LET ' S TALK ABOUT WHISKY
W L
LET ' S TALK ABOUT WHISKY
by David Beaufort-Dysart
Hello , fellow whisk ( e ) y lovers . Continuing our tour of the United States and American whiskey , we are staying with Bourbon and moving onto another very notable bottle and brand , that of ' Woodford ' s Reserve ', Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey .
As the golf season is well under way and we have started with the first major ' The Masters ', let ' s tread the fairways and take a look at golf and whisky , after all it is said that the 18 holes , a standard on many golf courses came about as there were 18 shots in a fifth bottle of Scotch whisky , drinking one shot at each hole meant that the golf and the whisky ended at the same time !
The game of golf which we play today has its origins in 15th Century Scotland , at the iconic St Andrews old course . Saint Andrews was originally 12 holes , 10 holes would be played on the front and then 12 on the back making 22 holes . So if the story is true they had an empty flagon with four holes to play !
Loch Lomond is a major sponsor of the Open , I attended last years at Royal Liverpool Golf Club with my friend Jeff , we arrived at the venue in an downpour of rain , one that remained most of the day and into the early evening .
I cheekily took a small flask of Maccallan 12 year old , after a bag search my flask of ' golden liquid sunshine ' was removed promptly by the security guard , a lovely sweet Scottish lady , who promptly emptied the contents on to the soggy grass around her feet , much to my horror , oh well , at least I could still have the occasional sniff !
Other sponsors of the great game have been Dewars who sponsored the US open ; also The PGA Tour signed a four-year sponsorship deal with Bushmills Irish Whiskey .
Woodfords Reserve , Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Woodfords focus on the , five sources of flavour :
• Grain - mashbill ( recipe ) of 72 % corn , 18 % rye and 10 % malted barley , this mix gives balance to the sweetness of the corn with some spice and nuttiness from the rye and barley .
• Water - this does make a difference , they use water from the distillery which is naturally filtered by limestone .
• Fermentation - renowned for being one of the longest within the industry , this creates whiskey with greater depth of character and gives more complexity - a combination of using pot and column stills which in turn gives more balance .
• Maturation - the whiskey is matured in new charred white oak barrels , they have there very own cooperage .
Woodford reserve won a gold medal at the class bartender awards in 2018 . The Whiskey is unusual for being triple distilled and having one of the lowest proof upon entering the barrel . They surpassed a milestone of one million cases in 2019 , that ' s a lot of Old Fashioned Cocktails .
Colour : Amber . Nose : Honey , rich dried fruit , toasty oak , vanilla . Taste : Butterscotch , spice , creamy toffee . Finish : Sweet spice , cocoa and vanilla finish
Try neat to start , then add a few drops of water , for a long drink 1.5 parts Woodford Reserve , add 2 parts lemonade and 1 part cranberry juice , pour over ice , garnish with a twist of Lemon or an orange slice .
“ Some ships are wooden ships , but those ships may sink , The best ships are friendships and to those ships we drink ” Anonymous
Until next time friends ... Slàinté
Part of the Brown-Forman portfolio ; one of the leading American owned spirit and wine companies . They expanded the Distillery and launched Woodford Reserve in 1996 .
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