Coronavirus Tragedy = aka skunked beer
Posted on May 4, 2020 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Coronavirus Tragedy = aka skunked beer
If the destruction of the economy and the rise of tiny dictators, like King Newsom, are not bad enough, we are now faced with an even worse tragedy.
We are talking, of course, of millions of gallons of beer giving their lives in vain. Never causing bladders to be distended, relationships to be started or ended – badly. A life lived in vain.
The covid has if nothing else showed us how temperamental our supply-chain is. Now we have millions of kegs of beer going bad. The bat virus hit us at our weakest time. March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day. Bars and stadiums had been stocking up and now they are all closed. Those kegs of beer are not only not drinking themselves, they are going bad.
This presents a problem. They cannot be just emptied into the sewer as there are environmental problems. By virtue of the lockdown, valiant drunks can’t come out and drink them. The beer companies need to get the kegs back to refill them so we can drink (are we not now?) after the quarantine is over. What is to be done? What?
It is an interesting quandary. Here are a couple of article links. The Wall Street Journal Link is very good but behind a paywall (support newspapers!) and there is another that is decent. Fascinating and tragic, though.
Wall Street Journal – A Problem Is Brewing….
Food and Wine – Not a bad, but not in depth article – A Whole Bunch of Draft Beer…
Woodinville Whiskey – The Pre-Social Isolation Review
Posted on March 25, 2020 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Woodinville Whiskey – The Pre-Social Isolation Review
Oh, those heady days of 3 weeks ago when I could wander through Trader Joe’s with nary a thought of people getting within 6 feet of me.
I was indeed wandering through Trader Joe’s when I noticed, as I hurried through the liquor section, that they now carried Woodinville Whiskey. I had been mentioning Woodinville for years (See December 5, 2011, and June 16, 2011) but we never got any of the aged product in California (at least anywhere that I was). But now we have distribution! Yay!
So, needless to say I bought a bottle and we had a couple of people over (Yes, kids, back in those days people could actually come to your house instead of just having a Zoom™ dinner). Before settling down to food we asked if they had seen any toilet paper lately? (HA! Just kidding, in those days toilet paper was plentiful and practically free) So, in reality, before settling down to food, we tasted the whiskey.
Look – A beautiful dark amber
Nose
Vanilla, caramel, butter. Low Ketones, light alcohol. Inviting – like a chaise lounge in summer under a full moon.
Taste
Young. A hard hit on the front of the tongue shows how young it seems.
The taste doesn’t quite match the promise of the smell. It is like we got home from the bar and I turned on the light.
If you skip the front of the tongue you get a much nicer medium finish. Light. The finish matches the nose then.
How to drink it? Well, the Palate never likes to add water, but our guest, Nails, thought a splash of water totally improved it. Like a performance clutch in your car (For Millenials A clutch is a mechanical device which engages and disengages power transmission especially from driving shaft to driven shaft. See Wikipedia here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutch)
Final Thoughts
We thought this would be an incredible buy at $18.99. However it was $36.99 at Trader Joe’s. It is certainly a decent whiskey, but not quite what we would hope at that price. I would urge you to try it out, different people have different tastes, and we like to encourage great distilleries like Woodinville. They have done some very cool things. In the future we hope that they have the size and scale to perhaps age a bit longer for their bourbons, which is what we think this needs.
Tatoosh Bourbon – The Review
Posted on March 13, 2016 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Tatoosh Bourbon – The Review
And….we’re back.
We recently were able to acquire a bottle of Tatoosh Bourbon, as pictured to the left. This bourbon is from the Tatoosh Distillery in Seattle, although all the making and bottling is done at the Bendis Distillery in Bend, Oregon (a distillery that makes a couple of lovely gins). I am unclear as to the extent that Tatoosh oversees the work, but I have always been a fan of Bendis, so it is in good hands either way.
The distillery opened in 2009, the product of the two friends Mark Simon and Troy Turner. Their families have backgrounds as moonshiners during Prohibition and also as healthy drinkers, apparently. The Tatoosh Distillery can be found here.
This bourbon is aged 3 years, relatively young for a small batch bourbon. The mashbill is listed online as 70% corn, 15% rye, 15% malted barley. Aging and bottling is done in Oregon. It is 80 proof, so not a strong bourbon.
So, the Palate and I got our drink on. What did we think?
Color: A lighter amber, very pleasant and inviting. Even lighter in the glass.
Nose: No sweetness. A surprising amount of alcohol given the proof. No bread smell, you can tell is doesn’t have wheat. Not unpleasant, but simple and mild.
Flavor and mouth: The flavor is fairly mild, with a bit of bite and spice at the end of the finish. The finish is relatively short, although in my mouth it does linger on the sides of the tongue a bit. We taste a bit of citrus and some oak. The bourbon overall is mild and drinkable but not especially notable. Not much complexity, it would make a decent mixing bourbon, especially for a Manhattan. Would you want to pay the 45 to 55 bucks for a mixing bourbon? That is up to you. TP, she was a bit more harsh. She said it reminded her of a cheese pizza. Pretty good hot, but you get the taste of cardboard and it ain’t great cold. Make of that what you will, but it is not high praise.
Overall, I will drink the Tatoosh, but I would not seek it out. I would like to try it again in the future if they have some that has been aged longer to perhaps gain complexity. This is a bourbon that might benefit from the accelerated aging techniques that Maker’s Mark 46 utilizes with the added barrel staves in the weird array that looks like nuclear reactor rods.
I am also looking forward trying the Tatoosh Rye, which I have heard good things about. I think we might find a bit more complexity there.
March is a Month To Ponder
Posted on March 1, 2014 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on March is a Month To Ponder
Now is the time to think. You have gone through the holidays, the New Year’s Resolutions, now gone, the torpor of February, and now is March. The in between month. Not really spring, unless you live in the hell that is SoCal. Not summer. Not winter. Not holidays. March is purgatory, or a place to reflect, or a starting point. The true beginning of the rest of the year. As such, Poe gives a fitting quote.
“Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain —
Quaintest thoughts — queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.”
― Edgar Allan Poe
Love is in the air.
Posted on February 1, 2014 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Love is in the air.
“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.”
― Frank Sinatra
A Vodka That Will Put the Hurt to You!
Posted on January 19, 2014 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on A Vodka That Will Put the Hurt to You!
Obamacare!
Posted on January 14, 2014 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Obamacare!
Finally, a portion of Obamacare I can support!
What is the co-pay for this?
Happy New Year!
Posted on January 1, 2014 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Happy New Year!
My cynicism knows no bounds.
“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
― Oscar Wilde
Last Minute Christmas Gifts
Posted on December 18, 2013 | By TheEnabler | Comments Off on Last Minute Christmas Gifts
Okay pally, so you have little time and lots of people to buy for? Ever since Madmen came out several years ago, old school drinking is now all the rage. Remember when you were a kid and everyone gave liquor as presents? Then the damn kids of the hippies got all persnickety and stopped all that with their political correctness. Now, the kids of kids of hippies are rebelling and so it is cool go give liquor as a gift again. So, here are 5 last minute bottles that will be appreciated by any hippie grandkid or will kind of annoy a hippie kid if that is your aim.
#1 – Angel’s Envy Rye. If you like rye or want to try it (it is very trendy now), this is the one to get. Pricey, but the best new brand of rye to come out in the last few years.
All that and a bag of spice.
#2 –
Nevermore? Not likely. Forever more.
St. George’s Absinthe – Again, a cool liqueur that has come back into its glory. Do you friends like reading Poe? (No, not from ConAir) then they will appreciate this. This was the first American absinthe released after the ban was listed after 2007 and remains the best.
#3 – Leopold’s Gin – If you love gin and tonics, you will love this gin. The best gin I have tasted for gin and tonics. Simply the best. Buy it, love it.
Boy, give me a lime!
#4 – Papa’s Pilar rum – New to Northern California this rum is inspired by Hemingway. A man who knew how to drink. I have often wished I could go on just one binge with that man. I especially like the aged dark rum. If you are a rum man, give it a try – buy one for you, one for giving as a gift.
I would punch 7 Cubans for a glass of this!
Christmas Holiday Cocktails
Posted on December 13, 2013 | By The Bon-Vivant | Comments Off on Christmas Holiday Cocktails
Baileys Eggnog, ah yisss.
Although mulled wine has become the drink of choice at festive gatherings, people have long celebrated Christmas with cocktails. Journalist Pierce Egan devised the Tom & Jerry cocktail in the US as a festive serve in the 1820s, long before the father of modern bartending, Jerry Thomas, claimed it as his. A mix of brandy or rum with spices served hot, it was based on the Egg Nog, which is even older.
However, though popular in the US, neither have become part of a Christmas tradition across the other side of the Atlantic. What precisely what makes a cocktail Christmassy is still up for debate.
There are, of course, a couple of ground rules. Christmas cocktails are not tropical – though a Punch can make an excellent Christmas party choice. The classic Christmas cocktails exclude fresh berries or hand-squeezed juices, since most fruits were unavailable come December. However, from holly berries to Santa Claus, from Christmas stockings to cranberry sauce, red is the color of Christmas. So take inspiration for a Bloody Mary brunch on Boxing Day or a Wibble on Christmas Eve, because few things say Christmas more than scarlet. Blends from a simple vodka and cranberry through to the classic Cosmopolitan cocktail make an ultra-festive choice.
Meanwhile, many classic cocktails are based on the seasonal spirits, Scotch and sloe gin, so perfect for cocktail hour. The Hot Toddy is an iconic winter warmer. The whiskey and ginger, enjoyed by Greta Garbo, and the Blood and Sand, created for a Valentino film, pair Scotch and spice in a similar vein. Alternatively, upgrade the classic Rum Punch with Captain Morgan Spiced Gold, or channel Don Draper with a Rob Roy, Manhattan or Scotch Sour.
Nothing says celebration like a champagne cocktail, and many of the great champagne cocktails segue seamlessly from Christmas to New Year. The French 75 is a classic blend of lemon, sugar, champagne and gin; the French 21 updates this recipe for the 21st century courtesy of raspberry liqueur and Cîroc vodka.
Classic alternatives to rich, creamy confections like the Tom & Jerry and the Bailey’s Egg Nog are the White Russian, a blend of vodka, coffee and cream, or indulgent, warming hot drinks, like the Baileys Latte or a Baileys Original Irish Cream Hot Chocolate, for a real Christmas treat.
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"The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly sober as so many convicts in the death-house, but the lovely and useless things, the charming and exhilarating things, are best done by men with, as the phrase is, a few sheets in the wind." ~H.L. Mencken
The Dangers of Thirst
"Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing." ~Jerome K. Jerome
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The Jug of Empire!
"How solemn and beautiful is the thought that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the newspaper, never the Sabbath-school, never the missionary -- but always whiskey!" ~Mark Twain