Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/343109
july 2014 / the tasting panel / 69 In our industry, "moderation" and "responsibly" are uncompromising mantras. But Templeton Rye, once the favored quaff of ex-bootlegger Al Capone, who called it "The Good Stuff," is about to make "pigging out" a socially acceptable pastime. Just as Scotland's distilleries supply spent mash to farmers to add protein to the diets of their cattle, Templeton Rye, which derives its name from the small farming community of Templeton, Iowa, is about to make culinary history by feeding their spent mash to a select group of twenty five pristine piglets bred at Iowa State University and raised in a controlled environ- ment—an industry first destined to indelibly link the food we eat to the libations we drink. However, these inaugural hogs are not your ordinary grocery store pork- ers. This select group of oinkers belongs to a special breed, the Duroc pig, renowned for their docile dispositions, which produce heavier muscles and richer, juicier and more succulent meat. Originally brought to the Americas from Spain and Portugal by Christopher Columbus and Hernando DeSoto, the Duroc pig first gained culinary fame at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. They have since become one of the top pork picks for many of America's top chefs. Thus, the Duroc pig provided the launching pen, if you will, for Templeton Rye's Heritage Pork Project. Like the project itself, the concept was a group effort. "Actually, Keith Kerkhoff, co-founder and recipe holder of Templeton Rye and myself," says Templeton Rye co-founder and President Scott Bush, "along with Iowa State Ambassador Andrew Tomes and Illinois Ambassador Michael Killmer were having some Templeton cocktails after an event and one of us brought this up; we are not sure who." As an author's aside, it should be noted that no one ever got a good idea while eating a salad. It should also be noted that Kerkhoff's grandfather and Bush's great grandfather were the men who originally formulated and distilled Templeton Rye during Prohibition, although the whiskey is much more refined today. "We have been involved with several high-end food events around the country," continued Bush, "such as the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival and Cochon 555, and we often interact with the chefs in our travels." Thus evolved the inspiration for this pre-eminent farm- to-fork-to-glass concept. But why pigs rather than cattle or chickens? "We thought about the oth- ers, but pigs seemed a good place to start," says Bush. "We're all from Iowa, where, as they say, there are more pigs than people, so we have all grown up around farming and livestock. There is also a great network of folks in Iowa Rye THE WORLD'S FIRST HERITAGE PORK PROJECT IS NO PIG IN A POKE PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG Nina Lubin is the New York Brand Ambassador for Templeton Rye.