Everyday Drinking_ The Distilled Kingsley Amis - Kingsley Amis [66]
All that, of course, is changed now. American whiskeys are second to none in smoothness, blandness, everything that goes to make a fine spirit. Some of them, like Washington’s product and many since, are based on rye, but nearly all the brands we see in the UK belong in the bourbon category. Bourbon (rhymes with turban) gets its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where the first stills of this type were set up, though it’s long been regularly made in several other states besides. Federal law requires bourbon whiskey to be derived from a cereal mash of at least 51 per cent corn, which is to say Indian corn, often called maize over here, though it’s the identical vegetable that makes you, or me, so tremendously fat eaten off the cob.
The manufacturing process is carried out by means of large stills that operate on exactly the same principle as the patent or Coffey stills used in the production of grain whisky in Scotland. The young spirit is then drawn off to mature in specially charred oak barrels. Until recently, these were required to be new, but it seems that nowadays used casks are permitted. This is bad news for some distillers in Scotland, who formerly imported the secondhand casks to age their own whisky in.
Prominent brands of bourbon available in the UK include Jim Beam, Old Grandad, Wild Turkey, and Jack Daniel’s. Wild Turkey is a newcomer, to this country at any rate, and increasingly tipped as the best. Jack Daniel’s is the established quality leader. Strictly it isn’t a bourbon at all, but a Tennessee whiskey, made at Lynchburg in Moore County, no less.
Don’t go there, as I once did. Moore County turned out to be dry, and all I got to drink all day was a glass of cold tea at Madame Bobo’s Boarding House. I doubt if things have changed much.
Like malt Scotch and all other first-rate spirits, bourbon whiskey from the USA deserves to be taken straight, neat, or, as I prefer it, with a little water, but no ice. Probably it’s at its best like that. At the same time, bourbon is, of course, a quite different drink from Scotch—comparatively sweet, lighter in body, less penetrating in flavour. This means that, whereas Scotch won’t mix happily with anything, bourbon is the perfect foundation for famous and delicious concoctions like the Mint Julep and the Old-Fashioned cocktail. The Julep can wait until there’s mint in the shops to put in it, but the time to run up an Old-Fashioned is now.
Some cocktails, like the Dry Martini, can be prepared in quantity beforehand—the Old-Fashioned needs to be made up in individual drinks. For each partaker, then, put into a short tumbler a teaspoon of sugar and dissolve it in a little warm water. Add a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters, a squeeze of fresh orange juice and up to 3 oz bourbon, and stir vigorously. Add ice cubes and stir again. Push a slice of orange in alongside the ice, with the option of a maraschino cherry. A teaspoon of Grand Marnier, if you have it, upgrades the mixture.
Strong drinks arouse strong feelings and, should they ever read it, some experts will soon start to twitch with fury at this recipe. One school of thought insists on rye whiskey instead of bourbon. Another regards the use of water as an intolerable dilution. Objections noted.
The Old-Fashioned is a sweet drink and that just has to be faced. More than two will probably seem excessive. It