Friday, January 13, 2012

Day One


My first day for my resolution was Wednesday, Jaunary 11th. I was to meet a couple of coworkers at Izakaya at roughly 5:30 so I set my alarm to stir me from my nap so I could make the walk to the bar in the crisp Eugene winter's night. I showed up after Jinger called me to let me know that she and Julia were on their way. I walked inside and decided to sit at the bar for the first time. I looked over the whiskey list and settled for one of the mid-range bourbon selections, the Angel's Envy. The bartender told me, they were unfortunately out...strike one. Not to be deterred, I ordered a $32 shop of Black Maple Hill which I asked the bartender if he could just keep the bottle in front of me as this was the start of my whiskey quest. Ordered it neat -- as I have never paid $32 for whiskey -- I did not want this watered down whatsoever.


Black Maple Hill is a product of the Heaven Hill distillery in Bardston, KY. This was the 16 year edition -- they do have an 8 year which I hope to sample later in 2012. Side note: Black Maple Hill bottles a bourbon that comes from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky which is not a Heaven Hill product, and from the little bit I have read, you are best suited sticking to Heaven Hill which is Kentucky's largest family-owned independent distillery in the state.


I sat at the end of the bar, sipping and taking notes, which I unfortunately left with the check, listening to the bartender talk to the attractive brunette next to me who was visiting Eugene and I believe with some friends at the Whiteaker, which for whatever reason, did not decide to accompany her to the bar. The Black Maple Hill was amazing. Smooth, but very woody in flavor. I sipped my drink, while the girls, phone three times -- completely lost, trying to find the restaurant. God knows why, but they started off at 5th Street Public Market.

The calls they made were erratic, constantly breaking up. I don't know if it was Verizon, T-Mobile, or the wonderfully lit interior of the bar inside Meiji that kept making it impossible to hear where they were, but once I took my last full sip of Black Maple Hill, I stepped outside and was pleasantly surprised to feel warm when I had been freezing during my walk over to the bar -- another wonderful, albeit temporary effect of good whiskey.


We stepped inside, got a table, looked at the menu. The women ordered hot water and I decided to explore the opposite end of the spectrum and ordered a shot of Ancient Age (which is Izakaya Meiji's well bourbon) with a single cube of ice. It is distilled in Frankfort Kentucky by the Buffalo Trace Distillery. 


For the well, Ancient Age is not a bad selection, but definitely lacks the body and the bouquet of the Black Maple. The food ordered was a nice variety. Both Julia & I ordered the Pork Tonkatsu, breaded in panko with their homemade Tonkatsu sauce and hot mustard and cabbage; Jinger ordered the Sumo Hotpot, chicken-pork meatballs in chicken stock with seasonal mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, napa cabbage, green onions, ginger, and carrots (something I will be trying their in the near future); and I also ordered Mushroom Cya-Han just to round out the menu.


 It was nice to have good company to go with the great food and the Ancient Age (ironically, a very young Bourbon) was a good enough companion for the food. It was such a great night, when our server came by to offer a dessert menu, I was unable to resist trying their special, which was Key Lime Pie. It was, in a word, phenomenal. I made both Jinger & Julia try it. It was just the right consistency and wonderful tartness to cleanse the palette and fill me up for the walk back home.



Great way to kick off the resolution -- looking forward to the rest of 2012.


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