Ethereal Spirits - Mellow Time

Another one is 'Jim Murrays Whisky Bible', a pocket sized tome you can take with you for an at the shop reference. It comes out each year and the guy actually goes out into the world and tastes whisky. I've got his 2010 edition and I USE it.

 

^^^After showing me how not to maim myself using power tools I guess you need that!

 

Had a sip of gin once. Thank gawd there's whisky!

 

...and craft brewing.

 

:cornut: ......................once upon a time but those days are over...........I drank all of mine by the time that I was 50yo......................

Jason

 

MM, have you tried the Watershed Bourbon? M.A.D. is looking for a going away gift for her boss and was thinking about getting him a bottle of it since he is leaving the state.

 

Wouldn't gin aged in bourbon barrels taste like bourbon? I've had beer that was aged in bourbon barrels, it had a lot of bourbon taste in it.

Dave

 

Hmmmm. I guess if you used the Gin SPIRIT (unflavored) and aged in barrels, you would get a lot of the wood / vanilla flavor that goes into bourbon. I can't even imagine the wood / vanilla flavors mixed with the citrus / herbal / floral flavors and aromas of gin... ew!

IMHO, that's like taking Waterford Crystal (the Gin, in my analogy) and making an exhaust finisher for your Harley (the bourbon). Both are wonderful things, but I don't know if they go together very well.

That raises the question, is there any difference in the spirit used to make Gin and the spirit used to make bourbon (grain source, etc)? Are they both basically Everclear until they are flavored/aged? Is Gin even Gin before the flavoring or is it the ctirus / herbal flavoring that makes it Gin?

 

Oh yeah... on a second note, I'm making a batch of my own Limoncello at home. I've got a dwarf Meyer Lemon tree on my patio and a small kumquat tree. A bunch of fruit became ripe at the same time, so I've got the 4 week citrus soak going right now. Luckily California now allows 151 proof Everclear to be sold, so I had a good starting base (will be knocked down to 65-70 proof for the final product)

 

This 'quote' is worth sharing IMO. I also think a poll would be interesting to see how many of you agree or disagree with the Congressman. So, here t'is.
Man's view on whiskey

In 1952, Armon M. Sweat, Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, was asked about his position on whiskey. What follows is his exact answer (taken from the Political Archives of Texas):

"If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being.

However, if by whiskey you mean the lubricant of conversation, the philosophic juice, the elixir of life, the liquid that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into Texas treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it.

This is my position, and as always, I refuse to compromise on matters of principle."

 

Unfortunately, I found that article about 4-5 days after I started my more standard "Soak peelings of lemons in alcohol for 4 weeks, add simple syrup and dilute to 38-35% alcohol" recipe. I probably would have tried the Gizmodo process as it avoids direct contact of alcohol with the bitter white pith under the lemon skin... it makes a lot of sense. I'm also thinking about adding a sprig of rosemary or maybe some mint to a bottle (I've got a 'grown on my patio' theme with the fruit and I also have a small collection of herbs in pots out there).

I like the Gizmodo addition of a second, 20-30 minute second soak with fresh zest. It probably allows the quick absorption of more lemon oil from the surface without the chance to extract bitterness from the pith. If I had more home-grown fruit, I'd try that too.

The Gizmodo article ignores filtering, which I've read, is very important to a pretty finished product. The more serious folks I've read will take the lemon liquor, add simple syrup, dilute and then filter through a wine or coffee filter. They then let things age for 2 more weeks (no fruit peelings) and filter one more time. I'm planning on running it through a paper coffee filter a few times after the syrup addition / dilution and seeing how the final product looks. If there are particulates, I'll let it sit a few weeks and filter one more time before the final bottling.

I'm in California. Luckily they changed their laws a bit a few years ago and you can buy 151 proof (75%) Everclear, so I've got some diluting to do once the 4 week soak is done and the sugar goes in. I'm 2 weeks in and the color is a beautiful yellow with a touch of orange (I've got Meyer lemons and kumquats in the soak).

My bottles:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C3ZUZE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HIMZAL2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A tip from my old beer brewing days: You can make nice labels by printing something out on a printer then copying (a good old fashioned xerox style copier... ink from an inkjet printer might run when wet) onto a slightly fuzzy cotton bond paper (buy a pack of resume paper at Staples). 4 to a sheet of 8.5x11 paper worked nicely for beer bottles. Once the product is in the bottle, cut the labels and dip them quickly into a shallow bowl of milk. Blot on paper towel and place on the bottle. Smooth on the bottle, blot dry with paper towel and let air dry. The label will hold on nicely for presentation and consumption but with a 5 minute soak in the sink it will slip away, leaving you a clean bottle to re-label for your next batch. The milk makes for a great glue and I never had any mold issues (which I had expected when I first read about this method), even with the beer bottles sitting in my rustic (damp / unfinished) basement for over a year.

 

PhuckPhuckPhuckPhuck! My wife needed a gift for her boss, so I decided to accelerate the Limoncello to a 3 week soak instead of a 4 week soak. I started to run the Everclear/lemon extract through a ceramic coffee filter into a clear acrylic pitcher that I had handy. Then I noticed a small puddle forming at the base of the pitcher from a pin-hole leak... then the entire bottom of the acrylic pitcher fell out when I lifted it to move to the sink. I saved about 1/2 of the mix, but only God knows what was dissolved from the plastic.

Note to self: Everclear and acrylic don't mix.

Looks like I'm back to ground zero with my first attempt. I've got lots of new Meyer lemons on the tree, so perhaps I'll try again in 2-3 months when they grow up and ripen.

 

Criminy! Was about to ask if you'de be willing to come to MOTD for Brew Swap with that!

 

That sounds wonderful! I miss MOTD!

We moved from Dallas (where I used to make the MOTD trip regularly) to San Francisco (which would add 3 more days to the drive each direction). I hope to make it back some time... I'll have at least another year to perfect my limoncello recipe before serving it up to a large group.