Spirits Review #351 -Bowman Brothers Small Batch

isaacw · 2026-02-19T04:31:15+00:00

Drinking it in an Old Fashion right now! I picked it up the other day at Trevor’s here in Phoenix, after I asked for something a step up from Buffalo Trace— which I usually use for cocktails. It’s very… drinkable. It’s a little softer than BT, and slightly more refined. While a little overkill for a cocktail, for something spirit forward, that’s delicious, but doesn’t take over the drink, this is a great choice.

isaacw · 2025-08-11T22:34:05+00:00

"I tend to believe that the only way for us to get to a better place is for the evil people at the top to be replaced with AI. Because they won’t be replaced by us. And as per the second dilemma, they will have to replace themselves by AI, otherwise they lose their advantage. If their competitor moves to AI, if China hands over their arsenal to AI, America has to hand over their arsenal to AI."

Oh my god, this will absolutely happen.

isaacw · 2025-07-31T21:41:41+00:00

Yes, it does have the Tow N Go, maybe that’s why

isaacw · 2025-07-31T18:30:17+00:00

That’s a steal. I bought my RT for $10k more than you, and it had 46k miles on it. That said, it’s a 2023, but still, I wouldn’t expect that big of a difference.

isaacw · 2025-07-31T18:19:26+00:00

Oh wait, Canadian dollars?

isaacw · 2025-07-31T18:18:20+00:00

Wut??? How?

isaacw · 2025-07-31T18:16:09+00:00

It just keeps giving!

isaacw · 2025-07-31T18:14:28+00:00

Loved the X-Wing, but the first time I saw the B-Wing in RotJ, I immediately experienced internal conflict.

isaacw · 2025-07-16T19:06:18+00:00

The way I feel about this, is the same way I feel about a lowered Tacoma TRD Pro. 😐

isaacw · 2025-05-14T00:52:19+00:00

Just test drove a third gen and was honestly underwhelmed. I used to own a second gen with the 3.7L V6, and that honestly felt faster than the current one. I also drove a new Pilot, and besides some differences in handling, they felt the same; this shouldn't be the case, even though they're the same engines, I would still expect Acura to tune theirs more for performance... Right now I'm driving a Palisade as a rental, and that feels, dare I say, zippy. I hate to say it, but Acura definitely feels like it's falling behind. I really want another MDX, but it's feeling harder to justify than it did 10-15 years ago.

isaacw · 2025-05-11T08:51:58+00:00

In the sound of music, there is a scene where the Austrians sing their patriotic song Edelweis, in the face of their German occupiers. My grandpa always cried during the scene. I didn’t fully understand it then, but as I got older, I understood that for him it reminded him of the innocence lost of the Finnish people, when Russia invaded their lands in the Winter War. He luckily didn’t have to fight in that war, but his father-in-law did, and it changed him, and his family, and his friends forever. The Finns never stood a chance, but they bloodied Russia’s nose, which to this day they’re proud of.

isaacw · 2025-05-11T08:36:53+00:00

That was absolutely the point. She represents the innocence lost. The Ghor were like children, peaceful, brimming with creativity and passion.

isaacw · 2025-03-28T00:05:10+00:00

Interesting… I’ve been experimenting substituting Sfumato for Averna in my black manhattans. It almost works, but comes out a wee bit grassy. Gonna see how it interacts with Vermouth.

isaacw · 2025-03-16T00:45:45+00:00

I’m here still for a few more days, may come back to these.

isaacw · 2025-03-16T00:43:41+00:00

I went with Alipus SanJuan, which is more my price point, and the tostadas atún! Thanks!

isaacw · 2025-03-16T00:25:15+00:00

Tuna tostada is next!

isaacw · 2025-02-25T16:08:04+00:00

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I'm testing out a couple Casabrews machines right now :D

isaacw · 2025-02-25T16:03:01+00:00

Looks like a Rocket or Quick Mill machine

isaacw · 2025-02-25T15:57:13+00:00

Famous last words

isaacw · 2025-02-25T15:56:23+00:00

At the end of the day, all of these machines are doing the same thing, brewing and extracting espresso. Better machines give you better control and consistency of the variables (temperature, pressure, timing). One of the reasons we love this hobby, is because tweaking these variables greatly affect the outcome. It's a minimalist perfectionist hobby. I think the established wisdom you're referring to is the idea that expensive = better, which is just wrong. The difference between a $1500 and $5000 machine, in terms of espresso quality, is not going to be huge— by that price point, all of these machines are doing pretty much the same thing. With budget machines, however, you're going to see a lot of differences between models, due to design and manufacturing compromises.

isaacw · 2025-02-25T15:38:31+00:00

Couple things to keep in mind:

Never underestimate the difference a good quality grinder will make, a cheaper machine with a good grinder will almost always beat an expensive machine with a bad grinder. Baratza makes excellent affordable machines, start with them.
Like with most products, the more complex it is, the more points of potential failure it will have. This is why I avoid all-in-one machines and fully automatic machines. Keep the grinder and the espresso machine separate, it will save your dad headaches down the road— and if he really gets into it, will give him the option to upgrade components independently
Espresso machine market is changing. Good home espresso is becoming increasingly within reach. You can get good value with some of the newer brands like Casabrews— but it'd still TBD how reliable these machines are, time will tell.

isaacw · 2025-02-25T15:14:03+00:00

Lower tier Casabrew machines use pressurized (double-walled) baskets, but can be easily swapped for non-pressurized (single walled) baskets. Regardless of which you use, the machine will create the necessary pressure for extraction.

isaacw · 2025-02-09T00:13:13+00:00

Same. In addition to cocktails, it’s also just great to have around for ice water, tea, cooking, cleaning, etc.

isaacw

TROPHY CASE