Beseech thy lord

[ChickenSoup]

Haha, can't say I have. Uncultured philistines, lol. The peaty islay malts are wonderfully smokey and earthy.

That being said, it's not necessarily an acquired taste, but it does seem to be for a particular crowd.
You know. Real men.

Every time I drink scotch, I feel a sharp little pain on the skin of my chest. I checked once, to find a new thick hair actively sprouting.

[ArchAngel]

You ever have one of those dreams after you've partied all night where you wake up and all of your expensive scotch is drank up?

Also, do you find the smell of peat smoke extremely lingering? I can still get a whiff of it in the air and it's been a few hours.

I haven't had any of it at my house, so I can't say. I'll keep an eye out for it when I do, though.

And no, I've never had my good stuff disappear. Drunk Tim drinks cheap stuff and it's very clear to all those around me that if my good scotch goes missing, I take repayment in blood or body parts.

Every time I drink scotch, I feel a sharp little pain on the skin of my chest. I checked once, to find a new thick hair actively sprouting.

Haha. If you haven't tried an Islay single malt like Laphroaig, I highly recommend it. It gives your chest hair chest hair.

[Orodrist]

Oh yeah, I wouldn't touch my good stuff drunk either. I just had a dream where I woke up and it was gone and freaked out lol.

Would it be terrible of me to make an Islay hot sauce?

[ArchAngel]

My interest has been piqued.

[Orodrist]

I'll let you know how it turns out.


Have you ever noticed how much of an incredible difference a few percent ABV change can feel? I'm used to drinking IPA's in the 7-8% range when I fish, but today I was drinking Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot barleywine (beer snob says meh) at 11% and after two and a rum and coke over six hours, I stood up, sat back down and called for a ride. I was pretty well gone, and I'm no lightweight. Empty stomach i suppose.

[ArchAngel]

Totally. A couple percent "counts" as another drink. An IPA is pretty easily two "beers," a double IPA as 3, especially a bomber. At 11-12 %, you're looking at downing 4 beers in the time of one. Hard to notice until you do the math.

[Deepfreeze32]

When it comes to "cheap*" beer, what's your poison?

*cheap meaning low-price, not necessarily low quality. What you drink when you just want a lot of it, in other words

[ArchAngel]

If I'm drinking a lot of beer, I'm usually doing bombers of Hop Stoopid or what not. Not necessarily cheap beer, though.

On a more mass-market brew, I could be pretty comfortable with Sierra Nevada Pale Ales. Pretty common to find on tap and if they're doing pitchers at a bar, that's a pretty solid choice for the night.

[Orodrist]

Agree, SNPA is pretty much available everywhere. Not PBR cheap but its no bad.


What kind of bottle opener do you use?

[ArchAngel]

I have several.

Keep this on me at all times:

Incredibly useful, and a far easier on my fingers than an old steel ring I used.

Have this lying around my house, which ends up being my main one when I'm home:


I also have several corkscrews like these lying around that that also do the job.


But, my latest addition to the arsenal:


Works great, and has the best feel for opening. Didn't really think it'll be a thing, but gotta say, this feels super satisfying when you pop off the cap. Good heft, the fulcrum gives great leverage. Comes off smoothly. Holds the cap when you're done, too.
You can also kill a small animal with it. Quite possibly the ultimate bottle opener; quickly became my favorite.

[Orodrist]

Yeah I'm definitely a fan of large chunks of metal. I was planning on getting Stone's bottle opener next check.





What's your take on low alcohol beers? I've been sampling beers 5% or less the last few days trying to find a more suitable candidate for fishing. I found Founders All Day IPA to be good, Stone's Levitation a bit better, wish I could find the session IPA they make. Probably gonna be my go to light beer.

[ArchAngel]

Stone's Session IPA is pretty solid for a 4.5%. Hop bursted, so it has some nice flavor on the finish. That's one sweet looking bottle opener, too. Tell me what you think of it when you get it.

[Orodrist]

So I was thinking and sipping, cause that usually ends soooo well. My freeze distillation methods can usually get around 50-60 proof out of about a <5%ABV cider. If I were to ferment a barley mash with hyped up yeast to around 10% plus ABV (and iirc there's a yeast out there that can handle 25%), then jacked it, I could probably get a good 80 proof, if not more. I can't afford an oak barrel, but I could put it on oak chips which would be faster anyway....


Thoughts?

[ArchAngel]

I can't remember the term, but some whiskey makers put oak slats or inserts into their barrels to either extend the life or to add some extra character. If I remember correctly, more the former. Oak chips will probably do pretty nicely. It's been also done to try to "fix" some poor whiskeys.

That's pretty sweet, though! How has your previous distills gone?

[Orodrist]

I do applejack every so often and that turns out great. Basically woodchuck on steroids. I tried making an agave based drink but for some reason it didn't ferment well. I blame store bought agave syrup.

I can't recall if I've asked this already or not, but have you done any brewery tours?