anvil, I have taken on consulting projects with Voice, one of Houston’s best restaurants located in Hotel Icon in downtown. Voice’s new cocktail menu will debut soon, and I will be shaking drinks at a cocktail dinner next Wednesday, October 28^th at 7:00. You can still get tickets by calling Voice and making a reservation for the five course dinner with cocktails, which at $75.00 a person is a steal. The Voice cocktail menu will emphasize classics and provide an option for the downtown worker that desires a well-crafted simple drink after a day’s business.

I am also working on the cocktail menu for the new Heights restaurant Stella Sola. Stella Sola is a dynamite collaboration between Brian Caswell and Bill Floyd of Reef and Little Bigs in Houston and Jason Gould, formerly of Gravitas. Stella Sola is a blend of Texas culture and ingredients inspired by Northern Italian culinary perspectives. Constructing a menu around this combination of Texan and Italian flavors has been one of the most enjoyable cocktail projects I have undertaken because of my Texan roots and adoration for Italian cocktails and ingredients. Look for Stella Sola to open soon with amazing food from some of Houston best food minds and what I think will be a great cocktail menu.

Others restaurants in Houston have expressed an interest in improving their cocktail programs and reconciling their fresh approaches to food with their cocktails. So, in short, Voice and Stella Sola are just the beginning. Houston is changing, and I am going to make sure that fresh ingredients and well-made drinks are a common element of the Houston restaurant and bar scene.

TRAVEL AND OTHER BARS

In other new, I recently traveled to New York briefly and visited some of the world’s great cocktail bars. I plan to visit Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco soon as well. But, I am most excited about my upcoming trip to South Africa in late January and earl February. I will be blogging about all of my traveling and searches for great cocktails and bars as they occur.

Anyway, for those of you who read this post, thanks for not deleting me from your readers or for following me on Twitter and clicking the link over to this post from my feed. It feels good to be back.

The thought behind Anvil was to build a bar that no matter what kind of drinker you were you could find something to satisfy your thirst. While cocktails are what we are best known for, we sought out interesting wines and beers for the causal drinker and the enthusiast alike. The motivation behind our draft program is the pour some of the best beers you can buy in the city of and have them taste as close to brewery fresh as possible.

Bottled beer is easy, it’s bottled at the brewery at the proper pressure with the proper mix of gas, and, as long and the beer is handled with care during its journey from the brewery to the bar, all we have to do is open it and pour it into the proper glass. Draft is not the same story; there are a multitude of factors that influence the taste of a beer poured on daft. Beside the issues of handling during shipping, once the keg arrives in the bar, the most important factors we must consider are gas pressure, gas mix, keg rotation, length of draw, cleanliness of the lines and service procedures.

Gas pressure is an issue that many bars often overlook. Depending on the style of beer, the length of the draw, the temperature of the cooler, and the original keg pressure, the pressure a beer should be served will vary greatly. If the pressure is too low, the beer will pour slow and flat; if the pressure is to high, the beer will pour to fast and foamy. To give us the greatest amount of control at Anvil, we installed an individual regulator on every tap. The common practice is to run a regulator on a set of lines anywhere from 1 to 100. The problem with this method is that you have multiple beers running at the same pressure and no two beers run exactly the same. Even if you pour the same beer on the same line over and over again, opening cooler doors, brewery shifts, and shipping always create different circumstances for each keg. So, if you want to pour the best possible product, you must be able to change pressure depending on each specific brew. Our system allows us to adjust the pressure on every tap each time we change the beer or as needed, ensuring the best possible pour every time.

Gas mix is something that I had not given much thought to until recently. When we talk about gas in beer we are talking about Nitrogen, CO2 or a blend of the two. Most beers are carbonated at the brewery with 2 volumes or 3.9grams/liter of CO2. The volume of CO2 in the keg has a lot to do with how carbonated the beer is. In an ideal world, you would run a gas mix and pressure that is the same as factory original, giving you a more brewery true taste. But because of the length of some draft lines, you have to increase the pressure of the CO2 in order to push the beer, leading to over carbonation of the beer. The solution to the problem is blending in a high pressure, neutral gas to push the beer without over-carbonation. This is where Nitrogen comes into the picture. Nitrogen is not easily absorbed by beer and is less likely to change the taste of your favorite brew. As you increase the length of the draw, you increase the pressure and the amount of nitrogen in the mix. In order to custom blend the gas, you need a gas blender which allows you to mix CO2 with nitro as desired. Blenders are expensive. Most bars go with a pre blended gas known as beer gas. Beer gas is 70%-75% CO2 and 25%-30% nitrogen. The biggest problem with beer gas is that it might not be exactly the right blend for your draft system leading to flat or over carbonated beer. At Anvil we have a two zone blender that allows us to blend our gas mix to our needs; add the individual regulators and we have a complete the system helping to make a nearly perfect beer possible. One zone on our blender will be running a 70% nitrogen and 30% CO2 blend. This high nitrogen mix will push our big ales like stouts and big porters. The gas a bar uses to push beer from the keg is one the most import and least thought about aspects of the draft beer system. The purity of the gas that is used is very important because it will come into direct contact with the beer. You want to always use clean, dry gas, but sometimes, you might get a cylinder of gas that has been contaminated with back flow or something else. To avoid this, we have put in-line filters on the gas lines to keep the gas going to keep the beer as fresh and clean as possible.

When we talk about the length of a keg draw we are referring to the length the beer has to travel from the keg to the faucet. Long draw systems involve moving beer from a distant cooler (likely somewhere in the back of the building) to the tap (likely in the bar area). Long draw systems are very expensive, hard to maintain and unless you know exactly how to handle the gas mix and cooling system always lead to flat or over carbonated beer. Direct draw systems or short draw are used when the walk-in shares a wall with the bar, and, as a result, are the preferred approach to designing a beer system. The biggest advantage is that most of the beer lines are in the cooler so they are the same temperature as the keg, negating the necessity for costly and often unreliable line cooling equipment. Additionally, you have less line length and less beer sitting in the line this makes cleaning far easier. At Anvil we run a short draw. The tap wall is directly in front of our walk-in cooler, so there are no exposed lines, except for the shanks that run from the taps to the cooler, which are extremely well-insulated. This makes for the perfect line setup for serving the best beer possible.

You can have the best pressure, gas mix and draw length but all of this is for not if you don’t keep your lines clean. Most bars leave the line cleaning up to the distributor and don’t worry about doing it themselves. At Anvil, we have a great draft tech that works for one of the city’s larger disruptors but because we are changing beers so often we are going to clean our own lines as well. Line cleaning is pretty strait forward; using a special keg like object called a cleanout can you run a special chemical threw the lines to push all the old beer out. While beer is delicious beer is also a breeding ground for all kinds of un-tasty micro organisms. Often times, if you have ever had a poor tasting beer on draft, the cleanliness of the lines has a lot to do with it.

While although it might have taken longer than we thought draft beer is now flowing at Anvil. We have a unique approach to choosing beers that focuses entirely on the best beers we can get our hands on with a preference for local micro-brews and interesting beers you don’t usually see offered outside of the bottle. We never put the same beer on two times in a row, so when we change a keg, we change the beer. This guarantees that our selection will always offer something interesting, seasonal, and just down right cool. Here is a list of the beers that we will be offering over the next week or so, depending on how quickly you get out here and drink them.

Tap 1: Real Ale Devil’s Backbone
Tap 2: Lagunitas Shutdown
Tap 3: Victory Prima Pils
Tap 4: Dogfish Head 120 Minute
Tap 5: Oscar Blues Dales Pale
Tap 6: Real Ale Brewhouse Brown
Tap 7: Green Flash West Coast IPA
Tap 8: Victory Golden Monkey
Tap 9: Stone Smoked Porter
Tap 10: Dogfish Head Midas Touch
Tap 11: Real Ale Fireman’s #4
Tap 12: North Coast Old Rasputin

We hope that this list will inspire to you to think of Anvil as a great place beer as well as cocktails. We take as much care and time in tending to our beers as we do making a classic martini. We think that you will be able to taste the difference in the beers flowing out of our tap system. Great cocktails are a combination of lots of small little factors combining to form a unique taste experience; beer is no different. Have a North Coast Old Rasputin on high nitrogen at Anvil, and you’ll see what all this rambling was all about.

The word cask means container or vessel. It comes from the Spanish word for tree bark. Wood casks have been an important part of brewing for hundreds of years. In fact, the stainless steel kegs we think of when we think of draft beer were first introduced to the market in the 1970’s. Cask beers AKA real ales are unpasteurized, unfiltered beers, usually ales, which are poured from a cask without the help of nitrogen or CO2. Cask conditioning is the oldest means of beer preservation. In the simplest terms, cask beer is beer that has had a bunch of whole leaf hops add directly to the cask after the brewing process is complete. The hops aid preservation and add flavor. The brew is not force carbonated so it comes from the cask flatter and creamier then a normal draft beer. Almost any beer can be casked, so it is exciting to think of the untapped potential for this approach to brewing. Currently, casked ale is very common in Europe and is gaining in popularity as the micro beer movement is continuing to surge forward. Cask conditioned beers are also great for limited cellaring. I am looking forward to picking up some more Real Ale seasonal cask and keeping them for aging and special off-season tapping. I am already cellaring a few kegs right now; “Which ones?!” you ask. Sorry you’ll just have to wait and see.

You can get beer out of a cask two ways, an engine or a gravity tap. The simplest way is to use the gravity tap method – place the cask on the bar, use a hammer to drive in the tap, open the bung hole and pour away. You can’t really get any simpler than this. By slightly lifting the back of the cask, our old friend gravity helps push the beer out. The only problem with this method is that you have to drink the whole cask in one day because you are not refrigerating it. While it is true that the hops will help preserve the beer once it is tapped it is now open to outside air which is full of airborne anti-beer demons. Moreover, the light natural carbonation was in the beer will be lost within the first day. Because we don’t have a beer engine at Anvil, we gravity tap our cask beers, but we only bring them in for special events so that we know we will move through it – until we go ahead and opt for that new cask engine.

If you want to have cask on all the time you need to put in a refrigerated cask engine. The engine uses a pumping handle to draw the beer from the cask as opposed to forced air such as CO2 or nitrogen. The advantage of the engine is that you can set up a remote system where the cask is kept cold and the beer is drawn out to the bar. When we get around to selling cask beer full time at Anvil, we will set it up so that the cask lives in the cooler and the engine is mounted on the back bar.

In celebration of draft beer’s arrival at Anvil, American Craft Beer Week and all the support Real Ale Brewing has given us we will be gravity tapping a cask of Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye on Friday May 15^th at 5pm. There is only about 120 pints in a cask so supplies are limited so be here early. If you have never had a cask ale before this is great chance to try one out. We will be selling the Real Ale Cask for a special price of $4.00 a pint. While we will always be your spot for great cocktails, we hope you will stop by to see the city’s most quality focused tap system at work and check our new draft system as well as the Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye Cask.

We have also added a video feature to the blog for your entertainment (look to your right) called Great Spirit Commercials. Check back to watch the hilarity which is the spirit commercial. There are some good ones out there to my surprise, and I feel I just have to share them. We will do some classics, black and whites, and modern commercials; so you’ll never know what’s coming your way. Just watch the commercial from this week, and you will be hooked.

Amid, all of these developments, I thought it would be appropriate to profile each of the existing Texas micro-distilleries and preview those on the way. The Texas micro-distillery market is still young, and for it to survive and resemble anything like what can be found in California and Oregon, cocktail fanatics in Texas need to support these brands. So please, become familiar with the producers and consider them a viable, and often preferable, option to other global and national brands.

Paula’s Texas Spirits
Established: 2003
Founders: Paula Angerstein
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: I want everyone to be aware of Texas spirits, but more than any other, I wish more people would buy Paula’s Texas Orange and Paula’s Texas Lemon. There may be no other more tediously crafted spirit made in Texas; they actually hand zest every single orange and lemon used in the production of this spirit. Recently, I had the opportunity to try the new and improved Paula’s which is charcoal filtered, and it is incredible. If you are making your margaritas or any other cocktail without Paula’s, you’re missing out on what is clearly the freshest and most vibrant orange liqueur on the market.

The Margarita
1.5 oz Tequila
.75 oz Lime Juice
.5 oz Paula’s Texas Orange Liqueur

That’s it; don’t add anything else. No margarita mixes, no simple syrup, just booze and lime juice (which comes from limes, not bottles with the brand Rose’s on it). Shake them all with ice and strain into a cocktail glass or on rocks if you prefer. Salt the rim if you feel the need. And for the love of God, please don’t put it into a machine or blend it.

Tito’s Vodka
Established: 1997
Founder: Tito Beveridge
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: Tito’s is the most well-known Texas spirit. Tito’s helped to launch the national micro-distillery movement, and it has since become a nationally recognized brand.

Savvy Vodka
Established: 2007
Founder: Chad Auler
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: Chad Auler, who may also be known to some through Fall Creek Vineyards, started this Texas vodka.

Dripping Springs Vodka
Established: 2007
Founder: Kevin Kelleher
Location: Dripping Springs, TX
Profile: Dripping Springs just refuses to quit fighting after two fires and flood. Dripping Springs is located just outside of Austin – there must be some sort of vodka-making disease going through that area.

Railean Rum
Established: 2007
Founder: Kelly Railean
Location: San Leon, TX
Profile: Instead of buying a one time distilled spirit, like most micro-distillers, these folks actually ferment their molasses on site just outside of Galveston. Additionally, they were the first to release an aged spirit with their Railean XO Rum in addition to their white rum. Here is my winning recipe from the Tipsy Texan Drink Local Cocktail Contest which features Railean XO Rum and Paula’s Texas Orange:

False Dichotomy
2 oz Railean XO Rum
1 oz Lemon Juice
.75 oz Honey-Lavender Syrup
1 Egg White 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake all ingredients except the bitters with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Mist the angostura bitters on top and garnish with a lemon twist.

Treaty Oak Rum
Established: 2007
Founders: Bruce Graham & Daniel Barnes
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: Treaty Oak is named after a 500 years old Live Oak that is at the center of countless stories and legends in Austin. Treaty Oak is also house-fermented and is made from Texas molasses. Currently, Treaty Oak is only available as a white rum, but I hope to see an aged version in the future. Treaty Oak, with Railean, has definitely raised the standard for spirit production in Texas.

Texas Gin
Established: Under Construction
Founders: John Manicom
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: I talked to John recently by phone, and he told me he was getting closer to launching Texas Gin everyday. He mentioned using Texas juniper and other herbs in the process – sounds very Texan.

Temptryst Rum
Established: Under Construction
Founders: John Manicom
Location: Austin, TX
Profile: Temptryst Rum was all the rage at Tales last year when a few samples were made available during rum competitions and gained widespread notoriety. The rum is pressure aged with various woods, which creates a unique spirit. I’ve yet to try any myself, but those I trust love the stuff. The mesquite aged rum sounds amazing. I sent Temptryst an e-mail recently; they are still trying to get started and hope to release the rum soon.

Garrison Brothers Distillery
Established: 2008
Founders: Dan Garrison
Location: Hye, TX
Profile: Garrison Brothers has barreled over 100 barrels of bourbon, and they plan to let each age the necessary amount of time until it matures. The wheated bourbon is mashed on site and uses Texas Panhandle corn. I spoke with Dan Garrison at the Edible Austin Drink Contest, and he said that he hopes the bourbon will be available in 2011 but is willing to wait until it is ready. He also mentioned that he would like to launch a Texas Rye in the future too called Hye Rye.

Balcones Distillery
Established: Under Construction
Founders: Chip Tate
Location: Waco, TX
Profile: I haven’t talked to Chip and can’t find a website, but I have heard that he plans to use peated malt to create a distinct Texas whiskey. They also plan to make Rumble, which is a rum-based liqueur flavored with mission figs, Texas wildflower honey, and turbinado sugar. Sounds awesome!

Well, there you have it – the booming Texas micro-distillery industry. I really enjoy these spirits, and I hope that you will give them all a try and support our local producers. I am excited about the growth of this market, but more than anything, I am thrilled to have met most of the folks behind these brands. I must say they are some of the most genuine people I know making spirits. But, I guess you already knew that – they are from Texas after all.

Anvil has everything I envisioned my bar having one day - a ridiculously large selection of awesome booze, perfect Kold-Draft ice, an amazing staff of cocktail dorks, incredible regulars, and a great group partners. Getting to this point, however, was a long, often frustrating journey, which seemed to question one’s perseverance each day. Nevertheless, the end result is a bar that was built, designed, executed, and bartended by the same core group of individuals. This place is an expression of who we are and a passion for making cocktails and sharing our evenings with a group of friends, some familiar and some new, every night.

Over the next few weeks, I would like to share Anvil with you. It has become such a big part of my life, that chronicling it one post just wouldn’t seem right. Drink Dogma started as an online journal of sorts centered on my ongoing investigation of cocktails and bartending. Today, this blog has literally birthed a bar. Everyone I know connected with Anvil I met somehow through this site. Anvil also has a website here, but we love interacting with people through this site.  Drink Dogma will always be a cocktail blog, but now it seems that at least for a while, it will be presented from the perspective of those of us behind the bar at Anvil.

I thought I would begin where Anvil began - the remodel. Anvil is housed in one Houston’s most well-known bar locations on what is Houston’s most famous and cultured street. Originally built in 1959 as a Bridgestone-Firestone store, 1424 Westheimer Rd. was transformed into the Daiquiri Factory in 1980 and into Sliders years later. We knew the bar would need a completely new face to overcome the image that the bar had garnered with three decades of machine made cocktails, and so we set out to recreate the space. We gutted everything – electrical, plumbing, drywall, whole rooms – everything. The only aspects of the remodel that we didn’t do ourselves was some of the plumbing, moving an electrical box, some metal work, and glass fabrication. Everything else we did over a 7 month renovation, plagued by a hurricane, persistent city permitting issues, and countless other derailments.

BEFORE

Anvil’s interior was designed by those of us who built it. We really didn’t know what we wanted Anvil to look like when we finished, but we tried to tackle one task at a time. Designers have that unique ability to envision the completed project before it finishes. We just saw a to-do list. As we continued, we attempted to incorporate elements into the space that reflected a forgotten era when cocktails were crafted slowly with care and attention to each detail. In doing so, we found ourselves persistently integrating design elements that reflected this theme.

AFTER

Our bar foot rail is a piece of old railroad track that previously ran through Houston. Vintage cocktail glasses scoured from Montrose thrift shops in the neighborhood shine again with fresh cocktails. The bar top is made from weathered steel; the shelving, abandoned outside for years, is from a piano store Kevin and I worked at when we were kids. Our bathroom and kitchen doors are old walk-in cooler doors from old small-town Texas butcher shops. The walls, covered since the building was built in 1959 are now exposed, showcasing the brick used in buildings of that era in Houston. We built the tables out of wood flooring. The lamps and sconces were crafted by Justin and his wife Brandy out of old chardonnay stomping binds. By the way, Brandi is crazy talented and is in the process of setting up a new website; so contact her about some of her other custom interior design features. We painted all of the walls, we did all of the custom woodwork, we finished the floors, and anything else you can list so we could save some cash and finally be able to work in our own bar.

Photo by Sam Li, A Thousand Words Media

Kevin and I often say this was the craziest thing we ever did. We really didn’t know what we were getting into, but with the help of some great folks, like our three general partners, Justin Burrow, Steve Flippo, and Morgan Weber, we somehow found a way to finish our new bar. In the end, despite the entire struggle, it feels good to work in a bar that you’ve created with your friends. Nothing can beat that – not all of the inhaled drywall dust, fights over money, the time I fell of the second story mezzanine and may or may not have broke my tailbone (no time or money for a doctor’s visit), electrical wire nut blisters, graffiti, the broken record playing, “When are you guys going to open?” from every friend you encounter, thieving plumbers, disgruntled former owners, architects without watches or calendars, sleeping in the bar when a new brick wall was being built (the same night the heater broke), eating Wendy’s nearly every single day because it was close, and the goddamn smell of Home Depot. None of it can’t beat the feeling you get when you walk out the kitchen door into a space that somehow magically filled with smiling faces over night. All of that other stuff seems like so long ago.

We are proud of the amount of effort and time we put into Anvil, and we hope that the entire experience of visiting Anvil evokes an emotion of something totally authentic. Nothing here is manufactured, least of all the cocktails. But, we will get to those next time…

Overholt’s harsh resentment towards those who disrespect him are rooted in a deep bitterness towards a drinking society which seems to regard this once proud ruler of the American whiskey market as a mere “budget brand”.  You see, back in the day, Overholt and his family were among the most respected of American farmers.  When they opted to begin distilling their rye into whiskey because of the longevity and profitability associated with selling whiskey over grain, their reputations as great farmers and distillers made Old Overholt whiskey one of the most respected brands available.

Today, the Old Overholt brand is only a lingering shadow of what had once been.  So what gives; why did this once proud whiskey lose such an admired status?  Well, it seems that, despite being the oldest continuing operating brand of American whiskey, Old Overholt is hardly the icon he used to be.  Recently, I had the opportunity to taste three different offerings of Old Overholt, and the differences in each were striking.

Old Overholt (1930) - Old Overholt was one of only a few brands allowed to be sold as a medicinal whiskey during Prohibition.  This version, bottled during this period, was fourteen years-old, sealed, and tax-stamped.  The “medicine” was bonded, with a proof of 100.

There were dramatic differences between the three bottles of Old Overholt.  The 1930 bottling was one of the best whiskies I have ever had.  Forced to sit in barrels for extended periods of time during Prohibition, the whiskey was far less hot than the younger five year bonded.  The smoothing effects of aging and complex flavors imparted by the wood were outstanding, creating a finish that lasted forever.  In my opinion, this whiskey would be able to go head-to-head with the very best of the well aged ryes on the market today, including the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, the Sazerac 18 Year Rye, and the Rittenhouse 21 Year Rye.  This was a rare experience, and I was grateful for the opportunity.

Old Overholt (1940) - This bottle was far younger than the first.  Nevertheless, this five year version was also bonded, sealed, and tax-stamped.

The second rye was also an excellent whiskey.  The higher proof of the Old Overholt really helped to create a unique and exciting rye.  This version was far spicier than the current bottling and had qualities similar to today’s lower-priced darling, the Rittenhouse Bonded.  We actually tasted this rye with the Rittenhouse Bonded because it was a more apt comparison.  And, for your information - yes, we had a lot of rye that night; so what?  In this case, the Old Overholt was dramatically different from the Rittenhouse.  The Overholt seemed more dynamic and lively than the Rittenhouse, which is aged for an additional year.  There was an intriguing peppery, grassy element working there that I couldn’t get away from.  I was tempted to make a manhattan with the rye because it was so ideal for this purpose, but I just couldn’t bring myself to mix with such a rare product.

Old Overholt (2009) - The Old Overholt at your local store is bottled at 80 proof and is only four years old.  Mr. Overholt is a bit upset about it.

Currently, Old Overholt is among the most subdued ryes being produced in the U.S.  Its lower proof and four year age leave quite a bit to be desired.  Granted, it is still a decent whiskey that works surprisingly well in certain cocktails, but, it is by no means close to the previous two versions.  Sure, comparing it to the fourteen year-old version is a little unfair; however, the five year-old version really only has a one year and twenty proof difference.  The Old Overholt brand was also distilled by different producers since 1940 and is now owned by a larger corporation, but something in me tells me there is still a good whiskey there.  There is a long list rye freaks who for years have asked for a 100 proof Old Overholt that is aged longer, but I guess we will have to continue to wait.  There is potential and history in that bottom shelf bottle; let Overholt gain his sense of pride back!

Still don’t believe me about the power of the Old Overholt gaze?  Well, the next time you and Mr. Overholt venture down the long, painful road of excess, you’ll regret not taking my advice as you pull your face from a rocky, stained porcelain lover and flush - the portrait of Ole’ Holty will appear.  From the swirling waters, his powerful eyes will stare you down; only this time, you won’t dare look away.

Recently however, I found a moment to sit down and start going through the pile of beer and spirit tasting notes that I have in my note book. As the weather is trying to grow colder, (this is Houston, after all) I find myself opting for darker and heavier options. Whiskey has always been one of my favorite spirits to consume in any way I can get it, and it just happens to work out that the bar just down the street from Anvil, Poison Girl, has one of the best bourbon and American whiskey selections in town. On one recent trip, I was fortunate enough to drink my fill of one of the most limited and interesting whiskeys on the market; the Buffalo Trace Experimental 8 Year Cab Franc Finished Whiskey. Because I am a lazy blogger, I like to abbreviate this name with BTX for Buffalo Trace Experimental.

Whiskey is, by its simplest definition, a spirit distilled from fermented grain mash then aged in a wood cask. There are six major whiskey producing regions in the world; Scotland, Ireland, America, Canada, Japan and Wales. The Japanese and Welch whiskeys are fighting an uphill battle for international respect, and others, like India, are vying for positions as additional significant players. American and Scotch whiskeys are the most subdivided. Scotch is recognized by 5 or 7 regions (depends on who you ask).

American whiskeys are a little less strait forward being divided by region and styles. The 5 major types of American whiskeys are Bourbon Whiskey, Rye Whiskey, Corn Whiskey, Tennessee Whiskey and Straight Whiskey (Which can make it confusing because you can have a Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Straight Rye Whiskey… or just Straight Whisky which are not the same thing). Buffalo Trace by tradition and reputation is a generally recognized as a bourbon distillery. In 1964 the U.S. Congress recognized Bourbon Whiskey as a distinctive product of the United States and established a list of legal guidelines for the production Bourbon Whiskey. Bourbon must be:

-Made of a grain mixture consisting of more than 51% corn

-Distilled to no more than 160 proof

-100% natural including no artificial flavors or colors

-Aged in new charred American White Oak barrels

-No higher than 125 proof when introduced to the barrel

The production process for Bourbon is fairly straight forward; a mash of selected grains (most commonly about 70% corn) is allowed to ferment, this low alcohol mixture is called the wash. The wash is then distilled yielding a clear spirit that is then put in the barrel to age anywhere from 2 to 25 years. There is almost an endless amount of modifications that can be made to the production process to create unique and distinctive whiskeys. The experimental collection is as the name suggests a series of very small batch experiments that buffalo trace has been working on for the past two decades. The notable modification in the aforementioned whiskey is the finish in Cab Franc Barrels. The word finish in reference to bourbon means the movement of the bourbon from the white oak barrel to another cask or barrel. By finishing the spirit in a second barrel the whiskey can take on a world of different flavors and nuances. The finishing process is what makes the BTX line so intriguing. While finishing in a second barrel adds a lot to the bourbon it comes at a cost; increased product loss (angel share) and increased time. The action of pouring the bourbon from one barrel to another increases the amount of product lost. The dry second barrel will eagerly drink up at least some of the whiskey over the first year or so. Second; in order to take full advantage of the second barrel, the bourbon must spend at least a few more years in the barrel house. Because the second barrel in this case is used it will take it longer to give up its flavors. The BTX whiskeys are the most notable in the recent trend in the industry toward new (or very old) variations of traditional whiskey.

This might be the most badass label I have ever seen on any bottle of booze ever. It’s badassness comes from the fact that is all business and no bull. You have to remember that these are very limited single barrel runs meant as an experiment in both production methods and consumer taste. The label has all the information an enthusiast would need to understand how the bourbon was made and what factors affected its taste. The label gives the following information; The type of spirit: Whiskey, The total amount of production: 1 barrel, The date it was distilled: 7/2/90, Date barreled: 8/19/98, Recipe: BT Rye Mash #1, Mash type: Sour, Still proof: 140, Entry proof: 126.5, Warehouse/Floor: I/1, Rack/Row/Slot: 0/0/2, Barrel Type: French Oak Cab Franc, Maker: Barrel Associates, Staves: 6 mouth air dry, Treatment: medium toast, Bottled: 2/26/07, Age at bottling: 16 years, Evaporation: 43.oo%, Filtration: chill filtration, bottle proof 43% ABV - 91 proof. At the bottom of the bottle the distiller gives a brief tasting note. The only issue I have with the label is the ambiguity with the barrel description. When the label talks about the maker, the treatment, and the staves is it describing the new white oak or the finish cab franc cask?

In this tasting I had a shot of the cab franc 8 and 6 next to each other. They are made with a rye mash that adds a very hot spiciness. Although it is called an 8 year, it was really 16 years old when it was bottled, the bourbon spent 8 years in new oak and 8 in the cab franc cask. The deepest difference between the two was the alcoholic heat and the rye flavor. You can really taste the 2 extra years on the 8; it is much smoother despite noticeably more rye flavor. In the 8 year, the color of the more than generous 2 once pour was a deep reddish brown amber. The nose is all about the rye and wine, you can really get the cab in the nose; however, if I didn’t know it was a cab franc finish, I would have just called it a dark fruit. It is more than drinkable and is really smooth; but there is less wine on the palate, the oak is lost to the wine cask flavor. The 6 while hotter is heavier on the wine, the 8 is smoother but more about the rye. The mouth feel is smooth round and buttery. Both the 6 and 8 years were made with the same rye mash. Personally, I think a wheat heavy mash would have allowed the wine to come more to the front, but then again this stuff is called experimental for a reason. We are going to do our best to try and carry as many future releases of the BTX collection at Anvil in the future, so you will be able to weigh in with your own opinions.

One of my favorite things about whiskey is the protracted length between conception and introduction of a new product. Because my favorite whiskeys generally spend at least 7 years or so in the barrel (this number can grow very quickly when you start talking about second barrel finishing), the time between a distillers initial conception of the experiment and the final bottling of a commercial ready product can be as long as 3 to 4 decades. That is why the BTX bottles are so exciting – it gives you a glimpse into the creative and evolving world of American whiskey. We might see a mass release of the BTX products, but it may not be for 15 or 20 more years, the experimental release is a glance in to the world of gut feeling and wild ideas that are the foundation of innovation in what is a classic American spirit.