What adulthood and maturity means to me

[xiphias]

I'm allowed to dunk my Oreos into booze, instead of just milk. Chambord, to be specific. Or even Chambord and Godiva Chocolate Liqueur.

This is why being a grownup is good.

Comments

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I have some Godiva, but no Oreos. I do have some ginger snaps. Any recommendations? Tequila?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Godiva and ginger snaps sounds pretty good to me.

But I might go with ginger snaps and good spiced rum, like Sailor Jerry's. But a dark rum might be good, too.

A rum that's flavored with molasses would probably match well with the molasses in the ginger snaps. I think tequila would clash.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Is there any rum that isn't made from (and therefore presumably flavored with) molasses? I thought that was part of what makes rum rum.

[ckd]

"Molasses, to rum, to slaves...."

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, sort of.

Rum may be made from molasses or from cane juice. Which is sorta molasses. But they're different pressings of the cane. Cane juice is less strongly flavored than molasses.

And the second question is "distilation and degree of filtration.

As You Know, Bob, alcohol is what happens when yeast eats sugar. And then, once you have a liquid which used to have sugar in it and now has alcohol, you can then take that liquid and distill it.

In a good-qualty fractional distilation operation, you extract ethanol from the wort. And ethanol is ethanol, whether it comes from potatoes, corn, cane sugar, rye, barley, or what-have-you. It's the same organic molecule.

So, obviously, the characteristics of various liquors have to do with the impurities in the distilation process.

But those impurities are only one of the things that give different liquors thier different characteristics.

In the case of dark and strongly flavored rums, the majority of the flavor comes from things added after distilation, during the aging and maturing process. Rum, like all liquors, starts out its life as a water-clear raw spirit. The degree of "molasses" flavor this raw spirit contains is pretty minimal. In some rums, molasses, caramel, and/or burnt sugar are added to the spirit according to a distilery recipe. In some, the rum is simply aged in some form of wooden container to add the characteristics of the wood.

But Cuban-style rum, for instance, like Bicardi, has virtually no molasses characteristics at all. It's made from sugar cane, but the flavors that they go for aren't molasses-based.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I knew I preferred dark rum to light, but I wasn't really sure why until now.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Rum and ginger snaps does sound good. Will have to pick up some rum. Any recommendations? Never really tried it or anything.

For tonight, fell back on my old stand by; Guinness and whiskey. Used a shot of Jim Beam Rye. It's almost as smooth as Bushmills. Yum!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I jsut picked up a bottle of Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum. The stuff is AMAZING.

As it's a spiced rum, the flavors are based on, y'know, whatever it is that they put IN the rum. And the result is a rum that tastes like a liqueur, not a liquor. I mean, the stuff is 92 proof, and you can tell, but it's sweet and smooth and tasty. They've added caramel and spices and all sorts of yummy things.

It's probably the best example of a "spiced rum" I've ever had.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! A new liquor store has opened on the way home. Will stop in and see if they have any.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Oh, and, as I've mentioned before, I love rye. I feel that the United States has started to finally recover from the destruction of Prohibition, and we're starting to really produce world-class whiskies again. Obviously, most of our country's reputation is in bourbons, with a secondary reputaton for Tennesee whiskey, but I'm glad to see better ryes coming back, too. Obviously, there's Jim Beam and Old Overholt (which remains my favorite lowbrow drink), but I've got a craft-brewed rye, which is damn good.

I'm a bit annoyed at Canada for ruining the worldwide reputation of rye, by calling their mass-market swill "rye". I mean, Canadian whiskey is Canadian whiskey, not "rye". But Canadians CALL things like Segram's "rye".

Yes, Canada produces some fine whiskies, although I can't think of any. But none of them involve the grain "rye" in any significant way, so none of them should be called "rye whiskey".

Chambord!

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I haven't had any of that yummy stuff for ages! I love cranberries, too!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Do you like Chambord in hot chocolate? Oreos would probably be good dunked in that, for someone who liked oreos and Chambord, I mean.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I do, although I personally tend to be more of a butterscotch schnapps person for hot chocolate.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I was just contemplating writing an entry about "things I can do because I'm a grownup now". And it does include this sort of thing (though not this exact thing, since I dislike Oreo cookies.)

[aethelflaed2.livejournal.com]

I love dunking oreos in Irish Hot Chocolate. Soooooooo good.

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

Total aside - we hear you're a licensed bartender (and a great person too) and we're wondering if you do private gigs. Laurie & Santiago are looking for a bartender for their wedding. If you'd be interested, email us a home AT lse DOT org

thanks!

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

Just remember to use the square glasses, not the round ones.

I got a PC again.

[kelfstein.livejournal.com]

sounds yummy!