Colorado Whiskey

I've had this on the shelf for a while and I wanted to review it.  I read something today that prompted me to get off the pot and get this post up.

Cigar Aficianado had a small article about American Craft Spirits.  In this article, Colorado Whiskey is described as tasting like a fine Single Malt Scotch.  No.  No.  No.  Scotch tastes like monkey butt.  This is fine spirit, crafted in the good old US-Of-A, that tastes like an Irish whiskey.  There is nothing smokey, peaty, or gangrenous toe about this whiskey.

It's got honey, cinnamon, toasted nuts, and mint.  The bottles have a pithy hand written note as to what was going on when they were bottled.  Mine says "Listening to '09 ALCS Game 4".

Grade: A-
Cost: $50

Why do I have Cigar Aficianado?  I had to burn expiring airline miles, and it was either that, or a subscription to Diabetes Forecast.

How a drunk guy in Louisiana saved my softball game

First, enjoy.

I first saw this video at the Zane Lamprey tour that came through town a few weeks back.

So, it's softball Sunday.  World Wide Kev is our pitcher, but as usual, he's out of town.  Once again I'm asking myself, just where in the hell is World Wide Kev?  The $6MMm is our sub pitcher.  It's the top of the 7th, were down, they got a lot folks on base with 1 out.  He's walked a batter or two and I could tell that he's kinda struggling.  Now as the coach, you gotta know how to motivate your players.

I yell to him, "This is almost as bad as the time you got arrested for drunk driving on a lawn mower"

We yell back and forth "I know my rights!"  It's even funnier because this is a church league and we're Methodists.

He mows down the next two batters, we rally for a 28-28 tie.  Tie's suck, but since it's World Cup season, we'll take the Canadian Victory.

In regards to the drunk guy on a lawnmower... The adventure continues.

House Bourbon Challenge: Old Ezra 7 vs Buffalo Trace

Let's cut to the chase.  Old Ezra may be the best $10 whiskey that you will ever buy.  It's not good enough to displace Buffalo Trace as my go to house bourbon, but it's pretty darn good.

It clocks in at 101 proof, which is a bit too warm.  There's oak and cinnamon and nut flavor.  It's also  a little bit tannic.  Adding a splash of water helps with the heat and bitterness, and actually brings out some sweetness when drinking it "neat".

And that's the problem.  My house bourbon and rye are going to be used in a Manhattan.  With the higher proof, you end up adding more vermouth to counteract the heat, and the whole thing gets out of whack.  Can't have it.

Grade: C+
Cost: $10
Cost Adjusted Grade: B

What in the world is Beniikko?

From the web: 
Type: Honkaku - Distilled from Beni-Satsuma Sweet Potatoes


Beniikko is an unique Honkaku Shochu distilled from 100% Beni-Satsuma sweet potatoes. Unlike the most shochu that has been produced with Kome(rice)Koji Beniikko is made with Imo(sweet potatoes)Koji. This is the secret to the magnificent rich taste and smell.

Alcohol: 25%
Size: 750ml

Which leads me to ask: What in the world is Shochu?  Shochu is a distilled spirit from Japan that can be made from many raw materials.  Honkaku mens that it was made at a single distillery.  This particular beverage is made from the super special Beni-Satsuma sweet potato.  Wow that sounds great!

Well.... I would call it a raw vodka.  In this example, the flavor is a raw, unwashed sweet potato, which I will euphemistically describe as earthy.  I keep thinking that I don't like it.  But I've refilled my glass 4 times while doing this post.  I'm sure that I did that for purely scientific purposes.  My biggest gripe is the price.

Grade: B-
Cost: $35
Cost Adjusted Grade: C-

A Drinking Education

Two Parts Rye is one of the 50 Amazing Mixology Blogs.  Don't believe me?  Two years later, the assholes asked me to remove the link.  I come in at number 12, which is appropriate.  It's Terry Bradshaw's number.

That's two plugs in a row.  I promise to get back to drinkin' soon.

Drinking Made Easy

There are two people who I admire for having great career ideas.  The first is Mel Kiper, the original draftnik.  He made himself an expert on the college players entering the NFL draft.  He's a guy who had a great idea, and I'm jealous.

There is one man who has an ever better job than Mel, that's Zane Lamprey.  He's the clever/lucky bastard on the right.  Zane has been hosting a show called Three Sheets, in which he travels the world, getting drunk, and telling jokes.  That's right, he had the best idea ever.  It started off on a TV network called MOJO, which is now defunct.  It moved to the Fine Living Network after that.  I had never heard of FLN either, but was pleased to find it buried on the digital tier.  The show is now unofficially/officially moving to the Travel Channel for it's next season.  He's also filming a US centric version of the show for HDNet.

Why am I pimping this show?  Because I got comp'd for his Drinking Made Easy tour in Columbus on Wednesday.  (Thank you Kelly from bigMETHOD PR).  I took the $6MMm with me and we had a blast.  You are probably asking yourself, where in the world was World Wide Kev?  He was packing for a trip.  No shit.  He really was.

Now that my hangover has passed, I can talk about the show.  Here's the remaining tour schedule.

If you have ever seen Three Sheets, then you've got to go.  You'll have a great time.  His opening act is a comedian named Marc Ryan.  I've never heard of him either, but he's pretty damned funny.  After that, some poor schmoe in a Pleepleus costume comes out and does a few minutes of jokes.  Next is Steve McKenna , who does about 5 minutes of material, which basically consists of him drinking.  That's not a disappointing thing.  He's Steve McKenna, the quentisential drunk friend.  After that, Zane's act is basically a power point lesson on booze.  Good stuff.

If you like to have comedians make fun of you at their show.  I recommend that you wear a t-shirt with kittens on it.  You will be the center of attention.

I have to give the Newport Music Hall props for selling 32 oz Columbus Pale Drafts for $7.50.  That's a great concert bargain.

Grade: A

It tastes good, but it's the wrong shade of yellow

My friend Taylor over at Wine Enclave put up a post a while back about how he felt ripped off by buying a several bottles of wine that were highly rated by both Robert Park and Wine Advocate.  It made me wonder about the numbers behind these rating systems.

The 100 point wine scales is shrouded in mystery.  The higher the better.  Over 90 and its good.  That's all that I can tell you.  I find the categories on the beer sites like Beer Advocate and Beer Rating to be somewhat amusing.

Here are the factors at Beer Advocate.

Look: Who cares
Smell: Important
Taste: Important
Feel: Occassionaly interesting, but ultimately irrelevant.
Drink: Redudant combination of taste and feel.

Here at Two Parts Rye, our crack panel of experts, me, go by the tried and true method of I'm always right.  I have yet to disagree with any of my ratings.

There is one case where look is important.  Vino Verde.  It looks like bottled water.  Guess what it tastes like?

I'd like to buy a vowel Pat. I'll take a "W"

Tomas Watkin Cwrw Brâf  One of the "Great Ales of Wales".

Web Stuff: CWRW BRAF - (koo-roo-bràrve)

Cwrw Braf is a clean-drinking, amber-coloured ale with a light bitterness and gentle hop aroma.

A session bitter yet, with all the flavours and quality you would expect from a Tomos Watkin premium ale.

ABV 4.2%

Apparantly in Wales, vowels are optional.  It's an English Bitter.  Does anyone else think that English Bitters taste sweet?  It's drinkable, but I like my beers to have a bit more bite.  Especially when they call themselves bitter.

Grade: B-

The Session #40: The Session

This months session is being hosted by Erik at Top Fermented.  The topic is session beer, a session about session, it's tripping me out.  Or maybe it's the fact that I just spent the day at the zoo with 5 toddlers and an infant.  Either way, I approve of session beer, and now that everyone is asleep, I'm enjoying a few brews myself.