Public service announcement

[David M. Bueker]

Bourbon is better than Scotch with Halloween candy.

[Robin Garr]

Well, yeah!

Amusingly, I tried a Reese's Cup with a taste of Old Forester bourbon. The bourbon has a nice chocolate-caramel thing going on, so it actually worked pretty well!

[David M. Bueker]

Elmer T. Lee was very good with Snickers.

Well, yeah. Bourbon has a bit of sweetness to it, like a dry wine such as Zinfandel or Syrah that often fits with chocolate.

[Robin Garr]

I like an occasional wee dram of Scotch, and we even keep a jug of Talisker, an aggressively peaty single-malt from Skye, around for the special occasion. I don't think the peat and iodine would work and play well with chocolate, although I'm open to education.

[David M. Bueker]

Nope - it does not work. I tried with a small pour of Lagavulin.

Agreed...the same reason why Port goes well with sweet desserts. Sweet things often go well together.

Doorbell rang around 7:00 PM last night. A trick or treater? Nope. A wine delivery from Littorai (including the Littorai Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir.)

[Robin Garr]

Agreed...the same reason why Port goes well with sweet desserts. Sweet things often go well together.

Maybe it's just my Kentuckian-bred bias from growing up with the Bluegrass nectar, but I really don't find bourbon all that sweet. I do think the caramel and chocolate notes in the old-school brands in particular could confer a feeling of sweetness (and go well with chocolate), but I doubt there's much residual sugar in there. Guess I'll go google that ...

[Robin Garr]

I haven't found anything rigorous yet, but this comment in a Palate Press discussion from an apparently knowledgeable poster seems reasonable:

Some spirits can legally include additives like caramel color and fruit flavoring in the US, so the sweetness of some spirits labeled things like "brandy" will come from those additives. But in the case of bourbon or cognac or single malt, I do think that we perceive sweetness without sugar for (definitely) two or (maybe) three reasons: the ethanol, flavors that we associate with sweetness (maple, for example), and quite possibly molecules that we perceive as sweet, quercotriterpenoside included.

By my admittedly subjective taste buds, most bourbons are indeed "sweet" when compared with scotch. But there are exceptions....some scotches are described as "honeyed" and some of the better bourbons aren't anywhere as sweet tasting as others.

[David M. Bueker]

Last night I sampled short pours of Lagavulin and two Bourbons, Elmer T. Lee and a Jefferson Reserve single barrel. The JR was the driest of the three. The ETL showed the most "sweetness" though it was the alcohol playing with the wood and spice elements that caused that.