Category: *.BAK

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Auchentoshan Three Wood

I’d like to say that I didn’t like this whiskey, and the only reason I tried it is that it comes in 5cl bottles. And that would be partially true. I didn’t like the taste, a bit smoky, a bit tarty, a bit sweet, it is almost as if you chew on biltong. Later I read that it is bourbon, PX Sherry and Oloroso sherry. But I wouldn’t associate it with sherry much, I would lean more into some wine casks, even.
But I must admit, it is complex. And it does numb the mouth, and gives a bit of warmth, and a suprising amount of lightheadiness for a 43%. And all that for 45GBP. Not something I would buy, but not because it’s not interesting, but because it isn’t my style.

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*.BAK

Rivington American Barleywine

Beautiful bottle, with a was seal. Tastes like triple IPA, but without the gas. Nice, as I like when a beer doesn’t taste like a beer anymore, but the aftertaste is bitter, and I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

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*.BAK

Edradour 12 Year Old Cask Strength

This whiskey literally made me laught out loud, as it doesn’t even taste like a whiskey anymore. It’s like they got the oloroso sherry casks, and decided to squeeze every bit out of them. It’s like drinking madeira, if madeira came at almost 60%. Probably sweetest whiskey I ever had. It’s delicious. Numbs the tongue, warms the mouth. Buying a bottle before trying is always a risk, but this time, I was spot-on.

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*.BAK

GlenAllachie 12 Years Old

Another one of 50ml tasters I bought separately, Glenallachie 12. It’s a surprising one. Very smooth for a 12 years old Speyside. Sweet, but more into apple crumble sweet. A bit of numbness on the tongue, no warmth in the throat, but nice warmth in the belly.
For 55GBP, it’s a great find.

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*.BAK

Painting Skaven

I bought myself an Artis Opus S 00 brush. Surprisingly, it’s better than Rafael. Surprisingly, because it cost the same, more or less, and I thought that Rafael are more “professional”. But it holds the tip slightly better out of the box.
Now I’m experimenting with contrast paints. It’s like painting with acrylic versus watercolors (not that I painted with any in the past 30 years). One one hand, it’s kind of amazing how the model “paints itself”. As the contrast paint dries, it sets into recesses creating natuaral shading. But if you skrew up, it’s harder to fix. You can’t just put another color on top of it anymore.
I think I’ll end up mixing both techniques. As even now I paint metal parts still with metalic paints.

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*.BAK

Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old

I thought I had Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old, but turns out, it was their Toiteach A Dha, which is peated. While regular Bunnahabhain 12 is just down my lane. It’s very sweet, Aberlour levels if not more, and leaves a nice numbness on the tongue, although no warmth.


This is all thanks to the fact that they release it in 50ml bottles. After great success with Tamdhu tasters and now this, I wish more distilleries would do the same.

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*.BAK

Microhistory Sharp Concepts beer

Another beer I brought from Zurich, this one brewed in Latvia, not a country you associate with beer usually, but then some of the best beers I had were from Norway.
It’s a “German dobblebock”, but at 15%, it’s more of a “qudruperbock” (term that I just invented). Deep amber and opaque, it reminds of classic Gulden Draak. But I’m not sure that extra 5% alcohol adds anything in terms of taste.

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*.BAK

AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap

After the trip to Texas, where AeroPress proved very useful, I decided that I want to try using a metal filter instead of disposable paper filters, despite the fact that those were widely available. Metal filter works, but the coffee drips even worse than with the paper filters. So the next step was to replace the default filter cap with a pressurized one.
Coffee machines use pressurized baskets to mitigate effect from coffee that was ground long time ago. Here, the idea is that a rubber gasket in the centre prevents coffee from dripping, until you start pressing it.
I’m yet to see the promised crema even with freshly ground coffee, byt at least I don’t end up with hands soaked in hot coffee, which is still a good thing.

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*.BAK

Schorschbrau Schorschbock beer

I never thought I’d write it about a German beer, but this is a mindblowing beer. It doesn’t look like a beer, and doesn’t taste like a beer, though. Completely opaque, like a coffee with a bit of milk in it, and with a heavy sediment. I rarely “taste” anything in beere, unless it’s something like a literal chocolate stout, but here, I can taste chocolate, coffee, and raisins. It’s closer to Madeira at that point than to a beer.
Also the bottle is something else, with the swing-top cap and wax. Theoretically, it could mean you could trink this beer in two seatings, and at 16% it even makes some sense.

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*.BAK

Painting Skaven

I did buy Kolinsky Sable brush from Winsor & Newton, Series 7 size 000. It turned out to be a disappointment. No different from synthetic brushes, and it cost ten times more. Some say they have quality issues, others say there are counterfeits sold on Amazon:

Brand new Windsor & Newton series 7, anything to do to fix it?
byu/beardmire inminipainting


Then I got Raphael 8404 size 0. This is what I was promised from Kolinsky Sable brushes. It didn’t make me an amazing painter, but now I’m able to paint warts on my rats.
Seven rats done, 13 rats to go.

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*.BAK

Tamdhu 18 Years Old

Final of the three Tamdhu tasters, and obviously most expensive, at 138GBP per bottle.
It’s very smooth, sweet, adds alot of numbness in the mouth, but no warmth in the throat. Warmth in the belly comes long after.
Is it worth extra 40GBP on top of Tamdhu 15? I’d say it depends. If you already have Tamdhu 15, probably not. But if it’s the only Tamdhu you plan to get for a while, then I’d say yes, although it is a stretch for sure.

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*.BAK

Painting Skaven

I thought that what I’m missing is a better brush. Turns out, what I was missing is a better magnifying glass.
There are magnifying glasses for 10-15GBP, with names like NZQXJXZ. I went for a 30GBP magnifying glass instead. It worked, but I didn’t like the shadows.
Now I got myself a magnifying glass from Brightech. Twice as expensive, 70GBP, but what a difference it makes. There are no reflections, and no shadows whatsoever. I immediatelly noticed mistakes I made with the previous glass just a couple of days ago, and fixed them using exactly the same brushes.

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*.BAK

Painting Skaven

Both the handbook and the official video paint Skaven half-assedly. I of course do no have the talent to paint them to the level of someone who did that for 10-20 years. But those are rats, rats should have pink tails, and both of the official guides don’t care to paint them any differently at all.
Stormcasts are pain to paint mainly because of their shields and pauldrons. Skaven require a lot of colors.
There’s metal.
There’s wood.
There’s leather.
There are their teeth and nails.
There’s the tail and tongue.
They also have two layers of fabric instead of just one.
And I also decided not to paint fur. In the official art, they are mostly fur-less, with exposed skin and just some patches of fur. But I wanted the pinkish tail to be the contrast, so my skaven have short white fur, I guess.

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*.BAK

Dragon’s Milk Tales of Gold

Now I’ve tried the Black, the Red and the Gold Dragon Milk beers. All three are fantastic. The only reason I wouldn’t buy the Golden Ale is there are plenty of belgian beers available at this level: Gulden Drak is what they were aiming for, I think.

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*.BAK

Tamdhu 15 Years Old

I already wrote about Tamdhu 12, as I got it from Advent Calendar last year, and I think it was great for its price. Now I got myself a taster of Tamdhu 12, 15 and 18. I still stand that Tamdhu 12 is great. But Tamdhu 15 is even better. Which is not always the case, mind you.
It is sweet, smooth, and leaves nice warmth not only in the throat, but also in the belly. With some liteheadiness on top.

Is it worth twice the price of Tamdhu 12? For the moment I think yes.

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*.BAK

Painting Warhammer

I have been fascinated by Warhammer since I discovered it as a teenager. But before I moved to Europe, it was never an option. Nowadays, though, it has become much more available and accessible. I think they even sold introductory sets in newspaper kiosks at one point. So I finally decided to give it a try.
What I wanted to paint were T’au from Warhammer 40K, but I decided to practice on a starter set first. Since I didn’t want to paint Space Marines vs. Tyranids, I went with Age of Sigmar’s Stormcast vs. Skaven.
What can I say… the miniatures are small. I’m glad I had my laser surgery last year, and I’m not even joking.

I haven’t held a paintbrush since I was 9, so that’s another challenge. And the paintbrush that comes with them is indeed shitty. So I ended up buying a set of artistic brushes as well. Not sable, as a single sable brush costs an entire set.

I’m glad I bought a painting handle. Very useful for finishing touches. And I’m sorry that I laughted at the water pot initially. Now I can’t find it anywhere.

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*.BAK

Eureka Mignon Libra 65

The release of Eureka Mignon Libra 65 is a very interesting decision, and not because of the 65mm burrs.

The original Eureka Mignon Libra with 55mm burrs was one of two options for grind-by-weight at home (price range less than 1000GBP). It did a lot of things right: it’s very accurate, and compact.

But it’s ergonomics are terrible. Shitty bean hopper. Dial that doesn’t track the global position of the burrs. The nozzle is to far away, so the grounds fly all over. And there’s no tray to collect them.

As Eureka Mignon in general are quite popular grinders, though, enthusiast 3D-printed solutions for most of those problems. I bought a premium glass hopper from one of Eureka resellers, there’s a dial kit and a nozzle, and also a tray, which I have.

What Eureka did, it seems, is integrated most of those solutions into their new model. Now there’s a better hopper, better dial and a nozzle. They’re only missing the tray now.

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*.BAK

Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout

Since I was already ordering some US imperial stouts from Dragon Milk, I decided to give another American Imperial Stout a try.
This one is good, but not that good, with a bitter aftertaste. Not terrible by any means, but I can find better Imperials closer to home.

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*.BAK

Dragon’s Milk Crimson Keep

I think American food and beer has a lot of bad rep. But once they set on something, they make it the best in the world.
I was very impressed by Dragon’s Milk Stout. But I must say that their Red Ale might be even better. Same richness, and more fruitiness. Looking forward to try the Golden Ale now.

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*.BAK

Eden Mill Art of St Andrews

24th and last bottle of my 2024 calendar. Took me exactly a year to finish it.
This one is interesting, as I completely missed the mark. It’s nice, a bit sweet, a bit smoky, not too warm. I placed it in 50GBP cathegory.
Turns out, this is the most expensive taster I think in the entire calendar: 114GBP at minimum, up to 150GBP:
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/eden-mill/eden-mill-single-malt-scotch-whisky-2022-release-art-of-st-andrews-collection-whisky/

All I can say, this isn’t the first 150GBP+ bottle that didn’t impress me.