eje

Last night my wife and I went over to some friends' house to watch the presidential debates. My friend is a whiskey aficionado, collecting vintage Bourbons and similar (my god, some of that vintage Dickel Tennessee Whiskey astoundingly good). Anyway, he said he had two mystery whiskeys he wanted the assembled to try and tell him what we thought. The first one we tried was a little rough around the edges. It just sort of sat in your mouth without much length or depth. The second was a beautiful whiskey, almost Cognac-like in it's ethereal flavor and evaporation from your tongue. When he revealed that the whiskeys were the 2006 and the 2008 bottling of Anchor's Hotaling's Whiskey, my jaw dropped. Amazing! There was a familial resemblance, and certainly some similarity in the nose and smell left in the glass, but we were astounded just how different the flavors were. I don't know if it is the additional two years in the barrel, or if the 2008 is just a particularly sweet barrel... If you thought the 2006 Hotaling's was a little rough (and who didn't) check out the 2008. It is an incredibly nice American Whiskey!

It is kind of odd that a brewery wouldn't have a house brewed ginger ale/beer... A lot of them make Ginger Ale and/or Root Beer to have around for kids and non-drinkers. Seems like a sensible thing to me.

Plenty of dark and stormies here in San Francisco and I've had some very good house made ginger beers in bars in Portland. At least at the Rogue Ale House here in San Francisco, the spirits selection and drink menu is pretty limited. It's probably just that they concentrate more on the beer at Rogue than the cocktails.

To me Oude Genever is no more difficult to mix with than, say, tequila or blended scotch whisky. It's not as easy going as rye whiskey, dry gin, or vodka, but, on the other hand, it's nowhere near the challenge of Mezcal, Islay Malts, Rhum Agricole, or Batavia Arrack. It seems like people just make the mistake of trying to treat it like a London Dry or modern style gin. Instead, you gotta think of it like a young whiskey and go from there.

Part of the criteria for a great chef (or bar manager) has to be putting into place a motivated staff and systems so his/her vision for the restaurant (or bar) is executed whether s/he is there or not. Ultimately it shouldn't matter whether Mario Batali (or Audrey Saunders) is in the house at the time of a patrons visit. It's unfortunate, but this does tend to get taken a lot more seriously at restaurants than at bars.

Tonic? Why on earth would you mix Genever with tonic as part of the taste test? Soda, sure. But tonic? That's like making a whiskey tonic.

Not ever having had enough success at anything to be offered any substantial remuneration for a "sell out" I'm not sure how I'd react if offered. (Hello? Buffalo Trace, have you noticed how much I use your products in the "Stomping Through the Savoy" Topic? Sigh, still no offers.) I can understand that after a certain age and a certain amount of time, being on your feet for 10-12 hours and working as hard and as intensely as have to in food service starts to lose its appeal. Not to mention the working conditions, poor pay, and lack of insurance. Morals are all relative choices. What might seem like a sell out to me might be a choice made out of necessity or because of a driving desire. If a persons goal for getting into the business is to become a celebrity chef, then seeing them on TV doesn't seem that far out of character.

Interesting article along these lines in the Chronicle this week regarding bartenders. Bay Area's best mixologists leaving bars for brands, Camper English But I dunno. Ultimately, most of the real lessons I've learned in cooking come from direct interaction and observation. It's a social and verbal culture. How much control does x celebrity chef have over all the end branches of TJMcFridays? Maybe the food is slightly better for the customers at the spigot, but what lessons are being learned among the staff? Is any of the chef's knowledge being passed down along the chain? Or is the staff just microwaving different food?

So I'm confused. Are you infusing the pineapple in the gin or the campari? Or making a bottled cocktail with it? I would expect pineapple infused gin to keep pretty well, given the proof. The pineapple flavor will evolve as the fresh aromatics oxidize. Pineapple infused campari, I wouldn't expect to keep for very long, given the sugar content and low proof.

Even though it is kind of cheating, I agree with thirtyoneknots that using variety citrus is a good way to give a little extra zip to cocktails calling for orange juice. Blood Orange, Clementine, Mandarin, etc. Even adding a dash of lemon or lime juice. I know I've gone on about this before, but oranges are pretty seasonal, even though they are available in the grocery stores year 'round. A lot of the time those large, mealy, watery navel oranges aren't worth eating or juicing. Even if they have a "sunkist" stamped on the side. This is the end of California valencia orange season and we should start hitting the beginning of the navel orange season in a month or two. Try to get smaller valencia oranges. It's also worth noting, that, kind of like the Bronx, this is a light, simple, refreshing cocktail. It's not complicated. Maybe you're expecting too much?

While it is true that Herbsaint didn't come into existence until after prohibition, I believe at least one of the companies that was eventually rolled into the Sazerac company (L.E. Jung & Wulff) manufactured true Absinthe before prohibition. So while it is impossible that Herbsaint was used in the original Absinthe containing version of the Sazerac, it is possible that an American Absinthe was used, possibly even manufactured in New Orleans.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) appears also to have been used as a medicinal bittering agent in the US relatively recently. Allegedly, Jack Daniel (of Jack Daniel's Whiskey fame) was unusually fond of "Whiskey Tansy" and it turns up in a few other references to 19th Century mixology and recipe books. Also "Gin and Tansy" shows up in a number of 19th Century recipe books along with "Gin and Wormwood".

Well, except for the fact that the product didn't exist in 1930. I'm still sticking with "Gin and Wormwood" as the current best answer for "Absinthe Bitters" in the Savoy Cocktail Book.

Karo Syrup!? Isn't that taking the pecan pie recipe a little too literally? Chuckle... Well, my Mom would approve.

Oddly, at least for the whole MxMo thing, Mondays are usually alcohol free days for me. And this last week I failed to plan ahead. Plus, between book club gatherings and other celebrations, it really seemed like a good idea to skip the booze today. So, allegedly, The Horse's Neck of the late 1800s was simply Ginger Ale or Beer with a lengthy lemon twist. Cut long thick lemon peel from lemon as from an apple and add to glass. Fill glass with ice. Serve with a bottle of ginger ale. I used the Fever tree. I wouldn't blame you if you dashed in some bitters or even some lemon juice, while you were at it. Or even some gin, if it was Saturday afternoon. I went with the classic.

Marny Cocktail 1/3 Grand Marnier. (3/4 oz Grand Marnier) 2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz North Shore No. 6) Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass. Really pimping the North Shore, lately! Sorry, I really dig their gin, even though it isn't very widely available. Anyway, obviously, this cocktail pre-dates the Hitchcock movie of the similar ("Marnie") name by about 35 years. So no connection there. Not exactly awful, neither is the Marny particularly compelling. That is, unless you like slightly sweet, cognac and orange flavored gin. A dash of bitters or a twist would likely go a long way towards improving it. The next cocktail is the Martinez. As I understand we are on the cusp of availability of Hayman's Old Tom in California, I'm gonna hang out and wait for it to show up in the shops before moving forward.

Marmalade Cocktail (6 People) Place the following mixture in the shaker: 2 Dessertspoonsful Orange Marmalade. (1 tsp. D'Arbo Bitter Orange Marmalade) The Juice of 1 big or 2 small Lemons. (Juice 1/2 small lemon) 4 Glasses Gin. (2 oz Death's Door Gin) (Dash Simple) Shake carefully and pour out, squeezing a piece of orange rind into each glass. As usual re-doing the recipe for 1. The lemons I found last week were a bit on the green side. When I tasted it before shaking, it wasn't quite there. Definitely needed a little extra simple to bring it into line. An enjoyable cocktail! A bit of a pain to double strain, due to the marmalade.

Marguerite Cocktail 1 Dash Orange Bitters. (Angostura Orange Bitters) 1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth) 2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz North Shore No. 11) Shake well and strain into cock- tail glass. Twist orange peel on top. Another of the many, many Martini variations in the Savoy. North Shore makes 2 gins. The No. 11 is supposedly their more traditional Juniper forward dry gin. It is quite tasty but it seems a bit floral still to be called a truly traditional. Still, it makes a very nice Martini, errr..., Marguerite. PS. I just love these valencia oranges from the market. They literally drip oil when you pull the twist. Just awesome. Tasty too!

Not to discourage anyone from buying Mr. Haigh's book now, but I have it on, oh, good authority that he is working on a revised version of "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" which should hit the shelves next year. To quote the esteemed Dr. Cocktail: Cool, eh?

To answer my own question, it was the "Presidente Vincent" cocktail, that I was thinking of.

Margato Cocktail (Special) 1/3 Bacardi Rum. (3/4 oz Montecristo White Rum) 1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth) 1/3 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica) 1 Dash Kirsch. (1/3 tsp. Trimbach Kirsch) The Juice of 1/2 Lemon. The Juice of 1/3 Lime. A little sugar (scant teaspoon caster sugar) dissolved in soda-water. Shake well and serve in cocktail glass. Uh right. If this recipe makes sense to anyone, feel free to let me know. Who measures "The Juice of 1/3 Lime"? It's pretty OK. Tasting mostly like a slightly vermouth-ey glass of tart lemonade. Certainly, the alcohol is well disguised. Maybe that is the point? There is a Cuban rum cocktail with dry vermouth and lime. Not El Presidente, I can't think of what it is called. I suppose this is sort of a "perfect" version of that cocktail.

Yeah, except this is really the only recipe in the Savoy Cocktail which pairs it against tart citrus. The Cape Cocktail uses orange juice, but the are spirits, other aperitifs, maybe curacao, and a small amount of bitters. So I don't think it was sweet on par with a liqueur. But who knows. Perhaps it was a balanced bitter sweet aperitif?

No, not really. I've only ever seen St. Raphael Gold at the one store, that I can remember, and I've never seen the rouge. The store seems to sort of specialize in aperitifs for some reason. They used to carry the Americano and have a bunch of other interesting looking things, like Figoun, which I'll have to try one day.

Damn, that does sound appealing. Now I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of Macallan Cask Strength and re-try the Affinity with that instead of the Compass Box.

Good call on the OGD 114. You might have over bittered slightly, what with the bitter nature of Punt e Mes and all. Still, sounds like something I would enjoy.