Food

Woodford Reserve Whiskey Tasting at Mission

Woodford Reserve Whiskey Tasting at Mission.

After a very successful first evening of cocktail and chat with Woodford Reserve at their ‘Art of the Old Fashioned’ event during London Cocktail Week, they invited me for another tasting this time with Woodford Reserve’s Brand Ambassador Tom Vernon. This tasting would see Tom walk us through a bit of the history of Woodford as well as a guided tasting of the bourbon, finishing off with an Old Fashioned made with an olive oil infused whiskey.

Mission 2

The tasting took place at Mission, a quiet and stylish bar in Bethnal Green. We were ushered into a cozy upstairs room where we were quickly handed an Old Fashioned (olive oil free for now) to get us started. By now I’ve drunk more cocktails with Woodford Reserve than I’m medically allowed to admit, and I haven’t had a bad one yet.

Mission

Our drinks were barely half empty when Tom took centre stage to give us a background on Woodford Reserve. This wasn’t your usual corporate spiel, he told an engaging story spanning centuries encompassing the prohibition, soil composition and the onetime monopoly Kentucky had disco ball manufacturing. He clearly had a passion for the craft beyond pushing the company line. This impression only deepened when he walked us through tasting some Woodford Reserve neat. To begin with he gave us an all-clear on looking unbelievably pretentious as we swirled, sniffed, and sipped our way through the tasting. To begin with he had us place the glass directly under our chins, just to get the hints of smell seeping through. Then we did get on to sniffing properly, but he gave us a very good hint to enhance our experience. He told us to imagine smelling the ‘top’ of the drink as if it was a layer on a cake. Here we would get the lighter notes of the bourbon, the sweetness of it. Then once we had done that, still following the cake metaphor, he encouraged us to smell the base of the bourbon. Here we would get the deeper, spicier notes of the bourbon. As he said, ‘The palate should confirm what the nose has already discovered’. At long last we took a sip of the drink, and perhaps it was the delayed gratification or the expert description of what the bourbon was made of but damn did it taste amazing. For once I felt I truly understood what it was to discern between and enjoy flavours in a bourbon.

Tom Vernon - WR

Finally we moved on to the strangest part of the evening, the new olive oil infused Old Fashioned. Initially it tasted the same as a traditional Old Fashioned, that is to say delicious, but then the aftertaste has a distinctly vegetable flavour to it. I admit, it wasn’t my first impression was not entirely favourable. But as I kept drinking the smoothness of the oil won me over and even the taste eventually grew on me, if you pardon the pun I found incredibly funny at the time.

For reasons of budget and of not wanting to look like a ponce, I have never ordered a specific kind of booze when in a bar. But with every event and every tasting, Woodford Reserve are getting dangerously close to getting their deliciously smooth, sweet yet smoky claws in me.

 

@PotatoTattoo

Twitter: @WoodfordReserve ¦ @Mission_E2

Website: www.woodfordreserve.com/ ¦http://www.missione2.com