alcohol

Mexican Moonshine

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Legend has it that some ancient man ‘discovered’ tequila when an Agave Plant got flash-fermented by a lightning bolt.

Outside Magazine recently ran an article in which the authors took a tequila tour in much the same fashion as a typical wine tour. Those of us living in the finger lakes know what that’s all about. No, it’s not about drinking as much as you can for free (you’re supposed to spit remember?). Wine tasting is all about finding the wines you really enjoy and refining your palette to enjoy those you don’t already.

I for one hate tequila. At least I hate the typical tequila shots you take. I’ve never understood what the excitement was all about. It always burned more than it tastes and the only part I enjoyed was the lime afterward.

From reading the article it sounds like tequila gets a really bad name. This is because most people (myself included) have only had bad fake tequila. As the article reads:

Tequila is made from a single species of agave, AGAVE TEQUILANA WEBER…and comes only from Jalisco – a Mexican state about the size of South Carolina.

Sounds a lot like Champagne doesn’t it? You can’t get the real flavor of good wine from trying Franzia Box wine and you can’t get the real flavor of good tequila by doing shots of Jose Cuervo at the bar. In fact no two tequilas are the same. Their flavor can range from caramel to apricot, anywhere in between and beyond.

To taste good tequila you need to hook up with Miguel the zucchini farmer and try some of his De la Sierra. You’ll have to get in line though, his home brew is a local favorite and he only makes about 20,000 liters a year.

After reading the article I definitely have a new respect for tequila and I would love to go on a tasting of my own. Anyone up for the trip?

Maybe they should make a wine that can be used as shots.

Mayor Duffy Drinks Beer!

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Rohrbachs Downtown BreweryThursday RohrBachs opened their new brewery downtown with a bang. They had a grand opening that included free beer and free food! The food was great and I will definitely be picking up some pierogies from The Pierogie Guy. The beer was, of course, excellent. One of my favorites is always the RohrBachs Scotch Ale which is what we had on tap at our wedding but they had many other excellent choices available such as Nate’s Pale Ale and their Vanilla Porter.

Mayor Bob DuffyTo christen the new downtown brewery Mayor Bob Duffy spoke at the event. It was surprising to see him there as there is trouble with passing the New York Budget this year because of all the scandal surrounding the governor. However; Duffy is taking the renovation of Rochester seriously and he took the reopening of a downtown Rohrbachs brewery personal. That he’s neighbors with the owner of Rohrbachs obviously has nothing to do with it.

A Perfect Day in a Perfect Place

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Atlantis IX

This morning, we quickly found out that our free one-day trolley pass was not really the ‘public transportation’ we thought it was. It was more of a tour trolley but it only took you to the shopping centers (probably the reason it was free). While waiting for the first trolley we met another honeymooning couple from Rhode Island who had the same deal as us… worthless trolley pass. After our brief 3 stop trolley ride we decided we’d have a better morning if we simply got off, walked the beach and perused the shops until it was time for our Atlantis tour.

Peering through

Atlantis
XIV is 65′ passenger submarine which takes it’s victims down to a maximum depth of about 120′ to view the tropical fish at the artificial reefs on the ocean floor off Waikiki Beach. It was very interesting to say the least. One amazing thing is how the colors changed. Red quickly turns to brown and all other colors quickly begin to fade the deeper you go. While looking out the port hole(s) you could see lots of very cool fish and reefs, the most notable being Amberjack’s and Spotted Ray’s.

We ended the day with the Paradise Cove Luau. We haven’t been to any other Luau but from what we’ve been told (and from what we’ve experienced) Paradise Cove is the best. It certainly lived up to expectations. From the lei making, Canoe rides, the festival of the pig to the fire dancing. It simply had something for everyone. And don’t forget about those drinks! Our Bartender Lei Lei fixed us up what she called ‘AMF on Crack.’ Translation: lots of alcohol. Our package included 4 drinks and we watched as she poured 3+ shots in each drink. A very nice couple on sexy bus #2 (our bus) who were in Hawaii celebrating their 54th anniversary gave us several more tickets which we also used, although probably didn’t need to.

Paradise Cove not only has enough activities to keep you busy, but it also has fantastic scenery, and no we’re not talking about the half naked natives (although that’s pretty nice too…). The sunset from the Cove was absolutely gorgeous and there’s plenty of pictures so be sure to take a look.

Fire Dancer

During the show they inviting all the honeymooners to stand and be recognized. We expected more of the audience to be standing than actually were, there were perhaps 3 couples out of about 200 people, opposed to everywhere else on the island where it seemed like everyone we talked to was on their honeymoon. Soon after the band played the Hawaiian Wedding song and invited anyone in love to dance. Needless to say we jumped at opportunity.

On the ride home Oli (our host) showed us her hula skills as she was once a performer at the Luau festival. We were also told to ‘flash’ any of the ugly cousins (all other buses from the Luau) during what she called ‘Bus Wars.’ The flashing just consisted of keeping the bus lights off and using our cameras with the flash on. Quite entertaining although we only had one challenger.

When we got back to the hotel, we played our song (If you didn’t catch it during the wedding it’s “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds) and danced on our Balcony while onlookers passed by below. A very romantic ending to a perfect day.

Love,
The Aldrichs