jmfangio

I don't at all think of Prohibition as the origin of cocktails, but as a dark period in our history that nearly killed off one of America's great, original art forms. I think Wondrich makes the argument in Imbibe that the mixing of spirits can truly be considered America's first great culinary art. With the classic cocktail revival, or whatever you prefer to call it, I think that 70+ years later we're just beginning to undo the damage wrought by Prohibition. Sure, a few great drinks came out of Prohibition (perhaps, most notably, The Last Word), but so much was lost, and is only in the last decade or so being rediscovered. I can see making the argument that a focus on cocktails, i.e., short, mixed drinks served up (as opposed to punches, fizzes, etc., which were very popular until Prohibition) came out of the era.

Houston Press had an article yesterday on Anvil's 100 Cocktails To Try Before You Die. I'm at 46, so obviously I have some catching up to do. I guess this brings up three questions: What's your count? If you were going to revise the list, what would you take out, and put in its place? Along the lines of the age old last meal question, what would you choose as your last cocktail? For this question, defunct spirits and ingredients allowed, so if you want a Manhattan with Pre-Prohibition rye and Abbott's Bitters, fair game. Here's a direct link to the list. ETA: I'll throw in my own answers to the above questions later today or tomorrow. This is going to require serious thought.

How could I forget the Zwack Unicum bottle? I am, by my own admission, a sucker for cool packaging, and I bought my first bottle just because I loved the way it looks. Doesn't hurt that I ended up liking the stuff, too. And, being a huge classic car and motorsports fan, I couldn't resist the Lauretana Water in a bottle designed by Pininfarina. The actual bottle is prettier than the picture suggests; the subtle curves don't really come through. I use the saved bottles for my Nocino.

I think the Hitachino Kiuchi no Shizuku bottle is very pretty. I also love the bottle and packaging of Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal. But, be forewarned: a friend brought some back for me from France, and had her bags searched at every one of her connections. The bottle inside the milled wood case looks a wee bit too much like a grenade on the airport x-ray. I agree about the St. Germain bottle being incredibly beautiful, if not the most functional. I haven't been able to bring myself to throw away my empties (I'm still planning to make a lamp out of at least one).

Interesting article, but I take issue with this notion: Proper dilution is part of the process, no? I'd think that over dilution would be the dirty word(s).

Thinking about this some more, to the list of products I'd like to see revived, add Kina Lillet (or at least bring Cocchi Aperitivo Americano back to the US). For the life of me I can't understand why Suntory doesn't sell Hermes Violet in the US. And I'd love to see Plymouth Navy Strength in the US, but with the dramatic rise in the price of Plymouth over the last year, I'm scared to think of how much it would cost. Regarding Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal, I have a bottle that was brought back by a friend who went to France last year. I don't think that it has much use as a cocktail ingredient (I played around with it a little, without much success), but a few drops on a sugar cube is really, really lovely.

Off the top of my head, I'd add the variety of bitters available today. I don't quite know how long the Fee Brothers Orange Bitters have been on the market, but I don't think that five years ago you could expect to easily find them, much less walk into a liquor store and have a choice among several brands. Then, of course, there are the new flavors of bitters, and recreations of defunct products. Isn't there a Forbidden Fruit liqueur recreation in the works? I'm curious to see how that one will be, and how it'll be received.

Sounds very tasty indeed. I'll bet a dash of Maraschino liqueur would work wonders in there. I have some sour cherries in the freezer - I'll have to give this a try.

How about just filling it with Rye? Very Mad Men, and period appropriate.

Last night I ran a quick quality control test (just a fancy way of saying that I'm getting anxious, and couldn't resist cracking open one of the jars for a taste). I still have eight days to go by the calendar, but it already tastes fantastic. Next week can't come soon enough!

I believe the technical term is 'Crapsinthe.' I have St. George, Kubler, and Verte de Fougerolles. The Fougerolles is my favorite of the three, and always the first one I reach for when making a cocktail. However, I do think the Kubler, being slightly sweeter and more anise forward, works very well in a Corpse Reviver #2. I really want to try the Marteau or one of the Jades, but I just can't rationalize the purchase until I run out of at least one of the bottles I have on hand. On a non cocktail note, I've now made David Lebovitz's Absinthe Ice Cream recipe, first with St. George, and then with Kubler, and preferred the St. George. Oh, I also have a bottle of Absente, purchased long before I knew better, but I try to ignore that fact.

I just finished putting up this year's batch. Perfect timing that my walnuts from Mt. Lassen Farms arrived on St. John's Day! This year I did a few things differently - I used demerara sugar instead of white, and added the zest of 1/2 an orange and 1 star anise to each batch. Fingers crossed for the next 40 days.

I don't know what took me so long, but last night I finally made the journey down to The Varnish in downtown LA to observe National Martini Day. In my humble opinions, hands down the best bar in Los Angeles. After a round of martinis we fortified ourselves with dinner at the adjacent Cole's, then went back to finish off the night. I noticed that they had Bols Genever on hand, so I asked for a Genever drink, bartender's choice. What I got, the Shamrock, absolutely blew me away, and as we were leaving I had to pay my compliments to the bartender and ask for the recipe. I just made one for myself tonight, and this is a drink that's going into my standard rotation. 2 oz Genever (they used Bols, I only have Genevieve on hand) 3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (they use Dolin, I'm out, so I used Noilly Prat) 3/4 oz Green Chartreuse. Stir, strain, lemon twist. Just an absolutely beautiful drink. The herbal qualities of the Chartreuse and the malty qualities of the Genever are an amazing combination. My only quibble with the drink is the name. There's nothing Irish about it, and there's already a drink named the Shamrock. If it were up to me, I'd call it the Emerald. What I forgot to ask is if it's a bar original, or has other origins. I will on my next visit, which will be very soon.

That's more or less how I remembered the story - that the odds were 15:1 against him, but when I did a quick look around on the web today, most stories pointed to the version above. History: not always an exact science.

Sadly, only a little more than half a bottle. I keep it in the fridge, and top it off with a shot of Wine Saver after each use. It's definitely past its prime, but still tasty enough. One thing that's come out of this hobby is that I'm now on a first name basis with the spirits buyers at a few shops around town, and all of them are on the trail for more Cocchi. When I last saw one of them a few weeks ago, he told me that he thought there was a pretty good chance that it may be coming back to the US later this year.

It's Dean Martin's birthday, so of course I had to make the Flame of Love Martini, created for Dino by legendary Chasen's bartender Pepe Ruiz 2 oz vodka 1/4 oz or so Fino Sherry (I used some of my remaining Cocchi Aperitivo Americano, because it goes so well with orange 2-3 large slices orange peel Pour the sherry into a chilled cocktail glass, swirl to coat, and discard the excess. Spritz the glass with a flamed orange peel (you may need to do this more than once to thoroughly coat the glass). Stir the vodka with ice to chill, pour into the glass, and spritz once again with another flamed orange zest. I don't know if Pepe added a garnish, but I like a final twist of fresh orange. Now, please excuse me while I open up my iTunes library and sing along with Sway and Ain't That A Kick in the Head.

I didn't even bother picking up my Savoy, figuring that you'd already have that covered, but I found these two in Barflies and Cocktails. Bloodhound Cocktail 1/3 Gin 1/3 French Vermouth 1/3 Italian Vermouth 2 or 3 Strawberries Shake well, and strain (This cocktail was introduced to London by the Duke of Manchester a few years ago) Sounds nice, and this is the right season for it. If you have any Dolin Blanc on hand, I've found that combining it with strawberries is a match made in heaven. Bull-Dog Put 2 or 3 lumps of ice in a large tumbler, and the juice of 1 orange, 1 glass of Gin. Fill the balance with Ginger Ale. Stir, and serve with a straw. If you ask me, though, Monty is so incredibly cute that he deserve his own cocktail. ETA: As Monty is short for Montgomery, you could also make a Montgomery, a 15:1 martini, so named by Ernest Hemingway because, it was alleged, Monty was famous for never attacking unless the numbers were 15:1 on his side.

I find grating it to be quick and effective. If you use quite a fine grater (the sort of size you'd use for nutmeg) nearly all the fibrous flesh will stick to the grater leaving you with just the juice - I don't seem to lose any flavour doing it this way. ← I find that the best tool for grating ginger is a ceramic ginger grater. The price on the one I linked to at Amazon isn't bad, but if you live in a city with a Japanese market, you can probably do better.

The past two years I used Sauza Hornitos reposado (very reasonably priced at Trader Joe's), and was very happy with the results. This year, I did a few things differently. First, I gilded the lily a bit on the choice of strawberries. A few months ago I went to a panel discussion sponsored by Slow Foods LA on local farmer's markets and organic produce, and everyone on the panel was raving about one grower, Harry's Berries. So that's who I bought my strawberries from this year - organic Gaviotas at $5 per basket. About $2 per basket more than the average, yes, but absolutely THE BEST strawberries I've ever tasted. Secondly, I used a blanco, the Hacienda de Chihuahua sotol (I was seduced by the pretty bottle, and delighted with the price), and then topped it off with a cup or so of Cazadores reposado, for no other reason than to fill the jar. Without question, the best batch yet.

Erik, Any word from them on when the Beefeater 24 is going to start showing up at retail in California? I've been diligently checking the websites for Hi Time Wines and Beverage Warehouse (they're both usually pretty good about having new spirits sooner than anyone else), but no luck yet.

You're definitely onto something there. When I tasted Dolin Blanc my first thought was of pairing it with strawberries, and, indeed, munching on ripe strawberries while sipping on a chilled glass of the Blanc is a sublime combination. I also made some strawberry sorbet with the Blanc which was fantastic. It's a little early in the day to start experimenting, but for a start I'm thinking maybe 50/50 TPMA/Dolin Blanc, with a dash of lime?

Start with the apricot brandy on hand, and go from there? The worst that could happen is, a) you may need to make another batch of TPMA, or b) you'll have to buy a bottle of the Rothman & Winter. Neither are scenarios to be feared.

If you haven't done so already, this is as good an excuse as any to make a rich demerara gum syrup. Puts the luscious in delicious. OK, I know my little spelling analogy isn't quite correct, but just roll with it.

Any ideas yet on what else you want to try? So far, I really haven't done much with the sloe gin beyond Charlie Chaplins.

I strained and filtered this year's batch of Tequila Por Mi Amante today, and remembered something that Baker said: So, I decided to try a Charlie Chaplin, with TPMA in lieu of sloe gin... 1 oz TPMA 1 oz Apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter) 1 oz lime juice The discovery? It's tasty. Mighty damn tasty.