A very good gin and a tasty, new craft brew
Plus fun things for nerds, metalheads, and Yellowstone lovers
Two beverages that are worth your time
I first encountered Fords Gin at a party thrown by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The retro, stylish bottle caught my eye, and what’s inside proved equally appealing. Yes, Fords is a London Dry Gin—but it is not as intense as Beefeater, whose high proof (94 ABV) and intense piney notes can be a little too much for some folks. Fords is 90 proof and the juniper note is balanced against other botanicals, such as lemon peel, orris root, and angelica. Online I have seen this gin retailing from $19 to $30. Add it to your shopping list!
Another recent find is Schlafly’s Crisp IPA. This I have deemed my cheese-and-Triscuits beer. It’s medium bodied but packs a wallop of hops. Don’t let the fair blond color fool you. This brew is 7% alcohol, so after a couple of them and my snacks you may find yourself nodding off in front of the new season of Port Protection. Read more about this and other Schlafly beers here.
Errol Morris’ latest documentary is free online for now
Errol Morris, known for films like The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War, here focuses on the nobody-nerds in the 1960s who rethought how to invest money in the stock market, and made a killing doing it. Enjoy Tune Out the Noise on YouTube while it lasts. Once you view it you may see the stock market in a different way!
A cruise for heavy metal fans? Really?
A cruise for people who like shrieking and thunderous guitars and grim lyrics delivered at 100+ decibels? Who knew such a thing existed! Louie Palu, a documentary photographer and filmmaker, tells all.
Ozzy Osbourne’s voice bellowed over the sound system of the Independence of the Seas as I pressed my fork into a stack of all-you-can-eat pancakes. I sat hypnotized by calming ocean waves, while Tony Iommi’s guitar riffs on the Black Sabbath album “Sabotage” provided a headbanging soundtrack to breakfast.
This was one of the more peaceful moments aboard the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise, a four-day heavy metal vacation that sailed round-trip from Miami to Jamaica on a Royal Caribbean ship. If you are into chugging death metal with guttural vocals by Incantation, headbanging to vintage Swedish doom by Candlemass or surfing a mosh pit to Sepultura’s “Dead Embryonic Cells” on a pool deck, this is the cruise for you.
It will cost you $1,853 at minimum to get on the ship, and no that does not include alcohol. But, hey, you will have the joy of seeing people dressed in corpse paint and maybe even a guy with a Pabst Blue Ribbon six-pack tattoo on his gut. Can you put a price on any of that? (Read more)
Odds and ends
DMV winos: May 31 to June 1 is the Virginia Wine Festival in Tyson’s Corner. 200 wines from 30 vineyards… (Read more)
Washingtonians: Chef Jeffrey Buben is cooking up a four-course feast featuring striped bass and steak at Mallard on April 25… (Get a reservation)
Anyone who wants an excuse to visit Montana: From June 20 to 22, the Old Salt Festival in Helmville, Montana will host musicians Nikki Lane and Jake Worthington and many other artists. There will be endless hunks of delicious meat and innumerable hot people in western wear… (Read more)
Sophisticated tipplers: Booze-hound Peter Suderman wants you tom become a convert to Cocchi Americano, a “delicious, herbal, bittersweet, not-quite-vermouth”…. (Read more)
Just odds
Deep-pocketed whiskyheads: Johnnie Walker Vault has launched. It is a “luxury experience… with packages starting from £50,000” that allows you… Oh, who are we kidding… (Read more)
For the sort of people I don’t know: On June 10, PowerHouse Books will release Michael Bolton, “an exquisite 208-page hard cover coffee table book celebrating the Grammy-award winning superstar’s life in pictures”… (Read more)
