While I prefer to spend most of my time near my secluded
rural homestead, occasionally one must give in to the pressure of social obligations.
I recently found myself in the position of being invited to a wedding and
without a decent excuse not to attend (nothing against the couple getting
married, I’m quite fond of them both, but I have a strong disdain for weddings
in general). Having resigned myself to traveling to the Washington DC
metro area for the weekend, I decided to try to make the best of my situation -
if I’m stuck with lemons, I can at least make a whiskey sour.
Fortunately, I had recently read an article about a
relatively new whisky bar in DC, a place with a collection of epic proportions,
called the Jack Rose Dining Saloon. My obligatory trip was gaining a sense of
purpose. A little online research turned up a few more prospects: a bar called
Bourbon specializing in American whiskeys, and quirky sounding place named
Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar. This was turning into a whiskey mission
with a matrimonial side show.
I started at Little Miss Whiskey’s since it was furthest
from where I was staying and located in a less-than-upscale neighborhood.
Nothing too terrible, but it might be unwise to bumble around there drunk at
2:00 a.m. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here, their web site mentioned
whiskey tastings but only had a beer list, and most of the online reviews
focused on the music, the outdoor patio and a cocktail called Awesomeness that
came out of a Slushie machine.
The sun was still above the horizon when I got there, and it
was very dark inside, but my eyes eventually adjusted to the low light levels.
The crowd was light for a Friday, but I was there pretty early in the evening.
The music was eclectic (in a good way) and the décor had sort of a New Orleans / voodoo feel
to it. The whiskey selection wasn’t as extensive as I had hoped, coming in
between 40 and 50 bottles (about 15 single malt scotches, 15 American whiskeys,
and maybe a dozen Irish bottles). Not a lot of depth, but at least they had a
few variants of many of the brands they carried, rather than just the standard
flagship offering from each distillery. Calling it a whiskey bar might be a bit
of a stretch – it came across more as a cool, hip, upscale dive bar with a
respectable whiskey selection.
They did have a printed whiskey list on the bar, but there
were only a few offerings I was excited about. I started off with a 16yr Glen
Grant – the only other Glen Grant I had sampled before this was a 38yr old from
Gordon & MacPhail, so I was curious to try an official distillery bottling.
The pours here are a solid 2 oz, and even thought it is not normally offered,
the bartender was willing to do a half pour for me.
I have found that if I’m alone at a bar and start to write
tasting notes on paper, it can draw unwanted attention. Not to mention that
scraps of paper tend to disappear when I drink. I’ve switched to typing my
notes into my phone using the notepad function. It looks like I’m texting so
people usually leave me alone and I can concentrate on what I’m tasting without
being distracted. My notes on the 16yr Glen Grant are as follows:
almost no nose. fairly
big. mix of malt, fruit and spice. spice builds nicely as other flavors subside.
dry finish. mostly just spice at the end of the long finish. I like.
I had also noticed a few offerings from Copper Fox on the
list. This is a Virginia
distillery started by Rick Wasmund. Some of his whiskies are branded Wasmund’s,
while others are branded Copper Fox. Their barley is all malted in-house, and
they are known for smoking it with American fruit woods, as well as adding
charred wedges of fruitwood and oak to the whisky while it ages in former
bourbon barrels. Production is limited, and this was the first time I’ve had a
chance to try anything from this distillery in spite of being on the lookout
for it for several years.
The menu listed a Copper Fox Rye and Single Malt. I later
learned that the Single Malt is actually bottled under the Wasmund’s label, so
there was a slight error on the list. I ordered the Single Malt first, and the
second bartender, who had just come on duty, didn’t notice they were out of it
and poured me the Rye
by mistake. I didn’t realize this until I finished that drink and ordered the Rye (from the original
bartender). I was almost certain he grabbed the same bottle, and it tasted just
like my last drink:
very fruity nose,
apple and cherry? interesting, unique palate. big fruit throughout, malt
foundation up front gives way to moderate spice. lonely spice finish. good but
slightly out of balance, fruit (cherry) is dominant.
I was a little unhappy about getting the same drink twice,
especially on a night when I’d have so many things to taste and really didn’t
want to be hungover the next day. But it was an honest mistake, and when I
explained what had happened, the bartender only charged me for my first two
drinks. He was a good man and was tipped accordingly.
While I didn’t love the Copper Fox whisky, I do love what
this distillery is doing – pushing the envelope to create a new style of whisky
that is uniquely American. I’m looking forward to trying more of their
offerings in the future.
As for Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar, it’s a cool and unusual
place. I wouldn’t go out of my way to make the journey there just for the
whiskey, but if I was with friends who wanted to go to a fun, interesting bar
and I still wanted to have some decent whiskey options, this would be the spot.
A thirty minute walk and a short train ride got me to the neighborhood
with the next two whiskey bars, but I’ll to save the rest for my next post.
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