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Snowy is dead

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Everything posted by Snowy is dead

  1. I'm sure this gets asked all the time, but I had no luck with 'coupe' in the search, so here goes... Has anyone found a supplier for good quality coupe glasses for a decent price. I know Libbey is the cheapest, I just can't get past how clunky they appear. Is there a similarly priced product that looks a little more elegant and won't break when you look at them wrong? thanks
  2. Adriano Adami makes several varieties of Prosecco that are much more champagne like (more carbonation than typical prosecco, yeasty-bready flavor, good mouthfeel) that aren' too much. Their Giardino Prosecco is fabulous for $16 for a 750. No new 187's for that purpose that I've been made aware off. Then again, I'm not high on the need to know list for such things.
  3. I hear people in the Boston area say craft cocktails, when implying the use of quality ingredients and traditional methods vs. the 'tini this or that. Sean
  4. The molinara sambuca spout works well and doesn't clog. However, I used to enjoy the sight of the bartenders at Maddy's in Marblehead Ma making drinks. They used plastic 1.75's with the pour spouts. Three good squeezes per drink.
  5. Is the potcheen (sp?) stuff made in Ireland similar to what we're thinking of when we think of moonshine? I believe that was recently made legal and is now available everywhere. Similar situation?
  6. I actually use my old bedroom armoire. Two drawers at the bottom hold soda siphons, shakers, tools, etc. Two full, deep shelves in the upper portion hold many, many bottles. The problem now is that the shelf supports are strained, the doors don't close correctly and the armoire has a nice list to it... It could be reinforced, but there is soo much stuff inside. It's like painting a room with all the furniture and pictures still there...
  7. You can get the Looza stuff at whole foods. Top shelf, glass bottles.
  8. The only change I've seen in the 'burbs was over the summer/early September. We sold the same amount of booze, but the only difference was for about 6 weeks we couldn't sell a bottle of wine over $50. Seems to have rebounded in the last few weeks. Curiously, we've also seem alot more cash lately. Normally we don't see much at all.
  9. I'm not sure who has it in stock. It actually was only made availiable this week, the container only arriving last week. I know the boys over at Eastern Standard got their hands on some to play with, but I don't know if they carry it yet. Pretty inexpensive, at $24/750 ml. There is a blurb about it over at the drinkboston site.
  10. This week up in Boston you can now get actual Old Tom Gin. The same company that fincanced the recent pimento dramm, creme de violette, and batavia arrack has found an English gin producer that still had the recipe for their defunct Old Tom Gin and started producing it again. Hayman's Old Tom Gin. The MA distributor is Ideal Wine out of Medford. It's very tasty. It has a fuller, semi viscous mouthfeel. I was expecting it to be rather sweet, but it isn't really. Haven't had any time to play with it, just tasted it straight. Surprisingly a few of us that tasted it last night thought it was delicious and smooth enough to drink neat.
  11. maybe "classic bartender?" Denotes a higher standard or either service, ingredients, technique, or all three. Most bartenders I know feels a little silly when a parton applies a term like "bar chef" or "master mixologist" to them. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with crappy knees and an elbow that clicks a little too often...
  12. I've had problems with the little mini cocktail shakers I've used in the past for tableside pouring. After they go through the dishwasher (heated) a number of times, they stop fitting universally, so if you don't match the right top with the right bottom they leak. Huge pain, but maybe it wouldn't be an issue if they were washed by hand.
  13. I think a certain amount of "coypycatting" is going around bars as well. To a large degree the whole "classic" cocktail revival is nothing more than the next booze fad for many people. I've even seen the "classis cosmopolitain." Many bars are simply blindly following where they think the trend is going without actually thinking about it. No measured drinks, no knowledge of product, and not a good end result. Maybe people overuse Hendricks because of the old-timey bottle. "hey, looks old, must be a classic!" Then charge 12 bucks. I went to a local bar recently that had a Gin Fizz on their otherwise 'tini based menu. I ordered one, expecting the worst and more curious to see what was actually going to happen when I did. I was not dissappointed when BOTH bartenders had to run around to find out what the hell the drink was and how to make it. I did this because I saw a drink on their menu that was poached from mine . What bothered me isn't that they used a drink from my menu (itself poached from somewhere else ), because that is flattering and how many of us expand our repitoire and knowledge, but because if they F****ed up the gin fizz, what the hell were they doing to the egg white drink? I just worry that some people with open minds will see these "classic" style drinks and order one without regard to where they actually are, and the results will blow the perhaps one chance to wean someone off stoli raz and sprite. Makes my job harder when I have to explain that THIS gin fizz isn't like the last one you had. trust me? I try to explain that these drinks are not just a fad, while admittingly gaining in popularity and media exposure, but are also an honest attempt to bring back some of the craft and professionalism lost in the last decades back to the bar. The overmarketing and use of certain spirits helps and hurts this endeavor. Sure Hendricks is overused (and a bit pricey, but tasty) but for those people who like the marketing, I no longer have to open their eyes to the possibilities of gin. So, we're one step closer in some regards.
  14. I've been hitting some out of the way mom and pop stores lately. No new finds, but I been seeing a trend I hadn't noticed before. All the gin, which usually consists of nothing more than tanqueray and sapphire, is located on the bottom shelf, completely out of the way. Usually they live in between the rum and vodka around eye level, but I've never seen gin stocked almost as an afterthought before.
  15. only one way to find out...
  16. Not sure why the pricing is so high in some places for this stuff. I pay $26 and change for it from my distributor, so $30 or slighly over would be the norm for a liquor store. Unfortunately, some liquor stores in my area have started marking up their wine with the 2 and 3 time restaurant mark up. Maybe this is a similiar example of liquor store gouging. I understand that sloes are found as part of the large hedgerows that separate fields and lanes in the UK. Maybe in the northeast there are some small patches of fields that use this method of separation. I'm thinking the Great Pasture on RT 95 North, Essex county MA, which I believe is part of Newbury. They still have stone walls and lots of hedges marking the old plots, maybe that is a good place to start.
  17. We were at Duckworth's two weeks ago and had a great meal. Haven't been to the Franklin recently, but I think they are in the process of selecting a new chef. I'm not sure what, if any, impact that has on their menu and/or quality. There is a new place, Latitude 43. Mixed reviews, mostly good reports on the sushi though. Edit to add: I heard the clam box closed, but that doesn't seem to be the case on their website.
  18. I haven't had that happen to me yet. It seems to happen to Beefeater bottles alot though. Pretty annoying when it does. I like giving it to customers when they think they're being funny and offer help. Let them play with it for 10 minutes or so.
  19. Found an original formula campari...finally. I did see some old plymouth gin bottles with the ship on it. I'm assuming that is only a package change and the gin is the same?
  20. I've since tried the way it's done in that video from New Orleans. Calls for 1/2 of each citrus and a gin other than Tanqueray, Beefeater or such. Also called for vanilla extract, which was a nice touch and not too strong. I had one at Eastern Standard last night, and they don't use any cream or milk, and it came out tasting almost the same as those I've had with the cream. No loss of foam or flavor. If anything the citrus and orange flower was sharper, but not overpowering. Quite lovely. Cheers to Bobby for making it for me and not throwing me out for asking.
  21. I was searching thursday when I asked about Tanqueray Malacca. The Greek gentleman behind the counter wasn't amused...didn't help that he had never heard of it.
  22. I got one of those grandma boxes once. Had an open bottle of bailey's....from 1964! Ouch. Also had some Seagrams VO from 1964 unopened with the tax tag still on it. Is that worth anything aside from a nice conversation piece? I'll have to start hunting all the 'burbs now. Malacca would be the prime objective.
  23. This month's Massachusetts beverage journal has an article about gin. Plymouth sloe gin is mentioned. Plymouth has no intention of mass marketing the product, and it will remain a regionally targeted item with a limited yearly production, released twice a year only.
  24. It's getting harder. last thing I found was a bottle of Luxardo rolling around behing the TGI Friday's crap on the bottom shelf covered in dust. They still charged full price for it though... It's getting harder to find stuff, at least around Boston with all the competition now.
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