mkayahara

Do you mean substituted for maraschino to get a similar aesthetic? Or combined with large amounts of maraschino to balance off the sugar? Or something else entirely? Do you have an example that comes to mind?

Thanks, both, for your replies. This hasn't turned up in my local liquor monopoly yet, so I guess we'll see if it does. The description sounds a bit like Suntory's Toki, which was also developed for the North American market. While not a bad whisky, per se, it also isn't as good as some of the better Japanese labels. (Though, to be honest, I didn't find the current NAS bottling of Yamazaki to be all that compelling, either.) It certainly seems like there's some "capitalizing on interest in the category" going on.

Rice whisky? That's fascinating! Did you pick that up in the US, or somehow acquire it from Japan?

Awesome, thanks for your help! I figured that might be the case, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't just missing it.

I've been slowly working my way through All Under Heaven and loving it, especially since my background knowledge on the cuisines of China is so limited. I do have one question though: looking at the index, I see no recipe for "red-cooked" anything. Is it included in the book under another name, or is there another reason for its exclusion? Am I just missing it?

Interesting; I've never thought of the Godfather as an Old Fashioned variation, but more in keeping with the (as you noted) "equal parts spirit and liqueur" tradition of the Rusty Nail or Black Russian. But I suppose they can essentially be seen as Old Fashioned variations! That said, my understanding was that the Godfather is properly made with Scotch whisky. I've very much enjoyed it that way in the past, though without bitters, so I'd encourage you to give it a try.

Not a shaker as such, but I wanted to post a shout-out to the Soukichi Glassware Company in Tokyo. We looked all over Osaka and Tokyo for good-quality Yarai mixing glasses, and found the same mediocre brand at most of the kitchen supply stores we checked out. A quick Google led to this post, which led us to the store in question. They had a tremendous array of stunning glassware, from the very reasonably priced to the outrageous. We settled on a Yarai glass that didn't break the bank, plus a beautiful new strainer to go with it (which my husband insisted on!) and a nice jigger with internal markings at 10/20/30 ml. on one side and 15/30/45 ml. on the other. (The spoon is a $3 model that I grabbed a couple of at one of the above-mentioned kitchen supply stores.) The downside to all of this is that the set is intended to be one of my Christmas gifts this year, so I won't be able to use it for a few months yet.

Guess where I just came back from? As everyone says, the age-statement versions of the Suntory whiskies are difficult to find (though far from impossible, especially as 50-ml. bottles). The Nikka ones are impossible, except for the 12-year "The Nikka" blend. I lucked out on the Hakushu, which I got for a quite reasonable price in a town with fewer tourists. It was pretty common to see the 17-year Hibiki, but it was a lot more expensive than the no-age-statement version. Rarest of all was the 12-year Yamazaki, but it could still be found. And, of course, the new NAS versions of all were widely available; I had a 180-ml. bottle each of the NAS Hakushu and Yamazaki while I was there. I liked the Hakushu, but was unmoved by the NAS Yamazaki. I'll be curious to open the 12-year Hakushu and see how it compares. I opened the Hibiki last night, and enjoyed it quite a lot. It's quite rich and sweet, very accessible. I'm definitely pleased with my selections.

My reply got lost in upgrade issues, so I'll repeat: I made the Windsor Knot the other night, subbing manzanilla sherry for the dry vermouth (but otherwise working to spec). It was a very satisfying glass!

Or just buy cornflour, which is already powder-fine. (The American kind, not the UK version of "cornflour" which, as I understand, is the same as "cornstarch" in the US.)

And, one assumes, is priced accordingly.

No need. You should get more than enough gelatin from the veal bones.

Nardini rocks. I wish I could get some.

I have been trying very hard not to open another bottle of fortified or aromatized wine, because I simply don't go through them fast enough. So I made a sort-of Negroni tonight at one part Cynar, one part Aperol and two parts Beefeater. A quite decent substitute.

I haven't tried the Cocchi VdT, but I was relatively unimpressed with Dolin's sweet vermouth, which I found thin and insipid. Next time I open a bottle of M&R, I'll do notes. From memory, it certainly isn't appreciably bitter, but in my book, that's why amari exist.