2009, the Drinks in review.
My top 5 favorite drink related items of the past year. Enjoy!
1. Rum! Rum! A bottle of Rum!
I can't start this list without mentioning my newest and current favorite drink of choice "Sailor Jerry" 92proof rum. I fiiinnnnngggg love this stuff. Even though my work has sold this for over a year now, it wasn't until late august when I sampled a few sips of this flavourful and quite refreshing rum that my obsession started to take hold. However, before I delve any further, I must mention that up until this past year when I thought of rum all that came to mind was shitty white Bacardi crap, usually served with a splash of coca cola. Yuk! But as I've tried to expand my alcoholic repertoire I've discovered that white Bacardi is not all that rum entails. As an alcohol hailing generally from the central Caribbean/Jamaican area, good dark or amber rums generally taste sweet and strong, often with a slight caramel/molasses flavour. They tend to hit your palate hard at first but will linger nicely once swallowed. As with Sailor Jerry rum (named after the famous tattoo artist of the 60's) what I love most is it's versatility. It can be drunk as a great shot, as a splendid cocktail (try adding lemonade/lime juice, ginger beer and sugar) or even neat on its own. Sailor Jerry is my new bar drink of choice, which means no more shitty red wine and if you know me in any way, if you can get me off the vino, you've got something great in your hands.
Your home, your home, a pirates life for me! Rum! Rum! A bottle of Rum!
2. Rutherford Hill Merlot
For starters, I'd like to steal a line from our favorite "Sideways" wine connoisseur Myles, who appropriately coined the phrase "I hate Merlot". Well I'm paraphrasing a little, there were some expletives in there, but well hey you get the point. So there you have it, "I hate Merlot", well at least I thought I did. This mark of hatred resounded deeply within me for quite some time until a few months ago, that is until I'd tried the aformentioned Merlot above. You see, Merlot for me had always been the wine that couldn't stand for something, it was neither light like a Pinot Noir. It lacked the fullness of a Cab Sav, the spiciness of a Syrah and even the tannic qualities of a Malbec. Merlot for me was a flounderer, a varietal stuck in no man's land. Then one day, I come to work and BAM!, I'm hit with a thunderous bolt of flavour, structure, velvetyness and body all wrapped into one. This Rutherford Merlot which hails from the warm climate of the Napa Valley in California basically blew me away. For the longest time I'd been searching for a wine that would be able to do such a thing while never finding one. The aroma itself still evokes blissful thoughts to this day (wow Jamie, this about wine right?), the deep black cherry and plum scents pull your senses deep within, and that's not even the best part. The finish was what got me, it lingered and lingered and lingered. The balance was amazingly smooth and rich, what I find to be the best in wine. If you ever get a chance to taste this wine (I had the 2002 year) do so, it will be well worth it.
3. Vintage Port
I've already touched on Port with an earlier article, so I wont delve much further, but I would like to add that if you can get your hands on any vintage port, do it. In my older article I went on and on about Warre's Otima Non Vintage Port, but when I look back the Otima is nowhere near as good as a great vintage port. Vintage being a port with an actual year designation on it. Lately I've been drinking Taylor Fladgate Vintage 2003, absolutely splendid :) Again, if you haven't checked out the Port, do so, you wont regret it.
4. Van Gogh Espresso Vodka
Firstly, I hate espresso. Not sure why, might be to bitter for my palate or it just might be that I love hot chocolate that much more, who knows. But when it comes to Van Gogh Espresso Vodka, I loves me my espresso. This flavoured vodka is amazing, especially as a chilled shot. It has the kahlua style flavours of espresso combined with the strong cool flavours of vodka. Not much else to say on this, go check it out if you're looking for something great to drink or shoot, especially if your sick of jagermeister.
Cocktail: 1 1/2 ounces of Van gogh
1/2 kahlua
splash of water
served in a rocks glass
5. Steigl Beer
Rarely do I drink or talk much of beer, I'm a wino, but as I've recently transitioned to bartender at my work, I've found that when it comes to beer, you have to know your stuff. This invariably has led me to tasting and drinking more and more beer of late and the one that's stood out the most for me is Steigl's Austrian Lager Beer. This beer is amazing, it's crisp, clean, free of preservatives, while having a slight fruity taste. It's my new MGD. Add to that, it comes in one wicked style tall boy can.
Well there you have it, my top 5 beverage hits of 2009.
later.
No comments:
Post a Comment