Barrel programs, in which restaurants and bars put their own stamp on spirits, are becoming common. Matt Ragan, general manager at Victor Tangos, considers his collaboration with Koval Distillery of Chicago to be uncommonly rigorous -- and productive.
A four-month back-and-forth between Ragan and his bar team and Koval representatives, which racked up wads of frequent-flier miles, has yielded a custom-blended whiskey that does wonders in cocktails, especially an Old-Fashioned. "You can build any cocktail around this," says Ragan, but that's the drink he had in mind from the start of the process in April.
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This close partnership involved not only issues of barreling and maturation but specifying the roast of malt and type of grains. The Victor Tangos whiskey is 53 percent rye, 15 percent oats, 15 percent millet, 10 percent corn and 7 percent barley.
Ragan says this is only the second whiskey in the U.S. made with millet, which lends it a coat-the-tongue oiliness and "funky undertone." All the grain is locally sourced, organic and non-GMO.
Get a wingding of an Old-Fashioned, done with house-made apple bitters for fall, for $14, a few dollars more than most of VTs' cocktails.
Two other recent whiskey encounters, also with Old-Fashioned angles:
Texas taste
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While trying to organize a cigar and whiskey party in October, the Library Bar's manager, Chad McClendon, came across a mom-and-pop Texas spirit that he's recommending to customers at the storied hotel lounge. Swift Texas Whiskey is the laudatory outcome of Amanda and Nick Swift's singular determination to build a single malt in Dripping Springs, the Hill Country town better-known for vodka.
The couple imports 100 percent Scottish malted barley, which they hand-mill and cook over an open flame, then age in Kentucky bourbon barrels before finishing in Spanish sherry casks. The result is a fragrant, light, but consequential, sipper that McClendon considers a swell cocktail-maker, too.
Swift Single Malt retails for $55. You can also ask for it at Parliament and Lark on the Park, among other places.
Brown bombers
Mr. Dallas was shame-faced when he hastily splashed a sample size of Angel's Envy Cask Strength into an (overwhelmed) Old-Fashioned before noting the 750ml price of $169.99. This is big whiskey with a big reputation. Booze authority F. Paul Pacult proclaimed it the best spirit in the world in 2013, an Olympian judgment of a boubon not to be gilded with sugar water. Only 7,500 bottles are being released in a score of markets, including Texas.
Hudson Whiskey's Maple Cask Rye is a bold statement even by that New York producer's exuberant standards. Hudson collaborated with a maple syrup tapper who wanted to buy 10-gallon bourbon barrels to age his product in. In return, those syrup-cured casks go back to Hudson, which fills them with rye whiskey and rests them for four months to blend flavors. Hudson suggests a seasonal Old-Fashioned substituting maple syrup for simple syrup and garnishing with a cinnamon stick. Mr. Dallas will stick to pancakes. Maple Cask Rye is $44.99 for 375ml.
