On the drink of collapse

My colleagues and friends, we have occasion to celebrate.  The very laws of nature are at my beck and call.  Man tries in all his endeavours to reach the peaks I now enjoy, and just in time for summer too.

It turns out it all so devlishly simple.  I’ve found a process that purifies a certain alcohol in to a neutral liquor.  A neutral liquor which needs no re-distillation, dilution, or concentration. From there a genuine plethora of possibilities exist.  My choice?  I gathered the appropriate reagents to create that most rewarding of all the everyman’s tinctures, gin.  In short, I turned a cheap, impure, disgusting vodka into a refreshing liquid breeze with nothing more than my own ingenuity and some cheesecloth.  These are heady times indeed.  If one can make their own gin, why then one can set any number of flavors to their own craft liquors, and well then that does it.  Also, one cannot live in Chicago’s storied history and not make your own alcohol.  No bootleg whiskey yet but I’m also not in the business of blinding myself.

Quality Testing:

1.  Appearance.  Not quite there.  It’s a tad green/yellow, like very slightly off putting water.  I was aware of this during the process, and have an idea of which component did this.  All in all still a work in progress.

2.  Odor.  By jove, that’s it!  Takes me back to days of yore.  And war.

3.  Taste.  Now that I’ve got my senses stirring, it’s time to go the distance.  The gin drinkers stand-by is the martini.  I prefer mine a tad below as dry as possible.  I’m looking for a true telling of the gin’s flavor profile.  Simple coat of vermouth on the glass.  Used a thin line of lemon zest over the customary onion.  Bombs away.  Hmmm.  Yes tha’s th’real thing.  In fact, I would put it above the cheaper stuff.  In your mouth it is almost like the parent, tasteless, but on the way down, the bouquet really hits but not in the stingy way, as the generic stuff does, but just a crisp feeling that you get all over.

Well enough fawning over my own concoctions.  If it were enough for me to declare success right here and now I would, but I need the approval of others.  Need it. So come on and drink with me.  I owe you one anyway.

I said I would and I am

I found the harlot that decided she was too good for everyone else (Madame please excuse my anger).  Turns out she took photos for Time Out magazine.  Let us take a look shall we?  (Time Out magazine, if you see this know I am a better photographer than this classy lady and you can reach me at arwinnqhawkhauser@gmail.com I will take quality photos of anything you want to put in front of me.  I have samples.)

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2010/04/free-energy-at-beauty-bar-photo-gallery/

Of the many many many more photos taken, 9 were featured.  A goodly amount.  Most of the photos feature a lead singer as washed out as his vintage sweatshirt.  None of the photos capture anywhere near the actual lighting conditions, which other live venue blogs don’t seem to have trouble doing.

I don’t mean to be an old curmudgeon.  But this person was directly blocking my view of the band and I was there first.  And this is the product.  Cheap shots I could have taken with my point-and-shoot.  Next time try to get a high angle, or at the least TRY ANOTHER LOCATION!!

~HLC

PS: Those gents in the ties were pretty awesome drunkards who knew all the words and if I were in a band, they are the ones who would make it worth it for me.