Moonshine

[Murphy]

When I was in Dipolog at my wifes family house...she has 6 brothers. I mentioned I wanted Tuba....wow..what a reaction. They all were surprised I knew what it was...and I was a close member of the family after that. They rushed out to get some...but all the woman were warning me....youll be in the comfort house if you drink too much...and everyone thought that was funny....it worked...i was careful and only drank a glass.
Red Horse is good also....her family loaded up with bottles of it for our beach picnic...beer...or booze...we unite around it...lol.

[BingColin]

I was into making home made wine very many years ago, I preferred the soft fruits, gooseberries being my favourite. I would add some bananas to give it more body. I tried vegetables and grains, but was often not too happy with them. I would think that Mangoes would make a good wine here, it wont taste like Mango if done properly.

If you want to distill it, put a container of it in a freezer until it is all ice. As it thaws, the top will be almost pure alcohol progressing down to almost fruit juice at the bottom

Home made beer is also very quick and easy to make; it can be far better than anything you can buy anywhere. I used to make it for parties and it went down very well.

[fred]

I make Mango,papaya and banana wine in 5 gallon water containers here.. Im pretty lucky as I have stock of champagne yeast although I have used bread yeast as well.. Alcohol content much lower though..
All perfectly acceptable white wine produced.. A few expats here are asking me to bottle it and sell it to them but think I`ll keep it for myself!

[Gray Wolf]

During our road trip to Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte we discovered Basi wine made from sugar cane.  The vendor we bought ours from had at least three variants, one for lalaki, one for babae and one that was aged 3 years for \"lolos\".  It was my favorite.   

They ran about 85Php per bottle but we got a discount for buying in quantity (1 case)  Ceap, strong, definitely not for the faint of heart.   

[OldManBill]

My grandfather made something he called Red Dog. I know how to make it, but there isnt enough money in the world to get me to make a run. It was a mixed...beverage. First, you make some moonshine, then you add a few \"secret\" ingredients, like wheat poppies, then after mixing, you add to some crushed pitted cherries, some yeast, then ferment again. The juice from the cherries cuts the alcohol. Strain and age it in an oak barrel. I tried some...once. Never again! I couldnt feel my skin or much of anything else. Im a fairly big guy, and one good sized shot glass knocked me on my...


I gave him the last of it when he was dying of prostate cancer in 1996. That stuff worked better than morphine.

[Murphy]

Man!....dont your wives get on you guys about your livers?
My wife reminds me every time I drink..or even talk about drinking

[Gray Wolf]

Man!....dont your wives get on you guys about your livers?
My wife reminds me every time I drink..or even talk about drinking

I get a blood test every 6 months due to diabetes.  If you looked at my blood chemistry you\'d think I was only 35!  If anything starts to show signs of wear, I\'ll cut back more than I have.  But for now I\'m happy, and she\'s happy that I\'m happy... and healthy!    

In everything, moderation is the key     

[oneiloilokano]

My wife only gets on me if I overdo it (more than 3 days in a row) which is just an occasional thing, like when the holidays and birthdays intersect. Besides my adult beverage of choice is and always will be pale pilsen. Not as hard on the liver as some other cheap choices here like Tanduay rum or Emperador brandy  

[fred]

My wife only gets on me if I overdo it (more than 3 days in a row) which is just an occasional thing, like when the holidays and birthdays intersect. Besides my adult beverage of choice is and always will be pale pilsen. Not as hard on the live as some other cheap choices here like tanduay rum or emperordor brandy 

Emperador light is not too bad..About 25% volume and costs 70.00PHP..
Its those expensive imported brands that you need to watch IMO!!

[OldManBill]

LOL Murphy. Im not married...yet. Believe it or not, I havent had a drink in years, aside from an occasional beer or small glass of wine. Even that is only about once or twice a year. I learned young that alcohol and I didnt get along very well. If I mix beer and liquor, I turn extremely mean and nasty. The only thing that saved me from jail, on several occasions, was the fact that they had weapons and I had witnesses. I had to quit drinking to the point of intoxication. I dont know why I react that way, and the only other person I know that had the same reaction was my grandfather. I stopped drinking heavily in my early 20\'s.

My liver could fill a book. Actually, it was part of an article in a medical journal in the early 70\'s. My sister, brother, and I were born with a rare condition where we could not process milk sugar (lactose). This condition killed my sister at the age of 6 weeks. There are several variants, but we had one that had been fatal in every recorded case. It is extraordinarily rare. The last recorded case of the variant we had, in the state of North Carolina before we were born, was in the first decade of the 1900\'s. Our livers could not break down the lactose. Our livers then stored it as crystals. We found this out in my sister\'s autopsy. Before the age of 3, I had no milk or milk byproducts. Even now, blood tests show abnormal enzymes levels. There is only one nice result of having had this condition, besides actually being alive. Tests have shown that we seem to be immune to certain illnesses, like hepatitis, and we also seem to process out medications very quickly. Ok, thats my personal freaky story for the day.  

[coleman2347]

This section is a little old, but, somethings I have found out about Tuba..
First, its cheap here.  1 gal. = 100p, most of the quality where I live is about the same..I have got some thats watered down especially on holidays where its in demand. 
How to make it much better...I buy it by the five gallon container and transfer it to the standard one liter or bigger coke bottles.
I place them in a dark closet and leave them for a month.  I use a small hose and siphoning to do the transfer.
I then transfer them to another container (coke bottle) making sure that the hose does not reach the bottom of the original container.

The red mango bark used to turn the naturally white tuba to a red color settles in the bottom of the bottle. This bark is what normally gives the slightly bitter taste to the tuba. The object here is to remove as much of the bark sediment as possible.   And from my understanding is used mostly in the tuba from Leyte.

Every month I repeat the first step...I try to do this for up to a year depending on how many times I need tuba (more on holidays)
Note: Fill bottles to the top leaving no space for air, If you don't you will end up with nothing but coconut vinegar.

The stuff that is a year old is bahalina and is considered the best..strongest and smoothest
The stuff that is less than 6 months is called bahal and depending on how much you recycle it to get the bark out can be good also.

It seems the key to getting smooth, sweet tuba is how much you recycle it to get the bark out...I'm lucky as one of my brothers in law helps with the recycling as sometimes there is up to thirty litters to be recycled.

Drinking the stuff...most locals here (I can not speak for anywhere else) usually either drink the tuba straight and chase it with coke/pepsi or mix it about 75% tuba to 25% coke/pepsi.  If your drinking with Filipinos there will usually be one that's the "ganner" or the one that pours...its an act of politeness..I really haven't determined if there is a age based thing associated with that or what.  It seems to me that when drinking with Malines family the younger brother is usually the ganner, however on occasion I am.

My method must work as many of the locals have commented on the tuba I have here at the house...

When I first got here and had a party at the house I did like I use to do in the States, just go the the store and buy liquor.  Now I just serve Tuba and Beer....Its a lot cheaper and I find that most prefer it.  I prefer to mix it with Pepsi as it seems sweeter than Coke.

Just a little warning, I have also found that if you over do it, you will not have to worry about being constipated for a few days