Episode 260

Mesquited, Not Peated

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Mesquited, Not Peated

Episode 260

What’s shakin, cocktail fans? Welcome to Episode 260 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, I’m joined by our friend, distiller Mark Vierthaler, whom longtime listeners may remember from Episode 121, where he discussed the finer points of distilling absinthe. But folks, one thing you should know about Mr. Vierthaler is that he’s a Renaissance individual. A dog lover. A motorcycle enthusiast. Absinthe connoisseur? Perhaps. But the story doesn’t end there…because this time around, we’re here to talk about the American Single Malt category and the fascinating, delicious work that he’s doing as Head Distiller at Whiskey Del Bac in Tucson, Arizona.

In this Mesquited, not Peated conversation with Whiskey Del Bac Head Distiller Mark Vierthaler, some of the topics we discuss include:

What it takes for a spirit to be called an “American Single Malt Whiskey,” a term that is currently self-administered by the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, but that’s on track for nationwide federal approval and regulation by the TTB.
A brief romp through some of the controversies still yet to be resolved regarding the mandatory or prohibited use of certain barrels and finishing techniques.
The story of Whiskey Del Bac: from esoteric Southwest-inspired furniture, to calibrating against an iconic Scotch brand, to releasing some of the most innovative and distinct American Single Malt offerings on today’s market.
Mark also walks us through some of the most important process-related decisions he and his team manage, including precise malt smoking, narrow cuts to accommodate small-format barrels, and the ever-crucial question of aging in the desert, where temperatures fluctuate aggressively.
We wrap up by featuring the offerings in Whiskey Del Bac’s Global Cask Collection, including their Frontera, Normandy, and Ode to Islay annual bottlings.
Along the way, we pen a love letter to the humble javelina, reenact one of the worst drams Eric has ever ordered at a bar, try our hand at designing the ultimate distillery cat, and much, much more.

Mark is one of those folks who really walks the walk when it comes to quality, and he manages to do it without any expense to the creative end of the distilling endeavor. We’ll be featuring this year’s Whiskey Del Bac Frontera release in our next “New and Noteworthy” bottle review episode, but for now, please enjoy this deep dive into the world of American Single Malts with the one and only Mark Vierthaler.

Featured Cocktail: The South by Southwest

This episode’s featured cocktail is the South by Southwest. To make it, you’ll need:

1 oz (30ml) peated single malt whisky
1 oz (30ml) Campari or a similar red, Italian aperitivo
1 oz (30ml) of your favorite sweet vermouth
A mist of orange blossom water (if you need other drinks to make with this ingredient, consider the Ramos Gin Fizz)

Using an atomizer, mist the inside of a chilled Old Fashioned glass with a few spritzes of orange blossom water. Then, in a mixing glass with ice, combine the other ingredients, stir until well chilled and properly diluted. Then strain into your old fashioned glass over a large rock, garnish with a citrus twist, and enjoy.

Developed by Australian bartender Benny McKew and featured in Gaz Regan’s book, The Negroni, this cocktail does one better than a simple “swap in Scotch!” cocktail like the Rob Roy. Instead of settling for that simple swap-in, it takes its most ornery ingredient…clearly the peated single malt whisky, pops its head out of the weeds, and surveys the landscape to determine if there are any techniques that can be pulled in from other cocktail formats that might help acclimatize that ingredient to the Negroni use case. Clearly, it locates that technique in the orange blossom water mist – a kind of Crescent City mashup between the Sazerac absinthe rinse and the aforementioned Ramos bicep workout.

What’s to love about this? Well:

It clearly balances out the smoky, aggressive notes from the scotch with floral, sweet tones that naturally form a bridge to the other two sweetened, aromatized ingredients, and
It begs the question: is there other stuff we should be doing to our Negronis? Don’t get me wrong, we love em classic. We love em Sbagliatoed. W love em red, and we love em white. In a box, with a fox. Etc. Etc. But we’re kinda ashamed to admit that it all our Negroni travels, it hasn’t once occurred to us to give the glass an aromatized rinse.

So we’ll leave you with the question: what else are we missing? What other frontiers are we declining to push when it comes to our favorite equal parts cocktail? Try your hand at the South By Southwest cocktail, tag us on Instagram, and let us know if it inspires you to borrow a lateral technique and create your own innovation.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed and American Single Malt insights courtesy of Whisky Del Bac Head Distiller Mark Vierthaler. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2023.

This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

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Mesquited, Not Peated

Featured Cocktail: The South by Southwest

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