Cucapá Tequila Barrel Aged Ale

Wow!  It is a rare occasion when you can say that I've never had anything like this before, and you can also say that it is good.  It is a barley wine aged in tequila barrels, apparently it's the first tequila barrel aged beer.  Let me tell you, it's something special.

It's sweet, but not sugary.  There is of course agave and some lime in the flavor and oddly enough cola, with a bit of bitterness in the finish.  It's a tough one to describe, other than it tastes really good.  And, since it's a barley wine.  I'm feeling quite happy.

This is the first beer that I have reviewed in 4 months, and only the third in the last year and a half.  That should say something right there.  Let me tell, you, I've drank a lot of beers not worth writing about.

Ransom Old Tom Gin

What is an Old Tom Gin?  It's another "authentic" reproduction of a gin that used to be popular in ye olden times.  I have a couple of them in my bar and one of the consistent things about them is that they are sweeter than your typical London Dry.

This gin is cool for several different reasons.  It is partially made from a whiskey base, instead of a pure neutral spirit. It is also barrel aged.  It has your normal juniper, orange, coriander notes, along with a lot of cardamon and hint of sugar in the finish.  It costs $40 dollars and is a craft spirit worth the extra cash.

I am currently sipping on a variation of an Ephemeral Cocktail.

The Super Bowl is Harbaugh Free Cocktail.

• Two Shots Ransom Old Tom Gin
• 1/2 Shot Cocchi Vermouth Di Torino
• 1/2 Shot St. Germaine
• Several Dashes of Fees Grapefruit Bitters

Woodford Reserve 1838 Sweet Mash

In my review of Woodford's Rare Rye, I mentioned that I had noticed a trend in the flavor of the master's distiller's collection.  There is an unpleasant leather flavor to these whiskeys that I just don't like.

The Sweet Mash is an interesting concept.  If you look at your typical bottle of bourbon, it will say sour mash, that is because the yeast used to make that whiskey has some history.  They use yeast from the previous batch to make the next batch, creating an awesome bourbon family-tree-time-machine that has a somewhat acidic ph, hence sour mash.  This whiskey was made with a brand new culture, and is therefore a sweet mash.

All I know is that I bought this bourbon last year, check that, two years ago, in Clarksville just before the Steelers laid the wood on the Titans.  It cost $120 and tastes like leather with a touch of honey and basically sucks.

The Power Wry 2012 Wrap-up

I guess Alabama is the champ.  Since Auburn didn't collect their trophy last year.  You can have their's.  I hope that you don't mind that it is engraved with Auburn's motto of "Roll Tide".  Awkward.

What did we learn from the bowls?  Hint.  Not much.

• Gildan New Mexico Bowl: Temple Defeated Wyoming 37-15, becoming the Buck-Buck champions of 2012.
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Ohio Defeated Utah St. 24-23, Ohio won.  Brady Hoke is confused.  It's like the time where he tried to figure out the difference between ham and spam.
• R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Marshall Defeated Florida Intl 20-10.  It's about time we kicked Florida out of the union.
• San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: TCU Defeated Louisiana Tech 31-24.
• MAACO Las Vegas Bowl: Boise St. Defeated Arizona St. 56-24.
• Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Southern Miss Defeated Nevada 24-17.  Thank god we don't have to pay attention to Paris Sheraton any longer.
• Advocare V100 Independence: Bowl Missouri Defeated North Carolina 41-24.  Is that a boner pill?
• Little Caesar's Bowl: Purdue Defeated W Michigan 37-32.  Preview of next years MAC Championship game.
• BELK Bowl: NC State Defeated Louisville 31-24.  BELK is like suet, only classier.
• Milatary Bowl: Presented By Northrop Grumman Toledo Defeated Air Force 42-41.  Your tax dollars at work.  Muah-ha-ha-ha-cough-ha.
• Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl: Texas Defeated California 21-10.  And we learned nothing.
• Champs Sports Bowl: Florida St Defeated Notre Dame 18-14.  And I'm only up to December 29th.  Fingers starting to ache.  Better take my rheumatiz medicine.  Also, Notre Dame sucks.
• Alamo Bowl: Baylor Defeated Washington 67-56.  I had no idea that George Washington was killed at the Alamo.  See, you learn something new every day.
• Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl: BYU Defeated Tulsa 24-21.  Once again, your tax dollars at work.  Muah-ha-ha-ha-cough-ha.
• New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Rutgers Defeated Iowa St 27-13.  Shitty game, snappy looking suit.
• Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Miss St. Defeated Wake Forest 23-17.  Can we foreclose on this bowl.
• Insight Bowl: Oklahoma Defeated Iowa 31-14.  Here's some insight, Kurt Ferentz is overrated.
• Meineke Care Care Bowl of Texas: Texas A&M Defeated Northwestern 33-22.  Thank you Northwestern for being the one thing we can count on in these uncertain times.  A Northwestern bowl loss.
• Hyundai Sun Bowl: Utah Defeated Georgia Tech 30-27.  And Kim Jong Il is dead.
• Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl Illinois Defeated UCLA 20-14.  Could have renamed it the Kraft Your Coach Just Got Fired Bowl.
• Autozone Liberty Bowl: Cincinnati Defeated Vanderbilt 31-24.  Zip em up.
• Chick fil-A Bowl:  Auburn Defeated Virginia 43-24.  Needs more hot sauce.
• TicketCity Bowl: Houston Defeated Penn St 30-14.  The real reason that LaVarr Arrington has taken down his Penn State swag.
• Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl: Florida Defeated Ohio State 24-17.  Nothing to see here.
• Outback Bowl: Michigan State Defeated Georgia 33-30.  Michigan State = Clutch
• Capital One Bowl: South Carolina Defeated Nebraska 30-13.  Man the Big 12 Sucks.
• Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio: Oregon Defeated Wisconsin 45-38.  The last hold out sold out.  You couldn't hold out for Sony?
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State Defeated Stanford 41-38.  Welcome back to your proper place Stanford.
• Allstate Sugar Bowl: Michigan Defeated Virginia Tech 23-20  Brady Hoke was disappointed that it wasn't the High Fructose Corn Syrup Bowl.
• Discover Orange Bowl: West Virginia Defeated Clemson 70-33.  More points than teeth.
• AT&T Cotton Bowl: Arkansas Defeated Kansas St 29-16.
• BBVA Compass Bowl: SMU Defeated Pitt 28-6.  Damn you Tebow.  Oh, wrong Pitt.
• Godaddy.com Bowl: Northern Illinois Defeated Arkansas St 30-28.
• Allstate BCS National Championship Alabama Defeated LSU 21-0.  SEC goes down hard in their first nation title loss.
• BS National Title Game: LSU vs Oklahoma St. cancelled due to lack of snow, and teams.

Boomer Esiason Offends Chihuahua-Americans by comparing them to crappy Jets QB

Earlier today, Broadcaster, and former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason created a controversy by comparing Chihuahuas to current jets QB Mark Sanchez, stating "If you watched Mark Sanchez the last month of the season, he was like a chihuahua standing on Madison Avenue and 36th Street entering the Midtown Tunnel, eyes bigger than you-know-what, and just so shaky."  The Taco Bell dog has issued a series of statements on behalf of all of those wronged little rats, I mean dogs.

• First things first.  When we get shaky, we crap in Gucci & Gabbana purse, not down our legs like that guy.
• Do you think a Chihuahua would take that shit from Santonio Holmes.  I would gnaw his ankle so hard, he'd need a second blunt for breakfast to forget the pain.
• The only thing that we have in common with Mark Sanchez, is that we both know what Paris Hilton's snatch smells like.  Why am I suddenly in a mood for a Snausage?
• You better sleep with one eye open Norman.

Wry Slamma Jamma: The mother ship has dropped a load in Bloomington

A little time in the sun and some "Just for Hynerian" hair
coloring won't fool me you shifty alien scum.

Clément Créole Shrubb

Back in the day, I did an orange liqueur challenge, reviewing triple sec, cointreau, and Citron Patronage in different cocktails.  Since then, I have used Grand Marnier in many cocktails, and I have also reviewed D.O.M. Benedictine and buried it on the chick shelf.  I'm happy to say that I've found my 80 proof orange mixer.

Needless to say, this review is assuming that you have actually drunk a few drinks.

It' not crazy spicy like like the D.O.M.  It's not nearly as sweet as Grand Marnier or any of the other Curacao's that I have tried.

It's just right, which is saying something with liqueurs.  In summary.

• Clément Créole Shrubb is the shit.
• All that other shit is just shit.  This shit, is the shit.