Bourbon and Bacon Dinner - October 1st

The Standard Restaurant in Downtown Nashville is truly excited to bring two of the Southeast’s finest and most recognized artesian specialty food andbeverage producers to town for a great culinary treat. Julian Van Winkle of the award winning Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon line of Louisville, Kentucky willbe at The Standard on October 1st to host a dinner prepared by Chef Joe Shawfeaturing his bourbon’s and the bacon and ham products of Allen Benton of Madison, TN.

There will be a meet and greet hosted by Julian Van Winkle in The Standard Ballroom from 6:30- 7:30. A choice of bourbon toddies will be made available to guests including: Mint Julips, Sazerac, Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour, Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon poured Neat and On the Rocks. Chef Joe Shaw will provide a variety of Southern hors d’ oeuvres featuring Allen Benton’s Tennessee country bacon to include: Benton’s country ham and local melons,open faced BLT’s and bacon wrapped bacon.Following the meet and greet in the Ballroom a four course dinner preparedby Chef Joe Shaw will be served in the front of the house.

The menu follows.

First Course
Alan Benton’s braised slab bacon on creamy country grits with house pickled okra served with Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Bourbon

Second Course
Foie Gras wrapped with Benton’s country bacon, bourbon pudding, fig puree, and arugula served with Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Bourbon

Third Course
Bacon larded buffalo eye of rib with sweet potato Swiss chard and bourbon and berry jam served with Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Bourbon

Fourth Course
Ginger snap with Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and Allen Benton’s bacon ice creams and Benton’s bacon and pecan brittle

Mint Julep recipe from Webbspun Ideas

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
Sprigs of fresh mint
Crushed ice
Kentucky Bourbon
Silver Julep Cup or just a nice glass

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of Kentucky Whisky or Bourbon. Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Kentucky Derby event coming Saturday, May 3

Stay tuned for all the details.

Kentucky Bourbon and Bluegrass

We fashioned our itinerary in the style of a bluegrass song: a defined structure but with ample room for improvisation. During the first part of the trip, we would hit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a whiskey version of California’s Napa Valley made up of seven distilleries (Maker’s among them) that are open to the public. Our final stop would be the sixth annual Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration in Rosine, the birthplace of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. It was in the central part of the state, in the rolling hills between Lexington and Louisville — where a layer of limestone filters the iron from the water, making it ideal for bourbon making — that Scotch-Irish distillers settled in the early 1800s. They had fled west to the area of Bourbon County, Kentucky, from Pennsylvania and Virginia in the wake of George Washington’s imposed tax on whiskey in 1791 and the subsequent Whiskey Rebellion. One such early distiller, the mellifluously named Elijah Pepper, began operating in 1812 in an area west of Lexington that is now thoroughbred country. Today, the distillery, a cluster of old stone buildings nestled in a shallow valley along a creek, is home to Woodford Reserve, the easternmost point on the Bourbon Trail.



In a clever bit of marketing, Woodford calls itself “Kentucky’s most historic distillery,” but the brand dates only to 1996, when Brown-Forman (which also owns Jack Daniel’s in Tennessee) decided to create a small-batch bourbon, having earlier restored the buildings. Woodford allows visitors to see the entire bourbon-making process, from mash to bottle; our tour began in earnest in the fermentation room, in a 200-year-old limestone building at the foot of a hill.



Read the entire article in the New York Times.

Limited-edition Woodford Reserve whiskey gets wine finish

Super-premium Ky. bourbon goes for broader appeal

By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press

Master distiller Chris Morris and Terry Adams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
Kentucky bourbon whiskey is commonly mixed with water or soda, but wine?

Brown-Forman Corp. has put a new twist on its premium Woodford Reserve bourbon with a limited edition variation distinct for spending a few months aging in the company's Sonoma-Cutrer wine barrels.

The experiment blends California chardonnay with Kentucky whiskey culture.

The result is called Woodford Reserve's Sonoma-Cutrer Finish, produced at the Woodford Reserve distillery in the heart of bluegrass country near Versailles.

It's the second time Brown-Forman has dabbled in a special whiskey that's an offshoot of its small-batch Woodford Reserve brand. The goal is to build a bigger following for Woodford Reserve in the competitive super-premium bourbon category, and this time perhaps win crossover business from wine drinkers.

"We certainly believe this has a nice connection back to Woodford Reserve, and it would have interest to people who are involved in premium whiskeys," said Wayne Rose, Woodford's global brand director.

He added that it could stir wine drinkers to "think a little differently about bourbon."


Check out the full story in the Tennessean