Sunday Musings, Australian GP

It was late night last night staying up to watch what turned out to be a fantastic Australian GP Formula One race.  But, more on that later.  No new coffee for me this week and Liverpool is off this weekend (sadly after a horrible loss to Manchester United last week in the FA Cup tournament) so we'll jump straight to some recommendations before I give my thoughts on the race.

Two recommendations this week. First up is another TV show. I'll fight anyone that says this is a kids show, but on Disney+ this week they released the animated X-Men '97 that takes off right after the excellent 90's cartoon ended.  This past week they released the first two episodes and they are outstanding.  Slightly updated the animation, but the stories are tremendous, timely, and absolutely in-line with historical X-men comics.  Through two episodes I couldn't be happier with what Disney has done with this release and hope that the series continues it impressive start with more amazing episodes.

My second recommendation is a podcast.  Not just any podcast but one from Top Gear/Grand Tour star Richard Hamilton.  Surprisingly though this podcast has absolutely nothing to do with cars.  Instead it is him, his daughter and a guest discussing men's mental health called Who We are Now.  I can't tell you how good this series is, and how imprortant it is to get blokes (as Hammond says) to talk about their mental health and not just go all blokey about it.  They are a few episodes into it, but I would encourage anyone to go back and listen to them all as they are excellent.

Australia GP ReCap and thoughts

As I stated before it was a late night watching the Australian GP with lights not occurring until about 11pm Central time, but it was definitely worth it. First a recap of what happened during qualifying.  There were only 19 cars on the starting grid because Williams was down a car due to Albon crashing out during a practice session. Williams made the tough decision to sit American driver Sargent and put Albon in his car instead hoping he could get the British team a point.

McLaren had the best starting positions of the season with McLaren with Norris P3 and Pastry P5 thanks to a 3 grid penalty for Perez.  Shocking no one Verstappen continued his streak of sitting on Pole position.  I think the biggest question at the start of the race was how the warm track temperatures would affect the tires and if there would be any crashing at the start of the race, something the Aussie GP is notorious for.  However once we hit lights out there were no shenanigans and Verstappen got a way with a clean start, or so we thought.  

Very quickly Sainz, two weeks after an appendectomy, passed the leading Red Bull and went into first place.  Verstappen initially complained of his back end being loose, but his car started smoking at the back thanks to what turned out to be a stuck brake, and shockingly the dutchman had to retire ending a 43 race streak of finishing.  So only a few laps in, we knew we would have a different winner for this race, but who would it be?  Could Ferrari hang on and would Sainz be able to complete an incredible comeback after his surgery?

By lap 10 McLaren was already pitting, with Piastri coming in and switching from Medium tires to Hard hoping to undercut LeClerc, and then Norris pitting shortly afterwards in lap 14 again going from Medium to Hard and coming out behind his teammate. Just when everyone though we were getting into a fairly standard race, more surprises came with Hamilton’s Mercedes experiencing engine failure and retiring at lap 17.  He pulled over to the side of the track which caused a virtual safety card, slowing the race down and allowing Alonso to pit his Aston Martin who was leading at the team and desperately needed to change his tires.  Due to the cars having to slow down he was able to get in and out without losing to many positions.

By lap 29 McLaren made the call to swap the drivers position moving Norris up to P3 and Piastri fell to P4.  The move was smart as Norris had the pace, but the Aussie crowd was surely disappointed that their hometown driver was asked to move back.

The next few laps had the Ferraris and McLarens pitting which shuffled the line up some but near the end of the race you had Ferrari in P1 and P2 and Norris and Piastri breathing down LeClerc’s neck in P3 and P4 respectively.  They wouldn’t have caught him, but it became a moot point because during the last lap Mercedes driver Russell crashed into the wall causing the race to end under a yellow.  So Ferrari finished in the top two slots with a well deserved and quite frankly unbelievable win by Carlos Sainz.  I am not a Ferrari fan (team papaya all the way!), but I have to admit that was fun to see him win with everything going on. His race continues to push my point that Ferrari will end up regretting dropping him and replacing him with Hamilton.  Hamilton was great, one of the best, but he is not the same driver, and Ferrari will be worse team next year.

Some other thoughts from the race: 

Mercedes continues to struggle.  I have to think at some point some significant changes are going to have to occur at the team.  They are already losing Hamilton, and they are wasting some of the best years of Russells career as they struggle trying to find the right design of their car.  When will enough be enough and they have to admit they need to make some changes to their engineering team.

Best race McLaren has looked honestly.  Even though they didn’t get P1 they had a very fast car.  Is this a sign of things to come?  I am hopeful that even when Verstappen finishes, that team papaya can keep up and continue to finish in the top 5.  If they do that they will have a season where they compete for 2nd place in Constructors and that would be HUGE.

Perez just didn’t have the pace and couldn’t help RB after Verstappen dropped out.  Does that continue to paint a picture that Perez could be out at the end of the season>

Haas continues to run well surprisingly with another race getting some points.

After three races the top four positions in the drivers championship table are Red Bull and Ferrari drivers, followed by the two McLaren drivers.

Verstappen	51
LeClerc	47
Perez	46
Sainz	40
Piastri	28
Norris	27
Russell	18
Alonso	16
Stroll	9
Hamilton	8

The Constructors Championship is looking pretty nice for McLaren as well, especially as I am hopeful they will continue to show improvements throughout this season.  

Red Bull	97
Ferrari	93
McLaren	26
Mercedes	26
Aston Martin	25
RB	6
Haas	4

Watch! A Negroni

 

Anyone that knows me knows that my favorite cocktail has always been, and will always be a Negroni.  Ahhhh just saying the word Negroni makes me smile.  This isn't a complicated cocktail that needs a ton of ingredients and special equipment to make.  It's simple, and often times I make it directly in the drinking glass.  A simple mix of 3 ingredients and a twist to orange is all it takes to make this beautiful and wonderful drink.  Gin, Campari, Sweet Vermouth, an ounce of each, mix, and you to can enjoy this lovely sweet, bitter, boozy drink.  

Typically, when I make a Negroni, I keep my ingredients as simple as the drink itself and use a nice dry London Gin like Beefeaters, however from time to time I like to mix it up and try an unusual gin which is what I did here.  I grabbed James Gin, made by petrolhead James May of Top Gear and Grand Tour fame, specifically his London Drizzle expression (although they are all wonderful, pro tip, try the American Ramstud in a dirty martini, pure bliss).  The London Drizzle is an incredibly unique gin made with beetroot, lovage, bay, orange, and ginger.  This is a much earthier gin that a traditional one is, but it comes together with the Campari for a unique take on a Negroni.

As an unabashed lover of all things Campari and Negroni you can imagine my joy at finding a watched that expressed it better than I could.  A couple of years ago Japanese watchmaker released a series of watches under their Presage Line called 'Cocktail' watches.  Each watch had a different colored dial that represented a cocktail, they had a champagne cocktail, and a green mojito dial, and of course a red Negroni inspired dial, which I of course picked up recently from online shop Teddy Baldassare.  It's a gorgeous watch, with a steel case housing the gorgeous dial on a calfskin strap.  It shimmers in the light and has a texture to it that keeps you staring at it to see the different shades of red.  A perfect watch to wear out on a date, or for a cocktail hour.  It also doesn't break the bank as it comes in well under $500.  Its a good size, not to big, nor too small at around 39MM in diameter.  While the crystal isn't sapphire it is Seiko's proprietary Hardlex which feels nice and strong.  Also has an open case back, although the movement isn't anything special to look at.  If you love to switch straps, you can do so easily as the lug to lug on this is 20mm which allows for any number of straps to be used. More stats below along with a more indepth video review of the watch if you are so inclined.

Movement	4R35 Automatic
Case Diameter	38.5 mm
Lug to Lug	45 mm
Lug Width	20mm
Thickness	12.22 mm
Crystal	Hardlex
Water Resistance	50M
Strap	Calfskin with quick release

Sunday Musings Coffee and Donuts edition

Happy St. Patricks day, hope you're wearing some green today, just not drinking any green beer.  Leave that to the amateurs.  Started my day off by taking the kid for donuts at an amazing local shop called Blackline Donuts.  Really great shop with great donuts, kolaches (really klobasnik but it's Texas ya'll) and Scones.  Instead of grabbing coffee at this shop, I made my own at home using beans from local Houston roaster Tenfold.   I really enjoy this roaster. Their shop is amazing, great food and coffee options.  They also have a space set aside for having educational classes which I think is really cool and wish more places would do it.  As for this particular set of beans, I made my usual pour over.  This is their everyday blend (literally and figuratively), medium roasted silky smooth, low acidity, sweet fruits.  Delicious and great paired with the pick up from Blackline.  Good way to start the morning, powered by sugar and caffeine!  Onto my more typical Sunday musings, Liverpool and F1.

Formula 1

It's an off week with no racing as they take a week away to relocate from the Middle East to Australia for next Sunday's Grand Prix.  However that doesn't mean there isn't news.  The paddock may be a bigger source of excitement this season than the track as it look like another run away title from Red Bull and Verstappen.  But that doesn't mean there isn't any drama.  Red Bull, the predictable champions are the source of the greatest amount of drama.  The Christian Horner saga shows no sign of letting up.  For the uninitiated, team principal Horner was accused of misconduct right before the season started.  In about an opaque of an investigation as you can have Red Bull hired an independent investigator who cleared Horner of all charges.  However that hasn't stopped F1 pundits of all shapes and sizes from predicting gloom and doom for the Racing Bulls, insisting that Horner will soon be removed, or Verstappen will leave the Austrian race unit.  Personally, I just don't see this happening.  Horner is the longest running principal in F1, and is one of the most successful.  He has been there since the beginning of Red Bull and has brought them multiple constructor Cups and individual championships with Vettel and Verstappen.  If he is truly cleared why would they replace him?  Who would be able to come in and do what he has done?  Verstappen has been with RB and under Christian since the beginning of his career.  He has thrived under Horner, and that car.  There is no other place that he can go that give him a car like this.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  But it is F1 and strange things happen when ego's get involved (plus his father doesn't seem to be able to get out of his own way being the source of a lot of drama). I think the other thing driving a lot of drama is the amount of drivers that become free agents at the end of the season. 12 out of the 20 drivers have their contracts end in 2024.  That is crazy and I can't remember a season where that has happened.  So there could be a total remake of the grid for 2025.  We already know Sainz is out and Hamilton is in at Ferrari.  Perez's contract is over at RB next season and I can see him not being there in 2025.  I think all of those contracts ending is causing a lot of drama, as well as a ton of speculation from the pundits who are driving clicks to their sites.  I think there may be more drama on the track than others.  While P1 may be locked up, I think P2-5 is going to be great to watch both on the driver side and constructors side.  Should be a fun season if you can get over the predictability of the winner.

Liverpool

No Premiere league matches this week, but that doesn't mean Liverpool was resting.  They had a mid week Europa League match against Czech club Sparta Praha in their second leg to move on in the second tier European league.  As they did in the first leg, Liverpool absolutely dominated beating them 5-1.  And honestly it wasn't even that close.  In just a few minutes Liverpool kicks off an FA Cup match against their hated rivals the obnoxious Manchester United.  ManU continues to be in disarray so I have confidence that Liverpool pulls out an away win and continues on to the semifinals of the premiere British tournament.  That keeps them on the path to potentially capture 3 more titles in addition to the already captured Carabou Cup.  The are still on track for the EPL title, Europa League Title, and FA Cup championship.  What a season this could be to celebrate all that Klopp has done for the Reds.

Wednesday Whiskey and Cigar

 It always feels good to take a step back, slow down and relax with a nice smoke and a scotch.  Especially with all the things going on these days, getting a little bit of time to oneself is a critical part of taking care of your mental health.  It was with that in mind that I sat down to enjoy these two lovelies.  

The Cigar

This is a box pressed Rocky Patel Decades cigar, it has a Sumatran wrapper with a secret mix of fillers within. This is a mighty robust cigar.  One that definitely tells you are smoking a CIGAR!  It's spicy with notes of black pepper, tar, leather, and nutty.  It's oily and intense.  It coats the mouth with its intensity.  This was a gift from a friend, so I was eager to smoke it.  It's also a well regarded cigar if you pay attention to ratings (which with cigars, I typically do not).  For me though this was on the too intense side of things.  I tend to enjoy milder cigars that don't saturate your taste buds, and this definitely did that.  It is a good cigar to sit and smoke for a while, as it lasted quite a while.  If you like robust in your face cigars this may be worth seeking out.

The Scotch.

My last few drams of Scotch have been lovely unseated expressions.  That stops with this pour from the distillery that makes my favorite peated Whiskies.  Ardbeg is located on the southern part of Islay, the spiritual home for peat heads.  Ardbeg has been around for hundreds of years producing outstanding scotch.  While they make many different expressions, some labeled by their year, and others as Non Age Statements (NAS) with unusual names like An Oa or Uigedail they all share a bold note of peat.  This particular expression Ardcore was a special release in 2022.  A typical thing that Ardbeg does is release a special expression on Ardbeg day and in 2022 this was that release.  In something I haven't seen before Ardbeg used roasted black malt to make this which adds even more smokey and some would say bitter notes to the spirit. It's lightly colored as with most Ardbeg offerings.  I am always surprised by this. I don''t know why, but my mind always expects a darker liquid for a smokey scotch and that is never the case. On the nose this is peat, smoke, charcoal, a little burn of the nostrils.  The mouthfeel is slick and almost syrupy, with notes of dark bitter chocolate, licorice, leather.  I love it.  It's robust and in your face, and it holds up to the robust cigar, although taken together it is a lot of in your face smokey notes.  But I appreciate these smokey flavors more than I do in this particular cigar. The flavors of the scotch meld together more tightly, more cohesively.  For whatever reason, I hadn't reached for this bottle in a while.  Glad I did tonight, it was just what I needed.

Sunday Musings, Coffee, F1, and Watches

 

There is not much better than a quiet Sunday morning and a freshly made cup of coffee. Today I used my Fellow Stagg XF pour over.  Unlike a more traditional Vario this is a straight sided pour over cup.  I don't have a palette than can pick up huge differences between the two, but there some slight nuances.  There isn't a preference, but I'll go back and forth.  Today's beans come from a local roaster, Pearland Coffee Roasters.  Just down the road from where I live, I love the fact that there is a top notch coffee roasting company down in the suburbs of Houston.  It makes a bright cup, honeysuckle, pears, cinnamon.  Lovely cup.  It's a good cup to sit down with while I think about a few things that have occurred this week.

First up comes a recommendation, but not a TV show this week, instead a book.  The Formula written by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg documents the rise of Formula 1.  They do this not by going year by year, but highlighting the big changes that have occurred throughout F1's history, what or who drove those technological leaps to make F1 the powerhouse sports institution that it is today.  It's a fantastic book, an incredibly quick read.  I favorably compare it to the authors other book The Club which took a similar look at the Premiere League, documenting how the league came to be in the 90's and then its rise to be what we know as the EPL today.  Both are oustanding books if you enjoy F1 and English Football like I do.

Watches

Earlier this week, one of my favorite watch companies, kind of out of nowhere released an eagerly anticipated watch that has sent watch geeks into a ferver with anyone that owns a watch centric YouTube channel breathlessly posting their reactions.  It's the new Omega White dial speedmaster.

It's a stunning watch, the white has a depth to it that I didn't expect and you don't get from the traditional black dial.  The indices are raised which helps create that multi-dimensional feel and the splash of red text adds just a bit of color.  While I will always favor the historical moon watch, Omega did a great job with this new dial. I spoke to an AD on Friday and they already had 25 people on the waitlist, so Omega has a winner on its hands for sure.

Liverpool

While I am enjoying my coffee this morning, I am eagerly anticipating one of the most important matches that Liverpool plays.  In just a couple of hours they host Manchester City for what could be THE match that decides who wins the Premiere League (sorry Arsenal fans).  Liverpool sits on top of the table, but if they lose this match to City, City goes on top and it will be very hard to catch them over the last couple of months of the season.  On a positive note, Liverpool has a fantastic record against City at home, so I have high hopes that they will win and continue to collect trophies during the final season of Klopp's leadership.

Formula One Thoughts

Race number 2 of the young Formula One season is in the books.  This week the teams visited Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.  This second race was full of seasonal firsts:

First substitute driver, as Carlos Sainz was hospitalized for appendicitis so Ferrari called on its reserve driver, British teenager Oliver Bearman to drive the spaniards car.  The youngster did an outstanding job in his first F1 weekend. He almost qualified in the top 10 narrowly being beaten out by the legend himself Lewis Hamilton.  Oliver had a tremendous race, finishing P7 ahead of McLarens Lando Norris.  The youngster did an absolutely tremendous job in his first F1 race.  Will this lead to him getting picked up somewhere later this season or next?  

We had the first car retired during a race this season when Gasley who was hardly getting started before the Alpine car had to retire due to a faulty gear box.  This continues early season woes for the French race care team.

First yellow flag and safety car of the season when Lance Stroll ended up in the wall becoming the second car to retire this season. 

First lead of the season for Team Papaya when Lando Norris lead the race for a few laps when he didn’t pit during the yellow flag.

First time penalty when Perez had an unsafe release during a pit stop and was penalized 5 seconds by the stewards.  However in a rare case of a Haas driver trying to do better than other drivers Kevin Magnusson won a larger penalty by receiving a 10s one for running Williams driver Alex Alton into the wall, and then receiving a second 10S penalty for gaining a spot by going off track.  Way to be an overachiever Kevin!

On the McLaren side off things their strategy for Norris seemed questionable. They kept him out during the safety car which as mentioned above allowed the British driver to lead a few laps.  But it meant that he spent a long time on old tires that had to be managed. Norris dutifully did an outstanding job of getting his tires far beyond their predicted life. This allowed McLaren to put him soft tires when he pitted at last 38.  He came out in place 8 ahead of fellow British driver Hamilton.  Even though the McLaren car continues to struggle with straight line speed, Lando did an outstanding job of staying ahead of the Mercedes legend, and tried to race down the young rookie Ferrari driver Bearman, but he just didn’t have enough time to make an attempt to pass him.  Hindsight is always 20/20, but I feel if McLaren had pitted Lando just a lap or two earlier Norris would have had enough time to track down Bearman and finish at least one place higher.

Lando’s teammate Piastri had an outstanding weekend.  He qualified ahead of his teammate and ended up in P4 which along with Lando finishing in P8 kept McLaren in the top 3 for the constructors cup through the first 2 races of the season.  The team continues to show they are starting off much better than last season, and I maintain hope that they will finish better than they did last season.

Red Bull continues to show they are far ahead of the pack in every aspect of Formula 1, from drivers to strategy, to racing technology the other teams are tragically lagging behind the racing bulls.

Let's Talk about Straps!

A new watch strap on a watch can completely change the look and feel of your watch.  Going from a metal bracelet to a leather strap, to a nylon strap can make your watch feel like new.  It's why I probably have more straps than I do watches, a small collection you can see above.  The metal bracelets belong to specific watches, but all the other straps are after market.  Things I got because I wanted a new feel, plus it's cheaper than buying a new watch. So if you are looking to change up the look, and think a new watch is the answer, put a different strap on it and see if that helps the urge.  You'll thank me later.

As you may be able to tell, my favorite style of strap is what is called the NATO style, or vinyl strap (these are the 4 straps on the left of the picture).  NATO straps have a fairly long history dating back to 1973 when the British Ministry of Defense wanted a lightweight, durable, waterproof strap that was easy to adjust, cost-effective, and could be multi-purpose.  What they came up with was a single pass through strap made of a durable nylon material (although leather is sometimes used in a NATO strap) that can be adjusted to fit over a military uniform, or a wet suit, or over the bare arm. It also protects the wearer for losing the watch.  Unlike a traditional strap, if a spring bar breaks, the way the NATO strap works, the watch won't fall off the arm.  Me personally?  I just like the way it looks, and feels.  Different types of Vinyl can be used.  Some feel shiny and slick like the material of a seat belt.  Others are ribbed, either horizontally or vertically giving some more rigidity to the strap.  They come in different colors and patterns and from a host of sellers.  

They can however be a bit tricky to put on for the first time especially if you have never worn this type of strap, so I made a little video showing how the strap works (apologies for the audio, may want to have sound turned down).

I do have a few places that I like getting different straps whether they are NATO, or higher end leather straps.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Bark and Jack

Theo and Harris

Crown and Buckle

WatchGecko

Teddy Baldassarre

Sunday Musings and First F1 Race of the Season

 

It's Sunday morning and I am sitting down enjoying a wonderful cup of coffee from Dripping Springs based roaster Greater Goods.  Used my trusty Hario 60 Pour over, with a medium grind from the Sculptor Timemore grinder to make the cup.  It was full of flavors of a proper English Tea, stone fruits, and honey.  A delicious cup that inspires me to take a break, think about the last couple of days and write some. 

I've got some sports thoughts that I'll get to in a second, but first, a quick TV recommendation.  If you are not watching the outstanding HULU series Shogun you are really missing out.  Starring the always great and criminally under utilized Hiroyuki Sanada along with Cosmo Jarvis this adaptation of the classic James Clavell novel pulls you into the show from the very first scenes.  Tremendous cinematography, wonderful fight choreography and top notch acting makes this a show that you need to sit down and check out.  In total there will be 10 episodes, although only the first two are currently out.  It's been ages since I have watched the original Shogun adaptation that came out in the early 80's, but from what I remember this one just feels better.  While the acting in the original was good (you had Richard Chamberlain and Mifune in it after all), this just looks and feels more realistic.  Go check it out.

On to sports.  First some thoughts on my dear Liverpool football club.  A slow start to a midweek 5th round FA Cup match against Southampton ended strongly with a 3-0 victory and an advance to a match against the hated ManU.  I was a little worried that the very young squad Klopp threw out there wasn't going to pull it out, but a score before half let them into the locker room up by 1 before the Reds fully took over in the second half.  The Reds more traditional experienced squad hit the pitch yesterday morning against Nottingham Forrest.  Once again the cardiac Reds kept the fans in suspense as to whether or not they would win the match.  Back up keeper Kelleher continues to do a great job while Allison is out, but the Reds struggled to put the ball in the net.  Just when I thought the match was going to end in a 0-0 tie Darwin Nunez scored at the 98th minute to win the match with a beauty of a header.  Just a tremendous goal that got me out of my seat.  The Reds stay busy this coming week with a Europa League match against Sparta Praha before facing a must win Premiere League match up against Man City.  Fingers crossed that the Reds can put it to City and get the points to stay on top of the table.

Not only did yesterday morning have a great match from the Reds it was also the first race of the Formula 1 season, the Bahrain Gran Prix.  Unsurprisingly, Red Bull's Max Verstappen lead from lights out to checkered flag with no one making an attempt at challenging his dominance.  His teammate Checo came in second allowing Red Bull yet another 1-2 finish.  Somewhat surprising was a third place finish by a Ferrari Driver, just not the one you expected. It wasn't LeClerc, but Sainz leading Ferrari to a third place finish that was surprising.  My team, McLaren finished slightly lower than I had hoped at P6 and P8.  I really had hopes that Lando was going to track down Russell and finish ahead of the Mercedes driver.  Overall though, still MUCH better than last year's start, so hopeful that McLaren continues to improve and put pressure Ferrari and Mercedes.  

Which leads me to overreactions after one race:

1) A year from now Ferrari will have a worse driver line up than they do today.  Look Hamilton was a great driver, maybe the greatest of all time, but he isn't that driver anymore.  Sainz is better and will go somewhere next year making a big impact.

2) Maybe not an overreaction, but Red Bull will walk away with the top of the Constructors championship and driver champions with Max.  But the competition for P2-5 will be tremendous and one of the best in recent years.  Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin will all be fighting for those positions every race.

3) Those 4 teams along with Red Bull are so good that there may be a lot of teams with hardly any points as I expect most of the teams above to score double points each race.

Next week's race at Jeddah should be good as everyone finished the race and there weren't any crashes or damaged cars coming out of Bahrain.  Hopefully McLaren can crack a podium position, but so far I'm pleased with how team papaya are doing.

What are your overreactions after one race?  

Whiskey and Cigar Watching

Making it to midweek and finding some time to relax and enjoy a small pour and a cigar from two of my favorite brands makes work and hectic life just a tad easier.  It's a special time just for me to sit down and enjoy two of my favorite things, three if you include the other part of the picture above.  But let's talk some whisky.

Balvenie is my favorite scotch.  I mentioned Speyside in an earlier post as being my favorite region of Scotland.  I think scotch from here is the most balanced and some like this have a hint of peat.  This particular expression of Balvenie is their Week of Peat, once a year Balvenie distills a batch of peated malt  using their traditional malt bill and then bottle it.  This is a lovely balanced peated Scotch, not overly smokey, but just a hint that toys with the more traditional Balvenie flavors of honey and vanilla.  It's a lovely dram aged for 14 years.  Easy to drink and enjoy, but bold enough to hold up to a nice cigar.

Which brings me to this smoke from Cabal Cigars.  Its important to note that Cabal is owned by a local here in Clear Lake, the same fine gentleman that owns Beers Looking at You, a bar that I wrote about many years ago on the Houston Beer Guide.  So it's nice to smoke something that while not local of course, is owned by a local. This particular smoke is from their Esoterica line I believe with a Dominican wrapper and fillers from Nicaraguan nd Dominican.  It's a nice mild to medium smoke.  A great every day smoke in my opinion, well priced as well and something that paired really well with the Balvenie.  Smooth, notes of leather, coco, a slight sweetness it's a nice easy smoke.  This isn't a smoke that hits you over the head, but it is a great grab and go cigar.  So sit back light up, have a smoke and watch the time go by.

Watching the time, brings me to my last point, this beautiful watch from British independent watch maker Christopher Ward.  I think they have moved beyond the micro brand label.  While they are still primarily on line they are making their own movements, as well as doing a ton of unique things like the horolgoical master piece Bel Canto and the stunning Moonphase.  This particular watch is their Trident a dive watch that has a beautiful green dial.  It is good to down to 300 meters and is a date just watch.  The date window may be my one nit with the front of the watch as I really hate that it is not color matched to the rest of Its a great priced watch at just under $1000 which you can't really complain about.  Its got a great weight to the watch, not to heavy not to light, thin-ish body so it fits under a cuff and nice open style case back. While the movement isn't overly ornate, it is still nice to look at.  It also works on a number of different straps.  The one I purchased came on a very nice metal bracelet with a quick release clasp, however, I have been wearing it on different straps for the last few months.  Primarily a khaki Nato from Bark and Jack, but last week I switched to a one piece leather strap (which is what its on in the picture) from Theo and Harris.  I think it dresses the watch up nicely. So you can buy one watch, with 3 different straps and it really changes the overall style of the piece. I can't recommend Christopher Ward enough, their customer service was top notch when I ordered the watch and for a little bit extra they will size the bracelet for you (sending you any extra links they have removed).  The bracelet fit perfectly when it arrived.  As I stated before they are doing some really interesting things and they are incredible value for the product. Some of the best value out there in my opinion.  If I had any complaints about them, I do feel like their catalog is getting a little large and unfocused.  Too may variants of the same watch, although this is an issue with some of the big luxury brands as well, Omega, I am looking at you!  Overall though they are doing some really great things and keeping the price down which is a great thing since so many watch companies are raising their prices.

Sunday Morning Musings and Formula 1 Predictions

 

I’m sitting in a hotel lobby Starbucks in Vancouver, drinking not so great coffee, staring at the rain coming down outside and figured now was a good time to do some musing.  We’re up in the PacNW celebrating my wife’s birthday, but while she’s sleeping, I’ve got some thoughts!  

 

As I write, Liverpool are about to kick It off against Chelsea for the Carabao Cup (the second tier English Football Trophy).  Fingers crossed they win and give Klopp the first of a few trophies in his final year as Manager of the mighty Reds.

 

Another TV recommendation, geared towards car lovers, but really anyone that loves a good sports docu-series should be watching Drive to Survive on Netflix.  For the uninitiated this show, now in its sixth season follows all of the different Formula One teams during the race season.  Each show focused on one particular team while also giving general ideas of the big storylines for different races.  It’s always a fantastic look at things that are going on behind the scenes and has been tremendous in educating a largely ignorant US public on this type of racing.  I’ve been following F1 for 15 or 16 years at this point, but the number of friends that have gotten into F1 because of this show is unbelievable.  It’s the prime reason we have 3 races in the US now. The videography is tremendous as are the sit-down interviews with the drivers and the team principals (the individuals that run each F1 team).  The latest season is now out, and I’ve already watched about half of the series.  So many things I had forgotten that happened at the beginning of the season, nice to be reminded of what happened during Formula Ones previous season.  A must watch before the first race of the newest F1 season next week.

 

Speaking of the upcoming F1 season I figured I would put down my predictions for where the teams will finish in the constructor cup.  There are some obvious predictions, and maybe some not so obvious ones.  Without further ado:

 

1.     Red Bull Racing - Like it or not this is the obvious choice and one of two on this list that I am sure will end up where they are ranked.  Preseason testing shows they are starting where they left off last year as the dominant team in F1. The question is, will anyone step up and be close to them…

2.     McLaren – Full disclosure, this is my team, the one that I have been following since 2008 or so. They have been struggling the last few years and seemed to aways be 2 years away. However, the last half of last season they were the 2^nd best team in the paddock, and I think that continues into this season.  Norris will get his first race win as well as he leads team papaya back to near the top of the constructor’s cup.

3.     Ferrari – I’ll be honest here, as much as I think McLaren will be at number 2, I could see a flip flop here with Ferrari making it to number 2.  They have 2 great drivers that should be closer to the top than they should be.  However, even with a change in principal last year they were still plagued by unreliable cars and poor track strategy.  What will Ferrari do before Hamilton joins them next year?  Let’s see.

4.     Aston Martin Mercedes – I can’t ever quite put my finger on it, but I’ve never been a fan of the Stroll’s (father or son), but there is no denying what Daddy Stroll has done for Aston Martin.  He has turned around this team in spectacularly quick fashion and brought in one of my favorites all time drivers in Fernando Alonso to lead the team to victory.  Yes, Alonso is the lead driver of the team not Stroll the younger.  Near the end of this season expect chatter about Alonso leaving to maybe replace Hamilton. I think this unlikely, as I expect him to finish his career at Aston.

5.     Mercedes -I expect Hamilton’s last year for the team he made so dominant to be a frustrating one.  Mercedes is no longer top of the pack and many of the formerly also rans have made some huge strides where they have stayed stagnant.  Hamilton will go another year without a win, which will beg the question of why does Ferrari want someone at this stage of his career?  In the modern era drivers at his age don’t win many races let alone championships.

6.     Williams – Have this iconic British racing team turned the corner?  Formally one of the top teams in F1 they have been near or at the bottom for many years, including years of not scoring an entire point all season.  They made a huge leap last year finishing 7^th with new team principal James Vowles (formally of Mercedes under Toto Wolf).  He was able to make some significant midseason updates to the car last year they helped them score some much-needed points.  My bet is that with a full off season he can more strides and move up an additional slot.

7.     RB Racing – Red Bull racings younger less important sibling also features another one of my favorite drivers Daniel Ricciardo.  They also have one of the worst names in F1: Visa CashApp RB Racing.  Absolutely horrid.  But who doesn’t love Daniel and his giant genuine smile.  As much as it pains me, I am just not sure he has the ability to drive this team higher up the standings, especially considering how the other teams have improved over the off season.

8.     Alpine – Just not a whole lot to say here.  A team that I used to have high hopes would make a strong mid-tier run just can’t get it together, their drivers don’t seem to be in sync, competing and crashing into each other more than anything else.

9.     Kick Sauber – I was really hoping that Bottas would leave Mercedes and make an impact somewhere else.  Alas the only thing that is making an impact is his hair choices and his calendar.  The team is not good, and the drivers aren’t good enough to take a poor car and do anything with it.

10.  Haas – The other choice I am confident is that Haas will finish dead last.  The lone American team (as it will be in the future unfortunately thanks to F1 for not accepting Andrade’s bid) run by someone that has no desire to spend any money on his F1 team.  He can just pocket it and his company continues to make a profit.  And Mr. Haas fired one of the stars of Drive to Survive Guenter Steiner, now former team principalof Haas.  While Guenther may not have always done the best job, he was not the prime reason Haas has been in the doldrums and firing him will not improve where Haas finishes the season.

 

That’s it for the team predictions.  I’ll get my top 10 individual drivers’ predictions out before next Sunday’s race.  What are your predictions for the Formula 1 season?

Whiskey and Cigar Wednesday

It's a great thing to have a partner that encourages the things that you love.  My wife just so happens to be one of those partners, and while we typically don't do much for Valentines, she did surprise me with this wonderful bottle of whiskey.  Recently I was able to sit down and enjoy a dram along with a cigar.

 I am a huge fan of wheat forward Whiskies and this expression from Heaven Hill is a great example of why.  Aged 7-9 years and barrel proof this bottle weighed in at 60.7% abv. This could typically lead to an overly hot mouthfeel, but that wasn't the case here.  The wheat mash bill of 51% wheat and 37% corn, softened the heat, adding a sweet note as well.  It's honey, vanilla, a bit of spice and everything was indeed nice.  A splash of water toned down any residual heat if that bothers you.  

The cigar I paired with it, is my old standby.  Oliva Connecticut.  Oliva has been my go to cigar for well over a decade after I was introduced to it at my kids preschool.  Yes you read that correctly as random and weird as that may seem.  Obviously there is a back story, so here it is.  The daughter of the regional Olive rep went to the same preschool as my daughter.  When the preschool hosted the annual spring fling they also have an auction where various business and people donate things like dinners to restaurants or gift cards.  Well this fine gentlemen donated an Oliva cigar gift pack that came with a cutter, a lighter, a nice size cigar ashtray and a wide selection of cigars including samples of their off brand Nub.  Needless to say I won the item in the auction and after smoking a few sticks became a big fan of Oliva and haven't looked back since. While do love smoking cigars, and want to KNOW I am smoking one, I don't love overly robust smokes.  So this Connecticut has quickly become a regular for me.  A Ecaduadorian wrapper and Nicaraguan filler, this cigar smokes very smoothly.  It's a long smoke for me, full of notes of coffee and cream, cedar and a bit of oak, smooth, mellow and silky.  Yes its smooth, and some would call it light, but I do think its full of flavor, its just not a big in your face cigar, and that's just fine with me.  It played well with the soft sweet honeyed notes of the wheated whiskey as well. Made a for a great enjoyable night thanks to my dear wife. 

Greater Goods Coffee and Sunday Morning Musings

 

Sunday mornings are my favorite.  It's a day that has no real plans.  It starts off quietly, me getting up early because well, I always get up early, everyone else is asleep so I get to make myself coffee and have some time to do things for myself.  The first thing I always do of course is make a cup of coffee.  I'll talk about my coffee set up another time, but know that usually I make some sort of pour over, or French press.  Today is no different, and I used my new MIIR Chemex style carafe that I supported last year on Kickstarter.  I use it when I want to make a larger amount of coffee that I can drink on all morning, in other words, it's perfect for a Sunday.  The coffee I used, I just received in the mail from Texas Roaster Greater Goods.  They are based out of Dripping Springs, and roast some amazing single origins and blends that I have been a big fan of for many years. Today's particular brew is a blend that celebrates the Year of the Dragon.  It seems everyone is releasing something special (this is never truer than in the watch industry where everyone seems to have a dragon related watch out).  But I digress, back to the coffee. This particular blend, called Prosperity Blend is made with beans from Kenya and Mexico.  It's medium roasted and I used a ratio of 15:1 which is my standard.  It makes a beautiful cup with chocolatey and plum notes, maybe slightly sweet, with a nicely balanced level of acidity.  Well balanced for a long morning of drinking.  

In addition to sitting down with a nice cup of coffee, Sunday's are for musing, so join me while I express some thoughts on a couple of things near and dear to me.  First up is Liverpool F.C. my favorite football club in the world.  I've been a LFC fan for almost 20 years dating back to 2006 when I had the opportunity to live over in Europe and became infatuated with European football.  LFC has one of the best managers in the world in Jurgen Clop who surprisingly announced that this year will be his last with the club.  Shortly after the announcement the Reds played some inspired matches, charged up to make Klopp proud, but the last few matches they've had to eke out wins or even ties.  That won't be good enough if they want to stay atop the table.  So it was with that in my mind that I sat down to watch their match yesterday agains the lowly club from Burnley.  On the positive side of things before the match it was announced that Mo Salah would be back in the lineup after a month away playing for his national team and being injured.  On the negative side it was announced that their starting keeper Allison would be out.  Liverpool doesn't have great depth between the poles so I was a tad worried, but hoped that because we were playing Burnley we would be OK.  Luckily I was right.  The Reds (even though they were playing in their atrocious lavender inspired third kits, they are always the Reds) dominated.  Salah played like he had never been gone, making some tremendous assists and getting his own goal as he helped lead the team to a 4-1 win.  In other good news Man City tied, allowing the Reds to stay 4 points ahead at the top, and 3 points ahead of Arsenal.  I am hopeful that the Reds can stave off the gunners and city and allow Klopp to ride off into the sunset with another Premiere League title.  You can't write a better ending to his stay than that.

Speaking of endings, that leads to me to my next topic.  I'm an unabashed petrol head.  While I have never had the pleasure of owning a performance car, I love them.  I love watching racing, particularly Formula 1, and I love the engineering behind high performance vehicles.  As a petrol head, my leaders have always been that British Trio of Clarkson, May, and Hammond.  The crazy, imbecilic, moronic, hilarious and yes educational group behind Top Gear and then Amazon Prime's Grand Tour.  I've been watching them diligently for over 20 years.  Yes sometimes they make me grimace with the comments, but they also make me laugh out loud and cry because I am laughing so much.  A few weeks ago they announced that the Grand Tour would be ending and they would be breaking up the band so to speak, which honestly doesn't come as to much of a surprise.  Yes they are getting older, but they do have their own shows, Clarkson with his farm show, May with his travel shows, and Hammond with his own business and show on Discovery. But with this announcement came the release this past Friday of their penultimate episode Sand Job.  The idea of the show is for them to build a high end Dakar Rally vehicle for cheap, so they modify a Jaaaaag Type F (called the F-off of course), and Aston Martin DB8, and a Maserati.  Their usual hijinks ensue and while I felt this show wasn't quite up to par with some of their other excursions it was a lot of fun and it is always nice to see these three back behind the wheel.  They honestly do hide some smart and intelligent insights in between the bickering, insults, and pranks.  I look forward to their last show together (for now) coming out later this year.  With a trip through Zimbabwe it should make for good TV at least.

Enough musing, I need more coffee. 

A Mission Ends, A Celebration

One week ago I posted the above photo on Instagram, celebrating the end of a mission that I had supported.  I used to it to highlight how I was planning on celebrating, and with the rebirth of the blog I realized that this picture also highlights a few of my favorite things, watches, scotch, and cigars.  These are the type of things I plan on talking about here. What do I like and why.  What draws me to these things.

A Davidoff cigar is definitely not my usual smoke (that will definitely be in a post coming up), but it is one that I reach for to celebrate special events, and last Friday was one such occasion.  This particular expression the famous Churchill is just about perfect.  A little expensive to be a regular smoke, well at least for me, this is what a celebratory smoke should be.  Long lasting, robust, chocolatey, spicy, and oaky its just about perfect.

When it comes to Scotch, I love peat, however there are times when I want something a bit milder, fruitier, a bit spicier and on those occasions I typically reach for a treat from Speyside.  My go to tipple is usually a Balvenie expression (again, more on them in a later post I am sure), however, last week I reached for something that I hadn't had before, Aberlour 18.  This was a tremendous scotch, and one that I was extremely happy I had purchased.  Aged in two different types of Sherry casks it is definitely sherry forward.  If you love sherry, you will love this scotch.  Notes of citrus and butterscotch on the nose with a rich spicy palate, stone fruits, and just a touch of honey.  Combined with the Davidoff Churchill and its notes of vanilla and oak, made for a tremendous flavor combination.  I love how the flavors of whiskey and cigars play off each other, sometimes complimenting eachother, other times fighting one another for dominance.  Both of these can make for a wonderful experience and is one of the reasons that I look forward to sitting down and trying new combinations.

Last but not least is my watch.  Not something that I typically reach for to celebrate, but like many watches has a story.  I got this watch recently to celebrate a raise at work along with getting a special assignment.  I went to my local Omega AD and fell in love with this watch.  The iconic Seamaster 300.  But not the traditional blue, or white dial, this deep dark rich green.  In certain pictures like the one on the left it shows up almost black, but in others it's a vibrant green.  I love how it looks, the heft of it.  It's a big watch to be sure at 42 MM, but on my average wrist I think it still works.  On the steel 5 link bracelet it looks amazing, although I may try it out on a Nato in the coming months.  The sapphire caseback is a beautiful showcase for the Co-Axial 8800 movement.  It's a fantastic tool watch that represents more than just a dive watch.  It was by my side, or well, on my wrist throughout the recent mission, helping to keep me on track during periods where it was hard for me to remember where I needed to be next.  But it never overloaded me with input (something that has scared me off of smart watches now).  It's also just an absolutely beautiful time piece and a welcome addition to my admittedly small (for now) collection.  

Last Friday as I enjoyed the scotch and the cigar, thinking about the previous few weeks and all that had occurred, I looked down at my watch, seeing the date marveling at how the time had flown by and smiled.  This is my alone time, the time during the week, with a cigar and a smoke, that I don't have to look down at my watch to tell the time, I look down at it to admire the tremendous amount of engineering that went into designing it.  It's about appreciating all the people that helped make this thing sitting on my wrist.  The people that helped harvest the tobacco leaves, and the person that rolled my cigar so perfectly, and the distillery master that over almost two decades created such an amazing beverage.  That is why I enjoy these things.

"Tap Tap'. Is this thing on?

 WOW!  It's hard to believe it's been almost 8 years since my last post.  Now the question is, can I revive this blog?  Not the same old barleyvine, but a new evolved BarleyVine!  These last 6 years my interests and taste it things have changed.  I've started new journeys into new interests and now I am at the point where I want to write about them, and yes maybe even talk about them, but stay tuned for that announcement in the next few weeks.  For now, welcome new readers and join in on my ride through the wonderful world of watches, whisk(e)y, travel, cars (mainly some F1 talk) and who knows what else.  What I promise is my full unvarnished opinion, hopefully some good photographs and good conversation.  I hope you'll drop me a line or reach out to me on X, Threads, Instagram, or whatever else your favorite social media app is these days.  If you don't see me there, drop me a line here and I'm always happy to chat about one of my favorite topics.