Posts Tagged ‘drink’

As some of you have no doubt sampled, we’re playing around with homebrew beer.  It’s all turned out drinkable, and some of it was downright delicious, but it’s been mostly luck.

Our beer supplies have come mostly from William’s Brewing, and although I don’t have any other datapoints, I’ve been pleased with the ingredients, equipment, and service.  The instructions are clear and straightforward, which is probably why things have turned out so well.  But there’s one thing we haven’t been following: the brewing temperature requirements.

Temperature is a major factor in the brewing process.  We’ve been brewing ales, which are relatively forgiving, but too hot or too cold can impair the yeast activities or impart strange flavors to the beer.  We’ve been leaving the beer to ferment in a cabinet in the kitchen, so that it would be in a cool dry dark place, and hopefully brew well.  But in truth, we have no idea what temperature it is in there.  Sure, I could buy a thermometer… or I could use this as an excuse to buy more microcontrollers.

The result is the “Beerbug”.  Right now, it’s an Arduino mounted in a cigar box, placed in the brewing cabinet.  It logs temperatures every five minutes and wirelessly sends it to another Arduino, which sends it over USB to a laptop computer, which uses a Python script to read the temperature data and logs it in a Google Docs spreadsheet, which then updates a line chart, which you can see at http://mattborn.net/beerbug.

The source and some of the technical how-to is on at http://github.com/mattborn/beerbug.

So I picked up a bottle of pomegranate liqueur tonight, since Maria had had a pomegranate beverage at dinner sometime last week and liked it.  So here is a version of a pom-tini and my impressions of it.

1.5 oz pomegranate liqueur

1.5 oz vodka

0.25 oz orange liqueur

In particular, I used Pama (specially bought for the purpose), Svedka (only vodka on hand), and a really old bottle of Bols triple sec.  Shake over ice, serve in a martini glass with a lemon zest garnish.  I confess I didn’t measure the triple sec.  (Speaking as manly-ly as possible) I think the pomegranate flavors are just fine; possibly a superior vodka might carry them better.  Sadly I think my triple sec is the weakest link, but I don’t have cointreau to do a side-by-side.

I caught this never-before-seen wine at TJ’s today for $7.99 and thought that I should give it a try.  I’m cooking a spicy Indian-style dinner tonight and was shopping for Rieslings or Gewurtztraminers to stand up to it, but I thought “Muller Thurgau” sounded decently German and might be able to hold its own.

In color it is nearly clear, and the first taste is lightly sweet and is followed quickly by a shot of tangy.  It lingers with pepper, and indeed compares favorably with Riesling.  That’s my limit of pretentious description so if you want more you’ll have to try it yourself.

On my admittedly granular scale, I rate this wine a “buy it again”.

Those of you who did me the favor of attending “wine nights” in lovely Urbana might remember that one time, after I found out I was going to Greece, when we tried a few Greek wines.  The only two I could find were from a place called Domaine Skouras; a red and a white, and that was all I knew.

Well, now it turns out that Mr. Skouras happens to be a real person with a real winery and he really likes the fact that the United States is his biggest export market.  So we paid him a visit, and he treated us pretty well.  We paid for the tour, but I’m not sure everyone gets the same service.  I probably made it on the local news a few times that evening because I happened to be sitting next to someone rather important.

The wine was nice, too.  We started with a tasting in the cellar (with the rows and rows of barrels – see photos).  Afterwards, we moved on to a lunch of gourmet Greek foods, which were tasty.  Wine served with the meal, of course.  We started with the red and white that I’d had before, and then moved on to the big guns, including a “big wine” – literally, “megas oenos,” and a delectable dessert wine (which is not for sale yet, but we got a sneak peek).  Some of the guests enjoyed the wine more than others, but I think everyone had fun.

And along the way, of course, I got to look out and see some of the countryside.  The Skouras winery is past Corinth on the Peloponnese somewhere, and this was a new part of the country for me.  The hills were steep and occassionally barren, but the valleys were fertile enough and they could put grape vines in the strangest places.  All told, it was a good way to spend a Saturday.