Recap: Dinner with Forty Creek Canadian Whisky

 

Recently I checked out Forty Creek Canadian whisky at a private dinner. Forty Creek brought out Chef Hugue Dufour from M. Wells Steakhouse in  New York and Julian Cox whipped up drinks for everyone.

 

Guest were first served Canada’s version of a Bloody Mary, a Bloody Caesar which distinguishes itself from its American friend with seafood. Except in this case, Julian made an oyster leaf distillate which means the drink was actually vegetarian.

Bloody Caesar

• 1 1/2 oz Forty Creek Barrel Reserve Whisky
• 3 oz Smoked tomato passata
• 1/2 oz oyster leaf distillate
• 1 dash salt
• 1 oz water for dilution in maple jar
• Scant 1/2 oz lemon
• 2 turns black pepper

I loved the presentation of the Caesar in the little maple leaf bottle.

 

I nibbled on the peppers stuffed with trout with the Bloody Casesar. Delicious! And if you were lucky, you got fresh veal brains that were going around the campfire too.

 

Oh yes, did I mention the campfire? Dinner was cooked over an open flame in the backyard. As we sat down, we tried herring cakes and an assortment of fresh veggies with lobster butter. My fave was radish and the butter.

 

Next came the crab. The chef who is Canadian explained some of his favorite late night meals was going to Chinatown in Montreal and of course there was an abundance of seafood. He does a wonderful and very tasty crab that conjures up those late nights. It was work getting out the crab meat but so worth it.

 

It was really nice to get something fizzy with the crab. Julian explained his Everybody Loves Raymond Massey which was served in the Canada Dry bottle that had been re-carbonated.

Everybody Loves Raymond Massey – Forty Creek copper pot whisky, fermented ginger, maple, aromatics

• 1 1/2 Forty Creek Copper Pot Whisky
• 4oz fermented ginger beer*
• 1/2 of lime juiced

*Fermented ginger beer:
Combine fresh ginger juice, lemon, lime, Szechwan peppercorn, lemongrass and agave nectar.  Add housemade ginger beer and ferment at room temperature for 2 days.  Strain. Put in sealed fermentation container and let ferment a second time. Add Forty Creek and bottle.

 

Just when I thought I was full, out came the pot au feu.

 

This hearty meal was more than a stew with marrow and chunks of vegetables.

 

Julian served a fun drink with the pot au feu called Dem Apples, Eh. I love how a lot of his drinks will feature something in multiple applications in one drink. In this case, it were apples and pears as juice, butter and garnish.

Dem Apples, Eh – Forty Creek double barrel reserve whisky, apples, pear eau di vie, cinnamon, lemon, pear butter

 

• 1 1/2 Forty Creek Double Barrel Whisky
• 1/2 clear creek pear brandy
• 1 1/2 crab apple juice
• 3/4 cinnamon syrup ( 1:1 simple with 10% cinnamon by weight boil and let sit for 4 hours)
• 1 oz lemon
• 1/2 oz pear butter

The dessert of fried pancakes (fried in duck fat!) with maple, vanilla custard and FOIE GRAS was so good. I wanted to eat all of it but ended up just eating all the foie. It was so rich and heavenly.

 

Finishing off the night, we had a cold toddy. It was a deceptively simple drink but there was a lot of work put into it including the foam you see– it’s actually lemon air made with lemon juice and simple syrup. You add in lecithin to taste and use an immersion blender to froth that lemon air up.

Sir John A. “Not Hot” Toddy – dehydrated peach infused Forty Creek barrel select whisky, scented steam, Canadian maple syrup, Earl Grey air, lemon, star anise

• 2 oz Forty Creek Confederation Oak Whisky
• 1/2 tsp earl grey
• 1/2 tsp Canadian maple
• Dash cinnamon

 

 

On cold nights, I think about this dinner and wonder when I can make it out to Canada, specifically Montreal or even NYC? But until then, I have Forty Creek Whisky to keep me company here in sunny Los Angeles.

Forty Creek Whisky

 

© The Minty  2016