Drinking vodka through a straw - stronger or not? Question: If I drink my vodka through a straw will it have a stronger effect.  There is a question here that sort of addresses my query, but does it apply to spirits as well?

Some people have made the claim that drinking through a straw will get you more drunk than drinking without one. This seems to be a Myth.

  Many people have claimed that drinking alcohol through a straw gets you drunk faster than drinking it regularly.

  Proponents of the Straw theory have two primary claims.  First, when drinking through a straw, people usually drink faster than if they were drinking regularly. Because they are ingesting more alcohol in a shorter period of time, they will clearly get more drunk faster.  Secondly, a straw creates a vacuum, which eliminates oxygen. The feeling of intoxication is created in part, because of the lack of oxygen entering us, so when we form a vacuum with a straw, we should naturally get more drunk. Additionally, by creating a vacuum with the straw, the boiling point of alcohol falls, and alcohol vapors are created within the straw, then inhaled into the lungs. This gets the alcohol into the bloodstream much faster than normal ingestion via the stomach.

  However, many opponents of the straw method say that although this science is true, the difference would be so negligible it wouldn't even be noticeable.  The New York Times even went a step further in ts Q&A section, writing that "There is no evidence that people get drunk faster if they drink alcoholic beverages through a straw, according to the National Institute on Alcoholic Abuse."  And even the folks at Mythbusters weighed in on the topic, when it was posted in the community forums of their website, claiming that it was "Busted." - Do you get Drunk Faster with a Straw?


Rising a cold beer to room temperature I have been told that once chilled, you should never let a beer come back to room temperature; what is the truth behind this?

If again chilled, will the flavor be the same? Or how might it change?

Temperature changes aren't great for beers, especially hoppy beers, because temperature swings of greater than 20 degrees will degrade flavor.  But it takes a LOT of that to produce a noticeable effect.

Most beer probably went through a few cycles of heating and cooling before it gets to your fridge, especially in the summer.  You know, maybe cold in the brewery but warmed in the truck before cooled in the warehouse then warm in the truck again before hitting a store's cooler.

It'd be hard to notice anything.  Hoppy beers might have their big aromas fade a bit or get a less smooth bitterness.  Anecdotally, some of the smoother DIPA style beers with big floral or citrus hop smells/tastes might degrade into more biting bitter territory.

Big beers made for aging will generally be forgiving but heating and cooling them a lot might make them taste flatter or cardboardy.  But again, we're talking several upon several times before anything noticeable happens.

Long story short...it's probably not going to do anything you're going to notice chilling unopened beers back down from room temperature.


Dark Beer Classifications What, exactly, is the difference between stout, porter, schwarzbier, and other dark beers?

Wiki descriptions:

-Stout: dark beer made using roasted malt or roasted barley, hops, water and yeast (fairly broad description, imho...)

-Porter: dark style of beer developed in London from well-hopped beers made from brown malt

-Schwarzbier: or black beer, is a dark lager made in Germany

Dark Beer: opaque or near-opaque colour that exists with stouts, porters, schwarzbiers (black beer) and other deeply coloured styles

Two overarching factors seem to be the color, most obviously, and geographical location.

But, are all dark beers, 'stouts,' by definition? For example, schwarzbier is a 'dark lager' but, still made from roasted malt?

Porters and Stouts were similar but different... in the beginning. I'm going to try my best to paraphrase this wonderful article, some of the BJCP Guidelines, and this article.

  Porters (have #s) Stouts (have bullet points)

  1) A substantial, malty dark ale with a complex and flavorful roasty character.

  A very dark, roasty, bitter, creamy ale.

These are the BJCP definitions - note... they're fairly similar

  2) Originally, just your "common" brown beer.

  Originally, just a "stout" (or stronger) brown beer.

Already... you can probably see why people use them interchangeably

  3) Origin for Porters are credited to London.

  Stouts are credited with originating in Ireland.

Apparently, water (which, as odd as it seems, is the most unique thing to beers!) and science played a large part in London's success in creating Porters instead of porter being a generic brown beer. Science revealed that the efficiency of the brown grains was 2/3 of pale malt. Even though brown malt was cheaper than pale, the horrible grain efficiency made it more expensive. Therefore the Porter soon had a mixed grain bill using a brown malt base and substituted pale malt for profit. This was made even more apparent when the English Governement/Parliment/forgive my idiocy on the verbage here started taxing beer.

Later- London started using a method known as "parti-gyling"... per the first link:

  Parti-gyling isn’t what you think it is. Almost all modern descriptions get it badly wrong. It isn’t—after 1800 at least—using the first runnings to make one beer and the second and third for others.  It’s much more sophisticated than that.

  Porter brewers mashed several times. The worts from each mash were hopped and boiled separately, then blended to produce whatever beers were required. Two, three or even four beers were assembled from blends of each of the worts.

  It’s a very efficient way of making not just huge volumes of a beer, but also relatively small amounts of stronger beers. Or any amount of any strength beer. With their brew lengths of hundreds of barrels, London’s porter brewers couldn’t brew the strongest Stouts single-gyle. The amount they could sell would barely have covered the false bottoms of their massive mash tuns.

  That’s why they often parti-gyled their stouts with porter. You can probably see where this is going. The recipes for porter and stout were, by definition, identical, as they were brewed together.
  (Sorry I couldn't paraphrase this part... it all seemed relevant.)

So... it seems that all Stouts are Porters; but, not all Porters are Stouts (think squares and rectangles).

As far as Schwarzbier goes - this is a LAGER where Porters and Stouts are ALES.  I also differentiate between ales and lagers in this post. In the homebrewing world, there was a fad of black-lagers/ales a few years ago. The grain used in brewing was more or less burnt in order to give the pale ale a dark appearance but taste/feel like a pale ale/lager.

Dark beer is just a classification of all of these types.

Here is a link to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) that has links to what each beer type should taste/look like.


How do you know if wine has gone bad? Which smells indicate that wine/beer is bad?and can it have any negative effect on health?

Here is a list from the Wine Faults Wikipedia page. These faults, for the most part, will not do any harm when they are in wine (they aren't strong enough) They just taste bad.

Acetaldehyde    Smell of roasted nuts or dried out straw. Commonly associated with Sherries where these aromas are considered acceptable

Amyl-acetate    Smell of "fake" candy banana flavoring

Brettanomyces   Smell of barnyards, fecal and gamey horse aromas Cork taint Smell of a damp basement, wet cardboard or newspapers and mushrooms

Butyric acid    Smell of rancid butter

Ethyl acetate Smell of vinegar, paint thinner and nail polish remover

Hydrogen sulfide    Smell of rotten eggs or garlic that has gone bad

Iodine  Smell of moldy grapes

Lactic acid bacteria    Smell of sauerkraut

Mercaptans  Smell of burnt garlic or onion

Oxidation   Smell of cooked fruit and walnuts. Also detectable visually by premature
    browning or yellowing of the wine

Sorbic acid plus lactic acid bacteria   Smell of crushed geranium leaves

Sulfur dioxide  Smell of burnt matches. Can also come across as a pricking sensation in the nose.


Should I get beer in bottles or in cans? Sometimes, companies offer the same beer in bottles and in cans. Everything else being equal, should I go for the bottle or the can? I know that e.g. Guinness have their "floating widget" in their cans that releases nitrogen when you open it, but assume that this isn't the case.

In particular, I'm looking for the effects the inner coating/material of cans has on beer.

A modern canned beer should never taste like metal. If it does, you're probably drinking straight from the can, and while the folks at The Alchemist might recommend that, I can't say I share their view.

Modern beer cans are lined with a water-based chemical that essentially ensures that your beer never touches metal. This in turn means that strictly speaking, canned beers will keep longer without being skunked, and pressurized packing means there's less air in a can then a bottle, which adds further preservative benefits.

That said, very few beers that are good enough for this decision to matter are offered in a choice of containers - most small breweries just don't have the capacity to both can and bottle - especially of the sort of small-batch stuff that you'd actually be interested in trying to cellar and age. Furthermore, there are significant environmental and economic arguments in favor of both bottles and cans.

At the end of the day, choose the packaging that's more convenient for you to store, consume from, and recycle when you're done. The quality difference is essentially insignificant.


Do Bartenders ever make their own inventive drinks for the Christmas holidays in bars? Does anyone know of any bartenders inventing their own inventive Christmas season drinks that are sold locally in their pub or bar?

I am looking for examples in which the bartender himself is the originator of the drink in question.

If yes, could one explain what the drink is and if it is to symbolizes anything related to the Christmas season.

Do bartenders try to do this?  Yes.

Do they advertise it as such?  Yes.

Is it truly original - as in nobody, anywhere, anytime, has ever made that drink before?  Maybe.

I used to run a bar, and my bartenders would experiment with these things for various holidays and special events.  Customers want to feel special - they know you're not making the alcoholic equivalent of the Mona Lisa, but having a special drink at your local bar is fun and appealing to them.

Once you get beyond the standard cocktails, bartenders (and bars) try to distinguish themselves with variations and twists (pun intended) to stand out in the marketplace.

For example:

Combine 1 part each of cinnamon-flavored (some rum) and mint-flavored (some vodka) with 2 parts of (some cream liqueur), shake well with ice, serve it in a martini glass that's been rimmed with (some flavored sugar), stick a candy-cane in it, and dust with (some spice).  Call it an "Old Saint Nick" or a "Naughty Rudolph".

Is the Old Saint Nick in XYZ Bar in Birmingham, Alabama, USA the same as the Old Saint Nick in ABC Pub in Birmingham, England?  Probably not.  Does anyone care?  No.


Looking for local beers on the Canary Islands? The common beers in Gran Canaria are Topical and Dorada.

What other local beers are there on the Canary Island?
Is there any microbrewery / local brewery in the Canary Island?
Are there craft beers in the Las Palma de Gran Canaria?

Craft beer and beer tourism seems to have not yet hit the Canary Islands.

The other notable beer local to the Canary Islands that we know of is Viva (http://www.cervezaviva.com/).

We don't know of any craft beers in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria but Cerveza Gourmet (http://www.ratebeer.com/p/cerveza-gourmet-las-palmas-de-gran-canaria/34492/)
appears to be a store to visit if you are looking for a wide selection to choose from.

Answered by: The Gastrograph Team


What is the difference between carbonation drops and priming sugar? When I attempted brewing beer in my home the set and instructions called for the carbonation being done by adding carbonation drops instead of priming sugar.

How does the fundamental chemical makeup differ between the two and how does the actual chemical process differ in beers brewed with carbonation drops versus priming sugar (if at all)? Is taste affected?

Carbonation drops are just premeasured doses of priming sugar.  Sometimes they'll be a mix of glucose and sucrose, or just a single sugar depending on the brand.  But otherwise they're exactly the same as priming sugar, so no chemical or taste difference.

They're probably being recommended by the instructions since they're pretty much impossible to mess up, which is great for new brewers since it's one less thing to worry about.

I had heard a rumor once that the drops that came with hopped extract kits like Coopers or Mr. Beer also had Maltodextrin, which increases body and head retention since extract kits often have deficiencies in those departments.  However, I've never found any actual sources to back this up so it's probably just be overhearing the guy at a home-brew shop talking out of his butt.


What does it mean that multiple whiskey brands come from the same distillery? Today I was looking at buying my first bottle of whiskey since I got a liquor store gift card worth of $50. I enjoy whiskey so I figured this would be nice to buy. I was looking at for example Blanton's Bourbon and after doing some research, I found out that Blanton's Bourbon is marketed by Sazerac Company and distilled at Buffalo Trace. After looking further, I found out there are only about 13 actual distilleries in the USA which most of them produce multiple brands.

question:

Take my Blanton's example. What does it actually mean that it is done by multiple companies? Does this mean I can also just buy a bottle of Buffalo Trace whiskey for the same taste and pay less? Also, who gets to decide the taste, if it's different at all? Blanton's or the distillery itself? I'm kind of confused at this moment and before I spend my gift card I'd like to get some clarification of why things are done this way. Right now I feel like the "sub brands" like Blanton just buys from Buffalo and call it their own, I don't want to spend my gift card on a... well... sort of "fake" product that's just a marketing trick, if that makes sense! Hope someone can clear things up for me. Thanks in advance!

A distillery is just a building at the end of a day, the flavor of a whiskey comes from the ingredients and equipment used inside it. In whiskey making the equipment used makes a big difference in the end product, here's a non-exhaustive list:

Stills: stills are used to concentrate alcohol, the shape and material used for stills make a great difference in the end flavor of the whiskey
Barrels: whiskey is aged for years, generally in barrels of some kind. The material used can make a big difference, for instance there's charred barrels, used wine or port barrels. The whiskey will take flavors from the barrel as it ages

The ingredients that are used in whiskey making likewise make a big difference:

Grain: Barley, Rye, Wheat and Corn are all used in whiskey making, and each give whiskey a very different character
Peat: peat smoke is widely used in scottish whiskey making, the amount and type of peat used gives the end product more or less flavor
Yeast: the strain of yeast used in the fermentation will have an impact on flavor

There's also conditions to consider like the temperature and length of the initial fermentation, still heat, etc. There's the number of times that a whiskey is distilled, triple distillation would give a very different character than double distilling. These are all under control and change the end product.

So a distiller with a single set of equipment using the same grain could make many different characters of whiskey by varying the process and types of barrel used. If they have different stills and use different grains a single distillery could make a very wide variety of whiskeys.

As for this specific case, Blanton is a brand which is named after Albert Blanton, one of the founders of the Buffalo Trace distillery and who worked there for more than 5 decades. The same company (Sazerac) owns several distilleries and produces many different brands. For all I know they do just pour standard Buffalo Trace into the bottles and market it as something else, it wouldn't be the first time a company pulled that trick, however that would be bound to be noticed by aficionados and it wouldn't do their reputation any good.


Do wines from grafted vine stock taste different from non-grafted? The Phylloxera plague of the 19th century devastated the grape stocks of Europe.  However,  Charles Valentine Riley and J. E. Planchon grafted the vines (Vitis vinifera) onto rootstock of an American native species (Vitis aestivalis).  In a nutshell saving the European vineyards and it's production.

It is said that this 'hybrid' vine produced the same grape, as the rootstock does not interfere with the development of the wine grapes.  Is this true?

With all this in mind, what proportion of wine (today) is made from grapes from hybrid vines, and is there really any taste/quality difference?

Oh... something I am a real expert at! You are mixing your context when calling vines hybrids. There are three ways you can grow grapes for fruit. 100% original "own rooted" vines, grafted vines and hybridized vines.

Let's back up so I can explain why that is. Many Americans in the 1600-1800s tried unsuccessfully to bring European vines to North America and they always died within a few years and they could never figure out. When American vines were brought to France in the 1860s to study the differences between American and European vines, they inadvertently brought a root louse called phylloxera with them in the soil (they also brought over powdery mildew, but that's another story).

As it came to be, phylloxera completely wiped out most vineyards in Europe within a decade or so. Then started a race to figure out a "cure" for this bug. Three methods were attempted. The first was to drown the soil in chemicals to kill the bugs and that worked for a long time. Some vineyards were still operating like that until the 1960s.

After more research, they figured out that American vines were resistant to phylloxera. So that led to the other two ways of keeping their vines alive. Hybridization between French and American vines. These hybrids were resistant and yet made drinkable wine. Not the same quality as 100% vitis vinifera but hey it got you tipsy just like a good Cabernet did. Many of these hybrids are still around. I have grown several of them. One that I liked a lot is called Leon Millot. The French after WWII, in a fit of purity, have banned most of these grapes and had them ripped out.

The third way was considered the best way to preserve the flavors of the cabernets and chardonnays of the world. They took a page from the apple growing industry, which had already perfected the art of grafting roots onto a different tree. So, they grafted American vines onto French (and German and Italian and so on) vines. This worked out almost perfectly for everyone. In fact, because they use several different vitis species (there is only one vitis species in Europe, vitis vinifera) they were able to more tightly control how the vines grow. This saved the wine industry around the world.

There are only several small pockets and one large one, where phylloxera hasn't invaded. The big one is Washington State in the Northwest corner of the United States. This is where I live. Because of the unique soils (very sandy) and climate (basically a desert) they can grow "own rooted" vines. So, if you are in a place where you can buy a Washington State wine, you are tasting the last place on earth where European vines are grown on their own roots.

Can you taste a difference? I would say not really. There are so many factors that come into play when making a wine. Any subtle influences the own rooted vs. rootstock play in flavor is masked by things like oak, climate, yeast and so on. Just be happy there is a place in the world that phylloxera has not invaded!


How to know which tequila should be for drinks and which one meant to be drank on its own A while ago I was told that I should choose my tequilas carefully since ones are meant to be drank on their own(not chased, not mixed) and others (supposedly cause they're lower quality) can and should be mixed. So now that the scope of the site has been changed I feel like I can now ask this here.

So what are the characteristics I should look for in a tequila(other than price) to learn how to differentiate a good-for-drinks tequila from a drink-it-on-its-own one?

Tequila has come a long way from when it was 1st manufactured, back in the day the traditional way to drink tequila was in a shot glass because it actually did taste like you were drinking paint stripper!... this is not the case anymore, now some tequila is drank from wide mouth cups and sipped like wine or a really nice bourbon. Contrary to popular belief tequila doest always give you the craziest hang over, at least not the newer tequilas since they are better quality, that is, if you are drinking real tequila. Real tequila is made from the agave plant and depending on the region grown in Mexico ( south, north) will have a slight different taste. Sometimes you may find tequilas that say mixto or mixed, stay away from these types since they are not pure tequila and should not be drank without mixing it in a cocktail or mix drink. This mixto tequila will not taste as good and will give you a crappy headache the next day. There are different types of aging process for tequilas. There is the silver, gold or aged and extra aged, all have distinct flavors and undertones. Here is a good link with some tequila information and history also for tasting.
So if the bottle says mixed or mixto then it's for mixing and should not be drank alone unless you want to feel like a truck hit you the next day.
Any other kind of real tequila should be ok, it all depends on taste and preference.
Just remember that the first swig you take is suppose to burn, lol enjoy!

This is just my opinion, but on a personal note, patron is over hyped and you can find way
Better quality tequilas at a better price. I personally like casamigos the brand by George clooney it's actually pretty good, also Don Julio and Herradura  are good.


Which beverages are least likely to give one a hangover? What induces hangover on a drink-to-drink basis? Guinness, absinthe, and ouzo have never given me a hangover even after those rare nights of extreme consumption... Now, I do usually consume absinthe in the traditional way (with equal parts water) but, I've been truly amazed to wake up with no hangover after doing the, again extreme, things that I've done to my body with the stuff previously.  On the other hand, even when it's of excellent quality I experience hangover-like symptoms after drinking white and sparkling wines, and when I drink vodka.

Are some alcoholic beverages known to be least likely to cause hangovers?  If so, what characteristics of the drinks affect this?

Two things have to be considered:

The first, as Lying Dog said, is impurities. In fact, if they give taste, they also give you hangover
The second, much more important is the fact that alcohol is diuretic. Once drunk, the alcohol is converted into several substances (in several steps) by your liver. The problem is once the last substances cannot be converted into anything useful, it will be ejected from your body. How ? By urinating. But urinating requires water. The problem is that if you do not drink water as much as needed, your body will take it from where it can, including from your brain. Now think about a sponge left without water inside and you'll have a good idea of what your brain looks like after a night, inducing hangover the next morning.

To answer your question, yes, Vodka is the most efficient alcohol to avoid hangover. But you can also avoid it by drink enough water while drinking alcohol (typically, if I'm at a party where I drink a lot of alcohol, I drink a pint of water after 2 or 3 beers)


Irish Cream Liqueur chemistry Among Irish Cream liqueurs, particularly lower-shelf than the big names, do any use an all-out unrefrigerated-single-serve-coffee-creamer approach to achieving shelf stability, i.e. tetrasodium pyrophosphate and other preservatives? If so, any clues as to which do and which don't? Can assumptions be drawn based on ABV? Price? Other factors?

Baileys and other Irish Cream manufacturers state that their liqueurs do not need to be refrigerated. As long as they are stored between recommended temperatures of 41ºF/5ºC and 70ºF/21ºC and kept out of direct sunlight, they have a shelf-life of around 2 years.
The alcohol in the product acts as the preservative on its own - so no need to look for anything containing artificial preservatives (in the cases where you can actually  find an ingredients label.)
As far as an "unrefrigerated-single-serve-coffee-creamer" version goes - as with almost all types of alcohol, there are plenty of companies that produce miniature versions of Irish Cream, Baileys included:

Considering that the shelf-life is going to be around 2 years whether the bottle is open or not, the miniature versions are manufactured more for consumer convenience than for shelf-life stability.


How long does it take to cool a keg of beer? I have a corny (5 gal) keg of homebrew, already carbonated, that's been aging at room temperature.  I'd like to bottle it off soon, but in my experience that works best when the beer is in the 45-50 degree Fahrenheit range.

Tonight the weather forecast for my area says it will get down to 29, and tomorrow it will be right around 45.  I'm inclined to just stick the keg on the fire escape tonight and leave it until the afternoon.  I'm not really worried about freezing, given the alcohol content I understand it should be able to go down to 28 or 29 without trouble (correct me if I'm wrong here).

I can't seem to find any reliable resources about air cooling, just recommendations for folks trying to cool beer as fast as possible.  Will the keg be cool enough tomorrow to bottle?

EDIT: The forecast now says it could get as low as 24, so the freezing question may also be an issue.  The keg is outside, so we'll see what happens.

I know I'm a few days late but the worry I'd have leaving a keg outside in cold weather is the pressure changes.  CO2 absorbs more in colder conditions, but if anything freezes, even partially, CO2 gets driven out of solution.  Normally when you refrigerate kegs indoors they're hooked up to gas, so as pressure in the headspace drops it's less likely the keg will unseal itself.  Also, if the keg did freeze a bit the CO2 being forced into the headspace could conceivably go over the pressure limits of the keg, depending on how carbonated it was to begin with among other things.

Think of leaving a bottle or can in the freezer to chill it quickly then forgetting about it.  Odds are instead of a beersicle you got beer and glass sprayed all over the inside of your icebox.  It's anecdotal, I'll admit, but I've seen it happen so I wouldn't risk a keg and either leave it outside uncarbonated or chill it in a temperature controlled fridge.

Anyway, this is long since past so my fear mongering is moot.  Let us know how it went for you.  You should be able to leave and accept an answer to your own question and it would be good for the site.


Should a meal with beer as an ingredient be paired with that same beer? I was wondering if it's generally a good idea to pair beer-based recipes with the same beer that you use to cook them.  For instance, should you drink a Guinness with Beef and Guinness Stew? Should you drink the same beer that you use to make your batter when you make Beer Battered Fish and Chips?

There is no culinary basis to make that generalization. The choice of beer (or wine or any other ingredient used to add depth) may be selected to enhance, balance, contrast, or even counteract one of the other ingredients. But that doesn't necessarily make it the beverage of choice to accompany the resulting dish.

The beer-as-an-ingredient may not even be the dominant flavor of the dish. And if it is the dominant flavor, that doesn't necessarily mean "more of the same" is the best accompaniment.

For example, (I'm drawing an analogy) I might add a dry white wine to a pasta sauce to add depth or a sweeter white wine to help cut acidity. But tomato-based pasta dishes are traditionally accompanied by a red wine, not white.

These are broad generalizations, but there's nothing to say that my favorite bread recipe enhanced with a light lager must (or even preferably) be matched with a lager.

It's the overall flavor of the dish that determines the best accompaniment. Not the beer ingredient.


What fortified red wines combine best with black olives, pistachio nuts and this particular cheese? Recently I've been making a spaghetti dish where wine is the protagonist.
The cooking of the spaghetti is finished in a sauce (whose cooking already started, too) made with red wine, oil, garlic and chilli pepper, so that they absorb much of it.
When they're done, I add black olives and soft-texture cheese with an intense taste, not salted and slightly bitter, and mix up. Finally, the whole thing goes in the plate where minced pistachio nuts are waiting.

I've come to the conclusion that I prefer a fortfied wine in here. Moreover, due to the pistachio nuts, I want a sweet aftertaste, but at the same time it should match the spicy flavour given by other ingredients.
What are my European choices?
I'd prefer cheap enough suggestions (maximum around 10 euros a bottle) but more complete overviews are welcome.

You can see here the cheese at issue. Instead the wine I've used so far is Rosso Gasperini (yes, I know this isn't fortified, the thing is I believe a fortified one would fare better).

Please allow me to recommend a nice red classic Italian wine called Chianti.

From this Wine and Cheese Pairing Guide we can see that Chianti is paired well to the Pecorino Romano Cheese and nuts. I know that you are using a Columella's Caciofiore cheese that is "considered a sort of "ancestor" of the Roman pecorino cheese, prepared with rennet based on cardoon."

  Columella's Caciofiore can be considered a sort of "ancestor" of the Roman Pecorino Cheese, prepared with rennet based on cardoon. Columella talks about this cheese in his treatise "De Rustica": "It is better to curdle the milk with lamb or kid rennet, although it is also possible to curdle it with the cardoon flower or with safflower seeds or fig latex. Anyway, the best cheese is made with as less treatment as possible". (Lucio Giunio Moderato Columella, "De Rustica", 50 AD). Today, in the Roman Countryside, "native country" of the cardoon and the artichoke, some producers still use the cardoon flower as rennet and prepare raw milk pecorino cheese with an ancient taste.

The Chianti red wine could be substituted with a Sangiovese red wine.

If the olives or spices are over powering the taste of your dish you may wish to use a Merlot Wine.

If it is a fortified wine you are after, would like to recommend a fortified Madeira Wine.

  Fortified wines, like port, sherry and Madeira, also go very well with rich cheeses. A classic match is English Stilton and port, but other blue cheeses also taste lovely alongside a glass of sweet, flavourful port. - Pairing red wine with cheese.


Beer that's slightly out of date I've got a case of beer, which is Rivet Beer. Each can is 330 mL, & 4.7%/1.2 standard drinks. They ran out of date on 13 November 2015, & it's been in a cupboard the entire time, room temperature. Are the cans safe to drink? I'm not concerned about bad taste or anything, I just don't want to get sick. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Should not be a problem healthwise, taste could be a little different but as it was stored in a can it was protected from sunlight.


Bottle conditioning: What good things can aging to do a wine? Which good things happen to a wine if you age it? Are there any wines you should age, and some you shouldn't age?

Red wines generally benefit from aging. In the right conditions, dark and cool, tannins can smooth out removing some of their bite. Flavors can mellow and blend into something very interesting to the palette.  Whites usually can follow suit, but their life span sans a few specific varieties, usually aren’t meant for aging and should be drunk young.  IMO few wines are really geared for long aging, notably ports, with their high alcohol levels age well into several decades, giving the drinker unique flavors as the years go by.  However, if a wine is flawed at conception, aging won’t make a purse out of a sow’s ear.


Will drinking alcohol kill corona virus inside our body? In recent days there are so many messages spreading over the social media saying drinking alcohol kills corona virus in our body? Is this true? As far as I understand, using alcohol based hand rubes will kill the virus from the surface of our body and it won't work inside our body.

Unfortunately the short answer is: no. Alcoholic drinks do not prevent or heal, as stated by the World Health Organization on February 21, 2020, in a post on their Facebook profile (source).


Availability of Zinbardel wine Back in the 1960s and early 1970s I used to drink a jug wine called Zinbardel.  They stopped making it and I haven't been able to find it since. Does anyone still make Zinbardel wine?

There is nothing called "Zinbardel". The only thing close is Zinfandel. Just in case I was missing something I did a google search on ZinBARdel and it had only 6 results. One of them was your question! Now if you are talking about ZinFANdel, all you have to do is go to your closest supermarket and buy a jug of Gallo Zinfandel.


Why do beer bottles overflow when hit from above? You're holding a bottle of beer, mostly full
A prankster comes up and hits your bottle from above with hers.
Yours immediately and violently overflows (while hers stays unaffected).

See this short video.

Of special note is the fact that this does not occur when a beer bottle is hit from below or on the sides.

What mechanism causes this?  Is it a property of beer, or of glass beer bottles, or something else?

tl;dr

Tapping the top causes compression waves started through the air in the opening (which is why it only works from the top.) The compression waves bounce at the bottom and become expansion waves. The compression and expansion causes agitation which foams up the beer.

Tell me more...

The layman's summary from Scientists discover why beer bottles overflow after a sudden impact:

  A lot happens in the short period of time between tap and torrent. The
  moment some jerk clocks your bottle's mouth, a compression wave
  travels down through the glass. When the wave hits bottom, it's
  reflected as an expansion wave that travels through the beer. These
  waves keep bouncing back and forth, with the compression waves
  breaking up the CO2 bubbles in your beer into thousands of incredibly
  tiny microbubbles, and the expansion waves causing those microbubbles
  to violently expand into skyrocketing plumes.

  The result? Millions and millions of expanding CO2 bubbles turn your
  beer into foam shooting out of your bottle. With any luck, it spills
  all over your jerk friend's pants.

The abstract from the published article:

  A sudden vertical impact on the mouth of a beer bottle generates a
  compression wave that propagates through the glass towards the bottom.
  When this wave reaches the base of the bottle, it is transmitted to
  the liquid as an expansion wave that travels to free surface, where it
  bounces back as a compression wave. This train of
  expansion-compression waves drives the forced cavitation of existing
  air pockets, leading to their violent collapse. A cloud of very small
  daughter bubbles are generated upon these collapses, that expand much
  faster than their mothers due to their smaller size. These rapidly
  growing bubble clusters effectively act as buoyancy sources, what
  leads to the formation of bubble-laden plumes whose void fraction
  increases quickly by several orders of magnitude, eventually turning
  most of the liquid into foam.


Why is this wine so expensive? Online, this wine is $400. At Cibo in Coral Gables, it's $2100.

Yep, $2100, sir. Don't forget the tip, ma'am.

Does this wine taste like white truffle? what's up?

https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/mouton+rothschild+pauillac+medoc+bordeaux+france/1993

There are several things going on.

Mouton Rothschild is on of the few "first growth" Bordeaux wineries. All of them are highly collectible. New bottles go for between $600 and $700 for Mouton Rothschild, from a quick glance around the internet, which is a jump in price from the bottle you are looking at.
1993 wasn't the best vintage in Bordeaux, which is why the bottle price is lower for such an old wine. The 1995 vintage was much better and is selling for significantly more money
Why is it $2100 at Cibo? First restaurants mark up wine about 3x the retail price (even though they buy wines at wholesale). Five times the price is a little excessive for a wine that's probably not that great. Then sometimes restaurants will have that special extra expensive bottle just daring some high roller, that doesn't know anything about wine, to drop money on it. It's very common.


Does Sam Adams sell its 'White Christmas' beer in six-packs? Does Sam Adams sell its 'White Christmas' beer in six-packs?

I've only seen it included as part of its holiday sampler 12-pack. Never as its own standalone six-pack.

If not, why not?

Yup, they do!

You can find it online at Binny's, for example ($9.99).


Why are there so few "real" trappists and why are six from them from belgium I was wondering why there are so few trappists and how is it that from the eleven trappists 6 of them are from Belgium. Why aren't the breweries more spread over the world? Does it have something do to with what happened there in the history?

The Trappists are members of a Roman Catholic religious order. Trappists follow a rule of St. Benedict stating that they should "live by the work of their hands", which means many Trappist monasteries sell goods for income. The order has no particular prohibition against alcohol, so producing beer is an entirely reasonable profession for the monks.

The order is centuries old, and originated in France. However, many of the French breweries were destroyed during the French revolution (and later, the world wars). Fortunately for us today, the monasteries in the beer-loving Belgium survived (or in cases like that of the Rochefort Abbey, were restored).

Today, the "Authentic Trappist Product" logo, which defines a "real" Trappist beer, is owned by the International Trappist Association, an organization founded in 1997. The founding members include six abbeys from Belgium, one from the Netherlands, and one from Germany (which doesn't produce beer). It is only in very recent years that the ITA has expanded to recognize breweries aside from the original 7, the first "new" one being Stift Engelszell from Austria in 2012.

As the craft beer revolution pushes forward, I'd say we're likely to see more monasteries start their own beer production and apply for the logo. But right now, it's still mostly the original Belgians.


Is sake a wine, beer or spirit drink? Sake is commonly known as "wine rice". But the process of obtaining sake is more similar to the beer one, according to Wikipedia. And its alcohol content is closer to a spirit drink.

Why is called wine then?

Short Answer
Sake is categorized as sake, and should not be grouped together with other types of liquor. In Japan, you need a license specifically for making sake, even if you have licenses for making beer, wine and spirits!

Long Answer
To help clarify, let's compare the different liquor types.

  Is sake a spirit?
  No. Sake is brewed. By this definition alone, it disqualifies itself to be classified as a spirit, which are distilled. Shochu (焼酎) would be a closer Japanese counterpart there.

  Is sake a wine?
  No. Sake uses a complex fermentation process known as a parallel multiple fermentation, where the rice is converted from start to glucose, then glucose to alcohol simultaneously in the same container. Wine uses the glucose from the grapes, making it a simpler process single fermentation process.

  Is sake a beer?
  No. While beer is like sake in the fact that it must first convert starch into glucose, this is done in two separate steps, making it a serial multiple fermentation process.

By comparing the processes of making the different liquors, we can see that sake does not fall under spirits, wine, or beer. It is somewhere in between wine and beer in terms of process.

Why is it often referred to as a wine?
I do not have the definitive answer, as there is no source that tells me the story behind that. But I can point the similarities between the two liquor types.

  1) Alcohol content is similar.
  A rough average for red and white wines combined is about 13-14%. It's about 15-16% for sake. Spirits like whisky are at 40%, so sake is nowhere near there.

  2) They are both highly dependent on ingredients (location).
  For wine, it's the terroir, and for sake, it's the water. This makes the location of both liquors' makers an important factor to the flavors.

  3) Taste-wise they are close to each other.
  Especially white wine. Sake can also have sweet, fruity tastes.

  4) The way of drinking is similar.
  When you drink a good wine, you let it roll on your tongue a little, try to find the different flavors. The same goes with sake (God forbid you'd just chug it down like a shot of bad tequila!).

  5) They way they are sold are similar.
  You don't buy 6-packs of sake, but a large sake bottle, similar to (but usually wider than) wine bottles. There are of course small one-cup sizes, and carton sake (similar to box wine), but the main method of purchase has always been the large bottle.

  6) In the US, it's branded as a wine.
  It certainly isn't beer, but if it gets grouped into spirits, sake would be harder to sell in the States, as it would require a separate liquor license to sell it. By counting it as a "wine", stores only need a beer/wine license to sell.

In the end, I feel like wine is "similar enough" to most people to use as a comparison. I said that sake is sake, but really phrasing it like that doesn't help explain things to people. Having something familiar to compare to makes it easy, though I do wish people didn't stop at "sake equals wine", since that isn't an accurate explanation either.

Here are few sites I referenced when looking into the details:
Documents from the Japanese National Tax Agency regarding liquor types (JP).
Homare sake maker website, describing the process of sake-making (JP)
A small article on the similarities of sake and wine (EN)
Oenon, another sake maker. Has pics of the sake-making process (JP)


Acidity regulation of home made wine, berry wine or cider? What are methods to  regulate acidity of home made wine after it is become "a little bit too acid"?

Somehow remove acid (especially acetic acid) or transform one acid to another (weaker, softer) with aging, temperature or food additives?

Once I have told with Riesling wine producer (even not small and from premium Rothenberg area) and he state it very clear : they regulate acidity not each season but quite often... But that time I was not interested in how they do it.

First thing, pick up a basic winemaking book. All of this is covered in there.

If you have an Acetic acid problem, then you have vinegar not wine.

If you just have high tartaric acid, you can do a two things. Cold stabilization and potassium bicarbonate. Cold stabilizing is putting the wine in a freezer at about 25 degrees for a couple of weeks. I usually do this naturally on the coldest days of the year. Tartaric acid turns into tartrate crystals and sink to the bottom. Also, you can add Potassium Bicarbonate and it reacts with tartaric acid and reduces it. You'll have to do some research here.

If you have a malic acid problem, then malolactic fermentation is a way to turn the harsh malic acid to lactic acid. Again, consult a winemaking book to figure out the details.


How to obtain Amanita Muscaria in California for brewing I just read an article about brewing with Amanita Muscaria. Does anyone know the best way to get the mushroom in California?

Check with your local mycological society in your area. If it grows wild near you. You can buy grow kits and try to grow it indoors. But the mycological society is probably your best bet for finding it wild or a supplier that you can get it from.


What fruit spirit is in St. Germain? I love St. Germain, and it's become a staple at my house... but it is so damn expensive. I'd like to make a homemade version using elderflower cordial for a fraction of the price.

St. Germain lists their ingredients as: fruit Spirit, elderflower, sugar cane.
What type of fruit spirit is it? Pear / lychee?

All I've seen anywhere is that the base is eau-de-vie. Eau-de-vie means different things in different places but, in France (where St. Germain hails from) it basically means any distillate. I'd venture to say, since St. Germain refuses to specify, that it's actually a blend of unaged fruit brandys. If this is the case, it almost certainly includes pear (who's distillate is pretty popular in France).... and if you mix grapes and strawberries (both grown in France) you can come close to something approximating lychee (which I doubt they would ship in). The addition of the elderflower would push the grape/strawberry even closer in that lychee direction. This is all just speculation, a whimsy to kick around over a cocktail.

Realistically, I'd pick up a bottle of high quality syrup (Monin is popular), and use that to replace the liqueur. You want to use less in the cocktail as it's sweeter, but it'll bear the brunt of the work.  You can add a cheap neutral vodka (like Smirnoff) to thin it out if you like. Don't use water to cut it, it'll change the mouthfeel and water down your cocktail. For further experimentation you can use a combination of pear brandy or schnapps (really anything clear and pear flavored) and vodka, I'd start with two parts vodka to one part pear. You'll want to mix the two because otherwise the pear will likely be too strong. Consider garnishing with an orange or lemon twist to replace the citrus in the St Germain. I wouldn't worry too much about the lychee side of things, it seems any options would run pricey. Yeah, your mix will be lacking something but, no matter what you do it won't be quite be the real McCoy.... let us know how it turns out. Cheers.


How do people preserve wines, champagne? How do people preserve wines and champagnes for decades? Is there a special method or is it like keep in wine storage or cupboard and forget for some decades to be better in taste?

This really depends on the drink itself. Some wines are meant to keep for years. Others should be drunk immediately. Most should be drunk within 1 or 2 years. So choose your wine carefully. There are various vintage wine guides online.

That said, once you have chosen a wine meant for ageing, you do want a cellar (or if that is not available, a refrigerator designed for the purpose) that will be able to give you consistent:

Temperature: around 12-13 C (55 F)
Humidity: around 70 percent
Light: keep wines out of sunlight or even bright lights

And if the bottles have cork stoppers, they need to be stored on their side to prevent the cork drying out. This isn't an issue with screw tops.

And that's pretty much it. If you don't have a cooler or cellar, keeping them in a cool, dark cupboard is still going to help...


How to know which wine goes with which type of food I'm planning on having some friends over next week, and since I really enjoy grilling I plan to make some good steaks for them. They like wines, I personally would just drink a cold beer considering the heat of the grilling and that we reach high temperatures this time of the year. And well the issue is that I know nothing about wines and how to combine them with different meals. But for the sake of not having a too broad question, I'd like to know which wine could go best with a steak and why.

From Classic American Steak and Wine Pairings.

Best Wines to Drink with Steak

Cabernet Sauvignon

"The king of red wines, Cabernet Sauvignon is often the number one choice for steak and wine pairings. Beef steak has lots of strong flavor from the meat itself and from smoke, marinade, sauce, or pepper, so it calls for choosing a wine that is also full-bodied. Cabernet Sauvignon’s robust fruit tastes and powerful flavors can stand up to most any steak. The tannins in Cabernet Sauvignon (coming mainly from the red skin of the grape)  and relatively high alcohol levels also help cut through the fat of the steak, making the wine taste smoother and less bitter… and the steak more flavorful."

California Zinfandel

"Zinfandel has moderate tannins and high acidity, making it a fitting match with steaks that contain relatively good amounts of fat. Rib Eye, T-Bone or Porterhouse steaks are ideal partners for Zinfandel. A little less refined than  Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel has a characteristically bold grapey spiciness and thick richness on the pallet."

Malbec

"Malbec is an up and coming red wine that is definitely steak friendly. In fact, Malbec is the number one consumed red wine in Argentina where it’s considered the ideal wine to pair with beef.  Malbec is a versatile, rich and food-friendly red wine that may break with tradition but won’t break the bank. Check out Malbec wines from Argentina or Chile. You won’t be disappointed."

Other Good Red Wine Pairings with Steak

"The classic wine choices to pair with grilled steaks are big, bold red wines, especially California Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  Merlot, Syrah (Shiraz from Australia), Sangiovese, Chianti and Pinot Noir are also good choices and will produce softer red wine and steak pairings, which you may prefer depending on the steak, the doneness you prefer and whatever else you are serving."

Rosés, Blush Wine and Sparkling Wines

"Not to be forgotten, a crisp chilled Rosé wine or a bubbly Sparkling Wine (especially brut or rosé) is  almost always an enjoyable pairing with steak and other grilled fare. Just be sure to chill them in the refrigerator or on ice for several hours before serving. In fact, we recommend also chilling your red wines to avoid any “hot wine” influence on the taste of the steaks."


How can canned beer be draft without the widget? (Japan-specific) Here in Japan, draft beer is called nama (生) beer, or so my boss said. Referencing my previous question, one answer said that draft beer is "pushed using gas, or drawn via a partial vacuum". I get the concept of the widget being used to facilitate that. However, canned draft beers in Japan have no widget at all! They come in different can sizes from very small to a liter size, and all have no widget whatsoever. So I wonder how it is classified as draft without having the characteristic of draft beer. Or am I missing something? Is it possible the term draft means something different around here?

Draft isn't a very regulated term but most often draws its meaning from context.  At a bar, draft is usually placed opposite bottled, meaning like you said that the beer is pushed using gas from a keg or drawn via vacuum from a cask.  This is the actual meaning of draft.

But..

On bottles and cans it most often means "Like-Draft", or the marketing department's way of telling you this beer tastes more like the version of our beer that you get when you go to bar and get off the tap, but in the comfort of your own home.

For a beer like Guinness or Boddingtons, this means a widget to hold high pressure Nitrogen gas to simulate the effects of a "Beer Gas" pouring system which uses a high pressure mixture of Nitrogen and CO2.  Guinness has actually replaced the widget in some of their "draught" packages as well, I believe the draught bottles.

But for a beer like Miller Genuine Draft, or the other Japanese beers you're mentioning, it just means the beer is unpasteurized which gives it a flavor more like what you get from a fresh, unpasteurized keg rather than a pasteurized and/or filtered bottled beer.  This is in line with the meaning of "nama" as you mentioned, as the beer is more "fresh" than traditional bottled beer.


Bold red wine which stains teeth purple How to get specific recommendation on such a wine? I have seen this description but do not know which wine could this be.

Why Red Wine Stains

  Strong pigments in red wine are instant stain-makers for porous surfaces like your teeth. These pigments, called chromogens, give it that deep, intense hue, and leave their mark on your teeth after just a few sips. The nature of enamel plays a big part in this process.
  "Enamel isn't perfectly smooth," says Benjamin Rudow, D.D.S. "It has small cracks and irregularities, and pigmentation from red wine will settle in them

So you need to seek out wines that have the highest amount of tannins possible. Your run of the mill grocery store wines will not have a lot of tannins because it's more work and that makes the wines more expensive. Wines meant to age a long time will usually have more tannins since they help buffer the effects of oxidation and help the wine last longer.

So, really you want expensive, long lived, tannic wines. Those would be Cabernet, Petit Sirah, Tempranillo, Nebbiolo. But if you really want to go full stain, try a Tannat wine. It will stain your lips, gums, teeth and tongue! It's hard to find a 100% Tannat, but there are some that make it.

Tablas Creek in California makes a 100% Tannat that I've had before and it will stain like nobody's business!


Can the social perception of beer be changed? You see it in advertising all the time, wine and high quality spirits are the cultured, immaculately dressed set with the pearls and expensive cars in the "high class", expensive settings, and beer is the tailgating, short skirted waitress crowd.

With the advent of home brewing, micro breweries and increased interest in higher quality and craft beers, is there a way to change the social perception of the beer crowd, or should we simply relegate ourselves to being the lower class cousin?

Standards and qualifications will play a big role in how we can change the perception of beer. Wine has had the Sommelier since 1907. Beer now has the Cicerone (of which I can not find a date when the certification program started). Just look at the Wikipedia difference between the Cicerone and Sommelier.

Remember, wine has the "low-brow" wines that are just a cheap way to get drunk.

As the craft beer industry continues to boom, we need to have more sophisticated conversations about beer. Talk about the subtleties that vary in like-beers, to be able to accurately describe mouth feel, know why head retention is critical, and grow as a community that is willing to take the time to teach those that show interest. Nothing will turn away a curious consumer like a bunch of beer snobs that act snobby.

Beer will always have the beers that are associated with rednecks, tailgating, insert other disparaging term here. But as a community, we also need to embrace "those types" of beer. People love them, and we don't need to change that. The people that love those beers might also be willing to branch out into other styles. Unless you are trying to convince them by attacking the beer that they love and belittle them for not having an expanded range.


Zabaione - with Marsala or Whiskey? At times it can be difficult to procure what I always considered the correct ingredient for Zabaione - Marsala.  However, I have discovered that I can use other fortified wines or spirits.  Wikipedia suggests Cognac - which got me thinking about a good smooth whiskey - such as - Redbreast.  I don't know enough about whiskey to make the right choice here - would a cheap brand do just as well?

Great question for the dessert enhancement front.

Zabaglione is generally thought as sweet, however it can also be made without sugar, using dry wine and egg yolks, thus becoming a fine sauce for fish, chicken or vegetables. It is used this way in French cuisine as well as Italian.

  In Italy chefs and home cooks often measure the ingredients for zabaglione quite casually. Six egg yolks, for example, would be combined with six egg shells of sugar and 12 of wine or liqueur. Although Marsala is most often used for zabaglione, there is no reason why other wines or liqueurs can't be substituted, depending on the final flavor desired. Italian recipes usually call for dry Marsala. If a sweet wine or liqueur is used, the amount of sugar should be substantially decreased. Grand Marnier, Sauternes, Madeira, oloroso sherry, Southern Comfort, anisette, coffee- flavored liqueurs, Amaretto or La Grande Passion, the new passion- fruit liqueur, are just a few of the possibilities. - ZABAGLIONE, AN ITALIAN DESSERT

Personally, I would not use whiskey or cognac in this dessert. But this is a personal preference. I am impartial to either a blackberry wine or strawberry wine. When I say these particular wines, I mean real blackberry wine and not simply blackberry flavored wine. It makes a difference in my mind. All said and done whiskey can be used in zabaglione and in fact here is an Italian recipe for it. The following is in Italian:

  Sbattete 4 tuorli con 60 g di zucchero, versate a filo 1/2 dl di whisky e cuocete a bagnomaria, montando con una frusta. Montate 1 dl di panna e unitela allo zabaione. Per un'alternativa sprint: Zabov (0,70 litri, 8,50 e). -  Zabaione al whisky.

Angela Hartnett’s zabaglione recipe uses whiskey, brandy and a sweet wine.

How about an Irish Zabaglione recipe and once again it is in Italian: Zabaione Irlandese.

Bon Appetite and Pleasant Drinks Everyone.


Fosters Gold - Alternative In the UK, I have always enjoyed Fosters lager and as a drink at home. I have always chosen Fosters Gold (Bottled) as my choice of drink at home, however I have just received this email reply saying that the brand will be become defunct in the UK.

I was wondering if there is s bottled alternative with a similar taste I should now consider?

  Dear Steven,

  “Thank you for your enquiry concerning Fosters Gold.

  Unfortunately, we have to advise that this has been de-listed from our portfolio.

  Heineken UK have carried out a review of the brand and its market performance and have concluded that the brand does not have an effective role to play in the highly competitive sector.

  Sorry to disappoint."

  Dawn McLaren
  Consumer Relations Executive

Sent: 16 May 2018 18:40:44
To: UK Consumer Care
Subject: Foster Gold - Bottles

Hi.

Why is now virtually impossible to buy Fosters Gold in bottles  from local shops and major supermarkets?

Steve Coopers
iPhone 6s  Silver - 16gb

I'm not personally familiar with Foster's Gold, but a good site to find similar beers is Beer Advocate. If you search you can find their review page for Foster's Gold. On that page the style is listed as Euro Pale Lager. Click on that link to find other beers of that style. There are quite a few familiar beers listed under this style. You can sort by number of reviews or average rating. Don't be too put out if your favorite beer isn't highly rated. Beer Advocate members tend to rate a bit harshly with mass market beers.


How long does an open bottle of Sake last? I received a very large bottle of Sake, but have not opened it because I am sure I can't drink it all quickly.  Once I open it how long can I expect it to last, and what's the best way to keep it good for the longest possible.

What temperature should it be stored at, and what's the best temperate when drinking it?

Split it into small aluminum containers and store it in the fridge. Fill it to the top so there is very little air in the container.  You can find kid sized 12 oz water bottles on sell for just a few bucks.  It should last weeks but best used in one week.

There is also suction pumps and nitrogen.

Temperature for drinking is personal taste.


Why does draught (draft) beer cause hangovers? Why is draught (draft) beer known to cause more hangovers than bottled beer?

Draft beer does not give you a hangover, headache, or any kind of sickness just because it is a draft beer. If you’ve ever felt sick after drinking draft beer, you either:

Had too much
Drank from a dirty tap.


Traditional wine recommendation for a romantic evening on Valentine's Day? Being a man of tradition and enjoying the finer things in life, I would like to have a nice romantic evening with my love next Valentine's Day (February 14).

However I would like to keep the choice of wine in keeping with a few points of Tradition.

February 14 is in the Catholic world the Feast of St Valentine (226-269),from where we get the traditions involved with Valentine's Day as well the Feast of St Vincent of Saragossa, who died in 304.

Both of these saints were martyred for their faith. St Valentine was a bishop and is the Patron Saint of lovers and marriage. St Vincent was a deacon and is considered the Patron Saint of winemakers.

In keeping with the above information could anyone recommend a good traditional minded wine for a romantic evening on Valentine's Day?

As you're planning well ahead, good man, I'd suggest you pair your celebration with the Umbria, as he was Valentinus of Terni, in central Italy. Poor man, bits of him, his relics, are in churches all over, in Dublin, as well as in Rome and Savona, Madrid, Prague, Vienna, Birmingham, Glasgow, Malta, Greece, and France.

Umbrian truffi, truffles, suggests strangozzi (pasta) with black truffles, paired with Montefalco Sagrantino, or gallina ubriaca, drunken hen, a chicken cooked wine; cook it in Montefalco Rosso and, what else, pair it Montefalco Rosso (after all, you don't want to cook with a wine you wouldn't drink).

And then there's Perugia, the capitol of Umbria, and Perugina Baci, kisses, chocolate, how appropriate. Pair that with an Orvieto Classico or Grechetto Bianco.


Does re-refrigerating affect the taste of beer? Some of my college friends like to tell me that refrigerating beer, then taking it out (allowing it to warm up), and re-refrigerating it causes the beer to lose its taste. I've even known some to throw out beer that has gone through this scenario.

I've looked around on the internet a bit, and there doesn't seem to be any real evidence to the claim. I found an article on Beer Advocate, where people seem to agree that:

UV light exposure causes negative effects (only a real problem for bottled beer).
Extreme fluctuations in temperature are generally not good for the beer.
Bottled beers can sometimes re-ferment at higher temperatures, causing over-carbonation.

Nothing conclusive.

My question is: does refrigerating, unrefrigerating, and re-refrigerating beer negatively affect the taste of beer?

Beer is meant to be stored in a cool, dark place. Light is indeed bad for it and causes "skunking" which produces literally the same chemical skunks produce.

Lots of times re-refrigerating beer implies the beer was left out. Was it left out in a place exposed to light? Particularly sunlight? It may not be the fact that it was exposed to higher temperatures that was the culprit, but the light. Warmer temperatures certainly seem like the most obvious offenders for a sub-par beer, but light is far more dangerous.

Temperature for the most part should not be an issue. Anything from like 32-75 F should not be an issue, although somewhere between 45-55 F is the ideal cellaring temperature. To break the upper limit of safe temperatures pretty much requires you to leave the beer outdoors during a hot summer where it will likely be joined by the bigger threat of light.

Long story short: cellaring temperatures are for long-term (12 months+) storage and anything between freezing and high-end room temperature shouldn't have any adverse effects if stored someplace dark. The idea that beer needs to remain ice-cold from the moment the yeast is added is a bunch of BMC marketing BS.


Clarified Bloody Mary and Egg Whites Does anyone have a good resource for clarifying fruits and veggies and using as a cocktail mixer? I had this fabulous Bloody Mary last weekend. It was was made with yellow tomato and yellow bell pepper. Evidently egg whites remove impurities or something like that.

Egg whites are used in wine and other beverages to precipitate the solids. I'm not sure how this would be done for a bloody mary, but in wine you basically whip up some egg whites until foamy then put them in the wine barrel and let setting for for several weeks. Most of the action takes place right away. You can also use Gelatin for the same purpose. I use it in my homebrew all the time.


How can I learn to recognize the flavor and aroma of different varieties of hops? Background: I was drinking a New Belgium "Tour de Fall" last week and thinking about the hops that I was tasting in the finish. For me, hops in general were a pretty slowly acquired taste, and I didn't start truly appreciating the hoppy West Coast style until I encountered Sierra Nevada "Torpedo" and fell in love.

Now I finally find myself wanting to get to know specific varieties of hops by flavor and scent. Amarillo, Cascade, and so on - I know there are dozens and dozens of varieties, but how do I start training myself to recognize their differences (and identify the most common varieties) in the drink itself?

Should I buy some hops from a supply store, and huff 'em like a soccer mom in a fabric softener commercial? Or would that be totally different from what comes through in a beer? Would it be better to find a stool at a local brewery/brewpub and ask for a lesson in liquid form?

This is a great question, I'm still learning but here's what I've tried:

Single hop beers.

I'm in the UK but here's what I've managed to get in the past

Mikkeller single hop series
IPA is dead by BrewDog
Arbor often do single hop beers

Your mileage may vary but if you keep your eye out, hopefully you'll find a local brewer doing this kind of thing.

I've also had a couple of single yeast flights which were very enlightening.

Tastings

A couple of hops really stick in my mind because of when I had them. I remember going to a tasting of a local's brewers Galaxy IPA and he'd filled the shop with glasses of Galaxy hops and it smelled incredable.

Another time was tasting a Sorachi Ace beer by Wiper and True. It was horrific, but hearing the descriptions my fellow drinkers came up with and having the brewer explaining the history of the hop really anchored it to me. It meant when I had Little Things that Kill by weird beard, I could pick it out straight away.

Geography

The other thing that I enjoy is learning where and when and why a hop has come about. European hops are so different from American which are different again from British. Not to mention New Zealand hops which have their own aromas. Obviously it's not always consistant but being able to say what kind of region a hop tastes like is a good start!


What would cause the same beer to taste different I noticed that a beer in the bottle tastes one way and the same beer served to me in a cup elsewhere tastes different.  First, I thought the temperature difference would cause the taste difference, but no.  I also thought that the cup the beer was served in would change the taste, but no.  I tried this a couple of times and couldn't figure out what was causing the taste difference.

There are several things going on here.

1) Temperature absolutely plays a difference in beer taste.

Too Cold

  The biggest issue with beer served too cold is the way the temperature masks many flavors and aromas. The cold temperature slows the volatilization of aromatic compounds causing them to linger in the beer. When these compounds are not released, it dramatically changes the apparent flavor and aroma of the beer, sometimes to the point where it may come across as thin and tasteless. (American Homebrewers Association).

Too Hot

  Warm beer, on the other hand, does allow for more of the flavors and aromas to come to the forefront, but as beer approaches room temperature the sensations from hop bitterness and carbonation can decrease, which can lead to an almost flat-tasting experience. (American Homebrewers Association).

So here are suggested temperatures for serving various types of beer.

....................Beer ................................. Suggested  Temperature

American Mainstream Light Lagers...............     33° – 40° F / 1° – 5° C

Pale Lagers, Pilsners ...................................   38° – 45° F /  3° – 8° C

Cream & Blonde Ales     ...................................40° – 45° F / 5° – 8° C

Nitro Stouts    ...................................................40° – 45° F / 5° – 8° C

Belgian Pale Ales, Abbey Tripels    ..................40° – 45° F / 5° – 8° C

Wheat Beers     ................................................40° – 50° F / 5° – 10° C

Lambics     .......................................................40° – 50° F / 5° – 10° C

Dark Lagers     .................................................45° – 50° F / 7° – 10° C

American Pale Ales & IPAs   .........................45° – 50° F / 7° – 10° C

Stouts, Porters     ............................................45° – 55° F / 7° – 13° C

Strong Lagers   .............................................50° – 55° F / 10° – 13° C

Real & Cask Ales ...................................... 50° – 55° F / 10° – 13° C

Belgian Dubbels     .........................................50° – 55° F / 10° – 13° C

Data from Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher.

2) Glassware makes a HUGE difference. The shape allows for nucleation sites, temperature control of beer, aromatic release/retention. (See /user/MDMA's full response to my question about glassware and beer here)

3) What type of beer is it? If it is a nano brewery, it could be several things (wild yeast, inconsistency in brewing process, fermentation time, bourbon barrels stored in, etc.).

4) What was your drinking environment the first time/subsequent times you drank? Have you ever eaten somewhere for the first time while starving and with good friends you haven't seen in a while? That food will forever be amazing in your mind. You go back years later with a normal appetite and people you see regularly and the experience can be very different.


Non-alcoholic substitutes for wine I like the taste of wine and the sensation the alcohol creates in the mouth, but I have no interest in the mental effects or the cancer risk. (I've never drunk enough at one time to become even so much as buzzed, so the "warm feeling" people describe is just academic for me.) My question is what non-alcoholic drinks, if any, come close to simulating wine as far as just the taste and the burn in the mouth? Is there anything better than sparkling juice?

Let us start by defining what non-alcoholic wine is.

  What is non-alcoholic wine?

  It's  pretty much what it says on the can, (or the bottle in this case). It’s wine with the alcohol removed. However, some of the beverages can still contain some alcohol, because let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to extract every single bit. Under the law, in order to be called ‘non-alcoholic’, a beverage can contain up to half a per cent of alcohol by volume. It can be a bit confusing, so here’s a quick guide to non-alcoholic wines and their labels in the UK:

  Non-alcoholic: contains no alcohol at all (0.0%)
  Alcohol-free: contains 0.05% alcohol or less
  De-alcoholized: contains 0.5% alcohol or less
  Low-alcohol: contains more than 0.5% but no more than 1.2%

  5 best non-alcoholic wines

Here are some recommendations:

  Best Red

  Eisberg, Alcohol Free Cabernet Sauvignon

  BEST ROSÉ:

  Sainsbury’s Alcohol Free Rosé Wine

  BEST WHITE:

  Eisberg, Alcohol Free Sauvignon Blanc

  BEST MULLED WINE:

  Marks & Spencer, Non-alcohol Mulled Punch

  BEST SPARKLING:

  Asda Extra Special, Alcohol Free Pink Muscat


What is the science behind the Widget? I know the actual result of the Widget, a fine, rich froth. I know the basic mechanism, pressurized gas escaping when the whole can depressurizes, and pushing the beer out from the widget. I still don't understand how this whole "activation" process works.

What physical processes occur in the liquid that result in this particular effect. as opposed to, say, big, coarse big bubbles as would blowing air through a straw into beer create?

Widgetized beers are packaged with liquid nitrogen, and the widget, which contains a small hole. The liquid nitrogen warms, turns to a gas inside the sealed can, which forces gas and beer into the widget through the hole.

When the can is opened, the pressure inside drops suddenly, causing the contents of the widget to be shot into the beer, agitating the beer, producing the foam.

If this were tried with a regularly carbonated beer, you'd end up with foam erupting out of the can. Hence, beers packaged with a widget have only about 1/3 the carbon dioxide dissolved than regular beers, plus the nitrogen, which creates a smooth mouthfeel and dense foam. Due to the requirements of reduced carbon-dioxide, the widget is used almost exclusively with Stouts, Bitters and Irish Red ales - styles that can be served with lower volumes of carbon-dioxide.

see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(beer)#Method


Is there any good local gin or whiskey produced in South Korea? When travelling I try to bring back home spirits from places I visit, mostly gin and whiskey.

I will be soon travelling to South Korea (Seoul and Busan), and I am trying to find out about the local gin and whiskey scene, but I can't find much - no producers or shops where I can buy them. I know that their neighbours (Japanese) are now famous with their gin and whiskey, but the situation in Korea seems to be quite different.

Does someone here have more insight and tips?

Further info:

Sometimes I buy also other stuff like cognac, vodka, tequilla, and rum, depending on the place, so I can consider them too. I don't have anything against getting international/mainstream brands, but usually I can grab them in my town, and bringing local spirits as souvenirs contributes to a unique collection in a home bar.
I know that Korea has several local beverages such as Cheongju, Soju, Hongju, and some herbal spirits, but I am not interested in those, as I use liquor mostly for cocktails so I am considering only the 'standard stuff'.

There are a few that are popular in South Korea. One is the Imperial Scotch, Scotch Blue by Lotte Chilsun, and Windsor. They are sourced from Scottish distilleries for the Korean Market.


Mash overflows and lid comes off distiller I've got a store bought distiller, this is my second time using it.

The first time I put homemade wine & made some nice Brandy. This time I have a all-grain mash which has been fermenting for 5 days.

Once the distiller heats up enough the lid pops open & makes a huge mess. It also pours out the nozzle very quickly. It's supposed to drip slowly and the lid is supposed to stay on.

From my research it's possibly not done fermenting as it does seem very 'fizzy' (bubbly when shaken). However I am not 100% sure of the reason. Could I have put too much carbon in the nozzle?

Here's a picture of the still:

Can I pour the mash back in with the rest of my mash? (I have 23L of mash my distiller only has 4L)

Is there anyway I can 'debug' this / figure out why it's happening? It's happened twice and I'm scared to try a third time.

Lots of people refer to this as a "puke". It's like the distiller is puking.

I managed to solve my problem (Currently half way through the first batch ;-)). I used a "distilling conditioner" AKA defoaming agent purchased at my local brewery store

I also degassed the wort using a drill and a whisk, however this alone was not enough.

Note: I didn't use any of the below advice, just leaving it here for completeness

Other advice I've gotten on other forums includes clearing the wort better (E.g using cold temperature + time or a clearing agent), and putting a few rashing rings or stones inside the distiller as the airstill's inside may be too smooth.


Gluten free beer recommendations? I have noticed a number of gluten free beers pop up on the shelf of my local beer store over the past few years. Are these drinkable? And does anyone have any recommendations of any to try?

Omission isn't too bad. My wife is gluten free and she drinks this from time to time. I've tried it and is better (IMO) then most other GF beers.

Omission Beer

And from their FAQ

  In 2013, Mass Spec research was conducted by an independent lab which
  validated that Omission Lager and Pale Ale are devoid of known barley
  toxic epitopes, the specific peptide sequences and reactive sites in
  gluten molecules that cause reactions in the human small intestine.
  These same beers were tested using the R5 Competitive ELISA and were
  found to lack any measureable gluten content.   A growing body of peer
  reviewed scientific literature supports that our process is effective
  in breaking up and detoxifying gluten peptides.

Another option is Ghostfish, which is a pretty good IPA

Ghostfish Brewing Company


Is chilling champagne in the freezer detrimental to its taste? I recently bought a Moet Imperial Brut for a special occasion and since it's the first time I have anything to do with something of that quality instead of a cheap sparkling wine, I'd like to do everything properly so I've been doing my research for some time now and while it's obvious that it should be chilled before serving, whether using the freezer for that purpose is actually bad for the champagne's taste or if it's just an urban myth isn't so clear to me.
Basically all the sources claim that the preferable way to chill champagne is a bucket filled 50/50 with cold water and ice and say that it takes 15-20 minutes to chill the bottle in this scenario - yet, the freezer method, which they say would take 10-15 minutes, is presented as a big faux pas because it kills carbonation and thus some taste values - which is a bit peculiar considering those timeframes are... well... the same. So how come the ice/water bath is great and freezer is an eternal sin?
Is that really the case? Does using the freezer diminish the taste of the beverage?

English is not my native language and I am not sure of the meaning of the word freezer. I believe it is the part of the fridge that goes under 0°C.
In France, according to my habits, the champagne usually goes in the fridge with the other beverages. We put it in the freezer only when we have unexpected guests and we need to cool the bottle quickly.
The problem if the bottle stays too long in the freezer is that the water in the champagne might freeze which will cause it to lost its carbonation.
On top of that if you drink it too cold you will miss some of its flavour (like for every beverages drink too cold)


Are there any spirits that never should be combined in a cocktail or drink? Many drinks and cocktails are a mixture of different spirits with or without additional tastes introduced by juices, concentrates and/or other ingredients that create their special taste.

My personal experience is that less components a cocktail has more specific the character of the drink seems to be. However, are there spirits (don't mention other ingredients) that never should be combined?

Are there any spirits that never should be combined in a cocktail or drink?

The short answer is no.

But that said, there are some spirits that some might want to think twice about since they have an overpowering taste. On the top of my list would be absinthe and chartreuse (especially the green).

  Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but may also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the green fairy). Although it is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a liqueur, absinthe is not traditionally bottled with added sugar; it is therefore classified as a spirit. Absinthe is traditionally bottled at a high level of alcohol by volume, but it is normally diluted with water prior to being consumed. - Absinthe (Wikipedia)

  Chartreuse has a very strong characteristic taste. It is very sweet, but becomes both spicy and pungent. It is comparable to other herbal liqueurs such as Galliano, Liquore Strega or Kräuterlikör, though it is distinctively more vegetal. Like other liqueurs, its flavour is sensitive to serving temperature. If straight, it can be served very cold, but is often served at room temperature. It is also featured in some cocktails. Some mixed drink recipes call for only a few drops of Chartreuse due to the assertive flavour. It is popular in French ski resorts where it is mixed with hot chocolate and called Green Chaud. - Chartreuse (Wikipedia)

Personally I drink chartreuse and bénédictine straight, while I will drink absinthe with water and ice. Absinthe is too overpowering for me to use in a cocktail or mix.

In the end, whether or not to use a particular spirit in a cocktail or as a mix is personal choice and there are no fixed rules on the subject, so one must be aware of what a particular spirit might do to your recipe.


What do these "OG" and "RDF" numbers mean? I recently got a "Gnarly Oak" craft brew package. Three 22 oz beers and a glass. However, on the beers are some abbreviations and numbers I don't understand. they all have a 5.5% ABV, and I get the IBU and color numbers but what are the rest? The numbers and abbr's are below:

  Winter Bock - 15 OG, 62.5 RDF - light, tasty, ever so slightly bitter
  Hazelnut Dark - 15 OG, 60.4 RDF - nice bitter red with slightly sweet aftertaste
  Chocolate Stout - 14.8 OG, 66.8 RDF - very sweet with hints of chocolate and malt

EDIT
In light of the answers so far, I should say I have brewed my own, and if OG is original gravity, it doesn't fit with the scale I know of. if 15 OG ~= 1.015, it doesn't match what that would give in final ABV. Is this OG on a different scale I haven't seen

From the figures you posted,

OG - "Original Gravity". When measured with a hydrometer, it measures the density relative to water. E.g. 1.010 is 1% heavier than water. The units here are degrees Plato (°P), which describe the amount of dissolved sugars. Here, 15 means 15% dissolved sugar. This means the beer (or more correctly, the wort) contained 15% sugar before fermentation started.

RDF - The real degree of fermentation. This is in contrast to the Apparent Degree of Fermentation, which is (OG-FG)/OG. When the final gravity is measured using hydrometer, the alcohol in the beer, being less dense than water (SG. 0.789) causes the gravity to appear lower, so it looks as though the yeast has fermented more sugar than it actually has. The Real degree of Fermentation takes the alcohol into account and computes the actual amount of sugars fermented. This tells you the how much of the original sugar was fermented (as a percentage).

So, what does this mean in practice?

  Winter Bock - 15 OG, 62.5 RDF - light, tasty, ever so slightly bitter

This has an average RDF for a beer that size, so it will be somewhat malty, but not cloying.

  Hazelnut Dark - 15 OG, 60.4 RDF - nice bitter red with slightly sweet aftertaste

This has more dissolved sugars in it compared to the Bock, so you'd expect it to be a thicker mouthfeel and slightly more sweet, although you may not taste the sweetness if it's offset by roasted malts.

  Chocolate Stout - 14.8 OG, 66.8 RDF - very sweet with hints of chocolate and malt

Being the driest of all the beers, yet the taste description is given as very sweet. This shows that knowing the residual sugars doesn't tell you the sweetness, simply because there are different kinds of residual sugar. For example, dextrins create body, but have relatively little taste, so would taste not as sweet as a beer containing a lot of residual maltose or glucose.


How prominent were drinking (alcohol) establishments in the Middle Ages? I am interested in knowing how popular were drinking establishments (or more commonly known as taverns) in Europe during the Middle Ages (5th-15th century)?

Did they exist during the entire Middle Ages or not? Did every town have a tavern?

The question is very broad - A lot of the answer would depend on a more specific geographical location and/or a narrower time-window.

For example in France, Taverns and inns (not restaurants) were the only places for common people to eat-out all of the way up until the late 18th century, according to the wiki. This would seem to make them THE hot-spot in that region throughout that time...

It's certainly popular in medieval arts to make an omage to taverns and inns in creative works:

1.) Paintings

2.) Many poems of the time: The Archpoet wishes to die in a tavern in his "Confession". See also: Trafferth mewn Tafarn & Dafydd ap Gwilym

3.) There are likely more drinking songs from the Middle Ages than one could ever hope to discover and research in a lifetime...

Given the popularity of alcohol in general, all of this would suggest that drinking establishments have been happening places before, during, and after the Middle Ages... Prob in Europe, and everywhere else... ;P


What means to adulterate and why is it so dangerous? I read several times in media about people who were harmed or even killed by drinking adulterated schnaps.

What does it mean to adulterate e.g. schnaps? Why is it so dangerous? And what is the "benefit" of doing this?

To adulterate means to dilute or debase a substance. So adulterated schnapps means schnapps with something added in. Much like cocaine cut with flour, that something need not be a similar substance, but is likely to be something cheap.

It gets worse when this adulteration is "off the books", because it means that a company can pass one product with the relevant consumer authority, then turn around and add whatever they want into it. That stuff might end up poisonous.

As you can see, it's rightly considered a crime:


Why can't bars sell their in house brewed beers? We've got this local bar that brews their own beer but when I tried to buy a bottle to take home they said they were only allowed to serve the in house beer, not sell it. If the state of Florida issued them a liquor license to serve and sell beer, why can't they sell what they make?

Just to be clear by sell I mean sell me a bottle and let me walk out with it.

Most States have two different types of liquor licenses.  On premise and Off premise.  On premise is selling alcohol to drink there, off premise is for taking stuff home.  It is entirely possible that an establishment will only have one or the other.


What modern wine would considered close to the Greek Pramnian wine? I would like to make Kykeon, as close as possible to the original recipe as possible.
I understand the recipes of making Kykeon, but am at a loss as to what modern wine would be considered as a close substitute.

Kykeon was an Ancient Greek drink of various descriptions. Some were made mainly of water, barley and naturally occurring substances. Others were made with wine and grated cheese. It is widely believed that kykeon usually refers to a psychoactive compounded brew, as in the case of the Eleusinian Mysteries. A kykeon was used at the climax of the Eleusinian Mysteries to break a sacred fast, but it is also mentioned as a favourite drink of Greek peasants.
It was supposed to have digestive properties: In Aristophanes' Peace Hermes recommends it to the hero who ate too much dry fruit and nuts.
Aristocrats shunned it as a peasant drink: Theophrastus' Characters depicts a peasant who goes to the Ecclesia drunk with kykeon.

The recipe I am going to use is not magical in any sense of the imagination and will be made with ordinary ingredients.

Lesbos wine is wine made on the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea. The island has a long history of winemaking dating back to at least the 7th century BC when it was mentioned in the works of Homer. During this time the area competed with the wines of Chios for the Greek market. An apocryphal account details one of the brothers of the poet Sappho as a merchant trading Lesbos wine with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt. The most noted Lesbos wine was known as Pramnian which draws similarities today to the Hungarian wine Eszencia. The popularity of Lesbos wine continued into Roman times where it was highly valued along with other Aegean wines of Chios, Thasos and Kos.
Other types of Pramnian
While Lesbos is considered by some scholars to be the main source of Pramnian, there is association of the name with wines from Smyrna and Icaria. The Greek writer Athenaeus used the term in almost a generic way to refer to any dark, long lived wine of good quality. Athenaeus's description also paints a different description than of a Tokay-like wine, instead of a wine that is dry and very strong. The resulting grape must be very high in sugar and even after a brief fermentation period it still retains high residual levels and creates a viscous, honeyed sweet wine.

The recipe I will use is based on this YouTube video: Kykeon: The Drink of Greek Heroes

I too and trying to recreate this at the moment.  I have seen completely contradictory descriptions of Pramnian wine.  Some very sweet like the Eszencia or Tokaji style made from dried grapes. The Greek study tool online from Tufts defines Pramnian as "raisin-wine" which is too interpretive since other descriptions are are of a dark, dry, strong wine that is not not necessarily pleasurable.
My approach is to try both.  I went to my local Total Wine store with the largest selection and to their Greek wine section. Pramnian is definitely red and they had four.  One was a retsina which was not a style in Homer's day.  The other three were two dry table wines and a sweeter red for about $10 each.  I got all three. I told the wine clerk what I was doing and he recommended a good quality dry Sardinian red (Dolia) since the volcanic soil where it's grown resembles what would be found in Lesbos. I will start experimenting this week. I may even infuse the wine with herbs like mint and oregano to get to something like a vermouth. I'm using pearl barley, raw yellow honey, and a couple goat cheese varieties (from a fresher chevre, to a drunken goat, to an unpasteurized hard Spanish goat cheese).  My guess is following the recipe will result in a pretty unpalatable concoction but I will deviate as much as I need to until I get to something I like, probably like a goat cheese barley-polenta with onion and red wine.


Does a frosted glass cause any significant dilution of the beer it holds? I've always been a fan of "the colder the better".  I enjoy using a glass that has been placed in the freezer.

Obviously, in this scenario, there's frozen condensation on it, but is this enough to dilute the beer such that I'm destroying the flavor by doing so?

I would say that the condensate amounts to no more than 1ml for a 500ml glass, which is a 0.2% dilution.

No to be too coarse, but I imagine most people dilute the beer more after taking a sip!

Comparatively, I think the excessively cold temperature will contribute more to destroying the flavor than a small amount of condensate from the glass.

So, if you enjoy the beer in a frozen glass, then keep at it.


What is the micronutritional value of stouts such as Guinness? I can only find (on their website, and on other nutrition websites) the macronutrients of Guinness.

Can someone provide a specific breakdown of micronutrient information for Guinness, or another similar stout?

By micronutrients I mean vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.

There is a table of amino acid composition in beers on page 105 of Beer: Health and Nutrition (C. W. Bamforth, 2004) (page 119 of the overall PDF):

Other than that, I cannot find any nutritional breakdowns that include vitamins for stouts (and porters, in general). However, as far as micronutrients are concerned, there may not be as great a difference between stouts and other ales as one might think, since, despite the perceptibly large differences in color and taste, the ingredients and processes in brewing are largely the same. Here are some findings on beer in general:

Querying alcohol on USDA's National Nutrient Database yields breakdowns for

Alcoholic beverage, beer, light
Alcoholic beverage, beer, regular, all
Alcoholic beverage, beer, regular, BUDWEISER
Alcoholic beverage, beer, light, BUDWEISER SELECT
Alcoholic beverage, beer, light, BUD LIGHT
Alcoholic beverage, beer, light, MICHELOB ULTRA

Here's a screenshot, because the host doesn't always resolve for me for some reason:

I'm willing to bet that The Irish Food Composition Database has a similar report on Guinness, but the document must be purchased for 15.00€ from EuroFIR. According to a table of contents viewable in the demo link, the document should contain compositions of 57 manufactured beverages.

Perhaps you can infer some properties of Guinness by knowing its ingredients and process and also knowing how these ingredients and processes affect micronutrient levels.

According to this paper1, as far as major B vitamins are concerned,

beer contains very little thiamine (B1), of which malting the barley causes a slight loss, but otherwise stays intact through the rest of the brewing operations,
riboflavin (B2) increases during the malting and brewing processes, resulting in nutritionally significant amounts (e.g. seven pints supplying total daily requirements),
nicotinic acid (niacin, B3) fluctuates throughout the malting and brewing process, but also results in nutritionally significant amounts (e.g. three-and-a-half to four pints supplying total daily requirements).

This study2 measured phylloquinone (K1) composition of beers, specifically a "bitter," a lager, and Guinness, and concluded only trace amounts in each.

1 Stringer, W. J. Vitamins in Beer. Journal of the Institute of Brewing. 2013.

2 Bolton-Smith, C. et al. Compilation of a provisional UK database for the phylloquinone (vitamin K1) content of foods. British Journal of Nutrition. 2000.


Dry Martini or cold gin? First let me assure everyone that I did look for a similar question and did not find any. So I apologize if my search was insufficient.

I am a big fan of martinis, dry in particular.  My buddies and I are partial to Leyden Dry Gin. If you have never tried it and have access to it, I highly recommend it. As a friend puts it, it provides better living through chemistry. It is from Holland, which, in case you did not know, is the birthplace of gin.

So my question, finally, is at what point does a dry martini become simply a glass of cold gin?

Dry Martini can sometimes become a very philisophical topic.

As Eric Shain already pointed out, the classic martini consists of gin and vermouth 6:1. You should not forget the water, that is melted while stirring it. This is quite an important part of making a good Martini. You should stirr it for several minutes.

More puristic people go to a ratio of 10:1 or even 15:1. To get to a more extreme combination, you put vermouth into your ice cubes, stirr it for a short while, and then pour the vermouth away, so that only the ice cubes for stirring your gin are thinly layered with vermouth.

There are even recipes where you would simply put a bottle of gin in the freezer, put vermouth in an atomizer, then pour gin in a frozen martini glass, pfff vermouth once with the atomizer and voila - your martini. This is already very close to your suggestion of just drinking cold gin.

The famous Winston Churchill once said: "The best Martini is a bottle of gin, that stood in the shadow of a bottle of vermouth."

So there it is ;-)


Beers sold in the US with little or no carbonation What types of beer have lower or no carbonation?

What you will be looking for is a Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer these are all generally very low carbonation or non at all due to only being left in a cask

  "Beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary
  fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served
  without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide"

If you go to an ale bar they will usually have at least one cask ale on I have not done a tour of America, so I cannot for sure tell you of places in America for low carbonated beer, but as for the what type of beer Cask Conditioned is definitely what you should be looking for.


Good beverage suggestions to get drunk but not too drunk? If you want to get drunk to chill out and have a good time every once in a while, without going too much in the crazy side and doing very embarrassing things (vomiting, etc), then what is the best option for drinking?

What is less harmful to one's health?

And what gives the best drunk experience?

I know it depends on the amount too. But, regardless of that factor, which kinds of beverage are the best suggestions?

I'll give you my advice after 30+ years of being an adult and working in the alcohol industry for many years. Here it is: Drink the drink that has the least amount of alcohol you can stand. For me that means light beer when I know I will be at a party or another situation. I had friends of mine that would take Coors light and put it in a pitcher with crushed ice so they could drink more. It could mean putting ice cubes in your white wine. It could mean putting less alcohol in your mixed drinks. One shot instead of two.

Another tactic many take is one alcohol drink, one glass of water.

Beer is kind of self limiting because it fills you up and limits how much you can drink. Avoid things like red wine, whisky and mixed drinks with a lot of sugar. They will make you the sickest.

In the end, you can get drunk on anything and throw up and have a really bad hangover. But from some limited research (Look up Mythbusters Vodka vs Beer episode) that the clearer the alcohol (Vodka, White Wine, Light Beer) the less worse your hangover will be.