WINES and SPIRITS

Well, it isn't Medieval; but it sure is good especially this time of year. I'm sorry to say that I dose my drink by taste, so use your own judgment. In a standard coffee mug, the spices should never exceed 1/8 tsp combined. Otherwise it gets a little funny tasting, funny as in everyone will laugh at the face you'll make when tasting it. For each coffee mug: 1 shot rum (or to taste, too much ruins it though as the bite of hot alcohol is unpleasant...). Use a good rum, not cheap stuff. My recommendations for this beverage are Pussers or Mount Gay rums, you'll appreciate the flavor. Ground Spices: Clove, Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon and Ginger. To taste. 1 good spo…

Priceless' oldest Veuve Clicquot found in sideboard Mon Jul 28, 2:44 PM ET The "priceless" oldest existing bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, dating back more than a century, was found in a sideboard in a Scottish castle, the estate said Monday. Owner Chris James found the 1893 bottle at Torosay Castle on the Isle of Mull, off the western Scottish mainland. It is believed to have been hidden away for more than a century. Veuve Clicquot now has the bottle on display at its visitor centre in Reims, northeastern France -- the heart of champagne country. The castle was built in 1858 for a wealthy Glaswegian and sold in 1865 to merchant banker Arbuthnot Guthrie…

Ananova: Stout proof of falling bubbles Scientists have shown that the bubbles in a pint of Guinness really do move down instead of up. To mark St Patrick's Day, a team of Scottish and US researchers has produced video evidence to show the bubbles being dragged to the bottom of the glass. An earlier study concluded that the phenomenon may only have been an optical illusion. Close examination reveals that as the pint settles, bubbles touching the walls of the glass experience drag that prevents them floating up. Bubbles in the centre of the glass, however, are free to rise. A circular flow is created, causing bubbles at the the edge to be pushed downwa…

Does that mean I can now increase my input from one bottle a day

Hungary workers get shock at bottom of rum barrel Thu May 4, 9:49 AM ET BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported. According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out. The website said that the body of the man had been shipped back from Jamaica 20 years ago by his wife in the barrel of rum in orde…

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-02-28-whisky_x.htm A 184-proof whisky, and that's no blarney LONDON (AFP) — Following a 17th century recipe, one of the eight artisanal whisky producers on the tiny Scottish isle of Islay will produce a dozen barrels of 184-proof whisky, the company announced. That's 92% alcohol, which is about as strong as whisky can get without being sold in a pharmacy. "The first taste affects all the members of the body," a 1695 description of the elixir reads. "Two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose — if any man should exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life." The Bruichladdich distille…

Welcome! I decided to start this topic after doing a little preliminary research on beer history, and thought it would be a nice duscussion point. All information is welcome and I hope that any historical info will have source references to help all of us understand this very complex subject. This is an informative forum, so please indulge in drinking bouts over at the Tavern where cold tankards await! I thought that this topic could be for overall discussion, while other topics could be started by whomever for technical and historical talks. So, grab a cold one and let's talk brew!

Rare whisky goes on sale for 14,000 pounds a bottle LONDON (Reuters) - Wed Nov 16,12:13 PM ET At 500 pounds a sip it is one of the world's most expensive tipples this Christmas. For connoisseurs with the pocket, British drinks giant Diageo is selling a Johnnie Walker whisky blend at 14,000 pounds a bottle to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Scotsman who created the world's best-selling whisky brand. The group which distills one-third of the world's scotch has selected Scotland's best whiskies, all over 30 years old and some as old as 70 years old, to create its 1805 anniversary pack -- containing just one bottle -- to be sold to the world's…

Bottle of rare Irish whiskey for sale at 100,000 pounds By Kevin Smith Fri Aug 12, 3:41 PM ET DUBLIN (Reuters) - A rare bottle of Irish whiskey is up for sale at a record 100,000 pounds, making it the world's most expensive single malt. The whiskey -- spelled whisky in Scotland -- dates from the late 1800s and is believed to be the last surviving bottle from the Nun's Island Distillery in County Galway, western Ireland, which ceased production in 1913. "It is a lot of money but it's like looking for the last dinosaur really," spirits expert Ken Thomas told Reuters on Friday. "This is surely one of the rarest bottles in the world." Thomas, who runs a specialis…

Has anyone tried it successfully? We made some terrible vinegar