Easy Guide to Food And Drinks

July 10, 2009

Where to Find Absinthe Online?

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

If you are new to Absinthe, there are so many websites selling Absinthe and Absinthekits that its hard to know where to buy Absinthe online. Absintheliquor.com is probably the best as they also supply the same absinthe essence to the liquor industry from their industrial site distillery-yeast.com.

Absinthe, referred to as the Green Fairy or La Fee Verte, is a strong alcoholic beverage with an anise taste. Henri-Louise Pernod’s original Absinthe was made with a wine alcohol base and flavored with herbs such as grande wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), aniseed and fennel. Although Absinthe is distilled at high proof and is very strong, it is served diluted with iced water. Absinthe is approximately twice as strong as other drinks such as vodka and whisky.

Absinthe contains the wormwood which gives the drink its bitter taste. Workwood contains the chemical thujone and was one of the reasons why the drink was banned in the early 1900s. It was thought that thujone was psychoactive and harmful to health. Studies have now shown that Absinthe, even pre ban Absinthe from distilleries like Pernod, only contains trace amounts of thujone and is not harmful.

Absinthe is enjoyed after preparing it using a method called The Ritual. A shot of Absinthe in an Absinthe glass is slowly diluted with water dripped over a cube of sugar on an Absinthe spoon. When the water mixes into the alcohol, causing the drink to louche becoming cloudy. Only top-quality Absinthe containing real herbs and essential oils with louche properly.

Where online to buy real Absinthe

To enjoy Absinthe properly you need to order a quality Absinthe which is made by a reputable distillery. Absinthe that contains wormwood. Some websites will give details about alcohol by volume (or proof) and thujone content. Absinth24 is an example.net says that Absinthe La Clandestine has an abv of 53% and has less than 30mg of thujone. Thedrinkshop.com, a UK based company gives very good product descriptions of the Absinthe available to order on their web shop and also has product reviews.

Another good way of ensuring that you use quality Absinthe, is to make your won. Home distillation is illegal in many countries unless you have a license and Absinthe just is not real without the distillation process. However, AbsintheKit.c makes real wormwood Absinthe essences distilled using carbon dioxide distillation. They have natural herbs which are the same essences that AbsintheKit sell to the Absinthe industry. They are already distilled so you don’t have to do anything apart from mixing 20 ml of essence with 730 ml of vodka. That’s it and it is very easy.

The essences come in 4 different and unique varieties:-

Absinthe Classic Essence - Essence which produces a classic green Absinthe with thujone of 35 mg.

Absinthe White Essence - This essense can be used to make a clear Absinthe reminiscent of Swiss La Bleue Absinthes. This essence produces an Absinthe with a 35 mg thujone content.

Absinthe Orange Essence – Flavored with natural orange oil, this essence makes a yellowy orange Absinthe with a thujone content of 35mg.

Absinthe 55 Strong Essence - This essence should be used if you want a dark green Absinthe with a stronger wormwood flavor. The thujone content is 55 mg.

The essences are available in 20 ml bottles. This can make one 750 ml bottle of Absinthe. An AbsintheKits contain a 280 ml bottle of essence, a plastic measure and artistic bottle labels.

Where to buy Absinthe online is important so that you get quality Absinthe that tastes right and that louches. Find companies selling award winning brands or made your own from essences.

Carbonated drinks are made when (CO2) carbon dioxide is dissolved in water.

Filed under: Food-And-Drink — Tags: , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

In the USA, we have flavored carbonated drinks which we call soda pop. It’s the carbonation process that puts “fizz” in soda pop. There is a lot of info about carbonation at http://tutorials.carbonatedseltzerwater.com.

It is the amount of dissolved CO2 which causes carbonic acid in drinks, and this directly affects the quality and different tastes of various carbonated drinks, including soda pops and soft drinks.

In many soft drinks, carbonation is used to give these drinks their distinctive taste. That fizzy taste is caused by diluted carbonic acid and not caused by the bubbles, as many believe.

if you brew beer at home, watch out for over-carbonation — it can be dangerous, and result in bottles gushing or even exploding.Using excessive amounts of sugar as a primer is dangerous, as well as using wrong types of bottles or improper capping processes. Play it safe — buy your beer at the store.

Carbonated water is plain water into which CO2 gas has been dissolved; also known as sparkling water, it is the main ingredient of most “soft drinks”.

In the past, these drinks were home-made by putting water in a seltzer bottle and adding CO2. Club soda, often identical to plain carbonated water, could possibly contain a small amount of salt or trace minerals. These ingredients cause the salty taste of home-made soda pop. If you add some drops of concentrated flavors, what results? Good old soda pop.

If it has enough mineral content, the drink is classified as sparkling water. A nice assortment of calorie-free flavors to flavor sparkling water with great tastes is sold at allfreightfree.com. Instead of drinking too many soda pops, this might offer a nice alternative for your family.

Carbonated drinks in the form of diet soda pop can be a calorie-free way to make sure your family drinks plenty of water; we all know that the better the drinks taste, the more your kids drink, and the more they drink, the healthier for your family.

Members of your family playing sports will find this flavored drink helps make sure they stay properly hydrated while exercising. This has been an extremely hot summer; in spite of the heat, two-a-day football practices are already underway for most college and high school players. Football moms will want to provide the team with a variety of flavored carbonated drinks, making sure that everyone drinks appropriate amounts and stays well-hydrated.The kids will love you; and, who knows, the coach might even love you. This might be a good project for the football booster club to take on.

The extreme temperatures made it a dangerous summer even for Texans, who are used to hot summers; and has made drinking water more important than ever. However, we are not accustomed to 100-degrees-plus temperatures day after humid day; infants and the elderly are especially vulnerable.

Flavored carbonated drinks, it seems evident, are a good option for you and your family, and perhaps for your elderly neighbor, too. We must see ourselves as our brothers’ keepers.

Sodastream (Soda Club) fouled up in Germany

Filed under: Food-And-Drink — Tags: , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

In 2006, Sodastream (Soda Club) tried to stop a competing enterprise from refilling Soda Club bottles of carbon dioxide (CO2), by claiming that the bottles were their property and did not belong to the customer (per contracts that all customers had to agree to).

This didn’t work in Germany, and this could very well happen in many other countries.

Competition is needed in this market niche, both in the interest of the environ­ment (bottles should be refilled in the store, an operation that takes a mere 20 seconds); and for price, which could easily be halved. More info about refilling - and home refilling - of carbon dioxide bottles for home sodamakers here.

Consumers should consider that sparkling water made at home can already be had at a fraction of the cost of retail carbonated beverages; however, things could be a lot better.

Here are the facts from bundeskartellamt in Germany:

http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wEnglisch/News/Archiv/ArchivNews2006/2006_04_13.php

 

April 13, 2006

Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court confirms immediate enforceability in the Soda-Club case

Soda-Club GmbH, Wiesbaden (“Soda-Club“) may not use its dominant position abusively. Soda-Club had prevented competing suppliers from refilling CO2 cartridges for water carbonating machines by claiming its ownership of the cartridges.

In February 2006 the Bundeskartellamt prohibited this conduct. Soda Club opposed the Bundeskartellamt’s immediately enforceable decision by applying to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court for interim measures. In provisional proceedings the court has now confirmed the Bundeskartellamt’s decision in all material respects. Soda-Club is dominant in the market for refilling CO² cartridges. Hindering competitors from refilling CO² cartridges represents an abuse of this dominant position. By this conduct Soda-Club prevents consumers from taking advantage of alternative refilling possibilities. Only the obligation to point out on labels on the company’s own cartridges that it is admissible to have them refilled by competitors was seen by the Higher Regional Court as a disproportionate measure.

Although Soda-Club can still appeal against the Higher Regional Court’s decision to the Federal Supreme Court, the Higher Regional Court’s decision implies that the numerous small and medium-sized bottling plants can now start to compete with Soda-Club and refill all cartridges circulating in the market.

What Percentage is Absinthe?

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

Absinthe is a strong anise flavor liquor which is made by distilling alcohol with herbs such as aniseed. wormwood and fennel. We know it is strong and can get you drunk easily, but what percentage is Absinthe and what is its proof?

Let’s look at the alcohol by volume levels of popular brands of Absinthe:-

La Fee XS Absinthe Francaise 68% abv or 136 proof
Doubs Mystique Carte D’Or 65% abv is 130 proof
La Clandestine Absinthe 53% abv or 106 proof
Jade Edouard 72% alcohol by volume (144 proof)
Sebor 55% abv (110 proof)
Jade Nouvelle Orleans 68% alcohol by volume is 136 proof
Mari Mayans Collectors 70 is 70% abv (140 proof)
La Fee Parisian which 68% alcohol by volume (136 proof)
Lucid Absinthe 62% abv (124 proof)
Jade Verte Suisse 65% abv or 130 proof
Pernod Absinthe 68% abv (136 proof)
Kuber 53 is 53% alcohol by volume or 106 proof
Pere Kermanns 60% abv (120 proof)
Jade PF 1901 68% alcohol by volume is 136 proof
La Fee XS Absinthe Suisse 53% alcohol by volume or 106 proof
Roquette 1797 75% alcohol by volume or 150 proof
La Fee Bohemian 70% abv (140 proof)

Let’s compare Absinthe to several other beverages:-

Whisky such as Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch 40% alcohol by volume is 80 proof
Absinthe can be 75% alcohol by volume (150 proof)
Table Wine which is 9-12% alcohol by volume is 18-24 proof
Beer is about 4 or 5% alcohol by volume (8-10 proof)

The information on the alcohol.com website has worked out that if you have one shot of 190 proof Everclear is equivalent to drinking 2.85 bottles of beer and about 3 brandies. With this information we can establish that one shot of Absinthe is equivalent to two.25 cans of beer. So, the 22 shots Absinthe is equivalent to 49.5 cans of beer!

As you can see, Absinthe is much stronger than types of fermented drinks such as wine and beer and even stronger than whisky. We therefore need to be careful when consuming Absinthe, not because it will make us have hallucinations, or any other psychedelic effects, but because it is strong and intoxicates quickly. We need to take particular care when mixing Absinthe with other alcoholic drinks in cocktails.

Care always needs to be taken when making your own Absinthe drink. If you buy an Absinthe kit from Green Devil then you are steeping herbs in a neutral alcohol such as vodka or Everclear. Everclear has an abv of 95% and a proof of 190 so it is much stronger than commercial Absinthe. Absinthe essences for Absinthekit.some have to be mixed with a neutral alcohol such as Everclear or vodka. Your finished Absinthe will be whatever the proof or abv of the neutral alcohol you have used.

In Absinthe what is the percentage? For commercial Absinthe just look on the bottle label or, if you are ordering online, look at the product details for abv or proof. If you are making your own Absinthe from a kit, you need to look at the bottle of Everclear or vodka that you are using.

Build Your Own Wine Cellar

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

Building your own wine cellar is the best way to age your wine collection. A wine cellar must be designed to store wine in the right conditions as it ages, ensuring that the wine does not spoil and that it develops complexity.

Building your own wine cellar from the ground up - or more likely, the basement up - may seem like an overwhelming task, but the proverbial first step is usually the most difficult. It usually starts with collecting the first bottle and eventually finding that your collection has grown to a point that you cannot store it without a cellar.

The cost of a well-constructed wine cellar can run to many thousands of dollars but so can a large capacity refrigerated wine cabinet, so you may find that a custom-built home wine cellar can be the most economical and cost effective way of storing your wine.

There are several items to consider before you begin building your wine cellar.

Temperature should be a chief consideration and also the amount of natural light. Ensure the room is well insulated – extruded polystyrene insulation is ideal. If you reside in a mild climate it may be possible for you to create a passive cellar that requires no cooling system.

A wine cellar is generally constructed with thicker walls. Two-by-six construction provides space for quality insulation, allowing the cellar to remain at a constant temperature. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system.

Temperature swings can quickly destroy your wine collection. Small temperature fluctuations from summer to winter will not damage the wine but those same fluctuations on a daily or weekly basis will cause your wine to age prematurely. Temperature should be maintained between 45 and 60 degrees F, and avoid direct sunlight. Thus, you can often successfully create a wine cellar in a closet and a humidity level between 50% and 80% is ideal for all types of wine.

When storing wine all vibration should be avoided; it agitates the bottles and speeds up the chemical reactions taking place inside the bottle – and not in a desirable way.

Vibration can become a major issue during transportation and is the reason most shippers recommend allowing your wine to rest after extended travel. This is important, too, when you buy wine at a cellar door or even from your local wine retailer. Never take it home and pull the cork out without allowing it to rest. In fact, all wine should be immediately placed in your cellar.

Remember that it is not just your wine collection which is valuable; the wine cellar itself will increase the value to your home. So the better-constructed and larger your cellar, the more the value of your house goes up as well.

Unless you live in a very cold climate a wine cellar is generally a lower temperature environment compared with its surrounding living spaces and therefore must be treated differently in relation to those spaces. If the temperature in your wine cellar suggests that it requires cooling do not attempt to cool it by using a domestic air conditioning unit. Home air conditioning will remove the humidity from the air and will quickly destroy your wines by causing the corks to dry out. Several popular brands of wine cellar cooling units are available that will cool any sized wine cellar. Your wine cellar will become one of the most important areas in your home and will make a personal statement about you. It is the space for you to indulge your passion for wine collecting and where you will display your latest acquisitions. Discover how to build your own home wine cellar and, if you have the space, why not consider incorporating a bar and tasting area.

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