LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2019

SPIRITS  BOURBON 101

BOURBON IN THE KITCHEN Bourbon is a handy ingredient for many sweet and savoury recipes. It’s hard to find those intense, bittersweet flavours of oaky spices, vanilla and caramel anywhere else. A small splash adds depth and character to barbecue sauces and glazes, vinaigrettes, chili and tomato soup, as well as ice cream sauces, stewed prunes, pecan pie and sticky toffee pudding. In the Southern states, raw oysters on the half shell are sometimes “cringed” with a teaspoonful of bourbon.

BARREL PROOF BOURBON

Wild Turkey Rare Breed LCBO 455329, $60.95

At 58.4%, this is powerful stuff. Sip it neat to experience the heavy body and richness, then add a few drops of water to release the profound flavours of tangy stewed yellow plums on top of caramel oak. Superb length.

WHEAT AND FRENCH OAK

Maker’s Mark 46 LCBO 225565, $69.95

Maker’s Mark uses wheat, not rye, as its secondary grain, lending smoothness. 46 adds French oak staves to the barrel for the last few months, amplifying spice and caramel notes without a trace of woody bitterness. Sheer elegance.

Check out the recipe for Marinated Cherries from the Autumn 2017 issue of Food & Drink (foodanddrink.ca). Sour cherries marinated in bourbon, maple syrup, orange zest and cardamom… Just one is all you need to make your next Manhattan immortal.

In general, all American and Irish whiskeys are spelt “whiskey” while Scotch and Ca- nadian whiskies are spelt “whisky.” Four bourbon brands break the rule: Maker’s Mark, George Dickel, Old Forester and Early Times all spell themselves “whisky.” JUST TO BE DIFFERENT

What makes a whiskey bourbon?

It must be made from more than 50 percent corn spirit and must age at least two years in charred new oak casks.

50 %

FOR HIGH-END COCKTAILS

Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Bourbon LCBO 604785, $52.85 At 45%, this is the perfect strength for longer cocktails such as a Jim Collins. Nut- meg, cinnamon pecans and vanilla toffee roll around on your palate, evolving as the minutes pass. Drier than many bourbons.

THE SOUR- MASH SECRET

Every modern straight bourbon is a sour-mash whiskey, using a little of the residue from one fermentation batch to start the next.

40  FOOD & DRI NK SPRING 2019