Bourbon - good stuff to try

[Paul Arden]

I'm about 75% through this list and 100% through the list of fine Hungarian beverages (both of them!)

You're not so lucky, Walter! There are many types of Palinka; grape, plum, pear, apple, walnut, seal fur, chilli. In fact just about any soft fruit will be turned into palinka and then possibly infused with something or other. They all smell and taste of anti-freeze of course, but after a while you can tell which type of anti-freeze you've been given to taste.

The nice thing about Palinka is that the rocket fuel stuff is free. Although it's not something to savour with a fine cigar (you may blow up).

Cheers, Paul

[pyko]

Used to have the Scotch Malt Whisky Society as clients, their Cask Strength malts averaged 62%, had to add a splash of water, (to release the 'nose' AND not fall down).

The Caol Ila was (& is) still one of my favourites. Light and smokey, not too much of the phenolic-medicine either.

Incidentally, regards the home-made stuff, this is delicious & easy. Amazing thing is the flower heads have they're own yeast, so naturally bubbly, (& potent).

[Biology]

There are many types of Palinka; grape, plum, pear, apple, walnut, seal fur, chilli. In fact just about any soft fruit will be turned into palinka and then possibly infused with something or other.

Is there a Czech drink similar to palinka, maybe called silve, or slive? Have finished a few evening with this, maybe 70% proof and you can just about taste the fruit. Was also offered Czech Absinth last week, the bottle read 'for experts only' so I declined....

[Hal Jordan]

There are many types of Palinka; grape, plum, pear, apple, walnut, seal fur, chilli.

I hope the guys who love to club those little baby seals don't find out. It could lead to another round of near extinction for the little buggers followed by a glut in the world palinka supply. At least it could be used as an alternate fuel source.

[Hal Jordan]

this is delicious & easy.

[Paul Arden]

I don't know Andy, Szilva is Hungarian for Plum, which is a very common Palinka fruit. If it tastes like paint stripper then it's probably the same stuff.

[savage]

Slivovice, slivka.
Simply a plum palinka. And you can have good slivovice.
Palenka in Czech basicaly means palinka in Hungarian.
The palenka is usualy named by what it's made from.
Hruskovice - pears
Merunkovice - apricots
Tresnovice - cherries
And so on and so fourth.

The Absinthe sold here is bullshit, it's only a high alchohol percentage juice with a tiny fraction of the thujone compound allowed for by the European union in beverages. Our speciality is that were allowed to market and sell something called absinthe.

As far as Slivovice - most of the commercial stuff is sorta drinkable, but it's a far cry from the really good stuff. A source of good stuff is generaly a closely guarded secret, and people are very jealous of it.

The rubbish stuff however, Paul's paint stripper, is given to residents of Prague and to tourists to drink. The Slivovice region inhabitants have little love for the natives of the capital city.

Cheers
Karel

[Biology]

The Absinthe sold here is bullshit, it's only a high alchohol percentage juice with a tiny fraction of the thujone compound allowed for by the European union in beverages.

Interesting stuff Karel - the tipple I was offered contained 10% thrujone.... is that enough to induce madness?

[savage]

10%!
Summat tells me there something fishy here....
The thujone content is generaly very weak trace amounts.

Although I just checked wiki and it says all my prior Absinthe knowledge should go out the window, or someone is bullshitting us.

Cheers
Karel

[Biology]

10%!

yeah man! as I say, it read "for experts only" and it goes for £130 a bottle....

http://www.originalabsinthe.com/absinthe-absinthe-king-gold-p-56.html

[savage]

100mg/kg, what the fuck is that? That a content rating in a liquid.....
Oops we mispelt that, thats micro were talking about...

In the one sentence its thujone, in the next its wormwood.

I dunno, I'm scepticle about it.

Cheers
Karel

[Paul Arden]

Foremost of the stimulants is thujone, the psychoactive chemical at the heart of the herb wormwood, which, along with anisette, gives absinthe its bitter, black liquorish taste. While once thought to instigate simular reactions as marijuana's THC, recent research suggests it modulates the neurotransmitter GABAA, which plays a vital role in cognitive thought. Subsequently, absinthe provides a level of clarity not usually associated with alcoholic drinks.

At $200 a bottle I'd expect it to come with an all-singing all-dancing sheepgirl :p