Real Eggnog - Not From a Carton - Cooked Like My Grandma Used To Make
Commercial eggnog is as far from the real stuff as anything I can think of. On the real side of things, we have quick and delicious eggnogs like the Baltimore Eggnog and a delicious cider version recently championed by our friend Dale DeGroff, called General Harrison's Eggnog. But around Christmastime I do like to make a delicious cooked eggnog from scratch, leavened with egg whites. Frankly, it's a pain in the butt, but when made well, it's silky smooth and lighter than you might imagine. It has a texture like nothing else in the world, and whether spiked with rum, spiced rum, rye, bourbon or Irish whiskey; it's truly a beverage that places you emotionally inside a Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart film.
Of course, our bartenders can always make a Baltimore Eggnog and/or a General Harrison's Eggnog at The Catherine Lombardi Bar, but old fashioned cooked eggnog is not possible à la minute! Friday night real eggnog will be available for just $5, spiked with the spirit category of your choice (rum, brandy, whisky). Come in for a cup. We'll even give you the recipe.
We will pass hors d'oeuvres from 6-9 PM and the most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts in The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.
Grand Marnier was created in 1880 by Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle. It is a blend of fine cognacs and distilled essence of tropical oranges. Slow aging in French oak casks rounds it out and separates it from other “triple-sec” like Cointreau. The Cuvee du Centenaire was launched in 1927 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the House of Grand Marnier, it is a balance between essence of tropical oranges and cognacs mainly from: Petite and Grande Champagne. The Cuvee du Cent Cinquantenaire was launched by Jacques Marnier Lapostolle, the company's CEO, in 1977 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the House of Grand Marnier. This blend was created for cognac enthusiasts. It combines essence of orange with very old cognacs mainly from Grand Champagne, the most prestigious production area in the Cognac region.
We open one bottle Friday at 6:30. When it's gone, it's gone!
I've heard it said that it's better to be lucky than smart. In building a business for the last twenty years or so, in an industry as fickle and mercurial as this one, I've come to realize that one needs at least a bit of both. There's always hard work; but on the lucky vs. smart debate, I'm sure both are required. We all have seen smart, hard-working people who fell victim to misfortunes beyond their control. We get into trouble when we become so arrogant as to take all the credit for all the good things that have happened to us. Yes, without hard work and brains, most successful people would not have been able to make the most of their good fortune; but we should always remember, that without at least some good fortune, all the hard work and brains can lead to naught.
Some of our greatest blessings have been the people in our lives and the community that has coalesced around us. Our partner, Lou Riveiro, took a chance on two bartenders with a crazy idea in a redeveloping city on a challenged street-corner. Dick Mack, the owner of The Den, sold us a liquor license on a handshake. Mike Kowal built the original Stage Left with few plans, for two neurotic and demanding project managers who insisted on perfection but had almost no money to pay him. So many of our friends and family, who were "well-paid" lawyers and bankers during the week, came down to sand the bar and scrape the basement floor on weekends. Most importantly, there is you, who come to patronize us as guests in our dining rooms and at our bars. You eat and drink with us. You followed us down the roads of sustainable, local, delicious cuisine; along the cocktail safari of fresh, from-scratch cocktails long before anyone else cared. You followed us on the journey of estate-bottled wines from small producers well before it was fashionable. You've embraced some amazing winemakers that no one had ever heard of. You allowed us to make this place for us all, and we're smart enough to be grateful. So, Thanks!
This latest addition to the Tun 1401 is a rare batch indeed, including exceptional liquid from a number of casks specially selected by Malt Master, David Stewart. Inspired by and produced in one of the oldest warehouses at the distillery, Batch 9 is a marriage of some of the rarest from Warehouse 24. It's sourced from eleven traditional whisky casks and three sherry butts, whose ages span a number of decades. The whisky then rested for several months in Tun 1401 – one of the distillery’s unique marrying vessels – to create a single malt that is greater than the sum of its parts. David Stewart, Malt Master of over 50 years, says, “The end result is a complex and completely unique marriage characterized by dark fruits and marmalade on the nose. Its richness and smoothness is underpinned with dark chocolate sweetness, delicate honey notes and a distinctly long, spicy finish."
We open one bottle Wednesday at 6:30. When it's gone, it's gone!
You may not realize it, but white truffles go with just about every single thing on your Thanksgiving table; and by "go with," I mean "MAKE EXPLODE WITH DELICIOUSNESS!" The white truffles this year are amazing, some of the best we have ever had, and they usually don't last through December. What foods do I speak of? Gravy! Shave the truffles on the gravy!!! They also work magic on stuffing, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, root vegetables. White truffles are so easy, just shave them right on the dishes at the last minute. You can do it table-side!
For Thanksgiving, we are making a certain amount of our White Truffles from Alba (the best we've had in years) available for retail purchase. If you don't a mandolin, you can use a vegetable peeler to shave them, or a very sharp knife. We MUST have your truffle order in as soon as possible. We expect to run out. Order by emailing JAlexhall@stageleft.com or calling 732-828-4444 ext 200.
Truffles = $195 Per Ounce We get about 6-7 full servings from 1 oz, enough to shave over 6-7 dishes on your Thanksgiving table.
Mescal, Tequila, Crema de Mescal, Pear-Vinegar syrup (Shrub), Grapefruit and Chamomile-Hibiscus Tea
This cocktail embodies the things we love most about great Mescal’s subtle, roasted smoky flavors. We combine it with earthy aged lowlands Tequila, the silky sweetness of Pear and Grapefruit then float a bit of tart floral teas on top for a striking contrast of autumnal flavors. Try it from the bottom for a bit of smoky sweetness, then from the top for a refreshing floral note. In the end you may decide to mix the two, spreading the fire in a whole new direction. The Burning Orchard will be offered for $8 on Friday evening. We will pass hors d'oeuvres from 6-9 PM and the most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts in The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.
In 2006, Raj Bhakta purchased a 500-acre dairy farm in the rolling hills of Vermont’s Champlain Valley. Today, the farm, which is being painstakingly restored to grow organic rye grains, is home to Master Distiller Dave Pickerell’s magnum opus: WhistlePig Rye Whiskey. After he graduated from West Point with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Pickerell served in the military for eleven years as a cavalry officer. Later, he received a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville, and served as Chairman of the Kentucky Distillers Association and Master Distiller at Maker’s Mark in Loretto, Kentucky for 13 years. “This is what I was meant for,” says Pickerell of the whiskey business.
After leaving Maker’s Mark, Pickerell embarked on a journey to find the perfect rye whiskey. “Rye, in its own essence, is just a brilliant grain,” says Pickerell. “I wanted to do rye because it’s America’s historical whiskey.” During the Revolutionary War, English blockades of American ports prevented the colonists from purchasing molasses in order to make rum. As a result, American distillers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, started making rye whiskey.
WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey is one of the few 100% rye whiskies available today. “Rye is the brat of whiskey grains. The higher the percent rye you get, the worse it behaves,” says Pickerell. “It gets sticky. It foams. A lot of my colleagues laugh at me for persisting to work with 100% rye because the nuisance level of going from 95% to 100% is unbelievable. Most people stop at 95%. We go ahead and push the envelope and make it 100%.”
After fermentation, WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey is aged for ten years – first, in new American oak casks and then in second-use bourbon casks. This decade of maturation rounds out the flavors of the rye, and gives it just a hint of sweetness. After aging, WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey is brought to 100 proof and bottled by hand at WhistlePig Farm in Vermont.
WhistlePig Straight Rye has already received a number of accolades: it received a perfect five out of five stars from F. Paul Pacault’s Spirit Journal, it earned a score of 96 points from Wine Enthusiast (the highest score a rye whiskey has ever scored), Details Magazine called it “America’s Best New Whiskey” and it was named among the top five whiskeys of the year by The Wall Street Journal.
WhistlePig The Boss Hog Single Cask Barrel Strength Straight Rye Whiskey is a limited-edition companion to the original WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey and is also crafted from 100% rye grains. After the rye is distilled, WhistlePig Boss Hog is aged in a combination of new American oak and second-use bourbon casks for over twelve years. The maturation process tames the intense notes of the rye with soft hints of vanilla, caramel and butterscotch. After maturation, each bottle of WhistlePig The Boss Hog is bottled from a single barrel at barrel strength (the whisky is not diluted with water).
WhistlePig The Boss Hog Straight Rye Whiskey is the product of a single barrel, and only 24 barrels of this whiskey have ever been bottled. We will open one bottle at precisely 6:30 PM. When it's gone, it's gone. I hope to see you there.
Next Week in The Spirits Project We'll Open It Wednesday (Because Thursday is Thanksgiving) We'll offer a second Spirits Project on Friday (Stay Tuned) Balvenie Tun 1401 No. 9 Scotch
Strega is a wildly complex digestif hailing from the Lombard region of Italy. Its flavor, aroma and brilliant color are derived from over seventy different botanicals. Chief amongst them is saffron. Strega means ‘witch’ in Italian. Combining its herbaceous sweetness with a careful layer of bitter Aperol and intense, flavorful Rum certainly makes for a spellbinding combination. The Strega Sour will be offered for $8 on Friday evening.
In 1886, with the help of his seven sons and two daughters, William Grant set out to fulfill a lifelong ambition. Together they began building his distillery by hand, and on Christmas Day of 1887, the first drop flowed from the copper stills. Today, Glenfiddich remains independently owned by the fifth generation of the same family. Each generation is driven to craft the finest malt in Speyside and to pass that legacy on to future generations.
New American oak barrels are used by distilleries in the U.S. to age bourbon and rye. Once these distilleries have aged their whiskey, the casks are shipped to Scotland. The first time they fill the barrels, they are known as first fill barrels. American oak imparts the whisky with compounds such as esters, lactones and phenols. One such compound, known colloquially as whisky lactone, produces a strong coconut flavor in the finished dram. Vanillin, another compound extracted from the oak, unsurprisingly contributes an aroma of vanilla. But because freshly charred oak has high levels of these aromatic compounds, casks made from it can overpower the more delicate flavors of a Speyside malt. Instead, Glenfiddich uses barrels that have already contributed much of the wood's flavoring compounds to American bourbon. The result is a more elegant and refined dram, with notes of warm, crunchy toffee, marmalade on toast and a whiff of a old orange liqueur. It's balanced by dry almost smoky notes of oak tannin.
This is the second release in the "Age of Discovery" collection. It is the first Glenfiddich expression exclusively matured in American bourbon casks, for 19 years. I look forward to sharing some with you this evening. We will open one bottle at precisely 6:30 PM. When it's gone, it's gone. I hope to see you there.
Next Week in The Spirits Project: Whistle Pig 12-Year Straight Rye "The Boss Hog" Whiskey; Vermont (Cask Strength)