Chicago-Milwaukee-NW Indiana Area Get Together - Page 4

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
ilVecchio
Supporter ♡
Posts: 244
Joined: 18 years ago

#31: Post by ilVecchio »

Bringing Carpatani casa, and more bourbon.

Joel

User avatar
Prairiedawg
Posts: 282
Joined: 9 years ago

#32: Post by Prairiedawg »

I'm bringing coffee and some Mad Dog 20/20
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

Advertisement
User avatar
another_jim (original poster)
Team HB
Posts: 13872
Joined: 19 years ago

#33: Post by another_jim (original poster) »

Prairiedawg wrote:.. and some Mad Dog 20/20
I see a blind tasting on the horizon
Jim Schulman

TallDan
Posts: 315
Joined: 5 years ago

#34: Post by TallDan »

Looking forward to tomorrow!

If we have MD 20/20 and alka seltzer, I can even have my favorite "sparkling wine"!*

I'm not really too sure what qualifies as "interesting" things to bring for this group.

I'm planning to bring my v1.0 Decent DE1+ and Flat Max with LM Shuriken. I could also bring my Ditting if anyone has interest playing with that.

For coffee, I'll have the batch of the super wush I roasted Tuesday. First attempt on it, and i think it's a little dark for my taste, but I haven't tried it yet and it could be interesting to compare with the others. I'll also bring what's left of the Klatch roasted 8/30 "Organic Ethiopia Guji Haro Welabu Anaerobic Natural".

For extras, I was planning to bring some homebrewed beer. I may bring a bottle of bourbon as well since it sounds like we may run out of whiskey. :wink:


*not actually my favorite, in fact, i've never had it, it was a running joke with some friends a couple years ago.

Sideshow
Posts: 380
Joined: 8 years ago

#35: Post by Sideshow »

mdmvrockford wrote:Per Glenlivet's website on cask strength Scotches it is perfectly acceptable to dilute with water. My father certainly does. I don't dilute it as my esophagus can handle the heat :lol: OTOH Boss' 196 proof Polish vodka is a wee bit much undiluted.
As someone who's as much as a whisk(e)y nerd as an espresso nerd, it's absolutely fine (if not expected) that you'd add water to something like cask strength for a few reasons. Of course, the first rule is drink your spirits however you want. But, first, alcohol is an anesthetic as well, and once you get to around 50% abv, the alcohol begins to numb your taste buds, giving you diminishing (tasting/nosing) returns as you drink. That's often why the first sip of a high proof spirit is generally eye popping while subsequent sips are "smooth." Second, adding water is a good idea even to mid to lower abv whisk(e)ys. Not that it's "needed," but you'll unlock certain flavors and sensations and diminish others with different amounts of water. You may find that you like a particular dram that's bottled at 43% or 46% abv with a few drops of water better than without them. Think of adding drops of water like adjusting the grind/dose of coffee. Everyone has their subjective preference and sweet spot. And, third, whisk(e)y contains oils, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the bottle/distillery, and oil floats on water. The oils contain lots of flavor compounds. So when you add drops of water and let the dram sit without disturbing it, the oils float to the top, and you get a flavor burst when you take the next sip. All this isn't to say that you should always add water. But you should always experiment with water to see what you like. It's the whisk(e)y equivalent of dialing in an espresso.

I won't be able to make it sadly. Juggling the child care with meals, kids classes, and nap times is a little too much. But hopefully next time!
★ Helpful

User avatar
another_jim (original poster)
Team HB
Posts: 13872
Joined: 19 years ago

#36: Post by another_jim (original poster) »

TallDan wrote:I'm planning to bring my v1.0 Decent DE1+ and Flat Max with LM Shuriken. I could also bring my Ditting if anyone has interest playing with that.
Place of honor for the Decent and Flat Max, since they'll have a lot of interested gawkers. Not so sure about the Ditting; maybe overkill?
Jim Schulman

TallDan
Posts: 315
Joined: 5 years ago

#37: Post by TallDan »

Thanks Jim for hosting! Great to meet everyone, I had fun and maybe a little too much caffeine. :)

Advertisement
mdmvrockford
Supporter ♡
Posts: 570
Joined: 14 years ago

#38: Post by mdmvrockford »

A sincere thank you to "another_jim" for hosting. And as before excellent dry-braised short ribs and smoked salmon. I hope you will enjoy the wine amd Scotch. Please give me your opinion of them whenever you have chance.

Before I forget (way too early for specific dates): I would like to host Spring 2022 Chicago-Milwaukee HB get together (GTG). I've hosted three prior Spring GTG: Pi day 2015 (3/14/15), 2018 and 2019.

Pictures below shows embarassment of riches w.r.t. equipment. And more importantly having two HB moderators and multiple other senior (knowledge, not age) members i.e. the mano of 4 M's for exceptional espresso. There were just too many great beans. I stuck with what I best knew in my personal evaluation Monolith Flat Max (Shuriken burr) vs. Helor 106 with Mazzer 0186c (in the cup equivalent of Monolith Conical v3). With non-blinded comparisons (and using Robot so not exact same brew parameters) of Dragonfly Coffee The Leam Hammer, the Flat Max has better flavor separation. It was not knock-my-sock-off though. The single dosing workflow was great. The Monolith Flat was quiet; the Flat Max was even quieter (I did not check RPM speed). A better comparison in-the-cup would be brewing using an electric pump machine.

"another_jim" best summarized grinder comparison of Monolith Flat (Mythos burr) vs. Flat Max (Shuriken) as it would need lots more time and using lots of one bean. Other attendees please comment if I misunderstood the overall impression.

Sadly I avoided all the whiskeys as (a) no designated driver (b) I was a little too unfiltered at "Prairiedawg" HB get together after enjoying the whiskeys there:(



(in alphabetical order of attendees I spoke with)
"Barb" So glad to get back to FTF meeting. Your bread dipped on "earl_grey44" gaspacho was wonderful. And hopefully we sold Jerry on the merits of Cafelat Robot:-)

"dominico" Thanks for the Cremina use pearl and feedback on Dragonfly Coffee Vesuvius blend. And great to converse about other hobbies.

"earygrey_44" I am not a soup person but l really liked the gaspacho. I really liked it with "Barb" bread. My wife and kids really like soups so gaspacho like yours is added to my culinary queue.

"IlVecchio" great meeting you again. Illinois weather was cooperating today. Should your fellow AZ home barista Jerry venture into home espresso, he has Cremina resource in you. Please have safe travels back to Arizona.

"Prairiedawg" Great meeting up again and talking. And please email me if any questions with the grinder.

"Sherman" great seeing you again. Thanks for the perspective with manual lever. Hopefully you can attend the Spring 2022 Chicago Milwaukee meeting.

"TallDan" great to meet you for first time. Thank you for Decent v1 and Monolith Flat Max tutorial. I am very impressed with both. But as you can probably tell, I won't be giving up manual levers:) I suspect you understand as you own a Robot too. OTOH you have the best of both worlds. Overall as we know it is different paths to common goal: great espresso in-the-cup.

"vberch" wonderful baked salmon. And (as usual) home roasts that equal to exceed best from commercial roasters. "Sherman" pulled your four-bean blend and it was wonderful. Thank you for feedback on Dragonfly Coffee Vesuvius blend.


Decent v1, Monolith Flax Max (Shuriken burr) and Monolith Flat (Mythos burr).


Olympia Express Cremina (1990), Helor 106 (original with Mazzer 0186c burr) handgrinder, Fuji R220 grinder, Cafelat Robot (barista model).


Lelit Bianca and Niche Zero .
LMWDP #568

User avatar
another_jim (original poster)
Team HB
Posts: 13872
Joined: 19 years ago

#39: Post by another_jim (original poster) »

Thanks all for coming. I'd especially like to thank newcomer, TallDan, who introduced himself in very high style by bringing a Decent and a Monolith Max, machines we've all been wanting to play with.

We ended up with three separate roasts of the Super Wush, one by Klatch, one by TallDan, and one by me. Mine was a little too laid back for my taste compared them to the others, although some preferred it. The shot of the meet up for me was done with the Max and Decent with TallDan's roast of it. This had all the flavor separation people talk about for big flats, but was also very sweet and dense, so the best of all worlds.

I'd be standing in line for the Max myself, if that shot had been par for the course. But the Max is definitely a long dial-in grinder, even compared to the 75mm Monolith with the Mythos burrs, never mind the instant dial-in Niche. The Decent was a surprise on this account. Dan had a standard lever profile as one of the presets, and that did a great job on a wide variety of coffees right out of the starting gate.

It was great to see all the regulars and old regulars, Joel and Sherman

You all left me enough whisky, wine, and coffee that I'm all set for a grand opening as soon as I get a liquor license. :wink:
Jim Schulman

User avatar
vberch
Posts: 596
Joined: 14 years ago

#40: Post by vberch »

Jim, thank you very much for hosting another amazing get together! Between all the regulars, old and new friends, amazing equipment, scrumptious food, wine, whiskey ... oh, yes, coffee :) it was truly a great day! Thank you!