NYE Spirits & Plans Thread

[BeastMan]

I plan on doing basically nothing but I did stock up today on a few items to compliment my liquor cabinet post holidays. I?ve been on a huge red wine kick and that big beer is a Chandelier Brewery dark Belgium ale aged 6 months in red wine barrels. Might get in the woods tomorrow. Cheers fellas. Hope 2019 was a good one and 2020 will be even better.

[SpeckleDawg]

Very nice Beast. I was requested to make a chicken/sausage gumbo. Drinking champagne and letting it simmer. I'm sure my stomach is going to appreciate this combo.
Let me know how that Chandy Beer turns out. I've seen they have a few interesting new ones out lately.

[Liverpooldawg]

Standard NYE stuff for us: Ham, blackeyed peas with smoked sausage, and Cheese Grits. To drink....Simi Chard with dinner. Various craft beers and ciders beforehand and afterward. Orkney Whiskys (plural) afterward as well. We have a bottle of Cava ready if we make it to midnight.

[Liverpooldawg]

Standard stuff for us on NYE: Ham, blackeyed peas with smoked sausage, and Cheese Grits. To drink....Simi Chard with dinner. Various craft beers and ciders beforehand and afterward. Orkney Whiskys (plural) afterward as well. We have a bottle of Cava ready if we make it to midnight.

The beer: Dogfish Head 95 Minute IPA, Lazy Magnolia Southern Hopspitality, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, Straight to Ale Stout at the Devil.....so far. The wife's cider..Strongbow.

[Prediction? Pain.]

Our NYE festivities consisted of eating leftover pizza, putting the kids to bed, having the wife turn in at her usual early hour, and me drinking unremarkable whisky while dozing off to something on TCM.

The frenzied hedonism of my late 30's! It's tough to keep up with, y'all.

I did, however, go on my annual Christmas Eve and New Year's hikes, though. They've become short outings, but still worthwhile. Great weather both days with tons of water flowing off the Cumberland Plateau.



Had to cross a couple of mountain streams on the trail. Nothing too nuts, this one was a little tricky. Goes from me in the middle of the thing, what's in front of me, to the waterfall at the top of the stream.







I was intending to go to an overlook roughly 2.5 or 3 miles from the trailhead, but I got started late and opted to stop at this waterfall, which is nestled next to giant sandstone bluffs (and an old coal mine, which I conveniently failed to photograph):





Here's the view of the other side of the gorge from the trail back to my car:



The water attracted as many kayakers as hikers. Not my bag, but more power to them.





My New Year's Day hike was closer to home and even shorter, but it was still a good time. Just rambling off trail around and over some rocks and streams.

[Prediction? Pain.]

The beer: Dogfish Head 95 Minute IPA, Lazy Magnolia Southern Hopspitality, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, Straight to Ale Stout at the Devil.....so far. The wife's cider..Strongbow.

What are your thoughts on cider in the United States, Liverpool? I've always thought it's been an underdeveloped and underappreciated drink. Cider can be awesome if it's done right but it seems that it seldom is, at least by the national brands. Either way, way too sweet or dry but flavorless. I'm guessing it has something to do with the availability of traditional cider apples here, but who knows. It's especially frustrating when you compare it to my limited exposure to ciders in the UK, where there are far more options and the quality seems to be higher across the board.

I will say that in the past few years, craft ciders (or seasonal/limited releases from the bigger brands) have started to pop up that are much more interesting and that often focus on local, fresh-pressed apples instead of whatever juice or concentrates others buy in bulk. There's a Tennessee cider up near the VA and NC border, for instance, that's doing some good stuff with Tennessee apples.