73 new of 74 responses total.
I brew my own beer, which gives a bit of a variety.
What kind(s) do you brew, Scott? Is it difficult to get started doing that?
I love mead and only drink it a glass at a time. I have kept it, capped, in the refrigerator for a few months without noticable degredation. Chaucer's is good. My prefered brand is made by a member of the SCA. Unfortunately he moved from Ann Arbor and I lost touch. Commerical brands, I prefer a Polish mead. I forget the name and brand, but it comes in a distinctive red glazed clay sort of bulb shaped bottle. I haven't seen it in a few years so get Chaucer's when the mood strikes. I can't drink beer, am allergic to brewer's yeast. I like some mixed drinks and most wines with Margaritas being the favorite. I don't drink very often. Being part Native American and knowing that I have an addictive personality I keep a very close watch on where, when and how much. Got tipsy once on purpose in a family setting to see how I handled it. Didn't like it, did it again to see how much it would take - more than I am willing to drink in one sitting. The only other time I came close tipped me off that I was pregnant with Damon. Got tipsy on the Margarita at Chi Chi's, never had before.
A dozen years ago I knew someone who brewed his own beer. He got me to switch from Budweiser to other beers, and turned me onto Bass & C Pale Ale. Nowadays it's found in grocery stores, but then I had to look around to find a party store in my area that carried it. Around that time, I visited Rochester and spent some time in a brew pub. I became fond of a beer they called "bitters". It was wonderful. I went for years before I found anything like it. The Merchant of Vino has several ESB beers, that's "extra special bitters". I guess advertising beer as "bitters" isn't very effective. I went there tonight to get some ESB beer; that's when it occurred to me that'd be the place to ask about mead. Tonight the ESBs I got were Belks and Red Hook. I've also tried Arcadian ESB (Arcadia ESB?), which is made in Michigan. They might have one other I've gotten before. I'll never be a connoisseur as I can't remember which I've had. It's too long between six-packs anyway; I might drink one in a week or two and take two or three months for the next. I keep trying what I think are different ones, and I like them very much, but they're new every time.
re #4: Can you recommend any mead which isn't so sweet? I've just been browsing WWW sites, and some of them mention that mead can be either dry or sweet. They say a lot of the commercial ones are so sweet they're cloying (with which assessment I agree, about Chaucer's anyway). Also, have you any idea what my professor tried, or what kind she tried? Maybe I should try to remember her name and find out her e-mail address, and ask her.
The Polish that I like isn't as sweet as Chaucer's. I wish I could remember the brand name. I quit buying it when I was getting it from my friend and haven't seen it since he moved. I don't drink mead often, a bottle every year or three so haven't tried any of the others. I'll check Merchant of Vino and Big Ten Party Store to see if either of them have it.
I joined a brewing coop, http://www.northstatebrewers.org , and we do some interesting stuff. It's not that hard to get started; I've been playing around with one gallon recipes which don't require much in the way of equipment. It's a nice way to get good beer quite cheaply.
re #7: Thanks! If you find out the name, I'll probably try it some day. re #8: Do you make beer from a kit or package, or do you add your own hops, malt, etc.? How long does it take to make beer? How many different kinds have you made?
Jep, I could show you some time. You might do a web search on homebrewing to get basic data. I myself use packaged malt (syrup or dried) and then add hops to fit my own preferences.
I've read some WWW pages, but they tend to be written by and for hard-core enthusiasts for whom brewing is their lifestyle. I might try home brewing myself some day but I'd be doing it in a very casual way. It sounds like what you're doing. That's where my interest comes from in what you're doing.
What would beer taste like if it didnt have hops. I have always wondered that. Anyhow, I like all of the usual drinks. I dont drink much but I am obsessive about keeping alcohol in my house. I always make sure I have the following in my liquor cabinet: Vodka Gin Bourbon Tequila Rum Kahlua Bailey's Dry Vermouth Sweet Vermouth Bloody Mary mix Marguarita Mix Can of pineapple juice Bottle of Cranberry juice Sour Mix olives cherries I replace the vodka and the tequila most often. (I think I went through two bottles of tequila in the last 18 months and one bottle of vodka). I have all kinds of other bottles of weird things that I have received as gifts. Lots of different kinds of coffee liqueurs, some 180 proof rum and a few other things I just havent gotten around to trying. I dont really know why I like to keep so much booze around but it does come in handy when people drop by unexpectedly because I can offer them a drink.
I used to like gin and tonics. I also used to like Scotch and soda which I drank from a Florence flask. It's been a long time since I've had either, and I haven't missed them all that much. I also make some Irish coffee occasionally (about annually).
Oh wow. I havent had a gin a tonic in a long time. I should stop at the store and get some tonic because I have a friend coming from California who likes gin and tonics.
A gin and tonic does sound kind of good to me right now. I'm going to be responsible if we all turn into alcoholics as a result of this item.
haha. I dont think I am in any danger of that. Which is weird because I do have an addictive personality. I am currently addicted to: Sugar, Nicotine, and Caffeine. But for some reason that I dont understand, I have always had a big take it or leave it attitude towards alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, opiates, lcd, Rx painkillers etc. I have tried all of those things and even used LCD somewhat regularly in my early 20s but I never had any trouble giving them up. In fact, I never did give them up. It just became too much of a bother to get them. *shrug* Well, I still drink once in a while but I wouldnt if it were illegal and hard to get.
If it's beer, my tastes generally oppose anything that's "big commercial American" and most everything else. I'd drink up to a couple six-packs a month when Brewbaker's was open in Kerrytown - i liked like their stuff overall better than any other beer brand i've had, i like buying from little local merchants, and i could buy mixed 6-packs (6 different kinds) from them, so i couldn't get bored or annoyed with the kinds that i didn't like as well. Since then...hmmm...i enjoyed all six bottles (over a week) of a Bell's Stout 6-pack once, but they aren't cheap or local, and deposit bottles are a bother. Most days i'll drink a single glass (~5 oz.) of econo-brand red wine. It jazzes up my fairly-monotonous eat-at-home diet a bit and is supposedly a bit good for my heart. I really didn't drink at all until i was well into my 30's. This makes me some sort of freak by most American's standards, but supposedly not drinking until after 30 massively reduces the risk of alcoholism.
I can't imagine you as a beer drinker, Walt. Of cousre it's been something like 12 years since I saw you. I couldn't imagine me as a divorcee, either. Tonight I tried Belk's ESB. This is definitely the most bitter of the bitters beers I've tried. I didn't like it that much; it was too bitter. I'll try it again in a few days, I suppose; maybe I'll have a different impression then.
I've always liked gin. I think it's because I've got very pleasant associations with the smell of juniper. It grows wild all over the place up in Ontario where my family goes on vacation each year.
resp:12 probably more sour than bitter. Hops are added as a preservative. The ones we grow here in the Yakima Valley (in Toppenish) are alpha hops, as I've read, and are especially bitter, more so than European hops, which are mellower. Hops are a natural sedative, which is why I suppose some folks drink a couple of beers as a "nightcap." However, alcohol interferes with profound sleep, so despite the sedative, the quality of sleep isn't as good. You get better results brewing hops into a tea, but I understand that stuff is NASTY. I don't drink for religious dietary reasons and because when I started, I drank so excessively I feared alcoholism wasn't far away. But-- when I did, I found cocktails were really my thing. So as far as resp:12, I've had most all of those, although some were part of a mixed drink. Bailey's is as smooth as a baby's bottom. Boy, did I start getting snockered quick when I drank some of that! Rum.. must be the pirate in me. Sweet Vermouth: not bad, but I wasn't particularly enjoying it. But then again, it was after about 10 cocktails, and I was drinking part of a bottle after polishing off another. Yep, near falling down drunk, puked, everything. Had to get Julie from work, too. Not a good memory. Bloody Mary: ugh-- what I had must have been spiced too heavy. I'd rather stick to V-8's with Tabasco. Margarita: never had one. Vodka, Gin, Bourbon, Kahula: all part of mixed drinks Wine Coolers: Why the hell do they call 'em 'wine' coolers? They're malt beverages. Not my fave. Jack Daniel's: yum. I don't care if people say it tastes like cough syrup. But then, I like both NyQuil and green Chloroseptic. as far as beer: yep, most macrobrews taste bad. I'm sure micro or homebrew is better. Can't remember which ale I tried that I liked. Mead still intrigues me, but honestly, because I promised my wife, I don't think I'll care to drink again. I mean, I was sipping through itty-bitty straws to get drunk faster.
I think wine coolers originally were made with wine. Basically wine mixed with fruit juices. Then someone figured out that you can make a malt beverage cheaper that tastes about the same. End of wine coolers. For some though, the name still stuck but you wont find the word "wine" on the label of those malt beverages.
Hey, what about cooking with alcohol? Yeah, it evaporates the actual alcohol off, but the remaining flavor can be great.. Besides wine, many spirits are used for cooking. I've had chicken cooked in Jack Daniels, in some sort of a sauce. I also enjoy Johnsonville's Beer and Bratwurst brats, and I've had burgers barbequed in beer. I've also seen many mustards and a few BBQ sauces that use ale or JD.
Re: #18 By any decent definition of "beer drinker" that i can think up, i've never been one. How do you define it? Do be careful about mixing alcohol, depression, and meds for the latter together, jep. Lots of people have gotten fried that way. Re: #20 Macrobrews taste bad? They mix 1-2 oz. of something that might be called "real beer" if it was higher quality, 9-10 oz. of carbonated water, and 1 oz. of the cheapest flavorless vodka that money can buy, stir, and call the mix "beer". It doesn't have enough taste to be qualify for either "good" or "bad". If you want taste, drink *anything* else; if you want to pee, drink tap water; if you want to get drunk cheap, get BargainBox wine or (better) help for your alcoholism.
re #23: I checked with my psychiatrist, after not having any beer for about 3 months; he assured me that it's fine to have a beer or glass of wine in the evening with the meds I'm taking. He advised me not to have 6 every night. A "beer drinker" is "one who enjoys drinking beer". I just have trouble picturing you with a beer in your hand.
BargainBox wine? hmmm.. interesting. Well, I know of folks that swear by Thunderbird.. and then Mad Dog 20/20 (ugh!)
Hmmm...if "beer drinker" is "someone who's had a beer & enjoyed it some time in his/her life", i guess i am one. But so are load of other folks who haven't touched it in decades, drink something else 99% of the time, etc. The definition seems too broad to be useful and contradicts how i think most everyone uses the phrase. I read somewhere that "alcohol evaporates when you cook with it" is more popular than true. Sure, some evaporates when it's hot, and long, hot baking of stuff that ends up with a dinky fraction of its original water content (popovers, etc.) will remove virtually all of it, but there's usually far more left in the food than people believe. BargainBox wine - 5 liters of ~24 proof for $8; that's as much alcohol as in 1.5 liters of 80 proof. Physically far more convenient that beer or wine bottles. Unfamiliar to your friends behind the dumpster so you don't have to share so much. The box & inner bag can be used to patch up your "house" or raincoat when you're done.
I guess if you bring it down to it's basics, a "beer drinker" is "one who drinks beer". I would have classified myself as a beer drinker even during the three or so months when I didn't have a single beer for the reasons mentioned in #23. "Beer drinker" implies some sort of past and likely future drinking of beer. I didn't mean to imply you're the sort of person who always has beer in his hand, if that's what you were thinking. I think you told me when we worked together that you'd never had a beer, so it surprised me to hear you describe yourself drinking beer. I had a Red Hook ESB a few days ago; it was smoother than the Belk's. Then I had a plain old Labatt's at the ballpark last night. I may have enjoyed that more than either of the ESBs. Heh. I also tried the mead again (on a different night than when I was having beer), and was less overwhelmed by sweetness. Actually it tasted pretty good. I'm not at all sure this is the same as the mead drunk by the dwarves in The Hobbit. Has anyone ever had "authentic" mead? Maybe they have it at the Renaissance Festival. I'll have to go there and find out.
I have. The friend I mentioned I know from the SCA. He makes his mead from an old medieval recipe. Wonderful stuff. Better than any of the commercial brands available.
Hmmm. Somebody said something about cooking with alcohol. I like the flavor of some things cooked with wine, but I don't like to keep wine in my home. Anybody know any good substitutes for alcohol in recipes that call for it?
There are some commercial flavorings available: Rum, sherry, ameretto, eggnog, brandy, Kahlua, Grand Marnier, Irish creme, and bourbon. I can give you the source if you like.
Hmmm. What are the flavorings made of?
Where wines are called for, there are some really quite good non-alcoholic wines that do the job nicely.
Would grape juice not be similar in flavor?
It was my understanding that "wine" originally referred to any grape juice, fermented or not. I could be wrong. Generally, I would suppose wine today is just any fermented grape juice, but I could be wrong there, too. I do know that that certain varieties of grapes are grown with winemaking in mind, and not juice.
I'm definitely not a cooking expert, but I've heard several different places that alcohol releases flavors from certain foods (like tomatoes) that can't be gotten any other way. Wine's used because it has a good flavor for the food it's used in. If this is the case, there wouldn't be a non-alcoholic substitute that would serve the same purpose. If it's just for flavor, than lots of grape juices would be close, I'd guess.
A quick peek in the dictionary at hand give no support for unfermented grape juice being called wine (unless one was somehow referring to its color). Grape juice is nearly-worthless substitute for anything but a miserably low-quality, sweetened wine. What makes decent wines decent is all the non-grape-juice flavor molecules created in the process of yeast fermenting & oaking & aging. Think of substituting bargain-basement cottage cheese on a cheese tray that had a bunch of nice bleu, gorgonzola, etc. fancy cheeses on it. Most wine starts going bad fast once you've opened the bottle, making it a difficult cooking ingredient unless you're drinking the rest or cooking with it on a very large scale. I believe that alcohol acts as a solvent for many flavor molecules, thus letting 'em get out and/or move around when they otherwise could not. In some cases you can get the same effect with oils/fats. In others, you can make sure the alcohol is effectively cooked out. Any alcohol can do this, not just wine. I've got a cookie recipe that uses 1 T of a very expensive, nasty-tasting hard liquor...it yields 48 pretty-big, thin cookies after cooking at 400. I can't imagine being tempted to dring the liquor, or any human being able to eat enough of the cookies to get a noticable effect from the alcohol, but that 1 T lends a subtle, wonderful flavor to the cookies.
(What liquor, out of curiosity?) Red wine vinegar might be a little better than grape juice. Still not the same, but less of a bad approximation.
I think that would depend entirely on the recipe. For a meat dish, a very small amount of wine vinegar might work, but for a dessert, it would be disasterous. It would depend, too, on the reason for avoiding the wine. If it's to avoid the alcohol, either vinegar or grape juice would work, but if it's because of allergy, both would be a disaster.
unless one was substituting cider vinegar or apple juice for the grape based item if one was allergic to grapes.
Ahh, good point. But I don't know that cider vinegar would have at all the right effect ... but rice vinegar might. (Less overpowering taste.)
Cooked wine loses its alcohol.
Cooked wine does not lose ALL its alcohol. How much is lost depends on the wine, the dish, the heat reached, and how long that heat is maintained. I have a friend that is terribly allergic to alcohol in any form. She was told that it was safe to eat dishes with wine/beer if they had been cooked. She did not enjoy the trip to the hospital when she proved them wrong. A small amount remains even after cooking!
In my case, it's not an allergy. I've been sober for 13 years and prefer not to keep drinkable alcohol in my abode. Occasional cooking with wine makes the food yummy and doesn't give me any desire to drink, but there is nowhere to buy wine in the comparatively small amounts needed for recipes.
I suppose you could go in with a friend on buying a bottle of wine, use what you need, and let your friend keep the bottle. But that's a social solution, not a cooking solution, and this is the cooking conference...
Vois, many liquor stores do sell the little sample sizes of wines. I'll look around and see what I can find. The varieties are limited, but it might work out.
Sample sizes of wine? I've seen liquor minis, and I've seen what I call picnic six-packs (two-serving bottles), but I've never seen anything smaller than a split sold as a single item.
Hmmm, I haven't looked lately, but I used to see airline sized bottles available near the checkout. I'll peek again before I say much more; it's possibel that it was a fad whose time has passed.
I suspect your friend was not allergic to alcohol but to products of fermentation which are found in alcoholic beverages. Is the friend also allergic to some cheeses, or sauerkraut, or chocolate, or miso or soy sauce?
She is allergic to alcohol. Any liquid medication has to be approved by her doctor as they don't always say on the bottle. Most flavoring extracts can't be used, i.e. she has to use the actual vanilla bean or water extracted flavorings which are hard to find and not as good as alcohol extracted ones. I would not have said she was allergic to alcohol if it had been something else. Having a lot of allergies myself, I do know the differences.
(I knew someone once with the same allergy. She had no other food restrictions: cheese and chocolate, in particular, I remember her having no problem with. It really does seem to have been the alcohol itself that got to her.)
I think I am allergic to alcohol too. If I have more than 10 drinks or so, I get a horrible reaction indeed. First I turn into an asshole and then I puke on everyone.
hahahaha!!
Re: #37 - Calvados
Regarding meads, at a club ( http://www.northstatebrewers.org ) brew Thursday one of the guys brought a spiced mead he'd recently done. Wow! I'm getting the recipe for that puppy.
There is a difference between being allergic to a food (a very small amount causes a reaction) and being unable to detoxify a food. Some people are better at detoxifying alcohol. Allergens are more likely to be proteins, which the body interprets as something infectious. I have never heard of an allergy to a simple molecule like ethyl alcohol. Not sure what it is about tomatoes that bothers some people, but it is the proteins in eggs and grains that are allergenic. Lactose intolerance is the inability to break down lactose into something digestible by the body.
Inability to detoxify alcohol would not prevent one from using standard vanilla flavoring, one would not even know that one had. The fact that most allergies are to proteins won't help the person with the alcohol allergy, any more than the fact that most kids can eat peanut butter sandwiches will save the life of the kid with peanut allergy.
As I mentioned in another item recently, I tend to enjoy alcoholic drinks more in the summer/warmer weather than in the colder weather. Why, I'm not sure, since drinking seemingly makes one feel warmer; not necessarily a desired effect on hot days. But anyway, that's just the way I am... I do enjoy an occasional beer, though some kinds better than others. And I don't like dark beers at all. White wines can be nice, the reds I'm allergic to [maybe to the tannins or something]. Overall, though, I've always preferred various mixed drinks. Many of the ones I enjoy are the fruity kinds. But other types, too, including stuff with rum [coke and rum is one of my earliest recollections besides beer], long island iced tea, bailey's irish cream, margaritas, a good whiskey, etc. If I remember right, I don't like gin and tonic and have never tried a martini. What kind of drinks do the rest of you enjoy? Do you drink different things in the summer than the rest of the year? Do you have any good drink recipes to try?
I don't drink much anymore, mostly cause I don't like to waste the calories. But I enjoy a good beer once in a while, but my favorite drinks are a regular margarita on the rocks or a good vodka on the rocks with a splash of lime juice.
This thread has reminded me of whiskey slushes. I was exposed to this concoction while living in central Pennsylvania many years ago. It tastes oh so light and refreshing then you realize you can't get up. A batch of slush is kept in the freezer and you simply scrape some into a glass and top it with your favorite mixer (diet squirt works great). I'll dig up the recipe and post it later. Heck, I'll make up a batch!
Hehe. That reminds me of a mojito story. Last summer, my brother made some mojitos for a family gathering. His recipe calls for soda water to be added but we didnt have any soda water so he substituted MORE RUM for the soda water. They were still oh so light and refreshing until you realized you were shit faced! Anyways, I've noticed that Mojitos are getting quite popular these days which is fine by me because they are a very nice summer drink. I dont know my brother's exact recipe but it is pretty similar to this one: 3 fresh mint sprigs 2 tsp sugar 3 tbsp fresh lime juice 1 1/2 oz light rum club soda In a tall thin glass, crush part of the mint with a fork to coat the inside. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir thoroughly. Top with ice. Add rum and mix. Top off with *chilled* club soda (or seltzer). Add a lime slice and the remaining mint, and serve. I cant wait to find out what a whiskey slush is.
re #58 How many calories do you intake per day?
while in training between 1800 - 2000 not training, probably more like 1500-1700
I read yesterday that a mcdonald's cheeseburger is 300 calories. (It said so on the corner of the wrapper while I was eating a couple of them after going drive-thru.) I wonder if I could get away with 5 of those a day with tea and celery?
hahahah.
Whiskey Slush 2 1/4 cup (cheap) whiskey 1 cup sugar 2 cup brewed tea 7 cup water 12 oz orange juice, frozen concentrate 12 oz lemonade, frozen concentrate Mix all. Freeze. Scrape and mostly fill a tall glass. Add a favorite mixer. Eschew driving for a few hours. ;-)
My ex-aunt-in-law used to make whiskey slushes; I remember really liking them [but have since forgotten about them]. So thanks for the recipe, Mary. The first few times I had fuzzy navals, they went down so easy that I didn't realize how easy it was to get very tipsy. One of the times [at a bachelorette party], I did drink way too much and shouldn't have driven home but did anyway. I realized later how lucky I was to have gotten home ok [and I did pass a cop on Washtenaw on the way home but they already had someone else pulled over].
re #65 I used to do that but just use Sun tea (1 gallon of boiling water with 2 cups of sugar and 6 teabags all chilled afterward) then put in the freezer with Jim Beam
MMMM. those sound yummy!
Mmm, Baileys. I discovered Mint Chocolate Baileys. Oh so good in hot chocolate! Olive Garden has this something or other Sunrise that has cherry juice and champagne (sparkling white wine most likely) and something else. Most tasty. I had a mojito once, didn't really care for it. Then again, I'm not that much of a rum fan. Or beer. Mixed fruity drinks, or kahlua and cream, are usually my preferred alcohol sources.
Favorite summer drink with no-name... Ice Strawberries (frozen kind, with sugar) Amaretto (1 shot) Pineapple juice (to taste) Mix in blender until slushy Float of Meyer's Dark Rum on top Tasty...
Debbi, that DOES sound good, especially now with the strawberries coming in. A touch of Amaretto in hot chocolate is another good thing.
Oh, heck yeah. Of course, Amaretto is good in pretty much anything.
I brew mead (similar to a Polish or Czecheslovakian) and ale (beer fermented at or near room temperature). Mead is the easiest. When I am out, I tend to drink single malt scotch with water, on the rocks. McAllen and Glenfiddich will do in a pinch, Cardhu and Dalwhinnie (single barrel) are better. There is significant marginal improvement stepping up ot 15 year from 12. The incremental gains from 15 years to 18 years is minor, and if you recognize the difference, you are probably not coming to htis conference for recommendations. At parties, I tend to like fruity "girlie" drinks (old fashioned, gimlet, etc) or brandy alexanders. Good stuff.
Have you tried making your own mead or beer? There are a number of drinks I like but am not supposed to with some of the meds I'm on and after the surgery I had. Though I had tastes of several white wines when I was at a winery a couple years ago. And recently while grocery shopping, they were letting people sample a couple different wines. I'm allergic to red wine but I tried the white.
You have several choices: