Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,
This past week, Izzy has been helping out Seven Still Distillery with bottling their latest large shipment of their one-ounce bottles of Bitters. Because they are such a small operation that’s basically ran by a handful of people, they’ve needed a little help to make the timetable… but luckily Izzy has had some free time so she was able to help out. Wednesday night, I was even able to help out… and let’s be honest, bottling is kind of the monotonous & tedious part of just about everything involved in… really any industry, not just beer and/or spirits… but owners Tim & Clint were great and we were able to crank out a few thousand bottles in just the two hours that the four of us were there. Here are some great pictures of their modest setup…
Afterwards, we had both had a long day… so Izzy decided to make us some fantastic “Old Fashioned” cocktails using Seven Stills’ Fluxuate Whiskey which is distilled using Coffee Porter and Flux Cold Brewed Coffee. The whiskey itself is of course 47% ABV but even after the initial burn, you get some great coffee flavors… and notes of vanilla which are quite smooth & pleasant. This is probably my favorite whiskey from Seven Stills. For the cocktails, we modified the recipe a little bit… so it was essentially ice cubes, Seven Stills’ Fluxuate Whiskey, Seven Stills’ Cocktail Bitters & Maple Syrup (instead of simple syrup) and… it’s f**king fantastic. I highly recommend it…
My mom, stepdad & grandma are actually on a wonderful cross-country trip to see a lot of the major monuments in the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Starting in Buffalo and going through places like Kirtland OH, South Bend IN, Nauvoo IL, Omaha NE, and ending in Kansas City to see some of the Mormon Temples, the Mormon Trail, and a slew of other sights & sites. I have to say… I’m a little jealous. Not necessarily for checking out a bunch of temples… but I remember when I used to be able to go on vacation without… you know… being absolutely necessary to every single aspect of my job. It’s been a good… six years or so since that was the case… and it f**king blows… and frankly I’m not fairly compensated for it… so yeah, changes are definitely on the horizon. You’ve been warned/notified that there’ll be EVEN MORE trip pictures coming soon. I’ve already bugged my mom to send me a pictures of Rick James’ grave (in Buffalo) but we’ll see if she can even operate her text messages any more. Love you mama…
Thursday night, Izzy & I watched a few… questionable movies. First up was “Death Spa” starring… well, they weren’t the stars but I did notice horror icon Ken Foree and the lovely ladies Chelsea Field (“Masters of the Universe”) and Karyn Parsons (“Fresh Prince of Bel Air” & “The Ladies Man”). This movie was recently reviewed on the How Did This Get Made podcast… but it’s an interesting story in 1980’s filmmaking… where apparently the story was written in the early 80’s when health clubs were all the rage (featured on Time Magazine) but the movie didn’t get funded or made until 1989… and then was released in like 1991, when nobody cared anymore but it has ALL the 80’s that you could ever want. The story is about the Starbody Health Spa… and there are mysterious deaths happening… like someone being nearly steamed to death by chlorine gas in the sauna… split in half by a pec machine (that one’s particularly odd) and others… and the police are baffled… there’s a theory that it’s this super advanced (80’s) computer system that operates the machinery, but that doesn’t hold water… so a paranormal expert is brought in… because the place may be haunted. Throw in a story of betrayal and alleged man-whoring… and you’ve got yourself a flick. Now… the movie sounds ridiculous… and it really is… but it’s the best kind of ridiculous. PLEASE watch this with your friends! The deaths are super campy (and a little confusing at times), the acting is right on par with what you’re looking for in a good laugh scare, it’ll just be a good time with your friends… and it’s so confusing & contradictory of its own rules that you can easily just shut the brain down & enjoy it. There’s really no mystery to be solved. I feel like me telling you that now will save you trying to put the pieces together… because the writers didn’t both with it either.
Next up was “The Apple” which is a 1980 musical from Cannon Pictures starring… well, again not really people that you’d really recognize in anything. Now… as you know, musicals are not necessarily my thing (even though I have a Musical Movie List from years ago) but… this movie… well, I’ll be honest… it’s not as horrible as I thought it was based on the preview. It might actually be even worse. Okay, anyway… the story is about a young man & woman who go on a VERY popular singing contest in the far distant future of 1994 where the world is… well, very colorful… and you know, it’s a lot like 2015 in Back to the Future clothing wise… and they don’t win the contest (due to some rigging) but are invited to party with the winning band & Mr. Boogaloo (who looks like Ming from Flash Gordon but apparently runs the music industry & therefore the world?). What follows is a big psychedelic kind of retelling of the Garden of Eden story (hence “the Apple”) and just incredibly outrageous outfits and musical dance numbers and… it’s definitely an interesting watch. If you like musicals and can get through the music… then by all means check it out. Spoiler alert: Mr. Topps / God arrives at the end… and he’s played by Joss Ackland with a magnificent blond wig. Who’s Joss Ackland you ask? Well… you may know him as the bald antagonist Denomolis from “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” or I think I can give you the image in two words from “Lethal Weapon 2”… DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!!! Now picture that man with hair in the fashion of John Schneider from Dukes of Hazzard… and rolling up in a heavenly gold Rolls Royce… f**king roll credits.
Anyway, busy weekend coming up with Learn to Homebrew Day (we’re not hosting this time), a new brewing of a Belgian Quad, a baby shower for Izzy’s sister, and most importantly… The California State Homebrew Competition at Anchor Brewing on Sunday!!! So yeah, I’ll fill you in on the activities soon… until then, have a great weekend everybody!!!
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