Whiskeyfest II - The next three hours...

Well, the caddies came flooding in and I was left with no plan. Now though, a few more of our crew were in. Corey, Murph, Chris Phelan and Tom (knowles' friend). So we all gathered and started hitting random tables.

George dickel - cascade hollows - pretty good. Talked to master distiller - this is 17 miles off highway- close to JD - Every time I see Dickle I think of Nashville. I swear every bar on broadway has a dickel sign up in it. I was pumped the master distiller was there. Had no idea it is was that close to Jack Daniels.

Van winkle - 23yr - not good. I want vip again. - I hate to admit this but I really don't remember anything about this tasting. Oh wait...yes I do. Everyone in the group was going to try this and I had never heard of them.

Chivas with almonds 18 year still I don't like it - So, Corey was talking to the guy pouring at this table. Most tables had about 5 different bottles. Corey thought it would be a good idea to try all 5 for the different tastes at each table. Fine. You are not hitting many companies this way but there are pros to it. Well, they had almonds and chocolate chips as help bring out the flavor of the alcohol. I clearly did not agree.

Jim beam black decent - Ok. We killed a lot of time around the beam table. Michelle and I on our way to Nashville one time stopped here so I have had most of the Beam family drinks. Black is a new one I think. I didn't seem look much different than the original.

Just had booker noe and found out fred booker noe is 10 feet from me. Awesome. Booker noe's grandosn I think. - Bookers is part of the Jim Beam family but ranges from 120 - 140 proof depending on the bottle. Serious stuff but has a smooth taste. BTW, the jim beam guys were partying. They would pour you one and then do a shot. Let me get a little technical here. Fred Booker Noe is the son of Booker Noe. Fortune Brands owns Jim Beam but Fred Booker Noe is the highest ranking family guy left within the company and still runs Jim Beam.

Just took a pic with owner of jim beam!!! - Probably didn't need to do this but I thought it was a GREAT idea. He said "You keep drinking it. I will keep making it." Sounds good!




I killed a lot of time around the Jim Beam table drinking water, eating some food, etc. I really slowed down at this point.

Another point - Every company had a big sign behind their table identifying them. Well, that is true of everyone except one...

Cc- sherry barrel 8 yrs (from the guy)- called sherry oak- pretty good-on the rocks - CC did not have a sign. Nelson told me about it and I had to check it out. It was close to Jim Beam. The guy pouring informed me that the distillery is in Windsor close to the casinos. Why did I not know this? We could have visited in college. He gave me his card (he was drunk) and told me to call him if I ever want to take a tour. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached that point in the night! Game on!

Just ate - Tick tock tick tock. I am eating, drinking water. Time is flying at this point. I am basically riding the VIP hour wave but I feel a need to get moving again.

Black lable montana whiskey- twrrible. Yikes. I know I misspelled. - So, if you look closely in this message it will tell you a lot. "I know I misspelled." - Basically I am trying to tell you I am not that drunk. When i do that, I usually am. This Montana whiskey was around the Jim beam side of the room. We were staying around there.

Uncle john - pear brandy - not a brandy. Maybe a misytake. That is rough. - So, I was getting a little tired of whiskey and bourbon so I thought I would try a Michigan distilled brandy. I thought it was taste sweet. I almost threw up after drinking it. Sweet it was not. WOW.

Iowa bourbon - nelson made me go - thank god - it was amazing and I learned that bourbon does not have to be from kentucky.
Really did it for barry running the half during tornadoes tomorrow. Good luck! - Well, who knew bourbon can be made outside of Kentucky? There are 5 companies that make bourbon outside of Kentucky. There are a couple rules to be bourbon and one of them is NOT a location. The Nashville half marathon was the next day. Iowa Bourbon was distilled in Cedar Rapids, birthplace of the Wilken brothers. Nelson highly recommended it. So I went. He was wrong about the Montana one but right about this bourbon. It was really good.

Bulleit - chris phelan coonection- pretty smOoth- liked it. - Chris knew this company. Whatever. They had glasses as well that we could take. SCORE! It didn't stand out but it didn't bother me either. I give it a thumbs up!

Makes - 46 - new makers!!! It is good!!! Corey said it was moonshine. I disagree. Its good. _ Back over at Makers and they started pouring their new bourbon! I was PUMPED! I really liked it. Corey's exact quote, "Ugh. This tastes like moonshine!" How dare he! This was great. TO each their own.

Irish geese irish soldiers - ugh- it was okay. Pretty smooth. Probably would have been better earlier. I a$ burning out on all the diff whiskeys. - Here is me hitting a wall and quite frankly my belly was sloshing around. Not good. Nelson and I agreed it was time for a beer.

Anchor steam - disappointed they didn't have the bock. Amber ale instead. Its okay at best. - I had my heart set on a drinking the bock. I love bock beers. The darker the better! So the amber ale had no chance. It was decent. I was really hankering for a nice macro brew like Miller lite though. More on that later.

Hibiki- blend- it was okay. - Back on the bourbon trail. I am running out of steam fast. This is a Japanese whiskey. It did not stand out to me but honestly at this point, what would???

CR - again - another iowa trip - well iowa is doing another thing right. Go tom brands! - There were a couple people that hadn't tried the Iowa Bourbon so we headed it. Yes, a few of us really liked it.

Templeton rye - had a newsroom with nelson firs time ever - we commerrated that. It is pretty good. - So, in training for the night, Nelson (a co-worker of mine) and myself went to a bar after work and tried a couple random whiskeys. This was one of them. Again, it was not the worst or the best of the night.

Murpheyjust got violent. I thought corey was the drunkest but by far murph. Wow - Basically, I made fun of his sister. He hit me and I told him it was going in my notes. So everything I wrote was an exaggeration. These are not sober notes people.

Just finished the night with crown black- a very good drink. - When they said it was last call, I bolted over the crown table for one more taste of the black. They were my MVP table of the night and I thought it was would be a great way to finish.

I am going out and not taking notes any more. - We decided (bad decision time...) to hit a bar up for a couple beers. I was happy to be done taking notes....or so I thought.

Ploth is sober. - ummmm, I am pretty sure he was not. he was just more sober than me. Again, my notes, my eyes, just a false statement.

Corey is the drunkest. Wow. App on his nose.. - Again, Corey was just more drunk than me. More false claims. Thank goodness this is my last note. He did have a piece of food on his nose though. That was funny.

So if I would have gone home then, I believe I would have felt in pretty good shape the next day. I tried a lot in the first hour but the next three I drank as many as I did in the first hour. It was a great night and not too over the top. However, I did not go home.

All of us went to a bar next door. After drinking whiskey all night, do you have any idea what a miller lite tastes like? WATER. It was so light and good. A few people dropped off after the first bar. Ploth, Nelson and I went to a couple more bars. Nelson grabbed the 12:40 train home and I crashed at Ploth's but not until we played about 2 hours of Tiger Woods golf on the Wii.

Why didn't I go home after the first bar or better yet after whiskeyfest????

I can't WAIT for next year!

Who is with me??????

Whiskyfest - Part I - the VIP hour!

10th Annual Whiskyfest Chicago took place on Friday April 23. Well, a few of us had the VIP ticket. Let me tell you. it was well worth it. You got an extra hour. They gave you a bag of goodies (not necessarily a good thing) and the number of tickets was limited. HUGE PLUS.

So this all took place in the Hyatt Regency on Wacker drive in a giant conference room. Each company had their own table. There was also two giant buffets in the room. You could eat whenever you wanted. They had bottles of water and soda everywhere tool until near the end. Bottom line - this set up was great. During VIP hour, they had certain high end bottles available too.

Before going in, I did some research of things I wanted to try during the VIP hour. After that, it was more a look and see game. Since the VIP time only last an hour, I really wanted to hit a lot in that first hour. So taking notes was actually the hardest in the first hour.

So, as usual my notes are in italics, exactly how I wrote them.

Jameson rare ifisrt shot smooth no burn no after taste I was awesome - Ok. You will see a lot of typos. I was writing with one hand while holding my sipping glass in the other. Now, I say shot but for this high end bottles, it was more like a 1/4 shot at best. Well, it varied. Here was almost a shot. Everyone knows I am a fan of Jameson. This bottle of Jameson is called Rare Vintage and costs $250. Well, this shot was so smooth. It did not burn. It was great.

Crown xr _ these high end are so smooth. shocked how good - $140 bottle of Crown. I am awarding Crown my favorite table of the night. More on this later. I have never been a big Crown fan. This shot again was good. No after taste. No burn. High quality alcohol.

Michters - 10 year - not as good as the first two - little more bite. Bourbon...first hit won't be the last. - Well, stopped at our first bourbon. $100 bottle. I wasn't very impressed. A little too much rye for me. I think it was destined to fail after the first two.

Kilbeggan - irish whisk - really good. If the bottle is in a box its good...really good. On good pace. One per 5 min. - Back on the Irish whiskey. So we are trying for 10-12 different drinks the first hour. One per 5 min was perfect. I was surprised it was going to plan. On a different note, some of these companies displayed their high end bottle by putting it in a box with a pillow inside. We get it. This is your best bottle. I thought it was funny.

Rocky mountain rye - lot of rye - bite!!!! - Well, this bourbon is like 95% rye. A very distinct taste. I was not a big fan obviously. Lets move on.

Balvenie - 21 year - I hate scotch...yuck! - This place had a long line but it was for a bottle that was $900 but it was gone by the time we got up there. I was beginning to believe there was not a scotch in the world that I liked.

Bushmills - 1608 tastes the same!!!! Wtf! I am on a streak! Bad one dumped some of it - The $82 bottle of Bushmills to me tasted like the $15 bottle. This was the only sample that I dumped for the night. That is saying something.

Rowan tree - best scotch I have ever had - 6600 bottle. - Arran Malt is the company. Rowan Tree is the bottle name. There are 6,600 bottles of it worldwide. It was SO GOOD. Wow. The guy pouring was hardcore Scottish. I could barely understand him. Loved this! There is a scotch in the world I would drink.

Park hert - 21 - it is a sweet bourbon with a kick - like knob creek- not sure why it is so expensive- Well, I think I didn't get the golden anniversary bottle and got the 21. So, I missed out on the VIP bottle. Oh well. This did taste like knob creek to me which is ok but not great.

Makers - decent - not tasting as good as usual - Makers did not have a VIP bottle but they had the red wax there and a guy was dipping glasses right there for people to take. So we decided to stop by before the caddies were let loose in the place. So we grabbed a glass and had a shot. Makers is so good. (I will explain the caddy reference later).

Cognac - ancestr - this was fantastic! 900 bottle really good!! - Not surprising that a $900 of cognac tastes great. This was everything you ask for though. One of the best things I tasted all night.

Unibrow- quelque chose- great change of pace with a beer - 400 cases total to the us. Wow is that good! A little fruity but you expect that from frenchmen. - Was it too early to start making fun of the French? Not for me! I was definitely feeling the effects at this point. A dark beer. great flavor. Not heavy. Loved it and it was a great change of pace! Plus, only 400 cases of this beer are in the US.

Vcrown royal black - nit as good as xr but decent! - The Crown guys told us we should try the black too. Since XR was so good, we figured we would hit it up. It was good,really good. Smooth and only a $30 bottle. I was impressed.

Closure - I finish the way I start...jameson rare vintage!!! Yessss! This might be where I stop remembering...time check...625...uh oh - Well, the VIP hour was ending and I wanted one last taste of Rare Vintage Jameson. I snuck it in before time was up!

Vip over... Well, if anyone is counting, we had one beer (part of one beer) and 13 tastings. It was a great start to a great night. I and everyone else I think slowed down CONSIDERABLY after the first hour. No one keeps a pace like that. Well, not if you want to remember.

I have a Caddyshack reference for everyone. There is a scene when the open up the pool for like an hour to all the caddies. When the hour starts, you see all the caddy go running around the pool and jump in. They flood the pool area in complete chaos. Well, moments before the 8 doors were about to open at Whiskyfest, Nelson said "Here come the caddies." It was the perfect line. The amount of people there probably tripled when the door flew open and people flooded the booths.

Tomorrow I will finish up the event.

Cheers!

Mike and Mike

I am a lot behind on posting this. A couple weeks ago, Mike and Mike were in Chicago for a book signing. Michelle is a fan (and so am I). I figured it would be a good birthday gift for Michelle. She had meetings all day the day they were here. So I took a late lunch and went to the bookstore. I waited about 45 min with a co-worker (zavada) and finally met them. They were nearing the end of the signing and looked exhausted. I mean they were on the air at 5 am that day.



My take on them is not surprising. Golic was talkative, engaging and just relaxing. He looked tired but he was enjoying himself. Greeney was standoffish, trying to get done ASAP and looked uncomfortable. I was a little disappointed but each day is different.

Anyway, Golic looked pretty trim. He is not fat. He does have a big head and hands. I wish I would have asked him to stand up. I just wanted to see what size he is. I am probably comparable to him. Liam their producer was chilling in a chair behind them. I thought that was funny.

Two blogs topics coming: 10th Annual Whiskyfest Chicago (which will be two blogs) and Broncos Draft. Expect one a day for the rest of the week.

Whiskyfest

With Chicago Whiskyfest happening tonight, this is what I feel like...




Ever try a $900 bottle of cognac? a $900 bottle of scotch? How about a $250 bottle of Jameson? Me either! But I will tonight!

Enjoy Retirement Mr. Elam!

A couple weeks ago, the Broncos signed Jason Elam for a one day contract or one week whatever. The sole reason for doing this was so he could retire a Denver Bronco. Elway may have left in May of 1999 but this truly is the end of the era.

Let me tell you all a story. The date was November 22, 1999. It is Monday Night Football at Old Mile High. I had gone to Denver for the weekend and the game. It was my first time ever to a Broncos game. I was by myself. I stayed at a friend's house in Denver, a fellow Rambler. Anyway, I digress. The weather was super cold. Denver weather can be very sporadic. By the time of kick off, it was negative weather with a very negative windchill. It did not stop me from tailgating with random people in the parking lot. Hell, I was drinking the barrel man. Yes, he does not wear anything beside the barrel and no, I will not tell you how I know.

Did I mention yet that it was Oakland? The Raiders were in town. To say I was excited would be an understatement. Oh my! MNF, Raiders-Broncos, my first trip to Old Mile High...wow. This was the year after Elway retired. Oakland was pretty good. Well, this game goes to the wire. Elam attempts a 53 yard field goal with seconds on the clock to tie the game. 53 yard FG in negative weather. Waiting for him to kick the field goal was nerve racking. I was so NERVOUS. He of course made it! The crowd erupted.

In overtime, Olandis Gary busts a 24yd run into the endzone to win the game 27-21. What a game! What a finish!!!! My first game ever in Denver was a huge success!

Thank you Jason Elam for all the years and helping us win back to back Superbowls! Enjoy retirement!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution - Friday nights!

Forget Biggest Loser. Forget any other tv show. If you could watch any show, please choose this show. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is appalling, heartbreaking and fascinating all at the same time. Jamie Oliver took on the UK school system's processed foods and now in the US he is doing much of the same. He is also trying to change the whole community's way of eating. The show takes place in Huntington, West Virginia, statistically one of the unhealthiest cities in the country.

The show is on tonight! It is on episode four. To give you an idea of this show, the first week he walked into a classroom of I would say first or second graders. He would hold up fresh vegetables and the kids had no idea what any of them were. I mean I am not saying I knew what a yucca was but these kids had no idea what a tomato was. Also, what they feed these kids in the cafeteria is appalling. No wonder kids today have a lower expected lifespan than their parents.

The show has really struck a nerve with me in many ways especially now that I have a daughter. If you are free some Friday night and not doing anything, please take a look.

Boston - Part V - The World of Pain

So, after CP, we picked up Michelle and she had a bag of goodies from her bar crawl...oops...bakery crawl. So, we headed to Colin's house. Actually we straight to the BBQ place, Redbones. It was really really good. Plus, they have like 28 beers on tap. You can spin a wheel to pick a random beer to drink. Ummm, I love games!

After BBQ, we crashed at Colin's and tried some of the goodies. Michelle did a great job. There was peanut butter in like everything. YESSSSSSSSSSS!

To say we crashed is an understatement. My adrenaline from the morning/afternoon was gone and I was just beat. It has been two days straight of fun and one more to go. Luckily, Butler won and that gave me a boost of energy. There was a going away party Saturday night at Ned Devine's. We had a drink or two at Colin's. We then meet people at Sissy K's. Then got to Ned Devine's a little before 9. Horvath, another PwC-er who I am friends with, was gone Thursday and Friday night but was back Saturday. If it wasn't for him, I am not sure I would have gone. None the less I powered through (not well though, I think Michelle multiple time had to talk me into staying). At the end of the night, we walked over to Cafe Pompeii for some pizza before heading home. Not sure the last time I grabbed 2 am food was. Wow.

Well, we got back to Colin's at 3:30. To say I woke up in a HURT LOCKER would be an understatement. We ended up heading to the airport around 1 pm on Sunday and that was that. It was so nice to get home to Samantha and I looked forward to a few weeks of clean eating and clean leaving. Time to get back on track.

Boston is a great city and I loved my short vacation. I hope we can get back in the summer to make it to Fenway...

Boston - Part IV - I promise there will only be 5.

In my opinion, Rocky IV had the best workout regiment of any of the Rocky movies. So I am glad, that part IV of Boston is centered around me going to Cressey Performance (CP) to workout. So Cressey Performance is a gym in Hudson, MA (roughly 40 min outside of Boston). There is a link to them on the side of my page. These guys are trainers that "get-it". They are nationally known and very good at what they do. Curt Schilling has trained there as well as Youkilis. As their clientele is mainly baseball players (especially high schoolers), they train anyone and everyone. I have been following these guys ever since I get into lifting (thank you Knowles). My buddy Colin trains there (on my recommendation) and I set up to have an assessment there with Tony Gentilcore (a co-owner). I also got to do some lifting.

Well, to say I was excited is an understatement. When we got there, the gym was not the whole building. There were other things in the building. Think of a school almost. I just had to go to the right room. The gym was not very big. I would say 60-70 yards long and around 15 yards wide. The more I think about that, the more I get angry at the globogyms of the world. All that space and they fill it with crap machines. CP has one treadmill and one bike that I saw. They had one cable machine. That was it. A few power racks, a deadlifting area, a couple benches, chains, oh and a cement wall to throw things against.

I went through the assessment and found I have external left hip issues. No surprise by me. My left hip is tight. We went through some lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, lunges, pushups, rows) and they gave me pointers. So this is a not a gym you just go into and lift. The purposefully keep the # of people in there to a certain number and trainers walk around to help. Like a 4:1 ratio if you will. There were not many people in there when Colin and I were there so basically I got a lot of 1 on 1.

I threw a medicine ball against the wall. I front squatted to a 13 inch box. I did some pushups. I deadlifted. I was having fun and taking in as much information as I could. I won't lie. I was HUNGOVER from the bar crawl but my adrenaline was rocking.

Colin and I finished the day with an 8 min finisher. On one end of the track, there was a medicine ball. On the other end there was a giant tire and sledgehammer. Every min on the min, we would push a sled (loaded with weight) from one station to the other (40 yds apart). Colin and I would actually cross paths. Each of us were always on opposite ends. On the sledgehammer side we had to hit the tire 5 times on each side (left hand then right hand). at the medicine ball side, you had to do 10 medicine ball slams. Then you rested until the minute turned over and you went back to the other station. I loved it. I was dying at the end but man I wish my gym here was setup to do things like that.

We got there at like noon and we left at 2. I hope I get back to Boston sometime soon because I would love to train there again. My only regret is that Eric Cressey was not there. I wanted to meet the 180 lb man who deadlifts 660.

On a side note, the split between men and women lifting there was about half and half. It was good to see women in there training hard. Honestly, it was good to see everyone doing a lot of the right stuff. You see so much garbage happening at gyms. Not here.

Here is a pic of Colin doing Glute Ham Raises. This exercise kills your hamstrings....



Well, I will be super impressed if ANYONE read that whole posting. Wait? Does anyone read my blog?

The Boston finale post is happening tomorrow!