Tusker…A Taste of Africa

IMG_0459In 1922, Kenyan Brewery co-founder George Hurst was killed by an elephant during an African Hunting expedition. His legend lives on with a beer the brewery named Tusker, in his honor.

Tusker is the highest selling beer in East Africa and for good reason. Made with 100%, locally sourced, African ingredients. The spring water used comes from the Aberdare Mountains, the barley is from the Maasai Mara and Savannah, and the yeast is developed locally. All of this helps, as their website says, “Makes you feel closely connected to the brand’s origins and roots.” Considered a light beer, this lager is crisp and outdoorsy. There’s a hint of residual sweetness, but a mix of woodsy flavor. Its a common beer in Africa, and much better than our common beers of the United States. I had the opportunity to drink it several times while staying at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Jambo House Lodge. It’s served endlessly to their guests staying on the club level. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of an African Village, or being in the company of wildebeests, giraffes and zebras, but I very much-enjoyed Tusker and its distinct taste.

Interesting that East African Breweries Limited is noted as the best company to work for in Kenya. With great beers like Tusker around the factory, Id say it would be easy to love working there too.

I can’t give a review of a beer called tusker, without mentioning my favorite elephant foundation. The Daphne Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This is an amazing foundation and elephant orphanage that raises elephants that have been orphaned by the killing of adult females for the ivory trade. However, baby elephants can’t drink anything but their mother’s milk for the first two years of their life. Through three decades of trial and error, Dr. Daphne Sheldrick created the only successful milk substitute for baby elephants. Her orphanage rescues baby elephants and raises them until they are able to live in Africa’s preserve with other herds of elephants, many of who are previous orphans from the nursery. For much more information or to foster an orphaned elephant visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.

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Brewer:  East African Breweries Limited

ABV: 4.20

Rating: 4.4 pints out of 5

 

By: Cindy R.

 

MoyaRuiz’s La Jugada Prieto

IMG_0363It’s no secret that the founders of MoyaRuiz, Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz, love to play dominos. From that love a cigar line was born. La Jugada “The Play.” MoyaRuiz has put great attention to detail in manufacturing these cigars and has produced an amazing product. The MoyaRuiz cigar line is something that cannot be ignored.

The La Jugada line has two cigar types that are readily available, the Habano and Prieto. While both are outstanding cigars I prefer a darker, fuller flavored cigar so I prefer to smoke the Prieto (meaning “dark” in Spanish) and this review will be on their Robusto 5 X 52.

The construction of The Prieto is wonderful. A dark Mexican San Andre’s wrapper covers the cigar giving it a dark roasted almond to coffee bean color with rich oils. While pressing along the stick I noticed few veins in the wrapper and there appears to be no noticeable imperfections in the body. It feels firm but still pliable to the touch and is clearly well rolled with the perfect amount of tobacco.

The hand selected Nicaraguan long fillers and binders of this cigar have some wonderful aromas. A sniff around the body brings a smell of wet hay, dark chocolate, and a hint of leather. Spending some time around the foot began to show this cigar’s complexity. The smell of licorice, pine, and dried apricot were noticeable making this an appetizing cigar.IMG_0365

It cut easy with no cracking and lit even easier. Because of this cigars excellent construction the draw is smooth and effortless. A fair amount of smoke is created by this cigar and feels light and billowy on the tongue. The initial flavor is of pepper and spice that finishes with a hint of dark chocolate. As the cigar reaches it’s mid-point the spiciness begins to lessen while the chocolate flavor becomes a little more apparent. It also begins having slight coffee and cream notes. The last quarter of the stick is a full of coffee and chocolate with the spices hiding quietly in the background. The cigar burned evenly and was enjoyable the whole way through.

If you are trying to find a new everyday maduro this is the cigar for you. It’s well-constructed body and excellent choices in wrapper, filler, and binder combination makes it a fantastic smoke for anyone with a discerning palate. Next time you’re in your local smoke shop and are wondering what to try… look for a MoyaRuiz.

 

Wrapper – San Andres

Origin – Nicaragua

Shapes – Robusto, Toro, Belicoso, Double Corona, Ancho

Brand: MoyaRuiz

Website: moyaruizcigars.com

Rating: 4.6 out of 5 pints

Catching Big on Catch My Drift

Rogan 1My cousin and I wanted to take a fishing trip last weekend. While sorting through all the companies that offer this service we chose Fishing Headquarters based out of Ft Lauderdale Florida. They specialize in sport fishing and drift fishing. We decided to take their drift-fishing trip, as we had never tried this method before. We arrived for our 8 am trip and were greeted by a great crew. The captain seemed quite knowledgeable and helpful. We boarded the boat with about 50 other passengers. On board were a mixture of people from tourists, locals, families, and serious fisherman who came with multiple rods and all sorts of their own “secret weapons.” With so many aboard on board we wondered if we would be able to catch any thing, but we left the dock and headed out to the first drift point.

As we went out the crew went over the proper use of the rods and reels along with some other safety points. As we got to the drift point all the passengers lowered their lines to a depth just off the sea bottom. As we waited for our lines to pull the calls for “fish on” could be heard across the boat with passengers pulling up fish after fish, this excitement continued for the duration of the trip. The crew knew everything about the fish we were catching and the area, making the trip even better.rogan 3

As we continued the trip we stopped at several more drift points and caught a plethora of beautiful, delicious fish all while discovering how fun and different drift-fishing could be. The catch ranged from hogfish, mangrove snappers, and strawberry grouper to less edible and more beautiful Queen triggerfish.

rogan2The trip was enjoyed by all aboard whether you were southern boys having a few beers and trying to win the pool for biggest catch or the family on vacation enjoying fishing for the first time.

 

Rating: 4.6 out of 5 pints

Cost: $40 per person for 4hr drift fishing trip

Company: http://www.fishheadquarters.com/

“The Catch My Drift is an incredible drift fishing boat. 85’ in length, she is the largest, fastest and the only Air-Conditioned party fishing boat in Fort Lauderdale. They have spared no expense with 3 Color Fish Finders, Radio, GPS Satellite Navigation and Chart Plotting, T.V., DVD, Full Galley, Upper and Lower deck access, and every other amenity you can think of.”