Kaiyo Japanese Whiskey. Very good, it's sweet heavy but not overpowering. Like a mild honey with a bit of spice and a slow burn that gives me a bit of fruit. I'd recommend for fans of Irish and for anyone looking for a smoth sip.

Cognac + cigar

The cognac is D'ussé, the cigar is Rocky Patel. The cognac has just the right level of sweetness and is very smooth and delicate on the tongue, but there is quite a bit of burn.

Edited July 20, 20223 yr by Keyrock

On 7/18/2022 at 7:42 AM, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Kaiyo Japanese Whiskey. Very good, it's sweet heavy but not overpowering. Like a mild honey with a bit of spice and a slow burn that gives me a bit of fruit. I'd recommend for fans of Irish and for anyone looking for a smoth sip.

I bought a bottle of Japanese gin recently (Roku). Excellent for those of us who are not gin drinkers 😂

No, really, it was great 👍 

Polish lager, very malty and super delicious.

Last night I had a glass of Yellow Spot. It's damn good, very sweet honey notes with some sharp apple. Sort of mellows into spice that's hard for me to place but very nice all the same.

Went shopping yesterday... my favourite gin (aka the only gin I can drink "as is") and an unknown rum, imported from Cuba. Got to break the blockade and support Cuban industry, right? 😝

 

In AU, do all wall plugs also have an individual power switch? Or just in the kitchen?

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

In AU, do all wall plugs also have an individual power switch? Or just in the kitchen?

In AU, NZ, UK, Denmark and Germany, I've never seen a wall plug *without* a switch 🤔

 

Edit: The hotels in Spain, Greece, France, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong were the same (can't speak for residences and work places in those countries)

My local ABC Spirits had the good stuff in stock, so that's what I'm drinking:

Zacapa No. 23

I had to look it up, and it looks fancy, but I cant recall ever sitting around sipping rum (usually its mixed with something). Do you enjoy it neat or on the rocks?

I drink it neat but I drink pretty much all liquor neat unless I'm making a mixed drink. This rum is much easier going down any other that I've tried because I can swig this one like I'm a pirate.

3 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Zacapa No. 23

 

57 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

I had to look it up, and it looks fancy, but I cant recall ever sitting around sipping rum (usually its mixed with something). Do you enjoy it neat or on the rocks?

Same. Things like rum, gin, and tequila I usually only use for mixing. Once in a blue moon I may drink some rum by itself. I may drink tequila by itself on a dare (and instantly regret it) but there better be money involved. Gin by itself is instant vomit territory, just the thought makes my stomach turn.

36 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I drink it neat but I drink pretty much all liquor neat unless I'm making a mixed drink. This rum is much easier going down any other that I've tried because I can swig this one like I'm a pirate.

I generally drink my sipping drinks neat, but that's usually only whisky (more often than not scotch). I guess I also technically drink vodka neat, but I'm not sure if taking a shot qualifies as "neat". Obviously, drink your whisky any way you please, who cares what anyone else thinks, but I feel that if you need ice in your whisky for it to be palatable then consider getting better whisky.

Edit: I'll dring cognac (also neat) once in a while, but nowhere near as often as I drink whisky.

Edited August 20, 20223 yr by Keyrock

The only thing I wouldn't drink neat is gin, because gin is awful on its own. I only like ice in mixed drinks with a substantial amount of non-alcoholic liquid, anything else is a waste of liquor.

It's generally recommended to add a little water to Scotch to open it up but I still drink it neat or a drop of water or tiny sliver of ice at most.

I decided to try my hand at making mead:

It's my first attempt so I made a small portion (that's a 3 gallon carboy and it's less than half full). It spent nearly a week fermenting and today I transferred it into another container. I took a sip just to get a baseline and it wasn't nearly as harsh as I expected, very drinkable. Still, I'm going to give it at least a month to mellow.

Side note: I added mint & lemongrass in addition to the honey, water, and (ale) yeast.

8 hours ago, Keyrock said:

I decided to try my hand at making mead:

It's my first attempt so I made a small portion (that's a 3 gallon carboy and it's less than half full). It spent nearly a week fermenting and today I transferred it into another container. I took a sip just to get a baseline and it wasn't nearly as harsh as I expected, very drinkable. Still, I'm going to give it at least a month to mellow.

Side note: I added mint & lemongrass in addition to the honey, water, and (ale) yeast.

A shame none of Eldars alts are hanging around for the time being. Iirc, he had some experience brewing mead and might have been able to share a few tips

10 hours ago, Gorth said:

A shame none of Eldars alts are hanging around for the time being. Iirc, he had some experience brewing mead and might have been able to share a few tips

I suspect that I didn't use enough yeast and my first attempt is low ABV. I don't have a hydrometer, nor any other tool to help test ABV, and I didn't drink enough to give an estimate off how buzzed I got, but it wouldn't surprise me if my mead is only 3% or 4%, given how sweet and easy to drink it was with hardly any time to mellow. I'll probably double the amount of yeast per volume on my next attempt as my target is around 10% ABV. I went back and forth on whether to use ale yeast or wine yeast and decided to go with ale. Technically, any yeast will get you fermentation and produce alcohol, even baker's yeast, but I figure either ale yeast or wine yeast will produce the best taste.

In the future I may try to brew beer, but I started with mead because it's fairly straightforward; only 3 ingredients in its simplest form (water, honey, yeast).

Iirc @Hurlshort makes his own beer too so he may be able to give you some protips.

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

Iirc @Hurlshort makes his own beer too so he may be able to give you some protips.

I did 5 different batches. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, and the beer was surprisingly better than what you typically find in stores. But it was also an expensive hobby and pretty time intensive. When I moved, my brewing buddy got all of the equipment we bought and he put it in storage, and so we haven't brewed in a few years. 

Top-notch ingredients seems to be the real key. Avoid the cheap ingredient kits. Fresh grains, fresh hops, and good yeast make a difference. 

We made 2 IPA's with Citra hops (one had been fermented with orange rinds), a Centennial and Chinook Pale Ale, a dark Weissenbock, and an amazing Vanilla Oatmeal Stout. The vanilla came from vanilla beans soaked in scotch, and it was by far my favorite beer we brewed.

Ginja addicted friends came over on like Saturday or something but I couldn't find ginja so I got some Austrian cherry liqueur instead. They didn't touch it so now I'm having a little with coke. Sure, it's like 50 bucks for a bottle but I've mixed 100 dollar Scotch with coke so you know I'm a man of little class and middling sophistication.

Edited September 7, 20223 yr by ShadySands

11 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Sure, it's like 50 bucks for a bottle but I've mixed 100 dollar Scotch with coke so you know I'm a man of little class and middling sophistication.

Why would you engage in such blasphemy? Sure, scotch & coke is probably tasty, but why would you defile the perfection that is scotch whisky with any sort of adulterant?

20 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I've mixed 100 dollar Scotch with coke

I'd be hesitant to make a proper mixed drink or ****tail with the good ****, let alone mix it with soda.

Here I sit with a glass of Dewar's 12 Year Old, a paltry $32 scotch. My heart weeps at the mere thought of perverting this delicious beverage with brown sugar water. WEEPS! 😭