mkayahara

Nice one, Kerry. August is where we always stop for lunch on our way into Niagara wine country. (And where we stopped for lunch on our way down for the chocolate conference!) Edited to add: In case you've never had it, their Reuben sandwich is quite good!

And don't forget the glory of the Corpse Reviver Number Blue! Or the Blue Pegu, for that matter. Blue curacao has myriad uses.

These things may be related. The Orgeat plays a surprisingly important role. And I agree -- this drink demonstrates how Angostura is more spice than bitter (bark than bite?). I love this drink. Sure, but I've never liked homemade orgeat. My efforts have been all texture and no flavour, unless I dump in a bunch of almond extract, which seems to defeat the purpose. I don't have a supplier for bitter almonds.

In an effort to maintain my cocktailian bona fides, and inspired by the Anvil 100 Cocktails list, I made a Trinidad Sour last night, using Angostura bitters and Rittenhouse rye both provided by Kerry. I was shocked the other day to see that the price of Angostura has risen to $9.99 in local grocery stores: not too long ago it was only $6.99! A bittersweet cocktail to celebrate my last day as a free man before officially entering the ranks of the industry as a line cook today. I loved the mahogany colour (which apparently is only that deep because I was using a commercial orgeat bottling). Surprisingly, I didn't find it especially "bitter," though it was intensely astringent. I found it interesting and enjoyable without falling in love with it.

Would you be willing to provide a comprehensive list/links?

Lucky dog! Feel free to pick up a bottle for me and stash it away until my next trip into the city...

I see it in Embury, listed (in near-Embury fashion) as 1 part lime juice, 2 parts Italian vermouth, 4 parts Gold Label rum and 1 or 2 dashes Angostura. He notes:

The weather was so nice yesterday, I decided to break out my new bottle of Clement Creole Shrubb and make some Mai Tais. For the rums, I used a combination of Appleton 12 and St. James Royal Ambré. Edit: The mint in the backyard wasn't quite ready for prime time yet, or I would have garnished it properly!

So I tried two versions last night. The first was 2 oz. Rittenhouse BIB (thanks, Kerry!), 1/2 oz. Dolin dry vermouth, 1/4 oz. Luxardo maraschino and 1/4 oz. homemade amer Boudreau. As is usually the case, I found the maraschino overpowered things a bit, though the vermouth kept everything from being too syrupy, and the orange notes of the amer occasionally wafted through. A darn tasty drink, but I could have used a stronger presence from the amer. For the second version, I used 2 oz. rye, 1/2 oz. amer Boudreau, 1/4 oz. each of the vermouth and maraschino. Definitely a stronger presence from the amer this time, taking the emphasis off the maraschino, but the small amount of vermouth left things a bit too sweet for my tastes. It's probably no sweeter than your average Manhattan, but I guess I want something other than a Manhattan-alike out of this drink. So I suspect with these ingredients, my desired balance would lie somewhere around 2 oz. rye, 1/2-3/4 oz. dry vermouth, 1/2 oz. amer, 1/4 oz. maraschino. (Or, say, 1.5 oz rye, 1/2 oz vermouth, 3/8 oz amer, 1 tsp. maraschino, but measuring those eighths of an ounce is such a pain!)

Made the "Our Favorite Noodles with Greens and Gravy" for dinner tonight, and was pretty disappointed. It wasn't bad, exactly, just not that interesting, and the "gravy" in question was on the thin side. If I make it again, I'll cut way back on the water. But I think the only reason I would make it again would be to see if I didn't make it right the first time.

Well, at least I'm inspiring something in somebody. I had always thought the distinction was between it being a dry Manhattan with hints of Picon and maraschino (those Savoy-era bartenders really made a bottle go a long way), or a dry Manhattan with the bitter and liqueur playing a greater role. Then I saw the Bartender's Choice version, and the small amount of dry vermouth threw me. It'll be interesting to try out a couple of versions. I'll report back.

The updated list is fascinating, and I haven't had as many of them as I might like, with only 40. It's interesting to see the choices of gin styles in some of the drinks (like genever in the Martinez and Old Tom in the Aviation, which I make with Old Tom and London dry, respectively). And does anyone know anything about Anvil's version of Don't Give Up the Ship, which is listed as "Bourbon, Fernet, Falernum, Cherry Liqueur, Lime"? The only cocktail I've tried by that name has gin, Fernet, sweet vermouth (I've also seen Dubonnet), and curacao.

Got home from a trip yesterday with a new bottle of Bittermens Amère Nouvelle, so I decided to combine it with some of the Rittenhouse and sweet vermouth I got from Kerry in a Liberal last night. Pretty darn tasty: bright with citrus, but earthy with gentian. I didn't think it was all that bitter, so it seemed a little on the sweet side; more of an evening sipper than an aperitif. I'm looking forward to trying the Amère Nouvelle in a Brooklyn, where the French vermouth should dry things out a bit.

Two charges is fine with the half-litre. It says somewhere in the iSi documentation that you can do it.

Jim Beam Black is the same juice, a year younger and at a lower (but still respectable) proof, at less than half the price. Except in Ontario, where Jim Beam Black is only 6 years old, and costs 63% of the price of Knob Creek. On the other hand, our everyday mixing bourbon is Evan Williams, which isn't even available in Ontario: We bring it in by the liter every time we go to the US, and get friends to bring us bottles on their trips too!

Well, Canada isn't a single jurisdiction for liquor: it varies by province. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) recently started carrying it, with a red-and-yellow label that I think is a redesign (it looks updated from the labels on my old bottles of LH151), but it's still not completely "easy" to find: not all the stores have it. Let me know what you think of the Doorly's XO. I wasn't that impressed, but then I probably paid $27 for it.

I've mostly been stocking up on rums lately, as Tiki season gets into full swing. Flor de Cana 5, Mount Gay Eclipse, Appleton 12, Lemon Hart 80 proof and Havana Club anejo blanco. Should keep me going for most of the summer!

Kerry was kind enough, after the Chocolate and Confectionery Workshop, to gift me with the leftover liquor from our Saturday night cocktails, on the condition that I comment on some of what I ended up making with it. No time like the present to get started! One of the bottles was Rittenhouse BIB, so tonight I made a Volstead. Rye, orange juice, Swedish Punch, grenadine and a dash of absinthe. The flavours are all there, but it was too sweet for me. Maybe with some added lemon juice, though I guess that makes it a cross between a Volstead and a Ward Eight.

First of any, major thanks to Kerry for putting this conference together! I had a great time learning, playing around, and hanging out with everyone. It's always so much fun to see everyone in person. My two main goals for the weekend were to play with aerated chocolate and starch-molded liquor cordials, and I didn't manage to get either one accomplished! We couldn't get the chamber vacuum machines at the school to hold the vacuum for long enough to let the chocolate set, and I didn't have a box with a one-way valve on it. So we scratched that. I did make a starch-molding bed, but decided that I would walk before I ran (for once), and went with the easier gelatin jellies rather than liquor cordials, which are apparently quite finicky. It was interesting - and messy - to see how starch-molding works. I hope to play around with it some more in the future, and maybe get those liquor centres I'm after. Not that that stopped me from playing with booze candies: on Saturday I made some mezcal jellies, which were quite interesting, and then yesterday I made up a very boozy batch of bourbon/vanilla caramel, which we used in some dark chocolate shells my husband made. I was really happy with how they came out, and they've got quite the kick! We also worked on the hazelnut lattes from Greweling, but didn't have a chance to dip them until we got home last night. But we're super happy with how they came out. As always, the dinner on Saturday night was a blast, especially with FrogPrincesse mixing the drinks! Kerry very generously gifted me with the leftover booze, so I'll be posting some of the drinks I'll make with it in the coming weeks, over in the Spirits & Cocktails forum. Hope everyone had (or has) safe travels home!

Oddly, I was just talking to someone this weekend who has tried, unsuccessfully, to make pâte de fruit with blueberries. He said it didn't set up right away, but a few days later it was perfect. Clearly this bears further investigation.

I don't think it's the water and ethanol that are at issue here, but the myriad other aroma compounds, some of which are more soluble in ethanol than water (and some of which are more soluble in water than in ethanol). So you're probably looking at a phenomenon similar to an absinthe drip, but that's just a guess.

I recently made a batch of Jeffrey Morgenthaler's grenadine, and it's the best homemade grenadine I've ever had, so that might be a good place to start.

Because I'm the highly suggestible type, the revival of this thread combined with a nearly-empty bottle of homemade Swedish Punch that is taking up more than its fair share of room in my refrigerator resulted in my making a Doctor Cocktail with Wray and Nephew last night. Which, if you haven't done it, is pretty worth doing.

What is the Gosling's "old rum"? I'll have to use frozen passion fruit puree for this, but it sounds damn tasty... in a fruity way.

I don't know enough about pectin to answer your question, James, but you've got me intrigued. What kind of pectin did you use?