Saturday, February 26, 2011

Watershed Gin

Watershed Distillery is one of two distilleries producing spirits in Columbus.  Its an interesting name.  At first, I thought that the watershed is where you beat your kids back in the pioneer days; you know, back before there were Wal-Marts.  Turns out that was the woodshed.  A watershed is a strip of land between two rivers.  The distillery is located between the Scioto and the mighty Olentangy, so that works.  They are most likely going after the "watershed moment", which is the moment when everything changes.

That's all fine and dandy, but you probably are wondering if the gin is any good.  It is.  You get your typical juniper flavor that you would expect from a London dry.  It has a hint of citrus, and I think that it has a lot of cucumber.  Good stuff.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Slane Castle and White Castle

On occassion, I do like to offer up a food pairing to go with the drink that I am reviewing.  The obvious choice for this Irish estate made whiskey with a burger made from a famous American estate.

Web stuff: This unique Whiskey blend has been distilled by the nearby Cooley Distillery, which won the European and World Distiller of the Year at the 2008 International Wine and Spirit Competition. It is a well balanced blend of malt and grain Irish Whiskey which has been aged and matured for at least four years in American oak barrels that previously matured Bourbon. In the traditional Irish style, the malt whiskey is distilled in copper pot stills and no peated malt is used. Both the malt content and the type of wood used for maturation give this product its sweetness and depth of character.

My two cents:  The aging in bourbon barrels adds a lot of sweetness and oak that differentiates it from Bushmill's and Jameson.  It does help me to forget that I am eating White Castle, which should only be consumed when you are drunk.


Grade: B-