If you haven’t been keeping your eyes open or have been avoiding the more cutting edge bars, you might have missed Monkey Shoulder. But the small yet mighty brand has been making a growing splash. I first discovered it at the Whiskey Experience put on by Butter Run Saloon. This was hands down the best public tasting in the Detroit Area in 2014. That sad part is, nobody heard about it. Maybe 50 people were present and there were over 100 whiskeys to taste. Classes were even hosted from three different brand ambassadors. One of them was Freddy May from Monkey Shoulder.

Freddy was a treat. Right off the bat we knew we were in for a show. This native Brit is over the top energetic, incredibly charismatic and extremely knowledgeable about booze. He has been in the States for 6 years covering various William Grant & Sons products. Prior to that, he was working with single malts back in the UK. He specifically requested Monkey Shoulder when it was scheduled to come to the U.S. and now he focuses on that.

He gave us a brief note on Monkey Shoulder; how it is the first triple malt scotch (blend of three Speyside distilleries), how its matured in ex-bourbon casks and then aged together in a marrying tun. The big question was, ‘Where does the name come from?’ Turns out it is an injury that the malt masters would get from turning the grain. From what I have read, it is actually quite painful so I will not be trying to live the brand that much.

We sipped the product straight. It has a bit of weight to it with rich flavors of spice, smoke and just a hint of peat. Following that we tried two batched cocktails. Since there were only a few people in the class (remember only 50 showed up), Freddy got to work on getting everyone a souvenir. He took an up-turned shaker tin, placed the lip on the top of the metal Monkey Shoulder medallion and gave it a whack with the heel of his hand. Off popped the casting and he passed them out.

Why have you not heard of this? Where is all the advertising? Where is the Scottish pirate saving damsels in distress or stealing his barrels back from a giant eagle? It takes a lot of work to launch a new brand especially in the U.S.. Monkey Shoulder took a creative approach and launched it in Chicago and Austin just in the bars. This drove up some amazing word of mouth and lead the East and West coasts (the typical place to launch a brand) clamoring for the product. When it finally did launch in retail, there was a steady demand. The product sold out 3 batches in the first 2 months. It really starred in cocktail bars where the bartenders could experiment with it. Traditional bars, where the product was mostly enjoyed neat, took a little while to catch-up.

The Gallow Green, of NYC, had a memorable cocktail, according to Freddy, called the McKittrick Mule. It was a mix of Monkey Shoulder, ginger, tangerine, sage and lemon. A spot in Texas was making ice balls with the scotch for a fun addition to cocktails. The product is “unapologetically simple” says Freddy and works great straight or in a cocktail.

I thought the liquor might work well mixed with a Fentiman’s Dandelion & Burdock Soda. 2 oz of Monkey Shoulder topped with soda was really sweet. Cut back with half soda water and half Fentiman’s and this was good to go.

Check out the product on your next shopping trip. It will impress your straight scotch loving father or work as a mixer as well.

Budmo!

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The booze that Michigan bars and retailers can sell is in constant flux. New ones are added and old ones are removed every month or so with a full updated book at the beginning of the year. Most of the popular stuff stays on the list but prices fluctuate and fringe bottles may disappear.

I’m doing some work with the list and thought it would be cool to share the new bottles coming out as of Feb 2, 2014. Finding the ones that were removed is trickier but that will be a follow-up. I’m also including the minimum retail price. There is lots of stuff from High West Distillery which is very exciting and I saw from Sriracha Vodka.

Note that just because it is listed here doesn’t mean you will find it everywhere. The retailer still has to order it (some times with minimum amounts) and it has to be in stock at the distributor. It’s fascinating stuff.

Budmo!

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I work with a pretty great group of people and this year, I got a few boozy gifts from them. The first I want to feature is a Drunk coloring book. It’s called Color Me Drunk and is hours of fun.

Not only does it have great characters like Drunky but it also has pages that have blurry lines so you can feel extra tipsy. It’s $12 on Amazon and a worthwhile gift for the boozer in your life.

Budmo!

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I don’t think I mention how wonderful my wife is often enough. My wife is pretty awesome. She goes to a vintage sale twice a year which happens in Royal Oak. I’ve been a few times and love the finds we can get there.

The two ladies run the event out of their basement and it is packed. There are even a number of vintage bar goods. I didn’t go because I was traveling so my wife bought me a number of goodies.

Above are three stirrers; one from michigan, one really interesting straight razor from the Gashouse and another from the Flamingo.

There are a couple of variations of shot glass Tic-Tac-Toe sets. This one is without the board but you can still have a lot of fun with it.

My favorite find is the vintage egg nog set. With eight cups and a giant bowl, this will be so much fun during Christmas Time.

The most intact set is the Libbey Cocktail Set. It includes a stirrer, 4 cups and a pitcher and is perfect shape. It seems a lot bigger unless you put something to show scale. I included Lego Jar-Jar Binks for comparison.

Even the box doesn’t look too bad. With all these awesome gifts from my wife, it’s time for party. Time to think of a good theme to use them all.

Budmo!

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My wife and I were lucky enough to attend the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair last weekend. If you are a fan of unique, handmade things (especially with a bit of edge) this is a great place.

I picked up two cool pieces of art, for the bar, at the event. The first one was a screen printed bar sign from All Things Grow and the other is a plush beer can from Steff Bomb. Steff Bomb was a winner on TLC’s Craft Wars.

Budmo!

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Every so often I come across an awesome term that is related to alcohol. So I start a new series called Booze Terms.

The first one is…

Plonk (plɑŋk) – noun:

Plonk is an unspecific and derogatory term in British and Australian English for wine that is notably inexpensive or judged to be of poor quality.- Wikipedia

It is basically Boone’s Farm wine. Something cheap for college parties and situations when table wine is too fancy.  In the US, a term like Jug Wine might also be similar. I’ve never heard this word in person but look forward to using it soon.

Budmo!

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While doing some gift shopping in Southfield, I stopped into a random store by happenstance. They had a very interesting booze selection with some very old bottles. There were some great scotches 30 years and older. None I could afford.

However, this little gem was staring me in the face. There was one bottle left and for $20, how could I say no?

I took it to the cocktail scientists at The Oakland last night and we made some great Tiki-style drinks. I’ll do some more research on it and see if you can buy it elsewhere.

It has a moderately strong passion fruit taste and is very sweet. The bottle is amazing but it’s only a 375ml size.

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I took an adventure at lunch yesterday to Alcamo’s in Dearborn, Mich. and that was a treat.  They have a great selection of foods from Italy and even a few vermouths.  I did pick up some Sanbitter. It’s similar to Campari but no booze.

That got me thinking to ask where they might by their local aperitifs from.  She pointed me to Palace Liquor down the road.  He didn’t have much from Italy but he did have two bottles of Unicum.  This is something that hasn’t been sold in Michigan for a few years.  He said the bottles have been on the shelf for 9 years. I grabbed one bottle and alerted Sandy at The Oakland who picked up the other.

I had a meeting in Ferndale, Mich. at night and got to sneak in to Valentine’s Distillery for the first time. It was a cool place.  Remind me to get a tour. Earlier in the week, I read about their new gin and grabbed a bottle from the first batch.  Can’t wait to try it.

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