San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
The Devil's Shar label
I called Ballast Point’s head brewer and distiller, Yuseff Cherney, to find out the official release date. He said while the whiskey turns 3 in October (the age California requires before a distilled spirit can carry the “whiskey” label), they’re still waiting on label approval, so now it’s looking like the barrels won’t be popped until November or December. When it is ready, Cherney says it’ll be distributed mostly in San Diego at Ballast Point’s core bars, like Downtown Johnny Brown’s and High Dive.
Cherney says the whiskey is made from 100-percent malted barley and aged in heavily charred oak barrels, so we can expect it to taste like a fuller Scotch or Irish whiskey without the peaty flavoring. The stuff will be rare and pricey, so he recommends drinking it neat or in a classic cocktail like a Manhattan.
The devilish name of the whiskey, by the way, comes from the old “angel’s share” term, which refers to the small percent of whiskey that naturally evaporates during distillation.
“I said, ‘Well, if that’s what the angels take, then the rest is the devil’s share,” Cherney said. “So we went with that.”
Ballast Point is releasing a new vodka called Fugu in a month, but no one waits with bated breath for vodka, do they?
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the locally based Topa Spirits brought its Peruvian pisco brand, Piscología, to San Diego spots like Alchemy, Vin de Syrah and George’s at the Cove.
Frankie Thaheld, a Piscología brand ambassador and a mixologist at George’s who uses the clear grape brandy in his savory Jardinero cocktail (pisco, juiced celery, lemon juice, simple syrup, cumin and Cynar), says he’s glad people are starting to appreciate the spirit.
“It’s an untapped resource,” he says. “We just haven’t had good quality pisco in the U.S. Most of it was the cheap stuff coming from Chile, which is totally different than what you find in Peru. Only recently have we been getting the more premium products.”
Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.
