Knock on wood: Project Tong Li and barrel aging in Beijing
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Some of the best booze I have tasted this year is the beer schnapps distilled as an experiment at Drei Kronen 1308 from leftover Oktoberfest brew. It had a pleasant malt / bread aroma and, even at nearly 40 percent alcohol, was as smooth as hot yak butter on a shaved panda… or, um, something really smooth.
Anyway, wine maker Li Demei told me quite a long time ago he had an extra 50-liter American oak barrel and I finally arranged to get it on Wednesday. We met at Workers Stadium and transported the barrel across the street to DK1308 and beer maker Andreas Roehrl. He’ll team up with Carl Setzer of Great Leap, who has distilled some of his pale ale, to see if maybe they can turn some schnapps into something even better. Or maybe they’ll age beer. I’ll post updates on — given the barrel was donated by Li — Project 桶李.
Finally, I’ve talked to several people, notably Chad Lager of Fubar, about getting smaller barrels — say five-liter ones — for aging rums and cocktails. Not easy to find, but I have a few contacts out and will hopefully be able to provide good news soon.
No commentsVinopolitan: Sample 1000+ wines at The Beijing Hilton
Three weeks to this hour, I will be limbering up — loosening my elbows and wrists, doing taichi to flex my inner organs, stretching my lower back in preparation of standing a half-dozen hours — to get ready for the Beijing Hilton Food & Wine Experience the next day. This is my favorite public tasting of the year, not only because it includes the chance to sample from among more than 1000 wines, but also because I always meet people I haven’t seen for ages as well as a few I know only by corresponding online. This year’s event is November 12, from 1 PM to 7 PM, and costs rmb260. See the poster below for more details.
Finally, everyone who won prizes in the Theme Team Contest, which had the goal of coming up with a name for this year’s event, should have received an email from me by now. And great to see the Hilton Beiing used the winning entry, Vinopolitan. If you won a prize and did not get an email, let me know at beijingboyce (at) yahoo.com. If you do not know if you won, see Pretty Much Everyone’s a Winner, Baby. I apologize for being slow in getting the tickets out. I’m blaming this guy.
(See here for write-ups of Food and Wine Experiences past.)
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http://www.beijingboyce.com/2011/08/25/hilton-theme-team-contest-pretty-much-everyones-a-winner-baby/
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