Gillman
05-11-2004, 05:06
My experiment to make something similar to the Jim Beam bourbon "with port added" sold in Australia: I used 1987 Offley vintage port which is the only port I had at the moment. The port was particularly good, rich and fine in taste, so I knew I couldn't go far wrong adding it to good whiskey. I wasn't sure how much to add, I added enough to half a bottle of Van Winkle 13 year old rye to constitue 2-3% of the total. I got the color looking similar to what I saw in the picture of the Australian Beam bottle: lightly reddish, a rosy tint overlaying the deeper brown whiskey color. Well, it is very good. Interestingly, the port doesn't really change the whiskey. It enhances it but the profile of VW rye is still very much there. Some bottlings of VW rye have been fruity in taste anyway, plum or blackberry-like. This latest VW I used is perhaps less so with deep smoke and some oak dryness, so the port only complemented the whiskey.
I also added the port to a mingling of whiskeys I keep going in a jug based on Elmer Lee bourbon and again got good results. It is getting warmer (finally) in Toronto and I believe these flavored whiskeys will taste especially nice on the rocks after the sun goes down (maybe with a slice of orange or lemon, Old-Fashioned-style). They are a good change of pace. If the port lasts (this type tends not to keep well even if the opened bottle is fairly full), I may try this with other whiskies and use less port. I have read old blending formulas in which the blending agent was only 1% of the whiskey compounded. I used more than that in the VW rye because I wanted to emulate the Jim Beam product. I think the latter is intended as a flavoured whiskey; this, as opposed to creating a whiskey in which the addition is meant simply to marry the flavors already there. Adding a tablespoon of port to a full bottle of whiskey makes the port about 1% of the total. I may try this with a bottle of Wild Turkey I got the other day. It might work well with Woodford Reserve, too.
I did some reading on Geyser Peak over the weekend. It appears Jim Beam (Fortune Brands) owns the winery; hence no doubt the synergistic idea to combine two products of the same company. Geyser Peak makes a shiraz grape-derived, vintage-styled port that is 5 years old. Jim Beam Worldwide Brands may be using that in the whiskey. This is a line extension that makes sense in historical and taste terms, too. If it catches on "down under" maybe ported bourbon will be sold here some day.
Gary
I also added the port to a mingling of whiskeys I keep going in a jug based on Elmer Lee bourbon and again got good results. It is getting warmer (finally) in Toronto and I believe these flavored whiskeys will taste especially nice on the rocks after the sun goes down (maybe with a slice of orange or lemon, Old-Fashioned-style). They are a good change of pace. If the port lasts (this type tends not to keep well even if the opened bottle is fairly full), I may try this with other whiskies and use less port. I have read old blending formulas in which the blending agent was only 1% of the whiskey compounded. I used more than that in the VW rye because I wanted to emulate the Jim Beam product. I think the latter is intended as a flavoured whiskey; this, as opposed to creating a whiskey in which the addition is meant simply to marry the flavors already there. Adding a tablespoon of port to a full bottle of whiskey makes the port about 1% of the total. I may try this with a bottle of Wild Turkey I got the other day. It might work well with Woodford Reserve, too.
I did some reading on Geyser Peak over the weekend. It appears Jim Beam (Fortune Brands) owns the winery; hence no doubt the synergistic idea to combine two products of the same company. Geyser Peak makes a shiraz grape-derived, vintage-styled port that is 5 years old. Jim Beam Worldwide Brands may be using that in the whiskey. This is a line extension that makes sense in historical and taste terms, too. If it catches on "down under" maybe ported bourbon will be sold here some day.
Gary