The Finer Things In Life

[Texsox]

Anybody who owns an iPhone and is even remotely inerested in dipping his toes into the Tiki cocktail world, the deal of the century is yours for the taking.

 

Over the last decade, the Insane, God-Like Tiki Revivalist Jeff "Beachbum" Berry has published the three most important books of "lost" recipes ever. Two of these (Grog Log and Intoxica) were spiral bound home-published volumes (due to be updated, expanded and re-released next month!) that are long out of print, and the third one (Sipin' Safari) was released a couple of years back. None of them were particularly expensive, but you are stil talking about $40 total cost plus the difficulty of searching out the early books.

 

Now, however, you can download a new iPhone ap called Tiki+ That gives you all of the drinks published in all three books, plus some from a fourth food and drink book Jeff did, in an interactive and intuitive format right on your phone. 150 great cocktails at your fingertips!!

 

And the best part of all? Right now the app is only $3.99!

 

Download this app and pick out a drink or two to mix up and you'll be hooked. Trust me.

 

I am finally starting to put together a tiki bar. Sipin Safari is a great read.

 

BTW jim, I picked up The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Very interesting. I may have to order a second copy for the birthday gift, this one may show some signs of wear lol

[FlaSoxxJim]

I am finally starting to put together a tiki bar. Sipin Safari is a great read.

 

BTW jim, I picked up The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Very interesting. I may have to order a second copy for the birthday gift, this one may show some signs of wear lol

 

Charlie Papazian pretty much invented American homebrewing. You can get way more complicated and technical about the hobby than what he puts in his books, but everybody starts out with him if they are doing it right.

[FlaSoxxJim]

So, I'm heading out in two days on the annual family Thanksgiving camping trip, which is pretty much my favorite 4 days of the year. We're heading up to Ocala National Forest, a favorite destination, and we even have a cold blast that will get us into the high 30s in the evenings. . . Perfect campfire weather.

 

Mrs. Flaxx and I are armed with our usual assortment of god beer and newly arrived Beaujolais Nouveau wine, and I'm also finishing up a crockpot of hot buttered rum base that will really hit the spot on cold nights around the fire.

 

If anyone here is looking for THE killer hot seasonal drink this winter, I highly recommend this insanely easy hot buttered rum recipe that I've come back to for the last three years now.

 

Hot buttered Rum recipe, based on the recipe found at http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/51/C...d_Rum1039.shtml

 

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 pinch salt

3 sticks cinnamon (I use 5 short Mexican canella sticks)

6 whole cloves (I use 10)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups rum (no need to break the bank — Mount Gay Eclipse or El Dorado 5-year works great here).

heavy cream -- whipped, for topping

ground nutmeg -- for topping

 

Put all ingredients, except rum and cream, and nutmeg into crockpot. Add 2 quarts hot water. Stir well. Cover pot and cook on LOW for 3 hours (original recipe calls for 5 hours, but I think all the spice flavors are thoroughly extracted well before that). Add rum; stir to blend. Serve from pot in warm mugs with a scoop of whipped cream and a dusting of nutmeg.

 

DO NOT let the utter simplicity of this recipe fool you. I've tried at least a dozen hot buttered rum recipes in the last couple of years, and this is easily the best of the bunch. Make this to serve up at your next holiday party and you will be revered as a DRINK GOD. No joke.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Yeah, just taste-tested the hot buttered rum with El Dorado rum, and it is totally a winter holiday in a mug!

[G&T]

I just got back from Montreal. The highlight was the Dieu du Ciel brewery. My fiance and I went through 10 beers between us. Some of the highlights were:

rosee d'hibiscous which was like a champagne and fruit cocktail;

a rauchbock which was just a wonderful beer to end the night with (plenty of smoke, onions and sausage)

Premiere Niege - a fantastic beer that became my fiance's favorite EVER. This was flavored with anise and it perfectly complemented the smoke and wheat flavors. It was light but incredibly complex. I wish I would have had a pen and paper when I drank it.

 

They also had an alt, which I had, but it wasn't all that impressive.

 

That is a world class brewery and I recommend that everyone try to make it there some day. It's French speaking, but our waitress (and almost everyone in Montreal) thankfully was a competent English speaker.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I just got back from Montreal. The highlight was the Dieu du Ciel brewery. My fiance and I went through 10 beers between us. Some of the highlights were:

rosee d'hibiscous which was like a champagne and fruit cocktail;

a rauchbock which was just a wonderful beer to end the night with (plenty of smoke, onions and sausage)

Premiere Niege - a fantastic beer that became my fiance's favorite EVER. This was flavored with anise and it perfectly complemented the smoke and wheat flavors. It was light but incredibly complex. I wish I would have had a pen and paper when I drank it.

 

They also had an alt, which I had, but it wasn't all that impressive.

 

That is a world class brewery and I recommend that everyone try to make it there some day. It's French speaking, but our waitress (and almost everyone in Montreal) thankfully was a competent English speaker.

 

Sounds like a phenomenal brewery, thanks for sharing a grand experience.

[G&T]

Sounds like a phenomenal brewery, thanks for sharing a grand experience.

 

Keep you eyes peeled for their beers if you haven't had them. It's available all over the country, but the varieties are limited. We just got peche mortel here and that's all we get. But in Chicago you can get 3 or 4 styles.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Keep you eyes peeled for their beers if you haven't had them. It's available all over the country, but the varieties are limited. We just got peche mortel here and that's all we get. But in Chicago you can get 3 or 4 styles.

 

As far as I know, Florida doesn't get anything they brew, but I'll keep an eye out.

[G&T]

That rum recipe looks awesome. I'm going to try it out when my fiance's mother comes out in a couple weeks. Nutmeg, brown sugar and cinnamon? Sign me up.

 

However, I don't have a crock pot. Can I just throw the ingredients into a decent sized pot, covered, and put it in the oven?

[FlaSoxxJim]

That rum recipe looks awesome. I'm going to try it out when my fiance's mother comes out in a couple weeks. Nutmeg, brown sugar and cinnamon? Sign me up.

 

However, I don't have a crock pot. Can I just throw the ingredients into a decent sized pot, covered, and put it in the oven?

 

You can probably just stovetop simmer it with a loose lid for 3 hours and you'l be set.

 

It's a great holiday party drink and only contains about an ounce of rum per serving, but since it's warm you can really smell and taste the rum sweetness and alcohol overtones in the mix. I bring a batch to both my work volunteer appreciation party where it is imediately soaked up by the seniors, and also to a friend's Christmas Eve bash where it's a hit with the 20-40 year-old crowd as well.

[Disco72]

Does anyone have any experience with any of these "beer of the month" clubs? My brother is a beer lover and does some homebrewing as well. He lives in the Chicago area and has access to some very good selections of beers at local beer/liquor stores. I'm not sure if he'll get anything that special in the "beer of the month" club that he can't find either in Chicago (or that I can get here in GA if he can't get it in the midwest). Any thoughts? Thanks!

[FlaSoxxJim]

Does anyone have any experience with any of these "beer of the month" clubs? My brother is a beer lover and does some homebrewing as well. He lives in the Chicago area and has access to some very good selections of beers at local beer/liquor stores. I'm not sure if he'll get anything that special in the "beer of the month" club that he can't find either in Chicago (or that I can get here in GA if he can't get it in the midwest). Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

These days I tend to agree with you, the clubs are of limited use. I used to belong to a few of them 15+ years ago when Florida was still a total beer wasteland and they were great. Now, especially in a big city, I think you have enough variety that the clubs are not needed.

 

If you want to get him a nice beer-related gift, you might think about a subscription to a quality magazine called All About Beer, or a homebrewing magazine like Zymurgy or Brew Your Own.

[Disco72]

These days I tend to agree with you, the clubs are of limited use. I used to belong to a few of them 15+ years ago when Florida was still a total beer wasteland and they were great. Now, especially in a big city, I think you have enough variety that the clubs are not needed.

 

If you want to get him a nice beer-related gift, you might think about a subscription to a quality magazine called All About Beer, or a homebrewing magazine like Zymurgy or Brew Your Own.

 

Excellent suggestions! Thanks!

[FlaSoxxJim]

My folks are down in Florida for their Snowbird Season, about 75 minutes from me. They didn't make the trip last year because my Mom was receiving breast cancer treatment all last year and didn't want to leave her Chicago doctors.

 

We're going to go hang out with them this coming weekend and a while ago Mom noted that she quite liked the British apéritif Pimm's #1, so I told her I'd round up everything and make her authentic English-style Pimm's Cups this weekend. The Pimm's was easy to procure, and oranges, lemons, mint, and cucumbers (the secret ingredient garnish that must not be skipped) are no problem.

 

Now, for the mixer, ginger ale of English-style lemonade are the traditional choices. Ginger ale was easy enough to get of course, but I practically killed myself hunting for authentic English lemonade. I tried using Jamaican Ting grapefruit soda in test runs, and it wasn't bad. I tried using Italian lemon soda which is fizzy like English lemonade but is cloudy yellow like American lemonade, and the drink just didn't come together. The drink works nicely with plane-jane ginger ale, but I was determined to find English lemonade as well.

 

Several specialty markets and import stores later I had success in a neat little English import shop in the quaint old downtown of my home town. I snatched up the only 4 cans of R Whites Premium Lemonade, and am now ready to make up some Pimm's Cups.

 

 

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

I'm surrounded by Christmas decorations and drinking a 2005 vintage Samichlaus beer. Really, does it get much better?*

 

* The 2004 Thomas Hardy Ale calling to me from the vintage beer stash says it just might.

[Heads22]

Wow, Flaxx, your parents have to be at least 100.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Wow, Flaxx, your parents have to be at least 100.

 

?? They're etting up there, but not that up there.

Edited December 10, 2009 by FlaSoxxJim

[G&T]

I'm surrounded by Christmas decorations and drinking a 2005 vintage Samichlaus beer. Really, does it get much better?*

 

* The 2004 Thomas Hardy Ale calling to me from the vintage beer stash says it just might.

 

Samichlaus isn't made anymore correct?

[FlaSoxxJim]

Samichlaus isn't made anymore correct?

 

No it's still in production, but not by the original brewery (Hurlman). It's now made by Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg in Austria.

 

Thomas Hardy is not being made anymore, sadly.

[G&T]

No it's still in production, but not by the original brewery (Hurlman). It's now made by Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg in Austria.

 

Thomas Hardy is not being made anymore, sadly.

 

I knew there was something going on with Samichlaus because I think I read that you want to seek 2005 and earlier vintages.

[southsider2k5]

I'm surrounded by Christmas decorations and drinking a 2005 vintage Samichlaus beer. Really, does it get much better?*

 

* The 2004 Thomas Hardy Ale calling to me from the vintage beer stash says it just might.

 

Some Lennon on in the background...

[FlaSoxxJim]

I knew there was something going on with Samichlaus because I think I read that you want to seek 2005 and earlier vintages.

 

Post a link if you can, because I haven't seen anything like that.

 

Hurliman stopped brewing Samichlaus in 1997, and then the Austrian brewery began producing it again using the original recipe in 2000. They have kept with the original tradition of only brewing the beer once a year, on the Feast of St. Nicholas, December 6th. This is one of my all-time favorite big beers, and as far as I can tell the new brewery is doing right by it.

[G&T]

Post a link if you can, because I haven't seen anything like that.

 

Hurliman stopped brewing Samichlaus in 1997, and then the Austrian brewery began producing it again using the original recipe in 2000. They have kept with the original tradition of only brewing the beer once a year, on the Feast of St. Nicholas, December 6th. This is one of my all-time favorite big beers, and as far as I can tell the new brewery is doing right by it.

 

I can't find it. It was an article on Ratebeer that I saw at some time in August. But I can't find the exact article anymore (there is one from 2001, but that's not the one I recall). Of course, it is possible that I'm making all of this up.

 

In any event, I trust you are right. I've never had it.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I can't find it. It was an article on Ratebeer that I saw at some time in August. But I can't find the exact article anymore (there is one from 2001, but that's not the one I recall). Of course, it is possible that I'm making all of this up.

 

In any event, I trust you are right. I've never had it.

 

You need to do something about that.

 

There is now a pale version as well which is very good but not as perfect as the dark, which is basically a super high-octane (14%) doppelbock.

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

Turns out I had another 2005 Samichlaus stashed away that I had totally forgot about and am happily enjoying right now. It's a friggin' Christmas Miracle I tells ya!