So it turns out there is a sub genere of Rap called ‘Chap Hop’. Where the MC’s are aristocratic British types and they battle each other … rapping about all things Anglo-filish… It cracks me up. The two biggest names are Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer and Professor Elemental.

Happy Halloween

Also like baking with fermenting there are so many factors that are beyond your control…temperature, bacteria, light etc. You’re never going to get 100% optimal conditions for everything. All you can hope to do is get more things in the optimal column then not and then hope your end product comes out both tasting good and with the right alcohol content.

One thing you can control are your inputs; and in that category this year I think I have a lot of things set to go well. I have good equipment. My glassware is clean and ready to go. I have several 3-gallon carboys and many 1-gallon jugs, toppers for everything and all the pectic enzyme and yeast nutrients I will need for the season. I have learned about better kinds of yeast to use with cider and optimal ways to start the fermentation so that it occurs gradually like a bell curve. But the single most important input that I have going for me is the cider itself. I am using cider that I picked up directly from a local apple orchard. The cider that I was using from Whole Foods was good (for a beginner) and the hard cider that it produced was a solid ‘B’ but this fresh pressed cider almost looks like a different ingredient altogether (color clarity, taste etc).

Despite having all of that going for me, a couple things still have me a bit apprehensive. I have started three one gallon batches of hard-cider; and even though I started all three gallons at the exact same time using the exact same yeast and stored them all in the exact same conditions, they have all begun fermenting at different rates…and I have no clue why?

Unlike last year where I kept the fermentation process going as long as possible, in an effort to produce alcohol levels above 5%, this year I am not going to add more sugar at each rack; no flavorings or post sweetening either. All in my opinion a waste of time. (Fussy’s cider is going au-naturale?)

How is it going? Well I am off to a good start, I am two racks in and about to bottle. How did it come out? Well we should know by Thanksgiving, but even the preliminary non-aged taste is better than any batch I produced last year. That’s the hardest part about fermenting; you are basically running a controlled experiment with multiple variables but you don’t know how it all turns out for months. And in my case, you don’t get to try again until next year.

Here is a great example of having the right beer at the right time.  While most of us can agree, the overall scale of quality for the American Lights ( Miller Lite, Bud Light, Coors Light and so on) are very close to the bottom (cushioned at the bottom by BudLight Lime).  However, think about this; it is 90+ degree Summer day and you just finished two hours of lawn mowing.  Your buddy shows up with an ice packed cooler full of very cold light beer and offers you one. In that situation can you think of a better beer than that?  Sure we all love the Trappist Ales, but not under a hot sun from an ice cold cooler.

In another scenario it’s a cool evening and you are sitting by the fireplace with the first fire of the year.   This is a perfect time for a good old Belgian Ale.  The light beers should be the furthest thing from you mind.

Enjoy – read and drink responsibly!

Mikkeler Beek Geek Breakfast is intense. It’s a dark beer to trump all other dark beers. It smells strongly of malt and coffee, and these come through with a deep taste. Make sure to drink this one at cellar or room temperature, too cold and the flavors will seem off. It’s rich and bold and complex, and a real gem for the stout lover. Really thick, but at the same time very sippable. One of the best Imperial Stouts I’ve had. It’s great from the bottle, but check it out on tap if you get the chance (Meadhall in Cambridge has Beer Geek right now, amongst 100+ other amazing craft beers).

Not sure how I feel about beer in the morning, and I can only envision having this for breakfast wrapped in furs at a Viking stronghold or something. We’ve got another bottle, I think I’ll crack it open on a cold winter day.

Read More at Beer Schnabs

Still shocked … anywho Vince is back with a new product/commerical that rivals his infamously awesome Slapchop commercial that showed the potential of auto tune and memes. Gotta love it . It’s even a bit Meta as it refers to his own arrest.

I have been noticing a trend as companies such as Bulliet and Knob Creek, better known for their award winning bourbons, have been launching their own product lines of Rye Whiskey. This overlooked spirit seems to be making a comeback. I always assumed it was bourbon’s harsher hillbilly cousin and simply avoided it. I admit I really didn’t know much more about it than, ” them good old boys were drinking it and whiskey” in Don Maclean’s famous song “American Pie”.

Spicier and less lean than bourbon, I was shocked to learn that Rye was once the most popular whiskey in the country prior to Prohibition.

(1)”Made from a mash of fermented rye grain—often with barley, —rye whiskey has a more assertive flavor than the rounder, sweeter bourbon, and its taste inspired the creation of some of the most regal cocktails in mixology, such as the Sazerac and the Manhattan. Ten years ago, only a small handful of rye whiskies existed, but thanks to a growing interest in bourbon and other whiskies, bartenders and curious drinkers are increasingly seeking out the lost flavor of rye.”

(2) “As bourbon gained popularity beyond the southern United States, bartenders increasingly substituted it for rye in cocktails like Whiskey Sours, Manhattans, and Old Fashioneds, which were initially made only with rye. All other things being equal, the character of the cocktail will be drier with rye.”

I decided to dip my toe in the Rye pool instead of jumping straight in with Redemption High Rye Bourbon …. Clocking in at 38% rye grain, it is still technically a bourbon  albeit  one with a higher than normal percentage of rye. ( A half step on the Road to Rye if you will)

So, how does it stack up? It definitely kicks bourbon’s normal mellow edge up a notch. It is noticeably “spicy” but the sweetness that one typically associates with bourbon is still there in the aftertaste. I would recommend sipping it over ice and perhaps following it with a chaser, or mixing it with cola and drinking. I think it would also give any cocktails where you would normally add bourbon a little extra zip!  I don’t think it will replace regular bourbon as my go to whiskey of choice, but Redemption High Rye is fantastic and it was a nice gateway liquor as I make my way along the road to Rye .

Redemption High-Rye Bourbon
Straight American Bourbon Whiskey

(3)”We think you can never have too much rye, so our High-Rye Bourbon mash-bill approaches the upper limit of allowable rye grain in a bourbon mash-bill. Bottled at 92 proof the dry spiciness of the rye balances the sweetness of the corn for a really wonderful sipping experience on its own or in classic cocktail recipes.
38.2% Premium Rye
1.8% Barley Malt
60% Corn(quote)”

 (1) http://www.imbibemagazine.com/The-Comeback-Kid-Rye-Whiskey
 (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_whiskey
 (3) http://www.redemptionrye.com/