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Cachaca_Dave

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Posts posted by Cachaca_Dave

  1. I took a road trip up to the Flatiron Steak House (from Red Hook NY) for their opening night and absolutely loved the food there. I was with my amiga LeNell from LeNell's, who designed their cocktail menu. I plan to go back as often as I can :biggrin:

    Of course I shamelessly took photos of my food.....

    gallery_22512_3160_468448.jpg

    The Roasted Oysters

    gallery_22512_3160_479100.jpg

    The Roast Pork Appetizer

    gallery_22512_3160_548850.jpg

    The Duck Burger

    gallery_22512_3160_267419.jpg

    One of their steaks (I think it was the Flatiron)

  2. Hello Everyone! I see Katie, Johnny, Eric, it's like Romparoom.... Chris thanks for the props!

    Distribution of Mae De Ouro has expanded greatly in the past few months (sorry JohnnyD we're still working on Maine)

    In Texas it is sold at SPECS and distributed by Glazer's. I'll be there for a tasting on the 20th of this month at their downtown / main location in Houston.

    In Florida it is distributed by Southern Wine & Spirits.

    In NJ it is now with Allied.

    In Louisiana it is with Glazer's

    Marco Polo Sour Cherry, great stuff! In NYC it's sold at Sahadi's on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, if anyone local is looking for it.

    Not sure to make with Armazem Viera 4 Year either, maybe a Cachaca Julep?

    Here's a little cocktail that I have created that I hope everyone will have a chance to enjoy in this hot weather:

    The Guantanamera Cooler (makes 2 drinks)

    .75 oz Mae De Ouro

    .75 oz Noilly Prat White Vermouth

    1.5 oz White Grape Juice

    4 small ripe strawberries

    2 sprigs of fresh mint

    Champagne

    Shake well with ice and strain into a champagne glass.

    Top with Lime Soda. Garnish with a strawberry and fresh

    mint sprig.

    Cheers!

    -Dave

  3. I have been adding to the collection thanks to some remarkable finds at old book stores:

    1943 3 Bottle Bar by H.i. Williams $2

    1946 Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion by Crosby Gaige 6th Edition, SIGNED by Crosby?? $20

    1946 The Gentleman's Companion by Charles H Baker SIGNED and INSCRIBED $65

    1953 Esquire's Handbook for Hosts $1

    1936 How to Mix Drinks by Bill Edwards $1.50

    I admit that I did pay much more than usual for the 1946 Companion set but I couldn't help myself. I found it among the unsorted in the "rare" books section on the 3rd floor of the Strand Book store, New York City. They also have a nice copy of it (if it hasn't been sold yet) that was previously owed by some author, price is $75 and I took a pass on it.

  4. It's a nice collection that you have here.

    As a minor collector of "vintage" bar books I take great pleasure in them because not only do they have information on making fantastic drinks, they are also a link to a mostly forgotten past when cocktails, punches, crustas, flips, etc... were actually well made. Fortunately there are now some great bars here in NYC where you can get some amazing perfect cocktails, but there is always more choice when you pick up a copy of a 1948 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide.

    I'm going to take a stab at the golden age of cocktails being from 1900 till about 1950. After 1950 comes the baby boom generation that saw cocktails as the drink of the previous generation and not cool. Then with the rise of vodka in popularity, anyone can make a drink with little effort and fine cocktails die out.

    The first book got me interested was a copy The Gentleman's Companion by Charles H. Baker, 1946 but the book that really hooked me was Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes by Barney Burke, 1934. The recipes, the eloquence of the words, the attention to detail, the feel of the paper, all make such books extremely addictive. If you have thousands to blow, there is no rare cocktail book that you cannot obtain.

    Provided that you are frugal and search old book stores well, there is no need to spend a fortune on such books. Yes it is unlikely that you will find a 1930 copy of the Savoy Cocktail book for under $350 but there are plenty of other books that are fairly common. On ebay, people get way to competitive and often pay far more than a book is worth. It is likely that for each cocktail book that breaks $100 on ebay there are probably thousands of copies of the same book in used book stores for $10-15. 98% of what I own was not purchased from ebay and here's my list:

    1933 The Merry Mixer or Cocktails & Their Ilk $10

    1934 Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes by Barney Burke $10

    1934 Irvin S. Cobb's Own Recipe Book by Cobb, Irvin $5

    1934 Gordon's Cocktail & Food Recipes by Harry Jerrold Gordon $10

    1935 Angostura Bitters For Home Use $7

    1936 A Guide For Mixing Rum Felton & Son $5

    1940 The How and the When by Marco $15

    1940 Official Mixer's Manual by Patrick Gavin Duffy $3

    1941 Burke's Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes by Barney Burke $10

    1944 The Standard Cocktail Guide by Crosby Gaige $5

    1946 The Gentleman's Companion by Charles H Baker $40 (mint 2 volume set)

    1948 Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic $3

    1953 The American Drink Book by Field, S. S. $12

    1955 The Merrie Christmas Drink Book $10

    2004 Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh (out of print, $26-100)

    2007 The Savoy Cocktail Book (Reprint) $15

    2007 The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book (Reprint) $20

    As far some of the "classics" such as The Flowing Bowl or How to Mix Cocktail by Jerry Thomas, they are full scanned versions on Google Books. While perhaps not as much fun as owning the original, they are a great resource for the recipes.

    1862 How to Mix Cocktails by Jerry Thomas [DIGITAL]

    1869 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks by William Terrington [DIGITAL]

    1878 American and Other Drinks by Leo EngeL [DIGITAL]

    1892 The Flowing Bowl by William Schmidt [DIGITAL]

    However my current favorites are:

    1948 Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic - a really undervalued classic that isn't just Zombies and Scorpion Bowls.

    1953 The American Drink Book by Field, S. S. - which is just a pleasure to read, make drinks with, and to read while drinking them.

    Collectors lists that make me cry with envy are:

    The Bitters Blog Library: http://bitters-blog-library.blogspot.com

    And Dr. Cocktails collection on CocktailDB.com

    -Dave

    So, this might be too general of a question, and I certainly invite feedback to narrow it, but here's the gist of it:

    It seems like every time I look on Ebay, etc., there's some "new" vintage cocktail book that I've never heard of.  So, which ones are worth it?  And which ones are just plain old?

    To start, here's my collection of "vintage" (which I'll arbitrarily define as out of print):

    Bottoms Up, Ted Saucier

    Jones' Complete Bar Guide,  Stan Jones

    Bartender's Guide, Trader Vic

    Esquire Drinks, David Wondrich

    The Official Mixer's Manual, Duffy

    The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, Embury

    Cocktail, Harrington

    Burke's Complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes, Harman Burke

    I'm not including things like Jerry Thomas' book, or The Savoy Cocktial Book, as they're available in reprints. 

    But what about things like:

    The Cocktail Book, A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen

    Cocktail and Wine Digest, Oscar Haimo

    The Art of Drinking, Dexter Mason

    So, what do you all think?

    Ciao,

    marty

  5. A friend is trying to get some Cachaca 51 shipped to her mom and can't find anybody who carries it that will ship to Nevada - any reccomendations?

    No need to ship it, I'm sure that it is sold in Nevada, it is after all the single largest distilled spirit in the world under one label. But I would try Astor Wines and Spirits

    www.astorwine.com

    -Cachaca Dave

  6. The reason is that you've got two different Rittenhouses

    The 21 year old is over $150 a bottle: http://www.lenells.com/selections/individu...election_id=297

    The other is $15 a bottle quite good.

    -Dave

    Speaking of Rittenhouse, I've never seen it in Texas, and when trying to get Spec's to special order it, it came up in their computer as like $300/bottle or something obscene like that. When I told the guy I had read about it typically going for under $15/bottle he had a really good laugh (at the computer).

    And I still have never had any Rittenhouse :(

  7. Just got the response from Eagle Family Foods Inc on the difference between their two brands of scm:

    Subject: RE: Eagle versus Magnolia

    Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 17:23:48 -0500

    From: "Corporate" <Corporate@effinc.com>

    To: "David Catania"

    "Good afternoon David,

    We apologize for not responding sooner to your inquiry. Eagle Brand is our banner brand (marketed brand), while the Magnolia Brand is our bi-lingual brand. Both can be used interchangeably in all of our recipes. While they have the same ingredients, the Magnolia Brand does have a slightly sweeter profile."

    Let's see how it affects the grand SCM Experiment!

    -Dave

  8. Here's something I came up with at Donbert's Cocktails over Chauncey Street in Cambridge MA this past Saturday. As far as naming it goes Will W. took one look at it and said "It's the Blood of the Unicorn" so here it is:

    The Blood of the Unicorn

    1oz Luxardo Maraschino

    2 oz Cachaca Fazenda Mae De Ouro

    12 Concord Grapes

    3 tsp Superfine Sugar

    1/2 lime

    3oz Ceres Apricot Juice

    Muddle lime, sugar and grapes. Add Luxardo, cachaca and apricot juice. Shake well with cracked ice. Double strain into 2 chilled martini glasses.

  9. I've found that the quality at Wu Liang Ye seems to vary depending on the time of day, with the dishs tasting better later in the evening for some reason. I always got for the razor clams and there was once a time that the tea smoked duck came de-boned.... amazing.

    I recently had the tea smoked duck and fresh bacon at that branch. I'd recomend the duck but not the fresh bacon. It was just greasy and flavor less compared to the double cooked pork.

  10. Something that I was drinking over at Donbert's "Cocktails Over Canal" on Saturday night was a very traditional Brazilian drink, the Mint Batida:

    Muddle 6-8 mint leaves with 1 tsp superfine sugar and a splash of water. Add 4oz MdO cachaca, ice and stir well. Let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes, strain over ice, makes 2 servings. Delicious :)

  11. Offensive? Ever heard of a caprianha? The most popular cachaca cocktail. If you dont think at least half a lime and a good dose of sugar mask the flavor of the cachaca.... well... hm. I think ed is spot on.

    First of all it is spelled caipirinha. Second of all it's still unfair to say all cachaca is bad if you have only tried 2 or 3 brands sold in the USA, the country produces over 5,000 brands. Please read the cachaca thread and that's why I'm here to debunk what people think about cachaca. Very happy to meet up with you to let you try Cachaca Mae De Ouo for yourself, it will suprise you. But this thread is about Ti Punch, let's all please keep the cachaca discussion to the cachaca thread.

  12. [...]These are to complement the rhum, you're not making a caiparinha, where you want to cover the flavor of the spirit.

    Dear Ed,

    I do take offense your comment above and I ask that you kindly retract what you have written.

    I have always thought of egullet as a place for open and constructive discussion, rather than broad and incorrect generalizations.

    While it is true that there are many caipirinhas made with too much sugar; for caipirinhas made with Mae De Ouro I have always advocated a balance of lime and sugar and never to cover up the flavor of the alcohol.

    -Cachaca Dave

  13. You know you're a cocktail geek when...

    ...you don't drink vodka.

    If the culinary world were parallel to popular tastes in spirits (i.e. vodka), the hottest restaurants would proudly trot out their latest plates of flavorless tofu with much ado.  But before eating, most guests would pour fruit syrup over their dishes, then ooh and aah about how good the tofu is.

    ....When such musings inspire you make doodles like this:

    gallery_22512_3160_6755.jpg

  14. .... while on vacation you stop at random liquor store looking for "souvenirs"

    .... you ask for "what's new in glassware today?" at your restaurant supply store

    .... and they think you own a bar based on how much you buy, but you don't

    .... you cringe when you enter a bar and see a muddler that has chipped varnish

    .... you give free advice to fellow shoppers on which spirits are "good" in the store and then complain about them to the store staff when the end up buying Grey Goose and Jack Daniels

    .... you bring your own bottle to a bar and offer to pay the house full price for a cocktails made with it (for your own consumption)

    ..... when returning to the USA you force friends traveling with you to carry your extra bottles to avoid problems with customs and / or

    ..... you sweat like a drug smuggler wondering if customs is going to bust you this time for being so far over the limit

    And yes I have started my own import business because "what's currently available in my country doesn't meet my standards." And I seriously think that Pisco is next on my hit list.

  15. Pineapple, Kiwi and Grapes are all standards fruits for caipirinhas in Brazil. My personal favorite is the one made with fresh passion fruit pulp and seeds. The seeds are quite edible and have a nice crunch to them.

    Alas, with no supply of passion fruit at my disposal I have been topping my caipirinhas with a splash (1/2 - 1oz) Ceres passion fruit juice. It's really good....

    I'm also partial to the pear juice from Ceres but I didn't think much of the guava or apricot juices as a topper. Youngberry is OK too.

    -Dave

    caipirinha_assembly_line.jpg

  16. FoodNetwork.com Recommends the "Caipirinha" for "What to Drink This Spring:

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/what_to_drink

    OK OK I know Dave Lieberman is a famous TV chef / host and all but where did he get his caipirinha recipe from? There is a video on the Food Network site and then there is this:

    Caipirinha Cocktail

    Recipe courtesy Dave Lieberman

    Ingredients

    2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

    1 lime, cut into wedges

    Ice cubes

    2 shots Cacacha or white rum

    Club soda

    Instructions

    Crush sugar and lime wedges in bottom of glass. Add ice cubes then top off with Cachaca and a dash of club soda.

    Watch the video.....

    I cringe at the thought of club soda in my caipirinha and is that Bacardi light he's using in the video?

    -Cachaca Dave

  17. Friends brought me back from Brazil some cachaca in these neat little plastice "sport" flasks.  Good stuff.

    Yup, there is some unusual packaging down in Brazil for sure but a good rule is that if it comes in a sport flask or a 12 oz soda can for that matter (yes a full 8 shots in a easy to drink aluminum pop-top) I would stay away from it.

    pitucan.jpg

  18. Hi Erik,

    LOL actually the "should not be a neutral spirit" was more directed towards the UK where there is a really big brand that is premium and neutral in flavor.

    MdO was designed to mixed well so I'm glad that you enjoy it! :)

    Simple answer to what Cachaca Alimbique is:

    "It's a spirit in the rum family that is made from fresh pressed sugar cane juice (rather than molasses) and distilled like a cognac rather than like a vodka."

    Cheers!

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