Hats and Drinks - A Match Made in Heaven

[The Shoe]

It’s been many years since I had a bottle of this in the house, but I had some at a recent wine festival. Sweet, but a nice drop when the mood takes you.

Busy in the garden and kitchen today (harvesting jalapeños and pickling them, harvesting basil and making pesto, etc) so the hat is my gardening hat, a Tula palm straw with the original band removed and replaced with a leather band taken from a Sunbody.

Excuse the PJs!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Green Chile Ale brewed by Main & Mill Brewing Co, Festus, MO. 4% ABV. Beautiful blonde Ale with a nice nose & taste of Serrano & Anaheim chilies. Just a touch of heat in the aftertaste. Meant to be a sipper with a Tex-Mex meal or appetizer. I enjoyed a few with tortilla chips, loaded queso dip, & jalapeño poppers. Would be better if it was up around 6-7% ABV. Corona used to offer a bottled Chile beer for the same purpose. Cool enough day to wear felt, with an Optimo Original West in Silver Cloud.

I’d buy this beer to sip on the veranda at home. It would go well with a premium stick.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Hadn’t made the trip to the Drunken Worm since they reopened so I timed it to be behind the lunch crowd & before the HH crowd. The most famous dedicated tequila bar in KC, they advertise 200 different tequilas but a large number of that are infused tequilas; not my thing.

Every August 8th (08/08) is Tequila Ocho Day. So back home it was time for some 2023 Corralillos. This agave harvest was from the lowest Rancho in altitude that Tequila Ocho has ever harvested. Different flavors & tastes from the other Ocho Plata’s I have bought. This is my 2nd bottle & I’m trying to decide if I want to put any bottles back before it sells out.

Spent this day under a Resistol SA 3X.

 

[rogueclimber]

Took my new Busted Hats fedora out for dinner tonight

Mezcal Negroni on the side

 

[The Shoe]

Costco run today. There’s a booze shop not too far from Costco that has a great selection of both whisky and beer. It was beer today. The three taller ones are from Lithuania.
View attachment 630924
Today’s can was German, and I really enjoyed it.
View attachment 630923
The one on the right is from Hungary, and it is very intriguing. Cacao and coffee notes, apparently. Just the kind of thing I like. These beers are way cheaper than Japanese beer, and they’re really good. I’m particularly pleased to find various dark beers. They are getting harder to find over here.
Today’s hat was a Bailey Toyo with a new pug added.
View attachment 630925

We had to go back to Costco to pick up some prescription sunglasses, so took the opportunity to go back to the bottle store to pick up some more of these beers.

The foil topped ones are Lithuanian, the Oettinger cans are German, and the Old Speckled Hen is British.
I’ve tried a few over the last few days.
First was the German Black Beer I posted last time. Here it is again…

Definitely one to buy again (2 cans for ¥500. That’s $US3.40!)
Next was the Lithuanian IPA…

A disappointment. I won’t be buying this one again.
Then two more Lithuanians. The New England IPA for me and the Belgian style wheat ale for Etsuko.

The Belgian style wheat ale is one we’ve had before, so obviously we like it. Quite fruity. A bit of a mango flavour in there. After the IPA, I didn’t have high hopes for the NEIPA, but was very pleasantly surprised. It was really nice. Just what I expect from an IPA. Definitely one I’ll get again. The Lithuanian ones are priced at 3 cans for ¥1000.
Next, a German dark wheat beer.

Pleasant enough, but not sure if I’ll purchase again. I prefer the full-on black beer from the other day. This was another on the 3 for ¥1000 shelf.
Finally, and this one from today, a German Bavarian Helles from the 2for ¥500 shelf.

Unremarkable and not a repeater.
The hats have all been repeats. I really need to up my straw hat game.

 

[RickP]

Hemp Stratoliner, Tall Bloody Mary and a nice Punch Double Madero Cigar! Nice relaxing afternoon in the shade

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Work shenanigans this week found me home for the weekend.

The weekend finishes under a warm sunny sky yesterday.

Cheers, Eric -

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Mother’s Brewing Co’s Three Blind Mice begins the wk. A cross between a German-style Altbier, an English brown Ale, & an Irish Red Ale. @ 5.5% ABV. Under a Churchill DalWorth “40”.

 

[rogueclimber]

Beast of Bourbon under my Moose River

Bourbon
Chocolate Bitters
Punt e Mes

 

[The Shoe]

More tastings (I’m on summer vacation, after all)…

The Pécsi Sör Prémium Brown for me…”Dark, medium-bodied lager with aromas of chocolate, coffee beans and toffee complemented by malt sweetness and moderate bitterness, brewed by decoction mashing.” I enjoyed this one a lot. A Lithuanian Australian Pale Ale (APA) for Etsuko. I also had a sip. Very nice, also.
Yesterday, I had the Old Speckled Hen, an English Pale Ale from England.

At first sip, I thought “No. Not to be bought again.” But as I continued, I realised that, while it wasn’t what I’m used to in a Pale Ale, it was actually not at all bad. Quite bitter, and without the hoppy fruitiness I’m used to with my regular Pale Ale, but I may repeat after all.
Today, we went to a shop I’ve been wanting to visit for a while.

I was driving, so didn’t get to participate in the (paid) tasting. Etsuko, on the other hand, indulged to the full!

She tried all of these bar the Claxton’s and the Lagg (she had a Lagg, but the Kilmory Edition from bourbon barrels). We bought samples of the Sherry cask Lagg (shown in the photo) and the Claxton’s to take home. I found the Claxton’s quite reminiscent of Bunnahabhain. The Lagg was also excellent - smoky and flavourful.
I wore my Panama, and Etsuko a Maxim to the shop.

In my next post, I’ll show some photos of the shop shelves. I’d love to hear from @Hurricane Jack or others if there’s anything that turns your heads and you think I should try.

 

[The Shoe]

Here’s the shelves.
The tequila…

The Japanese whisky…

More to come.

 

[The Shoe]

The Americans…

 

[The Shoe]

The Scotch

It seems I neglected to take a picture of the Irish. There were plenty of them. Overall, probably the best selection I’ve seen in Japan. Most were reasonably priced, others were cheaper on Amazon.

 

[rogueclimber]

I simply love browsing through liquor stores!

Thanks @The Shoe

 

[The Shoe]

I simply love browsing through liquor stores!

Thanks @The Shoe

Anything there you think I need to try?

 

[rogueclimber]

Anything there you think I need to try?

Ha! I'd like to try them all!

Of the whisky I'm partial to smokey Islays

Along the lines of smokey I also enjoy a good mezcal (but other than Vida I don't remember the names)

The bourbons I feel are a good deal are Michters, Buffalo Trace, Four Angels, and I did see some Blanton's but that has become quite spendy

My philosophy on whiskey is I try to buy honest makers. By that I mean they don't hide where the whiskey was distilled. Yes many brands are just mixing different barrels from Midwest Grain Products (MGP) and relabeling it, thats fine as long as they don't hide that fact. MGP makes some very good whiskey

 

[The Shoe]

Ha! I'd like to try them all!

You and me, both!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Gary, looks like a very nice store. I can’t convert & advise anything on price. Only you can determine that anyway. Some Scotches caught my eye in a couple of pics right away. Keep in mind I drink everything neat & at room temp. With Etsuko you might prefer these another way.

That Smokehead on the tasting is pretty good & not expensive. How did Etsuko like it?

For an independent bottler the Cadenhead Single Malts always score very well & would be worth exploring. They bottle a lot of Highlands & Speysides, & cask strengths; Glenlivet’s. The 18 yr old Speyside in the pic might be pricey. Availability will change as bottlings sell out.

The BlackBull is a blended Scotch @ 100 proof. It scores among the top blends on the market but I’ve only bought a couple bottles because of its price point here. Makes it a tough sale to me vs single malts.

The 3 bottles of Westland are among the new category of American Single Malts. Both the peated & the Oak score very well but have been hard to get here in the Midwest so far. Distilled in the PNW they may be easier for you to get than me.

I’ll look thru the other pics later. And I see more Scotches.

 

[The Shoe]

I drink everything neat & at room temp.

As do we. Etsuko will sometimes add ice to cask strength whiskies.

Cadenhead Single Malts always score very well

The one Etsuko tried was a reasonable price. The two you circled was about twice that.
I thought of you when I saw the Westlands. They aren’t far off a Lagavulin 16 price wise, so , as much as I’d like to try one, I think it’s unlikely that I will.

 

[The Shoe]

That Smokehead on the tasting is pretty good & not expensive. How did Etsuko like it?

She enjoyed it. I also enjoyed its aromas. The smoky Scot next to it in the picture also had some nice aromas, but it was the Smokehead that she preferred.