- JavaJoe's Tribute to Quality Alcohols -

The Sweet, Sweet Nectar of Life.

Well, alcohol is truly great thing. It great to sit back with a good beer, glass of wine or a nice shot of a good liquor.

Now I will praise the Beers of Choice.

The first is Amberbock. I love this stuff it is my default beer. It is some good dark beer. It hits the spot.

The Beer I love next is Leinenkugel's Berry Weis. It is a great beer. It is a Summer brew, so I don't get it all the time. It is a little lighter beer and has a reddish color.

JD, you were my boo. You brought me into the world of alcohol. You got me plastered and stumbling many a time through college. You were my old faithful and I thank you. Of all of the alcoholic beverages out on the market, this was the only thing I really drank until I found Avalanche but it was still my fall back. But then I got older and Jack Daniels got harder and harder to drink, especially straight the way I always shot it.

Little JD History Lesson

Well, let me tell you a little about Jack Daniels. It is made in the Hollow in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The reason the Jack Daniel Distillery has been here over a century, since 1866, is the Cave Springs. Mr. Jack found out that if you use this cool limestone water it would make perfect Tennessee Whisky. This Cave Spring water along with their charcoal mellowing process. It is the distinction that keeps Jack Daniels a whisky and not a Bourbon. They make the charcoal for this mellowing process themselves from sugar maple trees.

The whole process begins with the mixing or corn, rye, and barley malt Water from the springs is added so it may ferment into a mixture called "mash." Then it is cooked and yeast is mixed in and it is again allowed to ferment, where it picks up the name "sour mash." The 'sour mash' is then distilled in copper stills and the whisky that flows from this is a crystal clear 140 proof spirit. The aging of the whisky in charred oak barrels gives it the color.

As I mentioned before this the same process as making Bourbon, but Jack Daniel's steps out of that category and into its own of Tennessee Whiskey. Charcoal mellowing filters the whiskey through the special sugar maple charcoal. This takes a long time for the whiskey to filter through. It is ten feet of compacted charcoal and it removes the oils that plague any grain liquor. It takes about twelve days for the whiskey to mellow slowly through the charcoal.

The new whiskey they introduced a few years ago, Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey goes through this process twice. This gives it a very smooth and mellow taste.

After the mellowing the whiskey is lowered to about 110 proof and put into the charred white oak barrels for aging. As these barrels expand and contract according to the seasons, the whiskey goes in and out of the wood. As I said before this how it gets its color. Then the taste testers determine if the whiskey has met its maturity so it may be bottled and gets put on the shelves for you and I to enjoy.

Check out the Jack Daniels website for more info.

- Avalanche Blue Peppermint Schnapps -

The hard liquor that is also a blessing is Avalanche with its signature blue color and sugar crystals growing in the bottom the bottle. It is a Peppermint Schnapps that is served ice cold. It is the bomb. I recommend it to everybody. It does taste somewhat like Scope. It has the same alcohol content as Jack. It is also not available on the market anymore, which is a crying shame. It was the brother of Aftershock, which was the more popular cinnamon Schnapps.