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I know! Weird, eh? I've been looking forward to trying this cocktail for literally years! I think maybe I just need to adjust my taste buds to Islay malts. The Peaty One is a pretty extreme dose of peat and smoke. I couldn't really taste the pastis at all. Guess I should up that a bit.

I haven't tried the Vya Sweet; but, I definitely think their Dry is different enough from traditional French Vermouth that it really needs to be rebalanced in cocktails. To me it seems like Vya is using a very different grape or style of wine as a base for their Dry Vermouth from most of the French companies. Not sure I agree about the Carpano Antica. Given that Carpano are said to be the original commercial maker of Italian Vermouth and also claim to be using a recipe based on their original product, it's hard to say what they are making isn't authentic Italian Vermouth. I won't argue that you may have to adjust recipes created with less flavorful vermouths in mind if you use the Antica. But, you always have to adjust for the spirits and mixers you are using.

I've wanted to try Audrey Saunder's Dreaming Dorini Smoking Martini for a while. However, I don't have any Islay style Scotch in the house. Strangely, I don't even know anyone into Scotch. It's probably been 20 years since I even tasted Laphroig. So, I went to one of my favorite Liquor Stores and asked about a reasonable Islay style malt. He went through the usual litany of entry level Single Malts. Ardbeg, Bowmore, etc. Eventually, he came back to Jon, Mark, and Robbo's Smoky Peaty One. A vatted Scotch, it is true; but, dollar for dollar, one of the better deals in Islay style Scotch, he said. I took his advice and picked up a bottle of the Smoky Peaty One. My is it Smoky and Peaty. Woo! Smoke and peat coming out the wazoo. Stirred up a Dreaming Dorini Smoking Martini with 1/2 oz of Scotch, 2 oz Rain vodka and a dash of H. Bardouin Pastis. I dunno, I didn't really like it. Maybe my tastes have been skewed by all the Savoy Cocktails; but, I kept thinking it would be more interesting with some vermouth in it! Opinions?

Where does Hog Island get its bread? ACME? I also was struck by how good the bread service was when I ate there.

Pisces got pretty mixed reviews on Check Please! Bay Area this year. Check Please: Pisces Reviews Here's a good quote:

Well, the Clam in mi... err chowder looks pretty tasty to me. Sorry you didn't enjoy it! Certainly not the thickened new england or Manhattan style, though. More Italian inspired, with the unthickened broth and clams with shells. Seems like it would be good on a bed of fettuccine. I've wondered about other food there; but, have only tried the oysters, so far. Thanks for the writeup! Looking forward to reading more.

Grumble, grumble, I suppose. Like I really need two giant bottles of cherry liqueur in the house. Especially, if I find out they aren't that much different! Anyone have experience with both brands willing to share some insight before I run out and try to find a bottle of Cherry Heering? I will say the Massenez creme liqueurs do seem less sweet than those from some other French makers I've tried. Very intense fruit flavor and not tooth achingly sweet. I tried a blueberry creme liqueur from Vedrenne and it was quite light on fruit flavor and as sweet as pancake syrup.

Couple more notes about Blood and Sand. First, my use of blood orange wasn't really planned. We have a couple kinds of oranges in the fridge, and I picked a small one I thought was a valencia. When I split it, I realized it was a blood orange. Well, "apropos," I thought. Also, these are very early season blood oranges, so still quite tart. The berry/musk doesn't really start to overwhelm the fruit until later in the year. Blood and Sand is another of those cocktails that's been on my list to try for quite a while. I usually have all the stuff for it in the house. It just has never made it to the top of the list. There's the short list of regular cocktails, and the cool ones I read about in Regan's column or on the Internet... Any of those always seem more appealing than the BandS. It certainly is an odd cocktail. Fairly mild on the alcohol front, not as sweet as a dessert cocktail, and neither dry nor aromatic enough to qualify as an aperitif or digestif. Hard to know where it fits. Brunch, maybe?

Blood and Sand Cocktail 1/4 Orange Juice (3/4 oz fresh Blood Orange Juice) 1/4 Scotch Whisky (3/4 oz Compass Box Asyla) 1/4 Cherry Brandy (3/4 oz Massenez Creme de Griotte) 1/4 Italian Vermouth (3/4 oz Cinzano Vermouth Rosso) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. This one is supposed to be named after the 1922 movie of the same name featuring Rudolph Valentino. The story of a bullfighter rising from a poor background only to be defeated by his own ambition. As far as the cocktail goes, I think the Asyla is a bit too civilized for this company. The cocktail probably could have used a more assertive a Scotch. Also, while not syrupy, the Blood and Sand is pretty sweet. When I make it again, I will probably drop the Creme de Griotte to 1/2 oz. Oh, and oddly, Patrick Gavin Duffy instructs this cocktail should be stirred, not shaken. edit - add a couple links to much better writers than I tackling the mystery that is the Blood and Sand. Professor gets some Education, Gary Regan, in a SF Chronicle Cocktailian column from 2003 Naming Names, Paul Clarke, from his Cocktail Chronicles blog in 2005

If I'm gonna go for the postprandial diabetic coma, it will usually be by sampling some sweet or fortified wine, not a sweet cocktail. As a digestive, I have to admit I am fond of a Rye Manhattan, long on the sweet vermouth and bitters, after dinner. No cherry, thanks. However, for some reason, this is a heretical idea, and I have been discouraged by my peers from pursuing it further in public. Que sera, the ones at home are almost always better, anyway.

Yeah, no hoax, watched it tonight on TiVo and it was clearly there. I did notice that the McDonalds logo was in the upper right of the Scoring Graphic during the show. I wonder if it was a technical glitch? Or maybe a video tech was a big Cantu fan, and put it up there as an expression of his happiness at the outcome, "I'm Lovin' It!"

Ummm... I guess that's what you happens when you let wine tasters review liqueur!? Good thing they didn't pass him the Absinthe.

I think the shelf life of whole nutmeg is pretty indeterminate sealed in an airtight jar. I hesitate to say nutmeg lasts forever. But, pretty darn close. Whole black peppercorns do lose a bit of their zing after while, especially if they get warm. Maybe a year or so?

The recipe looks OK, though, I think most folks who have made Orange Bitters without any supplemental bittering, have thought they lacked a little zip. Maybe with a couple teaspoons of Gentian? Also, a lot of work to dry all the orange peel yourself. Speaking of bitter orange, I was recently eating a Page Mandarin, and I couldn't help but be struck by how wonderfully oily and fragrant the peels were. To the point the orange oils were literally dripping from the fruit. Quite bitter to the taste as well! I expect they might be quite good in bitters.

Thinking I needed a lighter, tarter cocktail to go with some of the richer, sweeter offerings on last night's cocktail menu, at the last minute, I added the Bacardi Special from the Savoy Cocktail Book. Despite being among some very tasty competition, (Wet Spot, Le Demon Vert, Addam's Apple,) it turned out to be a real favorite with the guests. I guess some of these cocktails do still have legs!

Had a few friends over and opened the W.L. Weller from this year's Buffalo Trace Antique Collection after dinner. Uncut, unfiltered, wheated, single-barrel Bourbon. My understanding is it is around 15 years old. Lovely stuff. Wonderful cherry, caramel aroma. Amazingly smooth and drinkable for 120 proof. Seems to evaporate off your tongue, leaving just a hint of wood in the aftertaste. One of the best sipping Bourbons I've had.

Block and Fall Cocktail 1/6 Anis del Oso or Absinthe (1/2 oz Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe) 1/6 Calvados (1/2 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy) 1/3 Brandy (1 oz Korbel VSPOP) 1/3 Cointreau (3/4 oz Cointreau) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Another Savoy sweet-and-deadly in the style of the Between the Sheets. This one raises the ante slightly over the BTS by tossing some 140 proof Absinthe into the pot. When reading through cocktail books, the name of this cocktail has often caught my eye and I've wondered what it meant. Turns out, "Block and Fall" is another name for the rope and pulley device more commonly called, (at least in the US,) a "Block and Tackle". Well, a couple of these will certainly get you "hoisted". Also, I found a reference to Prohibition (US) era speakeasies called "Block and Fall Joints". According to some, these were the sorts of places serving low quality, high proof booze. Patrons would stop by for a cocktail, leave, walk a "block," and "fall" into the gutter. It's actually a complex and interesting cocktail, everything is there and cooperating. I did slightly reduce the amount of Cointreau called for. Don't drink too many, if you want to make it home safely!

Blenton Cocktail 1/3 French Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat) 2/3 Plymouth Gin (2 oz Plymouth Gin) dash Angostura Bitters (Twist Meyer Lemon Peel) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Another of the many 2/3 gin, 1/3 French Vermouth cocktails in the Savoy. A perfectly fine Martini variation, I felt improved with the addition of a twist of Meyer Lemon peel. The interesting savory elements of the Plymouth gin and Meyer Lemon Peel played nicely together.

Wow! Just learned from their newsletter that Alain Passard is going to be guest chef at Manresa March 9-11th. Surely, I must have something to hock of enough value... Alain Passard (Link to Manresa Blog)

Thanks! Uh, yeah, I felt like some of these were too sweet. There have been a couple that I thought would be pretty undrinkable without tweaking them towards modern tastes. On the other hand, the thing I like about the Savoy is there is a good variety of cocktails. Some really sweet, some really sour, some really bitter, some really strong, some kind of weak. To me it's cool to think about what occasion would be a proper venue for a certain cocktail. There is a modern tendency, I think because of portion control and the like, to balance every cocktail the same. Every cocktail has to have the same amount of alcohol, be the same size, and be a balanced mix of sweet and sour or sweet and bitter. Some of this perspective may be romantic delusion on my part, and another part of it may just be the "shovelware", (to use Doudoroff's word,) nature of the Savoy Cocktail Book. But, it does seem like something of the idea of drinking the right thing for the right occasion got lost in prohibition (or the 70s or something). I get the impression 90% of people today just go to the bar and order the same "Vodka and Cran", whether the weather is hot or cold, they just got dumped or engaged, before dinner or after. Sorry, that was a bit long winded. Obviously something I've been thinking about.

The recipe is a bit odd. On par with calling for Cointreau and Grand Marnier in the same cocktail. Why? I believe all of these orange liqueur products are clear, without coloring. Curacao of Curacao still makes an Orange, Blue, and White Curacao. According to their website, all three are identical except for color. I've read elsewhere that Bols (Europe) uses slightly different formulations for their different Curacao colors. Tweaking the Blue Curacao to cater to the tiki crowd. The way I understand the history: The French orange liqueur brands started calling their products "Triple Sec" (Triple Dry) to differentiate themselves from the somewhat sweeter Curacao brands. Eventually, to differentiate themselves from the other Triple Secs, Cointreau began calling its product by it's brand name instead of "Triple Sec". In the case of Brizard, they use a Brandy base for their Curacao and a neutral spirits base for their Triple Sec. Ostensibly, I believe Curacaos should be slightly more bitter and sweet than Cointreau/Triple Sec. Whether this is true probably varies with the brands being compared. If I didn't already have a somewhat ridiculous number of orange liqueurs in my cabinet, I'd be tempted to pick up a bottle of the Curacao of Curacao to compare. Maybe, once I finish this bottle of Brizard.

Big article about Bitters in today's SF Chronicle: Spirits: Reinventing bitters, Camper English Includes the recipe for Dr. Schwartz Cherry-Vanilla Bitters from the aforementioned book.

Digest: San Francisco Chronicle Wine Digest and 96 Hours section, Friday, January 19, 2007 Australia's undiscovered reds, W. Blake Gray THE SIPPING NEWS: With tasting room fees creeping upward, a visit to Wine Country can become a pricey affair. A stout breakfast You've heard about Slow Food, get ready for Slow Wine. What's hot and what's not in the world of wine Buzzless Wine Business Insider: Sales of expensive wines booming, Cyril Penn "...American wine consumers are buying more higher-priced wine than ever...Trinchero Family Estates has sold its Zinfandel Ranch facility in Rutherford to an investment group known as Rutherford Studios..." Spirits: Reinventing bitters, Camper English Recipe: Dr. Schwartz's Cherry-Vanilla Bitters From "The Art of the Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics" (Chronicle Books, 2006) by Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz Pairings: A noble dish for the wine of kings, Joyce Goldstein Recipe: Tajarin with Sugo d'Arrosto (Fine Noodles with Sauce from a Roast) The Chronicle's Wine Selections: Barolo and Barbaresco, Jon Bonné The Cheese Course: In winter, you'll find Pierce Point in an herb coat, Janet Fletcher 96 Hours Bar Bites: Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay, Olivia Wu "It's a scene straight out of a Conde Nast resort magazine: luxury hotel in cozy, getaway location with fire cauldrons burning as you look out at the Pacific Ocean from the Conservatory. This "big room" features wide views, as well as more intimate spaces within and attached to the room. You can perch at the cocktail bar with piano close by, retreat to a dedicated, all-wood Wine Room tucked in an alcove or lean back in upholstered armchairs spread out around tables." Bargain Bite: Pearl's Deluxe Burgers, Bill Addison "Pearl's Deluxe Burgers in San Francisco's Tenderloin makes a convincing case for sliding back into old eating habits. Save for the dulcet lavender stucco walls, the tiny space has no decor to speak of. But the menu -- a near duplicate of the restaurant's first location, Pearl's Phat Burgers, in Mill Valley -- cuts right to the caloric chase with satisfying renditions of fully loaded hamburgers." CRITICS' PICKS: Happiness on the half shell, Bill Addison "Whenever friends come to visit San Francisco, I take them to Hog Island Oyster Company at the Ferry Building Marketplace. Slurping the tiny, glistening mollusks somehow augments the panoramic view of the bay. We drink a glass or two of Champagne with the oysters, devour one of Hog Island's transcendent grilled cheese sandwiches -- and then perhaps order more oysters and Champagne."

8-11% ABV? That's some crazy Guinness! The stuff we get here is either 4% (draft and draft cans) or 5% (bottles). re: glassware. I suppose you are right about that. Sigh. I'm pretty sure they probably wouldn't have drunk them in 16oz pilsner glasses like the one I pictured. Sorry, man, I was thirsty! Blanche Cocktail 1/3 Anisette (1/2 oz Anis del Mono Dulce) 1/3 White Curacao (1/2 oz Brizard Orange Curacao) 1/3 Cointreau (1/2 oz Cointreau) (dash Regan's Orange Bitters) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Still trying to make my peace with these pesky after dinner cocktails. Imagining they are intended to be served with coffee, I made my self a cup of tea to go with it. It's actually pretty tasty trading leisurely sips of the darjeeling tea and Blanche Cocktail. I felt very "Euro". Orange and Anis weren't flavors I expected to go together quite this well. Still, very sweet. There are a few different styles of Absinthe. Verte, which is colored, post distillation, by macerating various herbs in the distillate (primarily Petit Wormwood and Lemon Balm) and Blanche which is uncolored. The Swiss was, and still are, quite famous for the high quality of their Blanche Absinthes. Fairly certain this cocktail is probably named after the "Blanche" style of Absinthe. If I had used white curacao, the cocktail would be a pearly, opalescent pale white like a Blanche Absinthe. Unfortunately, I only have orange curacao, so the cocktail is a pearly, opalescent pale orange. edit - BTW, I added the orange bitters because I think Curacao used to have more of a bitter orange kick than the style Brizard currently makes it in. One day I'll have to try the stuff that actually comes from Curacao.

Yeah, a local grocery store carries a couple Crémant d’Alsace and I was really surprised by how good they are. The ones I've tried have been in $10-20 per 750ml range and definitely "Reasonably Champagne-like". Or at least closer in style than most California sparklers in that price range. Hmm... Will have to investigate some Cavas.