Summer of Bourbon Road Trip: Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Single Cask
We are gearing up for the release of the Lost Lantern Summer of Bourbon Collection on July 26th. This special collection shows that great bourbon comes from all across the United States. To kick things off, we’re launching a virtual road trip feature to introduce you to each of the distilleries in the Collection and help get you in the mood for their whiskies. Today’s stop: Tom’s Foolery in Northeast Ohio! Unlike other distilleries, they are not regularly open to the public, so don’t plan on stopping by in person… but we still want to share all the details about the distillery, our Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery single cask bourbon, and what makes both special!
Tom’s Foolery Distillery Overview
Lost Lantern hand-selected this cask from Tom’s Foolery in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The distillery uses traditional, labor-intensive methods, including pot still distillation, to make whiskey the way it used to be made. their whiskies embody the cold, snowy climate of Ohio’s snowbelt. Owned and operated by Tom and Lianne Herbruck (and yes, Tom is the one whose foolery is decribed in the distillery’s name), they are truly a family operation.
Tom’s Foolery is one of the smaller distilleries we have worked with, and has nearly as much in common with the small farm distilleries scattered across Cognac and Normandy in France as it does with America’s bourbon tradition. The distillery even makes brandy! The entire process at Tom’s Foolery is deliberately hands-on and low-tech, every aspect of the process guided by experience and sensory evaluation rather than computers and spreadsheets.
Their process is also connected to nature, and the distillery makes every effort to allow the regional climate–not far from the shores of Lake Erie, in an area with cold, snowy winters and temperate summers–to influence the whiskey as nature chooses.
This is Lost Lantern’s first release from Tom’s Foolery, making them the second Ohio distillery we’ve partnered with (the other, Watershed Distillery, is actually featured as part of the Summer of Bourbon as well–not as a single cask but as part of Far-Flung Bourbon, our blend of straight bourbons from four states!).
Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Single Cask Details
Our first single cask from Tom’s Foolery is a 9-year-old straight bourbon, the oldest bourbon we’ve ever released. Aged in a 53 gallon barrel in natural conditions, this bourbon has notes of peaches and cream and a fresh nuttiness on the nose. The palate has hints of fresh-baked bread, warm, fresh grain, vanilla, and deep oak. It has an extremely long, rich, and spicy finish.
The cooler climate in Ohio allows for the long aging without overwhelming oak extraction, allowing for a very nuanced and complex whiskey.
This bourbon has a mashbill of 52% yellow dent corn, 20% winter rye, and 28% six-row malted barley. The corn was all grown on the distiller’s family farm.
The label for this actually calls it an 8-year-old, which had been the plan. But bottling got pushed back slightly, and it ended up turning nine years old just days before the bottling date! So it’s actually a 9-year-old whiskey, despite the label.
Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Cocktail Recipe: Five O’Clock World
For our single cask bourbons this summer I wanted to explore the original cocktail. What we now know as the old fashioned used to just be called “An {insert spirit here} cocktail.” Spirit, sugar, bitters. That’s it. Some time in the 1870’s people started to order more complicated cocktails and sooner or later someone got fed up with the extra stuff and said, “Give me a cocktail, you know the old-fashioned kind.” All we have to do is tweak one of those basic ingredients and we’ve got a whole new, old-fashioned to explore.
This distillery does things the old fashioned way, like using pot stills to distill their bourbon, so it would make sense to make an old fashioned the most old fashioned way. While we cut to the chase with simple syrup these days, when a whiskey cocktail was ordered circa 1806, the barman would have made a sugar and bitters paste a-la-minute before adding the whiskey and a chunk of ice cut from a frozen lake or river. Take a moment to savor the process and think of how great it is to be living in 2023 where this cocktail can even be made at 30,000 feet (if you had the foresight to pack a tiny bottle of bitters and a small muddle in your carry-on, of course.)
Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Cocktail Instructions: Five O’Clock World
1 rough cut sugar cube (roughly a teaspoon)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 teaspoon chilled water
2 oz Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Single Cask Bourbon
- In a squat and solid glass soak a sugar cube with bitters for a few seconds before adding a splash (teaspoon or so) of chilled water.
- Using the back of a spoon or a muddler if you have it, grind the sugar into a firm paste until it dissolves in the water.
- Add your bourbon and as big an ice cube you can find. Don’t worry about garnish because those didn’t likely come around for another hundred years or so.
-California State Manager Drew Record
Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Food Pairing
GRILLED PEACHES WITH VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM DRIZZLED WITH BOOZY CARDAMOM HONEY
After one sip of Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Ohio Straight Bourbon peaches and cream was what I tasted, and it immediately made me think of grilled peaches topped with ice cream and then drizzled with boozy cardamom honey! It’s the perfect EASY summer dessert. You’ll want to look for a peach that’s ripe but not overripe and please resist the temptation to fuss with them while they’re grilling, flip them only once. TIP: if you spray your measuring spoons with a non-stick cooking spray the honey will fall right off. Once plated, the warmth from the grilled peaches will begin to melt the ice cream. Be sure to run those peaches through for the full peaches and cream experience. AND because we like options, if you don’t feel like enjoying this a la mode, the grilled peaches are delicious drizzled directly with the boozy cardamom honey!
GRILLED PEACHES WITH VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM DRIZZLED WITH BOOZY CARDAMOM HONEY
Yield: 3 servings
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
6 peaches – halved, pits removed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Vanilla bean ice cream
4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Ohio Straight Bourbon Whiskey
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Directions:
- Preheat grill pan over medium heat.
- Brush peach halves with olive oil. Place peach halves flesh side down onto grill pan. Cook for approximately 3-4 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Mix together honey, bourbon and cardamom while peaches are grilling.
- To plate: place two grilled peach halves into a shallow bowl, top with scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, drizzle top with honey bourbon mixture.
-Marketing and Brand Manager Paula Jones
Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery Music Pairing
What road trip, virtual or otherwise, would be complete without a playlist? California state manager Drew Record has curated a unique listening experience centered around Tom’s Foolery. Unlike the other distilleries in the Summer of Bourbon Collection, Tom’s Foolery is actually not open to the public – so don’t plan on stopping by. But if you’re enjoying a glass of Tom’s Foolery, roadtripping across Ohio, or just want to feel some Lake Erie Snowbelt vibes… this is the playlist for you. Enjoy!
