Enjoying a glass or two!

As I write this I'm enjoying a vodka and a DaFruta Mango cocktail. The DaFruta juice is from Brazil. I spied it at the "strange food" store that we go to once a week and I took a chance. If they have more when we go back next week I'll buy all that they have (not much). I love mango. BTW, the cocktail has been consumed... delicious.

Not all experiments work out. I also bought a "cashew juice" concentrate. It's just horrid. All I taste is the citric acid that's in it. I don't know what I expected, but not that. :-)

I've heard of the Cashew fruit juice sold in Brazil along the transportation route of the Cashews. Apparently the fruit is so delicate and subject to spoilage it can't be transported far before going to waste. That's probably why they do it in the concentrate form , who knows what they put in it for transport and storage.

Thanks. I didn't know. The smell is the best part of it. It has a nice aroma, just not much there for flavor. Yes, it has citric acid and 2 other chemicals as preservatives. Nothing really nasty though. We're making 5 gallons of dog food today, it'll go in there for them after I try it one last time and find that I still don't like it.

Makes sense and it's not going to waste.

Who else likes pumpkin beers? It's that time of the year! I've never had a pumpkin IPA before. It's pretty good although I think the flavor lends itself better to a brown ale or stout. I really like the label designs too.

Am I too late for this?

Here's the Bourbon that I like.

I'm in the process of finding a new scotch. In my searching I found not one, but a handful of blends that will fill that role. Teachers for the smokiness, Monkey Shoulders is peaty, and Ballantines is always very good and has been for decades. But probably the relatively inexpensive "everyday" brand is White Horse. Much credit needs to go to a friend on another forum for his suggestions as they weren't stocked at my local liquor store and had to be special ordered. Without his input I never would have found them.

If memory serves me correctly, White Horse has Lagavulin in the blend which is what probably gives it that nice smoky peatiness. Lagavulin is one of the big three Islay single malts (along with Laphroaig and Ardbeg) I absolutely love - thick smoky peat with that sweet medicinal underbelly. Great stuff!

A really peaty one is Monkey Shoulders. That was another keeper that he suggested.

I grabbed some Ardbeg recently. It just seems to have all the peat that exists in Scotland in it. I guess I'm just not a fan of the taste yet.

I'm trying to expand beyond bourbons and blended whiskeys, and dabble in single malts.I did however get some Bruichladdich that I really enjoy. It's not peaty at all, so I'm guessing that's the reason.