FrogPrincesse

I think that I will have to get the book eventually, but in the meantime through various ruses I found additional information that is not normally visible in the preview pages... quite interesting! Lillet, 1862-1985: Le pari d'une entreprise girondine by Olivier Londeix

Going through the book excerpts again and it mentions that in 1956 the following products were available: "Kina-Lillet Apéritif", "Français", and "Dry Export". Lillet "3 ans de vieillissement" (Lillet vieux) is mentioned later on, an aged product similar to Jean de Lillet; it is said to have been available at least since 1963 and is described as Lillet "goût français" from a very good vintage. Maybe "Lillet vermouth" mentioned by Embury is actually "Lillet français" rather than the "dry export" product...?

I think that falls under the category of "Champagne cocktails" (aka "Champagne with stuff added in") rather than "cocktails with Champagne" (cocktails with Champagne as in ingredient), but that sounds delightful nonetheless!

It looks like there is an entire book devoted to Lillet that covers the 1862-1985 timeframe (in French). According to the book, Kina-Lillet was originally created under the name "Amer-Kina". The book describes how the formula was adapted to the taste of the public in the early 1900s ("originally it was more bitter, but ladies would not drink it"), with an adjustment to its quinine content and resulting bitterness. It later mentions that two different formulas were available at some point, the "dry export" (English formula) and an "extra-dry" version that is more recent. Somewhere else it mentions that both the original formula (aperitif classique) and the English formula (Lillet goût anglais) were both served at the Cafe de la Paix in Paris in 1938 depending on the clientele. Unfortunately only a few pages are available online.

I've been craving this very nice variation on a Manhattan created by Sam Ross and called the Cobble Hill since trying it at the Varnish earlier this year. He describes it as a summertime Manhattan. It contains rye, dry vermouth, amaro Montenegro, and cucumber. It's really worth trying.

Thanks Erik. It's interesting that Harry Craddock calls for the (now defunct, more "bitter and syrupy") Kina Lillet, although Lillet Dry was already available at the time the Savoy Cocktail book was published, when David Embury's specifies "Lillet Vermouth" that we understand as being the "Lillet Dry" product, the predecessor of the current Lillet Blanc product (assuming I got this right...).

I am wondering what the conclusion was regarding the Lillet composition and speculation about changes in formulation. The official line from Lillet is still that, even though "Kina" was dropped from its name a while back, the product did not change and still has the same quinine content. Is the summary below from Robert Hess' website close to the now accepted version of events? Note that this does not mean that certain drinks originally calling for Lillet cannot be improved by other products - personally, I prefer Cocchi Americano in the Corpse Reviver No. 2 for example. I would just be interested to hear if any new information surfaced on this topic that was the subject of much discussion in the past on eGullet.

This weekend I made the Airmail cocktail per the PDT specs using Banks rum. I had tried the Airmail before with Flor de Caña (see the Champagne thread here) and had been delighted by this drink. It was very light with subtle stone fruit undertones, a great interplay between the light rum and the Champagne. With the Banks rum (same brand of Champagne), the character of the drink changed completely. I used a slightly more assertive honey as well which worked well with the spice in the rum. In the end however, I felt that the drink was heavier and less charming with the Banks rum. The Banks rum is a departure from a typical white rum. Some people have compared it to a rhum agricole but I don't think that it has the characteristic intense grassy notes; for me the batavia arrack flavor in it is prevalent. I think that it could work well in some tiki drinks, especially the ones that already have a lot of spice. It seems like an unusual rum to specify in many recipes of the PDT cocktail book including the classic Daiquiri and its variations though. I will have to try it. I don't believe that this is disclosed in the book, but I read that Jim Meehan had been involved with the creation and promotion of Banks rum.

Keith, Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! Regarding the Jimmy Roosevelt recipe, it is true that the sugar cube is not mentioned in the interview. However I believe that both the rinse and the Angostura-soaked sugar cube are used at Pegu Club where Jim Meehan used to work (see Sam's description here). I am guessing that this is the version referenced in the interview, but I could be wrong. I've noticed the same thing about the PDT cocktail book - the ingredient listings are incomplete and Champagne is not included with the other ingredients, only in the instructions. I had the pleasure of proof-reading the indexing entries for this book for Eat Your Books, and unless you read the instructions for each recipe, you can easily oversee a critical ingredient.

One of the first flops for me was PDT's take on a classic cocktail called the Jimmie Roosevelt. With V.S.O.P. Cognac, Champagne and a float of green Chartreuse I was expecting something exceptional. The brown sugar cube soaked in Angostura bitters took a while to dissolve so I was hoping that maybe the cocktail would improve over time. The cocktail was balanced but fell flat and did not have an interesting/distinctable taste unfortunately. I don't think that it's my choice of brands because I used the same Cognac that is specified in the recipe, and a perfectly decent French Champagne. I am a bit puzzled because Jim Meehan says that it is one of his favorite cocktails to make (see this interview for example). It is fun to assemble but why bother if the end result is not up to par? The interview mentions a demerara rinse that I did not see in the book. There may be other tricks to making this cocktail that are not included in the book and would improve the recipe.

For Labor Day I kept things simple. The green figs at the Little Italy farmers market were too flavorful to miss, so I made a little appetizer with buffalo mozzarella, Parma ham and basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar. This was based on the recipe from Jamie Oliver with the silliest name of "The easiest sexiest salad in the world" (just don't tell your guests about the name, or be ready to joke about it...!). We had an Airmail cocktail which is a Champagne cocktail with rum, lime juice, and honey syrup (I used Banks rum per the recipe in the PDT cocktail book). It's a very festive and elegant cocktail, but maybe a little strong considering the heat we've had recently in San Diego. We also had the Marcona almonds that Trader Joe's currently carries. Hopefully it's not one of these items that they suddenly decide to discontinue as it often happens there, because I really like them. For the main course, we had duck sausages from Homegrown Meats, a local butcher shop which has great meat (local grass-fed beef, lamb, wild boar, etc) and makes delicious sausages - last year I had made my own sausage but theirs is far better than what I can produce. With the grilled sausages, a couple of refreshing salads: a yellow peach and arugula salad with fresh goat cheese, and the lobster salad from Lucques with cherry tomatoes, avocado, corn and home-cured bacon. Live lobsters at $6/lb - I had to take advantage and it looks like many had the same idea (see upthread). Their shells were soft so they were easy to prepare. With the food we had a couple of wines from the Santa Barbara area: a rosé from Zaca Mesa and a surprisingly crisp and almost effervescent unfiltered riesling from Demetria, both really nice. For dessert, we had a chocolate/cocoa nib Racines cake with homemade vanilla ice cream - both recipes were from David Lebovitz - Ready for Dessert and The Perfect Scoop - followed by espresso. I can't wait to read about what others have prepared this weekend!

Hassouni, Actually I got the Laphroaig 10 at Trader Joe's. For some reason it is priced at $50 or higher everywhere I've looked, but only about $30 at my local Trader Joe's. Everything else was from drinkupny.com. The Banks rum is good and quite distinct from other white rums. It's a blend of rums that includes Batavia Arrack, and you can really taste it. It will make interesting drinks I am sure. I noticed that several recipes in the PDT cocktail book call for it; I was using Flor de Cana as a substitute but clearly the flavor profile of the Banks is very different, so I am starting to revisit these recipes.

The summer issue of Imbibe magazine includes a fairly detailed article on the San Diego beer scene and cocktail culture. San Diego is already well known for its local breweries, but maybe not so much for its cocktail bars. The article mentions El Dorado, Noble Experiment, Craft & Commerce, Salt Box, The Lion Share, Grant Grill and Snake Oil Cocktail Company. The online version of the article can be found here.

Got a few things from drinkupny.com that I had difficulties finding locally.

Another refreshing swizzle, the Barbadian Gin Punch Swizzle from Imbibe magazine, a recipe from David Wondrich which calls for genever, coconut water, lime juice, demerara syrup and Angostura bitters. There was something interesting about the sweet coconut water and the malt/smoke of the genever. It was somewhat of an unexpected pairing which really grew on me. Plus I am also on the lookout for good genever-based recipes.

Last week I made Jasper's Jamaican Planter's Punch (not to be confused with Jasper's rum punch, also in the book, which utilizes Wray & Nephew white overproof rum). I liked its simplicity: it's just dark Jamaican rum and Jasper's "secret mix", a mixture of lime juice, demerara syrup, Angostura bitters, and grated nutmeg. The books calls for Coruba but I substituted Appleton 12 because that's what I had on hand. I would love to try it again with the Coruba.

Toliver, There are a few houses and apartments there, but it's primarily light industrial/warehouses. The shipyards and commercial port are a few blocks away. It's near Las Cuatro Milpas.

Here is last night's Queen's Park Swizzle with white rum (Flor de Cana), lime juice, simple syrup, Angostura and Peychaud bitters, and mint.

It looks like I inadvertently deleted the picture of the menu at Julienne. Here we go:

I still really like the Brown Bomber, which is essentially a White Negroni with Tennessee whisky instead of gin, a creation by Jim Meehan. Now that Suze is finally available in the US, I am less nervous about using the bottle that I brought back from France last year.

The subject matter could have been interesting, but the book seems full of generalities. After reading the review in the New York times, I was not interested in reading it.

It's good in a sandwich to add a little extra kick. I had it recently in a pork belly sandwich with arugula and confit tomatoes... delicious.

The Donga Punch was wonderful but my husband wanted something with even more punch (pun unintended), so I made a Nui Nui last night. I had not had one in a while. It has cinnamon, pimento dram, Angostura bitters and vanilla. The recipes calls for "amber Virgin Islands rum" (code name for Cruzan?) - I used Flor de Cana gold. The juices are orange and lime. It was super flavorful indeed. It was interesting to read how Jeff Berry spent years trying to decrypt the Nui Nui recipe which called for "Donns' spices #2" (code for pimento + vanilla). Apparently the bartenders who worked for Don did not know what these mixes contained as they were delivered already prepared... It's a good thing that Jeff Berry was able to finally crack the code, otherwise some of these recipes would have been lost forever.

You are very welcome, Toliver. The address is listed as 1735 National Avenue (National avenue & Beardsley), so it's accessible with the trolley. Here is their brand new website for more information: http://sandiegopublicmarket.com/

Same here - I use the carcasses with whatever meat is left on them to make stock in my pressure cooker.