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Yo Turns 65

June 17, 2023

gem food, party, photography, travel , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Nothing quite like staying with dear friends in Leuven.  Yo and Caroline are excellent hosts.  This visit was made even more fun by including a 65th birthday party for Yo.

Here are some pictures from my visit.

I even managed to sneak into the circus on Friday evening.  An incredible show focused on lighting matches, making pizzas, and spinning plates.

The cast of two and the poor “volunteers” who were pulled from the audience.

Leuven.

There was dancing in the kitchen.

And there were homemade cakes.

We even got to try out some mixology for the party.

Rosemary grappa lemonade…let’s call it the “yo-yo 65.”

The birthday king presides.

The actual power behind the throne is slightly capricious.

The site of the party is the back garden with lots of veggie plants.  Delicious food was about as “locally sourced” as you can get.  There were fresh snap peas and strawberries.  So healthy and so delicious.

This gorgeous cake was my favorite.  Banana cheesecake.  Yum.

There was some dancing in wooden clogs yo some truly bad fiddle sawing.

We walked several miles together all using the house as a base of operations.

And we visited the English books at FNAC to compare notes.

All in all about as much fun as you can have in Leuven!

Catoctin Creek: Local Excellence in Distilling

November 10, 2021

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It was an interesting evening…a fundraiser for the USO at the best local distillery (well, the best legal local distillery anyway).  The dress instructions were vague and a bit confusing.  Something about casual something or other with red and black.  LOL.

So anyway, we wore this.

Our dear friends Donnie and Geri came and we scored the head table with our excellent hosts and good friends Scott and Becky.  Scott and Becky are the powerful couple behind Catoctin Creek.

Scott pinged me and we did the kilt thing!

I love wearing my kilt, and I especially love it when my buddies wear theirs too.  More kilts is what we need to solve global warming.

The kilts and the stills

 

Romey was resplendent in her red shoes.

 

The food was good.  The company was interesting. And the 1908 Rye?  Well, you only get to try that once or twice in one 2021 life.

We ran the proof in the back.

 

Fred Minnick was the MC

Fred did a great job keeping things moving and imparting wisdom about the booze we were drinking.

 

Geri in the house

 

More fred

 

There was cake.

 

All the hosts at once.

 

A Paper Plane nightcap back at the home bar ended the evening.

 

Amer Picon Experiment 3

December 13, 2018

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We’re there I think. Our third shot at homemade Amer Picon is in the jar. Next comes siphoning.

This time we adjusted the recipe only slightly with the addition of some bark infusion. Hopefully that will not kill us.

The key to all this is make sure the oranges are green and burn the heck out of the caramel.

BASE RECIPE HERE.

Strain the infusions (three this time)

Mix in a big old jar.

Looking good. Once the material settles, we’ll extract our Picon. We need a centrifuge!

Thanks to Christa for the raw materials and the inspiration!

How to make Boilo

December 15, 2017

gem mixology , , , , , 2 Comments

Ever since we made a batch, we’ve been running around yelling “Marco” “Boilo!” which after enough boilo is highly amusing. But I digress. What IS boilo anyway??

There is nowhere with more authority to turn to than David Wondrich, who wrote this Daily Beast article. Thanks for cluing us in!

After reading the article (you should read it) we were bummed to find that there was no associated recipe.

Twitter to the rescue! David provided this pointer.

An unofficial boilo recipe. Realize that boilo is an individual thing. Make it your own.

Of course we had to make some…

We made some adjustments to the recipe…abandoning raspberry ginger ale for black cherry selzter and ginger beer. We also added Star Anise and Mace which we just so happened to have sitting around. This is upscale boilo by god!

We boiled for a good 15-20 minutes, letting the spices infuse. But then we let the liquid cool down so that none of our alcohol would evaporate when we added it.

Since we have very good access to local shine, why, we used that. the gallon that we used clocked in not too hot at 107.4 proof. Believe me, the shine from around here is an outstanding product, and it clocks in higher than that with some regularity.

At first we were thinking 2 quarts. But then, what the hell…

The warm boilo was pretty good, but it was WAY better this morning after some more steeping time.

Final product came out just shy of two gallons. We imagine it’s somewhere between 60 and 80 proof. Can’t bubble it since there is so much crap in the liquid.

Anyway, thanks David!

Marco!

Boilo!

Music at the Shed: A Double Whammy Day

March 21, 2016

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First there was video and droning.

And then there was music and recording. These pics from a Marcus eye view (mostly)

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Mr Rossie on the console (and composing)

Mr Rossie on the console (and composing)

Dr McGraw on the fiddle

Dr McGraw on the fiddle

Old 48

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Mr Ranum in da shed.

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2016: The Bar

January 28, 2016

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Catoctin Creek Distillery: Purcellville, VA

January 3, 2016

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Less than two handfulls of miles from the apothecary shed itself is a home grown distillery called Catoctin Creek. Since 2009, Catoctin Creek has been distilling Rye into various award-winning products. We’re partial to the Watershed Gin ourselves.

Catoctin Creek in the old Case building

Catoctin Creek in the old Case building

Baker Bob set up a long talked about distillery tour on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The tour was fantastic, carried out by Scott Harris himself. Excellent.

In between leading questions, Scott taught us some things.

In between leading questions, Scott taught us some things.

Scott talked us through the process to make Rye, Gin (in run 2), and Brandy.

Step one: Cook the Rye (soon to be more local)

Step one: Cook the Rye (soon to be more local)

Step two is brewing a rye beer to about 10%.

Step three: transfer beer to still and a 6 hour run.

Step three: transfer beer to still and a 6 hour run.

Gin takes a second distillation plus an infusion.

Gin takes a second distillation plus an infusion.

The bottling machine which caused a pizza party insurrection.

The bottling machine which caused a pizza party insurrection.

Shipment for Australia

Shipment for Australia

Yeah

Yeah

Catoctin Creek Tasting Room

Catoctin Creek Tasting Room

Pouring flights

Pouring flights

Custom flight: Gin and Two Ryes

Custom flight: Gin and Two Ryes

The Catoctin product set is certainly made with love. I remain a big fan of the Watershed Gin. The Roundstone Rye is rough and thin at 80 proof. The 92 proof has more body (and less water) and is a better product. I guess around here we’re used to a sweeter mash bill with some corn and wheat and a higher proof. The Catoctin Creek mash is 100% rye.

What does Sammy think of the Brandy?

What does Sammy think of the Brandy?

Aftermath

Aftermath

All told, the afternoon was very well spent with a gracious and committed host doing excellent work. Keep it up Catoctin Creek. We’re damn proud to have you here just over the river.

The fellers say, "Thanks Scott and Becky!"

The fellers say, “Thanks Scott and Becky!”

Back home again with some new stuff to add to the bar.

Watershed Gin always in stock here

Watershed Gin always in stock here

Winter Solstice Fire 2015

December 21, 2015

gem dance, fire, mixology, party , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Winter Solstice Fire 2015

Winter Solstice Fire 2015

It all started out with champagne, celebrating Team Tartan’s 2015 Leukemia Cup accomplishment with a crop of Timex watches. (About which this.)

bubbles

bubbles

Burn barrel before the lighting

Burn barrel before the lighting

Then it got dark, the keg was tapped, the cheesy xmas music was put on infinite repeat in the barn, burn barrels were lit, and off we went! Early birds got to see the bonfire lighting. Middle birds got to see music and sparkling guitars. Late birds shut down the bar inside with Berryville Passages at 6am. Are we too old for this? No we are not.

Fire

Fire

Who let the banjo player in?

Who let the banjo player in?

Fire too

Fire too

Thanks to one and all for coming! We turned the sun around again!

The Bar Gets Consolidated

May 19, 2015

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Sometimes it happens. A wild hair? A quick job escaping the confines of reality? It’s the dreaded consolidation and it happened at the bar over the weekend.

Let the consolidation begin. What is THIS?!

Let the consolidation begin. What is THIS?!

Will I ever find anything again? Stay tuned.

After the hurricane…

Plenty of room for more liquor

Plenty of room for more liquor

The library

The library

Organized. Clean. And so well lit.

Organized. Clean. And so well lit.

Oyster-shucktress and autres accoutrements..

November 30, 2014

apothecaryshedster food, humor, who knows , Leave a comment

Stylin' with seafood

Stylin’ with seafood

mmmmm

mmmmm

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