I was in Kentucky last week , and I did not drink Bourbon dynasty . rather , I ended up with a brilliant yellow bottle of Mellow Corn , a bum and obscure corn whiskey that has become suddenly voguish in certain Brooklyn and San Francisco bars .
It ’s Friday afternoon , you ’ve made it through the tenacious week , and it ’s time forHappy Hour , Gizmodo ’s weekly booze column . A cocktail mover and shaker full of innovation , scientific discipline , and alcohol . Boo(ze ) !
Bourbon , of grade , is having a national consequence . But on a recent trip to Kentucky , I decided to eschew the well - worn Bourbon Trail and look for more obscure way . That ’s how I end up at Heaven Hill ’s near - empty distillery on the Friday after Christmas .
Larry Kass , director of trade relations for Heaven Hill , which makes Mellow Corn as well as the perfectly respectable and notecase - friendly Evan Williams , had just led me on a tour of duty of their Louisville distillery . I ’m not your biggest whisky drinker , but I had been peering curiously at whiskey ’s surging popularity .
Kass has knead on publicizing and PR at Heaven Hill for 18 age , and he ’s watched the rising of bourbon et al from the inside . “ People say , “ We love bourbon , what else do you have ? ’ There ’s not that many stop on that train , ” he said . There is , of course , rye whisky , which has had its own surge . There ’s also white lightning , which c’m on gravely guys . And now there ’s Mellow Corn , a whisky made with at least 80 percent corn in the mashbill and aged for four yr in a used oak barrel . ( Bourbon , of course , is made with at least 51 percent corn and is aged in unused oak tree barrelful . )
I originally hear about Mellow Corn fromarticle in the ever excellent Punch , which draw it being served at San Francisco ’s Trick Dog and Brooklyn ’s The Drink . When I mentioned it to my boyfriend , a Kentucky native , he blinked in unrecognition and muttered something about hipsters . In fact , this is roughly the same reaction I got from a dozen people I unscientifically review in Louisville last workweek . On the other hand , Kass separate me that sales for Mellow Corn had gone up 46.5 pct since 2000 , and they ’ve tot 20 new markets across the land since 2010 . That ’s why California and New York bars are get ahold of it . Mellow Corn may be small and not well - get laid , even inside Kentucky , but it ’s make headway a furore following across the commonwealth .
I reckon it is important to note here that Mellow Corn boasts a retro ugly but hip label unchanged since the forties , and Heaven Hill makes a Mellow Corn tonne - shirt that looks like something you ’d find at Urban Outfitters .
But anyways , let ’s talk about the actual whiskey . At the close of our tour , Kass contribute out a modest bottle of newly distilled , unaged Mellow Corn along with a right bottle of Mellow Corn .
taste Mellow Corn at the distillery
I first sniffed the unaged whiskey . It smelled like corn on the cob . I sipped it . It tasted like clean poison . This is , of form , why we age Bourbon dynasty in charred wooden barrels . It was smart for Kass to pelt us the unaged Zea mays whiskey first — everything would smack dear in compare .
So how was Mellow Corn ? Drunk neat , Mellow Corn does not taste as bad as its $ 15 cost tag and 100 proof might lead you to reverence . It does n’t quite have the raw sienna and spice up notes of well - aged ( and more expensive ) Bourbon dynasty . In a cocktail that complement its corn flavor , Mellow Corn really does add together some adorable notes . I would n’t go out of my way to regain Mellow Corn , but I would n’t change state it down either . And I accidentally stumbled upon a pretty good Mellow Corn cocktail .
Cereal Milk Punch
Left : Cereal milk clout , which is delectable . Right : Unaged Mellow Corn , which is disgusting .
I wish I could say I arrived at this recipe through some mixology know - how , but if we ’re being dependable , it was a “ what can I find in my fridge on New Year ’s Eve ” kind of situation .
Luckily , I did have milk , which turn out to be a perfect backup to Mellow Corn . Dairy take up the burn out of the 100 proof alcohol , bring out the whisky ’s toasty Indian corn flavor . It ’s consolingly reminiscent of cereal milk . If you ’ve had Momofuku Milk Bar ’s food grain Milk River water ice ointment , call up of this as the low - supercilium boozy version . I ended up adapting it from amilk clout recipethat originally shout out for bourbon .
5 cup of whole milk1 1/3 cupful Mellow Corn1 cup powdered sugar1 tbsp vanilla extractdash of nutmeg *
Mix the Milk River , Mellow Corn , small-grained sugar , and vanilla elicit together and place in the freezer for three to four hours until slushy . Alternatively — if you ’re work-shy or ca n’t await — mix it up in a trash with a couple ice third power . Top with Myristica fragrans .
- Try cinnamon or else of Myristica fragrans for a taste reminiscent of Cinnamon Toast Crunch .
Drinking booze , of course of action , has always been about more than the taste of the liquidness itself — it ’s about tap into a long tradition or a new trend . I ended up drinking the rest of my feeding bottle on New Year ’s Eve in this cocktail . I might even make a new tradition of my own out of it .
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