Foxfield, A Timeline

O dark thirty: Alarm , Zoids showers and decides purple will be flamboyant color of choice.

O dark thirty-six: Completely ready. Mrs. Zoids spends next 20 minutes re-packing her titanic suitcase. We will be out of town for maybe 36 hours.

7:30am: Arrive at Jericho Kane's to pick him and his girlfriend up.

7:40am: Departure

8:30am: Stop 1

9:10am: Stop 2

9:40am: Stop 3

10:10am: We hit "the line" on Barracks Road perhaps 2 miles from the gate. Not bad. Spirits are high, bladders are higher even though we stopped. Three times.

10:30am: Gates are apparently open, although you wouldn't guess that from our non existent pace.

10:50am: Mrs. Zoids informs us that her mission is critical, so to speak. A girl in the SUV behind us decides that her mission is even more critical, and proceeds to take pee against her own car, in the open, in front of a giant line of cars, and before anyone really drinking starts. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

11:40am: Everyone in the car is ready to explode out of anger, Mrs. Zoids has died from renal failure, and I have ripped the roof off the car and flung it across the road like a frisbee.

11:56am: Bloody Mary

12:02pm: 1st Masonic

12:08pm - 4:18pm: Time Travel

4:19pm: Hurricane Katrina Arrives at Foxfield

5:32pm: Jericho becomes man-zombie for the rest of the evening, only waking to eat an entire fucking pizza before slipping back into the darkness.

5:38pm-9:04pm: Time travel

9:15pm: Aforementioned pizza

Then it became Sunday. Probably through time travel again.


Anyway, the drink of choice was the Masonic, something Zoids became familiar with at the hip and overpriced yet still enjoyable restaurant Liberty Tavern. With a structure similar to a mint julep, it's a fine bourbon beverage that has the all important trait of being able to sustain its piquant nature through the day. We had to make up the ratio, so our recipe is reproduced below:

2 parts water
2 parts bourbon
Juice of 1/2 squeezed lemon
Mint
Jar


Now, contrary to Jericho Kane, the recipe calls for still water, though you can substitutes soda water for extra zing. Take the bourbon, mint, and lemon juice and muddle it together in shaker. Depending on the carbonation of your water, either shake with some ice, or shake with the water and ice.

Serve into jar, consume 12, and time travel.

Booze Review: Michter's US1 Bourbon

This very welcome addition and quick disappearance from my cabinet came courtesy of my Grandmother. You all should stop for a moment and realize what a wonderful world I must live in where my Grandmother gives me tasty bourbon for Christmas. Gramses hails from Brooklyn, land of Hasidic Jews, honking, and bitter NY Mets fans. Gramses has a history of enjoying the Johnny Walker Red, something I am not sure I get on boat with. However, her steadfast determination in drinking a brown in an Italian family whose sole purpose in life is to live and breath gin is a feat indeed.

At some point, Gramses decided it would be totally acceptable to give her grandson booze, and I am glad this realization took place. I can however, imagine the brief moral dilemma that occurred to her while considering the notion. Which makes me think that another relative (probably by uncle) then reaffirmed that such a gift would be totally OK because as we all know I am a drunkard.

Michter's defies all research attempts, which means that I could not find it using google. What information I can find mentions that this magical pot-stilled sour mash, straight bourbon was distilled at Michter's Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania?

Whatever.

Michter's Distillery was established in 1753. Until it's closing in 1992, it was the oldest operating distillery in America. Bourbon County wasn't even formed until 1785. At that time, it was still part of Virginia, and was named to honor the Royal French Family. The former Fayette County was a major "hub", as it were, for distilled spirits travelling on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. These barrels were stamped with the county name, thus coupling it with the lovely amber nectar. (Information via Straight Bourbon)


Like this, only not single barrel

Michter proudly mentions on the label that this is an American unblended whiskey, not a bourbon. Though he mentions it is aged for 10 years in a white-oak barrel...so I am a bit unclear how he makes that claim other than being 80% corn...to me that is still a bourbon.

The bourbon itself was truly a delicious feat. The nose gave no hint of a very sweet beverage, but the initial taste revealed this whiskey was distinctly more comprised of corn that your average bourbon. The direct and uncomplex sweetness is mellowed out almost immediately by the organic woodiness of the aging process. The overall impression of this whiskey is very syrupy and honey-like, but not so much as to overpower the palate. I would say that this sweetness mirrors Jefferson Reserve very closely, but Michter has a rougher edge that conveys their pot distillation. Reminds me of something Grandma would make.

Booze Review - Jefferson Reserve 15yr

Over my two-week hiatus from my job surfing the internet, I had the wondrous duty to sample what I now believe fills in the missing gap of bourbons. Indeed, this homo habilis of delicious bourbon fits into a nice price gap that I had a great deal sorting out. Let me reference this list here to help elucidate my problem.

List of Tasty Bourbons to Have Neat, best value for your dollar:

Best $10.00 - $15.00 Bourbon : W.L. Weller

Best $15.00 - $20.00 Bourbon : Sam Houston 10 yr.

Best $20.00 - $27.00 Bourbon : Eagle Rare 10 yr.

Best $27.00 - $40.00 Bourbon : Basil Hayden 8 yr.

Best $40.00 - $60.00 Bourbon : Who the hell knows?

Best >$60.00 Bourbon: Pappy Van Winkle 20 yr.


So as you can see, the market is filled with a surfeit of bourbons at the lower and upper end of the spectrum which fit the bill nicely. However, there is nothing to fill the taste gap between the simple yet satisfying modestly priced bourbons and the upper end of the spectrum. That is, unless you count such rotgut as Bakers, Bookers, or that ridiculously overpriced Blantons.

Problem solved by the wondrous sweet complexity that is Jefferson Reserve. JR comes from the same distillery that makes Sam Houston, McClaine (not from Die Hard) and Kyne. Son Trey and dad Chet (whoa...) are part of a growing trend among bourbon distillers to start selling "ultra small batch" bourbons, something that I am sure is pure and utter BS. Regardless, their bourbons are unbelievably fantastic, so I could care less how they choose to make or market it.

Anyway, JR 15 year sells for about $55.00 at your local ABC store, maybe less across the Key Bridge. JR has a distinct nose that immediately fills you with a buttery scent with the hint of some fruitiness, which is an outright lie because the instant this drink hits your palate you are inundated with a luscious caramel atom bomb that makes you feel like you are drinking 90 proof Aunt Jemima. JR's sweet overtones immediately mellow out to the traditional oaky/toffee bourbon finish of the high end bourbons like Pappy Van Winkle, and it leaves a most excellent warm feeling as its golden brown goodness glides down to your liver.

Weekend Roundup - Booze Review, Ridgemont Reserve 1792

Booze Recipe
-Broman's Boilo (ripoff hot-toddy)-

I am going to kick off the first installation of time to get lit on a Monday because hey, Monday is the new Sunday, which is the new Saturday. This recipe is something I trot out every time it starts to get cold and our kitchen starts to get too clean.

The first time I made this mess I was in my long-time friend's apartment. I can't remember the reason why I decided to obliterate his kitchen with a sticky mess, but I am sure it was a good one. Regardless, this citrus-cider concoction is the cure for what ails you, if what ails you is sobriety or a lack of your daily intake of 9000% Vitamin C. Same old friend claims it cured him of his sickness another time I made it, and it tastes better than children's robitussin so why not give it a whirl.

10 Oranges
5 Lemons
2 Limes
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Nutmeg
1/3 Cup Honey
Some cheapo bourbon (Maybe Evan Williams)

Anyway, Juice the fruit and put the peel and pulp from about half the oranges into a large pot. Add in the remaining ingredients while stirring. Let the mixture rise to a boil, then simmer for about an hour. Take care to never add the booze. When you are ready, you can ladle the mixture into the mug, and then add the bourbon. Use whatever ratio your current level of alcoholism dictates.


Booze Review
-1792 Ridgemont Reserve-

To quote,

"1792 Ridgemont Reserve is a distinctively smooth, handcrafted small-batch bourbon, patiently aged 8 years in new charred oak barrels in Bardstown, Kentucky. This 93.7 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was named for the year Kentucky became a state. Rich and velvety, it's the perfect bourbon for toasting any special occasion - in fact, it's the Official Toasting Bourbon of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival"

Now, I am not going to come off and say that 1792 was bad, because it certainly wasn't. I will however say that it was pretty disappointing. Nestled onto the premium shelf next to such vagabonds as Basil Hayden, Eagle Rare, Bulleit, and Bakers/Bookers (meh), you would expect such a bourbon to be up to the challenge of performance. Instead, I was disappointed by too much bite that was not balanced by any degree of real spice or flavor. Instead, I felt like it was a freshman attempt at a premium bourbon. Now, were this bourbon only 20 bucks I'd say it was a decent buy. But the pretentiousness just oozes off the label and creates the mystique of drinking the nectar of the gods, when you are really just drinking the nectar of Steve.

Final Zoidberg Score:

*Scale is out of 6 tasty full rocks glasses.*


Weekend Pump
-49 Asks More Silly Questions-




Our dear friend from the land of no sales tax comes again with the questions pertaining to the weightlifting:

"I cheat on my back. This was pointed out to me last night on chest/back day. I had been doing wide grip pulldowns for (substantial weight) but my biceps tended to hurt more than my back. Apparently that's a Bad Thing (tm) and a sign of cheating. So
I've gone to narrow grip and scaled way way back on the weight.

But even with that, I think I have a larger problem. Yeah, I was
doing them a lot better, but I was still crushing my biceps and that
caused me to really perform poorly on the remaining chest exercises
for the evening. "

49 then goes on to suggest something ludicrous like separating chest and back so that his biceps are not pre-exhausted to the point where his chest workout suffers.

So wait, you were doing really heavy totally excellent pulldowns but you decided to reduce the weight when you were getting a totally awesome pump that was probably ridiculously effective at building muscle? Then you feared pre-exhausting your biceps and switched to an even more bicep intensive back exercise?

The pump is your friend!

First, biceps will always get fairly exhausted when part of a difficult back regimen, particularly with bicep intensive lifts like narrow grip pulldowns, chin-ups, narrow grip rows, etc. So, it makes sense to put these exercises which will strain your smallest muscle, at the end. However, if you find your biceps/triceps are getting crushed early and you fear your back/chest is getting chamfered by these piddly muscles, the answer is not to rejigger your workout so that you avoid the problem. Your arms are obviously a weak point in your larger muscle apparatus, but the way to meet this problem is to continue the workout you have so that your arms can catch up. Yes, your arms may be limiting your growth in your chest/back, but eventually they will be forced to catch up by the constant overmatching effort you are demanding of them.

It certainly doesn't mean you are cheating. Zoidberg is not quite sure who gave you that idea. It simply means A) your biceps need to play catch up, or B) you started off with too many bicep intensive back lifts in the beginning of your workout. Cheating? no.

Second, are you still seeing gains or have you reached complete plateau? Have you been at roughly the same weight for the past month? If not, then don't worry about it quite yet.

Don't change a thing, keep up the effort and max the envelope.




Miscellaneous Detritus

A few further notes from the weekend that may be of interest:

* Fighting Cock is on sale at the ABC. Don't miss this opportunity for cheap dong. ZINGA!

* If you haven't already eaten at Pike Pizza, do yourself a favor and brave MS13 Columbia Pike just once. Bolivian food is really just an amalgamation of beef, potatoes, and fried eggs, so you really can't go wrong. *Note* English is scarce there.

*How bout them Cowboys?