Ham It Up with Allan Benton during Ray’s at Killer Creek Benton’s & Bourbon Dinner Aug. 25

Squeal in pre-pork glee and grunt in post-bourbon contentment about a memorable night of eating at Ray’s at Killer Creek and meeting Allan Benton, straight from his smokehouse in Madisonville, Tennessee. There’s a whole lot of umami to enjoy at the Friday, Aug. 25 dinner: the smoky-salty-brown sugariness of slow-cured Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams paired with the long, sweet finish of bourbon from Kentucky’s award-winning, 200+-year-old Buffalo Trace Distillery. Executive chef Mike Fuller’s five-course Benton Ham-inspired menu opens with Benton’s 31-month cured ham, house-made cheese coin and blackberry jam paired with Ray’s Barrel Select Buffalo Trace Kentucky Mule Slushy. Courses proceed through Pearson’s peach-glazed belly and fresh burrata with Eagle Rare bourbon; smoked ham and lobster taco with red bean paste, avocado, radish and pea sprouts served with Rockhill Farms bourbon; dry-aged rib-eye with summer corn, butterbean and ham hock pot liquor and cast-iron corn bread paired with Ray’s Barrel Select Blanton’s; and conclude with homemade sugar cookie sandwich with buttermilk-strawberry ice cream joined by Ray’s Barrel Select Buffalo Trace Old-Fashioned. $70 per person (excludes tax and gratuity). Reservations required for the 6:30 p.m. dinner; call 770-649-0064.

Sip What’s Near and Dear – Limited Edition 25-Year Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon at The Southern Gentleman

One bottle. That’s all. Be one of the lucky diners at The Southern Gentleman to indulge in limited edition 25-year Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Bourbon connoisseurs know this elixir is to be savored and rolled across the palate. The Van Winkle family distillery produced fewer than 1000 bottles and just 710 bottles have been filled and sold – which works out to fewer than 15 bottles per state. A one-ounce neat pour carries a $350 price tag. Impressive? You bet. But then, so is The Southern Gentleman -- and its notable bourbon program -- in the Shops Buckhead Atlanta.

HOBNOB Pops Open Bourbon Tasting Jan. 11

Those who missed out on the December Bourbon Tasting at HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern have another shot at the guided sippings. The Midtown restaurant and bar has another Bourbon Tasting event on the calendar for Wednesday, Jan. 11 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Enjoy 10-15 bourbon tastings, complimentary appetizers and learn about the smooth spirits and food pairings from the experts. Swag giveaways crank up the spirit. Buy tickets online, $39 per person (tax and gratuity not included).

Telling It Straight Up -- HOBNOB Bourbon Tasting is Dec. 14

Add bourbon appreciation to your skill set by participating in Wednesday night’s Bourbon Tasting at Midtown’s HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern. Experts will introduce guests to 10-15 bourbons – by nose, taste and flavorful backgrounds. After the 6:30-8 p.m. tasting, you’ll be the best of bourbon buddies. Buy tickets online for the Dec. 14 event, $39 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. Our blog spills the details, including the tip about taster guests saving 10 percent on dinner tabs that night.

Open HOBNOB Menu to New Dishes, New Drinks and Gluten-Free Dessert

Drop by HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern to try all of the new dinner items, cocktail creations and spirited offerings. Start with one of the novel cocktails: Getting Foggy With It, Easy Ride, Southern Charm or Spanish Inquisition. Bourbon imbibers get a boost from the addition of 30 bourbons and ryes to the bar list. Sip away while deciding on the HOBNOB farmhouse salad or Farmer’s Wife’s salad. Or New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp, braised short rib lettuce wrap, Southern Belle pimento cheese, Artisan Cheese & Friends, pecan-crusted North Georgia fresh trout, pork and veal meat loaf or those yummy and shareable New Generation duck nachos. If only all decisions were so palatable. Good news for those avoiding gluten. In addition to gluten-free salads, buns for burgers and gluten-free dough for pizza, HOBNOBers can indulge in gluten-free vanilla bean brûlée cheesecake.

Appetizing Aperture: The Key to the Holidays Old Fashioned

Article 14 holds The Key to the Holidays, and it comes in a glass. The holiday-themed old fashioned jingles together Larceny bourbon, apple liqueur and rich “Holiday” syrup ($12). Come on over and don’t bother ringing the bell, the door to holiday merriment is already wide open. 

Get to Know Your Whiskeys, Tequilas and Liqueurs via Article 14 Flight Menu

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Or scotch. Or rye. The new whiskey flight menu at Article 14distills the nuances down even further by curating a dozen flights featuring small batch bourbons, ryes and scotches, as well as one flight each of tequila and cognac for good measure. Flight prices vary from $15 for a Rosy Sampler of Four Roses Yellow Label, Small Batch and Single Barrel to $52 for 12-, 15- and 18-year Macallan with the option of adding 30-year Macallan for an additional $70. Additional groupings include Third Seat (bourbon), Great White Buffalo or Western Blend (rye), Orphan Barrels, Glenlivet, Dalmore, Islay Sampler or Malted in Japan (scotch) and After Dinner Noir of Cointreau Noir, Grand Marnier and Grand Marnier 150. Flights land at the Article 14 bar in Midtown. Take your seat, please. 

Twin Smokers BBQ Gets Saucy at Atlanta BAR-B-Q Festival August 14 and 15

Atlantic Station turns into a smokin’ hot barbecue spot this weekend when Twin Smokers BBQ and other Atlanta eateries pull out their signature barbecues at the seventh annual Atlanta BAR-B-Q Festival Friday, August 14 from 4-10 p.m. and Saturday, August 15 from noon-8 p.m. The Travel Channel recognizes this annual event as one of the top 10 BBQ festivals and competitions in the U.S.A. Pro and backyard teams vie in wing and barbecue competitions. Live music and chef-driven cooking demos flow each day, and Kids Korner gives tykes a place to expend energy. Complete schedule online. Wings are king at Friday night’s T.G.I. Wings sampling, giving way to extensive pro-am ‘cue action at Saturday’s Taste of the Pig sampling. The Bourbon Experience barrels in for bourbon lovers as a separate ticketed event. General admission tickets are $6 in advance and $10 day of show. Buy barbecue and samples directly from participating restaurants, vendors and teams at an additional cost. Bourbon Experience tickets are $30 each. 

What’s New on Pinterest? Bacon!

Is bacon your beacon? Follow our smoked and cured link to Pass the Bacon, where the crispy strips work their way into every meal. Wrapped cheddar egg bites and maple bourbon bacon jam (smear on your favorite biscuits) squeal “Good morning!” Bacon Parmesan gougeres (cheese puffs) and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus disappear from the appetizer tray. Bacon Brussels sprouts, bacon and potato “roses” and bacon-brown sugar pork tenderloin hog the dinner plate. Addictive personalities, whip up candied bacon chocolate chip cookies and maple caramel bacon crack for dessert -- if you dare. The bacon fat candle is good to the last dripping.

Article 14 Digs Back to Pre-Prohibition Days for Presidential Seal Cocktail

Another tip-able testimony to the what's-old-is-new-again truism is the Presidential Seal, cocktail of the month at Article 14. A couple of good drinking stories here. Sometimes known as the Seelbach, the libation has glamorous beginnings, being concocted in pre-Prohibition days for high rollers at the Seelbach Hotel (now Seelbach Hilton) in Louisville, Kentucky. Jefferson's Very Small Batch Kentucky bourbon plays a very big part in Article 14's updated rendition. In the Presidential Seal, this bourbon, distilled in "ridiculously small batches," builds a highly drinkable dossier along with Pierre Ferrand dry curacao, Angostura and Peychaud's bitters and Champagne. Distillery founder Trey Zoeller and his dad Chet chose Thomas Jefferson to personify their small batches based on Jefferson's sense of curiosity. Perhaps if Article 14 had been around back in the day, President Jefferson would have imbibed of such and placed his seal of approval on this spirituous, new traditionalist cocktail.

Article 14 Hosts A Night of Dinner and Drinks with Four Roses Bourbon

History lessons aren't all bad - especially when they involve Bourbon. The story of Four Roses Bourbon is rich with interesting facts, tradition and most importantly, flavor. Article 14 can satisfy your curiosity about this historic Kentucky distillery at their Four Roses Bourbon dinner on Thursday, February 27. The event begins at 6 p.m. with five courses prepared by executive chef Nathan Geist at this Midtown restaurant. Leo de Rivera, the restaurant's head mixologist, is ready with three bourbon pairings: Four Roses Yellow, Small Batch and Article 14 single barrel, plus two smooth bourbon cocktails. There's only 20 spots available, so grab a seat while you can! Call 404-443-8432 to make a reservation. 

Uncharted Territories

Next Monday, March 22, Morton’s in Downtown Atlanta will be hosting a Glenlivet Scotch Tasting event from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Now, it is a bit of an understatement when I say I'm not really a Scotch drinker. I think I've probably had one sip in my entire life and I definitely didn't enjoy that sip enough to go after a second taste, but my husband is a HUGE Scotch lover so I dutifully agreed to attend. After I made our reservations though I got to thinking - last year I attended a bourbon tasting that Morton's Downtown hosted and I had the exact same attitude. I didn't like bourbon and I didn't think I ever would. Wow, did that tasting change my mind! Not only did I realize that I actually like bourbon, the Brown Derby is my cocktail of choice these days!

So, I've decided to enter these uncharted territories with an open mind this time around.
A Glenlivet Ambassador will be there to lead us through a proper Scotch tasting with four of The Glenlivet's critically acclaimed single malts. They will be paired with selections from Morton's classic hors d'oeuvres menu. Who knows, maybe this time next year I'll be sipping Scotch like a pro...

The cost for this event is $49 per person, which includes tax and gratuity. Space is limited so make your reservation early!

Bookers, Baker's, Basil Hayden's, and Knob Creek

Let me start off by saying I don't usually drink bourbon. Never the less, on the promise that I would be missing out on something fabulous, I attended last night's bourbon tasting at Morton's The Steakhouse Downtown. I learned three very important lessons last night during this tasting: bourbon can be significantly better than the hangover-inducing stuff you drank in college, bourbon lovers are just as fanatical about their bourbon as wine drinkers are about wine, and never tell a bourbon drinker that you usually drink vodka (you will immediately be deemed to have very bad taste and unworthy of conversation).

The tasting was led by Whiskey Professor (yep, it is a REAL job) David Mays, who did an incredible job of explaining many of the intricacies of bourbon. Did you know bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, not just Kentucky?

During his hilarious and informative lecture, we tasted four bourbon cocktails: Basil Hayden's citrus smash, Knob Creek's mint julep (my favorite of the four), Baker's Kentucky peach (similar to a Washington apple), and Bookers' Manhattan (way to strong for my vodka-loving palate).

We also enjoyed some of Morton's hors d'oeuvre: scallops, crab cakes, mini lamb chops and the unbelievable delicious steak sandwiches.

Overall, it was an incredible evening full of fun people, great cocktails and too many steak sandwiches!

A Whiskey Professor Leads Small Batch Bourbon Study – From Barrel To Bottle To Glass On August 14!

My husband and I are always looking for something unique to do in this city. So, when I heard that Morton’s The Steakhouse Downtown was dedicating a night to learning all about bourbon, it was a no brainer.

Join us tomorrow, August 14, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. for night school. Whiskey Professor David Mays, one of only three Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey Professors, is traveling the American Whiskey Trail, educating and entertaining those along the way about the American Native Spirit. Mays is a man who knows bourbon’s nuances and history. He’s one of only three Whiskey Professors to undergo in-depth training at Kentucky’s Jim Beam distillery and represent Beam Global Spirits and Wine. School never sounded so good!

Bourbons to be served at the Small Batch Bourbon tasting include:

Knob Creek – a nine-year aged bourbon drawing from its charred American white oak barrels for its sweeter taste and full body. You’ll taste it in a mint julep that night.
Bookers – uncut, unfiltered, intense with oak tannin and smoky vanilla. Created by the late Booker Noe, master distiller and grandson of Jim Beam, this bourbon fills out a Manhattan at the tasting.

Basil Hayden’s - spicy from rye, sweet from corn, enriched with peppermint, Basil Hayden’s recipe was developed in 1796! This light-bodied bourbon speaks in a Southern Citrus Smash.

Baker’s - draws its name from Baker Beam, grandnephew of Jim Beam, and its mellow flavor from a mix of corn, rye, barley, yeast and seven years of rest in new oak. Try it in a Washington Apple!

It’s a one-of-a-kind evening for only $45, which includes tax and gratuity. Space is limited; reservations are a must. Morton’s The Steakhouse Downtown: SunTrust Plaza Building at 303 Peachtree Center Avenue; 404-577-4366.

Bourbon, anyone?

I was born in Kentucky so I've always felt a certain kinship with bourbon. My family handed down the Mint Julep recipe like it was the secret to Coca-Cola. But it always seems like vodka's the spirit with all the buzz. Let's give bourbon some love! At Morton's The Steakhouse Buckhead tomorrow, June 13, you'll be able to taste a variety of premium bourbons from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Try a variety of select bourbons from the Small Batch Bourbon Collection and listen to Whiskey Professor (don't you love that title??) Bernie Lubbers as he takes them on a fascinating journey from the barrel to the bottle – all complemented with Morton’s fare. Tickets are $45 per person, inclusive of tax and gratuity. Space is limited, reservations required. Call Morton’s The Steakhouse Buckhead at 404-816-6535 to make your reservation. The restaurant is located in the Peachtree Lenox Building at 3379 Peachtree Road.