1800 Reposado

One of mankind's most glorious achievements was turning rudimentary fermented compounds, via distillation, into a consumable liquid concentrate known as liquor. It's a fascinating  process that starts with the heating and subsequent vaporization of the initial fermented liquid source. The vapor is then captured and allowed to cool so that it returns to liquid form. The result is a purified and condensed version of the original fermented source, a divinified "spirit." A liquid so incredibly complex it was once believed to cure disease!


Most of the source material used to create the initial fermented alcohol is very common, highly identifiable vegetation found in most parts of the world. While fruits and vegetables are regularly used, the most predominant source of carbohydrates for fermentation come from cereal grains like barley, corn, wheat, and rice. Grown on every continent but Antarctica, cereal grains dominate the alcohol marketplace. Rarely is it that something foreign or unusual is used as a carbohydrate source in creating a quality spirit, worthy of praise. However, when it does happen the result can be both positive and negative to the spirit landscape.


The Mexican blue agave, a plant not known to most of the planet, creates a dandy spirit called tequila. The leaves are lopped off and the heart or piña is exposed and roasted. Rich in sugar, the roasted agave piña is then juiced. That juice is then fermented and distilled twice (usually) to create silver/blanco tequila. Reposado and añejo tequilas are aged in wooden casks for a smoother, smokier profile.  Rich in flavor and intensely complex, good tequila can hold its own against the more traditional higher end spirits. Unfortunately, tequila is the most mistreated and misunderstood spirit known to man. 


Cheaply distilled noxious swill is produced by the ton and slugged down in shot glasses or mixed with nuclear sugar paste in bars all over the world. Telling most people that you enjoy a neat Reposado after dinner will usually create a response of confusion or violent dry heaves. Visions of crazy biker gangs and bugs in the bottom of bottles can cause a lot of misconceptions. Amusing stories of ridiculous behavior or hallucinations induced specifically by tequila are usually not true. Enough booze from any source will have you dancing naked on you ex-boyfriends Trans-Am. Don't buy into the multiple myths that tarnish tequila. Just buy a good tequila and enjoy yourself. 


I am a staunch advocate of spending good money on quality drink. I am also an advocate of not spending too much money on booze you can't appreciate. If you've tasted scotch twice you have no business buying a $100 bottle. You don't have the experience or knowledge to appreciate it. That is why I chose1800 tequila. I don't have a whole lot of experience with tequila and I'm still broke. It's 100% agave, (which means they don't fill part of the bottle with burro spit), it's generally well received in the spirit world, and it's only 25 bucks. It was initially purchased to be a quality margarita maker on a budget but turned out to be so much more.

Pay no mind to the fact that the bottle stopper is a shot dispenser and that there are instructions on the back on how to shoot. This stuff is pretty damn good. Salty aroma with a really cool wet ash presence. This Reposado gives a great balance of vegetal agave and warming oak. Earthen agave flavors with an almost sage like character come through a subtle wood bite. A metallic kick in the middle gives it great character. The oily mouth feel, dry finish, and smooth burn left my tingling mouth very happy. I'm going to say 18 fish tacos out of 10. If this is a "low end" tequila I cannot wait to try the really good stuff. This makes outstanding margaritas as its flavor is directly in between the lively silver/blanco and the calm añejo. It's a powerful flavor so powerful foods pair well. Obviously Mexican is great but any kind of bold flavors (garlic, peppers, tomato, citrus) with meat and good bread are awesome. I like watching movies with my wife while sipping tasty tequila. The Watchmen, Spiderman or any superhero movie will suffice just as long as you have a small group of good company.

cheers

Cointreau

Quick, think of something French! Is it food? Is it drink? Is it language? Is it culture? Is it history? Is is scenery? Is it... Are you smiling yet?

France (Europe) tends to have leg up on America when it comes to the comprehension of delayed gratification. Most Americans have trouble understanding that good things come to those who wait. I'm not denouncing America as a horrible place to live, it just happens to have a culture that promotes instant gratification. If you want it now, buy it. If you can't afford it beg, borrow, or steal. The temporal difference between delayed and instant gratification can have a profound effect on the level of enjoyment. Lets just take for example, beef stew.

Cooking pieces of cubed meat with vegetables and spices in water or broth creates your average beef stew. It's cheap, quick, nutritious, savory and is a staple in many American homes. Spending a little more money on pre-cut meat and pre-packaged frozen vegetables or buying the the pre-made stew in a bag is seen as increasing the stew's desirability. Spending more money for the sake of eating sooner will increase your enjoyment of the stew. Instant gratification. Let us now look at beef stew in France.

The dish is called Boeuf Bourguignon (boof boor-gee-nyawn) and it contains very similar ingredients to the American stew: Cubed meat, vegetables, spices, and broth.The only major ingredients not included would be the brandy and the red wine. This is negligible as I am not comparing flavors (yes I am) and it contributes to the argument. The brandy is used to flambé the spiced vegetables and the wine is used as the liquid for cooking. Both  need to be carefully selected for quality. As a French man one told me "If you wouldn't drink it from a glass you shouldn't put it in your food." That's a lie, the internet told me that, but it sounds good! Spending time and money shopping for specific ingredients, careful and precise preparation , and the use of time consuming cooking methods are all seen as an increase in the Bourguignon's desirability. Delayed gratification. The emphasis is on the quality of the end product not the speed of its preparation.

The relationship between beef stew and Bourguignon is analogous to the relationship between triple sec and Cointreau (kwan-tro); people are willing to settle for less right now than more down the road. Many people assume they are the same as they are both orange flavored liqueurs. Unfortunately, many triple secs are cheaply distilled and made only to be used as an inexpensive sweetener in sub-par cocktails. Sub $20 triple sec will only provide you with sad margaritas and flushable cosmopolitans. If you are income-challenged like me you should bite the bullet, stuff your piggy bank, and buy the good stuff less often.

With a $40 price tag you know Cointreau is not just a simple mixer. The spicy sweet citrus smell of the liqueur dances in the air during the pleasingly thin pour. The initial flavor is pure orange essence, bright and smooth. It feels like it disappears on your tongue during the swirl from sweet to bitter. It starts like an orange Starburst candy but is quickly balanced by the amazingly complex bitter orange. It reminds me of the white membrane on the outermost part of the meat. Perfect balance of sweet and bitter. The finish is a very comfortable warming sensation, showing you the quality base alcohol used in the drink.

I found my new favorite digestif with this bottle. Cointreau.com calls it a Cointreau Bubbles: Cointreau, tonic, and lime. The quinine adds a little bit of bitter that tones the sweet down to really showcase the bitter orange. Yummy! This stuff is fun in a bottle. I shall give it 9 baguettes out of 4. Margs, cosmos, long islands, you name it Cointreau will improve it. Food recommendations vary depending on how you drink this. Margs and long islands handle spicy foods well while more delicate drinks need some space of their own. Bright pop or some good trance would be perfect. I'm off the see the wizard.

Cointreau Bubbles

1. 2oz Cointreau
2. Tonic
3. Muddled limes

Muddle 1-2 lime wedges in rocks/old fashioned glass. Add ice. Pour 2oz-2.5oz of Cointreau over ice. Top with tonic.

cheers

Margarita

Q. Why is it so difficult to find a good margarita? A. People are often cheap and lazy when it comes to cocktails.

The worst margaritas occur when you substitute Tijuana toilet cleaner for tequila and put neon Pine-Sol Kool-Aid  mix in water and call it lime juice. There is no reasonable excuse for this when decent, drinkable tequila is easy to find and can be purchased in most locales for around $20. If it doesn't say 100% Agave, leave it on the shelf. A fresh lime is even easier to obtain from a store and squish at home. Natural lime juice can have a slightly green tint to it giving your drink a bit of hazy color. If however it looks like someone mixed your drink with a stick of plutonium, find the nearest exit! Contrary to popular belief, lime juice does not glow in the dark and is not very sweet.  The sweetener in a margarita should come from another source, an Orange liqueur called triple sec.

Run of the mill triple sec can sometimes be off-putting by being either too bitter or too sweet. Bitter, thick, and stinky triple sec can spring to life in a reasonable margarita with a splash or two of homemade simple syrup(1pt.sugar 1pt.water) creating your average budget party drink. If you are unfortunate enough to be dealing with Willy Wonka's cough syrup version of triple sec you may be better off just doctoring the nuclear corn syrup sour mix. Happily there is no need to injure you taste buds trying to find the best triple sec on the market. The French have already taken care of that for us. The stuff is called Cointreau (kwan-tro) and it is the OG (Original Gestalt) of triple sec. It's in a class of its own. Seriously. It's so good some people don't even classify it as triple sec!

It's actually pretty simple. Real estate = Location, Location, Location! Cocktails = Quality, Quality, Quality! The better your ingredients are, the better your drink will be. I don't like the harshness of silver/blanco tequila so I use Reposado tequila. Exact measurement amounts will of course vary depending on your past relationship with the the son of agave. I personally enjoy the complex flavors of tequila so I use a little more. The IBA ratio is the best starting point for newcomers. I also prefer on the rocks but I'm much more interested in the booze quality than the ice style. Some say heresy, I say whatever floats your boat. Double strained straight up, single strained straight up, on the rocks, or frozen, it's all good.

Margarita with a capital M.

1. 2oz. Tequila
2. 1.5oz. Cointreau 
3. 1oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Shake well over ice. Salt the outer rim of a cold glass with a lime wedge and kosher salt. Carefully add ice to salted glass. Single strain over ice. Serve with lime garnish.

• For a sweeter variation add a dash to1oz of simple syrup and/or fresh fruit of your choice.

cheers

Old Chub

Sometimes you drink something so extremely pleasurable that your brain goes into a state of shock and your senses are unable to accurately aggregate the experience. You know it's beer that you clutch in your fist but the delirium is telling you otherwise. You quickly turn to your wife and ask, "How many shillings were spent on the libation I am in current possession of!" She looks at you in utter confusion, giggles a little, and then walks away in disgust. As you ponder her negative reaction to your simple question you slowly start to remember that you're not drinking some run of the mill daft party swill. You are imbibing a dodgy bit of Wee Heavy. A ridiculously smooth Scotch Ale that states clearly on the can (yes I said can!) 8%ABV. Remember these two things when your are enjoying a quality beer: Don't get super excited and drink too fast, and always read the label before quaffing.

All jokes aside, the Old Chub from Oskar Blues is some serious beer. A very mellow, malted, chocolaty, coffee scent will grab your attention instantly. The creamy fat malt is the star flavor of this show.It  is a very complex mix of sweet caramel malt and bitter black coffee that is difficult to separate. The hop profile is nearly nonexistent, perfect for this type of beer. It's as if someone threw a few handfuls of hops at the wort vat and called it a day. The relative high alcohol content provides the spice needed to keep the beer interesting to the end. I tend to prefer Scotch Ales with a bit more peaty/earthy smoke flavor but a kiss of smoke in the aftertaste of Old Chub is destined to impress.

Some may scoff at paying $8-$10 for six beers in aluminium cans. They will turn their nose up at anything not in a bottle or poured from draft. I dare them to drink any of the beers from Oskar Blues and try to argue that case. They will loose every time. Draft beer comes in metal containers-This beer comes in a metal container-Therefore-If this stuff only came out of a hobo's slippers I would still drink it with pleasure. Even if my personal preference is for a touch more peat smoke in a Scotch Ale, I would not think of turning this one down.  

The Old Chub has garnered 8 bagpipes out of 4. The intense complexity of this beer requires a little more focus than most. Some Robert Burns and a dimly lit corner with a chair near a poorly insulated window would be the perfect environment for enjoying this brew. Pour it in a glass and admire proper beer craftsmanship.

cheers 

Fat Tire

The distance between something good and something great can be very difficult to calculate. There are often very personal and subjective reasons something would be elevated from good to great or lowered from great to good. A vicarious positive experience or alternate stimuli, not directly associated with the positive experience, may induce an elevated "great". There could be an emotional connection that clouds normally clear judgement or a simple bias based on a negligible flaw producing the unenthusiastic "good". This is why I decided to wear my green shirt and drink Fat Tire Amber Ale on a random Thursday as opposed to a scheduled Saturday. Because it seems that every time I try to rationalize Fat Tire,  my opinion changes.

Today was a great day for the Rainbow bread toast beer from New Belgium. The focus on good malt with mild hops for balance creates an extremely well centered brew. Give the beer 3 minutes out of the fridge or 2 minutes after a pour for the flavor profile to really open up. The almost subdued complexity of the beer at 45 degrees F (as the bottle instructs) is worth the wait. The caramel malt lets back and a little tasty yeast pokes its head out  before a delicious earthy mix puts you back in your chair.

Today shall warrant 6 biscuits (yah  I said it) out of 4. Its a good beer so friends are still welcome to partake. This is a middle of the road beer when it comes to taste so your food choices should stick to center so you can fully appreciate the beer. I would recommend bone in pork loin chops with a light house seasoning or a lightly seasoned bean/lentil dish focusing on earthy tones. Dave Matthews or No Doubt would go just fine. Just as long as it's generally upbeat and fun, this happy beer will reward you.

cheers