Drink the Best Wine First - Or Just Stick to Cheap Wine. Your Call.

While I may heartily agree with Nanuchka, I also don't think the best wine has to be expensive. Given my past swilling break-even Welch's, I can honestly say I have enjoyed cheap wine on many an occasion.

Recently, however, I have fallen victim to what appears to be an American trend in wine purchasing: Almost every bottle I buy is $12-$18. While I sometimes plan on buying a cheap magnum of wine, I am seduced by the rack upon rack of wine and when my eyes are dragged to the sale bottles, I end up thinking "$11.99 down from $15.99, that's a steal" when I should really be thinking "If they can sell it for 3/4 the listed price, I could probably find something that tastes as good for 1/4 the price."

A recent Slate article prompted me to write on this topic. Also, according to Slate, one of the biggest complaints some people have (I've never really minded this) about cheap wine - the inconsistent quality - is no longer a factor because of "falling market share over the last 15 years."

So, here's to drinking cheap wine from large glasses and getting flushed without paying much.

Oh Nein Meine Trauben

Earlier this week an awesome/awful crime was committed. Around 5,500 lbs of premium grapes were stolen in the middle of the night from a German vineyard. The gutsy thieves brought their own harvester and escaped with nothing but tracks in the mud.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/bild-787436-263023.html

Instead of the desperate work of professionals, I personally hope it was a pair or trio of home-brewers out to make the wine batch of their lives. How cool would it be to have a couple years worth of premium pirated wine locked away in your cellar? Just saying.

Brewmaster in Chief - Medal of Honor

Click Here for the first post on the Brewmaster in Chief

The Medal of Honor is only given to members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States."Army Decorations Guide

There are only three living recipients of the Medal of Honor, and more than half since WWII have been awarded posthumously. Last Friday, President Obama obliged the request of the most recent recipient, former Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, and had a beer with him on the Oval Office patio.

 Meyer's choice of Budweiser was replaced by none other than the Brewmaster in Chief's "White House Honey Blond Ale." Whew, dodged a bullet there Mr. President - switching out the adjunct-laden Bud for some good ol' fashioned homebrew. This summer the President and his (likely the guys behind 90% of the brewing) lackeys put down some Honey Porter. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, has been giving help and suggestions to the White House, since they are just "experimenting."

All pictures and information were taken from the White House's own blogger site, http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com 

Brewmaster in Chief

Barack Obama - The United States first Brewmaster in Chief

Last month at the White House Super Bowl party something historic occurred. For the first time ever in American history, the President served beer brewed on site. The beer, which was the "White House Honey Ale," was made using honey from the White House beehive.

At the party, there were approximately 100 12oz bottles served, and there are plans in the works not only for more beer, but TO GROW HOPS IN THE WHITE HOUSE GARDEN.

All pictures and information were taken from the White House's own blogger site, http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

Scotch and Shackleton's Stash to be Studied

Aged Scotch dating to the 1907 Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica, led by Ernest Shackleton was flown by private jet to a lab in Scotland for testing and tasting. 

http://www.coolantarctica.com/images/shackleton.jpg

Researchers could hear the Scotch sloshing around despite the -22ºF.

I like my whisky almost any way, from rocket fuel to smooth and smoky, but I can't imagine how rich this stuff must taste.  My only problem is, I am the chagrined owner of a case of 'aging' dandelion wine.  Now this dandelion wine is home-brew as most of you know. My concern with this Nimrod Whisky is that no matter how excited you are about a bottle that's been hidden away, that doesn't mean it's any good.  Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway, since the scotch being tested and tasted for six weeks before going back into cold storage.

Homebrew Update - Drinking!

Well, this is certainly overdue.  I had the first bottle of Red Irish Ale two weeks ago, and it was delicious.  As I'd said, I was skeptical about it at bottling time.  The amount of sediment was off-putting, and the taste was overpowering.

I guess this makes me a little more experienced at brewing now, as I'm more willing to be comfortable with a strong taste or a doubtful beer.  Lesson learned - don't jump the gun.

The Red Irish Ale was just a shade or two darker than it could have been, and a shade or two cloudier than it could have been, but as my father said "I've bought ales at brewpubs that were worse than this." Now that's the kind of endorsement I love.

If you brew, I must recommend that you take the investment and buy a few cases of 22oz bottles (or pint ones if you'd really prefer), because it is worlds away from the labor that went into finding, washing, de-labeling, and sanitizing bottles when I made wine for years.  I'm sure there are many more erudite recommendations I could make, but in terms of hassle saved, having clean, unused bottles was a huge step up.  Next I think I'll spring for a bottle-washing brush, I'm getting tired of using the bent-hangar-and-rag method.

I'll include pictures when I get to it, but don't hold your breath - I'm away for the rest of the summer adventuring among other things - posts should be spotty.

Homebrew Update - Bottling

Last Monday, I bottled my Irish Red!  It came to exactly 24 22oz bottles - or 4 gallons.  I'd been prepared for the fluid loss, but 1/3 loss?? Must have been that 36 hours I didn't manage to check on it while it was in primary, and when I looked, the airlock had blown off the carboy, and flown almost 15 feet away.  It took me nearly ten minutes just to find the thing.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the bottling process:

Freshly sterilized bottles










The carboy as it losses contents...






Ant's eye view into the bottle

 Halfway there!








All done!  Now the trick is only to wait another two weeks - or a week from the time of this post.  Then it'll be time to drink.

After the preview I had from taking the hydrometer reading, I'm expecting it to be crisply hoppy, but chock-full of sediment.  Not exactly the ideal beer in my estimation.  But it'll be something to build on.  Update next weekend after I've tried a few.

Homebrew Update

Well, my first home-brew beer in a while is doing well.  I had to clean and put the airlock back on four times over the course of the first four days - one time it took me nearly ten minutes to find the body of the airlock and cork, as they'd flown nearly ten feet away.

I guess I'll have to learn as I do more of these.  I feel a little like I have too much sediment in the beer, and I'm hoping it really clears up over its time in secondary.  I won't really be able to call it red ale if it's opaque and brown.

Racked into secondary, so all that remains is to wait it out! Then condition, bottle, and finally drink.

Not sure what I'll make to follow it, but I'm thinking of starting another batch when I bottle this one, that way I'll have plenty of beer for the weeks I'm home during the summer.

Redface's Red Ale #1

What a week I had.  I felt like I accomplished a lot this week, from getting a job, to building a wood burning stove, to 'floating' at the math and science night.  But Friday topped the week off.  I stopped at the only brew supply store anywhere near me, and got all I needed to restart brewing.

It'd been a while, so in order to not screw everything up by being rusty, I relied on my wine-brewing sense to slow everything down.  That might've been the most important thing Jake and I learned when we brewed all those batches years ago - as long as you don't rush things, you'll end up with some good booze.  As simple as that. 

Well, anyway, here's my first solo brew:














This morning it was bubbling away - a sure sign that Booze is on it's way.

More to come on the homebrew front!