Blog — Page 158 of 279

Water of Life - Bushmills 21-Year Old

I dig Scotches.

The more peat and smoke, the better.

While I have yet to encounter one that is an utter disappointment, Irish whiskeys that blow my mind are few and far between.

The milk chocolatey nuances of Bushmills Single Malt Whiskey 10-year-old is a gateway into Irish whiskey territory that I find rarely entered.

The heavily sweet yet soft Bushmills Single Malt Whiskey 16-year-old is something that truly hits the pause button as one finds it difficult to put an end to it caressing one’s palate.

However, Bushmills Single Malt Whiskey 21-year-old plays in a league of its own: Learning that it has been matured in a mixture of Oloroso Sherry and Bourbon casks, before a two-year marrying period spent in Madeira casks sets high expectations.

Expectations that are exceeded ones it is uncorked.

It is rare to find whiskey with such a delicate nose as the nostrils are tickled with hints of honey, marzipan, musty oak, almonds and grapey wine notes buried in the back that make one salivate straight away. 

With malt nuances that serve as a foundation for the claviature of spiciness, hints of Sulphur, raisings and a pronounced nuttiness, the thick and creamy 21 -year-old melts in your mouth in a manner with waves of caramel, feint ginger, creamy toffee and subtle tobacco notes that redefine mellowness and is in some aspects reminiscent of what I get out of a smooth Michter’s Bourbon.

One hell of a complex full-bodied drop from start to its dry finish with a deliciously malty and spicy aftertaste and a mesmerizing one for special occasions – if you ever fell prey to the notion that Irish whiskeys lack the multi-dimensionality that is found in scotches, you will find yourself converted with this finely-calibrated exercise in aromas and flavours.

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Photo by T

Water of Life – Whisky and Meat

Now, whisky and food make for an interesting combination.

Interesting in that it has to be calibrated extremely well, specifically when it comes to pairing meat and whisky as the intense flavours of one can easily overpower the other.

Enter Smoky Sue’s.

Given that with their idiosyncratic approach to BBQing, i.e. pioneering the melange of slowly curing, cooking and barbecuing meats with a consistency that is achieved by employing the sous vide technique, which has not only been refined in the French cuisine but is a reliable technique employed by professional chefs.

While traditional BBQing demands surgical skill when it comes to taking the meat away from the heat at just the right time to avoid it being  from either being over- or undercooked, the sous vide way is based on cooking with water, instead of an oven or a pan, so that the temperature can be raised precisely to hit the sweet spot every time to enjoy a perfectly prepared steak or pork chop.

Smoky Sue’s, the name being a clever pun on the sous vide food technique, and its meaty emissions are a class of its own on any given day, but things are taking a step further with their curated whisky and food events.

Now, we are all aware of omnipresent mainstream whisky infused marinades and BBQ sauces. The initiated might even familiar with smoking techniques fired on by whiskey barrel chips, but the pairing of barbecue dishes or more generally ones cooked on the grill with the tasting of whisky in purity is an art that takes expertise and consolidation to be mastered.

Teaming up with the man behind Gentleman’s Cabinet, man about town, liquor connoisseur and conferencier par excellence, Peter Stevens, Smoky Sue’s Whisky and Meat pairings exceed the confines of what is commonly held in high esteem when it comes to the combination of whisky and the DNA of what makes American Barbecue.

No matter if it is an austere robustly woody and spicy Tennessee whisky, characterized by an additional phase of filtration of maple coal before the passage in cask, countering with its sour acidity Smoky Sue’s dishes where caramelized fat plays an important role, such as Pork based meats, or Scotches, where oak and / or sherry barrel aged barley malts reign supreme, paired with Smoky Sue’s beef, which amplifies the characteristic flavours, or combining a  rich yet soft and fruity Irish drop, whose sapidity on the finish makes it an ideal partner to the Smoky Sue’s desert pies; the tag team of Smoky Sue’s and Whiskey Pete have got you covered.

The fact that the ambience of Smoky Sue’s is enriched with subtle allusions and clever designs, think homages to Dr Dre “Smoke meat every day”, along with an overall lack of pretension and an ever growing quality offering of not only craft beers but a well-stocked liquor cabinet, makes it the perfect place to enjoy a barbeque with all its accoutrements.

There was a moment when something magical happened as the relationship between one of Peter Stevens’s specifically chosen drops and Smoky Sue’s brisket birthed a completely new flavour and brought out a smoky and oaky character that was fantastic and whose total brought more than the sum of the individual components with wildly flavourful, nuanced and layered flavours popping out, juxtaposing the mellowness of the meat with the melange that is encapsulated in a dram of Allt-a-Bhainne, i.e. fruity flavours of Speyside with soft peated Islay notes wafting throughout.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Time Out Sydney – Bar Awards

Not entirely sure how you keep abreast of what is happening in your town outside the confines of crustpunk shows in the basement of your local squat, but if I find myself in one of the over one hundred cities that Time Out Magazine covers, it is a go-to to find out where to go, where to snack and what to see.

It certainly is not the only means but with its independent reviews and take on things, it has established itself as a reliable source of information.

Reviews of Pubs, Bars and Restaurants are an integral part of Time Out’s regular coverage and once a year they hold awards to celebrate outlets and staff that have made a dent in the hospitality landscape over the last year.

Hundreds of people were packed into the confines of Oxford Art Factory’s on a Sunday afternoon witness given out across a range of categories. Remembrances and gifs could be shot with FotoBox and sustenance was provided via catering and drinks aplenty with an emphasis on Southern Soul Food and free-flowing cocktails of all variants, beers, wines and ciders.

The top gong, i.e. Bar of the Year went to Old Mate’s Place, the rooftop and both moody and eclectically atmospheric confines of which we covered extensively when first opened.

The event was hosted by local celeb The Chaser’s Julian Morrow who did not miss a chance to poke fun and ridicule Sydney city’s Licensing Restrictions that have been imposed over recent years on Sydney’s venues – a theme that also formed the focus of the #UnitefortheNight campaign, which embedded and contextualised the event in a meaningful manner.

A DJ set by Mowgli May and Rainbow Chan framed the proceedings, which culminated by sending attendants home with a hot-off-the-presses copy of the new issue.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Water of Life

Sydney Gin Palooza

Let’s talk about distilled artisanal drops that are predominantly derived from juniper berries as the main core ingredient.

Not unlike with whiskey, the gin landscape down under has blossomed and bloomed over the last couple of years with a myriad of distilleries are mushrooming with new and at times exotic offerings entering the fold.

More than one hundred and eighty gin expressions from sixty-six distilleries – with many of them only producing small quality batches - have been selected as contenders to be graced with accolades by the diligent committee behind the Australian Gin Awards, headed by Judith Kennedy who has been involved in the wine industry for well over two decades and who is the founder of the Australian Gin Distillers Association.

None other than Tasmania’s Urgestein and whiskey legend and master distiller Bill Lark, whose daughter was present to proffer her own gin distillates, holds the position of Chairman of Judges Bill Lark and his approach being informed by the marriage of science, art and passion has informed the selection of judges based on their technical expertise.

Discoveries at Gin Palooza, apart from Bass and Flinders Distillery, Distillery Botanica and the emissions of Old Kempton Distillers, which we have recently covered, were:

Animus Distillery, founded in 2015 and heading from Victoria, their 100% grain gin and vapour pressed botanicals result in a melange of exquisite flavours.

Maron Bay’s Hellfire Bluff Distillery London Dry Gin won me over with the strong citrus component and underpinning nuances of coriander.

Imperial Measures Distilling’s Ounce Gin is an exercise in harmony when it comes to a botanical tour de force, mixed with Victoria’s preservative free CAPI tonic it made for one delicious G&T.

Apart from the gins themselves, it was nice to see that bottle design got its own category; i.e. the Bottle Design Awards with a committee headed by professional designers and industry luminaries.

Masterclasses were held by local gin stalwarts Archie Rose and comprised an extended gin centric extravaganza that in terms of organisation and curation set a new standard that will hopefully help to establish it as an annual occurrence.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Anselm Kiefer: Books and Woodcuts

Anselm Kiefer has been an immense impact on me ever since I was exposed to him in the late 1980s.

I travel just to experience Anselm Kiefer’s emissions in the flesh and have yet to be underwhelmed by what I find, no matter if it is at Hobart’s MONA, the Louvre or the MET in NYC.

Needless to say that I was excited when I heard about an exhibition that was going to highlight in equal measures the two disciplines that his artistic pendulum has always swung between, i.e. Kiefer’s woodcuts and books and journals he has been keeping.

Being a means of reflection and research, Kiefer’s writing has always been inextricably linked to the creation of art and often added another dimension as it gave insight into the underlying ideas and the provision of a context that would have gone amiss without him shedding light on it and allowing access.

If you follow his literary emissions, one cannot help but find his woodcut an organic extension and the creation of a realm that is clearly separate from his painting.

The Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature’s present exhibition Anselm Kiefer ? Books and woodcuts is an immensely interesting effort in highlighting the underpinning philosophical and alchemical components, mythical and poetic influences along with historical events that more often than not form the genesis and foundation of what eventually materialized in museums.

Curated by Natalia Granero of the Jan Michalski Foundation, which is based in Montricher, Switzerland and Gunnar B. Kvaran from the Astrup Fearnley Museet, in Oslo, Norway, this unique and complex exhibition depicts and is an ode the monumental amalgamation of the myriad of contributing factors that Anselm Kiefer channels through his lens into his idiosyncratic art that is fascinating in every aspect.

I particularly find it interesting how Kiefer’s focus changed over the last two and a half decades as he started exploring new themes, e.g. limitations of human beings and a recent heavy focus on flora.

The accompanying catalogue to the exhibition renders and frames the exhibition by documenting Kiefer’s profound works, the themes and the scale of variety spanning from at times personal writing to the large-scale artworks that never cease to fascinate.