If your going to drink beer, drink the best. I drink Guinness Extra Stout, when I'm having a beer. Straight from the tap is best, and those magic cans with the "widget" inside are great for when your at home. Here's the story of the Widget that gives you pub draught Guinness from a can.
"Widget"
After the Great Britian Beer Festival, in London, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says "Hey Senor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona." The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him. The guy from Budweiser says "I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser." The bartender gives him one. The guy from Coors says "I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors." He gets it. The guy from Guinness sits down and says "Give me a Coke!" The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask "Why aren't you drinking a Guinness?" and the Guinness president replies "Well, if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither will I!"
CordialsRoot Beer
CordialsBelow is my recipe for making cordials. Cranberry is a favorite in the winter, near the holidays.
Use glass containers with tight fitting plastic lined screw caps (any size, but gallon jugs with large mouths preferred). Fill 5/8 to 3/4 full with slightly crushed fruit. Fill container to top with 100 proof or 80 proof vodka. Keep at room temperature, and gently shake every day or so for at least 1 month, but as long as 4 months is OK.
Strain through single layer of cheesecloth, followed by multiple layers, and eventually you can even strain through filter paper (coffee filters in a funnel work fine). Liquid should be clear of all sediment before proceeding.
Measure vodka. For each cup of vodka, boil one cup water and one cup sugar til dissolved (do not boil vodka). ALLOW TO COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE! (adding hot liquids to the vodka will cause it to release its alcohol). Mix equal parts sugar/water with the flavored vodka, and bottle. Allow to age for at least 2 weeks. Enjoy.
Using 100 proof vodka will yield 50 proof product. Using 80 proof vodka will yield 40 proof product.
Root
BeerBelow is a recipe for making soft drink. These can be made into the alcoholic brews by controlling the amount of fermentation. The ingredients required for brewing soft drinks are a liquid, sugar, yeast, and flavoring. 'Liquid' usually is water, but can also be fruit juice or a decoction from a vegetable or sap. 'Sugar' supplies flavor for the palate and food for the yeast. It comes in many forms, all of them suitable for soft drinks: white or brown sugar, syrups such as corn syrup, molasses, or honey. 'Yeast' creates the fizz (and if desired, the alcohol) in the liquid. Brewers' or wine yeast can be used, and is best for alcoholic beverages because it is cultured for consistency, but bakers' yeasts (cake powder or liquid) are less expensive and quite adequate for making soft drinks. Natural 'flavorings' generally contain acids whose tartness is balanced against the sweetness of sugars to achieve the ultimate flavor. Flavoring may be accomplished with distilled or other types of commercial extracts; or fruits, herbs, conifer needles, or spices can be cooked in the liquid to extract their flavor, then strained out.
Simmer herbs in water for 30 minutes. Add sugar, stir to dissolve, and strain into a crock. Cool to lukewarm, add yeast, and stir well. Cover crock and leave to ferment for about an hour. Bottle as described below and store in a cool place. Makes about one gallon. You can taste the flavored and sweetened liquid before adding the yeast, and adjust to suit your palate. If it's too sweet, add some lemon juice; if it's too sour, add sweetener; if the flavor is too weak, add more of the flavoring ingredients. This recipe has been adjusted for minimal fermentation.
Root beer extracts, usually in an amount suitable for five gallons of beverage, are available from Hires, Schilling, and other herb and spice purveyors. These yield a drink that's very close in flavor to commercial root beers. Making your own infusions, however, allows for experimentation and a distinctive 'house' brew. This one is less sweet than most.
Funnel into sterilized bottles (old beer or soft drink bottles will do), and cap tightly. Metal caps, caps applied with a crimping tool, or wire-hinged caps are best. If you cork your bottles, tie or wire the corks down firmly and store bottles on their side to encourage sealing. Use only sturdy, returnable-type beer bottles or champagne bottles, those with twist-top caps are not strong enough. If a sediment develops on the bottoms of your bottles, carefully pour the liquid from each bottle into a large pitcher before serving, leaving the sediment in the bottle. Note that bottles have exploded dramatically under the hot lights of the photography studio. Store your soft drinks in a cool place for no longer than six months.
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) has been banned by the FDA as a flavoring in root beer because its oil contains about 80 percent safrole, a carcinogen (if used regularly, in large quantities, over a long period) and liver toxin. However, safrole is also a component of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), black pepper (Piper nigrum), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), star anise (Illicium verum), and California bay (Umbellularia californica). Sassafras root is available and has been included in this recipe for root beer; if you plan to drink this beverage regularly, a 'safrole-free' sassafras is available.
The alcoholic content of a carbonated drink is determined by the amount of time the yeast is allowed to react with the sugar. If the reaction is allowed to run its course, the yeast will consume virtually all of the sugar; about half of the sugar will be converted to alcohol and half to carbon dioxide. If the process is terminated early (by bottling), only a small amount of fermentation will have occurred (enough to carbonate the liquid), and the result will be an essentially nonalcoholic drink.
Sources: (roots and hops for root beer) Frontier Cooperative Herbs PO Box 118 Norway Iowa 52318 Other mail-order sources that offer all the ingredients include: Rosemary House 120 S. Market St. Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 Tenzing Momo 93 Pike Seattle, WA 98101 Further reading: Hobson, Phyllis. Making Your Own Wine, Beer, and Soft Drinks. Charlotte, Vermont: Garden Way Publishing. Firth, Grace. Stillroom Cookery (1977) and Secrets of the Still (1983). McLean, Virginia: EPM Publications, Inc. Source (article): The Herb Companion, Aug/Sept 1990.
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