FrogPrincesse

The hair is not what it once was, that's for sure. But I tend to only focus on the music. The rest is of little interest to me. Anyway, here is The Dark Side (Josh Durr) with bourbon (High West Son of a Bourye), Bonal gentiane-quina, lime juice, simple syrup, orange bitters. It was ok.

Bare Knuckle (Greg Buttera & Stephen Cole): white whiskey (Kings County), sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes), Fernet-Branca, Cynar, Angostura bitters, mint, expressed lemon peel. Pretty punchy. The recipe recommended a rye-based white whiskey, mine was corn-based and got beat up by the Cynar & Fernet. Oh well...

I made a coconut orgeat last weekend and used it in a Daiquiri variation. It needs some tweaking but it has potential. The orgeat is fabulous in water - instant coconut water. I am enjoying some right now.

Negroni with St George dry rye gin, Campari, Margerum amaro. I prefer the version with Dolin vermouth (or Punt e Mes), it's more vibrant.

Just received this shipment from K&L Wine. The Rittenhouse (new/ugly label) and High West Double Rye! are restocks. Tiki mugs flanking the set acquired at TikiO, with the Sven Kirsten official "Tiki Pop" mug, and a little Marquesan number by Tiki Diablo.

Imperial Hefeweizen "Call It What You Want" by Stone in Point Loma, brewed on the premises. It's a hefeweizen, but Stone being Stone, so it's an Imperial version at 10.5% ABV. Again, it's Stone, so the banana esters are flambeed and the clove is huge. Nice dry coriander finish. Under the watchful eye of a couple of these guys. The draft menu today for the garden bar.

Here is my rendition of the Pantomime cocktail with Dolin dry vermouth, homemade orgeat, grenadine, egg white, grated nutmeg. Measurements in dashes for ingredients that don't come in dasher bottles are so confusing. I gave some feedback to Martin Doudoroff suggesting to add a definition of dashes to his new app, and the short answer is that it's a measurement that can vary from a modern dash to 1/2 oz depending on the author, for old recipes, so it's highly subject to interpretation. It reminded me of this discussion. I used: 1.5 oz dry vermouth 1/4 oz orgeat 1 barspoon grenadine Egg white Nutmeg garnish I am always confused by the orgeat + egg white combination, to me it feels a bit overkill. In the end, it's a little aperitif which is light and pretty, although probably too much fuss for what it is (since there is egg white involved). It's not going to leave you satisfied, for sure.

13 pages of tiki cocktails, and not a single one with tequila. Let's remedy that asap. These two cocktails rely on a mix of tequila with rum. For the first one, aged tequila and dark rum, and for the second one, you guessed it, tequila blanco with white rum. Jim's Special from Tiki-Ti in LA with 7 Leguas anejo tequila, Coruba dark rum, lime juice, passion fruit syrup, Grand Marnier, homemade orgeat. Deep, strong, mysterious, and delicious. The tequila adds a spiciness that's very interesting. And then the one with a fun name, but as we know, these usually don't live up to the hype - Vicious Virgin #2, from the Pago Pago in Tucson. El Dorado 3 Demerara rum, Siete Leguas tequila blanco, Grand Marnier, grapefruit & lime juice, homemade orgeat. It's actually my favorite of the two. It's almost like a (white) Mai Tai on paper, with more juice, and the tequila of course. The grapefruit is genius with the tequila, they just play off each other so well. Lovely drink.

Jamie Boudreau's L'Amour en Fuite with dry gin (Beefeater), Lillet, St Germain (don't shoot me), absinthe rinse (St George). This one is a sweeter Martini alternative, in the same family as Michael Madrusan's Deep Blue Sea (where violette replaces the St Germain & absinthe) or Benjamin Schwartz's Zephyr (with green chartreuse). Absinthe with St Germain does beautiful things, considerably taming down the candy-like flavor of the elderflower liqueur. I've seen this pairing also work wonders in Sam Ross' CR2 variation, the Sunflower.

Night Porter (Jeff Hollinger) with white vermouth (Dolin), absinthe (St George), port (used a tawny port but ruby was specified), mezcal (Vida). Another polarizing yet fascinating drink. At first the absinthe dominates everyting. Intense black licorice aroma. Then the wine comes through, followed by nuts; a ton of herbs from the vermouth and the absinthe start to intermingle, and the finish is more licorice and smoke. A bit too much for me.

That's right. There is also the Tequila Sunrise.

The juicer looks great. What model of mixing glass is that, and are you happy with it?

Actually it's still legal, but you have to pay taxes and there are a bunch of rules of course. I agree with bostonapothecary. Save this eau de vie. What I would do is pour a little bit in a small cup and smell it. If it's good, you will get a fresh apple flavor. Then, if you are feeling brave, you can try it neat. Otherwise, you can always dip a sugar cube in it briefly ("faire un canard") and eat it - most people enjoy that. Where are you located? Luxardo maraschino cherries are available in most gourmet stores these days.

I was being a bit facetious. Layered drinks don't particularly appeal to me. But apparently this one is good (and horribly expensive). I was reading an interview of Jeff Bell earlier where he was raving about it. What's your go-to recipe for grenadine? Morgenthaler?

Lots and lots of prep time I am sure.

I saw this beauty by Charles Joly of the Aviary and immediately thought about you, Hassouni. A Jungle Bird, pousse-café style. Description here. Enjoy!

On the first question - I can't think of a reason why flambeed calvados would make the foie gras taste bitter. I've used armagnac with foie gras, but of course calvados would be perfect for your theme. That sounds like a wonderful idea.

The 12 bottle bar is a good concept, but I almost got the impression that they made some unusual/controversial choices to get people talking. And it's working. Because who in their right mind would include genever and vodka in their essentials; it does not make any sense. We have lists that make much better sense in our discussion on The Ten-Bottle Start-up Home Cocktail Bar . Anyway, there are more exciting things to spend our $/£/€/etc on. The Death & Co book is out soon, in October, and Dave Arnold's book, Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail shortly after, in November. I feel that there is really a niche there, on science & cocktails, that Kevin Liu had only started to fill.

Going through some photos from a few weeks ago. Here is a special England travel edition. One of England's many pubs claiming to be the oldest, this one in Nottingham. Supposedly Richard the LionHeart stopped to have a beer on his way to the crusades. Beer options are pictured below. They also had some weird fruit-flavored ciders which apparently are "very popular with women". I took note and went with the Robin Hood ale, which is brewed locally by Nottingham Brewery. Easy drinking and very slightly bitter. The pub itself is pretty cool. A series of little caverns, all connected, like a hobbit house. All local people. 99 Red Baboons from Blue Monkey, a brewery in Nottingham. Porter-style. Thick and malty. Burned malts, coffee. Probably not the best way to start a meal (although I had tongue, so I needed something robust), but I enjoyed it anyway. I had a taste of this much lighter weight option, Extra Pale Ale from Nottingham Brewery. Hepworth Curious IPA. I had it a couple of times (not by design, but sometimes there were very few "local" beers available), once in Nottingham and the other time at the London Heathrow airport. The first time I thought it tasted a bit metallic and only slightly bitter for an IPA, but it grew on me. I liked the grassy hops with the malty notes. In the end I think I like it. It's highly rated by Diffords. Meantime London lager. I tried this one in London (of course). Refreshing, with citrus hops.

They are both quite hard to find these days, at least in my area.

No crab in the beer? (I've seen oyster beer before.) How was it?

Cool. Thanks for the correction!

Jo - This was a limited release in 2012. I've had it at Stone, but it's long gone from the stores. Maybe your son was smart enough to stock up on it! I am so behind on my beers notes it's not even funny. Here was the beer board at Tender Greens, one of my favorite ultra-casual lunch places, a few days ago. All local brews. I had tried everything already except for the Saint Archer white ale, so I went with that. Saint Archer is another craft brewery in San Diego located in Miramar, close to where I work. It's a typical white beer, coriander and orange, nothing offensive, and refreshing. Nice with my salad.

FauxPas - nice-looking salad, very autumn-like with the apples and the nuts. Summer is still in full swing in San Diego. Yesterday I made this quick salad for a picnic with baby tomatoes, grilled corn, feta, tarragon (homegrown). The dressing was kalamata olive oil with sherry & red wine vinegars, and plenty of back pepper. Today for lunch I had this one with heirloom tomatoes, avocado, feta, tarragon, olive oil, red wine vinegar (and a glass of Zaca Mesa Chardonnay).

Mini Willet rye tasting from a few nights ago, 5 year vs. 2 year. The 2-year is the first Willet-distilled rye in years, so it's pretty exciting stuff. 2 year (right) Nose: vanilla, orange. Tastes quite hot at first. It takes a few sips to get past this, but then it's great: vanilla, orange, leather, mint. A bit all over the place, but in a good way. Pretty fiery and almost immature at first, and then surprisingly deep and interesting. A very cool mix. 5 year The nose is pretty faint. Mostly caramel. Much more approachable. Tastes more sweet, much more tame. Develops into beautiful butterscotch and spice. Sadly for me this one has an acetone aftertaste, so it's not my favorite (I prefer the 4). Still, it's pretty solid. A few nights later I tried to sip on Bulleit rye neat, just to see. But I could not finish my glass. I still love it for mixing, though.