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A drink for all occasions

December 19, 2011 By

It used to be a simple process – walk into a bar, order your usual and find yourself a seat. These days, there is so much choice that you find yourself staring at a drinks menu as you would a food menu in a restaurant.

World beer, real ale, fruit beer, premium lager – there is so much choice for beer drinkers in pubs, clubs and bars up and down the country. The downside to such an array of options is the effect it has on your bank balance and other social commitments!

There are obviously those who would rather have fewer options and find menus cluttered nowadays. Quite frankly, those people don’t know what they are missing out on.

For many people, beer is increasingly becoming the drink of choice. There was a time when you could spot a beer drinker a mile off. Not anymore. Beer drinkers come in all shapes and sizes. Women are now attracted by light and refreshing fruity beers and will often be spotted in the corner of a pub enjoying a half pint of beer or lager.

If you don’t like the idea of standing in a bar with a glass of beer in your hand, a bottle is a stylish alternative. Most recognisable lager brands come in bottle form. Fosters Gold is a good example of a refreshing lager, packaged in a way which appeals to both men and women. The clean, crisp taste – coupled with the cool image built through the “Good Call” ads – has made the lager increasingly popular with men in their early 20s.

Beer is no longer just a means to an end for young drinkers or a way to wind down an afternoon in a working men’s club, it is so much more. Its versatility makes it a drink for all occasions.

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About Wine

February 28, 2011 By
wine

wine

Wine has been a source of pleasure to humankind since the start of civilization. Research carried out by fossil hunters show that wild vines existed in Europe from the tertiary age. It is said the present types propagated in Europe in the last interglacial period. Nobody knows who made the 1st wines or enjoyed their effects, but wines are woven thru the tapestry of human history like few other products. Few regions of the planet remain unmarred by its many virtues.

Wine has played many roles. It is utilized in non secular rites. It is utilized as medication, an antiseptic and a water purifier. It can transform meals into banquets. Wine can comfort and give you courage. What’s wine? Put simply wine is the naturally fermented juice of fresh fruit or berries. Wine is essentially a rural product. With tiny help from humans, nature converts grapes by a chemical process, into an alcoholic drink. Employing a few talented systems, wines of enormous variety are bottled and transported around the globe.

Today, we know a lot more about wines than ever. We have learned the proper way to cultivate the best quality grapes to provide the best wines, and the way to pair them with foods to show both at their absolute best. Over the passage of time we have learned or maybe rediscovered, wine as a principle source of nourishment and the advantages it can bring when consumed sparsely as a part of a good diet. In enjoying wine, we hook up with history and with those before us who’ve took part in one of mankind’s earliest and simplest pleasures. Training ourselves about wine and its correct use can only help us to like it to the fullest, and to make it part of a gracious way of life.

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Whiskey Tasting

February 23, 2011 By
whiskey tasting

whiskey tasting

The Nose

Whisky tasting is done principally with the nose – a much more acute organ than the tongue, though the 2 interrelate as the sample is swallowed. While there are only 4 first tastes, there are 32 first smells. These are savoury volatiles, which are noted by a little fleshy bulb called the Olfactory Epithelium, found at the rear of our noses and having a direct link to the brain.

The Tongue

As well as registering the first tastes, the tongue also perceives what’s named ‘mouthfeel ‘ – the viscosity, texture and smoothness of the liquid we are swallowing – and ‘pungency ‘ ( which is basically an analysis of discomfort – from irritation to intolerable – and is also picked up by the nose ). In whisky tasting, pungency is very clear in very robust spirit, which may sting your nose and tongue and prompt insensibility ( transient anaesthesia ). So you have got to be careful when nosing whisky at full strength – i.e. As it comes from the cask.

Flavour

Is a mixture of 3 factors : smell, taste and feeling. Our noses note smells – subtleties of flavour from unpredictable aromatics – and pass this information direct to our brains. Our sense of the smells that surround us are recorded subconsciously, yet smells probably trigger memories more successfully than sounds or sights: they’re the most evocative of experiences. With a little bit of practice you can shortly learn how to break smells down and identify their component parts. Putting names to them is trickier, and should be explored later in this section.

First tastes are registered by tiny sensory receptors on our tongues and palates. These are broadly organized so that sweet flavours are picked up on the end of the tongue, sour and salt flavours by the sides and middle and sour flavours at the rear. The time it requires to excite the different areas of the tongue varies, with the sour receptors taking the longest, so it’s critical when tasting to hold the liquid in the mouth and to ensure it covers the tongue completely.

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How Are Spirts Made?

February 15, 2011 By
spirit distilling

spirit distilling

Spirits can be made of any organic substance that may be fermented to make alcohol. Most alcoholic drinks are made by fermenting fruit or grain-based solutions. A still extracts alcohol from a fermented liquid by boiling it and then condensing the alcohol vapours, which vaporize from the boiling liquid at a lower temperature than water. As an example, an 8% alcohol by volume ( ABV ) wine or lager distills into a twenty p.c. ABV distillate when it is run thru a standard easy pot still. The alcohol content can be further increased by extra redistillations that further concentrate the alcohol and cut back the total volume of liquid.

The 1st and most elementary kind of is still the pot still, which is an enclosed vessel ( the kettle or “pot” ) that narrows into a tube at the very top to collect alcohol vapour that disperses when the fermented contents are boiled. The tube bends downward off the apex of the pot and runs thru a bath of cold water. This is the cause of the alcohol vapour to condense into liquid and drain into a container at the end of the tube. Most pot stills are made of copper. They’re considered “inefficient” in the sense that they carry over a share of water and chemical compound vapours with the alcohol vapour. This “inefficiency” can be regarded as an advantage when making spirits like brandy and whiskey that have particular flavours.

The column or constant still has 2 enclosed copper or stainless-steel columns. The fermented liquid is slowly fed down into the pinnacle of the 1st column while steam is sent up from the bottom. The rising steam strips the alcohol from the descending liquid and carries it over into the second column where it is recirculated and concentrated to the specified proportion of alcohol. Column stills are far more “efficient” than pot stills in the sense that they extract a higher density of alcohol. They’re favoured for neutral-flavoured spirits like vodka and white rum and also for commercial alcohol.

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Flavoured Vodka

February 11, 2011 By

Why is Flavoured Vodka so preferred?

A primary reason why flavoured vodka is so favoured is its unique position in the market. Drinkers have a tendency to pick one drink, and stick to it. If you’re a whiskey drinker or you’re a lager drinker you may ninety percent of the time stick to the same kind of drink you like. Brand commitment for drinkers is both a curse and a blessing for promoters in the sector. What seasoned vodka offers is something unique, it is the same kind of product, but now in multiple flavours. Firms like Absolut Vodka offer their clients many flavours, everything from Vanilla to Mango and Black Pepper (New Orleans version). So now patrons can be adventuresome but still within the comfort zone of a brand.

Most well liked Flavoured Vodkas

Absolut Vodka report that some of their preferred flavours are Citron ( a lemon flavour ) and quickly ascending the rankings in renown is Ruby Red ( a grapefruit flavour ). Also more bars are starting to use seasoned versions in their cockails, this assists in reducing the amount of ingredients while making absolutely certain that the drink mixes to a pleasant consistency.

Are flavoured Vodkas new?

You’ll be pleased to know that flavoured vodkas are over twenty years of age. Back in 1986 Absolut introduced a PEPPAR Vodka. It had the flavour of Roasted Jalapenos, Green Tomato and Dried Herbs; it was fairly piquant vodka. This was the 1st time in over a hundred years of distilling that Absolut made a decision to try a commercial version of flavoured vodka. This has led to an explosion in Vodka sales in Europe and the US during the last twenty yeas. What used to be a poor person’s drink in Poland is now a respected choice in Palm Springs.

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