‘Hey Wessel, what are you up to Wednesday afternoon?’ Brian asked with a mysterious smile Sunday evening as I was leaving his place. I stopped, took a moment to think through my busy schedule, ‘nothing yet, why?’ ‘How would you like to join me at a whiskey tasting?’ ‘Whiskey tasting? Why, I think I could make some time for that’ I answered.
Unfortunately I left behind my main camera (Canon 50D) in favor of something a little less conspicuous (a small Canon point and shoot) so the shots aren’t as crisp and clear as I’d want them to be but I think you’ll still get a good idea of what happened. That mistake is one I won’t repeat. A photographer is a photographer and should be proud of it.
So…moving on to the tasting itself.
Brian led me to a tall unassuming wooden door somewhere in the heart of downtown Milwaukee and gestured for me to enter. Behind that door was Distil, a bar I will not soon forget.
Even though this was my first tasting I could tell from the reactions of those around me and my own gut that Four Roses had done the event right.
We were a small group, gathered in the back of the bar and seated at moodily lit tall polished wood tables. Three glasses had been placed on a single piece of white paper in front of each chair, labeled simply; Yellow Label, Small Batch, and Single Barrel.
It was hard for me to concentrate on what the whiskey’s brand ambassador Al Young, a long time employee of the company who had just written a book about the history of Four Roses, was saying with both a lingering cold and the tasty looking whiskey in front of me but I did my best and drank at the appropriate times.
Each of the three had a unique and distinct flavor and even after a long and rocky relationship with the beverage I realized how little I actually knew about it. Listening to the comments and watching how others tasted the sweet golden liquid I knew that before I was invited to another tasting there’d have to be some research done. What the heck is a mashbill and how do yeast strains affect flavor?
After the tasting came lunch, and this is where Distil shone in my eyes. The awesome cocktails that were served were one thing but what I would consider four star food being served in this unassuming downtown Milwaukee bar…if it was legal in Wisconsin I would have proposed marriage to my hamburger.
Desert came and like the main course took my breath away.
The event ended suddenly as the bar owners and bartenders checked their watches and realized it was time to head to work. As we stepped outside Distil into what felt like fall weather Brian turned to me and said with a laugh, ‘I wish every day was like this.’ Good company, free drinks, free food, ‘so when’s the next tasting?’ I chuckled in answer.
Distil is a bar located in downtown Milwaukee at 722 N. Milwaukee street. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed!
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