For those who don't already know, WhiskyFest is a great show put on by John Hansel and Malt Advocate Magazine. They hold 3 shows every year in Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

The focus is squarely on our favorite brown spirit and the products represented are predominantly whiskies. Brandy,  Vodka, liquers and Rum make appearances but are in the extreme minority.

For us, it's a whisky wonderland.

Every one of these shows has its own personality and character. Some of that comes from the format, some from the attendees and a health chunk comes from the sponsors. People like John Hansel and Riannon Walsh work very hard to keep these three forces in alignment and aimed in the right direction.

WhiskyFest is very much an industy showcase. The major players and minor importers are on the same footing here. Everyone has the same space to work with, but that doesn't imply that the presentations are at all equal.

I have written more than a few words about Bulleit Bourbon. When I first started exploring whiskey I shied away from Bourbon, mostly because of my college memories of Wild Turkey in the mountains of southern California. I remembered Bourbon as harsh and fiery and a one-way ticket to a bottle of aspirin.

At WhiskyFest 2007 I snagged a bit of glassware from the Bulleit Bourbon table. I wasn't tasting Bourbons that night so I left with just the glass. The branding stuck with me though because about a month later I was checking prices at Trader Joe's and Bulleit was about $20, so I picked it up. That first bottle was shared with everyone I could hand it to. I was so delighted with this wonderful spirit that I had to share.

Mark and I trace the genesis of our whiskey adventures back to a science fiction convention in March of last year, but perhaps the biggest watershed for us was attending WhiskeyFest San Francisco in 2007. WhiskeyFest is an annual event hosted by Malt Advocate Magazine in Chicago, New York and as of last year, San Francisco. They rent the ballroom of a major hotel and fill it with whiskey exhibitors to the tune of about 250 different bottles from all over the world. I wrote about one of our more colorful experiences there in The Teacher's Pet, but there were many more important moments from that night. Really, we went from drinking almost exclusively Irish whiskey to finding some of the most exceptional Bourbon, Scotch and world whiskies we've seen to this day.

Now that Hockey season is back, and the San Jose Sharks are doing well, I thought it was time to finally publish the recipe for one of my favorite "silly" drinks: The Sharkiekaze. I call this a "silly" cocktail because it is based on a classic, but tweaked for color.

The Sharkiekaze is based on the IBA recipe for the Kami Kaze and turned teal to honor my favorite NHL franchise. 

• 1 part (3cl) Vodka
• 1 part (3cl) Triple Sec
• 1 part (3cl) fresh sqeezed lime juice or Rose's Lime
• Dash of Blue Curacao to desired teal color

Add all ingredients into cocktail glass shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a gummy shark.

Once again proving that no sacrifice is too great, I boldly ventured on to the Jameson Bartenders Ball last night. Oh... what I won't do for my readers :)

This event is hosted By Jameson 3 times a year here in Northern California and last night was the last one for the year.  It's a heck of a party and nothing like what I expected.  I was imagining something with the lights up, music mellow and insiders chatting about products, promotions and other aspects of the spirits industry. This was just a wet tshirt contest short of spring break.

The drink menu was extensive: Jameson neat, Jameson on the rocks, Jameson and soda, Jameson and ginger ale, Jameson and cola, Jameson and American Honey or American Honey. All of the open bars were stocked with cases of Jameson and it was flowing freely.

Father's Day is apon us again and what better time to get that special dad a bottle of something special. As a father of four myself, this guide for is a projection of what *I* want since there are no guidelines from a congressionally sponsored Government Institute Managing Mandatory Inferred Expression (GIMMIE?).

My first son was born in October of 1994 so this marks my 13th Father's Day. I thought that the perfect gift would be a bottle of whisk(e)y that is the same age as my fatherhood. The more I thought about this, the better I liked the idea. It has serious flaws for getting something affordable for my dad at 35 years but he doesn't like Scotch so I get off easy.

Life has a way of pushing things around. Mine has been a roller coaster for the last couple of months and pushed writing off the cliff of available time. Now that Baycon 2008 is behind us and my release schedule at work is starting to gain sanity I can get back to writing of our adventures in the land of whiskey.

Bear with me, thar be great tales a comin!

Every field and venture has it's dangers. Being a whisky afficianado is no exception, and while some are well known (having a dram too many of the Laphroig and drunk-dialing an ex) some are a bit more...exotic. As a for instance, last October my esteemed WhiskeyBro Mark and I were perusing the plethora of possible pours at WhiskeyFest SF. If there was a bit of stagger to our step, well, it had been a long night. We encountered the Dalmore table with gusto, but not quite as much as the fiery Scot who walked us through the tasting. In fact, "fiery" and "gusto" don't quite do justice to the force we reckoned with. Suffice to say that we did not treat the Scotch in front of us with sufficient gravity, which resulted in, well....ice chucking. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Richard Paterson himself, award-winning, third generation, master blender for Whyte & Mackay threw ice at my brother-in-law.

Just to prove that we are real human beings, once again we will crawl out of the whiskey cellar back at HQ. This time to share a couple of great American whiskeys; Bulleit Bourbon and George Dickel. We'll be at the Elixir in San Francisco starting at 7pm and pouring until 9pm.
So come on down Mike and I will be sharing schwag, stories, and some great hooch!

Last night was the premiere of the new season of The Deadliest Catch on The Discovery Channel. The captains have always gathered for drinks before the fleet sets out on the next crab season. This time we got to see what they drink for their toast -- Duck Farts.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 oz. (15ml)  Kahlua
• 0.5 oz. (15ml) Baily's Irish Cream
• 0.5 oz. (15ml) Crown Royal Whisky

Layered, not mixed, each in a shot glass in order.

Hat tip to this blog.

There's a very interesting law being worked on in Sacramento:

This bill would also permit an out-of-state distilled spirits importer, out-of-state beer manufacturer, beer manufacturer, distilled spirits manufacturer, rectifier, beer and wine importer, distilled spirits importer, beer and wine wholesaler, or distilled spirits wholesaler to provide entertainment, food, and beverages to invited guests, as specified.

The current law limits these activities to local companies. Out of state (or out of country) companies are very limited in the ways that they can provide product for events. Product launches and promotions are very limited by the CA ABC. With this change we would be able to open up the market for sponsored parties and tastings to a much wider base.

Rum and Root Beer was an accidental creation of BayCon. I was invited in for a mandatory drink by and old acquaintance. He had Meyers Rum but no Coke. So I grabbed the closed thing I could find -- Henry Weinhard's Root Beer.

This proved to be the most fortuitous accident of my drinking life. Root Beer complements rum much more cleanly than Coke. It also works well with spiced rum.

Mike has been present for many expirements with the Rum and Root Beer. We've varied both ingredients up and down the scale. Rums include Captain Morgan, Captain Morgan Tatoo, Captain Morgan Silver, Whalers, and Sailor Jerry. Root beers have included Weinhard's, IBC, Jones, Hansen's, Mug, A&W, and the favorite, Virgil's.

Virgil's and Captain Morgan Tattoo has been cited as the best combination.

Ratios vary, but with a sweet rum 2 parts Root Beer to 1 part rum works. Add more root beer as your taste suits.

Once again into the breech of Rum based cocktails! Whiskey is the drink of choice here, but we're gearing up for Baycon '08 and having some fun with Captain Morgan Tattoo and Bulleit Bourbon.

So here is another pirate creation for use with dark rum and extreme caution. We were going to call this the "Will Turner" but that innuendo is too direct. My will was turned and we changed the name to Bootstrap.

Good sweet rums are wonderful for mixing with sodas. The right spiced rum brings a whole new lampshade to any soda party. With Bootstrap it is Cream Soda. This is one of the more successful experiments in the vein of the Black Pearl.

Feel free to push the boundaries with the ingredients, I don't think you can go wrong.

• 1oz (3cl) Captain Morgan Tattoo
• 5oz (15cl) IBC Cream Soda

Serve chilled over ice in an 8oz highball glass and garnish with a straw.

Last weekend the WhiskyBros were faced with the difficult and dirty task of attending the Whiskies of the World expo in San Francisco. To make matters worse Mark was working the Johnnie Walker table which left me alone, in a room full of whiskey. As you can imagine, this put me in a quite an onerous situation.

 I managed.

While we will certainly write more about the event, the whisky, and the brilliant seminars the day before, I wanted to spend a minute on a new friend. High West Rendezvous Rye is a real treat, and while  Ryes tend not to be my prefered dram, I've said before and will say again that good whiskey is good whiskey, whatever it is.

 High West is a new micro-distillery started by a Californian named David Perkins, in Utah (of all places). Take whatever time (or drinks) you need to stifle your disbelief, that's where it is, and apparently, it's not a big deal to the locals. Even if it is funny.

I'm so happy St' Patrick's day is here again. The one day a year I can convince a large number of my coworkers to join me in some good Irish cheer. Every year I celebrate at the office by making a large pot of coffee, bringing in some whipping (or whipped) cream and a bottle of Irish Whiskey. I have a feeling that Guinness might make an appearance as well.

This year, in honor of Bushmills 400th anniversary, I wll be making them with Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey. I was considering going with Bushmills Black Bush or Bushmills Malt 10 but settled on the Bushmills Original for economic reasons.Not the least of which is that I can get a full liter of Original for less than a 750ml of the other two. Also just to sweeten the deal a little bit more, I'll bring in the Carolan's Irish Cream. I normally stock Bailey's Irish Cream but I'm out at the moment and the Carolan's was a very good deal at Christmas.