A History of Irish Brewing

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If there's one thing Ireland's known for, apart from shamrocks and leprechauns, it's beer.  Specifically dark, malty stouts and ales like Guinness.  Yet as anyone who's ever read their Guinness bottle knows, Arthur Guinness only started brewing beer at the St James's Gate brewery in Dublin in 1759.  Surely, the Irish can't have been without beer before that, can they?

The answer, obviously, is that of course they weren't.  Beer recipes were recorded in ancient Mesopotamia before even bread recipes were, and it's been brewed in Ireland for thousands of years.  While those ancient brews bore little resemblance to that pint of stout you enjoyed on St Patrick's Day, they were the drink of choice for the inhabitants of the British Isles for millennia before the beers we drink today were created.

The world's first beers were likely created by accident, when grain storage pots were flooded and the mixture fermented naturally, at least 7,000 years ago in the middle east.  By the time the technique reached Ireland, around 5,000 years ago, the science of fermentation was well-known.  Early brewers in Ireland (and elsewhere in Europe) were usually women, who produced beer in their homes mainly for the use of their families.  These early beers were lower in alcohol than the modern varieties, and would have tasted quite different, since they were not flavored with hops, which isn't native to the British Isles.  Ale was made in pits in the ground, and these beers were quite malty, made with barley and water, and flavored with various herbs, particularly gentian.  The resulting ale was the drink of choice in homes and at royal banquets durring the bronze age, and by Roman times, the strong Irish ales were known on the continent.

Production of mead, a beverage made by fermenting a mixture of honey and water, began during this period.  It was used for ceremonial purposes and was drunk in wealthy households throughout the middle ages, but has since declined in  popularity.

Production of cider, made by fermenting apple juice, probably began around the same time, about 2,000 years ago, though this may have begun earlier.  Apples have been cultivated in Ireland since the early years of Irish agriculture, 5,000 years ago, and it was only a matter of time before someone tried to make them into alcohol.  While the first written record of cider in Ireland appears in the 12th century, there are many legends involving St Patrick and apples which date back further than that, and it is known that the ancient Britons were making cider in England in Roman times.  Even though Ireland was never a part of the Roman empire, the Irish had many things the Romans wanted, like furs and wolfhounds, so there was a great deal of trade back and forth (St Patrick is said to have escaped slavery in Ireland by stowing away on a ship transporting hounds to Roman Britain).  It stands to reason that if cider wasn't already being made in Ireland, the technique was imported along with French wine and Mediterranean pottery while the Romans occupied Britain.

Whenever cider making started, we know that its popularity took off in Ireland when the fall of Rome made the import of wine from France impractical.  The Irish climate makes growing wine grapes impossible, so cider became the closest substitute for wine, and has continued to be popular for the last fifteen hundred years or so.  In fact, with the recent gluten-free craze, cider is gaining popularity again.

After the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century, monastic communities started brewing, mostly for their own use, just like the home brewers.  Some medieval monasteries did sell their ales, though, and brewing was frequently associated with religious centers in Ireland just as it was elsewhere in Europe.  One of the miracles attributed to St Bridget, the first Abbott of Kildare in the 6th century, involves turning bathwater into beer, and it was in one of Ireland's many monasteries that someone got the brilliant idea to distill beer, thus inventing whiskey.

The brews that the monks nicknamed "liquid bread" were very similar to the Iron Age ales of their ancestors, still made from malted barley and flavored with a variety of herbs.  Unlike the Iron Age variety, though these beers were made in large metal tubs made specifically for brewing.  We also know that these ales were a dark red in color, like modern Irish red ales.  While the arrival of the Normans in the 1170s seems to have slightly increased the preference for cider, it likely made little difference to the production of ale in Ireland.  Real change didn't come until the 16th century.

Enter HenryVIII, the king who simply couldn't leave anything alone.  In 1533, he effectively told the Pope to go to hell, and made himself head of the Church in his own kingdom, which consisted of England, Wales, and Ireland, just so he could marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn (who he had beheaded three years later).  Ireland was in open rebellion within a year of the break with Rome.  The rebellion, led by the Earl of Kildare, failed rather quickly, but others followed, and Henry and his children spent most of the century trying to "reconquer" Ireland.  While this had many very bad effects, like the downfall of the Gaelic aristocracy, the plantation of Ulster, transfer of land to English owners, the closure of abbeys, and general religious persecution, the English settlers who started arriving in Ireland around this time did bring one good thing with them: hops.

As mentioned above, hops are not native to Ireland.  The plant comes from central Europe, where it has been used to flavor beer for centuries.  Yet traditional regional brewing practices prevented hopped beer becoming common outside of this region until the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.  Why cultivate a new crop just for flavoring beer when something that already grew locally could do just as well?  But as the preservative properties of hops became known in the late middle ages, the plant began to be cultivated across northern Europe.  The English began importing hops and hopped beer from Europe in the late 15th century, and the plant was first grown in England by Dutch settlers in the 1520s.  The English took it to Ireland a few decades later, though most of the hops used in Irish brewing until the 19th century were imported.

The decline and closure of Ireland's abbeys- and their breweries- as a result of religious and political turmoil in the 16th and 17th centuries meant that by 1700, most of the brewing in Ireland was once again done on a much smaller scale, mainly in the home.  In 1700, though, the western world was on the brink of change.  The religious turmoil of the 16th and 17th centuries was dying down (though it would flare up occasionally in 18th century Britain and Ireland) as people all over Europe shifted their attention away from the spiritual issues that had been the primary concern of previous generations and towards more secular issues.  The scientific revolution had begun in the Renaissance, but hadn't really gained much momentum until the late 17th century, and was well under way by 1700.  Politically, this is the age of absolute monarchy, designed to glorify the state rather than God.  Writers and philosophers once again turned from theology to the study of the classics.  This is even reflected in the art and architecture of the era; how many Greek temples can you spot in London, Paris, or Washington today? That's the legacy of the 18th century.

More important for our purposes, though, the shift towards secular concerns that followed the turmoil of the Reformation allowed for a greater focus on commerce.  The age of exploration had opened up a whole new world, and thus a lot of new markets, to European traders, and the English in particular were inclined to take advantage of it.  Trade brought with it a great deal of wealth, and anyone with a product to sell could make a fortune.  The result was larger-scale production of trade goods, the beginnings of the industrial revolution.

What does this have to do with Irish beer, you ask?  Well, Ireland has an excellent climate for barley production, and a remarkable talent for producing delicious alcoholic beverages.  Besides which, the introduction of hops prevented spoiling for a longer time, so it was really just a matter of time before someone got the brilliant idea to make large quantities of beer and sell it all over the country and even abroad.

Ireland's first commercial brewery was founded on the site of an old abbey in Kilkenny in 1710, brewing a traditional red ale.  This early entrepreneur's name was John Smithwick, and you can still buy his beer (or a modern version of it) in most supermarkets today.  Others followed, and by 1815, Ireland was exporting more beer than it was importing.

Guinness drinkers will also know that there was another important change in the world of Irish beer in the 18th century.  As brewing became more commercial, English brewers started trying to sell their products in the Irish market, resulting in a shift in tastes away from red ales and towards darker, but still very malty porters, brewed mostly in England.  Naturally, Irish brewers soon started to make their own porters, with great success; by 1799, Guinness had stopped making ale altogether and exclusively brewed porter.

Then someone had another brilliant idea, this time aimed at cutting costs.  At the time, malted barley (the kind traditionally used in brewing) was more highly taxed than unmalted barley.  So a few Irish brewers decided to start using unmalted barley to make their porters, resulting in the bitter, dark beer Ireland is most famous for today.

The trend toward larger breweries continued through the 19th and 20th centuries, and Ireland still produces far more beer today than its population could ever consume.  While Guinness is no longer the largest brewer in the world as it was in 1900, it is still the largest producer of stout, and owns most of the other large breweries in Ireland, including Smithwick's.  Tastes have shifted again in the 20th century, and imported lagers make up about 60% of Ireland's beer consumption today.

Another change is in the air, though, and with it, a shift back toward stouts and ales.  The decline of Guinness and other industrial breweries has created a space in the Irish market for craft brewers, who started marketing high quality beers made in small breweries and brewpubs all over the country in the 1980s.  As in any other industry, many of these startups fail, but many others have been highly successful, and Ireland's craft brewers are growing in number and popularity every year.  It's a shift that bodes well for the future of traditional ales and stouts, which I, as a stout drinker, can only see as a good thing.  At the very least, it means more choice for consumers, after all.

On This Date in 1314...

Bannockburn memorial, Scotland.
Source: Wikipedia

On Midsummer's day in 1314, Robert the Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn, not far from Stirling.  It was a remarkable victory, not least because the Scots were outnumbered by as many as 4 to 1.  The fighting actually lasted two days, with smaller scale skirmishes on the first day, and a pitched battle on the second.  By the end of the second day, King Edward II had fled the field, followed by as many of his knights and nobles that could escape the confusion.  The king barely escaped, pursued all the way to his ship by Sir James "the Black" Douglas, and while a few of his followers made it home, many more were captured or killed on the road.  It was one of the most embarrassing defeats in medieval English history.

It was not, however, the end of the Scottish war of independence.  Bannockburn's significance is more in its effects in Scotland.  In 1314, the Scots were just coming out of decades of fighting over the royal succession.  Robert Bruce was king, but many Scottish nobles still supported the Balliol family, whose claim to the throne had been judged to be stronger than that of the Bruce's grandfather (also called Robert) back in 1292.  Victory at Bannockburn changed that.  The Bruce showed the Scottish nobles that he was a strong enough leader to unite an army that came from all over Scotland, including the then  independent kingdom of the Isles.  If the force of Robert Bruce's personality could accomplish what several previous kings hadn't been able to do with an army, he was probably the right man for the job.

The other important effect of the victory at Bannockburn was that it removed the English army from Scottish soil.  The fighting continued, but not in Scotland.  After Bannockburn, the Scots were able to invade England, which gave them a distinct advantage.  Now on the offensive, the Bruce invaded both England and English-occupied Ireland, eventually forcing the English to acknowledge his kingship and Scotland's independence, albeit grudgingly.  In short, without this one victory in 1314, and the political work that followed it, including the Declaration of Arbroath (1320), Scotland almost certainly would not have remained independent until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

So enjoy the solstice, but if you're Scottish at all, maybe have a dram around sunset in memory of those who fought for their country's independence 701 years ago today.

Spicy Gingerbread

Yes, it's nearly June, the kids are out of school, the weather's warming up again, and we've got more than 6 months to go until Christmas, but here I am making gingerbread anyway.  While it may be out of season right now, gingerbread is one of my favorite treats any time of the year.  Which is how it was traditionally enjoyed all over Europe, actually.

Gingerbread is likely one of the oldest traditional recipes I'll ever post on this site, as it dates to at least the 10th century.  In the centuries before the Spanish started to import chocolate from the new world, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and other spices imported from Asia were some of the most exotic flavors available to European bakers, so gingerbreads, usually sweetened with honey or molasses because sugar was too expensive, became a delicacy seen at festivals and royal courts year-round.  Elizabeth I was known to impress foreign  dignitaries by serving gingerbread men (probably without the candy buttons we add today).  English towns held "gingerbread fairs" as late as the nineteenth century, and gingerbread was believed to have some medicinal properties, as an aid to digestion.  (In fact, this is quite true, provided the cake contains enough ginger.  We still use ginger teas and ginger ale for that purpose today.)

While gingerbread, particularly in cookie form, has undoubtedly been eaten at Christmas time since the middle ages, it was not strongly associated with that particular holiday until the mid nineteenth century, at least in the English speaking world.  When Queen Victoria married Albert of Saxe-Koburg (in Bavaria) in the 1830's, they imported many German Christmas traditions to England, including Christmas trees, Saint Nicholas, and gingerbread houses.  Around the same time, a wave of German immigrants were bringing the same traditions with them to the US.  Obviously, the traditions stuck, and while some bakeries today might have gingerbread and other spiced cakes year-round, they're mainly associated with Christmastime.

Which obviously isn't to say that you can't enjoy this spicy cake any time of year, as long as you're willing to make it yourself.  Whether it's June or December, this cake is the perfect not-too-sweet treat to have with your morning coffee or afternoon tea, so I highly recommend making the effort.  And it's actually really easy to make.  There's not even any decorating involved!

This recipe comes straight from one of my Irish cookbooks and is very heavy on the ginger and molasses.  The resulting cake is dense, moist, sweet, and a little spicy.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F, and butter a 9-inch loaf pan.  Whisk together flour, spices, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add molasses, and finally add the buttermilk.  The mixture will appear runny and not emulsified.  Stir in the dry ingredients until combined, then pour the batter into the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40-50* minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool before serving.

*The cookbook, written by someone who lives at sea level, says to bake for 40-50 minutes.  Here at 5280 feet, it's more like an hour.  The center was still runny at 40 minutes.

Cottage Pie

In the US, the pie made with ground meat, a few veggies, and mashed potatoes, but no pastry crust, is generally called Shepherd's pie regardless of what kind of meat is used.  In the UK and Ireland, however, this is not the case.  On the other side of the Atlantic, it's only shepherd's pie if it's made with lamb, and it's called cottage pie when beef is used.  Either way, though, it's a delicious, hearty comfort food.  It's very easy and relatively cheap to make in huge batches, which makes it common in pubs across the UK and Ireland, and perfect for feeding a crowd.

School may already be out for the summer, but it's been cool and rainy in Denver this month, and I felt a little warm British comfort food was in order, so I decided to make this this week based on several British and Irish recipes.  I skipped the customary peas and tomato paste, added garlic, and substituted Kerrygold Dubliner cheese for the usual yellow cheddar.  While very easy to make, this recipe can be a little time consuming, since you have to reduce the stock to make the gravy, though you can definitely save time by using leftover mashed potatoes rather than making a fresh batch.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 14 oz beef broth*
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 carrots, 1/4" diced
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tbs flour
• 1/3 cup grated Dubliner or sharp cheddar cheese
  

For the mash:**

• 3 medium potatoes
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 stick butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup grated Dubliner cheese

Instructions:

First, make the mash.  Peel and roughly chop the potatoes and place in a large pot.  Just cover with water, and place on the stove over high heat to boil.  Once the potatoes are tender (after about 20 minutes), strain and return to the pot.  Add butter and milk, and mash.  Add grated cheese and stir or mash to combine.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the potatoes are boiling, start the filling.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat half the oil and fry the meat until browned.  Set aside.  Add the rest of the oil and fry the vegetables until soft.  Add the broth, flour, herbs, and Worcestershire sauce.  As the liquid cooks off, put the meat back in the pan and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Once the gravy is thick, discard the bay leaves and transfer to a medium oven-proof dish or 4 large individual dishes.  Top with mashed potatoes and 1/3 cup grated cheese and bake at 425F until cheese is melted and begins to brown, about 25 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Total time:  Approx 90 minutes.

*Next time, I might substitute half a bottle of Guinness or 1/2 cup red wine for half of the broth, like I often do with Bangers and Mash.

**You can, of course, also use leftover mashed potatoes.  Just re-heat about 2 to 3 cups worth and stir in the cheese.

A Brief* History of Whisk(e)y

There's no denying that the British Isles produce most of the very best (and most expensive) whiskeys in the world.  Just head to your local liquor store and compare the prices of Scotch, Irish whiskey, and Bourbon, then go online and read some reviews if you doubt it.  But why is this?  Why is this particular spirit made in so many places around the world, and why is the Scottish variety so much more prestigious than the others?  The answers to these questions, like many things, start with some monks who lived more than a thousand years ago.

*Obviously, I'm a terrible liar.

Irish Origins

Skellig Michael, off Kerry.  It's a UNESCO
world heritage site, and impossible to tour in
anything but perfect weather due to safety
concerns, which is saying something in
Ireland.  The monastery is at the very top...

First, a little background.  In the centuries after the arrival of St Patrick and Christianity, monastic communitites sprang up all over Ireland.  Some were remote and inacessable, like Skellig Michael, on a tiny island off the coast of Kerry, which can only be toured in good weather due to safety concerns.  Others became population centers and centers of learning, like Kildare, which has been a medium-sized city since the middle ages.  These early monastic communities were designed to be self-sufficient, often producing their own food, clothing, and, naturally, beer.

While many of the brothers (and sisters- many of the early Irish monastaries were mixed) of these settlements merely lived quiet, contemplative lives, one of the major goals of the early Celtic church was evangelization, the spreading of the Christian faith through missionary activity.  Thus early medeval monks from Ireland set out to spread their faith across Scotland, England, Scandinavia, and much of continental Europe.  Some may have even made it as far as Iceland or even North America, though there is not much evidence to back this up yet.  We know with certainty that by about 1000 A.D., some 500 years after St Patrick, Irish missionaries had made it as far as the eastern Mediteranean, where they encountered the technique of distilling perfumes.  They brought stills back to Ireland, and, being Irish, set about finding a way to use them to make alcohol.

Obviously, they succeeded.  The first mention of "whiskey" as a social drink in Ireland is from 1405, but there are earlier mentions of Uisce Beatha, a beverage distilled from barley beer and used as a sort of cure-all, to treat everything from colds and flu to smallpox.  The technique of triple distilling barley beer to make whiskey seems to have spread quite quickly to Scotland, where it's first documented in 1494.

Distillation seems to have mainly been done in monastaries throughout the medeval period, both in Ireland and Scotland.  This began to change, however, with the Protestant Reformation.  In 1541, Henry VIII ordered the closure of all monastaries in his kingdom, which included Ireland.  As the monastaries began to close, distilling moved into the home and a few liscensed distilleries (like Bushmills, est. 1608 with a liscense from King James I), where it remained until the late 18th century.

Whisk(e)y Spreads Around the World

As mentioned above, whisky is first documented in Scotland in the Exchequer Rolls (tax records) from 1494.  The document shows a purchase of barley by a monk "to make aqua vitae"- aqua vitae being the Latin translation of Uisce Beatha, meaning "water of life."  The modern English word whisk(e)y (with the "e" in Ireland, without in Scotland) is believed to be derived from the Gaelic name from the beverage.

Like many alcoholic beverages,
including beer and champagne,
whiskey was mostly produced by
monks in the middle ages.

In Scotland as in Ireland, closure of monastic commuinities by religious reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries resulted in many monks setting up distilling operations in private homes and in more people learning how to make whisky.  The crown took advantage of this new state of affairs by imposing heavy taxes on stills.  Naturally, the Scots responded by setting up smuggling operations in order to avoid the taxes, so much so that by 1780, there were 8 licensed distilleries operating in Scotland, and about 400 illegal ones.

Eventually, the government took action.  The Duke of Gordon, on whose land much of the best illegal whisky was being made, suggested a bill that eased restrictions on legal distilleries while also making operation of illegal stills more difficult.  This passed as the Excise Act of 1823 and ushered in a new, more commercial era in the history of whisky.  (Not that that really stopped production of moonshine.  It's still common in Ireland today.)

While all this was going on in the old world, of course, Europeans were largely preoccupied with exploring and colonizing the new world.  The English started settling the lands that would eventually become the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada in the seventeenth century, and it wasn't long before Scottish and Irish settlers began to join them.  Mass emigration from Scotland began after the defeat at Culloden in 1746, and from Ireland durring the Great Famine in the 1830s.  And aside from the willing immigrants seeking a new life in the colonies or fleeing persecution at home, it was common practice for criminals, including whiskey smugglers and illegal distillers, to be deported to the colonies.

And of course these settlers brought whiskey-making with them.  Illegal stills became just as common on the frontiers of the British colonies in North America as they were back in Scotland and Ireland in the eighteenth century, and their products had evolved into the Canadian (rye) whiskey and Bourbon we know today by the middle of the nineteenth century.  During this time, imported Irish whiskey was growing rapidly in popularity in the US, especially in places like New York and Boston with large immigrant populations.  Indeed, by the beginning of Prohibition in the US in 1920, Irish whiskey was the second most popular spirit in America, after rum.

Meanwhile in Scotland…

Coffey stills, also called
column stills.

Traditionally, whisky was made by distilling barley beer three times in a pot still.  Irish whiskey is still made this way today.  But in nineteenth century Scotland, a new innovation was introduced that would eventually allow the Scots to dominate the international whisky market.

Funnily enough, the column still, or Coffey still, was invented in Ireland, by an Irishman.  The Irish distillers shunned this newfangled still and the less intense whiskey it produced, however, so Mr. Coffey took his invention to Scotland in 1831.  Realizing that the continuous distillation process of the column still was much quicker and cheaper than triple distilling in pot stills and resulted in a smoother product, the Scottish distillers took to it very quickly.

The Coffey still, as it turned out, really was a godsend for the previously underrated Scottish whisky industry.  Its smoother product increased the appeal of Scotch to a much wider audience than before, for one thing.  For another, because Irish whiskey had been wildly popular in America prior to prohibiton, when importing to the US became illegal, the market for Irish whiskey crashed, and many distilleries closed.  This, as well as the much quicker production time allowed by the Coffey still, meant that when Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Scottish distillers were better able to meet the new demand form the American market.  Add to the equation the fact that many GIs aquired the taste for Scotch while stationed in Britian during World War II, and we begin to see why Scottish distillers were able to market their whisky so effectively in the last sixty years.  (Yes, of course it's all a marketing ploy.  As with any other food or drink, the best whisk(e)y is really just a matter of personal taste.)

Back on This Side of the Pond:

Oddly enough, Prohibition and World War II also provided a boost to the US market for American-made Bourbon.  Obviously, the commercial distilleries had to close down during Prohibition, but making liquor illegal to buy or sell didn't do much to curb demand.  When the law prevented importers   from selling spirits in the US, American distillers with little regard for the law, many descended from those who had first brought the technique of whiskey-making to North America, saw an opportunity.

Prohibition in the 1920s
ushered in a new era of
organized crime, mostly
devoted to selling black
market alcohol, often to
congressmen and
Senators.  

The price of a drink in the US doubled between 1920 and 1930, since so much of the supply was cut off without much of a decrease in demand, which meant a small distiller could make a good profit selling contraband whiskey on the black market.  The result was that illegal distilling and smuggling became as common in 1920's America as they had been in late 18th century Scotland.

As we saw above, when Prohibition came to an end in 1933, the Scottish distillers were the first to be able to meet the demand of the American market, since the closure of all the large American distilleries in the 1920's had set back Bourbon production by several years.  Just as they got to producing again, many had to shut down or start making industrial alcohol for the war effort after the US entered World War II in December 1941.  Fortunately, they could still sell whatever stock they had on-hand, and simple geography gave them an advantage over Scottish distillers, who were still importing whisky to the US during the war: supply may have been limited, but American distillers didn't run the risk of losing shipments to U-boats on the way to cities like New York and Chicago.  While Bourbon has never developed the same snob appeal as Scotch, this small edge during wartime allowed Bourbon to establish a small foothold in a market that would be dominated by imported whisky for the next several decades.

Current Trends

The Japanese hoped to
get a piece of the huge
Asian market for
luxury goods, like Scotch,
and promptly found
themselves in a legal
battle over labeling.  

As discussed above, a little innovation, a little good luck, and a natural affinity for marketing have made Scotch the most sought-after and expensive whiskey in the world.  So much so that Japanese distillers have tried to mimic Scottish single malts in order to get in on the profits (they are prevented by law from labeling their products as "Scotch," since they're not made in Scotland).  However, this has begun to change in the last decade or so.  

In recent  years, Irish whiskey and Bourbon have experienced an upswing in popularity in the US.  The willingness of younger drinkers to experiment has been wonderful for small distillers, just like it has for craft brewers, and in the economy of the past decade, their lower price-point appeals to many Americans.  Of course, Scotland continues to compete.  While Ireland and the US also have their premium products, none of these really have the snob appeal of the top-of-the-line Scotches yet, and many of the young Americans buying Irish whiskey and Bourbon also buy Scotch, and will likely continue to do so, especially as their incomes increase.  

Regardless, it's nice to see that one of the world's oldest spirits still has a strong following in spite of the popularity of flavored vodka and jello shots.  One can only hope that the recent trend towards the traditional in food and beer bleeds over into the liquor market; there's a certain degree of class in old-fashioned whiskey cocktails and quality liquors sipped neat that fruity drinks lack, and it would be a pity to lose such a large piece of our history to beverages with names like "sex on the beach."

So get out there and start experimenting!  If you're new to whiskey, I'd recommend starting with a mid-range aged Irish whiskey, like Jameson's 12-year-old, mixed with a little water.  Those are generally quite smooth, and won't cost you too much if you don't like them.  If you want to taste a lot without spending too much, though, your liquor store probably has mini "sample" bottles, for only a few dollars each, which are a much less risky way of trying something new.  I plan to (eventually) post whisk(e)y guides here, but in the meantime, knowledgable liquor store staff and bartenders are probably your best resources if you need a recommendation.  (Which isn't to say that I wouldn't be happy to answer any questions posted in the comments.  It's just that a lot of people know more about tasting notes of specific whiskeys than I do!  Still, I'm always happy to share the results of my experimentations.)

Pork and Apple Pies

Meat pies have long been a staple in British kitchens and pubs.  The practice of encasing meats in pastry while roasting to keep the juices in was introduced in the middle ages, though at first, the pastry was discarded before serving.  It wasn't long, however, before chefs realized that leaving the meat in the pastry was delicious too, and they quickly started adding gravy, vegetables, and herbs.  Those pies, served hot or cold, have graced the table at many royal banquets throughout the centuries, and were often eaten by commoners as an easy on-the-go meal.

These are not at all the traditional English Melton Mowbray pork pie.  Those pies, popularized as "fast food" in the eighteenth century and comprised of a hot water pastry shell filled with pork and gelatin, looked like far more effort than I felt like expending on my day off, and require things like pig's feet not easy to find in the Denver area.  I've never even attempted hot water pastry, and didn't feel like trying to find lard at the grocery store.

So instead I improvised.  Using the French-style tart dough I use for all my fruit pies, the granny smith apples I had in the fridge, an onion, some diced pork, and a few slices of bacon, I concocted what I hoped would be a nice, hot dinner for a cold and rainy evening.  And they turned out wonderfully!  The apple, onion, and sage complimented the pork perfectly, and they were wonderful hot out of the oven and cold later in the evening!

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

• 6 tbs butter
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 egg

For the Filling:

• 1/2 lb diced pork
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 granny smith apple
• 5 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 tbs chopped fresh sage
• 1 cup chicken or veggie stock
• 2 tbs flour
• pinch of mustard powder
• pinch of garlic powder
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

First, make the crust*.  Cube the butter, and combine with flour in a medium bowl.  When dough forms a craggy ball, add water a little at a time until a smooth dough is formed.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Next, make the filling.  Cut the pork into 1" pieces, and cut the bacon into small pieces.  Dice the apple and chop the onion and sage.  In a large bowl, combine flour, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper.  Toss the meat in the flour mixture.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Place the meat in the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring periodically, until it begins to cook, about 6 minutes.  Add the onion, apple, and sage and continue to cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 more minutes.  Add salt and pepper as desired.  Transfer to a large heatproof bowl, and set aside.

Add the chicken broth to the frying pan over medium heat and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.  This will collect any caramelized meat juices and sediment left over in the pan.  While the broth is cooking, preheat oven to 350F.  Divide the pie filling between 6 ramekins.  Once the broth has mostly evaporated, pour it over the filling in the ramekins.

Divide the crust into 6 golfball sized pieces.  Roll each one out and place it on top of one of the pies.  Make an egg wash by beating the egg with a little water, and brush this over the top of each pie.  Cut a small vent in the middle of each crust, and place pies in the preheated oven.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temp to 325F for a further 45 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.

*If making pie crust isn't something you really want to do, you could just as easily use store-bought puff pastry, cut to fit your pie dishes.

Scotch Eggs

Only in Scotland would someone decide that the most appropriate thing to do with a soft boiled egg is to wrap it in sausage, roll it in breadcrumbs, and then deep fry it.  Because salt and pepper just aren't good enough, and everything could do with being a bit more fried…

In all seriousness, though, Scotch eggs were originally created as an on-the-go meal for long carriage trips, probably sometime in the eighteenth century, and have since become a pub staple in Britain.  And really, eggs wrapped in sausage?  What's not to love?  They're high in protein, and could probably be made gluten free by using some substitute for the breadcrumbs (almond flour, perhaps?), if you're inclined to do that sort of thing.

I've been wanting to try these for some time, and when shepherd's pie just sounded like too much effort by the time I got off work today (which is definitely a testament to my laziness), I decided to give it a go.  How much work could boiling and frying some eggs possibly be, after all?

As it turns out, not much.  These were extremely quick and easy to make; the entire process took me about an hour.   And they're great hot or cold, so you can do them ahead of time.  Also, they're designed to be portable, and therefore an excellent picnic food, which is perfect now that spring has arrived.

Ingredients:

• 7 large eggs
• 1 lb bratwurst or other savory sausage, removed from casings
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder (optional)
• vegetable oil, for frying

Instructions:

Place 6 eggs in a large pot or saucepan and just cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, and promptly remove from heat.  Cover, and let stand for 6 minutes or so.*  Remove eggs from water and place in cold water to stop cooking.

While the eggs are cooking, divide the sausage into 6 even balls.  Whisk together the flour and mustard in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the remaining egg.  Pour vegetable oil into a thick-bottomed saucepan, about 1-2" deep and heat over medium heat.

Peel the boiled eggs.  Squish the sausage balls into patties, and wrap each egg in sausage.  Roll each one in the flour, then dip in the beaten egg, and then roll in breadcrumbs.  Check that the oil is hot enough by dropping a scrap of sausage into the pan.  If it sinks, the oil is too cool; if it sizzles and floats to the top, the oil is ready.  Fry the eggs in batches of two or three, until the outsides are browned.  Cut into quarters to serve.

* I left the eggs in the hot water for 6 minutes so the yolks were still a little runny.  However, I live in Denver, at 5280 feet.  At lower altitudes, you should probably only cook the eggs for 4-5 minutes.