FrogPrincesse

A Mai Tai with Lost Spirits Polynesian-inspired rum, homemade coconut orgeat, Clement creole shrubb. This was pretty wild, as anticipated. Not my favorite Mai Tai of all times, but a great way to enjoy this rum. Even before tasting it, it filled the room with incredible aromas. The taste at first was very tobacco-forward, tannic. The cocktail was very strong, so I took my time to enjoy it. At the end, the banana notes were a nice little surprise.

I went to Stone at Liberty Station (Point Loma) again last Friday to relax after a long week. They have a great selection of Stone (brewed in PL or Escondido) and non-Stone beers on tap, plus a huge selection of bottled beers. What's great too is that you can order any beer on tap in a tasting size. Very nice for people like me who don't like to commit (and cheap - the 3 small beers were $7). Here was the draft beer menu at the main bar inside... and the draft list at the garden bar. I started with Hibiscusicity, a beer from Stone's Stochasticity project. This one is a Belgian-style ale brewed with wheat, hibiscus and orange peel. Pretty color. It was quite dry, with citrus notes. The Lupulin Loop: Comet (Stone). This is a project where they make the same beer but change the type of hops as the only variable. This one had been brewed exclusively with comet hops, a rare US-grown hop according to wikipedia. Citrus and pine. Dry. Quite balanced. (right in the photo) I had tried Simcoe’s for Sartori (Simcoe single-hop) from the same series a while back. If my memory is correct, it was more aggressively piney. Then a black witbier, Witty Moron (I know a bunch of these, so I had to try it...). Moronic indeed. Pretty bland. Disappointing. (the black beer in the photo above) There and Back (Sierra Nevada Brewing + New Glarus). This beer is part of Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp Across America series, a series of 12 beers brewed in partnership with other breweries. That one was the "winner" of the night. I really loved it. It's a great ESB with fruit undertones. Really delicious. One more for the road, Liberty Station Great Bowman’s Beard (Stone), a Scotch ale / Wee Heavy. It was a bit sweet, alcohol-forward, flat.

Thank you! So glad you liked it.

Quand on aime, on ne compte pas.

I'd get a bottle of rye and drink it neat if you want something really manly, or mix it with sugar and aromatic bitters for the beginner version, the Old Fashioned. Then get some absinthe and Peychaud's and try a Sazerac.

I made couple of drinks with my coconut orgeat last night. First, an Army & Navy with Tanqueray Old Tom, lemon juice, coconut orgeat, Boker's bitters. Very very nice. I would not change a thing. Then, with the Bacardi Legacy comp yesterday in London, I remembered I wanted to try the creation of Ally Martin (who works at Peg + Patriot). I had postponed because I did not have the exact ingredients on hand, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. The Young Cuban: Bacardi Superior white rum (I have this but used Plantation 3 Stars), lemon juice, orgeat (coconut orgeat), fino sherry (Lustau), dill garnish (tarragon), small dash soda (skipped). Even with all these heretical substitutions, I loved it. Not surprisingly, Ally made it to the final 3 in the UK. I will be serving this drink to my friends this weekend for sure.

You are being picky. St. Bernardus is very nice! (Although I've never had the Westvleteren, so I don't know what I am missing.)

YuleSmith Summer from AleSmith, a double IPA that they release every summer. The beer was paired with a Thai green curry. It's super hoppy, but not in an aggressive way. These kind of beers always remind me of drinking some kind of herbal tea (chamomille?). A bit of sweetness. Spice. Tobacco in the finish. Very refreshing with spicy food. It's also 8.5% ABV, but you can't really tell.

More local stuff. Port Brewing Board Meeting double brown ale. Why do brewers so often feel compelled to add coffee or chocolate to their brown ales is a mystery to me. It's not bad, it's just that it makes the beer more difficult to pair with food. Thankfully the coffee/chocolate was not too pronounced, so it was fine with my grilled sausage. Good level of bitterness. Pretty boozy at 8.5%, if that's what I am supposed to drink before going surfing first thing in the morning, as the label suggests.

A Ti Punch, of course!

Just send me a couple of iSis (and the booze), and I will do the research for you.

Dan, I did an aquavit tasting last year and you are right, Linie is very different and super mellow compared to Krogstad (discussion here). I am sure that they result in very different cocktails! The recipe did not specify which aquavit was recommended, although I had a hinch that, given that the cocktail had been created by Neil Kopplin of Clyde Common in Portland, he would probably use the aquavit distilled locally.

It's going to be dependent on pressure & temperature in your iSi.

Vimto? Not familiar.

1) Exactly. Chlorophyll is very soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water.

That makes sense. I would start with nylon to remove the coarse particles, then filter again in paper to remove the finer particles. Then a last filtration step with the Büchner to get to clarity.

From Tuesday night, another safe Manhattan, this time with Blanton's bourbon, Cocchi barolo chinato, Miracle Mile forbidden bitters. Jo - has l'Esprit arrived yet?

The pleasure was all mine, Adam. I made myself something with Cynar last night, but it was not nearly as successful. It was the Smoke & Mirrors (Neil Kopplin), a Negroni-esque drink with aquavit (Krogstad), Cynar, Campari, flamed orange zest. It was very savory and quite busy, with the strong caraway & anise notes from the Krogstad not meshing too well with the Cynar.

Last night's Manhattan, after a bunch of crazy experimentation for this month's MxMo: The Unknown (due tonight). Elijah Craig bourbon, Cocchi barolo chinato, Miracle Mile toasted pecan bitters, brandied cherry.

Matt - That sounds great. The Almond Blossom Crusta (Charles H. Baker Jr), which is essentially the same thing with gin + cognac (no bitters), is also worth trying.

In the same family, you can add maraschino and make this, which is heavier on the Cynar and aperitif-style. This one from beta cocktails is lovely as well.

Oui

You will get the tingle, but not the dry sourness.

Cocchi Americano Rosa has a lot of berries as Rafa said, almost like sangria... It's not very bitter at all. I had it on the rocks and thought it was pleasant but a bit "light", in weight and in taste. Regarding Cocchi Americano (white), it does well in a lot of cocktails that call for Lillet, but Lillet is still needed if you like White Negronis. One of the differences comes from the fact that Cocchi contains gentian in addition to quinine, which is the only bittering agent in Lillet. They are different enough that I buy both. Lots of discussion about this in the Lillet and the Cocchi threads.

I know at least one person who did that, for the MxMo Coconut challenge. For me, it made more sense to use fresh since it's available, and I did not really mind the extra work. Also I needed the coconut water for the challenge already.