Umami Mart

READ ALL 6 PARTS OF THE TAP THIS HOME BREWING GUIDE HERE In the last post we went through the entire boil, pitched the yeast and moved our wart to the primary fermentation vessel. Within a day or so you should begin to notice the beginning of the fermentation process. As the yeast converts sugars into […]

Drove down to Palm Springs last weekend for Sashe‘s fabulous wedding weekend. It was to be a fun-filled weekend of old friends, celebrating love, excellent food, tanning by the pool, and dancin, Dancin, DANCIN! The bad news?? Getting there. The only thing standing in the way between me and my Palm Springs tan was the […]

READ ALL 6 PARTS OF THE TAP THIS HOME BREWING GUIDE HERE Now that you have gathered all of the equipment and ingredients needed, as described in the first post, you are ready to make your beer. You should plan on starting on a day that you have at least 3-4 hours of free time. You […]

READ ALL 6 PARTS OF THE TAP THIS HOME BREWING GUIDE HERE Hello all, sorry its been a while since my last Tap This post. There will be plenty coming for the next few weeks as I am going to walk you through the process of home brewing. Since this is a pretty involved process, I […]

During a picnic this past Sunday, a friend of mine asked me to recommend “the best cocktail I probably haven’t heard of.” Not being able to give it too much thought (as I was operating under the duress of trying to resuscitate the charcoals on the grill), I hastily recommended a Corpse Reviver or Corpse […]

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which said friend mentioned to me that he’s not a big fan of “fancy cocktails,” but instead preferred the simplicity of two ingredient drinks, with his go-to choice being the grapefruit and vodka tag-team known as the Greyhound. Implicit in his tone was the notion that […]

Consider it a testament to Kayoko’s power of persuasion that I’m doing a Fridgin’ Out post. You wouldn’t otherwise know this, but for some time now I’ve been averse to the idea. The notion that strangers would open their refrigerators so other strangers can peer into them for no purpose beyond plain curiosity is a […]

You can tell from the cocktails featured over the past few weeks that I have had it with the nippy weather, mixing and imbibing as if summer were already in full swing–even if Mother Nature is still having trouble letting go. It’s my way of willing the warm weather into existence. I figure if I […]

Sketch of a Medieval Brewery. Ales were the beverage of choice in Medieval times for most people, including children. Dirty river water was unpleasant to drink and milk went rancid easily. They even drank it for breakfast! Ales are brewed using top fermenting yeast, which ferments the beer quickly producing a sweet, fruity taste. In […]

After another late Tuesday night filled with drunken cocktail tinkering for today’s Happy Hour column, I’m back with the 2nd installment of the two-part primer on simple syrups. In case you missed last week, you can check out Part I here. Last week I showed you how to infuse simple syrups with fresh herbs and […]