Spirit log: Carlos i Solera Gran Riserva

Having already covered the fascinating story of procurement of this latest foray intoSpanish brandy, it is time now to give it its appraisal. How will it compare with its peers or even brandies of different heritage? Let’s find out.

First it should be noted that the ABV is a disappointing 38%. Both my previous dalliances with solera gran riserva brandies, Cardenal Mendoza and Gran Duque D’Alba have lived up to the standard 40. A quick filter of the data on my geeky spreadsheet shows that of all the brandies I’ve purchased [or received as gifts] in the past, only the Tesco Value brandy and Osborne’s 103 would also be members of this sub-strength club – and they weren’t good. Nevertheless, Carlos I (which, like the 103 is produced by Osborne) was the most special offering the supermarket I chose to make my purchase from had. I am hereafter determined to try a bit harder the next time I go to Spain.

Opening this bizarrely (and not particularly conveniently) shaped bottle actually coincided with the death of my last Ikea brandy snifter, so I was “forced” to find the funds for some far better quality John Lewis ones. There’s one in the picture – much better (though you can't really see it all that well).

I don’t know whether it is partially down to the quality of my new John Lewis brandy snifters, but I rate this far more highly than the other aforementioned solera gran riservas. It’s soft and mellow and occasionally there’s a slight hint of caramel in there, along with a hint of balsamic vinegar on the nose. It has proved to be popular with guests and, while I doubt I’ll be opting to buy another bottle in the future, it was of acceptable standard.

It's been a short one this week then. What's next week? I think I might be doing something about weird asian booze. Not sure. Come back next week and find out. Laters.

Looking forward to the Duty Free - amongst other things!

This is likely to be the last you hear from me for a couple of weeks. I got married at the end of August, but of course I fully intend to tell you all about it later, so keep an eye out for it.

After the wedding of course, comes the honeymoon. My wife and I will be spending ten days driving around the beautiful island of Ibiza. Aside from all the usual things people look forward to about their honeymoons, I am also particular excited about hitting the booze shops and the duty free – though of course I’m aware that ‘duty free’ doesn’t really exist within the European Union anymore.

I have learned from 101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die – a book Brenda bought me that I’ll provide a full report on in due course – that Duty Free isn’t just a place to pick up slightly cheaper litre bottles of standard supermarket fare. Sure, I’ve seen the presentation boxes of Johnny Walker Blue Label selling for hundreds of pounds, but what I didn’t realise was that there are some whiskies that are most commonly found, or only available in Duty Free. With that in mind, I have been saving a small fund for buying a special bottle of whisky on my return. I’ve saved £50, and I think I’ll be prepared to add a further £30 to that if necessary. That should buy something pretty special.

I know £50 doesn’t sound like a lot for a working guy to save, but be reasonable! Yes, I could afford to spend £100 on a bottle of whisky if I wanted, but you have to maintain some perspective – that would probably the first step towards the end of my marriage. It’s only 70cl of whisky, and if it’s good, I would drink it in a month or less. I don’t know how people justify spending large sums on single bottles of booze, but I can’t reconcile those sums with what you’re actually getting and with the expenses and responsibilities you have in every day life. £100 can buy lots of other things. Therefore my solution is to slowly save a fund that isn’t ever intended to buy anything else. Then, eventually I can buy a special (expensive) bottle of booze, guilt-free.

Some Duty Free shops are obviously better than others, and I can’t recall what the one at Ibiza airport is like, but I’m looking forward to having a good root around. It will be the first time I’ve gone Duty Free shopping with a budget to spend – usually it’s the end of the holiday and you might have a few euros left, but nothing’s as cheap as you’d like it to be.

My primary target is to be the Highland Park 21 years old. It is exclusive to Duty Free, is described in the book as the best of all the Highland Park expressions ( I did enjoy the 12 year old), and is an impressive 47.5% ABV - if you can get the right one. Supposedly it was produced at 40% for a bit, but should be available at the full 47.5% again by now.

If they don’t have the full strength version, I’ve got back ups. There’s the Dewar’s 12 Year Old and Cutty Sark, which aren’t exclusive to Duty Free, but apparently aren’t so easy to find in shops in the UK. If there’s nothing on my shortlist available, I’ll just take a chance. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something to get excited about. Just don’t drop it.

Outside of Duty Free, there’s the prospect of picking up some nice Spanish stuff. You never really know what of the local booze is going to be available in Duty Free, so I’m thinking of hitting the shops around the island and getting perhaps something for drinking during the holiday, and some things to bring back. It would be nice to get another bottle of Licor 43 or Cardinal Mendoza brandy, or maybe something else entirely.

Being a fan of grappa, I’d be interested in picking up some orujo, which is similar, I’ve read. Then there’s the Hierbas Ibicencas, which is an aniseedy drink that comes with twigs in the bottle. Brenda brought  a bottle of that back for me last time she went, and I wouldn’t mind getting another one.

Outside of booze, it might be time to get another football shirt, too. I’m just not sure my budget will stretch that far - £50 on booze or £50 on a football shirt? I’m starting to lean towards the booze.

Of course, booze is only a small part of the honeymoon experience. I’m very much looking forward to spending all my time with Brenda, lazing on beaches, eating in restaurants and doing all the things newlyweds do - whatever they are…

Sooo… I’ll see you on my return, hopefully with a nice tan and plenty of stories. Try not to miss me too much.

Shower Drinking

People who know me quite well know that sometimes I like to take a drink into the shower with me. I like to think of it as representing a kind of attitude, living the dream, doing it your own way. Yes, I am a maverick. I don’t really think of it like that; I just think it’s cool.

It started when I was at university. Sometimes I’d already be drinking a beer, but I’d need to have a shower in advance of going out and, not wanting to leave any dead space in the drinking, it didn’t take much imagination to conceive of the idea of shower drinking. Innovation – it’s what separates us from the animals.

These days it’s less about preventing interruptions in the drinking, and more about enhancing the experience of having a shower – just as having a drink might enhance the experience of sitting in the garden. It’s particularly good if you’ve just gotten in from some heavy exercise, or you’ve played a round of golf in sweltering heat. Let’s face it; there’s nothing better than having a beer when you’re proper thirsty, when you just feel like guzzling it down, until the bubbles burn your throat and you’re ready to stop, then you stop and go: Aaaaaaaaah! If you’re proper thirsty and need a shower: shower drinking. Essentially, it’s kicking back and relaxing - like having a whisky and a cigar on the patio - but you’re getting a job done at the same time, and it doesn’t feel like a job anymore. Afterwards you’ve got a proper beer buzz, because you drank it so fast.

You don’t have to limit your shower drinking to beer, either. You can take anything in there; it just helps to make sure the shower facilities are suitable. Beer is good because it comes in a can, so your liquid is protected from the shower water, and you don’t have to worry about breakages. At home we have a shower cubicle, so I can set the can down on one of the corners.

Stronger liquors are more of a risk, since you generally have to drink them out of a glass, so it means you have to weigh up the risk of breakage and possible injury. Also, if you take it with ice, you need to drink a bit quicker since the heat from the shower may cause it to melt into your drink too quickly. You could use a hip flask I suppose, but I prefer to keep those for covert, out of home drinking (perhaps the showers in the swimming baths?). Drinking from a hip flask around the house is just a bit weird. I suppose you could always innovate in other ways – sippy cups and the like.

Few showers are ideally equipped for shower drinking, but that’s part of the fun – the challenge of making it work, and coming out on top. When I was on a golf holiday in Spain, I’d take a glass of brandy (Cardinal Mendoza Solera Gran Reserva ) into the shower with me, and there were no shelves at all in there, not even one of those awkwardly shaped ones that are designed to hold soap. Luckily the shower space was fairly large, so I was able to set it on the edge at the bottom, far enough away from the cascading water to ensure that there was no contamination. You wouldn’t want any soap suds dripping in, would you? Perhaps that’s what those little cocktail umbrellas are for…

Try it. And tell me if there’s anywhere unusual that you like to take a drink. 

Booze Tourism Part 2 - Spain

So it's time for part 2 of my guide to Booze Tourism, where I relate tales of buying interesting booze souvenirs from foreign lands instead of the usual gift shop tat. This time I'll be looking at Spain, where in the past you might have bought a sombrero, a Barcelona shirt or a straw donkey.

Here we go...

In July of last year I was able to spend a week in San Javier, Spain playing golf and drinking with two friends (John and Chris), and this time I’d had chance to do a little booze research before heading out. I am already the relative you buy whisky for at Christmas, but on this holiday I became the person who brings the interesting booze to the party – in my own mind, at least.

As my targets I’d identified Cardinal Mendoza Solera Grand Reserva brandy (based on recommendations from www.thewhiskyexchange.com) and Licor 43 (or Cuarenta Y Tres). I actually found both the first time we went to the proper supermarket, and bought them immediately. I say ‘immediately’, it actually took an age for the stock boy to fetch the actual bottle of brandy to the checkout – it was one of those where you pick up an empty box, and the bottle is added later. I offered to let the people queuing behind us go first, but the staff didn’t seem to be able to deal with such maverick improvisation.

Now, I don’t actually know anything about the brandy, but it sure was nice. This blog isn’t about all the tiny details relating to a bottle of booze though, so if that’s what you’re looking for I’m sorry to disappoint you, though I am happy to point you in the direction of someone that can fulfil your requirements. On this occasion, a cursory internet search hasn’t yielded any information I’d consider interesting enough to tell you about so… yeah… sorry about that.

Between the three of us we drank the whole bottle comfortably before I needed to start thinking about how to pack my clothes and golf clubs without exceeding the weight limit again. We’d booked our flights assuming that if we selected the ‘golf clubs’ option we’d have no weight limit as long as everything was in the same bag. It turned out when we arrived at the airport that we were still only allowed 20kg – the same as everyone else. What had we paid extra for? No one at Monarch seemed to know. I was looking at paying £70 extra (£10 per kg), but by wearing a few extra layers and bunging some stuff in my hand luggage I managed to get it down to £20. Of course, the first thing they did when I returned to the check-in desk was weigh my hand luggage. It was an acceptable weight; just.

I made a careful plan for the way back, came in under weight, and though John was over, the staff at the Spanish end didn’t care anyway.

Back to the liquor though; Cardinal Mendoza Solera Gran Reserva is dark and sweet, and though I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it at first, any doubts were soon allayed and it made a pleasant companion for my afternoon shower and chilling on the balcony. Here’s a moody picture of the view from our balcony. That could have been at sunrise or senset. Not sure which. Lovely.

On one of the days I drove down to Granada to see Pablo – my first time driving on the er… wrong side of the road. It sure was fun when the SatNav sent me down a slip road before telling me to ‘turn around… when possible” and then gave up altogether on entry into Granada itself. The whole town was under renovation, and the roads didn’t make any sense.

Pablo, the most cheerful guy in the world, had stayed with Brenda and I for a month as a foreign language student, and I’d figured I’d better make an effort to visit while I was a mere 3 hour drive away. When I happened to mention that I’d bought some brandy, he said that brandy is for old people. I see. I’m not sure why brandy doesn’t have a cooler reputation – it’s stronger than beer, so logically it should be more revered among the young. Young people have a respect for you if you like whisky (or so I tell myself), so you’d think that respect would extend to brandy. Perhaps the flavour of brandy is easier to like, so it doesn’t give you the hardcore edge that whisky, vodka and tequila do. If you drink vodka or tequila neat, people think you’re a nutcase.

As for the Licor 43 – a liqueur so named because it is made from a secret combination of 43 herbs and spices – I had read that it’s nice over ice, or teamed with milk, lemonade or cola. Chris and I tried it over ice first (John wasn’t so interested) and Chris noticed it has an unusual appearance. I’ve tried to show it in a picture for you, but I’m not sure you can see. It’s like the melting ice and the liqueur are unable to mix, so they snuggle up against each other like germs in a petri dish.

The flavour’s a weird one, I don’t think I can describe it. It’s very sweet, and I don’t know if I’m tasting vanilla there – everything seems to taste of vanilla if you read reviews of spirits. I took more than half a bottle back home with me, and I can confirm, it adds an interesting twist if mixed with lemonade or cola (not so keen with milk)– so far it’s probably my favourite single item for making a soft drink slightly less soft since, unlike rum or whisky, I’d rather not drink it on its own, and at 31% alcohol it provides a happy medium between your full strength spirits and your half-strength liqueurs.

You can find suggestions for cocktails to make with Licor 43 on the website (http://www.licor43.com/) – or you could last time I looked [I had a look last night, and couldn’t really find anything useful].  I tried one of the simpler ones, but the best use I’ve found for this so far is the very first cocktail I have ever invented… and I’ll be posting about that at another time.

I was close to not getting a post up at all this week, but I’ve finally made it. I can’t say I have any special booze-related plans for the weekend, though I do have an idea for another cocktail that I’m going to try to put together tonight, and there’s something else I’ve been planning to do with The Devils Breath (see earlier post) for a while.. We’ll see how those go in a later post. Have a great weekend and a happy mother’s day, and I’ll probably be back next week.

Laters!