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ausetkmt · 5 months

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n the dining room might be a series of flickering candles and stockings full of candy hanging on the walls. Outside, the men would gather around barrels of cider or whiskey, celebrating their week off, while the women would prepare a turkey dinner. After eating the food and drinking the liquor, the men and women would find their partners and dance to the cheerful tunes of banjoes and fiddles. Christmas cheer was especially important for these people, for they were slaves on a large southern plantation, and this would be one of the only days when they were free to celebrate as a community of families.

Yet beneath the drinks, dancing, and decorations was a darker side to the holiday. Both slaves and slave owners manipulated the Christmas holiday in their constant struggle for freedom or power. The former used Christmas to assert their basic humanity, while the latter twisted holiday traditions to prevent slave rebellion.

One of the most scathing critiques of Christmas in bondage comes from the narrative of black leader and former slave Frederick Douglass. In his narrative, Douglass wrote that Christmas was nothing more than a tool for oppression.

From what I know of the effect of these holidays upon the slave, I believe them to be among the most effective means in the hands of the slaveholder in keeping down the spirit of insurrection. Were the slaveholders to abandon this practice, I have not the slightest doubt it would lead to an immediate insurrection among the slaves. These holidays serve as conductors, or safety-valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity.

Douglass argued that plantation owners used the holiday season and the weeklong break from hard labor to stifle slave rebellion. Douglass, born into slavery in 1818, came of age in a slave system wealthy planters had perfected. They knew how to mold nearly every small interaction and grand institution to serve their interests. Christmas would have been no different.

As Douglass recalled, the temporary respite from hard labor allowed slaves to tolerate their condition. Masters also used the holiday more directly, encouraging slaves to binge drink hard liquor: “One plan is, to make bets on their slaves, as to who can drink the most whiskey without getting drunk; and in this way they succeed in getting whole multitudes to drink to excess.” Binge drinking not only asserted the dominance of the slave owner, but according to Douglass, it also made working in the fields more attractive: “We felt, and very properly too, that we had almost as well be slaves to man as to rum. So, when the holidays ended, we staggered up from the filth of our wallowing, took a long breath, and marched to the field,–feeling, on the whole, rather glad to go.”

Masters relied on Christmas as a way of fracturing slave solidarity. As Christmas approached, they threatened to withhold gifts or even cancel Christmas completely. This system of holiday-based reward and punishment encouraged obedience, productivity, and disunity. Slave owners also waited until the holidays to dismantle families and sell slaves. The news that a son, daughter, or spouse was to be sold away often prompted heartbreaking acts of violence, including suicide and self-mutilation, and slave owners believed that the jovial holiday spirit could smooth the process.

Yet the slave experience during Christmas is more complex than Douglass might lead us to believe. Masters might use the holiday to reinforce their control, but slaves used Christmas in their physical, psychological, and cultural resistance to slavery.

On the most basic level, Christmas allowed slaves to endure the rigors of slavery. Even Douglass mentioned that Christmas meant gifts of food and clothes. Slaves took advantage of the free time, tending to their gardens, hunting for wild game, and crafting items for trade. Slaves also embraced Christmas for its psychological benefits. They travelled to neighboring plantations to visit friends and family, sometimes taking advantage of the lax rules of the season to stay away for weeks. As large groups came together, slaves celebrated through song and dance. These dances became a means of creating and preserving African-American culture.

Most important, slaves saw these small moments of community and joy as a demonstration of their humanity. Harriet Jones, a woman born into slavery in 1844, discussed Christmas in her memoirs. She recalled that her master helped lead the Christmas dances, calling to his slaves to swing their partners. Jones relished the opportunity to dance intimately and openly with her significant other, remembering how passionately the various couples danced. It is unclear what the observing owners thought, but many slaves saw these Christmas dances as a chance to display their romantic love in a society that otherwise disregarded and disparaged it. During the dances, men wore clean shirts and women placed ribbons in their hair. Central to the preparation was the act of removing, literally and symbolically, the confining field shoes, as the shoes were notoriously bad for dancing.

How do we reconcile Douglass’s memories with these acts of resistance? Perhaps the two accounts are not as antithetical as they seem. Christmas was an effective means of control precisely because it allowed for greater displays of resistance on one designated week a year. Ironically, occasionally affording slaves rest and freedom helped slave owners to maintain power.

#Christmas on a Slave Plantation #enslaved in america #Black History #american slavery #american history #christmas

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amrinaalshaikh · 1 year

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A Complete Guide To Explore The Best Bourbon Whiskey In India

India is home to some of the best and most flavorful bourbon whiskeys in the world. Look no further for those looking to explore what India offers in this spirit! This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of the best bourbon whiskey in India, and helpful tips on getting the most out of your whiskey-tasting experience.

Overview Of Bourbon Whiskey

Bourbon whiskey has a mash bill of around 51 percent corn. Bourbon cannot have any additional colors or flavors and must be aged in fresh, charred oak barrels. The name comes from the French Bourbon dynasty, named after the city of Bourbon, France. Bourbon has a long history in the United States and was first produced in the 18th century. Since then, it has become an essential part of American culture and heritage. Today, bourbon is enjoyed by people worldwide and is one of the most popular types of whiskey.

Many brands of bourbon whiskey are available in India, such as Jim Beam, Jack Daniel's, and Maker's Mark. If you want to try some of the best bourbon whiskey in India, check out the guide below.

The Difference Between Scotch And Bourbon

When it comes to the best whisky for party, there are two distinct types: Scotch and bourbon. Both are delicious, but they also have some key differences. Here's a quick guide to help you understand the difference between scotch and bourbon whiskey. Scotch is made in Scotland, while bourbon is made in the United States. The main difference between the two lies in the ingredients and production process.

Scotch is made with malted barley, while bourbon is made with corn. The other key difference is that Scotch must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years, while bourbon only needs to be aged for two years. Bourbon has a sweeter taste than Scotch, thanks to the corn used in its production. On the other hand, Scotch has a more complex flavor profile due to the malted barley and longer aging process.

So, which one should you choose? It all comes down to personal preference. Bourbon is the way to go if you're looking for a smooth drink with a sweet flavor. Scotch is your best bet if you want something with a bit more depth and complexity.

How To Choose The Best Bourbon Whiskey In India?

Bourbon whiskey comes from corn. It is typically aged for two years or more in new, oak charred-barrels. Bourbon has a distinctively sweet, smoky flavor and is often used in cocktails. When choosing the best whisky for party, it is crucial to consider the following factors:

The type of bourbon: There are four types of bourbon whiskey, each with a distinct flavor profile. These include Kentucky straight bourbon, Tennessee whiskey, blended bourbon, and rye bourbon.

The age of the bourbon: The longer it is aged, the more complex its flavor will be. Bourbons that are aged for at least four years are typically considered to be the best quality.

The proof of the bourbon: The higher the proof, the higher the alcohol content and the more intense the flavor. Bourbons with 50% or higher proof are typically considered the best quality.

The price: Bourbon whiskey can vary depending on age, proof, and type. Generally speaking, higher quality bourbons will cost more money.

Popular Brands Of Bourbon Whiskey In India

As of 2020, over 100 bourbon whiskey brands were available in India. The top 10 most popular brands, based on sales volume, are as follows:

Jack Daniel's

Jim Beam

Wild Turkey

Maker's Mark

Bulleit

Evan Williams

Knob Creek

Woodford Reserve

Old Forester

Elijah Craig

Conclusion

With its smooth and complex flavor profile, the best bourbon whiskey in India is one of the most popular types of alcohol in India. Hopefully, this guide to exploring some of the best bourbons has helped you learn more about it and find a bottle that appeals to your taste. From single malt whiskeys to blended ones, plenty of choices are available for those looking for an exceptional drinking experience. And with such wide varieties, you can find something that fits your unique palate!

#best bourbon whiskey in India #best whisky for party

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inky-duchess · 5 years

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Fantasy Guide to Feasts, Food and Drink

Picture yourself at a banquet held at the local Lord's castle. The music is playing, the people are chatting and rustling about in their best clothes. You sit at a table and what sits before you? Not chicken nuggets, my friend.

Food is always one of the staples of any world you build. You can get a feel of class, society and morality just by looking at the spread before you on the table.

Food for lower classes (Peasants)

Most peasants lived off the land, rearing flocks, tilling fields and tending orchards. If they lived near the sea, lakes, rivers or streams, they would fish. But since they lived on land owned by churches or lords, they would only be allowed a portion of what they grew. In cities, the peasants would buy food from one another at the market.

Peasants would make bread out of rye grain, that would make the bread very dark. In some communities they would make sourdough, which involves using a piece of dough you made the day before to make that day's bread.

Eggs were a source of food that was easy to come by as farmers kept chickens on hand.

Cheese and butter would be sold and used in the farm.

Jam would also be made as it was easy to preserve and sell.

Peasants would not eat much meat. Chickens made money by laying eggs, pigs could be fattened and sold for profit and cows and goats would be used for milk. By killing any of these animals for food they would loose a portion of money. Poaching (hunting on private land owned by the lord) would come with severe penalties.

Pottage and stew were a favourite of peasants as they could throw any vegetables or bit of meat or fish in a pot to cook for a few hours. It wasn't a difficult dish to make and often inexpensive.

Pies, pasties and pastries would be a favourite at inns and taverns in towns and cities most containing gravy, meat and vegetables.

With most villages and farms set close to forests, many peasants could find berries at the edge of fields. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries would have all grown wild.

Food for Nobility & Royalty

Nobility and Royalty could always afford better food than the poor. However it might be a patch more unhealthy than the poor's fare. Nobility and Royalty weren't fans of vegetables.

The rich would eat a lot of meat, much of which they would hunt down themselves on their own land. Deer, wild boar, rabbits, turkey and other wild creatures would all be on the table.

Nobility and Royalty would be fond of fish as well. Lamprey eels was a delicacy only preserved for special occasions.

They could afford salt which was important for preserving meat and fish. This would allow the castle/manor/palace to be stocked in times of winter or famine.

They could also afford pepper and other spices, all of which could cost a fortune, to flavour their food.

During a feast, they would eat off of platters made of precious metals but only if you were seated at the high table. Other less important guests would eat off a trencher, a piece of hollowed out stale bread.

Sugar would be the height of dessert. The sugar would be shaped into fantastical formations to impress the noble guests. Tudor chefs would create edible sugar plates for Henry VIII to eat off of.

Swans and peacocks would be served in their plumage. Swans would be more royal diners as in England the monarch owns all the swans. In Ireland, it is illegal to kill a swan mainly because they could be children trapped in swan-bodies. Long story.

Feasts

At certain events, the noble/monarch might throw a party. Most parties would begin with a dinner.

The high table would seat the family throwing the party and the honoured guests. All the food would come to them first to be distributed to their favourites. They would drink the best wine and have the finest bread.

The rest of the hall would be seated together at trestle tables, eating off trenchers. They would be sent food by the thrower of the feast on account of their personal importance or social standing. The closer you were to the salt cellar, placed at the head of the table the more important you were. The further away you were, the lower your status.

Servants called cupbearers would serve wine and drink and move about the hall to carry jugs of wine to water the guests.

Dogs would often be found in the hall, to be fed scraps by the diners.

Drink

No world or party is complete without the booze. Since much of the water in Mediaeval times was putrid or dirty, the classes would avoid it.

Beer: was both a favourite of peasants and the nobility. It would be brewed in castles or in taverns and inns, each site having a different recipe and taste. It would be stored in barrels. Beer was widely available across the world and could be brewed at home. So therefore it was inexpensive.

The two main types of beer would be:

Ale: Ale in the middle ages referred to beer brewed without hops (a kind of flowering plant that gives beer its bitter taste). It is sweeter and would typically have a fruity aftertaste.

Stout: is a darker beer sometimes brewed from roasted malt, coming in a sweet version and dry version, the most famous stout being Guinness.

Wine: Wine would be made on site of vineyards and stored in cellars of large houses or castles. They would be expensive as they would have to be imported from regions capable of growing vines.

Port: Port wine or fortified wine would be made with distilled grape spirits. It is a sweet red wine, and also would be expensive to import from the counties able to grow the correct vines.

Whiskey: is a spirit made from distilled fermented grain mash in a device called a still (which would always be made of copper). The age of whiskey is determined by the length of time it has been sitting in a cask from the time it is made to the time its put in bottles. Whiskey was a favourite drink in colder climates and could be made any where in the world.

Rum: Rum is made by fermenting and distilling sugarcane molasses/juice. It is aged in oak barrels and would have to be imported as it could only be made in lands able to grow sugarcane.

Poitín: (pronounced as pot-cheen) is made from cereals, grain, whey, sugar beet, molasses and potatoes. It is a Dangerous Drink (honestly i still don't know how I ended up in that field with a traffic cone and a Shetland pony) and technically illegal. Country folk in Ireland used to brew it in secrets in stills hidden on their land.

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xtruss · 3 years

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Cornelia Bohn stands among oak barrels in her whiskey distillery in the German village of Schönermark. The trained pharmaceutical engineer has been producing her Preußischer Whisky single malt since 2009. Photograph By Patrick Pleul, Picture Alliance/DPA/AP Images

— By Mike MaCeacheran | February 2, 2021

The whole scene along this whiskey road trip is strangely familiar: historic castles and deer-filled forests, then rows of ploughed soil, golden barley fields, and the sweet scent of cereal grains.

But this isn’t somewhere in Scotland. Nor is it in Ireland or the United States. This is Brandenburg, a sparsely populated region in Germany surrounding Berlin. It the most compact part of a seductive new whiskey country that has upwards of 250 producers—almost twice as many as Scotland, yet with just a fraction of the visitors. Factor in an increasing emphasis on grain-to-glass provenance, and it’s evident that interest in German whiskey is rocketing.

With five compelling distilleries all within a 60-mile radius of the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (which opened in October 2020), Brandenburg is a fruitful place to taste whiskey. A circumnavigation of the German capital region promises new-found tradition and adventure in equal measure, with warehouses, whiskey cellars, and sampling rooms.

“Distilling has been part of Brandenburg’s fabric for centuries,” says Cornelia Bohn, producer of Preußischer Whisky. “But this knowledge was lost during the Communist era when liquor production was controlled and limited to state-produced vodka. It’s amazing to think that whiskey was an outlaw spirit, only available on the black market. So we’re catching up now.”

Spirited Revival

No manufacturer is doing more to put German whiskey on the map than Bohn. Growing up behind the Berlin Wall in Soviet-occupied Uckermark in the former German Democratic Republic, she fell in love with the romance of whiskey advertisements broadcast from uncensored West German TV channels. She took note of the smoky bars, the clinking glasses, the talk of exotic overseas adventures, and revered the banned liquor without ever having tasted it. For her, it represented the West, escape from behind the Iron Curtain, and freedom.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and Bohn crossed the unified German capital for the first time, one small shop caught her eye. “Everyone was gifted 100 Deutsche marks welcome money on arrival and my first instinct was to buy a bottle of whiskey,” says Bohn, who was 24 at the time. “It was a Johnnie Walker, and it was the most amazing moment of my life.”

A barley field in the Uckermark region, known as the granary of Brandenburg, glows golden at sunset. Photograph By Preussischer Whisky

Now 31 years later, Bohn is one of Germany’s most respected whiskey makers and one of the first women to open her own distillery. As Rumpelstiltskin spun gold from straw, she has turned a modest family inheritance into a label born from a teenage dream, producing Germany’s only organic single malt.

Here in the Uckermark region, grasslands tip into beech woods and pastures filled with black horses that, tradition dictates, are still used to pull carriages for village weddings and funerals. The Friesians are central to the local Slavic culture and, fittingly, Bohn’s stills are housed in red-brick stables. The Preußischer mascot, too, is a sleek colt sporting a pickelhaube, a spiked soldier’s helmet. (Preußischer translates to “Prussian.”)

The woman-owned Preußischer Whisky is one of the hundreds of German distillers gaining global recognition. Photograph BY Patrick Pleul, Picture Alliance/DPA/AP Images

Tales like this are everywhere in Brandenburg, hidden behind distillery doors and in the barley and rye fields. At Grumsiner Brennerei, the attitude towards whiskey is to dig deeper into the past. Distillery owner Thomas Blätterlein is reviving ancient strains of forgotten grains.

One cereal is East Prussian eppweizen, an overlooked wheat used for his fruity, single-grain malt Mammoth. On the nose, the hay-gold spirit hints at caramel; the taste is floral and lightly spiced.

Grain Expectations

Less than 40 miles southeast of Berlin, former bartender Bastian Heuser founded Stork Club/Spreewald, Germany’s first rye whiskey distillery, in the village of Schlepzig. Flour mills, witch’s-hat spires, and ramshackle farmsteads point to the town’s centuries-old heritage.

The distillery’s origins began with a road trip. In 2015, Heuser and co-owners Steffen Lohr and Sebastian Brack were looking for a particular cask to take back to Berlin. It turned out that the incumbent owner of one distillery they visited had no family and was looking for a successor.

Left: Spreewald Distillery, located in Schlepzig, produces Stork Club, Germany’s first rye whiskey. Photograph By Markus Schreiber, AP Images Right: Bastian Heuser stands next to a 600-liter (158-gallon) still. The former Berlin barkeeper co-founded Stork Club/Spreewald Distillery. Photograph By Bernd Settnik, Picture Alliance/DPA/AP Images

“Serendipity,” recalls Heuser. “The absurdity is we went from wanting to buy just the one barrel to taking over an entire distillery.”

Behind its brick walls, the venue retains the cobbled courtyard, whiskey barn, and garden built a century ago, but the brand’s hipster vibe is clearly here-and-now.

Ostensibly, what Stork Club offers the visitor is stunning whiskey. But the distillery is cleverly engineered on the Spreewald canal network. An added thrill is discovering more than 200 intertwined waterways vibrant with wildlife, including 250 pairs of white storks that return each year to nest. A punting trip into the marshy meadows, where the crank of the mash tun fades to silence, comes highly recommended. At times, it is too easy to miss that the wilderness is in the thick of the largest rye-growing greenbelt in Europe.

Visitors to Spreewald Distillery can make a day of it with a boat ride along the region’s canal network. Photograph By Hans-Joachim Aubert, Alamy Stock Photo

“Most German distilleries look towards Scotland for inspiration,” Heuser says. “But we’re more drawn to whiskies made in the United States. It’s funny, really, because rye is part of Brandenburg’s history, but we’ve never wholly embraced it. Until now.”

Transatlantic Ties

Pull this thread and a whole other backstory unravels. Where Brandenburg rye really prevails is across the Atlantic in the stills of some of the largest distillers in the United States, including Kentucky’s Wild Turkey and Four Roses, both of which stockpile the region’s crop. It would be difficult, in fact, to overstate the impact of Germany’s distilling heritage on the U.S., with the roots of many distilleries on the American Whiskey Trail and Kentucky Bourbon Trail first sown by immigrants.

“It’s no great surprise Germans kickstarted the pre-Prohibition rye whiskey industry in the 1800s because of what they learned back home,” says Dave Broom, author of the World Atlas of Whisky and a whiskey writer for 30 years.

Bastian Heuser inspects whiskey at the Spreewald Distillery. Photograph By Tobias Schwarz, AFP/Getty Images

Pennsylvania’s Old Overholt, said to be America’s oldest continuously operating whiskey brand, was founded by German Mennonite farmer Henry Oberholzer in 1810. Johannes Jakob Böhm moved to Kentucky to sell bourbon under the name Old Jake Beam (now better known as Jim Beam).

There are many other immigrant tales, too, including those of George Dickel, from Grünberg, Hesse, who came to Nashville in 1844; and the founders of the Stitzel-Weller distillery, maker of cult favorite Pappy Van Winkle. Predictably, after 13 years of Prohibition (1920–1933), many German distillers were forgotten, and today it is hard for whiskey historians to tease out personal stories from romanticized brand mythologies.

The Future of Brandenburg

The blurring of distinctions is common when appraising whiskey, and this paradox is all too familiar to Tim Eggenstein of Old Sandhill Whisky, in the town of Bad Belzig, 55 miles southwest of Berlin. The distiller ages his single malt in virgin German, American, and French oak barrels, as well as scented sherry casks and barrique barrels from Bordeaux, accepting that everyone puts their own spin on a whiskey’s story.

At Glina Distillery, 10 miles outside state capital Potsdam, distiller Michael Schultz is driven to create a rare rye-barley hybrid, using oak casks made by Brandenburg’s last remaining master cooper. This is whiskey rendered in muted, earthy tones.

As a journey around Brandenburg makes clear, whiskey is now part of life in Germany—at once looking backwards to a forgotten past and forwards to a more enterprising and fertile future.

— The National Geographic

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thebourbontruth · 3 years

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Here are my 2021 favorite Whiskey options you can find for every budget. You can’t go wrong with these. They’re reliable, won’t ever let you down mixing or neat. Gifts or not. You should be able to get these in most of the US or acquired from other areas easily if not. They should also be on shelves at normal msrp or lower.

Barrell Bourbon/Whiskey

Many options and variations but I love the Bourbon Batches most. Expect $80-$100 for regular releases, more for extra special things. Keep an eye out for the private selections done by stores with great private barrel reputations. Stock up because it’s inevitable consumers will catch on that the brand keeps getting major awards and big ratings. I love the no BS transparent presentation too.

Makers Mark

A classic. Very nice Wheated Bourbon doing things right for more than 50 years. Put it in an empty Van Winkle 10 bottle, no one will know the difference. Great price with legendary consistency.

Woodford Reserve

So solid, so consistent and good. Super job blending this. It doesn’t get the credit it deserves amoung whiskey geeks. Gift or an everyday drinker, it’s every versatile. One of my top go to’s at bars without many whiskeys or for a nice value. If you’re a fan of fruity, sweet, caramel profile this is it.

Elijah Craig

A long time favorite. My everyday drinker that can easily fool most whiskey snobs at costing twice the typical $30ish price.

Angels Envy Bourbon

Great for gifting, newer Whiskey people that want a more approachable sweater profile. Created by Lincoln Henderson, one of the greatest whiskey minds we’ve had.

Basil Hayden 80 Proof

Best Bourbon for the new Bourbon fan. At 80 proof it’s very friendly and smooth. I personally prefer this regular original version over the new or older versions. Don’t add water, ice or dilute in cocktails. Makes a nice gift for the non snob or pouring an 80 proof blind to one.

Old Forester 1920

Not a Bourbon fan secret any longer. Very solid great high proofer for all uses. Has become a store shelf favorite to so many.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Bourbon and Rye

The WT brand rarely gets anything wrong. You’ll never go wrong with these higher proof bargains that should cost 2x.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit

Nice for gifting and a very nice 101 proof hiding in plain sight.

Wild Turkey Russels Reserve 10 Year Bourbon

An awesome 10 year Bourbon for $30-$40, who can’t love that!

Wild Turkey Russels Reserve Single Barrel Rye

Best Single Barrel Rye you’ll ever find sitting on most store shelves waiting for smart people to buy them.

Four Roses Small Batch

90 proof. 6-7 year great everyday for everything at $30-$35. It will hold up to just about anything blind.

Four Roses Small Batch Select-see above, just add non-chill filtering and 7% more abv. Limited Distribution States are expanding.

Lot 40 Rye

If you find an old 2012 bottling grab it. Even the current release is solid for $35-$40. A rare Canadian Rye that’s 100% rye. This one is often in the store’s Canadian Whisky section rather than with the Rye’s.

Wilderness Trail-all types

The more I learn about them and their plans, I get more giddy over what’s coming. They have a million+++ dollar lab testing to make sure everything is as close to perfect as possible —it shows. Shane, Pat and staff are fanatics to make the best. Tomorrow’s Van Winkle and Willett. Get it until you can’t. In about half the states but expanding.

Hillrock-all types

Small true craft place on a New York farm growing grain and making Bourbon, Rye and Single Malt. Quality and tasty. Makes very nice gifts especially for those seeking something different with a rich look. Around $100.

Willett Noah’s Mill

Defies logic. The world is going crazy for Willett, especially Willett Family Estate (WFE) bottlings. January 2021 Willitt’s 100% own house made Whiskey turns 9 years old. Noah’s is currently pulled from Willett’s own best 7-8 year old barrels- soon to be a year older (written 12/20). When WFE rarely drops at retail or the Visitor Center, they are $200-$300 and sell out in minutes, not hours. At near barrel proof of 114.3 and around $45-$55 a bottle, how is Noah’s Mill on the shelves at all? Like I said, “Defies logic” and should. One of the best, most accessible bottles you can find today. Near barrel proof is a bonus. Half the cost of the similarly age/proof Bookers. Noah’s is allocated and if the label simply said “WILLETT Noah’s Mill” stores would be charging $300 per bottle for it. It won’t take much for this to be the next one you wished you bunkered a few cases of while you could.

Charbay R5 Whiskey

This one is the most interesting and unique whiskey you’ll ever have. US Regs require them to call this “Hop Flavored” but there is no flavoring added. Double distilled from bottle ready Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA. There is no way to accurately describe it. People tend to love it or not. Read up on it but having or gifting it will show your depth and appreciation for different styles of Whiskey. If you’re a hop head get it. Well stocked stores are likely to have it in distribution states. Ask a manager if they have it as I’ve tended to see it in many sections other than whiskey. Charbay’s one of the oldest craft distilleries in the US. Doing Brandy since 1983 and hop whiskey since 1999.

Larceny

A nice Wheated Bourbon from the legacy of the Weller brand and Stitzel Weller distillery. Made by Heavanhill in Louisville at the distillery built to replace the aging Stitzel Weller plant. Larceny was rebranded from Old Fitzgerald, this $25-$30 Bourbon is a great bargain. If your searching for Wheated Bourbon, Weller, and your good with 92 Proof, 6-9 years old, this is it. Every bit as good or better than Weller. Note-They have a full proof version that is much less likely to be on the shelf at MSRP.

Buffalo Trace

Good solid everyday Bourbon with the same mashbill and recipe of it’s sister brands at higher proof like the Stagg’s people are nuts for right now. One of the few Buffalo Trace made Bourbons that you can find and is good in taste and price.

Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream

Another weird one to be one of my favorite Whiskies. Many people don’t know it exists. It’s got loads of uses for desert, in coffee, baking and just something different to the Bourbon lover. A great nightcap to decompress or to have “one more” especially before driving. Cheaper and much better than Bailey’s, a nice substitute to stick to Bourbon but a variation. Great gateway to the non-bourbon drinker also.

Old Forester 100 proof

Tasty $20-$25 choice with a good proof kick. Very solid and hiding in plain sight. Here’s the thing— truly authentic Whiskey aficionados don’t judge each other on the expensive over the top cult booze that they have/drink. They judge on their depth, choice and guts to drink something great that’s not cool or pretentious like this one. Well known to good bartenders as their secret weapon for an inexpensive Bourbon.

Rittenhouse Rye 100 Proof Bottled in Bond-

Everything I just said about Old Forester 100 is true for this one but in a Rye. If it were ever discontinued, American Bartenders would start crying. You won’t find a better $20-25 rye or whiskey. Super versatile.

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kuantumtourism-blog · 5 years

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Cappadocia Underground Cities

One of the characteristics of Cappadocia is having plenty of underground cities. It’s known that there are more than a hundred of underground settlements in the region and many of them are not open for visits. The underground cities, which are guessed to be used since the Bronze Age, used to be a settlement mostly in Byzantine period, doubtless. In this period, increasing invasions forced local residents to build underground cities for protection and religious purposes.Ü

Certainly the most interesting features of the Cappadocia area are the underground cities founded within. Until now even that have been determined about 40 underground cities just six of these have been opened for visit. Nobody can know how many underground cities there are in the Cappadocia area. Some say that there is one for every village and settlement in the region but certainly not all of the sites can be described as cities. Well known underground cities of Cappadocia area are Tatlarin Underground city, Derinkuyu Underground City, Ozkonak Underground City, Mazi Village Underground City, Saratlı kırkgöz underground city, Kaymakli Underground City and Gaziemir Underground City

The first inhabitants of Cappadocia area have opened deep cavities within the volcanic rocks due to escape from the attacks of the wild animals and hard winter conditions and then they have enlarged these cavities according to their daily needs, they opened new cavities and created the underground cities connecting these cavities with tunnel and labyrinths. Later the underground cities were the place of the hiding of the first Christians who escaped from the persecution of the Roman soldiers and were enlarged to able when were necessary an entire city to live and every kind of fixture necessary for the living of the people has been attached. When there wasn’t any danger the people living on the ground in case of the danger have hidden in the underground cities. For this reason all the homes at that time were connected to the underground cities with a tunnel.

In all of the underground cities there are ventilation chimneys reaching place by place to a depth of 80 and until the underground waters. These chimneys were opened due to meet the need of both the ventilation and water.

The oldest written source about underground cities is the Anabasis named book of Xenophon (Written around B.C. 4). In the book is mentioned that the people living in Anatolia have caved their houses underground and that the houses are dependent to each other with holes: “The houses were built underground; the entry were like wells but they broadened out under down. There were tunnels dug in the ground for the animals while the men went down by stairs. Inside the houses there were goats, sheep, cows and poultry with their young…”

DERİNKUYU UNDERGROUND CITY

One of Cappadocia’s most famous underground cities is Derinkuyu, which was built during the Byzantine era when its inhabitants used it to protect themselves from Muslim Arabs during the Arab-Byzantine Wars between 780 and 1180. The multi level city was composed of many passages and caves used for various purposes, the city lies around 60 meters under the ground and was able to shelter around 20,000 people including their livestock and food. Certainly the largest underground city in Cappadocia (and of course in all of Turkey), Derinkuyu was opened to visitors in 1969 with only half of the city available for viewing.

The underground city at Derinkuyu has all the usual amenities found in other underground complexes across Cappadocia, such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels. Unique to the Derinkuyu undergorund city complex and located on the second floor is a spacious room with a barrel vaulted ceiling. It has been reported that this room was used as a religious school and the rooms to the left were studies. Between the third and fourth levels is a vertical staircase. This passage way leads to a cruciform church on the lowest level.

KAYMAKLI UNDERGROUND CITY

Kaymakli underground city is built under the hill known as the castle of Kaymakli and was opened to visitors in 1964. The people of Kaymakli (Enegup in Greek) village have establish their houses around almost one hundred tunnels of the underground city. The inhabitants of the region still use the most appropriate places in the tunnels as cellars, storage areas and stables, which they access through their courtyards. The Kaymakli Underground City has low, narrow and sloping passages. While the underground city consists of 8 floors below ground, only 4 of them are open to the public today, in which the spaces are organized around ventilation shafts.

Kaymakli underground city is on the Ihlara valley strip and 20 km far from Nevsehir province. Old name was Enegup. Kaymakli people were built their homes around the underground city tunnels for security reason. Kaymakli underground city has 8 storey and 5000 peoples can live in it, 4 storey is open yet. The deepest point of the visit is under 20 meters. Kaymakli was built in around a main ventilation chimney. Ventilation system is so successful that not feel a problem even the fourth floor. Has all housing conditions for crowdy group temporary housing. There are rooms and halls connecting to each other with narrow corridor, wine tanks, water cistern, kitchen and food stores, ventilation chimneys, water wells, churches and large lock stones for any danger from out.

First floor is used for animal shelter. Usually first floor of underground cities uses as animal shelter for difficult to take animals the downstairs. Second floor has a church with two abscissa. There are baptism stones front of the abscissas and a cemetery for important persons near the church. Moreover this floor has a big lock stone for close passing. Lock stones are circular and has a hole in the middle, 55-60 cm thick, 170-175 cm long and 200-500 kg weight. Lock stones shut down the entrance by ronunding vertical position in the special section at the entrance of the tunnel. There are labyrinths, hasn’t exit tunnels and so many ambushes and secret passages for escape. Third floor is larger ans broad than the others and used as a food store, has so many sections for keep back wine, wheat and flour. Moreover there are winnery and kitchen. There are big food stores in the fourth floor. This is show that underground city people has a regularly economy living.

OZKONAK UNDERGROUND CITY

Ozkonak town of Nevsehir city which 14 km northeast of Avanos is located on the northern slopes of the Idis Mountain, there are supernormal underground structure of Ozkonak underground city. There is only a single main passage, and the whole city is built along it by cut volcanic granite. Ozkonak underground city has long, narrow connections, about 5cm in diameter, connect the different levels and naighbouring chambers. They were used for communication between the levels and for ventilation. There are ten rooms, four big salloon, eight water well, four tombs, ventilation system, winery and closeable doors via circle stone like millstone for security reason. Additionally there are so many ambushes in the long narrow tunnels for to mislead enemy in the Ozkonak underground city.

Common among the underground cities are huge millstone doors. The millstones were rolled into narrow sections of the passage and wedged from behind. Here at Ozkonak, they have a special feature in front of the millstone doors on the ceiling are small holes. They are connected with a tunnel above, and were used to pour hot oil on the enemy or to spear them.

TATLARIN-ACIGOL UNDERGROUND CITY

The underground city at Tatlarin is located on a nearby hill called The Castle by the locals. Two different levels of the city can be visited. There are several churches, and extremely rare is the presence of toilets. There is only one other place in Cappadocia with this kind of toilets, thats Guzelyurt. Remarkable is the size of the chambers and the high number of food depots. There are theories, that this was no typical village, but a garrison or a monastic complex.

Nearby, at the slope of the hill is the Tatlarin Underground Church. Allthough part of the two nave church has collapsed, there are many murals to see. Painted on dark grey background are figures in purple, red and mustard. The scenes of episodes from the bible are separated from each other by dividers. They show Mother Mary with Jesus, Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Anastasis, Entry into Jerusalem, the Crucifixion, and the Transfiguration. There are also portraits of nine Saints. Secular pictures show Constantine the Great, Helena, and the donors of the church.

MAZI UNDERGROUND CITY

The ancient name of the city was known as Mataza. The presence of the city dates back to as early as the Roman period. The city contains tombs dating back to the early Roman period and also contains aspects of the Byzantium period.

Mazi is carved to the west of the village perpendicular to the valley slope. It contained four different access points for entrance and exit to the city which all lead to a central hall. The main entrance to the city is made of millstone in which a stone could be rolled over and used to cover the entrance.The architecture includes steep tunnels networking between corridors. Within the city, areas were provided to serve as barns, with each area designated for different specialties. The space inside the city also contained a winery between the areas served as barns. In order for the winery to obtain grapes, there was a chimney which led to the surface and allowed grapes to fall down into. Additionally, the city contains a church which can be accessed via a short corridor.

OZLUCE UNDERGROUND CITY

This underground settlement which is located in the centre of the village of Ozluce, the old name of which was Zile, is on the Nevsehir-Derinkuyu road, 6 km south of the town of Kaymakli.

Ozluce Underground settlement is different from the others in terms of its geological formation and architectural features. The underground settlement has tufa of different colors. There is only one floor in this underground settlement which has not been completely opened; however, it covers a very large area.

At the entrance is a place with two intertwining arches made of basalt. Access to the main tufa stone can be gained through a 15 m long passage, made of rubble stone. The stone places, which lead to the underground settlement, are more recent than the rock hollowed places that form the underground settlement. At the end of this passage there is a millstone door which is made of hard granite and is 1.75 m in diameter.

Being the largest area in the underground settlement, the main space at the entrance consists of two parts. To the right of the main space are storage rooms, and to the left are living areas. On the sides of the long corridors are cell-like rooms and on the floor are traps.

#DERİNKUYU UNDERGROUND CITY #underground city #kaymakli #ozkonak #TATLARIN-ACIGOL #mazi

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ruggednraw · 6 years

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I never meant to start collecting bottles of bourbon, it just kind of happened. For those of you who don’t know, all bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon. Some people drink it on the rocks and some add a dash of water in their pour. Most bourbon enthusiasts such as myself drink it neat ( straight up at room temperature ). When people think of whiskey they usually think of Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, or Jameson. Those are alright but there’s so much more out there to try. Since I’ve accumulated a small collection, I thought I’d share my opinion on the bottles pictured above. I’ll start with the first photo and work my way from left to right.

Buffalo Trace

This is the bottle that started it all for me. It’s the very first bottle of bourbon I bought without knowing what was in store for me and boy did I fall hard. It’s inexpensive, easily accessible, and just a great bourbon all around. 7/10

E.H Taylor Small Batch

I love the flavors I pick up in this bottle. It’s oak, dried figs, and vanilla. It’s aged just the right amount of time too. I feel like it should be priced much higher than what I paid for. This bottle is simply amazing! 9/10

Eagle Rare

This is basically Buffalo Trace but aged for ten years. It’s the perfect bourbon to pair with a baked apple pie or a box of chocolates. It makes for a great gift that won’t hurt your wallet. 8/10

Blanton’s Gold

The OG of single barrel bourbons. This is the kind of bottle you save in your closet and bring out for a special occasion. This bottle isn’t cheap by any means. If you want to impress a whiskey snob then this should be on your list. Is it worth the price? The worth you put on something is subjective but I’d say it’s definitely worth it. 10/10

Knob Creek Small Batch

One of my favorites and easily an everyday sipper for me. It’s caramel, peanut butter, vanilla, and oak. It’s the bottle you take with you on a weekend camping trip and sip next to an open fire all night. It’s very underrated in my opinion. If I were a bottle of bourbon I’d be this one right here. 8/10

Elijah Craig Small Batch

Another one of my favorites. This is what I recommend to someone if they’re thinking of trying bourbon for the first time. It’s super smooth and extremely delicious. Trust my judgement and just buy a bottle. 8/10

Old Forester 1920

This bottle is by far the most interesting and the most complex out of all of these. It’s not a beginner bourbon so maybe wait a little before you jump the gun on this one. 9/10

Wild Turkey Longbranch

Mathew Mcconaughey has been the creative director for Wild Turkey for a couple of years now. He and master distiller Eddie Russel teamed up and created what Mathew calls “his favorite bourbon”. I pick up some floral and citrus notes when I sip this. 7/10

Knob Creek Single Barrel

At 120 proof, it’ll definitely burn your tongue a bit if you’re not used to higher proof whiskey. When you buy a bottle of single barrel bourbon, you take a gamble each time because no two barrels are alike. This is easily the best single barrel you can get at this price range. 8/10

Woodford Reserve

This was one of the first bottles I ever bought and I still haven’t finished it. I was very underwhelmed and a little disappointed when I picked this up. Some people swear by it but it’s just flat out boring to me. Unlike some of the other bottles on here that have character and depth, this one plays it safe and no flavors really come forward. It’s overpriced for what you get so I’d skip out on this one. 4/10

Bulleit Bourbon

I must’ve gone over a few dozen bottles of this by now. It’s only $22 and you can find it just about anywhere. This is my mixer bourbon so thats why I go through it pretty fast. Next time you feel like mixing Jack and Coke, buy a bottle of this instead. I drink my whiskey neat but this bottle is the exception since it’s such a great mixer. Mix it with just about anything and it’ll make a decent cocktail. Take it to a party and mix it with coke and everyone will get fucked up before you know it. 6/10

Maker’s 46

Maker’s Mark is a classic affordable bourbon that you can find anywhere. Any self-respecting bar will carry a bottle of Maker’s Mark somewhere on the shelf. It has a high wheat percentage in the mash bill so this is a very sweet bourbon. Regular Maker’s Mark doesn’t really do it for me so I picked up a bottle of Maker’s 46 to try it out. It’s the same as regular Maker’s Mark except they add French oak staves in the barrel for about six months and then they bottle it up. I’ll probably never buy this again but that doesn’t mean it’s bad bourbon. I’m just not really a fan of wheated bourbons I guess. 6/10

Four Roses Single Barrel

Many people go nuts over this but it didn’t impress me all that much. Maybe I got a bad batch or something…I don’t know. I’ll give it another try some day. 4/10

Wild Turkey Forgiven

The story goes that an employee at the Wild Turkey distillery accidentally mixed bourbon and aged rye together. It turns out the taste was so good that they chose to bottle it up and sell it as a limited release. I’m glad they did because I really like this a lot. 7/10

#bourbon #whiskey #Kentucky Bourbon #Buffalo Trace #knob creek #Elijah Craig #Blanton’s #Maker’s Mark #Maker’s 46 #wild turkey #Bulleit bourbon #old forester

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scoopeblog · 3 years

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ericvick · 4 years

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'Oh, The Hunger That A lot of Suffered'

Many thanks in brief supply for the Puritans in Nov. 1630

On Thursday, the aroma of roast turkey and all the trimmings will drift from Dorchester’s kitchens as Covid-wary family members get close to eating area tables piled with all the fixings of the holiday. 3 hundred and ninety a long time in the past, having said that, Dorchester’s first English settlers sat at impolite wood tables not to feast and say many thanks, but to stay hardly alive.

The colonist Roger Clap wrote of the Mary and John passengers struggling with their initially brutal New England winter season in 1630-31: “In our beginning, a lot of ended up in wonderful Straits for want of Provision for by themselves and their small Ones.” There would be no Thanksgiving for that beleaguered band of settlers clinging to their footholds close to “Rocky Hill” (latter-day Savin Hill).

Atlantic gusts lashing the rough wooden cabins, “lean-to’s,” and shelters of Dorchester’s early colonists, and dipping temperatures all together the bay heralded a severe winter season. Acquiring arrived also late to plant adequate crops, the settlers confronted wintertime with meager stocks of “salt junk [meat] and tough-tack [rock-hard biscuit] left around from the voyage.”

With scarcely more than enough meals for their very own families, “Dorchester’s Freemen” had to “turn unfastened [their indentured servants] to fend for on their own.”

The colonists were much more than prepared to hunt in the dense nearby forests and to fish the waters teeming with cod and other fish, but had been hampered by a variety of difficulties in any attempt to level a musket at a wild animal or to forged a line into the ocean.

In a letter to his father back again in England, a local gentleman lamented: “Here [in Dorchester and Boston] is great shop of fish if we experienced boats to go 8 or 10 leagues to sea to [go] fishing. Listed here are excellent retail outlet of wild fowl, but they are tough to occur by. It is harder to get a shot than it is in Previous England …Therefore, loving father, I entreat you that you would send out me a firkin [measure] of butter & a hogshead of malt…for we drink very little but water….We do not know how extended we might subsist, for we are unable to reside below with out provisions from Old England.”

The renowned historian Samuel Eliot Morison notes that the drastic adjustments in the customary diet plan of the band from the Mary and John and the other Puritans who had debarked from vessels alongside Massachusetts’ shore was pronounced, weakening them by November and leaving them in very poor condition to endure the coming wintertime.

“But the Englishman of that interval deemed himself starving devoid of beef, bread and beer,” Morison writes. “And even currently, if you will try a constant diet regime of shellfish and spring water for a 7 days, you might feel some sympathy for these Puritan colonists bereft of their stout British fare.”

For many of the Mary and John settlers, a single of the accessible foodstuffs — “Indian corn” — wreaked havoc with their digestive tracts. “There is a person and a different allusion to the reality that these men and women, bred to the use of English wheat, rye and barley,” records Chronicles of the First Planters, “disliked the bread manufactured of Indian corn. They most likely experienced not but acquired the artwork, which is not an uncomplicated art to this working day, of appropriately subduing that grain by the course of action of cookery.” Cramps and worse bedeviled lots of settlers compelled to count on the severe regional corn as a staple.

A web page of illustrations in the June 26, 1880 edition of Harper’s Weekly imagined and drawn by Charles Graham depicted “Previous and New Dorchester,” such as the “Landing of the Dorchester Settlers” aboard the Mary and John at Savin Hill in 1630. By late November 1630, quite a few of the colonists foraging from the Neponset to “The Neck” for meals had been getting on a gaunt, weakened collective visage. Thoughts of any day of Thanksgiving have been distant to guys, women of all ages, and children alike. Feelings of scraping adequate foodstuff for the every day larder eaten the hrs. And, as Chronicles of the Planters asserts, “as the winter arrived on, provisions began to be pretty scarce….and men and women had been necessitated to live on clams and mussels and ground-nuts and acorns, and these bought with a great deal difficulty in the winter time. Upon which folks ended up very significantly drained and discouraged.” With hunger arrived two dread companions – scurvy and “a contagious fever, in all probability typhus.”

On Christmas Eve, temperatures plummeted under freezing, with icy winds roaring in from the ocean. Relentless snowfall shortly piled on Dorchester and the nearby settlements. As John Winthrop and other locals described, “many of the men and women had been still inadequately housed, living and dying in bark wigwams or sail-fabric tents, ‘soe [sic.] that practically in each individual family, lamentation, mourning and woe was read, and no fresh food items to be had to cherish them.”

Roger Clap’s text captured the incessant distress and deprivation that the Mary and John settlers battled working day by frigid day: “Oh, the Hunger that many endured, and saw no hope in an Eye of Cause to be supplyed [sic.] only by Clams, and Muscles [sic.], and Fish….Bread was so incredibly scarce that from time to time I tho’ht the quite Crusts of my Father’s Desk would have been extremely sweet unto me. And when I could have Food and Water and Salt boiled jointly, it was so superior who could want superior?…It was accounted a peculiar detail in all those Times to consume H2o, and to consume Samp [mush] or Hominie without the need of Butter or Milk. Indeed, it would have been a strange matter to see a piece of Roast Beef, Mutton, or Veal.”

The hardships notwithstanding, Clap battled his travails with stoicism and bedrock Puritan religious beliefs, as did lots of of the Mary and John contingent practically hanging on for dear existence as the seemingly limitless winter season dragged on. “I took detect of it,” he wrote in his journal, “as a Favour of God unto me, not only to protect my Lifetime, but to give me Contentment in all these Straits insomuch that I do not keep in mind that I at any time did desire in my Coronary heart that I had not occur unto this Nation, or want myself back again yet again to my Father’s House.”

That tough-minded technique would have Clap and lots of of his fellow Dorchester companions as a result of the winter, making certain that the fledgling settlement would survive.

In February 1631, Clap and firm wanted every past supply of interior toughness on which they could attract, for their situation achieved its desperate worst. Foodstuff retailers had dwindled to nearly absolutely nothing, and profiteering was rampant — the princely sum of 5 lbs . for a single pig and 3 kilos for a virtually starved goat the going amount.

Finally, in that grim February, a aid ship materialized in the waters along with the Puritan settlements. The Lion, out of Bristol, England, was laden with supplies procured by a person of Dorchester’s “guiding lights,” John White, and other supporters of the colonists. Between the most crucial goods off-loaded from the vessel was lemon juice, “which healed the scurvy.” To the delight of the haggard colonists craving a little bit of bread and meat, sailors rolled and lugged sacks of grain and “barrelled beef” ashore, as perfectly as peas. Dorchester was one particular of “the a number of towns” obtaining a share of the materials. As John Winthrop noted, the Lion’s arrival was “the occasion for a February thanksgiving day.”

That Thanksgiving day for the settlers of Dorchester and the location was not a “Pilgrimesque” feast, but a working day of prayer and reflection.

Roger Clap also available thanks to an additional source of assist to the Dorchester Corporation: “Yet this I can say to the Praise of God’s Glory, that He sent weak raven-nous Indians, who came with their Baskets of corn on their Backs to Trade with us, which was a great provide unto a lot of.”

This Thanksgiving, as family members obtain in Dorchester for turkey dinners, they may pause for a minute to ponder how blessed they are. 3 hundred and eighty-two several years ago, the town’s very first colonists definitely grasped how precious family and a comprehensive table ended up.

Peter F. Stevens is the author of a lot more than a dozen publications, such as The Voyage of the Catalpa and Infamous and Noteworthy New Englanders. He is a frequent contributor to the Reporter Newspapers. A variation of this post to start with appeared in the Reporter in 2001.

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#Hunger #lot #Suffered

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art-of-manliness · 6 years

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Life Is Hard; Get Drunk on This

At the Göbekli Tepe archaeological site in Turkey, large barrel-shaped stone vessels were found that may have been used to hold copious amounts of beer made from wild grasses. These remnants indicate that the production of alcoholic beverages could date back at least 11,600 years — to the Stone Age. They also signify a great and enduring truth: Life is hard. So hard, we’ve been trying to escape it since time immemorial. These days, we’re apt to think of that truth in the past tense — life was hard, before we invented a mega-ton of cool technology, and cured a host of diseases, and lengthened mortality, and evolved from having to make a living from back-breaking labor, and threw off the rule of oppressive regimes, and solved the global proclivity for getting into massive wars. Now, life is good. We even have shirts and bumper stickers that say so. Yet our behavior belies our words. We haven’t gotten any happier on average over the last half century, even as advancements in technology and culture have exploded, and people in fact seem to be craving a substance-driven escape more than ever. While addiction to painkillers has gotten much attention of late, the use and abuse of alcohol has also been on the rise. In a decade’s time, people who engage in “high-risk drinking” (defined for men as having five or more drinks at least one day a week) rose by 30%, while the rate of people with “alcohol use disorder” went up 50%. Not only are more people drinking, they’re drinking more than they used to. Why? Well one can hypothesize all kinds of theories, but the truth is that life remains stubbornly hard. We have cured a thousand biological and societal ills, but death and disease persist, and we have yet to eradicate the kind of psychological pressures that thread themselves through everyday life — in fact, they have arguably increased many fold. Gone is the threat of lion attack; present is the anomie of living in a fragmented world, the loneliness of isolation, the restlessness of FOMO, the existential angst of walking through a grocery store, and being struck with the chest compressing sense of the possible meaninglessness of it all. Part of what makes life feel especially hard for us moderns is that despite the persistent reality of life’s thorny nature, our expectations continue to run in the very opposite direction. In times past, people expected life to be hard — and their spiritual traditions reinforced this notion. The Judeo-Christian religion taught that we live in a fallen world, and that there’s no going back to Eden. Buddhism taught that “Life is suffering.” Joyous moments were then seen as exceptions to the rule — happy reprieves from the status quo. The feeling of being a stranger in a strange land was not utterly inexplicable, but completely predictable. Today, we worship at the altar of lifestyle design and personal development, a faith premised on the idea that our lives and habits can be infinitely improved and perfected. We believe that life’s disappointments, heartaches, annoyances, and friction points are not inevitable, and can be overcome through the optimal prescription of hacks and planners and maxims. Certainly, much of what makes life hard can be avoided through right living and thinking, and no one should put up with unnecessary hardships and handicaps. Far better it would be, however, if we recognized that no matter what we do, it’s not possible to dull all of life’s sharp edges — and to thus set more reasonable expectations for our journey. As it is, we drink, but aren’t sure why, and even feel guilty about it. Far better it would be if we realized we should be getting drunk. Even drunker than we are now. Get Drunk On This As a cure for the difficulties of life, we’re often advised to become more present, more mindful, more aware.  Yet the longer I live, the more I’ve come to feel that this is exactly wrong advice — at least in the sense of facing each moment in a state of unaltered rawness. Rather, we should strive to go through life in a semi-permanent state of intoxication. This is what the poet Charles Baudelaire advised: “Be always drunken. Nothing else matters: that is the only question. If you would not feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually.   Drunken with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will. But be drunken.”   Baudelaire was definitely on to something, sans the wine bit.   While there’s nothing wrong with an occasional drink to take the edge off, being perennially drunk with alcohol can’t well be recommended. It damages one’s health, while doing nothing to address the underlying cause of said edge, and in fact, quite possibly making it worse. But to be drunken continually with certain other things, this we should indeed seek to do.   There are certain human pursuits that can rightly be called mind-altering, and yet do not numb the senses, nor merely distract from reality. Quite the opposite: they actually enhance one’s experiences, allowing you to engage life more fully. They provide the kind of stimulating, euphoric, emotion-heightening, inhibition-reducing, confidence-inspiring buzz that alcohol can, without the hangover in the morning. In fact, they leave you improved — healthier, happier, and better able to shoulder the existential pressures of the age.  Such states represent not an escape from life, but a vivid embrace of it; one is still present, but loses the morbid self-consciousness that often accompanies stark, inwardly-focused mindfulness. Below we unpack four of the very best of these states — four of the best ways of going through life perennially drunk: Physical Exercise Of all of life’s natural highs, physical exercise is certainly the most famous, and understandably so; the potent, buzz-creating physiological effect it produces has been well documented by scientific research. Exercise releases feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine, as well as natural, morphine-like opiates in the form of endorphins which reduce pain and anxiety, while producing feelings of euphoria and invincibility. Exercise may even spur the creation of natural endocannabinoids, similar to the high-producing substance found in marijuana. The natural buzz triggered by exercise arises most strongly from repetitive, rhythmic variety (think running, swimming, cycling), and is amplified both when the activity is engaged in with a partner, and when it is done outside; research has shown that exercise done in nature increases one’s feelings of vitality, enthusiasm pleasure, and self-esteem, while diminishing feelings of depression, tension, confusion, and anger. Exercise induces these physiological effects because it produces stress (not all stress is bad!), which triggers our fight-or-flight response, preparing us to face a challenge/threat. Our bodies think we’re fleeing a saber-toothed tiger, even though we’re just out for a pleasure jog. This phenomenon arguably produces a psychological effect that’s just as important as the biological one. While it might not seem like subconsciously feeling that you’re in danger would be a good thing, it’s something we moderns crave on a visceral basis. Though we don’t consciously recognize it, part of the pleasure of exercise is surely in the way it mentally elevates us to a plane where our strength and fitness and agility matter. Where the stakes are higher than whether or not the traffic will be bad on the way to work. It reconnects our bodies to something more primal, more essential. We thrill to the fact that this normally inert lump of flesh is moving through space, with a purpose. When you reacquaint yourself with the power of your body — when your muscles contract, air fills your lungs, blood surges through your veins, and sweat drips from your brow — you feel more alive than at any other time in your otherwise pedestrian, sedentary day. It’s a feeling that’s keenly intoxicating. Love Ah, love. It’s oft been compared to a drug, and the analogy isn’t far from the mark. Research has found that new romantic love affects the chemistry of the brain in a way that is similar to cocaine and heroin. And just as with exercise, the fight-or-flight system is engaged, creating that paradoxical combination of excitement and danger, pleasure and pain. On the one hand, the uncertainty of new love (Do they like me as much as I like them? Will this last?) releases higher doses of cortisol, increasing one’s stress. On the other hand, an explosion of hormones and neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin create feelings of intense euphoria and contentment. The neural pathways responsible for negative emotions like fear and social judgement are deactivated, elevating one’s confidence and willingness to take risks. Energy, motivation, and self-esteem soar. “That’s wonderful,” you may be thinking, “but the heady intoxication of early passionate love doesn’t last.” It’s true that romantic love typically mellows into “companionate love,” in which passion is replaced with a more stable, comfortable sense of attachment. Which is a fine state, but not really “inebriating” in the way of drug or drink. Happily, research shows that this leveling off process isn’t inevitable and that intense romantic love can in fact last for decades. The even better news is that this passionate long-term love not only maintains the confidence-boosting, pleasure-imparting benefits of new infatuation, but does so in the absence of the anxiety which accompanies a fledgling relationship. Instead of feeling stressed, long-term partners, secure in the future of their relationship, experience greater activity in the opiate-rich, pain-relieving parts of the brain, which protect against stress. Love — whether early or aged — buoys you up and makes you feel ready to take on the world; it’s a pair of glasses that makes every responsibility seem easier, every burden feel lighter, every joy burn brighter. It’s no wonder men have done many a great thing for the sake of love. Or that the longest longitudinal study on the lives of men found that those who achieved the most happiness and success had the most love in their lives. Or that among male fruit flies (which are surprisingly good genetic models for humans), those that are sexually rejected drink four times more alcohol than their brethren. We all crave the buzz of mind-altering euphoria, and we’ll get it, one way or the other. Better to find it in the arms of one’s beloved than at the bottom of a bottle. Conversation “Conversation is an excitant,  and the  series of intoxications  it  creates is healthful.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson I must concur with Emerson; a good, face-to-face conversation is surely one of the most intoxicating pleasures of life. The source of its pleasures can be compared to an orchestral performance, with its combination of competition, cooperation, and artful harmony. Now, I don’t mean competition in the traditional sense — a conversation in which people are trying to out-do, one-up, and talk over each other will be a very poor conversation indeed. But competition in the sense that each individual performer is trying to do their best — to introduce an interesting topic or insight, to make a genuinely funny remark. Like a musical or sporting performance, there is in conversation the opportunity of risk and reward for each participant — the risk of saying something dumb; the reward of contributing something valuable. Each participant in a concert, or a conversation, wants to shine. Yet at the same time, there is the paramount need for cooperation. Each participant must understand the rhythm of the discussion. They must keep up with the beat, and make their contribution at the right time, and with the right tone. They can only add to what’s already been noised, if they’ve been intently listening to it. When these elements come together well in either a concert or a conversation, something musical, and even magical results. In terms of the latter, insights emerge, laughter swells, new, even life-changing perspectives are gained. In terms of both, each participant creates something bigger, richer, and more fascinatingly complex than they could have on their own. The comparison between conversation and orchestral music is quite apt, but we need yet another analogy to further unpack its pleasures. So let us now make what may seem an improbable comparison: engaging in conversation is also something like riding a motorcycle. You have to very much stay in the moment, and you cannot predict the twists, turns, and potholes you may encounter along the way. It’s a continuous sequence of action and reaction. In a conversation, you must listen to the tone and watch the facial expressions of those you’re speaking with, and adjust what you’re saying accordingly, and instantaneously. You have to think on the fly and improvise responses to unforeseen comments or questions. At least for a good conversation, the need for focus is total. The hormones released during conversation fortunately act as aids in this. When we talk with others, cortisol goes down, and oxytocin goes up, which makes social cues seem more salient and paying attention to social information feel more rewarding. Emotions heighten. The clarity of our mental signals sharpens, as distracting background neural activity dials down. We feel connected to the people we are with, while the rest of the world fades out. Music and motorcycles. It’s no wonder we leave a great conversation feeling totally buzzed. Virtue Of Baudelaire’s proposed sources for drunkenness, perhaps the most intriguing is virtue. How can someone get wonderfully sloshed on virtue? It is perhaps not so much the virtues themselves that beget a kind of healthful inebriation, but the framework in which they exist. As Alasdair MacIntyre writes in After Virtue, “to adopt a stance on the virtues will be to adopt a stance on the narrative character of human life.” When one decides to live virtuously, it is typically because he sees life as structured in the form of a certain kind of story. There is an ideal end — what the Greeks would call a telos — that he is questing towards; the virtues are those qualities which assist him in attaining it, while the vices are those qualities which stymie his progress. To embrace virtue is to embrace life as a journey, in which there is a right direction in which to travel, and in which obstacles must be overcome to stay on course. Such a view of life, in which there are real goods and real evils, inherently has a heroic cast to it. A genuine purpose. The exact nature of that purpose, and thus what you specifically consider to be virtues and vices, varies according to your perspective, but regardless, you end up with the view of oneself as being a protagonist in an epic story, in which the choices you make have real import and meaning. You end up thinking of your faith or philosophy along the lines of how C.S. Lewis describes his: “Enemy-occupied territory — that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” Having a mission, operating as an agent for Good, being willing to confront opposing forces, with the risk attendant to pursuing such a commitment, this is indeed an adventurous, exciting way to live. Intoxicating even. Conclusion It’s good to acknowledge that life is hard. It’s good to realize that despite what toothpaste commercials and social media feeds tell you, life is not all shiny effervescence. It’s good to recognize that while life has the potential for an amazing amount of beauty and fun and joy, much of it is a confusing, uncertain, anxiety-ridden, boring, frustrating, empty-feeling grind — punctuated by occasional outright tragedy. Once you countenance this fact, it’s natural to want to get rip-roaring drunk. And you should. Not with alcohol though. Get drunk on those things that inspire a genuine, long-lasting loss of inhibition and sense of confidence. Get drunk on those things that leave you with greater health, richer relationships, and a more meaningful purpose. Get drunk on those things that allow you to get outside yourself, and transcend the narrow confines of self-consciousness. Get drunk on those things that offer the perception of danger and the element of risk (and reward), and magnify all of life’s emotional summits. Get drunk on those things that aren’t escape hatches from life, but passages to a more vivid embrace of it. Drink up, drink deeply, and party on. Because life’s too short, and difficult, to go through it stone cold sober. The post Life Is Hard; Get Drunk on This appeared first on The Art of Manliness. http://dlvr.it/QF94Nz

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thebourbontruth · 5 years

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2019 Fathers Day Bourbon Buying Guide/List

Here is my 2019 Fathers Day Bourbon Buying Guide/List. It’s somewhat an “evergreen list” though that should hold up for a bit. Its also a “Reality List”. Its my belief that a Whiskey favorites buying list is worthless if you can’t buy it. For this reason, I’m leaving off things that are too limited to buy at a reasonable price, poor value, over rated or unfortunately not distributed to enough places to make it easy to find.

1792 Barton Small Batch, Single Barrel and Full Proof Bourbon’s are all good buys for their respective taste and price of $30-$50

Angels Envy Bourbon I’m not a big fan of wine barrel finishes but this is a rare exception. The Port is well balanced and doesn’t try to compete with the Whiskey. It’s especially nice for a before/after dinner sip and for the novice as it’s not an “in your face” high proofer. At $50-$60 it’s a fair value and makes a nice gift.

Barrell Bourbon These have been coming out regularly the past few years. Alternating or blending Dickel and MGP barrels these are well aged and range from good to great. Currently up to around Batch 20. Bottled at barrel proof. They have been experimenting with various barrel finishes but I’m happy to stick with their regular Straight Bourbon. Gift one or bring it to a party to look like an expert since this isn’t a common bottle. $80-$90

Basil Hayden Bourbon Its weakness is its strength. It’s one of the only low proof (80) true premium brands. My recommendation for the novices and beginners. This is not however something you want to mix or put ice cubes in. It’s from the higher rye recipe so it will be a bit spicier but not hot. It will get easily diluted and lost. $40-$50

Blanton’s This is really a Mirage and not a recommendation but a explanation. Too hard to find, hefty price increases and slipping quality put this once list contender off the island.

Bookers Bourbon This one can at times be “batchy” in good or bad ways. On average it’s a great whiskey that’s the original mass marketed almost barrel proof. Best to read up on some of the highly rated batches and look for those. When it’s a good one, its good but when its average or worse it can be nasty and bitter. Its high proof holds up to water and ice well but too strong for most cocktails. Some batches will blast you out of your seat while others can be so smooth the actual proof will shock you. Again, IS NOT for a novice or a beginner. It’s a lot to handle if you’re not prepared and it WILL fuck you up quickly if you treat it like Kool-aide. $60-$80 this one has a “Price Creep” and is going up little by little. Beam sees it at $100 a bottle in the not to distant future. If you find a good batch at the lower price, stocking up isn’t a bad idea.

As a side note speaking of barrel proof/high proof whiskey. I avoid gifting or bringing over 100 proof to people that aren’t used to it. It can easily sneak up on them. Same goes for people newer to Bourbon. I’m puzzled when I see newbies go for high proof and things like barrel proof Willett that is not only way past their capability to taste and enjoy but it is jumping off the deep end of the whiskey pool before they can swim. Same goes for starting the journey with expensive and rare things they haven’t learned to taste or appreciate. Work up to them eventually. I’m not a happy camper when friends are over that are Jack drinkers and go right for the Van Winkle because they saw it on TV. Same thought process goes for gifting at Fathers Day etc. Don’t over do it, most likely you’ll waste your money and they won’t enjoy it.

Buffalo Trace Bourbon the same mash bill as so many more expensive and limited options from the distillery. Good value for the price. One note of caution is that this one seems like its getting batched and bottled younger than it has been. It can show up like Pee Wee Herman, a bit light and wimpy. Younger Whiskey also has more flaws too. Short or bitter finishes and chemical notes. I wouldn’t call these common but more so than what they had been. $25

Cleveland Whiskey --Just kidding! Buy this only to disinfect toilets at the train station, NOT your own as it might strip off the enamel. Good for keeping Coyotes away from campsites and vermin out of your garden. ONLY bring this to a home you never want to be invited back to! ONLY regift it to someone actually sitting in a good Emergency Room. As for Straight Up gifting for Fathers Day, I guess there are Fathers that deserve this stuff but chances are they haven’t been seen in 40 years or they are in jail where they cant have toxic chemicals. $30-$40 (if you hate money).

Eagle Rare no longer single barrel but still 10 years old. A very good buy for this standard Buffalo Trace Mash Bill. Pretty consistent and makes a nice gift. $30-$35

EH Taylor Small Batch and Single Barrel Solid choices although the Single Barrels can be off at times. Makes a nice gift due to presentation but the quality can back this up which I cant say with many cool looking bottles. This is the standard familiar Buffalo Trace Mash Bill. $40 for Small Batch, $60 for Single Barrel.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Until recently this one had an age statement of 12 years. With the age statement now gone its still up there in the perfect age range of 8-12 years. This has been one of my long time ultimate favorites due to its consistent quality and being underpriced. It’s my first recommendation for a Bourbon and a great option at a bar when your watching your pennies. A very respectable 94 Proof. It’s a shame its Cask Strength brother isn’t something you can easily find at the retail price in a store. Wishing for the day they make the Barrel Proof available as a private pick. Until then this is a best buy at $25-$35 depending what state and if it’s on sale.

Evan Williams White Label Bottled in Bond ---Possibly the best Bourbon out there when your broke. Its 100 proof and at least 4 years old. Ice and Coke is its friend and good for a party without Whiskey snobs. At $15-$20 you won’t find anything better.

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon Historically a good buy year after year. Although it has gotten younger, still a solid single barrel at the price point. $26-$35

Four Roses Small Batch one of the best small batches for the price. Some prime barrels go into this one. $30

Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond Single Barrel this has been scooping lots of awards in blind tasting competitions. At 10 years and 100 proof you won’t find a better bottle with such a good mix of what you want in a bourbon. My two concerns however are the price increases by brand and stores and some inconsistency in some bad and average barrels getting to the shelf in bottles. $30-$40

IW Harper 15 Year one of the few decent older options at a fair price. Consistent quality and makes a nice gift. Fair warning that the price of this keeps going up. I’ve seen it around $100 which is too much and $65 which is a steal. I still have a hard time recommending a Diageo Bourbon implying something is made at the long-closed Stitzel Weller Distillery. Dishonesty aside, this one is still a good buy.

Larceny Small Batch Bourbon Its always nice to have an accessible Wheated Bourbon at a great price and good quality. 92 proof helps this one too. $22-$28

Makers Mark Cask Strength Another Wheated Bourbon that is more often then not a good pour. Can get batchy which stands out more at high proof. I wish the brand stopped the nonsense about not believing in overaging its Bourbon. Makers is around six years old and with another 2-4 years it could be really good. In the meantime you’ll usually get a good batch and a nice bourbon. A tad pricey at around $60.

Noahs Mill The Flagship of Willett’s regular offerings. At or near barrel proof this has lots in common with Bookers at a much better price. The high proof and longer aging make this a good value for the Whiskey Veteran. Holds up well to ice and a splash of water but can be over powering in a cocktail. $50

Old Forester Signature 100 A solid buy with good consistency at 100 proof. Little brother of Woodford at half the cost. $20-$25

Old Forester 1920 one of my favorites. Good consistency and very tasty. Seems stronger than its 115 proof so this is not for the faint of heart or the beginner. A nice ice ball will help. Priced on the high end of being fair at $55-$60.

Old Grand Dad 114 This is a higher rye recipe Bourbon which will be a bit spicier less sweet. Long time bargain best buy of many. This heritage brand wont let you down at near barrel proof. A good bottle to bring to a party with people that can handle high proof. Even with the price inching up to around $30, it’s still a bargain.

Rowens Creek little sister to Noah’s Mill from Willett. At 101 proof still holds up well to just about anything and a bit younger than Noah’s. At around $35 its priced right as a nice gift.

Russell’s Reserve 10 Year Bourbon very solid and a great price for a 10 year old from Wild Turkey and the Father and Son Master Distiller Team at Wild Turkey. This one is a hidden gem that should get much more attention than it does. $30-$35

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Pretty much everything I wrote above at 115 proof non-chill filtered. $55- $65 on the cusp of being over priced.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed at Barrel Proof this is another hidden gem and perhaps the most under appreciated American Whiskey in existence. It’s the Swiss Army Knife of Bourbon for the veteran whiskey people. Great whiskey, Yes. Great gift, yes. Made by the most experienced Master Distillers in America, Yes. Holds up to ice, water, strong cocktails and blind tastings, Yes Yes Yes Yes. 6-12 years. As past barrel entry proof of this brand has gone up the bottling proof has also risen over the last several years. Keep an eye out for older bottlings with old labels 108.2 proof, 112.8 proof, newest is 116.8 proof. The older bottlings might be dusty, but they are around, often with old price tags and I prefer the older softer ones. $45-$50

Woodford Reserve The extensions of this brand are getting a bit out of hand, confusing and too pricy. I like the good old original. Very well blended for consistency year after year. You’ll get what you expect. I’m not sure what some Whiskey geeks see wrong with this one as its one of the most easy drinking pleasant pours going. Easy to find at stores and bars for a decent price. Makes a nice gift, works as well by the glass as it does in a cocktail. $32-$38

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wecityguidecom · 4 years

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Gobeklitepe: The World's First and Oldest Temple

Have you heard the Gobeklitepe where is in Sanliurfa, Turkey? The home of the world's first and oldest temple with many secrets still unrevealed. Gobeklitepe; especially in recent years, a very historical site that becomes more and more popular among travelers. The home of the world's first and oldest temple, Gobeklitepe is now online at the 2nd Turkish show of Netflix, The Gift (Atiye in Turkish). As you can watch from the trailer this new series main focus is the Gobeklitepe and its history. Famous Turkish actress Beren Saat and actor Mehmet Gunsur are the stars of the series. I'm strongly suggesting you to watch the first season of this series before you visit Gobeklitepe.

Where is the Gobeklitepe?

Gobeklitepe is located about only 15 km away from the Sanliurfa city center, near the Orencik village. Actually it is very easy to go to the site. There is an international airport in Sanliurfa. If you want to go to the Gobeklitepe directly from the Sanliurfa GAP Airport you need to rent a car from there. Because there is no public transport from the airport to the ancient site. If you go to the city center first you may find tours from there to the Gobeklitepe directly. There are buses with number 100, that goes from the city center to Gobeklitepe at 10.00 and 16.00, come back at 12.00 and 18.00 Ticket prices for the buses are around 3 to 5 Turkish Liras.

History of Gobeklitepe?

Gobeklitepe is the oldest and largest temple known in history. It made of giant columns and heavy stones lined up on top of each other. During the construction time of the unique place, there were no wheelbarrow or anything else for the construction works. Today, the construction process of the Gobeklitepe is still a very big mystery. Even seems impossible to construct like this place during that time. It is thought that there should be a very large number of human and animal power to transport the stones. When you visit the Gobeklitepe you will see some animal figures over the stone pillars. Those are certainly beyond overtime. Gobeklitepe is an ancient structure that proves that the people were having systematically gathered even the periods of the time when the people lived as hunters and gatherers. The main purpose of the structure is still unpredictable. One of the animal figures found on the site (Source). Discovery of the Gobeklitepe You may wonder why such a large and important historical area has made its voice, especially in recent years. One of the important worship centers in the world was found in 1963 during the "Southeastern Anatolia Research Project" which was the collaboration of Istanbul and Chicago Universities. The excavation over the site began in 1995 and those studies are still ongoing. As a result of the excavations started in 1995, 6 temples were found in the region and the shapes of these structures are similar to each other. But this historic site is much more than ever. Because geomagnetic studies show that the temples in the region can reach up to 20.

Gobeklitepe changed the whole human history (Source). Why Gobeklitepe is So Important? In other words, the mysterious points about the lives of hunter-gatherers in the Neolithic Period can become clear in Şanlıurfa and whole human history can be updated with many different pieces of information. What do these structures have in common? The T-shaped columns, which are thought to represent people, are arranged in a circular manner and varying in number from 10 to 12, built with stone walls. In the middle of this structure are two large obelisks, facing each other. The symbols of animals, human beings and abstract beings depicted on the stones forming the temple were created by relief or carving techniques. In addition to being the first and largest temple in the area, these symbols on the columns are the oldest known paintings from the Neolithic Age to date and are among the things you should know about Gobeklitepe.

8 Fact That You Should Know About Gobeklitepe

Although Gobeklitepe still retains many mysteries, archaeologists have discovered the physical properties of the structure. If you want to get some information before going to Gobeklitepe, note the following details. 1. The Weight of the Columns Varies Between 40 and 60 Tons. For example, it is known that the weight of the T-shaped columns, which are thought to represent works due to the presence of hands and fingers in some, varies between 40 and 60 tons. However, under the conditions of that period, who and how these stones were moved to the area are waiting to be solved as a Gobeklitepe secret. 2. Advanced Architectural Technique It is a fact that during the construction of Gobeklitepe highly advanced architectural techniques compared to its period. Maybe these questions will have answers in the future. 3. There Are Animal Relief over The Pillars On the columns, there are figures of animals living in the region such as wild boars, wild ducks, bulls, and snakes. These figures are thought to be seen as Gobeklitepe's guardians and totem animals put for luck, as well as the idea that these animals may be the symbols of the tribes. In addition, the lion depictions in the columns make the possibility of lions in this region strong during the Neolithic Age. 4. Home of The Wheat is Gobeklitepe Wheat, which has many variations with the contribution of genetic science, was first grown around Gobeklitepe according to the findings. 5. Agriculture for Beer Production In the light of the studies and investigations, signs of fermentation were detected on the grain samples found in Göbeklitepe. At the same time around the temple ruins found equipment that can be considered as beer barrels. Scientists who have developed theories based on this evidence believe that Gobeklitepe is also a pioneer in the early production of alcoholic beverages. 6. Klaus Schmidt: Gobeklitepe Explorer Although the carved stone found by a Sanliurfa farmer in 1983 was one of Gobeklitepe's earliest finds, the original work began in 1995 under the direction of the Sanliurfa Museum. In 2007, Klaus Schmidt was appointed excavator. 7. Gobeklitepe May be Concealed by the Human Hand. The limestone and soil structure inside the circular structure is homogeneous, and the cleaning of many remains inside the Gobeklitepe temple before the temple is closed indicates that the area was consciously buried, in other words, it was closed. Unfortunately, there is no answer to the question “Why was Gobeklitepe buried? 8. Liquid-impervious Floors The floors of the Gobeklitepe temple are specially designed to be impervious to liquid. The purpose of the need for such a ground, the oldest temple in the history of blood, alcohol, and so on. it supports the idea that rituals are carried out with liquid substances.

Gobeklitepe Hours and Tickets

If you want to visit the oldest temple in the world you should know the visiting hours and ticket prices before you go there. It is possible to visit the site from 08.00 to 18.30 between 15 April and 2 October. If you go there between 3rd October and 14 April it is possible to visit the site between 08.00 to 16.30. Also, you can buy the ticket in advance for the site. Please use this link (Official muze.gov.tr of Turkey) to buy your tickets before you go there. Gobeklitepe should be on your must to see the list. Please share your experience and thoughts about the Gobeklitepe in the comment section. Read the full article

#gobeklitepe #gobeklitepehistory #netflixthegift

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baospodcast · 4 years

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#5317 Livingstone x Kahnawake Saison Vieillie En Fût (Canada) Another banger from Livingstone, this time in collaboration with our mates at Kahnawake, it’s a 4.5% saison aged in red wine barrels that used to house Wild Turkey bourbon, alongside some red currants, sour cherries and honey. It pours an opaque honey colour with a bubbly head that dissipates fast, the nose is all bourbon and red wine, the body is light and fragrant, super lightly carbed, it’s a touch tangy, the wine and bourbon are the most present flavours, the fruit kind of holds up the backbone, it’s dusty, almost tart, smooth, slightly phenolic, with a dry, clean finish with lingering bourbon and wine vibes. Once again, not really my thing but it’s well done and if saisons are your bag mate, you’ll be all over this. (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Z_8acgtNN/?igshid=1afxst37nvk5m

#5317

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ilovingcollectiongalaxy · 4 years

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It’s time to consider the bourbon world’s “one-of-a-kind” experience: the single barrel. Single barrel whiskey is arguably the purest expression of a bourbon’s character that money can buy. The beauty is in the simplicity: Generally speaking, every bottle you see with that moniker can be traced back to one single barrel, where it spent its entire life from distillation to bottling. That barrel had a unique life experience, whether it choked in the heat of upper warehouse floors, mellowed at ground level, lived in sunlight next to a window, or even leaked just a little. All of these things can contribute to the uniqueness of the whiskey inside the barrel. And because of all the factors, it’s impossible to say with certainty that any two barrels will ever taste alike. But having a great, unique whiskey isn’t actually as expensive as it sounds. In fact, we collected a few great single barrel bourbons well under $100 that you should try tonight from brands including Knob Creek, Maker’s, and Blanton’s.

The 10 Best Bourbons Under $50 You Should Add to Your Must-try List

Henry McKenna 10 Year Single Barrel Bottled in Bond Bourbon

A multi-award-winning bottle among award-winning bottles, McKenna 10 has gotten much-deserved praise in the last few years. Its elegantly balanced flavor profile hits the high vanilla and orange notes on the nose, and rumbles the bass with wood and rye spices on the finish. At 100 proof, it’s superb in Old Fashioneds if you want to take a break from sipping.

[$30; drizly.com]

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Knob Creek Single Barrel Bourbon

Knob Creek’s 9-year age statement is uncommon for whiskeys its age, and the “juice” bottled for the single barrel line is uncommonly good. It’s woody, with subtle hints of chocolate among spicier flavors, but that elegant balance of sweet and spice makes it a crowd-pleaser.

[$45; drizly.com]

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Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon

Four Roses Single Barrel is one of our essential whiskeys. Ten different recipes create a diversity of flavor profiles across the line, but they’ll all have crisp, burnt sugar notes, bright, rye spice, and a long finish in common.

[$40; drizly.com]

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Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon

The vintage-dated Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon would already be an instant buy for its incomparably low price ($30). But beyond that, this bourbon is a must-own for its profile: It’s a crowd-pleasing caramel bomb, with hints of fruit and oak dotted throughout. It’s hard to find someone that won’t like it.

[$30; drizly.com]

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Russell’s Reserve

One of the boldest regular production bourbons on the market, Russell’s Reserve is a heady, spicy drink, capable of holding its own in cocktails. Yet with a little tending of water or ice, it remains one of the tastiest things on the market.

[$57; drizly.com]

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1792 Single Barrel

The Sazerac family of whiskeys is diverse, and full of popular labels like E.H. Taylor and Blanton’s. That’s exactly why we’ve chosen to highlight the relatively affordable 1792 Single Barrel. It’s full of vanilla and baking spice flavors, with occasional fruit notes to keep things light and approachable. And at $40 it’s not heresy to set it up on the bar and allow guests to mix freely.

[$40; drizly.com]

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Maker’s Mark Private Select

Maker’s Mark Private Select doesn't go by "single barrel" but instead it's a barrel of Maker’s Mark Bourbon that has been custom-finished with staves of wood that have been toasted to impart a variety of flavors. There are hundreds of combinations, and anytime you see a bar or retailer with its own bottle, it’s worth giving a try to see a new side of Maker’s.

[$70; drizly.com]

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Blanton’s

As one of the most in-demand single barrels on the market, Blanton’s and its eye-catching spherical bottle and horse-rider cork rarely stays on shelves long. It’s also among the worst victims of price gouging. Still, the 93-proof bourbon inside is one of the most complex sippers on the market, and we can’t say we’ve never overpaid. It’s just that good.

[$60; drizly.com]

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Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select

Whether Tennessee whiskey qualifies as bourbon or not can be a point of conflict among whiskey fans. What isn’t a point of conflict, however, is how good Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select is. Bright and syrupy with a calm, earthy base, this is the whiskey that will change your mind about the limitations of Jack Daniel’s once and for all.

[$45; drizly.com]

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Wyoming Whiskey

Wyoming Whiskey’s recent offerings are really hitting that sweet spot, and nowhere is that more apparent than with its single barrels. The wheated whiskey recipe the brand uses is soft and approachable, but leaves a lot of room for unique flavors to develop. We usually see tons of vanilla and creme brulee, as well as hints of cinnamon. Yum.

[$60; wyomingwhiskey.com]

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New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon

Without a doubt, New Riff’s single barrel program is one of the most exciting to explore in 2019. It seems to us every barrel has been unique, though they all show sharp caramel and creme brulee notes, with nutmeg and clove highlighting the rye spice. The whiskey can be relatively young, but it drinks mature and complex. When you see them, they’re a must-buy.

[$50; newriffdistilling.com]

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Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel Bourbon

Lovers of Wild Turkey’s 101 bourbon will likewise love this rarer single barrel. Kentucky Spirit is bottled at 101 proof, but unlike Wild Turkey 101, isn’t batched, so each bottle comes from a single barrel. The whiskey inside will vary, of course, but this means more complex and dynamic flavors if you’re willing to track one down.

[$45; drizly.com]

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The post 12 Single Barrel Bourbons You Should Try Right Now appeared first on Men's Journal.

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johnboothus · 3 years

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Fictions Not Facts Are Driving Bourbons Most Divisive Debate the Neck Pour

The Beginning Bourbon YouTube channel launched last year as a “one stop shop” for anyone looking to learn the insider lingo of drinking and collecting bourbon. Episodes feature host Brian (last name not given) standing in front of expensive bottles or an idyllic lakeside vista, dissecting trends like infinity bottles and store picks. In one of his earliest episodes, posted Oct. 24, 2020, he unpacks the subject of neck pours.

“When we are referring to a ‘neck pour’ in the bourbon or whiskey world, we’re actually talking about two things,” Brian explains. Firstly, it is the initial pour from an unopened bottle, he says, using a sealed Wild Turkey 101 to demonstrate that most bottles have a neck, and the liquid inside often reaches some way up that space when it hasn’t been opened.

The second aspect of neck pours is much less literal and concerns the flavor of those first few ounces. Drinkers should not expect the “most robust” or “full” experience because whiskey needs time and oxygen to open up, he says. Brian adds that, when sharing the first dram of a bottle with someone who “knows” bourbon, he will always note: “By the way, it’s the neck pour.” This way, he communicates that they shouldn’t judge the whiskey wholly based on that sip.

There is a third and final dimension to neck pours that Brian fails, or chooses, not to mention. That among the whiskey geeks familiar with the term — a particularly “online” subset of drinkers versus all who might consider that they “know” bourbon — opinions on the topic are, at best, divided. In social media groups, online forums, and on whiskey podcasts, drinkers debate if and why the first pour is somehow inferior to the rest of the bottle. Most discussions revolve around exposure to oxygen, though seldom is there uniform agreement on whether oxidation improves or deteriorates a whiskey’s flavor, or makes no difference at all.

One thing no one can argue against, though, is that over the last year, neck pours have slowly become part of many drinkers’ parlance. Search “bourbon neck pour” on Facebook and you’ll encounter scores of posts on publicly viewable whiskey groups, with drinkers sharing amateur reviews using the very same caveat as Beginning Bourbon’s Brian.

“First ever pour of the OWA and I’m hooked, even the neck pour,” one drinker recently posted in the Greensboro Bourbon Society public Facebook group. (Abbreviating bottle names is another surefire way to show fellow bourbon collectors you’re also in the know, with OWA being short for the highly coveted Old Weller Antique.)

“Freshcrack Friday, y’all,” comments another in the also-public Bourbon Society of Greater Cincinnati group. “First time trying the JD SiB BP [Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof] and even the neck pour is fantastic. Can’t wait to see how it opens over the next few weeks.”

In many instances, use of the term goes uncontested, which suggests a growing acceptance of the neck pour phenomenon. It could also just be a sign of the more convivial nature of participating in online regional drinking Facebook groups. For, in other arenas — particularly the r/Bourbon subreddit — debate rages. Some users are adamant that their bottles regularly improve with the second and third pours, after they’ve been exposed to more oxygen. Others respond with a barrage of anecdotal and scientific counterarguments, usually noting that what they’re tasting may be valid, but oxidation is not the cause.

“No one that’s been in this hobby or this industry for longer than five years has used the term neck pour or buys into this theory,” says Kristopher Hart, host of the ESPN radio show “Whiskey Neat” and manager of the Houston Bourbon Society.

Hart has become something of an online ambassador against the term and the very notion of neck pours. Rather than believing whiskey evolves with time and exposure to air, he says the differences people experience come from their palates.

“The first pour of any day is oftentimes more aggressive than the next pour because it takes time for your mouth to acclimate to drinking alcohol,” Hart says. (It stands to reason that in many cases, the first ounces of a new bottle will often be the first whiskey one might sip that day.) Hart also points to the less tangible and more emotional aspects of tasting, saying, “There are days that sushi sounds amazing, and there are days where steak sounds amazing.”

Above all, what frustrates him is not that people are experiencing or talking about these subtle differences in flavor, but what they’re attributing them to. “It implies that something’s going on with the neck portion of the bottle and that is just f*cking garbage,” Hart says. “It’s misleading.”

Part of why detractors such as Hart fight so vehemently against the idea of neck pours is that among believers, there is some disagreement over whether oxygen hurts or helps whiskey. There’s no concrete evidence of where and when the neck pour term first gained popularity, but it does seem more likely to have been born from the former stance — the idea that the first pour is actually inferior due to it being more oxidized than the rest of the bottle because it has had an increased exposure to air while sitting in the neck.

Of the two schools of thought, this one now represents the overwhelming minority, which is hardly surprising. As has been frequently pointed out, simple remedies for this hypothetical issue include tipping a bottle upside down, not to mention that the very motion of pouring means the first two ounces that reach a glass are not guaranteed to be those that sat in the bottle’s neck.

“If it was such a clear-cut phenomenon, whiskey makers wouldn’t put anything in the neck,” says Rachna Hukmani, founder and CEO of the (currently virtual) immersive tasting experience Whiskey Stories.

Before starting her business in 2014, Hukmani worked in whiskey innovation for major brands including Pernod Ricard and Edrington. During product prototyping for The Macallan 12 Double Cask, she had tasters open two new bottles and taste them side by side. Invariably, drinkers thought the second sample tasted smoother because their palates had adapted, she says, landing on a similar conclusion to Hart. It’s a phenomenon she’s since witnessed time and time again over the course of thousands of Whiskey Stories experiences.

Though the sheer weight of anecdotal evidence seems to disprove the neck pour theory, I wanted a clear-cut explanation on the impact of oxidation in bottled whiskey. So I reached out to Dr. Pat Heist, the co-owner and chief scientific officer at Kentucky’s Wilderness Trail Distillery and Ferm Solutions, Inc., a company that provides fermentation products, technical support, and training to hundreds of distilleries worldwide.

Heist agrees that there is a lot of support for the idea that whiskey somehow evolves in the bottle, but says there’s still no good answer as to why. Weighing up the potential influence of oxidation, he points to all the moments at which whiskey could oxidize before being bottled versus the little potential there is inside a sealed, almost-full container. There’s: distillation, years of barrel aging, and the vigorous motion of dumping aged whiskey out of the barrel.

“We’ve got all these areas where oxidation could have, should have, and probably did occur prior to even going into the bottle,” Heist says. “So what is there left to easily oxidize?”

So if oxidation isn’t to blame, what else could be causing drinkers to believe their whiskey changes over time, and therefore buy into the notion of neck pours? Heist suggests evaporation.

Due to its volatile nature, alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. When it escapes as gas, alcohol occupies all of the available headspace in a bottle, and the proof of the liquid drops ever so slightly. This has the effect of subtly altering the spirit’s profile because different flavor compounds become more or less soluble at different concentrations of alcohol, Heist explains. “It’s like adding a drop of water,” he says.

Still, it’s hard to say whether evaporation is something we can consider in the neck pour debate. The differences Heist mentions are subtle and occur over lengthy periods — not in the time it takes to finish a small dram and start on a second. Not even over the course of a few weeks, months, or a year. (In 2018, Wade Woodard, author of the Tater-Talk blog, published among the most conclusive findings as to whether bourbon changes in the bottle. The results? It doesn’t.)

So all things considered, oxidation is probably the last thing you need to think about when opening a new bottle or revisiting a treasured half-empty one. But at its core, I don’t think that’s what the neck pour conversation is really about.

For some, using the term is probably a means of sounding more knowledgeable about a topic and hobby they care about. Others likely buy into the theory to give them hope that the bottle they spent so hard searching for was worth the effort, even if it disappointed on the first tasting.

On a grander scale, the neck pour debate feels like a distillation of what it’s like to live online in 2021, told through the lens of tasting America’s native spirit. Are those who argue against the neck pour genuinely driven by the aim of improving their fellow enthusiasts’ knowledge? Or is their frustration fueled by the diminishing importance of scientific fact.

Already, the term has achieved meme-like status among non-believers. “I usually just pour out the first half of the bottle into the sink so I can avoid the neck pour at [sic] all the whisky that touched it,” one Reddit user sarcastically commented in a recent thread on the topic. “But what about the whiskey that touched the whiskey that touched the neck pour?” another replied. “I always pour out two thirds of the bottle to be safe.”

All of which leads us to perhaps the only question left worth exploring: Now that the neck pour is out of the bottle, is there any turning back?

My guess is no. For as long as neck pours remain a part of bourbon drinkers’ lingo, they shall very much remain “a thing.” One to be used as a caveat, one to inspire futile debate and snarky Reddit threads, and one to make pseudo-scientific YouTube explainer videos about.

The article Fictions Not Facts Are Driving Bourbon’s Most Divisive Debate — the Neck Pour appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/neck-pour-bourbon/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/fictions-not-facts-are-driving-bourbons-most-divisive-debate-the-neck-pour

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