Whisky with an 'e' back

I remember sneaking into Dad's man cave and stealing sips from the bottle of Jack he kept hidden there. I loved how the whiskey burned on the way down and left me feeling warm all over. I still love it.

Clearly, it's my Dad's fault that I'm a whiskey drinking woman and as it's his birthday I thought I'd pay a little tribute to him by waxing philosophic about my first liquor love: whiskey.

When my two sisters and I visited the UK last year we left on Dad's birthday and in honor of him bought a big bottle of Jack to share on the plane (sans tax—gotta love duty free shopping). Until that trip I didn't realize that both Heather and Sammy had similar stories of sneaking snorts of whiskey on the sly. We figured Dad would be proud.

It was on this trip that I discovered the Scots use old American bourbon casks to age some of their scotch. It made me stand a little taller knowing that we are contributing to their long tradition of awesomeness.

I learned another sparkling dinner conversation starter while in the UK:  in Scotland, Canada and Japan you drink whisky, while in the U.S. and Ireland you drink your whiskey with an 'e'.

Back to the U.S. and even closer to home in my native state of Iowa they're brewing up small craft batches of rye whiskey. Rye is an American tradition that lost favor after Prohibition but is making a comeback in a big way. The history of American whiskey is peppered with good stories and the Templeton one is no exception.

Since Prohibition days the small town of Templeton, in north central Iowa on Highway 71, has been producing small batch rye whiskey nicknamed “the good stuff.” Back in the day it was a favorite of Al Capone’s and was reportedly smuggled into Alcatraz during his stay there.

During the Great Depression, some of the farmers in Templeton turned to bootlegging to keep their family farms. For almost 100 years the recipe for this rye was kept on the D.L. though it was rumored that there were farmstead stills nestled into the rolling hills of Carroll County that were always producing.

Just after the turn of the new century, a local with family connections to one of the original bootleggers came home to legally share the joys of this American whiskey with the rest of the nation. It took some convincing, but eventually whiskey was once again flowing from Templeton.

The first bottles of “the good stuff” came out in 2006. It was a huge hit and bottles were immediately impossible to find. Last November a new batch was rolled out. They hoped it would be enough, but people are still clamoring for more. Once again, Templeton is so scarce it's like you need mob connections to find a bottle.

But, if you know the right people you can find a bottle. Just last week I met a guy who bought a case of it in Illinois and offered to sell me one. But if you don't have those kind of connections you can try liquor stores and bars in Iowa, Illinois and New York or go online. In fact, check out the Templeton website anyway, it's a fun multi-media site with great stories from some of the original bootleggers: www.templetonrye.com.

Ahhh…whiskey. All this talk of you is making me thirsty.

I raise my glass of the good stuff in honor of you, Dad. Happy birthday. I love you.

To the rest of you: Happy Friday! Go find a bottle of rye, bourbon or scotch and enjoy.

Cheers!