The Restaurant Guys

The Spirits Project: North British 23 Year Old "Rare Auld Grain" 1991 Lowland Scotch by Duncan Taylor

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $295
• Thursday, September 29 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring one ounce for $8.50

Grain whisky seems to be all the rage. While malted barley is at the base of most of the greatest scotch whisky in the world, in 'grain whisky' other grains are permitted. While most grain whisky is mixed with malted barley to make blended whisky. There are some plucky merchants pulling the best examples of this stuff and bottling it separately after long aging. The results are surprising and delicious.

Single-grain Scotch whisky is counter intuitively not from a single grain. Go figure. It is must be from a single distillery. But it's a combination of malted barley and other cereals, either malted or unmalted. Unlike Single-Malt Scotch Whisky, it may contain wheat, corn, rye and/or unmalted barley. Single-grain scotch whisky is always unpeated and lighter in style than the single-malts. This distinct style lets the oak speak a little more and provides an entirely different textural experience. Over the years the number of grain distillery have decreased and now there are only 8 left in Scotland.

North British Distillery was founded in 1885 by Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John M. Crabbie and is now the only operating distillery left in Edinburgh. Although there have never been any official bottlings of North British, a number of independent releases, many of them well-aged, have showcased the virtues of this grain whisky. This single-cask single-grain Scotch whisky from the North British distillery is bottled by Duncan Taylor as part of their Rare Auld Grain range. It was distilled in September 1991 and matured in a Sherry cask for 23 years, until it was bottled in November 2014. Only 63 bottles of this whisky were produced.

Next Week in The Spirits Project
Laphroaig 16 yr (1997) Duncan Taylor Single Range

The Spirits Project: Bookers "One of A Kind" Rye

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $600 (if you can find it)
• Thursday, September 22 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring one ounce for $17.50

In 1988, Booker Noe, the sixth generation of the Beam family to make bourbon in Kentucky, and the long-time master distiller at Beam, introduced Booker's Bourbon. Mark and I were at The Frog and The Peach, bartending. It was a category-changer. It was among the first of a line of forward-thinking bourbons that have changed the marketplace.

It was also the first cask-strength bourbon to be released into the mainstream. I was not made aware of this fact and a round of Bookers bourbon manhattans made with Bookers (at 124 proof) almost killed me.

Booker himself passed away in 2014, and his son, Fred Noe, now is master distiller. In his lifetime, Booker was always experimenting and pushing the boundaries of quality. In 2003, he laid down a few barrels of rye whiskey. Bourbon usually contains rye, but is predominantly from corn (minimum 51%). Well, Booker never got to see those barrels bottled.

Fred bottled them just this year. The mash bill (recipe) is over 70% rye and this is the first rye whiskey ever released under the Booker's label. Critics have proclaimed it one of the best rye whiskies produced. It has already all-but-disappeared from retail availability. If you can find a bottle for less than $600, buy it. There is no more stock behind it. Zero, zip, nada. It's all but gone. We acquired a few bottles back when they were released and we have not offered any for sale...until now.

We look forward to sampling a bottle with you on Thursday evening, and raising a glass to the late, great Booker Noe. I hope you can join us. We open one bottle at 6:30 precisely. When it's gone, it's gone.

Halloween Weekend: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
A Staged Radio Play by Raconteur Radio
FEATURING: Jeff Maschi, Laurence Mintz, Danielle Illario, and Alex Dawson
Friday, October 28th at 8 PM

The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life, in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh. In three days of furious writing, he produced a story about his dream existence. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. In another three days, he wrote it again.

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic. In the first six months 40,000 copies were sold. Queen Victoria read it. Sermons and editorials were written about it. An intriguing combination of fantasist thriller and moral allegory, the gripping struggle of two opposing personalities — one essentially good, the other evil — for the soul of one man. Its tingling suspense and sensitive portrayal of man's dual nature reveals Stevenson's great skill and originality. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde retains the power to terrify and move over a century later.

WITH: Period costumes, theatrical lighting, Golden Age radio equipment, vintage commercials, fog fx, and, of course, extensive sound effects.

PLUS: Jazz vocalist Danielle Illario sings the period ballad, Roses of Picardy.

Raconteur Radio stages theatrical presentations of vintage radio plays, classic works of literature, and pop culture parodies for live audiences throughout the Tri-State area. They've been called "family friendly guerrilla theater" by the New York Times, one of "the 7 best things to do in NJ" by the Newark Star-Ledger, "innovative and entertaining," by the Home News Tribune, and "a radio show on steroids," by the Courier News, as well as "epic!" by Lev Grossman (of Time Magazine), "amazing!" by Kyle Hartzell (of NPR), "dazzling!" by Megan Ryan (of wNYC), "spellbinding!" by Tom Lynch (of Theatre World), "thrilling!" by Barry Monush (of The Museum of Television & Radio), and "outstanding!" by Lee Pfeiffer (of Cinema Retro Magazine). For more info, visit www.RaconteurRadio.com

Have dinner at either Stage Left or Catherine Lombardi before, during or after the performance and the show is complimentary. A limited number of seats will be available for $25 and a two-drink minimum. Show run time is 55 minutes. Make a reservation at 732-828-4444 or [email protected].

Central Jersey Jazz Festival in New Brunswick

The Central Jersey Jazz Festival comes to the streets of our fair city this weekend. This annual festival is held over three days in three counties. Saturday (9-17) brings the swing to New Brunswick starting at 1PM on Livingston Ave, right across from the restaurant. Jeremy Pelt, a Downbeat Rising Star Trumpeter tops the bill. You can bring your own chair, sit in the park and listen, or sit in one of our chairs and listen while we bring you great food and drinks. For more information, click the graphics.

Make a reservation for lunch at Stage Left here.

 

The Spirits Project: Bunnahabbhain 33 Year Scotch

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $200
• Thursday, September 15 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring one ounce for $6

Regular readers will surely know that Bunnahbhain is one of my favorite distilleries in all of Scotland. Whether by the low road or the high road, Bunnahabhain stands out. The sea-facing warehouse, which rests on the banks of the Sound of Islay, enjoys a cool, salty breeze that adds a touch of saline to the whisky as it ages. “Over the years, you get this slight salty taste,” says Andrew Brown, Bunnahabhain’s distillery manager.

“The older the whisky gets, the saltier it becomes. It’s not overpowering – it’s just a hint.” This Bunnahabhain 33 Year Old Single Malt was distilled in 1980 and matured in an American oak cask that was previously used to age bourbon and also Sherry casks from Spain. The whisky was bottled in 2013 by James MacArthur at 90 proof without the use of chill filtration or any artificial coloring. We look forward to sampling a bottle with you on Thursday evening.

Next Week in The Spirits Project
Bookers Limited Edition American Rye

Labor Day Cookout: Sidewalk Cafe is Perfect

Well here we are at the end of Summer. While it has gone by too fast, it has not yet breathed its last. In fact, as the nights are getting a touch cooler, they're bringing a very welcome relief to the heat of August. Most evenings, our sidewalk cafe has been enjoying lovely end-of-summer breezes. If you're around this weekend, please do come join us. We'll be closed on Monday itself, but open the rest of the weekend. On Sunday, we will punctuate the end of the official summer season with our annual LABOR DAY WEEKEND COOKOUT.

Great food, great bourbon and great music with The Bond 005tet. These guys are fantastic and vocalist Danielle Allario is just out of this world.

The Spirits Project: Five Lions - Burnside 22 Year Scotch

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $249
• Thursday, September 1 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring one ounce for $8

So here is a confusing little tale for you about a Burnside Whisky from Scotland. Burnside ceased to operate in 1917. Imagine my surprise on learning of this 22 year old Burnside “Single Malt” Scotch from 1993. It came with the highest recommendations for quality and taste, but I was baffled. I’m still not sure I have the whole story, but, after considerable effort, I do have a bottle in hand. It seems as though the Burnside name is often used for different Blended Malt Whisky.

From what I can glean, this is a 22 year old Balvenie, with just a teaspoon of Glenfiddich added. The addition of even just that teaspoon means that the name Balvenie cannot be used on the bottle. Five lions is a new merchant group that has launched an impressive collection of bottlings, which are just making it to this country. These are never chill-filtered and no color is added. This 1993 was aged in in oloroso sherry hogshead casks and bottled at 22 years old. It is cask-strength at 55.5% alcohol. We look forward to opening it Thursday evening.

As it is a holiday weekend, we're going to offer it at cost ($8) Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as long as the supply lasts.