Time to "Get Jacked"!

   About this time last year I ventured into the world of wine making.  I watched a You Tube video of a guy making a rhubarb wine and I though to myself, "I can do that".  I was talking to a friend about it at work and he told me he had some equipment his father had used, before he died, and was willing to let me have it.  I took him up on the offer and with some added gear and some help from a friend, I made my first batch of wine.  It was a delicious rhubarb/raspberry wine.

First glass of "Get Jacked"

   This is a photo of a glass from bottling night.  I must say that it turned out a bit nicer than I had expected for my first go.  We had to decide what to name it.  We decided to call our little wine endeavor "Northern Lights Wine", but we needed a name for the individual wine.  My wife, Selena, has become the one to go to for most of our names.  This one we called "Get Jacked", in honor of my alma mater, South Dakota State University.  That is one of their sayings during sporting events.
   Here is the label I ended up creating.  The batch produced 23 bottles plus a little to enjoy after bottling.  We have shared it recently and it has gotten even better as it has aged.  This was bottled in December of 2016.
   When my friend gave me the equipment, I promised him I would go to the State Cemetery where his father is buried, and have a glass of wine with his father.  It was far too cold this past winter, so on Memorial Day, after the ceremony had ended, I took a bottle from the first batch of wine I made and had a glass with Mr. Peter Herda.  His glass is in my left hand and I stuck it into the grass in front of his marker.  His son, my friend, showed up as I was finishing and my friends daughter was an onlooker.  It was cool to be able to share a glass with a fellow service member.

A promise kept

   I have now begun the 2017 wine making season and just started this year's batch of "Get Jacked".  I hope this one turns out as good as last year's.