Evil Twin Brewing Co. - "Christmas Eve in a New York City Hotel Room Royal Suite Edition"

Well, Merry Christmas. I'm not in NYC this time, nor am I in a hotel room, but this random single I got at Irving Wines and Spirits is appropriate enough for tonight. It's from Evil Twin, and is a 12.00%  ABV imperial stout made with marshmallow, coconut, vanilla, and cocoa nibs. It's sweet, definitely strong on vanilla. I can get some marshmallow in there, not much coconut. It lacks any barrel-agee notes, which I guess might be expected, but is notable given the overall format and ingredients.

A big beer - something I'd expect to have sitting on a rooftop somewhere in Chelsea, closing out the Christmas season. 

Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Co. - "Gjærkauk" Norwegian smoked amber

I visited Irving Wines & Spirits recently on my daily walk, and the owner Jesse was in the middle of receiving some new stock of beer. I immediately recoginzed the black and gold cans as beer from Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Co.  out of Gaithersburg, MD. Aside from their cool can art, they're known for Nordic-influenced beer styles and hops. 

Always one for checking out some new fresh drops, I inquired about it. One of the four-packs on the counter was "Gjærkauk", a 7.20% smoked amber ale aged in bourbon barrels for a full year. Nice! I'm a big fan of smoked beers (and even visited the ancestral home of smokebeer in Germany back in May) so I had to pick it up. One more thing about this - it was canned the day before. Less than 24 hours old, this literally some of the freshest beer you can possibly get. Sold. 

Deep amber in the glass, and generates a heavy layer of roasted and smoky notes: tracks for a smoked amber ale. No surprises here!

Where I AM surprised about is the flavor - it's not smoky at all, but sweet. There are some roasted notes there, but it lacks any true smoke flavor. Instead, there's a bready sweetness, something I'd expect more from a Belgian dubbel than a smoked amber ale. It's quite sticky, too, with lots of lacing on the glass. 

A nice fall beverage! Super fresh, a little sweet, and a nice weight - great for fans of lighter "dark" beers, if that makes sense. Fun fact about the name: in Norwegian, it means "yeast scream", referring to a tradition of Nordic brewers screaming various magic phrases / complaints into the yeast. You can read more about this here. 

Blue Duck Tavern's Fall Menu - A Must-Try!

Anyone familiar with DC's West End restauarant scene knows the Blue Duck Tavern - the airy and warm restaurant located inside the Park Hyatt on 24th St, NW. It's been on the scene for quite some time, and features a lot of farm-to-table offerings with a focus on local, sustainable producers. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit for an exquisite chef's table exposition, led by Chef Andrew Cleverdon and supported by the fantastic front-of-house team. 

While I could write for paragraps about the presentation, flavors, and intense thought that goes into each dish, I'm going to focus on two of their cocktails served prior to dinner (OK, I'll talk a *little* about the food at the end.) But I want to focus on the cocktails, devised by head bartender Alyssa Steptoe, who was on hand to introduce each libation. 

"Rum Bunny"

The Rum Bunny was the first cocktail we tried, and it's quite visually striking. The base spirit here ius apple-infused Parrot Bay rum mixed with Gosling's Black Seal rum. I'm a big fan of Gosling's as a mixer so that was good to see. The cocktail's appearance has murkiness reminiscent of mulled cider. Very autumnal.

What's interesting here is the adjuncts: house-made carrot shrub, carrot-ginger syrup, lemon juice, and a salt solution, garnished with a cayenne salt rim and a spiralized heirloom carrot garnish. As per usual with Blue Duck Tavern, most of these ingredients are crafted in-house. When working with adjuncts, especially syrups and cocktail vinegars, a delicate balance needs to be struck to ensure the cocktail doesn't become "top-heavy." Here, the rum is quite subtle, and this cocktail is remarkably balanced. The carrot garnish made it a little difficult to drink, which has a silver lining that it forces the drinker to take small sips and savor. It's not particularly vegetal, which is suprising and good!

This is what I call a "first cocktail" — a complex cocktail best enjoyed as your first of the night. 

"West End Sour"

Named for the neighborhood of DC in which Blue Duck Tavern is located, their "West End Sour" is a take on a New York Sour and the second cocktail we were served. Traditionally a sweet, short drink consisting of whiskey, a sweetener (usually simple syrup) and lemon juice, BDT's version uses yuzu, plum, and cinnamon to give it an autumnal spin. That garnet red color? Port wine, to serve as a stand-in for simple syrup. 

It's a bit sweeter than I was expecting, likely due to the addition of Port. Fortified wines are fun to use as adjuncts in cocktails, so I'm glad to see that (ask me about the use of sherry or Madeira, too!) 

The addition of yuzu, an East Asian citrus fruit, adds to the levity without fighting with the other ingredients. It's a good choice for guests who are looking for a heavier, sweeter, after-dinner cocktail. I wouldn't recommend having this with dinner. 

If you're not a fan of rum or whiskey, their fall menu also includes cocktails with clear spirits, such as a vodka/Combier/cranberry highball; and Earl Grey-based mix of gin, sparkling wine, and Licor 43 (if you haven't tried this, please do so immediately); and the cleverly-named "Tulum It May Concern", an agave-heavy combination of tequila, mezcal, pineapple, jalapeno, lime, and spiced honey. And of course they have a zero-proof option. 

And the food? Amazing. Chef Cleverdon brought out a wide sample of culinary magic, to include marrow bones, perfectly salted and savory; a whole roast duck, aged for hours and hours to make the skin crispy and the meat melt-in-your-mouth; oysters, greens, roast vegetables, and a savory sauce perfect for spooning. After a dozen passed dishes, we were served dessert - a carrot cake topped with light and soft frosting. 

Blue Duck Tavern is a fanastic spot for cocktails, date night, or a special occasion. This was my first time, and I'll certainly be back. 

Other Half / Monkish Brewing - "JFK 2 LAX" triple IPA

I've been seeing a lot of Other Half stuff lately, and at the risk of covering yet another, I figured I'd spotlight this as it's not something I've seen before. This 10.20% ABV triple IPA is a collaboration between Monkish Brewing out of Torrance, CA. It's made with a smorgasbord of hops: Citra, Simoce, Moteuka, Citra Cryo, Simcoe Cryo, Citra Incognito, and Motueka Hop Keif. What's interesting is that it's listed as having a "High Density Hop Charge," which isn't something I've seen before. In researching it, it looks like it was actually coined at Other Half to differentiate this process from double-dry hopping. 

This approach uses hop pellets (which are often used in brewing, vice traditional hop flowers) and cryo hops, a type of concentrated hop pellet. Other Half then uses Incognito, a hop oil extract, to deeply saturate the mixture during brewing. So using the three different formats of hops - not to mention several species within - definitely lives up to the moniker "high-density hop saturation." Let's look inside.

Cracked open this 16oz can and it pours lazily into my Fremont snifter. It generates a decent aroma, lots of sticky citrus. 

Phew, this is heavy. Quite soft, but full of flavor and a very thick mouthfeel. "Dense" is almost a good word to describe it, almost like drinking tequila mixed with OJ. Not in terms of flavor, but that same "heavy" feeling and texture. There's a wave of super sticky, super resnious hops. And lots of them. It's a little sappy, not super sweet, but delivered in a Mike Tyson punch to the palate. I'm getting mango and clementine. As expected, the flavor really lingers on the palate.

I promise this is the last Other Half I'll review for a while. I was intrigued by the name and wasn't disappointed - fans of super thick East Coast-style IPAs should definitely seek this out. At $26 for 4pk of 16oz cans (at least, that's what it was at Irving Wines and Spirits) it's not cheap, but I think stands out somewhat from the rest of the pack of 3x IPAs, what limited "pack" there is of that format. 

Ragged Branch Distillery - Special Barrel Pick for the Four Seasons in Georgetown!

Recently I attended a very fun wine event at Bourbon Steak, the restaurant in the Four Seasons in Georgetown. Aside from the delicious vino and charcuterie, I was given a behind-the-scenes look at a special whiskey only found at the Four Seasons: a special barrel pick from Charlottesville, VA-based Ragged Branch Distillery. 

This distillery, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, was helped along by the late Davd Pickerell, the genuis behind some great distilleries I've visited: J. Reiger & Co. in Kansas City; the revival of the distillery at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate; and Virginia's Copper Fox...to name a few. We used to sell a good number of Ragged Branch products at D'Vines, including their blue label bottled-in-bond which was *super good.* So naturally, when I had the chance to try Bourbon Steak's new offering, I jumped. 

The limited-edition bottle is twice-barreled and double oaked, using charred American white oak, individually labelled and numbered: bottle #106, batch #2305. It's wheated, so a bit divergent from most bourbon that is made usually from corn. What's also different here is that this bourbon is cask strength - 126.56pf, or 63.28% ABV. 

That's a lot, if you can't tell. 

I tried it two ways - neat, initially, and then with a few drops cold water to open up the spirit. Cask strength whiskies are normally diluted down to "regular" strength (40% ABV, usually) so the process of diluting cask-strength spirits at the bar is a normal one. 

On the nose: as expected, LOTS of alcohol esters, strong oak, and...raisins. Interesting. 

On the palate: definitely wood forward, toothy wheat - like the sheaf, not the germ. Alcohol rounds out the  Of note: no leather or tobacco. No corn, just wheat all day and lots of flavor from the oak. 

Diluted: much softer (as expected) and the wheat becomes a bit sweeter. It loses its bite and although it's a bit easier to sip, I feel that it loses some important flavor notes. 

Finish and aftertaste: Alcohol, oak, raisins, and some lingering soft wheat. 

Verdict: Really good. I don't rate things or assign number scores, but as a high-octane whiskey, I'd definitely enjoy this neat and recommend it for fans of strong American whiskies. The mash bill isn't unusual and really shines through without the need for ice or water. 

Bonus - I had one of the house specialty cocktails, "Yo, You Got Beef ?", comprised of Wagyu fat-washed bourbon (using Washington State's Woodinville Distillery), Cocchi di Torino vermouth, house-made spiced orange bitters, and topped with a dried orange slice...then smoked.  

Fat-washing essentially blends lipids (here, fat from Wagyu beef) into some other substance and then the whole thing is frozen, the fat scraped off, and the other liquid retained, which keeps the flavor of the fat. In this cocktail, it imparts a refined, full-on savory flavor, pairing nicely with the wood-smoking. The vermouth is present but not overwhelming and the spice of the bitters provides a refreshing snappiness on the tongue.

Do yourself a favor and check out Bourbon Steak - it's well worth a visit for both the bourbon and the mixed drinks!

Kings County Brewer's Collective - "Demon Dragon" pilsner

I saw this single 16oz can at Each Peach Market in Mt. Pleasant, DC, and figured I'd give it a shot. It's a 5.20% ABV "Slovenian style" pilsner from Brooklyn's Kings County Brewer's Collective. That's kinda ironic since I'll be in Brooklyn this weekend! 

The label art is cool, and reminds me a lot of what Adroit Theory puts out. I will say that demon dragons, which I presume to be formidable and fierce creatures, aren't what I picture when I think of a pilsner. 

What's under the hood: malted barley, water, and a bunch of hops I don't recognize: Styrian Dragon, Bobek, and Savinjski Golding hops. Seems neat, I'm curious to dive in. 

Flavor wise, it's an interesting twist as it's a bit sweeter, and a bit heavier, than the pilsners I'm used to. It's not crisp and dry like an Italian pils, nor is it attenuated and thin like an American one. It's sort of like a light golden ale. The barley comes through pretty well and gives the beer a good structure and nice body. For me, this is more of a late summer / early fall beer, but I still enjoyed it. 

Rakia - A Look into Balkan Brandy (with Ambar Restaurant!)

One fun thing about today's cocktail culture is that consumers are exposed to new spirits and styles they may not be familiar with. Sure, one can walk up and down the aisles of Total Wine or some other place and see all sorts of unfamiliar liquids, labels emblazoned with words in foreign languages. But how many of us will buy a bottle off the wall without trying it first? Well, I will, but most of us won't. 

So this is where restaurants come in, and many places that feature world cuisine are realizing there's a curiosity on the part of consumers when it comes to indigenous spirits. Onesuch "newcomer" to the wider American scene is rakia:

Rakia is a fruit brandy common in the Balkans, usually made from plums, which have a high yield and are pretty easy to grow. Because of influence of the Balkan neighbors like Austria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, rakia is also made form apricots, grapes, cherries, and quince. Pretty much any fruit can be used, but those are the most common ones. Wash the fruit, pop it in a barrel and add sugar, and let it sit. If you've tried ouzo, Metaxa, Sambuca, grappa, or even Mastiha, you're in the right neighborhood in terms of texture and presentation. Typically, it's taken neat, like schnapps, and served chilled or room-temp. 

If you've never heard of this, I can't blame you - it's not a common spirit here in the US...yet. Recently, I sat down virtually with Uros Jojic, director of operations for Ambar restaurant, to give us a glimpse into rakia and it's cultural connection to the Balkans. 

Let's start at the beginning: rakia started, and continues, as a folk beverage. “Traditionally, everyone was making their own [rakia]. Many people produced in the home, as there were few factories." Any farm or household would have the simple equipment. 

"At the end of September, after harvest when the farm work is mostly done, [people] would take some of late season fruits that are ripe and maybe starting to ferment on their own...and then distill them." So this ad-hoc distilling, essentially using "waste" fruits (not to say the fruit is bad, but maybe just leftover), was a great way to make some low-proof hooch easily. But it's not just for getting a buzz - it's part of the culture. 

"Rakia is part of the social glue in the Balkans," says Uros. "Every house has some on hand, and you'd offer rakia to guests even before water." Friends would get together over a glass or four of rakia, it would be served at lunchtime, or even in the early morning. Some households that make their own may have rakia aged in wooden barrels up to 25 years, saved or the most special occasions like big social gatherings, toasting weddings, and celebrating births.

Rakia isn't moonshine and it's not some bathtub gin. Much like the US has experienced a craft distilling boom in the last decade, there are now distilleries in the Balkans region making high-quality, farm-to-table rakia. Investments in improving distilling processes, sanitation equipment like autoclaves, and scientific controls give distillers in the Balkans the ability to make high-quality rakia for export. 

Speaking of - Ambar has around 30 types, if you're curious. There are plenty of "white" or clear rakia, but for those who like their rakia a bit sweeter, there are also variants dosed with cherry syrup. Ambar has a plum-based rakia that’s infused with honey, which they serve for dessert. Uros recommends sweeter rakia at the end of the meal, and the more bracing stuff before to open one's appetite before the meal.

Since cocktails are a great way to introduce US audiences to different spirits, the mixologists at Ambar are whipping up some rakia cocktails as well. Personally, I think the sweeter variants could replace liqueurs like St. Germain or any brandy in a cocktail (as opposed to, say, replacing vodka with rakia) but many rakia are nice enough to take center stage. Although mixing rakia with other stuff is not traditional, there's still room for out-of-the-box thinking. 

One more thing, about one of my favorite accessories - glassware. Rakia is traditionally served in narrow glassware with a metal top. Uros notes you can use a grappa glass for the finer stuff, but the narrow glasses originally served to limit the offensive aromas coming out. Fortunately, that's changing, so grab your favorite glass and try some rakia.