Rick Santorum - Beer Lover

This weekend unlikely GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum did something I wish more candidates would do. And he did it without the hilarious and pitiful result that Hillary had four years ago.

From Chicago Sun-Times

 Santorum went to Millstream Brewery in Iowa and waxed lyrical about beer. I appreciate a candidate who can actually taste a beer and decide if it's any good. I can't describe typical American Beer consumption as anything other than lazy. Why oh why would you settle for Miller/Bud/Coors every time when five seconds of tasting a six pack that's almost as cheap (and possibly cheaper based on alcohol content) will tell you what types of beer you enjoy.




As Santorum went on, he displayed one of my main issues with social conservatism - he's willing to think about some important things like beer and be totally thoughtless on others. At the bottom of the Huffington Post article, he bares his stripes: "Instead of the story of the prince and the princess, there will be stories about two princes." Yeah, because gay marriage being made legal (or, more precisely, it was declared in violation of the state's constitution to ban it) will totally make it so all children are corrupted by stories about gay princes. The creepy stories we already have definitely make all kids sleep with 7 dwarfs, wear glass footwear, and stay in castles with large hairy and violent beasts. Not to mention kleptomania induced sing-alongs with Robin-Williams blue genies. Stick to drinking beer Rick, you won't have my vote ever.

I am ashamed at myself for missing this story. I do not even know where to start on this one. I guess most things in North America go back to how much Canadians love hockey. Being a proud drinker of my birth state's beer, I heartily approve of President Obama's choice of a case of Yuengling to supplement the mandatory case of Molson.

Here's to a US victory over Sidney and the Canadians next time around!

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.

Di Saronno

With a heady and unexpected smell, my first drink of Disaronno a few weeks back was delicious. I had always thought of it as a little too flashy of a liqueur because of their commercials a few years back. The cocktail I was making was the penultimate on my goal to try all 10; The Godfather. I have no plans currently to try the Zombie, though I'm sure I will eventually. If it warrants, perhaps it will return on a post about the undead?

Found on Drink Studio

Much to my surprise, Disaronno is a delicious and unique drink. Dating back hundreds of years, Ameretto now appears to me to be a nice addition to the homebar. While not yet worthy of a 'core' liqueur status, I certainly don't regret adding a bottle of Disaronno like I do that bottle of Floe Gin from a while back. Update: DON'T expect a post about making my own Sloe Gin, that stuff is not good.

Git' Drunk

Additional Amaretto A-Links
Cocktail DB on Amaretto

Wikipedia on Amaretto

Actual Wikipedia on Disaronno

Cocktail - Stinger

While this cocktail is listed as a nightcap, I find it has a lot of potential in other situations as well. The thing about how your mouth tastes late into a night of drinking is that you're too drunk to care that your barbecue chicken tequila rum beer milk breath is gross. Luckily, I recently came across the Stinger. It's simple to make and uses ingredients that will (at least for me) stick around for a while. Plus, when you're done, your mouth is fresh and your belly cool and settled. 

Stinger
1 Part Brandy
1 Part Creme de Menthe

Shake hard with five or six ice cubes; err on the side of less ice in the shaker. The sloshing, foaming consistency you want requires a harder shake and less ice. Pour into any rounded glass, ice and all.

Was reminded of this from The 10 Manliest Cocktails. I didn't like their recipe as much as I like an even proportion, but as Cocktail DB says, "NOTE: Vary proportions to alter sweetness level"