 My name's Candy Campbell, and I'm with Ben46, and I am secretly in the kitchen where John with Abbott and Wallace is cocting some concocting, concocting cocktails for the holiday. I need some help. So I thought if I enticed him with a little bit of a spread here with cheese and charcuterie, he might be able to do me a solid. So I'm just going to pretend to read my cheesebook while I wait for John to arrive into his studio kitchen. Oh, this looks delicious. Hello, Candy. What are you doing here? I kind of jacked your ride. All right. Well, this looks like a nice spread. What's going on? I need some help. I have a client. I'm used to wine and cheese pairings, but my client likes bourbon. Well, I like bourbon, and I love cheese. I need to pair. I need to pair some cheese. What? I think I can help you out. It's for a party. It's a big party. Clearly it's a big party. Oh, this looks delicious. So while you teach me a few things, I think I'm going to teach you a few things. All right. Sounds great. Have you ever rolled a Soprasada flour? No, I have not. Great. We're off to a good start. All right. So what do we have here? Can you tell me about some of the cheeses you're going to be serving at this party? I tried to pair my cheeses to go along with his bourbon requests, and you can explain to me the difference between a bourbon and a whiskey, because I'm a little shy when it comes to my heavy liquor. Yeah. Yeah. That's all right. Well, it's a common question. We get it at the bar all the time. Once again, I'm John Young with Ab and Wallace's Silling, and we have a nice big taste room, and people come in for the first time, they have no idea what bourbon is. So I tell them, hey, it's just a part of whiskey. It's a subcategory of whiskey bourbon is made from corn, so it tends to be a little bit sweeter, a little bit mellow than a lot of whiskies out there. It's also aged in new American oak barrels, which just gives it that nice oaky tan and finish. It also just mellows it out and gives it this nice Auburn orange color to it. So if I were to make a dish out of this new book I just got. Oh, what is that? It's cheese sex death. It's the visuals that I like. Cheese visuals, of course. Oh, yes. One of my favorites in this book is baking some brie, and I know everyone for the holidays bakes their brie in so many different ways. We left our brie naked over there, so you could see different ways of adding toppings. I of course brought honey and some fig jam, but what I'm really excited about is one of the recipes is for bourbon bacon jam to go on to my big treat. So we'll actually do that first because it takes a few minutes in the oven. Okay, it sounds great. Tell me with your bourbon, the recipe calls for something a little bit lighter, so about 80 to 90 proof. Yeah, well, I think lighter also depends on the characteristics of the bourbon. You have a weeded bourbon and rye bourbons. They're all corn based, but a weeded bourbon is going to be a little bit softer, a little bit lighter on the palate, and not so big and spicy. I'm going to reach right for the avanwalas distilling weeded bourbon because I make it, but it's also delicious. And I think it'll really hit all the notes for your clients. It is weeded bourbon at 94 proof, so it has 55% corn, 35% weeds, and 10% malted barley. But it's not going to be too strong to overpower this delicate brie, but it also still packed a punch you want from any bourbon. I'm excited. So I did start by pre-making my bacon jam. This is just rendering some bacon, saving some of the fat, and I'm going to sauté that with some onions, a little bit of garlic, and then I deglaze with some bourbon. So pre-made that I made earlier, and it's a good thing I used yours. Can I just eat it with a spoon? Take a fork. Well, tell me if I need to. Okay, yes, quality control here. Very important process. So we're just going to layer this on top while we do something else, and this is going to be baking on the oven. And for people who don't want the baked brie if they're in a hurry or they're at a party and they don't have time or they're picnicking, I recommend just putting your bacon jam on top of your brie and slicing right into that. So like I said, I left it naked for options. My choice would be to load up your brie and drizzle it with extra honey so you get some of the sticky sweet in there and all the bacon love, but you don't have to put it in the oven to finish that off. All right, I know you want to lick the bowl, but you're going to have to wait. Yeah, okay. I'm just going to keep on cutting. Oh, it looks so good. It smells great too. We're going to stick this in the oven for 10 minutes on 350. Right on. Okay, let's do it. Do it, okay. This is going to be so delicious. Timer, that's so cute. All right. Ready? Ready for your next round? Yeah, so that's going to go for 15 minutes. What next do you have for us? We're going to roll some salami. Oh, okay. And soprasada. I also have some prosciutto, and because my board needs some meat on there. Yeah, absolutely. A little bit of salty to go with all of those cheeses, but I'm excited for you to show me how to pair some of these. So I'll give you a list of the cheeses we have as we're rolling. Salami roses. Salami roses. Salami roses, yeah. You can tell by our cheese board we're missing some meat, except for that bacon that I just blopped on top. So we're going to make it a little beefed up before we do our cocktail making and pairing. All right, let's stuff some meat in there. All right, let's start with the... I prefer the no antibiotics ever used in my meat. Excellent. Soprasada. So you're going to take a couple of these, make like a long strip about like that. You can do four. I'm going big. Can I go big? Right about... Go big because we have big holes to do them. Yeah. You've got to have a meat-eaters selection. Delight, okay. This is really complicated science. All right, art. It's arty. Is it... Okay, got it. You need to like a... I hope so. Okay, got it. Okay. Industry information super secret squirrel. Fold it in half. Oh man, I went big here. That's a bold move. And you're literally just going to roll. Some people roll all kinds of things. We're just rolling the salami today. Yeah, this is Colorado. I mean, that would make the meat always... Now, if your hole's too big and you have to add more, you just take another piece like that and then you can keep on adding little petals. Adding it in there. Like that. It's beautiful. Tuck it. All right, well, that's awesome. I know, it's riveting. Well, there you go. Oh, what? Of course yours looks so much better than mine. Fluff it. Fluff it. You're right. There we go. All right, so that's pretty much adding meat to our board. So one of the other things that I had to do is make sure that when you're planning a really fun party besides the cocktails, because that's pretty key, is that you have an amazing cheese board and your cheese board has all kinds of things like acoutrements. Yes. My favorite are the olives, the nuts, and the cornichons. But for today's demo, and pairing with your bourbon, I added some harder cheeses in there. And I learned that even blue cheese is a really good pair for bourbon. Oh, yeah, definitely. I was told that the gentleman with Pappy Van Winkle that his favorite pairing for their bourbon is a Gouda. Nice name drop there. So I brought you a Gouda. Brought you too. This is a robusto over here, and then I have a softer Gouda, which is right over here. This one down here? Yes. Can I just go ahead? You're inspired now to find me some pairing love. Right? That is wonderful. Let me grab the napkin here. I'll finish some roses, and you decide what's the first one that you should pair with and describe for me, while we're waiting for roses. Well, while we're on that nice hard cheese, that was great. Sharp. See, I like the sharp how to Gouda costs over a smoked Gouda. I'm going to go right with the Avin Walls bourbon. Would you like any? I would. So tell me about different people's palates and how they start off on their bourbon drinking quests. Down on the bourbon trail, you know, it usually starts with Jack and Coke. So many of us have been there. It smells delicious. But I really feel like the next step would be Maker's Mark. That is an obvious progression. Maker's Mark has a great brand name. It's a weeded bourbon, just like Avin Walls is selling. And that just means there's corn and then there's wheat. And it tends to bring, give it just a little bit softer, more approachable bourbon. And any of those lighter, fruitier characters that might come out from fermentation or any organic acids in the fermentation process, they'll come through with that weeded bourbon. So another variety which we'll talk about would have more rye in the mash build. And that'll just provide more structure, more spice, where this is a little bit more subtle and it allows some of those nuances to come through. Now, if you don't do it just right, it'll taste hot and young. And so it takes some finessing, but I think with these nice cheeseboarders, it's great to start off with a weeded whiskey, like, you know, a Weller or a Pappy or an Avin Walls. Let's just throw that name in there. Would be a great option. Now that's a big party. I'm also told that it's easier to pair cheeses with bourbon versus wine because wine can be very temperamental. And bourbon is, it's the fatty of the cheese that softens as you go. So yeah, I mean, it really makes the bourbon go down easy. Those fats kind of coat the palate. And the bourbon is a perfect compliment because it'll cut through those fats. So it's just so match made in heaven. I was told that blue cheese pairs really well with bourbon. So I'd like to test that theory. All right, let's get into it. You got a fork right there. This is our rock fruit glue. And well, I love these stuffed in my olives for a really great martini. I am curious about this match. Oh, that's very nice. The creamy texture and the lightness of that's going to be. Yeah, creamy, but it's still a little sharp. I still get some of those little flavor crystals and a little bit of funk. Well, I like that. That was surprising. Wow. Yeah, it kind of helps. Helps it melt it across your palate. That was really nice. Digging that. All right, well, the next one was you did the Gouda. So that was the rebouste, which one of my favorites. And right behind it, this one. This one is the Gouda. That's a Parmesan. So that's also supposed to be a good pair. These are all supposed to be a great pair. So you're the one who's testing for me. All right, am I jumping ahead here or kind of just eat some Parmesan? No, I can do it. This makes a great Italian party right now. Yeah, yeah, they're on to something. I think your host is going to have a good time here. All right, so that's a little sharper, definitely drier. That's a different consistency. Very much so. Harder cheese, but the saltiness of that in my mouth. Yeah, see, I almost wonder if a, I'd almost go maybe with the dickle at this point. This is George Dickle. It's their bottled in bonds. So let's Tennessee whiskey, similar to bourbon, but it has a maple wood char filtration. And it just gives it this kind of mellows. It's supposed to mellow it out. But it's pretty fruity. Some people say it has a little bit of a mineral content. It's a little more structured to it than our weeded bourbon. And I just feel like with that cheese just being, it just has a little more structure. It's sharp. And I believe the dickle would be great with that. Nice. So you're saying creamier cheeses are going well with this one. And maybe a little bit, a little tangy would be great. What about a manchego? Manchego, right there. Let's get into this guy. It's called a zipper. What zipper? Cheese zipper, cheese zipper. See, that's a little buttery. Definitely a lot softer. I feel like that is just such an easy cheese. Anyone's going to like that almost. That is a very versatile cheese manchego. So light, great for wine, light-bodied wines. And but yeah, this is pretty exciting. I might go with early times. It's just, this is a go-to pour. This is one everyday pour for folks. Hundred-proof bottled in bonds. It's really easy drinking. There's some nice age to it, but it's not over the top in any way. And this just seems like an everyday, versatile cheese. This is an everyday, versatile whiskey. Now this thing would be great. Also, just kind of feel like having to have a crispy boy. A nice beer would be great with that. Oh, well done. All right. I threw in a ringer, which is, this is a... Oh, is that the brie? No, that's the brie. All right. Time out, gotta run. Oh my gosh. It's like taking Christmas love out of the oven. And it even has the jingle. Walking it, walking it. I might have stolen a piece of the ringer there. Surprise. It's spicy. Got this. You got it? Got it. All right. Pretty excited. You might need a cracker for this one. All right. Well, why this, I'm going to let it cool down for just a second. Can you tell me about the ringer over here before we get into the brie? No, no, it's going to make you put that on your mouth. It's really hot, so it burns everything. So nothing matters. Yeah. Yeah, candy. What was that? It's not a piece while you got the brie out of the oven. Okay. Every cheese board I've ever done has to have a kicker in it. Sometimes I like to throw in those jalapeno peppers. This one, I had to pull special because it looks beautiful. But it is a Dear Creek Gold Medal of the Rattle Snake. And it's a Wisconsin cheddar cheese. Get this. Tequila and jalapeno peppers. Habanero, habanero, habanero peppers. Habanero. Yeah, I'm feeling it. I feel like at this point, taking a sip of bourbon, I would just be on fire. It would not help this situation. But it's also wine friendly. Yeah. That's a cheese wine friendly. Wine friendly. That's exactly where I'd go. I feel like a Bejula. Beaujolais. Beaujolais or maybe a Riesling. Something light, crisp, fruity would be nice. Whisky would just, you'd be on fire. You should chase it with tequila. There you go. But that's not this pairing. Wow. Yep. Maybe a little later on. But a nice light, crisp, fruity wine would be really nice for that cut of town. But whiskey, I don't know if it would put the fire out. Hey, I'm just testing you. Can't have every cheese go with everything that we love. All right. So can we get into this brie? Oh my goodness. Okay, this is a digger. You need a cracker for this one. I recommend a Cristini. It's a better vehicle for a baked brie. Because the brie gets really, really ooey, gooey, and yummy. And those Cristinis can hold a little bit more. But you get that cracker that just might break in your mouth. And you know. Okay, do we need to cut it? Do we need to cut it any? Or is this just going to cut it itself? And I like that. And it's just get it all over the tray. Yeah. Let's see it crazy. Oh, there it is. I don't know if I can do that bigger bite. I'm going to try a little smoke. I can. Okay. Okay, good. Now this is my centerpiece, my feature. How would you pair this one? That was fantastic. Salty bacon, bourbon deglaze. You can taste the bourbon. I think at this point, I'm recent for a bigger bourbon. I'm going to start hitting those meat roses over there. Right on. And having more of this bacon and the brie. I might go for this Knob Creek 12. This was the whiskey advocates, whiskey of the year, last year, 2020. And it is more of a classic rye bourbon, high rye bourbon. So it's just going to have more of that spice and more body and complexity to it. And that is just going to pair up well with these more hearty, umami, meaty flavors. As you can see, cheese and charcuterie has become a dinner staple for many people. Like I could eat this for dinner. So I'm loving the pairings here. What do you recommend for fun cocktails to go if you're doing a transition from bourbon straight drinking pairing to maybe a cocktail scenario? Yeah. I mean, it is a party. Exactly. And it's good to have something for everybody. So we have the bourbon spread here. It's nice to have some different styles, some of them for everybody. You know, bourbon connoisseurs will enjoy that selection. But it's also great to have some cocktails, especially this time of year. You want, you want a little something for everybody. So, uh, to the season, I was going to make a Santa's sling, which is a version of a Singapore sling, with some, with some specialty ingredients in there. Can teach me how to make it? Absolutely. I'm ready. All right. Man, this charcuterie board is amazing. I'm just going to keep on eating while you're showing me some important. Absolutely. So we have that nice bourbon spread, but I want to make a cocktail, a little Santa's sling punch for everyone to enjoy. So it's time to bust out grandma's nice crystal punch bowl, tis the season. And we're just going to start dumping ingredients in there. So Santa's sling, it'll be nice and red, but I heard he got the recipe down in Singapore. So you got a big party, a lot of people. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I would just start with an entire bottle of gin. This is 750 milliliters, also about 25 ounces. That goes well with my olives. Absolutely. So our alpine gin has got juniper, of course, spruce tip, sage, and lavender. It's like a walk in an alpine meadow here. So it's supposed to be a reflection in Colorado. That juniper is going to really stand up in a cocktail. And then the lavender and spruce tip will give it some nice floral notes. That smells amazing. All right, then any good punch and sling, it's got to have some pineapple. So we're going to do equal parts. So another 24, 25 ounces. And we're going to leave some of this juice, just in case you want to add more pineapple. Some recipes call for a lot more pineapple. So it's kind of, as I said earlier, up to you. I definitely suggest trying it as you go and make sure you have the right proportions. Start with a whole bottle of gin, but leave a little bit of everything else just in case you want to add more. Okay, then we're going to just do eight ounces of everything else. One cup, one cup of lime juice. The Santa Cruz lime is pretty good. If you have time, definitely juice your limes. And we could even chop up some limes and put them in there fresh. But the Santa Cruz is pretty good. It's really easy. It's going to save you time. Some cherry brandy, cherry liqueur. That's going to make it a nice color. Yeah, luxardo. Actually, this is clear, surprise. But it's like those luxardo cherries. It's an Italian liqueur. It is rich and nice fruity. But the cherry liqueur gives it a nice sharp fruity flavor. So it helps all those flavors kind of stand up and pop. Smooth, smooth. Yeah, yeah, a little bit goes a long way just like that. But it'll really help all those fruit flavors come together. And then a lot of traditional recipes call for benedicting, which is kind of a spiced orange liqueur. Well, at Longtucky, we have a modern arancia, which is Italian for bitter orange. It's like a compari or aperol, our High Plains version. So it's Florida oranges, HKNR from Florida. But we also put a lot of bitter herbs and spices in there to give any cocktail some depth and flavor. So this is the base, the gin. But then the brandy will kind of give it a nice fruity spike. And then this will give it some nice depth and complexity. So once again, equal parts. And if this is looking like a lot to you and it tastes like a lot, you can also put some water in there. Water is solely fine. I've been starting to put a little bit of water in my margaritas and it tastes great. Extends it out just a little bit. And then some grenadine. This is going to give it some nice color and be the sweetness. You can use simple syrup or agave. But this will really bring Santa's Sleight. So I'm going to go just short of a cup or eight ounces. I'm going to put in six ounces, two thirds of a cup. So Santa misses your house. We know why. Yeah, that's right. He crashed into the neighbor's house. That's right. Have a good ride home. But this is a punch bowl. It's meant for a lot of people to share. And then you're going to top this up with a lot of ice. Let's see here. I should have my little stir rod. Here we go. Oh, that's a fancy stir. Yes. There you go. You see the red kind of coming through there. So this is the same as the witch's brew only for the holidays. So they get to get all fancy and then make this concoction. That's right. Everyone can gather around the cauldron. We just keep the themes rolling. All holiday along. Ooh, got it. All right. So I also have a ladle somewhere. It's actually right there. Can you grab it? See it sticking out of the bowl? That'll be the more appropriate way. Yes, grandma's sterling ladle. Don't leave this at the party. It'll probably walk away. But as I've said before, it's very important to try the cocktails you go along. It's delicious. Sorry. Well, I wanted to... You're the one person at this party right now. I wanted to approve before you dove in as well. Cheers. Cheers. Here's to holiday parties. Yes. I definitely think it just needs some ice. Ice. Put a lot of ice in there. And it'll cool it down, but it'll also dilute the blend as well. And that'll balance it out as well. So... What do you think about fancy ice cubes? Things like that. Oh, yeah. Big ol' ice cubes. I think with a dish like this, it would be nice to have some big ol' fancy ice, but you could also just get a bag of ice. It's going to be fine to water this down. I think if you have a long, big, long party, bigger ice cubes are going to melt slower. And it'll dilute it less. So big ice is always a good idea. But use what you have. It's totally fine. You can do this in your house. And we're going to do this at the party. But water down, and it'll be ready to go. I think that'll keep people happy. Delicious. Cheers. Let's see. You know, maybe it's a little sharp. Usually at Long Tuggy Spears, we use our peach brandy, because we cannot use Luxardo. We have a peach brandy that we made from Palisade peaches. Oh, nice. Yeah. And it is not as sweet, and it's not quite as sharp either. It just has, it's just really nice, raw peach flavor. I wish we had that in here tonight, but the Luxardo is a classic. It is great. I think it maybe stands out just a little bit for me in this cocktail. So maybe I'll just style that down a little bit. Besides that, I think it's perfect. That's delicious. Free some peaches and a really big ice ball. Put that in there. Yeah, that's thinking. She is so classy. We do the party side. Yeah. So, okay, I'm loving this. But I do have a lot of guests that still enjoy the party with their wine and bubbles. I'm thinking you might be able to put a little bubbly in this. What do you think about that? You're exactly right. You know what? I've got something in the fridge. Girls like their bubbles. Now, some cava. Oh, delicious. Nice. So for the holidays, there's three types of bubbles that we like to enjoy. You have your traditional fruit or champagne from Champagne, France. You have a cava, which is a Spanish, and you also have prosecco, which is Italian. So we're using a nice cava. Cava has, as a sparkling wine, we'll have a lot of great bubbles for that, but pulled out some fancy glasses. Oh, excellent. They're for my party guests that like to step it up a little bit. So I'm going to pour a little bit of this amazing juice. And this will create a great color. And you're going to top that off with some pumpkin sparkly. I love these glasses. My grandmother would be very happy with this little concoction mix. All right. Going for the ceiling. That's great. And now it's a party. Not anyone's face. Oh, these are going to be awesome. Beautiful. Add a little effervescence. A little sparkly party into that. Nice. Oh. Here's to the fancy chairs. Excellent. She has pinkies out. Party up. Yeah, that was an excellent addition. Well, Candy, thank you for invading my kitchen. And I think that your party guests are going to have an excellent time. Thank you so much for my tutorial on bourbon pairing. I appreciate all of that extra love that you poured into my glasses. Anytime. I'm John Young of Ab & Wasp's Silling Company. And I'm going to take you on a little Christmas vacation.