HR 5034

For years the distributors of alcoholic beverages have sought to create and maintain a monopoly over sales of beer, wine and spirits in the US, and thus have been opponents of any effort to allow direct shipment of products to consumers. They like to wave the "protect the kids" banner when doing this, claiming that such shipments would allow children to purchase alcohol over the Internet.

Here's a FACT: shippers (such as FedEx) always require an adult's signature when delivering alcoholic beverages.

The distributors, their lobbyists and every member of Congress know this, but are hoping you don't. In short, they want you to be both ignorant and gullible and would love to take advantage of it.

Their latest gambit is HR 5034, hearings for which were not announced in advance, although lobbyists for the distributors somehow knew about it (magic?) and showed up in order to advance their agenda. This bill would make it more difficult for wineries and consumers to challenge state laws prohibiting direct shipments.

Contact your representative. It's EASY. Just follow this link (you'll need your full ZIP-9; if you don't know that, get it here).

A Wine Spectator article about the bill can be found here.

I'll close with a question: will it ever occur to the members of Congress that our low opinion of them will never change as long as they keep behaving like whores?

CE Guide to Stocking a Home Bar is now online

My Guide to Stocking a Home Bar is available here. In it you'll find recommendations for beer, wine, spirits and liqueurs, with the usual Corvallis Epicurean emphasis on maximizing Quality/Price Ratio (QPR).

House Spirits Distillery

On Saturday, January 30th, I visited House Spirits Distillery, the southernmost of the five establishments comprising Portland's "Distillery Row". House Spirits originated as an post-inception partner of Ransom. The distillery was originally right here in Corvallis, operating out of rented space on the backside of the building located at 1025 NW 9th street (the same building that houses Taylor Street Ovens). At the end of 2004 they relocated to the present location in Portland; in 2008, Ransom relocated its distilling operation to Ransom Winery in Sheridan.

The original still, an old-fashioned copper alembic type, still resides at the House Spirits distillery. It's not used much anymore, having been replaced by a shiny new stainless steel unit of much greater capacity and flexibility. I suspect it's kept around mostly for sentimental reasons. Plus it's quaint, just like Corvallis.

The distillery's best known product is Aviation Gin ($28.45), which is technically what's known as a jonge genever. This is a type of gin which uses a more Dutch formula of botanicals (less juniper than a London Dry), but which uses a base of exclusively grain neutral spirits (same as London Dry). Other products include Medoyeff Vodka ($30.45) and Krogstad Aquavit ($24.45). In December of 2009 they released their first whiskey, an unpeated straight barley malt ($49.95)

I was given a tour of the facility by Matt Mount, one of the distillers. Matt, a former bartender, is quite knowledgeable about spirits in general, and provided a great deal of information of the distillery's operation and the processes associated with each of its products. After the tour, I was able to sample most of these.

The vodka is, well, a vodka. Any vodka that manages to avoid smelling like medicinal alcohol is a good one, and the Medoyeff succeeds in that. However, so does Gordon's, and it costs $7.45. The Medoyeff is made from rye, and I think I detected a bit of that on the nose, but if you are looking for a good rye presence, Sobieski does a better job of that and it costs $12.45. The Meydoyeff is also quite smooth, with a bit of minerality to it, but Stolichnaya Gold is better in both respects and even at $24.95 still offers a price advantage.

If anyone feels I'm being unfair to the Medoyeff, you should understand that I consider high price vodkas to be something of a scam. The stuff costs very little to make, and the marketing is really directed at creating a certain image for the product (and the price is part of that). I mean, let's face it; once mixed into a drink, the subtle differences between vodkas disappear. The only people who drink it straight are Russians and college students, and they don't keep it in their mouths long enough to taste it.

I've been told about a high end bar (in another state) the owner of which tops off his bottles of Grey Goose with Smirnoff. His well-heeled customers are utterly clueless, convinced that the GG they think they are getting is the best vodka in the world.

Moving on to the Aviation Gin, I found this to be quite smooth, with just a hint of juniper. For me, the most noticeable botanical was anise, but there are others in the background. It's not that different from a oude genever such as Bols, which are at least 15% lower proof spirit distilled from malted barley. Taken straight, an oude genever is going to be smoother than the Aviation, but in a mixed drink that won't likely make much difference, and the Aviation offers a $20 price advantage over Bols.

Next was the Krogstad Aquavit. This type of spirit is Scandinavian in origin, essentially a gin but flavored with star anise and caraway seed (no juniper). I've had a couple from Denmark, and the House Spirit product is easily their peer. Very smooth, with strong anise aromas and flavor, it would make a good on-the-rocks drink for a warm afternoon on the patio.

The Straight Malt Whiskey is similar to that made by a handful of Scottish distilleries that don't peat their barley malt (Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie, Glengoyne). Unlike those, the House Spirit whiskey is aged in new, charred American oak barrels (the Scots age their malts in ex-bourbon and/or ex-sherry barrels). The current bottling spent two years and eight months in these barrels. It's a nice copper color, with aromas of malt, caramel and a hint of orange. It's a little rough on the palate, with only the barest hint of oak. Finish is short, with some burn. I can't help but feel it would be a lot better with a little more barrel time (say, a total of four years). For my money, a bottle of Glengoyne 10 year old ($46.95) is a better deal.

I also had the opportunity to try a number of experimental spirits, plus some releases that are already sold out. One of the former was an aged aquavit (one year in an barrel that previously held Pinot Noir). This was very interesting; extremely smooth, with the anise actually stronger than the unaged version. Next I tried the rum, which was released last September and is already all sold (except for a small amount still at the distillery). It's unusual in that it's made from refined sugar (most rums are made from molasses or cane juice). The only other one I know of that's made from sugar is Charbay from California. The House Spirit rum was aged 14 months in new, charred American oak. It was nice, smooth with a brown sugar thing going on, but not particularly complex. Matt informed me that the next rum will spend two years in second hand bourbon barrels; I'm hoping to try some of that.

All in all, I was impressed with the operation. This is an outfit clearly dedicated to producing quality products. I'm hoping that with time and an improved financial situation, they'll be able to give their whiskey more time in the barrel. I believe an eight year old version of it would be superb.

Three Seasonal Brews

Once upon a time, European and some of the more traditional American breweries would produce a batch of special beer (i.e., something other than their standard offering) at certain times of the year. The early spring often saw bock beers appearing on the shelves, and in December there might be a number of "winter" brews.

With the advent of the craft brewing movement, many breweries are producing seasonal beers year round, usually a rotation of four types, corresponding with the season. Some are producing as many as seven or eight.

One of these is Sam Adams, which currently produces seven seasonal offerings. It's become fashionable among beer snobs (yes, there is such a thing) to sneer at Sam Adams, but the company deserves a lot of credit for showing that there was a market for craft beers, and demonstrating that they could be distributed at a national level. Plus, they make a number of pretty good products (Sam Adams Light is the only light beer I'm willing to drink).

Available from January through March is their Noble Pils. A light-colored lager made in a classic Czech/German Pilsner style, it features a citrusy nose, flavors of malt and freshly baked bread, a medium hoppiness, a clean finish, and is a good example of what a lager beer should be. Retailing for a little over $9 for a six pack, I picked some up at Fred Meyer on sale for $6.99.

Here in Oregon, Deschutes also has a number of seasonal offerings. From their "Bond Street" series of high-end beers (available only in 22 ounce bottles), is "Hop Henge" IPA. This is a "double" (also called "imperial") IPA, which has more of everything - malt, hops (especially hops) and alcohol (8.75%). Dark amber, with a big, citrusy, piney nose, it treats the palate with biscuits, various citrus fruits, pine, pepper and, of course, hops. It's bitter enough for the hop heads, but there's enough other stuff going on to not scare off those with less extreme tastes. Available from January through April, it's not cheap (about $5 for the 22 ounce bottle), but serious IPA fans consider it worth every penny.

A more reasonably priced offering, again from Deschutes, is the "Red Chair NWPA". Of the three, this is definitely my favorite. Medium amber, with aromas of citrus (grapefruit and a little orange), flowers, and spicy hops, and rich, bold flavors of caramel and toasted malt, along with a bit of orange rind. Perfectly balanced between sweet and bitter, it's a truly great beer. I wish they made it year-round, but it's only available from January through April. Kathy liked it too, so I went back to Fred Meyer and picked up two more six-packs while it was still on sale ($6.99).