Snuggle up with some holiday cheer as OnMilwaukee shares stories of everything merry and bright in the spirit of the season.
The OnMilwaukee Ho Ho Holiday Guide is brought to you by Harley-Davidson Museum and MolsonCoors.
Black Friday beer, often aged in spirits barrels, has become a craft brewing tradition. So it seems only right that the craft spirits world would join in.
For the second year in a row, Great Lakes Distillery has a Black Friday release featuring a whiskey finished in a beer barrel ... and not just that a former whiskey barrel used by Lakefront Brewery for one of its Black Friday beers!
The 90 proof Still & Oak Black Friday Straight Rye Whiskey was distilled from 100 percent rye from Wisconsin and spent its last two (of four) years in Lakefront Brewery Black Friday Imperial Stout barrels.
“We did bourbon last year,” says GLD founder Guy Rehorst. “This year it’s rye. We got 541 bottles out of it, so I'm guessing two barrels, two or three.”
The result is a whiskey that has notes of seasoned oak, dark chocolate and caramel.
“I think (the beer barrel) is pretty influential here,” says Rehorst. “But it's subtle. It's not in your face.”
Of the 541 bottles, most will go be for sale in the tasting rooms, but the rye whiskey is also going to retailers, too, so you should be able to find it in local stores that carry GLD spirits. Some of the bottles will be held back for pours in the taproom, Rehorst says.
In addition, this year, GLD has a new 88 proof Holiday Gin, too, that’s infused with tart cranberries, giving it a crimson hue and a sour bite that’s tempered by spruce tips, cinnamon and ginger.
It makes for a great cocktail. Try it with tonic or even better with ginger beer.
Bottle sales in the tasting rooms run from noon until 9 p.m. on Black Friday, when the bars will be open until midnight.
If you want to read more about Lakefront Brewery’s Black Friday Imperial Stouts and the other brews being release on and around Black Friday in the Milwaukee area, check out our Black Friday beer guide here.
Here are some other quaffs that look good wrapped in a ribbon this holiday season...
Take a trip to France – virtually – with a trifecta of classics.
Bauchant Orange Liqueur is a unique mixer and aperitif that is also one of the only liqueurs of its type made in Cognac, where it has been produced by the nearly 200-year-old Maison Roullet-Fransac for more than 50 years.
It’s sweet and citrusy and a dash will boost the fruitiness of your next brandy old fashioned.
A considerably longer-running French tradition is that of Bourlard Calvados apple brandy, which has been produced in Normandy since the 16th century. A distinctive, unique and classic digestif, calvados is a great way to wind down a meal in front of a warming fire.
I am fiercely loyal to vermouth from Piemonte, where the beverage was born, and while Boissiere’s was originally produced in Chambery, for more than 50 years it has been made in Turin!
The sweet vermouth gets a boost from coriander, cloves, chamomile and marjoram and it’s especially great in a Manhattan. To get a sense of its botanical flavors, try it neat with a twist of orange.
For another virtual holiday jaunt, consider these wines from around Italy.
Starting in the north, since we’re talking Piemonte, Ceretto’s 2019 Barolo is a stunner with a balanced blend of black licorice and flinty earthiness and ripe red strawberries and a hint of sweet spice. This flagship barolo is, of course, a beautiful complement to roasts and steaks and big, rich foods, but it’s so good you just might prefer to savor it by itself, under a blanket with a good book.
A more everyday wine from Piemonte is barbera, the queen of Italian wine, and Coppo Pomorosso Barbera is a gorgeous ruby red color with a fruity nose that has a hint of herbaceousness.
On the palate it’s rich, with bright acidity and a long finish. I know I said barbera is an everyday wine – and it is – but this is an especially elegant expression. Still, like all barberas, it’s beautiful with a pizza or a cheese and salumi tray.
Allegrini Palazzo della Torre Veronese is proof that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a great bottle of Italian red wine in the U.S. retailing for around $20 (even less in some places), this blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Sangiovese from the Veneto in Italy’s northeast blends notes of chocolate and spice, cherries and blackberries with a touch of oak.
Headed south to central Italy, Cantina Zaccagnini Tralcetto Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – also a bargain at around $15 – is bolder and more rustic with dark red berries underpinned by earthiness and spice notes.
If you have a whiskey lover on your list, here are a few suggestions, too...
From Ireland, The Busker has a new Small Batch Collection with single pot still, single grain and single malt expressions but its standard Single Collection also has a new look with redesigned bottles and labels.
I tried the 88.6 proof Single Grain, which is matured in a mix of bourbon barrels and Marsala casks from Cantine Florio 1833 for a sweet, oaky whiskey rich in vanilla and caramel notes. Easy drinking and at an easy price, generally around $30 (occasionally lower).
Minneapolis-based O'Shaughnessy Distilling Co.’s Keeper’s Heart – which is known for both bourbon and Irish whiskey – has released its first age statement Irish whiskey, a 10-year-old single malt (86 proof) that retails for about $100. Aged in bourbon barrels and finished in Malaga wine casks, this copper pot still whiskey has notes of marzipan and stone fruits like peaches.
On a spicer note, check out Sagamore Spirit Rye Whiskey (83 proof), which is a Maryland blend of two straight rye whiskeys aged 4 to 6 years in high-char barrels. One of those distillates is high-rye and the other low-rye and each contributes a different profile – cinnamon and clove from the high and honey and citrus notes from the low.
Jeptha Creed, a woman-owned distillery in Kentucky – that offers one of the best tours around – has a new 6-year-old wheated bourbon with a mash bill that’s 75 percent Bloody Butcher corn, 20 percent malted wheat and 5 percent malted barley.
That corn gives the 93 proof whiskey an almost orange hue, and the wheat and the corn combine to create an almond croissant taste on the palate that, with hints of cinnamon, honey and chocolate, is unique and alluring.
Lost Lantern isn't a distiller but rather a bottler and thus their lines – like this year’s Summer of Bourbon II series – include multiple whiskeys from all around the country, including Woodinville Whiskey Co. in Washington, Union Horse Distilling Co. in Kansas, High Wire Distilling Co. in South Carolina, Leiper’s Fork Distillery in Tennessee, Rock Town Distillery in Arkansas and Wisconsin’s own Wollersheim, to name but a few.
The curation is top-notch and the shop makes finding great American whiskey a one-stop affair. You can find their full story here.
And in the end, you need something with which to drink all of this goodness, and the woman-owned Awaz makes some study, attractive glasses that definitely fit the bill.
The glasses, made from lead-free glass rimmed with 24k gold and decorated with fade-free dishwasher safe engraving, come in a stylish box that make it a perfect gift. Just pop a bow on top and you’re ready to go. One percent of the proceeds from the glasses benefit nonprofits that are working to boost women's economic environment.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
