by gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:50 pm
A number of time travellers from the 21st century are gathered in 1861 on the veranada of Johnson's Hotel in Richmond, VA. It is mid-winter. Due to the relative coolness of the season, they decided that ice is not necessary for their forthcoming, cross-century bibulous investigations. They will do a kind of vertical tasting, or series of them, vertical in this case meaning around 150 years.
Ice is available from the bar but at a high cost. The men wish to conserve their dwindling stock of rock CDs, extra Nike and Reebock shoes and baseball caps, used for trading, to ensure enough food and transportation to return to their time vehicle hidden in a Virginia glen after their mission is completed. The whiskeys will be tasted straight or just with cool water from the big, slightly cracked porcelain pitcher on a corner table.
In front of them on a rickety pine table are a number of bottles of liquor. Some are what you would find in most any decent-stocked U.S. store of 2008: Georgia Moon unaged corn liquor; Old Overholt rye; and Very Old Barton 6 year old bourbon. Also present is a rarity, Hudson Four-Grain Bourbon Whiskey from a small distiller in the Hudson Valley in New York State, it is said to resemble a young bourbon of the 1800's. Well, since they are IN the 1800's at the moment, they also have some liquors from that time, bought earlier that day in fact in the older part of Richmond, VA. They bought them as I said for no money since they don't have 1861 money and there are no ATMs in Virginia in 1861, so they traded extra shoes and other clothing that the merchants marvelled over after meeting these strangers so oddly dressed and yet quite familiar to them despite some differences in accents and vocabulary. Indeed the feeling was mutual.
On the table next to the Georgia Moon is one of the best mountain whiskeys obtainable in the great state of VA in 1861. It is made by a family who have been distilling in America since their forbears came from Derry in Ireland in the 1700's. It is pure white corn whiskey. No sacharums or other things were added we were told, and it was made in a shed in the old mountain way about 100 miles east and north of Richmond. It was ladled from a barrel without a name but is known as MacClelland's whiskey.
Next to that brace is Johnson's Old Rye Whiskey. It is made by some country kin of Augustus Johnson who owns the fine hotel the group are lodged in, and it was procured from the bar downstairs. Mr. Johnson - he said after one night's stay to call him Augustus - told them it is reputed not a day under three years old. It looks indeed that, maybe older judging by its dark blonde appearance. It was set next to Old Overholt whiskey of 2008. The group couldn't find any 1860's Old Overholt in Richmond although at the wine and spirits mart next to the train depot whiskey dealer Dan Tucker told them you can get Overholt sometimes, from the Spring until the early Winter.
Now on the edge of the table we see Very Old Barton bourbon, 6 years old, 100 proof, from a well-reputed distillery in Bardstown, KY - another great State for whiskey, the greatest, in fact. (Dan Tucker and even Augustus had to agree, if a little grudgingly). The boys have put it against the expensive and VERY well-regarded Summerdean 5 year old Bourbon whiskey from Kentucky. Dan Tucker said, "you boys won't find any better whiskey anywhere in these United States. Well, there's some question how united we are at the moment" (said he almost as if to himself). Then he brightened and proclaimed, "fellers, let's talk whiskey now, not politics!". He let them have some Summerdean which came in a heavy fluted bottle and took from Gillman a pair of black extra-wide Reebock shoes in payment. He said, "Boys, I don't know where you're from exactly, and normally I don't sell except for cash money right on top of that barrel there, but my John-boy can use a pair of new shoes and I think he'll like these foreign shoes. We've NEVER seen shoes like that in these parts before". So the group got the choice Summerdean Bourbon and darn if it wasn't of the most lovely color: a little darker than the VOB but not dissimilar, like the VOB if you poured some port wine in it.
Also on the table as noted is the cute little bottle of Hudson Four-Grain Bourbon from a little distillery in New York State of 2008. It is only about 4 months old but because aged in small barrels it can be regarded as about a year old or more. Year-old whiskey is quite common at the mart by the depot where Dan Tucker works. The group got some by parting with a Beatles Anthology CD, Live At Leeds Deluxe Edition CD and a portable CD player. Joe told Dan it's kind of mountain music updated a bit and you can hear it with electricity which soon will be available due to some people in the North working on artificial lighting. Dan said, "that's all correct with me, Sir" and kept turning over the objects in his hand and marvelling at them. (The batteries had died during the trip, they hardly last a few months let alone 150 years!).
So the Hudson Four Grain is paired with an 1861 one year old rye whiskey from the Richmond whiskey mart. Dan Tucker said it is one of his top sellers: it's light golden, quite similar in color to the Hudson Four Grain (maybe a little lighter). It has no name so the time travellers call it Dan's Whiskey.
So now Gary, Joe, Mike V. and the other investigators start to taste and compare these liquors. The 1860's Virginia liquors are not quite the strange brews they might first seem because the group researched them before they left the dimension of 2008 Time, but still the frisson of tasting something historical and in original condition is evident on their visages.
Joe is first-off, he tastes the Georgia Moon and then the MacClelland's pure corn whiskey from the Virginia glens of 1861. He looks at the others and says, "gents, we could have saved our money and time at least for this duo: they taste almost the same". Gary says, "Joe, how can that be? Corn was different in the 1860's, so were stills, yeasts, everything was different". So he takes a taste of both too. "Gosh darn Joe you're right! Heaven Hill got it just right, amazing!". Some of the boys resolve to buy Georgia Moon when they get back but one is heard to mutter, "I don't like corn liquor in 2008 and I don't like it in 1861 and that's that".
Now they decide to go for the gold and Gary takes a sip of the Summerdean 5 year old bourbon, made in the late 1850's in northern Kentucky. Mike V. says he'll check when he gets back on Summerdean, but the name sounds familiar. Then the rest of them taste Kentucky's finest bourbon of 1861. Gary's reaction is typical: "Man that's good! It's like a combination of VOB bourbon and a Pappy Van Winkle 15 year old, with an underlying fruity taste, kind of plummy-like". They all agree nothing seemed added and maybe that strong fruity taste is from some old bourbon yeast long disappeared by 2008. VOB is essayed too as a foil and it stands up well, but seems to lack something by comparison. Still, it's very worthy and certainly in the same ballpark (they all agree after further tasting and pondering).
Now they will go more for the mid-range: Dan's Whiskey of 1861 against the 2008 Hudson Four Grain. The Hudson first: it has a bracing, piney-like taste with noticeable edges of sweet oaky flavor. Quite nice although some of the boys think it would be best with ice and maybe a dash of soda of some kind. Then they taste Dan's Whiskey. It is rather different, not sweet at all (probably wasn't aged in a new charred oak cask), quite spicy, they've had something like this before, yes, it's quite like that young rye whiskey made today in West Virginia! Dan's Whiskey is darker in color but the taste is almost the same, piney and fruit gum-like. They all concur: these old drinks do taste like something known in America in the 2000's!
They have time for one last taste, it is getting dark, they have to go to bed soon and make sure they don't miss the horse and coach Augustus has arranged to take them out to the country to find their time travel ship to take them home. They take a slug of Johnson's Old Rye Whiskey 1861 to compare to modern Old Overholt. They agree that the Johnson's is pretty good overall and evidently higher proof than the 40% ABV Overholt. But something's a little wrong with it, it has a slightly decayed taste, as if some rotted vegetable or even old fish of some kind got in it. They wonder what kind of barrels were used to age this in, some of the casks might have been used to hold something else before. But under the off-taste they could detect the spicy, rounded taste of a good, aged rye whiskey and agree the Overholt is the same kettle of fish, so to speak. They jaw it over and most agree the Johnson's Rye is probably not at its best tonight although Mike V. says it might represent some long-lost regional whiskey taste. Still, they are glad they tried it.
Now Gillman says, "before we retire, let's mix them all and compare the vattings of each century". The others object quite strongly because they feel this would damage the intellectual integrity of what they are trying to accomplish. After a large cup of Augustus' best coffee, Gary agrees that it wouldn't make sense to do this, but then he adds in a low voice, "maybe just combine the Summerdean and the VOB 100 2:1?", but no, in the end he agrees the occasion isn't right and the study session ends on a smooth note with all agreeing they have learned a lot and been very fortunate to do such a cross-century investigation.
All retire to their rooms on the second and third floors of the handsome old wood hotel. All the bottles are put in a wood box and given to Augustus to give to Dan Tucker. Augustus asks for half of the VOB 100 in the "new-fangled" bottle, he says he doesn't drink strong liquors except once in a while as a medicine, and the group are happy to oblige. The rest will all go to Dan Tucker with a note that he might like to do a similar comparison tasting with his merchant friends one day. The note said to write down their impressions and a way would be found for Dan to send the notes to the travellers for study and comparison to their own. But for now, the voyagers bid farewell to a gent who sells some fine liquors, whose language both generalist and technical they fully understood, a man who sells liquors that more than find an echo some 150 years later in America.
And the travellers left Old Virginia and returned home, a long way indeed but they arrived safe and sound. Yes, that very close huge white light half-way back did seem troubling for a moment but it passed. Suddenly it was January, 2008 and all were safe at home before their computers.
Gary
Last edited by
gillmang on Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.