CS Booze Club.

[thansal]

All of your talk of Juicy Juice has me feeling kinda nostalgic. When I was growing up (not that I'm making any claims on being grown up atm) that was the drink of choice amongst my friends (well, that and Hi-C's Ecto Cooler, but that was b/c we were all geeks). Probably because they taste good and a re relatively good for you.

Now when I have juice (when not drinking alcohol I tend to stick to water) it's Red Jacket Orchards' drinks as my GF is a fan of them, and I have to say that I can't really get behind normal juice drinks any more. Also, really good apple cider makes for an amazing mixer with Canton.

[Jester]

The third Juicy Juice installment. This time: Mango!

When I picked this up, it was an afterthought. Frankly, I didn't expect much from it. And yet, of the three new flavors, it is by far my favorite. Of all Juicy Juices, this is my second favorite only to my standard Berry. Honestly? I would buy this again. And almost certainly will. I love this stuff. It is the essence of mango, and what mango juice should taste like, in my opinion. And living on an island where mangoes are native and featured in many ways on many menus, I feel like I have some vague idea what I'm talking about!

This juice would make a great cocktail mixer, even better than my favorite Berry flavor. This with rum? Oh hell yes. I may even have some ideas for new cocktail recipes brewing in my brain.....

[Jester]

Hmmm. I seem to be the only one posting in here lately. Not good, not good. Surely I can't be the only adventurous drinker on CS.com?

By the way, lest I gave the wrong impression, I don't want this to be just for discussion of new drinks you've tried, but discussion and review of any drinks you've tried and liked, beyond the normal stuff that we've all had, such as vodka cranberry, rum and coke, and Bud. I hope that makes sense.

NEW BEER TIME! I know, I've been trying to stick to a bit of a diet, but tonight, beer is not only fun, it is Absolutely Necessary for my mental and emotional well-being. Tonight's selection, from those fine folks at Oskar Blues in Colorado, we have Gordon Ale. The can is amusing, as are most of OB's cans. In one spot, it simply says, "Big. Red. Sticky." I don't know if that refers to the beer or something else. I suppose Gordon Ale could be considered a red beer. It is golden amber in color, bordering on red. And it does have a bite reminiscent of a good amber ale. It definitely is big, as in big flavor. A bit hoppy, but not over the top with that, but definitely flavorful. Sticky? Well....heck, I don't get it. More fun from the can: "If you knew Gordon Knight, this ale needs no explanation. If you didn't, we're sorry." Okay, no idea who Gordon Knight is/was, so apparently the folks at Oskar Blues owe me an apology....though I don't know why.

All in all, a tasty beer. Wouldn't be my first choice from Oskar Blues, but it's tasty enough. I would drink more, sure. Don't know that I'd be rushing to my local Beer Monger to grab a 12 pack of it, but it's a nice beer that's not the Same Olet Thing.

Strange thing is, on the website, it is referred to as Gordon Knight Imperial Red, with the same style and coloring of can as is in my hand. And yet, my can does not have the phrase "Imperial Red" anywhere on it. And yet, yes, I can see how the beer itself would be an Imperial Red.

Just more confusion for my already topsy-turvy Friday!

[KiaKat]

I've got soooooo many things to write about - but no time!

We have a rum I want to try; Kraken Black Spiced Rum. Boss says it's good, and the packaging is awesome.

[Jester]

I personally am not a fan of Kraken, but I have tried it only once, and that only the least bit of it. Personally, I think there is far better on the market, but I will try it again sometime soon. (My bar doesn't carry it, so I actually have to look for it...though I do believe I know at least one local bar that does carry it, and I have a $50 bar tab coming my way there. Free booze rocks!)

That being said, please, if you get the chance, try my favorite spiced rum: Kilo Kai.

[Jester]

Yeah, it's been a fucked up day. Time for another beer!

This one is Shiner Double Wheat 102. It's from the Shiner Brewery in Texas, whose most famous product is Shiner Bock, which I think is an okay beer, but nothing exceptional.

As many know, I am a fan of wheat beers, so I hope this one lives up to my expectations. Very dark bottle, but very light colored beer, only a shade or two darker (if that) than the typical BudMillerCoors. The smell is somewhat wheaty, giving me some hope. (I don't know how to explain what I mean by "wheaty," but anyone familiar with wheat beers should know what I mean. Wheat beers have a particular aroma.)

FIRST SIP: Nice. Very nice. The color left me skeptical. The nose gave me hope. The taste delivered. This is a solid wheat beer. Hold on, let me taste it again to make sure.....Yep. Tasty. While it is not going to dethrone the best of this genre, this is better than a lot of wheat beer offerings out there, and you could do far worse for your money. Would I drink this again? Absolutely. Would I pay for it? Certainly. Would I seek it out? Well.....I wouldn't go that far. But it is nice, it is tasty, and I would never feel ripped off if I bought a six-pack of it.

Not a rock star, but certainly a very talented session player or contract musician.

[Jester]

Hey! Another beer! Fuck the diet, I've had a craptastic day. Also, I haven't eaten since 3ish, which means the beers are hitting me hard and fast. WOO HOO!

This selection, again from Shiner Brewery. This time, it's there Dortmunder Spring Ale. Dortmunder and I have a history, actually. I bought a single of it previously from the same Beer Monger I got it from this time. And after sampling many others, I poured the Dortmunder, settled in for some tv...and promptly passed out. Leaving the Dortmunder to warm and flatten as I dozed, until morning when it was nothing more than a sink sacrifice to the Beer Gods. So here I have a second chance, though only barely, as the Beer Monger in question was almost completely out of Dortmunder when I went in the second time.

Dark amber in color, the Dortmunder looks promising. Not much to the nose....perhaps a deep beer honesty, but nothing to hint at what will come, good or bad.

FIRST SIP: Meh. Nice. Nothing spectacular, nothing horrible. Nice spring ale. Bit of body to it, some flavor, but nothing to set off the fireworks. Tasty enough, drinkable enough, but in the end, this is simply a beer I would drink if someone handed it to me, and enjoy it, but never seek it out or pay for it if there's anything better available...which there usually is. Best thing I can say about it is that it's better than a BudMillerCoors. It's decent. Just not anything special.

[Jester]

Hey, another new beer for Jester. Woo hoo! (What? I told you, I have a fridge full of craft beers, damn it.)

Old Thumper, by Ringwood Brewery (a pseudonym for the real brewer, Shipyard Breweries out of Maine). Labeled as "A Beat of a Beer" on the bottle, this beer is dark amber in color and almost completely opaque. On the nose, it is rather pleasant, smelling of all that is good with beer. Malty, sweet, pleasant...if they made air fresheners that smelled of this, I would buy them by the dozen.

FIRST SIP: A sweet, tasty beer. One I could drink often. I believe I've had this before, but am not certain. I'll have to taste again. SECOND SIP GULP: Very tasty. May have had it before, as I've had variety packs from Shipyard, but can't say for certain. Nice, a little malty, sweet, not very hoppy. Just this side of Killian's Red or J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown. Yummy. I would drink it. I would buy it. I might not seek it out, but if I saw it on a beer menu, it would win out over many, many beers. Tasty stuff, this. Unless you're a total hophead, go get some. Seriously.

EDITED TO ADD: I was wrong. Ringwood is not a pseudonym, but the original brewer of Old Thumper in England. I don't know how or why, but the second version of Old Thumper is being sold by Shipyard with the Ringwood Brewery affiliation clearly noted on the label. Interesting. Very, very interesting.

And as noted in some reviews, the word I was searching for to describe Old Thumper was "buttery." Oh, and it is. In all the best ways.

[JoitheArtist]

After getting mildly addicted to Trader Joe's brandy beans over the holidays (omg, those things are seriously fantastic), I decided to try some actual brandy. I got a bottle of a brand called "E&J" because it was what I could afford. Overall, I liked it, but it's now running low and I want to try a different brand, though hopefully something still within my budget.

Any recommendations?

[Jester]

Funny that you should mention brandy. I thought I had posted this story in here, but apparently I did not.

The other day at work, I saw my manager with a package that had arrived, as often happens. No big deal there. Joking around, I asked, "What ya got there?" Quite seriously, she said, "I have no idea. It's for you." I thought she was joking. But when she handed me the box, I saw quite clearly that it was labeled to [Jester] at [The Bar]. What the fuck? I looked at the return address. Some dude from Wisconsin. Again, what the fuck?

So I opened it. Inside was something wrapped in much protective wrappings, and a note. "THIS is the way blackberry brandy SHOULD be." Huh?

OOOOOoooohhhhhh! Now I get it.

A week or so ago, I had some dude in asking what kind of blackberry brandy we had. I told him, quite honestly, that all we had was DeKuyper. He clearly was not pleased, and went off on an amusing tangent about this and that blackberry brandy, yada yada yada. In Wisconsin, where he was from, they had all kinds of great brandy. True, I said to him, but here in Key West, we don't get too much call for blackberry brandy*, so DeKuyper worked for us. He started asking me if I had ever had this one Polish blackberry brandy, and my completely blank look told him that, no, I had not. Ever.

Amusing guy. I thought no more of it. Until Thursday when I opened the package. Inside the protective wrappings was a pint of Leroux blackberry brandy, which is currently sitting on my desk. It is apparently made in Cincinnati, but seems to be of Polish influence, not just because of what the guy said, but because it has some Polish word on the bottle: "jeznowka." With a dot kinda thing over the z and an accent over the o. Ah, after a little googling, I see that this is actually the brand name: Leroux Jeznowka Blackberry Brandy.

I have not yet opened it, but I will be sure to report back on it once I did. Just thought y'all might enjoy the story. (And no, I am NOT sampling it at 10 am. Even if it IS my day off.)

*There are only three things I can recall every using blackberry brandy for. The most common is for when we make rumrunners on the rocks (as opposed to frozen rumrunners, which just use rum and a pre-mix). I have also served at least one person blackberry brandy on the rocks. And more recently, a trio of guys has been coming in from time to time and, with their other drinks, getting shots of blackberry brandy, and forcing me to do one with them. It isn't bad, but it isn't great, either.

[Dave1982]

One of my first cousins (the only one older than me) has for several years been teaching English in St. Petersburg, Russia. On her most recent trip over there to visit him, my aunt brought back this:



"This" is genuine Russian vodka. The name (which I can't even type let alone pronounce) is "Russian Standard Vodka" (so says the translation of the label, which is that slip of paper sticking off the back of the bottle). Distilled from wheat.

How this stuff stacks up I have NO idea, as I know from my cousin that there are only about a billion different vodkas available in Russia. I'd imagine that it's probably pretty good, as that IS the spirit of choice over there (though for all I know it's their equivalent of Popov).

Unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to try it. I did ask, but it seems she brought this back for my uncle who had specifically asked for it, and he wasn't in a mood to even open it yet, let alone share.

Still, I wanted to post the picture since it's at least mildly interesting.

[AdminAssistant]

My understand from friends who have gone to Russia is that Russian Standard is their equivalent of water. I don't understand how half the country doesn't have liver disease...or maybe it does?

At any rate, Jester's posts about Juicy Juice prompted me to buy a bottle of the Berry flavor today. Who knows, maybe it'll replace my current favorite, Punch!

[Victory Sabre]

Gather around all for a story about an awesome beer.

I pretty much just go to 2 bars in town (being a college town there's a lot of bars). The VFW and Old Chicago. For those of you who don't know about OC they have a "World Beer Tour". If you drink 110 beers there you get your name up on their "Wall of Foam". I'm almost done with my second 110 beers (8 to go).

Tonight I started out with my standard Grain Belt Nordeast. It's my favorite beer after Yuengling. Since I can't get Yungling, unless I go out east, it's probably my favorite beer. It's a dark beer, but don't let that fool you. It's got a very light, almost airy flavor. All I can say it's really good.

My second beer was a total mistake: Keystone Light. YUCK!!!!!!!!!
Why did I choose it? Disgusting. The Nordeast went down like silk. The Keystone went down like sandpaper. It's flavor was akin to swimming in a skummy lake during Augjust and swallowing a bunch of the water. It was that bad. I drank it to not commit "alcohol abuse". It was not easy, though.

Well, I needed another beer to wash out the bad taste. I decide to go with Schell's Stag Series #3. OMFG IT WAS AMAZING! It's made by the same brewery that makes my beloved Grain Belt Nodreast: August Schell Brewery in New Ulm, MN. The flavor reminds me of when I'm grilling. I love to infuse smoke flavor into my grilled meats, and it reminds me of that. It's got a smoky flavor from the malts being smoked with beechwood and cherrywood. You taste the beechwood and cherrywood then the smoke flavor hits you. It's strong, but not overpowering. It just works well together. It's got an alcohol content of 6.5% so don't have too many, if you've got to drive.

If you can find it, (and unless you're in Minnesota [or the upper midwest], you're probably not going to get it), drink it. You won't regret it.


Tomorrow, I'll finish the "Cinco De Mayo" mini tour with 4 Mexican bottle beers. With that I'll be down to 4 beers left on the WBT.

One of my first cousins (the only one older than me) has for several years been teaching English in St. Petersburg, Russia. On her most recent trip over there to visit him, my aunt brought back this:



"This" is genuine Russian vodka. The name (which I can't even type let alone pronounce) is "Russian Standard Vodka" (so says the translation of the label, which is that slip of paper sticking off the back of the bottle). Distilled from wheat.

I took Russian in High school 20 years ago (damn I'm feeling old). The translation is accurate, and it's pronounced {and I'll try to do it right} Ryussia (Russia) Standart (standard) Vodka.

Vodka gives me the worst hangovers, so I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. I had a very bad experience with vodka when a very busty Icelandic chick fed me some Icelandic Menthol Vodka. It tasted good, but I paid the price the next day. OUCH MASSIVE HANGOVER!

[AdminAssistant]

Our Old Chicago closed a few months ago due to the scumbags who owned the building. It was honestly the best chain restaurant in town, and one of the best overall. Certainly the best place to take a big group of people. Now I miss it all over again!!

[KiaKat]

Hokay. So. We have this wine, see? It's from 1993, it's a white, and it's a Rioja from Lopez de Heredia, one of the most famous old Rioja wineries.

Only costs $46/bottle. That's actually pretty damned good, given that it's an 18 year old wine.

Sherry nose. Ever smell a Palamino Fino Sherry? That.

Mushroom finish.

Little bit of fruit, little tiny bit of very-well-integrated oak. Lots of stony minerally notes with a hint of white truffle oil. (yes, there's a difference between truffle and truffle oil. Don't ask me what, I know it when I taste it.) Some salinity - the sort that's in the air after a rainstorm at the ocean.

Delicate, complex, and utterly fantastic. I'm trying to figure out how to afford it for Easter. I don't think I can afford three bottles of it right now, though.

***

A couple nights ago, my co-manager and I went for a bit of bonding after work. We walked across the street to a restaurant/bar, had a couple glasses of wine, and a bit of food (bacon-wrapped dates, YUM). I ordered a 2002 Anjou Blanc. Cannot, for the life of me, remember the winery, and it's driving me NUTS.

Apparently I really like old whites, and I *really* like old whites with just enough oxidation to give that sherry nose. *drool* Chenin Blanc ages well, and this one was at its peak, just about to collapse in on itself. I'll have to go back and grab a bottle of it before they run out.

I have a couple bottles of red sitting around, waiting for me, so I'll report back on those as soon as I can sit down for a good tasting.