mickblueeyes

Wow Ed, exactly how tall are you? Didn't picture you as that tall! LOL. So how was the Angostura? What did you guys think about the Sea Wynde?

Excellent in coffee or orange juice or Coke.

Whiskey aka usquebach aka any distilled spirit WILL oxidize in the bottle once a certain level is reached. Unopened shelf life is forever, if you can keep the cork moist, so the bottle won't leak. Opened, shelf life is still forever, if the bottle is above 1/3 full. Below 1/3 full there will be a noticable difference in a year's time. Most experts will tell you that once a bottle is less than 1/3 or 1/4 full, you have at best 5 years to drink it.

I find that 2 oz of Citadelle French Gin with a spritz of lime and garnished with an orange slice amongst a nice portion of Schweppes does me nicely.

Schnapps can be fantastic. Schapps comes from the Dutch word Schnappen which means "to snatch" and refers to the manner in which schapps is to be drank. Properly served at -1 degree Celsius, in shot glasses and traditionally with salted fish at "feasts," modern day schnapps really fall into the eau-de-vie category. The drink you are refering to is probably in this class of drink meaning its base is neutral grain spirits.

Glad you brought this up! Smokier and heavier single malts go great with steak (Laphroaig, Ardbeg or even slightly smoky/malty Cardu) The sherry finished scotches go great with desserts that aren't obscenely sweet (Crepes, etc.) Bourbons go great with pecan pie and grilled foods like porkchops and sausages. Vodka, as mentioned, goes great with caviar or any salty dishes. Gin is in the same category as vodka. Cognac/brandies/armagnacs can enhance heavy cheeses, light desserts and of course cigars Tequila is an interesting pairing with any southwestern dish or spicy chinese. It is important to note that it is difficult for spirits to be the primary drink at a meal, so have a glass of water nearby as well.

Jack barrels come from Tennessee. I think primarily they will be taking advantage of the cooperage skills of the bourbon makers in KY--as the article states, Cuba and KY aren't that different--they are both agrarian based societies: booze and tobacco. Anyhow, I can't see it as being a bad thing at all.

Kentucky Barrels Seems that plans are in the works to help improve Cuba's rums! Sounds good to me!

Happy B-day Ed!

Great info! Thanks! I might have to justify snatching the last case from the local shop!

Ed, So, just some general information about rum. How many current distilleries are in operation? How many expressions are currently distilled? I guess I am a little in shock that you haven't had either of these, as you are the man when it comes to rum. Thanks, Mick

I rarely pay attention since I am in the liquor business, but if I am confronted with a new product, I do look, but I also look carefully at the medal dates. Certainly a rum that won a medal in 1906 is probably a shadow of its former self now, but on the other hand, as you mentioned, that means the distiller's trademark is still in use, which can lend some strength to the possibility of it being a good product. i.e. if the same distillers are distilling the same rum for 100 years, they must be doing something right.

So Ed, do you part from the suggested storage techniques (by authors such as Michael Jackson and Jim Murray) and store whiskies (I call everything whisky ) on thier sides vs. upright? I, too, have thought this was a good practice for some time. If the cork dries, there is too great a chance for it breaking or the whisky evaporating. I have received too many bottles from distributors that were low-fill or leaky due to poor storage techniques. Do you reccommend side storage, like wine? I have been doing with my bottles for some time, but I would like a professional opinion.

Gotta disagree, I think the Hangar one is far superiour to the Charbay--without a doubt, go for the Hangar One.

Lots of good posts on here that are full of good information. However, don't forget the influence of the retailer. Tasting notes are provided for one reason: to get you to buy a product. I work in the business for a medium-to-large retailer and we provide tasting notes for each wine, spirit and beer that we sell. We scourge every latest magazine for the best rating (not the most sensical or the one from the most consistent source, just the best score) and that is the tasting note we use. If we cannot find a note, then we taste the booze and rate it ourselves. (Now, given, that I am pretty adept at spirits and our wine guy is more than adept at wine). So you must consider motive. Also, if the notes are not being directly sampled, you have to check for omitted words that some might not find palatable.

Both are good rums Kristin, but you do need to try the Cruzan!

Saint James Hors D'age or Barbancourt 15 for the first one and Pyrat XO or Zaya for the second.

LOL!

You may feel free to wonder.

Anyone ever tried this fantastic Belgian Amber Ale? I found a few bottles at a local shop (not the one I work for) and I am in love! Love to hear someone else's comments on it!

Regarding the chilling and warming back up issue, I would guess that there is no definitive answer. I feel like my beer does taste worse after been chilled and the rewarmed. The pasteurization process is a "flash" process in most cases. Imagine milk warmed to high temperatures. Do you think the taste would be affected? Of course it would. The temperature is induced by running the milk through tubing that is super heated and causes the milk to become instantly hot, then it is cooled very quickly in a similar manner. This affects the taste very little. Similarly, if you leave a bottle of milk in the car in 100F heat for 2 hours and then try to chill it, it will taste bad. This, of course, doesn't apply to "cellar cool" which is the temperature that bottle conditioned ales should be stored at (like wine). In essence, your husband is not wrong.

Reserva Aneja - Trigo Corporation (Puerto Rico) is all I could find on the net about that one. The Matusalem anejo info is nowhere to be found online.

Never tried it, anyone care to share about it?

Ohh Ed? Where are you?

Ed, I could use some help identifying this rum. I found two bottles at a local liquor store (not the one I work with) and they are very old. Just to give you an idea, they had TN tax stamps on the bottles which we quit doing many years ago. One was Ron Matusalem Anejo and it has a black label. Is this currently manufactured? How is it related to the Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva? It was very good for 9 bucks!!!!! The second one is Aneja Reserva. I know that looks weird, but that is the exact phrase on the bottle. It comes in a green glass decanter shaped like a ship's decanter. I only found one reference to it online and it won a medal in some rum festival held every year in the Caribbean, but that was in the early 90's. It tastes great for 20 bucks and I think I am going to snag the last bottle they had. Have I found trash or treasure?