FrogPrincesse

These guys also detect peach in their Lagavulin's nose but it's the 30 years. Also here in the 2013 Distiller Edition. Mine does not have any peach - just checked last night to make sure!

Gorndon Ramsey's broccoli soup with broccoli from my CSA. For the garnish, I did not have any goat cheese and used crème fraîche instead, a little bit of Abequina olive oil (which tastes bright and green), roasted hazelnuts, and fleur de sel. Have you seen the article about soups on Serious Eats? It has a systematic approach to soup-making that I find inspirational. The Food Lab: How to Make Creamy Vegetable Soups Without a Recipe.

Erick Castro is getting more press. Interview for Virgin Atlantic: Erik Castro: The King of San Diego's Cocktail Bars. .

Oh wow. A custom-made tiki mug. Very cool.

A petition was initiated a few days ago by Josh Miller of the rum & cocktail blog Inu a Kena to exempt bartenders from the disposable gloves law. It has already collected more than 8000 signatures.

It's amazing the number of views you get when you post something called Naked and Famous on flickr. I guess I should not be surprised. Anyway, this creation by Joaquín Simó is a delicious drink. Equal parts mezcal, aperol, yellow chartreuse, and lime juice. Sour/aromatic/bitter/smoky. Everything meshes together. Great combo and a very attractive color.

Detailed tasting notes on Luxardo and Maraska maraschino liqueurs on the Booze Nerds blog.

I was very eager to try the latest batch of Enjoy By IPA from Stone (02.14.14). Disappointment - very little fizz. The taste was right but the beer was practically flat. Here is the October release, but on draft, for reference (in the front).

I like it too. What brands of rye and absinthe/herbsaint did you use?

Also this one from the Food Lab on Serious Eats that was just published last month and compares results from white vs. brown sugar (among many other variables).

Yes, they are still very much into blue curaçao and piña coladas which is a little odd, but things are changing a bit. This 2008 article from Bon Appetit proclaiming that Tokyo is the Cocktail Capital of the World is still pretty far from the truth...

The Boker's bitters have a base of cardamom and coffee, while Angostura has strong cinnamon notes. So even though the flavor profile is different, they are still close enough that they can be used in cocktails calling for Angostura or "aromatic bitters" in general. My bottle has a dropper that delivers much more than an Angostura bottle, which compensates for the milder flavor if that's a concern (I haven't noticed it). I prefer Boker's to Angostura in a Japanese Cocktail and also I think in a Martinez (haven't had one in a while). They make a great Manhattan too if you are looking for a slight change of pace.

I hear you... We need to recruit Japanese cocktail nerds on eG.

Chris, I am back (and slowly going through the backlog). I wish I still had access to these little bottles, or the collection of large (and relativly cheap) ones at the airport, but that's no longer the case.

The Taketsuru Pure Malt (12 years) is quite mild with a somewhat sweet finish, so I used it in a very nice Old Fashioned with Boker's bitters and gomme syrup. The little packets of gomme they have in coffee shops in Japan came very handy for this one. A bit skimpy on the ice, but you should have seen the ice cube tray I was working with. Next time I travel, I will consider including a proper ice tray in my cocktail kit...

The Panga looks good. It reminds me of another rum drink that I like, the Rum Crawl. Similar structure but instead of being all ginger, it's part ginger, part falernum. Very nice with Appleton (I use the 12 years). How do you like the tiki bitters ?

Don Julio is solid. I also like the Siete Leguas line very much, but it's not in your list. There is a bunch of recommendations from bartenders on Serious Drinks, for sipping and mixing, high and low end.

Very cool. Thanks.

This looks very nice, PV (I like the name too). So how do you make orange cream citrate?

Mine hasn't arrived. Hopefully it did not get lost in the mail... I was very glad that Hassouni got his just in time for Christmas.

After beta cocktails' Moment of Silence, another very nice cocktail with the R&W apricot liqueur - Erick Castro's Mayan Concubine. I used this recipe but reduced the simple from 1/2 oz to 1/3 oz. So that's 2 oz aged tequila, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz apricot liqueur, 1/3 oz simple syrup, 1 dash Angostura bitters, lemon peel garnish. The aged tequila (the recipe calls for reposado but I used an older expression, Siete Leguas añejo) is able to neutralize the candy taste of the R&W apricot liqueur. Instead you get ripe apricot, with spice and smoke from the tequila. Very drinkable while being enjoyably complex.

Yes, I planned it this way. ;-)

I like Niman Ranch's as well (they used to sell it at Trader Joe's, but I haven't seen it lately). Benton's is good but heavily smoked, and I am not always in the mood for that. Most of the time though, I buy bacon from my local butcher shop (they cure and smoke it in house), or use homecured. Much better than most commercial brands.

Yeah, me too. After cotton candy-flavored vodka, here comes the coffee-flavored Japanese whisky... But that did not seem right. Coffey is actually a type of continuous (column) still. The grain is mainly corn.

Picking up where I left things off - more cocktails with Japanese whisky. Talent Scout variation with Miyagikyo single malt Japanese whisky (10 years), dry curacao, Boker's bitters. I had this one before with bourbon a bunch of times . Very different with the Miyagikyo, obviously. Quite intense, with lots of spice and smoke in the (dry) finish. The Pierre Ferrand dry curacao did not completely mesh with the fruit in the Miyagikyo. Tattletale variation with Miyagikyo Japanese whisky, dogwood honey, Boker's bitters. This is based on a cocktail recipe that uses a mix of Highland and Islay scotch. The honey has a very distinctive flavor so this was really interesting. I liked it better than the Talent Scout.