It's always five o'clock somewhere

Arnathor said:
Having my second serving of Lustau Oroloso Don Nuno, I'm liking it much more than the first tasting. I like the bait and switch of the sweet, nutty nose and then the bone dry taste. It is kind of amusing how I've stayed to the outskirts of wine by drinking port and now sherry without ever really wanting to drink wine itself.
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Lustau Almacenista sherries are sound.
 
Arnathor said:
Has anyone tried Mount Gay Black Barrel?
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No, but I've had the XO and that is very good sipping rum.

Kingstonian said:
South African pinotage did not appeal. Mind you it was Lidl bargain basement version. I liked their previous South African wine of the week. It had a nice picture of an African animal on the label like many good wines.
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Was never a big fan of South African wine, until I went there and was introduced to the good stuff. Which was very recently, back in November 2019.

One of the problems with South African when it started to open-up after the sanctions, the first wave of wine importers wanted to follow the Australian model and flood the market with cheap and cheery supermarket wine. Lots of volume but low quality.

They make great brandy as well. But you won't get that out of country.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
No, but I've had the XO and that is very good sipping rum.


Was never a big fan of South African wine, until I went there and was introduced to the good stuff. Which was very recently, back in November 2019.

One of the problems with South African when it started to open-up after the sanctions, the first wave of wine importers wanted to follow the Australian model and flood the market with cheap and cheery supermarket wine. Lots of volume but low quality.

They make great brandy as well. But you won't get that out of country.
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I like ‘cheap and cheery’. Lidl Californian Merlot in a screw top is my benchmark.

More expensive wines often disappoint and I can never find all the tastes and nuances the reviewers mention.

Beer money and beer tastes is a good combination.
 
Kingstonian said:
I like ‘cheap and cheery’. Lidl Californian Merlot in a screw top is my benchmark.

More expensive wines often disappoint and I can never find all the tastes and nuances the reviewers mention.

Beer money and beer tastes is a good combination.
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Of the supermarket wines, Lidl is the best. Anything in there €10 and above will likely be exceptional and so buy it!

The problem for the supermarket is that whilst they have the buying power to secure the best fruit and vegetables, you can't readily do that with limited runs that is quality wine.

Back in the early to mid 1990s like everyone I was into New World wines and along with Chile, New Zealand and Napa valley wines were all the rage. I see USA wines as sugary crap now. There's no good stuff to be procured here. You can get exceptional Australian wines here, the €100+ stuff and more cost effectively than you can get it in Australia. But I wouldn't spend that on a wine unless it was going to be appreciated and not only by me.
 
Rum Bar Gold, a blend of pot still Jamaican rums. €21 a bottle. Great little mixer.

Down to my last double cognac glass of Martell XO, for the price, not overly impressed. Very slightly more expensive than the Cordon Bleu, but the Cordon has a wider expression on the palate. I'll be sticking to the Cordon Bleu in future.

A friend of mine once told me he decided to give up cognac as he was getting sick of drinking a bottle and having no hangover the next day. I've only ever over indulged in brandy once and that was in Barcelona in a fish restaurant near the Port Olimpic. It was afternoon business drinking, another English chap and me did a bottle of Torres 10 year old in after the meal, beer and wine before hand.
 
Persuaded to go down the pub on Friday. Brought a heavy winter jumper along. However, beach huts in garden now have heaters installed. Blankets were also available to buy for a fiver. Buy back for same price when leaving. So not too bad.

In spoons at lunchtime. Regulars on same table. Oakham beer on but not a full range yet. Nice to be back inside a pub.
 
Getting a bottle of Barbancourt 8YO Rum this afternoon. First offering I've had from Haiti. (How do y'all say it? Hate-Tee? Hi-Ate-Tee? - I know a Scot who says Hi-Ate-Tee)
 
Arnathor said:
Getting a bottle of Barbancourt 8YO Rum this afternoon. First offering I've had from Haiti. (How do y'all say it? Hate-Tee? Hi-Ate-Tee? - I know a Scot who says Hi-Ate-Tee)
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Excellent choice! I have a bottle of the 15 year-old waiting to be opened. I bought a tasting sample some months ago, liked it a lot. Some internet people claim the 8 is even better than the 15.
 
güero said:
Excellent choice! I have a bottle of the 15 year-old waiting to be opened. I bought a tasting sample some months ago, liked it a lot. Some internet people claim the 8 is even better than the 15.
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Argh, I just missed the 15 by a matter of minutes. Some lucky person got the last one. But I will be quite happy with the 8. It was that or a bottle of Eagle Rare Bourbon.
 
Arnathor said:
How would you describe the taste?
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My notes from the time only say smells a bit like liquorice, tastes like citrus fruits, rather sweet, long and extremely mild finish. According the the usual lists it has a bit of additives in it. I only had the small sample so far, so can't really say too much.
 
Quilp, the villainous dwarf in Charles Dickens ‘Old Curiosity Shop’, drinks something called Schiedam which his companion describes as vile firewater.

I had to look it up. It is Dutch gin. Quilp probably wasn’t drinking the better quality offerings.
 
Kingstonian said:
Quilp, the villainous dwarf in Charles Dickens ‘Old Curiosity Shop’, drinks something called Schiedam which his companion describes as vile firewater.

I had to look it up. It is Dutch gin. Quilp probably wasn’t drinking the better quality offerings.
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Schiedam is still the major distilling capitol of the Netherlands for gin and jenever. There's the National Jenever museum as well. Schiedam is basically a suburb of Rotterdam. The museum makes it's own branded jenever which is very good. There's a few good distilleries there.

Most of the Dutch distilleries now produce along with jenever and malt wines, English style gins. That's a very recent development. When I first came to the Netherlands if you asked for a G&T in bars and restaurants outside of the expat places, they wouldn't know what you were asking for.

I'm told by a Dutch mixologist that the Dutch palate can't take Schweppes tonic water, it's too bitter. But you can now get Schweppes here along with a couple of Dutch and foreign tonic waters.

Gin, jenever and certainly the malt wines are not interchangeable. Most jenevers don't suit being mixed and they're very earthy and malty, but not necessarily in a good way. It's not like whisky or other grain based alcohol, it is unique and the good stuff is very pure and you won't need to worry too much about impurities.

There is the infamous Head-Butt: a shot of jenever, washed down with a Heineken.
 
Bought a bottle of this black tomato gin, we'll see how good it is later:

Blog-Black-Tomato.webp
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
I'm told by a Dutch mixologist that the Dutch palate can't take Schweppes tonic water, it's too bitter. But you can now get Schweppes here along with a couple of Dutch and foreign tonic waters.
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I think that mixologist doesn’t know shit, because Schweppes is probably the sweetest tonic water you can get. Also, it has been available in NL for at least three decades (I bought it there in the early nineties) and probably forever. It used to be the only one available in each and every supermarket.
 
güero said:
I think that mixologist doesn’t know shit, because Schweppes is probably the sweetest tonic water you can get. Also, it has been available in NL for at least three decades (I bought it there in the early nineties) and probably forever. It used to be the only one available in each and every supermarket.
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Are you sure it wasn't some Dutch cod Schweppes, London brand or other such like in a yellow labelled bottle?

Schweppes certainly in the last 17 years has only been available in select supermarkets very recently. I use to struggle getting in and still can only get the diet variety in the expat shops.
Rambo said:
that looks horrid
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Actually, it's rather good. Quite a tang to it.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
Are you sure it wasn't some Dutch cod Schweppes, London brand or other such like in a yellow labelled bottle?

Schweppes certainly in the last 17 years has only been available in select supermarkets very recently. I use to struggle getting in and still can only get the diet variety in the expat shops.

Actually, it's rather good. Quite a tang to it.
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I don’t know, maybe there is a good Schweppes the English keep for themselves. I’m talking about this one:




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Isn’t that what’s called “Schweppes Tonic”? They have the 1l PET bottles of all their standard products at AH and in many other places.
 
Bought some more of that Black Tomato gin, Copper Head too and Ferdinand's Saar Dry Gin ''Slate Riesling Infused''. It gives the vintage of the Riesling on the label, which in my bottle's case was 2017. It made a very good pre-dinner G&T last night.

First time I've seen Asbach 8 year old, the standard 3 year old is very hit and miss. Depending on the batch it can be quite rough and other times it's pretty good for the price. Had the 8 year old after dinner whilst watching the Eurovision last night, very balanced and elegant. No complaints there.
 
I have been drinking Campari and some sparkling italian as I had to use the bitters for a prawn broth for pasta. It reminds me of my lazy holiday mornings in Paris or Barcelona.

On to roses and sparkling now that temperatures are closer to 30c. I don’t have a drop of whisky right now in my cupboard.
 
Picked up a Mount Gay XO. Also discovered you can use the word symposium to describe having a drinking party.

The word originally comes from the ancient Greek sympinein, meaning 'to drink together.'
 
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Anyone drink this? I saw and bought it on a whim last weekend. 3/4 through now.
 
Fwiffo said:
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Anyone drink this? I saw and bought it on a whim last weekend. 3/4 through now.
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Scapa I use to really rate. I see it's a bit cheaper than it was when I was getting lashed into it 2010-2011.

Jura and Scapa were new whisky distilleries I considered top of the game back then. Hope it's still as good?
 
Scape Skiren. Bit sweet for me. Obviously not Irish whiskey sweet. Hint of peat. I gravitate towards peaty whiskys though.
 
Fwiffo said:
Scape Skiren. Bit sweet for me. Obviously not Irish whiskey sweet. Hint of peat. I gravitate towards peaty whiskys though.
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Some reviews say it's highly honeyed. From the tasting profile, it would likely work for palate at the moment. But still can't get back into whiskies, probably a good thing.
 
South African gins are very good and recommended if you see them, but not many make it for export. Saw this and hasn't disappointed:

www.pienaar.nl

Pienaar Empire Gin

Pienaar Empire is een verfrissende gin gemaakt van neutrale, uiterst zuiver Zuid-Afrikaanse maïs. Infused met Kaapse botanicals die zorgvuldig zijn geselecteerd als eerbetoon aan de oorspronkelijke Kaapse gins.
www.pienaar.nl www.pienaar.nl
 
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