Monday, January 30, 2012

Dictador

Dictador - name of the not very well known, Columbian Rum Distillery. Why I came across this product at all? Hmmm... interesting story, I got a bottle of it as a Christmas gift and started to trace its story, because I'm interested in everything connected to Latin America. Why it is available in Poland? Because Polish guy is president of European Board of the company. His business partners altogether with him invested in not well prospering Colombian Rum distillery, they changed the bottle, invest in marketing and started to sell the product on new markets like Europe and Asia. It seems that they won the battle and not only this rum is better and better known and becoming more popular, but also it's getting famous of it's luxury. It's not cheap. For a bottle of 20 years old liquid you've to pay about 180 pln in Poland! But it seems to be worth of it or at least it's sold like that. It has a smell of Caribbean islands in it, but one can also find taste of coffee, vanilla, caramel, cacao and chocolate. It's due to cane molasses and barrels used for bourbon and sherry before. My bottle is still closed, but after running all that investigation and reading all the marketing materials available on the internet it's getting more and more tempting...one day I'll open it. The only problem is that to get such a bottle you must wait 20 years, so it's a little pity to just open it on a regular day... must wait for some occasion.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Wines #11: Morgado De Sta Catherina Reserva 2009

My readers know for sure that my another hobby (beyond travels and photography) are alcoholic beverages :)
What I want to present you today is my recent discovery - great white portugal wine - Morgado De Sta Catherina Reserva 2009. Usually I'm not a big fan of white wines. However when I've visited my favorite wine shop last time, very nice and smart lady offered me this wine to taste. I trust her, because usually her recommendations were great, so decided to buy a bottle. And suddenly I wish I had bought at least six of them.
But let's write few words about wine itself. It comes from Bucelas in Estremadura, Portugal. Made from Arinto grape and the bottle I had was produced from 2009 harvest. Nose has something to do with limes, pineapple and tropical fruits, but is very delicate. Probably because it was kept in wood, you can find oak here - you can also feel some vanilla and wood itself taste, so for me the balance is perfect. It's probably third or fourth white wine that has place in my memory and I will get back to it. Moreover not only me highly appreciate this wine - it has got a gold medal in International Wine Challenge! Strictly recommended!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

WD TV Live

Few months ago I've purchased great disk array from Iomega. During xmas I started wondering how to display digital data stored on it to my plasma tv. I came across some multimedia players from Iomega and other vendors, but unfortunately they turned out to be crap. Finally I found WD TV Live from Western Digital. It has great opinions and reviews and was rather cheap (below 400 PLN). It has GE and HDMI and few USB connections, so everything I need.
I've ordered it and connected to the tv over HDMI, to LAN hub over GE and to my Onkyo stereo receiver over optical cable. Now I can watch hi resolution (1080p) digital content on my tv, listen to flac, mp3 and other files on my home audio at the highest possible quality and even browse photos stored on Iomega with tv remote - really easy.
I must say this device is awesome! I recommend it to everyone.