Archive for the ‘Home Brewing’ Category

10/14/2025 “BEER & WOMEN”   Leave a comment

I thought today I would do something a little different. As I’ve mentioned many times in posts I am not a lover of beer. While that remains true so does the fact that my better-half loves, adores, and worships at the closest beer tap. Over the years many of my friends and coworkers drank nothing but beer and to this day I’ll never understand why. This post is for all of you male beer drinkers out there and hopefully after reading this you may understand why many women have issues with men who love drinking beer. The following is a list of nineteen reasons why a man at times prefers beer rather than the company of a woman.

1. You can enjoy beer all month long.
2. You don’t have to wine and dine a beer
3. Beer will wait patiently for you in the car when you play sports
4. A frigid beer is still a good beer.
5. Beer is never late.
6. Beer hangovers go away eventually.
7. A beer doesn’t get jealous when you grab another beer.
8. Beer labels come off without a fight.
9. When you go to a bar, you can always pick up a beer.
10. Beer never has a headache.

  1. If you pour beer just right, you’ll always get good head.
  2. A beer won’t get upset if you come home with beer on your breath.
  3. You can have more than one beer a night and not feel guilty.
  4. Beer always goes down easy.
  5. You can share a beer with your friends.
  6. You always know if you’re the first one to pop a beer.
  7. Beer is always wet.
  8. You don’t have to wash a beer before it tastes good.
  9. You can have a beer in public.

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SCREW BEER – PASS THE JACK!

09/27/2025 🍾NECTAR OF THE GODS🍹   Leave a comment

Here I sit sipping a glass of 160 proof Jack Daniels, and I really do mean just “Sipping”. I have to admit it’s really smooth for something that will numb your brain and kick your ass. It has convinced me to once again do a post on “Whiskey”. For most of my 20’s and into my 30’s I was a Cutty Sark lover. Working as a police officer in a department filled with scotch drinkers I fit right in. In my late thirties I began making my own wine and for the next fifteen years I drank my somewhat interesting homemade wines and occasionally would spring for a more expensive bottle or two. Then in my seventies I was diagnosed with colon cancer and for 7 months the chemotherapy turned me into a teetotaler. For some inexplicable reason it also made it impossible for me to drink wine of any kind. So, I was returned to the mothers milk of whiskey lovers, Jack Daniels. It was like coming home again. This whiskey lover will now lay a few bits of whiskey trivia on you. Pour a drink and enjoy.

  • This excerpt was taken from a collection of medical recipes from the 15th century: For deafness . . . Take the bile of a hare with aqua vit and the milk of a woman’s breast in the same quantity and mix them well together and put them in the ear. This is a sure cure for deafness.
  • According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2018, the oldest bottle of whiskey still left unopened to the world is Baker’s Pure Rye Whiskey, distilled in 1847.
  • There is a quote from Mr. Tommy Cooper: “I’m on a whiskey diet, I lost three days already.”
  • Kentucky is home to more barrels of maturing bourbon than people. Kentucky’s population was approximately 4.5 million people while the barrels of whiskey totaled 91 million.

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Here is a quote from one of my favorites, Mark Twain:

“I always take Scotch whiskey at night as a preventative of toothache. I have never had the toothache, and what is more, I never intend to have it.”

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  • In 2019, 1.3 billion bottles of Scotch whiskey were bottled. If you laid all these bottles end-to-end they would stretch 350,000 km or 217,000 miles, or 90% of the distance to the moon! Moonshine indeed.
  • This last post is a quote by Joel Rosenberg and is one of my all-time favorites. If I wasn’t going to be cremated when I pass I would’ve have certainly requested this on my tombstone.

“I’m a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men,

enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four.”

CAN I GET A AMEN?

07/08/2025 🍸”IRISH HUMOR”🍺   Leave a comment

Todays post contains a modest collection of ethnic Irish humor. The jokes are quite lame and unfortunately the limericks are quite tame. Since I have a few Irish ancestors hiding in my family tree, I feel obligated to share some of their humor with you. And not to ignore the obvious Irish traits and traditions, I’ll be drinking a glass of excellent Irish whiskey as I type this post. And before anyone asks . . . no, I don’t have red hair.

Lets start with a few one liners.

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  • He was a terrible wreck and his trembling hands told the whole story. “Tell me,” asked his doctor, “do you drink much?” “Deed I don’t. Sure I spill most of it.”
  • “That will be five pounds or a month in jail,” the judge said sharply. “Very well, sir,” said Flaherty, “I’ll take the five pounds.”
  • Then there was the Irish shopkeeper who said his eggs were so fresh the hens hadn’t missed them.

Here a a couple of true Irish limericks.

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A lovely young maiden of Kilglass,

Who wore intimate garments of brass.

Pat, one night on the porch,

With an acetylene torch,

Just melted her resistance, at last!

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A western young lady named Flynn,

Would tell of her plans with a grin,

“I intend to be bold,

In manner untold,

For there’s need of original sin.”

And last but not least, some pithy Irish sayings for your pleasure.

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Then there was the Irishman who was asked the difference between an explosion and a collision. “In a collision,” he replied, “there you are but in an explosion where are you?

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She was only a whiskey maker’s daughter but he loved her still.

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A notice in a Galway newspaper some years ago is worthy of preservation: “Because of a lack of space a number of births have been held over until next week.”

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The police department magazine in Dayton, Ohio, once carried the following ad: For sale, second-hand tombstone, excellent buy for someone name Murphy.

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SLEEP IS THE FIRST SIGN OF RECOVERY

12/19/2024 “X-MAS HOMEBREW”   Leave a comment

I’ve been a homebrewer for more than thirty years. I’ve made thousands of bottles of wine over the years because I’m just not a big fan of beer. My few attempts at making beer were miserable failures or that’s what I’ve been told by the “Beer” people. It was a fun hobby and mostly kept me at home and out of trouble for years. When I notice something related to home brewing, I always save it for later use. This post has been in my files for a lot of years, and I can’t even remember where it came from, so I dusted it off, and here it is. Maybe next Christmas it might motivate some of you “Beer” people give it a try.

“TWAS THE HOMEBREWER’S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS”

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Every creature was thirsty, including the mouse…
The steins were empty, and the bottles were too
The beer had been drunk with no time to brew.


My family was nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of Christmas Ale foamed in their heads.
Mama in her kerchief lamented the drought,
She craved a pilsner and I, a large stout.


When out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the kitchen, I flew like a flash,
Opening the door with a loud bang and crash!

I threw on the switch and the lights, all aglow,
Gave a luster of mid-day to the brew-pot below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But Gambrinus himself, the patron of beer.


With a look in his eye, so lively and quick,
He said, “You want beer? Well, here, take your pick.”
More rapid than eagles, his recipes came
As he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

“Now, Pilsener! Now, Porter! Now, Stout and Now Maerzen!
On, Bitter! On, Lager! On, Bock and On Weizen!”
“To the top of the bottles, the short and the tall,
Now brew away, brew away, and fill them all!”


As dried hops before a wild hurricane fly,
And then, without warning, settle down with a sigh,
So towards the brew-pot, the ingredients flew,
Malt extract, roasted barley and crystal malt, too.

And then in a twinkling, I heard it quite plain,
The cracking open of each barley grain.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
Into the kitchen, he came with a bound.

He was dressed like a knight, from his head to his toes,
With an old family crest adorning his clothes.
A bundle of hops, he had flung on his back,
And the brewing began when he opened his pack.


His hops were so fragrant! His barley, how sweet!
The adjuncts included Munich malt and some wheat.
The malted barley was mashed in the tun,
Then boiled with hops in the brew-pot ’till done.

Excitement had me gnashing my teeth,
As the sweet smell encircled my head like a wreath.
Beer yeast was pitched, both lager and ale,
The wort quickly fermented; not once did it fail.

It was then krausened, or with sugar primed,
And just being bottled when midnight had chimed.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know, I’d be shortly in bed.

He spoke not a word but kept on with his work,
And capped all the bottles, then turned with a jerk.
And laying a finger alongside his nose,
He belched (quite a burp!) before he arose.

Clean-up was easy, with only a whistle,
And away the mess flew, like the down on a thistle.
And I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he left me the beer,
“Merry Christmas to all and a HOPPY New Year!”

07/20/2024 “NECTAR OF THE GODS”   Leave a comment

For many years I’ve been a lover of fine wines but even more obsessed with fine whiskies. The king of whiskey for me is bourbon. If I would have had two sons one of them would have been named “Jack” and the other named “Daniel”. A few years ago, I was in my seventh month of chemotherapy and wasn’t allowed any hard liquor. I was unfortunately forced to drink a series of less than satisfying hard ciders which truly sucked. Finally, the chemo ended, and I was given permission by all of my doctors to have a “real” drink. I returned home and poured myself a large glass of Jack Daniels and came very close to multiple orgasms. I got thoroughly wasted by that one drink, but I knew immediately that I was still alive. Today’s post contains quotes from a number of people with their own opinions about whiskey and they’re definitely worth remembering.

  • “A gulp of hot whiskey at bedtime – it’s not very scientific, but it helps.” Alexander Fleming (the discoverer of penicillin)
  • “I’m on a whiskey diet. I’ve lost three days already.” Tommy Cooper
  • “Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down. Down into my belly.” A quote from the movie Anchorman
  • “You actually go down to Kentucky, Louisville, and they’ve got bourbons that make Old Grandad and Jack Daniels look like Schweppes bitterly lemon . . . there’s one called Rebel Yell and that’s dynamite shit.” Keith Richards
  • “You cannot drink gin and tonic in the middle of the night. You must have whiskey to give you energy.” Margaret Thatcher

  • “My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey.” Igor Stravinsky
  • “My family was a bunch of drunks. When I was six, I came up missing, they put my picture on bottles of Scotch.” Rodney Dangerfield
  • “When life hands you lemons, make Whiskey Sours.” WC Fields
  • “I like my whiskey old and my women young.” Errol Flynn
  • “There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.” Raymond Chandler

04/30/2024 “RETIREMENT”   Leave a comment

I discovered over the years that the older you get the more reminiscing you do and I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’ve always been a believer of worrying about the future not the past and that hasn’t changed a whole lot. I’ll be turning 78 years old in August of this year and I’m amazed. I never thought I’d live this long because of my rough and tumble attitude towards living. As I was reminiscing about my long and somewhat interesting life I wondered, what some of the other people that I read about deal with their aging after the age of 70. I always jokingly told anyone who’d listen that after 70 I would retire, sit on my porch with a drink, and smoke as much weed as I could get my hands on until I passed on. Little did I know that I’d be buying my cannabis at a convenience store in gummy form. One of life’s many miracles. I thought a little reflection on my current lifestyle should be matched against some of our more famous or infamous celebrities.

Age 70

Socrates is condemned to die for corrupting the minds of Athenian youth.

Me: I made dozens of bottles of wine, and then spent a few months drinking them.

Age 71

Nelson Mandela was released from a South African prison, after 20 years of incarceration.

Me: Completed a few graphic paintings of scantily clad buxom young women. Then I drank some more wine and sat and looked at them. And yes, I still do.

Age 72

The Marquis de Sade takes a new, 15-year-old lover.

Me: I looked for a 15-year-old lover but forgot why.

Page 73

Walt Stack completes the Ironman Triathlon in 26 hours, 20 minutes.

Me: I did 1000 steps in one day, and my faithful Fit Bit was so amazed it exploded.

Age 74

Albert Einstein announces his unified field theory (but it didn’t hold up).

Me: Drank more wine, contemplated some of my erotic paintings, and worked hard trying to remember the names of the models.

Age 75

Fanny Garrison Villard founds the Women’s Peace Society.

Me: I founded and celebrated the Maine chapter of the Jack Daniels Fan Club. I also considered making a Hag to their distillery in Tennessee.

Age 76

Charles Foster Kane, of Citizen Kane, whispers his immortal, confounding clue, “Rosebud”.

Me: I decided after rereading Citizen Kane that I needed a lot more Jack Daniels. It’s the only way to defend myself against the boredom of Orson Welles and his writings. Little did he know I once had a fat little gerbil named Orson who never really bored me at all.

Age 77

Grandma Moses takes up painting in a serious manner.

Me: After 16 years of my so-called retirement, I bought a lot more weed and a case of a really good Chardonnay in preparation for the start of our three grandson’s 2024 Little League debuts.

LIFE CAN BE GOOD – IF YOU LET IT

09/28/2023 “The Water of Life”   Leave a comment

I thought it was only right and necessary to congratulate the Jack Daniels company for their release of a new and excellent single malt, Jack Daniels American Whiskey. They’ve always had the best quality products and I’m looking forward to sipping some of this one. With that thought in mind, here are a few more interesting tidbits on whiskey to educate all of you silly wine and beer drinkers.

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Let’s start with a quote from Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw.

“I’d rather be someone’s shot of whiskey than everyone’s cup of tea.”

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Here are a few facts about the company.

  • Approximately 2500 barrels are produced each day.
  • Jack Daniels is the only distiller in the world that makes barrels for its own products.
  • Tennessee’s Moore County, where the Jack Daniel’s distillery is located, has been a dry county since Prohibition, so you have to go to the next county to buy a bottle.
  • On the first Friday of every month, pay day, all employees at Jack Daniels, get a free bottle of Jack Daniels. It’s a guarantee that no one takes that day off.

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According to Margaret Thatcher’s private diet notes, in 1979, the soon-to-be Prime Minister only allowed herself to imbibe whiskey (and soda) “on days when meat was eaten. Otherwise, no alcohol.” Meat days were Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

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Errol Flynn

“I like my whiskey old and my women young.”

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Legend has it that the original Jack Daniels became so frustrated with his safe that he kicked it and shattered his left big toe. He got gangrene and the toe was surgically removed, followed by his foot, then his leg. He died six years later from complications from the original infection.

It’s obvious he didn’t make proper use of “the water of life”.

*****

Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation!

08/24/2023 “MORE WHISKEY PLEASE”   1 comment

A few weeks ago, I posted information from a book gifted to me by my better-half called The Little Book of Whisky. I developed a taste for Scotch more than 40 years ago during my years as a police officer. I was then introduced to bourbon whiskey many years later and absolutely loved it. Thank heavens I have a large number of whisky drinking readers and in response to their emails, I decided to list a few more items of trivia about whiskey. Read on and do so preferably with a drink in your hand.

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Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.

The Whisky Playlist (1-5)

Whisky Bent and Hell Bound – Hank Williams Jr.

Poison Whisky – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Whisky River – Willie Nelson

Whisky and Wimmen – John Lee Hooke & Canned Heat

It Was the Whisky Talkin – Jerry Lee Lewis

Whiskey Wisdom #1

Inventor, scientist and engineer Nikola Tesla, best known for designing the alternating current (AC) electric system, and the Tesla Coil, drank whiskey every day. He believed it would help him live to be 150 years old. He died at the age of 86.

Whisky Health Notice #1

A study published in 2010 by the United States National Institute of Health Recommended that adults who consume 1-6 portions a week of whiskey were 50% less likely to suffer dementia as nondrinkers and heavy drinkers.

“A Whiskey a Day Keeps the Doctor Away”

Famous Whiskey Quotes

“Never delay kissing a pretty girl or opening a bottle of whiskey.” Ernest Hemingway

“When life hands you lemons, make Whiskey Sours.” WC Fields

“The true pioneer of civilization is not a newspaper, not religion, not a railroad but whiskey!” Mark Twain

“My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey.” Igor Stravinsky

NUFF SAID

08/10/2023 “The Water of Life”   Leave a comment

I love that term “water of life”. Any dedicated whiskey drinker has heard that phrase and knows what it means. Those of you who do not partake in whiskeys, then I’ll try to educate you a bit. I’m not exactly sure at what age I had my first sip of whiskey, but it must have been in my eighth year while playing Checkers with my grandfather. He was an avid winemaker, and he loved his whiskeys and brandies. In his old and dirty cellar near the furnace, he had huge casks of wine and brandy that he was making. Sitting in between those two casks was a small table, two old chairs and a Checkers game that was much older than I was. That’s where my whiskey, wine, brandy, and Checkers education began and eventually turned me into quite a winemaker myself and to become an aficionado of whiskey and brandy. I can never take a drink of Jack Daniels or Jim Beam or any of the other whiskeys without thinking about my grandfather. He was freaking awesome.

On one of my better half’s many recent shopping safaris she discovered a very small book titled “Whiskey” and in her infinite wisdom purchased it immediately and brought it home for me. After reading through the book, it’s only fair that I share some of the wisdom about whiskey that some of you probably have never heard. Let’s get started.

” The light music of whiskey falling into a glass – an agreeable interlude.” James Joyce

It seems that Americans in general prefer bourbon style whiskeys, but they are willing to take a chance with some of the Irish and Canadian whiskeys. Here are the top five sellers in the United States:

Jack Daniels Bourbon Whiskey

Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey

Fireball Canadian Whiskey

Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey

Jamison Irish Whiskey

Jack Daniels is the world’s most famous whiskey brand. The actual Jack Daniels learned how to make whiskey at the age of six. Fully grown Jack Daniels was a diminutive 5’2″ tall and wore a size four shoe.

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.” W. C. Fields

In October 2019 at an auction at Sotheby’s in England a bottle of Macallan Fine and Rare, 60-year-old whiskey (Cask Number 263) distilled in 1926 sold for $1.9 million. The 700 ml bottle of 20 shots would cost you $95,000 per shot.

“What whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for.” Irish Proverb

SO BEGINS YOUR WHISKEY EDUCATION

05/11/2023 “MISH MOSH”   Leave a comment

DID YOU KNOW??

  • The Empire State Building is struck by lightning approximately 23 times every year.
  • The oldest recipe still in existence is of course, a recipe for beer found in Iraq from 3900 years ago.
  • If you counted 24 hours a day. It would take 31,688 years to reach 1 trillion.
  • The medical name for a butt crack is “intergluteal cleft”.
  • Before the term “Bloopers” was coined, outtakes in television, movies, and radio were called “Boners”.

  • Viagra, when dissolved in water, can make cut flowers stay erect for up to a week longer than they usually would.
  • More Monopoly money is printed in a year, then real money is printed throughout the world. Parker Brothers reports it prints around $30 billion in Monopoly money a year.
  • 7 UP, invented in 1920, originally contained lithium, the drug commonly prescribed currently for sufferers of bipolar disorder.
  • 2003 was the year that “bootylicious” and “bitch-slap” were added to the dictionary.
  • It’s estimated that 70 to 80% of all the dust in people’s homes is actually made up of dead skin cells.

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Being a former cop this fact makes me smile every time I read it.

A California man obtained a personalized license plate that said in plain English:

“NO PLATE”

He received more than 2500 parking tickets.

YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID