bourbon with your meal

[ILLfarmboy]

Although the subject has come up in the past (I did a little searching) I would like to get peoples opinions. Also we have a lot of new members since the topic was last discussed in depth.

I enjoy bourbon/rye, usually neat, as an accompaniment with certain meal combinations. Steak, prime rib, grilled pork chops and roast pork loin are my favorite meats to have alongside a nice pour. Side dishes that don't clash with or aren't overpowered by the whiskey are, in my experience, a bit problematic. My favorites are sweetcorn (with lots of butter), mashed potatoes with garlic and chives, and wild rice (the nutty, earthy flavor goes well with just about any bourbon).

My worst experience with bourbon as an accompaniment to a meal was WT 101 and water with liver and onions. Worst side dish was mac and cheese.

What are your experiences, good and not so good? Favorite meal combos, side dishes?

[ratcheer]

I am one of those who does not enjoy spirits with a meal. Beer and ale are fine, as is wine. I like spirits before and/or after a meal, just not with food.

My favorite meal combo that I ever remember was at a French restaurant in downtown Cincinnatti, at least 25 years ago. I had wood-roasted pork chops with broccoli and a baked sweet potato. Along with it, I had two or three Bass Ales "on tap".

Tim

[brian12069]

Although the subject has come up in the past (I did a little searching) I would like to get peoples opinions. Also we have a lot of new members since the topic was last discussed in depth.

I enjoy bourbon/rye, usually neat, as an accompaniment with certain meal combinations. Steak, prime rib, grilled pork chops and roast pork loin are my favorite meats to have alongside a nice pour. Side dishes that don't clash with or aren't overpowered by the whiskey are, in my experience, a bit problematic. My favorites are sweetcorn (with lots of butter), mashed potatoes with garlic and chives, and wild rice (the nutty, earthy flavor goes well with just about any bourbon).

My worst experience with bourbon as an accompaniment to a meal was WT 101 and water with liver and onions. Worst side dish was mac and cheese.

What are your experiences, good and not so good? Favorite meal combos, side dishes?

When I drink bourbon I don't eat. I just want the flavor of the bourbon, nothing else. Especially with a fine bourbon, I almost feel like I would tarnish the taste of the bourbon if I mixed in some food with it. Although...I have HEAVILY marinaded my steak IN bourbon.

[Special Reserve]

I almost never have a bourbon with a meal. If I'm at a business dinner and have the remains of a bourbon when the meal is served I will finish a drink but never have bourbon with a meal at home.

I will have a high quality micro brew beer or a glass of wine with dinner at least once a weekend.

[mozilla]

Durring the summer we tend to eat alot of venison jerkey. The jerkey is made in a variety of different styles, from slim jim to dried strips. We have not found a bourbon yet that won't due just fine.

Also, try any type of nut or seed, roasted and salted for appetisers, plane for adding to main courses or dessert. ie: cashew chicken and Makers, bourbon/pecan brownies, bourbon/molasis/mustard vinegrette

I hope this helps your bourbon and food paring. I don't usually drink bourbon with my meal, rather sip it as a pallet cleanser a few times. Water tends to be my drink of choice in majority.

[luv2hunt]

Bourbon with a meal => Never

Bourbon used in meal preparation => Frequent

Dawn

[nor02lei]

Here in Sweden we have a long tradition of drinking spirit with food. We call it snaps and is almost always flavoured neutral spirits with are sold here in a very big selection. Many including myself do there own flavouring as well. I haven’t tried bourbon with food but I have found that young rye goes very well with the same type of food we drink snaps with.

Leif

[TBoner]

I am with the majority in that I rarely have bourbon with food. Generally, with food, it's wine or my homebrew (or plain ol' water). However, I do cook/marinate with it, and I have been working on trying out some pairings to see what might work. I'll post anything I come up with that is truly earth-shattering.

[Gillman]

I only drink bourbon with meals in Bardstown or Louisville, and I always enjoy it. Recently at a Russian-themed restaurant I sipped vodka throughout and found it helped digestion and was not "too much". The reason I don't do it at home, I think, is not so much that it doesn't go, but usually I have one before dinner and I limit it to one inasmuch as a beer or wine usually washes down the food. So it is more limiting overall consumption than anything else.

But in L'ville/B'town it's party party party..

Gary

[ILLfarmboy]

Here in Sweden we have a long tradition of drinking spirit with food. We call it snaps and is almost always flavoured neutral spirits with are sold here in a very big selection. Many including myself do there own flavouring as well. I haven’t tried bourbon with food but I have found that young rye goes very well with the same type of food we drink snaps with.

Leif

Interesting. Being part Swedish myself all the more so. If genetics has anything to do with it, I had always assumed my appreciation of fine spirits came from my Irish half.

I really like grilled pork with WT rye. What types of food do you eat with snaps or rye? What young ryes do you like?

[HighTower]

What about bourbon in your food? Tonight for dinner I had a kangaroo steak (yes, we eat them too, poor Skippy!) and I marinated it in Elijah Craig 12yo, a bit of honey, barbeque sauce and a bit of garlic. It was quite enjoyable. Kangaroo is a meat that is best served rare or medium rare. If you cook it too long, it gets very tough.

Another dish I am fond of is a baby octopus marinated in a mixture of Gentleman Jack, honey, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic and a little chilli. Leave it marinating overnight...

Scott

[nor02lei]

Interesting. Being part Swedish myself all the more so. If genetics has anything to do with it, I had always assumed my appreciation of fine spirits came from my Irish half.

I really like grilled pork with WT rye. What types of food do you eat with snaps or rye? What young ryes do you like?

Brad I saw on your profile that your surname comes from your Swedish half.

We drink spirit to typical spicy salt dishes like most of the dishes on the traditional Swedish Christmas table with are partly the same as a normal smorgasbord. It also goes well with outdoor grilling. As a ground rule you could say its perfect for all dishes that don’t go very well with ordinary white or red wine and not so good with mild dishes in general. I have tried Pikesville, Rittenhouse 80 and Rittenhouse 10Y BIB. The last one didn’t work to anything due to its paunchiness (however very good as a spice inside) but the first 2 did work excellent. This summer I did have grilled pork with Pikesville and it worked very well.

And come to think of it if you include desserts, cakes and chocolate in this thread I do drink bourbon with it as well.

Leif

[cowdery]

Sometimes I will do what I call "brown zinfandel," which is bourbon diluted about three to one with cool or cold water, in a wine glass. At that dilution, it pretty much goes with anything, but probably best with strongly-flavored meats and anything spicy. What survives of the bourbon taste is mostly barrel tannin.

[ILLfarmboy]

When I first started drinking bourbon as an accompaniment to a meal it was definitely an adjustment. I occasionally drink wine, usually a Cabernet or Shiraz with a meal. I'm not a big white wine person. But for the most part I had always drank non alcoholic beverages with food; Milk or Ice tea. I never developed a taste for beer. The alcohol seems more evident when you take a sip of whiskey after a bite of steak/other food. This is what takes some getting use to. But the barrel notes meld very well with a well grilled steak, one with some char on the outside and a cool pink center. Also the tannins in the whiskey go very well with a fatty piece of meat for the same reason a bold tannic red wine does.

Drinking whiskey with food isn't something I jumped right into. It started many years ago with a mild whiskey. I was sitting at the bar in a restaurant drinking Jameson's on the rocks waiting for some friends to arrive. I decided to order an appetizer. The bar tender was busy and was slow getting my ice water. So I washed down the food (onion rings and fried 'shrooms I think) with the Jameson's. I remember it went well with the dipping sauce. From then on it was a mater of purposeful experimentation; different whiskeys different ways with different foods.

Whiskey with food is enough outside the norm I have raised the eyebrows of a few bartenders and waiters but most don't bat an eye. So I figured "I can't be the only one".

I can't say I have seen anyone else do this except for one other person. A friend of mine who back in our single bar hopping days would drink Beam and Cokes with bar food. Like me he never liked beer. But I don't think that realy counts. I did however notice a scene in a western where Jimmy Stewart drinks whiskey with a "beefsteak" in a saloon.

Chuck, your "brown Zinfandel" does indeed go very well with spicy hot wings. I had WT 101 and water with hot wings at a local watering hole recently. Not exactly 3 to 1 dilution but close enough.