After 40 days in the fermenting vessels, the taste of the two hot sauces were getting to where I expected them. A little funky, slightly sour and with a lot of depth and heat. Using airlocks on the mason jars kept the environment anaerobic (enough I guess) so that I never had any issues with mold forming on the surface of the mash. The resulting sauces are a great mixture of heat and flavor.
Todd and Scott Leopold wanted to get back to whiskey of pre-prohibition days using older more time consuming techniques to produce a more subtle and refined whiskey. Their goal, in part, was to extract more of the flavor from the corn and rye and not rely on hammering its customers over the head with flavors from the barrel aging process. This of course is counter to how a lot if not most of whiskey is made today. From their website:
We begin by fermenting a traditional sour mash of corn and rye at colder temperatures, but without the aid of refrigeration. Fermentation takes more time this way, but results in a softer whiskey and develops subtle flavors such as vanilla, pear, rock candy, and raspberry.
Unlike modern day continuous stills that flash boil the mash in a few seconds, we take an entire day to distill the mash in a small batch copper pot still to extract fuller and rounder flavors from the corn and rye. This is a very important step that is no longer part of any major American whiskey distiller’s production regime. The difference between boiling corn and rye mash for a few seconds and six hours can be likened to the difference between slow roasting a pig on a spit, and simply cooking it in a conventional oven. Both add heat, true, but the lengthy boil will extract flavors that cannot be replicated in a continuous still which simply flash boils the mash. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using a continuous still, we prefer the mouthfeel of a pot distilled whiskey which, in our opinion, cannot be replicated by using a continuous still.
After distilling this flavorful result a second time to refine and focus the flavors, we barrel the whiskey at 98 proof, a common practice in the 1800s, rather than at the post-Prohibition, Industrial Age standard of 125 proof. This enables more whiskey to come into contact with the barrel, allowing the mild brown sugar and molasses notes that come from the charred barrels to shine through.
So what kind of a result does this finally give you the consumer? The whiskey is a lighter refreshing style of whiskey. Not completely unlike some lighter scotches such as Glenmorangie Original without the malted barley background.
Aroma: green apples, vanilla, sweet fruit syrup,
Taste: Pear, honey, Vanilla, light brown sugar, grape, apple
Finish: light, medium, more crisp fruit, some pepper
If you are looking for a light crisp whiskey that is outside the norm for American whiskies this might be your ticket. Enjoyable, easy but complex.
43% ABV worth a try
In 1979 The Skylight Inn BBQ restaurant in Ayden, NC was named the BBQ capital of the world by National Geographic. So to make it somewhat official, founder and owner Pete Jones had somewhat of a replica of the US Capitol dome built to sit atop his nondescript brick building. Known for it basic menu of eastern style whole hog chopped BBQ, the Skylight Inn has been serving up award winning BBQ to locals, travelers, American Presidents and international guests since 1947 in the sleepy town of Ayden, NC (which is also known as the collards capital of the world). A short 20 min drive south of Greenville, Ayden and the Skylight Inn are off the beaten path for most people, but that doesn’t stop BBQ aficionados, questers and fans from going out of their way to give the pork a try, myself included. In 2003 The James Beard Foundation awarded the Skylight the 2003 American Classics Restaurant award, so this place has been recognized by a lot more than BBQ schlubs like myself.
I made plans to head to the Skylight on the way back from a business trip in Norfolk, VA. The drive was mostly on two lane back country roads with plenty of cotton and soybean fields surrounding old rotting and beat down barns, sheds and houses. It kind of set the stage. Unlike Wilber’s in Goldsboro, the Skylight Inn isn’t on any major through-way that gets a ton of traffic. It sits in a gravel parking lot on the side of South Lee St. outside of the main part of Ayden (which isn’t saying much). You can see the “Capitol” dome with the ever present Old Glory as you come up on it. The sign, a recent addition, says “If it’s not cooked with wood, it’s not BBQ”. Damn straight. As soon as you step in you can hear the rhythmic pounding of BBQ being chopped by some dual cleaver wielding employee. The smell of smoke is prevalent (as it damn well should be) and the starkness of the plain walls tells you this place means BBQ business. There’s no table service. You step up to the counter and place your order then take it to one of the many school cafeteria type tables throughout the three or four large plain rooms. Right behind the counter is an open window into the kitchen and that’s where the man wielding the cleavers is going to town on large hunks of smoked pork, chopping away like a drummer on a snare drum. Bring cash because they don’t accept cards, which fits the place. And like a few other old school BBQ joints I’ve been in recently there is a sign asking you to get off your cell phone when at the counter. And really, if you need a sign to tell you that you’ve got bigger problems.
The menu is small and BBQ focused. They offer chopped pork, chicken, cornbread and a that’s about it. Until recently they only offered bottled drinks but now have a soda machine and iced tea. You can get a sandwich or a small, medium or large “tray”. Tray here means one of those red and white paper trays that I always associate with fries or hush-puppies. You get one filled with chopped pork, the a slice of a super dense skillet cornbread stacked on top of that then another tray full of slaw on top of that with a sheet of wax paper as your table cover. The pork is classic eastern whole hog style with bits of fat and cracklin’ and the occasional piece of gristle mixed in with the medium chopped meat. The smoke is well represented and there’s just a hint of “sauce”. The sauce, so I understand it, is just a mix of vinegar and Texas Pete administered as the meat is chopped. It works. I’m not one to over-sauce anyway but I felt no need to add anything to Skylight’s que. The slaw is a light mayo based fine chopped sweet slaw and it accompanies the pork well. The third part of the “tray’ trinity is a large square of a dense skillet cornbread rumored to be from a 180 year old recipe. A little salty and crisp with a dense center. A bite of the cornbread, que and slaw is pretty damn perfect. Is this the best BBQ in the world? Who knows. There are so many good BBQ places (and bad ones) out there and I hate giving titles to one over another. Is this damn good Eastern Style BBQ. You better believe it. Ayden is not in my normal traveling pattern but I’m sure I’ll make it back.
At one point in my life I was a prodigious consumer of hot sauces. In fact my Beer Fridge at one point shared a lot of space with hot sauces made from various exotic and not so exotic peppers from different hot saucy locales with snarky labels galore. This collecting and consuming habit of mine was compounded by the fact my wife is not a big fan of food heat so it was all up to me to finish them off. Over the last few years my consumption of hot sauce has reduced significantly due in part to my ADHD having me jump to other obsessions and in part to what I’m guessing is a refinement in my palate (or something). I still love hot sauce but I just don’t tend to reach for it nearly as much as I used to. Recently I’ve been somewhat fascinated with fermented food and when reading on a few websites devoted to the art of fermentation I came across a number of hot sauce recipes. Well hot damn. This is a two-part post as this is just the beginning part of the process and because I’ve never done this before so I’m documenting it as I go. I grabbed what fresh ripe chiles I could find. Fresnos are not the most flavorful chiles raw but my hope is they’ll improve in flavor over the month or so of fermentation. Habaneros have a better flavor and a higher heat level and make a fantastic hot sauce.
If you’ve seen my other steak recipes, it’s obvious I love rib-eyes. There’s not better cut of steak for grilling in my not so humble opinion. The high fat content and strong beefy flavor combination is unbeatable. It’s pretty much a tradition that when Mrs. PorknWhiskey goes out of town, I’m cooking a rib-eye that first night I’m home alone. My favorite way to cook a steak, especially a rib-eye, is in a raging hot cast iron skillet and finished in the oven. Not only do you get a great sear but you also have the makings of a kick ass pan sauce. However, I do also love the smokey flavor of a steak done right on a charcoal grill. This gives a little of both. You’re going to need a grill to get pretty hot. At least 500-600° F. I use a Broil King Keg which is kind of like a Big Green Egg… but different. Either of these kamado style grills will get you enough heat but you can probably swing it with a regular kettle charcoal grill like a Webber or a nicer gas grill. You might need to lower your grates closer to the heat source.
On my way back from a long week of working in Norfolk, VA I made a detour to go by what is widely considered the premier example of Eastern North Carolina style whole hog BBQ, Wilber’s BBQ. Located on Hwy 70 in Goldsboro, NC Wilber’s just celebrated 50 years of serving BBQ to the masses. The building, and frankly many of the employees, look like I imagine it looked back in the 60′s. The clientele is exactly what you want in a BBQ joint: black, white, brown, rich, poor, young and old.
I ordered my standard first time BBQ visit order, a pulled pork sandwich with slaw hush-puppies and this time fries (which was a mistake). The pork lived up to its reputation, slightly smokey, juicy, tender and dressed with a classic eastern vinegar and pepper sauce, “It’s Spicy Good!. It really might be the best eastern NC BBQ I’ve had. It is no wonder that Wilber’s is often the first place mentioned when someone asks about people’s favorite NC BBQ stops.
The slaw was pretty standard fare and the hush puppies were sweet and light. The fries were completely inedible, but who cares. I don’t go to a BBQ joint for its fries.
If you’re in east NC and have time, or even don’t, head to Goldsboro and stop in Wilber’s for the definitive example of the style. But do it soon, from what I understand when namesake, owner and pitmaster Wilber Shirley passes on his restaurant will have to convert from wood to gas to come into compliance with Goldsboro’s air quality standards (Wilber’s was grandfathered in when the law was passed).
