Mon 27 Aug 2007
GADF Post #1
Posted by Phil under spirits
The Great American Distillers Festival was great fun. At least half of the craft distilleries in the US are based in Oregon, so Portland is the natural location to have it. Hometown heroes Rogue and Imbibe sponsored and helped put it on.
The Mix Master Cup was great fun, particularly the final round, where the contestants were given two mystery ingredients (g sake and blackberries), and had 15 minutes to make something. The GADF is really the only place you can try a large number of craft distilled spirits, none of which are on the cheap side, and not break the bank. There are some amazing craft distilled spirits out there right now.
I have a flickr set up with a few pics here.
So, the highlights now, and more detail in future posts:
- House Spirits will “soon” be releasing a rum made from Hawaiian turbinado sugar, is currently into one year into a six year aged whiskey, and is planning a line of bitters(!). Their Aviation Gin and Krogstad Aquavit blew me away, so I can’t wait for these new products.
- Bluecoat Gin was a really nice and flavorful gin, and definitely deserved the 5 stars it got from Imbibe’s tasting. It was amazing to try so many different styles of gin next to one another.
- Clear Creek Douglas Fir eau-de-vie was one of the most interesting things I’ve tasted. Most uses of fir/pine/spruce just taste like PineSol, but this was pleasantly piney.
- Now I know why the leftovers from wine are called must. Grappa is nasty. (Edit: yes, I know it’s actually called pomace. And I’m sorry I called grappa nasty. )
A few other descriptions of the GADF:
9 Responses to “ GADF Post #1 ”
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Pingback from Jeffrey Morgenthaler » The Great American Distillers Festival
August 28th, 2007 at 12:45 am[…] Phil over at Lamb Martini has a great write-up here (I can’t believe I didn’t get to catch up with him) and Trader Tiki went all out. […]
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Pingback from Trader Tiki’s Booze Blog » Blog Archive » Great American Distillers Festival
August 28th, 2007 at 7:54 am[…] Lamb Martini […]
August 27th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
I think you’re being a little harsh on grappa. Most is little more than engine degreaser, but some can be quite mellow.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Thanks for the mention, I’ll have to update my post with the same!
August 29th, 2007 at 2:07 am
To appear to have an eclectic interest in spirits and then to state ‘grappa is nasty’ is like claiming a knowledge of wine and then declaring champagne as disgusting based upon a swig of asti spumante. Extraordinary ignorance. Grappa is made from the seeds, pulp and skins of grapes after the juice has been extracted, a moist vegetable material typically known as ‘pomace’ or ‘vinaccia’. As I understand it, ‘must’ includes the juice. Spirits made from must can’t achieve the grappa denomination and are known as ‘aquavite d’uva’. Many of these distillates are quite delicious. And why have a downer on pomace or must? Vodka is made from potatoes and or sugar beet molasses. Yum yum!
August 30th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
That’s me– full of extraordinary ignorance! You’ve obviously not read many of my posts, as it would be apparent that I neither have, nor claim to have, any particular knowledge.
Yes, must is the pressed juice and solids of the grape, but pomacey isn’t an adjective and musty is. Some allowances must be made for bad jokes. I’d certainly never degrade a spirit merely because of it’s origin, as one of my favorites– rum — is made from industrial waste.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:40 am
So where did you have the Bluecoat? You know my deep and abiding love of those who practice the botanical arts. It’s 7:30am and I’m already thinking of cocktail hour!!
August 31st, 2007 at 7:08 am
okay, i just read the next post so now I know where you tasted it. the next question is how can we (and of course by “we” I mean “me”) get some??
September 8th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
If you don’t like traditional grappas I strongly suggest you try Moscato di Poli - a grappa made from the muscat grape, which is most often used in dessert or fortified wines. It’s really something The beauty of grappas of course is that there is such a fantastic variety mirroring the many types of great wine available.