port surprise, or how i learned to stop worrying and return to my (booze) roots

in my top 5 most favorite alcholic beverages ever, Old Portrero holds two slots, one for the 19th century and one for the 18th century. the 19th century may be my favorite spirit (and beverage) of all time.

last night at a disappointing bar, i had the old potrero hotaling's, which i thought was pretty harsh -- but it had the signature Old Potrero flavor, a floral, unmistakable aroma which i had thought was a result of distilling 100% rye malt.

until tonight, when, inspired by the somewhat disappointing dinner i had last night, hops and and i prepared a 2 course meal with wine pairings (heh). 1st course (for me) was NY strip steak with grilled asparagus and tomatoes, and a side of bamboo rice. the more i grill steaks, the more i wonder how it is possible to get a poor steak in a restaurant -- nothing could be easier than preparing a good grilled steak. it's beyond me how restaurants manage to screw it up. i think they probably fall down at step 1: select a good steak.

anyhow, second (dessert) course was a cheese plate with port. i had only one unopened port in my cellar (har), the opened port having collected quite a rash of sediment, the collection of which leads me to believe it tastes less than optimal, though not subobtimal enough to warrant discarding, when suboptimal sweet wine could be used to excellent effect in a barbecue sauce, which i am known to create now and again.

anyhow.

i had a bottle of Cockburn's Special Reserve, which hops noted doesn't sound very portuguese, and which i think is probably not so special or reserve. i'm guessing it's a cheap bottle of port but it's been in my cellar (har!!!) so long i have no idea.

anyhow.

port was my introduction to alcohol. not beer, not crappy tennessee whiskey, and not forties of old fortran. port. courtesy of my college mentor, who was quite a collector of port. so i like port. i like port so much that i don't like red wines that don't taste like port. hops and my friend all say "eeegggh, too sweet" to port, but i say "bleh, too astringent and thin" to anything that's not port.

now, dear reader, you'll never guess what the dominant aroma is in Cockburn's Special Reserve. that's right, it's that same characteristic aroma of Old Potrero, my favorite spirit of all time. How is this possible? I thought that aroma -- which, until now, I had detected only in the three varieties of Old Potrero that I have had -- was a result of distilling rye malt, but there is no malt of any sort in port.

so now i have a favorite port, and (according to the internets) it costs $20 and is basically rotgut -- but it has the definining character of the world's finest whiskey.

whatever gives, my mind is blown.