Tastes Like Food » Alcohol

Oldest wine I’ve ever had: vintage 1978

Bacon Is Good — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:50:26 +0000

Not too long ago, I enjoyed a glass of this vintage wine along with a very tasty steak dinner at my parent’s house. A friend of the family’s was huge into wine, and occasionally shared wine with the parents as gifts, this was one such present.

As far as we could tell from the label (which is fascinating!) and bottle (stamped 1978, check out the old shape) this was a Cabernet Sauvignon from California Italian Swiss Colony (how about that for a combination). It was light bodied for a cabernet, with a little strawberry, and some smoky depths. Overall tasty, not the best wine I’ve ever had, but certainly one of the most fascinating!

I could’ve used this today (frozen daiquiri on the beach)

Bacon Is Good — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:50:10 +0000

Last weekend, Marsh Mallow and I were on the beach in Florida. Neither of us live there and it’s barely summer where we come from, so our skin is a little pale. To protect ourselves from the peak cancer-inducing sun rays, we hung out at the pool-side bar with direct view of the ocean and drank frozen daiquiris from noon to two. In the foreground we have mine: frozen strawberry daiquiri with vodka. In the background is a frozen pina colada topped with whipped cream.

Anyway, I could have used a frozen daiquiri today. And relaxing on the beach wouldn’t be too bad either.

Sangria with fresh oranges, mangos and strawberries

Bacon Is Good — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:01:13 +0000

It’s Cinco de Mayo! We decided to celebrate at our office with fresh-made guacamole, chips, salsa and home made Sangria. Delicious. I assigned myself to Sangria creation (and enjoyment).

Ingredients:

1.5 litre shiraz (but you could use other red wine)
1 juicy orange cut into chunks
1 ripe mango cut into chunks
1 quart sweet strawberries cut into chunks
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne
dash white pepper or a few white peppercorns (optional)
Note: If I had cloves I would have added those.
Note: I probably would have added a splash of brandy if I had that too.

That is a lot of sugar, but you need it all! Put it all together and let it sit overnight.

We started cracking into chips, salsa and guacamole at 11am so we figured we better add the Sangria! Yes, that’s Sangria served in a coffee mug (whatever works!) We streamed in a little mariachi bands on last.fm for the occasion. I think you’re supposed to serve the Sangria with a splash of soda water or other bubbly over ice, but we just drank it chilled. And enjoyed it immensely.

Bacon Vodka

Bacon Is Good — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:00:10 +0000

No kidding. Bacon vodka is out there. I love bacon and I love vodka. A match made in heaven? I’m not sure. But I’d like to find out.

From the Bakon Vodka site:

“Bakon Vodka is a superior quality potato vodka with a savory bacon flavor. It’s clean, crisp, and delicious. This is the only vodka you’ll ever want to use to make a Bloody Mary, and it’s a complementary element of both sweet and savory drinks.”

It sounds good, potato vodka is the way to go.

I imagine it would be delicious in marinades. Vodka on the rocks is always good. Vodka alongside dark chocolate is good. Olives. Hmm, what else can I try it with? I’ll let you know what I think once I get ahold of some. I’m sure it will be fun to experiment.

Sneak peek: Stranahan’s still

Bacon Is Good — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:15:41 +0000

Stranahan’s is an award-winning small-batch Colorado whiskey, distilled here in Denver. I got a tour of how they make it happen by a friend who works there (Spicy Haggis, who I haven’t convinced to write for this blog yet, but he does comment from time to time!)

Here’s a snap from my tour. This is Stranahan’s custom-made copper still.

If you like whiskey and you haven’t tasted Stranahan’s yet, you’ve gotta check it out. You can also schedule your own tour and learn more about the process via the Stranahan’s web site.

Will it work? (preserving ginger root in vodka)

Bacon Is Good — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:59:51 +0000

I love ginger root, but sometimes even my usual method of prolonging it’s life expectancy by wrapping it in a paper towel and then putting it in a plastic bag doesn’t extend it’s viability long enough, and it gets gross.

Discussing this dilemma, my man said he’d heard somehow or another that putting it in vodka would keep it good to go for a while. I was skeptical, but was willing to try it.

So we tried it. And it works! The ginger isn’t quite as flavorful as it once was, but close and it tastes like ginger (not vodka). And it works great, even over a period of a few months.

Another good reason to have vodka on hand!

Note: I do recommend doing this with a glass container not plastic. Who knows what sort of weird chemical combination would result from vodka+plastic over long periods of time!