Knappogue Castle Single Malt Irish Whiskey got a new look. And to celebrate, they flew in a couple heavyweight bartenders from across these great states to Pouring Ribbons in New York’s East Village just for the occasion.
The visiting dignitaries: Jackson Cannon from Eastern Standard and The Hawthorne in Boston and Derek Brown from Columbia Room in D.C. And playing host was barkeep Joaquín Simó of Pouring Ribbons.
Each made cocktails using Knappogue’s 12-year whiskey in a different way to highlight the spirit’s breadth of flavors. Brown made a drink he called Irish Fried Rice with sherry and toasted rice orgeat that did in fact taste remarkably, and perhaps oddly, like fried rice. He garnished it with an Irish fortune cookie. Which is just like a regular fortune cookie except when you crack it open, there are quotations from famous Irishmen instead of Chinese proverbs. Of course.
IRISH FRIED RICE
1 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year
1 oz La Cigarrera Manzanilla Sherry
1 oz toasted rice orgeat
.75 oz lemon juice
Soda
Shake first four ingredients with ice. Strain into a highball glass, top with soda and garnish with a fortune cookie.
Cannon named his creation Goodnight Irene and employed sherry and Cynar alongside that whiskey. It was dry, slightly bitter and herbaceous. Naturally, I drank it all.
GOODNIGHT IRENE
1 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year
1 oz Lustua East India Sherry
1 oz Cynar
Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a lemon peel.
Simó crafted what he called Pêche-y Keen, a drinkable number made with crème de pêche and vermouth. It was just the right amount of refreshing without masking the whiskey.
PÊCHE-Y KEEN
2 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year
.75 oz bianco/blanc vermouth (Dolin or Contratto preferred)
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup
.25 oz Giffard Creme de Peche
1 oz club soda
Shake with ice, strain into a highball glass and top with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
Knappogue also served drams from its lineup, including the 14-Year Twin Wood, which is aged in both bourbon barrels and sherry casks. Knappogue Castle 16 is another Twin Wood expression, except here it spends about 14 years in bourbon barrels before being finished in sherry oak. I’m of the belief that things tend to get better with age, so I fancied the 16-year, but it was the 12-year that was empty before the party was even half over.
Rounding out the event was Oddfellows Ice Cream, who created a whiskey ice cream for the occasion. There was also an artist live-sketching the event. Which is like live-tweeting, but you don’t need the internet and just as many people see it.
