2023-12-15 14:37:33
This year has been chaotic and absurd. So much so that the editorial staff’s level of alcohol consumption has increased significantly. Fortunately, not so much as to discourage our thirst for something tasty and aesthetically pleasing. So we have something to advise and discuss with you. This is especially true for our own beer, which blessed the end of the year with its spruce aroma.
Editor’s choice: DIPA “Be Kind” (well, of course!)
This year we celebrated not only a proud anniversary (tenth anniversary!), but also the release of our own beer, Double Indian Pale Ale. So now we are not only samizdat, but also beer barons. We started straight away with something more interesting, brewing Double Indian Pale Ale together with the brewery Mitra Brewing.
The ale is called “Be Kind,” after one of the podcast’s iconic phrases, and our readers were the first to try it. On November 24, we gathered a big bunch of our subscriber friends, made some noise, got into fighting games, and had a great time. The next day we presented it at the Craft Depot 2023 festival, and everyone there liked it too. In short, a good debut.
What about the beer itself? As befits a DIPA, it has a bright taste, balanced by sweet notes. The term “drinkable” has become obsolete in beer lovers’ circles; people will soon beat you in the face for it, but there’s no better word for it. Many readers noted his cunning: you finish the fifth glass and that’s it, cheverin. By the way, you can buy it in various establishments in Moscow, St. Petersburg and a couple of other cities in Russia:
Please, where to buy
Pils with lime
Vladimir Brovin
The most I’ve had this year has been a simple, sparkling, honest beer with lime. And I don’t regret anything (except for ruined health, mental problems, a dozen shameful stories, the worst sex of my life, a shitty apartment and the most disgusting year in the last 10 years – and all this thanks to an alcoholic).
But I digress a little. In almost every bar I go to, I ask them to pour me the lightest beer and pour a quarter of a lime into my glass. Ideally, this should be done by beautiful female hands (these are my bacchanalian requests). They didn’t turn me away from a single establishment, except that once they charged me an additional 20 rubles for each slice of lime, but it was a shitty bar in principle. Beer with lime is not sour; barley and citrus form a fruity-floral aroma, beautiful fine foam, even the color becomes purer. Wherever you are, there is a feeling of summer, a patio with wooden chairs under mulberries, the Black Sea velvet heat and bliss. Even Khadyzhi will do, by the way.
Vodka “Blue Mountain”
Denis Mayorov
The first one on kumys! Actually, the entire last and current year passed under the sign of Kazakhstani alcohol. And since I already wrote about my favorite “Karagandinskoe” in random reviews, I will call vodka the booze of the year, although in general, in life, I don’t really like vodka.
“Blue Mountain” is good first of all for its price – something like 250 rubles per half liter. If it were sold in my hometown, then its population, I am sure, would quickly and significantly decrease. It’s difficult to say anything about the taste – it’s vodka and vodka. This particular one is soft, the alcohol doesn’t particularly burn your throat, it hits your nose from the bottle, but it doesn’t smell at all from the glass, it’s made with natural water from Kokshetau. From the kumis it has a slightly, slightly salty taste. I didn’t get much pleasure from drinking “Blue Mountain” in its pure form, but as an ultimate addition to lemonades to make them stronger and the evening more fun, it works flawlessly.
Michelada
Vladimir Samoilov
This year I thoroughly tried Michelada with Corona Extra beer. In our city, the drink is served with a special plastic device into which the bottle is inserted upside down – the beer from the bottle flows into the glass as you empty the drink through a straw. The empty bottle should be thrown away immediately.
Essentially, it’s a tomato substance similar to gozeha (slightly spicy, gives off a citrusy feel) into which ice is thrown. Salt and spices are spread around the rim of the glass; you can lick it off for fun, but you don’t have to lick it off. The drink is perfectly refreshing in the heat and warms the soul in the cold. Great theme, I recommend it to everyone with a burrito and on an empty stomach.
Apple cider No. 2 Dalnyaya Dacha
Dmitry Sokolov
Initially, I wanted to write about my favorite cherry beer, Seth & Riley’s Garage, but, firstly, I have loved it for many years, and secondly, the strongest alcoholic experience I remember from the past year is apple cider No. 2. I met him during a long, nervous – but still very beautiful – breakup with my ex this summer. Every time we met, this semi-sweet, juice-like drink was somewhere nearby, and I always missed it—and so did she.
By the beginning of autumn, our (great!) romance ended completely and irrevocably, and I discovered that now I could not calmly look at the alcohol aisles in supermarkets. As soon as your gaze catches a familiar greenish bottle, fragments of tender and wild memories emerge in your memory. Even though I don’t plan to return to it anymore, this drink will never disappear from my memory. Cider perfectly smoothed out the pain of separation and allowed you to survive another night, proving to be the ideal drink for a broken heart – the sweet bitterness of alcohol perfectly complemented the confusion of feelings.
Black Riga coffee
Alexander Batov
In terms of alcohol, I am a conservative person, I like cold beer, strong whiskey, and dry wine. And once a year I can allow myself to show off, behave like a complete cretin and put on an artificial creamy beard over my natural beard. New Year, a decorated Christmas tree, lights, snow outside the window – for me this is the only acceptable moment for a cocktail with a sweet drink, which will cause diabetes in a healthy person.
The aroma of strongly brewed Turkish coffee, ice-cold Riga balsam mixed in a 2:1 ratio and a touch of cinnamon. I dilute the first portion with cream, which sizzles pleasantly from the can, and then gradually reduce the proportion of coffee and increase the participation of the balm. The right music (most often jazz), good company, films, snacks and, most importantly, the mood – this is my cocktail for which it is worth decorating the Christmas tree and waiting for the holidays, when there are snowdrifts outside the window and warmth in the soul.
Calvados
Anastasia Ermakova
At first I wanted to write about wine, but I’ve been drinking it for 6 years now, but I tried the hero of my year only recently. Calvados was always around, I worked with it, had a clear idea of the flavor profile and even tried some. But, as it turned out, I just didn’t have normal Calvados, haha. Until this December.
What is this? Apple and pear brandy, essentially a distillation of cider. Thoroughbred boys from Normandy and neighboring areas – this is the blow of a juicy apple to your taste buds, not sour, but even a little overripe. It does not seem alcoholic, as sometimes happens with other brandies, it is soft, warming and enveloping. It’s perfect for cold, long evenings, and it’s most pleasant to drink in its pure form and even warm. Well, of course, you can mix up something in terms of mixed drinks. Some Calvados grog or punch, it seems to me, would be very successful.
But for now I’m enjoying this apple-pear nectar solo. And I even got a couple of my friends hooked on it.
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