Do you even hear someone talking about one of their favorite things and it sounds so bizarre you have to try it? So it was for me last week, as I was attending a Glenmorangie scotch tasting, and the owner of Wings restaurant in Bexley (2801 E. Main) began speaking of his love for scotch over ice cream (from what I hear, he probably loves scotch over anything - including more scotch; I'm not suggesting he's a lush, mind you: the restaurant - a Chinese restaurant, by the way - boasts one of the most definitive single malt scotch collections in the city). Scotch over ice cream with coffee grounds. Surely it would be terrible.
The next day, whilst standing in the walk-in freezer at work, and, er, testing the quality of the Jeni's ice cream we'd be serving that night, it hit me along with a mouthful of Maker's Mark Buttered Pecan - maybe he was on to something.
And so it came to be that I made this strange little sundae - vanilla ice cream, Glenmorangie 10 year scotch, and espresso powder (I just can't see eating coffee grounds, I'm sorry). It was good - in truth, I underestimated the power of the espresso powder and just put it on until it looked pretty; it was a little too bitter. I also think cold has a tendency to dull the flavors and leave the alcohol behind, but that's a risk most people take when drinking scotch on the rocks (try it neat, with just a dribble of water and you'll see what I mean). Next time, I think I'll put some caramel sauce on, which I think would match just fine with the rich caramel notes in the scotch. Do I recommend you try it? Absolutely - I always recommend a nice scotch for dessert! If you can pony up the $60 for the port wood finish, I'd recommend it even more highly.
Fun fact: did you know? Glenmorangie owns a forest in the Ozark mountains; they make barrels there and send them to Jack Daniels, where they age American whiskey. The barrels are then shipped over to Scotland, where they finish out their lives aging all Glenmorangie products - the port, Madeira, sherry, and burgundy finishes start in the Jack Daniels barrels and then finish aging in the barrels for which they are named. Speaking of burgundy finish, it should be available in Ohio as of today. Cheers!
Oh, and by the way, let's just clear this up right now: it's glen-MOHR-en-gee. Soft g, as in gee whiz. Now, business men I wait on, stop trying to make me say glen-mor-ANG-ee. I've been right this whole time, so there!
