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Heaven: 2021 Et in spiritum: the not-WINE drinks thread
Rather than clutter up In Vino etc, a separate shelf for distillates of all kinds, liqueurs, aperitifs and all the other fun things that come in bottles.
First up, Lambay Whiskey: not actually distilled on the little speck of land off the coast of Dublin, but using water from the spring and, the really interesting bit, finished in Cognac casks.
Which gives it an affinity with my current favourite brandy - Île de Ré (off La Rochelle).
We have also, chez Firenze, been somewhat drinking our way round the Hebrides via gins from Raasay and Harris.
Anyone else find themselves with a themed drinks cupboard?
First up, Lambay Whiskey: not actually distilled on the little speck of land off the coast of Dublin, but using water from the spring and, the really interesting bit, finished in Cognac casks.
Which gives it an affinity with my current favourite brandy - Île de Ré (off La Rochelle).
We have also, chez Firenze, been somewhat drinking our way round the Hebrides via gins from Raasay and Harris.
Anyone else find themselves with a themed drinks cupboard?
Comments
I like a smokey drink sometimes, and a casked or non-peaty non-smokey others. It's a mood and what the day's experience has been thing. I'm continually experimenting with adding a wee bit of water, which argument has it loosens and releases flavour. I don't know though, if I have more than a small glass I think taste buds get overloaded and I cannot really tell. People get fussy about the water, I am more fussy about water for tea myself. But no ice cubes please.
But the place to drink port is in Portugal to see what the fuss is about.
"Bourbon Whiskey" (with the e spelling) was recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1964 as being a "distinctive product of the United States" and requiring that only bourbon made in the United States could be called bourbon. In case you are interested, the requirements are as follows:
Blanton's is wonderful, but that is getting hard to find as well.
Since the passing of Old Fitz, my everyday "table" bourbon is Ancient Age (80 proof): Affordable, and it can be drunk neat or used in mixed drinks. If you want to put ice in it, go ahead. It is not so good that you are going to hurt it. But it is still good enough that you don't mind drinking it by itself.
Someone gave me a bottle of Blade and Bow small batch when I retired. I’m looking forward to opening that.
Yes, I have an abiding memory of taking communion at an Anglican church for the first time, having grown up Baptist. After the service I turned to my acquaintance and said, 'What was that stuff?'
'Oh, some kind of fortified wine,' she responded off-handedly, obviously totally used to it.
I'm not big on the strong stuff, but we tend to have dry sherry in the house. And my husband has got into limoncello. Too sweet for me!
https://malt-review.com/2021/02/04/trader-joes-scotch-whiskies/
A small distillery finally opened in town a few years ago, and we've been shelling out for their rather pricey but exceedingly good vodka and gin during the pandemic, reasoning that there's been little else to spend money on and we're supporting a local business. They're working on whiskey, but it's too soon for them to sell any.
When in the UK, we had access to a number of sloe bushes, so we used to pick oodles of sloes and created sloe gin. The longer you can keep the sloes steeping in the gin, the better.
My usual spirit is gin; my favourite gin is Japanese Suntory Roku but I have lots of gins. Some of the commercial flavoured ones are far too sweet but my husband bought me a lovely pink gin Mirabeau flavoured with wine and flowers, and there’s a nice Kew botanical gin. I’ve been meaning to try some Scottish ones and the opening post may have convinced me to order some.
I also make homemade flavoured gin, either with sloes or by adding frozen soft fruit.
If I drink whisky it is usually something peaty like Laphroig or another Islay malt. Husband has a whisky collection which includes several Japanese, Swedish and Welsh whiskies.
Reminds me, I have raspberries steeping in gin for what must be at least two years. Keep meaning to strain off the liquor and dilute with plain gin. Keep drinking the bottle bought for this purpose (because cocktails).
I think we will toast the resurrection with it on Sunday.
*I still consider it deeply unfair that when he ordered a bottle from the year of my birth, I was up the duff and didn't even get to drink it.
Another thing I pine for is Himbeergeist. Of all the fruit-based eaux de vie it's my favourite.
I probably had most of it, as the others had to drive home. David reckoned the fact that none of them got stopped by the police* was proof that God is an Anglican.
* it was in the days when there could be random checks any time.
I have been advised of the following exchange at the altar following some over-consecration of wine:
Celebrant to retired priest assisting: Can you drink the wine? I've got to drive home.
Retired Priest Assisting: How do you think I got here? Pogo stick?
The Dean whispered to me, "you'll have to reverently consume - I've got a meeting with the Bishop after this". I didn't like to point out that I had to manoeuvre a large processional cross down one aisle and up the other in a straight line ...
David (bless him) was watching the whole proceedings from the organ console, and trying not to crease himself with laughter.
I like port and sort of regret not trying more of them when we were actually in Lisbon for a week a few years ago (though we did wander into the basement of the Port Institute for a nice glass of tawny one evening).
I’m also fond of Scotch though making some concession to my wallet (and my liver) I rarely buy it (usually as gifts for Scotch-drinking friends these days).
Ah, I'd forgotten about the stuff the Poles make, and you reminded me. Generally it's about 90% by volume if they make it themselves - and in Poland you can cheat and buy 90% (vol) 'rectified spirit' in the shops. The DIY bit better stay as 'happening in Poland' for HMRC purposes, though they assure me if you do it right you're not likely to pull off anything toxic. Splashing out for refined sugar (more expensive than, for example, potatoes) on which to base the inital brew is a good idea so as to be certain what you start with in the mix, and 'turbo yeast' makes a stronger brew to, err, start with.
Then they let it down to about 50% with water, fruit juice etc etc. I like it, generally, but I don't know enough about drinking to give you any points of reference - similar other drinks - for comparison. They do like to finish the bottle at one sitting, which is a little alarming until you get used to it.
Incidentally, I spoke to someone working at Jamesons years ago, who told me all their spirit comes off the still at 93%. That means all the flaviour is in the 7%, and the barrels they use to age it in. It's surprising you can taste such a difference, and disappointing to my Luddite side - I'd like to enjoy Co-op rough stuff as much as something pricey, and it offends my sense of inverted snobbery, that I don't.
Or if you don't make your own, do you have a favourite when you're out partying (remember that?)
Saturday is Cocktail Hour chez Firenze. I have just put the glasses to chill. The recipe books are a bit vintage - the most recent was published in the 80s.
By far the most popular cocktail for me is the rather modern espresso martini.
Perhaps I should suggest a cocktail hour to Mr HA.
The mark of a good cocktail is that it doesn't taste of any of its ingredients but delivers a taste that transcends them. The exception here is probably the dry Martini again, which is all about the gin.
On the night we invented it, four of us cleared the pub's entire stock of gin.
Baswn i caru'n ei drio, ond does dim gen i digon o arian / I'd love to try it but I don't have that sort of money.
Re slivovitz: IIRC there is a whole range of spirits whose names are formed as [name of fruit]+ovice, all of which are worth drinking, although probably with a small glass ...
Baswn i caru'n ei drio, ond does dim gen i digon o arian / I'd love to try it but I don't have that sort of money.[/quote] It was my Christmas present to her!
Ah, Becherovka. A friend and I travelled in (then) Czechoslovakia. Great people. Great food. Pretty good wine. A Czech friend warned us that one or two Becher after dinner was a good idea, but more that that, not so much. My Canadian friend had rather more than he could tolerate. The following day I had to reregister us with the Communist police (a day late!) because of our change of address. I had to do it alone because of the friend's Becher-flu. I explained it, in a fruit salad of languages, to the officer's amusement. We got our extension.
Aquavit reminds me of my Danish great-grandfather, who would always have it on hand to serve to my parents when we visited my great-grandparents. He lived to be almost 100, and so I was old enough to bring him a bottle of something when I was visiting him myself in his later years, but by then his tastes had mellowed to Sandeman Ruby port.
Making tinctures is simple. Basically you put a quantity of the herb or spice you want in a jar, and then cover it with 150-proof alcohol (roughly speaking, about a third to a half over the level of the herb/spice) and then set it aside to soak for a couple weeks or so. Then strain.
I followed the book for a recipe of "Winter" bitters, which required tinctures of cinnamon, birch bark, clove, bitter orange peel, allspice and rosemary. After I made the batch of Winter Bitters, I had a quantity of tinctures left over. I experimented with making a few simple combinations (e.g., bitter orange with some birch to soften the bitterness; and a cinnamon-clove blend) but I am afraid more complex mixtures are beyond my skill level. For example, I have no idea what to do with the remaining rosemary tincture as it is quite disgusting by itself added to a whiskey. It might have some use in Very Small Quantities in a Bloody Mary, but as I don't often drink those, it is not much use to me.
A favourite aperitif is a vermouth (usually dry) over ice with a squeeze of citrus and a dash of bitters.
I think it's one of those things you buy at the airport on the way home to give to your least-favourite relative the next Christmas.
In the bourbon realm, Old Forester is interesting to see how small differences can change a whiskey. Every Old Forester bourbon uses the exact same mash bill (the blend of grains used). The different varieties come from what happens next:
(1) Basic Old Forester: 86 proof (43% abv)
(2) 1920 Prohibition Style: 115 proof (57.5% abv)
(3) 1910 Style: 93 proof (46.5 abv)--made by taking the bourbon and putting it into a second cask, adding extra sweetness.
(4) 1897 Style: Bottled-In-Bond, 100 proof (50% abv)
(5) 1870 Style: A bit complicated: the batch is made of three barrels, each barrel from a different warehouse, different proof and different age.
(6) President's Choice: literally, the company president's choice of a barrel, usually about 8 years old and 110 to 120 proof (55 to 60 abv)
(7) Statesman: 95 proof (47.5 abv), taken from barrels in the warmest place in the warehouse
(8) Birthday: Again, variable, but usually 10 years old and circa 98 proof (49 abv)
So the same mash bill, but a lot of different tastes depending on strength, age, and other factors.
The references to warehouses reminds me of a legend (connected to my long-lost favorite, Old Fitzgerald) where a reporter saw an empty warehouse and assumed that its barrels had recently shipped. Then he looked again and noticed a bunch of cobwebs: the warehouse had long been disused. The Master Distiller explained calmly: "That warehouse made bad bourbon." Things like temperature, light, etc. can affect the final product. Some warehouses make bad bourbon!
I had a church (in Co. Cork) that regularly used an Amontillado bought from Lidl by the wardens. During a clergy fraternal we had a communion-wine tasting session (for serious research purposes!) to find out which was best across all those used by other ministers in their parishes. It was the Lidl product that came out on top. Scoring way above even the church supplier altar wines.
Was bourbon not once prescribed for toothach by Humphrey Bogart? Was it in To Have and to Hold? He recommended that the afflicted hold a shot of bourbon against the tooth, swallow, and then repeat as often as necessary.