The Rum Lounge

Tips For Throwing A Perfect Wine Tasting Party

rum lounge — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:22:02 +0000

If you enjoy wine and your friends enjoy wine, a casual wine tasting can be a great way to enjoy wine together and test each other’s palates. You can hold blind tastings if you really want to test your skills and the skills of your friends, or you can just get together and try out the different types of wines that you and your friends enjoy.

Many formal wine tastings do not allow you to swallow the wine. The tasting is simply to get the taste, smell the bouquet and enjoy the overall experience of the wine. At your casual tasting you can feel free to allow your guests to drink the wine, but there may be sobriety issues if you do this. It is also important to realize that you may not get the full flavor and effect of the wine as you get deeper into the tastings.

Either way that you perform your tasting you will want to have clean glasses for each person and each bottle. You will also need a clean white tablecloth. The white tablecloth will allow you to get a good view of the wine. The tablecloth allows you to see the wine’s body and any sediment that may be in the glass from an aged wine. Candlelight will also allow you to see the wine clearly and any sediment that may be in the bottle or decanter. Clean glasses are extremely important, as any residue in the glass will cause your wine to have an impure taste.

To help keep the event easy, ask your guests to bring a bottle of their favorite wine. You may also need them to bring their own glasses if you do not have enough. You will also need some crackers or bread to help cleanse the palate as well as room temperature water. Cold water will shock your taste buds.

You will want to decant your red wines. If you cannot decant them all at once, you may want to pour a small amount in each glass and allow them to breathe a bit. The more air contact the wine has, the better they will taste. You may also choose to explore the difference that decanting makes. Taste the wine at ten and fifteen minute intervals. White and blush wine should be chilled slightly before serving.

When you taste your wines, it is a good idea to have a paper and pencil available so that your guests can take notes and rank their wines. You will also want to start with lighter and simpler wines and then move on to the drier and heavier wines. You will not taste your white wines as well as if you drink the heavier and dry wines first. If you must reuse a glass, swirl some water around in it and dry it with a clean cloth so that the water does not dilute the wine.

Begin by looking at the wine and observing its clarity and color. A wine is judged on its color, aroma and taste. Hold the wine up to a light and note the color of the wine. The wine should also appear to be clear and cloudy. Next, tip the glass slightly and swirl it gently. The wine flows around the glass and if the wine clings and dribbles down the side in “legs” or stripes, this mean that the wine is a medium bodied wine. If the wine forms a sheet, it is a full-bodied wine.

Next, tip the glass and swirl the wine around while holding it a little bit away from your nose. This helps to increase the amount of scent that is available for your nose to smell. Inhale the wine deeply and then move it away, this will keep you from becoming overwhelmed by the aroma. You may be able to smell fruit, yeast, grass, or earth in the wine.

The last step is to taste the wine. Take a small sip and push it up in front of your mouth and then inhale through your teeth. Slosh the wine around in your mouth and cover your tongue with it. You are going to want to taste the predominant tastes at first and then the secondary tastes that appear. Is the wine’s taste complex? Does it have a wood-taste?

Take a moment between wines to rinse your mouth and take a bite of unsalted crackers or bread. This will help to clear the taste from the previous wines. If you hold a blind tasting, place the bottles in brown bags or remove the labels. Have your guests make notes and guess what the varietals and brands are.

Wine tastings don’t have to be formal affairs. They can be very casual and you can have a lot of fun with it. There are even wine tasting kits that you can buy to supply you with the necessary bags, tags and other wine information that you may need.

Thoughts on food and beverages – Part 31

rum lounge — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:47:36 +0000

You are what you eat. This statement rings so true when you actually learn what you are eating. Obesity, mood disorders,cancer, ADD/ADHD, skin conditions etc, I could go on forever, but many of these conditions are a condition of the foods that we eat.

Take a look at the list of ingredients and see how many preservatives and colors are added to our every day prepackaged foods, now do a search on each and find out how many are naturally derived. The human body is an amazing machine which is finely tuned from our caveman days, but compare what you eat now to what we did then you’ll start to see why the human race is slowly but surely being killed out by the foods we consume today.

Every person needs to be informed on what they are actually consuming, and always remember everything in moderation.

How to rim a cocktail glass

rum lounge — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:50:16 +0000

Knowing how to properly rim a cocktail glass can add a special something to your cocktails that can have your guests asking ‘what’s your secret?’ Alright, maybe I’m over-exaggerating a little, but still, knowing how to rim the glass can make shots go down smoother and add a little kick to your cocktails.

The first thing to properly rimming a glass is how to keep the stuff on! Bars use lime juice, because it’s the easiest way. You have a choice of either buying a whole lime and cutting it into wedges, then slicing the center of the wedge and running it around the rim of the glass (BONUS: you get fancy bar garnishes!), or buying a bottle of lime juice, pouring some on a plate, and simply dipping the rim. Lime juice is cheaper in the long run, easier to use, and you can use it if you need to in your recipes.

The second thing to properly rimming the glass has to do with knowing the taste of your cocktail. Are you making something sweet? Sour? Warm and comforting? What you rim your glass with is completely up to you, but the most common spices used are salt and sugar. Let’s look at a couple of well-known cocktails to show you what I mean.

First and foremost, the Margarita. A blend of Tequila and citrus, the margarita is more often than not accompanied by a salted rim. Why it’s so yummy: Without going into the whole chemistry of things, basic table salt is an alkali, which means it neutralizes the acid of the citrus, allowing your tongue to taste more of the drink. Salt is also used on the rim of a Salty Dog, a blend of vodka and grapefruit juice, and on the rims of Bloody Mary’s (but not as much as the other two). Basic rule: Salt the rim of a sour citrus (limes and grapefruit) flavored drink.

Next we look at using sugar. Lemon drops, a mix of vodka, sugar, and fresh lemon juice, are the most common drink that use sugar on the rim. They’re popular as both shots or girly martinis. Why it’s yummy: It’s not nearly as chemically complicated as the salt, the simple fact is sugar makes the lemon juice sweeter. Since the vodka is relatively tasteless, you get the full blast of lemon. Sugar is to lemons like salt is to limes. Why not use salt if we’re talking citrus again? Lemons aren’t nearly as acidic as limes, they’re more bitter . Sugar also goes well on hard lemonade, and other fruity drinks that have lemon juice or other bitter citrus fruits, like oranges and strawberries. Basic rule: Sugar goes on the rim of bitter citrus flavored drinks.

Lastly, we take a look at warm comforting drinks, like a hard cider or eggnog. Typically only on the holidays, these drinks are accented well by a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and sometimes even a little nutmeg (but just a pinch). Whiskey and Brandy are your alcohols of choice here, they identify well with the spicy flavor of both, which would make sense as to why you want to rim your glasses with said spices. The sugar is there simply to even out the cinnamon, and the nutmeg is to help bring out the warmth in the drink. A great recipe for this time of year calls for a shot of scotch, brandy, or whiskey (personally I liked the brandy, much smoother) and a drizzle of an apple cinnamon syrup by Monin, shaken and served cold in a martini glass rimmed with cinnamon and sugar. I’m not sure what the basic rule is here, but I think you get the idea.

So there you have it. Everything you need to know about properly rimming a cocktail glass to wow the guests at your next party. Remember, always drink responsibly.

Beer reviews: Jenlain Ambree Biere de Garde

rum lounge — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:20:34 +0000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, France is not a country that one would immediately associate with beer, but they do brew it. Granted, not in the quantity of choice and most definitely not in the quality, of the neighbouring countries of Belgium and Germany, but brew it they do. And since I was holidaying in France in September, it would have been churlish, not to say downright un-francophile of me not to sample as many French beers as was humanly possible in that short space of time. (Always maintaining a responsible attitude to alcohol consumption at all times. OK kids?)

So without further ado, let’s discuss one of these Gallic imbibements, Jenlain Ambree Biere de Garde, right here, right now.

Duyck is a family name from the part of Flanders which extends into France. The farmhouse-style brewery that bears this name is located just across the border from Belgium, in the village of Jenlain, near the town of Valencienes. Their best known beer is the biere de garde which they have been brewing since 1922, in fact they kept this style alive when many other brewers in the region were abandoning it. They also brew a lager style beer and seasonal specialities.

Jenlain Ambree Biere de Garde comes in a 750ml wine-style bottle with a wired, champagne type cork. It looks, to all intents and purposes like a bottle of wine, but it’s not. This review would be off topic if it were.

It’s brewed with top-fermenting yeast and is unpasteurized.

I decided to try this beer as Jenlain Lager is available at my local supermarket and, having sampled that a few times, and enjoyed it, I felt duty-bound to investigate it’s amber cousin.

This beer pours to an attractive, rosy, amber colour with lots of carbonation and a massive, bubbly head which dissipates fairly quickly. It doesn’t leave an awful lot of lace on the glass. There’s a hoppy, fruity, tea-like aroma and it’s also somewhat fruity, mostly apples. I don’t really sense a lot of malt in the nose.

It’s full-bodied with a light, syrupy start, some gentle malt flavour – but nothing which demanded attention, and some fruitiness – apples with a hint of orange. It has a strange flavour, a little sweet and spicy and an artificial fruitiness – almost like a food additive flavour. It’s not unpleasant, just very hard to define. It turns very dry in the finish with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

At 6.5% ABV, this beer packs a decent punch. I found it rather too bitter for my taste but it was still a pleasant, refreshing beer. It’s not really a beer that would accompany many foods, in my opinion, more of a summer evening’s indulgence. I think it would be a good, refreshing, thirst quencher after a hard day’s work – whatever that is.

Is gaming addiction a problem? – Part 2

rum lounge — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:46:10 +0000

For people that see others waiting in front of a Gamestop at midnight to buy a video game, this may offend you, but I really do not care. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I am a very big video gamer, but I am not addicted to video gaming, and for anybody to say that I am should not be quick to judge. Personally, I loathe the word addict. It makes me feel like I have a problem that has the potential of killing me in the long run if I’m not careful. But that’s enough about me, it’s time for the subject at hand.

People that say that gaming is a problem are the people that have problems themselves in their own lives, so naturally they feel that they need to place blame on others to make themselves feel good. Look at what persistent gaming has done for people. Now there are professional gaming leagues where people are making this into a business, just to play games for a living. These people also get paid large amounts of money just to keep people entertained with their superior gaming prowess, and you people say that being a game addict is bad. Addiction to me is just a fancy term for really liking something to the point you are willing to give up other things to do what you like to do. In a sense, it’s kind of like Lent in a twisted way. Besides, gamers do other things besides gaming. We have jobs, hobbies besides gaming, we exercise (for the most part. Look at DDR! That’s a game, and exercise all rolled into one nice and neat slice of video gaming genius. Plus, with the Wii out, there is an exercising tool that is the controller! You have to get up to play it, and with sone of the motions required to play, you get a pretty decent workout from it! If that isn’t enough to appease the biggest skeptic, I don’t know what is.), and we WRITE! I guarantee you a good portion of the helium population are gamers. Gamers are NOT addicts, nor should be classified as addicts. Try using some anti-gamer slander on something that needs to be addressed, like smoking, excessive drinking, and gun control that fits the 5th amendment. Those truely need to be fixed in this society, not gaming addiction.

Best casino card games

rum lounge — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:46:19 +0000

I know how to deal nine casino card games and Roulette. I dealt Blackjack, 3-Card Poker, Crazy Four Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Texas Shoot-Out, Single Deck Blackjack, Let It Ride and Ultimate Texas Hold Em. I dealt in an Iowa casino for a year and one month. I found dealing these games the that the best money makers are Blackjack and Mini-Baccarat. I also found that if you want to have fun while playing card games the best would be Crazy Four (4-card Poker), Pai Gow Poker and Texas Shootout. I have seen thousands be won on Blackjack and also on Pai Gow Poker.

A lot of people aren’t as familiar with a lot of the games and that’s why they loose money. When you play Blackjack, you can play it for fun but if you are playing to make a little extra money, never go on a weekend. Why do I say this? Usually, on the weekend people that are first-timers and don’t know what they are doing go to the casino. A lot of the time, they could care less if you are playing $100 a hand or $5 a hand. They are there to drink and enjoy themselves. Biggest mistake ever seen while dealing at a $5 Blackjack table. I watched a man loose a $300 bet sitting at first base because the girl sitting at third base was drunk and didn’t follow any of the rules.

I’ve seen a man stopping at the casino for a rest between stops while going across country. Two days before Christmas and decided to play at Texas Shoot-Out because he liked poker. The man made a one time $25 dollar bet on the bonus and won close to $6000. Texas Shout-Out is a carnival card game. You can make money on these games just like you can make money on Blackjack. I loved to deal this game because you could win in so many ways. Don’t forget the House always has the advantage though.

There is no way a table game dealer or casino can cheat while dealing. I can’t vouch for every casino but I can for the casino I worked at. The table advantage on Blackjack is that the dealer gets the last cards in the shoe. The shoe is very important in six-deck games. Also, games like Three-Card Poker and Crazy Four Poker have a house advantage because the dealer gets the last cards.

Why does it seem that Blackjack dealers always win and don’t bust? Blackjack dealers have to hit soft seventeens and can’t stay because they are worried they are going to bust. If they have a sixteen showing and you have nineteen showing, they have to draw a card. It is not an option to stay. If you and the dealer had a soft seventeen, which is an Ace and a Six, you have the option to stay but the dealer does not. A lot of players believe that the dealer is cheating and feel as though the House is getting the advantage there. Just like in basketball, if a team that shoots from the 3-point line all the time makes more points they most likely win the game. If the other team only takes occasional 3-point line shots and missed the majority of the time, they will lose. You have to take risk to win.

As far as risk are concerned. Any game in the casino is a risk. The slot machines are a higher risk because these machines are computerized to jackpot at certain times. Table game card games on the other hand are not computerized but controlled by your decisions. I would not recommend at all going into a casino with your rent check to try and double it to pay your rent and your car payment. It only works once in a while unless you are a professional gambler. Yes, you have a better chance winning money at a card game in the casino than on a slot. You also have a better chance of loosing money in a casino period. In closing, try to gamble responsibly.

Drink recipes: Singapore sling – Part 2

rum lounge — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:26:55 +0000

The great thing about a Singapore Sling is that its an easy drink to vary to suit your tastes or those of your friends. For what is regarded as a “classic cocktail” there certainly is a great deal of discussion as to exactly what is and isn’t required.

The facts, though, are these: the Singapore Sling was first made in the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel in Singapore sometime between 1910 and 1915. Prior to this there existed a drink known as the Singapore Strait but its not known exactly how this became famous drink we know today.

In drinking terminology, a “sling” was traditionally a long drink made with half rum and half water; the Singapore Sling is certainly a far cry from this.

The original recipe was lost which is probably the reason that opinion is so fiercely divided as to the correct ingredients. Follow this idea below and you should be fairly close; Individual ingredients can be varied or even omitted depending on your personal taste. Except the gin – that is the most important ingredient!

2 measures of dry gin

1 measure of cherry brandy or cherry liqueur (cocktail snobs usually insist on Heering Cherry Liqueur)

Half a measure of Cointreau or other orange based liqueur

Half a measure of Benedictine (this one is optional, many recipes do not include it)

A good slug of grenadine

Two and a half measures of pineapple juice

One and a half measures of freshly squeezed lemon juice

A dash of Angostura bitters

Shake the ingredients well in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a highball glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry and a wedge of pineapple.

Some recipes use soda water instead of pineapple juice; connoisseurs tend to reject this as incorrect.

Enjoy!

Drink recipes: Holiday cocktails

rum lounge — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:36:36 +0000

At this time of year many of us are preparing to entertain for the holidays. Hosting a cocktail party can be an unnerving experience. It helps to have current and interesting cocktail recipe ideas to impress and delight your guests. Below are some great cocktail recipes which work well with both cocktail parties and sit down dinners.

Champagne Cocktail Recipes:

New Old-fashioned Champagne Cocktail

Give flute glass a Grand Marnier wash,

leaving 1/4 ounce of Grand Marnier in the glass

Soak 1 sugar cube in Angostura bitters

Place sugar cube in flute glass

Add 1 orange twist

Fill glass with chilled Champagne or Prosecco

Serve

The Royal Ascot

This cocktail is simple. Pour 1 ounce of Pimms

into a flute glass and top with chilled Champagne or Prosecco.

The garnish can be creative. Orange and lemon twists, cucumber twists and sprigs of mint

all work really well with the flavor of Pimms.

This a very refreshing cocktail.

Berry Bubbles

1/2 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce Chambord or raspberry liqueur

1 ounce cranberry juice

Shake well

Pour into chilled martini glass

Top up with Chilled Champagne or Prosecco

Garnish with fresh cranberries

Other Cocktail Recipes:

Namaste

1 ounce vanilla vodka

1 ounce sweetened, chilled Chai tea

1 ounce orange juice

Shake well.

Pour into chilled martini glass.

Garnish with orange wheel and cinnamon stick.

Pom/Cran Mojito

1 1/2 ounces amber rum

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce pomegranate juice

1 ounce cranberry juice

2-3 sprigs fresh mint

2 lime wedges

Muddle together mint, lime wedges, fresh lime juice,

simple syrup, pomegranate and cranberry juices.

Fill tall glass half way with ice.

Pour amber rum onto ice.

Pour muddled mixture into glass.

Top with soda water.

Garnish with sprigs of mint, lime wheels, and/or

pomegranate and cranberry skewers.

After Dinner Mint

1 ounce chilled espresso(or other strong coffee)

1 ounce Creme DE Cacao

1 ounce mint liqueur

2 ounces cream or milk

Shake Well.

Pour into chilled martini glass.

Garnish with chocolate mints,and/or sprigs of mint,

espresso beans.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays and please

drink responsibly!

Does violence in video games contribute to real life violence? – Part 3

rum lounge — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:14:52 +0000

Does violence in video games contribute to real life violence?

Violence has been a problem in the world for many years and many generations now and i have recently noticed that the people at PC (political correctness) headquarters now have decided video games contribute to crime, more importantly violence.

To me personally i don’t think video games to contribute to violence. The BBFC have age ratings and parental warnings for a reason and it’s exactly the same as how movies and TV shows are portrayed with the same types of violence and crime and do not cause controversy.

Before video games there were TV shows and movies, and before television and movies there were books and plays, take William Shakespeare for example, many of his plays notably Romeo And Juliet and also Macbeth, noted many acts of violence some of which were very disturbing and could affect the minds of young people. The Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island being another perfect example, acts of piracy and violence sum up many plot points of the story.

My argument is basically have you ever saw a BBFC classification on a book? No you haven’t yet this time 100 years ago before the Internet, Video games or even television and radio existed, books were the primarily source of entertainment, you didn’t have newspapers saying “Treasure Island has been banned by the government due to all the murders going on around the city”. And you didn’t have “Jack the Ripper murdered prostitutes because the main character in his favourite book was a serial prostitute killer”, you just did not have it and this is why i believe video games should not be categorised in such a different way when clearly that isn’t such a case.

Video games are a source of entertainment, just like any other sort of entertainment. There are different genres and types that appeal to all kinds of people for all ages, male and female just like anything else. Don’t get me wrong i was shocked when i read a few years ago that some teenager butchered his best friend for no reason, but once i read that he had been playing a game that in all fairness he should not of been playing then i thought to myself, there are age classifications for a reason, people that age should not be playing games or watching movies that they aren’t old enough for, it’s just like drinking and smoking and other similar issues. They should be dealt with responsibly and reasonably.

Discipline is always the way around things and yet we are only human after all, we have all from one time to another done something that is underage or against the rules, but people will make their own choices, a life of crime is a choice, something that should be tackled which i think is a lot more important than pointing out petty excuses for why we have violence and crime in the first place, lets make choices not excuses.

Nick Adams

Drink recipes: Halloween cocktails

rum lounge — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:51:50 +0000

A simple way to serve great Halloween cocktails is to reinvent cocktails that are ordered every day. Choose cocktails that have dark colors or unusual colors that people are just not used to eating or drinking. Remember, while the taste of the cocktail is important, the garnish is just as important. Hot apple cider tastes great but it looks like muddy water which makes it a great choice for a Halloween beverage. Imagination is the key when it comes to a great Halloween drink and garnish. Below are some recipes for cocktails, punches and non-alcoholic beverages for Halloween, along with some suggestions for Halloween garnishes.

Cocktail recipes for Halloween:

Smashing Pumpkin

This is great served in one of those mini-pumpkins that has been scooped out or with cinnamon sugar on the rim of the glass. You could also serve it with whipped cream on the top and sprinkle it lightly with some powdered cinnamon.

1/3 oz. of Kahlua

1/3 oz. of Bailey’s Irish Cream

1/3 oz. Cinnamon Schnapps

Mix in a shaker with ice and strain into a serving glass.

Graveyard

This drink has always been made with red Tabasco sauce, but that was before Tabasco made a green sauce, give it a try too! Garnish with a skeleton straw and a spiraled lime zest or to make it particularly evil, garnish with a slice of jalapeno pepper.

1 oz. Tabasco sauce

1 oz of Tequila

Lemon-lime soda

Fill a serving glass with ice and add the Tabasco and tequila. Fill the rest of the glass with lemon lime soda and stir.

Brain Hemorrhage

This drink needs no garnish; it is a little creepy all on its own. If you don’t drink it in one shot, they say it has the texture of snot. Of course, one can only guess how that is known, but it really does look like a little brain floating in the shot glass.

Peach Schnapps

Bailey’s Irish Cream

Grenadine

Eyedropper

Fill a shot glass 2/3 full with peach schnapps, then slowly off the back of a spoon, pour about a teaspoon of Baileys (Brain). Drip 1-2 drops of grenadine on top (Hemorrhage). Yum Yum. Drink up!

Crime and Punishment

You know what they say: “if you can do the time, don’t do the crime.” Whatever the crime, the punishment for this drink sneaks up on you.

1 part Scotch

1 part Apple Brandy

2 parts Gin

Shake with ice and strain into glass.

A Blood Transfuser

The grape juice keeps the bourbon plasma blue.

1 part grape juice

1 part bourbon

Stir with ice and strain.

Blood and Sand

It has been reported that this cocktail got it’s name from the 1922 movie Blood