World Gin Week Is Coming! The Best Burger Of The 2010s Is Back! And Much More!

Lots of links forthcoming, but first things first:

I’m thrilled to shout from the rooftops that Chef Angie Mar, who took the reins at the Beatrice Inn in 2013 and, since closing it in 2020, has been following her culinary muse at Le Trois Chevaux and Le B, a couple of doors away, is reviving some of the Beatrice’s signature dishes and cocktails to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her buying the place from a certain Mr. Graydon Carter. That includes one of the greatest burgers I’ve ever had — a 45 day dry-aged slab of ribeye blend, dripping with d’Affinois cheese and onions slow-cooked in Bordeaux wine until they’ve lost their consistency and become goopy blobs of pure delight — and the Big Poppa cocktail, which… well, you’ll just have to read about it, among many other delights that await you if you set foot into Le B this summer. But check out my writeup first! Only at Forbes, people. Link is -> HERE <-.

If you’re me, every week is World Gin Week. But if you’re not spotted with a martini in your hand on a regular basis, then you need to read about THE official World Gin Week, happening June 13-20 — a global celebration of gin and all things ginny. Its focus is in New York, where parties and seminars galore will be had, but bars and gin brands are participating worldwide. Which bars? Which brands? And what does my drinking buddy/bad influence/HerringFest co-host Philip Duff have to do with all this? Read all about it at Forbes, and then, as James Brown sang, get up, get into it, and get involved. And have a martini. Link is -> HERE <-.

I haven’t written anything for Alcohol Professor in a while… until now, that is. They asked me to check out Elijah Craig’s new 15 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon and let the masses know whether a bottle is worth the not-insignificant sum of $150. Using scads of highly scientific data, I crunched numbers, performed chemical analysis, looked back at years of The Economist magazine, and… well, actually I just tasted it, though I did compare the price to a few other similar bottles. And came up with the answer, which was a resounding… READ THE ARTICLE! What, you think I was gonna just give the ending away? Link is -> HERE <-.

Food & Wine is keeping me busy writing about… well, lots of different things. Like, for instance, the debut of Michter’s Barrel Strength Sour Mash Whiskey. Michter’s is one of my favorite distilleries, and their Sour Mash is without question my favorite lower-proof (43%) American whiskey. So to taste it at barrel strength, which in this case was 115 proof, was both interesting and tasty. Get the scoop, and some interesting quotes from the Michter’s team, right over -> HERE <-.

What do Scotland and Long Island have in common? Well duh, GOLF! Which is why Dewar’s created a special “Champion’s Edition” blended whisky finished in Cabernet Franc barrels from a Long Island winery. Because the U.S. Open golf championship is being played on Long Island (not “in Long Island,” for reasons I have accepted but still don’t quite understand). So it all makes sense now… right? Read the article if not. Or even if so. Link is -> HERE <-.

And lastly… what do you do when your editor tells you to come up with an article about a Japanese whisky that was declared the best of the year at the London Spirits Competition, only to find that there is literally almost no information available about it, and it doesn’t seem to be available for purchase anywhere in the world… including Japan ? Well, if you’re me, you come up with -> THIS <-. If anyone reading this ever actually tracks down a bottle, I want a taste.