#devin wrote something

Dark Horse's The Great British Bump Off is a really fun idea, very tongue in cheek, and thankfully literally came out today! (April 12, 2023) I highly recommend it, and I'm very excited to read the next issues over the next few months.

Malt liquor is not beer! Not technically anyway. The flavors can be very similar, but the main differences are the reduced or completely omitted presence of hops, and the higher sugar content compared to beer. They also tend to have higher ABV, though this isn't really the case with Mickey's.

I found the Silver City Brewery's DeLuxe Craft at a big wine and beer shop last week, and it got me thinking about Mickey's. So I found the latter, returned for the former, and did a side-by-side! I had fun with my last written tasting, so why not go again with another slightly obscure beverage...

The Mickey's (Milwaukee, WI) is classic stuff, my grandpa used to drink these when I was very young. That stubby, wide-mouthed green bottle is iconic alongside that wasp mascot. On the nose is quite similar to a typical lager, bready, yeasty, not a strong hop presence. Flavor-wise, it again reads as a lager, but with a slightly syrupy texture. This is one of the only beers I've ever seen that lists corn syrup (specifically NOT high fructose) as an ingredient, as well as a standard nutrition facts label. Anyway, malt forward with a smooth corn roundness on the tongue. Hoppy bitterness only comes in toward the end, has subtle fruity notes, and is quite weak. I assume this is because it uses hop extract rather than the real thing. No real complaints about this, it's nostalgic for me personally, and the sweetness makes it easy to pound. The pictogram on the underside of each cap is fun too, just like classic glass bottle SoBe bottles!

Silver City Brewery's (Bremerton, WA) DeLuxe Craft brings a slightly more refined presentation as well as flavor. Refined in terms of can design, meaning it fits well with the rest of their lineup while standing out with that classic turquoise hot rod color and script lettering. To be honest, Mickey's still wins in this category for me. On the nose, DeLuxe is fruitier than Mickey's, which comparatively has a heady, chronic scent. I could take either, both smells appeal to me. As I drink DeLuxe, I notice it's a fair bit more aggressively carbonated than Mickey's. DeLuxe also brings a longer lasting malt flavor and less corn syrupy-ness. The flaked corn mentioned on the bottom of the box tastes more real, and balanced against the barley. There may be some corn syrup in it though, because it is still softer and smoother than a regular lager. The hop extract (or however they hopped this) leaves the mouth with more fruity aromas than Mickey's, and dryer overall in terms of sweetness. But only JUST so. The higher alcohol content (5.6% vs 7%) opens up these flavors that much more.

Described as tasting like "the devil's taint sweat", "a condom filled with gasoline", and "pencil shavings and heartbreak", Jeppson's Malört is famously maligned and beloved. By outsiders and Chicagoans, respectively.

I've been curious about this stuff for a long time, but with no plans to go to Chicago anytime soon, it wasn't looking likely to get a taste. It might be changing in more recent years, but I'm pretty sure it's still difficult to find this stuff outside of the windy city. The inland northwest wasn't a place I expected to find Malört, so I accepted the slightly high price for the bottle I snagged.

Malört is the Swedish word for wormwood, the liqueur's main ingredient. When Carl Jeppson emigrated from Sweden he began brewing and selling his favorite bäsk liqueur recipe door to door as a medicine (like just about every other type of alcohol back then lol). Since then, it's become a rite of passage for anyone calling Chicago home to sample one, two, three shots of the bitter stuff.

I kinda want to break down my thoughts about Malört, having heard a decent amount about it from the YouTube channel How to Drink, and now tasting it myself. I've never really done this kind of thing so let's see how much I embarrass myself lol

The nose is straight up gasoline. Not as intense as the real stuff, more like gasoline one room over. It would be extremely off-putting to someone not expecting this, and I imagine watching people's faces crumple in disgust is half the fun.

The first taste is surprisingly sweet. Malört clocks in at 35% ABV, 70 proof. Despite only being just short of a full proof spirit, it doesn't taste as such. Most liqueurs range from 15-25% ABV (11% in the case of Aperol!). That sugar really blunts the impact of the ethanol.

The evolution of flavors is quick, a mouth-filling burst of grapefruit pith without the citrussy oils from the rind. It is violently bitter, especially if you're not used to drinking things like black coffee or grapefruit juice. The ethanol comes through shortly after, but is still blunted by the sugar. Beyond that, it's kinda like chewing on Nintendo Switch cartridges.

The aftertaste lasts. And lasts. And lasts. Not washing the flavor out of my mouth with something else, Malört stays on my tongue for a half an hour easily. Unfortunately, the one complaint I have with this is that there's very little else going on in terms of flavor. It tastes like wormwood from start to long, withering finish.

So, do I think Malört deserves the title of worst liqueur ever? Nah, not at all. I actually quite like it. But I'm someone who actually likes grapefruit, black coffee, and negronis. I find bitter to be a very interesting flavor that doesn't get enough of the limelight. It's why I prefer Coke over Pepsi. I DO think that Malört will be horribly vile to MOST people, and non-adventurous eaters/drinkers QUAKE AND PRAY TO THEIR VARIOUS GODS at the thought of such a bitter drink. I'm personally on the side of the Chicagoans.

If someone makes a post posing a question regarding a piece of media, like a small bit of trivia, all the top comments aren't an answer to that question. It's references. r/TheSimpsons is especially bad about it, and I know that there are tons of references to be made about the show, but I'm also curious about the question asked! I have to scroll down multiple threads of people yammering on in references (which I do understand, don't get me wrong) just to find a serious discussion about the question!

So I visited my mom today and she's got this bottle sitting on her storage shelf in the basement

Oh cool! 125 years of yummy hot sauce, and there's an offer for art prints on the back!

Neat, there are some cool art styles represented here

I take it home and open the box, pull the bottle out...

It shouldn't look like that

If you don't know, Tabasco is supposed to be bright red, like the box shows, not BBQ sauce brown

As I'm holding this bottle, the gears start turning. "how long has Tabasco sauce been around again?" I turn the bottle over and finally see the answer, inexplicably left off the box

156 years

(scheduled post 6 months in advance lol)

But I'm glad I was lured in. The battle system is engaging and just complex enough that I wouldn't be turned away by it. The fights are never overly grindy (unless you're going for completion, of course). The aesthetic is perfectly utilized, and will only be enhanced by the power of the Switch to be even more fitting of the paper craft world. The story has the stakes, comedy, and character development that the first game set a standard for, but pushed to a perfect level as a sequel. It's such a well made experience from start to end that it's no wonder they chose to remake this one before the original.

I played Overwatch from launch day, May 24th 2016, and because I'm a shotgun boy, I immediately gravitated toward Roadhog and his scrapgun. Using his chain hook back then was insanely satisfying, picking off squishies with a hook and blast of scrap to the face. As you would expect, this got nerfed (let's not forget that McCree was worse, able to take down pretty much every tank with his "fan the hammer" alt fire and roll away like an asshole, while also being able to snipe as well as Widowmaker with no scope and no damage drop-off). It was taken down to needing to hook, aim for the center of the enemy, blast, then a quick melee punch to take out a squishy. Ok, that's fine, no real problem, just more risky to hook a real damage dealer like McCree or Bastion. Seems fair to me. But he got nerfed further, the scrapgun did less damage, and you couldn't even take out a Tracer with this maneuver.

Idk man if a shotgun can't be effectively used for some close range carnage then what's the point. Roadhog was a pretty effective damage sponge, with his self-healing gas tanks. But if his offensive abilities kept getting shit canned, what's the point of even having him there? I know you gotta stick with your team, but I rarely ever played with anyone that cooperated with an offensive tank like Roadhog.