Craft Gin Club - June

Catching up with our gin subscription boxes (barely making this one in the same month we received it).

Vidda Tørr Gin 

Ginned! says: Intense juniper greets the nose, with the aromas of a pine forest. On the palate, an earthy sweetness is enhanced by peppery and herbal flavours. A clean, herbaceous finish lingers with a slight floral sweetness.

Leann says: I taste the pine and juniper, but it's not completely terrible. Has a fresh, green, naturey flavor with a weird aftertaste. I did not like the lime garnish that was recommended at all, and drank this without any garnish.
This was easily my least favorite of all the gins we've received so far. It tastes more like what I imagined gin to be before we started drinking it. The more I tried, the less I liked it, and by the end of the bottle I didn't care for it at all.

Matt says: Tastes like window cleaner.

Franklin & Sons LTD Natural Indian Tonic Water 

This is slightly more bitter than I prefer. It's just okay, but I can see how it might complement the gin.

Purdey's Rejuvenate Multivitamin Energy 

Made of spring water, fruit juice, and vitamins, this is a natural alternative to popular energy drinks. I have never liked drinks like Red Bull because they have a weird fake taste to me. I was hesitant to try this, but it actually helped the gin taste a little better. It's not a product I would buy, but it wasn't bad.

Bottlegreen Cordial Rhubarb with a Hint of Ginger 

I love rhubarb, but do prefer it without ginger. I tried the cordial with the Vidda Tørr gin, and the gin completely overwhelmed the rhubarb taste. I'm saving the rest of the sample to pair with a cleaner tasting gin.

Coco Chocolatier Gin and Tonic Dark Chocolate 

This starts out with nice dark chocolate flavor, but gets a bit purfumey. Meh.

Arden's Lockbrie Cheddar and Caramelized Onion Chutney Bites 

This one item redeemed an otherwise disappointing selection. These bite sized biscuits were buttery, savory, and richly delicious. I have already bought them again, in addition to two other types of Arden's snacks (which were also lovely).

Overall, this was my least favorite overall box. I'm hoping for another winner in July.

Craft Gin Club - May

Now that I've finally finished our trip from two months ago, it's time to catch up with our gin subscription boxes.

The Boatyard Distillery Boatyard Double Gin

Tasting notes from Ginned!: The piney freshness of juniper leads, thanks to the unique double distillation process used at the Boatyard Distillery. Light and elegant on the palate, floral notes are balanced by the sweetness of liquorice root, with a hint of vanilla developing on the finish.

My notes: There is a light juniper taste, but it's not overwhelming. Hint of citrus and smooth mellow finish. Not bad, although we probably wouldn't buy it again. Matt did not care for this one.

Merchant's Heart Tonic Water with a hint of Pink Peppercorn

This tonic was lightly sweet, without the bitterness that comes with many tonics. There was the slightest hint of the peppercorn flavor in the after taste. I really liked this, and would buy it regularly. Matt said it's okay.


Merchant's Heart Tonic Water with a hint of Floral Aromatics

This tonic had a heavy floral flavor. It made the gin taste a bit more like alcohol, with flowers. But I did like it, and would buy it again to switch things up sometimes.

Indie Bay Quinoa Pretzel Bites, Cracked Pepper

The Indie Bay snacks are meant to be more wholesome versions of classic snacks.
These were very dry. The pepper flavor was great, but the dryness sort of makes it taste like sawdust. I do like a nice low calorie nibble, but I wouldn't eat these again.

Bailey's Chocolate Mini Delights

This is my kind of chocolate. They were very smooth, and didn't have a strong alcohol flavor. They were rich, so just a few satisfy a craving. A lovely indulgence.

Britvic Tomato Juice Cocktail

Neither Matt nor I are fans of tomato juice, but for some reason we decided to try this anyway.
Well, we tried it. And we still don't do tomato juice. I can't believe we wasted the gin, and if we receive more tomato juice in a future box, we will let someone else try it for us.

So our May subscription box was a mixed bag, but I was still pleased overall for the month.

Prague - Day 6

Basically on this day, we had breakfast, finished packing, and travelled home.

We asked the kids what their favorite parts of the vacation were.

Miles said, "The hotel, eating breakfast in the hotel, drinks delivered by train."

Lily said "Sleeping, watching the spider." (I don't remember a spider.)

Why do we even travel with them?

A couple more notes about this trip:

I've included mainly photos of the old beautiful buildings we saw, but mixed right in with these were stark, utilitarian concrete blocks of buildings. I'm guessing that these were relics of communism, but it was really interesting to see the contrast.

Also, there was lots of graffiti. On street signs and old buildings, in case you were to romanticize the city too much.

Lastly, and this is a small one, but how cool are the addresses on the buildings?

Overall, I think we had a really cool trip to a beautiful city. I think it wasn't the kids' favorite, but they still had fun, and I'm glad we went.

We have a few close and quick trips planned over the summer, but we're still debating on where we'd like to go on our next big holiday. Any suggestions?

Prague - Day 5

This was the day we lowered our expectations and just went with the flow.

After our standard hotel breakfast, we headed out to Old Town to visit the Municipal Library.

There's the astronomical clock again

We only went into the entryway of the library, because we were there to see the book tunnel. On the outside, it's just a column made of books (still cool to see). On the inside, mirrors make it look like a neverending tunnel.

After a quick round of pictures and a near death experience (okay, that's a little dramatic; I only slipped on the stairs and almost tumbled down holding Clara), it was back to wandering.

The stairs that almost killed me

We made our way to Josefov, the Jewish Quarter, because I wanted to see the Old New Synagogue (Staronová Synagogue). This building, completed in 1270, is the oldest active synagogue in Europe. There were several tours going on around us, so I wasn't able to get the best pictures.

Next we headed toward the Old Jewish Cemetery, which I had read a bit about while researching for our trip. When space ran out in this cemetery, the Jewish community wasn't permitted to expand; instead, a new layer of soil was added, and a retaining wall was built to hold it all in. According to Wikipedia, some areas of the cemetery are up to 12 layers deep!

When we arrived at the entrance, there was a massive queue. The kids were starting to mention being hungry, so we didn't get to do the tour. Here's the one picture I got of the outside.

We walked around looking for a restaurant, and of course the kids wanted to eat at a waffle cafe. The food was really good, too. We had waffles there and got dessert to go.

Black cherry

Ham and cheese

Strawberry and syrup

Salmon

We wanted the kids to relax before dinner, and on the way back to the hotel we let them pick out souvenirs.

After a much needed rest (and German Nickelodeon), we headed back out to take the kids to surprise dinner.

The restaurant we chose was in a part of the city we hadn't explored yet. As we walked, I had my phone out to follow directions, and when we found our destination Matt told me an interesting story.

I was pushing the stroller, and Matt walked several feet behind me with the bigger kids. And he watched a group of pickpockets who were watching me. As I walked by with my phone in hand, one man stepped out of his "spot" and tipped his umbrella toward me. This prompted another man to walk near me, checking out my phone over my shoulder. He must not have been impressed with the goods, because he left it at that. Matt told me the story once we stepped inside the restaurant, and it did leave me feeling a bit vulnerable.
Once we were seated at the table, I went for my phone to take pictures. And it was gone. I knew that I'd had it when Matt told me the story, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I was honestly panicking a bit, thinking that those pickpockets were really good. Thankfully, after a few minutes I found the phone under Clara's highchair, and we tried to laugh about it. (This story is much better when Matt tells it in person.)

Back to dinner. When I found a recommendation for Vytopna online, I knew the kids would love it. The tables are set up amongst train tracks, and small locomotives deliver your drinks to you.

When you finished a drink you'd just pop the empty glass on the next train going by. Naturally, the kids wanted to keep ordering drinks the whole time. It was worth it just for the novelty, but the food was delicious as well.

Chips and dip

Meat appetizer

Chicken schnitzel

Pork with potatoes

Overall it was a really enjoyable meal, and I would definitely recommend it.

As we walked back to the hotel, it was starting to get dark. With young kids, we're not used to being out after dark much on holiday.

We stopped at the Easter market on the way for a quick beer, and put the kids to bed so Matt and I could get organized for our departure the next day.