Whiskey in the Jar and Hot Toddys

Well, tonight I have a bit of a sore throat and thought I would put the last corner of Wild Turkey to good work.

I remember as a child my Dad always having a Hot Toddy when we would come home from Ice Fishing.  We would get our own too….sans whiskey, only Honey and Hot Water (my parents were bee keepers).  It was definitely a happy memory.

The history of the a Hot Toddy can be found HERE, but y recipe for a Hot Toddy is :

• Cover the bottom of the glass with honey.
• Three fingers of HOT water
• Two fingers of Wild Turkey

I know some people like Lemon in theirs….but, we didnt have it and I am to lazy to go get some…..and it does fine without.  So, I say add what you like and enjoy.

So, while ENJOYING my drinks….I started goofing on YouTube and realized how many versions of Whiskey in the Jar there are.

I particularly like the song, especially since my mate Gary introduced me to the Dubliners so many years ago and a great wiki on the song can be found HERE

I knew of their version and the duet with THE Pogues, plus the version that Metallica put out….yet the Thin Lizzy version is totally new (Metallica was a cover of theirs).

So I thought I would start a new poll….which was better.

I put 4 of them here for your perusal:

The Dubliners

The Dubliners and Pogues

Thin Lizzy

Metallica

 

 

Voting is enabled at the right and pitch your case in the comments below.

Enjoy

Wild Turkey and Coke

Watching Notre Dame collapse against Stanford has been a long night.  ND held them early, but their Defense has sucked ass.

But I digress.

Tonight I have been drinking Wild Turkey and Coke.

If ever there is a perfect match in the world, it is this.

I reflect back to my days in Weisbaden with TonySama and Trojan.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, Tony and I used to go to the bar and drink WT&C .

I remember laughing with Tony, as we called our bartender Lloyd because he reminded us so much of the guy from the Shining.

Every evening, he would say…Good Evening Sirs, what can I get you.

Eventually he knew it would always be the ….Turkey and Coke.

So tonight I revisited,  I missed the almost sickly sweetness of the drink.  Wild Turkey, with its high alcohol content, is often deferred to mixing,…..I think with Coke (in our case Diet Coke) .

As a highball drink, Nothing compares  to this one.

Big Punch, lotsa booze and even in a bar environment, a good mixer for a quick drunk.

So, ND looses (we wont even reflect on watching ND beat FLSt in you apartment guys)….hopefully we can get a good coach and create a new tradition with a new drink.

In the meantime, I still loves me some WT&C and there is even a Society on FB to promote it. 

Give it a try…great drink and a great drunk.

How does Scotch get the peaty taste

If you have drank scotch with me, you know I like the peat bombs.  Of them, Laphroaig is one of my favorites.  Neat, with just a splash of water (just like in the vid), never goes wrong.

Well, Modern Marvels ran an episode on distilleries….and they filmed at the Laphroaig.

Enjoy, Learn Something and pour a dram or two :)

Another friend blogging

Randy is now blogging about drinking too.

Check out his blog at My Side of the Bar

His first post is one of my favorite drinks, the Martini. Mmmmmmmm.

Wait, doesn't Debi owe me a bunch of those?

NUB Cameroon

Ok, day after Thanksgiving and it was beautiful outside as we went out in our annual trek for a Christmas Tree. 

After all my beer and liquor posts lately, and since we were going to be outside, I decided to do a cigar this afternoon.

A quick perusal of MY humidor lead me to go with the NUB, and of those….NUB Cameroon Torpedo (4x64 Torpedo with a 62 min avg burn time).

The wrapper is very smooth, thin, with a nice in color and no veins.  I learned from their website that the wrapper is actually grown in Cameroon (duh, I wondered where they got the name) and the binder/filler from Nicaragua.

I was pleasantly surprised by the overall burn of the cigar, it burned clean and even throughout…even though I didnt have time to properly toast the cigar at the beginning.  The long burn I think is attributed to the compression and density of the filler.  As most of my friends know, I prefer quicker cigars (due to me smoking at work and needing to get back to the phone at a moments notice)…yet the Cameroons are great for me when I have some extra time to enjoy.

The cigar itself starts off really good and was flavorful with lots of “dark” flavors. I got a roasted smoky wood with some coffee beans.  I would almost call it a “Guinness Cigar”.

As I reached toward the middle of the stick , there’s still rich dark flavors, very heavy on the palate, but not harsh at all. It’s just a heavy dose of smoke that would have paired well with the Sailor Jerry’s I am drinking tonight.  Maybe if I break out the telescope (It’s still beautiful tonight), I might pour me 3-4 fingers and break out another.

I would rate this cigar a solid B, possibly moving it up with the proper pairing.  A good stick that will not disappoint and one that I would happily break when friends come over.

Until next time….Smoke’m if ya Gott’em

The He’Brews

As you might recall, earlier I reviewed He’Brew Messiah Bold here on the Blog. As a brown ale, I thought it was very good and said I would buy it again.

Well, in her shopping for our Thanksgiving Day meal, Debi picked up a 6-pack of this AND found that HyVee now is also carrying He’Brew Genesis Ale.

When I was unloading the car, I knew this was going to be a good day.

I held off cracking open any of the He’Brews until Alby got over, as I wanted him to experience the new one with me (hint hint on a review Albs and K).

Anyway, I thought it would be hard to pull me away from the Messiah Bold, but Genesis did the trick.

A golden honey color opening with a malty/Caramel aroma. The taste of roasted caramel sits well on the tongue and there is a hint of nuttyness and hops as a finish. I particularly liked the creamy sensation this beer creates when resting on the tongue. It was great.

Alby and K sampled both the Genesis and Messiah, and I know their druthers….but they can add that in the comments section.

So far, Schmaltz Brewing has hit it out the park two times in a row for me. I know I am planning on exposing more drinkers to it on New Years, plus I have a Company Christmas Party coming up too. Hopefully we can create enough of a demand here in CoMO to get some the others in the product line.

Chutzpah Never Tasted So Good.

Finally, what is Genesis ;)

Worlds Strongest Beer

Man, will people get off their high horses?  This morning I read the following article.

First, the cool part…an upstart brewery in Scotland (Blue Dog) set the worlds record of Strongest Beer by brewing one they call “Tactical Nuclear Penguin Beer” (horrible name) at a whopping 32%.

Congrats to them.

Now the stupid part…..

Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: "It is child-like attention-seeking by a company that should be more responsible.

"The fact that they have achieved a new world record is not admirable.

"It is a product with a lot of alcohol in it - that's all. To dress it up as anything else is cynical.

"It's as strong as whisky, so you have to ask whether this is actually a beer or a spirit - it's clearly a spirit."

Hey EINSTEIN, they only made 500 Bottles.  It’s a marketing ploy to get attention to their company.  I doubt little kids are going to run out and buy it.  Pull your panties out of your arse and go have a pint.

Also….”As strong as whisky”?  Ummmm…..I don't know what you are buying bub…but the last I checked, the majority of whiskey is bottled at 40 to 46%, so it’s not “As Strong”. 

It’s teetotalers like you, Jack, that are a dreg on society….not the brewers (nobody is FORCED to drink their beer), Distillers or the drinkers. 

You skew statistics to meet your needs and try and influence the free will of people though your “Educational” meetings and disinformation.

I could think of thousands of better uses for the £1,636,558 of income your organization raised last year vs the fear mongering and leeching that is currently  going on.

Ok, I will now climb off my soapbox and have a beer.  You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled program.