#Jack's Dundee Tea

[rabbitcruiser]

National Bourbon Day 

Nobody really needs a good excuse to enjoy the odd tipple, but National Bourbon Day gives anyone the perfect reason to dust off a bottle of this fine whiskey and have a glass or two!

Those who are less steeped in the culture of alcoholic beverages may not know the difference between bourbon and whiskey, which is certainly okay! This is the perfect day to learn. National Bourbon Day has been set aside as a day to learn about and appreciate this fine liquor which some people refer to as the “Spirit of America”.

It’s time to celebrate this American ‘Native Spirit’!

History of National Bourbon Day

Legend has it that the date on which National Bourbon Day is celebrated is the anniversary of the very first time this famous drink was distilled, way back in the late 1700s. It may only be a legend but, whatever the truth of this is, National Bourbon Day is surely a day worth celebrating.

Bourbon is a specific category of American whiskey, which is made from a mash that is primarily corn based–at least 51% must be corn in order for it to be classified as bourbon. Other grains in the mash typically include malted barley, rye or wheat.

The mash is then distilled, then aged for at least two years in barrels that are new charred oak barrels, in order to be “straight bourbon whiskey”. Many bourbons are aged longer than 2 years. In fact, one labelling rule states that any bourbon aged for less than 4 years must state as much on the label.

This is a very strong liquor. The corn mash to make the bourbon starts out at 80% alcohol and, through the aging process as well as filtering and bottling processes, the final product can be no less than 40% alcohol by volume.

Bourbon definitely originated in the US state of Kentucky, sometime in the 1700s, before it even had acquired its official name. The name seems to be a nod to the French Bourbon Dynasty, and possibly was in honor of Bourbon County, an area of Kentucky that was known for its corn growing.

While some people think that bourbon must be made in Kentucky (like cognac must be made in a certain region of France) that’s not actually true. It simply needs to be distilled and aged in the state in order to be given the special name, “Kentucky Bourbon”.

Even so, most of this drink is still made in Kentucky and folks from that area would claim that it’s definitely the place where the best bourbon comes from. Some Kentuckians even claim that the limestone in the springwater from the area offers this bourbon a flavor distinguished from the rest.

In 1964, the US Congress recognized bourbon as a “distinctive product of the United States”. In fact, many trade agreements require that, to be called bourbon, a whiskey must be made in the USA.

As bourbon whiskey began to grow in popularity, the tourism around this drink began to increase in Kentucky. At one point, to keep up with demand, some companies were planning to reduce the alcohol content of their products, but backlash from customers forced them to reverse their decision. Some companies have limited their supplies overseas to keep up with demands in the US. That means that Kentucky still probably is the best place to get bourbon!

While it is true that all bourbons are whiskey, not all whiskeys are bourbon. And National Bourbon Day is certainly the best day to find out more about this tasty beverage and enjoy a glass as well.

How to Celebrate National Bourbon Day

Celebrating National Bourbon Day is filled with fun, enjoyment and, of course, access to different bourbons of the world! Try these celebratory ideas for enjoying the day:

Try a Different Kind of Bourbon

Those who are new on the scene, welcome! It’s time to try bourbon of any variety. For those who are enthusiasts and aficionados, National Bourbon Day is the perfect time to try a new brand, flavor or vintage of this special whiskey.

Knob’s Creek. Whether choosing the 9-year, or the more sought-after 15-year, this brand is well known for its small batch varieties that everyone seems to love.

Evan Williams Black Label. A great taste for a newcomer, this affordable brand brings 86 proof whiskey that is aged more than 5 years.

Jim Beam’s Old Grandad. Mid-range price and 114 proof is super spicy and appreciated by those who want to avoid the “hype” of fancier brands.

Join a National Bourbon Day Event

There are plenty of events and options for whiskey lovers and their friends (even those who don’t know much about whiskey) to get in the swing of things and enjoy this special day. Hotels and restaurants often enter into the spirit of the occasion by organizing a dinner in honor of Bourbon.

Hop on the National Bourbon Day website for more information and events.

Visit the Bourbon Capital of the World

Bardstown, Kentucky has been hailed by some to be the “Bourbon Capital of the World”. Because of this, it may just be the perfect place to visit for a National Bourbon Day celebration. With at least 10 different distilleries in the area, Bardstown offers an eclectic array of bourbon options, including: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Maker’s Mark Distillery, Jim Beam American Stillhouse ahd Heaven Hill Distillery.

National Bourbon Day events typically last over two or three days, hosting tastings, demonstrations, and expert discussions. While in town, don’t forget to stop by the Oscar Getz Museum of Whisky History, which is a special place for bourbon enthusiasts.

Those who can’t make it to Kentucky but want to join in from home can access the National Bourbon Day video library for recorded and virtual events.

Try Some New Bourbon Cocktail Recipes

A great idea for celebrating the day is to entertain family and friends by trying out some old or new Bourbon cocktail recipes.

Bourbon Old Fashioned. A classic, of course, but always amazing. This drink includes bourbon, bitters, water, sugar, and a garnish of orange peel.

Bourbon Mint Julep. Another Kentucky favorite known for its attachment to the horse race, the Kentucky Derby, this refreshing drink simply calls for simple syrup, mint sprigs, bourbon and crushed ice.

Bourbon Manhattan. Named after the city that never sleeps, this iconic American drink just begs to make with America’s Native Spirit! Mix bourbon whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and orange peel.

Bourbon Sidecar. Normally made with cognac, this American-ized version of the drink is just as tasty. Shake together bourbon, triple sec and lemon juice with ice. Garnish with an orange twist.

No matter what the plans are for the day, it’s easy to add a little splash of whiskey to an evening meal to make National Bourbon Day a night to remember!

Source

[slashingdisneypasta]

So tell me: What is there to do in Australia?

I’ve never been, but have always wanted to go there.

Oh! Really?? Well we’d be happy to have you!! 

Hmmm, lemme try to do this without triangulating my location, haha XDD 

Okay, so, I’ve been to Queensland, Victoria and NSW- the rest of the country is a complete mystery to me XD Also, I think most of it is desert and, like, 3 people plus an echidna anyway so that’s okay! Haha. 

I’m no tour guide, and my family always stuck to camping out in the bush when we were vacationing so I know next to nothing about mainstream Australia hah XD *Sweat drop*. Of course, I recommend the obvious ones- the Sydney Opera House, Sea World and Movie World in Queensland, Luna Park either in Sydney or Melbourne, Q1, Australia Zoo (Fun Fact: My family visited there THE DAY that Steve Irwin died. ... yeah. Not so fun, but there you go. Scary coincidence that plagues me everyday that I live in a world without that man), Uluru, The Great Ocean Road and the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Melbourne for a culture boost, etc. I would also list the Blue Mountains but all our mountains basically look the same, so. And I’m not even gonna attempt to list any beaches cuz, well you’ll find plenty on your journey and they’re all basically the same. Not to say they aren't great though! I’ve grown up around beaches and they’re beautiful ^^ I could stand with my feet buried under water and sand for hours, in cold or hot weather and its always nice. 

If you like more populated, normal society kinda areas, those are the places ^^ Lost of shopping, cultural enlightenment and beaches. 

Now, stuff I know XD CAMPING, ROADTRIPS AND SMALL TOWNS. Okay okay okay, XD Its been forever since I’ve camped but as soon as I rope a friend who can drive in, I’m going. I love the bush, and I think everyone who likes fresh air, and wild life, and nature will too of course (And, I know people worry about this so just saying- I used to camp all the time and I’ve only come upon one snake. No sweat. You’re far more likely to get attacked by a giant freaken kangaroo or pecked by an emu then bitten by a snake or spider. My Dad made up this campfire horror story about the ‘Ghost Kangaroo’ that makes a ‘Shhh-THUMP’ sound because it had to replace one of its legs with a mop, and THAT scared us more then the possibility of a snake). 

I bet you’ve heard of the Big Apple... but have you heard of the Big Pineapple? Probably not. Well its a thing we have in Woombye, Queensland and its just pineapple building thing that you can go inside, but is a fun touristy thing to do XD I think its reopening? Or its been reopened? I dunno. 

My BIGGEST recommendation is Beechworth. This is a town in Victoria that is Ned Kelly crazy. My mum’ll deny it now but honestly I think she had a bit of obsession with the famous Bushranger when I was little but she totally was. He kinda dominates my childhood memories. Documentaries, the Old Melbourne Jail where he was hung, his armour... and this town. This is where he was caught with Harry Power and there’s a whole walk you can go on that follows his run from the police, including a little statue of him shot and all (This tour is one of the most memorable tours I’ve ever been on. Right next the one I went on with a bunch of other kids where they taught us how to identify animal poop). There's also a museum, of course (If you want to see his famous tin can armour, though, you’ll have to visit the State Library in Melbourne), the Beechworth Gaol, and giant motherfucking statue of the guy. Yeah... as a country we tend to romanticise him a bit. I even have a picture of little me and my brother grinning ear to ear at his huge boots.

Beechworth also has the b e s t Bee Stings you’ll ever find, and a good Gold Rush tour. 

OH MY GOD SPEAKING OF THE GOLD RUSH. You MUST visit Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. Omg, I love that place so much. Its basically this town full of paid roll players like Disney Land where you can pretend you’re in the Gold Rush times and explore all the old fashioned shops and buildings (The Dentist is nightmare fuel), get dressed up in old fashioned clothes and get your picture taken, have high tea or, you know, pan for gold at the lake. I’ve been picked on by a roll players (A policeman. Both times.) both times I’ve been but its easy to avoid them if you aren't comfortable with that kinda thing ^^

Also- Food! Another recommendation for if you go to Australia? Go to a Bunnings if you’re hungry. They’ll likely have a sausage sizzle going and you can get a cheap, delicious lunch!! Plus the proceeds are usually for a charity, which is always good. I love sausage sizzles so much, haha XD 

Oh, if you aren't in to camping out in the bush, or at all, then I toooootally recommend any Big 4 holiday park you find. They always have giant pillows (The trampoline things, not the bedding XD) and- come on. How can you say no to that? Haha. 

Aussie movies to watch: Kangaroo Jack, Red Dog (Muahaha), Rogue, Crocodile Dundee and Nim’s Island.

We call our Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) ‘ScoMo’. 

Enjoy the fun facts written on pad wrappers! (If you get periods, or your have a friend who gets periods)

And uhhhh... I think that’s all I can think of? XD Thanks for allowing me to rattle on about home! ^^ 

Parting advice: DO NOT besmirch milo. You’ll promptly be fed to the dingo’s, and there is nothing I can do to save you. 

Also don’t talk shit about vegemite either, but that's mostly because you’ll be branded as an out-of-nation-er (?? Pft, haha) for the rest of your trip. Its hard to come back from that XD 

[snowpatrolfanclubbrazil]

Gary Lightbody shifts uncomfortably in his seat as he recalls the lowest moment of his life. It's 18 years ago now, but the pain - and shame - of that episode are clearly still fresh in his mind. Well, at least some parts of it.

He's all too aware that he could have died that night. Indeed, as he lay at the bottom of a steep flight of concrete steps, head cracked open and drenched in blood, his Snow Patrol colleague Jonny Quinn was convinced the band's lead singer had played his last gig.

Wildness: Gary Lightbody discusses new Snow Patrol album

"I'd been on a bender for three days," says the 41-year-old, running a hand though that trademark mane of unruly black hair.

"I'd gone to a club in Glasgow. I was way, way too drunk and went tumbling down the stairs. Jonny, who'd just arrived, looked over the balcony and saw me lying there with the blood oozing out of my head. He thought I was dead."

We're sitting in The Dark Horse bar in Belfast, across from one of the Bangor man's favourite former haunts, the Duke of York. But today the frontman of one of the world's biggest rock groups is sipping peppermint tea because alcohol is no longer on the menu.

Rocker's honesty over drink and drugs an example to all

He's been sober for two years, the legacy of a major health scare that compelled him to turn his life around.

He's also really excited about Wildness - "the album I'm most proud of" - which is released today as the band's first studio recording in seven years.

The benders have been replaced by martial arts and meditation. But you get the impression that the old demons which sent him careering down those unforgiving steps in 2000 - several years before Snow Patrol hit the big time - are still lurking in the background.

He shows me the two replacement teeth in his lower jaw, a constant reminder of the night he was rushed to a Glasgow hospital's emergency department after that life-threatening fall.

Album review: Snow Patrol - Wildness

But it's what happened afterwards that remains a source of recurring shame for the charismatic singer-songwriter.

"I was out of control," he says. "Apparently, they put me in a wheelchair and I rode off on it, shouting... I was a giant ass, running all over the place.

"Initially, none of the nurses would talk to me the following day, but I couldn't really remember what had happened the previous night.

"Looking at myself in the mirror that day was, literally, a sobering experience. That was the first time I quit the booze."

But not the last. The Scottish incident (Gary studied English Literature at the University of Dundee) prompted a dry spell lasting "a couple of months" as he recuperated at the home of his parents, Jack and Lynne. "They're always happy to see me, but they weren't happy with how I looked," he says.

Temptation soon came knocking again, however, and was invited in, accompanied by drugs and depression.

People who don't suffer from mental health issues will probably never understand how a gifted, fabulously wealthy man could be depressed about anything. But it clearly doesn't work that way.

As a teenager growing up in - and keen to escape from - a Troubles-torn Northern Ireland, ex-Campbell College pupil Gary suffered from bouts of anxiety.

Then there was that seven-year period following Snow Patrol's student-days formation in 1994 when commercial success eluded them despite building up a decent fan base and releasing a well-received debut album, Songs for Polarbears (the band was briefly called Polarbear), in 1998.

"I thought we were going to be big from the start - and then when we weren't, I started thinking, 'Maybe this is never going to happen',"Gary says.

"I had too much ego at the beginning. Over time, that gets drilled out of you.

"Looking back, I'm grateful that we were allowed a gestation period because I think I'd have been absolutely insufferable.

"I wanted too much at the beginning - I wanted world domination. I don't think I was over-confident and I certainly wasn't cool. It was more like I was charged with this energy that was probably no real use to me."

Gary insists that he doesn't regret those booze-addled early years in Scotland, where at times he felt grateful just to have roof over his head. Indeed, even the notorious Glasgow incident gave him fresh songwriting impetus.

Independent label Jeepster Records, however, gave up on Snow Patrol after their second album, When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, failed to take off in 2001.

But then came a deal with Polydor, the 2003 release of Final Straw and its epic, haunting break-out single Run - and tangible success at last for a fully focused Gary, who refrained from indulgence during the album-promoting tour that put him, Jonny, Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson and Johnny McDaid firmly on the road to mega-stardom.

The multi-platinum Final Straw was followed up by the even bigger Eyes Open (2006) - which spawned Chasing Cars, one of the most air-played songs in music history - and world-wide, sell-out stadium gigs.

It might surprise some fans, however, that Gary doesn't regard Chasing Cars as one of the best things he's ever done.

"There are better songs on Eyes Open - and better ones on our new album," he insists.

"But it's a beautiful thing and a privilege to have songs such as Chasing Cars and Run that are in people's consciousness. Those songs have taken us around the world many times and we're honoured to have them."

Subsequent album releases - A Hundred Million Suns (2008) and Fallen Empires (2012) - sold well but failed to emulate the monster success of Eyes Open, and the group's leader retreated to Santa Monica, California, and started drinking heavily again.

Gary, who lives in Bangor, says he felt "incapacitated" by depression back then.

In his darkest hours, he even thought about "not existing" any more, but he didn't go as far as to "think how to get there".

"The most important thing for anybody going through mental health problems is to talk about it," he says.

"People have said I've given them the confidence to speak up about their own problems, which makes me happy. It's the thing that I found the hardest, and it hamstrung me against recovery for such a long time.

"People were always complimenting me for being an honest songwriter - and I was, about love etc - but the inner life I was living was not something that I was able to share until now."

The health scare of 2016 - when infections ravaged his ears, eyes and both sinuses - was a major wake-up call: "I knew I had to change my lifestyle, which up to that point had revolved around booze, and I just stopped drinking."

I tell him that he looks fit and healthy.

"I feel it too," he replies.

"I'm a lean 180 pounds (12.8 stone) at the moment. I was up to 200 (pounds) before I quit drinking. It looked like my neck and my face were the same width."

He's been sober for almost two years, but he admits the first steps were really difficult.

"It was hard to be around other people drinking, so I avoided it and tended not to be very social in the first year or so," Gary says.

Any lapses?

"No, none," he replies - but stops short of saying he has banished the demon drink for ever.

"That was my problem in the past - I'd say, 'Never again', but if you've got chaotic tendencies like I have - the self-sabotaging, which has been a theme of my life - and you say you're never going to do something again, chances are you're absolutely going to do it again."

He reveals that he abstained for 12 months four years ago.

"I always said I was going to go off it for a year, And I did," he says.

"It was the year between two Grammy Awards ceremonies. The first one (2014) I'd been nominated along with Taylor Swift, and the following year I was there with Ed Sheeran, who'd been nominated along with my bandmate Johnny McDaid.

"Between those two nights I was sober, but on those two nights I definitely wasn't."

He says his life has changed "immeasurably" since he quit booze (he'd already weaned himself off drugs years before).

"It's calmer, there's less darkness, more energy... all the things you get from quitting," he adds, stressing that he's highly unlikely to do drugs (such as cocaine and ecstasy) again either.

"They were part of my life but not anymore - they didn't do me any favours," he says.

"People need to make their own choices in life, but if anyone ever asked me if drugs are a good idea, I'd say no."

So, how has going from penniless student to mega-rich global rock star changed him?

"It's made me realise that it doesn't actually matter what you have, it's who you are," he says.

"Fame, fortune, none of it matters. I know that I'm a good person."

He's extremely close to his family and "crazy" about younger sister Sarah's 10-year-old daughter, Honey - "the apple of all our eyes". But will he settle down?

Gary's last serious relationship was "nearly 10 years ago" and he's certainly not proud of past indiscretions.

"It's behaviour that I'm still ashamed of," he says. "If I could go back, I wouldn't have cheated on girlfriends."

His Snow Patrol colleague Johnny has clearly settled. Will Gary be attending his forthcoming wedding to actress and former Friends star Courteney Cox in Malibu later in the summer?

"If I'm invited," he says, adding: "Courteney's lovely". Incidentally, the long gap between Fallen Empires and Wildness had nothing to do with writer's block, as some Snow Patrol fans may have feared.

"I was writing with other people and for films and TV," Gary says. "But when it came to Snow Patrol, and it was about my life, I didn't have anything to say - or maybe I was scared of saying it."

In the end, he wrote a staggering 600 songs for the album. Only 10 made the cut.

They include Soon, about his 80-year-old father's battle with dementia, and A Youth Written in Fire, which deals with "alcoholism and recovery".

Wildness could well propel Gary and Snow Patrol back into the music stratosphere but, for him, few highs could match the Ward Park homecoming concerts of 2007 and 2010.

"2010 was the biggest gig ever in Northern Ireland... and still is," he says proudly.

"To play in our own back garden, so to speak, where I played football as a kid and where Jonny Quinn learned how to ride a bike was an extraordinary thing."

Don't bet against a similar gig next year for Snow Patrol's 25th anniversary.

Gary admits he's already planning "some big shows for the 25th year" and then another album. The fans' patience is about to be rewarded.

Belfast Telegraph

[the-man-that-i-was-not]

All of the autumnal asks!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be the same anon that got me to do all of the unusual asks as well haha!lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other?I met my best friend through music, essentially. My old band played a few shows with his old band, but he also runs a promotion company here in Dundee and we became friends because I became the contact in Athenia for him, so I’d always be the one to get us shows with him, pick up the tickets etc, and since starting a band with him two years ago he’s become my best friend, which I’m very grateful for. I have no idea what his first impression of me was, but my first impression of him was that he was a dick because of things other people had said, obviously my mind has been changed since then though haha!frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say?Don’t leave it until you’re an adult to say ‘fuck it’. I didn’t do a lot of the things that teenagers typically do, and I feel like I’ve missed out for it. I didn’t do enough stupid shit and I didn’t make enough rubbish decisions.maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?Photography, cause my sister’s a great photographer and I was always intrigued.harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?Ooft, that’s a tough one. I can’t actually think of anyone just now, I’ll update this if I do.fireside - if you had your dream wardrobe, what would it look like?I’m not sure, I quite like how I dress just now, I suppose it would just have a lot more variety of the kinds of things I like. Definitely more leather jackets.cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy?Mashed potatoes, I choke for them these days.amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.It might just be because I’ve grown up here, but Scotland is far more crap than everyone seems to think.fog - how well do you think you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario?Not very well at all.jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose?I’d probably go for Peter Steele or someone to that effect.spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?Nope, because I’ve never believed in ghosts or anything of the sort.orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn.Finally managing to de-stress would be nice.crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for?Physics, mostly because it made no sense that I didn’t, given that one of my best subjects was maths.bonfire - describe your dream house.A nice flat that’s high up in a block that overlooks the night lights of a city. Minimalist decor, and one of the walls in the living room would just be a massive window that gets that view.cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where?There’s a lot of things that would’ve been cool to experience, Japan in the early 90s would’ve been cool though for the thought of seeing bands like X Japan during the Jealousy era.cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school?Not in the fucking slightest. Even though I’ve always been quite academic, high school was dreadful.cranberry - what’s one physical feature that you get complimented on?Only ever really my hair or my eyes, neither of which I can complain about.maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street.I’ve probably had weirder, but the one that comes to mind was when I had finished work one day and I was just sat on a bench, and a group of wee kids (must have only been about 13) asked me if I would sell them some weed, and they refused to believe that I don’t smoke. They spent a good ten minutes telling me about why they didn’t believe me. That was weird.quilt - how do you take your tea (or coffee)?Tea - Splash of milk with honeyCoffee - Two sugarspumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad?The only thing that humans are inherently, is complex, which includes their reasons as to why they do things that could be deemed good or bad. Also even if someone does something that is definitely bad, they don’t believe it is, they believe it’s good, which complicates things further.moonlit - are you a neat or messy person? Is your room / house orderly?I can be a bit untidy at times, but overall I’m neat and orderly. I hate mess.flannel - have you ever gone on a bad date? I don’t think I’ve ever gone on a bad date, only gone on dates with people I wish I hadn’t.cocoa - if you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have?Basically if I could I would have John Tardy’s hair. Shit’s impressive.ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life?Yeah there’s a few people, but I’m not good at keeping friends.Thank you!

[scottishdreams]

'Not my cup of tea': St Mirren boss Jack Ross slams Dundee United gaffer Csaba Laszlo after ...

Dundee ^ | St Mirren boss Jack Ross has hit out at Dundee United gaffer Csaba Laszlo following a touchline bust-up. The pair were seen to exchange words between the opposing dugouts after the Terrors clinched victory over the Championship leaders. The Buddies could have become champions but Billy King's ... http://dlvr.it/QPF5mG

[irescot]

Edinburgh - Friday

NOTE: I strongly dislike Shutterfly because it has changed not for the better, but that's where my pictures are. Since there is no real information in their help, I've decided to give each of you my login information into Shutterfly so you can take a look at the pictures. I think the blogs make more sense with the pictures and vice versa.  So here are the instructions: + go to shutterfly.com + on the top line, click on Sign In + use jolowiczk@earthlink.net as the username and fan4fan3 as the password + that should take you to the My Shutterfly page; click on Albums under My Photos + Click on Ireland and Scotland on the left hand side (or anything else you want, got no secrets) + click on the album name to view the photos (thumbnails); to view full size, double click on first photo and then use the right key to go through them.  Shutterfly puts them in whatever order they want within date taken, so who knows. + When finished, PLEASE LOG OUT, I don't know how many people at a time Shutterfly allows access to with the same logon, so if you log out, it may allow someone else to get in.  That other person could be me trying to upload additional pictures.  

For most entries the name of the blog post corresponds to the album, but there are a couple of exceptions.  The IreScot 815 to 819 contains all the photos taken while driving from Dublin to Waterford to Galway to Killarney and back to Dublin.

END OF NOTE

Carol and a friend made plans to scatter a portion of the ashes of the friend's husband at the St. Andrews golf course, since it was his favorite course. Today was the day we decided to do that.

We slept a little late today and had a cab pick us up at around 10:45 to take us to the Waverley Station to take a train at 11:35 to Leuchars, the train stop that is about a 15 minute cab ride to St. Andrews (the town and the links).  You can also transfer to a bus at the train station that takes you very close to St. Andrews Golf Course. We had any time return tickets, and this time 1st class tickets.

When we got to the station we used one of the ticket machines to print out the tickets Carol had purchased online.  A great number of tickets printed out; we had so many that we weren't sure which was for what, so Carol went to the information desk (and I tagged along) and got the guy to tell us what each set of tickets was for.  We discovered we had assigned tickets going to Leuchars, but nothing on the way back since we hadn't gotten tickets for the return trip. We also had tickets for the bus (going and return) plus a Summary ticket of the purchase.  The guy was ready to rip that one up, but I stopped him because we had used that last time when one of us lost our ticket (which you need to get out) and we used it as proof that we had had a ticket (which they accepted).  The guy also told us that the first class tickets are either on the first car or on the last one.  

When we went to the main platforms we were still half an hour early, so there was no posting of the platform, but it appeared as though our train might be delayed.  The train was going to Aberdeen, with Leuchars one of its stops.  Finally, with just 5 minutes to go, they posted track 16, which is what our information guy had told us it would probably be.  So a bunch of us trooped out to the train and after everyone departed, we got on and found our seats and settled in.  5-10 minutes later, an official looking person came around and told everyone to get off the train, that we were going to be departing now fom track 14. We got out and went to track 14, and started to get on the train, when the conductor(?) was getting off and he said, you should be on track 16...I replied that we had just been told to come to 14 from 16. Then he asked what train we wanted and I said Aberdeen, to which he replied, yes this is the train to Aberdeen.  Jeez!

We settled in again into facing seats, and a voice came on and told us that the other train had an engine failure, and pardon the delay, etc., etc. Later when an announcement was made of the stops, I had to listen very carefully to hear our stop, Leuchars, because it's not pronounce the way it looks, but I can't reproduce the "ch" sound which is made in the throat.

Shortly afterwards, a steward came by with a little basket with various edibles including the thing the three of us love to eat, shortbread biscuits (read cookies).  He asked if we wanted something to drink, coffee, tea, orange juice, water.  We all three requested water.  The steward and having plugs seems to be the big difference between first class and standard class. And depending on the train, facing seats.

Once we were on the way, the three of us were busy reading or using the train's Wi-Fi.  The view out of the windows seemed to be mostly tall hedges that obscured views beyond the train, so we didn't other looking up.  At some point, we noticed that we were looking out at a very large body of water and we weren't sure what it was. Looking at the route of the train, it went across the Forth Bridge and then followed the coast for a while before going back inland for a straight run at St. Andrews, which is further up the coast.  So what we were seeing was the ocean past the estuary of the river Forth.

A little later we saw ships out on the ocean, they might have been fishing boats but I don't know what they look like.  I just liked the picture they made, a splash of color in a picture otherwise made of greys.

I also liked some of the houses I saw but once again, I could only take pictures on my side of the train.

We were supposed to get to Leuchars at 12:27 but in fact got there at 12:55. Also I'm pretty sure we skipped one station.  Leuchars was supposed to be the third stop, but it was the second stop.  Also they made an announcement that they would skip two other stations. Passengers going to those stations were advised to go on to Dundee and take trains back to those stations.  What a pain for those people!

Took a picture outside the station when we arrived because I was curious about those long bumps in the field. Wasn't sure if it was a way to cut and stack the hay preparatory to baling, but I'm hardly familiar with the words I just used, much less have any idea what I'm talking about.  But that's never stopped me from making things up.

We had to take a bridge that went from the station to the other side of fence that separated the street from the tracks and platforms. On the other side, we could see a taxi rank. Because of the delays, we had missed the bus we had planned to get on, so we decided to take a cab.  I thought (don't know why) that St. Andrews had 3 courses, but our driver told me that there are 7 and that in addition there were another 6 near by, and that in fact there was another being planned.  All of those courses are public.

Carol had made reservations for us to take a tour of St. Andrews so she could get on the course and do her thing with the ashes, but as she read more on the subject, it turns that it was not at all rare to have people want to have their ashes scattered there. Carol spent some time in the shop looking at things she could buy for some of her brothers who are avid golfers, and then decided to think about what she wanted and then buy online so she wouldn't have to arrange for shipping.

Meanwhile our tour was going to start in 15 minutes or so, so we wandered outside. I took pictures of the Old Course Hotel, that runs the length of the Old Course, and a of part of the town of St. Andrews.  Went into the shop where there was a separate room that housed picture of the courses and of the town for sale, and saw a beautiful pen drawing of St Andrews - the city and the links.

There were some beautiful flowers in planters outside the clubhouse, and then I realized I had not taken a picture of the clubhouse itself.  And then more flowers along the side of the clubhouse.

Meanwhile, Carol had realized that there was no need to go on the tour, she could just walk out on the course, there was nobody to stop her.  So she waited until the foursome finished the 17 hole and had put the flag back in the hole, and checked that those on the 16th were not ready to tee off, and went down to the hole and disposed of the ashes of her friend.  

Since we didn't need to go on the tour (neither of us are golfers), we decided to have lunch at the restaurant there.  It was, like all meals we have had this trip, very good.  While we were eating, we heard a loud thunk, and an older woman had fallen down hard, right out of her shoes.  Several people rushed up to help and one of the staff brought a chair over so she could sit down after they managed to get her up again.  She rested for a while, and when she got up, she seemed to be more embarrassed than hurt, so all's well that ends well.

Paid the bill and went to reception, and I noticed a big mural with my boy Jack (Nicholson) who I had a big crush on back in the day. Took a picture and then we ask the reception to get us a taxi, which arrived within minutes, and we were on our way back to the station.

There was supposed to be a train to Edinburgh at 3:30 and we heard an announcement that seem to indicate it would be late, but the 3:30 was announced on time and off we went. This time when we went into 1st Class, all seats but two were taken (since we had a return anytime, there were no reserved seats for us) so Carol chose to stand. Very shortly after, a gentleman offered his seat to Carol who was standing on the platform outside 1st class, which she accepted.  His friend also left to keep him company on the platform, so the net effect was there was an extra seat.  

Before we left the station, took another picture of the same fields as before, but this time at a different angle.

Once again there was not much to see on the way back, so we mostly read. At the Forth Bridge there were no hedges to block the view and it looked lovely, but no pictures because on the wrong side of the train. And the rest of our journey to Edinburgh was uneventful.

Back in Edinburgh we decided to walk to the bus, but first we had to make sure we all had exact change.  Sharon didn't have any change, and I had forgotten the little bag of change I carry with me, so it was all up to Carol to come up with the exact change for 3 people.  She rummaged in her capacious purse, and kept coming up with change (including American money) and pretty soon we had 1 pound 60p for each of us.  Then we went outside and on the lookout for a bus stop for one of our buses. On the way the queue at the taxi rank was ridiculous; it would have taken longer than our bus ride to finally get in a cab, so we were happy we had made that decision.

Took a couple of pictures of the Giant Wheel, and of the building above The Mound, that was built in 1846, and of the buildings to the right of it. Also of the flowers on The Mound, and in the other direction, the Sir Walter Scott Monument.  

I thought I knew where there was a stop that would be the right one for one of the 4 buses we could take, but when we go there, it turned out I was wrong.  Then Carol was able to look up nearby bus stops, and we find one for our good friend, the 23 bus, at a stop not far away, but it was all uphill.  The bus eventually got there, and Sharon and I got on.  Carol was behind a young guy who was behind us.  But the driver told the young guy to get off because he couldn't take any more.  So we ended looking at Carol on the other side of the closed door and trying to tell the driver that she was with us, but of course that didn't matter to the driver.

For the first time, we didn't have to ask the driver to tell us when we got to our stop, which he would have been unhappy with, considering how crowded the bus was.  But we could finally tell where we were when we got close to our stop.  

Walking to the apartment from the bus stop, we wondered whether Carol had waited for the next bus or had decided to take a cab.  If she took a cab, we expected to see her waiting at the apartment because the cab woule have been  faster than the bus; if not, we would not see her for 10 or 15 minutes.  When we got to the apartment, she was sitting outside, waiting for us (they only gave us one key and I'm the official holder). It turns out she took the next bus, but it passed ours at some point, and that's how she got there before us.  

And that's how Friday went.

[dundeethistlecycleclubblog]

Ned’s early years in the Thistle

I was asked to write a bit about the Thistle from when I joined in 1955 till the 70`s. I hope you enjoy it. Ned Carnegie

Picture: Thistle Juniors 1955. Left to right Ned, Ginger Chalmers, Ian Hunter, Ian Auchterlonie, Alan Conela,  ?  , Donald Robbie, Frank Somerville, Norman Norrie, Crystal.

I`ve been in the Thistle club for 61 years (Born1941) and still ride the bike albeit a good bit slower! Some of my mates of over 50 years are still in the club. However there`s nothing like the feeling of winning a road race after a lone break or in a tight sprint finish!

1955 – my early years.

The first proper bike I had was a Sun, black steel frame with chrome front forks, with drop handlebars and cantilever brakes. The wheels were 26” steel rims and gearing was a single chainring and a four speed Simplex gear.

I rode to places like Arbroath, St Andrews and Perth with some of my pals from school. At the age of 14 I decided to leave the Boy Scouts, where I was a patrol leader, and join a cycling club. A few of the older lads at the Morgan Academy were in the Dundee Thistle so I plumped to join them.

Club meetings.

The Thistle Club had its own room, a large wooden building in Milton Street. This was near where I lived in Provost Road. Inside there was a toilet and a small cupboard which was used as the club tuck shop. The place was heated by gas radiators lining both walls.

Meetings were held on Thursday evening at 9pm. The Chairman, Secretary and treasurer sat at the top table facing the members who sat on long wooden benches with the junior section sat at the front. The meetings were quite formal with race and run reports, followed by SCU business and then any other general business. Runs for the coming week would be decided. These runs were published in the Saturday edition of The Courier. On Monday there was a full report of the weekend racing, sometimes even a half page with a photo of the winner. This was a feature of the Courier well into the ‘70s’.

In the winter the club opened on Tuesday and Thursday about 7pm for activities such as table tennis, darts Rollers and weightlifting. Once we even had a real boxing ring, ropes and everything as one of the members, Nobby Clinton, was also an amateur boxer.

There were some great characters in the club back then, guys like ‘Ulcer Wullie’, ‘Jack the House’, ‘Dave Dave’ and ‘Davy Husband’. Bike shop owner Jack Nicholson (Nicholson's Cycles can still be found on Forfar Road) was a great servant to the club acting as Chairman, then treasurer. He also acted as a timekeeper and organised the Wednesday night training races.

In the club there was a sizeable group of 18 year lads called ‘The Shower’ as they were quite a wild bunch, into drinking and dancing in the Empress Ballroom down at the docks. They did a lot of cycling though and a fair bit of racing. Most of them however packed it in when in their twenties, some were called up into national Service, a few got married early (not always by choice).

Two members who did stay riding after successful racing careers were Jim Nixon and Geordie Penman. Jim won the Scottish Road Race Championship in 1954 and went on to ride as an independent semi-pro for Viking Cycles. Jim worked for Myles on the Hilltown, an electrical shop which also sold bikes. Their slogan was ‘Ride for miles on a Myles bike’.

Jim and Geordie taught me how to ride a bike properly and gave me a hard time on ‘Tully’ most Sundays.

There were only two other juniors in the club at that time, Ian Hunter and ‘Ginger’ Chalmers. Although not long after that Lionel Wylie joined (who is also still an active member) and the four of us would do long runs at the weekend.

Club Presentations and dinners.

The club had an annual presentation and dance usually held at various hotels in the area. These were always well attended by the members and their wives or girlfriends. The men were always smartly dressed in suits with collar and tie. The ladies with dresses, no trousers in those days! The Trophies were hotly contested as most of the members raced in those days.

The club also ran a Hogmanay Dance in the clubrooms. The first footing bottles were taken at the door as no drinking was allowed in the clubrooms. I remember on one occasion a couple were drunk and causing bother so both were thrown out into the snow by big jack Nicholson and his equally big brother Les.

Club Runs.

There were quite a few clubs in the Dundee area at that time including the Dundee road Club, Forfarshire RC, the Western CC, the Charles Star, the Strathmore and the St. Christophers CC. There was also a ladies club called the Heatherbell. There was a fair bit of romance between the ‘Bell’ ladies and the lads from the local clubs, many proceeding down the aisle!

The clubs all met at Camperdown Gates on Sundays, sporting their individual club jerseys. Club runs then were all day affairs, leaving 9am / 10am and not returning home until 7pm or 8 pm. The routes were usually the Moulin Moors, Sma’ Glen, Blair Lochs but occasionally we would do Callendar and Loch Earn, Lochearnhead and Loch Tay. Even longer was the Moors, Trinafour and Schiehallion (over 100 miles).

There were no café stops, it was always a ‘Biley up’. Sometimes even two in one day!

The ‘Biley ups’ had names such as the ‘Barrier’ which is just outside Dunkeld or the ‘Flowerpots’ near Ballinluig, the names coming from the shape of the woods across the river Tay.

Hostel weekenders were very popular on the annual holidays riding up to the west coast or down to the Lake District.

Racing Season.

From March till October most Sundays were spent racing, mostly time trials over distances of 10 to one 100 miles and usually two 12hour events.

The Scottish Best All Rounder  Competition was very popular then run over TTs of 50, 100 miles and 12 hours.

The Thistle had a set of standards, Gold, Silver and bronze for the various distances. On the Thursday before the event you paid Two Shillings and if you got within the standard time you received a small trophy in the form of a shield at the club presentation. This was a good system to encourage riders to achieve something as most didn’t have a chance of winning the event. If you did not achieve the time then your ‘two bob’ was forfeited.

Back then most clubs promoted events so there was a race on every weekend and also evening 10s and 25 time trials.

The race Headquarters then was at the transport café on Snobs Brae near Longforgan by the name of ‘Mrs Forbes’. This was a large wooden shack with an area round the back where riders prepared their bikes and stripped for the event. There was a Belfort sink and cold water tap out the back which was used to clean up after the race.

After the event we would congregate in the café where the results wear read out over mugs of tea, no coffee back then, and home made cake all went down a treat. The noise in the place was incredible and the atmosphere had me hooked on this racing lark!

After the events which usually started around 7am or 6am if it was a National Championship or 100 miler, we would ride home for a descent breakfast then be out at the (Camperdown) Gates for an afternoon ride to the ‘Biley up’ at Loch Clunie.

Pranks were the order of the day. One time we took one of the young lads bike to bits and hung them up in a tree! On another occasion Li (Wylie) was climbing a tree so we lit a fire below!

On the way home there was a stop at the ‘Jollymount Café’ Birkie or a hot orange in Coupar Angus.

Getting to races.

As hardly anyone had a car, we would ride to Edinburgh, Stirling or Aberdeen on Saturday and stay in the Youth Hostel. Sunday we’d ride to the race, then ride it, before the long pedal home.

When I started road racing I would get the train through to Edinburgh or Glasgow then ride to the outskirts and the race locations.

My Bikes.

The bikes ridden in time trials were mostly ‘Flying Scots’ track frames with a fixed gear of 82” – 86” and only a front brake. Wheels were ‘Fiamme rims with ‘Airlight Hubs’ and 8oz D’Allesandro's tyres or tubulors. Dunlop made a very light 6oz tyre, and I borrowed a pair but punctured twice before the finish in a 25TT.

I had a track frame custom built by ‘D.W. Lindsay’ who were on Victoria Road. Lime green main tubes with black forks and rear stays. 8oz orange tubulars and shining chrome stem and handlebars. A beautiful bike on which I won my very first race up in Aberdeen on a cold wet March morning.

Winter bikes were always a fixed wheel with a gear of 66 – 69 inches. A carrier and sadllebag to carry the usual tin of soup and ‘Biley Up’ can. Everyone carried a yellow cape and puncture repair outfit and full size pump on the frame.

Road bikes were mainly ‘Flying Scots’ but I had a French made ‘Helyett Speciale’ as used by Jacques Anquetil my hero at the time. It was a lovely dark green colour with a picture of Jacques on the seat post. This bike had a 5 speed block 14 – 23 sprockets and 42 -52 chainrings. I had yellow bar tape and green brake cables, the same as the great man himself. Fiamme rims and q/r Campagnola hubs were my choice for wheels. Mafac brakes, Campag pedals (very expensive) and a leather Brooks saddle.

Like the cool riders from Glasgow, I used to drill out the rivets and replace them with larger copper ones, trim the leather from the nose and back of the saddle. This made for a really good looking bit of kit.

Needless to say my bedroom wall was covered in pictures of the great Jacques Anquetil!

The lack of lights.

Lights back then were very poor, the batteries did not last long and sometimes petered out before you got home. We called them ‘Bobby Dodgers’. Sometimes you would get stopped by the police for not having lights, and asked your name and address. One Sunday Li and I were stopped on the Kingsway, we were only young boys, and the cop asked where we had been. Li replied “Comrie and the Braes Mister”. The Cop said “None of you lip lad, you can both walk home”. When he disappeared we rode home on the pavement of Clepington Road.

Clothing.

Clothing back then was very limited, a hand knitted jersey in club colours was usually worn. In our case black with a white horizontal band. Jeans were the order of the day with leather cycling shoes with shoe plates screwed to the sole to engage with the pedals.

Later on pantaloons became popular with knee length socks in colourful patterns, this was a fashion thing from France. In the Summer shorts were worn made of corduroy as racing shorts were never worn on a club run.

My first racing jersey had a shirt type collar and pockets front and back. The racing jersey was grey with two maroon horizontal bands. This was the Spanish national jersey at the time. Socks were always white.

Racing shorts were woollen with a real chamois leather insert which we had to rub in lanolin cream to soften it up and prevent chafing!

Bike Shops.

There were plenty bike shops in Dundee including Nicholsons which was the most popular with the club men. It was a great meeting place on a Saturday. Jack Nicholsons used to let us by stuff on Hire Purchase. You got a wee blue card and paid a fixed amount each week. This earned him the nickname ‘Ticky Nicky’.

I bought a pair of brakes for £4 when I was a schoolboy, paying it up sixpence a week. My mum and dad found my blue card and I got a ticking off for buying something on ‘hire purchase’. ‘Save before you buy’ was the mantra of the time.

Other shops included Lindsays on Victoria Road, Charlie Gibbs on Victoria Street, and McRobbs on the Hawkhill who supplied ‘Milano’ frames to the road racing guys.

Ned still in the Thistle and riding his bike, although not this one!

[rabbitcruiser]

Oranges and Lemons Day

Oranges  and Lemons Day is annually commemorated on the third Thursday of March,  even when Easter or St. Patrick's Day is interjected, at St Clement  Danes Church in London.

History of Oranges and Lemons Day

The London rhyme is well known but what may be less known is that  since 1920 it has been commemorated at the first mentioned church, St  Clement Danes in the Strand, London.

This custom is related to Reverend William Pennington-Bickford, who  restored church bells so they could play the tune of the rhyme. On the  day they were blessed, they were also dressed in garlands of orange and  lemon. He decided that all the parades on the day the bells were fully  restored, March 31, 1920, a special service would be arranged and at the  end each child would receive an orange and a lemon from the community.  The city's Danish coin was distributed with Danish children dressed in  their national colors.

Since 1923, there were a lot of rhymes that were sung with music were  the child of Pennington-Bickford and his wife. The following year, the  broadcast became nationally known as it was broadcast nationally and  singing became a regular program.

In 1941 the church and its bells were damaged in a bomb explosion.  However, despite this, the tradition continued and in 1944, despite the  rations, 26 children received only one orange in the middle of the  ruined building.

Oranges are not the only fruit

The only time I attended a service was in 1994, when I went to church  and was greeted warmly. One of the teachers said that the best place to  watch the ceremony was on the balcony and from there I watched the  well-dressed children getting ready. At the start of the service, a  group of parishioners played the tune on the bells again and the  ceremony began.

Honestly, I can't remember much about the actual service but I do  remember the kids taking part in a presentation. Sadly, it will be a  special year in 2020 - its 100th anniversary.

How to celebrate Oranges and Lemons Day

Oranges originated around 2500 BC in Asia. In ancient Europe, oranges  were grown mainly for medicinal purposes. As you know, Vitamin C is  still considered a great cold remedy to this day.

Did you know that lemon is actually a cross between citrus and sour  orange? Christopher Columbus is credited for carrying lemon and orange  seeds on his travels, thus introducing them throughout the New World.  Today, both lemons and oranges grow especially well in California and  Florida. Both of these fruits grow quite nicely in Arizona. Oranges here  have more seasons, grow well during the winter months and early spring,  and lemons can grow well year-round. In order to honor these fruits,  how about taking a look at some facts about each fruit.

Oranges

Orange is a sweet, juicy citrus fruit. There are actually about 600  varieties of oranges, some of the most popular being Blood Orange, Navel  and Valencia.

Oranges are not known in the wild. Orange is a hybrid between mandarin and grapefruit.

Orange juice is the most popular juice in America, and oranges themselves are the fourth most popular fruit.

Brazil grows about a third of the world's oranges, with an output of 17.8 million tons per year.

About 85% of all oranges produced are used to make juice.

You can sprinkle orange peels on your vegetable garden as an effective slug repellent.

During their years of exploring the world, sailors planted orange  trees along their trade routes to prevent scurvy which disease will be  developed because there is a lack of vitamin C.

Orange is the third most loved flavor in the world, after chocolate and vanilla.

Warm weather can cause the skin of an orange to reabsorb the  chlorophyll, making it green again. However, don't let this stop you  from eating them, they still taste that great.

Oranges are rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize the  effects of free radicals in your body, which are believed to be  responsible for disease and aging. Therefore, why do not eat oranges to  be young and healthy!

Only one orange contains vitamin C for two days in fact.

Fruit comes out before color. It wasn't until 1542 that "orange" was first used as a name for a color.

Bitter oranges are used to make marmalade.

A larger navel produces a sweeter orange.

You can store oranges in the refrigerator with the room temperature.

Lemon

Lemon trees will bear fruit all year round. Each tree can give us 500  to 600 pounds of lemons during a year. The most popular lemon varieties  include Eureka, Lisbon, and Meyer.

Lemon juice contains about 5-6% citric acid, which gives them a sour taste.

Arizona and California produce 95% of the entire US lemon crop.

Many years ago, kings used to give lemons to each other because they were once very rare.

Add the juice of one lemon to an equal amount of hot water to gargle against bacteria the next time you have a sore throat.

The grated rind, also known as the lemon zest, is used for flavoring in many recipes and other dishes.

The leaves of the lemon tree can be used to make tea and prepare cooked meat dishes.

Lemon can be used for cleaning due to its highly acidic nature. Two  halves of a lemon dipped in baking powder or salt can be used to clean  kitchenware and shine bronze.

Cattle will choose lemons over grapefruits, peaches, oranges, and  even apples. It's most likely because the citric acid in lemons aids  their digestion.

Lemon juice has a low pH, making it a good disinfectant. It can also dissolve grease and eliminate odors.

Lemon essential oil is frequently used in non-toxic insecticides.

Lemon juice is also an interesting choice in preserving foods like avocados, apples, or bananas.

A cup of warm water with a leaf of lemon before breakfast is a great thing for your constipation.

One lemon can provide 50% of the daily need for vitamin C.

Preserving the lemons in a plastic bag then put it in the  refrigerator after watering to keep the lemons tasting fresh. When being  frozen, lemons can keep for a month.

Temperature changes cause lemons to go from green to yellow, not  ripe, so green patches are fine, but it's best to avoid fruit with brown  spots, a sign of rot.

As you can see, lemons have more uses than that lemon jar! And,  although orange juice is our most popular juice, oranges can be made  into many other things too! To celebrate their special day, check out  some of the lemon and orange recipes we've collected, you might discover  a new favorite orange or lemon recipe.

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

National Iced Tea Day 

When the weather gets too warm for hot tea, just ice it! Mint tea, fruity teas, even the Southern classic sweet tea will all refresh you on a warm and sunny day.

Drinks are such a key part of modern culture that they are so much than just a necessity for the body. We drink water to survive, we drink coffee to stay alert, we sip cocktails to feel refreshed and get in the mood, and we drink soda to relax and unwind. Different drinks feed into different moods and give us new and unique experiences that play a big role in our lives, both socially and at home. So, it is important to make sure you sample as many different beverages as you can.

When it comes to quenching thirst and being refreshed on a hot summer’s day, there are a lot of things you can choose from. Many will crack open a beer or a bottle of wine, but how about sampling some gorgeous iced tea. There are a lot of things you need to keep in mind when it comes to trying this delicious beverage. In fact, there is even an National Iced Tea Day, solely dedicated to the discovery and enjoyment of all things iced tea related; try to ensure you make the most of this as much as you can right now.

On a hot summer day, there’s nothing that quenches the thirst and fosters relaxation quite as much as a frosty cold glass of iced tea. While hot tea is delicious and certainly an excellent beverage for most situations, it’s purely inappropriate for picnics, and it only stays hot so long. Instead, it is necessary to branch out to the more versatile and refreshing alternatives. Sweet tea is one of the most popular beverages in the deep South, but it’s just one example of the variety that can be iced tea.

History of National Iced Tea Day

While recipes for Iced Tea go back as far as the 1870’s, it wasn’t until 1904 that it exploded in popularity. This was due in no small part to the World’s Fair and the heat of the summer that was baking it. Iced Tea was being served, and the fair goers were drinking it en masse, and in almost no time at all, it was being served in tall glasses so well known for this purpose that they were called iced-tea glasses. You know a drink has truly come into its own when special utensils are made for its preparation, and it wasn’t just the glasses, iced-tea spoons and lemon forks were developed to make its consumption both easier and more satisfying.

Iced Tea is typically made from the tea plant, but just like with hot teas, it can be made with just about anything, and herbal teas are often a popular choice for the cool drink. Imagine the parade of flavors available to you, a cool mint tea stirred with a bit of lime, or if you’re in India you may as well do as the locals do and enjoy your tea with a bit of ginger. Our personal favorite? Peach Iced Tea, it’s delightful.

National Iced Tea Day exists to pay homage to the popular and delicious beverage, and it’s something more of us should get involved with. This is a drink that is growing in popularity, and there is a growing consumer base for it, both in the United States and abroad. This is why manufacturers continue to come up with different and interesting flavors of iced tea that you can choose from moving forward.

How to celebrate National Iced Tea Day

Making the most of National Iced Tea Day by way of celebration is a great way of being able to sample some of the tasty and unique types of iced tea that are on offer. This is something you need to make sure you think about when you are looking to make the most of this. Now, there are plenty of things you can do if you are serious about celebrating this day properly.

See if you can get a coupon for free iced tea

Get creative and come up with your own recipe

Enjoy the different iced tea flavors that restaurants and bars are offering

Iced tea popsicles is a great addition to the day

Hosting an iced tea party would be the absolute best approach to take to celebrate this day

Add some booze into the mix to make adult iced teas

Of course, there are so many different flavors you can enjoy with iced tea, and this is the beauty of it. Make sure you take the time to enjoy and experiment with all the different flavors that you can use, and try to come up with some combinations of your own. This is something that can really go a long way toward enhancing and improving your enjoyment of National Iced Tea Day, and you can make a thing of it each year.

The best way to celebrate National Iced Tea Day is with a frosty glass of iced tea! But given that you’ll be enjoying it on a special occasion, why only work with one? Instead, you can prepare a positive banquet of delicious iced teas. Peach Iced Tea, Mango Iced Tea, Ginger Lemon, or just an old fashioned sweet tea like they can only make in the south, there’s simply nothing like it. Why not try to come up with your own combination?

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

World Whisky Day

Mix up a whisky sour, or pour your favorite whisky over some ice and enjoy. Gather some friends together to try out different brands and  cocktails.

If you’re friends with Jack and Jim and spend your weekends with Jameson and Johnnie, then World Whisky Day is going to hold a special  significance for you.

Whisky is one of the iconic drinks of true lovers of alcohol and is  the foundation of some of the most wonderful drinks known to man. But honestly, who needs an excuse to imbibe in these wonderful libations? If  you need one, World Whisky Day is it!

History of World Whisky Day

One of the most common forms of whisky that is sought after is Irish Whisky, and perhaps appropriately so. The origins of the word Whisky can  be found in the Gaelic Language.

Uisce Beatha was the original name of whiskey in classical Gaelic, which ultimately became Uisce Beatha in Ireland and Uisge Beatha in Scotland. Both of these names mean “Water of Life” and tells us just how  important and vital this particular distillation was to the Gaels.

It was later shortened to just Uisce/Uisge, and then anglicized to Whisky. So now you know, when someone is concerned about your whisky  consumption, you can just tell them you’re drinking the water of life!

So what, exactly, is whisky? Whisky is what happens when you create take rich flavorful grains and ferment them into a mash, and then take  that mash and distil it down into a pure delicious spirit.

Distillation takes place in a still, a device whose whole purpose is  the purification of the alcohol from the fermented mash. One of the most important secrets of distillation is that it must take place in a  copper (Or copper lined) still, as the copper removes the sulfur from  the drink that would make this otherwise diving beverage decidedly unpleasant to drink.

Astonishing facts about whisky

You may enjoy a delicious glass of whisky, but did you know the following…?

Let’s start with a worrying fact, which is that whisky could  have been banned. If it was not because of a medical loophole in the  Prohibition period, this drink would have been banned altogether.  However, because there was a law that enabled doctors to prescribe  whisky as medicine, it survived.

The word whisky actually means ‘water of life.’ this is because it comes from a Gaelic word that reads ‘uisge beathe.’

There  are some expensive bottles of whisky around the world. However, the  most expensive is the Macallan ‘M’ whisky. This Lalique decanter of  whisky was auctioned in Hong Kong for £393,109. The luxury decanter  features six liters of whisky, which was drawn from casks made of  Spanish oak sherry, dating from the ‘40s until the ‘90s.

The  oldest whisky is more than 150-years-old. The Guinness World Record for  the World’s Oldest Whisky currently goes to a bottle of 400ml Glenavon  Special Liqueur Whisky. It was owned by a family from Ireland. However,  it fetched an incredible £14,850 at auction when it was sold to Bonhams  in London. It is believed to have been packaged sometime between the  years of 1851 and 1858.

The spelling of whisky is interesting.  You may have seen it written as whiskey. The version without the ‘e’ is used for Canadian and Scottish whisky. However, for other types of the  drink, you opt for the whiskey spelling.

Last but not least,  whisky starts life as a beer! This is because it is made with wort,  which is a form of beer that gets distilled. In fact, the wort is  created using all of the ingredients that yare enjoyed in a pint of  delicious beer, i.e. malts, yeast, and water.

How To Celebrate World Whisky Day

World Whisky Day reminds us that there is an incredibly broad range of whisky out there to try, and its unlikely that we’ve managed to try all of it. Whisky can be made from barley, corn, rye, and wheat, just to  name a few, and those grains are often mixed in different proportions  before fermenting and distilling.

The results are then aged in casks, with both the cask and the time inside changing the flavor. Needless to say, you may need more than one  day to sample every kind available to you! World Whisky Day is a great  opportunity for you to expand your palette, and share your experiences  with your friends.

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

World Cocktail Day

Host or attend a cocktail party and try out some new flavors, or perfect your hand at mixing any number of drinks, from a White Russian to a classic Cosmo.

“No party is complete without cocktails! My friends all have different tastes when it comes to their drink of choice, so I like to maintain a well-stocked bar with different kinds of alcohol to keep everyone happy.” ~Khloe Kardashian

One of the best ways people get together and bond over life is through drinking. For a fun night out, cocktails provide a wide arrangement of scents and flavors to keep everything exciting and have a long history of becoming a steady staple in people’s lives. So, let us dive right in and see what World Cocktail Day is all about.

History of World Cocktail Day

In 1806, The Balance and Columbian Repository coined the term “cocktail” as a stimulating liquor with a wide variety of sweets, waters, and bitters. Originally, the Oxford English Dictionary defined the term with a different set of connotations, describing it as a horse with a tail like a cock’s, with its tail cocked up instead of hung down.

Cocktails as a drink, however, started as a British invention in the 19th century and has since become an American innovation when a Connecticut-born bartender Jerry Thomas wrote the book “The Bartender’s Guide.” The Bartender’s Guide basically broadcasted an encyclopedia of how to mix drinks and recipes on some of the best combinations of drinks and flavors.

During the 1920s American prohibition, many cocktails were mixed into existence that remain firm favorites today. With not much high-quality alcohol available, cocktails were the perfect way to make that smuggled rum, gin or whiskey just a little bit more drinkable. Enter the cocktail; rum mojitos, the Sidecar, and the Tom Collins all flourished at a time when recreational alcohol wasn’t legal.

The ‘Bee’s Knees’ cocktail was actually created to mask and sweeten the taste of illegally brewed bathtub gin. The roaring twenties took the cocktail and shook it up into some of our most popular modern-day cocktails. Drinking didn’t stop during the prohibition, people simply went underground. Many illegal speakeasies popped up, serving cocktails in jazz-style locales.

Post-prohibition saw the invention of drinks that still grace the pages of your favorite cocktail bar menus. 1954 saw the mixing of the Pina Colada in Puerto Rico when Ramon Marrero created the delicious pineapple treat at the Caribe Hilton hotel. 1988 saw the much-loved Cosmopolitan enter our lives, thanks to Toby Cecchini and his desire to share a drink with his fellow bartenders in San Francisco.

A constant throughout the cocktail era in America was the Rainbow Room. Opened after the prohibition in 1934, the Rainbow Room was a high-end club where New York A-listers could celebrate in style with post-prohibition cocktails. The Rainbow Room was revived and renovated in different forms over the years, being closed during WWII and for various restorations.

The 1987 reopening saw emerging mixologist Dale DeGroff create a pre-prohibition list of cocktails that revived some firm favorites and spearheaded the modern cocktail mixing revolution that made the cocktail bar increasingly popular.

The holiday itself is held annually by Drinkaware, a United Kingdom-based charity that brings awareness to the effects of drinking and aims to reduce the harm that drinking can have on people and families. The website provides facts and information about drinking, alcohol poisoning, and alcohol abuse. The World Cocktail Day page that Drinkaware hosts have events all over the world that you can partake in, a blog you can follow about your favorite recipes, and how you can drink safely while also having fun.

How to Celebrate World Cocktail Day

If you’re up for a night of fun drinking, then host a party at your place and mix up some of your favorite drinks for your friends. If you want to spice things up, check out a new recipe on some of your favorite blogs or newsletters, and make your kitchen or bar into an experiment place for you and your friends.

If you’re feeling confident, you could create your own home bar and serve some of your favorite fizz-fuelled cocktails, or make your own cocktail creations with a fresh twist. Give your bar a theme and add your own unique names to your new mixers. Treat yourself to a cocktail bible and teach yourself how to make the perfect passionfruit martini or rope in your own bartender friend for some mixology advice.

If you are creating your own home bar and are jumping in as a novice bartender, you could start with a classy cosmopolitan or cheeky sex on the beach. Why not take a theme to a whole new level and take your new bar theme to a party level. Whether you’re making a sneaky speakeasy or a chic cocktail bar, making it your own is the perfect way to celebrate World Cocktail Day.

You could even avoid doing the work yourself and enroll in a cocktail class for you and your friends. Learn from the best shakers and master mixologists. Don’t want to leave the house? Why not use an online video or order a beginner’s pack right to your door. Or splash out on an inhouse mixing masterclass (calling all bartender friends again).

You might be more of a cocktail connoisseur than a master mixologist. Why not get some of the good stuff mixed for you, so you can sample some delightful cocktails without having to actually make them yourself. Put on a cocktail-themed film, sip your mojito and feel like you’re in the summer sun.

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

International Whisk(e)y Day

Whiskey has a long and venerable history as one of the most recognizable forms of distilled spirits in the world.

The name for Whisk(e)y comes from the Gaelic language, where it was referred to as Uisce na Beatha, which means ‘The Water of Life’. It wasn’t long before the name was shortened to Uisce (Merely “Water”) and then the pronunciation slowly changed over time from Ish-Key, to Whiskey. And that pronunciation has remained ever since.

Now, it’s time to enjoy, share, and celebrate this day that is all about Whiskey!

History of International Whisk(e)y Day

The history of International Whiskey day is intrinsically tied to the history of the beverage, so that seems like a good place to begin. Whiskey is the result of a distillation process, a chemical/alchemical process known as far back in history as Babylon. While no one quite knows if they created a beverage quite as wonderful as modern-day whiskey, historians have confirmed that the process was available to them.

All whiskey starts with a ‘mash’, which is a mixture of grain and water that is slowly heated in order to break down the starch into sugars. The kind of grain that the maker uses will determine what kind of whiskey comes out as the end result. The result of this process is then known as wort and is just the beginning of this amazing drink’s life journey.

Aging in a barrel is usually part of the process as well. But the amount of time spent in the aging process is certainly worth it!

Here’s a quick rundown on the different types of grains that result in all of these unique types of whiskey beverages:

Bourbon starts from a mash that is 51% or more corn base, though it becomes a Corn Whiskey once it reaches 81%.

Malt whiskey is made from 51% malted barley.

Rye is 51% plain rye.

Wheat Whiskey, as one might suspect, is made from Wheat.

So where did International Whiskey Day come from? Well, it was first announced in 2008, and subsequently celebrated in 2009 at the Whiskey Festival in the Northern Netherlands.

This was all done in honor of a whiskey (and beer) connoisseur and writer, Michael Jackson. (No, not the King of Pop.) He was a man who was well known for his writings on Whiskey and who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. His whiskey-loving friends wanted to not only celebrate his love for whiskey but also help find a cure for this difficult disease. Since Michael’s birthday was March 27, the date is a nod to him.

So, the purpose of Whiskey Day isn’t just the raising of awareness of whiskey and its charms, although that is certainly a great reason. The purpose is also to spread awareness for Parkinson’s, a disease that whiskey aficionado, Michael Jackon, suffered from in his later years.

How to Celebrate International Whisk(e)y Day

The most obvious and practical way to celebrate this holiday is to either imbibe a favorite variety of Whiskey or to try a new one! Check out these ideas for celebrating Whisk(e)y Day:

Try a New Kind of Whiskey

Even better, get together with friends and introduce each other to your favorites, and maybe check out a few new vintages or styles. Look into these, for example:

Irish Whiskey. Smooth, made from a mash of malt, caramel-colored, and must be distilled for at least 3 years in a wooden cask.

Scotch Whisky (also called ‘Scotch’). Made with either malt or grain, must age in an oak barrel for 3 years.

Canadian Whisky. Light and smooth with a high amount of corn, must be aged in a barrel for 3 years.

Bourbon Whiskey. Made from at least 51% corn, aged in a new oak barrel, and must be 80 proof or higher. (Tennessee Whiskey is a sub-type of bourbon with special filtering step.)

Japanese Whisky. Methods and taste are similar to Scotch, often used with mixed drinks.

Learn How to Spell Whisk(e)y

It seems strange, but there are actually two correct ways to spell this word, depending on the context. Originally, Irish Whiskey included the ‘e’ and Scottish Whisky did not. Ultimately that carried out so that Americans adopted the ‘e’ version for their whiskey, but Canadians and Japanese Whisky makers did not! Thus, the correct, inclusive spelling is: International Whisk(e)y Day!

Grab a Whiskey at a Pub or Bar

Many different bars and pubs have gotten on board with celebrating Whisk(e)y Day. They’ll often provide drink specials, food specials, and possibly even opportunities to win door prizes–such as a special bottle of whiskey. So grab a friend and head over to the pub for a drink of whiskey (or beer will do just as well)!

Introduce Whisk(e)y to a Newbie

What could be more fun than opening up the world (and a bottle) to someone who has never tried whiskey before? Although it might be hard to imagine, many people are out there who are new to whiskey and have no idea how to enjoy it. Grab one of them, open a bottle, and reveal to them the myriad of reasons why Whisk(e)y Day is absolutely worth celebrating!

Donate to a Parkinson’s Disease Charity

Don’t forget to make a donation to your favorite Parkinson’s charity while you’re at it! Team Fox, the charity created by actor Michael J. Fox, who lives with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease, often teams up with various Whiskey Day folks to build momentum for celebrating the day and raising funds for the charity.

While you’re at it, be sure that everyone gets home safely. The best way to celebrate International Whiskey Day is drinking responsibly, and making sure everyone can talk about it again tomorrow!

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

International Irish Whiskey Day

Irish Whiskey Day was created by international whiskey writer Stuart McNamara. Although Stuart writes about whiskey (sometimes spelled “whisky”) from all over the world, his Irish upbringing means that he has a special love and respect for Irish Whiskey in particular. This led to him becoming the editor of IrishWhiskey.Com, the Irish Whiskey Trail and the Dublin Whiskey Trail.

Stuart became concerned at the way that Irish Whiskey was being marketed outside Ireland by irresponsible marketers as a shots type drink. It bothered him that people partook of the precious drink without any recognition of the amazing degree of science, art, history, heritage, nature and culture which is the backbone of every single glass of Irish Whiskey or Uisce Beatha in Irish Gaelic.

Of particular worry to Stuart was the lack of respect for Irish Whiskey outside of Ireland on that most Irish of days that occurs each year – St Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on the 17th of March.

So, Stuart created the special day and the very first International Irish Whiskey Day was celebrated more than ten years ago. And the date chosen was particularly significant in relation to many factors.

History of International Irish Whiskey Day

The numeral 3 has always been of special importance in Ireland, for a variety of reasons. The symbol of Ireland (the Shamrock) has three leaves. The Irish flag contains three colours (green, white and orange). And there are three types of Irish Whiskey – Single Malt, Single Grain and the uniquely Irish Single Pot Still.

In keeping with the lucky number 3, Irish Whiskey is also unique in that by tradition, it is triple distilled. Plus, this spirit must be matured for 3 years in order to be considered “whiskey”, adding to the fortuitous nature of the number three.

And so, the 3rd of March or 3/3 became the obvious choice of date for our annual Irish Whiskey Day. It also is exactly two weeks to the day before St Patrick’s Day which is always on 17 March, making it a perfect time to raise awareness.

How to Celebrate International Irish Whiskey Day

Sure, this day is a great time to raise a dram, but there’s much more to it than just drinking!  More options for celebrating this momentous day include:

Join an Online or Live Event

Today, Irish Pubs and Whiskey Clubs located all over the world host global online and in-person Irish Whiskey tastings, lectures, talks, visits and other fun and educational Irish Whiskey activities each year on March 3rd.

The idea of these events is to educate and inform their patrons and members from all over the world on the wonder and joy of Irish Whiskey, just in time to share their newfound Irish Whiskey knowledge and appreciation with their own friends two weeks later on 17 March St. Patrick’s Day.

In fact, any Pub, Restaurant or Irish Whiskey friendly venue can create a free event and map listing for their March 3rd Irish Whiskey Day Event, no matter where in the world they are located.

Irish Whiskey Tasting Party

Grab a few friends with discerning tastes (five to seven is perfect) and invite them to an Irish Whiskey tasting.

Provide 4-5 varieties of Irish whiskey. Choose from:

Tullamore D.E.W. Original

Jameson Irish Whiskey

Bushmills Original

Redbreast 15 year

Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey

Knappogue Castle Single Malt 16 Year

It will be necessary to have enough tulip-shaped tasting glasses for each guest to try each type of whiskey. Have a friend bring some along or borrow from a neighbor if there might not be enough on hand.

Make sure there’s enough room temperature bottled water on hand to dilute the drinks as well as for people to drink between tastings. Also provide a few snacks as a palate cleanser, such as oatcakes or crackers.

Make sure each guest has a notepad so they can keep track of their findings when tasting. Aficionados will know to use the terms Nose, Taste and Finish. People who are newer to whiskey tasting can simply write down what they think.

Irish Whiskey in Entertainment

While Scotch whiskey shows up in many films, Irish Whiskey may be just a bit more discerning. Still, for the person who is paying attention, Irish spirits can often be found making Cameo appearances in various films and shows, which are perfect for watching when celebrating International Irish Whiskey Day, such as:

Mad Men, American drama series (2007-2015). Jameson Irish Whiskey makes an appearance with Don Draper (played by John Hamm), set in the 1960s.

Kill the Irishman, a 2011 biographical crime film. Bushmills Irish Whiskey is shown passing through the lips of the main character, Danny Greene (played by Ray Stevenson), a few times throughout the film.

Out of Africa, an epic romantic film (1985). Jameson Irish Whiskey makes a cameo appearance in this film depicting the 1937 autobiographical novel of the same name, by Isak Dinesen.

Blown Away, a 1994 action thriller where Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones are shown tipping back a few drams of Bushmills Irish Whiskey.

With a growing online audience each year, International Irish Whiskey Day is playing it’s own small part in building a sustainable lifelong tribe of new Irish Whiskey drinkers and aficionados. Join in the celebration!

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

National Bourbon Day

The smoothest and most flavorful of all liquors, Bourbon absolutely deserves its own day. Host a tasting, find an event, or treat yourself to an upper-shelf selection.

Nobody really needs a good excuse to enjoy the odd tipple, but National Bourbon Day gives anyone the perfect reason to dust off a bottle of this fine whiskey and have a glass or two!

Those who are less steeped in the culture of alcoholic beverages may  not know the difference between bourbon and whiskey, which is certainly  okay! This is the perfect day to learn. National Bourbon Day has been  set aside as a day to learn about and appreciate this fine liquor which  some people refer to as the “Spirit of America”.

It’s time to celebrate this American ‘Native Spirit’!

History of National Bourbon Day

Legend has it that the date on which National Bourbon Day is  celebrated is the anniversary of the very first time this famous drink  was distilled, way back in the late 1700s. It may only be a legend but,  whatever the truth of this is, National Bourbon Day is surely a day  worth celebrating.

Bourbon is a specific category of American whiskey, which is made  from a mash that is primarily corn based–at least 51% must be corn in  order for it to be classified as bourbon. Other grains in the mash  typically include malted barley, rye or wheat.

The mash is then distilled, then aged for at least two years in  barrels that are new charred oak barrels, in order to be “straight  bourbon whiskey”. Many bourbons are aged longer than 2 years. In fact,  one labelling rule states that any bourbon aged for less than 4 years  must state as much on the label.

This is a very strong liquor. The corn mash to make the bourbon  starts out at 80% alcohol and, through the aging process as well as  filtering and bottling processes, the final product can be no less than  40% alcohol by volume.

Bourbon definitely originated in the US state of Kentucky, sometime  in the 1700s, before it even had acquired its official name. The name  seems to be a nod to the French Bourbon Dynasty, and possibly was in  honor of Bourbon County, an area of Kentucky that was known for its corn  growing.

While some people think that bourbon must be made in Kentucky (like  cognac must be made in a certain region of France) that’s not actually  true. It simply needs to be distilled and aged in the state in order to  be given the special name, “Kentucky Bourbon”.

Even so, most of this drink is still made in Kentucky and folks from  that area would claim that it’s definitely the place where the best  bourbon comes from. Some Kentuckians even claim that the limestone in  the springwater from the area offers this bourbon a flavor distinguished  from the rest.

In 1964, the US Congress recognized bourbon as a “distinctive product  of the United States”. In fact, many trade agreements require that, to  be called bourbon, a whiskey must be made in the USA.

As bourbon whiskey began to grow in popularity, the tourism around  this drink began to increase in Kentucky. At one point, to keep up with  demand, some companies were planning to reduce the alcohol content of  their products, but backlash from customers forced them to reverse their  decision. Some companies have limited their supplies overseas to keep  up with demands in the US. That means that Kentucky still probably is  the best place to get bourbon!

While it is true that all bourbons are whiskey, not all whiskeys are  bourbon. And National Bourbon Day is certainly the best day to find out  more about this tasty beverage and enjoy a glass as well.

How to Celebrate National Bourbon Day

Celebrating National Bourbon Day is filled with fun, enjoyment and,  of course, access to different bourbons of the world! Try these  celebratory ideas for enjoying the day:

Try a Different Kind of Bourbon

Those who are new on the scene, welcome! It’s time to try bourbon of  any variety. For those who are enthusiasts and aficionados, National  Bourbon Day is the perfect time to try a new brand, flavor or vintage of  this special whiskey.

Knob’s Creek. Whether choosing the 9-year, or  the more sought-after 15-year, this brand is well known for its small  batch varieties that everyone seems to love.

Evan Williams Black Label. A great taste for a newcomer, this affordable brand brings 86 proof whiskey that is aged more than 5 years.

Jim Beam’s Old Grandad. Mid-range price and 114 proof is super spicy and appreciated by those who want to avoid the “hype” of fancier brands.

Join a National Bourbon Day Event

There are plenty of events and options for whiskey lovers and their  friends (even those who don’t know much about whiskey) to get in the  swing of things and enjoy this special day. Hotels and restaurants often  enter into the spirit of the occasion by organizing a dinner in honor  of Bourbon.

Hop on the National Bourbon Day website for more information and events.

Visit the Bourbon Capital of the World  

Bardstown, Kentucky has been hailed by some to be the “Bourbon  Capital of the World”. Because of this, it may just be the perfect place  to visit for a National Bourbon Day celebration. With at least 10  different distilleries in the area, Bardstown offers an eclectic array  of bourbon options, including: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Maker’s Mark  Distillery, Jim Beam American Stillhouse ahd Heaven Hill Distillery.

National Bourbon Day events typically last over two or three days,  hosting tastings, demonstrations, and expert discussions. While in town,  don’t forget to stop by the Oscar Getz Museum of Whisky History, which is a special place for bourbon enthusiasts.

Those who can’t make it to Kentucky but want to join in from home can access the National Bourbon Day video library for recorded and virtual events.

Try Some New Bourbon Cocktail Recipes  

A great idea for celebrating the day is to entertain family and friends by trying out some old or new Bourbon cocktail recipes.

Bourbon Old Fashioned. A classic, of course, but always amazing. This drink includes bourbon, bitters, water, sugar, and a garnish of orange peel.

Bourbon Mint Julep.  Another Kentucky favorite known for its attachment to the horse race,  the Kentucky Derby, this refreshing drink simply calls for simple syrup,  mint sprigs, bourbon and crushed ice.

Bourbon Manhattan. Named  after the city that never sleeps, this iconic American drink just begs  to make with America’s Native Spirit! Mix bourbon whiskey, sweet  vermouth and bitters. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and orange peel.

Bourbon Sidecar. Normally  made with cognac, this American-ized version of the drink is just as  tasty. Shake together bourbon, triple sec and lemon juice with ice.  Garnish with an orange twist.

No matter what the plans are for the day, it’s easy to add a little  splash of whiskey to an evening meal to make National Bourbon Day a  night to remember!

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

World Whisky Day

Mix up a whisky sour, or pour your favorite whisky over some ice and  enjoy. Gather some friends together to try out different brands and  cocktails.

If you’re friends with Jack and Jim and spend your weekends with  Jameson and Johnnie, then World Whisky Day is going to hold a special  significance for you.

Whisky is one of the iconic drinks of true lovers of alcohol and is  the foundation of some of the most wonderful drinks known to man. But  honestly, who needs an excuse to imbibe in these wonderful libations? If  you need one, World Whisky Day is it!

History of World Whisky Day

One of the most common forms of whisky that is sought after is Irish  Whisky, and perhaps appropriately so. The origins of the word Whisky can  be found in the Gaelic Language.

Uisce Beatha was the original name of whiskey in classical Gaelic,  which ultimately became Uisce Beatha in Ireland and Uisge Beatha in  Scotland. Both of these names mean “Water of Life” and tells us just how  important and vital this particular distillation was to the Gaels.

It was later shortened to just Uisce/Uisge, and then anglicized to  Whisky. So now you know, when someone is concerned about your whisky  consumption, you can just tell them you’re drinking the water of life!

So what, exactly, is whisky? Whisky is what happens when you create  take rich flavorful grains and ferment them into a mash, and then take  that mash and distil it down into a pure delicious spirit.

Distillation takes place in a still, a device whose whole purpose is  the purification of the alcohol from the fermented mash. One of the most  important secrets of distillation is that it must take place in a  copper (Or copper lined) still, as the copper removes the sulfur from  the drink that would make this otherwise diving beverage decidedly  unpleasant to drink.

Astonishing facts about whisky

You may enjoy a delicious glass of whisky, but did you know the following…?

Let’s start with a worrying fact, which is that whisky could  have been banned. If it was not because of a medical loophole in the  Prohibition period, this drink would have been banned altogether.  However, because there was a law that enabled doctors to prescribe  whisky as medicine, it survived.

The word whisky actually means ‘water of life.’ this is because it comes from a Gaelic word that reads ‘uisge beathe.’

There  are some expensive bottles of whisky around the world. However, the  most expensive is the Macallan ‘M’ whisky. This Lalique decanter of  whisky was auctioned in Hong Kong for £393,109. The luxury decanter  features six liters of whisky, which was drawn from casks made of  Spanish oak sherry, dating from the ‘40s until the ‘90s.

The  oldest whisky is more than 150-years-old. The Guinness World Record for  the World’s Oldest Whisky currently goes to a bottle of 400ml Glenavon  Special Liqueur Whisky. It was owned by a family from Ireland. However,  it fetched an incredible £14,850 at auction when it was sold to Bonhams  in London. It is believed to have been packaged sometime between the  years of 1851 and 1858.

The spelling of whisky is interesting.  You may have seen it written as whiskey. The version without the ‘e’ is used for Canadian and Scottish whisky. However, for other types of the  drink, you opt for the whiskey spelling.

Last but not least,  whisky starts life as a beer! This is because it is made with wort,  which is a form of beer that gets distilled. In fact, the wort is  created using all of the ingredients that yare enjoyed in a pint of  delicious beer, i.e. malts, yeast, and water.

How To Celebrate World Whisky Day

World Whisky Day reminds us that there is an incredibly broad range  of whisky out there to try, and its unlikely that we’ve managed to try  all of it. Whisky can be made from barley, corn, rye, and wheat, just to  name a few, and those grains are often mixed in different proportions  before fermenting and distilling.

The results are then aged in casks, with both the cask and the time  inside changing the flavor. Needless to say, you may need more than one  day to sample every kind available to you! World Whisky Day is a great  opportunity for you to expand your palette, and share your experiences  with your friends.

Source

[rabbitcruiser]

International Whisk(e)y Day

Whiskey has a long and venerable history as one of the most recognizable forms of distilled spirits in the world.

The name for Whisk(e)y comes from the Gaelic language, where it was referred to as Uisce na Beatha, which means ‘The Water of Life’. It wasn’t long before the name was shortened to Uisce (Merely “Water”) and then the pronunciation slowly changed over time from Ish-Key, to Whiskey. And that pronunciation has remained ever since.

Now, it’s time to enjoy, share, and celebrate this day that is all about Whiskey!

History of International Whisk(e)y Day

The history of International Whiskey day is intrinsically tied to the history of the beverage, so that seems like a good place to begin. Whiskey is the result of a distillation process, a chemical/alchemical process known as far back in history as Babylon. While no one quite knows if they created a beverage quite as wonderful as modern-day whiskey, historians have confirmed that the process was available to them.

All whiskey starts with a ‘mash’, which is a mixture of grain and water that is slowly heated in order to break down the starch into sugars. The kind of grain that the maker uses will determine what kind of whiskey comes out as the end result. The result of this process is then known as wort and is just the beginning of this amazing drink’s life journey.

Aging in a barrel is usually part of the process as well. But the amount of time spent in the aging process is certainly worth it!

Here’s a quick rundown on the different types of grains that result in all of these unique types of whiskey beverages:

Bourbon starts from a mash that is 51% or more corn base, though it becomes a Corn Whiskey once it reaches 81%.

Malt whiskey is made from 51% malted barley.

Rye is 51% plain rye.

Wheat Whiskey, as one might suspect, is made from Wheat.

So where did International Whiskey Day come from? Well, it was first announced in 2008, and subsequently celebrated in 2009 at the Whiskey Festival in the Northern Netherlands.

This was all done in honor of a whiskey (and beer) connoisseur and writer, Michael Jackson. (No, not the King of Pop.) He was a man who was well known for his writings on Whiskey and who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. His whiskey-loving friends wanted to not only celebrate his love for whiskey but also help find a cure for this difficult disease. Since Michael’s birthday was March 27, the date is a nod to him.

So, the purpose of Whiskey Day isn’t just the raising of awareness of whiskey and its charms, although that is certainly a great reason. The purpose is also to spread awareness for Parkinson’s, a disease that whiskey aficionado, Michael Jackon, suffered from in his later years.

How to Celebrate International Whisk(e)y Day

The most obvious and practical way to celebrate this holiday is to either imbibe a favorite variety of Whiskey or to try a new one! Check out these ideas for celebrating Whisk(e)y Day:

Try a New Kind of Whiskey

Even better, get together with friends and introduce each other to your favorites, and maybe check out a few new vintages or styles. Look into these, for example:

Irish Whiskey. Smooth, made from a mash of malt, caramel-colored, and must be distilled for at least 3 years in a wooden cask.

Scotch Whisky (also called ‘Scotch’). Made with either malt or grain, must age in an oak barrel for 3 years.

Canadian Whisky. Light and smooth with a high amount of corn, must be aged in a barrel for 3 years.

Bourbon Whiskey. Made from at least 51% corn, aged in a new oak barrel, and must be 80 proof or higher. (Tennessee Whiskey is a sub-type of bourbon with special filtering step.)

Japanese Whisky. Methods and taste are similar to Scotch, often used with mixed drinks.

Learn How to Spell Whisk(e)y

It seems strange, but there are actually two correct ways to spell this word, depending on the context. Originally, Irish Whiskey included the ‘e’ and Scottish Whisky did not. Ultimately that carried out so that Americans adopted the ‘e’ version for their whiskey, but Canadians and Japanese Whisky makers did not! Thus, the correct, inclusive spelling is: International Whisk(e)y Day!

Grab a Whiskey at a Pub or Bar

Many different bars and pubs have gotten on board with celebrating Whisk(e)y Day. They’ll often provide drink specials, food specials, and possibly even opportunities to win door prizes–such as a special bottle of whiskey. So grab a friend and head over to the pub for a drink of whiskey (or beer will do just as well)!

Introduce Whisk(e)y to a Newbie

What could be more fun than opening up the world (and a bottle) to someone who has never tried whiskey before? Although it might be hard to imagine, many people are out there who are new to whiskey and have no idea how to enjoy it. Grab one of them, open a bottle, and reveal to them the myriad of reasons why Whisk(e)y Day is absolutely worth celebrating!

Donate to a Parkinson’s Disease Charity

Don’t forget to make a donation to your favorite Parkinson’s charity while you’re at it! Team Fox, the charity created by actor Michael J. Fox, who lives with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease, often teams up with various Whiskey Day folks to build momentum for celebrating the day and raising funds for the charity.

While you’re at it, be sure that everyone gets home safely. The best way to celebrate International Whiskey Day is drinking responsibly, and making sure everyone can talk about it again tomorrow!

Source