How Vodka is prepared
Posted on April 7, 2008 -- By: Johnny Walker
Vodka, the name itself sounds so much of Russian that you really do not need to write that Vodka seems to be originated from Russia. And not only it originated from there, it still remains the most preferred drink there. I read somewhere that there is no wedding, no funeral, no grief and no happiness if there is not a bottle of Vodka on the table. When I think of Vodka, I imagine a pure, odorless, white and strong aromatic drink which when taken gives you a special burning feeling. So why its color less and how its prepared.
Well, if you want to know then read on. I am hoping that next time you had our ‘Absolut’ or ‘Smirn-Off’, you are going to enjoy more.
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Beer Preparation Method - A Primer
Posted on April 3, 2008 -- By: Johnny Walker
Beer, the bubbly drink which always makes you feel lighter and funnier. While some of the hard drinks like Whiskey and Rum are taken in all moods, usually Beer is always associated with fun and happier times. So I guess we have more then enough reasons to have a small post on its preparation. The other big reason is that I am personally a great fan of Beer and prefer it over most of the other drinks.
Its one of the olderst known drinks and some googling tells me that it has roots in ancient Egypt, China and Europe. Beer is made from water, yeast , hops and grains. Grains could be oats, wheat, rice but mostly its barley. Wheat is also used in some places. Apart from these basic things you may add adjuncts, herbs etc. Yeast converts sugar into alcohol, corn sugar for the yeast, hops create the bitterness.
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Four Steps of Rum Preparation
Posted on March 28, 2008 -- By: Johnny Walker
Rum, you say it and you would want to say it again. Try it. Rum. Rum. Personally I prefer Rum in winters and mostly with warm water, and if needed then with a dash of lemon. Rum-Cola is though more popular here, it hides the social-taboo part of the drink from prying eyes, its all the more sweet so gulp-able and with some ice, it makes a pretty nice combination that lasts long.
While almost everyone knows that Rum is made from molasses, not all of us are aware about the actual process. So before we go that path, lets try to figure out the origin of this wonderful form of liquor. Rum has its origins in Caribbean islands where it seems to have been discovered. Its been believed that Christopher Columbus brought sugarcane to the island of Hispaniola, via the Canary Islands. The local warm climate did wonders to the crop and over time it became one of the big cash crops with sugar mills churning sweet all over. Later someone figured out that if molasses is fermented, you can get alcohol.
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Seven Steps of whiskey preparation
Posted on February 27, 2008 -- By: Johnny Walker
Whiskey, the name seems to have originated from the effect of such drink on man. Try saying it couple of times, and it would seem as if you are beginning to lose co-ordination, repeating same thing as you would often do after having one and most likely sound gibberish. It sounds funny, right. Well, I guess there must be some better explanations on this subject.
I looked at couple of websites and here’s what “Answers” has to report on this subject
“An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.” This sounds so much exact, well lets read form Wikipedia to see, what they have to say on this “Whisky (Scottish Gaelic: uisge-beatha), or whiskey (Irish: uisce beatha or fuisce), refers to a broad category of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from fermented grain mash and aged in wooden casks (generally oak).”
In simple words, Whiskey is a kind of alcoholic beverage where alcohol part comes from fermented grain, unlike Rum where it comes from Molasses.
The second and more interesting part of this story is to understand the process by which usually Whisky is made. I would not go wide and deep and wont make it more complex by mentioning different kind of whiskies but would rather focus on the standard methods.
Constituents / Raw Material - Essentially water, yeast and grain. Water is very important as it gives that local flavor. You probably would have noticed that a same beer brand tastes pretty different in different cities depending upon the source of water. There are lot of things which are responsible for this viz. salt content in water, purity level, carbonated or not carbonated, iron and so on.
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Piyakkar - What does it mean and more
Posted on February 11, 2008 -- By: Johnny Walker
Piyakkar is a word in Hindi , which is the national language of India. Being a large country Hindi is not spoken everywhere, the Hindi heartland is mainly the ‘central India’, large parts of Western and most of Northern India. Even though it sounds like most of India, as much as 35% of India doesn’t speak Hindi as their first language. Piyakkars means someone who drinks a lot. The connotations are not too great and is mostly used in negative sense. So why this name ?
Well, one of the aims of this place (at the time of creating this) is to create awareness about ’spirit of life’ which unfortunately is not too great in this country. To have a website one needs a sort of popular or catchy name and piyakkar fits there well because its negative in that playful sense. You usually call folks Piyakkar for their habit, not for any of the actions. The fine line which separates the two is what makes drinking a good or a vice.