Hasta La Ideas

The accidental birth of the perfect summer beer

In 2002, a whiskey distiller approached Dougal Sharp, a top brewer at Caledonian, to create a method of brewing whiskey that would give it an ale finish. Sharp invented a process that would impart a beer flavor onto the oak whiskey casks, but to his surprise it would be the beer brewed in these casks that would be too good to throw away. Born by accident, Innis and Gunn was launched in 2003 by Dougal and his brother, Neil, based on this oak cask aged brewing process.

In March 2012, Innis and Gunn released their first limited-edition Irish Whiskey Cask stout. “We have never brewed a stout before, but when we heard we could get ahold of those exceptional barrels, we got very excited at the prospect of maturing a Scottish Stout in former Irish whiskey barrels!” says Dougal. The Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask is the first beer to be aged in former triple-distilled Irish whiskey barrels. The result is a dark beer with a chocolate and treacle taste, hints of oak and vanilla, and a crisp whiskey finish.

Although stouts are not typically considered a summer beer, the whiskey finish makes this beer surprisingly refreshing. A perfect bottle to add to the backyard rotation, this stout tastes great when paired with this summer’s Euro Cup festivities and bratwursts on the grill. Four packs of Innis and Gunn‘s Irish Whiskey Cask beer can be found for a limited time in the US at Whole Foods and other retailers for $13.

The English designer brings a proper British pub to Milan

Lee Broom‘s name features consistently on the lips of those-in-the-know at London’s Design Festival. This year, the young designer, who we covered in 2010, took his solo show to Milan and created his own corner of English charm in which to show his new work plus a little of the old.

Of course, being a Cockney, Broom dismantled an old London pub and ambitiously recreated it in Lambrate’s rapidly rising design zone. According to the designer; “The project was a bit of a big one involving a vast quantity of shipping crates,” in comparison to simply bringing a few pieces along to show standalone. Plus it was the first time the Milanese design crowds had been exposed (as they might put it) to a proper ‘boozer’ and perhaps one which might be called the first real proper design pub!

Yet the strife in dismantling and assembling such a gargantuan installation paid off spectacularly. The Pub drew together Broom’s distinctly English inspirations and formed a seamless link between the designer, his aesthetic viewpoint, his inspirations and the outcome of his work be it under his own name, or collaborating with others.

The Heritage Boy work from 2009 and its overtones of London’s classic iconography and English craft attributes was placed in context, with the (still very fresh) middling blue tones counteracting with the deep mahoganies of the pub’s reclaimed wood panelling. The panelling itself, with its gentle marquetry, also gave a nice compliment to the cut glass lights of the 2011 One Light Only project, which saw Broom investigate the classic style of Art Deco jewelry. While the space was lit with Broom’s new lighting.

This year, Broom explored further the notion of English craft and the glowing embers of tradition, utilizing cut glass techniques to create his Cut Crystal Bulbs—a simple revisit to the old, banned, tungsten lightbulb in a naked, unclad format. Dangling from a braided gold cord and gold housing, the cut glass pattern diffuses light around a space spreading a classy haven of joy; a group of the fixtures is enough to make one’s heart race.

While we were there, Broom showed us a continuation of the cut glass influence and a project completed with Ballantine whisky. The project was to give Broom free reign to translate the classic decanter into something more modern which was still imbued by the brand’s heritage. “It was a nice project, that let me kind of close the circle on the cut glass work. I’ve done the lights now, which remove the technique from where you’d normally see if and then bought it back to its beginnings with this decanter set,” explains Broom, who has worked with the company before to create a special bar stool for its 12 year old line. ” Obviously we’re used to drinking from the cut-style tumbler but this time we’re mixing, sealing and chilling the liquor in beautiful cut glass units which combine together to form one piece,” he continues.

Broom’s intention is that the base acts as the glass to seal in flavors and aroma, the middle also acts as a glass or cube/stone holder while the top can be used for water or other carriers to enhance flavor.

While most other designers descended on the horrendously overrated Bar Basso, Lee Broom did the British thing, holding fort and standing as cultural bastion of the empire in his own pub. Ma’am would be pleased on all counts.

Scotch whisky manually mixed for smooth flavor from a blend of three malts

As one of the few remaining whisky distilleries in the world still using manual mixing techniques during the production process, Monkey Shoulder makes a rich and uniquely flavorful blend. This hands-on turning of the barley was once known to cause a temporary ailment for which this whisky is named. Monkey Shoulder has adopted the same time-tested techniques under better working conditions—and without the risk of injury—to create their signature triple malt Scotch whisky. The spirit has been available in its native U.K. for some time, but just recently launched in the U.S. in January 2012.

The first distillery to blend three malts, Monkey Shoulder is made from a trio of fine Speyside single malts—Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Kininvie. Once selected, the malts are left to mature in bourbon casks for a length of time only the “malt master” knows. This process lends the whisky subtle, but distinct smokey notes of oak that compliment the spirit’s naturally sweet vanilla and brown sugar flavors. Each batch contains just 27 individually taste-tested casks to keep quality consistently up to grade.

Monkey Shoulder is now available in the U.S. from select Chicago stores and online nationwide at the brand’sBinny’s for $30 per 750ml bottle. For more information on the production process and for heaps of inventive cocktail recipes head to e-shop.

Organic potato vodka, locally malted whiskey and G&T syrups brewed in British Columbia

On a recent trip to Whistler, we had the opportunity to sample the vodka from Pemberton Distillery, a fledgling outfit nestled in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia. Within their unassuming walls, the distillery employs copper stills to create a line of locally sourced, organic liquors.

Designed as a sipping spirit, Schramm Vodka has a deliciously clean flavor followed by a distinctive finish. Pemberton’s potatoes are free from herbicides, long-life chemicals and fertilizers, earning organic certification from the B.C. Pacific Agricultural Society. The distillery also produces syrups to spice up gin & tonic cocktails and vanilla extract made from the house vodka.

Schramm Gin is a potato gin created in handcrafted, small-batch runs with only eight botanical flavors added during the distillation process. Pemberton is also adding a whiskey to their line when it matures in 2013, which will be made from organic barley that’s malted in B.C. and then aged in bourbon casks.

Spirits from Pemberton Distillery sell online and from select distributors in B.C.

Our tour of the ingredient-driven artisanal California distillery

The building that houses St. George Spirits in Alameda, CA may look like a naval air hangar on the outside, but inside lies a vast warren of copper pot stills and casks filled with artisanal spirits. St. George was founded in 1982 to make eau de vie fruit brandies, and the process of making handcrafted eau de vie continues to influence their development of other spirits. Since its inception, the distillery has evolved into a comprehensive operation making whiskey, gin, rum, Qi Tea Liqueurs, and is even developing an aged balsamic vinegar.

Master distiller Lance Winters has been on a 16-year journey to make magic at St. George, and he describes his work as if he were tinkering away in some kind of fantastical workshop. With no shortage of projects on hand, Winters is currently planning a move to a much larger laboratory and is working on the release of a single malt whisky with a special bottling from a single barrel later this year, in celebration of their 30th anniversary. In about two years, Winters’ organic corn rye whiskey and California bourbon will be ready for release. We caught up with Winters to get a tour and hear more about his successful passion.

What are you working on in here in your lab?

This is where most of our projects start. I run individual botanicals through one of these small stills to be able to see how it is going to express itself. I have one friend who is growing organic rye up by Mt. Shasta. We have brought down some of that rye, mashed it in here, fermented it and distilled it in the stills and it’s lovely. I also decided to make bourbon. Bourbon is a lot of fun because you have so much latitude to play around with the grain bill. It’s like making chocolate or coffee—bringing out different characteristics when you roast the grain.

How did the idea for your Breaking & Entering Bourbon bottling come about?

Dave Smith is responsible for putting together our whiskey for bottling. He goes through and smells and tastes everything we’ve got and determines what is going to go into a given bottling. He is so good at it, I thought, what if he had access to a bunch of bourbon barrels? What could he do? So we went to a bunch of different bourbon distilleries. We brought 320 barrels back with us. It took him about three months to taste from all of them. He made notes and decided how they would best be blended together to be able to make a “super bourbon”—a Compass Box style of American bourbon. I think Compass Box is fantastic. We bottled ours under the name Breaking & Entering. We were careful to let people know that we did not make this, but we blended it. We love it.

You are aging balsamic vinegar too?

This balsamic vinegar has been aging for 14 years. It’s thick and syrupy. There is no way to short-circuit this process. I want to learn how to blow glass and make my own bottles.

How did you develop your three gins? (Terroir, Botanivore, and Dry Rye Gin)

Five years ago I started talking about how much in love I am with the parklands around here. My son was going to a day camp. I’d pick him up in the afternoons and the smell was pine trees and wild fennel, bay laurel, and dirt. I love that smell of the earth between the dry dusty component and the decomposing mulch of the woodlands. I thought that would be something really great to distill, but then I shelved the idea. A couple of years later, I started thinking about making a gin with the flavors and smells of the forest. They all have an affinity for some traditional part if the gin profile. If you’ve hiked Mt. Tamalpais you will recognize the profile. We bring in Douglas fir and infuse it in high proof alcohol. We have been drawing it off and taking that liquid and putting it in the stills. It tastes like a sweet Christmas tree.

We also make a gin called Botanivore, a very broad, beautiful refreshing style of gin designed for tropical climates that is great for gin and tonics. As soon as you throw a little tonic in there, the dill seed in it explodes making it very green and herbaceous. It’s really good in a martini too.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the one we start with a pot-distilled rye. It’s like a rye whiskey that hasn’t touched a barrel yet. Rye already has a lovely peppery nature to it that helps bump up some of the juniper berry qualities. We use 50% more juniper berries and crack them open to get more surface area. We add black peppercorns, caraway seed, lime and grapefruit peel. It’s my favorite cocktail base for a Negroni or to treat is as a rye in an Old Fashioned.

So are your spirits for cocktail geeks?

Our customers don’t need to be experts, they just need to know what they like and what makes their palette tingle. We need to be experts at what we like and that’s basically where everything starts. We’ve been able to find enough people who think like us to keep us going.