The Cheese Board, what are you drinking?

Mango Habanero Rita with dinner

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/vnvegdqyro39t51/20180303_190021.jpg?dl=0

tapwater from a volvic bottle

(i am back off coffee for a bit)

Strongbow, ginger beer snowballs, jaegerbombs, rum and coke, rum and rum, brandy, rum, vodka and red bull, some other stuff

what vintage red bull

Oh, another thing I just got into is sotol

I didn't even know that it existed until spending a couple of weeks in Northern Mexico last year, and hitting a couple of sotolerias in Chihuahua itself for tasting flights.

I think you're right in characterising it as somewhere between tequila and mezcal, and closer to tequila. And, much like mezcal, not a good mixer because the terroir affects it far more than it does for tequila - challop: tequila has by far the least variation in taste of the three agave spirits (at least once you get beyond the Sauzas etc) and the element of 'good' comes from the quality and style of aging; with sotol and especially mezcal the difference between, say, vegetal and mineral types makes them virtually different drinks. (Source: a reckless night in a hipster mezcaleria in San Cristobal de Las Cases.)

been drinking a lot of tea and yaupon recently having cut out 90% of my coffee consumption.

sibilla is my fav. amaro right now.

How has cutting out coffee worked out for you? I usually need about 2 1/2 a day, and definitely in the morning. I feel like my intake is increasing.

Re: sotol, there are actually a bunch of mysterious agave drinks:

http://mezcalphd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Mezcal-Hierarchy-Picture-v6.png

Bacanora? Raicilla? I don't know these. More here: http://mezcalphd.com/2013/10/mezcal-tequila-sotol-bacanora-raicilla-pulque-and-more/

Interesting stuff. Not been to those states so they have eluded me. Unfortunately I didn't read this before some friends were in Jalisco or else I would have got them to bring back some raicilla.

My favorite mezcal is Del Maguey but I am a sucker for interesting bottles. The only mixed agave based drinks I like are ones that are smokey, spicy or have egg whites in them.

I gave up coffee, caffeine and alcohol for a year once. My skin looked amazing and I was sleeping so well at night.

re giving up coffee: i only gave up yesterday! today i am mildly headachey and will be for a few days i imagine

when i've done it before i sleep really well and feel much less sluggish (on the downside i don't get to drink lovely coffee which i love)

same old. one cup of coffee with breakfast. lots of water all day. one glass of wine with supper. some more water after supper. occasional cup of tea.

Two cups of coffee with/for breakfast, lots of water throughout the day (had a kidney stone years ago), beer/glass of wine or two between 5 and 8, sometimes a small glass of bourbon later, or more often Sleepytime herbal tea. Have started running regularly relatively recently, and that seems to have had more of an effect on sleep habits and general wakefulness than anything else ever has.

I had a little glass of this at lunch. It was delicious.

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/center-of-the-universe-shut-up-barrel-aged-doppelbock/576697/

Sounds about as appetizing as a Stella.

Had a Sorachi Ace last night, which was nice enough but not really the sour pairing I was looking for. After another in what seems to be at least a personal trend towards coffee-flavored cocktails, which are a little weird, but feel called for when you've skipped your espresso.

I hate peppers in beer, and I hate beer in cocktails. I do, however, like peppers in cocktails.

Waikiki Brewing makes a jalapeno beer. It's always fine for me for two sips and then I am done. I lean towards darker or cream ales, porter/stouts, cask conditioned beers. I would try that doppelbock.

xpost I am a bit obsessed with sleepytime teas. I really like the one Clipper makes that has the citrus notes.

i cut back on coffee because it was fucking with my stomach/digestion. i don’t really notice a difference beyond feeling better in that department. caffeine has never had much of an impact on me.

From the Wine I Don't Pay For Dept., a 2001 Cote Rotie

I’m in Kanazawa drinking local sake made from the lauded rice here in Ishikawa prefecture.

I've had a chai latte AND a matcha latte today

overlooking Hammersmith roundabout

What was the Cote Rotie (if you remember)?

Don't know

Chilean old vine carignan (chilled) tonight.

we are drinking negronis, good local gin plus campari plus carpano antica = mmmmmm

Chilean old vine carignan (chilled) tonight.

― Yerac, Saturday, 17 March 2018 6:03 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Snap except it was blended with Cabernet Franc and it was two nights ago.

Last night was びびび Honjozo Sake. To which I have to say I am somewhat ambivalent and I wish I hadn’t bought a whole sho based on the label. I have a sake tasting class on Sunday which I’m pretty excited about.

I did a session with a sake samurai (master) once trying to get prepared for a test. I am actually not too into sake as a preference for drinking; I like the unfiltered nigori well enough. I probably had way too much terrible, old sake earlier in life.

Take a pic of what you taste on Sunday if you remember.

We drink a lot of sake at home. Partly because my wife is allergic to sulphites so we don’t often drink wine.

Last weekend we had a truly fantastic Dewazakura Junmai Ginjo from Yamagata. We spent some time in Yamagata in January and it’s the first time I got a sense of regionalist in sake. There’s a signature note in a lot of Yamagata sake, a somewhat citrusy mildly acidic note that is very pleasant.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2r3cuxk.jpg

If I lived in Japan, I would be drinking sake all the time. I do believe a lot that the wine of an area (like food) has it's best showing when consumed in the area. That looks good. I usually like very high acid wines.

Lots of wines (including sakes) don’t make it out of the region, because the locals drink it all. I brought home a bottle of sake from Kanazawa and looking online I could get it here but yeesh I’d have to pay

Yep, when I travel I try to only drink the local, village wines. And if I bring anything back I look it up first to make sure it isn't exported and I can't just get it near the same price range.

You’re quite right it’s somewhat bizarre to be drinking a bunch of Sake that come a long way vs wine from world class winemakers from vineyards I can cycle to (Try some Mac Forbes Pinot Noir if you ever get the chance).

The sake scene in Australia here is reallyboomerang my with a number of new importers springing up dealin with smaller kura and bringing some really interesting stuff, but definitely at a price. Not a lot of focus on tohoku though, tends to be more southern kura. I’ve idly toyed with the idea of setting up a side-hustle importing sake with a couple of mates in the liquor industry, focussing on Tohoku and particularly Yamagata; mainly as an excuse to ramble around Tohoku meeting various Toji-san.

i've got this pfriem belgian style blonde. it's pretty good.

Pfriem rules, they've been doing great work

currently: Stillwater "Strobe Lights" hazy DDH IPA

earlier today:

Omnipollo Beglo "post-skate" IPA

RAR Pencil Fight

Ocelot Jezmund

it's been a good day

On the train home from my sake class. Will have to sort through my notes but the stand outs were

Daruma Kosho 3 years old
Yamamoto Namazake
Nagaragawa Futsu-shu

Also a sparkling usunigori that wasn’t horrible as I’ve come to excellent etc from both cloudy and sparkly sakes.

Last night we opened a bottle of a Lustau dry oloroso which worked surprisingly well with a standard-but-delicious home-made beef chilli. (I like my oloroso cold, which seems to raise eyebrows with britisher sherry drinkers but that’s how I like it best.)

Omnipollo Beglo "post-skate" IPA

RAR Pencil Fight

Ocelot Jezmund

― El Tomboto, Sunday, March 18, 2018 3:58 AM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Have we reached AI Craft Beer Name Generator?

xpost I remember distinctly the first time I ever had a dry sherry. My eyebrows went straight to my hairline. People tend to drink most wines a lot warmer than they should be.

right now, bad trader joe's coffee - the Joe's blend which is cheap, but not good. maby try making cold brew w/it to see if that helps.
last night St. Bernardus Atb 12.
had a beer the night before called Huell Hazner
and also a 16% oak barrel-aged from Avery. i don't usu like oak aging in my beer but this one was perfect - not too oaky and not too malty/sweet. knocked me on my ass

Last night : Loma Larga, pinot Noir
Vina Leyda, Sauvignon Blanc
Some aperol sparkling thing I made trying to use up extra bits of everything

Apple juice. my biggest drinking revelation in recent years has been apple juice. maybe it's just better over here? or maybe I didn't have the right tongue when I was a kid & it seemed so expendable? these days I'll take it over soft drinks & mediocre beer. in Vienna a few weeks ago they served it over sparkling water & this was delicious too. Apple juice, the drink of my 40s.

I drink a lot of sparkling water with a hit of grapefruit juice and lime.

we have public sparkling water fountains here! it is so civilized. we usually just buy Badoit Rouge, the "intensément pétillante" one, and mix in sirops, the ones sold in the supermarkets, but yeah fruit juices would be even better (like a citron pressé I suppose)

Where are you?

I live in Paris

I am reading all about this now (public sparkling water fountains). That is totally whoa. We always lament how the french don't drink enough water or maybe it's just that americans are obsessed with drinking water. I am spending most of July in Toulouse and Lyon but I will definitely make sure to find one of these fountains in Paris.

a public sparkling water fountain is the most french thing i've ever heard of

Contrats Yerac! How was that syrah? We are Thanksgiving-ing not far from that producer...

Thx! (although I am only halfway done and am dreading trying to finish). You should to that producer and tell me what you think. I didn't know that them at all but I knew it was from the USA based upon the tasting notes (so it was definitely more fruit finesse, bold). All the wines I think I had as good or very good, with maybe two outstandings. The wines are chosen and sent out from London so they can control the availability and variation and they have the local schools and master of wine program people doing day of tasting notes to grade against.

Everything about that Barossa Shiraz screams ‘do not drink me’, I’m sure it was much better than i’m Imagining.

It seems to be heavily reviewed (favorably) and in the $50USD price range.

Oh, I am remembering this now. I thought it was a high alcohol bordeaux at first. It was good.

Spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Venice a couple weeks ago at the end of vacation. We walked eight miles all over San Marco, San Polo, and Dorsoduro popping into five different wine bars and visiting four churches in between. Venice has a great little natural wine scene. Brought home a bottle of cloudy prosecco.

Planning to go to a fancy (for me) steak house tonight in DC (St Anselm's) and I'm most excited about the wine list. Already planning to have the Channing Daughter's Ramato orange pinot grigio, and...maybe...this carbonic cab franc from Maryland?

They serve my fave lambrusco but it's $14 a glass and I'm bringing a $15 bottle with me to drink at the hotel so thanks but no thanks.

https://m.imgur.com/a/O0ZpF2b

Picked up some dessert wine and vin jaune at auction for Christmas Day, and a few bits and bobs from Spain + Germany.

Drink the Envinate reasonably often, but I’m excited to try the others - hardly ever drink godello so particularly curious about the Del Vivo.

Anyone in London got recommendations for good independent wine shops? Something interesting/unstuffy etc. Italian deli near me (Bambuni in Nunhead) is my go-to if I run out and need a bottle, but their selection isn’t massive and a bit of variety would be great.

Wow, where do you go for wine auctions? I always assume they're for £50000 bottle of 150 year old stuff that's for investment rather than drinking.

I too am interested in London wine shop recs. Locally to me and BF I like Terroirs on Lordship Lane, which can tend to the expensive but they're also happy to enthuse about the cheaper end of their range. I find Theatre of Wine on Trafalgar Road in Greenwich pretty good, they keep an interesting range of sherry.

I love wine auctions. I used to have friends do Christies a lot and we had a group of friends that would split the cases between ourselves so we had more buying power and flexibility. I got a bottle of Maison Surrenne Unblended 1946 grande champagne COgnac and paid ~$45 for my bottle. I think it's $400-600 usually. I think I have about 4 inches in the bottle left.

just picked up a bottle of Patxaran

old friend of mine i worked with at a wine shop in sf lives in London now and works at this place that is probably really nice
https://www.bbr.com/ Berry Bros. and Rudd on St. James St.
xpost

yeah, I always have people say Berry Bros, Philglas & Swiggot, and Hedonism for London. I think Majestic is also completely fine in a pinch and they have good deals. I always end up just going to whichever wine store is closest to wherever I am that day in London. The last time I wanted to try a bottle of Nyetimber and I ended up at Amathus Soho on Wardour and they seemed pretty knowledgeable and nice.

Antiques Roadshow expert drinks 180-year-old urine, rusty nails and a human hair after mistaking liquid for port https://t.co/pSYSdCfnyY

— The Independent (@Independent) December 30, 2019

I am now thinking of whether it would be better or worse if the urine was fresher.

mmm, rusty nails. i need to get some scotch and drambuie

t/s: sarcophagus juice vs 180-year-old urine, rusty nails and a human hair

coffin liquor ftw

mmmmmmm

old urine would have far less microplastics, I guess.

not drinking them yet, but today i happened to be driving by a liquor store i was familiar with from when i lived closer to it. unfortunately, it's going out of business and they were selling their inventory at cost. grabbed a couple bottles of rittenhouse rye for 20 bucks each, a 2012 domaine vieux telegraphe chateauneuf-du-pape for $60 (down from $100) and a 2001 (!) domaine jean-louis chave hermitage that, based on other pricing online, i got for cheeeeaaaap.

oh that Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe is a really good price. I have two bottles of the 2012 vintage too and I think I got it at a steal even at like $70.

Milan nestarec forks and knives red

V good, fruity as hell, soft tannins

Grabbed the last(?) sixer of Stone’s Fear Movie Lions double IPA from my local grocery today. I hope there’s more in the back or on the way soon, it’s become a staple

Had some good BC natty reds last couple days, neon eon horizon -zweigelt,syrah, merlot blend - which was smoothly tannic, and artakama pinot noir which was fruity earthy and acidic and went down easy chilled.

I broke into some cheap sake I had stored away in the pantry. I think it cost $9 for 1.5 liters. It's pretty bland and neutral tasting, even as cheap sake goes. It doesn't complement food, but doesn't detract, either. I haven't bothered to warm it, since I'm skeptical that would improve it any.

Partida Creus VN (natural white blend from Catalonia using grapes traditionally used for Cava). This was really awesome.

La Cave des Nomades - De Paris A Paris. Natural red from Banyuls. Maker is a Portuguese musician who caught the winemaking bug in France. Slight natural wine prickle that blew off in a couple minutes leaving just ethereal light fruit.

A friend of mine makes natural wine wine in NY in very small quantities. I was really excited to open a red wine from 2018, but had to pour it out: it came out looking (and smelling) brown.

I have been trying to open one nicer bottle from my cellar per week but I totally missed this weeknd.

yeah, natural wine, if it's not made by a larger producer, I drink it right away. There is a reason people stabilize wine.

I bought a couple of bottles of subirat parent from Partida Creus a while ago and definitely didn’t get lucky - first one tasted like pickled onion flavour biscuits, second one remains unopened and may well do forever more.

Mee Godard beaujolais and sweet Fritz Haag Rowling for me, also got a case of the new Envinate white (Taganan Campanario) which I’m really excited to try - I love everything they do.

Have also seemingly moved into the single malt stage of lockdown (my girlfriend is sick so we aren’t leaving the house at all which may help explain this). Don’t know much about whisky but enjoying my Ardbeg Uigeadail.

yeah, natural wine, if it's not made by a larger producer, I drink it right away. There is a reason people stabilize wine.

Up until the last six months or so I never really had any particular issues with natural wine, at least no more than with regular (non-natural) wine. I didn't say much about it, but kind of blew off a lot of the negative talk up thread. I don't know if I had just been very lucky for years and years or if I moved to even smaller producers recently (probably both), but I've had a bad run with having to pour out 3-4 bottles in the last six months.

considering buying some piquette from a BC producer whose natty wines I like. any opinions on piquette?

Anyone had any of that Canadian vodka-or-whatever made from lactose?

https://www.dairydistillery.com/collections/spirits/products/vodkow

Seems more apt for Ask A Drunk.

lol props to the milk bottle packaging

I bought a MEGADETH saison today from the brewery that does La Fin du Monde

I am very very hyped for my porch beer tonight.

lol props to the milk bottle packaging

― call all destroyer, Sunday, June 14, 2020 9:41 PM

Yeah, that's good. They should have bottled it in quarts rather than 750ml.

Is there a thing where you give up on ever having a group round and just drink a bottle by yourself? Just opened my much-anticipated bottle of https://www.equiponavazos.com/en/botan059manzanillapasadacapatazrivas/

It tastes absolutely amazing but idk I'm a few drinks in and it might not be the moment it deserved

this is definitely a thing. especially back in early covid i knocked off a few things from the cellar using the reasoning that "nothing matters"