Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year

Pappy. It is one word in the Whiskey world that everyone should know. Hailing the Old Rip Van Winkle distillery, the 15 Year Pappy is a 107 proof behemoth of a bourbon. Its nose fills the nostrils with a strong and bold caramel reduction kind of aroma. I could sniff it all day. Vanilla, honey, and oak are all present on this nearly perfect bouquet. Seriously, somebody needs to invent a candle that smells like Pappy 15. The wheated whiskey slams into your taste buds with a vengeance. My tongue tingled from the singe of the cinnamon-like spice profile. The heavily boozy bourbon lingers around on the back end, too. It is astringent and viscous, staying with you from the lips down your throat as it burns on the end while trickling down like syrup. But it hurts so good. It is high octane but even fuller on flavor. There is so much beauty going on in this bourbon and it is perhaps even masked by being 107 proof. I should have tried it again with a few rocks or just a dash or two of water to open it up some. Good thing I have more, so I can. This whiskey is rare. If you ever see it available, make sure to grab it while you can. It may be even more rare after the recent bourbon heist, but that mostly saw stolen 20 Year Pappy, the slightly more aged brother of the 15 Year. I got my bottle from the kind heart of Todd at the Turtle Bar at Houmas House. He might have it available by the dram for anyone who wants to try it. I owe that man a steak or something.

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

Average Score 91.0

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 90 is rather extraordinary.

GIVEAWAY: LCI Basic Knife Skills Leisure Class

BASIC KNIFE SKILLS AND COOKING HOW TO'S
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013 - 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Chef Derrick Beverly, CEC, ACE, CDM

I'm giving away two spots for this upcoming leisure class at the Louisiana Culinary Institute to one lucky winner. You and a guest will be able to attend the class on Monday, November 4th from 5:30 to 8 PM. Chef Derrick Beverly will show you how to use and feel comfortable with your kitchen knives. He will show you how to properly cut vegetables, meats, and fish. He will also teach you basic cooking techniques that you can use in your own kitchen. Plus, you can bring your kitchen knives and get them sharpened (limit 3 per person)! At a minimum, a chef's knife is required for this class but you might as well bring your whole set or at least three that you'd like to get sharpened. The two tickets to this class are a $250 value that I'll be giving away to one lucky reader!

To win, leave a comment below telling me how you'd like to improve your knife skills. It could be learning how to properly hold a knife, learning when to use each kind of knife, or getting pro tips on how to chop and onion or dice a bell pepper. For an extra chance to win, send a tweet to @biteandbooze and @LAculinary with the link to this post in it or mention Bite and Booze and the Louisiana Culinary Institute on Facebook when sharing the link to this post!

You have until the end of the day on Wednesday to enter and I'll be informing the winner of their free leisure classes on Thursday!

Also, gift certificates for LCI leisure classes are available and are perfect for holiday gifts. If you know anyone interested in cooking or entertaining, they'll love an LCI leisure class!

For more about LCI, watch this video that I helped produce with TommysTV:

225: Into the Mix Episode 7 - Anthony's Italian Deli

Anybody who ever asks me anything about hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Baton Rouge will hear me rave about Anthony's Italian Deli. I highlighted their muffaletta for Town Favorites magazine years ago when Bite and Booze first started. Country Roads magazine readers selected Anthony's muffaletta as the best sandwich in Baton Rouge in the 2012 Favorite Things issue after I got to name my top five. And now for 225, I return to Anthony's Italian Deli to try something new. The large meatball poboy is built on muffaletta bread and has a signature homemade red sauce that you really need to try! Check out what goes into the mix, then head down Florida Boulevard to try it for yourself!

In case you missed them:
225: Into the Mix Episode 1 - Mason's Grill
225: Into the Mix Episode 2 - Magpie Cafe
225: Into the Mix Episode 3 - Juban's Creole Restaurant
225: Into the Mix Episode 4 - Pastime and Tin Roof
225: Into the Mix Episode 5 - Fresh Truck
225: Into the Mix Episode 6 - Into the ReMix

225: Into the Mix is a project from 225 Magazine's Dine Newsletter, tommysTV, and Bite and Booze. I'd like to especially thank Manda Fine Meats and the Paretti Family of Dealerships for their sponsorship of the series that helped make everything happen.

Hosted by Jay Ducote
Produced by Jay Ducote and Tommy Talley
Director of Photography: Dan Jones
Editor: Josh Carley
Audio: Michael Lane
Graphics by Elbow|Room
Production Assistant: Dustin Davis

Jay Makes Appearance on CBS's Tailgate Fan from The Grove

Jay Ducote and Nick Stevens film Tailgate Fan

While at The Grove on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, MS last weekend I felt like a bit of a celebrity tailgater. Not only was Bon Appetit there to cover the party and my cooking for their magazine, but I also had encounters with both Louisiana Travel and CBS's Tailgate Fan. Plus Taylor Mathis from the Southern Tailgating Cookbook (of which I am on the cover!) hung out for a while! Tailgate Fan, hosted by Nick Stevens, travels the country exploring tailgate parties and the debauchery that they entail, as well as the cuisine, of course. They caught me as I had ribs on the smoker and chicken stock cooking for the gumbo. It is always fun to show off the Monstrosity while at tailgate parties and barbecue cookoffs. It is incredible how much attention it brings to the tailgate party. In addition to ribs and chicken and andouille gumbo, I also made a big pot of braised mustard greens and some Creole potato salad. Needless to say the tailgate party, including all the Ole Miss fans that allowed us to set up next to them on the edge of the Grove, were well fed and very happy to have me around. The entire trip went extremely well despite the LSU loss. In all seriousness, the Rebel Nation proved to be extremely friendly and accomodating. I was told multiple time "Thanks for being here" and "I'm glad you made the trip," and that was by fans who weren't eating my food. Also, while The Grove is a completely different experience than LSU, the novelty of it is truly worthy of all its high praise. The amount of people that they pack into The Grove is incredible. It is like if all LSU tailgate parties had to be on the Parade Ground. It seems insane, and I'd dislike it if it were the case at LSU, but making the trip to Ole Miss should absolutely be on everyone's must-do tailgating list.

The Monstrosity began billowing smoke on the edge of The Grove before Ole Miss fans arrived.

I'd like to thank Logan Leger for making the trip with me to Ole Miss, for being my sous chef at the party, and for the ticket to the game! Big thanks to Charles Caldwell with Tin Roof and Carr at Ole Miss for helping us line up the spot. While no open flames are allowed in The Grove, we found a way to get around that by setting up our cooking station on the street, so technically right outside The Grove. Also thanks to Dustin and Kyle for being the first people to show up to the party after Logan and I. I was also very glad to see a lot of old LSU friends there like Fred Neal, Brandon Haynes, Chelsea Potts, Natalie Ieyoub, and more. Man, what a trip! Enjoy the video from Tailgate Fan:

2Gingers Irish Whiskey: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

2Gingers Irish Whiskey

I miss Ireland. I miss the rolling hills and the friendly small town pubs. I miss waking up in hostels and seeking adventure. I miss fresh pints of Guinness. And I miss sipping on whiskey with anyone whose last name started with O'. I recently received a bottle of 2Gingers Irish Whiskey, a newcomer to the scene which wasn't around in 2006 when I traversed the Emerald Isle. 2Gingers smells like Ireland. On the nose are perfumes of fresh cut grass, honey, and refreshing sweetness. Upon making contact with the tongue the sweetness fades into hay and grain. It is light and easy to taste with a hint of honeysuckle. It disappears like a magic trick on the finish, vanishing off the back of the tongue leaving your mouth dry with very little aftertaste. Ultimately its fleeting qualities were not ideal. Jeremy dubbed it a "chick whiskey," though he clearly meant no offense to Irish whiskey in general as it is one of his favorite categories. The nose easily stood out as the best part of 2Gingers as everything else proved to be rather boring. Still, this is certainly a decent introduction whiskey to the Irish style, and would certainly be fine as a replacement to Jameson as a shooting whiskey.

2Gingers Irish Whiskey

Average Score 55.67

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 90 is rather extraordinary.