The Drinking Time

Fälälälälälä

2011-01-20T23:23:00.007-05:00

Growing up as a metal head, I had it burned into my brain that umlauts were cool. They represented awesome kick-assyness - if you were naming a band and you decided to put an umlaut in there somewhere (regardless of whether it was an appropriate use of it - I'm looking at you, Queensrÿche) you were making a definitive statement about your band, you, and how you viewed the world.

Now I realize that definitive statement was, in most cases, "I am a doüche bag." But that aside, when I saw Scaldis Noël Premium my mind said "This beer must rock!" Then, when I paid $18 for it, my mind said "You're an idiot!" Or maybe that was my wife. Regardless, I figured that, since I love holiday beers and, at 13% ABV, this was a big one, my enjoyment of this brew would outweigh my pangs of guilt over my fiscal irresponsibility.

A Belgian Strong Dark Ale, this version of Brasserie Dubuisson Freres' Scaldis Noël becomes "Premium" when it gets additional fermentation in the bottle. It gets its high alcohol content purely from fermentation (not freezing water out, etc). Upon popping the cork from the 750ml bottle and pouring the reddish amber brew into a glass, you're rewarded with a creamy, dense white head which lasts a LONG time. Floaty bits of yeast swirl in the glass as the bubbles snake their way up from the bottom to feed the head. The aroma was strong with alcohol and a grapey sweetness. The grapey aspect extended to the taste and especially the long finish on this beer - malty, almost cloyingly sweet, a little plummy. Reminded me very much of a figgy pudding in a glass, which I guess is appropriate for a holiday beer.

This is definitely a sipping beer, something you would share with a couple of friends and consume while reminiscing over days gone by - like that time you took that really hot chick to the Mötley Crüe concert and then as soon as you got there she bolted to hang with her friends near the front row and you ended up sitting by yourself the whole time. Good times.

NOTE: the one exception to the umlaut hindsight rule is Hüsker Dü - they do, in fact, rock.

I Like Dark Snapper

2010-07-30T18:25:00.006-04:00

[*Disclaimer: I read an article somewhere about how to get people to read your blog posts, and it mentioned that you should always have a catchy title for your post that gets people to see what it's about. Hence what you see above. Of course, I believe everything I read on the Internet, so we'll see ]

My first love has always been beer. I really like cocktails (obviously) and appreciate the distilling and bartending crafts, but beer drinking and beer making got me really geeked out on the whole artisinal side of imbibing. I recently have been picking up limited edition or special brews that I see in the few outlets around the DC area that carry them. About 3 months ago, I picked up a Terrapin "The Dark Side" Belgian Style Imperial Stout, one of their line of Side Project, one off production brews. I learned recently via Twitter that it was pretty much at its peak, so I decided to crack it open (although imperial stouts aren't what you would immediately think of as a hot summer day type beer.) How wrong you would be.

I've had Terrapin's Rye Pale Ale before, and really liked it (I am a sucker for rye in any form, apparently). So I was anticipating good things, although I was concerned that the beer might be past its prime. If it is, then this beer must have been freakin' glorious when it was at the height of its game. It pours with a very thin, toffee colored head, and smelled of light coffee and that special Belgian yeast smell that's really hard to describe. I expected a thick mouth feel, but it was very dry - caramel and chocolate was there, but not the sweetness that you would associate with those tastes. It went down clean, and then a slight bitterness formed on the side of my tongue, adding a nice complexity to the beer. This is a somewhat high ABV beer (8.5%), but you don't get that sense at all while drinking it (I'll probably feel it later, though)

Overall, I really liked this, and am glad I picked it up. Too bad it's not more widely available, or I'd pick up some more. My love for dark snapper will have to be shelved (for now).

Podcast! Again!!!

2010-06-22T19:14:00.002-04:00

Amazingly (really, it was pretty amazing) Joe, Eric and I were able to pool our collective time, resources, and distended livers to create a new podcast. In honor of July 4th (also known in the US as "The Day I Blew My Hand Off"), we talk about some cocktails which take advantage of some spirits produced in the good ol' US of A. Here are the recipes for those drinks, with links to the yankee spirits used to create them. Check the podcast for drinking, laughing, learning (and some burping...just a little).

The Red Hook

2oz Copper Fox Rye Whiskey

1oz Punt E Mes

.5oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass, add ice, and stir for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

BONUS: check the pics I took on a visit to Copper Fox a couple of years ago - Rick Wasmund's Mom gave us the tour :)

The Caricature

2oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin

.5oz sweet vermouth

.5oz Campari

1oz fresh grapefruit juice

1oz simple syrup

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice a shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

The BH11

Check my previous blog post to learn about the origins of and recipe for this custom concocted cocktail utilizing Elemental Organic Vodka.

Podcast!!

2010-05-28T15:46:00.002-04:00

After much hard work and a (large) number of strong drinks, the inaugural version of The Drinking Time podcast has been posted! For this addition - we drink a couple of beers, and check out three cocktails ideally suited to the Memorial Day weekend. Check it - you know you weren't doing anything with that 17 minutes and 44 seconds anyway.

Second Stop in NYC - Death + Company

2010-04-30T08:32:00.009-04:00

After my tasty Chimay and less than tasty chicken sandwich at House of Brews, I went back to my hotel to make sure I had all my addresses and contact info squared away. I get around pretty well in the New York subway, but I realized that a little research before I delved head first into the rush hour clogged tunnels would probably serve me well, especially for the part of the evening where I am heading back to the hotel after a handful of drinks. Got my bearings, made a list of the trains I needed to hit, and off I went. Next stop - Death + Company.

When you get into a conversation with someone about cocktails in NYC (which I sometimes do), Death + Co. always comes up - innovative, cutting edge cocktails that harken back to a time when bartending was a great American art. The name is tough to get a handle on - their web site mentions that, in the hysteria leading up to the adoption of the Vollstead Act and what would be the Prohibition Era (widely seen as the death of the art of bartending), those that drank alcohol were said to lead a life overshadowed by death at all times. So Death and it's company - the drinker. Sylvia Plath also has a short poem entitled Death and Co. - but since I gave up being an English measure in large part because I sucked at literary analysis (and was far too good at consuming large amounts of Milwaukee's Best), I won't even start in on what connection there may be to that.

The bar itself presents a somewhat imposing facade - dark wood and steel fronting, no windows, "Death & Co." written in script in stone in front of the heavy wooden door with a sculptural wrought iron handle. Manned by an appropriately hipster-ish doorman, the bar doesn't take reservations, and is first come first served with no standing. If the place is full, they will take your phone number and call you when a bar seat or table becomes available, but I have heard the waits can be quite long (if you consider never getting a call back "long".)

To make sure I didn't have any such issues, I showed up early in the evening on a Wednesday. My friend Ron accompanied me - a former NYC resident and long time drinking buddy from our UMD days (see above about Milwukee's Best consumption), I always try to hook up with him when I am in town to catch up. It also helps to cut down on that "creepy guy drinking alone" vibe which tends to turn people off for some reason. After being escorted inside by the hipster doorman, we entered the dimly lit bar. Lots of candlelight, dark wood slat ceilings, shimmery yet subdued wallpaper and sconces. Very much the speakeasy / drinking "establishment" look and feel. Even early, the bar was pretty full, so we chose to sit at a table - probably our first mistake of the evening.

The bar lines one side of the space, and the other is lined by small tables in the front and then booths as you move further back, with a "back bar" all the way in the back. Sitting at a table removes you from one of the big draws of the place - watching the bartenders make drinks. They do it with style and professionalism here, and having your well crafted cocktail delivered to you by a (albeit lovely and very engaging) waitress kinda deadens the experience. And the place does get loud, and these tables are close to one another, so I am sure the couple sitting next to us on a date loved hearing our conversation about...whatever the hell it was we were blathering on about. I know we dropped a few f-bombs in there, which I am sure they found romantic.

That being said, the drinks were very, very good. I had heard about the Oaxaca Old-Fashioneds they featured, so I ordered one even though it wasn't on the menu. The waitress gushed that is was a great choice and that they were awesome, and she was right. Made with reposado tequila, mescal, and agave nectar, then finished off with a flamed orange, it was boozy but light, had a great tequila flavor yet was very balanced. Ron ordered a Jack Rose, that classic cocktail made with Laird's Applejack, grenadine, and lemon juice. Next I had a Grand Street, which I only remember as being Cynar-based and quite good (I love that stuff), and Ron had a Southern Exposure, which was easily my favorite drink of the evening. Made with jalapeno infused tequila, mescal, agave nectar, and roasted red pepper puree, it was delightful - the jalapeno gave it some fruity spice, and the red pepper puree (which must have been strained since it was not at all pulpy) gave it a nice smokiness which played off the smokiness of the mescal. While drinking, we snacked on some homemade potato chips, which were great - their bar menu looked really interesting, but as we were planning to go to dinner next, we held off on the more substantial fare.

Overall, I would say the experience was....very good. The service was very attentive, the drinks were great, the space very nice. It just didn't live up to the hype I had built up in my own mind about what the place would be like. I actually think that The Gibson in DC does this formula slightly better - they do take reservations, but limit the time for people at the tables to a max of 2 hours, assuring a good amount of access to the place, and they do the whole no standing / call back thing as well. And it's a better overall space - not as loud, better layout, more conducive to good conversation and good drinks. Next time, I'll sit at the bar and risk looking like the creepy guy to see if the experience is different.

Next stop: Caracas.

A Good Home Bar Is Like a Good Woman...

2010-04-26T10:23:00.007-04:00

...um, OK, I don't know how to end that without setting myself up for a world of hurt. But a good home bar is a thing of beauty, something which I am much more likely to be envious of than, say, someone's car or income level. Having a "great home bar" can be defined as having a great physical space for your bar (think mancave-like Irish pub in your basement), or having an extensive list of raw materials from which to make drinks. I definitely fall into the latter category - not having been born into the landed gentry, or come up with the concept for a cash cow like edible underwear, I don't have a house in which I can dedicate several hundred square feet to just a place to drink and socialize. That's what I use my living room for (and sometimes the storage closet in my basement when I am in one of my "darker" moods). But, by picking up bottles here and there over a period of a couple of years, I think I have amassed a collection of materials from which can be made almost any drink one would want to try.

Below is a list of what's in my bar (aka the buffet in my dining room) as of April 2010. It ain't an exact architectural replica of the The Ritz Bar in Paris, but I can whip you up a mean French 75 at a moment's notice.

VODKA

Tito's Handmade Vodka

Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka

Elemental Organic Vodka

Elemental Organic Vanilla Espresso Vodka

Grey Goose Le Citron Vodka

Van Gogh Vanilla Vodka

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka

GIN

Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin

Hayman's Old Tom Gin

Hendrick's Gin

Plymouth Gin

Plymouth Sloe Gin (I know, not really a gin)

Junipero Gin

Bols Genever

RUM

Bacardi Light Rum

Bacardi 151 Rum

Cruzan Black Strap Rum

Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

Appleton Estate V/X Rum

Rhum Clement VSOP Rum

Gosling's Black Seal Rum

Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum

The Kraken Black Spiced Rum

MEZCAL / TEQUILA

Del Maguey Minero Mezcal

Patron Resposado Tequila

El Jimador Blanco Tequila (jalapeño infused)

SCOTCH / WHISKY / WHISKEY

Isle of Jura Superstition Blended Scotch

Caol Ila 12 Year Single Malt Whisky

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban Scotch

The Glenlivet Nadurra 16 yr old Scotch

Compass Box Spice Tree Scotch Whisky

Johnny Walker Black Blended Scotch

Wasmund's Red Single Malt Whisky

Wasmund's Silver Single Malt Whisky

Copper Fox Rye Whisky

Jameson Irish Whiskey

Bushmills Irish Whiskey

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

Sazerac Rye Whiskey

Rittenhouse 100 Rye Whisky

Hudson Manhattan Rye Whisky

Pappy Van Winkle's 20 yr old bourbon

Bulleit Bourbon

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby 136 Bourbon

The Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky 12

Canadian Club Whisky 6 Years Old

SHERRIES / PORTS

Drysack Sherry

Fladgate First Estate Reserve Porto

Osborne Fine Ruby Porto

COGNAC

Kelt Tour du Mond VSOP Cognac

Hennessy VS Cognac

VERMOUTH

Lillet Blanc

Lillet Rouge

Martini & Rossi Vermouth Rosso

Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth

Dolin Dry Vermouth

LIQUEURS / OTHER SPIRITS

Aalborg Akvavit

Southern Comfort

Laird's Applejack

Berentzen Apfelkorn Apple Liquer

Batavia-Arrack van Oosten

Barsol Pisco

Green Chartreuse

Yellow Chartreuse

Dubonnet

Disaronno Liqueur

Aperol Liqueur

Campari Liqueur

Cynar Artichoke Liqueur

Frenet-Branca Liqueur

Zwack

St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

Heering Cherry Liqueur

Stock Maraschino Liqueur

Kirschwasser Cherry Liqueur

Galliano Liqueur

Drambuie Liqueur

Benedictine Liqueur

Frangelico Liqueur

Cointreau Orange Liqueur

Kahlua Liqueur

Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur

Stone’s Ginger Liqueur

Pama Pommegranate Liqueur

LeTourment Vert Absinthe

Lucid Absinthe

Agua Luca Cachaca

DeKuyper Triple Sec

DeKuyper Creme de Cassis

DeKuyper Blue Curacao

DeKuyper Creme de Cocoa

DeKuyper Creme de Menthe

Bols Blackberry Flavored Brandy

DeKuyper Apricot Flavored Brandy

Rumple Minze Peppermint Schnapps

Bailey's Irish Cream

Creme de Violette

Creme Yvette

Orchard Pear Liqeuer

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Limoncello (homemade)

SOJU / SAKE / PLUM WINE

Korean Soju

Korean Blueberry Soju

Plum Gekkeikan Plum Wine

Hakushika Sake

BITTERS

Angostura Bitters

Angostura Orange Bitters

Fee Brother's Old Fashioned Bitters

Regan's Orange Bitters

Peychaud's Bitters

Bitter Truth Celery Bitters

Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters

Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole Bitters

SWEETNERS / OTHER ADDITIVES

Rose's Grenadine

Rose's Lime Juice

Alwadi Orange Blossom Water

Alwadi Rose Water

Tres Agaves Agave Nectar

TJ's Organic Blue Agave Sweetner

Gum Arabic

First Stop in NYC - The House of Brews

2010-04-18T08:37:00.003-04:00

This is the second time I have written this post - The Megabus' spotty wifi on the return trip to DC ate my first version. Too bad, too - it was a blogging masterpiece unsurpassed in the history of the intermanets. This one just qualifies as mildly awesome.

After a relaxing Megabus ride from downtown DC to NYC (wifi (flawless on the ride up), bathroom, comfy seats), I stepped off in midtown on a gorgeous sunny day. Strolled about 15 blocks to my hotel - I never complain about having to walk in New York, the experience is one of my favorite things about the city. Checked into my palatial (by NY standards) room, and then headed out for lunch and a beer.

Randomly stopped into The House of Brews on West 46th Street. This area is evidently known a Restaurant Row, but given the so-so establishments in the area, I found it hard to believe that this street was the only one with that designation in the city. Maybe it's just based on quantity. Since it was 3PM on a Wednesday, the place was pretty dead - one guy nursing a water, watching the Yankees lose on one of the three flatscreens. The beer selection was pretty good - more than a few Belgian bottles, including a 12 ounce bottle of Bitter XX (a large version of which I have chilling in my beer fridge), and if you wanted to shell out $450 for a 2005 Sam Adams Utopia, you could do that.

Had a draft Chimay Trippel (tasty), and a chicken sandwich and fries (not so much). But the point wasn't to have a memorable culinary experience, or to have this be the place to sample multiple beers in a sitting - it was to lay an adequate gastric foundation for the planned activities of the evening - cocktails at Death and Co. and Bar Centrale, and dinner at Caracas.

Next up: Death and Co.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gonna Learn Me Some Booze Writin' Skillz

2010-04-14T11:40:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago I decided to take a cocktail blog writing class I saw mentioned on Twitter. $75, but it was in New York, and I figured I could learn something, have some quality cocktails, and then employ my newly acquired writing skills to document the whole thing.

Of course, things sometimes don't go according to plan. Two weeks before the course, I got a notice it was cancelled due to lack of interest (people probably were too hungover to remember to register). But I already had my Megabus ticket ($12 roundtrip!), and my hotel ($65 a night!), so decided to learn through experience and go anyway. Besides, that would give me more time to drin...er, do blog research.

After soliciting friends and Twitter for suggestions, set a tentative itinerary to include a couple highly regarded cocktail bars, a famous beer bar, some good eats, and some shopping. It's an ambitious agenda, but one I think I can stick to by employing some self discipline (translation: chances are extremely high the whole thing will go to hell 5 minutes after I step off the bus).

Regardless, I'll post and tweet about the whole experience as it happens. If needed, I'll let you know where to send the bail money.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Top 10 out of 100 - #9 The Caipirinha

2010-03-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

Muddling. Technically, it's combining ingredients in the bottom of a mixing glass (typically with an instrument made for this purpose, called a....wait for it....muddler) before the rest of the liquid ingredients are added to make a cocktail. Following shaking and stirring, it is probably the most typical action needed to create cocktails. And it's one which I think is done incorrectly more often than not.

Like any action related to bartending, it can be argued there is no right or wrong way to do anything. Slow shake, hard shake, Japanese shake, lazy shake - which way a bartender performs any action is dependent upon their experiences and preferences, and of course those vary widely. So I am not saying that there is a "wrong" way to muddle ingredients for a drink. However, the basic goal of muddling is to extract desirable flavors from the ingredients being muddled. And it therefore makes sense that different ways of performing this action accomplish this goal better than others.

Of what I have read and seen, a deliberate, GENTLE muddling fits the bill just fine. You're trying to coax the essential oils, juices, and flavors from the ingredients, not beat the living crap out of them (I saw one obviously 'roided-up bartender muddle limes and mint for a mojito like he was driving a steel pole into the ground - he was SWEATING afterwards). And ingredients like mint, which tend to bruise and discolor if too harshly treated, hold up better when not abused like the Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon.

Which leads us to the Caipirinha (kai-pee-reen-ya), a drink so simple it's almost criminal how good it is. I think the only reason this isn't much more popular than the mojito is that almost no one is confident they know how to pronounce it (or its main ingredient, cachaca (ka-sha-suh)). The muddled lime stays in the glass, there is no shaking required, no bar instruments other than something to perform the muddling with need be brought out - cut lime, add sugar, muddle, add ice and cachaca, quick stir, done. And it's gorgeous to look at - perfect for those warm spring cocktail parties or hanging out on newly opened bar patios.

The Caipirinha

2.5oz cachaca

.5oz simple syrup (or barspoon of sugar)

one lime, quartered

Muddle the lime and sugar in the bottom of an old fashioned glass. Add cracked ice to fill the glass. then add cachaca. Stir well.

Time To Drink: Dogfish Head Fort

2010-03-13T10:06:00.003-05:00

What is a beer? Not really an existential question, and not one that people outside of beer geek circles spend a while lot of time contemplating. But with the release of the "strongest beer in the world," the Sink The Bismarck "quadruple IPA" from BrewDog brewery in Scotland, it's been asked a lot lately, both by beer geeks and the mainstream press. Is an alcoholic beverage that clocks in at 41% ABV really still a beer, or is it some other category of beverage - not quite a spirit, certainly not a wine, but "beer" doesn't quite get it either?

I'm not going to delve into that heady discussion (get it? heady? beer?? No?). But that question was running through the back of my mind as Suz and I tasted Fort by Dogfish Head brewery. Touted as the strongest fruit beer in the world, this 18% ABV monster uses over a ton of raspberries during fermentation, and that was obvious from the second we poured some from the large format (25.6oz) bottle into some wine glasses - the raspberries hit you right away. But so does the alcohol, which was very clearly present on the nose. The head - tiny, tight bubbles - dissipated quickly, leaving the lovely, rose-gold, slightly opaque liquid alone in the glass.

Fort is "strong" in French, and this beer is certainly that. Suz noted it more closely resembled a currant liqueur like Chambord than a framboise style Belgian beer. Lightly carbonated, the finish was long, and almost cloyingly sweet. That alcohol on the nose wasn't as obvious in the taste (but it was pretty obvious based on the buzz we had after finishing the bottle). But that sweetness builds on the palate, and becomes overwhelming eventually. It's pretty clear that this type of beer is not suited to a couple of people knocking back 12.5oz of the stuff while playing Scrabble (let's just say two letter words were about all we could conjur at the end of that game).

So when should you drink this? With three friends (a 6oz serving each seems right), from a white wine glass, while eating a great chocolate dessert (Suz suggested a dark chocolate mousse, which would be right on - bitter chocolate and sweet raspberries = yum). And I think that gets at the question about whether these types of beverages should be thought of as "beer" - we have to change the way we think of what beer is, or can be. Pop the cap on one if these and chug it down at a tailgate, and you're going to be in for quite a shock. But serve it like a dessert wine, or, in the case of the Sink The Bismarck, like a fine dram, and you begin to experience the beer the way the brewers intended. Some initial research can help determine your approach to these beverages, and result in some increased knowledge about what being a beer really means.

Drinking Time at The Passenger

2010-02-27T21:02:00.009-05:00

Recently a friend of mine had a "significant" birthday ("significant" because of the numbers involved, although you wouldn't know it from looking at her.) Her husband, a beer brewer and imbiber like myself, decided to treat her and a bunch of friends to a cocktail class hosted by Derek Brown - cocktail writer for The Atlantic, bartender and beverage program designer of The Gibson, owner of a beverage consulting business, co-owner of The Passenger bar, and all around cocktail-guy-to-know in DC. I was lucky enough to be invited, but had some time to kill between work and the class kick off time - and that translates to drinking time (see pics from the evening here).

Started at Central, Chef Michel Richard's bistro location. It was the start of Mardi Gras, and I had seen that Central had Abita Mardi Gras Bock as an exclusive in DC, so figured I would start there. The beer was very tasty - malty, slightly sweet, slight bitterness with a very short finish. Nice reddish amber hue to it - a good, but not great, bock. But the bar itself was slow, and the bartender spent most of his time noting he was off in 5 more hours and couldn't wait to get out of there, so I bolted for The Passenger.

The Passenger is in a converted store front directly across the street from the DC Convention Center in the Shaw neighborhood. This is one of the two or three DC neighborhoods undergoing a renaissance after years of blight caused by the riots that occurred in 1968 and the resulting years of neglect. Unlike many bars i've been to, the space is wide open - the entire center portion of the bar is absent tables or chairs (in New York, you would probably see 10 more tables crammed into the same space.). There are five vinyl, four person booths, a couple of eight tops at front in the bay windows, and the bar seats about fifteen. Chatting about the bar later, Derek mentioned that openness was intentional - it definitely makes the large space more intimate. It also mitigates the noise in the space- the space is dark, with dark, almost black hardwood floors, dark grey walls, and a darkly stained bar, and even with the open space, it can get pretty loud when the seats start to fill up.

I was about an hour early, so I grabbed a seat at the bar and asked my bartender Alex to make me something with rye. She whipped up a Manhattan made with Luxardo maraschino liqueur and absinthe. Tasty, and the absinthe added a nice zing to the drink. This was starting off well.

I figured getting tanked BEFORE the class would be bad form, so I asked for a Oscar Blue's (maker of Dale's Pale Ale) Gordon Imperial IPA in a can (not sure how asking for an Imperial IPA was supposed to keep me from getting tanked - I am sure this made sense at the time.) Oscar Blue makes awesome canned beers, and this was no exception. SMOOTH, a little hoppy, but not what you would expect from an IIPA - it went down very easily - probably a little TOO easily given the 8.7% ABV.

Very soon thereafter my friends arrived, as did Derek, and we were escorted into the Columbia Room, the newly opened party / event / class room in the back of the space. In contrast to the bar space in front, this space was brightly lit, with creamy light blue walls and a cozy atmosphere. There was a bar, a nicely designed prep/display area, barstools for about ten people, and that was it - certainly a proper atmosphere for teaching about drinking. Derek claimed the room wasn't quite complete yet, but it certainly looked complete to me.

Derek started off by making a champagne cocktail, making one for each of us while discussing the role of bitters in a cocktail. He moved on to a Crisp Martini - Plymouth gin, Dolin vermouth, and a lemon twist - while expounding upon the differences between London dry gin, Old Tom gin, and genever, as well as the importance of using fresh vermouth. From there he made a fresh batch of Daiquiris, and showed us his mad lemon peeling skillz by making a round of Horse's Necks - bourbon, spicy ginger beer, with an unbroken, whole lemon peel in the glass. He also broke out this HUGE Japanese cleaver which he used to carve an ice diamond (kudos to him - I would have cut my arm off taking the thing out of the drawer.) All of this was interspersed with tasty food -flat bread, artichoke hearts, veggie burgers - just enough to keep the munchies at bay (and keep you from keeling over halfway through class.)

Overall it was a great experience - everyone learned something, had some great cocktails and some great food, and I think came away with a better appreciation of the skill that goes into making a great cocktail.

Top 10 out of 100 - #10 The Pisco Sour

2010-02-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

As a favor for stealing one of her best employees away from her on detail, a friend asked that I follow up on my Anvil 100 cocktail effort with a ranking of my top 10 cocktails from that list. As I mentioned before, there were definitely a number of cocktails on that list that I would consider marginally enjoyable, at best (I'm looking at you, Ramos Gin Fizz), but there were far more I thought were pretty darned tasty. So coming up with my favorite ten was not an easy task. Plus, I had to take into account my own preferences (I am a whisky / whiskey fan first, with gin a very close second), making sure that I wasn't skewing the results based on what I was predisposed to like in the first place. There are many cocktails that don't appear on this list which I love (Whiskey Sour, where are you??), but I figured that I would keep it simple and just work with the ones on the List.

So these will be the 10 I enjoyed making and drinking the most from the list, number one being my favorite (duh). Starting with Number 10:

#10 The Pisco Sour

Pisco isn't something I had any personal exposure to before starting The List - I knew it came from the land of llamas, and I like llamas, so no worries there. Since I am a big fan of Whiskey Sours, this was a cocktail I was eager to try. It surely did not disappoint. Pisco is Peruvian or Chilean grape eau de vie, one which is typically not wood aged, and has a unique tang to it - not quite citrusy, but one which hits you a little bit on the tart sensing part of your tongue. Mixed with the sour component, pisco's unique tang really adds to the complexity of the drink (in a way I don't think whiskey does quite as well). And then adding the egg white brings the whole cocktail together - sweet, sour, creamy, tart, with a touch of bitterness added by the bitters.

Definitely one I will go back to. If you wear one of those cute little Peruvian hats while drinking one, all the better - and it may lead to singing a short ditty about transporting llamas to places of higher education, and what could be wrong with that?

Pisco Sour

2oz pisco

1oz lime juice

.5oz simple syrup (I used agave syrup)

an egg white

single drop of Angostura bitters

Shake HARD with ice to build up the froth from the egg. Strain into a chilled rocks glass, add drop of bitters on top.

The Deep Lemon Fizz

2010-02-19T23:11:00.002-05:00

Here's another custom cocktail I made while on a snowboarding / drinking weekend with my buddies. I..um..forgot I made this one. Which I'm sure had nothing to do with alcohol consumption prior. Certainly not.

This one highlights the best aspects of the ingredients: the vanilla espresso notes from the vodka are clear, but not overwhelming; the bright, sweet lemon taste brings some citrus levity to the drink; and the bitters add the...bitterness (some of this ain't rocket science, folks.)

The Deep Lemon Fizz

1.5oz Elemental Vanilla Espresso vodka

.75oz homemade limoncello

2oz club soda

2 dashes Fee's Old Fashioned Bitters

Lemon twist

Shake vodka, limoncello, and bitters with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add club soda, then twist lemon over drink, rub rim with twist, and add to drink.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Some New Cocktails

2010-02-15T09:36:00.006-05:00

One of the things I enjoy most about having a (relatively) large home bar at my disposal is my ability to experiment with new cocktail recipes. Whether for a contest (like the ones The Intoxicologist runs from time to time) or just for the heck of it, coming up with interesting flavors and spirit combinations is a lot of fun. Here are a couple of cocktail recipes I came up with (one of which actually won one of those contests.)

My Darling

(winner of The Intoxicologist's scotch-based cocktail recipe contest)

1.5oz blended scotch whiskey (I used Johnny Walker Black)

.5oz Plymouth Sloe Gin

.5oz Cointreau

.5oz clementine juice

2 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Rub rim of glass with a clementine peel twist and garnish with the twist.

Cherry-O Baby

4oz apple cider

1oz Cherry Heering

.75oz Stolli Vanil vodka

.5oz Grey Goose Le Citron vodka

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Hades' Girlfriend

(submitted to a cocktail contest being sponsored by Gary Regan)

1.5oz bourbon whisky

.5oz Pama pomegranate liqueur

.5oz Cointreau

3 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters

a dash of lemon juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Flame an orange peel over the glass, rub the rim of the glass with the flamed peel, and discard.

Hungarian Liqueur Tasting on The Intoxicologist

2010-02-05T17:15:00.005-05:00

Each year, I trek up to Deep Creek Lake in far northwestern Maryland to the Wisp ski resort and rent a house with about 12 buddies to snowboard, drink, eat, drink, drink some more, and generally goof off (we call it Biohazard weekend - 12 guys, a house, a lot of beer - you get the picture). This year, I had asked a friend of mine (Joe Balintfy) to bring some Hungarian liqueurs he had brought back with him on a recent trip there - Unicum, Unicum Next, and Zwack. Zwack is available in the US, the other two are not readily available in the States. I just wanted to try them out, since I had really enjoyed trying some other bitter liqueurs I had used during my Anvil cocktail quest (such as Cynar, Aperol, and Fernet Branca).

I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to be trying these out, and The Intoxicologist, a great cocktail and cocktail industry blogger whom I had interacted with a little bit by entering a couple of her cocktail creation contests, asked if I could write up some tasting notes. Evidently she gets a lot of questions about these, but since they are hard to come by, had not had a chance to sample them herself. I quickly agreed - I knew the biggest challenge was going to be finding a 20 minute stretch during that weekend where I could put some coherent thoughts together and actually write legibly.

I did the tasting, scribbled my notes down ("legible" is probably a generous description of what those notes looked like), and sent them in. Amazingly, they were deemed coherent enough to publish, and they were put up on The Intoxicologist's website this afternoon. Pretty awesome - thanks to her, and to Joe and the Biohazard crew for supporting my drinking related efforts all these years.

I came up with a Zwack cocktail while I was up at Deep Creek in honor of the event - called the BH11 (Biohazard 11, as this is the 11th year running the group has done this), I used Zwack and Elemental Organic Vodka, a fantastic spirit made in Portland, OR by Highball Distillery, which is co-owned by one of the regular attendees of Biohazard weekend. Pretty yummy stuff.

The BH11 Cocktail

2oz Zwack

1oz Elemental Organic Vodka

.5oz orange juice

.25oz lemon juice

3 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters

Combine all in a cocktail shaker w/ ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Mountain State Brewing Company Tasting

2010-01-26T21:07:00.001-05:00

While on vacation at Deep Creek Lake in McHenry, Md (next to the Wisp ski resort), we wanted to grab a good dinner, and had heard about Mountain State Brewing's brewpub which was just down the road. Looking very much like a rustic cabin, this wasn't your typical brewpub - instead of the typical pub fare, this brewpub has two wood burning brick ovens and specializes in flatbread pizzas.

After ordering an Olive Another (olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, and artichoke hearts - yummy), we sampled the four beers they had available on tap - a blonde, an amber, an IPA, and a stout.

General comments:
All the beers had low levels of carbonation and were served at a cool (not cold) temperature - reminded me of beers from an English pub. Seemed to work better w/ the stout and IPA than the other two. Heads were thin in general as well.

Beer Notes

Cold Trail Ale - described as an American blonde beer using oats and wheat in the grain mixture, this was the light beer of the group. Very pale straw in color, there was no hop aroma at all. Clean tasting with extremely minimal hop bitterness, there was a slight caramel sweetness on the finish. Definitely a session beer, or one for those that go to a brewpub but really want to order a Michelob Light anyway.
Almost Heaven Amber Ale - "lightly hopped" w/ Wilamette hops, this deep red amber ale was tasty, although "lightly hopped" was an understatement - no hops on the nose, and only a very slight hoppy bitterness in the finish. The principal flavor was a pleasant nutty caramel, but it didn't linger on the palate long. This was Suz's favorite - easy to drink yet flavorful.
Seneca India Pale Ale - at 5.2% ABV, this IPA uses a mixture if Chinook, Casacade, and Amarillo hops for flavoring. Lighter in color than the amber, there was still very little hoppy smell to the brew. But although the menu said this IPA did not have a lingering bitter aftertaste, I found the opposite to be true - the bitterness was LONG on the finish, but pleasantly so - that's what you expect from an IPA, and this didn't disappoint.
Miner's Daughter Oatmeal Stout - this was my favorite beer of their selection. An extremely smooth, inky black beer, there was some initial bitterness which faded quickly, followed by a strong coffee finish with a slight chocolate note to it. Very pleasant, and a stout which was very easy to drink.

Overall I thought the beers were good, with the stout being the standout. Add to that some great pizzas ( and a s'mores flatbread dessert which was amazing), and this place was worth leaving your cozy ski lodge to visit.

http://www.mountainstatebrewing.com/

Mission Accomplished (Really)!

2010-01-04T17:15:00.001-05:00

In September, spurred on by hubris and a complete disregard for the well being of my liver, I embarked on a task - a crusade, really - to create and consume all 100 cocktails on a list of cocktails compiled by the Anvil Bar & Refuge in Houston. These were cocktails to be tried at least once in your lifetime, and while I had already tried a little more than a third of them already (hey, I've been drinking for a few years now), I thought making them all myself would be kind of neat. Giving myself 121 days to complete the 100 cocktails list, I thought I was giving myself enough of a cushion so that I wouldn't be drinking 15 cocktails on New Years Eve to finish. It wasn't that bad, but it definitely came down to the wire, mixing up 5 over the course of the day on the 31st. But, as I completed my Seelbach cocktail (a bourbon and champagne concoction) at 11:55PM, I also completed The List (see below) - maybe not the greatest achievement of my life (although it probably ranks right above completing graduate school), but something which I was proud to have completed - especially since I told everyone I was going to complete it and didn't want to end up looking like an ass.

Some things that I learned along the way (other than blogging about every single cocktail separately wasn't going to happen for very long):

1) I failed to notice the blurb at the top of The List about these being libations to try "for better or for worse." There are a few of these which I will definitely NOT be having again, ranging from the just "eh" (like the aforementioned Seelbach) to the truly awful (the Sherry Cobbler). Wasn't really clear why some of these made this list at all, but I can say I tried them for myself and can make an informed decision about never wanting to have them again.
2) Measurement is everything. The difference a 1/4 ounce of a particular ingredient can make in a cocktail is amazing (for better and for worse). I measured every ingredient per the recipe I was using, and will do so for any cocktail I make from now on. It guarantees a consistent cocktail (not as critical if you're not working in a bar), but also ensures you're going to experience the cocktail as the creator intended. Knowing the "base" flavor to a particular cocktail is critical if you want to tweak the recipe.
3) Proper shaking / stirring is critical. Almost all cocktail recipes call for the ingredients to be shaken or stirred with ice. This accomplishes two things - chills the drink, and dilutes it. I remember being in college and not wanting any ice in my drinks because I didn't want them "watered down". But water is a critical element to any drink - it balances the flavors, takes the hot edge of the liquor, and keeps drinks from becoming 80z liquor bombs (unless that's what you want them to be). I did realize that, for the first quarter of the list, I was overshaking my drinks - they were TOO cold, and overly diluted, resulting in watery cocktails that were too cold for me to taste the ingredients (especially ones with subtle flavors). After changing over to a 4 second hard shake (from approximately 12 seconds or more), I really noticed the difference and complexities in some of these creations
4) Cocktails are not supposed to be big. When the martini resurgence started kicking up in DC in the mid-90s, I remember all of the drinks being huge - 8, sometimes 10 ounce monster drinks, the kind you needed to hold with your whole fist just to lift them. Most were pitched as a good "value" - yeah, they're 8 bucks (remember, this was the 90's - add a couple bucks to that now), but you "get so much for your money." That's great - if your goal is to get blotto after two drinks. What usually happened was that the last third of your drink was warm (and disgusting), so you either sucked it down anyway (and got blotto), or didn't finish the drink - not much value in that. Almost all of the recipes used to create the drinks on this list came to roughly 5 ounces total, including water from the ice - some drinks had as little as 1.5 ounces of actual liquor in them. Cocktails from the late 19th century tended to be even smaller. The point is not to get drunk (although you can) - it's to enjoy a flavorful drink which takes the edge of the day away. You don't need much actual alcohol to do that.
5) Bartending is not easy. I know that bartending isn't just making drinks - a lot of what makes up a good bartender is their personality and attention to customer service. But making good drinks is definitely part of that equation, and that's not a simple task. Take the Manhattan - pretty simple from an ingredients standpoint. But it's just as easy to screw up a Manhattan as it is to make a really good one. The difference between the two is the skill of the person making the drink - and then you add volume (juggling multiple customers ordering multiple drinks) and the associated pressure and you start to see the really skilled bartenders rise above the rest. What I did was easy - I had all the time I wanted to whip these drinks up. Put me into a situation where I was doing this for 20 people, and I would crack.

Not sure what my next steps are. I think I will concentrate on making drinks I feel like making for a little while. A Manhattan sounds really good right about now...

Click the image below to see a more readable version of The List

Blackthorn (or Blackthorne)

2009-09-30T13:18:00.011-04:00

One of the great things about the "Anvil 100" cocktail list I have been following is that in addition to naming the cocktail, it lists the principal ingredients. While it doesn't give proportions, I figured that it was just a good way of knowing what kind of drink I was going to be having (gin, vodka, etc) before trying to make it. However, it became very clear how important this was when concocting a Blackthorne - or Blackthorn. Or Blackthorne/Blackthorn. Allow me to explain.

The Anvil 100 lists the ingredients of a "The Blackthorn" as Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters, and absinthe. Now, these are the ingredients in the recipe which appears in Gary Regan's version of the "The Blackthorne" (emphasis mine) in his The Joy of Mixology book from 2003. This is the version I made - and it's terrible. Just bad - nothing good I can say about it. The whiskey and vermouth carry no weight in the cocktail, and the absinthe and bitters dominate the flavor (and not in any sort of pleasing way). So I thought "What the hell? Why would this make it on a list of supposedly unforgettable cocktails?"

Doing some research on line, I noticed that there were at least two other recipes for "The Blackthorn", neither of which has any of those ingredients in the recipe (well, one has rosso vermouth and the other has Dubonnet (an herbaceous wine-based spirit), so there is a common thread). The one I saw more often than not consisted of gin, kirsch, and Dubonnet. Unlike the first version I made, that actually SOUNDS like it would be good. So I chose to revisit this cocktail using the gin-based recipe.

The results were, as expected, the polar opposite from the first experience. This version was clean, crisp, and with just the right balance of sweet and herby so as to be complex without being "difficult." I emailed the website for the Anvil to clarify if they had mixed up the cocktail they wanted to highlight on their list. They didn't respond, so I will just give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant to feature the much more pleasant gin variation.

UPDATE: Recently I noted that one of the many cocktail folks I follow on Twitter, @drinkswmindy, tends bar at Anvil, so I shot her a tweet asking whether their version of this cocktail was gin or whiskey based. She was kind enough to respond that they make the whiskey version (which coincides with the List), and added they use Irish whiskey. So, that part was consistent. Turns out what I screwed up was the vermouth - I had used sweet vermouth in my original attempt based on what appeared in The Joy of Mixology by the great Gary Regan. In fact, I believe it should have been dry vermouth, per this recipe from The Wormwood Society's web site. I remade this cocktail the other day with the whiskey and dry vermouth components, and it was a huge improvement. The whiskey, dry vermouth, and absinthe all complemented each other, allowing each ingredient to play a part - the absinthe didn't dominate, which it can often do if not used in proper proportion with other ingredients. Not the best cocktail I have ever had, but it was pleasant, and was light years from the abomination I had initially created. There may be a way to make the sweet vermouth work in this, but I'll leave that to much more skilled people than me to work out.

The Blackthorn

3 dashes Angostura bitters

3 dashes absinthe (I used Lucid)

1.5oz Irish whiskey (Jameson)

1.5oz french dry vermouth

Combine ingredients in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Blood and Sand

2009-09-30T10:57:00.009-04:00

Cocktail naming conventions are funny. I read somewhere that you can tell the difference between a European cocktail and an American one by how their named. Example: In Europe, what's the name for a mix of gin and tonic? Gin and Tonic. In America, what's the name for mix of rye, creme de noyeau, and lemon juice? A Maryland Squirrel. You get the picture.

Drinks can be named for all kinds of things - historic events, famous (or not so famous) individuals, great works of fiction, etc. The Blood and Sand was named after a 1922 film about a bullfighter (Rudolph Valentino) involved in a love triangle - get it, blood of the bull, sand of the bullfighting ring? Whatever - given that origin, not sure why scotch would be the base spirit, and given that it is, you might think this is going to end up being a pretty sketchy cocktail taste-wise. Happily, you would be incorrect.

The recipe for this was originally (via the Savoy book) equal parts (3/4 oz) of all of the ingredients. The version I used bumps up the scotch to a full ounce while keeping the other at 3/4, and that works very, very well. Using a blended scotch (in my case, Johnny Walker Black) also works well - a highly peated single malt would throw off the balance of the other ingredients, for instance. Overall, a great, sweet yet refreshing cocktail. Doesn't make me feel any more like Rudy Valentino, but it also doesn't make me feel like sticking a bull with a sword as part of some arcane bloodsport, so all things considered, I'm fine with that.

Blood and Sand

1 oz blended scotch
3/4 oz orange juice
3/4 oz rosso vermouth
3/4 oz Cherry Heering

Combine ingedients in cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The Bijou

2009-09-27T09:23:00.001-04:00

Evidently this recipe is a more modern-day friendly version of a cocktail first recorded in 1900 in Harry Johnson's Bartender's Manual , which called for equal parts of the spirits - certainly would have made this a more herb-forward drink. But the proportions I used produced a smooth, flavorful and enjoyable cocktail with that special something that green chartreuse always brings to the party. And I also saw recipes which further muted the herbaceous nature of the cocktail by substituting dry vermouth for sweet - being that I was making this cocktail for Suz as well (not a fan of sweet vermouth), I followed that path, which I thought still produced a well balanced cocktail. My choice of gin was Plymouth since its milder flavor helped bring out the remaining herbal tastes in the other spirits.

The Bijou

3 oz gin
1 oz green chartreuse
1 oz dry vermouth
dash of orange bitters

Stir in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Aperol Spritz

2009-09-25T16:45:00.010-04:00

Aperol is an orange flavored, slightly bitter liquor, very much like Campari. Italian in origin, it differs from Campari in it's more muted color (pink-orange, not bright red like Campari) and in its much less bitter taste compared to that other famous Italian spirit. Where as Campari comes on strong and then lingers on the palette for a good long time, Aperol gives you a quick, sweet hit and then finishes with a subtle bitterness which fades relatively quickly.

Spritzes as a drink type are typically just spirits that are combined with sparkling wine (traditionally, given its Italian origins, the Aperol Spritz uses Prosecco) and soda. There are other variations (adding water to stronger wines are sometimes known as straight spritzes), but this is the most common. I used Spanish cava as the sparkling wine - mainly because I had some left over from the Redskins game last week. It actually went very well, adding a slight sweetness to the whole drink which made it really refreshing and easy to drink.

Aperol Spritz

2 oz sparkling wine (prosecco or cava)
1.5 oz Aperol
splash of soda

Fill a cocktail glass with ice. Pour sparking wine first and then Aperol into the glass (add the Aperol second so it doesn't sink to the bottom), and then finish with splash of soda. Garnish with an orange slice.

The Americano

2009-09-07T08:08:00.009-04:00

I like really like bitter spirits. They aren't something I think of every time I sit down to have a cocktail, but some of the best cocktails I have had have had a bitter ingredient as one of the anchor flavors in it. And since I started experimenting with cocktails in May, I have acquired quite a few of the better known varieties - Cynar, Fernet Branca, Aperol, to name a few. And of course I have had my fair share of Jaegermeister shots (but we won't speak of that). But the one bitter liqueur I have had in my bar the longest, and is nearest to my heart, is Campari.

A bright, gorgeous red, Campari has a sweetness up front which is somewhat misleading, not really preparing you for the lovely bitterness that trails behind it and lingers on your palette for a long, long time. To me, the Americano is the perfect vehicle for this experience. Campari can be a little cloying and thick on the taste buds, so the addition of the sweet vermouth, and especially the club soda, keeps things light without masking that great bitteness Campari is known for. It's refreshing as you drink it, but the orange-tinged aftertaste that lingers in your mouth is the real attraction for any cocktail which includes Campari.

The Americano

1oz Campari
1oz sweet vermouth
2 oz club soda

Build in an ice filled collins glass. Add a twist of orange as garnish.

The Algonquin

2009-09-05T21:17:00.008-04:00

This is one of the 30+ cocktails on the Anvil 100 Cocktails to Drink Before You Die list that I had made before starting this project, and, being that it's a rye based cocktail, it's one I liked quite a bit. Typically when I make a cocktail, I'll make either just one for myself, or one for myself and for my wife, Suz, based on the base spirit. Suz doesn't really like gin (especially if it is a strong flavor in a drink), is so-so on whiskey, is neutral on vodka (appropriately), and really likes rum - so sometimes I'll make two of something if I think she might like it. This was one I thought she might like, since the rye is cut with vermouth and pineapple juice, which I thought might take enough of the edge off of the rye for her tastes.

After preparing the cocktail, we taste tested, and she asked me some really interesting questions. She didn't dislike the Algonquin, although she admitted it was a little too boozy for her tastes. But she wondered why the other ingredients (pineapple juice and vermouth) were in there at all? There was no hint of the vermouth at all in the flavor, and the pineapple was barely detectable. So what persuaded someone at the Algonquin Hotel in New York to use exactly these ingredients, and for it to become popular enough to warrant it becoming a signature cocktail?

Why cocktails are made the way they are is sometimes a well known story (like the Moscow Mule), very much in dispute (like the Martini), or there just isn't a lot known about them except maybe their place of origin (like the Algonquin). So why the bartender who made this drink did what they did is open to interpretation. But I like rye enough to not dwell too much on that - regardless of their reasons, they created a perfumey rye cocktail with a hint of fruit and a nice kick to it - that's about all I ask of my cocktails, really. And Suz ended up drinking the whole thing, so, philosophical differences aside, we evidently weren't too far apart on what the intended motivation of the Algonquin's originator must have been - a drained glass on the bar.

The Algonquin

1 1/2oz rye whiskey (Rittenhouse 100)
3/4 oz dry vermouth
3/4 pineapple juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Brandy Alexander

2009-09-05T07:55:00.001-04:00

I'll admit that I had been confused about the relationship between brandy, cognac, and armagnac until very recently (like about 20 minutes ago). Looking for brandy in the local liquor stores, bottles I thought were brandy (like Hennessey or Courvoisier) said "cognac" on the bottle. It was actually tough to find just plain "brandy" that wasn't a fruit flavor (like blackberry). Turns out the relationship is pretty easy to understand. Brandy is distilled from wine (grapes) or other fruits. Cognac, from the Cognac region in France, is distilled from white wine and aged in oak barrels made from timber from the Limousin or Troncais forests in France. Armagnac differs from cognac in the distillation process, as well as the type of wood the aging barrels are made of (black oak from the Monzelun forest), but it is also distilled from white wine. So Cognac and Armagnac are specialized styles of brandy with very strict production criteria.

Given that, rather than searching around for just "brandy" for this cocktail, I chose to use a cognac - specifically a Kelt V.S.O.P. (Very Superior Old Pale) champagne cognac. Kelt actually puts their cognac barrels on a ship and sends them on a three month sea voyage (Tour du Monde) which is supposed to increase the complexity of the spirit. The subtleties of the cognac are probably lost adding it to heavy cream and creme de cacao, but using the Kelt also makes sense since it's what I had on hand.

This is not a drink to start your evening off - this is a drink to elegantly and sweetly wrap up a long day, sipped by a fire, or while wrapped in a warm Snuggie (or Slanket, if you're one of THOSE types of people). It's creamy yet not thick, with a not-quite-sweet finish, the nutmeg adding a bit of that chilly fall evening feel to it. This cocktail is an ideal nightcap.

Brandy Alexander

2 oz Kelt V.S.O.P champagne cognac
1/2 oz creme de cacao
1/2 oz heavy cream
fresh nutmeg

Shake cognac, creme de cacao, and cream with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Grate nutmeg over top to taste

Hemingway Daiquiri

2009-09-04T20:47:00.009-04:00

Ok, so the Hemingway Daiquiri really is way out of order on the list of 100. This should have been a review for a Brandy Alexander - but right now the weather in DC is sunny, upper 70's, and gorgeous. Not weather you would associate with a drink heavy on the cream and nutmeg. So, at my wife's request, I inserted the Hemingway Daiquiri into the order. Citrusy, refreshing, not really sweet at all, it fit the weather and the Friday afternoon, pre-Labor Day weekend mood much better.

I won't go too much into the history on this - Hemingway is obviously Ernest Hemingway, famous novelist, reporter, traveler, and booze hound. Tales of his drinking are legendary. And the fact that our wedding reception was held on the grounds of his house in Key West means the man holds a special place in my heart (and liver). I am sure he would view this 100 cocktail endeavor as a noble undertaking - kind of like an old man trying to catch a big fish in a little boat or some crap like that.

Hemingway Daiquiri

1 1/2 oz light rum
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz lime juice
1/4 oz grapefruit juice

Shake all ingredients vigorously in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Airmail Cocktail

2009-09-03T10:48:00.012-04:00

Some cocktails have rock solid recipes which can not be deviated from if they are truly to be called a correct version of that cocktail (for instance, a Dark and Stormy HAS to have Gosling's Black Seal rum in it, otherwise it must be called something else). Others are left open to wide interpretation - ingredients in some cocktails may vary by quantity, composition, proportion, and sometimes even base spirit. Looking up how to make the Airmail, I saw a pretty wide variation in the suggested recipe. All were rum based, but after that it got a little dicey - recipe for the honey syrup? Lot of different honey/water proportions. Garnish? some, none, and gray areas in between. Champagne or prosecco? Simple syrup or no? And appropriate glassware? All over the place - highball, champagne flute, champagne coupe, cocktail glass. I'm surprised there wasn't one which called for drinking out of a shrunken monkey head.

Given the defacto wide latitude being granted to me in creating this cocktail, I cobbled together a recipe from a number of sources. Although I couldn't find a history of the origin of this cocktail, given the call for "rhum" and champagne in most recipes I found, I would imagine it had its origins in the French-speaking Carribbean countries. Rhum agricole, or "agricultural rum," made from straight sugar cane as opposed to mollasses, is most popular in these countries. Given that, options such a Italian prosecco don't seem to make as much thematic sense as French champagne.

The results were just pretty good - I can see why this cocktail made it on Anvil's list, but I think the lime proportion I used was a little too high (recipe below reflects downward adjustment). Refreshing, sophisticated, not overly sweet - I would imagine that this would be fantastic sipped on the beaches of Martinique (since it was pretty good sipped in my kitchen.)

Airmail

1 1/2 oz. rhum agricole
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. honey syrup (1 part honey/2 parts water)
1 oz. champagne
2-3 drops Angostura bitters
mint leaf for garnish

Combine rum, lime juice, and syrup in shaker. Add ice, shake vigorously. Strain into glass and top with champagne. Gently drop 2 drops of bitters on top of cocktail. Garnish by dragging mint leaf through bitters to create an attractive design, then laying mint leaf on top.

Absinthe Drip

2009-09-02T13:29:00.011-04:00

My first cocktail as part of the 100 Cocktail Bucket List project is one of the simplest to make, but also has a lot of history and intrigue attached to it. Absinthe was banned in the United States and most European countries by 1915 because of fears that one of the chemical properties contained in wormwood (thujone) was a dangerous psychoactive drug. Commercial production started again in Europe in the 1990's, and production in the United States was authorized beginning in 2007.

Because absinthe is typically a very high proof spirit, it is typically consumed as a cocktail by adding ice cold water which is dripped over a sugar cube held over the glass by a special slotted absinthe spoon, The resulting cocktail will turn a milky white, called the "louche," which opens up all of the other herbal notes in the drink that would have otherwise been overpowered by the anise flavor and/or the alcohol content.

I had purchased some Le Tourment Vert (LTV) absinthe some time ago, based almost exclusively on the very cool looking bottle. Having read up on the subject some more in the intervening months, I opted to purchase Lucid brand absinthe, which is generally considered to be very good (unlike LTV ), and which is, unlike some of the other highly regarded absinthe brands, readily available within a block of where I work.

Unlike LTV, which had yielded very poor results when trying to use it to create an Absinthe Drip (no louche, so real difference in the flavor profile once water was added), the Lucid produced a lovely, milky cocktail which tasted of a generous assortment of herbs (not just anise).

All in all, a great start to this project. 99 more to go!

Absinthe Drip

2 oz absinthe (Lucid)
sugar cube
4 oz ice cold water

Pour absinthe into cocktail glass or special absinthe glass (these glasses generally have a bulbous bottom with a flared top - the absinthe should be filled to the line between to two halves of the glass). Place an absinthe spoon (or other slotted spoon) over the glass, and place sugar cube on the spoon. SLOWLY drop the ice water over the sugar, dissolving the sugar into the absinthe. The absinthe should go from a clear spirit to a milky white (the louche).

100 Cocktail Bucket List

2009-09-02T12:03:00.006-04:00

A buddy of mine recently linked me to an article in the Houston Press regarding a list that Anvil Bar & Refuge had developed of the 100 Cocktails To Try Before You Die. While lists like this are always subjective, and inevitably leave out drinks which are near and dear to any imbibers' heart (no Esquivel??), the Anvil list does contain a very strong selection of cocktails which would appear on most lists as "classics" not to be missed. Looking at it from the perspective of someone interested in creating quality cocktails at home, I identified 30 on the list that I have made since "repurposing" this blog in early May - and there isn't one of the 70 cocktails left on the list I don't want to, or had not planned to, try eventually.

Given that, I have come up with an idea, somewhat based on that movie "Julie and Julia" (well, "somewhat" is probably an understatement - "extremely loosely based on the premise of" is more accurate):

I intend to create every one of the cocktails on this list by midnight on
December 31, 2009.

This gives me 121 days to make 100 cocktails (I will remake the 30 I have already made as part of this effort - they were great the first time, so why not?), which I think is more than enough cushion to accomplish my goal. Some of my assumptions at the onset of this project, which are open to change at any time:

I will attempt to go in order as much as is practical (things which might throw me off might be if I have to create or find a special ingredient I wouldn't normally have laying around)
I will make all of the cocktails personally - drinks at bars or made by others won't count
I will attempt to take pictures of every creation
I will also attempt to blog about what drink I make each time, at a minimum including the drink title, recipe, and a picture (and pics could come later as I don't have a fancy schmancy cell phone with a camera)

There will be no punishment for not accomplishing this (unlike a real bucket list, where if you don't complete the list, you're dead - cause and effect notwithstanding.) This actually solves an issue I have been having lately with trying to determine what to have every day (I know, rough life). This gives me a structure, a method to my drunkenness, which is easy to follow and easy to gauge my progress against.

Things start off this evening with the first drink on the list - an Absinthe Drip.

And yes, I know I use quotes and parentheses far too often. I'm not blogging about proper sentence structure here, people.

Cocktailing in Manhattan, Part One - The Pegu Club

2009-07-23T13:06:00.017-04:00

As with most things culinary, when you look for cutting edge innovation and trendsetting in America, two cities immediately appear at the top of any list – New York and San Francisco (DC…not so much, although things are improving on that front). Luckily for me, I had planned trips to both of those locations in back to back weeks in July, giving me a rare opportunity to experience (potentially) some of the great cocktail locations in America in a very short period of time. My first stop – New York, which has close to a dozen locations which have garnered interest and accolades within the cocktail and culinary community (not to mention the standard imbibing community). With the plan being to spend a week there, I figured that would give me ample opportunity to hit at least a couple of these locations and document what I found. Turns out a couple was in fact all I had time for, but the time spent at both locations - The Pegu Club and Flatiron Lounge - was about as well spent as one interested in cocktails could hope for.

The Pegu Club, located on West Houston in Soho, has a sterling reputation for the cocktails mixed there, as well as for those who mix them. Named after a famous British colonial officer's club in Burma, the bar and lounge, located up a flight of steps straight off the street, has an appropriately Eurasian feel to it - the wooden screens, dark and polished wood, and low slung furniture create an atmosphere of refined yet restrained elegance. Everything in the narrow, long space running along Houston Street is designed to be both comforting, but at the same time elevate the mood and heighten the senses - this isn't a place to slug back a shot of Jack with a Bud Light chaser (although there's nothing wrong with that).

Bottles of all kinds were lined up behind the bar - Cynar, Sazerac Rye, Green and Yellow Chartreuse, Plymouth Sloe Gin, Zwack. Bottles both common and exotic were contained behind asian-inspired screens which were made to mimic the same style of screens difusing the light coming through the north facing windows. This was a lounge, but absent the typical pretension associated with someplace identifying itself as one - this was a "club," but one everyone is invited to join.

I arrived on a Monday afternoon, only having been off the train from DC long enough to drop my stuff off at the hotel and catch the A Train to Soho. The room was almost completely empty except for one gentleman sipping a drink in a very well appointed suit. The bar filled out, but only slightly, as the afternoon wore on - I learned that Eben Klemm (beverage director of the B.R. Guest restaurant group), sat for a drink or two Taking my place at the bar, I looked at the cocktail menu and ordered their signature cocktail (always a good place to start) - the Pegu Club. London dry gin, orange curacao, lime juice, and angostura and orange bitters are shaken vigorously and then strained into a cocktail coupe. Tart, refreshing, slightly sweet, you could envision sitting on the porch in the humid heat of Burma having tray after tray of these delivered for your pleasure.

The Pegu Club Cocktail

2oz London dry gin
3/4 oz orange curacao
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
2 dashes each of Angostura and orange bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge

The creation of this cocktail embodied everything I look for in a place that creates quality cocktails. My bartender, Yale, was extremely friendly and very willing to chat (I am sure at least partially because there was hardly anyone else in the place). The bar filled out, but only slightly, as the afternoon wore on - while chatting with Yale about ice and the most efficient shaking techniques (some think it makes a difference - others don't), I learned that Eben Klemm (beverage director of the B.R. Guest restaurant group), sat for a drink or two a couple of seats away. He had evidently been on a panel discussion about that very subject (dilution, temp, ice structure, etc) in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail. That's the kind of thing an actual raport with the bartender will get you - interesting tidbits about regular customers or facts about the craft that you wouldn't get elsewhere.

Yale's method for making the cocktails I enjoyed that afternoon were consistent, classic, and extremely professional. All of the quality cocktail places I have been to in the last year or so have the same characteristics:

- alcohol amounts are measured, not free poured
- shaken drinks are just that - shaken, HARD
- ingredients are absolutely fresh - fruit, juices, even bitters, tonics, and sodas are made on site or acquired form the highest quality vendors
- as the drink is strained into your glass, the pour is ended with a crisp snap of the wrist
- not necessary, but a nice detail - ice is cracked in hand with a barspoon in a discriminating way (i.e. would throw ice out if not cracked properly). Again, attention to detail and experience of the customer at the bar.
- the bartender taste tests your drink (with a straw, not a sip) before giving it to you. That indicates to me a desire for quality control and excellence - you can trust a drink that passes this test to taste as it should
- the bartender is engaging with the customers - even when slammed, he/she will always have a smile and a few words with a new customer sitting down at the bar

For my next cocktail, I asked Yale to come up with something she really liked. Proclaiming herself to be a "rye girl" (big points there), she mixed up a Red Hook - Rittenhouse 100 Rye, maraschino liqueur, and Punt a Mes, stirred, with a brandied cherry for a garnish. Boozy drink, with a great balance of sweetness and depth which rye imparts to almost any drink.

The Red Hook

2 oz Rittenhouse 100 Rye Whiskey
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Wanting to ensure my experience at the bar would extend into the evening (and not wanting to pass out on the A Train and end up god knows where), I decided to have some of the "bar" food. And awesome food it is - chicken lollipops with scotch syrup, pear compote, and lemon zest were fantastic, and their version of coconut shrimp w honey mustard sauce was delicious as well. Satiated but not full, I moved ahead with my mission to try as many cocktails at the Pegu Club as possible while still maintaining the ability to adequately operate my limbs.

At this point, there was a shift change at the bar, and Dell took over the helm of the place. I learned later that I was being served by one of the most highly regarded bartenders in NYC - and it was soon clear why that was.

PART II - Dell the Funky Homosapien (Bartender)

Cocktail Hopping in Philadelphia ( Part 2)

2009-07-13T21:31:00.003-04:00

Butcher and Singer was my last and best stop on my cocktail-related venture through Philadelphia. My experience there started with a Sidecar.

The Sidecar is a classic cocktail. As such, it saw a resurgence in the 90’s when the movie Swingers came out (sadly, I have yet to see it, so I don’t know whether the cocktail itself figures prominently in the movie, or whether the resurgence of cocktail culture in general generated renewed interest in the drink. I know, I am a cultural failure.) Consisting of brandy, Cointreau, and lemon juice shaken over ice and strained into a cocktail glass, it’s got a great mixture of all the things that make a cocktail successful for me – sweet, sour, herbaceousness, and bite. At Butcher and Singer, they throw in a thinly sugared rim on the glass, which really punches the sweet up a notch at the front of the drink before the other flavors come into play. I actually prefer this – that little pop of sugar at the front really sets the stage for the other flavors.

At this point, having complimented the bartender on the drink, I asked for something that he really likes that people may not order very often or see in other bars. He suggested a French 75. I have seen more than a few references to this cocktail being made with gin as the base spirit – but other references, and the associated back-story, refer to cognac as the lead. This was the version prepared here, and I can’t argue with the results.

The story goes that the drink was created during World War I by flying ace Franco Lufbery who wanted a way to kick up his champagne. He added cognac, which would certainly do the trick. The result was said to have the same effect as a famous (or infamous-, depending on which side of the lines you were on)-at-the-time piece of artillery, a French 75mm howitzer. Thus, the French 75.

For the preparation, cognac, simple syrup, and lemon juice are shaken together. The bartender prepared a large brandy snifter by half filling it with crushed ice, over which the drink was poured. Champagne then topped the drink off. Again, the mixture of tastes (sour, sweet, herby, bite, with some dryness added by the champagne) really set the drink apart from your typical expectation for a cocktail.

It was at this point I decided that further exploration of the Philadelphia cocktail culture was probably best left to another day. Hopefully I’ll be returning soon, as I could see that there were obviously bartenders in Philly that cared about their craft, and that were on a mission to elevate the cocktail beyond the standard vodka martini or over-muddled mojito. And that’s a worthy mission in my book.

The Crusty Bar

2009-07-05T22:24:00.006-04:00

Since starting this cocktail adventure a couple of months ago, I have been seeking to fill out my home bar to the point where I had what I would consider all of the "essentials" - basically 90% of the ingredients I would need to make any random cocktail that caught my eye in a magazine, or I saw mentioned on line. That turned out to be a lot more labor, time, space, and funding intensive than I first thought. While you can certainly have what would be considered a fully stocked bar with just a few key bottles (Imbibe magazine recently had a great article suggesting what a good starting "home bar" consists of), creating one which enables you to really experiment with a wide range of classic and new cocktails is no small undertaking. And it can get ridiculous - just to represent the various styles and cross-sections of gin could take up 15 bottles - and that's assuming you skip the gin-n-juice variants (sorry Snoop).

I had a relatively decent stock on hand already - mostly from gifts, or bottles I bought here and there for parties or for my own use (which mostly consisted of bourbon). So filling in around that base was something which took a bit of research (through blogs, magazines, and cocktail books). Here is my current listing of spirits and supporting items on hand, along with a list of things which I have on my "to get" list.

Vodka
Absolut New Orleans Vodka
Tito's Handmade Vodka
Stoliychnaya Vodka
Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka
Gin
Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin
Hendrick's Gin
Rum
Bacardi Superior White Rum
Cruzan Black Strap Rum
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Appleton Estate V/X Rum
Tequila
Sauza Commemorativo Anejo Tequila
Patron Silver Tequila
Whiskey / Whisky
Johnny Walker Red Blended Scotch
Johnny Walker Black Blended Scotch
Wasmund's Red Single Malt Whisky
Wasmund's Silver Single Malt Whisky
Jameson Irish Whiskey
Maker's Mark Bourbon
Jim Beam Rye Whiskey
Others (ok, I got lazy with the labels)
Southern Comfort
Laird's Applejack
Berentzen Apfelkorn Apple Liquer
Drysack Sherry
Taylor Fladgate First Estate Reserve Porto
Kelt Tour du Mond VSOP Cognac
Barsol Pisco
Lillet Blanc
Lillet Rouge
Martini & Rossi Vermouth Rosso
Cinzano Extra Dry Vermouth
Punt e Mes
Campari Liqueur
Cynar Artichoke Liqueur
St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Heering Cherry Liqueur
Stock Maraschino Liqueur
Kirschwasser Cherry Liqueur
Galliano Liqueur
Frangellico Liqueur
Drambuie Liqueur
Benedictine Liqueur
Cointreau Orange Liqueur
Kahlua Liqueur
Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
LeTourment Vert Absinthe
Agua Luca Cachaca
DeKuyper Triple Sec
DeKuyper Creme de Cassis
DeKuyper Blue Curacao
DeKuyper Creme de Cocoa
Bols Blackberry Flavored Brandy (the bottle I have had the longest - no idea why)
Rumple Minze Peppermint Schnapps
Tres Agaves Agave Nectar
Korean Soju
Korean Blueberry Soju
Plum Gekkeikan Plum Wine
Hakushika Sake
Aalborg Akvavit
Angostura Bitters
Regan's Orange Bitters
Peychaud's Bitters
Rose's Grenadine

To Get
Absolut Citron
Chartreuse (Green and Yellow)
Sloe Gin
Fernet Branca

Of course there are others - do I need Ouzo? Are celery bitters really essential to my home imbibing needs? But that's the fun - reading about these spirits, their history, the drinks and personalities behind them - and then trying them out yourself. That's what interests me - that and having a nice drink as a byproduct. For even though a bad drink is (mostly) better than no drink at all, there is no excuse for a bad drink if you have the right ingredients, the right tools, and a willingness to experiment.

Cocktail Hopping in Philadelphia (Part 1)

2009-07-02T16:01:00.006-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to be in Philadelphia for work for a day and a half. I really like Philly - the place has an attitude all it's own (for better or for worse), and it is ALWAYS present no matter where you go in the city. I have been there over the years five or six times, and I always enjoy going back.

For the one evening I was in town, I stayed at the Ritz Carlton at 10 Avenue of the Arts, right at the corner where S. Broad Street hits City Hall (swanky!). As I checked in, I noted that majority of the huge atrium on the first floor was taken up by the 10 Arts Bar and Restaurant (one of Eric Ripert's establishments). Looking at the extremely long bar with their impressive spread of bottles , I knew this would be my first stop on my secondary motivation for being in Philly - finding some really well crafted cocktails.

Sitting at the sparsely populated bar (this was at 5:30 on a Tuesday), I looked over the cocktail menu, which had about 10 specialty cocktails on it. I focused in on 10 Classic Cucumber - I had just finished a two hour long drive from DC, and I was looking for something refreshing, but not sweet. The cocktail is made with Tanqueray 10 gin, organic cucumber slices, and a squeeze of lime stirred with ice in a sea salt rimmed rocks glass. This was VERY tasty - the more floral nature of Tanqueray 10 really complimented the fresh cucumber flavor, and the sea salt really set the whole thing off. As I drank, I asked the bartender where he would suggest I go for really well made cocktails. He confessed he was not the regular bartender (+1 for honesty), and asked a waitress if she could recommend a place. She pointed me to El Vez, about three blocks away.

El Vez (not to be confused with El Vez!), at the corner of Latona and S. 13th Streets just off of S. Broad, looked promising - outdoor seating, crowded and lively, interesting exterior. Stepping inside, my anticipation was somewhat diminished - El Vez is a mexican restaurant, which isn't something I automatically equate with good cocktails (outside of a margarita, and I have been more likely than not to have great margaritas at non-Mexican establishments). Sitting down at the crowded, centrally placed bar-in-the-round, I ordered some (very good) guacamole and chips and perused the drinks menu. Of course, margaritas were well represented (the Frozen Blood Orange sounded very tempting) but they also had a decent list of "specialty drinks" - I focused in on the El Tono. Made with cranberry infused bourbon, lime juice, and hibiscus tea, it sounded really intriguing - having done some of my own infusions recently, and thinking the combo of bourbon and tea would be pretty refreshing, I ordered one up.

The bartender was very efficient and professional - I like it when, before I am served a drink, a bartender takes a straw and pulls out a small sample to taste for correctness. The cocktail looked pretty - nice reddish hue from the cranberries (a couple sitting in the bottom of the glass), the tea aroma faint but present. Unfortunately, the cranberry taste was overwhelming - the tartness of the fruit was really the only thing that came through. I did note that I got the bourbon from near the bottom of the bottle, so it was possible the bourbon had been infusing for too long. But overall, that drink just reminded me that I didn't really like cranberry juice anyway (oh, yeah, that.) Sticking with my methodology, I asked one of the bartenders where they would go for a great cocktail. She highly recommended Apothecary across the street. I had heard of this place prior to coming to Philly - very innovative drinks, house made infusions and the use of fresh ingredients all promised good things.

Except it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Guess you gotta have a weekend at some point.

So, I went back and asked for an alternative suggestions. They mentioned I try Continental, which was a several block walk, but which they assured me would actually be, you know, open.
And good. So I headed west through the ever growing evening rush hour mass of humanity to seek the place out.

I never got there. I was struck by a restaurant and cocktail lounge with a large, neon champagne coupe on it's sign - Butcher and Singer. I figured that any place with a sign and name like that was pretty boldly saying "We make great cocktails for ladies and gentlemen that can tell the difference." Figuring they would never know whether I fit that category or not, I headed inside.

This was another double height space (probably a bank) that had been turned into a restaurant - dark, clubby, with modern lounge music drifting around in the background. The bar was actually very small - up front, it seated at most ten. However, immediately I knew I had made a good choice - the bartender was dressed in a crisp white jacket and bow tie, and he fronted a very well stocked bar (especially given the size). Sitting down, I asked what he would suggest for a classic cocktail - he suggested I start with a Sidecar. Excellent. This was actually a cocktail I had read a lot about, and was one of the cocktails that had become popular again when their became an increased interest in "classic" cocktails in the 90's. But I had never actually had one (although it was on my "to make" list). So I told the man to work his craft (I didn't really say that) and waited for classic goodness to be placed before me.

And I was not disappointed.

Next Time: The Butcher and Singer Experience

The Caricature

2009-06-15T21:07:00.009-04:00

Bitterness (the taste sensation, not the emotional state) is a tough thing to do right. It's one of the basic sensations on the tongue (can't remember what part of the tongue - on the side somewhere I think) but it's not one people appreciate as much as, say, the sweet or sour regions. But from a drinks standpoint, bitter is a critical flavor profile - that's why there is a whole category of cocktail ingredients titled, in general, "bitters." It's like the drink version of the Asian food profile (sweet, sour, spicy) - used correctly, it's an essential component of a finely crafted cocktail.

Like any subject that people are passionate about, once you start delving into the details, it becomes much more complex than you had previously realized. Whether it be exotic cars, beer making, hot sauces, or cocktails, there is a level of minutia which is fascinating to the enthusiast, but possibly unnerving to the average person. Look at bitters - there is a whole cottage industry, and associated cocktail movement, surrounding something which is just a small flavor additive to a relatively small percentage of cocktails. Celery, orange, peach, Peychaud's, Angostura, St. Vitus - there are tons of variations and flavor profiles, and that's not counting the home/ bar produced variety. It's very much like hot sauces, with certain brands or types generating a loyal following and almost fanboy like devotion.

Campari isn't technically a bitter per se, more a bitter flavored liquor from Italy. In the past used as a digestif, it has become a pretty standard cocktail ingredient. Campari based cocktails, such as the Negroni (Canmpari, gin, and sweet vermouth), are making a resurgence along with other cocktails with a more complex flavor profile. This cocktail, with a mixture of bitter, sweet, and sour flavors, is both refreshing and complex at the same time - something easily enjoyed in your favorite lounge (if you can find a bartender who has heard of it), or outside on the deck with bitter-inclined friends.

The Caricature

2 oz gin
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz grapefruit juice
1 oz triple sec
1/2 oz Campari

Pour contents into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until your hand hurts from the cold - then shake another 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Esquivel

2009-06-15T12:18:00.009-04:00

The concept of "lounge culture" has always amused me - I find it funny how much effort, money and stress goes into looking like you're cool, relaxed, and sophisticated. Although I really enjoy the music associated with lounge style (shout out to DC-based Thievery Corporation), it was pretty clear I was never going to be able to afford having a wardrobe which would even qualify me to get in the door at any establishment that strived to call themselves exclusive. Also, given the fact that I was not of European / Latin American / Middle Eastern descent, I was starting off with two huge strikes against me right there.

The very few times I have been in a lounge-type setting, I felt really, really out of place. On my first outing to the 18th Street Lounge in DC about 12 years ago, I was amazed that they let me in - I had heard it was extremely exclusive, and if you were a solo guy (or worse, a group of guys), you were not getting past the doorman. When they let me in, I felt all good about myself - figured I had on nice enough clothes and looked good enough to qualify as "one of the elite." It wasn't until a couple of years later that a friend, who WAS cool and good looking enough to be one of the elite, told me they let me in almost certainly because I got there early, and figured I would leave before it got really crowded and the "real good looking people" showed up.

I wasn't too crushed by this - at the time, paying $8 bucks for a skunked Heineken bottle wasn't my idea of a good time anyway (not that it is now - $3 tops). And you wonder just how much money people have when they can go to a "lounge," rent an exclusive table in a velvet rope secured area for $1500, and that doesn't even get you any drinks. That's another $300 per bottle for "bottle service" - which just means you can pour your own drinks. From a bottle. Just like you do at home. Hell, I can grab a bottle of Thunderbird, lock myself in my bathroom, and crank up some Eddie Money - THAT'S exclusive, my friends.

The whole point of this is that this cocktail, the Esquivel, is named after what many consider to be the founder of lounge music, and thus lounge culture - Juan Garcia Esquivel. A prolific musician from the late 1950's through the late 1960's, a compilation of his music came out in 1994 on a CD entitled "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music." Whether this kicked off the lounge music resurgence, or whether this came out as a result of young hipsters suddenly drinking martinis, smoking Cohiba's, and longing for the good old days of three martini lunches and bomb shelters, I don't know. But this cocktail is perfectly named - it is at once familiar, exotic, modern, retro, International, but yet also very American. That it's delicious is just a bonus - far more importantly, you LOOK good drinking it. And isn't that the whole point?

The Esquivel

2 oz light rum
1/2 oz Kahlua
1 oz pineapple juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters
champagne
cinnamon and orange twist to garnish

Combine the rum, Kahlua, pineapple juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker and shake for 20 seconds. Strain into a shilled cocktail glass. Top off with champagne, and sprinkle cinammon on top. Garnish with orange twist.

Landover Lemonade

2009-06-08T14:57:00.012-04:00

Growing up in southern Maryland, I had the benefit of living within a few miles of a couple of "pick your own" farms. Although at the time I considered them more "stand out in the hot sun and sweat your ass off while picking food you could buy in an air conditioned grocery store" farms, it did mean that we often had extremely fresh produce available on the table almost all of the time. Silver Queen Corn, squash, strawberries, peppers, melons of all kinds - whatever was coming out of the ground that week was finding its way onto our plates (of course, so were Ho-Hos and Hamburger Helper - my Mom was no agro-food hippie, to say the least).

Recently my wife (a post-punk agro-food postmodern hippie) and I bought a share in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in PG County. It's essentially the same concept, except you pre-purchase the food, and for your share, you get a certain amount of whatever is fresh that week. We have had strawberries, garlic scallions, turnips, kale, lettuce, rhubarb, bok choi, and a number of other veggies and fruits so far. You are also allowed unlimited cuttings from their herb garden and access to some pick your own fields for free (we cleaned up on strawberries the first week - made a yummy strawberry rhubarb pie). So we head down there every Saturday to pick up our share.

Next to the spot where we pick up our share, there is a huge mulberry tree which Noe started picking berries from the first week. Having done some infusions lately, I decided doing a mulberry infusion would be a neat idea - hadn't seen that done before, and it was free, so why not? I had also picked a bunch of mint, and since mulberries have a pretty mild taste, I figured combining the two would be a cool thing to try out. I poured out some Stoli, added the berries and mint, and closed it up to infuse.

Turns out it only took a day for the vodka to take on a gorgeous purply-blue color and for the mint aroma and taste to infuse itself into the vodka. When infusing you don't want to let the ingredients go bad for obvious reasons, and mint and mulberries have a pretty short shelf life. So I had my mulberry-mint vodka - now what to make with it?

On Sunday afternoon, I went to a Nationals game with some friends. My buddy Brian went to grab us some beers, but as it was the 8th inning, they had stopped beer sales (why? WHY???). He brought lemonade back instead, and I think we both thought of the same thing simultaneously - that mulberry stuff would work great with lemonade! I can confirm that this is indeed the case - all of the flavors work really well together, and no ingredient overpowers any of the others. On a really hot day, a pitcher of these would be just the ticket.

As far as I know this is an original recipe. I am not married to the name, so if there are alternate suggestions, I am open to them (Suz really wants Bobbo Palmer, referencing the classic Arnie Palmer drink consisting of half iced tea and half lemonade - I'm just not feelin' it). No matter what you call it, it's pretty damned tasty.

Landover Lemonade

2 oz mulberry and mint infused vodka
4 oz lemonade
lemon rind for garnish
ice

Fill highball glass with ice to chill. Add vodka and lemonade to a Boston shaker half filled with ice. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds, and strain into highball glass. Add lemon twist for garnish.

Mulberry and Mint Infused Vodka

4 - 6 oz of fresh mulberries
1 bunch fresh mint
375 ml vodka

Wash berries and mint, and place into an airtight container. Add vodka and let infuse overnight. Strain vodka through a coffee filter or paper towel, discarding solids. Place vodka in an airtight container and keep for up to 2 weeks.

Blue Hawaiian

2009-06-05T20:59:00.013-04:00

What I choose to drink is, for the most part, tied to my mood and my general surroundings. I am probably not going to ask for a hot toddy at the beach in July, nor am I going to ask for a frozen margarita on the ski slopes of Vail (and I am not going to ask for a Hot Buttered Nipple anywhere...EVER). But sometimes you just gotta throw yourself a curve ball, change it up a bit (although those are two different pitches - I've never been great with sports metaphors). The weather in DC this last week has sucked - rain, rain, more rain, and at the end of the week, a nice dose of chilly to top it all off. Makes you want to punch the weatherperson in the spleen (except for Sue Palka - you'll always be aces with me, babe.)

So instead of opting for some cream based winter warmer, I decided to whip up a frozen Blue Hawaiian. I have made these a few times before, and they always remind me of sunny days, frothy surf, and sand between my toes, so I figured the culmination of a busy week involving travel, long discussions about organizational consistency, and sprained spousal digits was as good a time as any to blend some up. The blue color is so great - I think people feel happier just watching someone drink one of these.

There are frozen and non-frozen versions of this drink, but I felt like putting the blender to good use. I cracked the ice using another one of my vintage bar machines - the Ice-O-Mat (anything that ends in "-O-Mat" is awesome in my book.) I have a black one and a yellow one, but the yellow one is older and makes for a better pic. I don't know if you necessarily NEED a big honking metal contraption to crack ice, but it's fun to use regardless.

Weather over the weekend is supposed to be warm and sunny, finally. But for cold rainy days, I think a Blue Hawaiian is just the ticket to focus your thoughts on something other than the weather - like whether punching someone in the spleen is really the proper way to vent frustration (maybe kidney is the better way to go....).

Blue Hawaiian

1 oz light rum
1 oz Blue Curacao
2 oz pineapple juice
1 Tbsp cream of coconut
slice of pineapple and cherry to garnish

Combine ingredient in a blender. Add a handful of cracked ice and blend for 20 seconds or until smooth (you don't have to crack the ice if you have a workhorse of a blender that can real grind ice). Pour into margarita glass and garnish with cherry and pineapple slice

Tom Collins

2009-06-01T11:20:00.004-04:00

When friends and I go out to drink, it's typically for beers, maybe the occasional shot or "typical" cocktail (martini, mojito, margarita, etc). And even though I frequent different types of bars (lounges, sports bars, restaurant bars) I never see a lot of variation in the drinks being ordered - nothing that we make me look over and ask "What's THAT guy drinking?" The Tom Collins is one of those drinks I never see anyone ordering, drinking, or even mentioning in a bar context. It's a classic cocktail, with it's origins in the late 19th century (although there is debate whether this is an English or American cocktail). But it's not one many people seem to enjoy.

That's a shame, as it's incredibly easy to make, refreshing, and looks great in a tall, cold glass. The comination of herbal, sweet and sour are all perfectly balanced, and sipping one on a hot day on the deck - or on a hot day in an air conditioned bar - is a real cocktail-based treat. It's a great drink for those who normally don't like gin - the lemon and the sugar mellow the typical sugnature flavors of gin, marrying it all together into a very enjoyable drink.

Tom Collins

2 oz gin (Bombay Sapphire)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
2 tsp super fine sugar (I used 2 tsp agave syrup)
4 - 6 oz club soda
1 orange wedge and 1 maraschino cherry to garnish (I didn't have the cherry - I really need to go shopping!)

Fill cobbler 2/3 full with ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, and sugar. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds.

Fill a collins glass with ice. Strain cocktail into the glass, and add club soda to taste. Stir with a swizzle stick slightly to blend. Garnish with orange wedge, squeezing slightly, and cherry.

Mojito

2009-06-01T10:23:00.004-04:00

Nothing says "overexposure" like a mojito. A drink that traces its origins to Cuba in the 16th century, it became the drink to have in the late 1990's for the urban hipster crowd. There was a time when you couldn't throw a lime without hitting a guy with a caesar haircut and huaraches, smoking a cigar and complaining about mint getting stuck in the straw of his mojito. Then came the backlash - when you started to see mojitos adverstised as the special at Bennigan's, you knew what was coming. I went to Cafe Atlantico in DC at the height of mojito hysteria and ordered one at the bar - I got an extremely condescending "We don't MAKE mojitos here..." response, which baffled me at the time (what don't you have? the limes? mint? sugar? rum?? is this a bar???).

Hipsterism aside, mojitos are a great drink. Simple to make (assuming you can muddle something without breaking a glass), pretty to look at, and the epitome of freshness, this is the perfect summertime cocktail. Freshness of ingredients is obviously key - I made mine with mint picked from a farm that morning, and fresh mint makes a world of difference. And I use club soda instead of lemon lime soda - you could use that if you drop the sugar, but I think the sugar gives it a much cleaner, non-cloyingly sweet taste. If you don't have fresh mint, make something else - even if it means having to change out of your huaraches.

Mojito

2 - 3 sugar cubes
1/4 cup (about a small handful) fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 oz light rum (Bacardi)
3 oz club soda
lime wedge and mint sprig for garnish

In the bottom of a highball glass, muddle the sugar cubes, mint leaves, and lime juice together with a muddler, gently but firmly grinding the ingredients together until the sugar mostly dissolves. Don't use a muddler with ridges on the end, and don't beat the hell out of the ingredients - the point is to bruise them and release the flavorful oils.

Fill the glass with ice cubes, add the rum, and then the soda. Stir well with a bar spoon, pulling up a little to distribute the mint leaves throughout the glass. Garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.

Catch Up Time

2009-06-01T06:17:00.004-04:00

The thing about enjoying cocktails is that, typically, you don't come away from a close encounter with a great cocktail and think "I should sit down for 20 minutes and write about this" (Ernest Hemingway probably thought differently - but some people have a gift.) That being said, I'm getting a little behind on the posts, which I'll try and update today. Got a couple of good ones to share thoughts on, including a classic Tom Collins, one called a Bunny Hug which was more like a Bunny Slap to the Face, and a recommendation for an awesome piece of bar equipment (or I may just do one on all of my bar equipment....hmmmmm.)

Don't Try This at Home

2009-05-28T11:37:00.012-04:00

Sometimes things just don't work out. You come up with an idea that seems to make sense (say, sending a gerbil to the moon), may even be easy to implement (ie buy homemade rocket kit; stick gerbil in homemade rocket; light rocket), but the results just aren't what you were hoping for (ie flaming gerbil is imbedded in neighbor's roof, which is now also on fire). Thus was my experiment with coming up with a cocktail that would utilize the blueberry infused bourbon I made a couple of weeks ago.

Inspired by a recipe for blueberry infused bourbon and associated drink I saw in Imbibe magazine (I didn't have all of the ingredients for the drink in the magazine - anyone have a bottle of Benedictine just sitting around?), I had made a Blueberry Manhattan when my friend Ana came over for drinks and dinner the other night. I thought that was very good, but it was a little sweet, and the blueberry flavor didn't really come through. So I wanted to make something that would showcase the blueberry taste (otherwise why make the stuff in the first place, right?) and also add a little complexity to the flavor.

Looking through my cocktail books, I came across a recipe for a drink called a Rattlesnake. A bourbon based drink, but it added some lemon juice, egg white, and a dash of Pernod. Sweet, sour, bitter, creamy - sounded like the complex flavor profile I was looking for, and the blueberry / lemon / anise flavor I thought would be really nice complements for one another. I didn't have Pernod (sounds like I need to go shopping), so instead I planned to use some Le Tourment Absinthe (especially since it just called for a dash).

I placed all of the necessary ingredients in a Boston shaker, shook it vigorously, and strained into a rocks glass over ice, garnishing with a slice of lemon rind. Looked really promising - nice froth from the egg white, and the color was a really pretty bluish pink. Smelled good too, although more lemon came through than anything. So then the taste, and.....eh. None of the blueberry flavor, nor even the bourbon flavor, came through. The lemon was very up front, and the absinthe just made the whole thing taste "off." Figuring I needed to adjust the proportions, I made two other versions, increasing the bourbon content and lowering the lemon and ansinthe proportions. Still not all that good. At this point, having consumed three strong cocktails, I was in no condition to be doing unbiased critical evaluations of anything, so I bagged it.

Maybe I'll try the cocktail with the Benedictine in it (I think my father-in-law has a bottle). But as far trying to craft my own unique cocktail recipes, I think I'll hold off, make cocktails from "proven" recipes, and just work on creating some sort of fire retardant suit for a gerbil. R.I.P. AstroGerb v.1.0 - never forget :'(

Blueberry Infused Bourbon

1/2 pint of washed, whole blueberries
bourbon (amount will depend on size of the infusion container)

Place whole blueberries in a container which can be sealed air tight. Fill container with bourbon to at least completely cover the blueberries. Let sit in a cool place for approximately three weeks. Then drain bourbon through a coffee filter into as serving container, discarding the fruit. Keeps for 2 to 3 weeks.

Blueberry Rattlesnake

1 1/2 measures of blueberry-infused bourbon
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp simple syrup
1 egg white
few drops Pernod (I used Le Tourment Absinthe)

Put all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake very well. Strain into a rocks glass and add more ice.

Portonic

2009-05-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

Food magazines are so hit and miss. I used to get Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, and I think a couple of other food magazines, and in any given month, I might be able to pull two recipes from all of them combined that looked worth trying. Of those recipes, I would put, at most, one in my folder of "keeper" recipes every 6 months. But every few years one of those magazines would be stuffed with awesome recipes or food / drink ideas from fonrt to back. The June 06 Food and Wine is an issue like that - tons of great grilling suggestions, recipes, and wine picks. In their grilling section, I found a recipe for this refreshing cocktail - the Portonic.

Named probably because it's easy to describe if you're several barbeques into a long Memorial Day weekend ["ummmmm.....that drink with the port....and tonic....ummm...you looking at my hotdog funny? You want a piece of thi..." (cue sound of drunk man falling into a kid's sandbox)], it's a great party drink because it's so easy to whip up as many as you need. White port is harder to find than regular port, but it's worth seeking out. Not as overly sweet nor as strong as a regular ruby or tawny port, it's great for mixing. In this cocktail, the bitterness of the tonic water cuts that sweetness even more, making for a very drinkable cocktail that's right at home at an upscale cocktail party or a backyard gathering of drunken pickle vendors.

Portonic

2 oz white port
2 oz tonic water
1/2 oz fresh lime juice

Fill white wine glass with ice. Add port and lime juice, and then add tonic water. Garnish with a lime peel on a toothpick, or with a sprig of mint.

Frozen Banana Daiquiri

2009-05-25T20:31:00.000-04:00

Exotic, tropical drinks always seemed very intimidating to me (not to drink, of course - drinking them is painfully easy.) Between the combinations of fruit, fruit juices, somewhat exotic liquors, and having to know whether the garnish was an umbrella, a chunk of fruit, or a shrunken monkey head, it all seemed like just too much info to bother processing just to make a drink. Zombies, Stingers, Blue Hawaiians, Daiquiris - more than happy to drink them if someone else was making them (and REALLY more than happy if someone else was buying), but I wasn't going to fool around with all that fussy stuff.

A daiquiri is the OPPOSITE of fussy - in fact, it's so simple, the only really fussy thing about it is its name. Created in Cuba at the end of the 19th century, and made fashionable in the US during the 1940's when rum was much easier to come by than gin, vodka, or whiskey (because of open trade policies with Latin America), a daiquiri is white rum, lime juice, and sugar. Period. It really doesn't get to much simpler than that. For my version, I just happened to have two bananas that were about to go south, so I threw those in as well for some extra flair and made a frozen version. This is a super easy drink to make and, given its simplicity, a really easy drink recipe to remember (which is probably why it became so popular - most drunks can remember how to put three ingredients together in a glass regardless of how many drinks they've had prior.) The non-frozen, non-banana version is shaken with plenty of ice and strained into a cocktail flute - the frozen version is blended with plenty of ice and poured into a margarita glass.

Frozen Banana Daiquiri

2 oz white rum (I didn't have any, so I used Appleton Estate)
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 ripe banana

Put all ingredients in a blender. Add ice to blender (to half full for one drink.) Blend until smooth. Poor into a margarita glass and garnish with a lime slice.

Ginger Peach Martini

2009-05-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

One of the things I like about making cocktails (and making beer for that matter) is that essentially all you're doing is cooking - you have the latitude to determine the recipe, the quality of the ingredients, the proportions. And nothing dictates the quality of your ingredients better than if you make those ingredients yourself. For this cocktail, I took inspiration from a great ginger martini they make at the Oval Room in DC (right near the White House), and from the bottle of peach infused vodka I had decided to whip up last week (and didn't know when I was going to use).

Despite the fancy sounding name - and even the two home produced ingredients - this is incredibly simple to make. And the resulting cocktail is gorgeous - that pink color in the drink is solely from the peach skins coloring the vodka during the infusion process.

Ginger Peach Martini

3 measures peach infused vodka (see recipe below)
1 measure ginger syrup (see recipe below)
1/2 tsp of fresh lime juice

Pour vodka, syrup, and lime juice into a pint glass. The add a handful of cracked ice cubes to the glass (important to add ice only when you are ready to start making the drink). With a bar spoon, stir the drink evenly for about 30 seconds (the volume of ice should be reduced by about a quarter as it melts off). Strain into a cold martini glass, garnish with a lime twist.

Peach Infused Vodka

375ml (roughly) of vodka (Stoli)
one slightly under ripe peach, sliced

In a container which can be sealed air tight (even better if it's a pretty bottle or decanter) and which will hold roughly 375 ml of liquid, place the peach slices in the container. Pour vodka over peaches, making sure that all the peach slices are covered with the alcohol, and seal. Make sure to use an almost, but not quite, ripe peach, as a ripe peach will deteriorate faster in the vodka and won't infuse its flavors as well. Place in a cool spot not hit by direct sunlight for about a week, or until the peach slices start to look a little bit darker than when they went into the container. Strain out the vodka through an unbleached paper towel. This can be done either into the serving container, or, if you want to use the container the vodka was being infused in, remove and discard the peaches, quickly rinse the inside with water, and pour the vodka back in. Vodka should last at least a month.

Ginger Syrup

2 cups organic milled cane sugar
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups of fresh ginger root, sliced (no need to peel)

Bring all ingredients to a boil, and then reduce hit to simmer until liquid is reduced by a third, about 45 minutes. Take liquid off heat and allow to cool to room temp. Strain into a sealable container, discarding ginger. Refrigerate. Syrup will keep for about three weeks.

Margarita

2009-05-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

A margarita is the party-throwers best friend. People have all kinds of preferences when it comes to drinks - "I don't like bourbon." "sweet drinks really make me gag," "you put an umbrella in my drink and I'll punch you in the face," and on and on. But a margarita - I don't think I have ever heard anyone say they didn't like a margarita. And it's an added bonus that they are super simple to make (although surprisingly easy to screw up.)

In my estimation, there are really just three rules to making a very good margarita: DON'T use a mix; use the best quality ingredients you can afford; and make it COLD. Do all three of these things in unison, and the only thing holding you back from a perfect drink is the wrong proportions.

Proportions are relatively flexible with this drink - some prefer some more tequila taste, some prefer more lime. My preference is to have a one to one ratio of tequila to triple sec, and then about 3/4 of lime juice. Like I said - quality ingredients make a difference. Triple sec is good - Cointreau is better. Jose Cuervo is OK if you're in a bind - a 100% agave tequila like Patron Anejo is WAY better. And lime juice better be from a lime - a bottle of Rose's Lime Juice should never come within 100 feet of a margarita.

And as for cold - as the Boston Shaker explains in his demonstration on How2Heroes ( http://how2heroes.com/newsletters/05.21.09_grilling/ ) - you shake a margarita until the shaker gets so cold your hand hurts - and then you shake it some more.

Margarita

2 measures tequila (100% pure agave anejo)
2 measures Cointreau
1 1/2 measures fresh lime juice

Prepare margarita glasses by rubbing a lime wedge on half the outside rim of the glass. Roll the wet side of the glass in kosher salt (don't get salt in the glass or on the actual rim . Place ice in a shaker. Pour ingredients over the ice and shake vigorously until extremely cold (about 30 seconds). Strain into prepared glass, garnish with a lime slice.

Pisco Sour - v.Dos

2009-05-21T23:28:00.000-04:00

So having failed (relatively speaking) at my first attempt at making a Pisco Sour, I decided to try the Wikipedia version of the recipe, which called for limes, egg whites, bitters, and simple syrup in addition to the pisco. I utilized the agave nectar in place of the simple syrup because I was just too lazy to make some real simple syrup (and I had a couple of beers after work, so I wasn't in the prepping mood). Knowing I had the right ingredients, I tried again at making a decent example of this drink.

This time I think I succeeded. The egg white was the real difference - without that, I don't think you have a drink anywhere near as good. I had never really used egg whites in drinks before - both because of a concern about killing myself (highly over dramatized - if you have fresh eggs, there is almost no chance of any type of botulism issue), and because I wasn't really looking to mix up cocktails that called for eggs most of the time anyway. But the egg white not only gives you a nice frothy head on the drink, but it gives the drink a creamy, velvety texture definitely not present without it. It's a texture really foreign to citrusy cocktails normally, and that makes it even better. The key is to really shake the hell out of it - straining it into the glass brings the froth level down some, so you want to be sure to build up a lot in the shaker to ensure a good amount makes it into the final product.

Pisco Sour

2 parts pisco
1 part lime juice
1 part simple syrup (agave nectar)
1 egg white
bitters (Angostura, or home made)

Add ice to a Boston shaker. Add pisco, lime juice, agave nectar, and egg white. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain into an old fashioned glass. Add two to three drops of bitters to top.

Juice King

2009-05-21T23:22:00.000-04:00

Check my awesome juicer - rightfully named the Juice King. Suz bought this years ago at a thrift store (I think) and it has gotten sporadic use over the years. But I use it a lot now, and it really does get every available drop of juice from everything from key limes to grapefruit. Perfect design - completely functional, does exactly what it is designed to do, and does it flawlessly. Not sure why these things aren't still in production.

Pisco Sour - Part Uno

2009-05-21T12:17:00.000-04:00

Pisco is a grape-based brandy, almost exclusively referenced as part of the Pisco Sour. It's a drink I heard described as being pretty awesome - not quite a whiskey sour, a little more refreshing than people might typically find a whiskey sour to be. I picked up a bottle of pisco recently, and then accessed a recipe for Pisco Sour on an iTouch app I downloaded for drink recipes (seemed reasonable enough).

I should have known when the recipe called for "1 to 2 Tbsp of sugar" in a drink to be shaken over ice that something wasn't quite right. Of course, I should have known enough not to make the drink using that ingredient - sugar won't dissolve in cold liquids on it's own very much if at all, so, not surprisingly, the first pass created a drink with a lot of sugar crystals in the bottom of the glass and left behind in the shaker. Also not surprisingly, the drink came off truly deserving of its "sour" title. The only other ingredients I had been given for the drink were 2 measures of pisco and one of lemon juice, so what I got was a whole lotta lemon pucker.

Realizing the error of my ways (and drinking the first drink anyway - I'm not an idiot, after all), I decided to substitute some agave nectar for the raw sugar. Agave nectar is awesome stuff - like a simple syrup, but with a little extra herbiness in with the mild sweetness. Despite what you might think, it doesn't taste anything like tequila - it's a pretty neutral sweetner, and you can get it in its all natural version. This yielded a MUCH better drink - proper sweet / sour balance, definitely drinkable and refreshing. Winner, I thought, and pretty simple.

Turns out, it's a little TOO simple.

Looking up pisco on Wikipedia, the drink recipe (and history) called for: pisco; limes, not lemons; egg white; bitters; and simple syrup instead of "sugar." That would definitely yield a more complex drink - the bitters would definitely add a layer of flavor complexity, and the frothy egg white would give it some texture lacking from my version. I might stick with the lemon - although I think I used all my lemons last night, so if it means skipping a run to the co-op, I'll use limes.

So, tonight I'll try Pisco Sour v.Dos - and I'll look for a better iTouch drinking app.

The Moscow Mule

2009-05-19T12:51:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe, given how ubiquitous it in in bars and in drinking culture in the U.S., but at one time vodka was not the principal "clear spirit" consumed in America - that honor fell to gin. It wasn't until the late 1940's that vodka really started to take hold as the spirit we know it to be today (it has also been argued that the rise of vodka signaled the decline of the cocktail culture in general, "watering down" American's appreciation for spirits with flavor or unique character.) The drink credited with starting the American love of vodka is the Moscow Mule.

Created in 1941, it was the invention of a bar/restaurant owner out of Los Angeles, an American vodka company representative, and a producer of ginger beer. Created in Manhattan (over a number of drinks, it actually didn't take off until (like most things) it became popular with the movie star crowd in LA in the late 1940s. As part of the marketing of the drink, you were supposed to drink it out of a copper cup - not sure what the significance of that is, but I assure you that it tastes just as good in a highball glass. As with most vodka drinks, the alcohol notes are non-existent, and this is a great party drink because it's very easy to adjust the proportion of ginger beer (or vodka for that matter) to account for individual taste. Use a good, strong ginger beer so the ginger flavor isn't overpowered by the lime (and for god's sake use a fresh lime - bottled lime juice is an abomination.)

The Moscow Mule

1 part vodka (Stoli)
1 part lime juice
ginger beer

Fill a collins glass with ice. Add vodka and lime juice and stir for 15 seconds. Add ginger beer to top off. Add a slice of lime to garnish.

(Not So) Petite Fleur

2009-05-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes drinks just don't work out. You have the best of intentions - good ingredients, combination seems reasonably likely to be yummy, pretty easy to make. But then something is just off - there's something that's just too much, not enough, or just terrible. This cocktail was an example of the former.

A Petite Fleur is a rum based drink. I expected something refreshing and citrusy, but with the sugary caramel tastes that you can get from rum. All I got was a mouth full of alcohol burn - I think the proportions were off in the recipe (which called for a two to one ratio of rum to Cointreau and grapefruit juice). Below I have what I would consider the ideal recipe for this drink - something where the tastes of the spirits can come thorough and not just knock you over the head with their potency.

Not that I didn't drink the original version of course - even a bad cocktail is better than no cocktail at all.

(Not So) Petite Fleur

1 measure rum (Appleton Estate)
1 measure Cointreau
2 measures fresh grapefruit juice

Fill a shaker with ice and combine ingredient. Shake for 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled sour glass.

The Gemini

2009-05-16T22:23:00.000-04:00

Martha Stewart gets a bad rap, in my opinion. The woman may be a control freak, bitchy beyond reason, and involved in elaborate but horribly covered up securities fraud, but she does know how to do the finer things in life. We started getting "Martha Stewart Living" as a replacement for a magazine that we really like that went under. Initially, we thought we had just gained one more thing to recycle every month. But there's some good stuff in there - maybe I don't need to know how to knit my own plastic bag holder, but I can use a good grilling tip - or cocktail recipe - any day, and I ain't picky about the source.

The Gemini is a great example of something from the Martha Stewart brand - relatively simple, but with top notch ingredients, and somewhat exotic. The key ingredient to this cocktail is St-Germain, an elderflower liquer that tastes like....well, it tastes like a whole bunch of things at once. Grapefruit, lemon, lime, roses...it's all over the place. But it's REALLY good - definitely worth it as an addition to those "weird" liquers that pile up in the back of your liquor cabinet. But this one is so good, you might actually break it out every now and again. This cocktail would be GREAT as a substitute to a mimosa or bellini at a brunch (especially for those that like grapefruit juice).

The Gemini

4 ounces fresh grapefruit juice, strained to remove pulp
3 ounces St-Germain liquer
2 ounces vodka (Stoli)
ice cubes
Prosecco (any sparkling wine will do)
2 grapefruit-rind twists

Mix juice, St-Germain, vodka, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into two chilled glasses. Top each with Prosecco. Garnish with grapefruit twists. Makes 2 cocktails.

New Yorker

2009-05-16T22:04:00.000-04:00

Scotch never struck me as a drink for mixing. Since really learning to love and appreciate scotch, I couldn't think of any other way to enjoy it than with some ice (heresy to some), a little water, and good company (which sometimes might just be myself - but there's nothing wrong with that.) So when I started looking at recipes that called for scotch as a mixer, I didn't quite get it - why would you even use it as a mixer? Why use this stuff that is wondrous by itself, mixing it with other things to cloud all of that inherent goodness?

I then realized I was over thinking it - it's a freakin' cocktail for god's sake. So I tried the New Yorker, and understood. The scotch brings an earthiness to drinks which might otherwise be all fruity and "citrusy." And as a mixer, a lot of the signature scotch flavors are softened s that, if you're not into the peaty, boggy flavor of a fine scotch blend, all the edges get smoothed over, becoming a player in a much yummier whole.

Blah blah blah - drink is good. Have one - especially if all you got is scotch laying around and you don't know where the hell it came from since you never really liked scotch in the first place.

New Yorker

2-3 ice cubes, cracked
1 measure Scotch whiskey (Dewar's)
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon confectioner's sugar
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
lemon zest spiral to garnish

Put ice in cocktail shaker and add scotch, lime juice, and sugar. Shake until a frost forms on the shaker (about 30 seconds). Strain into an old fashioned glass. Sprinkle the grated lemon zest over the surface and decorate the rim with the lemon zest spiral.

Maiden's Prayer

2009-05-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, you just want something simple. Not a whole lot of preparation, not any real skill involved in whipping together something to drink - this is about relaxing, being refreshed, and having something yummy, right? This drink fits the bill - gin, cointreau, and orange juice. Can't get much simpler than that. And it's definitely yummy - the herbyness (it's a word...I think) and slight bitterness of the gin offset the tanginess of the orange juice and sweetness of the cointreau. I was going to lament using Beefeater's gin, instead of Tanqueray (which I didn't have), Plymouth (out of that too), or Bombay Sapphire (which I had, but it was all the way in the back of the cabinet and I didn't feel like fishing it out). But the straightforward nature of Beefeater's serves this drink just right. The qualities of the higher end gins would just be overshadowed by the other ingredients.

Maiden's Prayer

2 measures gin (Beefeaters)
2 measures Cointreau
1 measure orange juice

Fill a cocktail shaker 3/4 full with ice cubes. Pour all the ingredients over the ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Manhattan

2009-05-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

The first drink I made with the intent of blogging about it was a true classic - a Manhattan. This bourbon or rye whiskey based drink is everything a cocktail should be - easy to make, but maddeningly difficult to master. The ability to craft a perfect one (or the lack of that ability) can have profound consequences for anyone aspiring to be called a true Bartender (reference Fat Tony's lamentations about being served a flat, flavorless Manhattan.)

I prefer the rye version of the drink - it's a little more dry than the bourbon version...and I like rye a lot. So there's that. But if you want to tell whether a new watering hole is going to be worth your time, or if a neophyte referring to themselves as a "Bartender" with a capital "B" is the real deal, order a Manhattan. You'll know straight off whether you'll be back, or whether the schlub behind the bar should be swimming with the fishes in the East River.

Manhattan

2 1/2 ounces rye whiskey (Jim Beam Rye, but I prefer Rittenhouse)
1 1/2 Tbsp sweet vermouth (Martini and Rossi)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 small strip orange peel
1 maraschino cherry with stem (I leave these out)

Chill a cocktail glass by filling it with ice and water and let sit (I don't freeze my glasses - creates an unbalanced temperature in the drink...and my freezer isn't that big).
Fill a cocktail shaker 2/3 full with ice. Pour in whiskey and vermouth, then add bitters. Close shaker and shake vigorously for 15-20 seconds. Dump the ice and water out of the glass, and strain cocktail into it immediately. Twist the orange peel between your fingers to release the oils , rub the orange part around the rim, discard the peel. Garnish with cherry if you're into that sorta thing.

Surf Rider

2009-05-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

My second cocktail (posting about it first - suck it up) was a tasty citrus and vodka based drink called a Surf Rider. As with most of these drinks, what I choose to make is driven by what I have on hand. Alcohol isn't a big problem (I have a pretty wide variety) but mixers are more of an issue - I just don't have elderflower cordial sitting around. So this was pretty simple to make, and very refreshing - tartness from the lemon, sweetness from the orange juice, a little bitterness from the sweet vermouth, and the kick from the vodka. Definitely an option for relaxing on the deck - add a bunch of ice to thin it out a bit (or seltzer) and it becomes a great summer drink.

Surf Rider

4-5 ice cubes
3 measures vodka (Stoli)
1 measure sweet vermouth (Martini and Rossi)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
juice of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon grenadine (Rose's)

Put the ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Pour the vodka, vermouth, fruit juices, and grenadine over the ice. Shake until a frost forms on the outside of the shaker. Stain into a sour glass - garnish with twists of orange and lemon zest.

Redirection of Purpose

2009-05-11T12:17:00.001-04:00

As predicted in my first post to this blog, I haven't exactly been updating it on a frequent basis (I think four time in 6 months qualifies as "infrequent"). I think mostly for the same reasons I stopped updating my old site - not really much to talk about. Since I didn't have any structure or purpose to posting, there wasn't anything driving me to do so. While in Whole Foods the other day, I picked up a copy of Imbibe magazine to pass the boredom while I waited for my hippie check out girl to figure out how much a kiwi costs. Scanning that magazine, I think I found my purpose and structure.

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy drinking. In my early years, I probably fit the same mold as most college-age guys - drink lots, drink cheap, and drink often. Now that I am a mature (um..), professional (okaaay...), adult (maybe..) father of one (definitely), two out of those three drivers have changed: I don't drink as much in quantity anymore (it was truly a revelation that a single well made cocktail, glass of wine, or craft brewed beer usually generated a lot more pleasure than six crappy beers (I am looking at you, PBR)); I don't drink the really cheap stuff if I can help it (nothing wrong with a Bud Light on a hot day in the parking lot at a football game - just not my choice to drink with dinner, or at a bar with friends); I do, however, continue to drink often - usually once a day, typically a glass of wine or beer with dinner, maybe one after my daughter goes to bed. So in addition to my interest in consumption, I gained an interest in production - about 6 years ago I started making my own beer, which I love to do. And I have always had an interest in cocktails - how they are made, the history of a particular drink, the sometimes exotic ingredients or spirits, etc. And I obviously have an interest in parentheses (but that's another issue.)

So from all this I figured why not try and write about my interest in imbibing - whether that be beer, wine, coffee (which I also love), spirits, cocktails, whatever. It's something I have an interest in, and at worst no one reads it and I still have some good drinks along the way. I will try and post something new every day - but realistically I'll shoot for a minimum of once a week. Don't expect literary brilliance (it should be pretty obvious by now that's not possible) or even necessarily insightful comments on the subject matter.

This is a guy writing about what he drinks.

Inauguration Impressions

2009-01-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

Even though, living in Washington, DC, we had potentially easy access to the downtown area to witness the spectacle that was Obama's inauguration, the thought of jumping on an albeit easily accessible metro train and sharing it with a million well meaning but disoriented and overhyped parade-goers didn't sound like the best course of action. So we decided to head to a friend's place for brunch, drinks, and child playdates. Some thing that stick out in my mind about that day:

- the Black Eyed Susans were damned good
- the egg and mushroom strata was also very tasty
- the shots of the thousands upon thousands down on the Mall was pretty thrilling - felt a little regret we hadn't braved it, but not for very long
- it was cold - which was why the regret about not attending in person was pretty fleeting
- Hailey is a super cute little girl - Noe and her seemed to get along, so hopefully they'll see more of each other
- I didn't see one second of the oath of office - picked the perfect time to try and resolve conflicts between toddlers in the basement
- reading about how the oath was messed up was somewhat amusing. I know John and like him a LOT despite his politics...but I don't cut the guy much slack on messing up the oath. The guy can quote you any significant legal opinion generated in the last 200 years verbatim, and he can't recite a few lines from memory?!? Yeesh...
- the first conspiracy theory I saw (which I believe was tongue in cheek...maybe) was that the Bible used (which supposedly was the Lincoln Bible) was in fact a Koran - that they chose to use the "Lincoln Bible" because no one knew what it looked like and a Koran could be easily substituted. The fact that the Chief Justice, one of the most conservative people on earth, happened to be holding the book didn't seem to register as a possible flaw in that theory. Eh, details.
- his little girls were so gorgeous - the youngest with the peach and orange ensemble rocked. They're going to be setting some trends over the next four years
- I like the First Lady's dress worn for the inauguartion. For the balls...not so much. I didn't get the one strap thing, and it really didn't show off the athletic build she has. But Obama looked pretty pimp.
- didn't experience any crazy traffic first hand - I think they scared a lot of people out of the area by blocking off so many roads and access routes
- the staellite photos of the Mall, showing more than 1.5 million people massed together in the sunny cold, confirmed what pretty much everyone knew - that the hopes of million of Americans - hope for greater prosperity, for civility, for a new paradigm for how a government treats its citizens and its allies - are riding solely on this man's shoulders

New Years Resolutions - 2009

2009-01-04T23:43:00.000-05:00

I am not typically a new years resolutions kind of guy. I have tried doing them in the past - I don't think I ever made it more than two weeks without breaking any and all resolutions I had made. I think most fall into one of two categories: 1) ridiculous optimism ("Become a better person this year!" "Work out every day"), or; 2) plain impossibilities ("Stop drinking"). So I haven't made any in quite some time.

I figured 2009 would be different - I'd try and set some realistic "goals" for myself this year, and really track them to see how I do. Yes, I am setting the bar very low - I find I do that a lot. But I figure that setting the bar low and succeeding at meeting a goal is better than setting them too high and failing outright (there is probably a specific pathology to this mentality - I'd rather not think about it).

So, in no particular order, these are my resolutions (goals, whatever) for 2009:

- exercise in some form three times a week - I have access to a FREE gym at work, with showers and everything, 24/7. There is no excuse, given that, that I can't find some way of exercising three times a week. Walking, playing golf, whatever - any physical activity outside of getting up to get another beer will work

- eat local, organic, and/or homemade food as much as possible - Suz jumpstarted this effort. We belong to a food coop, we have access to three farmer's markets very close by, and we love to cook, so there is no reason I can't eat a lot healthier than I did last year (which was till pretty healthy by most standards). Making our own yogurt, bread, granola, canning fresh veggies - all part of the plan

- relax and enjoy more - I am, by nature, a stress filled person I think. I may come off as pretty laid back most of the time, but I don't handle stress really well, and for anyone that has ever had a three year old, you know that there is a good amount of inherent stress in that situation. I tend to let that stress (and the fear of it) get in the way of doing things with Noe and Suz I might otherwise like to do (go to a restaurant, reach out to other parents and set up play dates, etc).

- enjoy a few hobbies - there are things I really like to do - watch football, brew beer, snowboard, play golf, play tennis. But I never give myself any time to do them - even on my AWS days, I find myself sitting around rather than venturing out to do something. I want to get out and do some of those things more - otherwise, I may get to the point where I am physically unable to do them, and I don't want that to be a regret.

That's it - there are certainly other things that I want to do this year - better myself, be a better dad and husband, etc etc. That's all a given - I see the things listed above as things to strive for over and above the day to day. We'll see how I do

First Post

2008-11-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Doing this whole Facebook thing is dragging me kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Regarding the name - back in the late 90's I had my own website, The Crusty Loaf. It was terrible - basic, basic HTML with horrible attempts at humor. Lasted about 4 months before I realized that a) I am really not that funny, and b) given a), having your own website is pretty pointless. But now that there are tools which make it much easier for idiots to post their every fleeting thought to millions without having to know how to do anything but type as well as a retarded cat, I figured I'll get back into it. I predict this will last about a week