Beverages

Handruin

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I mainly drink Polar seltzer these days, lime being a big favorite. Nothing much more that carbonated water. Aside from that, I really like a strong ginger beer. My favorite kinds being Regatta, Fever Tree, and Bundaberg. I don't have them too often because of the calories but it is my preferred drink of choice which happens to have no alcohol.
 

Stereodude

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Jan 22, 2002
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I've been having the occasional Melt My Brain. Probably about 1 a week on average. I bought a few 6 packs when it showed up in stores back in the fall and have them in the basement. I haven't had a margarita in probably a year or more. Once I get some Filthy Black Cherries I'm going to try making some Manhattans.

I drink pretty much just plain filtered tap water aside from whole milk on my breakfast cereal in the morning.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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I feel like sitting duck and therefore avoid movie theatres.
 

Chewy509

Wotty wot wot.
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Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
Last Christmas I was given a bottle of Galway Pipe 12yr old port as a gift. Opened it the other night, and is certainly a nice smooth port. Watched the first Jason Borne movie whilst having a glass of it....
 

fb

Storage is cool
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Jan 31, 2003
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Östersund, Sweden
I've just tasted 2*4 cl of 85% home made absinth. It tasted mostly like cough medicine (not so much of alcohol as expected), but was very inspiring.
 

forstory

What is this storage?
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Jun 17, 2018
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How'd you actually home make it? You'd expect at 85% alcohol to have tasted a lot worse than cough medicine
 

fb

Storage is cool
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Yes, it actually tasted a bit worse than cough medicine. :) I don't know exactly how this batch was born, but seems like a real hassle to make proper Absinth yourself, according to Wikipedia.

It was interesting to try, but it's not a new favourite if I put it that way.
 

fb

Storage is cool
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I agree. But I didn't know what it was, or the percentage, before I tasted it.

I didn't see anything unusual. It was more like a normal herb liquor.
 

Newtun

Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
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Nov 21, 2002
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Virginia
The craft beer craze may be on the wane, including the super-IPA (mine's bitterer than yours), and the tutti-fruity, subsets.

But the bad news is that it might be getting replaced by the new "craft cocktails" phase. They seem to be everywhere, but here is a little sample from a U.S. (non-authentic) down-under restaurant chain: "THE WALLABY DARNED", "PINEAPPLE GINGER COLLISION" and "BLACK BARREL IRISH TEA".

So I thought of an idea for a "craft-cocktail generator" - a little program to pick a random 2-4 word phrase as the name of the cocktail, and a random set of 4-6 ingredients in random quantities. You, too, can be a star behind the bar. Hey, that might make a "great" movie.
 

Newtun

Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
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Virginia
Dessert Wines

I like a good dessert wine, after dinner or in lieu of a cocktail. A fine Sauternes can be treasured - yes, sweet, but with a fine balance of acidity.

A few months ago, I had a "Pedro Ximénez" sherry, and it was lovely, dark and deep.

Then a couple of weeks ago, at some friends' Italian restaurant, we tried a Malvasia, a red, "frizzante" (semi-sparkling), dessert wine, and that was a very nice introduction to the genre. It was a Malvasia Costelnuovo Don Bosco "Annalisa"; I tried to find a Malvasia at a local shop, and got some "Ronaldo ReDream", but it didn't have the same complexity as the Annalisa.

Years ago, we used to get Essensia from the Quady winery in Madera, California ("have some Madeira, my dear"). This fabulous wine is made from the Orange Muscat variety of grape, slightly fortified to about 15%, but it is hard to get on the east coast of the U.S. It has a distinct orange-ish flavor, rich and lush.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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The AD584s used in those cheap eBay references are salvaged from equipment. That's actually a plus since this means they're nicely aged, and hence already did all their drifting (most of which occurs in the first few months of powered operation). The only open question is whether or not the calibration values the seller gives are fake or not. I trust the ones that are hand-written on the boards themselves. I used to do something similar back when I was making LED drivers. I wrote the measured drive current directly on the board. I don't trust anyone who gives a printed slip of paper. That's mostly the China sellers.

Anyway, if your Fluke checked out at ±1 in the least significant digit that's great news. It just supports what I said. If you buy decent DMMs, they won't drift enough to matter. The Harbor Freight stuff of course is different. I never use them for anything critical. Mostly I use them for stuff like checking batteries where it doesn't matter if the meter is a few tenths of a percent off.

I'm not expecting all that much for $18, but the comparison with the Fluke is unlikely to be just luck. It has a label with handwritten foreign (Chinese?) voltages.
I may buy a 60,000 count meter later on, but the schedules are so hectic now that I probably should wait until after November 9.
 

Newtun

Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
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Dessert Wines

Well, the "Pedro Ximénez" sherry would usually be quite a bit more than $18, retail, due to the additional processing involved.
https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/naturally-sweet/pedro-ximenez said:
Pedro Ximénez is obtained from the overly ripe grapes of the same name which are dried in the sun to obtain a must with an exceptionally high concentration of sugar. Its ageing process, which is exclusively oxidative, gives the wine a progressive aromatic concentration and greater complexity, whilst fully preserving the characteristc[sic] freshness of the variety.
I don't know how the "(Chinese?) voltages" come into the process, though.

But I thought of a great advertising slogan after I heard that brand name, "If it works right, you know it's a Fluke."
 

Stereodude

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I'm not expecting all that much for $18, but the comparison with the Fluke is unlikely to be just luck. It has a label with handwritten foreign (Chinese?) voltages.
I may buy a 60,000 count meter later on, but the schedules are so hectic now that I probably should wait until after November 9.
Now it all makes sense. You're using your DMM to measure wine. Clearly some imbibing has been going on. :rofl:
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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There is something wrong with my replies. The threads are mixed up. I'm not sure about Chinese numbering, but the numbers are not formed the way I expect. It could be a Bulgarian I suppose.

My tastes generally transitioned from sweet to savory in the 1980s for some reason.
 

jtr1962

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Jan 25, 2002
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Flushing, New York
Now it all makes sense. You're using your DMM to measure wine. Clearly some imbibing has been going on. :rofl:
DMMs are great tools to measure the quality of wine. The capacitance and resistance of wine is crucial, sometimes even the inductance. Fine wines have fairly low resistance, fairly high capacitance, and sometimes exhibit measurable inductance.
 

LunarMist

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DMMs are great tools to measure the quality of wine. The capacitance and resistance of wine is crucial, sometimes even the inductance. Fine wines have fairly low resistance, fairly high capacitance, and sometimes exhibit measurable inductance.

How would wine have a measurable inductance? You could probably measure the pH with a probe, but most DMMs are not set up for that.
 

LunarMist

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DMMs are great tools to measure the quality of wine. The capacitance and resistance of wine is crucial, sometimes even the inductance. Fine wines have fairly low resistance, fairly high capacitance, and sometimes exhibit measurable inductance.

How would wine have a measurable inductance?
I did work with electronic tongues some years ago. I think they had 7 flavor channels at the time, compared to 5 "tastes" for humans.
 

jtr1962

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How would wine have a measurable inductance? You could probably measure the pH with a probe, but most DMMs are not set up for that.
I obviously was playing on what SD said. It's all tougue-in-cheek. Wines definitely would have measurable resistivity but I doubt that correlates much with taste. However, they certainly do have a fairly low resistance to preventing people from drinking them, and a fairly high capacitance to get people drunk. :drunk::tgif:
 

LunarMist

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I obviously was playing on what SD said. It's all tougue-in-cheek. Wines definitely would have measurable resistivity but I doubt that correlates much with taste. However, they certainly do have a fairly low resistance to preventing people from drinking them, and a fairly high capacitance to get people drunk. :drunk::tgif:

Have you measured conductance of the wine (µS)?
 

Newtun

Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
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I just saw mention of a "strawberry milk shake beer". Yuck! If I want a milkshake, I'll get one. I like beer that tastes like beer! (Though I don't like it too bitter.) Sour beer is fairly new to me, such as Belgian gose (or gueuze), but from the few examples I've had, I like them.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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Too many new projects and not enough staff. Once I've worked hard enough long enough I'll be able to argue that it isn't just a surge, and that more permanent staff are required. Just waiting for the boss to be having a good day before I ask.

Can you bring in contractors to do the dirty work?
In any case I wouldn't post those images as your next employer may not approve.
 

ddrueding

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Feb 4, 2002
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Horsens, Denmark
Username does relate to actual name, and I'm pretty comfortable with everything I post online being found by future employers. I try to be as transparent as possible.
 
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