So, here are my favourite albums of 2009 – as of now.  It is in vague order of appreciation, although don’t pay too much attention to the order as they are all fantastic.

1. Blut aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
2. Nautic Depths – Siberian winter
3. Mathias Grassow & Tomas Weiss – Quiet Calling II
4. Arktau Eos – Ai Ma Ra
5. Mathias Grassow – Transpersonal
6. Steve Roach – Afterlight
7. Troum – Eald-Ge-Stréon / Abhijňâ
8. The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation – Succubus
9. Wardruna – Runaljod – gap var Ginnunga
10. Isis – Wavering Radiant
11. Fall of Efrafa – Inlé
12. Steve Roach – Immersion: Four
13. Kylesa – Static Tensions
14. Raison d’être – The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice
15. The Ruins of Beverast – Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
16. Zu – Carboniferous
17. Yhdarl – Drone Nightmares, Part II: Buried Burnt Earth
18. Devin Townsend – Addicted
19. dredg – The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
20. Tombs – Winter Hours
21. Cobalt – Gin
22. Urfaust – Einsiedler
23. Steve Roach – Dynamic Stillness
24. Skagos – Ást
25. Sun of the Blind – Skullreader

I tried a lot of fantastic beers in 2009, so here are my favourite bottled beers that were new to me:

1. Thornbridge St Petersburg Highland Whisky Reserve
2. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
3. Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon First Edition
4. Thornbridge St Petersburg Speyside Whisky Reserve
5. Thornbridge Alliance PX Reserve
6. Thornbridge Alliance Madeira Reserve
7. Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
8. Rochefort Trappistes 8
9. Ayinger Weizen-Bock
10. Struisse Pannepot
11. Spire Xtinguisher
12. Moor Old Freddy Walker
13. Thornbridge St Petersburg Imperial Russian Stout Islay Whisky Reserve
14. Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
15. Anchor Old Foghorn Ale

…ditto for Cask Beers:

1. Thornbridge Handel
2. Marble Ginger
3. Brewdog Paradox Isle of Arran
4. Crown Ring Of Fire
5. Spire The Wall
6. Thornbridge Cherry St. Petersburg
7. Crown Wood Street Porter
8. Thornbridge Alliance
9. Fugelestou Sledgehammer Stout
10. Thornbridge Halcyon

…and again for Ciders:

1. Dunkertons Black Fox Organic
2. Sheppys Dabinett
3. Newton Court Medium Dry

I was tempted to carry on with a list of spirits and one of honeys…but I think that’s quite enough for one day.

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Dandelion & Apricot Wine (May ‘09) – Tasty stuff, although it has had just over 6 months to get there.  Well integrated flavours – lots of fruit, flowery notes, ending on a big apricot aftertaste, spices and caramel (I used some proper awesome sun-dried apricots, innit).

Elderberry & Mulberry Wine (Oct ‘09) – Massive deep red/purple colour and soft berry flavour, like a Cabernet Sauvignon on berroids (lol).  Still rough, but softening fast – this will be one smooth bastard in a few months.

Sorb, Orange & Ginger Wine (Nov ‘09) – The most ludicrous wine I have made so far.  It fermented out super-quickly, ending up massively alcoholic and yet somehow still sweet, with a massive bitterness from the Sorbs.  Now the bitterness is mellowing and a totally bizarre (and very tasty) big malty aftertaste has developed.  Amazingly drinkable only a month after fermentation.

Mulberry Mead (Nov ‘09) – Still fermenting, but not far off finishing.  Strangely enough, it stopped a while ago, then restarted without any prompting.  Dry, massive heather honey aroma, already a complex fruity beast so I can’t wait to try this after a few months to see what develops.

Rowan & Spiced Plum Wine (Dec ‘09) – Stalled at the first stage by the absence of plums.  Oh noes!  Will get some tomorrow – and some cinnamon sticks.  Next Xmas will be great if this stuff turns out well

Rosehip Wine, Pumpkin Wine, Mint Wine/Mead, Blackberry Mead, Strawberry Tree Fruit Mead/Wine/Brandy – A glint in the brewer’s eye.

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So I need to update this thing to reflect new job, new gubbins and other shizzle.  The transient nature of our existence sadly ensures that my site is only “up to date” (gigantic quotation fingers) for a few weeks before I fall behind again, but such is life.  It’s difficult to work coding websites all day and gather the required energy for adjusting one’s personal site once the day is over…maybe I should code my personal web space into a Firefox extension, that would be different and fun.  Ok, maybe not for my “huge” (Richard Kiel doing quotation fingers) readership.

What with it being Autumn now, fruit is the word, and the word is fruit.  So I have been collecting elderberries, mulberries and blackberries for what seems like forever.  I’ve made a rather excellent elder & blackberry jam, and many assorted puddings with apples, pears, plums, blackberries and mulberries.  Although one of the dandelion wines (the rhubarb-bolstered one) became a casualty of over-enthusiastic hoovering on Maggie’s part, the more promising one is still aging nicely, and looking ludicrously alcoholic; it only really stopped fermenting about a month ago, which means it spent the best part of three months burbling away to itself.  I reckon it will be fantastic, and probably about 16% after I’ve topped it up to a full gallon.  It will be ready to try at christmas, although I shall endeavour to resist drinking much during the festive season, so that it can age a full year.

The next wine project is elderberry, and I expect this will come to fruition over the next two weeks – freeing up space for the next few, which need to be done in quick succession, as most fruit is on the way out:

• Rowanberry wine
• “Whitty Pear” (true service tree) wine/mead – this one will be special, if it works.  The tree is very rare.
• Mulberry mead
• Mint wine/mead

I’ll also be making some things (not wine or mead) with rosehips, and maybe haws, if I get a chance.

Anyway, here’s a poem by D.H. Lawrence that captures a lot of things rather splendidly…and makes me want to find some Medlars.

Medlars and Sorb-Apples

I love you, rotten,
Delicious rottenness.

I love to suck you out from your skins
So brown and soft and coming suave,
So morbid, as the Italians say.

What a rare, powerful, reminiscent flavour
Comes out of your falling through the stages of decay:
Stream within stream.

Something of the same flavour as Syracusan muscat wine
Or vulgar Marsala.

Though even the word Marsala will smack of preciosity
Soon in the pussyfoot West.

What is it?
What is it, in the grape turning raisin,
In the medlar, in the sorb-apple,
Wineskins of brown morbidity,
Autumnal excrementa;
What is it that reminds us of white gods?

Gods nude as blanched nut-kernels,
Strangely, half-sinisterly flesh-fragrant
As if with sweat,
And drenched with mystery.

Sorb-apples, medlars with dead crowns.
I say, wonderful are the hellish experiences,
Orphic, delicate
Dionysos of the Underworld.

A kiss, and a spasm of farewell, a moment’s orgasm of rupture,
Then along the damp road alone, till the next turning.
And there, a new partner, a new parting, a new unfusing into twain,
A new gasp of further isolation,
A new intoxication of loneliness, among decaying, frost-cold leaves.

Going down the strange lanes of hell, more and more intensely alone,
The fibres of the heart parting one after the other
And yet the soul continuing, naked-footed, even more vividly embodied
Like a flame blown whiter and whiter
In a deeper and deeper darkness
Ever more exquisite, distilled in separation.

So, in the strange retorts of medlars and sorb-apples
The distilled essence of hell.
The exquisite odour of leave-taking.
Jamque vale!
Orpheus, and the winding, leaf-clogged, silent lanes of hell.

Each soul departing with its own isolation,
Strangest of all strange companions,
And best.

Medlars, sorb-apples,
More than sweet
Flux of autumn
Sucked out of your empty bladders.

And sipped down, perhaps, with a sip of Marsala
So that the rambling, sky-dropped grape can add its savour to yours,
Orphic farewell, and farewell, and farewell
And the ego sum of Dionysos
The somo io of perfect drunkenness
Intoxication of final loneliness.

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A work in progress…the best sauce ever for chips (and cheese):

• 1 part Reggae Reggae Sauce
• 1 part Tomato Ketchup (I recommend Sainsbury’s Organic Ketchup, it’s amaaaazing)
• 2 parts Edinburgh Chippy Sauce

For those of you not in familiar with the delights of Edinburgh fast food, Edinburgh Chippy Sauce is brown sauce that has been watered down with malt vinegar.  Not sure of the exact proportions, but you’re looking for a gloopy consistency that can easily cover chips, without being too drippy.  Reggae Reggae ‘Love Apple’ Ketchup can probably be substituted for the first two ingredients.

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• Rum (any type) – 1 measure
• Benedictine – 1 measure
• Grenadine – a good splash
• Angostura Bitters – a few drops
• Tonic – add to taste

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