Hunting treasures in the home. Old home bars leave untapped secrets

Old Bottle of B and B found in home bar

I hadn't posted a blog write-up for sometime.  I am not always sure what to write about somedays.  I could easily "repost" video reviews, and also "repost" beer reviews, but the former is simply on my channel on You Tube, and the later being on BeerAdvocate's website.  It was becoming a bit redundant just for redundancy sake I felt to throw them up on here.  Once in awhile though, life events among good drink come into play, sometimes you can find a little piece of history.  Where can you find drink history?  I soon found out in other peoples old home bars.

First a bit of background.  My wife and I were invited to a wine tasting party for a couple we only knew a little bit about.  A classic, they are friends of friends of ours sort of thing.

We weren't sure how "much" of a wine tasting this would be, I debated about which wine to bring among a plethora of choices I have.  I do love wine, and I have "plenty", and nothing says like an excuse to get rid of wine than to go or have a party.  We grabbed a bottle of Sancere that we like, and off we went.

Shortly into our visit it was obvious this was really just a house party.  We nibbled, we chatted, we hung out, we met friends we knew, and some new people also.  It was not a sophisticated gathering of glasses and tasting orders, which was good, but hey we were prepared not knowing what to expect.  Bottles sat on the table, people dove in to the selections.  I am always interested in finding new wines, one bottle that was brought was a Romanian sweet white whose name I can't remember.  You certainly couldn't buy it here. A Hungarian co-worker of the host brought it, and it made a good talking point between us and him since my wife and I spent time in Hungary.  Who says drink doesn't provide good conversation worth talking about?

It became obvious though while we were outside that is was getting quite humid and warm.  While the setting was nice, it was a classic DC muggy summer day, sweat was pouring off my body, I found myself going into the inside of the house for water too often, and the chilled whites sweating on the table were getting consumed like crazy as the reds barely got touched.  It seemed like we just needed to cool off.  Our host recognized this and then said:

"Hey let's all go downstairs into our basement where it's cooler, what do you say?"

We all glanced around, and it was pretty obvious we all didn't have to say what was on our mind.  Then our host said:

"I have a bar down there!"

Hello did he say BAR?  Enter our hero!!

Pulling the sliding glass door, we all made a dash for downstairs, as the air conditioned blasted and evaporated the sweat off of my forearms.  I was excited to see another bar, perhaps we could swap stories and tips.

I went downstairs and noticed the bar that was definitely part of the house probably built when the basement was refinished.  The host had mentioned that when they bought their house, the previous older couple left many things behind, furniture, tables, much of it from the mid century modern period and totally retro, going with the style of the houses build date in the early 60s.  The previous owners had no use for these items, and left them for the new couple. One of the things they left behind also was a bar (although it appeared to be made much later), and with it were contents of glassware, shakers, instruments, the usual for any well prepped bar.  But also it contained... old bottles.

"I don't know what this stuff is?! What do I do with it?!"  the host asked holding up a Hawthorne strainer.

It soon became apparent to me that this was happening in homes across America.  I certainly remember this when I was shopping for a house years ago.  Many new homeowners were buying older homes, and there were downstairs bars in them.  Sometimes they didn't always know what to do with these bars, or get the most out of what they offered.  More importantly it dawned on me that these bars could contain bottles of a former era.  Thoughts of being a cocktail bar rescuer as a job fluttered in my imagination, but figured that wouldn't pay much.

I remember one DC rowhouse I saw way back while looking for a new home, extremely dated, in ok condition, but nothing to get excited about, until I was told by my wife to go in the basement.

"So what's down there?" I asked, "another purple toilet or something?"  I said.

"No just go take a look I think you'll be surprised.".

I held off my excitement that from what I had already seen in this house we were never going to buy it, a classic too many problems.  However, my jaw hit the floor when I went downstairs.

Far off in the distance was a formed wall with a full seated bar, 4 swinging upholstered swivel chairs, cubed glass bar that went at least twenty feet in length, a full working sink.  I could easily see that the person who lived here was really putting his priorities into a great drink establishment, neglecting the rest of the house sans working kitchen with no new appliances.  The bar was not stocked, much of the bar items were of course boxed away in preparation for a move, but the bar was lengthy, a great giant slab of wood, a few touches of cigarettes odd burns and circular water stains.  Not many, but just enough to give it character.  A classic old cubed TV jutted in the corner, it was from the 70s, you could easily mistake it for a fish-tank.

The stories that place could tell, I dreamed of the African American couple who lived there, the guy who came home with his buddies, and made drinks for everyone, probably with a little bit of TV.. maybe Redskins games, slamming down drinks and perhaps making a good cocktail or two, probably during a better football era than now.  This bar had more charm and history that I think of any local watering hole I'd ever been in.

Getting out of my flashback, I quickly pulled out at my smartphone and said "here look, this is my channel, and this is my bar at home, I can show you some things."  Our host took one look and then exclaimed WE HAVE A BARTENDER!!  I was quickly voted in to make drinks for everyone.

"You have to show me how to make this stuff!" said our host.  I replied "Oh of course, but let's take a look around".

Investigating any new bar is always fun, but for the most part, many people don't have a lot of things bottle wise.  I realize I have a hobby and buy lots of different liquor, but most people aren't like me.  Most home bars usually contain one to 5 simple bottles, mostly just of something people like to drink all the time.  Usually there's just a bottle of gin, cause people like to drink gin and tonic all the time.  Or there's just a bottle of whiskey, or a bottle of vodka.  Sometimes people just want to do shots, but mostly the contents of ingredients in drinks for home use can fit on a small shelf.

"Make something!"  someone from the party exclaimed excitedly.

I saw a large bottle of Makers Mark.. ok plenty of this, but I started noticing that our hosts bar was quite empty.  "Do you have any bitters?"  I was thinking if I could get some Angostura bitters and find sweet vermouth I could make people Manhattans.  I noticed no bitters, that's ok, but we need vermouth.

I opened up a cabinet, and found some more bottles, and couldn't make out what they were in the darkness, so I grabbed the first one I could and brought it out.  The picture above is what I found, an old bottle of B & B or Benedictine and Brandy.  Most of the contents were still in, with about 1/2 the bottle still left.  We quickly made the rounds, based out some small liqueur glasses and drank.  Still good, classic herbal notes, almond, vanilla, and sweetness, it held up and was absolutely delicious.  The worn brown label indicates and older bottle, but I don't think this bottle is very old, or say... worth a lot of money.  But it's always great to taste some history.  If you know anything about how old that bottle might be from the picture, please contact me!

Stock picture of Galliano bottle

Digging back into the cabinet I found what I call, another relic classic from the so called Fern bar area.  In this bar was the classic bottle of Galliano.  I recognized this instantly, and it is something I distinctly remember from my childhood, but not because as a young 12 year old kid was I sipping it with pinky raised mind you.  The one thing that is unmistakable of Galliano is it's bottle shape.  A bottle of Galliano is very slender and thin, and extremely tall.  It's so tall and obnoxious that when you go to a bar somewhere it sticks out like a missile or something that belongs in an ammunition warehouse.

I noticed the bottle was old, probably from the 80s, since the lettering on it was identical to all the bottles I saw growing up.  I remember many neighborhood restaurants I went to as a repeat customer with my family.  These restaurant places I went to I had been going for many years, I would pass by the bar area and I would see that bottle of Galliano on the shelves. Through the early 80s up to practically the last of the early 90s, I could still go back to these places and see that SAME bottle on the shelf.  It... Never.... Moved... ever.  Something even in my gut tells me if I went back to these same places now in my old hometown that bottle would STILL be there.

Just like the downstairs bar, the Galliano was still there.  In here is where my fascination with this spirit lies.  It is the relic of my youth, it is my wonderment of always thinking, "what does that large ICBM bottle taste like?".  I just could never want to ask or try it, or even go buy it, I always made excuses.  Columnist Justin Wilson of the Washington Post describes it as: "a sweet Italian anise-citrus-vallia liqueur". but for me I have always been averse to trying it because to me the contents look banana colored, something I really dislike.

Unfortunatly, my free sip of Galliano was not to be either.  The bottle had barely an ounce in it, and I left it to be hoping someone might finish it.  Something tells me though... it's still going to be there like a spent radioactive fuel rod that just never goes away, and nobody wants to touch.

So while the party went on, some basic cocktails were made, including a whiskey sour with Makers.  Asking for sugar and eggs for the bar, the host was wide eyed.  "What are you going to do bake us a cake!?"

Au contraire, for within a bar there are secrets and memories waiting to be unlocked.

Imbibe Hour hits the road in Hungary Part 1

It was time for a vacation. I do like to travel and visit foreign lands and set out to Europe again but to areas I thought would be interesting and perhaps not peoples first choices (like France, Spain, England etc..). Interesting is putting it mildly how the experiences came out. There were some good, some bad, but all of it highly memorable. They also provided opportunities to imbibe (in particular one stop that was a key destination I had desired for its wine) and much to write about. More on that soon...

My first stop was Hungary, and I landed first in the capital city Budapest. Arriving jet lagged from New York I took a private arranged ride from the airport, being whisked away through old gray buildings with highly decorated columns, narrow cobblestone sidewalks, and crossing the Danube to the Buda side of the city over one of it's many gorgeous bridges. My wife and I arrived at our hotel and the imbibing commenced almost immediately.

In our hotel room was some basic dry white wine, nothing too crazy to write up about but it was certainly nice to kick back and drink something after such a long flight. However, the next morning we were given a complimentary gift of bubbly at our first breakfast. The picture you see above is of a very common bubbly called BB semi/dry from Balaton Boglár. This one is described as a medium dry sparkling wine (you can't call it Champagne of course...) and it was fairly good. Crisp, sweetness to taste but a little sweeter than I expected for a "medium dry" but even some fruit. It reminded me of Chandon actually but the bottles cost a heck of a lot less if you buy it at the store, and its probably a better value than Chandon. So far the imbibing conquest was going well, so what else did I run into?

Well Hungary has beer. Yup no kidding.. who knew huh? Of course it has beer and there were many macro-brews that seemed to be common. Dreher was the one I seemed to find all over the country. Dreher is a Pillsner. So how is it? Actually fairly decent. Good color, excellent head, some decent lacing, some possible wheat smell (that doesn't mean necessarily there is wheat used in the beer. I am not sure.) on the nose and very faint citrus, but it has that sweet fakeness and felt some sweet possible corn-like taste also in the palate to myself. Decent lacing, not too carbonated either there was some hop finish but very faint. For a macro produced beer this was actually ok, and it's also quite cheap. I'd grade it a B- maybe C+ slightly better than average.

There are many other beers that you could get at probably any sort of supermarket to imbibe on. Yes you can get basic alcohol at pretty much any supermarket in Hungary. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy Europe because it is so easy to imbibe there. Quite often in Europe, the beer and wine is cheaper than water (which you have to pay for in restaurants). It makes for interesting days when you're not drinking water that's for sure.

There were other things to grab that seemed to be abundant as well besides beer and wine.
One of the most interesting finds in Hungary fell in the spirits category, the classic Eau Di Vie, or specifically a fruit brandy that is common known as pálinka. Pálinka comes in many flavors and I tried several. Things is they were all pretty much similar at least the ones I had pictured here. Big burn, and the fruit component on pálinka seems to be more of an aftertaste after swallowing, not a taste you feel on the palate at all. Problem with that is that they all start to taste the same. However, the apricot pictured here had the most flavor, the others were all fairly marginal, and the Bodza (I don't know what that is I think it is Black Currant) I really found kind of bitter and not very pleasant to drink. Doing some research here at home, it appears pálinka comes in varying degrees of quality depending on the producer which there seems to be many. This producer pictured here I believe is Szicsek. Left to right is Blackberry, Peach, Apricot, Cherry and I think Black Currant.

So after a few days things were starting off well on the imbibing trail, but is this really all there is for Hungary? Of course not. What I did know before going is that Hungary is primarily a WINE consuming nation, and there will be more about that soon... but first I had to go through an imbibing hell here and back first. I did live (although barely) to tell you the tale. Stay tuned my friends and I will tell you all about it.

Up the creek in Portland's Alphabet neighborhood. Water of life no paddle needed

While I was at House Spirits I was asked if I was going to make my way to Clear Creek. Clear Creek? I said, I hadn't heard of it. Turns out Clear Creek was one of the earliest distilleries in the Portland area, producing Eau Di Vies and the occasional Single Malt McCarthy's whiskey. Whiskey? They make Whiskey??? I was sold and had to visit. I needed no more excuses and set out for an early visit.

Opening at 9 it was to be my first stop. A bike was out of the question cause that would be a bit of a ride from downtown, so I hopped on a #15 bus and enjoyed a simple easy drive through Portland's beautiful Alphabet district. Arriving at a strong locked metal warehouse door, only available to enter if I hit a buzzer, I thought I should have been a delivery person rather than dropping by for a tasting. Nevertheless, I was greeted with much warmth and enthusiasm by the staff.

Clear Creek makes several Eau de Vies (translation water of life). You can think of these as after dinner drinks or commonly known as digestifs. They make brandys (pear, apple, plum) but there is also a Kirschwasser, a Framboise, and a spirit I'll get to reviewing shortly an Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir which takes pine needless from the forest and pear fruit. The company also makes, grappa, a signature pot still brandy, and a very well known single malt whiskey which when I was visiting was just being tested and going through a process of adding more barrels to get more peat smell out of it. More on that later also....

There were lots of products to taste so I couldn't figure out at first how this could be achieved. There was no way I could taste all of this properly. Turns out there was a way, the establishment by law is only allowed to let people try 5 things, so they give you a passport with all their products and you are to select 5 products for tasting. The whiskey unfortunately wasn't available... GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! First off it isn't ready yet, and secondly chances are when it gets released at the store it will be gone FAST and there wont be much chance to just have some of it so come November you better come fast.

I settled in on their signature product the Pear Brandy, and decided on three grappas (Muscat, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir), and then finishing up with the Douglas Fir Eau Die Vie. The pear brandy is quite fascinating, it is a clear liquid brandy that they recommend serving ice cold from the freezer. There isn't anything else you can really detect but bountiful pears and a great finish, but the reality is the pear taste and smell is so ingeniously fruity that while you are consuming this brandy you feel as the skin is physically in your mouth. It's a pear bonanza, and doesn't taste fake or artificial at all, it's the real deal!

I decided on trying three grappas next. I normally don't drink grappa, but I wanted to compare three different kinds to see if there was any real difference between the grape varieties. There were some slight differences. The Muscat seemed a little piney-resiny maybe floral, the Noir had a better finish with perhaps some type of nut on the end, the Gewurztraminer had a softer palate than the other three, some sort of faint fruit on the end I couldn't discern. Nevertheless, the reality is they were all very similar and tasted well... like grappa.

I was very excited to try the next product when suddenly the owner/distiller Steve McCarthy came out with a large snifter. He was talking with the staff and just pulling barrels to check, and using other barrels to blend because he felt the whiskey needed more peat. His intention as was told to me by his staffer, was to add other barrels to it to improve the peat strength. He went up to the host who was running the tasting, "what do you think?", nearly ramming and shoving the snifter enthusiastically. I stood there like a deer in the headlights looking at what was to be the future, as the staff congregated around him swapping ideas of the whiskey. I figured there was no harm in doing what I was about to do next. I figured I wouldn't be overstepping my boundaries if I asked what I was about to say. The snifter and its owner were slowly making its way to the back of the warehouse, heading to the back where all the barrels and steel columns and all the magic happened... never to be seen again by my eyes. It was NOW or never....

I asked two things. One, if I could smell the bouquet, and two if I could take a photo. Luckily they said yes. Keep in mind this whiskey is not ready.

The smell had an incredible intense campfire smoke to it, it also had somewhat a bacon like aroma. The fascinating thing, and I am not sure after tasting a bunch of grappa that this helped me judge the quality of it, I smelled sweet grapes coming off the bouquet. I figured that couldn't be coming from the whiskey but from my own palate of the grappas I had consumed. It was really wonderful!!! Alas the grape smell of pure true grapes threw me in the end, I am not sure I'll ever know, but it was a fantastic sensation.

So after the brief whiskey sneak peek, it was on to tackle the Douglas Fir Eau de Vie. The appearance of the liquer is quite impressive. It has a very pale gorgeous emerald green color to it similar to absinthe except it looks much nicer. I was concerned that this would taste VERY resiny and extremely strong, since that is how evergreen and dried pines kind of smell and taste. It was anything but, it has a slight fruit taste which comes from pear that is made with it, and does have the faint whisper of pine and evergreen. It's a real neat product, I am not sure it is for everyone, but I already have an idea for a cocktail with this product which I can't wait to try out sometime soon.

After imbibing such good stuff, I couldn't leave empty handed. This was a real unexpected find and one I am glad I found at the last minute. Too bad the whiskey will have to wait (even if it is a Scotch) :)