Bourbon was the business at downtown’s Grange Restaurant and Bar Wednesday night as chefs Michael Tuohy and Brad Cecchi presented a four-course dinner accompanied by bourbon cocktails.

“The biggest thing for us is the fun,” said Grange General Manager Troy Christian. “It also fills up the restaurant.”

Christian said about 75 people took part in the dinner. It was one of about four that Grange hosts each year, with the next one being a tequila-themed dinner for Cinco de Mayo.

The bourbon being paired was Grange’s unique brand, crafted by Woodford Reserve of Versailles, Ky.

Though the Woodford Reserve brand has only been produced since the mid-1990s, the distillery is the oldest in the country, built in 1836, said Master Distiller Chris Morris.

“Tonight’s really exciting,” said Morris, who was in Sacramento for the first time. “The menu is quite exceptional.”

Morris added that the menu complemented the drinks perfectly, but he said he didn’t have any input on the pairings.

“I have learned from great experience never to tell a chef what to do,” he said. “Obviously, a chef like Michael is an expert.”

The four-course prixe fixe menu was served with accompanying cocktails for each course for $65 per person.

To qualify as bourbon – a type of whiskey – the beverage must be at least 50 percent corn, be aged in an American oak barrel and be distilled in Kentucky, said Grange server Clark Andress.

The first course was a salad of bitter greens with candied boar bacon, fried sweet potatoes and a poached egg, paired with a “Boulevardier” – a bourbon cocktail of Grange bourbon, Campari and Carpano Vermouth.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The Boulevardier didn’t have an altogether bourbony taste, but it complemented the salad well, of which the candied boar bacon was the highlight.

The second course was beef tongue pastrami, bone marrow served in a split bone and Sorghum bourbon rye bread with shallot-fennel marmalade. It was served with Grange’s “Boar Bacon Manhattan,” which was served at the previous bourbon dinner, but whose popularity has seen it stay on the menu since.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The pastrami and bone marrow came from Niman Ranch, with the pastrami cured in-house at Grange. Normally, Grange’s bone marrow is served upright in a trio with a long-handled spoon, but that didn’t stop the split-bone serving from melting in the mouth.

“It all kind of worked together really well,” said Ricardo Goñi, who took part in the bourbon dinner. “It was really flavorful, and the texture was perfect.”

The “Boar Bacon Manhattan” was the highlight of the drinks – bourbon, boar bacon vermouth syrup and a strip of candied boar bacon.

“It’s what Heaven would taste like,” said diner Lori Jackson.

The main course was a bourbon-brined rack of wild boar served with pecan and dried currant spoon bread, candied pecans, smoked cippolini onions and bourbon jus. It was accompanied by Grange’s “Sarsaparilla” – bourbon mixed with Grange’s house-made root beer.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The wild boar, from the Broken Arrow Ranch in Texas, was brined whole, and the meat was tender, delicious when dipped in the bourbon jus and eaten with the onion.

The root beer in the “Sarsaparilla” is Grange’s own concoction of sassafras, mint, burdock root and molasses.

Dessert was an apple cider bourbon cake with bourbon milk jam and candied apples. It was served with “Smoke,” which was composed of bourbon, organic cream, a house-made smoke tincture, vanilla sugar and liquid nitrogen.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The cake was moist, and the jam was a good taste pairing, but it was even better with the tangy flavor from the candied apples.

The drink was closer to a bourbon milkshake than a traditional cocktail – even topped with a smoked bitter cherry, and it worked well. For those who preferred eating it over drinking it, it came with a piece of the oak barrel the bourbon was aged in that served as a spoon.

“I thought it was a fun opportunity to mix something I really enjoy, which is bourbon, with something else I really enjoy, which is food,” Jackson said.

“I think this is a real approachable way for people who aren’t bourbon fans to experience it,” she added.

Her favorite drinks, she said, were the “Boar Bacon Manhattan” and the “Sarsaparilla” because they tasted the most like bourbon.

Goñi – a self-declared “bourbon snob” – said he would have preferred to be a little more pure on the bourbon flavoring, but that that wouldn’t be possible, since it wouldn’t be nearly as approachable for those less-acquainted with the liquor.

Christian said the event was a success for Grange, and the next one is already in the works, but will feature Herradura tequila for Cinco de Mayo.

Grange Restaurant and Bar is located at 926 J St.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.