One of the greatest whiskey authors of our generation, Michael Jackson, often visited 127 22nd Street. That was back before the Wine School, when our building was still occupied by his publisher, Running Press. This class is one of the ways we celebrate his legacy.

A bit of sauced education, this class features everything you ever wanted to know about whiskey, but were afraid to ask: From to cocktails, to food pairings, to its smokey history. This is the class for lovers of bourbon, scotch, and rye.

Tasting Sheets

From Previous Classes

The Mostly Rye Edition of the Whiskey Class

The Cocktails

Older Manhattan
1 part Contratto Vermouth Bianco | 2 parts rye | some bitters.
Age two months in a small oak barrel. Serve with a piquant arrogance in a rocks glass with ice.

Not A Mint Julep (per person)
1/2 oz. Canadian whisky | strawberry-mint simple syrup to taste.
Fill a glass with cracked ice. Add bourbon and mint syrup; stir gently until the glass is thoroughly chilled.

Old Fashioned but Friendly (per four people)
2½ oz. Rye | ½ oz. St. Germain (elderflower liquor) | 2–3 drops bitters
Stir bourbon, St. Germain, and bitters in an ice-filled mixing glass until very chilled; strain into an ice filled glass.

The Whiskey

Prohibition Era Whisky
1. Forty Creek “Premium Barrel Select” Canadian Whisky

2. Cutty Sark “Prohibition Edition” Blended Grain Scotch Whisky

Two Lives of Rye
1. Rittenhouse Rye 100 Proof, Bottled in Bond Whisky

2. Russell’s Reserve 6 Year Small Batch Rye

Vermont is is Canada, still Awesome
1. Whistle Pig 10 Year Old Straight Rye

The Largely Bourbon Class

Bourbon Sub Rosa!
55% Corn, 5% Rye, 25% Barley, 15% Sour Wheat Mash
1. Before distillation, it’s a whiskey mash (aka beer)

2. Before the charred oak barrel it’s white dog

3. After aging in a charred white oak barrel it’s effing Bourbon.

The 18 Barrel Cocktail
15 wines from 15 different barrels fermented into vinegar and aged in an oak barrel for 3 months. A barrel-aged whiskey is blended with Liquore Galliano L’Autentico and aged in a new white oak barrel for two days. The two barrels are blended and finished with bourbon-barrel aged cherry bitters.

Old School/New School Bourbon
1. Jim Beam Bonded in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon

2. Russell’s Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon, 10 Years Old

Not Bourbon
1. Barrell Whiskey, Batch #1, 7 Years, Barrel Strength. (Indiana)

2. Willett Straight Rye, 2 Years Old, Cask Strength (Kentucky)

American Whiskey Beyond Kentucky

Cocktails
1. The Eternal Cocktail: Bourbon, A Barrel, and Two Years of Classes

2. Caribou Cocktail: Whiskey, Red Wine, Chocolate, Honey & Spice

Making the Sausage
1. Bear Republic Brewing Company R5 IPA

2. Charbay R5 Lot #511a (Ukiah, California)

Beyond Bourbon
1. Stranahan’s Batch #166 (Denver, Colorado)

WTF Rye?
1. High West Double Rye! Batch #15 (Rocky Mountains, Utah) LDI/MGP

2. WhistlePig Rye Whiskey (Shoreham, Vermont) Alberta Distillers Ltd

More Whiskey