Category: Uncategorized

  • A Failed Attempt at a Quick-Remove Method for Ice Blocks

    For over ten years now I've been making clear ice in an Igloo cooler in my freezer, a method I first developed in 2009.

    You fill a hard-sided cooler with water, stick in the freezer with the top off, and the ice freezes perfectly clear from the top-down, leaving only the bottom part cloudy if you leave it in that long. 

    When you dump out the ice block, it can take just a few minutes to over 45 minutes for the block to slide out; this often depends on if you let it freeze all the way or not.

    Lately one of the take-out restaurants I've been buying from has been using these thick plastic bags that are almost exactly the size of the ice block. 

    My experiment was: Can I fill up a plastic bag inside the cooler with water, so that after freezing I can just pull out the ice block quickly? 

    I gave it a shot, and the answer is No. Even though the bag is nearly the exact dimensions of the cooler size, it still wrinkles just a little bit. In any wrinkle water freezes and sticks in the solid ice block. It wasn't super easy to pull the bag of solid ice out of the cooler in the first place, but more importantly I had to melt the section of the block where the plastic bag was embedded before I could separate it from the block, making a wet mess. 

    In order for this to work, I would have to have a plastic bag with exactly square sides to fit into the cooler. The industrial Clinebell ice machines sell these bags for their systems, but those are 300 pound blocks rather than 20ish. 

    Alas! You can see on the bottom image below where the bag was pinched in with the ice block. 

     

    I1
    I1
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  • How to Drink Baijiu

    This is yet another post about baijiu. Today we'll cover how to drink it. 

    For those following along, my previous posts on baijiu from my trip to the Luzhou Laojiao distillery, which makes the 1573 National Cellar and Ming River brands, are: 

    The Ming River baijiu brand, which was developed for the export market (US and Germany currently, I believe) was created by an American baijiu writer/author, plus three founders of a bar in Beijing called Capital Spirits.

    Capital Spirits was the world's first bar dedicated to baijiu. This wouldn't seem to make sense, given that almost 13 billion liters of baijiu are purchased every year, more than vodka and whisky combined. But in China, people don't go to bars to drink baijiu; they go to restaurants. If I remember what I learned on my trip correctly, it's rare to find baijiu by the glass, even in a hotel bar. You buy a bottle and you and your guests finish the whole thing. Baijiu cocktails in China? So not a thing, except at Capital Spirits. 

    The bar is located on a nearly-unlit back street in Beijing, with no clear signage (perhaps none at all). If you plan to go, do your research. It's a little bar with a big selection of baijiu and other spirits. They offer baijiu tasting flights as well as baijiu cocktails. We tried… kind of a lot of them and they do a great job. 

    I passed on the snake wine. 

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    Drinking Baijiu With Food

    In China, people drink baijiu with dinner, sitting family style around a lazy susan table that rotates. It's consumed in tiny shots at room temperature, often in a toast to another person or the whole table. The DrinkBaijiu.com site has a guide to the common practices and traditions for drinking baijiu this way. 

    Most countries don't have a tradition of drinking spirits with food, just as aperitifs and digestifs, so this is definitely something new for most people. But it was so much fun. 

    Here are some food pictures from a couple of my meals. As a vegetarian I don't eat about 90% of this stuff, but just looking at these photos makes me very, very thirsty. 

    IMG_3038IMG_3038
    IMG_3038Spicy!

    IMG_3038Yes of course that's a dish served on a shovel. 

     

    I was visiting the distillery in the Sichuan province, so naturally we were eating Sichuan food the whole time. It was often, but not always, quite spicy. Baijiu, with its often creamy, cheesy finish is an excellent pairing with spicy food. 

    For the many of us who've tried baijiu on its own, it can seem explosively huge in flavor, but if you've just had a mouthful of some rich and spicy Chinese food it makes so much more sense.

    I think I'm going to explore trying baijiu with other spicy foods to see how it pairs. Flaming Hot Cheetos, here I come. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Repetitive and Continuous Fermentation and Distillation in Baijiu

    Okay, so far in baijiu we've talked about: 

    As mentioned in the qu and fermentation post, one unique aspect of baijiu is that it uses qu to saccharify and ferment grains at the same time. Another is that they distilling solids in a still that works like a bamboo steamer, rather than liquids.

    (One thing I'll mention in case I forget later: Most baijiu is distilled just one time in a pot still, yet it reaches 70% ABV. This is achieved because the grain solids in the still act like tiny rectification plates as the alcohol passes through the solid mass!)

    Now we're going to talk another unique aspect of baijiu: repeat cycles of fermentation and distillation. 

     

      Region of Origin Grains Fermentation Qu Distillation Aging
    Strong Aroma Sichuan Single (sorghum) or Mixed Grains Earthen pits, continuous fermentation Big qu, Wheat-based Pot stills Ceramic or sometimes stainless steel
    Light Aroma Northern China + Taiwan Sorghum + rice husks Stone jars Big qu, barley + peas Post stills, Erguotou second pot head, or Fenjiu (twice fermented/distilled)  
    Sauce Aroma Southern Sichuan/Moutai Sorghum Stone brick-lined pits, 8 cycles of fermentation and distillation, also piled Wheat 8 cycles of fermentation and distillation  Ceramic urns, 3 years minimum
    Rice Aroma Southeastern China Rice + glutinous rice Stone jars Small rice qu, with optional medicinal herbs Sometimes in continuous stills Limestone caves, in ceramic jars, sometimes infused

     

    The grains to be fermented are first steamed to gelatinize them – to break the cell walls so that they're ready for saccharification (breaking down complex carbs into smaller fermentable sugars) and fermentation by qu. What tool do baijiu distilleries have to use as a steamer? The same steamer-style stills they use for distillation. 

    Okay this is tough to wrap your head around, but here goes: 

    If everything were operating in a clear linear path it would look like this:

    New grains steamed in pot still –> Grains fermented in pits/jars –> Fermented grains distilled in pot still

    But that would be far too simple for baijiu!  What they do, for certain styles of baijiu, is throw some of the new, unfermented grains into the still with the previous distillation run. This way, alcohol is being distilled out at the same time as some new, unfermented grains are being gelatinized. Our distillation is accomplishing two separate tasks on fermented vs unfermented grains.

    So after distillation you have your alcohol that you distilled off, with leftover solids in the still that are a combination of grains that had already been fermented/distilled and some that have not yet been fermented. What do you do with those solids? Add more qu and ferment the whole thing again. 

    New unfermented grains steamed in pot still along with fermented grains to be distilled –> Both previously distilled grains and previously-unfermented grains fermented in pits/jars –> Repeat distillation, adding more new unfermented grains to the fermented grains

     

    This cycle could go on forever, and that's just what happens in the category of strong aroma baijiu. Keep reading.

     

    IMG_2747In this picture I took at the Luzhou Laojiao distillery, we can see sealed fermentation pits with the wet mud on top of them, and piles of what appear to be new grains, previously distilled grains, and previously distilled grains with qu sprinkled on top. The round bamboo steamer-looking thing is the pot still. 

     

     

    Let's go through the four main styles of baijiu to see how each style approaches this differently (this information is my interpretation of what I've learned from Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits by Derek Sandhaus):

    Rice Aroma Baijiu: Rice is steamed, fermented, and distilled in either pot or now in continuous stills. This is closest to other spirits without the repeat fermentation described above.

     

    Light Aroma Baijiu: There are two types of light aroma baijiu. In the simplest, erguotou, the sorghum grains are steamed, fermented, and distilled just once. For fenjiu, new rice husks are added to the pot still along with fermented sorghum grains. After the first distillation the fermented/distilled grains and new rice husks are fermented again (fresh qu is added) to extract more alcohol from the mash.  Each of the distillation runs are stored (and probably aged) separately.

    (note: I don't think rice husks themselves actually ferment or add anything much to the distillation except for volume. Rice husks are used in various parts of baijiu production as filler, sealer, to demarcate layers in fermentation, etc.)

     

    Sauce Aroma Baijiu: We're talking about Moutai here. For sauce aroma baijiu there are 8 cycles of fermentation and distillation, but only a few of the cycles get new grains added.

    Sorghum is first steamed,  then fermented in mud-sealed pits for a month. After fermentation, equal parts fermented sorghum and new unfermented sorghum are distilled, and then the solids are refermented. This is then distilled a second time with fresh grains added to the still. From this point on the mash continues to be refermented after distillation with additional qu, but no new grains are added. The same mash is being fermented and distilled over and over. (The Australian website for Moutai describes the process as, "9 distillation sessions, 8 filtration sessions, 7 fermentation sessions and numerous maturation and blending traditions" so I'm not exactly sure how the math works.)

     The whole production cycle takes one year to complete- and then the spirit is aged (each distillation run separately) and blended. Compare that to say vodka, which ferments a couple days then can be distilled and bottled and the whole thing done within a week. 

    Strong Aroma Baijiu: In strong aroma baijiu, there is no production cycle that ends at a certain point, as in the other baijiu categories mentioned above – it is endless. At each distillation, new grains (sorghum alone or a mixture of other grains) is added to the still along with fermented grains. After distillation, the grains are taken out of the still, put back into the fermentation pits with more qu (I believe that they always go back into the same pit they came out of), and refermented. Then it's redistilled with some fresh grains, refermented, and on and on.

    In fact, the goal is to have the fermentation pits that have been in continuous use the longest. As the qu contains bacteria along with the yeast and mold, the pit linings and the mud covering the pit builds up these microorganisms, supposedly leading to a fuller, deeper, more complex flavor in the resulting alcohol after aging. (Rum nerds will see the connection to muck pits here.) "Old pits" are a minimum of 30 years in continuous use.

    Luzhou Laojiao, the distillery I visited, has a total of 1619 fermentation pits that have been in continuous operation for more than 100 years

    Four of those pits have been in continuous operation since 1573, as in 446 years

    Kind of a big deal. 

    IMG_2756The still is in the foreground with the top off. In the back center we can see four small squarish mud-covered pits. Those are the ones in use since 1573. 

     

     

  • Ice Advice: Will My Clear Ice Turn Cloudy When Stored in the Freezer?

    One question I've seen asked here on Alcademics and on other websites is whether clear ice will turn cloudy when stored. The answer is no, it will not.

    Ice is cloudy because of trapped air and impurities like minerals, along with any cracks that make it hard to see through. Once it's made, it pretty much stays as it is. It may absorb smells and sublimate/shrink if not kept in a closed container in the freezer, but that won't impact clarity.

    If your ice starts out clear (from a machine or by using a form of directional freezing) it will remain so. 

    If you have a partially frozen ice cube that looks incredibly clear however, it will likely become cloudy when the center finally freezes. This is because the last part of ice to freeze is usually where trapped air and impurities are pushed. 

    Clear Ice Block from Alcademics.com

     

    To read all the ice posts here on Alcademics, check out the Index of Ice Experiments.  

     

  • Freezing Mini Bottles Inside Collins Ice Cube Spears

    Party Trick! Using an insulated cooler and some gift boxes, you can make super clear tall collins glass ice spears with mini bottles frozen inside them.  

    If you're new to Directional Freezing, check out the Index of Ice Experiments where it is explained. 

    Disaronno minis in ice (26)

    I bought plastic gift boxes from The Container Store to make tall ice spears a while back. Check out that post here. Note that for commercial purposes, these gift boxes aren't certified food safe, so I wouldn't go trying to scale up a bar program with them. (They're also hard plastic and crack easily.)

    More recently, I decided to freeze some Disaronno minis inside of them for an event. They came out adorably awesome.

    Simply fill the cooler with gift boxes and the gift boxes with minis. Fill the cooler (both inside the gift boxes and outside around it) with water. Let it freeze into a block. 

    Disaronno minis in ice (9)
    Disaronno minis in ice (9)
    Disaronno minis in ice (9)

     

    Then with a great deal of patience, separate out each of the boxes and turn them over so that the cubes slide out. Fun times. 

    Disaronno minis in ice (8)
    Disaronno minis in ice (8)
    Disaronno minis in ice (8)
    Disaronno minis in ice (8)

     

    Maybe I should have actually put one inside a collins glass so you could see how it looks. 

    Check out all the ice experiments on Alcademics at this link.

     

  • Hey I wrote a Gin & Tonic Book

    And all the information about it is on this page right here

    No recipes, no tasting notes. Just a little history of the bitter highball from 1630 to today.

     

    Tonic water aka gandt wtf by camper english cover

  • Tonic Water AKA G&T WTF by Camper English

    Note: This book is sold out! Some of the material is included in my book Doctors and Distillers, due out in July 2022! 

    In the meantime, two books on tonic that I love are Just the Tonic [amazon][bookshop] and Something & Tonic [amazon][bookshop]

     

     

    Tonic Water History BookThe extraordinary and hilarious history of one of the world’s most popular cocktails!  

    Tonic Water: AKA G&T WTF by Camper English.

    This is a deeply researched but lighthearted look at the history of the Gin and Tonic from 1630 to today, including:

    • How a misunderstanding of disease led to the discovery of quinine. 
    • The history of carbonated water and where pig bladders come in.
    • How in Little House on the Prairie, “Ma” thinks you get malaria from eating watermelons.
    • How quinine was responsible for the invention of the color mauve.
    • Why the military threw cats out of airplanes on Borneo.
    • How Ginger Rogers’ great-great-great grandfather made his fortune.
    • Perhaps the earliest print reference to the Gin & Tonic in India.
    • How the Spanish Gin & Tonic renaissance is due to ice machines.
    • Where Dr. Seuss fits in with the history of the drink. 

     

     

    Sample Page of Tonic Water Book

    The book contains 35 hand-drawn illustrations from one of the great artists of our time. Just kidding!  I drew them all so they’re pretty terrible. Click on that page to pull up an illustration of a cat with a parachute. 

    Tonic Water AKA G&T WTF is a short version of an ultra-epic book of the same history I hope to publish a couple years from now. Support your local tonic water historian!

     

     


    Purchasing Info
     

    Gin and Tonic Book by Camper English

    Digital Version:

    The book is available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle. It should be available for sale on all international Amazon sites as well. It costs $4.99 US and the equivalent in international currency. 

    Get it on Amazon USA here, or on these international Amazon sites:  

    UK  Germany  Spain  Netherlands  Japan  Brazil 

    Canada  Mexico  Australia  India 

     

     

     

  • Thank you for your order!

    Thank you for your order. 

  • Watch Me Say Things About Japanese Bartending in this Awesome Short Film

    Alan Kropf and Matthew Noel made a short film about Japanese bartending in which they interviewed knowledgeable US bartenders, filmed working Japanese bartenders, and also had me say a few things. I sound smart, so you know the editing was great 🙂

    But seriously they did a great job on the 17-minute featurette and I think it summarizes the uniqueness of the Japanese bartending style, technique, service, and of course, ice-handling. 

    Camper english in japanese bartending film

    Check it out here: