Small Update

Check out Simpleton Tips!!!

Don't forget to comment and follow!

My health is getting slightly better but definitely a lot better than four days ago when the flareups started. I think I might go back to my idea of a "Beer and Bacon" diet I had about a year ago where I focus more on a rich fiber, moderate fat, and high protein diet.  It doesn't sound like a winner to most but for someone suffering with such a fucked up conundrum of a disease, it makes an ironic amount of sense.

One thing I can totally drop on you guys though is some of the non-alcoholic things I've been consuming lately.

Fentiman's Curiosity Cola

Pretty interesting stuff and obviously as the name implies, it dives right into your curios side as to what makes it an old fashioned cola is the actual Kola nut sort of taste and a melange of herbs and spices with just a moderate amount of sweetness.  It is about the closest thing I can find to a man's drink without the addition of hard liquor.  The best way I can summarize it is by referencing it to a spiced rum like Kraken where the cinnamon and anise seeps through more than vanilla and clove.

Orca Beverage Company Double Cola

More of a smokey and caramel flavor as opposed to the cola flavor.  Not that it's a bad thing because of instead of focusing on the spice and fragrance, it focuses on what all American's love: SUGAR.  YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!  As the label clearly states, "Double the Measure, Double the Pleasure."

It really is like drinking two cola's at once.

Listen up kids, this ain't yo pappy's pop.  Down here we call everything Coke, but honestly, Coke does not have shit on these boys.

Hope you enjoy.  And if you don't, they mix very well with rum.

Bon Boire!

Wine Bucket List

Sorry if I misled anyone into believing that this was going to be a top ten of the best ice buckets and whatnot, but I was inspired (and forced) by my dear friend Lacey to write a Bucket List of wines.

For anyone who doesn't know, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do or achieve before you 'kick the bucket.'

So I'm going to present wines I want to try before I die today, and maybe followup likewise with spirits and beer.

And be sure to check out Lacey and support her over at Simpleton Tips!

http://simpletontips.blogspot.com/

Joseph Phelps Insignia Cabernet 2005

I am already a fan of Joseph Phelps but the Insignia has always been a little pricey for me.  I know if it's anything like its famous little brother, it should be magical.

Waterbrook Columbia Valley Reserve Merlot 2007

An inexpensive wine priced at about $22 and number 46 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2010.  The reason  I'm so interested in this one is because I've been a fan of Waterbrook Melange Noir over the years and just a few months ago I actually had the pleasure of meeting the winemaker of this delicacy and tasting his two new products: Red Decadence and Chocolate Shop.

Murphy-Goode Snake Eyes Zinfandel NV

So I've drank this a few times before but I still have every intention of drinking a few times more before I become room temperature.  What I really want to do is taste it straight from the winery.  Thiefing  this incedible Zin would make my entire life worth putting up with.

Carlton Hill Reserve Pinot Noir 2011

This vintage is not available, just for reference.  The 2007 I just tried recently was amazing and I can imagine that the climate being sustainable for it's location this year will be much nicer.  So even though I may have to wait four years to try this one, it just means I can't die before then.

Babcock Identity Crisis Shiraz

The problem I have with this one, is the only time I actually managed to get my hands on it, I wound up selling the entire case to one very loyal customer.  Oh well, maybe he'll share.

Catena Zapata Malbec - The most expensive shit they have.

I've tried almost all of their malbecs, but I have to face the fact that they have like a million different ones in their family alone, and some go over $500 per 750ml bottle.  One day I will drink it.

Hacienda Araucando Carmenere 2002

One of the first wineries to master the art of Carmenere making and actually promote it as what it was and not mistakenly for a Merlot.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, do some research on the discovery and confusion of Carmenere.  But for only $69, this is probably one of the best wines in the world.

Ruffino Toscano MODUS 2007

Ruffino is one of my favorite vintners in Italy.  Partially for their incredible wines at decent prices, but mainly because I can actually pronounce their products.

Petrus Pomerol

Guy's gotta dream, right?

Duckhorn Vineyards Paraduxx Red Blend

The Decoy red blend is a very nice wine for about $30 but I have never tried Paraduxx.  I might actually make this a closer goal to try this before the end of the year.

Chateau Montelena Chardonnay NV

"Not bad for a bunch of pot-smoking kids from the sticks..."  That's all it took.  A little bit of America irresponsibility to completely freak out the French.  Also, Bottleshock is one of my favorite movies.

VitAlma Pinot Grigio NV

This is the proprietorial pinot grigio that 7-Eleven is about to release.  This will be the last wine on my bucket list because it might be the one to make me kick the bucket. 

Trimbach Pinot Blanc

Top wine producers in Alsace, France.  I've sampled most of their wines except for this one and I've yet to try a good Pinot Blanc so I have high hopes for this.

Chateau de Lascaux Couteaux du Languedoc 2008

Under $20 but damn near impossible to find.  Probably one of the best dry whites on the market but like I said, I've never been able to get my hands on it.

Marenco Moscato d'Asti Passito

Only comes in a 375ml at $68.99 a split.  never been a huge fan of Moscato but maybe this one will change my mind.

Eroica Riesling 2008

A combination of two of my favorite riesling producers: Dr. Loosen and Chateau Ste Michelle.

That's about all I can think of right now but I will have some more ideas when it comes to beer and spirits. But I know one thing I would really like to accomplish among drink all of this wine, is seriously get into more cork art.  It may just be a small hobby of mine but I still love to do it.  Now only if there was something I can do about synthetic cork art.... 

And like I said before, don't forget to go check out Lacey over at http://simpletontips.blogspot.com/.

Bon Boire!

Vacation: Part Three

Hello again everyone.  Still feeling under the weather and my Crohn's disease is still flaring up pretty bad.  The good news is that I intend to dish out a decent review this time and give you some special details.  I managed to accomplish this by typing piece by piece while slipping in and out of extraordinary pain and suffering.  I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did and be sure to let me know what you think of the daily Beer Fact in the upper right corner.

The beautiful island of Cozumel, Mexico!

Us posing with three parrots who don't give a shit.

A park in the middle of a shopping center.

Horse in a luchadore's mask.

Same park but from other side.

The infamous Senor Frogs, where a Scotsman hosted the biggest party ever.

The food was amazing.

But the Margarita Conga line was better.

The Scotsman became very irate with me for grabbing the bottle.

And trying to take it....

It was filled with majestic statues of wildlife and other random things.

Back on the boat!  I indulged in a little bit of the ancient art of Karaoke.

And had a beer.  Warsteiner Verum was one of the few "real" beers

that was on the ship that was not a stout.

The girls also sang some Karaoke.

I'll buy a beer for the first person to guess the song they're doing.

The aft of the boat at about 4am.

It's hard to tell, but the one star in the sky (minus the Sun hurr durr)

is actually not a star nor the moon but MARS.

Same as the last picture, I took the picture at about 4am.  I wanted to catch the sunrise

for once instead of sleeping in!

We definitely enjoyed everything and everyday of it and I highly suggest you check into a cruise whenever you get a chance.  Just for reference once again, we went on Norwegian Cruise Lines.  It was the 8 day Caribbean Cruise and our departure port was New Orleans but other ports are available.

It ran us about $500 per person plus expenses.  But it didn't help that I had several drinks while aboard....

Remy Martin XO?  Only $15 a pour?!  Me gusta....

I hope you've all enjoyed my little recap of vacation.  It was fun while it lasted.

Bon boire!

Vacation: Part Two

Wish I could do a serious update today but I'm feeling under the weather.  I have Crohn's Disease and it started to flare up really bad today.  I wound up leaving work a few hours early and coming home just to sleep.

So the least I can do is update everyone on a few more pictures from the cruise.

Our second and third stops were to Roatan Island, Honduras and Belize City, Belize.

I absolutely loved Roatan!

The locals themselves really caught my attention.

Me showing off my obviously superior dance skills.

We went to a Snuba excursion, a tank-less form of scuba 

which operates more like snorkeling.

The water there is absolutely garbage.  Especially compared to New Orleans and the

Gulf Coast which looks a lot more like this:

In Roatan, I also became fascinated with the local wildlife which included many many lizards.

WHY SO SERIOUS

And Belize was pretty shitty but at least we went zip-lining!

As far as alcohol, I do have two things to show you:

Madam Mango's House of Sexy Smoothies.

Also home of the $5 longneck.

The ship's daily special for Tuesday!  Pineapples filled with a very Caribbean style punch!

From what I remember it was equal parts Strawberry Puree, Pineapple Juice, Coconut Rum and Bacardi Superior.  It was quite superb and only about $8 for around 12oz!

I was playing Pokemon White and I was on a cruise ship.  I WAS ON A CRUISE SHIP....WHILE ON A CRUISE SHIP.

Well guys, hope you enjoyed, and tomorrow I might actually have something interesting.

Bon Bwé!

Vacation: Part One

So the whole going to the Caribbean and seeing Central America for the first time thing was INCREDIBLE.  I can't believe I've never left this country before and experienced such wonders in my life.  Of course I will upload several photos along the next few updates along with a new little piece that I am going to guarantee will be updated EVERY SINGLE DAY.  

Every day, I am going to update my blog with at least this new segment:  BeerFact of the Day.  Which I know some of you will love and others will merely be amused by some piece of trivial knowledge that they probably already knew or at least assumed they did.

So without any further hesitation, let me tell you a little bit about my vacation.

So the wifey and I left on Norwegian Cruise Lines out of New Orleans on an eight day cruise along with excursions.  Our cost was about $500 per person in an eight person group.  Not bad considering it was about $62.50 a day.  The only downside was a $16 per day service charge as an automatic gratuity, but for all that was included... the extra $16 a day was a gross understatement...

Here is the seven girls I was with:

From the right going to the left: Curly, Lady Catherine, The Wifey, Brookers, Teeny, Fuckface,

 and Fuckfack 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Such a lovely young group of women.  If it had not been for my super natural powers of being able to drink mass quantities of alcohol, I would have gladly hurled my tortured body and soul over the aft of the boat.

Our first stop was Costa Maya.

Needless to say, it was gorgeous.  The crystal clear water which was bluer than the brightest sapphire, the cooling ocean breeze among the burning sun, and the eight foot high security fence made for an excellent tease of such a beautiful country.

When we first arrived, we peaked in and out of a few shops where we saw many little trinkets and whatnot but we did get to look at a lot of diamonds, and sample a lot of tequila.  For the most part, we traveled to a large party pool with a swim-up bar and ordered nachos from an adjacent restaurant.  The nachos were incredible.  Fried corn tortillas and cheese have never tasted so good before.  And even the food we actually ordered later was typical "American" cuisine including chicken tenders and buffalo wings, but still incredible.

Also the Coca-cola there tastes much better.  But any local beer will still run you about $4.

It's a man made statue, but still cooler than half the shit here.

The small little tourist trap we wondered into (myself, my wife and teenie) was filled with interesting local artwork and shops that were designed for us.  Sadly, only the three of us wandered into this part of town, as no one else from the boat was here.  What really made us happy was the local police who carried real firearms and no nonsense attitudes.  I would have loved to take a picture of these guys if they wouldn't shoot me in the face.

Local statue of God knows what....

The Tequila Hacienda we went to was also very interesting, but the shop right next door with lower prices is where I picked up my bottle of Gran Centenario Blanco for $14usd.

Cool decor, unreasonable prices.

The lack of mules and Jimadors made me suspect this was not a real factory.

The wifey and I sailing on the Maiden Ship Chile Princess

Teenie just moments before she fell right on her Goddamn face!

All in all, our first stop was fun.  We swam, bought stuff, ate nachos and had guns waved at us.

I will have more updates soon and hopefully every day from now on.

Since I no longer have any money, I need to start making some again!

Beber feliz!