We Did An Evil Thing

[Bibliophage]

Sigh, got started into Gin.....in Germany makes the third best gin in the world, Monkey 47. It's much too flowery to make a martini. Having 47 different herbs, it is a sniffter gin.

If it has 47 different herbs, it's not 'Gin'. It's a distilled grain beverage. You might as well call it 'Vodka'. Gin is double distilled grain alcohol with juniper essence. That's it.

[inkstainedruth]

This is how movements begin....

 

I'm minded of some old shampoo ad from when I was growing up: "You'll tell two friends, and then they'll tell two friends, and so on and so on...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

If it has 47 different herbs, it's not 'Gin'. It's a distilled grain beverage. You might as well call it 'Vodka'. ((Don't drink the stuff outside in a bloody mary, which being a vodka hater I often make with gin.))

Gin is double distilled grain alcohol with juniper essence. That's it.

Not quite, there are other herbs, all sorts of stuff coriander, """citrus peel, cinnamon, almond or liquorice, with neutral grain alcohol. Making gin is like flavoring vodka, except that botanicals are always natural.in normal Gins."""

 

Yep, Gin Flavored Vodka is the best Vodka.....at least they put something in gin. Or so it was.

My god I'm so out of it, back in the day....the only flavored vodka I knew was the Polish stuff with buffalo grass. Or adding fresh ground pepper to it...............well thinking real far back, there were some girly flavored vodka.....that I of course ignored as I should.

 

Monkey 47 of course has juniper berry. At E45 a bottle, I did have to look it up, ponder, read a second and third year how grand it was............a German Gin third to fifth best gin in the whole world!!!!!.....now lots of them German gins, good ones are being made everywhere. It is odd to think to someone of my generation to think of snifter glass gins.

 

Even in Iceland, where they age it for six months in an oak barrel. Vor gin; you have to look it up, even got some sort of Arctic moss....but that's not on the bottle and I'm too lazy to look it up for you. The aging takes it more in the direction of scotch. It too won't do for a martini.

 

Dutch Genever gin, the original; comes in a clay bottle,....where Dutch got their courage, being a bit sweet, is only good for straight; (IMO cold) and if you have a real steady hand you can pour a shot in a shot-glass, so the gin is convex over the rim of the shot glass. I was in Brussels at the Grand Place square, the first time I ran into that over the top of the rim pouring......my hand was steady enough to lift it to my lip.

[BaronWulfraed]

If it has 47 different herbs, it's not 'Gin'. It's a distilled grain beverage. You might as well call it 'Vodka'. Gin is double distilled grain alcohol with juniper essence. That's it.

 

Then I guess Bombay Sapphire is not gin either... Per the bottle:

 

Italian juniper

Spanish lemon peel

Moroccan coriander seed

Angelica (Saxony)

Italian orris (iris root)

West African grains of paradise

Javan cubeb berries

Indo-chinese cassia bark

Spanish almonds

Chinese liquorice

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd been thinking about getting a bottle lately....I have enough inks.......

 

Well, I did let someone use my Osmia semi-flex 63 BBL, (OBB) today for a few words. She was impressed how smooth it was...and impressed her it was '40's-51. Edelstein Smoky Quartz. Someone had said they didn't like it in a narrow nib but really did in a wide wet nib.

I'd not given that ink a fair shake only trying it in a F.

A 'different' ink in a wide wet nib.

 

In six weeks I'll let her scribble with another fine pen. Baby step addiction, a different ink of course.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[sidthecat]

I like my G&T with a sprig of rosemary, if you’re buying.

[Cordovian]

I hope she has a lot of disposable income...

[WLSpec]

Awesome story! I've tried and failed many times at my attempts to infect others... nice to hear a story of success.

[sidthecat]

There are several co-workers that have succumbed to my wicked wiles.

 

Bwa Ha Ha!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Never tried a G&T with a sprig of rosemary....sounds interesting....been doing the English way with slices of cucumber.

Whole lots of different flavored tonic waters out now too.

 

I did give a moving out down stairs neighbor lady a Safari and a CPM-1...in both were nails I could spare the pens..and a small assortment of Lamy cartridge inks, after she expressed interest in fountain pens. It had been a number of years since she'd used a fountain pen.

A generation ago, all German students had to do homework with a fountain pen, and Pelikan or Lamy ink was used in it could be eradicator with the Pelikan Pirate eradicator....which had a BP attached to it for writing over the covered up ink.

 

I gave my Pirate eradicator to the baker's daughter when I gave her a # 8 sized nib on a "no name." That was one hell of a big nib...to tell the truth, a nib that big made me uncomfortable using it.....I think I was staring at the huge nib all the time.

I use to give her inks I didn't like also.....a few inks were more reddish, or pinkish than I expected.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[OMASsimo]

I remember the Pelikan Pirate eradicator. It worked with all Royal Blue inks, also Geha iirc. The pen on the other end to write over the erased ink was a felt tip pen rather than a ball pen. I didn't like to mess with it and preferred to strike out (or not write something wrong in the first place).

 

My most recent evil deed was to repair the Lamy 2000 of a friend that was dropped on the nib some 10 years ago. I straightened and adjusted the nib for her to bring the pen back to life. She wants it a little more wet and I suggested to try out some other inks before a doing a readjustment of the nib. She might discover a new universe down in the rabbit hole.

[kestrel]

There are several co-workers that have succumbed to my wicked wiles.

 

Bwa Ha Ha!

I turned at least six of my students to the inky side of the force. I feel no guilt whatsoever although one got me in legal trouble. She had an Individual Education Plan that required me to limit handwritten assignments due to hand pain. The first time I saw her write I knew why her hand hurt. She used a tortured grip and pressed down really hard. I bought her a couple of Pilot Varsity pens and showed her the tripod grip (thanks Bo Bo) and the pen started to go away within a matter of days. Administration threw a hissy fit because I used a strategy not in her IEP with possible "medically significant" consequences. The student was happy, her mother was happy, and the enabler was happy. One more convert with side benefits.

[SoulSamurai]

I remember the Pelikan Pirate eradicator. It worked with all Royal Blue inks, also Geha iirc. The pen on the other end to write over the erased ink was a felt tip pen rather than a ball pen. I didn't like to mess with it and preferred to strike out (or not write something wrong in the first place).

 

 

We used to use those in school many years ago. I considered it one of the advantages of fountain pens over ballpoints: you could fix a mistake (but only once...). Of course now there's ballpoint pens that can be "erased" with the built-in eraser.

[sirgilbert357]

People like you are the reason there should be a big banner at the top of all FPN pages quoting Dante, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

 

I can't criticize you for it. I enable, too.

 

 

You've got that backwards. If you like writing, this is the ONLY place to find any hope...sorry, but ballpoints and rollerballs ain't cutting it!!!

[svn]

"As you value your life or your reason keep away from the fountain pens. Especially vintage ones having flexible nibs."

A. Conan Doyle

Edited July 3, 2019 by svn

[AAAndrew]

In another hobby world of mine, this is called "The Slippery Slope" and what you were doing was applying just a bit of grease, and giving a gentle nudge or two.

 

I'm always happy to grease any number of slopes. I'm one of those who wants others to be as crazy as I am.

[amberleadavis]

Sid, I'm so proud of you. I just love enabling.

[OMASsimo]

In another hobby world of mine, this is called "The Slippery Slope" and what you were doing was applying just a bit of grease, and giving a gentle nudge or two.

 

I'm always happy to grease any number of slopes. I'm one of those who wants others to be as crazy as I am.

 

I really like that. And I'm always there to help anybody who wants to enjoy a nice sliding down that slippery slope. But I wouldn't force anybody over the edge.

[Mr5x5]

The receptionist at the veterinarian expressed an interest in my Jinhao 159 last time I picked up some flea medicine for the cat. I am due to go back for more in few weeks and am debating whether to give him that pen, the free pen that came with the Ranga, or theJinhao 450 that came free off the auction site with a coupon. I like the 159 but it is looking a little banged up. I just inked up the fee exam pen but it seems to have tendency to quit writing and smells funky so I don't think that would be a good option. The 450 just came today and I don't think i care for it as it is too short unposted and the cap doesn't post well but it may be a nice pen for someone to start with. With an unlimited budget I think I would just invest in some Preppies with converters to have to hand out. That was my first pen and it worked well. I just don't think the converter should cost more than the pen.

[kestrel]

This is why I kept Pilot Varsity pens in various colors on my classroom desk. All I asked was that they take good care of them.