Voyager Gin

Being a big gin fan I was very happy when a friend picked up a nice bottle for his house when I come over (the sign of a great friend). Voyager is a brand I have never seen before and I was excited to give it a spin in the familiar gin and tonic.

The gin was solely for me, so I ran to the store for the tonic and limes. The smell was less herbal and had an almost vodka level of alcohol. It lives up to its title probably being the truest dry gin I have tried to date. For mixing in a traditional gin beverage I'm sure it is great, and in my gin and tonic it was crisp and clean but lacked the complexity I usually enjoy in a gin. This is one I probably won't be picking up myself as I'm sure it is more expensive than other similar gins.

Bringing in 2012

So I learned a valuable lesson last night. In celebrating New Years I jumped between several different kinds of alcohol. I started the night off with a rye drink at a bar around 8pm. After getting home I enjoyed a gin and tonic and followed that up with a vodka, Midori, Sprite mixed drink and was at the tipsy stage so I held off from 11 til midnight.
Being New Year's we popped open a bottle of Champagne, something I almost never drink. It was just the two of, so we polished off half a bottle each and we're feeling great til about an hour later when I started feeling a little loopy.
I slept fine, but woke up with my whole body feeling heavy, an ill stomach, and a piercing headache. The headache lasted almost all day. That was one of the worst hangovers I've had. Now I know the dangers of Champagne, even though I finally thought I knew my tolerances well. I'll be more careful switching to and trying new forms of alcohol. Those bubbles got me this time, but not again.

The Billionaire

<p>Rye, and grenadine and Absinthe bitters. Its strange how the rye flavor lingers. It's my first time trying rye and I'm trying to distinguish it from the Absinthe bitters. Overall its very good and fits the fries and burger well, but it has a much heavier almost sandy dry yet very tart taste to it that may take a while for me to appreciate. I'll have to revisit rye again someday straight up.</p>

First Flight; Sip Malibu

Today was my first wine tasting, and it was at a cool rural wine bar in Malibu, California. We did the Monster Flight, which was all red wines, blends. The picture explains them best.
The Purple Haze had the best flavor, somewhat dry, kinda fruity with a clean finish. I really enjoyed the Moulin Rouge, which was also a dry wine, a little heavy and somewhat berry flavored. The last wine, Black Widow, was floral and almost creamy in its finish. A great way to end the tasting.

Sayuri Sake

A light and fluffy sake by the restaurant's description (at Bodega in Los Angelo's). It lives up to it's name being much more palatable than most sake I have tried straight up. It almost has a milky consistency, which I am assuming is due to it being unfiltered. I didn't even know sake came unfiltered, but I will be trying more unfiltered sake to see the difference soon.

Woo Woo

1.25 oz vodka
0.75 oz peach schnapps
3 oz cranberry juice

This is a new favorite of mine. It's fruity tasting and you can tell there is alcohol in it but it is very smooth and crisp. The flavor of the peach schnapps surfaces the most, which is a good thing as the flavor is carried very well in this cocktail. Of the friends of mine that have tried it they have all liked it a lot.

Banana Dr Pepper

I know what you must be thinking, I'm either crazy or just really bored to even try mixing banana rum with Dr Pepper. Neither, I just had nothing else to mix with.
So it really just taste like candy, specifically a banana flavored laffy taffy. I didn't measure anything, but it's roughly half and half. The Cruzan banana rum is really good by itself and I usually just mix it with 7up, but now I know what to do if I get a sweet tooth.