I love seeing step by step stuff like this on DS, be it gardening, setting up a home gym, brewing... Examples of white industry and self reliance, you know?
That said, I wouldn't have pegged you for the rice wine type. Must be somewhat uncommon for your area, I would think? I became pretty acquainted with various types of rice wines (as well as what they pass for beer over in asia) during my years on the West Coast Of Canada (nature of the beast, their culture is everywhere in urban BC, and my job called for a lot of socializing with the locals). I found I could never really get any kind of drunk going, very much a clear headed kind of energy.
Anyway. For warm summer days, does anything really beat a cold Hefeweizen? The one thing I miss most of all from avoiding grains the past few months is a nice wheat beer on the balcony in the afternoon.
Of course, where I live, summer is a short - yet brutal- season, and then the long winter sets in. That's when I would bust out the Ales on Lees from storage. Maybe the occasional bottle of Gulden Draak (I'm sure others recognize this brand, distinctive stubby white bottle and very potent).
I would love to distill my own spirits (such is legal in a certain province Id love to retire to). I've done my share of beer brewing (wish I could find my old digicam and see if it's still got pictures from these projects), wine moreso from watching my Opa make his own red (this will be the next thing I get into, I think - the original topic kind of inspired me to take that off the shelve as something to do in the near future) as he found the cheap wine available here absolute garbage compared to what he was used to back in Europe.
I advise anyone who loves a digestif; grappa. The cheaper the better, imo, but over here it is a niche market and thus more high end.
