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Welcome deficits. It's teen Shibaz Hebrews, a Jewish fermenting podcast where we hope to discuss all things homebrewing and fermenting. Today. We're talking about old man liquors. I'm your host, Evan Harris. And with me today is my co-host Alison Shay.
Alison:Hey there. How you doing?
Evan:I'm doing quite well yourself.
Alison:I'm good. Uh,
Evan:new year.
Alison:it was nice. just. Hung out with my roommate and a handful of friends, drank a ton of champagne as discussed in our previous episode. yeah, it was nice. I made a delicious, but not fermented cheesy bread.
Evan:Oh, that that is on our list of things to make. We didn't end up making it. And I think I was in bed by before I was, I wasn't in bed. I was asleep before midnight, New York time.
Alison:Are you sure you're not one of the old men in the
Evan:Sometimes I feel like that, but I had also been up since 5:00 AM that day.
Alison:Fair enough. anyways, this recipe in question, is, I first found it, Because a YouTuber that I like to watch and he made, he made in Japan, made this cheesy it's a flatbread essentially stuffed with, cheese and mashed potatoes and it is delicious would strongly recommend.
Evan:Yeah, we'll we'll we'll see if we can convince my sister's fiance to actually cook something and make it aside from nachos.
Alison:yeah, which sounds delicious.
Evan:They happen.
Alison:Yeah. I don't know if we mentioned it previously, but congratulations to, Evan's sister and her fiance on their engagement. It's very exciting.
Evan:I got engaged a few weeks ago and actually he taught us a new year's tradition from Mexico. it is traditional to eat 12 Grapes at dinner, like the.
Alison:are delicious.
Evan:Th they are 12 grapes and wish on each one, like you would on birthday candles, one wish for each month.
Alison:Sweet. I like it.
Evan:Yeah,
Alison:Well, got a, we got a couple of beverages to talk about today. that contained. But, we got some other weirder things that today's beverages are going to make me an out of as well,
Evan:That's right. we're tonight we're talking about old man liquors,
Alison:which I
Evan:and that is the only time you will probably find me singing on this show.
Alison:the thing about these old men likers or what we kind of think about, When we think, old man liquors, the things that your grandparents are drinking, the things that you go to synagogue, and you see like a small group of old men sitting around drinking, offering to people. Is that I think a lot of it is heavily based off of immigration. And I mean, what we consider, these old man liquors are very much regional drinks that haven't expanded as much, but you know, there's a sense of nostalgia that an older generation, Would be thinking about when they, when they turn towards these particular drinks, which I think is sweet. And I think that's also one of the really nice things about, about trying them is that we're tasting things that are, often highly regional, not exclusively. And there is more like, they're not, they're found in other places these days. but. It's not like drinking something that's much more widespread it's yeah. Men does not as widespread as some other beverages. And I think that's, what's so interesting and I think that's what makes it kinda so cool to me, at least,
Evan:I would reboot, you talked about immigration, the shool. I grew up going to that group of old men who, when a kiddish bottle they'd be around wouldn't it was normally tequila, which is normally seen as a very young person drink in this country. But I grew up in a city with a large Hispanic population, and that included in the Jewish.
Alison:so I used to go to shul with a friend of mine when I lived in Hollywood. well, I mean, I don't live there anymore. They're showing question that I used to visit with my friend. it was beneath him, which is. As you can guess as far as actual in Florida. and the drink of choice, the old man liquor of choice, there was our rock, which is. Also very popular among this broccoli communities. and when I mentioned it to my sister, one of my sisters who's been mentioned before, she's the vegan that I, learned how to brew polka and maple wine for him. She goes, oh, all rocks, not an old man drink here in Israel. All rock is like the drink of choice in clubs. It's super popular. It's a club drink thing.
Evan:I was going to say, like, I not like I'm familiar with our auction. It's great equivalent to ouzo, but like, even when I've been in Israel, I've never, I don't club at all, even in Israel, but pretty much anyone who's been on birthright has tried a rock that I've talked to.
Alison:Yeah. And all rock is anise flavored.
Evan:Um,
Alison:Yeah. I don't know how much there is to say about it. It's basically is a clear liquor, um, flavored with anise. yeah, but it's it's if you like Amis, you like all rock. I would say it's. Pure flavor and maybe less shocking than drinking absence, absence. Usually as though things going on in
Evan:has a lot of other, a lot of other flavors, including wormwood.
Alison:Um,
Evan:Basically the same as ouzo, to be honest, I love both. So it's J it's just one is the more Lavant production. The other is Greek and the basis. Traditionally also grapes.
Alison:Great base liquors shown up again. Yeah.
Evan:and one of the interesting things for anybody who hasn't done it, if you add water to any of these, they actually turn over.
Alison:Huh?
Evan:It's really pretty does it, eh, it happens with absence as well.
Alison:I have never tried that, but if I have add something and I'll have to try that.
Evan:Well, I've got a bottle of it here,
Alison:Perfect.
Evan:here, as I've said, you should come visit.
Alison:Yeah. speaking of well, speaking of things, turning opaque in surprising ways, I guess this is an interlude, which is something, I guess we have many of on this show someday, and we'll get around to posting that, that tangents episode or four. but I just finished, I recently bottled my batch of Pokay. Had I done that before
Evan:I think you're just bottled it.
Alison:Okay. Well, the more it sits and it's only been sitting for a couple of weeks at this point, but the more it sits, the more it tastes like, kind of like a wine if it were made out of the wrong kind of grape, but it's, it's, like it's, I quite like it. but the interesting thing and why, why was opaque brought it to mind was, That, at one point in the brewing, it was a Milky color and, the original type of, of pole K. the kinds that you would find in parts of Mexico, does apparently look like milk,
Evan:Interesting. Yeah.
Alison:I think is really cool.
Evan:As do I, um, that is not. it was just that, that is not the thing that I'm probably going to have my sister's fiance bring back. and that's what I can, because I was telling you about it. The, the cream as gal look, you are
Alison:Oh yeah. Oh my God. That sounds delicious.
Evan:well, it is, it is
Alison:Well, my pole K looks like right now is frankly, if you put it in a glass, it would be a dead ringer visually for some slip bits, which is kind of a pale yellow color.
Evan:Which is what I'm drinking tonight.
Alison:Yeah, I'm gonna take a teeny bit of it. when I have here it be stressed, live events. I cannot read the Cyrillic on this label. but it is Serbian plum Brandy. And if you're an Ashkenazi Jew, when you think old man liquor, this is top of the list. If you've got, if you've got older parents, not even older necessarily, you've got parents older than maybe 40. I'm sure they're very accustomed to this stuff. every people, our age, I think aren't super accustomed to it, but every person who. You know, slightly older than us seems to have some sort of familiarity with us with it. it's, it's a very classic Ashkenazi alcoholic beverage to be drinking.
Evan:Absolutely. Have I told you my sort of background story was Slivovitz
Alison:no.
Evan:so my mom's father died when she was in high school, so I never met him. She would occasionally talk about how, especially during Passover and you'll see Slivovitz around, especially during Passover, kosher for Passover. Most of them is your last leaking.
Alison:No, the, the outside is peeling off.
Evan:Oh, that's not
Alison:got like printing on the outside. So I guess this is now going to be a hand wash. Only shot glass. Well, that sucks.
Evan:yeah. Sorry.
Alison:whoa. You Canadian now.
Evan:I've said, sorry. Since I went to mission. It's north of Canada,
Alison:All right.
Evan:Minnesota, and say, sorry as well.
Alison:enough. But you're from Texas, so,
Evan:I grew up in Texas, unfortunately.
Alison:okay. Wait flavor notes on this little bits, a hundred proof. It's a little bit hard to give flavor nuts.
Evan:it tastes like harsh plumbed to me by love. I love plums.
Alison:Yeah, it is clearly a hard liquor. Again, it's a hundred proof who were in the bottle actually says 50% alcohol by volume.
Evan:By law, it has to say both.
Alison:Um,
Evan:to weather.
Alison:This stuff is from Serbia.
Evan:Yeah,
Alison:It does
Evan:American produced models have to say both.
Alison:Yeah. This one does not say. but anyways, yeah, it, it basically tastes like a. plummy hard liquor.
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:I don't think there's much else to say on that. I, I don't, I am not doing this right now, but I do think it's a little better on the rocks. It's
Evan:think It's a great substitute. If you're not a fan of gin, I think it has a great substitute for gin and gin drinks, especially fruity or drinks.
Alison:I'm not a particular fan of gin. Um, and yeah, I would agree. This is, this is
Evan:I liked gin Bibles still do like a Slivovitz martini.
Alison:Yeah, I'm on Jim.
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:What I really don't like is tonic water.
Evan:really
Alison:I do not like tonic water,
Evan:interesting. Um,
Alison:not coiner in though.
Evan:yeah, saying. The story about my, about how I introduced the Slivovitz, but my mom would, my mom would talk about, how I Pesa. Her dad would, would always buy Slivovitz and bring it to shool, to drink with, with he's, with his siblings, just all of them lived in Pittsburgh, and, and bring it for Cheetos shit at. At Passover and, but she never seen it after like afterwards. And I was in Prague capital of the Czech Republic, which now just by a different name and I can't pronounce that one. So I'm just going to say Prague.
Alison:Oh, wait, Prague goes by
Evan:No. Then country goes by different names, Chechnya or something like that.
Alison:I couldn't pronounce it either.
Evan:Yeah, exactly. So Prague, which is the capital of the country
Alison:pretty sure Prague is still Prague though.
Evan:to my knowledge product is still Prague.
Alison:Yeah.
Evan:and I saw a bottle of Slivovitz in the window in a window of, just the convenience store. Is it okay? I'll go buy some. So I bought two small convenience store bottles, one for me, one for my grandmother. and my grant. She didn't bring it at Passover. When my grandmother brought it to kiddish at shool where my grandfather's, living siblings and like my mom's generation all tried it. And I, and I had my own bottle, which I tried and I loved it. And then I said, oh, I've got to try and find it. And my local liquor store had two different varieties and I've almost always had a bottle since,
Alison:Nice. Yeah. It is something that you can find in a couple of different like whiskey, how long it's been aged is, is pretty much the varieties. Well, that's sweet.
Evan:Yeah. And I mean, I love it. I've been carrying it in, I have carry a flask, at least occasionally while I'm studying the, this flask lasts about two weeks. So it's not like I'm drinking it rapidly. which also feels Like an old man thing to have a flask.
Alison:yeah.
Evan:Um, and so it's been filled with Slivovitz, um, for the last month.
Alison:Nice. Yeah. Go old man liquor.
Evan:Would you like to know some of the things about Slivovitz, which is there's a lot of, I mean, so it
Alison:fun facts?
Evan:let me have some fun fats effectively it, as I said, it's more common during passing. Especially when you're Ashkenazi families because Eastern Europe parts of what we're at some point, the Russian empire and the payload, or the poles, Lithuanian Commonwealth, and became the pale of settlement, which actually only, started in the 1790s. When Russia took over the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth under Catherine, the great.
Alison:just a clarification, the, um, for, for those who are on familiar with it, the panel of settlement is an area, that a lot of Eastern European Jews. Forced to move into, encompasses a section of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, essentially.
Evan:So actually forced to move into is a little bit of a misnomer.
Alison:I mean, they weren't physically pushed, but
Evan:No because, or I believe it was 1792, it was post American revolution. I know that when the most of Jews in Eastern Europe lived in what is, what was called the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, which I believe I've referred to here and no Jews were allowed to live in Russia. Russia took over the Polish Lithuanian, Commonwealth. By military force on surprisingly, and then had a bunch of Jews to do. And so basically they said you can't move out of where you were.
Alison:I thought it was, well, I thought it was a little more of a, you have massive risk restrictions
Evan:So, yes, they put incredibly massive restrictions, even in that area. Whereas beforehand Jews effectively had fault Jews, not effectively. Jews had full citizenship and the Polish Lithuanian common. but they did not have full-size ship Russia. They had slightly less restrictions, where they were living compared to trying to move east of the urinals.
Alison:Well,
Evan:So, but that,
Alison:not a whole lot of Jewish history
Evan:yeah, there's a
Alison:yet.
Evan:YouTube who covers a lot of Jewish history, including this named Sam era now.
Alison:Nice. I have not heard of them.
Evan:I will link a link, some of his videos in the. show notes and send you, send it to you as well,
Alison:Cool.
Evan:is I really like your stuff. And he starts basically from the creation of Judaism taking a historical perspective. And right now he's working, he's done up to Ashley's. His last video was the pale of settlement, so, and 1800 basically.
Alison:I should check that out.
Evan:but so Slivovitz, the name actually comes basically from the, uh, the protos Slavic for plum and ice.
Alison:Huh?
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:Well, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, and then just makes a lot of sense. I don't know what else there is there.
Evan:Yeah. but it's little bits is actually a generic name, according to the European union, but is a protected, or it is a PDO protected designation of origin. So it doesn't have to be Serbian. It has to, it, there is a limited number of countries in Eastern Europe. It has to come from
Alison:Okay.
Evan:including China, including former, formerly Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, and Belarus,
Alison:Cool.
Evan:or no, sorry, not Belarus. Bald bolt area.
Alison:Okay. So mine just happens to be Serbian.
Evan:yes, Mo most of what I've seen in this country is either checker, Serbian.
Alison:Cool.
Evan:uh, and I don't have a preference for either, but also it went into the law. The only other major stipulation is only Damson plums. So if you want to do your own brewed one, made sure to get the right.
Alison:Yeah. I have not found the right place. I was at one point, I was at one point thinking of trying to make something that was Slivovitz ask. Um, and I could not find the right type of bum.
Evan:Interesting. I've not, I don't know if I've seen this type specifically in America, but I'm going to look for it and it's time plums or.
Alison:Yeah. I was looking for just like ordering plum juice or ordering bums, ordering pump conscience. I've found the red plum concentrate,
Evan:Sounds good.
Alison:which I do still want to try. but I mean, it's not, it's not gonna be, Slivovitz ask the polka, you can see like tasting it and you can see how it's vaguely reminiscent of it of a much less concentrated tequila. But I don't think I would get the same effect with a little bit because plums. I feel like a lot of plums have a lot of variety and flavor. There's I've I think I've mentioned Maryann Burroughs is pulling tort recipe before, but like, those plums tastes very different than eating plums. It's a, it's a wide variety. So also reminder distilling is illegal in the United States. So, we do. Condone anybody attempting to actually Bruce live this.
Evan:yep. Correct. Unless you are your own distiller, we hope to have a distiller on soon. this. is technically part of our distillation series. So we're hoping to have some interviews lined up soon. But a distillation at home is illegal in the United States. If I don't think we've had any downloads from New Zealand, but it is legal. It is slightly easier to get your own license in the United Kingdom than it is in America. And I do think we've had some, downloads from there. I don't think we've had any, I have no idea about, anybody who's downloading from France or Germany or the Netherlands, or who's using VPNs to look like they're going from those places. But we thank all of you for listening.
Alison:Yeah. Hi, shout out to you guys.
Evan:Yes. Speaking of the Netherlands, actually, there's one that didn't add, but I've mentioned, I know I mentioned to you before, there's also, even there is just there an old man liquor, no Jewish connection, really, aside from the fact that the Netherlands used to have a thriving Jewish population, called, genever, which is a mixed between gin and whiskey. So it's not something you would really like, but it's something that.
Alison:I should ask my roommate about that.
Evan:I've asked her, on one of the, I mentioned it with one of the last virtual trivia nights.
Alison:Oh, sweet.
Evan:She had no idea what it
Alison:Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, she, admittedly did leave another ones when she was five. So I think that's a, it's a safe assumption than a furnace and a snack, which she does know quite a bit about Dutch snacks.
Evan:There are a lot of very good Dutch snacks.
Alison:Oh yeah. Oh my God. Chocolate Hoggle, Stroop waffles. Oh my God.
Evan:Well, I had a strip off earlier.
Alison:And no, she ate the entire package.
Evan:I almost always have, I almost always have some on hand cause it's exactly the right number of carbs. If I go low,
Alison:Oh, perfect.
Evan:um,
Alison:snack.
Evan:So I had, so I'll, I'll text a photo also where I was eating it from the top of a mountain, because it was very pretty.
Alison:Ooh. Very nice.
Evan:Um, but so the next one that I do have on our list, unless you've got any more comments on Slivovitz.
Alison:Nope. Other than that, you can actually find it at a lot of liquor stores. I haven't mentioned it before that he found it at his local liquor store. I found it not at my local liquor store. Exactly. But I hopped over the border to South Carolina and was able to find it at very, very easily. Um,
Evan:I mean, I found this bottle in Utah.
Alison:It's not as long as you're going to a reasonably sized liquor store, they should be familiar with it.
Evan:Exactly. So then that's one that I feel like it's a very old man liquor, again, not a huge Jewish connection, but has.
Alison:I have never had grampa. Have you ever tried it?
Evan:yeah, I've tried it at a restaurant called dropout. In fact,
Alison:Well, I do know that, light. like Slivovitz is, is a plum Brandy, I believe grappas type grape, Brandy.
Evan:It is a type of great Brandy, but it is not made with traditional grapes. Well, it is made with traditional grapes, but not the normal part. You press the grapes first or wine and Brandy, and then you take the leftover pumice as it's referred and press that and just collect all of it and press it again and use those juices to make grappa. So including some of the, so you get a lot more Woody notes because you frequently have actual twig. you have. I'll get a lot of tannic notes and Morris acid from crushing the seeds as well.
Alison:I think tenants is something we should, we should maybe do a little more discussion of, I think that that kind of deserves maybe even its own episode.
Evan:Then there's something that we commit to, that we can work that into. But yeah. we should talk more about Tana.
Alison:yeah. A quick note tannins are, Chemicals that can be found in, in a lot of red ones in the specifically the skins of red wines. so some grapes will be very tannic some, and as a result, some wines will be very tannic. not everybody has the ability to taste Tannen's. Um, Yeah, some people just straight up don't have the ability to taste tannins, which is why some people have very strong and divisive opinions on red wine, which I think is fascinating. and it's kind of like, I don't know if I've mentioned this previously, but, I cannot or cannot. I taste soap when I eat cilantro. this is a genetic. some people react very strongly to, some olfactory chemicals in, in cilantro that are similar to those in soap. Some people find it pleasant. And some people don't, even though it's very soapy, like, I do not want to eat the stuff. but some people, even though it tastes soapy to them still like the stuff. and I think with tenants, it's, it's very much the same or my understanding is that it's the same,
Evan:It sounds like it. I'm just surprised. And I heard that for Mo at least for me, Tannen is frequently the, I mean, it's a, it's its own flavor, but also dries your palette.
Alison:Yeah.
Evan:So why a lot of red wines make your palette dry is because the tannic content
Alison:Yeah. So that's, it's an divisive flavor. So if you are a person who really hates red wine, I would say you probably don't want Croppa.
Evan:Probably not, but it's not as tannic in, in my experience, but it is more tan than most the, but there are effectively three, requirements for GRA or for grappa because it is also a PDO in the European union. It has to be produced in Italy, the time part of Switzerland or San Maria. So basically Northern Italy.
Alison:I think San Marino might have a problem with you referring to it as Northern Italy.
Evan:it is, well, they can come at me with the worst football team in the world. The San Marino international football team is the worst in FIFA rankings.
Alison:I did not know that, but also I don't follow any sports except hockey
Evan:I mean, I don't follow San Marino international football, but there's another fun YouTuber who you probably would enjoy, who has a weird obsession with them.
Alison:Okay.
Evan:Right. It's called the Tim traveler. He finds interesting historical travel things.
Alison:Is his name, Tim?
Evan:his name, is Tim?
Alison:I'm very good at this guessing game. Um,
Evan:Yes.
Alison:another sports item that I would recommend people check out then I was also amusing. the Norwegian curling teams pants.
Evan:Oh, they always are good in the winter Olympics are coming up in a month, a month from, from a month from recording.
Alison:Yes. And I would just like to remind everybody, I'm not going to spoil the surprise, have a Google. You will not like it will not disappoint. You have a Google and take a look at the Norway and Norwegian curling team Norwegian men's curling team pants, because they are fantastic
Evan:every time. I mean, other, I remember them first going viral in like 2010,
Alison:Yeah, I think
Evan:the Vancouver Olympics.
Alison:I'm pretty sure it was Vancouver.
Evan:Yeah, So, but every, but in the year, since other teams have tried to step up, but no, one matches the Norway. It's just fun. Curling, by the way, if you get the chance to do it is a wonderfully fun sport though. Half of it as an excuse to drink.
Alison:yes. I'm a big fan of curling too. Um,
Evan:I got to do it in grad school.
Alison:Same
Evan:W w
Alison:bunch of engineering, grad students and math grad students.
Evan:One of our program directors that staff. So it wasn't, it wasn't a professor, but, he's a big, big into curling in every year, organized a curling event for the, free for the anyone who wanted to come in the department. And I went both times and it was wonderful.
Alison:Nice. Yeah, we had a curling club. graduate. I think undergrads were allowed. I did drag some undergrads with me. Um, but I just had a Northwestern curling club and there
Evan:No Minnesota,
Alison:had grown up
Evan:had one as well, but, and I have a good friend. Uh who's who I know occasionally listens. Hi, Dan, uh, who, uh, uh, well, I should say which, but there are two of them, only one of them, Charles.
Alison:Yeah. The other one's straightens.
Evan:what,
Alison:The other ones.
Evan:no, no, the, the, the other works with, uh, um, Uh, trying to remember what his thesis is in a leverage point path optimization. I believe
Alison:So he
Evan:he is. He is an actual rocket scientist.
Alison:very cool.
Evan:Yes., I'm not friends with any brain surgeons yet. Rocket scientists got.
Alison:Yeah. I mean anybody, our age, who's, planning to be all right. And she's going to be a brain surgeon. Still got several more years of residency.
Evan:Yeah,
Alison:I mean,
Evan:a few
Alison:Yeah, I don't see you finished med school at 25. Say seven years of neuro neurosurgery. Residency is I think seven years.
Evan:going to do both. I think it might be five, but you're doing a fellowship, so it's seven years. at
Alison:I think it's seven years just for neurosurgery plus. Cause a standard I'm in yeah. Standard surgery. Residency is. it's five years and then it's extra time
Evan:So, so yeah, neurosurgery. seven and fellowship will be another one or two.
Alison:Yeah. So nobody, our age is a neurosurgeon that they don't exist. You're going to need at least a couple more years before they can be a neurosurgeon.
Evan:that is true. though, I don't know why that
Alison:enough to drink. Slivovitz.
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:Yeah.
Evan:So I bet the other topic fell with that tangent. That was definitely not cut right there. Right.
Alison:Definitely not. We're keeping that. All of it. Every word.
Evan:Every single word. but what,
Alison:Where are we up
Evan:the, the re the requirements for something to be dropped up and we got on the football tangent
Alison:Whoops,
Evan:and the sporting tangent. That's probably still in this episode because check out the Olympics on NBC. Um,
Alison:fun fact about NPC, which I love. Um, I think, I think it's just kind of one of those fun things about, um, and then how technology evolves and people seeing things as technology evolves, but my mom grew up, with a black and white T. And she learned when she was a late teenager, the NBC peacock was in rainbow because she babysat so many with a color TV. And I just think it's so cool that like, as you know, people, people acquire, I think, I think it's much faster these days, but people acquire technology at different rates. and you know, Getting to see these things, you know, it's, it's, you see things for the first time. and I think that's really cool
Evan:Yeah, exactly. There's from forever
Alison:or whatever it is.
Evan:and, and the peacock came about specifically for NBC teller transmission, but there's, that's JCD from a while ago about something everybody knows still about 10,000 people learn today.
Alison:I know, I love that. and specifically, that comic talks about the Mentos and diet Coke reaction, which if you have never heard of it,
Evan:Also big in
Alison:going look up. Yeah. But if you've never heard of Mentos and diet Coke reaction, we strongly recommend you grab yourself a bottle of diet Coke and Mentos and,
Evan:outside.
Alison:and go outside. Cause it's a really cool reaction. it's yeah, it's just, it's a cool reaction and it's really fun to watch and make sure you're not standing too close or you have a change of clothes on and.
Evan:Yeah. and. if you have little kids after you show it to them, there's a lot of incredible science you can teach them about.
Alison:Oh, yeah.
Evan:Like there's a lot of things overlapping that are really wonderful. but where we were was the, European requirements for grappa. So we talked about the parts of Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino too, is that it has to be made from Palmer, from the pumice, from pressing grapes. The third one. And this is the one I actually found interesting fermentation and distillation must occur on the Palmer. So you actually have to. What fermented with all the solids, not, not incredibly surprising, but you'd have to distill it with all the solids, which is much less common in most production, most distilled production. but you can not add any water.
Alison:Huh. That's interesting because water is like, usually add some water or something.
Evan:Exactly. So I thought I just found that to be really neat when I learned that fact about it.
Alison:Yeah.
Evan:but. It is normally clear, occasionally light yellow. I don't think it is normally aged or aged for very long. It is most drop, is on, is un-aged which, but it still has a little bit of color from that, uh, from the fruit. Sometimes
Alison:It's pretty cool.
Evan:it's very popular in, parts of south America as well, though. It is not incredibly popular in this.
Alison:Nope. Check my local liquor store.
Evan:It's something I like, but I don't have it often and not like enough that I feel like he needs to go buy a bottle, but if they have mini bottles, I would recommend it.
Alison:Right. I will take a look.
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:Thank you.
Evan:Um,
Alison:Uh, what's next on our list.
Evan:next on. Is schnapps,
Alison:Uh,
Evan:which is basically just the general category.
Alison:yeah, but I think schnapps is also one, that's just a really fun word to say. And as a result, there's a lot of pop culture references to schnapps. You think what kind of shops that they have in Letterkenny?
Evan:Never seen lender county.
Alison:Oh, hang on. I'm double checking loss.
Evan:So while you're looking at schnapps is effectively just a, anything is a generalized hydroid. That includes fruit brandies, herbal cures, infusions that include flowers, herbs, or fruits.
Alison:Uh, Reish knobs that they drank and let her Kenny is, butter ripple shops. basically let her, Kenny is this very, very, very Canadian TV show, that it's now it's on Hulu if you're in the states. but there was a Christmas episode. Where they have three drinks that they drink on new year's Eve. and they are butter ripples, not schnapps blue Curacao and creme dementia. And, those are the only things that they let anybody drink at their Christmas party before midnight.
Evan:of those three.
Alison:yeah. I mean, it's. It's just kind of a, a fun thing to say. And it's got such a wide variety, of beverages that I don't know.
Evan:Yeah, so,
Alison:it's cool. Schnapps. I feel like there's a, where's the peppermint.
Evan:I mean, I have peppermint. I have a very good peppermint schnapps in my freight and my freezer from Minnesota,
Alison:I feel like there's a heavier Minch Knox, a pop culture reference that I'm forgetting.
Evan:but, uh, there's Archer and his peppermint pack.
Alison:No. I don't know, anyways, back to what we were saying before, before the lightsaber noises happened, on the TV show letter, Kenny, may drink Butterball, Butterball, snap, schnapps, blue Curacao, and creme dementia. on new year's Eve. They're nice festive, colors. Schnapps can come in a variety of colors sometimes. But it's just a really wide variety of flavor. Great additives for cocktails, if you want a particular flavor. yeah, I don't, I don't know if it's necessarily old man thing so much as it is. there's such a wide variety of flavors that people have favorites that they cleaned up.
Evan:Yeah. I feel like schnapps by itself, it feels like it's more an old man thing. The whole old man liquor thing. He's mostly just a reason to talk about fun stuff. If you haven't discerned already everyone listening.
Alison:Semi obscure drinks.
Evan:We've talked about more obscure though.
Alison:oh yeah. Yeah. We found some weird ones
Evan:But so one of the fun
Alison:girl who made a, who Bruta as tech beverage in her class.
Evan:well, we've got something else that you might want to brunette, later in the show notes.
Alison:You want to breathe that?
Evan:yes, I want to brew it. It sounds
Alison:I overdid it with my last ginger batch.
Evan:Fair. But so one of the things I found interesting about schnapps and I've made garlic schnapps, by the way, I think I've told that story before.
Alison:No.
Evan:Really. So this was for a friend's 21st birthday. He was the summer before doing research in Germany. And this was during the world cup was Germany one and he agreed to take a shot of whatever. Uh, for every gold Germany store figuring needs to be one, maybe two, it was eight zip. And like the seventh or eighth was Darla.
Alison:Everything you were a cruel cruel man.
Evan:No, I wasn't there for that. So someone from his lab group bought him a shot of garlic snaps and he said it made it more pasta.
Alison:Huh? I mean, that's a reasonable response. I guess
Evan:so, uh,
Alison:prostate is delicious.
Evan:Yes. so for his 21st birthday, my roommate and I just he's part of that friend group, made garlic snaps, who was horrible, opening up the bottle of the entire apartment smelled. It was disgusting.
Alison:Is there any sugar in there?
Evan:There was no sugar, it
Alison:Okay,
Evan:a, it was like a head of garlic in a bottle of vodka.
Alison:I was going to say you couldn't make vodka sauce with that,
Evan:Yes, you could,
Alison:but you don't want to.
Evan:No, I don't make it. Do not make our election ops.
Alison:Okay.
Evan:but one of the things, especially for a schnapps like that, that I found interesting the term while restricting the episode, the etymology of the term schnapps comes from low German, uh, and the word related to the us snap. It shares a root because you snap back the drink.
Alison:Um, another item on the list is MRO, which is kind of an umbrella category that basically bitters, any Italian betters. I think we fall under MRO.
Evan:Not just Italian, but their most popular in Italy
Alison:yeah, compari would be one of these.
Evan:compared to be the most well-known for net Barranca would be another big one, especially amongst hipsters.
Alison:Yeah. but it's yeah. Blanket category. You can find all sorts.
Evan:it, it literally is the Italian word for bidder, but especially, especially in Italy, things like drinking Fernet is a very old man thing to do. but in Argentina, Fernet Coca-Cola, which is literally Fernet and Coke is a very popular kids drink. It's the second, uh, they sell more for net in Argentina than anywhere else.
Alison:It's pretty cool.
Evan:Of course got an, a bid following. Thanks to, uh,
Alison:Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I think, It's interesting to hear you say that it's a popular kids drink because, something that, I've heard about and, and was told as a kid, is that your, talent develops a lot as you get older and, things that you must, you might've really hated as a child, people may completely change their mind about as they get older, once they become a preteen and. and so it's important to keep tasting things as you get older because your palette is going to change.
Evan:Yeah. And in general studies have shown that as you get older, you develop a larger taste for bitterness.
Alison:yeah. So all of this kind of aligns with old men drinking better, I guess.
Evan:no, exactly. But for net, for net originally, like many of these in all honestly started as a patent. So it was originally marketed as a cure for cholera and menstrual cramps.
Alison:well, it's got enough alcohol and then, I mean,
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:like do the job.
Evan:but it has a very strong menthol flavor.
Alison:Yeah. Which, I mean, if it's your thing, then it's your thing. It's not my. I don't like the sensation of cold in my mouth like that, but
Evan:They also make an extra menthol for net, which I've not tried. I like standard for nets. Uh, in fact, I liked it with tonic water, which you definitely wouldn't like, well, I don't have any Fernet here, but if you visit, I will definitely not have that ready.
Alison:Thanks much appreciated.
Evan:Um,
Alison:Uh, if we, okay, next time Evan, I see each other in person. I don't know when that's going to be. We aren't going to have the weirdest beverage exchange on the planet.
Evan:Hopefully sometime this year.
Alison:Yeah. if any, by the way, if anyone else on this podcast is a brewer, Let us know if you'd be interested in doing a swap. I think it'd be really fun if, if we got some homebrewers on the podcast to swap homemade bruise.
Evan:Yeah. Hardly even just to talk about what you've made,
Alison:Yeah. Nice. Let us know. Feel free to drop us a comment.
Evan:Yeah, exactly. I have one more thing in the show notes, and this is something I definitely want to make, which, because I realized I've had this before. This is ginger wine, which is apparently used also an old. Drinking some parts, but also very popular in Scotland around this time of year.
Alison:I can see why
Evan:Well, it's popular during the Scottish holiday of hugged money,
Alison:I have not heard of.
Evan:also known as new year's Eve.
Alison:Okay. Yeah, that one I've heard of.
Evan:I forgot to mention it in the last episode. So I had to work at it when I saw that.
Alison:Okay. But,
Evan:But, I was actually introduced to it in June.
Alison:it's kinda cool.
Evan:Yeah.
Alison:Um,
Evan:Um,
Alison:the thing I've learned about fermenting with ginger is that, ginger. Give like there, everybody knows ginger is strong. Ginger is a strong flavor. it will overpower pretty much anything you add, anything else you add? Endless, unless you're really going hard with the other stuff. when I made ginger Meade, it was. Like let's be clear. It was very good. but it was very, very gingery. and anybody people who tasted it, who weren't into gender did not like it. And people who liked gender loved it. I thought it was delicious. but even though I love ginger, I could only have it in moderation. So if you do attempt to make something that's very gingery or like contains ginger. I would recommend keeping an eye on it and fishing it out when you reach your appropriate levels of Jen Trina. So something to that effect, or just use it in small quantities because it's a very strong in a braille
Evan:That is something I did not necessarily do. Right. when I included ginger and spices in a cider forever ago, but I'm going to try and follow this recipe, most of the, or not most, but a lot of the sugar content comes from right. from raisins, which I found interesting.
Alison:Very cool.
Evan:because I mean, you both that it is their graves, but you also generate a large amount of, um, like umami.
Alison:Very cool.
Evan:So I will have to make it at some
Alison:Yeah. Let me know how it is. Um, I'd
Evan:Well, I definitely will. Um, but I love ginger wine is apparently popular in Scotland among other places I will, I didn't have while I was in Scotland.
Alison:I can see how it would be very warming.
Evan:Yes. In the cold wet Scottish.
Alison:Yeah. I find that, beverages like that there. And people know, oh, you have Britain wine at room temperature, white wines. A lot of the time you'll have colds, uh, things like that. Um, and I think with a beverage like that, um, having Alonda the point is to have something warming and, and it just has an impact on its own, but it's really amplified when you heat it up or something.
Evan:Oh, yeah. This seems like it'd be something that would be delicious warmed, especially if you made it into a punch.
Alison:Oh yeah. Just like something that really, you feel it in your bones just warming you up.
Evan:Oh yeah.
Alison:Perfect. After like a day on the slopes for heaven.
Evan:Yeah. I've had plenty of those recently.
Alison:Yeah.
Evan:Yeah. Do you have anything else that don't aren't in the show notes?
Alison:Um, no, I don't. Oh, what are you brewing next? Ginger wine.
Evan:Probably the ginger.
Alison:That's your answer? Mine is I still need to get that hype discuss a rose wine. Hi, rose needs started, um, my ass. That's it for me, uh, in that case, hope everybody had a happy new year. Um, and I think, well, if you've ever heard of heard of the, the story of there's like an ancient, I believe it was Chinese curse. May we may live in
Evan:An interesting time.
Alison:I wish to all of you that you live in a month. Much more boring year this year than we did last year.
Evan:I would agree. I mean, the, um,
Alison:blessing to you all.
Evan:absolutely it is a good one.
Alison:And with that, she is brewed. He is brewed. And now it's time for you to brew happy fermenting folks and happy new year.
Evan:happy new year.