For St. Paddy's Day I drank (fill in blank)

MOST OF THE WAY THROUGH OUR PARTY

This is the result of our party half way through the night. We actually ended early because we were tired (yeah right). Cold libations were pouring for hours and a good time was had by all. The question that I'm asking is what did you drink? Beer? Wine? Whiskey? Vodka? what was your flavor of the day/evening and feel free to let me know if you mixed. I just hope someone else was driving. I had a designated driver and you should make that your rule rather than a guideline. The laws are getting stricter around the country and around the world. I'm looking forward to the feedback and I will let you know what I had also. I have been informed that I have neglecting rum from my reviews so I will start putting those in the mix as well. This will be a short post so I can get busy on the next post so let me know, what did you drink?

Whiskey and Beer update....

RIP VAN WINKLE 12 YEAR OLD


I finally went back and tasted the Rip Van Winkle 12 year old that I picked up in Tennessee. I don't know about all of you out there but when I first taste a whiskey I have never had before, I don't use ice and I drink out of a nice sifter in order to get all of the aromas and flavors. Now to the whiskey. After a generous pour you get floral and wood aromas with a hint of vanilla. After the first sip there is a creamy vanilla and carmel on the tongue with a nice little spice on the end. Hints of oak round out the flavor of this Bourbon and gives this a well balanced flavor. I will definitely make sure that I have this Bourbon in my collection from now on.





INNIS AND GUNN IRISH WHISKY CASK

I had been waiting on this one because I have tried all of the others. This one has a light aroma of cocoa and chocolate which an irish whisky undertone. At first taste, you get the cocoa and light creamy malty body with that distinct irish whisky flavor. This beer is a great Scottish Stout that has been aged in irish whisky barrels for 60 days. This will be one of my go to stouts in the future!








DOGFISH HEAD WORLD WIDE STOUT

While I'm on stouts, I decided to go ahead and try the Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. It has aromas of cocoa and coffee and flavors of chocolate and cocoa. This is a full flavor stout with, as I quote " a ridiculous amount of barley" which is roasted to perfection. A tinge of vanilla on the palate with a very minor hop on the end makes this a must try for all stout lovers.


That's it for this week, in a couple of weeks when I get enough beer bottles I start my first batch of home brew. Going to start with an Irish Red Ale for which I will call "Lucy" for the most famous redhead in the world. Wish me luck and I hope I don't screw this up too bad.

Remember where you came from dude.

I'm going to off track this week because I went back and re read an article I wrote 4 years ago about my wife. It will be 10 years since we met on the 13th of March and a lifetime of things have happen to us since then. But the most profound thing that happen it that she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She is cancer free now and has been for seven years. I married her in April of 2005 and it has been quite an adventure since then. We have been many places and have done many things together, but most of all I look forward to all of the things we will do and all of the places we will go to, together. My wife joined a Dragon Boat racing team comprised of all Breast Cancer Survivors ranging in age from late 30s to the 70s. It never ceases to amaze me the strength and fortitude that these women have and the un dying dedication they have to the sport. They also have a firm belief in helping other women with Breast Cancer who have no one to turn to. The group is called Save Our Sisters and they are but one of hundreds of dragon boat teams from around the world that are solely Breast Cancer  Survivors. I'm going to repost my article from 4 years ago, (doesn't seem that long ago) so you can read how these women gained my utmost respect and will always have it.


I don't know if you have had a loved one who has had Breast Cancer or have known someone who lost their battle with Breast Cancer, but if you do know someone that is or has battled Breast Cancer suggest to them to go out and watch them practice and even talk with them and you will see the joy and happiness that the team brings them. I for one have been changed by these women and will always be. I will post a link to the Miami team but I know that there are many more around the world that you can be involved with. From Italy to Australia there is a global war on Breast Cancer and frankly, being a little selfish, I like Breast and I think they should stay where they belong. Please tell the woman you love to have an examination and even let her know that you will make the sacrifice and examine her yourself. And for goodness sakes have a mammogram done at the first sign of change in your Breast. My wife did. If she would not have had it done, I probably would be here by myself. 

The Save Our Sisters website is http://www.teamsosmiami.com/Welcome.html

This past weekend my wife volunteered me to help with the Miami Dragon Boat race off of Brickell Avenue. At first I thought, " hey I can gain brownie points on this for a fishing trip in Key West!". So I woke up early on a Saturday morning, loaded everything up in the truck an drove into downtown. My wife was a giddy as a school girl because this was her first race with the team since she joined. The team is called Save Our Sisters, a group of breast cancer survivors. They formed a team about a year ago, and have been burning up the water ever since. This group is a part of a much larger group of breast cancer survivors that have teams all over the world.

What really struck me the most is these women were told not to over exert themselves especially with their upper body because of the surgeries and the lymph glands. One doctor came up with a theory that exercise and diet will strengthen the upper body and help women gain their strength back. It seems that he was right. The biggest lesson I learned being around these women that day is the love and support they have for each other. It also reminded me of how lucky I am to have my wife, who is my best friend, around with me because of one woman who told her five years ago to have a mammogram. If she would not have had that mammogram, I would have been a widower by now.

So I helped as much as I could that day, bringing them water, finding out when the race times were and taking pictures. I also held the tarp up when the rains came to try and keep them dry. And at the end of the day, the Brownie points did not matter anymore. What mattered to me most is that my wife is sitting next to me sore but healthy and cancer free. I still have my best friend, and probably gained a few more. These women give me inspiration to live life the fullest, because you never know when it might end.

Can you smell the Beer.. or Wine... or Whisky?

After years of having nasal problems I decided to have surgery to "clean out" my sinuses. So as I am writing this I am 24 hours out of surgery and feeling pretty good thanks to a few beers. I forgot that 80 percent of your taste comes from smell so lately everything has been dull to the taste. I am looking forward to finally getting the nuances of beer, wine and whisky back and really able to enjoy what is out there. First, I will review some more bourbon and a few more beers and maybe a wine or two that I have had in the past before my smell went south, in a manner of speaking that is. I will be enjoying a Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Porter as I write this (maybe two or three) to get me in the spirit of things.
Well to start, I had a snow day last Monday but left it outside to get cold. It was nice and chilled in about 15 minutes and it was ready to drink. So I left another one out there and drank that one too. Needless to say the six pack did not last long and it was inside for me. New Belgium has done a great job with this beer and if you have a chance to have a snow day like mine, take advantage of it. This winter ale has a great pale ale flavor with just a little extra hops to give it that wintery feel. If they made this a year round beer it would not be as special as it is. Get yours before the season is over.

So before the snow started to fall, I decided to visit the local ABC store and see what they had in stock. I do recommend that you visit the local liquor store when you travel because you never know what kind of deals you can get. I was shopping in the Bourbon section, (no surprise) and came across some Baker's 7 year old 107 proof. I have not tried it before but when I looked at the price, It was almost 10 dollars less than I could get it at my local store at home!

Needless to say, I grabbed a bottle and ran to the cash register to purchase the bottle and speed off down the highway before they realized that they drastically underpriced the bottle. This Bourbon was introduced by Jim Beam Distillery and is named after Baker Noe, grand nephew of Jim Beam. This Bourbon is hand bottled and uses a special strain of yeast that has been in the Beam family for over 60 years. This is a small batch Bourbon and has a wonderful smooth and creamy body with the taste of nutty vanilla and hints of fruit. With it's caramel color, wine shaped bottle and no frills label the Beam family put all it's efforts into the flavor of the Bourbon than fancy marketing. If you can buy this Bourbon for under 40 dollars, jump on it!

So now it was time to leave and we were flying out of Winston-Salem, Greensboro airport and it took us an hour and a half to drive there from our place in Virginia. We arrived around lunch time and my friend Kevin, said that there was a pub in the airport. Well by now you should know that the word "pub" has my complete interest so I suggested we go there. It was a place called Natty Greene's Brewing Company with the main brewery in downtown Greensboro. I had a buckshot amber ale and an appetizer. The ale tasted okay as it had a lighter than normal flavor and a mild hop taste. Maybe it would have tasted better if it was at the brewery. If you get a chance to go there let me know and I'll give it another try.

Hopefully I'll heal soon and i can get back to tasting and reviewing. I have some more Rhone and Loire Valley wines I want to taste so let's see how I am in a wee or so. Until then, Cheers!