The band’s packed up, and the confetti’s been whisked away, but we are still reminiscing about what a great time we had at the Library last year! Keep reading for a review of some of the exciting things that happened in 2019 as well as a sneak peak at what’s in store for 2020 (hello, new Member benefits).
This month, join MWL Education Manager, Colin Howard, for a deep dive into the latest iteration of the Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series – RC6.
Also in this issue, we share a favorite recipe from the Library cocktail list, the November Rain by Joshua Wilford, and queue up the not-to-be-missed upcoming events (Super Bowl in the Library!)
As always, thank you for your readership, and we hope to see you soon.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at the Library
NEWLY ACQUIRED SPIRITS
BENROMACH SASSICAIA WOOD FINISH 2009
Single Malt Whisky,d. 2009 b. 2017, 45 abv Speyside, Scotland
PENDERYN SHERRYWOOD FINISH
Single Malt Whisky, NCF, ck American oak & Oloroso sherry, 46 abv Wales
EDUCATION MANAGER COLIN HOWARD FEATURING MAKER’S MARK RC6
If you are reading this feature, chances are high that you are not an enthusiastic fan of Prohibition and the long list of damages and hardships it scraped across the American cultural landscape. Aside from the banner issues of crime and economic depression, shifting the control of distillation and distribution of spirits (and especially whiskey) to bootleggers and illicit blenders for over a decade brought the quality of what people were making and drinking to a dismal low point. Many of the wealthy and long-established distilling families were able to resurrect their operations after Prohibition, however the industry faced a long recovery, and it was no easy task to find a trustworthy variety of good whiskies.
Taking note of this, Bill Samuels Sr. revived his family’s distilling tradition on Kentucky’s Star Hill Farm in 1953 with a new direction in mind. He saw a market full of rough, high-rye bourbons that did not match his vision of the next phase of American whiskey. With council from the now-famed Pappy Van Winkle, Bill broke the mold and committed himself to producing a wheated bourbon that eschewed the rustic and aggressive edge of his Kentucky neighbors’ spirits to present a more gentle and refined profile. With this recipe, Bill and his wife, Margie, created Maker’s Mark.
The Maker’s Mark brand raised the flag for a new style of American whiskey – shored up by a collection of purposefully selected production techniques that has been essential to the unique character of Maker’s Mark, including barrel rotation, proprietorial yeast strains, lower proof aging, and French Oak stave finishing.
Their most recent project, entitled RC6 (Research Center 6…I know), spotlights two unsung skills in whiskey barrel production: air seasoning (maturing wood outside for many months) and toasting (exposing the wood to a medium amount of heat before fashioning it into a barrel). Each of these steps can impart an almost endless variation of flavor combinations to a whiskey depending on how they are applied and in what ratios.
RC6 was designed to elevate the dense fruit flavors and heavier baking spice notes that exemplify these two wood treatments, then drape them across the gentle backdrop set by Maker’s Mark’s now-classic wheated style. It’s an outstanding success from both a technical and flavor standpoint and, if history repeats, will help to tilt the bourbon industry in more creative directions for years to come.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
GOOD BYE 2019, HELLO 2020
Clockwise from top: Laphroaig distillery on Islay; toasting barrels in Kentucky; Suntory Chief Blender Emeritus Seiichi Koshimizu; beet cured deviled eggs in the Library
2019 was a fantastic year at Multnomah Whisk{e}y Library. So many exciting things happened that we can’t list them all, but here are just a few of our favorites:
Among the many talented folks that joined the MWL team this year is Chef Jason West. His take on modern, shareable, locally sourced food has been a breath of fresh air to both the Library and The Green Room menus. Full disclosure – if you order the beet cured deviled eggs, you may not want to share them. They’re just that good.
We also went beyond the Library with our first ever MWL trip to Scotland. Members and friends joined us on a whirlwind tour of some of the greatest distilleries on Islay and mainland Scotland. We had so much fun, we’re already planning our next two trips! So, if you’ve ever dreamed of living it up on the Bourbon Trail, check out our trip to Kentucky. If those dates don’t work for you, pack your favorite copitas and join us in Oaxaca for a mezcal journey….and we’re just getting started! More trips are on the horizon, so stay tuned.
This year, we were honored to introduce our Members to some of the most influential folks in the spirits world, including Seiichi Koshimizu from Suntory Whisky and Fawn Weaver from Uncle Nearest to name just a few. Education is the cornerstone of the Multnomah Whiskey Library. We are passionate about spirits, distilling and cocktail making, and enjoy nothing more than sharing this enthusiasm and knowledge with our Members and guests. Thank you for joining us at these events to celebrate the makers, distillers and ambassadors behind our favorite spirits.
Have you noticed the new portraits on the wall? Bessie Williamson from Laphroaig, Masataka and Rita Taketsuru, and Nearest Green, the man who taught Jack Daniels how to distill whiskey have joined our wall of portraits honoring the visionaries, eccentrics and innovators who have shaped the world of spirits.
Last but not least, with the help of our Members and friends, the Multnomah Whiskey Library raised over $60,000 for local non-profits in 2019. This year marked the beginning of our in house Membership auctions, and we are very proud to have raised $5,001 for Girls Inc of the Pacific Northwest, $6,300 for the Providence Heart Institute, and $6,480 for the Oregon Food Bank (which equals 19,440 meals provided to the community right here in Portland.) A special thanks goes out to the Members who volunteered with us at the Oregon Food bank in December!
Here are just a few of the other great organizations that we are proud to have supported in 2019:
New portraits in the Library. Clockwise from top: Masataka and Rita Taketsuru; Bessie Williamson; Nearest Green.
NEW MEMBER BENEFIT
RESERVED SEATING AT THE BAR SUNDAY-THURSDAY
Members, join us for a drink at the bar! We appreciate your Membership, and want to make it easier to drop in without a reservation. Beginning this Sunday, January 19th, we will be holding bar seats for walk-in Members from 4-7 on Sunday through Thursday.
Just check in with the hosts in the Green Room, and let them know you would like to sit at the bar in the Library. Seats are available on a first-come, first-seated basis and cannot be reserved. If there are not enough available bar seats for your entire party, your name will be added to the top of the waitlist for seating elsewhere in the Library.
We hope you enjoy this newest benefit to Membership at MWL! Email our Membership Manager, Krista, for more information.
BLIND TASTING BOTTLE
TEST YOUR PALATE WITH A MEMBERS ONLY BREAK-EVEN BOTTLE
Once a month, we will be presenting our Members with an opportunity to exercise their tasting skills on a Members only Blind Tasting Bottle. This top-secret break-even bottle* (even the bartenders won’t know what it is) will be available in .5 oz tasting pours for a month, or until it’s gone.
Members are welcome to write down their best guess as to what the spirit is and give it to their bartender. The winning Member, or Member with the closest guess, will enjoy their next drink on us (up to $20). We’ll reveal the name of the spirit when we announce the next round.
The Rules:
Pours from the Blind Tasting Bottle are limited to .5 oz per person per visit in the Library
Members can submit only one guess per bottle
Feel free to pick your bartender’s brain about the Blind Tasting Bottle, but know that only the team member who chose the bottle actually knows what it is!
*A “break-even bottle” is an interesting, rare or collectible bottle sold by a bar at cost and presented in the spirit of education and exploration.
NEW COCKTAIL
MWL bartender Joshua Wilford drew on his love of tequila when creating the delicious autumnal and winter spice-filled cocktail November Rain. The drink features a base of Altos Blanco restrained by the the lightly floral bouquet of Lillet Rose – an aromatised wine. Josh has long loved adding apple elements in his past drinks, and says, “Once you taste the semi-sweet apple notes from the Calvados, don’t you know you might feel the same.”
Amaro dell’Etna finishes out the flavors with a well-rounded spiciness lending the drink hints of dry and herbaceous flavors. As Josh points out, “Hearts can change, but with this drink, it won’t be hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain.”
