Thursday, January 2, 2014

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: Infusion and Garnish.





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Fruit and berries are often used to soften the harsh tastes of white whiskey, especially if it is made from a blend of rye and corn (or all rye).  It can take months for those harsh flavors to settle down and fruit usually is the fastest helper out there.  If you're ever in moonshine country, you'll probably see a lot of that kind of thing.

Here, we are using the White Dog white whiskey from Buffalo Trace.  We'll be honest with you, this stuff kind of sucks.  It's straight up moonshine and you really have to like this stuff to be able to choke it down.  We've had smoother white whiskeys before and if you don't want to choke on it like it's turpentine, then go for the New York Corn Whiskey from Tuthilltown Spirits, made in New York's Hudson Valley.


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Yeah, we keep saying we hate garnishes, but if you're gonna be seen by someone, then you might as well go for it.


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We actually used a boning knife here and it worked fine.  You don't need a giant chef's knife or something like that, but we would recommend against using serrated knives.


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They're not 100% uniform.  They don't have to be.


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Pretty cool huh?  We actually found a video of this process that helps walk you through the steps.  You can see it here.


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