Around the League 42: Life, the Universe, and Everything

[bleedgreen]

Imagine the geek value of owning your own Jagr bobble head that was stolen off a truck somewhere or whatever happened.

 

[Unsustainable]

They haven’t announced the new date as they need to mullet over for a bit.

Fast and Furious needed a reboot, from lifting dvd players to bobbleheads

 

[Blueline Bomber]

It's a bit. Which is just so disappointing. Because having the bobbleheads actually stolen would have made such a more interesting story.

 

[HisIceness]

Hell Shitts fans think they can steal Necas for noted All-Star Marcus Pettersson...and think we should add. If course this was the same fanbase that thought they'd get Nikishin for Guentz, or wanted 1st round picks for Beau Bennett, Scott Wilson, Sheary (pre-breakout), Sprong, etc

I swear the posters in the trade boards think NHL24 or whatever is real life.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Eastern Conference races at the bottom are a bunch of battles of who wants it least it seems. At least Tampa wanted it enough tonight to beat the Rags for us.

 

[Unsustainable]

Guentzel with an assist on Necas goal

 

[SeaBasstian]

WY

Guentzel with an assist on Necas goal

Why in "around the league"........

 

[Unsustainable]

Guentzel with an assist on Necas go

WY

Why in "around the league"........

Cause it happened around the league, and I was in the wrong thread when I typed it

 

[SeaBasstian]

Guentzel with an assist on Necas go

Cause it happened around the league, and I was in the wrong thread when I typed it

Self awareness for thebwin lol

Just FYI you can replace your text with "wrong thread"

 

[HisIceness]

Red Wings have lost 7 in a row. Currently sitting out of a playoff spot.

 

[Svechhammer]

Red Wings have lost 7 in a row. Currently sitting out of a playoff spot.

When "we like our group" at the deadline goes wrong

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Red Wings have lost 7 in a row. Currently sitting out of a playoff spot.

What's crazy is that now, Washington and Buffalo have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

 

[hangman005]

So why are they suggesting we try an impregnate him.... shouldn't that be the last thing we want

 

[NotOpie]

Have you visited Mystic Distillery yet? If not, I highly recommend it.

The owners are great, and the bourbon is as well.

Had a bottle of that bourbon (technically shouldn't be called that, but whatever....) and it was great....because I let it age for another couple of years after I bought it. It comes out pretty young....still very good, but if you want it even better, let it sit in the bottle for a few more years.

BTW, I think it's something like 126 proof....it will get you f***ed up!

 

[Unsustainable]

Self awareness for thebwin lol

Just FYI you can replace your text with "wrong thread"

eh, to err is to be human

 

[NotOpie]

eh, to err is to be human

wrong thread

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

wrong thread

I disagree.

 

[cptjeff]

Self awareness for thebwin lol

Just FYI you can replace your text with "wrong thread"

Or you can ask a mod to move the post to the right thread, but now it's funnier to leave it up.

 

[cptjeff]

Had a bottle of that bourbon (technically shouldn't be called that, but whatever....) and it was great....because I let it age for another couple of years after I bought it. It comes out pretty young....still very good, but if you want it even better, let it sit in the bottle for a few more years.

BTW, I think it's something like 126 proof....it will get you f***ed up!

Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US, not just Kentucky. Also, whiskey doesn't age at all in the bottle. All the aging comes from interaction with the wood of the barrel.

 

[NotOpie]

I disagree.

Should have guessed

Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US, not just Kentucky. Also, whiskey doesn't age at all in the bottle. All the aging comes from interaction with the wood of the barrel.

That is true about the regional origin of bourbon. As far as Mystic bourbon is concerned, I've had it a couple of days after I got the bottle and a couple of years after I got the bottle. Science be damned....the one that aged in the bottle tasted better, but now that you mention it, I think I read somewhere that all batches of bourbon, even from the same distillery can taste differently. So maybe that was it....

However, those from Kentucky would still claim that only Kentucky bourbon is real bourbon. Some of the best I've ever had was from Indiana.

 

[cptjeff]

I think I read somewhere that all batches of bourbon, even from the same distillery can taste differently.

The bourbon from any given barrel, let alone batch of distillate, will be different depending on the weather while the barrel was aging, where the barrel was in the storehouse, humidity, and all other sorts of microclimate stuff. And the grains are all a natural crop, so there will be year to year variations in flavor there as well. The big distillers will take the barrels that taste best and use them for premium releases, with lesser barrels going into cheaper releases, but blended to still taste good and consistent.

Ultimately, whether a brand's whiskey tastes consistent from bottle to bottle is mostly about the skill of the blender in batching together different barrels to get the average flavor profile they're aiming for. If one barrel is way too sweet and another is too dry, you can blend them together. One has a weird sour note and one picked up some salt along the way, blend them together. And unfortunately, "craft" distilleries are pretty often lacking in that department- partially because they don't have as many barrels to blend, partially because their blenders aren't as experienced, and partially because they don't have as much stock to draw from. If Jack Daniels has a barrel that's a little raw, they can easily just leave it another year. Craft distillers will often have to use that barrel regardless.

You may also have run into the other big problem with craft distillers- that aging spirits is expensive as hell as a startup. You have to produce huge quantities of spirits, age them for at least 2 years (though good bourbons age longer, often a lot longer) and you don't get any income from those until that aging is complete. New distilleries will often rush a younger product to market at first in order to help recoup their investments, while trying to gradually improve their process and get whiskey in the barrel longer, so that what they sell the first year they release an aged spirit will often be very different from what they're selling in year 5. They also sometimes buy barrels of whiskey and warehouse space from other providers to get started or to blend into their early releases to fill that gap.

So you likely got a different, better batch the second time around as they improved their game. Whiskey flat out doesn't age in bottles. There are bottles that are maintained for decades or even hundreds of years (the old cognac houses often keep some of everything they've ever released to help with blending the new stuff to the original flavor) with the flavor perfectly preserved. Once it's out of the barrel, the aging stops. Wine ages in the bottle because the alcohol and trace oxygen break down tannins from the grape skins, but those compounds are stripped out in the distillation process, and all you're getting in a spirit is the effect of the barrel.

The long and short of it is that when it comes to aged spirits, the big players nearly always are offering better products for cheaper than the microdistillery guys. Evan Williams Black is a blend of 4-7 year old whiskeys and costs less than a fast food sandwich, where your local craft guys are often trying to charge $40 for a bourbon with similar age on it, and that's simply because Heaven Hill is gigantic and has been running their warehouses for decades, so they don't need to fund multiple years of operation with a single year's sales.

 

[AD Skinner]

Ah yes, it’s a lot like Star Trek: the Next Generation. In many ways it’s superior, but will never be as recognized as the original

 

[Navin R Slavin]

The bourbon from any given barrel, let alone batch of distillate, will be different depending on the weather while the barrel was aging, where the barrel was in the storehouse, humidity, and all other sorts of microclimate stuff. And the grains are all a natural crop, so there will be year to year variations in flavor there as well. The big distillers will take the barrels that taste best and use them for premium releases, with lesser barrels going into cheaper releases, but blended to still taste good and consistent.

Ultimately, whether a brand's whiskey tastes consistent from bottle to bottle is mostly about the skill of the blender in batching together different barrels to get the average flavor profile they're aiming for. If one barrel is way too sweet and another is too dry, you can blend them together. One has a weird sour note and one picked up some salt along the way, blend them together. And unfortunately, "craft" distilleries are pretty often lacking in that department- partially because they don't have as many barrels to blend, partially because their blenders aren't as experienced, and partially because they don't have as much stock to draw from. If Jack Daniels has a barrel that's a little raw, they can easily just leave it another year. Craft distillers will often have to use that barrel regardless.

You may also have run into the other big problem with craft distillers- that aging spirits is expensive as hell as a startup. You have to produce huge quantities of spirits, age them for at least 2 years (though good bourbons age longer, often a lot longer) and you don't get any income from those until that aging is complete. New distilleries will often rush a younger product to market at first in order to help recoup their investments, while trying to gradually improve their process and get whiskey in the barrel longer, so that what they sell the first year they release an aged spirit will often be very different from what they're selling in year 5. They also sometimes buy barrels of whiskey and warehouse space from other providers to get started or to blend into their early releases to fill that gap.

So you likely got a different, better batch the second time around as they improved their game. Whiskey flat out doesn't age in bottles. There are bottles that are maintained for decades or even hundreds of years (the old cognac houses often keep some of everything they've ever released to help with blending the new stuff to the original flavor) with the flavor perfectly preserved. Once it's out of the barrel, the aging stops. Wine ages in the bottle because the alcohol and trace oxygen break down tannins from the grape skins, but those compounds are stripped out in the distillation process, and all you're getting in a spirit is the effect of the barrel.

The long and short of it is that when it comes to aged spirits, the big players nearly always are offering better products for cheaper than the microdistillery guys. Evan Williams Black is a blend of 4-7 year old whiskeys and costs less than a fast food sandwich, where your local craft guys are often trying to charge $40 for a bourbon with similar age on it, and that's simply because Heaven Hill is gigantic and has been running their warehouses for decades, so they don't need to fund multiple years of operation with a single year's sales.

This was legitimately educational for me. Good post, good read.

 

[Derailed75]

This was legitimately educational for me. Good post, good read.

Sure but when we talk about BBQ and my home made mustard sauce, I'm a clown!

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The bourbon from any given barrel, let alone batch of distillate, will be different depending on the weather while the barrel was aging, where the barrel was in the storehouse, humidity, and all other sorts of microclimate stuff. And the grains are all a natural crop, so there will be year to year variations in flavor there as well. The big distillers will take the barrels that taste best and use them for premium releases, with lesser barrels going into cheaper releases, but blended to still taste good and consistent.

Ultimately, whether a brand's whiskey tastes consistent from bottle to bottle is mostly about the skill of the blender in batching together different barrels to get the average flavor profile they're aiming for. If one barrel is way too sweet and another is too dry, you can blend them together. One has a weird sour note and one picked up some salt along the way, blend them together. And unfortunately, "craft" distilleries are pretty often lacking in that department- partially because they don't have as many barrels to blend, partially because their blenders aren't as experienced, and partially because they don't have as much stock to draw from. If Jack Daniels has a barrel that's a little raw, they can easily just leave it another year. Craft distillers will often have to use that barrel regardless.

You may also have run into the other big problem with craft distillers- that aging spirits is expensive as hell as a startup. You have to produce huge quantities of spirits, age them for at least 2 years (though good bourbons age longer, often a lot longer) and you don't get any income from those until that aging is complete. New distilleries will often rush a younger product to market at first in order to help recoup their investments, while trying to gradually improve their process and get whiskey in the barrel longer, so that what they sell the first year they release an aged spirit will often be very different from what they're selling in year 5. They also sometimes buy barrels of whiskey and warehouse space from other providers to get started or to blend into their early releases to fill that gap.

So you likely got a different, better batch the second time around as they improved their game. Whiskey flat out doesn't age in bottles. There are bottles that are maintained for decades or even hundreds of years (the old cognac houses often keep some of everything they've ever released to help with blending the new stuff to the original flavor) with the flavor perfectly preserved. Once it's out of the barrel, the aging stops. Wine ages in the bottle because the alcohol and trace oxygen break down tannins from the grape skins, but those compounds are stripped out in the distillation process, and all you're getting in a spirit is the effect of the barrel.

The long and short of it is that when it comes to aged spirits, the big players nearly always are offering better products for cheaper than the microdistillery guys. Evan Williams Black is a blend of 4-7 year old whiskeys and costs less than a fast food sandwich, where your local craft guys are often trying to charge $40 for a bourbon with similar age on it, and that's simply because Heaven Hill is gigantic and has been running their warehouses for decades, so they don't need to fund multiple years of operation with a single year's sales.

Very interesting. I don't drink any hard liquor so am pretty ignorant to it. I used to drink a lot more red wine so was more up to speed on that.

I find it interesting that wine ages in the bottle and whiskey doesn't. Is that because the lower alcohol and elements of the grape are still more present in wine? Where-as Whiskey has the distillation that significantly increase the alcohol and distills out much of the "fruit/grain" aspects?

I know that ports, which are higher alcohol content will age 50-100 years, where-as a Cabernet (or Bordeaux) typically in the 10-20 years with some having a peak up to 30-40.

Is this the case for most/all distilled spirits, such as gin, vodka and brandy?

I know the show is made for TV, but I've watched Moonshiners on occasion and find the science of making whiskey and brandy fascinating. They often talk about ways to do "rapid aging" which I suspect is a gimmick.