The Cheese Board, what are you drinking?

impulse bought a ancho chile liqueur just now. will try it neat, but it seems to have a lot of mixing potential (tequila, mezcal, rye/bourbon)

Spicy liquers makes me think of egg white and lapscang tea combos.

interesting. what is the purpose of the white, something to do with aesthetics or texture?

it gives it that foamy head (must blend). I am pretty sure I have had a drink like that with a jalapeno tequila.

yeah it adds a sort of foamy creamy-like texture to the drink.
or if you're vegan or not into eggs, you could use aquafava! garbanzo juice does the same job, as i learned at the house of an ilxor!

oops xp

oh, that's a great suggestion, too xp

hmmm, I was looking up the place (Mayamezcal) where I had this drink but it was a very very long time ago so of course it's no longer on the menu. It looks like there are a lot of egg white and mezcal cocktails out there.

i made one with watermelon juice, mezcal, lime, garbanzo juice (or egg white)
it was pretty simple and good! i love mezcal

a little cayenne on the top
mmmmm

going to third the recommendation for mezcal/tequila with ancho chile!

will do! am not very familiar w/mezcal. think i've had it once or twice a long time ago, but have been meaning to re-partake in some for awhile now.

made watermelon margaritas a few times a couple months ago, now i'm wondering why i didn't think to put any habanero in there. doy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oqxzlq85hkuz3jq/IMG_4197.JPG?raw=1

hmmm. interesting.

Ok, I have decided I like it.

btw I finally got some WSET diploma results back and I passed the business unit exam and the tasting portion of the huge wine unit but didn't pass the theory. I think the global pass rate was around 35%. I know I was underprepared and had underestimated it too much but at least I don't have to retake the tasting portion again. In case anyone is interested here were the wines that were the blind tasting exam. It was four flights (3 wines per flight) over 2 hours. First flight was same grape, second same country or region, third quality assessment, fourth was whatever they wanted.

https://www.weinakademie.at/pdf/Unit3key.pdf

feel like the ABV on most of those is really high! i would have expected more of them coming in at 12-12.5

How does the palate even recover after that monster from the Barossa in the first flight?

Tracer, I was even surprised when I saw the alcohol because I started second guessing myself when all the alcohol seemed medium+ to high over and over. But bottle labeling, depending on the country, can have a small error tolerance of +/- 1.5 percent alcohol sometimes. And places like Argentina, California and Australia, any hotter climate or a hot vintage will always have higher alcohol.

Ed, I know people were mad about the amount of red wines, especially at 10am in the morning, and that they put that Mosel (because it was semi sweet) right before the gruner veltliner.

That first flight I kind of screwed up. Like, I got the countries right but for some reason I got it into my head early on that it was cabernet sauvignon even though I knew it didn't have enough tannin and I was tricking myself into thinking the wine was redder than it was. But I think the rest of my tasting notes were good enough that it didn't matter. I had wanted to change it to syrah but ran out of time and I had written in pen. After that I switched to pencil.

Contrats Yerac! How was that syrah? We are Thanksgiving-ing not far from that producer...

Thx! (although I am only halfway done and am dreading trying to finish). You should to that producer and tell me what you think. I didn't know that them at all but I knew it was from the USA based upon the tasting notes (so it was definitely more fruit finesse, bold). All the wines I think I had as good or very good, with maybe two outstandings. The wines are chosen and sent out from London so they can control the availability and variation and they have the local schools and master of wine program people doing day of tasting notes to grade against.

Everything about that Barossa Shiraz screams ‘do not drink me’, I’m sure it was much better than i’m Imagining.

It seems to be heavily reviewed (favorably) and in the $50USD price range.

Oh, I am remembering this now. I thought it was a high alcohol bordeaux at first. It was good.

Spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Venice a couple weeks ago at the end of vacation. We walked eight miles all over San Marco, San Polo, and Dorsoduro popping into five different wine bars and visiting four churches in between. Venice has a great little natural wine scene. Brought home a bottle of cloudy prosecco.

Planning to go to a fancy (for me) steak house tonight in DC (St Anselm's) and I'm most excited about the wine list. Already planning to have the Channing Daughter's Ramato orange pinot grigio, and...maybe...this carbonic cab franc from Maryland?

They serve my fave lambrusco but it's $14 a glass and I'm bringing a $15 bottle with me to drink at the hotel so thanks but no thanks.

https://m.imgur.com/a/O0ZpF2b

Picked up some dessert wine and vin jaune at auction for Christmas Day, and a few bits and bobs from Spain + Germany.

Drink the Envinate reasonably often, but I’m excited to try the others - hardly ever drink godello so particularly curious about the Del Vivo.

Anyone in London got recommendations for good independent wine shops? Something interesting/unstuffy etc. Italian deli near me (Bambuni in Nunhead) is my go-to if I run out and need a bottle, but their selection isn’t massive and a bit of variety would be great.

Wow, where do you go for wine auctions? I always assume they're for £50000 bottle of 150 year old stuff that's for investment rather than drinking.

I too am interested in London wine shop recs. Locally to me and BF I like Terroirs on Lordship Lane, which can tend to the expensive but they're also happy to enthuse about the cheaper end of their range. I find Theatre of Wine on Trafalgar Road in Greenwich pretty good, they keep an interesting range of sherry.

I love wine auctions. I used to have friends do Christies a lot and we had a group of friends that would split the cases between ourselves so we had more buying power and flexibility. I got a bottle of Maison Surrenne Unblended 1946 grande champagne COgnac and paid ~$45 for my bottle. I think it's $400-600 usually. I think I have about 4 inches in the bottle left.

just picked up a bottle of Patxaran

old friend of mine i worked with at a wine shop in sf lives in London now and works at this place that is probably really nice
https://www.bbr.com/ Berry Bros. and Rudd on St. James St.
xpost

yeah, I always have people say Berry Bros, Philglas & Swiggot, and Hedonism for London. I think Majestic is also completely fine in a pinch and they have good deals. I always end up just going to whichever wine store is closest to wherever I am that day in London. The last time I wanted to try a bottle of Nyetimber and I ended up at Amathus Soho on Wardour and they seemed pretty knowledgeable and nice.

Antiques Roadshow expert drinks 180-year-old urine, rusty nails and a human hair after mistaking liquid for port https://t.co/pSYSdCfnyY

— The Independent (@Independent) December 30, 2019

I am now thinking of whether it would be better or worse if the urine was fresher.

mmm, rusty nails. i need to get some scotch and drambuie

t/s: sarcophagus juice vs 180-year-old urine, rusty nails and a human hair

coffin liquor ftw

mmmmmmm

old urine would have far less microplastics, I guess.

not drinking them yet, but today i happened to be driving by a liquor store i was familiar with from when i lived closer to it. unfortunately, it's going out of business and they were selling their inventory at cost. grabbed a couple bottles of rittenhouse rye for 20 bucks each, a 2012 domaine vieux telegraphe chateauneuf-du-pape for $60 (down from $100) and a 2001 (!) domaine jean-louis chave hermitage that, based on other pricing online, i got for cheeeeaaaap.

oh that Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe is a really good price. I have two bottles of the 2012 vintage too and I think I got it at a steal even at like $70.

Milan nestarec forks and knives red

V good, fruity as hell, soft tannins

Grabbed the last(?) sixer of Stone’s Fear Movie Lions double IPA from my local grocery today. I hope there’s more in the back or on the way soon, it’s become a staple

Had some good BC natty reds last couple days, neon eon horizon -zweigelt,syrah, merlot blend - which was smoothly tannic, and artakama pinot noir which was fruity earthy and acidic and went down easy chilled.

I broke into some cheap sake I had stored away in the pantry. I think it cost $9 for 1.5 liters. It's pretty bland and neutral tasting, even as cheap sake goes. It doesn't complement food, but doesn't detract, either. I haven't bothered to warm it, since I'm skeptical that would improve it any.

Partida Creus VN (natural white blend from Catalonia using grapes traditionally used for Cava). This was really awesome.

La Cave des Nomades - De Paris A Paris. Natural red from Banyuls. Maker is a Portuguese musician who caught the winemaking bug in France. Slight natural wine prickle that blew off in a couple minutes leaving just ethereal light fruit.

A friend of mine makes natural wine wine in NY in very small quantities. I was really excited to open a red wine from 2018, but had to pour it out: it came out looking (and smelling) brown.

I have been trying to open one nicer bottle from my cellar per week but I totally missed this weeknd.

yeah, natural wine, if it's not made by a larger producer, I drink it right away. There is a reason people stabilize wine.

I bought a couple of bottles of subirat parent from Partida Creus a while ago and definitely didn’t get lucky - first one tasted like pickled onion flavour biscuits, second one remains unopened and may well do forever more.

Mee Godard beaujolais and sweet Fritz Haag Rowling for me, also got a case of the new Envinate white (Taganan Campanario) which I’m really excited to try - I love everything they do.

Have also seemingly moved into the single malt stage of lockdown (my girlfriend is sick so we aren’t leaving the house at all which may help explain this). Don’t know much about whisky but enjoying my Ardbeg Uigeadail.

yeah, natural wine, if it's not made by a larger producer, I drink it right away. There is a reason people stabilize wine.

Up until the last six months or so I never really had any particular issues with natural wine, at least no more than with regular (non-natural) wine. I didn't say much about it, but kind of blew off a lot of the negative talk up thread. I don't know if I had just been very lucky for years and years or if I moved to even smaller producers recently (probably both), but I've had a bad run with having to pour out 3-4 bottles in the last six months.

considering buying some piquette from a BC producer whose natty wines I like. any opinions on piquette?

Anyone had any of that Canadian vodka-or-whatever made from lactose?

https://www.dairydistillery.com/collections/spirits/products/vodkow