Everybody's Whiskey for the Weekend

I love whiskey.  It's the first interest that brought Jake and I together. When we got married 2 1/2 years after we met, all of our tables were named after our favorite whiskeys (Basil Hayden, Sazerac Rye, Elmer T. Lee, etc.).  During the "great compromise of 2010" - he wanted a cat, I wanted a dog, we got one of each.  Now we have our cat, Templeton and our dog, Rye.  We won the "special achiever's" award at Templeton Rye's Shoes and Cue 2011. I also hosted the whiskey tasting for the Boardwalk Empire Premiere event in Chicago (See pic below).

Boardwalk Empire Premiere: Whiskey Tasting (I'm in the Middle and Jake is on the right)

Clearly you see where I am going with this - other than the occasional hangover, we go together with whiskey like peas and carrots.  Our families, knowing us well, often give us interesting and special whiskeys. This Christmas, we were fortunate enough to receive a bottle of Middle West Spirits OYO Michelone Reserve Bourbon from my brother and sister in law.

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, OYO Michelone Reserve Bourbon is a great and distinctive addition to any home bar.  If you are like me and you like a drink before you take your shoes off Monday-Friday, it is a fantastic option.  A blend - it contains Kentucky bourbon and OYO's 100% wheat whiskey. OYO's whiskey is Ohio's first 100% wheat whiskey in over a century. The result is exceptionally smooth, with nuances of caramel and light smokey oak. In fact, the only complaint I have is it took both Jake and I almost 5 minutes to cut through the wax seal on the bottle - that's a lot of work!

Middle West Spirits describes themselves as "Central Ohio’s first micro-distillery. It produces high-quality, artisanal spirits using only the best ingredients sourced from farms across Ohio." Brady Konya and Ryan Lang are certainly giving me yet another reason to visit Columbus.

A Gift for the Whole Year

My soon to be brother-in-law and I share a common interest: whiskey. Whenever we visit my fiance's family in Ohio, her brother and I often wind up, at least one night, drinking too much whiskey, though I pay for it the next day, hungover. Nine out of ten times, it's bourbon. Earlier this past year, he and his wife went to the Buffalo Trace Distillery. It was while he was there that he decided to get us a tremendous bourbon they make release only once a year. Part of their "antique collection", George T. Stagg is an uncut, unfiltered barrel proof bourbon. At 141.4 proof, the bottle they got us is from the 2009 release. Despite being over 70% alcohol, it really has a bourbon taste - sweetness, fruit, vanilla - alcohol (duh!). And yeah, it burns, but not as much as you'd expect. I drink it with an ice cube, and slowly. Not a whiskey to drink a lot of, or quickly, it's a great treat that I'll come back to throughout the year to enjoy. If you like bourbon, and you can locate a bottle, I highly recommend getting yourself one.