mkayahara

In the spirit of the above proceedings, I really wanted to name a drink "Forgotten Lore," so I threw something together last night. In keeping with the theme, I started with a base of Amontillado, then added some Scotch and some of my stash of Perique. It ended up looking like this: 1.5 oz Amontillado (Lustau) 0.75 oz blended scotch (Bell's) 0.75 oz Perique dash Regan's orange bitters barspoon maple syrup (to cut some of the astringency, and because sherry and maple go so nicely together) It turned out as a pretty tasty drink, rather along the lines of a glass of sherry with some added depth and nuance, and a touch of smoke. It's amazing how quickly the Perique can get overtaken, but it still brings some subtlety to the glass. I'd love to try this combination again with a lighter sherry... say, the bottle of Valdespino Inocente I have tucked away in the basement.

Meant to post a few nights ago that I finally got around to having The Last Mechanical Art. Like pretty much everything in this book, it's a brilliant drink. I'm looking forward to having a couple more of them before my supply of Punt e Mes runs out, and even then I'll probably try it with plain ol' sweet vermouth.

Just a simple one last night: 2 ounces Canadian whisky (Pike Creek), half an ounce Punt e Mes, and a good couple (three) dashes of Élixir végétal de la Grande Chartreuse. Man, that stuff takes over a drink fast. I think it could have handled a dash less Elixir and a quarter-ounce more Punt e Mes, but it was still plenty tasty.

At the risk of topic drift, it may be worth pointing out that these discussions are de rigueur in Quebec (academically, journalistically and popularly), where it is felt that the purity of French is rather more at risk, given that Quebec is a single official French-speaking jurisdiction in a large sea of English. (Whether or not that risk is real remains uncertain.) [Edit: Actually one of two such jurisdictions, when you count New Brunswick.] Without being too rigorous about it, it seems clear that there are at least two explanations as to why the French terms are used: because there's no equivalent English term (macaron, crème brûlée, soufflé) or because the French term carries a sense of prestige (chantilly, tarte) - not necessarily the prestige of the Normans conquering the Anglo-Saxons, but more the prestige of French cuisine being considered the apex of culinary achievement for the bulk of the 20th century. You could possibly also add technical precision as a third reason, although some of my co-workers in the pastry department still look at me funny when I say pâte à choux instead of choux paste, and they would certainly never say crème pâtissière instead of pastry cream. (On the other hand, yes, crème anglaise and not "custard sauce", though I did catch myself saying custard sauce to a young guest this past Sunday...) As far as recent innovations in pastry, I wonder if anything out of modernist cuisine should enter into the discussion. Espuma, for example?

And then you get the funny calques and blends, like "choux paste".

It's been a while since I studied lexical formation (and all my technical vocabulary in the field is in French, but I sense that's not going to be a problem for you). I think you're going to need to make a distinction between emprunts and xénismes... indeed, maybe that's your point here? I would identify macaron, crème brûlée, sabayon and soufflé all as xénismes, because they have no equivalent native preparation in English cuisine; the word and the object were introduced at the same time. My instinct is that the same is true of sorbet, tarte and fondant, but they've just been around a little longer. Beignet is a loanword, because doughnut could suffice. As far as sabayon vs. zabaglione, I would argue that it's a case of either geographic proximity or simply the French dominance (at least post de'Medici) of the culinary field of knowledge and, consequently, culinary vocabulary.

I did include the bitters, Rafa, and felt that it really did tie the room drink together. Clearly it's a flexible drink. Leslie, I've been a big fan of the Teenage Riot for a while. I think I scared the bartender at Flatiron Lounge in NYC last year when I geeked out over the fact they listed it on their menu. (Though I then proceeded to order something else entirely, for other reasons.) As far as the Poe challenge, wouldn't the easiest answer just be to buy a cask of Amontillado and be done with it?

Made one of these tonight, except it was only as I came here to mention that fact that I realized I had forgotten the elderflower liqueur. Even without, it was a delicious drink, though I'm apt to say that of nearly anything containing amontillado. A little shadowy, smoky and brooding. I killed one bottle of mezcal making this one, but fortunately I have a second bottle in reserve, so I'll be sure to revisit this... and include all the ingredients this time!

Retails for CAD$45 here, and basically impossible to get outside of Toronto. I would consider it a privilege to be able to pay as little as $30.

Interesting... I haven't had a chance to do anything with it, so I'm curious to see how it will play when mixed with spirits. I'm a bit worried that it will be easily overwhelmed; otherwise, I can certainly see it taking the place of the Benedictine in, say, a De La Louisiane.

Kerry, I think there's something wrong with posting to a thread that has the phrase "cocktail novices" in the title when the post includes the phrase "homemade vermouth."

Ditto Ron de Jeremy. Edit: No, wait, that's not what I meant!

Wow, someone's been reading their China Miéville! Just back from my trip to England with my haul: a half-bottle of Sipsmith London dry, a full bottle of Blackwood's 60% gin, a 500 ml. bottle of Nikka "From the Barrel", a 100 ml. bottle of Élixir végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse and, my pride and joy, 500 precious millilitres of Perique tobacco liqueur. So far, the Perique is the only one I've tasted, and it's definitely unique! My experience with tobacco is pretty limited, so I can't really compare, but it will be challenging and interesting to work with this product.

Hmm... certainly there's a lot of sugar in most amari, but I find bitter-sweet to be less of an acquired taste than bitter-sour. I mean sure, when it works, it works, but I'm not very good at conceptualizing this type of drink.

I generally find vermouth challenging to mix with citrus, as well as most potable bitters (Campari, Cynar). Both have their exceptions, but unless I'm working from an established recipe (the Paper Plane being a good template), I tend to stick to Embury's categories of "aromatic" or "sour" when devising my own drinks.

Quoth the friend who introduced me to the Martini (in a college dorm in 1997): "Vermouth makes gin yummy."

I recently did my first salt-cured yolks. Buried in salt for 48 hours, then rinsed and dried. The texture is pretty much like a gumdrop, which makes it hard to grate; I've previously seen them frozen after curing to make them firmer for grating. I recently saw that there's a process outlined in the book Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain for cured yolks that involves drying them out in a charcuterie curing chamber, but unfortunately I don't have one of those! As far as the miso, I would think you could reuse it for marinades or the like - miso-cured fish, for example - but I probably wouldn't put it in soup.

The pleasure was all ours; thank you, Plantes Vertes, for making the arrangements and taking time to meet with us, on a work night no less! I ordered the Royal Oak as my first drink, and agree with Plantes Vertes: it was very pleasing, with more emphasis on the orthonasal aromatics than on the sip, but quite elegant. The only drawback was that it started to fall apart a bit as it warmed up, with the sweetness coming to dominate toward the end of the glass. (I know, I know: I just needed to drink it faster.) After that, well... There was no way I was leaving without trying the Terroir. Again, there was a strong emphasis on the aroma over the sip, but what a fascinating aroma! Definite pavement characteristic, but also surprisingly floral. Somehow it called aquavit to mind. At the intensity it had, I don't think there's really much you could do with it beyond serve it cold and neat as they did, but I'm betting it would be fun to try and mix it anyway, perhaps with some of the lighter wines: dry vermouth, or perhaps manzanilla sherry. All in all, a very successful night out!

I'm with KD1191 on this one: from a legal standpoint, would it be an "additive" or just an "ingredient"?

Thanks, all, for the replies. That's got me off to a great start! I see that Whisky Exchange carries Jade Perique liqueur de tabac, so that might have part of my allotment taken care of right there.

Haus Alpenz has been distributing Blume Marillen in the US for (relative) ages now; it should be easy to order through any store that carries the rest of their portfolio.

I wasn't sure which of these various threads to revive, but... I'll be heading to London next week, and looking to do some spirits shopping while there. (Unlike the OP, I'll have access to more than just the airport.) Generally when I travel, I like to buy products that are not available at home, especially if they're local specialties; for this trip, I'm leaning toward a Navy strength gin, though I'm certainly open to other suggestions. Where should I be doing my shopping?

Last night I made a Spanish Negroni, with Lustau for the amontillado, Brokers (80 proof) for the gin and Punt e Mes for the sweet vermouth. It was OK, but a little out of balance for me. I would definitely go with a higher-proof gin next time, and either split the Campari 50/50 - or replace it entirely - with Cynar, to capitalize on the latter's natural affinity for sherry. Edit: Next up for the amontillado will probably be a Tabard, which I've had several times before and love. I bring it up because it doesn't seem to have been mentioned in this thread yet.

In Newfoundland, Screech is an actual rum, imported from Jamaica, then blended and bottled by the Newfoundland liquor commission. It's not bad, but not the best either. Haresfur is correct that alcohol extracted from barrel wood is known in Newfoundland as swish.

I'm curious: what vermouth sours are you drinking? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Oriental, and I've never really found it to be anything special.