I don't know where the movement of whisky is going, but I'm excited.  For the past few years every crafted bar that I've gone to, either in Down Town Los Angeles or Orange County, I've consistently found that the bartenders' favourite spirit is rye whiskey.  Ah!   And a lot of that response may have a lot to do with the revival of crafted cocktails, thanks to pioneers like Dale Degroff.  It seems like now everyone is drinking crafted cocktails and ordering good Ol' Fashioneds, Negronis, Whiskey Sours, etc.
(By the way, folks, if some of you are complaining that a drink is "taking too long," keep in mind that if you're at a crafted cocktail bar you should appreciate their craft.  I'm not a bartender, but I feel a little bit offended when I read bar reviews and someone complains about that.  Hey, 7 ingredients in one drink? Hand cut ice?   I'm just saying.  Be forgiving, folks!)

I remember reviewing the history of spirits through the Bar Smarts Program and learned that The Prohibition Period and the influence of Hollywood films around the 40's-70's created a huge impact on America's palate.  For example, the infamous ever-so-studly James Bond asked for his martini "shaken, not stirred," which transpired a slew of spirit consumers to want to be cool and equally be badass as the secret agent himself!   In addition, during the Prohibition Era, people started to make moonshine--bad shizz that would make you go blind. All the mixologists left and became expatriats, living in France and bartending there, while the young kids back in the US who didn't have any background experiences in bartending were thrown in speakeasy bars, making all sorts of crappy drinks to get people crunk.   People turned away from using fresh ingredients, such as fresh lemon juice, and started using cheaper products to mask cheap spirits during the prohibition period.  By 1976, vodka usurped all spirits and became the #1 selling spirit in the US, and it is still going strong.

Now, I see a revival of brown spirits, particulary with whisk(e)y for the past year, sky rotting full speed.   And I think it has a lot to do with films and TV shows throwing whisky on their set.  People have gotten interested in Whistle Pig Rye, for example, after seeing it in tv shows and Lagavulin has gotten much notice it seems ever since that dude on The Office talks about sipping his Lagavulin 16 Year (I love this scotch, by the way).  I have several friends who told me that they got interested in these products as a result of watching Mad Men, and now they're sipping Old Fashioneds.   What a coincidence?  After watching the latest Bonde Film, Skyfall, I was blown away by Bonde's preference of drinking a Macallan.  Wow.  Now, he does drink his martini, but we see him grabbing for the Macallan several times throughout this film.  I can only wonder how scotch will thrive exponentially throughout the world as a result of the ever-so-studly Daniel Craig sips his scotch. (Dammit!  I want a grey Tom Ford suit for myself!)

Now, I've been very fortunate and lucky for the past year and half (I've only been sipping and studying whiskies since May of 2010), trying a grand selection of whiskies thanks to my favourite whisky group, The Seven Grand Whisk(e)y Society in Seven Grand.  They are a special group that I hold dear to my heart because they've managed to democratize whisky, making it accessible for folks like me.  I was touched when the co-curator there told me that I was the "face of this group."  He indicated that when the society opened, they wanted to attract all sorts of people of various background to start drinking whisky, and I'm the first person from the group who is now sort of in the industry.  Last December I ended up hosting an event at Seven Grand, and it was mind-boggling to see that I was the guy who would sit in the corner taking diligent notes and here I was presenting! :D   So, I'm still a little guy for sure and am learning a lot about the wild world of whisk(e)y, but I'm hoping I'll be more successful.

Ah..where was I?  Yes! Back to the whisky wave... As whisky has gotten more popular, the people have become more savvy and educated about their whiskies.  I feel like more and more different types of people are drinking whisky; the crowd is younger and the are definitely more chicks sipping it.

I have to wonder:  Where is the next movement of whisky going?  For the past 5 months, I have noticed a sudden spike of Japanese whisky.  The Yamazaki 18 Year has gotten rare and so has the Hibiki 12 Year.  This month, Yoichi and Nikka launched in the California market, and everyone responded, "About FRACKIN' time!"  All of these Japanese whiskies are selling off the shelves like hot cakes and I can see why.  It's about the culture and their way of meticulousness--do it right; do it with excellence or don't do it at all.  They don't strive for good; they strive for excellence, and that's why I respect the whisky companies in Japan.     Maurice Chevalier IV, a manager for Anchor Distillers SF, represents Yoichi and Nikka.  He indicated that they don't have anymore Yoichi until February beause it sold out instantly.  Crazy! Wild! No shock there for me.  The Japanese folks are always  doing some amazing stuff.  (For the record, other countries that make whiskies are doing amazing jobs, too, so I'm not discounting the other guys!)

As more people are exploring whiskeys, I see them turning away from the mainstream products, and they're looking for micro distillers.  I think there's a bit of romance here in terms of looking for independent, small companies that make spirits.  It's kind of like getting fresh, farmer's market ingredients and supporting the little guys who want to make in the competitive world of food and beverage (but hey, I like the big guys like Wild Turkey, too!!).    I've heard bar owners who say, "I want something that other people aren't carrying.  I want something artisanal!"  And I feel like I've found the micro distiller that is placing a name on the whiskey map:  Corsair .

Corsair, which is located in Bowling Green and Nashville,  is a fairly new company that's been launching a bunch of quirky whiskeys like Quinoa Whiskey, a spirit that has been infused with quinoa.  They're getting quite creative with their line, and 2 of my favourite series from them is the Corsair Triple Smoke, which contains smoked cherry wood barley, smoked beachwood barely and peat barely (most likely sourced from Islay) and Rasputin.

When I first had Corsair's Rasputin, my initial thought was, "Hm...I'm actually confused.  I don't know whether I like it or dislike it.  Is it bad?  Is it good? I haven't a clue."  It was peculiar for me because when I'd taste a bunch of bourbons and scotches I was able to predict where the flavour profile was going.  For example, with a single malt that has a lot of peppercorn spices, typically it's going to end on a sweet finish.  If the scotch is aged in a sherry cask, I get a maraschino cherry profile that leaves a dry, tannin-like feel on my tongue.   If I'm salivating like a puppy, there's a big chance that thw whisky is a aged in white american oak barrels and it's going to be a bourbon (of course, there are exceptions to every rule!).   So, when I sipped the Rasputin, it didn't taste like bourbon.  It didn't have the typical aroma of a bourbon.  I thought, "What the hell is in this?" And because I wasn't sure if I liked it, I was intrigued.  All of a sudden, I felt as though I time-travelled back to the past and was inside Picasso's studio and he was experimenting with "Cubism Art" for the first time.  I had to sit back and sit on Corsair to just think about.   Corsair was fresh.  It was new and different.  I later learn that it comes from chocolate rye, chocolate barely and malted barley.   But the exciting thing about  Corsair was that it kept me on my toes and I was dazzled after I approached the bottle another time.

The first time I nosed the aroma of Corsair Rasputin, I detected a bouquet of Vietnamese basil seeping in a bowl of pho, a Vietnamese, noodle-base dish that I love so much.  I thought, "Wow!  Pretty darn cool."  Then, I sipped it, and it had an herbaceous quality that reminded me of bark and roots.   It had a hint of dark chocolate, star anise and licorice.  The finish was long and it lingered in my mouth, changing from star anise to Dot Candy to licorice.  One month later, I revisited the bottle and sipped it, finding that it was tasting like a dark beer on steroids (for clarification, I haven't had 'roids, but I'm suggesting that's uber srong); something heavy, dark and rich.

This time, I decided to bring my line of Corsair to my friend.  He replied, "Corsair Quinoa Whiskey?  Corsair Triple Smoke? Corsair Rasputin?  Interesting."    He took a sip of the Rasputin and his eyes perked up and he said, "Wow! This is different.  I can't pinpoint the aroma and flavour, but it reminds me of some type of Asian cuisine or ingredient."  He paused for 5 seconds, trying figure out the flavour profile.  Then, his head perked up, and he walked straight to the spice cabinet as though he just discovered a break through for cancer.  "I don't know if I'm onto something, but I gotta see." He grabbed a sesame oil bottle and poured the oil on a teaspoon and took a sip of it.  Like a detective solving a mystery, he said proudly while gleeming, "There it is!  It kind of tastes like sesame oil!"  He handed me the silver spoon and I took a sip of the sesame oil.  My eyes open wide and I said, "Ah! I can see that!  Toasted almonds and seeds."  I licked the metal spoon  again and took a sip of the Rasputin and all of a sudden the whiskey tasted like soy sauce, malted whiskey, a dark beer, and it had tinges of lime accents.  This was fun.  This was ground breaking.  He said, "I can see myself pairing this with Asian food, like a dumpling with soy sauce."  (By the way, he's been on the quest of trying to find a way to pair Chinese food with spirits).  AND THIS IS WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR.  To me, this whisky is like reading Thomas Pynchon's "Entropy."  There's an element of humour, sometimes sardonic, but it leads you to all sorts of mazes.  Corsair was a text within a text within a text  (Sorry to get Gertruid Stein on you guys!); I had to approach it multiple times and it slowly grew on me.  Corsair forced me to rethink what American whiskey was all about.

I get the impression that if one is under the school of "purist's perspective" he may not like this whisky because it's not a traditional whiskey.  There's an air of rebellisouness about Corsair that I appreciate, and I can't help but to be reminded of McEwan, the master distiller from Bruichladdich.  Some people see McEwan as a "mad scientist" because he creates all kinds of scotches, but I like his vision. I like his kind of creativity, going inside a distillery and secretly tinkering with the products because he wants to get his creative juices flowing.  Some folks tell me that the Bruichladdich line isn't cohesive; there are far too many different styles.  But I think that his inventions, whether failures or successes, are great.  I think it takes major balls to take a chance doing something creative.  Look at David Stewart, the master distiller for Balvenie. David Stewart has been in the industry for about 50 years.  He was the one who invented cask finishes, aging the final product in Pedro Ximanez casks, carribean casks, etc. And now you see a crap load of other whisk(e)y companies doing the same type of cask finishes.

So, hats off to you, Corsair.  Thanks for challenging us and making American whiskey exciting.  I look forward to seeing where your company goes in the next few years.