(no subject)

[marcmagus]

"I have a religious obligation to drink these two bottles of beer tonight."

Sold hametz to a friend. Removed it from my apartment (To the landing outside my door. That should suffice). Generally cleaned up some more, particularly in the kitchen. Washed all dishes, and kashered most of the cookware and other kasherable things. Finished the beer that was in a (Jewish) friend's fridge, so that's no longer an issue.

I'm heading off tomorrow afternoon to spend the weekend with family. It's the first year in a while I'm not providing a place at the table for out-of-town friends, the family is dwindling in size, and my parents have invited local friends of theirs. It should be interesting to see what this year's crowd feels like.

Founder's Day falls during Passover this year. I'm not thrilled. Celebrating a brewer's birthday during Passover just doesn't promise to be as much fun. Hmmm....anybody know of anybody that sells real cider (made from fermented pressed apples, not beer and apple juice) that's either kosher for passover, or close enough I can convince myself it is? (No hametz grains involved in the process, or other beverages involving such in the same brewery ought to suffice, right?)

Chag Sameach.

Comments

[andrianna.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the little farmstand place that has the cider donuts?? (I think you and I have talked about this place before..) I don't know if they're open yet, though...

[lepidus.livejournal.com]

Try Doc's Hard Cider at Half Time. I know it's good cider, and that it's real fermented cider, so I'm pretty sure it qualifies as long as you're not picky about rabinical certification.

[soulchanger.livejournal.com]

Old Brick Hard Apple Cider.

[fnordfromabove.livejournal.com]

From the site:

"Old Brick is a superior cider, specially formulated to American tastes."

So this means what exactly? Watered down?

[aiglet.livejournal.com]

It probably means it's sweet, instead of super-dry like Magner's or similar.

I have to say that despite my fondness for Guiness and other non-American beverages, English cider is pretty foul.

[directordale.livejournal.com]

I am kind of suprised that no one has petitioned the college and Founder's Day crew to provide non-grain alcochol alternatives to the Jewish students. Of course it does not really matter to me because I generally fudge the last day of Passover (Friday April 29 will be my last fully Kosher for Passover day)

[marcmagus]

Ummm, I can see fudging the last day, and I was thinking about it too, but isn't Sunday the last day of Passover?

[directordale.livejournal.com]

Not when you are as about as religious as I am. I keep kosher for passover 6 days. So Friday will be the last night I stay kosher for passover. I also follow kosher by passover by using the rules of my 1/4 Sephardic blood which allows me to eat rice, legumes (i.e. peanut butter), corn, etc.

[pumblechook.livejournal.com]

What else is kosher for Passover besides hard cider? I'm trying to convience my non-Hasidic Jew friends to buy kosher alcohol for the last day. Most of them absolutely refuse to drink maneshevitz (who can blame them?), and I'm trying to think of easier options. Do you know of any foolproof brands/types of alcohol I could push toward them in order to get them nice and unsober on Founder's Day? ;)

[marcmagus]

Slivovitz (with possible alternate spellings like Shlivovitz) is sort of the "traditional" kosher for Passover liquor. It's plum brandy, and quite nice. I just don't think I can bring myself to drink it all Founder's Day, which is why I was looking for suggestions on something lighter/cooler as well.

Are your friends picky about their beverages being labeled Kosher for Passover (as I am not)? Many wines should qualify, and I know a number (besides Maneschevitz and other sweet concord grape wines of its ilk) are even labeled. So wine, and things made with wine and other non-grain ingredients, should qualify. Hmmmm....sangria...

In general, you'd want to look for the words "Kosher for Passover" in English and/or Hebrew explicitly on the label. If you don't know what it looks like in Hebrew and can't get someone to show you before I get back to Poughkeepsie, I can show you on Monday. The closest thing to foolproof is the Slivovitz, but I'm not certain that all Slivovitz is KfP, so you'll still want to check the label.

[directordale.livejournal.com]

Any decent wine store should have a good selection of "kosher for passover" wines which are not Maneshevitz. Maneshevitz is no longer the be all and end all of kosher wine anymore. Lots of wineries have discovered there is a market for producing good kosher wine.

Rum should be okay to drink at least by my understanding of "kosher for passover" Keep in mind that I am a reform Jew and very willing to add exceptions to the "kosher for passover" rules in order to fit my own needs.

I won't eat bread or any kind of pastry, cake, or obvious grain product. But pretty much everything else is on the table. Most Jews consider rice and legumes to be unkosher during passover. Coke is also a no-no because it contains corn syurp. I do not follow those rules because I find them inconvient and silly.

[marcmagus]

I did some research on the rice/legume thing (collectively known as kitniot) last year, and what you say about their being unkosher for Passover is somewhat misleading. The Ashkenazi rabbinate declared that kitniot are not to be consumed on Passover. However, they weren't declared to be hametz. This is an important distinction, as hametz isn't to be owned, profited from, or used in any fashion (except for eating matzah, made from hametz grains, which is required during the seder).

I don't have a lot of confidence that rum is made entirely from fermented sugar, and doesn't have a neutral grain alcohol added to make it cheaper. Lots of liquors (other than whisk(e)y) should, in theory, be fine, but it's hard to know the contents if they haven't been approved by a rabbi.