From The Desk Of Tom Moon: Bourbon Bliss

You might know award-winning critic/journalist Tom Moon from his bestselling book 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die, his contributions to NPR’s All Things Considered or his freelance work in the likes of Rolling Stone, GQ, Blender, Spin and Vibe, but around the MAGNET office, when we think of Moon, we think of the nearly two decades he spent as the music critic of our hometown newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer. When you regularly read a writer’s work for that long, you feel like you really get a sense of who someone is, so we were shocked to find out that Moon is also a musician who just made an album. Into The Ojalá (Frosty Cordial) is credited to Moon Hotel Lounge Project and came out earlier this month. MHLP is an impressive, instrumental, jazz/lounge/Latin-leaning project featuring Moon and six local musicians playing nine Moon-penned tunes as well as a cover of gospel standard “Rock Of Ages.” We are excited to have Moon guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.

Moon: The drinkers of my acquaintance fall into two distinct groups: Wine Snobs and Bourbonistas. Each harbors a bit of contempt for the other. The wine guys complain that after just a few sips of bourbon, even the good small-batch stuff, one’s palette is trashed and it becomes impossible to pick up the sublime long-lasting subtleties of a fine red. The Bourbonites counter that the distiller’s art is just as subtle, and misunderstood besides; sure bourbon is more powerful, but that doesn’t mean it has to be crude. Lately, after sipping several superlative strains, I’ve been siding with the Bourbonistas: When it’s aged properly and sipped neat or over a bit of ice, the brown liquor reveals itself to be every bit as complex and intriguing as a fine wine.

People usually point to the bourbons from Pappy Van Winkle as the gold standard, and sure enough the 15-year-old Family Reserve, which is made with a touch of wheat rather than cheaper rye, is one of the smoothest on the market. Other distilleries are catching up, though: Last night we opened a bottle of the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection: Maple Wood Finish and stood dumbstruck by its richness and complexity. The regular Woodford is a solid bourbon, not nearly as sweet as Maker’s Mark but not in the super-harsh paint-thinner range, either. This reserve offering has been aged in sugar maple casks, which according to the website need to be “toasted” rather than charred as is customary for bourbon. A majority of the bourbon’s character (and all of its color) comes from the casks, and since this limited edition is the only bourbon to be housed in sugar maple, you’d expect it to possess a distinctive taste. It does. At first, the Woodford seems a bit sweet, like pancake syrup, but right behind that comes a hard, tight, inescapable spicy slap—this stuff means business. The result: a dreamy, perfect-for-sipping concoction with some formidable attitude.

Video after the jump.