Snowy is dead

I am a big fan of belle de brillet, the poire william/cognac liquor. I was recently told that belle de brillet makes an actual cognac similar to calvados, but with pears. Is there any truth to this? I have yet to see it. I would love to get a bottle in MA. Sean

I've been having trouble with the Marie Brizzard Apry also. Most liquor stores up here (Boston area) have tons of it in stock though, I just can't order it. I am told as well that luxardo marachino has been discontinued by importers, but Atlantic wine and spirits (again, Boston) has in the past directly imported it. The problem is that they are soooo small almost no liquor stores, nevermind restaurants, use them. So luxardo remains unattainable. Hope that helps. Luxard English Site

I suppose someone who bartends because they heard it was a good way to make money while they get their MBA might not concern themselves with quality cocktails. Especially if their idea of a 'fancy' drink is a grand gold margarita. I'm sure many of these bartenders who are the subject of this thread are probably short timers, just doing whatever job until they finish their degree and get a 'real job'. Now that I think about it, the bartenders who do this as a career, at least the ones I know, do give a shit. Its the 'temp' bartenders who seem most guilty, and maybe those who work in clubs. Clubs, at least around Boston, don't give a rats ass about customer service. At some you can pay $6 for a bottle of beer and they pour 8oz. into a plastic cup and keep the rest for the next customer. On a side note, the temporary aspect of the restaurant industry is pretty well taken for granted around here. Maybe in Boston at places like No. 9 Park or Grill 23 people assume that you might be a career bartender. I can't count how many times customers say to me "so, you're a bartender. What do you really do?" Do they expect perfect manhattans when they assume you really do something else? edited to clarify: perfect as in well made, not "perfect" as in, well, you know.

coffee, sugar, salt, grease, pedialyte, and water. Repeat. Throw in a bunch of vitamins and you're off. A friend of mine used to be in the Army as a medic. He would give himself a saline drip when he had a really bad hangover. Said it worked within 45 minutes... Tried it once, but I don't like needles. Triggered a trip to the goddess....

I've fortunately never had any bartender refuse to make a drink. If they say they don't know how to make it, and seem pretty sincere, I take them at their word and get something else. But the I'm too busy/weeded/lazy/unprepared to make your "pain in the ass drink" is not good. Weird that any establishment would want an attitude like that in an article or report. Yikes.

Good point. That is what separates the good from the bad, I guess. I can see if you have to hand whip cream for 10 coffee drinks while the bar is 4 deep, maybe, but not making a standard like a mojito or 4 ingredient cocktail because you are busy is kind of silly.

I would have to say that making martini style drinks with sugar rims always seems to annoy me. More for the fact that the sugar makes a mess, gets sticky, etc., than any real aversion to the process. About the only time I hate a making a drink is when someone wants something they got at another bar but can't remember what is in it and I don't know the drink. They almost always forget something or it comes out differently, whatever. Oh, I don't like doing tea or coffee. Maybe just a leftover scar from working too many lunches as a waiter, but that seems to get me pretty good.

I squeeze juice beforehand with the handhelds, put them into little squeeze bottles in the ice. Maybe about 10 onces a shift. comes out better than electric. Edit: I work in a very small restaurant; 31 seats including the bar...

Thanks for the info! The "new france" book looks good. I also saw they have a "new spain." Is that the same quality? Thanks to all in the forum for putting up with my questions. What a treasure trove of information! I just wish I had the time to read all the posts. Sean

I'm looking for a good book to explain, inform, and enlighten me about French wine. I have to Vino Italiano book, and I love that. I like the format, the way it is written, everything. And it deals with all of Italy. Ideally, I'm looking for the same thing in a French book. I know enough about French wine only to generalize about grapes and regions, but would love to know more without getting an extra degree, if you know what I mean. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

this as a real issue. if there's going to be liability or culpability, the restaurant's name will be brought to light anyway. if someone is drunk and hurts someone else, the record of where the person was that night will be easily available to the people to whom it matters. there is no additional culpability. the receipt that may or may not be still attached to a paper bag after an accident seems utterly meaningless. ←

we seem to have less trouble with the "oh god, a screw cap!" than we did a few years back, so we have put less emphasis on what has one and what doesn't. Fewer people associate it with cheaper wine these days, though some do cry when their favorite california producer goes with the cap.

the thing that scares owners here in Mass about the law is the requirement for the reciept to be stapled right to the bag. The worry is that the patron takes the wine with the restaurant name on it, hits three more bars on the way home, gets into an accident, and voila! a bag with an open bottle with your name on it. Scares the hell out of my boss at least. As far as increasing sales, I'd like to see that, but the nicer bottles aren't the ones that will be travelling home, I suspect. The attitude here is that, apparently like some other states, most will not comply until someone makes them. All the restaurant owners I know know full well about the law, but have no intention of dealing with it until the state makes them.

I know that my old boss at Chez Henri would organinze "educational" trips, which seem to be legal. They would go over for the purpose of "studying" the food and drink of Cuba. Because the trip was legal in nature, they were fast tracked through customs. We always used to have Havana Club rum at the restaurant, displayed it even.

Yeah, the osbscurity/ mystique surrounding absinthe can be a little trying. I think a little more publicity and exposure might just help it. The fact that Breaux travells to France to use a defunct Pernod absinthe plant sounds like he is doing the right thing to us, but probably makes him look like a bootlegger in D.C. Ahh, someday.

here is the actual government site with the guidlines. http://www.mass.gov/abcc/administration/newnotice.htm they have yet to write up actual legislation. They used emergency powers to override the governors veto. The bill, incidentally, included a provisoin that would have allowed Massachusetts residents to order wine online and through wineries. Currently we have a complete ban on that, and all distribution is done by dozens of distributors. No price competition. You can only get Segrams from this one, grey goose from that, beer from another, wine form yet still others. The end result is that you can run a restaurant with no less than 6 distributors, you can do more, but most have minimum orders, blah blah. I spend more of my order time trying to figure out how to spend enough from all the distributors just so I can get the 5 things I really need. Buying from liquor stores for a restaurant will get your liquor license pulled. Needless to say, the mail order provision was put off from pressure by the distributors. I think they deleiberated on March 13th about that, but not sure of the outcome.

They just passed the law here allowing patrons to bring home unfinished bottles of wine after dinner. They have the usual amount of red tape: a special, see through one-time use plastic bag that cannot be opened without cutting it. A receipt, stapled to the bag that shows the dinner bill and matching bottle of wine with the name, address, and telephone of the restaurant. Must be completely re-corked before leaving, and the receipt must be stapled to the bag. does anyone else have this law? Those who do, how often does it come up that patrons want to take their wine home? This being Massachusetts (after all, we only began allowing liquor stores to open on Sunday's a maybe 3 years ago) this is causing quite a fuss. Some places don't want to comply for liability reasons. The fear is that someone leaves your place, hits five more bars, crashes into something, and they have a bag with the name of your restaurant with an open bottle located inside the car. Just curious how other states/areas deal with this. I know in Penn. they sell beer right out of bars, but they are pretty strict with alchohol here. Here is the only distributor that is practical for the bags: http://winedoggybag.com/ the other company has a 50,000 minimum order...

I wasn't trying to stir up controversy Max. My comment about political climate was more of a joke. But my underlying point was that sponsoring legislation for the legalization of a product that has all of that history (real or imagined) of altering minds, inciting people to murder, whatever, would have a hard time gaining support in an era of such partisan politics and crappy nighlty news soundbites. I've seen one too many 15 minute spots on cell phones cooking my brain, killer bees from Africa, and large asteroids to have an optimistic attitute to the reception "killer" absinth might get. That's all. I do not presume to know or understand the process by which it was banned in the US, except that it is national, so I assumed federal action. I also assumed that (possibly) being a federal action it might take legislation, introduced by Washington's finest, to reverse. I'm probably wrong, but that was my assumption. My lamentation over $100 a bottle was more of a supply issue. It's a shame that Breaux is keeping production small (just my opinion) because I feel that more of a market prescence would help reverse the negative opinion many have towards absinth and its effects. Breaux apparently makes a fine product, and, as a bartender, I wouldn't mind acquiring some for less than a kidney. I understand, and indeed applaude, his desire to make absinth an artisnal product of high quality. I just regret that I cannot spare the necessary cash to purchase some. The importation of liquor by mail is also illegal in Massachusetts, by the way, so even coughing up the cash does not guarantee delivery, but might provide a night or two in jail... I have a fairly sarcastic sense of humor, I'm sorry if it caught you the wrong way. The admins have my blessing to delete this post if they like. Sean Patrick Maher Salem, Massachusetts

That article in the New Yorker absolutely sheds light on the whole narcotic effect (none) of absinth. The only bad thing about the article is that Ted Breaux says he's going to keep production small, so $100 + shipping it is for the near future. I can't imagine in this political climate someone is going to put forward a bill to legalize production in the US anytime soon...imagine the attack adds.

A bar around here uses muddled fruit in almost all there drinks. Kumquats, cucumbers, oranges, etc.. They technique leaves a little to be desired, however. Just a pint glass, wooden muddler, and half a glass of ice cubes, then they smash them with the muddler like they were crushing ice. End result is usually pleasant. I often throw really ripe watermelon pieces in with a mojito in the summer. I use a bar spoon to rough up the mint leaves with the melon, sugar, and mint. Very pretty and tasty too, but that usually depends on the ripeness of the watermelon. I suspect we'll see many more of these fruit/cosmo/mojito bits in the near future. Especially with the new line of "infused" vodkas creeping up in all the bars to remind people about real fruit.

cement mixer shot: lime juice and baileys. Not physically dangerous, but the vomit factor is exceptionally high.

yikes. thanks for the PM eje. Well, I won't be getting any of that I guess.

is it possible to find in a liquor store or from a distributor? I've seen it at a restuarant I used to work at, but not for a while. edit for next question: What is "expensive?"

I think an admin should remove this thread. I didn't realize how negative it sounded until I looked at it later. This forum is a pretty positive place, so I don't want to be the one to bring that raincloud in.

Thanks all for the replys. I guess I'll just have to search a little harder and ask prying questions of the sellers. I have no immediate need, but it seems like a very cool way to have soda at parties and get togethers. I like the wet t-shirt idea too.