Category: Aroma

The Spirited Chef Takes on Whisky & Food

One of the highlights of this week’s New Brunswick Spirits Festival was the food and whisky pairings created by The Spirited Chef, Taylore Darnell. She… Read More

One of the highlights of this week’s New Brunswick Spirits Festival was the food and whisky pairings created by The Spirited Chef, Taylore Darnell. She and the staff at the Delta Fredericton created spirited breakfasts, lunches, and dinners featuring unique combinations of food and whisky. We’ll talk with Chef Taylore about matching food to whisky and how our senses perceive those combinations on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, there’s a new world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction, and American single malt makers are still waiting for an official definition for their whiskies. 

Episode 1031: November 19, 2023

Links: The Spirited Chef | Sotheby’s | Virginia Distillery Co. | Casey Jones Distillery | Ardbeg | Canadian Club | Port Askaig | Deanston | Old Forester | Frazier History Museum | Evan Williams Bourbon Experience | Fraser & Thompson | Red Bank Canadian Whisky | Lot 40

Sipp’n Corn Review – Nose Your Bourbon Part II; A New Mini Sample Kit

Need a gift? I do enough guided tastings to know that sometimes you need a nudge—a reminder of an aroma memory—to help articulate what you’re experiencing during a bourbon tasting.  I just helped a friend with a Bottled-in-Bond tasting of Heaven Hill 6-year (the…

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I do enough guided tastings to know that sometimes you need a nudge—a reminder of an aroma memory—to help articulate what you’re experiencing during a bourbon tasting.  I just helped a friend with a Bottled-in-Bond tasting of Heaven Hill 6-year (the discontinued one), E. H. Taylor Small Batch, and Henry McKenna 10-year.  

My friend warned me that while he knew what he liked, he could never really find the words to describe what he was tasting.  Because I discovered the Nose Your Bourbon Bourbon Nosing Kit in 2020 (see my review here: Sipp’n Corn Review), I suggested that my friend give everyone the new miniaturized Bourbon Sample Kit. 

We started the guided tasting with the sweet aromas of brown sugar and caramel, moved onto the dark fruit note of cherry, shifted to corn grain, and then finished with black pepper and oak.  This primed everyone’s senses and we jumped into the first bourbon with excitement to share impressions that, frankly, I had never seen in a previous guided tasting.

Check out the Sample Kit ($29.00 and free shipping) and never get left behind in a tasting.