What are you drinking?

[Spineur]

On the way back from provence, we made a stop at Condrieu and tested several wines of the domaine Corps de Loup which was recommended by a number of our friends
http://corpsdeloup.com/fr
Froze our choice on this Côte Rotie



One mighty french wine.  People have no ideas how good the wines from the north of the Rhône Valley are.  Not cheap (30€/bottle) but a unique product.

[kishnevi]

Found this today and decided to splurge


Not a particularly distinguished cognac, but unlike most cognacs and brandies, it is kosher.  The rules of kosher wine are strict, date back to Roman times if not earlier, and are designed to discourage socializing with non Jews. Hence any wine is not kosher if a Gentile was involved in the production process. Any open bottle, glass or cup with wine becomes unkosher if touched by a Gentile--with a significant exception. This means that most wines, and most wine based products, are not kosher. (This also extends to grape juice, which is simply wine that has never fermented. But grape jelly, grapes, and raisins are not subject to these rules unless they are used to produce a wine-like drink.) A bottle of wine which is double sealed (like most modern wine bottles) can be handled by anyone until it is opened.

The exception I mentioned is "mevushal" wine. The word means boiled or cooked. Once a wine has been heated, at least momentarily, to the right temperature, the rules regarding Gentiles can be ignored. The reasoning was that boiled wine doesn't taste so good, so socializing would be limited. In the modern era most of the cheaper kosher wines are mevushal, but not all: you have to check the label.  The distilling process for cognac and brandy of course qualifies as boiling, but until the distilling begins, the production process must be done by Jews.  Which is why kosher brandy is a bit hard to find in brick and mortar stores.

But now I am enjoying kosher cognac for the first time in decades.

Whiskey, rum and other distilled spirits are not affected by these rules, per se. But if they are aged in casks previously used for wine, they become non-kosher because the casks are presumed to have been used for non-kosher wine.

ETA
The parent (or sister) company of Dupuy may be familiar to Erato:  Bache-Gabrielsen, which claims to have a large presence in the Scandinavian market

[TheGSMoeller]

My current alcoholic and non-alcoholic choices....


 

[NikF]

Found this today and decided to splurge


Not a particularly distinguished cognac, but unlike most cognacs and brandies, it is kosher.  The rules of kosher wine are strict, date back to Roman times if not earlier, and are designed to discourage socializing with non Jews. Hence any wine is not kosher if a Gentile was involved in the production process. Any open bottle, glass or cup with wine becomes unkosher if touched by a Gentile--with a significant exception. This means that most wines, and most wine based products, are not kosher. (This also extends to grape juice, which is simply wine that has never fermented. But grape jelly, grapes, and raisins are not subject to these rules unless they are used to produce a wine-like drink.) A bottle of wine which is double sealed (like most modern wine bottles) can be handled by anyone until it is opened.

The exception I mentioned is "mevushal" wine. The word means boiled or cooked. Once a wine has been heated, at least momentarily, to the right temperature, the rules regarding Gentiles can be ignored. The reasoning was that boiled wine doesn't taste so good, so socializing would be limited. In the modern era most of the cheaper kosher wines are mevushal, but not all: you have to check the label.  The distilling process for cognac and brandy of course qualifies as boiling, but until the distilling begins, the production process must be done by Jews.  Which is why kosher brandy is a bit hard to find in brick and mortar stores.

Interesting, informative stuff indeed. And also...

But now I am enjoying kosher cognac for the first time in decades.

...good stuff.

[Daverz]

My current alcoholic and non-alcoholic choices....

What a coinkydink.  On a recent trip up to L.A., nephew #1 and I stopped into a liquor store (I think it was King Keg on Rosecrans off the 405) for some beer to drink with nephew #3  (all adults well over 21) before a wedding (yes, I also wondered why they wanted to drink before a wedding.  It would turn out that there would be ample free beer at the wedding of nephew #2, a beer aficionado who had built his own bar for the wedding).  This was one of the six packs nephew #1  selected.  But we never got around to drinking it, so I finished the rest of it myself.  Not a bad amber ale, though I find most amber ales too sweet.

[Mirror Image]

Right now, I'm drinking some ice cold apple juice.

[bwv 1080]

Don't plan on having another for some time, but drank these through the storm, improvised from what was around the house

Harvey Hurricane

2 pts dark rum
1 pt Chamsford Rasberry Liqueur
2 pts pink grapefruit juice
Lime juice
Club soda
Sweeten to taste

[nodogen]

Wylam Brewery
Remain in Light

"A Super Stacked Alpha Pale... a colossus of Citra, Simcoe, Chinook and Centennial submerged in a deep vapour steep followed by a late fermentation dry hop."

100% my kind of beer. More hoppy than an extremely hoppy thing.

[stingo]

Just now....

Yards' Cape of Good Hope DIPA
Heretic's Evil Cousin DIPA

[Turbot nouveaux]

Tonight:

Northern Monk
Northern Star Mocha Porter

"...we blend in ground coffee beans to the brew, full of bitterness and hazelnut hints, along with rich dark chocolate and lactose sugar to balance this full bodied dark ale." In fact this tastes so strongly of coffee that I didn't have my customary post-dinner cup of, er...coffee!

[Ken B]

Tonight:

Northern Monk
Northern Star Mocha Porter

"...we blend in ground coffee beans to the brew, full of bitterness and hazelnut hints, along with rich dark chocolate and lactose sugar to balance this full bodied dark ale." In fact this tastes so strongly of coffee that I didn't have my customary post-dinner cup of, er...coffee!

Hey, if you ever see it, try Rudgate Ruby Mild! Yorkshire brew.

Tonight, after almost two weeks dry I am imbibing Jim Beam Black. It's a step up from regular Beam but was dirt cheap at the duty free.

[kishnevi]

Black Powder bourbon. Tastes much better than one would expect a cheap bourbon to taste.

[kishnevi]

Seems an appropriate thread for this
http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2017/11/04/world-s-most-expensive-whiskey-revealed-as-scam.amp.html

[Omicron9]

At present, it's a blend of organic green tea (Equal Exchange) and organic chamomile tea.  Yum.

[Turbot nouveaux]

Good Ethiopian 'Yirgacheffe' coffee from my trusty cafetiere.

[stingo]

Last night was a fine night for the Founders Harvest Ale.

[NikF]

There are a few unopened bottles remaining from the unofficial housewarming party. I'll open this one as soon as my fish supper (haddock and chips) is delivered. Simple pleasures and all that.

[Ken B]

Not enough.

[TheGSMoeller]

Lemon La Croix.

Which reminded me of a podcast I listened to that said Peach La Croix, or better Peaches La Croix, could pass for a strippers name.

[NikF]

Glen Moray 'Elgin Classic'.

A single malt with no age statement.

Xmas was spent in the company of a friend and his family. This included he and I passing time during a couple of evenings sitting in his garden while enjoying another such single malt - Tamnavulin. The worst thing I can say about that one, is that the colour is most unnatural. But taste wise, it was a simple pleasure and a treat in the company of a small cigar (the Cuban Romeo y Julieta - don't sneer, take any ego you have and leave it folded neatly by the door and enjoy) that held it's own with this simple but solid Speyside. And apparently, this 8 year old whisky is produced for some of the Lidl range. But tonight I'm not drinking the Tamnavulin, although I wish I was.

So, Glen Moray 'Elgin Classic'. If the Tamnavulin received a heavy hand with caramel colouring, then the same hand applied the caramel flavour to this. Yes, it's finished via sherry casks, but that's no excuse. To recreate the taste of this in your own home, drink any garden variety whisky - frankly, if you have balls, I suggest the Whyte & Mackay 'Glasgow/Special Blend' (which, no matter who you are, if you ever come to Scotland I will take you to the pub and stand at the bar and drink this with you) while masticating a box of day old glazed doughnuts.
I'm a simple man of simple tastes, but this whisky is taking it too far.