Bacon Bourbon

Hey all faithful readers of TROM!! It is I, Dan, brother of your main beloved blogger, Kevin! I've been excited to get back into the blogging world and when Kev came up with the idea of sharing our raging alcoholism, ehh, I mean, sharing our passion for the delectable beverages that are crafted by the beer and spirit industry I wanted in!
Now some of you may not know me yet, but for those of you that do, can anybody answer the following question: Ron Burgundy : Scotch :: Dan : _________?

Anybody? Anybody? Bourbon, that's right people, I have more passion for Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey than a room full of women have for The Notebook. I drink it straight, with Coke and if I can put it in a recipe I do (Can you say Bourbon BALLS!). When Kev told me about ordering his Bakon vodka I was intrigued. Bacon, as everybody knows, has the carnal power to convert the strictest vegetarians. What CAN'T bacon enhance? So I thought it would be interesting to make my own bacon vodka. In searching for a decent method to make the vodka I read some people who said they had made a bacon BOURBON. Holy friggin Schnikeees! What a great idea! I was happier than a tweeking crack addict getting his fix!

I used an applewood smoked pepper bacon. I think the pepper flavor was important to go with the smokiness of bourbon - I wouldn't recommend it for Vodka. I fried up 4 strips, placed them in bottle of white label Jim Beam (I didn't want to mess with good stuff until I knew it was worthwhile!) and put it in a dark cabinet for 2 weeks. I then froze it (freezes the fat globules - which either look kinda gross or really appetizing depending on whether or not your name is Homer Simpson) and strained it through a coffee filter into some plain bottles.

Now, how does it taste? Well my first glass was particularly DISGUSTING! That's right - a glass of bourbon I didn't like (yes I drink the whole thing). HOWEVER - the first glass was filtered from the very bottom of the bottle and would probably be better categorized as "alcoholic meat juice" than a flavored bourbon. So, I decided, to give it a fair chance I needed to try again. I had found a recipe for a Bourbon Bacontini (I personally think it should be called a Bacon Manhattan):

Shake together Ice, Bacon Bourbon and a few shakes of Bitters
Strain into Martini glass rimmed with hickory smoked sea salt
Garnish with a cocktail onion and Orange peel

I thought the perfect meal to accompany the drink would be some basic sauteed scallops. It was a very nice thought but all I had was some chedder cheese so that had to do! Well, on round 2, SUCCESS. A great little variation on my favorite spirit - would love to pair this up with some bacon cheeseburger sliders, the scallops like I mentioned, some strong cheeses, hell, I probably would have one for brunch!

Now to anybody who thinks the bitters, salt, orange peel and onion "masked" some kind of gross meaty taste, I did have another glass on the rocks and it still tasted terrific. If you like a nice dressed up cocktail, give the Bacon Manhattan a whirl. If you're more "meat & potatoes" just try it on ice. The bacon flavor is subtle, as it should be, and lends itself to lots of creative food pairings. Happy drinking!

Dogfish Head Sah'tea

If you're out there drinking beer, you've got to enjoy what Dogfish Head Brewery is doing. They respect and revive tradition but also are very original and creative. This is definitely evident in one of the brews that I recently tried this past weekend with my brother: Sah'tea.

"Sahti" is a traditional Finnish beer that is made with a variety of grains: barley, rye, wheat and oats. When made, it also uses juniper berries, often in place of hops. Traditionally, it supposedly has a banana taste. In the brewing process, tradition calls for rocks to be heated over a fire and then used to boil the wort. Dogfish Head used these ingredients, used that process but their added flare was finishing the beer with a black chai tea (thus Sah'tea).

The chai tea taste is dominant in their brew, a taste that I happen to quite like so I loved the Sah'tea. Having their demanding, old-school brewing process in mind when tasting it was definitely a contributor though. Here are a couple videos, this first of which gives an overview of the brewing process:



This next video shows them transferring the heated rocks to their wort tank, which you can see wasn't exactly a simple, no-sweat job:

National Scotch Day

I'm not making this up...today is recognized as "National Scotch Day." A nod to Foodimentary via Twitter for bringing this to my attention. How and why it started are questions that I do not have the answers to, but why question it? Just go with it.

First of all, "scotch" refers to scotch whisky (no E). There are single malt varieties (like a Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, any glen) and blended malt varieties (like Johnnie Walker, J&B, Chivas Regal and Cutty Sark).

How should you drink it? Well this question can vary when considering a single malt versus a blended malt, but here is a video (broken up in 3 parts...it's worth watching all 3 if you have 15 minutes to spare) that features a few different varieties of a single malt whisky called Jura, from the Isle of Jura, and arguments put forth from a purist whisky drinker (and distiller) versus arguments from a bartender/mixologist.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



You can vote for who you think makes the better argument on Jura's website: click here.

Beer Review: Ola Dubh Special 16 Reserve

Ola Dubh means "black oil." A beer with that name is going to make me stop in my tracks when I am perusing the beer aisle. What made me stop even moreso, however, was seeing three beers lined up, labeled like variants of whisky. A closer examination led me to discover that these beers were aged in single malt whisky casks: 12 year, 16 year and 30 year. Many breweries are using this technique. Harviestoun Brewery chose to one-up everyone with their line of Ola Dubh beers by using a name-brand of scotch: Highland Park.

I went with the middle of the road and chose the 16-year. It was bottled in September 2007, so it's been aging for almost a couple years. As you can see, the beer is named appropriately. I get a really unique smell off of it, with some obvious chocolate and woody aromas, but also I get this faint hint of saltiness almost like soy sauce, which sounds odd but it's very intriguing. I've had a few sips, but I think my mind is a few steps behind processing it because the taste is pretty complex. I taste dark chocolate with a lingering bitterness like most dark porters; I'm trying to find the whisky-influenced taste but it's definitely subtle.

I'm letting it sit out a bit to bring it to room temperature so the flavors can come out more. So long, I'm going to enjoy my black oil elsewhere.

Happy Belgian National Day!

Belgium...three things come to most people's minds when thinking of the country: waffles, chocolate and beer. That alone makes it one of the best countries in the world. But let's forget the waffles and chocolate for now and make a toast to the country on their "National Day."

I can barely find any information whatsoever about this holiday, but it's pretty much the equivalent of our recent 4th of July. It celebrates their independence from the Netherlands and this is their 179th year of independence. I figured it most appropriate to give a subtle nod to the country by opening up a Belgian beer tonight, considering they produce some of the best beer in the entire world. And doing so by Belgian standards is a must as you can see (using a branded glass).

Cheers to all of you Belgians out there!

Guinness Remarkable Experiences

Drinking beer could send you into space...literally. Or into an underwater bar. Or, though it's obviously much less remarkable than the other two, into a recording studio.

Guinness, in celebration of their 250th anniversary this year, is offering a "Remarkable Experiences" contest with 3 different prizes. Starting with the least remarkable, one prize is a trip to an undisclosed location for three nights in a 4 star hotel with two of your friends. During the trip, you'll get a chance to go to a private studio session where the Black Eyed Peas will perform a private set for you, before getting a chance to meet the whole group. Don't get me wrong...this is an awesome prize, but on the remarkable scale, it pales in comparison to the other two.

The second prize is the ability to raise a pint of the black stuff 70 meters beneath the sea. Along with two friends, you'll board a submarine vessel specially designed for Guinness 250, and enjoy a pint or two in an underwater bar in the Norwegian Sea. They are literally building a submarine specifically for this. Remarkable? Shyea!

The third prize involves Sir Richard Branson, so you know it's gotta be crazy. Instead of 70 meters down, try 70 miles up aboard Virgin Galactic, the world's first commercial spaceline. You and a friend will train at Virgin Atlantic's home and training center in New Mexico before taking the flight, reaching speeds up to 2,500 mph, experiencing zero gravity and taking a look at the planet from 70 miles up. I'm still in disbelief over Virgin Galactic in general, so I'd say this is pretty damn remarkable.

Enter to win at guinness.com. Entries are accepted until September 24, which is dubbed Arthur's Day, the official 250th anniversary. All of these prizes are remarkable, almost as remarkable as Arthur Guinness signing a 9,000 year lease on St. James Gate brewery in 1759.

Taming Beer Foam

For some reason, the other day, probably after pouring a beer into a glass too fast and seeing foam pile up, I thought about the college party solution to such a problem.

First of all, what is foam? Foam is basically a pocket of carbon dioxide, so when you pour a beer, carbonated bubbles rise up, bringing up proteins, and those proteins form the pockets of carbon dioxide. You can see this happen when pouring soda too, however, beer contains carbohydrates which stabilize the foam. Your "sport beer" (or so it seems based on their advertising) like Michelob Ultra is low on carbs and so it won't have a 2-finger head like a darker stout or porter...or the holy grail of beers based on appearance, Guinness.

Now...for the most part, I try to pour a beer like it's supposed to be poured. Tilt the glass, slowly pour and gradually level your beer glass, speeding up the pour a bit depending on the type of beer and how much head can/should be produced. If you're dealing with a keg, however, the pressure factor comes into play. If using a kegerator or CO2 tap system, you just need to make sure that you don't have too much CO2 pressure, otherwise the beer will come flying out like Niagara Falls and you'll get a glass full of foam.

Most college parties didn't have elaborate kegerator systems set up, but rather a pump tap, intended for pumping oxygen to dispense the beer, a method that you should use only if that keg is intended to be kicked within a day or two (or an hour or two). Obviously the pumping action is a bit more of a delicate process than a CO2 system; usually at parties, people would pump the hell out of the keg to cause foamy beer.

And if you got a foamy beer, what did you do? Some of you may have poured the foam out a bit or blown on it, which is the smarter and more sanitary solution. A lot of us, however, used the nose grease trick, wiping a finger on your nose and swirling it around the top of your beer, which immediately vaporized the foam like a David Blaine trick.

The "trick" is that you're swabbing a bit of oil from your skin and the oil counteracts with the CO2 bubbles, just like if you were to pour some olive oil in a boiling, bubbling pot of pasta water (which you shouldn't really do if you want the pasta to efficiently absorb its sauce, but I'm getting off topic). Obviously introducing oil from your skin into something you're drinking is not very sanitary, but most college drinking games aren't exactly sanitary.

So if you find yourself with a foamy beer, you should either be patient, pour a bit out or run a spoon or knife across the top and try to work on a better pour the next time.

American Badass Beer

Drinks Americas is a peculiarly-named company that creates and distributes beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, associated with celebrities. To name a few, Trump Vodka, Willie Nelson's Old Whiskey River Bourbon, Newman's Own Sparkling Beverages and none other than Gary Busey's Moonshine (ok, I made that last one up...but that would sell!).

They recently partnered with a record company to add a couple more to their collection, one of which is Dr. Dre Cognac (which I would definitely buy unless it costs as much as his headphones). The other addition will be called "American Badass Beer." [Please take a second to think about the first celebrity that this would be attributed to and post your answer in the comments *cue Final Jeopardy music*]

You guessed it...Barack Obama. No just kidding, it's Kid Rock, even though I wish it was Chuck Norris. Kid Rock's American Badass Beer will be rolling out in the Detroit area this weekend at a couple of his shows there. I'm eager to see the label, but I'm guessing they aren't hiring Belgian monks to brew this one.

This makes me wonder if Drinks Americas will use any other musicians off of Interscope's Geffen A&M Records. Could there be a 2Pac Double Bock? M.I.A. IPA? No Doubt Stout? Marilyn Manson Pale Ale (get it? cuz he's pale)? Ok I'll stop.

P.S. Personally I think they should have called it Bawitdaba Beer

UFC 100 Beer Comment

Brock Lesnar retained his heavyweight championship belt last night in UFC 100, embracing the boos of fans with a certain gesture involving a certain finger on each hand. The reason I'm bringing this up on this blog? He made an interesting comment to interviewer/commentator Joe Rogan following the fight:

Brock Lesnar: "I'm gonna go home tonight...I'm gonna drink a Coors Light...that's a Coors Light because Bud Light won't pay me nothin'..."

I should probably add that an enormous Bud Light logo was imprinted on the floor, inches from his feet when he said that. I'd like to see the reaction of all of the Bud Light execs after hearing that, considering Bud Light is probably the biggest sponsor of UFC. On the same hand, Coors Light may not have been ecstatic about the free promotion, considering it came from a guy whose not exactly a poster child for anything.

Lesnar apparently apologized later on in the night to Bud Light saying he was in the heat of the moment, that he wasn't biased and he'd drink any beer. Cheers Brock!

Flying Fish Controversy

I grew up in Voorhees, NJ, in the southern part of the state right outside of Philadelphia. Flying Fish Brewing Company grew up similarly in the larger town next to Voorhees called Cherry Hill. Over the years, it has become the largest craft brewery in the state.

Flying Fish is all about the idea of buying your beer locally. That's why they don't extend their distribution further than they have; it's restricted to NJ itself, PA, MD and DE. They take pride in brewing from NJ and reflect that in their beer. Their most recent brewing experiment is called The Exit Series.

Now everyone is familiar with the old response to someone saying their from NJ: What exit? Flying Fish decided to pay tribute to the exits of the good old NJ Turnpike with their Exit Series, brewing a different beer for each exit. It started with Exit 4, the exit that you would take to get to Flying Fish Brewery (and my old house and the homes of my two brothers!) They just finished the second in the series, Exit 11, which connects you to the Garden State Parkway, a roadway that many take to the Jersey shore, since we're in summer now.

There never was an inclination in the least bit when I heard about this project that it would cause a problem. The only response that I had was excitement, especially over Exit 4 since I've taken the exit many many times. In the past couple days, however, the NJ Turnpike Authority and MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have made some complaints.

The exit series is not endorsed by the NJ Turnpike Authority (obviously), so that was their response to them. They even added a disclaimer at the bottom of their website. It looks like the bigger problem is with MADD. Mindy Lazar, executive director of NJ's chapter of MADD said "The combination of a roadway and advertising for any kind of beer doesn't make any sense. This is almost a mockery."

I find these complaints to be mockery. This Lazar character obviously does not understand the significance of the many highway exits that exist in NJ and that Flying Fish is honoring the state and the residents that live off of each exit by brewing this series. Two beers into the project, they're accepting suggestions for the types of beer that they should brew for each of the rest of the exits, most of which are being made by NJ residents who live off of those exits.

Let's look at Mindy Lazar's statement: "combination of a roadway and advertising for any kind of beer..." Hmmm...roadway advertising...Aren't there thousands of billboards advertising Budweiser, Miller and Coors throughout the entire country? It's not like Flying Fish is putting a billboard on the highway. It's not like they are in any way advocating drinking and driving. As I said before, this connection never even crossed my mind before reading about this news.

I just read an update on this story and it sounds like Mindy Lazar is somewhat content with the president of Flying Fish Brewing Co., Gene Muller's response to the situation, that they in no way advocate drinking and driving. Couldn't MADD have just called Flying Fish directly to avoid a media storm? Hopefully none of this deters Flying Fish from continuing their commemorative, creative project.

If you live in the NJ area, have never been to, and are interested in seeing how they brew their magic, Flying Fish holds free tours/tastings (almost) every Saturday. Check them out today between 1-4. I was aging a bottle of Exit 4 (though I've already tasted it thanks to my brother), but I think I may celebrate this craft brewery by opening it tonight. And no...I won't be driving.

Homebrew - Raspberry Wheat

I started brewing beer about a year ago. As of today, I've completed 4 different batches of beer: a pale ale, a porter, a nut brown ale and just finished today, a raspberry wheat beer.

If you're looking to get into brewing, the hardest part about it is having to be patient. I started making this raspberry wheat 2 months ago and it wasn't until today that I was able to try it. The wait has been worth the reward though because tasting a freshly made beer that you've made from scratch is definitely a satisfying experience.

The best part about it is hearing that "pshh" sound when opening the first bottle. This raspberry wheat poured with a nice, thick head, had a very subtle raspberry smell with an equal degree of raspberry taste. It'll be nice to have in the coming weeks on a warm summer night (or day...or morning...)

If you want the recipe, you'll have to buy the book from the suppliers and creators of the brew shop called Maltose Express in Monroe, CT. You can find the book with their raspberry wheat recipe in Beer Captured, available on Amazon.

As for the rest of my raspberry wheat supply, if you live near me and want a taste, too bad! No just kidding...I'd be happy to get some critiques.

P.S. With regard to that image, no, I'm not drinking in a jungle and no, the beer did not develop any type of exotic foliage while fermenting. That's just a colorful backdrop.

Bakon Vodka

Bacon. Is there any food product out there that is more popular? It is the god of food; people worship it. Even vegetarians salivate over it. Jim Gaffigan sums it up pretty well in his recent televised standup:



I was watching one of the first Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien episodes last month when my ears perked up during his monologue. He brought up that a company started making and distributing a bacon-flavored vodka called Bakon. I don't think I was the only viewer that night who looked up this amazing phenomenon immediately. The next day, I contemplated paying an added 50% of the bottle price to have it shipped here from the Northwest, the only area that currently sells it in stores. That contemplation lasted about 30 seconds before I started entering my billing information at drinkupny.com.

It took some patience, but my bottle finally arrived earlier today. I immediately opened it to take a sniffy-sniff (as Gary V puts it). It definitely has a strong bacon-y aroma, but the alcohol subdues it a bit. It wasn't as strong of an aroma as smoked beer, which could basically be the beer representative of bacon-flavored drinks (I'll get into that on another post).

I'll preface my opinion of Bakon's taste by my opinion of vodka. I'm not a big vodka drinker, atleast not since my days of drinking Majorska in college (if you recognize the name, I apologize if I just made you gag; if you don't recognize that name, I wouldn't be surprised). Vodka enthusiasts can argue with me all they want, but basically I can't detect a lot of difference between cheap and expensive vodka, except for levels of harshness.

I just had my first sip of Bakon and it's a smooth drink; there's no harshness factor. The bacon taste is not overwhelming, but it's definitely there and I like it. I think the pepper rim contributes well. Based on my taste of it alone, I feel like it's taste may get lost in a Bloody Mary or certain other types of cocktails.

If you're not willing to cough up the dough on having it shipped to you (if you don't live in Washington, Oregon, Idaho or Montana where it's sold in stores), it's actually pretty simple to make your own. In fact, my brother and co-blogger of This Round's on Me is currently making both bacon-flavored vodka AND bourbon. He will be blogging about his process and the result and we may possibly have a tasting comparison against Bakon. Stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.

Overall, I applaud Black Rock Spirits for producing Bakon and will certainly savor the rest of my bottle in hopes that it takes off and extends its distribution.

Absinthe

Absinthe has quite a reputation. In the early 1900's, it was thought more to be a drug than a spirit and it was made illegal here in the US and throughout most of Europe, where it was first distilled. However, after merely about a century, people realized that the whole hallucinogenic deal was pretty much a myth, so absinthe is back on the shelves here in the US and in Europe.

So how did it get this drug-like, hallucinogenic reputation?

From what I understand, the basic facts are that it was a drink that became hugely popular. Now, we all know drinking any type of alcohol in excess can lead people into doing dangerous things. With such a widespread popularity, of course there were some alcoholics (especially in the early 1900s) who abused absinthe, which led to problems, which led to social conservatives making a fuss over it. Since absinthe is a high-alcohol product, it was easier to target over traditional spirits, which mostly have 10-20% less alcohol than absinthe.

However, absinthe is made from a combination of herbs which can produce stimulating and sedating effects, a combination that has been called a "lucid drunkenness." With that in mind, it's no wonder that artists and poets embraced it, praising it in their works for its mystery and lure. Logically, the herbs that produce these effects have been called out in the various rumors surrounding absinthe, mainly wormwood.

Wormwood apparently contains a chemical called "thujone." For a long time, people thought that thujone affected our cannabinoid receptors in the way that THC in marijuana does; this has been proven false. In reality, excessive amounts of thujone can cause convulsions and/or epilepsy, a scientific discovery that definitely did not help absinthe supporters. However, it's been proven that original absinthe did, and the absinthe being produced today does, contain low levels of thujone. There is also speculation that early absinthe distillers used additional toxins for coloring, which could easily cause people to hallucinate.

Unfortunately, we don't all have Doc Brown as a friend to take us back to the days when absinthe was at its height of popularity to truly taste this original "green fairy." Fortunately, however, modern-day distilled absinthe is on the shelves across the country so try it for yourself. I recently found a bottle of the French-made "Lucid." The bottle design certainly perpetuates the mystery behind absinthe.

I admit part of me wanted to get a genuine absinthe spoon, run a bath and prepare my first taste of absinthe the traditional way, using a slotted spoon and pouring water over a sugar cube to dilute the high-alcohol of absinthe. I'm not gonna lie though...I just tried it on the rocks, letting the ice do the diluting and leaving out the sugar.

The verdict: definitely no hallucinations, hard to say if it gave me a different type of buzz than other spirits and if you handed me a glass of it without me knowing it was absinthe, I would probably guess it to be sambuca due to its strong licorice/anise/fennell flavor. It does have a slight green tone to it, but once diluted, it turns into a cloudy white liquid called the "louche." In fact, watching it dilute is somewhat hypnotizing, comparable to watching a freshly poured Guinness (part of the lure could be due to this). Overall, a pleasant taste that I would (and will considering I bought a bottle) drink it again. The downside: it ain't cheap! Most importantly, I think, is that dispelled rumors and overhyped myths aside, absinthe still is and still will be a mysterious, historically exciting drink.

Welcome!

Hello there! And welcome to the FIRST EVER blog about beer and spirits.

[Wait, let me start again...]

Hello there! And welcome to the 1,543,256th blog about beer and spirits. So why should you read this one particularly? Because I said so, that's why. This Round's On Me will explore the world of beer, spirits and maybe even occasionally some other types of poisons. Topics will include:

• Drink reviews/previews
• Coverage of local tastings/festivals/breweries
  
• Recent news
• Homebrewing
• Food and Drink pairing, recipes, etc.
• Interesting videos (not the ones of cats playing the keyboard)
  
• Business/marketing side of beer/liquors

So, in a nut shell, anything and everything related to the world of drinking. My brother and fellow blogger, Dan, shall grace his presence with some guest posting here and there. The rest of the time you'll put up with my babbling and you'll enjoy it.

Cheers. Slainte. Prost. Salud. Or however you want to say it.