I think I mentioned a while back that I’d done another Stout review and had actually found my favorite-to-date. I’d written up some notes and had taken some pics, but that all got scrapped somewhere along the line. I did manage to salvage this one pic, though, and you can see the name/label. It’s “Black Chocolate Stout”, and it’s made by Brooklyn Brewery. If you’re into stouts, I highly recommend picking up some of this stuff.
What else is going on. Well, I’ve handed out a few of those bottles of Kahlua that I made back on Halloween, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. So I guess that means I gotta keep making it, right? Although, my neighbor did give me a bottle of Amaretto that she made…and I gotta say that it’s frikkin’ AWESOME! We’re going to trade recipes and I’ll definitely be making up a batch of that stuff. I’m sure there are tons of other things out there that I can make, too. And since it is wintertime (and there’s not much riding going on) I do tend to have a lot of free time… Hmmmm…
Speaking of alcoholic beverages, I dug out some old Saki that I’d made, YEARS ago. Check out these containers – they look like they were stored in a crypt or something.
With a little warm water and some scrubbing, I found that underneath all the Indiana Jones dust, there were some very nice, stone-capped bottles.
I even remembered that I’d labeled them on the bottom – man, this stuff is over 7 ½ years old!
Sweet! But what kind of condition would it be in? I poured off the good portion (using two glasses) and then dumped the dregs into a third.
Here’s a quick vid of the full glass. Look at all that action! This stuff is still good!
I heartily enjoyed the contents of the first two glasses. It still packed quite a kick…and you know what? I just realized I’ve got an alcohol hydrometer at home and I should test the alcohol content. (The last time I tested it, I believe it was coming in around 15%, but it would be interesting to see if that had increased at all.)
What else did I want to mention…oh yeah; we’ve had our first major snowfall of the season. It was a nasty little thing called a Nor’Easter – perhaps you’ve heard of these things before? Yeah, a beastly system that basically sits on top of us and dumps massive amounts of snow onto our roads and driveways. What fun that was. The one bright spot was that Brother Bill was storing his plow blade in my driveway, so things looked good for my driveway being plowed out. Well, at the height of the storm, when he went to hook it up to his truck, the hydraulic pump chit the bed and he was out of the race. Which meant I had to resort to the old-fashioned method; shovels. (Bill did help me with that, so that was good.)
What else…what else. Todd (aka; Margarita Man) was over to the house this past Sunday to watch some football and help with some projects. At one point, we realized we needed beer (and food). Cash in hand, he was off in search of sustenance. He returned with a pizza that was quite tasty…but he also returned with THIS!
This is why you don’t send Todd out for beer. Pizza? Yes, definitely. He can handle that. But he apparently cannot handle beer runs. He claimed that this vile liquid was quite tasty… I tried one, just because I’m a curious fellow. My curiosity was satisfied after one sip. Man, that stuff was horrid! Looking at the label, I saw it proudly claimed that they still use the same classic recipe from the 1960’s. I think that’s the one thing they got right, because this stuff tastes like it was MADE in the 60’s. (In his defense, Todd stood by his choice and happily quaffed all but two of these abominations.) As for me and mine, we think he should stick to margaritas.
Let’s see…anything else? Oh yeah! As some of you may remember, last summer, we were headed to Kentucky for a road trip. In preparation of said trip, I signed up as an ambassador for Maker’s Mark bourbon (a visit to their distillery was on tap for the trip). And get this; they sent me a Christmas present! An ice tray for making balls! (Ice balls, that is.)
Of course I had to try them out. Ta da! Ice Balls!
They didn’t really come out of the mold very well, unfortunately. And while the mold contained the word’s Maker’s Mark (which I thought would look quite cool imprinted on the surface of an ice ball), the words didn’t transfer at all. (Having had to run some water over the mold to get it to release the balls in the first place, caused the surface to melt just enough to smooth out any word remnants that might have been there to begin with.) But at least I can now boast that I have balls of ice. (Is that a good thing??)
Whew. Ok, I think that just about brings you up to speed. What’s that? You’ve heard rumors of something else going on? Ok, ok – you pushy bastards. I’ll come clean;
A few of us have locked in a bike trip vaca for Feb! Matt, Rex and I are heading down to Florida for a week. We’re going to land in Orlando, pick up our (rented) bikes and ride to Miami for a night. From there, we’ve penciled in two days for riding the Keys and staying in Key West. From there, our return loop will bring us up a bit past Fort Myers to hang out with a new friend we haven’t met yet. (Huh?) Ya see, our good friend Lynda (from the Pot Belly Pub) has a good friend (Diane) that we’re going to hang with for a day or two, at her bar (oh, did I forget to mention Diane owns a TIKI BAR?!?!) After that, it’ll be back to Orlando for the long, sad trip back home…and to the harsh reality that winter will still be waiting for us.
But that’s something to be worried about at a later time! For now, all eyes are on the upcoming fun in the sun! Bring it!! ‘Cause you know we’re gonna be…
Riding Hard, Taking Chances!
