The drinking thread

[ShadySands]

I infused some more vodka with horseradish, black peppercorn, and celery seed

 

I also took another trip down to the brewery down the road but they didn't have any wheat beers in rotation so I had a scotch ale that was so smooth and strong that it left me pretty rough.

[Hurlshort]

I need to pick out a new keg. I am thinking something local, but I might order from bevmo if I can get something good.

[Gfted1]

@Shady: When you say infused does that mean you put those ingredients into the bottle and leave it to stew for a while?

[ShadySands]

@Shady: When you say infused does that mean you put those ingredients into the bottle and leave it to stew for a while?

Exactly right

 

PS thinking of doing something a little fruitier next time like strawberry or cherry or maybe even pineapple

Edited May 2, 2016 by ShadySands

[ManifestedISO]

May have inadvertently advanced the art of incoherence in an afternoon, thankfully within walking distance.

 

Urge Gastropub and Whiskey Bank ... sampled a new-to-me incredible beer style called gose ... lemon tartness, salty, hibiscus. Made a tasty mistake of too much meat with a Beef Short Rib Burger, recovered and continued getting super serious, High West Boulevardier straight bourbon, Balvenie Carribean Cask single malt.

 

Made an exit and went up the coast highway to Masters, a very helpful individual introduced a 12-year Kentucky bourbon, Rowan's Creek, along with three other brands, including a rye literally aged in barrels made from heaven.

 

We finished our tour at LTH with Bulleit 10-year, I think it was, and Angel's Envy. Decolletage is not a word to be used lightly, the bartender had the most amazing I've seen. Mighta been the bourbon goggles. I'm glad my town is becoming a destination ... it used to be a sketchy dive-bar drive-through for Camp Pendleton Marines on leave. Nothing wrong with that, but, you know.     

[Guard Dog]

Apparently after one alcohol fueled incident too many all Navy personnel in Japan have been forbidden to drink booze or even leave their base. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article82055572.html

 

The article specified Navy so I guess Marines were exempt. Sailors can't handle their liquor anyway. Probably just as well. Having been there myself I can tell you no booze and base restrictions and those 6 Marine Corps bases would be boiling pots of trouble in a month! The Shore Patrol will be busy as hell!

[Tale]

Shiner White Wing

 

It's like a resurrected Shiner Hefeweizen that some hippy idiot decided to put cilantro in for no good reason.

[Keyrock]

Jed's Hard Root Beer.  It's not bad.  Not something I'd drink regularly, but I can see myself drinking it once in a while.  I wish they'd gone a bit heavier on the birch and eased off on the vanilla a bit, but otherwise the balance is pretty good.

[ManifestedISO]

Getting closer to discovering the pumpkin peach ale Budweiser warned me about during the Super Bowl.

 

Ballast Point Barmy ... 'a strong golden ale made with apricots and orange blossom honey, a tart fruitiness and a sweet, but not too sugary, finish'.

 

Has the ABV of a wine, 12%, but it's hidden well. Good sipping beer, unique taste and a fun experience, but only one per sitting.

[ShadySands]

 

It was okayish

[Barbedbeat]

In spite of a strange flu-like malaise that has been messing up with my stomach all day, I indulged in a tiny bottle of "Pietra", a very nice chestnut beer from Corsica.

Pleasant, fruity smell;

slick, nutty taste;

quite bitter.

It was an overall agreaable drink even though, to be completely honest, I found it slightly too thin on the palate.

Perfect for accompanying strong, aged cheese.

 

Would recommend.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Barbedbeat

[Hastur]

Been making beer and mead for near a year now.  Range from drinkable to 'wow, that's the stuff!'  Now have a five gallon batch of mead fermenting and two one gallon batches of beer.  Beer is for a quick turn around and there's always some around the house.  Mead is for aging and enjoying.  Either make good gifts, but a cool clear bottle of golden mead makes a good impression, either effervescent or still (which I prefer).

 

 

[Guard Dog]

I tried brewing beer a while ago. I never could get the carbonation right. It was always flat or more like beer flavored champagne. I gave up.

[Hastur]

The carbonation isn't a problem as long as you're willing to fill up the bottles and make sure there isn't a lot of air.  Yeast is faculatively anaerobic, so the little bastards will use air if they can, and so you have to deny them O2, especially in late stage stuff like bottling.  The real trick is mead, since it will create bombs.  The stuff ferments for a long time.  I've bottled the beer, bottled some of the mead, four 750mL with cork and then a bunch of 12-20 ounces with O2 absorbent caps, but I put two gallons of mead the gallon carboys as secondary fermenters and let them settle out.  I don't mind drinking the young mead, but if you want to give it as a gift, you should really let it clear and rack it off the lees.  I do love brewing, but it's actually a lot of work.  More on the front end for beer.  More on the back end for mead.

 

If you ever give it another try, I'll post a couple of recipes that I've enjoyed.  Both for beer and mead.

[ShadySands]

A friend left a Leinenkugel's sampler pack and I've gone through pretty much the whole thing

 

I'm on the ginger shandies now and I don't like them at all but I can't stop drinking them

[Hastur]

Never been much of a shandy fan. I just deleted the rest of my post because it shamelessly talks about homebrew stuff. Please, dear God, are there any other homebrew enthusiasts here?!?

 

...But, yeah, I'm pretty sad in that if I have any of my own stuff around, I drink that first, but I like beer and pretty much drink what's on hand even if I 'don't like it.' hehe

[Hurlshort]

Don't ever delete beer talk!

 

I've been thinking about homebrewing, so please do talk more about it.  I've even got the equipment, including a kegerator.

[Hastur]

I've been indulging in my own brew tonight and I've learned not to post too much at that point unless I want to make crazy assed bets that I'm honor bound to fulfill. Let me just say before I approach this in a more lucid manner tomorrow, don't go overboard with hydrometer readings. If you're doing beer, I wouldn't worry at all. Sample a bit after your airlock goes about a minute a bubble release or less and if it tastes good (considering it's flat at that time), you're probably good. Beer is probably the easiest to do for first time brewing, but it's a lot messier and you'll have to use a jar and tubing for air lock since it bubbles like a madman. Also, you'll have to carbonate it. Mad (and I think this is true of cider as well) tends to carbonate if you 'rack' it (why not just say bottle?) while it's still fermenting, so you'll make bottles of mead bombs if you bottle it too soon. You can chemically stabilize it or refrigerate it, however, or even ferment it to the max for high ABV and then add honey (or whatever you want to add to make your brew a little sweeter)) with some potassium sorbate. Ugh, before I just spout out with advice, let me come at this fresh tomorrow or some other time. However, I will tell you one thing from experience, there's nothing like opening your fridge and cracking open your own brew or even better sharing one of your own personal brews with a friend. It really is great and worth, in my personal and humble opinion, the work.

[Chilloutman]

if you want something homebrew, go for plum schnaps guys, its quite simple to produce and its really good

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz

 

In the Czech Republic slivovice (as well as its variations from other fruits), due its somewhat symbolic status of Moravian "national" drink, is strongly presented in local traditions, culture and popculture like in proverbs, folk songs, TV shows and movies. It is primarily produced in the southern and eastern provinces of Moravia and in Vysočina, where the country retains its rural character. The production was likely introduced by immigrants from the Balkans since the 16th century.[citation needed] Although traditional, illegal, home distilleries still exist, the majority of home production moved to certified local community-owned distilleries to prevent errors during the distillation process (leading to production of toxic methanol). It also allows state authorities to collect their respective taxes based on the proof of the product, however there are tax-reliefs for private and non-commercial production of the drink. The usual proof of private-produced slivovice is over 50% of alcohol in the final product, commercially available mass-produced drinks are mostly lower proof.

Slivovice is usually consumed at room temperature to bring out the flavor of the fruit. It's served in a small shot glass known locally as "panák" (literally: a dummy), "kalíšek" (colloquial for a small cup) or "štamprle" (from German "das Stamperl", little glass) and is almost never served on the rocks. Cooling helps to reduce the effects of high proof, however, to enjoy the aroma and taste of the original fruit it is better to drink slivovice at room temperature.

 

I prefer it cooled tho

 

edit: dont believe that part about most of production moving to certified local community-owned distilleries

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by Chilloutman

[Hastur]

I start to feel guilty about bogarting this thread into a homebrew discussion. I like trying new stuff from the store also and that's what this thread was, I think. I might look into the link Chilloutman posted, though. Instersting stuff.

[ManifestedISO]

Revisiting my new latent thing for rye bourbon. Well, not yet, waiting for a couple ice sphere molds to freeze. Got a bit of the Woodford Reserve green label. Never had ice spheres, before. They had skull molds, but ice balls look magical.

[Hastur]

I like a nice rye myself. In fact, I've got some rye malt extract sitting on my counter. However, I went with the cheapest 12 year old scotch I could find at Costco, which is probably what I'll enjoy over ice or maybe with water tonight.

[ManifestedISO]

I misspoke, of course rye whiskey is technically not bourbon. 

 

The ice spheres took too long to freeze last night, so I enjoyed BP Pineapple Sculpin IPA instead. 

[Barbedbeat]

Drank two good glasses of "Punk", an Italian IPA.

Fragrant (its smell reminded me of passion fruit), fresh, bitter and topped by a nice and firm foam. An overall delightful drink.

[Guard Dog]

Revisiting my new latent thing for rye bourbon. Well, not yet, waiting for a couple ice sphere molds to freeze. Got a bit of the Woodford Reserve green label. Never had ice spheres, before. They had skull molds, but ice balls look magical.

Woodford Reserve is an excellent bourbon. It's very sharp and clean with light apricot overtones. They use apricot extract in the wort. I'm becoming a fan of Four Roses Single Barrel. It actually does use a rye mash in the wort which gives it a taste and aroma I'd describe as "spicy"