Tri2Cook

I have the 12. It's available locally and the 15 isn't so I went with the 12 in the interest of ease of replacing when empty. Not $25 here though, closer to $35.

I'm not exactly sure what I mean. I'm not well versed in scotch. I've read of this characteristic and the first thing that came to my mind was the sea. Being at a beach in an area away from city smells and tanning oil soaked crowds. The spray that hits you in the face when waves crash against rocks. The salty tingle when you get a nose full of ocean water. Fresh oysters and clams were walking around in my head. What people mean when they refer to a scotch as "briny" may be something entirely different, that's just what the word conjured up in my mind and it seemed like something I'd like to look into. If I've got it all wrong, then I'll gladly be educated.

Thanks Chris. A search of the LCBO site shows that available. I can't get it locally but I may not have to special order it if I'm patient as it's available in a city about 5 hours away. I usually go there in the spring to take my bikes to the shop where I bought them to get them ready for another summer of killing my legs but others go there more frequently than I do so it's definitely an option.

I want to attempt to find a scotch that is blatantly briny in character. I can't give a good reason for why I want to do that, but I do. This is going to come down to what can be had via the LCBO which greatly limits options and, unless I get very lucky and can find it locally, will also be subject to the whims of the local store and whether or not they feel like ordering it in. There's not much point in suggesting some rare, hard to obtain, obscure or otherwise uncommon bottle unless it's strictly for reference in case I find myself outside of Ontario but all suggestions are welcome. It will probably be a useless endeavor under the circumstances but I want to give it a shot. In the meantime, I'll try to figure out why I've decided I want to pursue this.

Figuring out how to ramp up something promising would definitely be a great skill to have but I'm still at the level of trying to figure out how to come up with something with potential to work from. If an uneducated (in the cocktail world) palate (me, in this case) creates something and thinks it's pretty good but five people well versed in the subject try it and toss it in the sink then I'm inclined to trust them more than myself at this point. I trust my instincts and palate with food, I'm not sure I do with cocktails. I'm thinking I probably need to continue doing what I've been doing for the past few months (exploring what's already out there) for a while before I worry too much about trying to create but I'm absorbing the information being shared here and hope it continues.

When I do tomatoes, I cut them in half and hot smoke them. I've used smoked tomato in a ganache (smoked tomato puree, cream, olive oil, 70% chocolate, salt) with good results.

I saw all I needed to see in the 30 seconds of the commercial for it. That was enough to know that I'd rather walk through a piranha pond in blood sausage underwear than watch that show. "Can I get a whoop-whoop."

Marcel's getting the comedy edit. A skinny little white hipster playing at being ghetto gangsta.

I generally stick with 750ml if it's available except for vermouth which I get in 375ml. Green Chartreuse is only available in 375ml in Ontario so there's no decision to make on that one but it would be 750ml if I had the option. The absinthe I have only comes in 500ml and some of the liqueurs I have only come in 375ml so those are non-decisions as well. I figure if it's something there's not a specific need to turn over quickly, the 750ml means it's that much longer until I need to buy it again. I don't have the space to go with larger bottles and the majority of things aren't available in larger sizes here (in my hometown, not Ontario in general) anyway. Bottle shape doesn't matter to me, I never have a long enough line at my house that being able to pour comfy and fast is an issue.

I've made apple butter with some smoked apples tossed in the mix. It was tasty. Smoked chocolate is nice but requires restraint because heavily smoked chocolate isn't so nice (in my opinion). I smoked halved oranges and used the juice and some of the zest to make a smoked orange curd. I smoke part of the marshmallows (and toast the rest) to make my toasted marshmallow ice cream. I sometimes smoke ice cubes and add the resulting water to the pot when I cook wild rice. I used some smoked bananas in banana bread once but wasn't thrilled with the result. The bananas were good though.

Since I finally have everything necessary, equal parts Beefeater, Luxardo Maraschino, Green Chartreuse and fresh lime juice danced with ice in a shaker and I had my first Last Word. I'm glad I did. The first sip, I thought "whoa, funky". Then I slowed it down and really tasted it and "whoa" became "wow". Nice one.

Thanks for the suggestions. They're in California. I'm most likely going to order the things I want through someone like K&L and have it shipped to their house so all they have to do is bring it with them when they come. I'd like to get several things but I don't want to risk causing them any hassles at the border so I'm keeping it at two or three bottles.

I know this is going to be a tough one for those living in areas that have lots of choices and it's probably going to be almost impossible to get a general agreement but I have someone coming to visit from the U.S. who is going to bring me a couple bottles that I can't get where I live. I want one of them to be a mezcal. It's sole purpose in the cabinet will be for mixing but I want a good one. I need to narrow it down to only one for now. Suggestions?

Nice macs, they sound tasty.

Cuba Libres. Last night was a laid back, relaxed, watch a movie at home night. Work was closed for the weekend, the busy holidays were done and I kept it really, really simple. Juiced a couple limes, broke out the coca cola (the Mexican stuff, I'd ordered it to use with the buttered popcorn rum I made via Don Lee's recipe that he was kind enough to post on my now mostly dead blog after I'd attempted my own guess at it) and grabbed the bottle of Havana Club Reserva. They were tasty, I think I'll try them next time with the 7 year just for fun.

In 2011, I will eat: as many new (to me) things as I can. I will make: an effort to dig deeper and more seriously into the traditional cuisine of the native people of the area I live in. I will learn: to create my own cocktails without having to send several down the sink 'til I get it right. I will read: the Ideas In Food book and begin collecting cocktail-related books which I will also read.

I have some smoked and unsmoked elk bones and some spicy elk sausages that I'm planning to cook the black eyed peas with this year. I'm planning to serve them with wild rice. I know that's not traditional but the elk and wild rice put a local spin on it. I haven't seen a collard green, fresh, frozen or even canned, in over 10 years since I moved to where I'm living now. I miss them but, once again, some other green will have to stand in. I'll work some form of pork into cooking the greens to keep the pork tradition alive. And of course there will be cornbread.

Yes I have been and yes it was*. *With the disclaimer that mine wasn't authentic because Ron Zacapa 23 isn't available where I live. I went with El Dorado 12. I'm not knowledgeable enough in this area to know if that was the right way to go but I've read that the RZ 23 is a somewhat sweet tasting rum and the ED 12 is pretty sweet tasting to me so that's what I did. Right or wrong, it was good but I suppose it wasn't actually a Honey Fitz.

I already had tonights lineup planned so, despite my new acquisitions, I juiced a grapefruit, grabbed the honey syrup I made last night and did a Brown Derby followed by a Honey Fitz.

Finally got my hands on some Campari and Green Chartreuse (I know this seems like a silly thing to be excited about to those of you in the civilized world but it required some planning and patience to get them where I live). Looking forward to exploring in some different directions now.

I think the problem for me is that it divides by dollars and pretty much nothing else while being aimed at beginners. Beginners (I feel safe making this statement because I'm in the very early stages of my cocktail education) tend to think more dollars = better and, budget allowing, are going to grab from the "premium" category whenever possible. They don't want to think about having people look down their noses for having the "cheap" stuff. This is the very thing marketing thrives on and it creates items that are not always better (or even as good) but cost more and so rank further up the shelf. It doesn't take long to discover that cost = better is not necessarily true. While better does often cost more, sometimes it doesn't. Just as a quick example, look in your budget category and find Laird's Bonded. Now spend some time browsing here and on most serious cocktal blogs and websites and discover what the experienced frequently tend to reach for when calvados is part of a recipe. I'm not saying that should move it up on your chart since it is a less expensive option, I'm just saying that many beginners will automatically write off what may be one of the best options because of where it resides on the chart. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to go about factoring real world quality into the divisions. Especially since that ventures into the "extremely subjective" territory.

Nice Chris. After owning the book for a few years, I finally pulled it off the shelf and did a few of the recipes last year. I think you'll have fun with it.

This is probably going to earn me a few laughs but that's ok, I laugh at myself all of the time so I can take it. I want to know how to go about learning to create my own drinks while minimizing the "you really should have known" failures. I realize there will be failures, that's part of creating, but there are general baselines with food where things will come together reliably and lead to something edible unless you really start pushing the boundaries. I'm assuming this sort of thing exists in the drinks world as well. I feel dumb asking this question because creating dishes with food comes pretty easily to me so it feels wrong that I have no idea how to begin connecting the dots with cocktail ingredients. Anyway, any advice?

I would be...

I'm thinking about trying it in this from the Stomping Through the Savoy thread: Elk Cocktail 1/2 Prunelle Brandy 2 Dashes French Vermouth 1/2 Dry Gin Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a prune. Best case, it's tasty. Worst case, it goes down the sink. Ok, I guess worst case would be a night on the thunder bucket if the prune proves to be a mistake. Of course I may just chicken out altogether.