Alaskan Duck Fart Shooter Review

Today is the debut of our first shooter. Some would classify this as a shot but for clarification purposes, the difference between a shooter and a shot is that a shot is normally constructed as a single serving of straight spirits, usually in the size of 25mL or 1 fl oz. A "shooter" is classified as straight liqueurs, cordials or mixed drinks served in a shot glass, sometimes poured so there is some kind of la

yered effect. Today, we have a shooter. It is known as the Alaskan Duck Fart. It has three spirits and is constructed in a layered fashion for the purpose of presentation. The ingredients list is as follows:

• 1/2 oz Kahlua coffee liqueur
• 1/2 oz Irish Cream liqueur
• 1/2 oz Canadian Whiskey

The shooter needs to be layered in the order above, starting with the Kahlua. After the Kahlua is in the shot glass, pour the second liquor, in our case O' Mara's Irish Cream, over the bottom of a spoon to slow down the rate at which it falls on top of the first layer. After the Irish Cream is in place, perform the same operation with the Canadian Whiskey on top of the second layer. After this is done, the preparation for the shooter is complete! Now to enjoy it!

We won't critique shots/shooters as critically, but as far as this shooter goes, its presentation is splendid! The layers form perfectly across each plane, causing the liquors to remain separated in the shot glass. This may take some time and some skill for beginners, but over time it will pay dividends during the get-togethers you will hold!

The smells is, well, take a guess. Some people prefer to not smell the shots/shooters before they take them, and the Young Connoisseur agrees. Smelling the shot before tasting it can ruin the whole experience! Combinations of different liqueurs can dramatically change the way a cocktail or shooter taste and smell is significantly linked to taste. Plus, this shooter probably just smells like whiskey anyway...

Now for the taste. At first, it tastes very much of chocolate, but then the end is much that of whiskey and Kahlua. The Irish Cream brings down the strength of the whiskey and Kahlua combined, but still has a solid body to it. This is a great shooter and I recommend it to all to try at least once. It is fairly popular amongst local bartenders, so just go ask them for an Alaskan Duck Fart!

Mr. Einstein Really Was a Genius!

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

-Albert Einstein

Whether or not Mr. Einstein means "spirits" as as a cocktail ingredient or as the inanimate being that resides inside of us, we all know that this statement holds validity and reliability. To him, Cheers!

Whiskey Sour Review

After being away for a while, we have returned with an basic, yet elegant review of one of the cocktails we all love (or most of us at least :)...), the Whiskey Sour. Sometimes when you go to a local bar, for us Eau Claire folk, The Pioneer Tavern, The Court N' House, and even your buddy's homemade bar, the Whiskey Sour that you will have made for you will include whiskey, Sprite and if your LUCKY, some sort of sweet and sour mix. These are fine and dandy when you want to go out and just "drive 'em home" but when you really want to enjoy this cocktail, those recipes don't always suffice. The Whiskey Sour we have here is made with the finest of ingredients available, without actually driving to the distilleries and orchards around the continent. The ingredients used are as follows:

• 2 1/2 ounces whiskey
• 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Maraschino cherries/1 Lemon wedge for garnish
• (We used 2x the amount of ingredients to fill the glass for this cocktail)

First, get out the fresh lemon and cut it in half. Juice the lemon with a hand-press-style juicer to create the 1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice. Pour that juice into your lowball glass. Next, take 1 teaspoon of sugar and add it to the lemon juice in the lowball glass. Stir the sugar until it dissolves in the fresh lemon juice. Add ice to the mixture that you now have and add the 2 1/2 ounces of whiskey over the ice. We used Wiser's Blended Canadian Whiskey specifically for this cocktail. Now, for some cocktails, you are supposed to shake them in a Boston shaker but with this drink, we will stir instead of shake. Now that you have all of the ingredients in the glass and have stirred the drink, it is now time to enjoy.

To begin, the presentation of this cocktail is very nice. The dark golden color of the liquid clashes well with a lemon or maraschino cherry garnish. It looks great in a rocks glass, either short and stubby or tall and slender. Feel free to choose.

Second, the smell is very much that of whiskey. Because we used a blended whiskey, the flavor is very sweet and mixes well with the "sour mixture" we used.

The taste is very flavorful. The sour taste is very natural and fits well with the whiskey. Wiser's seems to fit very well in this drink and is among the best I have ever used. The drink does have that certain sour taste that brings out a small bitterness to it. Even though the drink smells sweet, it certainly doesn't have a very sweet taste. The Whiskey "SOUR" is meant not to be a sugary drink and it follows that concept very well.

If you like the Whiskey Sour that you get at your local tavern, then you may like this cocktail. It is not as sweet as one that has Sprite or sweet and sour mix but it definitely has more flavor. Wiser's De Luxe Blended Canadian Whiskey can be found ranging from $20.99-$28.99/1.75L/ in 40%ALC/VOL. This is probably the best whiskey sour I have had and with good reason. The fresh, natural ingredients really bring out the characteristics that a Whiskey Sour is supposed to have.

Appearance: 8/10

Scent: 7/10

Taste: 9/10

Overall Score: 8/10

If you have had a Whiskey Sour at your home, what whiskey do you use? What ingredients do you use in your Whiskey Sour? Let us know what you think with a comment either on this post or on Facebook. One person who commented will be picked at random for a free 750mL bottle of whiskey to use in their Whiskey Sours at home! Happy commenting!

New Glarus Raspberry Tart Review

Today we have a special treat from New Glarus Brewing Company, their Raspberry Tart Ale. The bottle has a very catchy logo on the front, two raspberries entangled in vines and leaves. The bottle, before opened, has been dipped in a dark, maroon wax on top of the seal already in place. When poured, the color of his beer is just astounding. The dark cranberry-red color makes it look like you just poured carbonated cranberry juice into a glass. The smell of this beer is just amazing. The front of the bottle says "Raspberry" but you get luscious amounts of strawberry/cranberry/blackberry from the start. It just makes you want to start drinking it immediately! When poured into a glass, it was a carbonation party to kick off. It formed a small, thin frothy top that dissipated quickly after pouring, but maintained its zing for a little while. The flavor of this beer is absolutely incredible. At first, you get what seems to be a tart taste, followed by rich, sour notes of raspberry. This has so much flavor but it does not require sugar to do so. There is a clean finish after a very solid body of flavor. This is probably one of the most full-flavored beers so far and it seems like you could just have one right after another. New Glarus's Raspberry Tart can be found ranging from $6.99-$7.99 for a 1 Pint/9 fl. oz. bottle in 5.0% ALC/VOL. Again, not too syrupy and not sugary sweet, but brewed with an immense amount of flavor. Highly recommended to the beer veterans, but also to people who are not too fond of beer. Great stuff!

Appearance: 10/10

Scent: 10/10

Chilled Taste: 10/10

Overall Score: 10/10

Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale Review

Today we bring to you our first beer, one from Blue Moon's Seasonal Collection. It goes by the quiet name of Harvest Moon. It is a pumpkin ale that, according to Blue Moon Brewing Company, is brewed in early September through late November. It is flavored with the very unique taste of vine-ripened pumpkin. They also say that it goes great with turkey, sweet potatoes and beef (BlueMoonBrewingCompany.com, 2009). Already a huge fan of Blue Moon's other seasonal brews, The Young Connoisseur is excited about this one. First, the bottle is designed similarly to the other seasonal brews that Blue Moon creates. The nice burnt orange label is a very nice touch to the blue and white that are always present on its forefront. Next, the color of the beer is wonderful. Blue Moon calls it a "copper orange" but I think it is more of a dark amber, merged with orange. When poured into a glass, the flavor and scents explode. The rich smell of pumpkin and spice emerge with every last drop coming out of the bottle. The pumpkin is present but it takes a lot of sniffing to get that smell. It smells just more like malt and barley over the pumpkin at first. It foams subtly at the end, only a 2 centimeters or so, but that is great for the taste at first. For the taste, it is that of a very nice, well grown pumpkin. There is not a lot of sugar here so this is not a particularly sweet beer. The spice shines as if they were to be pulled from a pumpkin pie. It is a very full bodied beer with a somewhat light finish at the end. It does have a mild bitterness to it but that is going to come from mostly the base of what beer is and also the pumpkin flavor. This beer was served cold, straight from the refrigerator, poured into a tall glass. The price ranges from $11.99-$14.99 for a 12-pack and $6.99-$8.99 for a 6-pack. This beer packs a 5.7%ALC/VOL and can be found at almost all local beer retailers. Some carry only the 12-packs, and some carry only the 6-packs. Overall, this is a great beer. It may be a little difficult to drink in the spring and summer months and the time when it is brewed and delivered to the store for us to purchase is perfect. Grab this while you can and try it, even if it is only a 6-pack. Just take a try and you may end up liking it and be sad when it is gone, like me.

Appearance: 9/10

Scent: 8/10

Chilled Taste: 9/10

Overall Score: 8.6/10

Toasted Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Review

Toasted Head has a small group of wines that are elegant, yet affordable. The wine featured here is Toasted Head's Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. According to Toasted Head's website, the grapes for this wine are sourced from the Lake County region of California and from Mendocino, including the Redwood Valley. These grapes thrive in the loamy and gravel-like soil of these vineyards. They also mention that the aging process can continue for up to five years in the bottle. The bottle has a pretty unique label as it has a picture of a bear blowing fire! That is just plain awesome in itself. The dark black bottle and the deep red label complement each other spectacularly. In regards to smell, when the bottle was first opened, it smelled very strong of cherries and toasty smells from oak barrels. When poured into a wine glass, the dark reddish plum color looked very luscious. It looked as if you would grab a whole bunch of grapes and dark cherries and juiced them right into the glass. When smelled while in the wine glass, the same scents were present except there were more chocolate notes present. Not the sweet milk chocolate smell but more the dark, cocoa smell. When tasted, this wine was good. The cherry and oak notes were very present and there were small hints of the chocolate. The wine seemed somewhat dry and to not have as much fruit flavors. This wine would probably taste perfect with a hamburger, a nice steak or even a chocolate dessert. The wine was good by itself and could work at a social gathering but it's flavor would shine much more if you had cheese/red meat at that same social. This wine was tasted with Colby cheese and that tended to bring out the cherry and oak flavors much more. This wine can be found ranging from $9.99-$14.99/750mL/ in 13.5%ALC/VOL. This wine has a wonderful value for the price. This wine was purchased on sale for $9.99, after a $3.90 discount. This wine is a great entry level Cabernet Sauvignon for someone who wants to "get their feet wet" in the wine world and try the different types of wine. Soon there will be a featured review on another wine in the less-than-$10 price range so keep reading and checking back! In closing, this is a good wine for the value and works best with a food complement.

Appearance: 9/10

Scent: 8/10

Single Taste: 7/10

W/ Food Taste: 9/10

Overall Score: 8.25/10