Pumpkin wine review

This is a good time of year for pumpkin wine.  Put on your Type O Negative hoodie and sit on the porch drinking this harvest favorite.  Enjoy the fall colors.



This is actually a really good wine. The flavors are really mellow. The pumpkin is restrained and comes out as hints of earthiness.  This is a little sweet, but I think because the there aren't a lot of bitter or tanning flavors the sweetness is a little more forward.  But again it is a good solid wine in its own right.  Completely different than the abomination of a mango wine I drank last time.  The clue that this was going to be good?  Made from pie pumpkin puree.  So if you see any of this at your local vendor, now is the time to drink.

Summer's End

Samhain (pronounced saw-in) is a Gaelic word meaning "summer's end", and referred to a harvest festival held in Ireland on October 31st.  Here in the upper Midwest summer's end comes a little earlier.  Today is a good day to celebrate Samhain.  Today is the last day of summer/first day of autumn.

What better way to celebrate Samhain than with music.  Today feels like a classic Norwegian black metal day, and what better way to explore the music of Norway than with some of the albums produced by Pytten and recorded at Grieghallen.

Early Burzum is kind of a joke but the trancey structure of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is a breath of fresh air from the sometimes formulaic song structures of heavy metal bands.


Back before the webernets it was hard to find any information on these bands.  I was surprised to see Pytten and Grieghallen show up in so many liner notes.  For example what is clearly Emperor's best work



Thus Spake the Night Spirit.  They don't make them like that anymore.  Sadly neither did Emperor.

I thought Borknagar, aside from having a silly name, had an uneven debut album.



One of the better tracks.

Ain't gonna lie, I never bought into the whole Mayhem mystique.  But you gotta at least respect De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Freezing Moon, solid

I like that you can even find new things.  File Hades under "it's new to me".



There is definitely a certain pathos in the work that binds them together.

What more can I say?  The work speaks for itself.

Autumn splendor

Autumn is a lovely time of year. The trees put on their magnificent display. The shadows seem to emerge from every corner. The air takes on a cool, crisp quality. The...what's that you say? It's midsummer? Autumn's a long ways away? Well screw you, I'm blogging it anyway.



Yeah, I'm going to post that Type O Negative video too. But first I'm going to do something a little different...

I've been searching for a good autumn drink. Something that warms the soul. Apple cider and brandy is my first choice, perhaps with some spices added like clove. For the mixing I use the Christian Brother's VSOP, which has a nice vanilla flavor. I find it far superior to the regular VS and I used to get it silly cheap. 8 bucks a fifth silly. I suppose it is as good a time as any to drink Jagermeister, though I haven't bought any in years.

I'm looking for a good harvest wine. I haven't been big on wine because my girlfriend can't drink it - she's allergic to sulfites - and I don't want to drink a whole bottle myself. For that reason I stuck with screw tops, which really limits selection. However, I recently acquired a re-corker, and I'm open to some autumn harvest wine suggestions.

Autumn incites my imagination towards Eastern Europe. I'm hoping the Eastern European brandy I saw is worth it. Speaking of Eastern Europe, we need some good music to accompany our drink. I'm going to try something new on the blog...

I recommend, if you're in a Transylvanian mood, some Transylvanian folk music. First up is Okros band, from Hungary. The music seems to pulsate. The mp3 posted below is from a disc I ripped from the library. The names wouldn't populate from the internet, so it is a rare disc I'll wager. I suspect it might have fallen out of copyright, or never had one to begin with, which is why I am sharing this. The name Okros band and album title Koszoru have no hits from google shopping. If I am mistaken, please let me know and I will yank the mp3. I only got so far as renaming the first track. After that you're on your own.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/32pi5s

Shout out in the comments if you are interested in the whole album, otherwise this is one mp3.




This is pretty similar to what you'll find on the mp3.

I also have Hungarian folk music from Transylvania, featuring Mihaly Halmagyi and Gizella Adam. I like the fiddling, but the drumming is maddeningly irregular. Though Gizella's occasional singing is like some ancient peasant from before the industrial revolution. Wonderful.



This is similar to what I have on CD. Let me know if you are interested in hearing it.

Also, fun unembedable documentary here.

...and finally



your moment of zen.

Time goes bye

Time goes bye so quickly



It has been a long year.

Looks kinda like the mythical pumpkermelon, doesn't it? Probably just a funky shaped young watermelon.

Anyways, nothing new in the Autumn booze department. How about you? Drink anything wacky lately? Inquiring minds want to know.

Preparations for the harvest

Winter is a dreamy time of long nights, warm pajamas, coats, Christmas lights, and merriment during the cold and gloom. It is all too easy to have this dreamy time become a dreary time of grey days, freezing nights, aweful driving, and the feeling of being a shut in. In order to avoid that situation, I have a few recipes that might help you during those long winter nights to come. The autumn harvest might be a good time to experiment and dig in.

First is the classic Irish jug of punch. I have tried this, but only with room temperature water; not yet have I tried hot water. Never the less it is a favorite of mine and it was a traditional way of drinking whiskey in Ireland. I would be disappointed if they've stopped drinking punch in Ireland. I digress, experiment with brands to find the flavor that suits you best.

In a glass jug mix:
Some Irish whiskey
Hot water
A pinch of sugar
A dash of cloves
Zest of lemon

If you are needing some caffiene, Irish coffee is loved the world over. If you are like me and dislike coffee, here is a new twist: whiskey and tea

As I said before, pilsner and hot pretzels is another treat. I try to avoid iced drinks in the winter and have hot drinks instead. Hot pretzels and cold beer is a fair compromise.

If you must drink something chilly, I do miss Tetleys beer. It is a thick beer, similar to a Guinness but not as dark. In fact I am tempted to pick up some this weekend if the weather continues to sour. It warms the soul! Make sure you have a big glass; they only come in talls.

In mid autumn, nothing beats a trip to the cider mill. And one sure way to work the chill of an autumn afternoon from your bones is to heat a saucepan of fresh apple cider and add some pumpkin pie spices and some brandy. I prefer an unobtrusive, unassuming brandy. My brandy odyssey was so long ago I cannot recall what brand I preferred. Probably some California distiller around the Korbel mark. Let me know what you find. I must confess the brandy selection in this town is not robust.

Finally, a regional favorite here is to add Tom and Jerry's mix to some hot water and brandy. I am not sure what is in T and J mix; it is frozen but I believe it is egg yolks and sugar. Who knows? Some spice it with nutmeg or cinammon. Pretty simple if you just want to dash together a hot mug.

But most importantly people, sleep warm.

Changing seasons

This summer was supposed to be a summer of wine. I imagined I would drink a steady quantity of red wine instead of the whiskey punch that got me through half of winter and spring. That was partially true. I did continue with punch, and I stopped with wine about a month or so ago. The last jug of Paisano skunked into vinegar prematurely and I haven't gotten wine since. I tried for rum, but it didn't work out that way. I thought about going Bourbon, but I didn't want to gamble. My one foray into American whiskey - Kessler - was a bust.

Now normally I don't drink beer. It has about double the calories of whiskey. It has sugar and carbs, and whiskey does not. It will make you fat. After all, they don't call it a whiskey gut do they?

However, it has been a chilly August. It is already getting cold at night. School is starting next week and the shadows are getting longer. Autumn is fast approaching, and one thing I like in chilly months is a good Pilzner and some hot soft pretzels. I have a feeling that if the weather continues to chill, I'll have to truck up to the store for some good pilzner (New Glarus Edel Pilz is a winner in my book) and a box of super pretzels.