My Duvel glass has got a lot of use, I haven’t had the beer in a long time maybe I’ll grab one of those if I see one.
sorry slow on the draw just spent a week in chicago for the first time in five years—really fun. I’m def no expert on gin but here’s what I’ve got:
A really great London Dry gin (e.g. Tanq 10) gives the brightest haughtiest blast of citrus and juniper (which in my mind = xmas berries; piney and a little sweet). The dry of London Dry is because all the sweetness is from natural botanicals, i.e. nothing’s added. Plymouth gins (e.g. Plymouth) are almost the same thing, just a little less sweet and a little softer and they don’t feel quite as high-born. These are totally worth trying in a negroni or martini to see if you like how they mesh with the bitterness better than a classic London Dry.
Old Tom is still gin but it’s way different. This is 17th-century booze that was a reaction to genever i.e. the OG gin from Holland. Genever is malty and has (to me anyway) zero juniper so it tastes zero like we think of as gin. The problem with genever is it was 16th-century moonshine and could taste harsher than whatever they were drinking in that awesome scene from The Great Escape. So people started sweetening it and the result was Old Tom, which is like gin archaeopteryx because it’s malty and junipery. This was the gin used in classic pre-prohibition stuff like a martinez or a southside.
Idk much about Old Tom brands and the only bottles I’ve bought have been Ransom. If I was picking one from the ones you listed I’d go Hayman’s just bc that’s the only other one I remember trying. But yeah, imo go to K&L and snag the Ransom. Lots of Old Toms are clear, Ransom is caramel-colored bc it’s stored in wine casks. My sense is “Old Tom” is used for a pretty broad brush of flavors and approaches but if you’re not into Ransom then I think you can be comfy ditching the style with a clear conscience and sticking to classic James Bond gin gins. But now that I type that I can’t even remember if he drinks vodka martinis, I hope not.
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I remember now! It’s because I don’t actually like Duvel that much.
It’s really fun to have a glass that’s perfectly designed for the immense carbonation it has. And it’s nice to switch things up to a style I don’t drink very often. But I just don’t love what I guess is the standard Belgian yeast.
Also opened this up last night:
A barrel-aged stout by 3 Floyds. Turned out to be an uncarbonated glass of ashy prune juice. Had some sips and dumped it down the sink.
Rough night.
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Agreed it’s nothing to write home about, but I can at least drink one and enjoy it.
I posted those in the opposite order of how I opened them last night. It’s very possible that I would have enjoyed the Duvel if I had opened it first, rather than drinking it after coating my tongue with ash-flavored prune juice.
I am not sure there is a correct order in which to consume ash flavored prune juice.
Found this guy in the baaaaaack of the fridge.
(My son was teaching me how to fuck around with iPhone camera settings tonight, so you all gotta deal)
Anchor Christmas Ale, 2014 vintage. Anchor Christmas is not my favorite typically, but I haven’t had one in a few years.
Still had carbonation, doesn’t taste like soy sauce. Good signs so far for an 8 year old beer.
On first taste I thought it was overspiced and I wouldn’t be able to finish it, but I’m warming up to it now. It’s decent.
TLDR not worth aging on purpose, but it’s fine. Merry Christmas.
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Bought a Czech liquor called Becherovka, a herbal liquor used as a digestif.
Ran it by some people and it has received mixed reviews. Some hate it. Others recommend it and claim it is healthy due to the aforementioned herbs (although the recipe is a secret). Those who like it either drink it straight or mix it with tonic water. Gonna have some tonight. Will review.
It has a Jagrmeister vibe.
Jagrmeister. Solid pun there.
Don’t think I’ve had a shot of jagermeister in over a decade. Should be interesting.
It’s been a while since I’ve looked at Dontdrinkbeer’s reviews, but I cackled when I read his review of Revolution’s Deth by Currants. The closing:
We take it as a concession that modern stouts will be almost dead flat and then point to the residual sugars like “CO2 SIMPLY CANNOT OVERCOME THIS VISCOSITY.” Rev doesn’t do that and it feels more…English? I appreciate it remaining beer and not melted Coldstone discharge.
This wont be my go to all the time but it’s novel and tasty and I respect the sheer variety and attempts to get Chicago residents to eat produce in these trying times.
In other news:
- He characterizes this year’s Coffee Deth as absolutely phenomenal, which is exciting to me since I just bought a 4-pack.
- He says that this year’s Goose Island Barleywine Reserve might be the best beer they’ve ever brewed.
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Where are you buying the lambics? Local fancy store has Tilquin, but it’s like 15$ for a small bottle. It’s hampering my consumption.
$15 is the going price for Tilquin in the couple of cities where I’ve been able to find it in liquor stores (San Francisco and Denver).
Iirc Spider gets his lambics shipped from Belgium, and I don’t think that even doing that the price comes out to less than the $15 per 375ml bottle.
there’s an israeli guy in my israeli beer group who works at Russian River Brewery. He posted these photos from a xmas party at work. I asked if they are recruiting.
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Guess. I’ll just keep buying there then. Just need to never tally up my spending😂 don’t remember the last time I spent under 16$ for a 4 pack of anything and most are around 25$. I only drink like 2-4 beers a week so who cares.
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Yeah, it’s not great value. I have historically bought from places like Etre Gourmet and Finest Belgian Beers. They are very pricey, but it’s a weird mental math thing where you buy either 12 big bottles or 24 bottles at a time, and the per bottle prices look totally reasonable before shipping, and then when shipping gets added the total price gets very large but I intentionally don’t do the math to figure out how much each bottle costs all in.
Currently, this pack is tempting me a little bit:
https://shop.3fonteinen.be/products/twelve-times-an-aged-geuze
So that’s roughly $10/bottle before shipping. Not cheap! I do see a lot of Tilquin and even 3 Fonteinen around here now. And the weird thing is that when I see the bottle prices (say $30 for a big bottle of fruited Tilquin), I’m like wow that’s way too much, even though it’s not very different from what I end up spending per bottle overseas AND I can buy single bottles of my choice at my leisure. It’s a totally irrational subject for me, particularly because I have a couple hundred bottles already and I don’t even drink that much.
3 Fonteinen has also started selling through Windsor Bottle Shop in the US, so that’s an option if you don’t like the risk/excitement of tracking your semi-illegal beer purchase as it goes through customs and your local post office.
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lindemans is probably the most accessible but having tasted Tilquin last week, it’s not even close.
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bump
finally picked this up, will be trying it tonight
also interested in dry vermouth suggestions for use in martinis
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