This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Tequila Old Fashioned. According to Robert Hess, “Think there is only one way to make an Old Fashioned? Think again. Unlike drinks such as the Martini, Margarita, and Daiquiri which have fairly specific recipes, the “Old Fashioned” emerged during the late 1800′s as a way to refer to a cocktail as it was originally made in the “old days”. The old cocktail books would refer to “Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail” so there was no confusion as to what spirit to use. While today it is simply assumed that Whiskey will be the ingredient in your Old Fashioned (or Brandy if you are from Minnesota), that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this style of cocktail with other spirits. So join me as I make mine with Tequila. And since cocktails should be all about celebrating the spirit, I’ll be using a quality tequila, specifically Hornitos 100% blue agave tequila.”
Since July is National Tequila Month and the theme for this #MutineerMonday is Tequila, what better way to spend it than by learning from Robert Hess how to make a Tequila Old Fashioned … and then drinking it, of course!
I can’t say much about the beer as I’ve never had it .. and the reviews that I have seen haven’t been too friendly towards the beer. BUT, this is probably one of the raddest and most mutinous commercials for beer that I’ve ever seen. In words of Vatican assassin Charlie Sheen, “Duh, winning.”
What’s not to love? The malt gets to hop around on some sweet subwoofers before being milled by Conan the Barbarian looking dudes and then it gets to watch some sweet old school kung fu movies. Then it’s off to the mash tun where the milled grain is mixed with hot water to extract the sugars from the starch, powered by a Delorean monster truck no less. After that, it’s treated to some mad bass from a sick drummer before being poured over a tower of pure winning. Next it’s off to a huge fermenter that’s wrapped in garb that only Elvis could be proud of. Next, of course, it’s pumped through a life size plastic panther, in through the paw and out through the tail. If you’re rich enough, you have the option to fly your helicopter to the brewery and pour yourself a pint while in flight. If not, you’ll have to wait for for a bottle that has been capped by hand by a ferret at your local bar.
This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network teaches you how to make a Caipirinha. According to Robert Hess, “Cachaça is the national spirit of Brazil. From that spirit comes the national cocktail of Brazil, the Caipirinha.”
Caipirinha
2 ounces cachaça (If cachaça is not available in your area, you can substitute a good white rum.)
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 lime, quartered
Instructions
Wash the lime, and cut it into quarters.
Put the lime pieces into a heavy tumbler and then add the sugar.
Muddle hard to extract juices and dissolve the sugar.
Fill the glass with ice, then add the cachaça. Stir to mix and chill.
Cognac. You know it and love it, and now you can witness Mutineer Editor in Chief Alan Kropf attempt to educate stand-up comedians Ben Morrison (who also happens to be a regular Mutineer contributor and host of the Mutineer Comedy Festival) and Daryl Wright (also a Mutineer Comedy Festival performer) at the world renowned Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City.
However, my favorite part of the video is at 1:05, where baby future-Mutineer checks out the nose on his awesome glass of hopefully Welch’s Grape Juice, gives it a nice swirl and clearly he’s not pleased as he dumps it out on the table in disgust.
Obviously I must point out that Mutineer Magazine does not condone or endorse underage drinking or the serving of alcohol to babies .. but this video is hilarious.
I’m a huge fan of Deschutes Brewery from Bend, Oregon and as a craft beer addict, I am thankful for having always had a plentiful supply of their spectacular brews since I was of legal drinking age. I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet the extraordinary people behind their award winning brews and it’s a simple case of great people making great beer. As mentioned, they are from Oregon and one of the really cool things I continually see with Deschutes is their connection with Oregon and it’s more than just the place they are from. You can see Oregon in the names of their beers, in their labels, in the inspiration of each of their unique and exciting beers.
Below is a video for Deschutes that was created by their advertising agency that I really liked and I wanted to share with you. I must point out, however, that there is a very brief moment (one second) of partial female nudity around 3:15, so please be mindful of that. I think it’s a very cool video that captures a lot of the soul that is Deschutes and it also shows some of the inspirations behind their very cool labels. With that said, enjoy.
Well, we’ve already witnessed what beer loving roboticists like to do in their free time, but what happens when the beer loving Yelp engineers get extra time on their hands? They engage in “hackathons” and invent the Kegmate, an iPad-powered “Kegbot”.
And for those of you who are geeky enough … errr brilliantly intelligent enough to understand the cryptic language known as “computer engineering”, the kids over at Yelp have been kind enough to detail the entire project on their blog for anyone brave enough to recreate it on their own. Here is an excerpt from the blog:
Theory of Operation (An Overview): Sensors attached to the keg feed data into an Arduino microcontroller, which in turn communicates directly with the iPad via a serial connection. The iPad processes that data and displays it in a snazzy manner along with a description of the current brew. An RFID reader attached to the system allows users to ‘swipe in’ to KegMate and keep track of how much beer they’ve had, as well as assign a star rating for the beer currently in the keg (this is Yelp, after all).Continue Reading »
