/drinkmemag_issue18

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS [Celestial]

SF BEER WEEK

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS Special Section

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

#18 FEB/MAR 2012 DrinkMeMag.com DrinkMeMag.com

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

FCi

...Because it was commanded.

Ingredients

ISSUE 18

Note from the Editor 8 Design: Born Again Wine Bottles

24 Beer: It’s A Religious Experience

10 Booze-o-Scopes

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The drink for your sign this season

By Madame Vincent

16

Libation Laureate

17

SF Beer Week

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By Bailey Richardson

By Ale Gasso

Special Section

By Abram Goldman-Armstrong

29 New

Booze:

1512 Spirits Barbershop Aged Rye

By David Driscoll

30 Angel’s

34 Drinks

Share

The price to pay for aged alcohol

By Allegra Ben-Amotz

Of The Gods

The Norse Mead of Poetry

By Richard English

38 A Trend To Watch In 2012: Yes We Can It

54 Brands

40 When

By Brian Yaeger

In The Nighttime Is The Right Time?

Astrological farming and drinking

By Paul Ross

48 Eat Your Booze: Beer and Pork Ramen

56 Swallow

Your Words

Drinking Japan

By Daniel Yaffe

58 Websites

To Drink To 60 Featured Recipes

By Denise Sakaki

50 Shiny

Of The Stars

By Victoria Gutierrez

Happy People

Moonshine and its lore

By Corey Hill

Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

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LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

This is a QR code. You can scan it with your smart phone and link directly to us. Want to find out more?

Check out RedLaser.com

Editor In Chief: Daniel Yaffe Associate Editor: Victoria Gutierrez TRAVEL Editor: Paul Ross Art DIrector: Lance Jackson Web Developer: Aman Ahuja Account Executive: Emily Brunts community MANAGER: Zanni Miranda

Advisory Board: Jeremy Cowan, H. Ehrmann, Cornelius Geary, Hondo Lewis, David Nepove, Debbie Rizzo, Genevieve Robertson, Carrie Steinberg, Gus Vahlkamp, Dominic Venegas

contributOrs: Allegra Ben-Amotz, Beer Brewery de Koningshoeven, Craft Brew Alliance (Craftbrewers.com), David Driscoll, Dark Corner Distillery, Richard English, Ale Gasso, Victoria Gutierrez, Abram GoldmanArmstrong, Corey Hill, Lance Jackson, Bailey Richardson, Cover

by Thorina Rose (Thorinarose.com), Paul Ross, Denise Sakaki, Tuthilltown Spirits, Madame Vincent, Brian Yaeger, Sierra Zimei

Thank you: Sangita Devaskar, Stephanie Henry, Sitar Mody, Skylar Werde

Publisher: Open Content www.opencontent.tv Eriq Wities & Daniel Yaffe

More than 75,000 people read Drink Me Interested in advertising? ads@drinkmemag.com

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recycle me

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Drink Me magazine is printed on 20% recycled (10% postconsumer waste) paper using only soy based inks. Our printer meets or exceeds all Federal Resource Conservation Act (RCRA) standards and is a certified member of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Twitter: drinkmemag Check out our facebook page, too!

The entire contents of Drink Me magazine are Š 2012 and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any manner without written permission.

All rights reserved.

Please drink responsibly

Note from the Editor

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p in the clouds above you, a few gods may be tippling and laughing at mortal brew. We’re warding off angels and creating spirits on high with fanciful flavors and divine inspiration. I hope you indulge with a godly appetite and perhaps a pair of angel wings on your back.

We’re making all water holy this issue and bringing you amazing articles about the powers above. We’re warning you about angels taking their share of your booze, priming you on drinks of the gods, and looking back at centuries of religious brewing. God is in the drinks... but perhaps not in the moonshine we’re talking about. Fear not, for we even have a very special guest bringing you your boozy horoscope. To top it all off, we’ve written the article that your favorite trashy magazine is just waiting to write: alcohol of the stars. Not celestial bodies, but porn stars, sports stars and rock stars. St. Patrick would be rolling over in his grave.

Thy cup runneth over.

Happy 2012 and L’Chaim, Daniel

www.drinkmemag.com

BEER WEEK

Black Beer & BBQ Prix Fixe Saturday, Feb. 11–Sunday, Feb. 19 Southern Tasting Menu & North Coast Brewing Monday, Feb. 13th

415-934-9300 2170 Mission St. SF, CA 94110 www.southpawbbqsf.com www.facebook.com/southpawbbq

“FREAKING DELICIOUS” - The Boston Phoenix 96 RATING - RateBeer.com GOLD MEDAL - World Beer Championships

All Images and Text Registered Trademark ® and Copyright © Shmaltz Brewing Co., Est. 1996

“MY FAVORITE” - New York Times GRAND CHAMPION - World Beer Championships “FUN, OFFBEAT & TASTY” - Beer Advocate

shmaltzbrewing.com

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Design: Bottle Wattage

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The journey taken by the drinks we sip is closely documented, from the first bud on the plant through to fermentation, aging, bottling, and enjoyment. But the story doesn’t end there. Artisans across the country are coming up with creative ways to repurpose the vessels that transport your drink of choice.

Jerry Kott uses empty wine bottles to create these stunning “Re-lights.” He hand cuts bottles into sections, polishes the edges, frosts the glass, and reassembles the pieces to create striped lamps that are both aesthetic and functional. Prices vary based on diameter and stripes, but Re-lights start at $190 and can be custom made. For more information, visit JerryKott.com

In Wisconsin, David Guilfoose introduces balance and functionality to his empty bottles with one fell swoop.

For his elegant flower vessels, David lops off bottles’ narrow necks and hand-finishes the glass to create elegant, modern vases. These slanted “Cut Vases” start at just $28. Check out more of David’s work at GreenWineBottles.com.

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GEMINI

Booze-o

Even though you really tried to muck it up, you won! Rolled out from under the boulder seconds before the band kicked up. And now the question is, who should you thank in your acceptance speech?

The other question is (there’s always more than one) who’s going to Kanye your Taylor Swift? Madame Vincent thought long and hard about what would make a good celebration drink for you Gemini. Something served in the White House? Served at the Kardashian wedding?

Served at the Knights of Columbus Bingo Bonanza? Madame Vincent decided it’s time to buy a good (read: more than $50) bottle of champagne.

Get to know the bubbly.

By Madame Vincent, the

ARIES

Led by Moses, the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. Chefs and mailmen, rabbis and nurses, they made it there in seventeen days, a day under the Long Walk of the Navajo. Aries, it’s not that often we have a crew at

LEO

Hibernating bears bypass the winter when their food supply disappears. Madame Vincent suggests you do the same. Life gets a bit serious.

Supplies will run low. Roadblocks abound. And you’ll be out of step with the pack. Let the weather pass. During the weeks before hibernation, bears chow down. They can gain as much as 30 pounds per week. Shovel it in and drink up. Start with a simple 12 oz. can of American Domestic, and polish it off with a flip, a class of cocktail that includes a whole egg. Any spirit can be made into a flip, but Madame Vincent likes her Four Roses bourbon.

-scopes world's first food and drink astrologer

the ready to love us and wash our clothes and rescue us from floods.

This year, you will.Thyme grew wild in ancient Israel, and Roman soldiers bathed in it for courage and strength. If you’re going to be leading a crew this year, you’ll need both in large doses. Madame Vincent would like you to shake up a Thyme Martini by putting a clean bunch of thyme in a bottle of dry vermouth for twenty-four hours before pouring your cocktail.

CANCER

TAURUS

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

-- Oscar Wilde Taurus, with your chin tilted up and your eyes bright, lit by the stars and moon, you sure are a sight. The beautiful dreamer with the punched-up face. This year, when flirting with the celestial temptresses, make sure your toes are firmly planted in the terra firma.

Madame Vincent suggests you don’t imbibe with the likes of Oscar Wilde. In one of the best-known accounts of absinthe drinking, Oscar Wilde described ‘having tulips on his legs’ after leaving a bar.

Tulip legs would not aid you in your effort to remain grounded. Instead, a nice earthy concoction: San Francisco restaurant Nopa’s Stout Diplomat. It’s easy: 2 parts dark rum, 1 part sherry, top with stout.

Cancer, your exoskeleton is in the shop and your skin is working extra hard to keep you from coming apart at the seams. Madame Vincent thinks you should get in line for your Man Card. 2012 will be chock full of all sorts of excitement: some good, a smidge more than some is going to be terrible, and most will be absolutely hilarious. Bee pollen is said to provide strength, energy and stamina. You could use a mega dose this year, Crabby. The good news is that it’s quite lovely sprinkled on a cocktail.

Mix up a St. Michael with Hendrick’s Gin, St-Germain, Yellow Chartreuse, honey, and a dash of bee pollen.

LIBRA

Two sparkly emoticons, carved from purple quartz, lay in front of you: a smiley and a frowney.

One is welcoming and warm. The other is superficial and evasive.

The world is begging you to throw one under the bus this year and Madame Vincent bets you know which side will pay the fare. Warm up to the world with a Michelada: Mexican beer with lime and hot sauce. Madame Vincent likes hers with chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Salud!

SAGITTARIUS

Hey Tarzan, sit still, you’re freaking everyone out. If you don’t heel, somebody’s going to come along and slap a collar on you. Got any ideas who may be standing by with the dog cops? No matter. Comb your hair. Put on some pants. And wipe that smirk off your face. How about something civilized, even dainty, for you: a Fur Collar, a mix of vodka, apricot liqueur, and orange juice, originally poured for the Vanderbilts at the Colony Club in New York City.

AQUARIUS

The cosmos set forth an inscrutable object, a bananacolored Slip n’ Slide for you to navigate while the Ghosts-ofBullshit-Past stand by in their swim trunks with wiffle ball bats. Madame Vincent offers you an emerald-studded pair of horse blinders to make it through to Spring. What’s the alcohol equivalent of horse blinders? Hell, any will do. How about a Horse’s Neck: brandy, ginger ale and a dash of bitters.

VIRGO

It’s not a good idea to object to your best friend’s wedding just because you’ve mentally undressed the groom.

And you can’t firebomb the office because you didn’t get a holiday bonus. An old roommate used to throw his shoes into the bushes to scare away the thrushes but they always returned in song. Madame Vincent has age old advice for you, Virgo: pick your battles. Many of our toughest, most stoic cultural heroes favor a Scotch poured neat. Saddle up to the bar and channel Mr. Bogart.

SCORPIO

Develop your baseball memory this year.

Beware of break-up pie and don’t turn down anyone pouring a stiff drink.

Back when Madame Vincent’s taste buds tended toward frozen french bread pizzas and Meister Brau, there was a popular shot called a Mind Eraser.

They go down easy and before you know it, you don’t even remember what made you start drinking.

Don’t forget a straw. No use crying over spilled milk.

Just be thankful it missed your laptop.

CAPRICORN

PISCES

Rumor has it Confucius was a jerk. He was known to preen around like a proud peacock and frequently got into fistfights over trivialities. Let disillusionment become inspiration this year, Capricorn. Be surprised and then be spurred into action. Do you know what makes Madame Vincent jump into action? A shot of reposado tequila followed up with a lime wedge, one side dipped in sugar, and the other side dipped in ground espresso.

The nice thing about being Batman in 2012 is that the costume is much more comfortable now, with breathable fabrics and less chafing. Pisces, you are no longer a sidekick this year, you’re Conan. You’re Lucy. You’re Bo. Hop into the nearest phone booth, you’re about to go from unassuming to thrilling. When Madame Vincent tries to conjure up a cocktail worthy of the word thrilling, one immediately comes to mind: a Desert Rose, served at New York’s PDT. Made with rose-infused gin, prickly pear purée, and fresh lemon juice, this drink is magic.

Libation Laureate

This Bar is a Life Raft

by Ale Gasso

With all these glasses raised in song you’d never know there was a storm salty blasts laughed off by bearded men who seem at home at the edge of the tallest waves almost hovering just barely tipping crest after crest a grimy crew so perfectly balanced like a snapshot of a pirates dream a hundred tattooed arms lifting what seem like never ending drinks to night’s trembling darlings and sing if not for these golden pints and the song we’ve kept close to our hearts we’d surely lose our way.

The San Francisco Brewers Guild presents

It’s That Time of Year Again...

Get ready for a dizzying array of special events during SF Beer Week 2012 that will tempt you to traverse the Bay Area from February 1019 in search of great craft beer. During this time local brewers unite with bars, restaurants, stores and fans to celebrate the region’s craft brewing legacy, creativity and bright future. Northern California is the birthplace of the craft beer movement and continues to play a tremendous role in its evolution and surging popularity nationwide.

Now in its fourth year, SF Beer Week has rapidly grown from just a few dozen festivities to well over 300 expected to take place in 2012. It’s an incredible time for beer geeks and new aficionados to enjoy not only the best beer in the Bay Area, but those made by brewers from around the country. A wide range of events will be produced by individual venues that will feature beer in numerous crowd-pleasing contexts.

Expect rare beer tastings, special beer releases, festivals, pub-crawls, homebrewing demonstrations, meet-the-brewer events, beer runs and more.

Beer will also assume its proper place at the dinner table alongside some of the most exquisite food prepared by chefs in many of the region’s finest restaurants. Cheese, chocolate, sausage, oysters and many other delicacies will be carefully paired with a wide range of beer. Be adventurous and

explore unfamiliar territory. The combinations will startle your senses and your stomach will thank you.

A complete schedule of events can be found at www.sfbeerweek. org, where you can search by region, day of the week, event type and locate them on a map.

If you’re overwhelmed by the options or can’t keep them in order, create a personal itinerary and share it with friends. If you need to keep track of it all while

you’re on the go, download one of the official SF Beer Week apps for your Android device or iPhone.

Although you’ll likely be faced with tough decisions, you’re almost guaranteed to have a good time at any event. The brewers and venues pull out all the stops, which is what makes SF Beer Week such a special occasion and ultimately helps keep the Bay Area at the forefront of the craft beer movement.

It’s Been A Helluva Year

The craft beer industry is growing rapidly, even in light of the soft economy. Thirsty consumers are choosing to spend their hard earned dollars on a quality product that they can connect with on a local level. Nationwide sales were up 17.5% in 2011 and every day brings brewery expansion news. According to the Brewers Association, there were 1,740 craft breweries in the U.S. with another 725 in the planning stages as of June 30, 2011.

The Bay Area is riding this wave of expansion and development.

Lagunitas and Drake’s Brewing both added equipment in 2011 to increase production and expand into new markets. A rash of new breweries also opened their doors in the last 12 months. Most of them emerged in the East Bay, including Dying Vines Brewing, High Water Brewing, Heretic Brewing and Elevation 66 Brewing.

A new generation of young nanobrewers has also taken up the mash paddle. The North Bay witnessed the arrival of Lucky Hand Beer, the South Bay welcomed Strike Brewing and

2012 SF BEER WEEK

Mo b il e A pp

Map - View events within your geographic location.

Schedule - Sort the events by day or region.

Itinerary - Create and manage your own event schedule.

Gallery - Upload and view photos throughout the week.

Twitter - A stream of tweets from fans and festival goers.

Check In - Who will be crowned mayor of SF Beer Week 2011!

DOWNLOAD T H SFBEERWEEK E APP at .oRG/APP the San Francisco Peninsula was introduced to Almanac Beer, Pacific Brewing Laboratories and Triple Voodoo Brewing. Many of these breweries will be pouring at the SF Beer Week Opening Celebration on February 10.

It’s an exciting time to be a consumer. It’s getting easier to find the beer you love and discover new brands. As breweries have

expanded, so have the number of bottle shops and bars specializing in craft beer. Once again, the East Bay has seen the most growth.

The ØL Beercafe opened in Walnut Creek, the Creek Monkey Tap House took up residence in Martinez and Tap 25 can be found in Livermore. Craft beer is taking hold in regions of the Bay Area that were once considered deserts.

The Horizon is Bright In the next year expansion and openings will continue to make news across the Bay Area.

Several projects have already been announced or will open within days of SF Beer Week’s arrival. Case in point is Southern Pacific Brewing in San Francisco’s Mission District, which is one of the larger new brewery projects that’s been built in the city in years. Magnolia Pub and Brewery also has it’s eyes set on the Dogpatch for a new brewery and restaurant, while MateVeza will be opening it’s Cervecería restaurant and brewery next to Dolores Park sometime in March if all goes well.

Right below the professional ranks, legions of homebrewers are eager to start businesses all across the region if enough courage and capital can be raised. Keep your eyes peeled for beer from Petaluma Hills Brewing, Beltane Brewing, Local Brewing, Van Houten Brewing, Pine Street Brewery and 510 Brewing. With a little luck their beer may arrive in a store or bar near you in 2012.

The time is now for craft beer.

The growth is exciting and there’s a tremendous amount of creativity you can get a taste of during SF Beer Week 2012. Drink local, be safe and enjoy the wonderful bounty of Bay Area beer.

The San Francisco Brewers Guild presents

• 24 Taps & Over 150 Bottles • Great Wines • Gourmet Pub Fare with Beer Pairings • Kitchen Open ‘til 1 am

3141 16th St., at the corner of Albion, San Francisco, CA between Valencia & Guerrero | www.monkskettle.com

Beer: Religious

By Abram Goldman-Armstrong

From the earliest batches of b beer has always been as The fermentation process, with its alchemy of sweet wort into bubbly alcoholic beer, is truly miraculous. It is no wonder that most cultures associated it with the divine. In fact, one of the earliest beer “recipes� comes down to us in the form of the Hymn To Ninkasi engraved on a cuneiform tablet in Sumeria (present day Iraq) around 1800 B.C.

It’s a Experience eer brewed in Mesopotampia, sociated with the divine.

“T

he Sumerians are considered the first civilization to have given up their hunting and gathering ways…they treasured their beer and their bread, and beer was their sacred drink, a gift from the gods,” writes Ian Hornsey in the Oxford Companion to Beer.

In fifth century Ireland, Saint Brigid was canonized into the Celtic Christian Church in part for her brewing prowess. Brigid was once charged with looking after a group of lepers who had nothing to drink, so she changed their bathwater into beer, “by

H

the sheer power of her blessing.” ildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) took a more scientific approach to her brewing. She was abbess of a convent in Germany, an herbalist, physician, opera composer, and holds a special place in brewing history as being the first person to record the use of hops as a preservative in beer. Though progressive thinkers such as Hildegard were beginning to understand the science of hops, fermentation was still considered “a gift from God” in medieval Europe.

So much so, in fact, that yeast was referred to in England as “godisgood,” including in legal documents regulating its price.

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In Hildegard’s time monastic brewing was in its heyday, with the sweet smell of boiling wort emanating from monasteries across Europe. Convents and monasteries were bastions of learning, and the tradition of quality brewing passed down within them kept monastic brews popular despite the rise of commercial breweries.

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The origin myth of doppelbock beer, brewed by the monks of Saint Francis of Paula in Bavaria as a fasting supplement for Lent, tells how the Pope heard of this strong, malty beer. His Holiness worried that doppelbock must have been adulterated somehow, because it was so well loved. He sent for a cask of the beer to be carried over the Alps to Rome. Upon tasting it he decreed that the monks should keep producing it, and by the way could they please send along another barrel or two.

With the rise of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution, larger commercial breweries began to take the place of

small-scale local breweries, and many monastic orders could not compete.

There are still a handful of monastic breweries operating in Europe, but brewing has become a predominantly secular activity. Secular breweries quickly capitalized on the reputation of monastic beer and monks are depicted on beer labels to this day.

Perhaps no other monastic order remains as renowned for their beer as the Trappists. Stemming from the Cistercian La Trappe Abbey in Northern France in the sixteenth century, the Trappists were driven out of France during the French Revolution but revived their monasteries, predominantly in Belgium, in the early nineteenth century. During World War II, Trappist breweries were shuttered by occupying Nazi forces. Denis Dominique of the Chimay Brewery, located at the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Scourmont, recalls how the brewery’s copper brewkettles were stolen by the Germans and scrapped to make ammunition. After the war, the abbeys restarted their breweries, and Chimay’s Father Théodore worked with Belgian chemist Jean de Clerck to isolate the unique yeast strains used in their beers.

In 1962 a ruling was made that the term ‘Trappist’ could only apply to a “beer brewed by Cistercian monks.”

Today there are six Trappist breweries in Belgium, and one in the Netherlands.

At Chimay, work may not exceed eight hours, as the monks divide their day into eight hours resting, eight hours praying, and eight hours working.

Though the beers vary from abbey to abbey, several styles clearly originated with the Trappists. Plummy, fruity brown dubbel and aromatic sweet golden tripel are the most famous, with

spicy character from the unique ale yeasts that are used characteristic of the style. Monks often make a lower strength “single,” “table beer,” or “enkel” primarily for their own consumption.

“Abbey style ales” inspired by the Trappists are brewed all around the world. Brewers of some Belgian abbey beers, such as Affligem, even pay a royalty to the monastery that they are named after. In the U.S., a few brewers have partnered with local abbeys. Sierra Nevada launched its Belgian-inspired Ovila line last year, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California.

Monastic communities must be

financially self-sufficient, according to the The Rule of Saint Benedict, written in the sixth century. The Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico formed Abbey Beverage Company in 2005. Initially, its beers were brewed in half-barrel batches at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Pecos, and under license at Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in Moriarty, New Mexico. In December 2011, the construction of a brewery at Christ in the Desert was completed, and the monks are awaiting licensing.

In celebration, Abbot Philip Lawrence, with Zach Guilmette from Sierra Blanca Brewery, brewed Monks’ Triple, in addition to Abbey’s wit and single

The outside tasting area at the Beer Brewery de Koningshoeven, the only Trappist brewery in The Netherlands

A

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side from the monastic tradition, there are many vestiges of religion in brewing. Small wooden crucifixes hang in brewhouses throughout southern Germany, and even secular Germans still thank the generosity of the “beer gods.” The Church Brew Works, a restored church in Pittsburgh, has a brewhouse on the former altar. Brewers at Portland, Oregon’s Widmer Brothers dubbed a fermentation cellar with high arched windows “the cathedral.”

Local homebrewers Jeremie Landers and Jenn McPoland were married there by “the Beer Goddess,” beer writer Lisa Morrison.

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Beer’s association with divinity is not limited to the Christian tradition. Jeremy Cowan founded Schmaltz Brewing in 1996 to brew kosher “Chosen Beer” for Jews, and is currently researching the long tradition of Jewish brewers. At Crannóg Ales in Sorrento, British Columbia, Samhain (the traditional Celtic New Year) is marked with a ceremonial rite which includes a battle between summer and winter amidst a circle of standing stones, and the burning of a statue of a man made of hop vines. At the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew monastery in Thailand, monks showed their devotion by recycling enough beer bottles to build a temple from them. After all, beer works in mysterious ways.

The Widmer Brothers' "cathedral"

Photo courtesy of Widmer Brothers Brewing

beers. The triple uses five native New Mexico hop varieties grown in the monks’ quarter acre hopyard, which is being expanded to two acres to supply the new brewery.

New Booze: Rye

1512 Spirits Barbershop Aged Rye

By David Driscoll, K&L Wine Merchants

I

was recently quoted on an NPR radio episode saying, “Why should I pay sixty dollars for a one year old California whiskey, when I could pay twenty for a ten year old Kentucky bourbon?”

Unfortunately, the editors decided to leave out the first part of my statement. The counter to that declaration would have read something like, “Why should I buy mass-produced, factory-line distillate when I could buy high quality, handcrafted booze from a local artisan?” To present an example to justify this mindset, I reach for the recent release from Marin producer 1512 Spirits, a young but precocious rye whiskey briefly aged in small, charred barriques for maximum flavor influence.

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Sure, there are less expensive whiskies with more maturity at reasonable prices, but they don’t have the finesse of the 1512. Salvatore Cimino works as a barber by day, but at night he toils away at his pot still —saving only the finest cuts of distillate by taste, rather than by automated process. There’s a certain rule of thumb (I’m sure Alice Waters would tell you) that the best meals begin with the finest ingredients.

Surprisingly enough, this has rarely been the case for the spirits industry. While most distilleries assume that the nuance of high-quality grain doesn’t carry through, Sal has already proven otherwise with his white, unaged 1512 Barbershop Rye. The aged rye lets us peek in on how his distillate matures in the barrel. Does the rye still come through? The answer is in the glass. Lovely hints of pepper and spice mingle with cinnamon, clove, and notes of molasses.

Sal’s commitment to quality shows. Trust me—they’re worth the extra dollars.

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Sha The

By Allegra Ben-Amotz

A

When aging spirits and wine in barre

Ralph Erenzo, the head distiller at Tuthilltown Spirits in New York’s Hudson Valley, is cheating heaven out of its fair share of booze.

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nstead of using the standard fifty-three gallon charred oak barrels to age his whiskey, he stores his bourbon and rye in smaller barrels that hold between three and twenty gallons. The result? His whiskey ages in less than six months due to increased contact between whiskey and wood, and he loses less alcohol from each batch to a mysterious phenomenon known as the “angel’s share.”

vapor rises to heaven, where the angels claim it as their toll for watching over the spirits and making sure they turn out properly.

It’s a small but potent price to pay for the miracle of hooch.

F or centuries, distillers have been haunted by and fascinated with this bit of paranormal activity: a small quantity of whiskey, brandy, or wine always escapes from the wood barrels as it ages, vanishing into thin air. As legend has it, this boozy

Although the angel’s share has been largely explained by science, it remains a favorite legend among whiskey makers.

The background is this: in order for a spirit to be legally classified as whiskey, be it from Kentucky or the Scottish highlands,

are

Angel’s

els, producers have to pay a hefty toll

of the liquor, which matures and enhances in flavor the longer it spends in the barrel. This vanishing elixir is the angel’s share.

Some boutique distillers, like Erenzo at Tuthilltown, get around the problem by aging smaller batches, but really, there’s little large distillers can do to reduce this loss in profit. There are, however, certain factors that have an effect on the quantity of precious liquid retained.

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distillers are required to let it age in charred oak casks. The oak gives whiskey some of the distinct flavor profile, color, and aroma we have come to know and love it for. Because oak barrels are porous, they let some oxygen in and also let some booze out, reducing the alcohol content

Depending on the humidity of the climate where the whiskey is aged, the angel’s share more greatly affects either the water level or the alcohol content of the booze. In dry climates like Kentucky, more water is lost than alcohol, so the volume decreases, resulting in a higher proof product than whiskey aged in humid regions. If a warehouse is located somewhere humid, like Scotland, more alcohol will disappear through the barrel’s walls, causing the whiskey to lose alcoholic

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Tuthilltown Spirits' small barrels

strength. Tuthilltown’s location, for example, also helps them to outsmart the angels. The relatively cooler, drier climate of the Hudson Valley region means a smaller loss.

2 to 5% of the total alcohol content is lost annually to the celestial thieves. This means that a 7 year aged whiskey could lose well over fourteen percent of its total alcohol content.

he location and temperature of the barrel house itself plays a role as well. If barrels are stored in the cooler temperature of a basement, less alcohol may be lost than if they are housed near the roof of the distillery. In a dry cellar, more water will evaporate than alcohol, resulting in a stronger whiskey. In a damp warehouse, a higher percentage of alcohol will evaporate, creating a smooth, roundertasting whiskey.

Although the evaporated alcohol is invisible, this exchange between the barrels and the heavens hardly goes unseen.

Like many a drunkard, the angels leave an obvious trail. The ceilings and walls of most distilleries are covered with black patches, a side effect of the angel’s share.

This darkly colored fungus with a thirst for airborne alcohol grows on anything close to the barrels, especially in humid climates.

In the case of larger distilleries, entire properties may be coated by this alcoholic mist, known as the “Warehouse Staining” effect.

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T

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Factors such as the size and location of the barrel, and the environment of the distillery, make it quite difficult to pinpoint just how significant the angel’s share actually is. The alcohol content of whiskey that enters the barrel is typically between 50 and 60%. In America, an average of

Originally discovered in 1872 by a pharmacist named Antonin Baudoin in Cognac, where the ashy stain grew thick and close to the brandy distilleries, it was wrongly classified for over 125 years.

When Hiram Walker hired mycologist

James Scott to investigate the thick soot that coated the areas surrounding their warehouses in Lakeshore, Ontario, the scientist discovered a dominant species in the fungus that grew like crazy when doused with the Canadian Club whisky the company is famous for. Scott had identified an entirely new genus, identical to the variety first found in Cognac.

Appropriately, he named the new genus Baudoinia, after the French pharmacist.

It’s hard to blame the mushroom for wanting to get a piece of the angel’s action, and after all, the fungus is a harmless part of the process.

And after the angels’ work is done, the porous barrels themselves are more valuable. The longer the whiskey ages in the barrels, the more of its flavorful essence the oak absorbs. Tuthilltown resells their barrels to small brewers and bartenders who experiment with storing beers and cocktails in the used barrels to absorb the flavors of oak and whiskey. When aging beer in these recycled barrels, brewers don’t have to consider the angel’s share, because beer’s proof starts out so low. Lost Abbey, a San Marcos, CA brewery, even paid homage to the angel’s share by naming their bourbon barrel-aged ale after it.

So next time you pour a snifter of the good stuff, make sure to raise your glass to the heavens to toast the angels who look over our cherished drink — there’s a good chance they’ll be downing their own share.

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But why would Mother Nature subject distillers to such an unattractive and unfortunate loss? Perhaps this part of the process is proof that the angels do know best: after all, a freshly fermented batch of pure grain alcohol simply doesn’t taste very good. The angel’s share mellows the proof, rendering the distilled spirits or wine drinkable. Reducing the amount of alcohol concentrates the flavor of the beverage,

allowing more subtle flavors and textures to intensify and take center stage. The angel’s share does seem a small price to pay for the richly developed texture, flavor, and aroma of liquors aged in charred oak.

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Drinks of

By Richard English

The Norse Me

Nowhere has the relationship between human culture and alcoholic beverages been more important or more intricate than in the arena of religion. Not to put too fine a point on it, but everywhere humans have enjoyed a drink, so have the gods they worship.

the Gods

ad of Poetry

W 

hich is not to say we drink the same stuff. Not at all. In most cases the liquor enjoyed by the gods, while similar to mortal beverages, was strictly of a divine character and often times off limits to mere mortals. Whole books could be written on these concoctions (instances of godly drinks occur in myths from all across the

globe), but we are going to focus on a single example, the Mead of Poetry from old Norse folklore. ead, or honey wine, is the simplest, and perhaps the first, of all alcoholic beverages. All you need is honey, water, air and time, and—presto!—you’ve got a jug of tasty stuff that goes well with food, conversation, and among classic Norsemen, sticking each other with spears. The creation of the magical Mead of Poetry, on the other hand, in the mythic sagas of the Norse, was a good deal more complicated.

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Mead of Poetry was born at the end of the epic war between two warring tribes of gods, the Aesir and the Vanir. To seal the peace at the end of the conflict, the combatants, for reasons they kept to themselves, spit into a massive cauldron. Unsure what to do with all that celestial spittle, but positive that it shouldn’t go to waste, they decided to fashion it into a man who they named Kvasir. Made up, as he was, of all that sanctified saliva, Kvasir grew to be the wisest man in all Asgard (home of the Norse gods).

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Kvasir traveled the Nine Lands of Norse myth as a sort of itinerant teacher until, while in Jötunheim (the land of giants and dwarves), he made the mistake of accepting an invitation to stay overnight in the den of two dwarves called Fjalar and Galar.

After honoring the great teacher, the dwarves turned right around and

cut his throat (these dwarves weren’t the hirsute goofballs of Tolkien’s imagination). When the foul deed was done, Fjalar and Galar drained Kvasir’s blood into three cauldrons, added honey, and set the vessels aside to allow the mixture to ferment.

The resulting concoction was the Mead of Poetry. Anyone drinking it was granted vast scholarly wisdom and the ability to compose verse of astonishing excellence.

Their blood apparently afire, the homicidal dwarves then killed visiting giant Gilling and his wife.

The giant Suttung, son of the fallen pair, went looking for them, and quickly discovered that the dwarves had murdered his parents as well as the famous Kvasir. Enraged, Suttung dragged the dwarves to a rocky outcropping in the ocean and left them there to drown. He then carried the containers of Mead of Poetry to a cave deep in the mountains of Jötunheim.

Sometime later, Odin, chief of the Norse gods, learned of the cache of magical mead and made it his mission to get some for himself. He journeyed from Asgard to Jötunheim and, through cunning and deception, gained the confidence of the Mead’s keeper, Suttung. After learning the exact location of the containers, Odin transformed into a snake and burrowed into the hidden cave, whereupon he slurped up all of the Mead, holding the entire lot, it was said, in his mouth. Back on the surface, Odin turned into an eagle and flew away with Suttung hot on his heels.

In Asgard, Odin’s accomplice

arranged jugs and urns in a courtyard, and as Odin flew over he spat the Mead into them. Problem was, Suttung was breathing right down Odin’s neck. The wily god was in fear for his life, and in his fright some of the Mead accidentally escaped through his … well … backside.

The rest of the Mead of Poetry was carefully stored away in Asgard under the personal protection of Odin himself. He would break out a jug from time to time and bestow it upon those mortal men who proved themselves skilled at epic verse.

Mead was the most popular tipple among the Norse of old for centuries, most especially among the Vikings.

They refined their recipes, brewing mead with such designations as “stout,” “sweet,” and “delicate.”

In later years the grand halls of the Norse kings became known as Mead Halls. Centers of Norse village life, Mead Halls were places of feasting, ribaldry, and strenuous drinking, not to mention singing, bragging, fighting, and maidengroping. Archeological remnants of these structures have been found throughout Scandinavia, the British Isles and northern Germany.

Oh, and the quantity of Mead that Odin lost in the manner described previously? This Mead was not kept with the other quantity, but was left out for anyone who came along to have a swig. It came to be called the Rhymester’s Share, or the portion saved from any batch of mead (magical or otherwise) that was given to poets of inferior skill, a tradition the Norse carried on for hundred of years.

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Odin's mishap and creation of the Rhymester's Share

Why not bring it back?

Your average poetry reading is rife with writers just screaming for a dose of butt mead.

Don’t you think?

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Trend to watch for in 2012

Yes we can it

By Brian Yaeger

Have you noticed that more and more beers are coming in fewer bottles and—gasp—coming in the same aluminum packages as mass-market beer? It’s because breweries have finally cottoned to the fact that cans are superior to bottles. Here’s why.

B

rown glass reduces the amount of UV light that passes through the bottle; cans block it out completely. Bottle crowns, over time, allow some oxygen to seep in. A sealed can never does.

Hold that bottle and what do you notice? It’s cooler? Perhaps. But it’s also heavier! It takes more fuel to get it to the store, so cans save money, not to mention they stack better, to allow more in a pallet and further reduce transportation expenses. Glass costs more than aluminum, so again, cans save you money. Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable (unlike glass), and on the whole reduces a brewery’s carbon footprint by some thirty-five percent, so cans save the planet.

Having a bottle broken over your head at a concert or stepping on shards at the park or beach while barefoot would suck. Hence, cans are allowable in way

more private and public venues than bottles. Wouldn’t you rather drink a can of Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA at a summer music festival than not drink a bottle of Pliny the Elder?

Finally, the old complaint about cans imparting a metallic taste to the beer went out the window with today’s linings that keep the beer from ever contacting any metal. Sure, your lips would touch it, but you’re not really supposed to drink craft beer from the vessel anyway. Pour it into some proper glassware. And lest you think great beer doesn’t come in cans, just pour yourself a tasty number from Oskar Blues, Uncommon Brewers, Caldera, New Belgium (increasingly), Rodenbach (in Belgium if not yet in the US!), Surly, or any of the other dozens—soon to be hundreds—of craft breweries that have already lightened their load.

When in the Nighttime is the Right Time?

By Paul Ross

There are moonlight wine tastings in British supermarkets and a calendar advising when conditions are right for drinking certain varietals. Some folk swear by these practices … and others swear at them. So, should you start asking a bottle of wine, “What’s your sign?”

Planting according to the phases of the moon is a practice as old as agriculture itself, but employing the same celestial portends as guidelines for tasting the fruit of the vine is much more recent.

It’s generally based on biodynamics, a holistic agronomy system created by philosopher Rudolph Steiner in the late 1920’s. Adherents believe that not only the vines are impacted by phases of the moon but, even more surprising, that the finished wines themselves are also influenced by celestial conditions. What this means is that proponents claim certain times of the month are best for

bringing out qualities within the wines.

The four aspects of influence are divided into the categories of flavorful “fruit,” aromatic “flower,” and tannic “root” or “leaf ” (all those planty adjectives).

Not all biodynamic growers are convinced about the sky-palate connection, but most agree that the main reason for embracing the philosophy is the preservation of terroir.

Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard, adds, "Biodynamic practice seems to enhance root-hair fungi that aid the transport of minerals into vines and make the resulting wines more resistant to oxidation and capable of much longer aging.”

For more than two thousand years, Chinese have practiced astrological agriculture, and the Farmer’s Almanac still looks to the heavens for guidance.

But, while some biodynamic wineries

Photo by Bonny Doon Vineyard

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he question really is this: how much truth, if any, is there to the belief that astrological signs affect what adult beverages you drink and, more specifically, how the ingredients are grown and made?

Vortexing, or activating water, is a biodynamic practice

go so far as to stir the lees (the yeasty sediment) during prime lunar cycles to add flavor to fermentation, hard scientific proof lags way behind anecdotal allegations. Many biodynamic success stories are also true of organic farming techniques.

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endocino’s Frey Vineyards is not only America’s first organic winery (1980), it was also the first to be certified biodynamic (1996). Derek Dahlen, Frey’s vineyard manager, acknowledges that the two agricultural practices are very similar in their prescriptions about natural balance, techniques of planting and harvesting, abhorrence of chemicals in both growing and processing, and in their desire for soil improvement and long-term conditioning. What separates the Orgs from the Bios is the celestial component and some

esoteric biodynamic methodologies: composting yarrow flowers in a red stag’s bladder, burying a manurefilled cow’s horn, and fermenting dandelion seeds in “cow mesentery” (gut membrane). Strangely enough, it’s easier to secure and spread the unusual mulch ingredients than it is to stick to a lunar schedule. “It’s challenging sometimes to plan everything around the window, especially when the weather proves uncooperative,” says Dahlen, “but we do our best— including some harvesting under the full moon this past October.”

You already know that October’s is the harvest moon, but there are other agrarian-linked full moons through out the year. They are the sap (March), seed (April), flower (May), Sun ( June), Mead ( July), and wort (August). As to why such a system of full moon designations might have validity, some

Photo by Paul Ross

Organic farming in a remote area of Georgia

Photo by Bonny Doon Vineyard

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Perhaps the best known biodynamic application: manure-filled cow's horns

believers refer to the gravitational pull of the moon on the earth’s tides and claim that moisture in the soil, or even within plants, may respond to the moon as well. Marion Owen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul, writes that the moon’s last quarter is the best time to till the soil “because that’s when the water table has dropped to its lowest point,” making the earth lighter and easier to turn over. This is also a “good time to prune plants... so less sap will flow out of the cut ends.” The final quarter is also an auspicious time to graft fruit trees, fertilize, and weed. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to do when the moon is dark. That is the perfect time for planting vines that need strong roots and, according to Owen, “harvesting crops that mature above ground as they are filled with vitality and energy.”

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ike wine, beer also has a place in the greater cosmology.

Noted Astrologer Heather Roan Robbins told me, “Brewing is yeast-based; we want the yeast to grow, so start that on a waxing moon, preferably the second quarter and in a fertile earth or water sign.” Taurus, Capricorn, and Scorpio are examples of the former. Cancer and Pisces represent the latter. But please do not rely solely on the horoscope printed in your daily newspaper as a guide, as it’s much more complicated than that.

If you are not a home brewer, there are a few biodynamic commercial imports from Belgium and Australia, including Leirekin Biere Biologique and Glenbar Lager.

Randall Grahm cautions with this caveat: “Biodynamic practice does not automatically mean your produce

H

istorically, few civilizations were more obsessed with celestial observation and time than the Maya so, if you believe that time’s up for all of us at the end of this year, then don’t worry about planting, harvesting or even tasting.

Then again, according to other interpretations of ancient Maya beliefs, the world has been created five times and destroyed four. Providing the celestial signs are auspicious, I’ll drink to that.

Organic winemaking in Portugal Randall Grahm in the vineyard, right

Photo by Paul Ross

is superior. You still need to be a competent farmer.” He speaks from experience, having practiced biodynamic growing in California’s Salinas Valley “but never completely overcoming some of the real challenges of farming in an inhospitable environment.”

Photo by Bonny Doon Vineyard

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Eat Your Booze

To Cure What Ales You

By Denise Sakaki

A

fter a long night of drinking beer, the last thing you want to think about is having a sudsy brew in your food, but the flavor of an ale or lager can add a pleasant, lightly-hopped bitterness to a soup broth, especially ramen-style noodle soup. A popular street food across Japan, ramen is a hearty soup that’s as ubiquitous as the hamburger. It’s eaten with gusto on a cold day and just as welcome after a night out with a few drinks. The key to a good ramen is the broth, developing

and layering the flavors to reach a savory balance. The use of beer keeps the broth from feeling too heavy or overpowering all of ramen’s ingredients.

You can add almost anything to it, but a satisfying combination is thin slices of the pork loin that was braised in the broth itself and wedges of boiled egg, topped with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro or scallions. With those ingredients, it’s practically breakfast, and a flavorful alternative to the typical meal when a hangover is calling your name.

Beer and Pork Ramen (makes 4 large servings)

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Ingredients for broth .5 lb. Pound whole boneless pork loin .5 cup Thin-sliced

button mushrooms 1 btl Light-flavored ale

or lager-style beer 2 cups Chicken, pork, or beef broth 2 cups Water .25 cup Soy sauce 1 tsp Miso paste 1 tsp Sugar .5 tsp Fish sauce Salt

Vegetable Oil

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Ingredients for bouquet garni 3 Garlic cloves, smashed 1 tbsp Rough-chopped ginger 1 Whole star anise 10 Whole black peppercorns .5 cup Fresh cilantro stems

Cheesecloth and uncoated cotton string to wrap and tie Ingredients to add to broth Cooked ramen or udon noodles Canned baby corn Sliced boiled egg Fresh cilantro or scallions The flavor of the broth needs time to build, so it should be started first. Take a large soup pot and place over mediumhigh heat, adding a drizzle of vegetable oil. Lightly salt the pork and place it into the pot, fat side down. You want to render the fat off and get a good sear on the outside surface. After about ten minutes, remove the pork and set aside.

To deglaze the pot, carefully pour in the beer. It will foam and steam quite a

bit, so remove from heat completely as the liquid is poured in. Take a wooden spoon and scrape up the browned bits off the bottom of the pot and return to heat so the beer can come to a boil.

This will burn off the alcohol. Add in the miso paste, soy sauce, sugar, and fish sauce and mix to combine, making sure the miso paste fully dissolves. Add in the stock and water and keep the liquid at a simmer.

While the broth is simmering, prepare the ingredients you wish to add to your ramen – cook the noodles, boil an egg and chop some fresh cilantro or scallions to top. When the broth has fully cooked the pork loin, you can remove it from the liquid and slice thinly to add to your bowl.

Remove and discard the bouquet garni.

Build your ramen bowl to your taste, adding whatever toppings you wish to your noodles, broth, and pork slices.

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To prepare the bouquet garni, take all the whole ingredients and wrap with the cheesecloth, tying it off with the string to make a sealed pouch. Add the bouquet garni, seared pork, and sliced mushrooms

to the simmering broth. Cover the top, drop the heat to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes until the pork is fully cooked through.

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Shiny Happy People: Moonshine and its Lore

By Corey Hill

Somewhere in the Appalachians right now, in the shadow of grey mountains and thick forest, an old tradition carries on. Hidden under the roof of a barn, a squat copper structure is filled with corn, sugar, and barley. Out of an aged spigot a crystal clear liquid sputters, then streams. Put to eager lips, the spirit is strong and true.

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t’s moonshine, and like Adam Smith’s writing on capitalism, it has Scottish roots and is frequently misrepresented.

For the first few hundred years of America’s existence as a European colony, distilling your own liquor was a perfectly legal activity. The Scots, Irish, and Welsh who settled into the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas believed that it was their god-given right to make spirits. But Uncle Sam really needed an extra revenue source. In 1791, Treasury Secretary Hamilton proposed an excise tax on distilled alcohol, and Congress gave the idea the okay.

Rather than pony up the taxes, which were often more than double the cost of production, many distillers decided to go the outlaw route. Moonshining was originally a British term referring to any work done at night, surreptitiously under the light of the moon. The product that came out on the other end went by many names, including Mountain Dew, White Lightning, Ruckus Juice, Skullcracker, and Moonshine.

In the Appalachians and Ozarks, with a rebel culture and inhospitable terrain, moonshining exploded. Corn whiskey became the spirit of choice for moonshiners for one simple reason: corn was a popular crop, but subject to a great deal of price fluctuation.

Diversifying their product portfolio, farmers who had a bad year could convert their yield into a more profitable output and provide for their families.

The ingredients don’t require much work to find: corn meal, sugar, water, yeast, and malt. Fruit or bark, particularly

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Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

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Photos courtesy of Dark Corner Distillery

birch bark, is sometimes added to the mash to add flavor. The ingredients are mashed together, fermented, and then distilled.

T

he first run through the still produces a harsh product known as ‘singlings,’ so the distillate is sent through for a second run. The moonshiner then mixes together strong and weak liquor in a process known as ‘proofing.’ Poured through ashes or a felt filter to remove any last impurities, the moonshine is crystal clear, unlike the golden color typically associated with aged whiskey.

Getting barrels is not a problem, but the aging process makes it more likely to be discovered while the spirit mellows for a few months.

Potential to lose your sense of sight: it’s a hell of a tasting note.

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One of the primary hazards associated with moonshine production is adulterants added to the product to increase apparent alcohol content. Methanol or lye added to the mix increases the proof, as well as the chance of blindness or death.

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Another potential hazard is the still itself. Folks sometime use an automotive radiator as the condenser, and leftover antifreeze can leach into the mixture. The glycol from antifreeze is toxic and potentially fatal. Improperly soldered stills also present the risk of lead contamination,

which is the biggest problem for modern moonshine drinkers.

Modern Day Moonshiners Prohibition’s end reduced, but did not eliminate, the demand for moonshine. Today a gallon of moonshine costs just over half the retail price of a gallon of the cheapest legal whiskey sold in liquor stores.

The ingenuity behind moonshining operations is quite striking. In Virginia in the seventies, moonshiners created a giant hole in a field with bulldozers, and covered it up with sod. They placed tombstones made of cinderblock on top, and mowed the lawn regularly, even going so far as to put flowers on the graves from time to time. This ‘cemetery’ produced illegal hooch for two to three years before finally being discovered by federal agents in 1979.

More sophisticated electronic surveillance and harsh penalties have made moonshining an unattractive prospect.

In 1999 Operation Lightning Strike, the largest raid in recent history, netted twentynine arrests and virtually erased moonshine operations in the Blue Mountains. But in 2009, the Virginia Office of Alcohol Beverage Control shut down their elite bootlegging Whiskey Unit, and it’s not clear that bootlegging is a top law enforcement priority.

Uncle Sam Wants a Cut You probably know someone who makes their own beer, and you may know someone who makes their own wine, and they are able to practice their craft without drawing the ire of the authorities. Try and make your own whiskey, on the other hand, and the feds will come down on you like you decided to stockpile AK-47’s. Laws may have changed on beer, wine, and interstate commerce, but in regards to making your own spirits, we remain in the Roaring Twenties.

Why so easy on the soft liquor, Uncle Sam, and so hard on moonshine?

Take North Carolina’s Troy & Sons Distillers and their white whiskey, for example. Made in a 2,000 liter copper still with heirloom corn, the company takes advantage of a family recipe passed down through generations. South Carolina’s Dark Corner Distillery took advantage of changes in the state’s law in 2009 to begin producing a spirit that honored Greenville’s history as the heart of prohibition-era moonshining.

It’s a common trope that moonshine is a crude choice of beverage, and that the hillbillies who produce it don’t have the sophistication necessary to produce a world-class spirit. The complexity of maintaining a camouflaged distillery and arranging distribution of your illicit product belies these ‘mountain people’ misconceptions. And as for the moonshine itself, you can’t argue with the result: the pure essence of whiskey, unaged, unaltered, strong, and true.

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The official reason is this: the feds say that, unlike making wine or beer, distillation provides too many opportunities to create a dangerous product. Another reason for the federal government’s keen interest in tightly regulating the alcohol content of beverages is taxation. Distilled spirits are levied with an excise tax, just like the one first handed out by our friend Hamilton in 1791. The tax on beer is only a few cents per can, and it goes up slightly for bottles of wine. But for liquor, it’s over two dollars a bottle. Multiply that tax over millions of bottles of booze, and excise taxes levied by the federal government represent billions of dollars in annual revenue.

There is a growing movement to change the laws around home alcohol production, and while you wait for the law to change, there is a legal alternative: so-called ‘moonshine’ produced by legitimate distilleries. These products, which are essentially un-aged white whiskey, are a way to experience the taste of this American tradition without the potential for lead poisoning.

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Brands Of

By Victoria Gutierrez

hat do Tool, a Full House cast member, Donald W Trump, a Real Housewife, Danny DeVito, and porn stars have in common? Aside from fame, fortune, and maybe a little too much spray tanning, they all own alcohol brands. They’re not just spokespersons— they’re the owners, the decision makers, and sometimes even the drink creators.

Take Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, for example: with Caduceus Cellars he’s making interesting wine while also trying to prove that Arizona can grow great grapes.

Hair band wine more your style?

Motorhead, AC/DC, and KISS all have come out with their own wine labels, the

latter also slapping their black and white mugs on Destroyer, their German pilsner.

Candace Cameron (aka DJ Tanner) and her hockey star hubby own Bure Family Wines, a boutique Napa Valley winery.

Lil’ Jon also has set up shop in Napa with his Little Jonathon label, and Yao Ming has set his sights on dominating the China wine market with Yao Family Wines (here’s hoping the bottles are extra tall). Porn star Savanna Samson partnered with, and recently purchased, Fattoria La Fiorita in Brunello di Montalcino to produce her own line of wines. To her inaugural release, the Sogno Uno, critic Robert Parker, Jr. gave a score of 91. I wonder if he tasted blind, or if he sipped this blend while gazing at the scantily clad Samson on the label?

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Musicians overwhelm the list of celebrity brands. Willie Nelson has Old Whiskey River bourbon, Vince Neil has his Tres Rios Tequila, and Toby Keith makes a mezcal called Wild Shot. Pharrell Williams makes Qream, a crème liqueur that comes in strawberry and peach flavors, intended for “the modern day queen

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The Stars and her court of friends.” Dr. Dre and Ludacris each have their own cognacs, and Marilyn Manson’s Mansinthe is a critically acclaimed absinthe made in Switzerland. To appeal to the screaming preteen girl in all of us, Hanson recently announced that they will be releasing their own IPA in early 2012 … called “MmmHop.” Good luck getting that song out of your head.

Donald Trump’s vodka, despite a gold bottle and the slogan “Success Distilled,” folded in 2010. Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel recently sold her 100,000 case per year Skinny Girl low calorie margarita brand to Beam Global. Dan Aykroyd, not content with just his wine labels, launched Crystal Head Vodka.

Bottled in a clear glass skull and boasting quintuple distilling and filtering through 500-million-year-old crystals, this vodka has actually placed first in blind vodka tastings and snagged a Double Gold from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2011.

appearance on The View into an alcohol brand. Blamed on a wild night with George Clooney, DeVito created “Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello Original.”

The liquid might be delicious, but it’s DeVito’s humorous extra features that make this brand so much fun. First of all, the label is actually scratch 'n' sniff, with a lemony fresh aroma. And in closing, we’ll leave you with his catchy theme song: Danny DeVito's Limoncello

It's a taste delight from this famous fellow It's so very nice Perfect served cold on ice The finest summer drink from Italy.

In what might be the best spin on bad PR ever, Danny DeVito turned his infamous inebriated

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Swallow Your Words: Book Review

Drinking Japan

by Daniel Yaffe

Author: Chris Bunting Subject: Every decent watering hole in

Japan. Or at least more than you would ever have time to go to.

Synopsis & Review: Bunting dives head

on into the drinking cultures of Japan. This is not just listing bars, but a full education about how, where, and what to drink with any time spent in Japan. The book is separated by type of booze and has an extremely useful intro to each chapter. Everything from Japanese wine bars, to sake, to their notorious whiskey bars, Bunting captures it all and wraps it into a description of what the drinking culture is really like. The book is part travel guide and part liquid education.

Why we recommend it: Chris Bunting makes me want to drink

my way through Japan, one bar at a time. His great photos and detailed descriptions are stories in themselves. It is an absolute must-have for anyone who travels to Japan and appreciates a good drink. It will help you navigate the towering levels of bars through Tokyo (and beyond), a treasure map in an often overwhelming and confusing labyrinth of bars.

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About the Author: Chris Bunting is a British journalist (and a father

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of two) who has lived in Japan for seven years. He has a background in news reporting and works at a university in Tokyo when he's not studying the nightlife. He started writing the book and launched his website Nonjatta.com after falling in love with Japanese whiskey. Although he might not admit it, he is one of the world's experts in Japanese whiskey, having been published in several related works.

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Websites to Drink to Drinkwiththewench.com

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rink With The Wench is the home brewed blog of "The Beer Wench," Ashley Routson, the resident Director of Awesomeness at Bison Brewery in addition to writer and producer of this seriously informative site. From refreshingly frank beer reviews to interviews with fellow beer bloggers and social media mavens, it's an intimate look at the inner workings of the beer industry, its beers, and the people making it bubble and bottle.

And cheers to a strong female voice in the craft beer industry!

walks into a bar...

“A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.”

Czech Proverb

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Heavenly Cocktails In 1969, a group of entrepreneurs picked herbs and spices in the Rocky Mountains and began to make teas and other strange brews, calling their company Celestial Seasonings Tea. Forty years later, there are groups of mixologists all over the world using these and other teas to add unique flavors to cocktails.

Aidan Demarest, owner and operator of Neat in Glendale, CA, loves tea cocktails, saying “I think they are the grown-up equivalent of Vodka Red Bulls.”

One of his favorites is made with Ko-Ti, a Chinese medicinal herb that oxidizes the blood and promotes circulation and concentration. “I infuse vodka with the tea and make a detox cocktail called Fire Water.”

“Figuring how many ways to change and modify a cocktail is what inspired me to use liquid other than plain water when making a... sugar syrup” says Chris Hannah, head bartender at the French 75 Bar in New Orleans. He finds that teas add “a nice little modification to an otherwise simple cocktail.” He recommends doubling the tea to make the flavor richer and spicier “especially when making a punch, where tea can get lost in all the ingredients.”

Sometimes inspiration comes from wanting to help people, like Danny Ronen does with Fair Trade Spirits.

“October is Fair Trade Month and I tasked myself with creating some cocktails using Fair Trade Spirits and other Fair Trade products.” This resulted in the Indian Summer, using FAIR Quinoa Vodka infused with Numi Organic Ruby Chai Tea, organic unfiltered apple juice, organic agave nectar, fresh lime juice, and organic free-range egg white. Danny adds, “it can also be made into a punch, without the egg whites.”

Bartenders have come a long way from the Long Island Iced Tea!

Fire Water

by Aidan Demarest of Neat 2 oz 1 oz .75 oz Pinch

Ko-Ti Infused Vodka Lemon Juice Honey Chipotle Powder Muddled Ginger

Shake with ice and serve up, in a chilled cocktail glass.

Chai Milk Punch

by Chris Hannah of the French 75 Bar 1.5 oz 1 oz .75 oz .25 oz 2

Bourbon Chai Tea (cooled) Heavy Cream Simple Syrup dashes Fee’s Walnut Bitters

Shake, pour over ice-filled wine glass, and garnish with grated cinnamon or nutmeg.

DrinkMeMag.com

Photo Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

by Sierra Zimei

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Featured Recipes

Pre-Prohibition Punch

by Dustin Dyer

1 oz Campo de Encanto

Pisco or Cyrus

Noble Bourbon 2 oz Pineapple Juice 1 oz Citrus (lime/lemon) 1 oz Orange liqueur 2 dashes Bitters

DrinkMeMag.com

Technique: Pour all ingredients into a boston shaker and shake, then strain over ice into a highball.

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Garnish: Fresh-cut citrus

New Fashioned

by Austin Ratliff

M Street, Nashville, TN 2 oz Four Roses

Small Batch Bourbon 2 Brandied Cherries 1 Tbsp Diced Apples 2 dashes Cinnamon 1 oz Rich Simple Syrup 2 dashes Fee Brothers Old

Fashioned Bitters Technique: Muddle cherries, apples, bitters and cinnamon with syrup in highball glass. Add bourbon and ice, stir to combine.

Garnish: Diced apples

Perhaps the one time your wife won’t mind if you go out for a couple of beers.

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Š2010 Pints for Prostates Inc. Creative design donated as a public service by Eric Mower and Associates.