FOOD FLAVORS WE DETECT IN ALMOST EVERY BOURBON:
Sweet
• Vanilla • Caramel
Earthy
• Nuts
• Oak and wood
Spice
• Pepper • Baking spices
Yeasty
• Bread that can range from biscuit to
pumpernickel
Grainy
• Grains can range from corn sweetness to
spicy rye
What can I say, there aren’t too many Bourbons in which I do not detect some level of intensity in the avors mentioned. is is where Mother Nature and science meet. e decisions that a master distiller makes during production will vary the intensity of each category and evolve the base avors into new and exciting complexities, along with Mother Nature’s hand of temperature, geography and of course age.
You may also dial up or down the avors of these simple foods to create the level of descriptor for each of the Bourbons. An example may be cherry avor – is it light white cherry, or dark Bing? at would be the simple food you use during the tasting. Is it a light caramel, or dark like brown sugar
avor in the Bourbon? Your choice to pick the simple caramel sample (light or dark) for your pairings.
In my upcoming book with friend and expert Susan Reigler, Which Fork do I use with my Bourbon, we discovered that the following simple foods can also play a role on the e ect of avor you are trying to promote.
My best advice for a simple pairing is to create a balance to the avors of the Bourbon and pay attention to the style of the whiskey. Balance means to complement. Take an existing avor in the whiskey – let’s say a Bourbon has some nice honey notes, then pair it with a drizzle, or dollop, of honey to bring it out. Hints of orange? One small slice of an orange, or mandarin can do the job quite nicely.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Preferably, try and have your simple pairing prior to dinner to release all those great taste buds and have focus with the Bourbons. I always get a kick out of doing a tasting after a dinner party. I need to work twice as hard to pull out avors for the guest after their palate has been accosted by the myriad of avors they taste during dinner, not to mention the cocktail hour. It’s like trying to steer a car that lost its brakes. Sure, I ask them to rinse a bit by taking a sip of water, but it’s tricky. is is where simple foods for simple tastings is even more important. As they are full from dinner, you can actually try each simple tasting item intensely without over- lling them. An example would be chewing and enjoying the multi-dimensions of pecan’s earthy and bitter notes, as opposed to o ering a pecan pie bite with the whiskey.
Another beauty of the simple tasting is sheer prep time. All the culinary items mentioned for pairing are easy to purchase and can t onto one plate to save you time in the kitchen, allowing you to actually enjoy spending time with guests. Nor do you need to break the pocketbook by buying eccentric grocery items to create a food pairing.
Another part of timing is sequence of the simple foods. Keep texture in mind and help your palate out by graduating the avors
instead of sending your mouth into shock by starting with cinnamon. I also never begin with chocolate because it will coat your tongue and confuse the palate on the next small bite. Instead, look for the fruit first. That is a good slogan to any pairing: fruit first. It is the least likely to get in the way of the passé of flavors yet to come. Put the nuts somewhere in the middle of the tasting. Yes, they have great flavor, but the texture of the nut is coarse on the tongue and a perfect tee-up to the next sweet venture on the plate.
See the intensity sequence scale below.
FOLLOW THE INTENSITY SEQUENCE SCALE
Fruit-light, sweet-light, spice-yeasty, earthyheavy, sweet-heavy and spice-smoke.
Again, this is purely a suggested intensity guide, as grains can go from sweet (like corn) to spice (like rye). It is about tasting the whiskey first and deciding what you choose to balance with the simple food.
What an easy, breezy tasting that is not complicated or fussy in the slightest. It is pure and simple, that’s the trick to making an enjoyable tasting for all your Bourbon lovers while not overwhelming you in the kitchen. It seems that over my time of sipping cocktails and enjoying a parade of fine cuisine, I keep gravitating to the chefs and mixologists that keep it simple and pure for me. No garden garnish in my cocktail and no foam hors d’oeuvres (remember that culinary fiasco?) with 22 other distracting ingredients on top of a dime-sized crostini. Good grief. So, give it a shot (literally) at your next tasting and see how your guests react and appreciate a well-balanced and simple tasting!
What an easy, breezy tasting that is not complicated or fussy