To celebrate the ultimate achievement of the baking arts we knew we had to do something special, something worthy of the cake that takes Dawn all day to make. Naturally, we opted for Bourbon Fights. The concept of Bourbon Fights is simple. Two bourbons enter, no bourbons leave. A tough break for the bourbons to be sure, but it works out well for Dawn and me. The bourbons fight for fame and our admiration. Our gastronomic gladiators were two releases of George T. Stagg. It’s a limited production bourbon released by Buffalo Trace Distillery - only in the fall. We had the 2007 and 2006 releases fight each other for our amusement while we ate our cake. (Side note: Buffalo Trace jokingly refers to their George T. Stagg releases as “Hazmat” because the proofs are so high they are supposedly not allowed aboard commercial flights.)
We were actually kind of surprised by our little vertical tasting. The two releases were nothing alike. It was hard to choose a victor. The 2006 release had strong flavors of caramel and a distinctive sweet complexity. The 2007 release had more charcoal characteristics (in a good way) and its own kind of smoky complexity. The fight might have been a tie. It would all come down to do your prefer a sweet or smoky bourbon. Being the cake was so sweet I thought the smoky bourbon paired better and awarded the 2007 release the title.
Undoubtedly the 2006 release is going to want another shot at the title. It’s not going to settle for second best just because we happen to be eating cake during its last fight. Now, we live in a tinderbox of a house and any moment a grudge match bourbon fight could erupt. Oh noes.
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