Hats and Drinks - A Match Made in Heaven

[StoryPNW]

I was at the liquor store the other day and bought my first bottle of scotch. 40 yrs old and just bought my first bottle of scotch, I have bought some Irish whiskeys before but not scotch. I remembered Gary recommended the Caol Ila, I really like it. I didn't find it too heavy on the smoke or peat flavor. Also picked up some Glencairn glasses, this place is a good bad influence.

 

[The Shoe]

I was at the liquor store the other day and bought my first bottle of scotch. 40 yrs old and just bought my first bottle of scotch, I have bought some Irish whiskeys before but not scotch. I remembered Gary recommended the Caol Ila, I really like it. I didn't find it too heavy on the smoke or peat flavor. Also picked up some Glencairn glasses, this place is a good bad influence.
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Glad you like the Caol Ila. Just watch out for that Hurricane Jack fella. He’ll have you emptying your wallet on the 18 year old bottles, not to mention the tequila. That Eric bloke is not much better!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

40 yrs old and just bought my first bottle of scotch, I have bought some Irish whiskeys before but not scotch.

Life is too short to just drink IPA’s.

New Years Eve started out with some Wood Hat Spirits Aged Blue Corn Whiskey during the game.

Finished up the night with some Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition Single Malt, & a Stetson Shady Oak Farm RD.

 

[The Shoe]

Life is too short to just drink IPA’s.

New Years Eve started out with some Wood Hat Spirits Aged Blue Corn Whiskey during the game.

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Finished up the night with some Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition Single Malt, & a Stetson Shady Oak Farm RD.

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I’ve never seen the Lagavulin 11 over here, but charred oak cask sounds appealing.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

There’s an annual release of the Offerman Edition (so far, this is yr 3). It’s strong & smoky with no medicinal alcohol or iodine taste like Laphroaig.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I was under the weather yesterday and a Guinness for breakfast was my "match made in heaven yesterday."

This morning I feel on the mend. Coffee early morning and a Surley Supreme when grilling some breakfast sausages.

I did not ring in the New Year but I am feeling recovered enough to open a whiskey for a dram this afternoon.

Cheers, Eric -

 

[Short Balding Guy]

My wife and her work colleagues are inside enjoying a New Years Day gathering. I prepared a sirloin tip roast with twice baked potatoes, roasted vegetables and homemade Swedish Rye bread. My wife's colleague brought some fancy - dancy butters to use with the meal. I have to admit the different butters have a huge variety of tastes and many are delicious. I sipped a Founders Porter as I was completing the meal prep.

I am enjoying time on the deck sipping some Laphroig. A few of the guests came out to share the quiet and cool temps. I offer each a smell and the option of a dram. No takers.

I am feeling much better as I think the dram has started to clear my sinuses. Go peaty and iodine! Truthfully I really did wish to sip some peaty whiskey. Later tonight I will end the day with a more mild whiskey. Which one? I will need to muse about this. A small dram is all I allow myself and I want to choose wisely.

Cheers, Eric -

 

[Rumad]

Taking Eric’s lead.

 

[Blare]

While in Kobe the other day, we came across the Open Air Brewery’s tap room, so decided to go in. We sat in the small downstairs area. I started with a glass of Night Walk Coffee Stout, Etsuko an Open Air IPA.
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Both very nice, though the coffee stout was not quite as good as the Minoh Brewing version. I would have liked it to be a little heavier.

I was in my new Black Cherry Hornskov Emissary.
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I followed that with a pint of Roots Brown Ale, Etsuko with a glass of Golden Hour Hazy IPA.
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The strength of the spices, particularly the allspice, took me by surprise in the first mouthful, but I soon got used to them, and was enjoying it a lot by the end. Both of Etsuko’s were very nice.

I was at the liquor store the other day and bought my first bottle of scotch. 40 yrs old and just bought my first bottle of scotch, I have bought some Irish whiskeys before but not scotch. I remembered Gary recommended the Caol Ila, I really like it. I didn't find it too heavy on the smoke or peat flavor. Also picked up some Glencairn glasses, this place is a good bad influence.
View attachment 575907

Life is too short to just drink IPA’s.

New Years Eve started out with some Wood Hat Spirits Aged Blue Corn Whiskey during the game.

View attachment 575956

Finished up the night with some Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition Single Malt, & a Stetson Shady Oak Farm RD.

View attachment 575954
View attachment 575955
View attachment 575953
View attachment 575952
View attachment 575950
View attachment 575951

My wife and her work colleagues are inside enjoying a New Years Day gathering. I prepared a sirloin tip roast with twice baked potatoes, roasted vegetables and homemade Swedish Rye bread. My wife's colleague brought some fancy - dancy butters to use with the meal. I have to admit the different butters have a huge variety of tastes and many are delicious. I sipped a Founders Porter as I was completing the meal prep.

I am enjoying time on the deck sipping some Laphroig. A few of the guests came out to share the quiet and cool temps. I offer each a smell and the option of a dram. No takers.

I am feeling much better as I think the dram has started to clear my sinuses. Go peaty and iodine! Truthfully I really did wish to sip some peaty whiskey. Later tonight I will end the day with a more mild whiskey. Which one? I will need to muse about this. A small dram is all I allow myself and I want to choose wisely.

Cheers, Eric -

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Taking Eric’s lead.

Y’all Are getting quite classy with your compositions. cheers!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Y’all Are getting quite classy with your compositions. cheers!

“Schoolin‘ will do that to ya.”

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Lemon sherbert and peat. That is the finish taste I discern tonight. Ardbeg Wee Beastie was my choice for a dram this evening. After tonight have only a dram left in this bottle. Wee was indeed tasty tonight.

My disclaimer is; (1) Just wrapping up a viral nasal infection and 2 eyes with pink eye. Today I am seeing, tasting and smelling almost normal. I was not trusting that I would appreciate more complex or nuanced Ardbegs tonight. (2) Today my taste can discern major tastes and not small nuances -yet (3) Wee Beatstie I do enjoy (4) cool and humid night that benefits from a whiskey that cuts (5) I have missed my small drams of whiskey once or twice a week.

I finished the dram and opened a Pilsner Urquell. This Czech Republic beer I have seen around since I was 18 years old and have never tasted. A colleague at work "gifted" me a bottle that he had left over from a NYE celebration. Tonight I opened the bottle and find the Czech beer a light beer. Clean and crisp. I am glad that I had a chance to taste and enjoy. I would not stock this beer in my beer fridge. Clean and crisp.

Cheers tonight from Minnesota, Eric. -

​

 

[The Shoe]

Wore my Resistol Roper for a brisk walk today, we got home and opened a special bottle. This is Hare no Hi Sennin, an extra long matured barrel fermented beer. 10.5% with a strong flavour reminiscent of dark brown sugar/caramel and coffee. A beer to be sipped rather than gulped.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

A beer to be sipped rather than gulped.

Sounds like a delicious seasonal beer!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Worth - Walden 15X for HH.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Good morning. Last night I selected a Founders beer from the back of my beer fridge The back of the beer fridge has beers that I have not reached for in a while. I took a Founders Big Lucious out. My recollection was that it was a beer that was not a fav because the taste was off. No details came to mind as I went outside and opened it. It has aged for over a year. Opening the beer, the aging only magnified the fake "Lucious" fruit taste. One sip was all I needed. I poured the remaining beer out. Yuk! Aging a beer that I did not like in the first place was a waste of effort.

I went and grabbed a recent beer fridge addition of a Founders Breakfast Stout. Delicious. A big Delicious. The first few sips of the heavier Stout beer fixed the sour "Lucious" taste in my mouth and the remaining beer was a real pleasure.

No more saving beers I do not like. I am making the decision to give them away quickly to folks who may enjoy them.

Cheers, Eric -

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Aging a beer that I did not like in the first place was a waste of effort.

Give them away is right. All fermentation (aging) stops once a beer or spirit leaves the barrel, cask, or firkin & is bottled or canned. Canned beers can go flat after several yrs being unopened.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Siete Leguas in front of Stetson wall.

 

[Rumad]

Took my daughter, who’s home from college at the moment, to Polpettina for lunch today. The second highest rated pizza in the area. I liked it, she didn’t. For dinner I took the wife and the kid to Popojito’s Mexican restaurant in Scarsdale. I had the Mahi burrito and a tequila/lemonade/strawberry thing that was quite good. Kid had the enchiladas with molé. Place was mobbed. Great food, as usual. Wore my VS Whiskey tonight. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Took my daughter, who’s home from college at the moment, to Polpettina for lunch today. The second highest rated pizza in the area. I liked it, she didn’t. For dinner I took the wife and the kid to Popojito’s Mexican restaurant in Scarsdale. I had the Mahi burrito and a tequila/lemonade/strawberry thing that was quite good. Kid had the enchiladas with molé. Place was mobbed. Great food, as usual. Wore my VS Whiskey tonight. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

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Great pics! The food looks delicious! The VS is just class sir. Just class.

Eric -

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I am sharing a collage of Saturday's Green Spot soirée, a couple of cold brew and a couple of Surley Supreme pics.

Saturday night, I poured a dram of the Green Spot after a 13 hour work day. It hit the spot! This single still whiskey, Middleton Distillery, is distilled in copper pots. When I watch the vids of Irish Whiskey tours it is impressive to see the big copper pots. I enjoyed the complex, creamy taste. The taste is full of melon, creamy peach that finishes green apple. I do taste the oak, but even more is the creamy, buttery and smooth blend of the tastes. Dang it is fine whiskey.

As to the cold brew I just received a Toddy Cold Brew system for a holiday gift. I have been putting coffee grounds in a used juice bottle and filtering it and then filling it back up. I was brewing cold coffee this simple way to see if I enjoyed it. I do enjoy the cold brewed coffee immensely. The Toddy system has more finesse and is better filtered. My current task is to work out my preference to the ground coffee type, ratio to water and length of brew. I had it zeroed in with the juice bottle and coffee then filter and return to the jug. My experience ratios start again. Right away I appreciate the better filtered coffee that captures more of the roasted coffee flavor profile.

Cheers, Eric. -