Top whiskey expert hosts blindfolded bourbon tasting at Jergel's

WARRENDALE — Blindfolds and bourbons will make for a uniquely entertaining and educational night Jan. 20 at Jergel's Rhythm Grille.

Fred Minnick, a preeminent expert on whiskey, will lead the ticketed Blind Bourbon tasting at the Warrendale roadhouse.

"I'm going to teach people to taste like a pro," said Minnick, an Iraq war veteran who has shared his expertise on spirits by authoring seven books and guesting on Bravo’s "Top Chef," Discovery’s "Moonshiners," Amazon Prime’s "Bourbon Up," along with "CBS This Morning," "Fox and Friends," NPR and the BBC.

"Here's how it works: In this case, I actually do have blindfolds for people to wear."

With their sense of sight temporarily taken away, Jergel's ticket buyers will learn to refine their sense of taste as they blindly sample five bourbons.

But before that they'll sip Tennessee's most famous whiskey, clearly identified.

"First, I'll train them on Jack Daniel's," Minnick said. "Because everyone has had Jack Daniel's."

Participants won't be downing these Jacks diluted by Coca-Cola, or gulped with gusto out of a shot glass. Minnick instead will guide guests into sipping that charcoal-filtered, 80 proof whiskey that meets official requirements of a bourbon, and is sold as such in Pennsylvania liquor stores.

"The reaction people have when doing a shot is, 'Oh, that burns,' or, 'Hey, that's smooth,' but if you actually taste it and put a little on your palette it's a different experience," Minnick, the senior contributor on spirits for Forbes, and founding editor-in-chief of Bourbon+ Magazine, said.

Once coached through the sensory training, participants will move on to a flight of five bourbons, not being told which brands they are sampling.

Interviewed Tuesday, Minnick said one bourbon he's featuring specifically for this western Pennsylvania event is distilled and produced by Terry Bradshaw, the Pittsburgh Steelers hall-of-famer.

Bradshaw Kentucky Straight Bourbon recently took silver-medal honors at both an Oklahoma competition, and a separate Blind Bourbon hosted by Minnick.

"It's not very widely available, so I was pretty excited to see how it ranked," he said.

As experts like Minnick do at professional bourbon-judgings, Jergel's participants will rank the bourbons they try to see which one takes top honors.

"In many cases, it's a little bit of affirmation. They'll say, 'Oh, I've always loved that one.' When you're in your seat at Jergel's, you're going to be a critic."

He feels compelled to add, "It's really not a frat party. It's sipping. We do have fun, but it's not a wild night where you'll stand up on the bar dancing and taking your clothes off."

Minnick hopes to turn these Blind Bourbon tastings into a full-on national tour determining one top bourbon.

"Kind of like a battle-of-the-bands," said Minnick, who's co-creator and curator of the Bourbon & Beyond Music festival (91,000 attendees in 2019), in Louisville, which has featured Zac Brown Band, Lenny Kravitz, John Mayer, Robert Plant and other great musical acts.

Sounds like Minnick has a fantasy job, getting to drink and talk about whiskey.

"I don't disagree with that. It is kind of like a dream job," Minnick, a former Army journalist. "But if you're not careful it will burn you out real quickly."

As for Do's and Don'ts of whiskey sipping, he says "do it however you want" at home, but for tasting comparisons it's best to leave out the ice.

"And glassware is very important," he said.

"There's only one glass I recommend for American whiskey and that's Glencairn. And they don't pay me to say that," Minnick said.

Liquor.com agrees the Glencairn whiskey glass — "light, tulip-shaped and durable" — is the clear-cut choice of connoisseurs.

In these past few years of pandemic isolation with the bar scene laboring to rebound, whiskeys and bourbons — a particular style of whiskey — have seen an uptick in popularity.

"Retail sales have been through the roof," Minnick said.

An escalation of spirits-themed podcasts and YouTube shows has helped with the upsurge said Minnick, whose "The Fred Minnick Show" pod has featured celebrity guests like Ludacris, Daryl Hall, Mick Fleetwood, Lee Brice, Slipknot’s Clown, NFL star Ndamukong Suh, Ashley McBryde, Harry Shearer and tennis legend Andy Roddick.

"The pandemic has really driven fanship through to the next level."

Minnick roots for Pennsylvania to re-establish its prominence as a whiskey producer, noting that pre-Prohibition, the Keystone State and Kentucky debated who made the better booze.

"Historically, Pennsylvania rye was a cornerstone for American whiskey," Minnick said.

He's a big fan of contemporary Pennsylvania whiskeys like Wigle Whiskey of Pittsburgh, Dad's Hat Rye of Bristol, and Liberty Pole Spirits Peated Rye of Washington. The latter two made his Top-100 Whiskeys list last week; Wigle appeared on that list previously.

"It's nice to see Pennsylvania whiskey coming back," he said.

Of all the gin joints and vodka distilleries and rum-makers in all the world, Minnick prefers bourbon.

"Bourbon is truly American, just like Pennsylvania rye is truly American," he said.

He believes bourbon brings a bang-for-your-buck. A $40 bottle of bourbon offers the comparative quality of liquors double, triple or more than that.

"But mainly it's the people I love. Bourbon drinkers are genuine and come from all walks of life. When bourbon drinkers get together, politics very rarely comes up," he said.

To gather with Minnick and other bourbon fans, buy a $50 ticket in advance for the Jergel's event ($70 the day of the show.) There's also a $265 post-show VIP private tasting with Minnick featuring high-end bourbon.

"That will include a bottle of Smoke Wagon that's 14-years old. There are only 329 bottles in existence. It's incredible," he said. "A bottle just sold at auction for $3,400."

Scott Tady is the local Entertainment Reporter for The Beaver County Times and Ellwood City Ledger. He's easy to reach at stady@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @scotttady.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: No. 1 whiskey expert hosts blindfolded bourbon tasting in Warrendale