A New Owner for Troubled Greenbrier

In January I posted about the struggles facing the historic Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. Last Thursday, March 19th, the 231 year-old Greenbrier succumbed to the current recessionary pressures and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to court records the resort has lost more than $90 million in the last five years including $35 million last year alone, though it's unclear if any of this loss is attributable to the extensive renovations done in 2006 and 2007.

The landmark property, which has hosted 26 Presidents and some noteworthy royals including Monaco's Prince Rainier and Princess Grace and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, has been owned by the railroad CSX since 1910. According to a statement released simultaneously with the bankruptcy filing the Greenbrier Hotel Corporation said it has struck an agreement to sell the resort to Marriott, pending the bankruptcy court’s approval and contingent on its renegotiating labor contracts before the sale. Labor costs associated with union contracts have been but one major hurdle in recent years.

If the deal goes through Marriott would receive $50 million over two years from CSX Corp. to operate the resort. Marriott in turn would pay CSX between $60 million and $130 million within seven years, depending on timing and the hotel's financial performance. CSX would be cutting loose a n0n-core asset blamed for a 32 percent drop in CSX's fourth-quarter 2008 earnings.

A Well Stocked Bar XIII

Top of the morning to you!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day today's post, the latest in the Well Stocked Bar series is dedicated to Irish Whiskey. Unlike the Scottish, Canadian, and Japanese who spell Whisky without the 'e', the Irish just as the Americans use the 'e' as a way to differentiate their product.

Although akin to Scotch Whisky the differences begin very early with the grains utilized in making their whiskey. Scotch Whisky is distilled principally in that it was distilled primarily from barley while traditional Irish whiskey is distilled from a mash of mixed grains including barley.

Today, most Irish whiskey is blended from a mixture of pot-still whiskey and cheaper grain whiskey produced in a column still (it's also more mild in flavor). Bushmills is the exception in that it produces its whiskey purely through a column still rather than a blending with pot-still spirits. Most Irish whiskey is distilled three times, but so is the Scottish single malt Auchentoshan; thus it is a common myth that triple distillation is the main distinction between the two varieties. To my mind and palette the principal difference between the typical spirits of Scotland and Ireland is that peat is almost never used in the malting process in Ireland while it's used in the majority of malts in Scotland imparting the smoky, earthy overtones loved by many, but not all whisk(e)y drinkers. I like to think of Scottish Whisky as the beverage of fall and winter while the lighter whiskies from Ireland are better suited to spring and summer.

Though Ireland produces and exports whiskey on a grand scale it's done through only three distilleries compared to Scotland's more than 80 (though many of these are owned by conglomerates). The Big Three Irish distillers are: New Midleton Distillery (Jamesons, Powers, Paddy, Midleton, Redbreast, and Green Spot), Old Bushmills Distillery (Old Bushmills, Black Bush, 1608, and Bushmills 10, 12, 16, 21 year-old single malts), and Cooley Distillery (Connemara, Knappogue, Michael Collins, and Tyrconnell). Of the three only Cooley's is completely Irish-owned. New Midleton distillery is part of the French beverage giant Pernod-Ricard while Bushmills is owned by rival giant Diageo.

In celebration of all things Irish (in a single pint glass) here's a recipe for an Irish Car Bomb:

3/4 pint of Guiness stout
1/2 shot of Bailey's Irish cream
1/2 shot of Jameson Irish whiskey (substitute as you like)

Add the Bailey's and Jameson to a shot glass, layering the Bailey's on the bottom. Pour the Guinness into a pint glass 3/4 of the way full and let settle. Drop the shot glass into the Guinness and drink immediately with great speed, exercising caution not to damage your teeth with a sliding shot glass; if you choose to sip the mixture it will curdle and lose whatever pleasantness it had during the first moments after its creation. While I've never fell victim to this beverage I have seen many who have, limit yourself to one then return to your whiskey or beer.

A Well Stocked Bar XII

The Angel's Share - The whisky that is lost to evaporation during it's time in the barrel is referred to as the Angel's share.

This post, the latest in a series dedicated to the necesseities and niceties of a Well Stocked Bar. The previous posts on Scotch Whisky have included VI - Blended Scotch Whisky, VII - Speyside Single Malts, VIII - Highland Single Malts, IX - Lowland Malts, X - Islay Malts, and XI - Island Malts. This post is dedicated to Campbeltown, a once great Whisky producing region. Today only two distilleries are in operation, though combined they produce whiskies under the names of four classic distilleries.

Glen Scotia is one of only two distilleries in Campbeltown, with Springbank being the other. This small geographic area was once the home of over thirty distilleries, the majority of which closed between the first and second World Wars. First registered in 1835, it was overhauled in the early 1980's and has passed through the hands of several owners over the years to various degrees of success and failure. Glen Scotia is housed in what appears to be a small townhouse which has the added distintion of being home to a ghost - a previous owner who drowned himself in Campbeltown Loch after being falling victim to a financial scam.

Springbank, in addition to its own label, also produces two additional malts in their original style though their original distilleries closed many decades ago. The "original Longrow" was produced by Longrow Distillery, which was closed in 1896. Today Springbank Distillery produces Longrow single malt whisky in the same distillery equipment as it does its namesake malt. Despite this the malts have very different characters with the Longrow's much more heavily peated and drier character (think Islay malts) than the more floral Springbank. Springbank also began production of Hazelburn in 2005. Hazelburn was once the largest distillery in Campbeltown producing as much as 192,000 gallons per year at its peak, though it shuttered its doors in 1925 due to financial difficulties.

When Times Get Tough, The Tough Make Furniture?

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Winston Churchill

Over the last week or so I've seen two different stories about luxury marquis in two very different industries making furniture in order to keep their factories busy.

The first, and more logical company to take this step is Petrof, the Czech piano maker founded in 1864. Over the last year as the economic climate has worsened and the demand for hand made pianos has seen similar declines the company has begun to make furniture and furniture grade kitchen cabinetry (pictured above). Currently their factory's production is 50% pianos, and 50% casework. It's not the first time the company has produced other products as a way of surviving difficult economic times, in the 1930s it produced wooden railway sleeper cars and in times of war it made grenade boxes.

The second, is the venerable luxury car company, Bentley. Their skilled woodworkers in their factory in Crewe has long been making gleaming walnut Bentley dashboard and wood trim. After an extended holiday furlough, the Daily Telegraph reported that these same craftsmen, 140 in total, have started using walnut off-cuts to make cabinetry, occasional tables and reception area furniture. The company, a division of Volkswagen, plans to use the furniture in Bentley showrooms. If the demand for these pricy pieces of rolling art remains depressed and the furniture is well received there are rumors that Bentley might come out with a line for the public. The company has been offering humidors, jewelry chests, and similar items for the past few years as custom order items with 20+ week lead times.

A Bentley Executive with a piece of their select burled walnut.

The upside for both of these firms, beyond the bit of revenue they receive from these side projectes is that they can keep these very skilled artisans employed in their workshops, many of whom are second and third generation craftsmen with very specialized skills. The danger in this strategy is that the demand for furniture is also less than robust.

A Little Something Extra - Heering Cherry Liquor

When having friends over for dinner and various amusements we're always looking for a little something extra in the way of food or beverage. Last weekend we hosted a classic fondue night with three courses of steaming goodness.

To start, the classic Gruyere/Emmenthaler cheese fondue with cubes of toasted whole-grain bread, Honeycrisp apple slices, and grilled slices of chicken-apple sausage (a recent addition and by far the favorite dipper). Served with ice cold Prosecco.

For the main course, Coq au Vin style broth made with homemade chicken stock, a generous amount of the house favorite Chateau Neuf du Pape, and a variety of mushrooms served with seasoned cubes of filet of beef and chicken breast. Served with the remaining bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape with a friend or two you didn't mind the 3-5 minute wait for each tender morsel.

Finally the dessert course which included dark Scharffen Berger chocolate mixed with a bit of heavy cream and our secret weapon: Heering Cherry Liquor. This unexpected addition made the chocolate that much more memorable. Dipping strawberries, frozen bannanas, and pound cake was a decadent treat. Served with the dessert was a drink inspired by a Kir Royal, except with more Prosecco and a generous splash of the Heering Liquor.

Ever since fondue night I've been experimenting with other beverages featuring Heering. Here are a few of my new favorites:

Singapore Sling (the quintisential drink featuring Heering)

1 part gin
2 parts Heering
4 parts pineapple juice
generous splash fresh-squeezed lime juice
splash Cointreau
splash Benedictine (if you don't have this use extra gin and bitters)
dash Grenadine syrup
dash Angostra bitters

Mix all in a shaker and pour in glass filled with ice. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and cherry.

Blood and Sand (reminiscent of a Rob Roy, pictured below)

1 1/4 ounce Scotch
1/2 ounce Heering
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce fresh squeezed orange juice
Flamed orange zest for garnish

Combine all the ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake until cold and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Flame the orange zest over the top of the glass.

Copenheering (very clean and refreshing, perfect for the warmer months)

1 ounce Heering
1 ounce vodka
Lemon Peel Twist
Crushed Ice

Chill the glass, then fill it with crushed ice. Mix the cherry brandy and the vodka together, and pour into the glass. Garnish with lemon peel.

Open That Bottle Night 2009

(Wine "Library" at VIÑA COUSIÑO MACUL outside Santiago, Chile)

I’ve written before about Dorothy (Dottie) Gaiter and John Brecher the wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal. I have been a big fan of theirs for many years and reading their weekly column (and now watching the video on WSJ.com) has become a weekly ritual

To my mind, one of their greatest achievements has been their creation of Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). It’s a holiday of sorts designed to provide a “reason” to open that bottle of wine too good, too rare, or too emotionally significant for you to ever find a worthy occasion to open. OTBN is celebrated on the final Friday of February. This year, the 10th Anniversary of OTBN is February 28, 2009.

The celebrations take on a number of different forms from quiet dinners at home with that special bottle to large parties where guests bring their bottles and share in a large tasting and/or dinner. Hinton’s Wine Store near my home is hosting its 4th annual OTBN at their Bin 75 wine bar with a complimentary event to those lucky 30 people who come and bring that special bottle.

Here are the suggestions from Dottie and John:

1. Choose the wine. You don't necessarily need to open your "best" wine or your most impressive wine, but the wine that means the most to you, the one that you would simply never open otherwise.

2. With an older bottle, the cork may break easily. The best opener for a cork like that is one with two prongs, but it requires some skill. You have time to practice using one. Be prepared for the possibility that a fragile cork may fall apart with a regular corkscrew. If that happens, have a carafe and a coffee filter handy. Just pour enough through the coffee filter to catch the cork fragments.

3. Otherwise, do not decant -- at least at first. Many OTBN wines are old and fragile. Air could quickly dispel what's left of them. But if you are opening a younger wine, taste it first; if it seems tight, and especially if you don't plan to linger over it for a few hours, go ahead and decant.

4. Have a backup wine ready for your special meal, in case you are opening an older wine that really has gone bad.

5. If you are having an OTBN party, ask everyone to say a few words about the significance of the wine they brought. This really is what OTBN is all about.

6. Enjoy the wine for what it is, not what it might someday be or might once have been.

7. Drop us a note at wine@wsj.com about your evening. Be sure to include your name, city and phone number, in case we need to contact you so that we can share your account with other readers.

Our plan this year is to have a few friends over with a few special bottles of wine toted back from vacations around the world. Having the event and the collective courage will help me open a very rare bottle of single vineyard unfiltered 1996 Malbec bought in Argentina a few years ago at what was then a ridiculous 25x the cost of a decent Malbec, but still a deal given the battered Argentine Peso. It was intended as a souvenir to be saved for a very special occasion which we haven’t found yet, but the suspense is now building as we prepare to open it this Saturday for OTBN’s 10th anniversary. Last night I put it on end to allow the sediment to begin moving down to the bottom of the bottle. It will be served with roast rosemary lamb chops with a blackberry port sauce.

Salud!

High Praise for Sucré

During our recent trip to New Orleans we stumbled into Sucré on Magazine Street. What drew us in was a very modern and tasteful little store lined with cases, the ones in front selling ice cream and gelato. It reminded us of the geloterias in the fashionable parts of Buenos Aires.

Inside the service and selection were equally wonderful. After a few minutes of perusing we were greeted by a very enthusiastic gentleman at the chocolate counter at the back of the store who began telling us about each hand crafted chocolate. His passion was infectious and we purchased a box of six chocolates to eat right there in the store. Our selections included: Absinthe, Avery (salted chocolate caramel), Port, Bolivian (made from single source beans), Sicilian Pistachio, and Raspberry. All of these were excellent with the Avery and Absinthe our favorites.

We were also treated to samples of their King Cake which was very good and instead of the typical colored sugar was decorated with edible glitter that made for a much more refined presentation. We brought back a bag of their Mardis Gras Cream coffee as a gift and have been assured by the recipient that it's quite delicious.

If you're looking for a gift for a chocolate lover and want something more unusual than a box of Godiva place an order from Sucré and your recipient will not be disappointed.