notahumanissue

Does anyone have any experience homebrewing in NYC? I used to brew beer a few years ago while living on the left coast, in a small town, with plenty of room to let the delightful stench of the wort disperse before attracting too much attention. I'm very, very interested in getting back into it, but I live in the East Village and am concerned it'd be just plain rude to my neighbors. Thanks, -a

On a trip to Little Branch about two weeks ago, the bartender made for me a Kentucky Maid. The ingredients are simple enough (mint, cucumber, rye, lemon juice, sugar), but I haven't seen a recipe anywhere. Since that trip, I've been making for my customers a deduced version, as follows: Kentucky Maid - Three or four cucumber wheels and four sprigs of mint, muddled together paying particular attention to extracting the cucumber juice. - Healthy splash of fresh lemon juice, ~ 0.25oz - Very small dash simple syrup - 2 oz Rye - Shake hard, then strain through a siv (I personally hate picking salad out of my teeth) - Garnish with a mint sprig stabbed through a cucumber wheel Is anyone familiar with this drink? Am I off? I was told, but couldn't really hear because of the music, that there is some etymology involved here -- something about a New York Maid, and maybe this being a cousin. I'll even take the barroom variety.... I really have no idea and the internet has failed me thusfar. Thanks for your help, -alex

Well, I know it's damn near blasphemy for some here, but I've been getting some great feedback serving a pimms cup with blueberry purée, fresh lemonade -- british style -- and the smallest little dash of a ginger-lemongrass concentrated syrup. I'm sure you can guess at the obvious proportions... For garnish, I rest on top of the ice a cucumber wheel flagging a small blueberry. Adorable. edited to add cute garnish info

Hi, First post here. A little background: I’m relatively new to the cocktail world (2.5 years), recently falling into a job that allows me an incredible amount of flexibility to experiment. Not having an “education” in craft cocktails – more of the bang-‘em-out-fast, don’t-worry-about-balance-because-this-dude-could-care-less sort of place – I’ve spent the last year in a much better spot teaching myself as much as possible with varying success. Now to my point. I’ve been following the thread about molecular mixology, and the discussions about foam (xanthium, egg whites, etc), but I was wondering more about method. I’m currently making a bourbon fizz: 2 oz Knob Creek 1 oz simple syrup 0.75 oz lemon juice 1 egg white seltzer a few drops of blood orange bitters on top of foam. Every time I make this drink I’m haunted by an amazing gin fizz I had at Little Branch, where the bartender created a thick foam layer, dropped some Angostura on top that created little beads of amber on the white. Almost like a cappuccino foam…beautiful stuff. So with my fizz, I’ve been playing with ways to make the egg emulsify enough to create that nice frothy texture that holds its own distinct layer for a good length of time. Naren Young was nice enough to explain to me once that you should shake anything with egg whites sans ice first, so as to emulsify the whites, then add ice and shake more. On a recent late-night jaunt to Death, I saw them doing the same thing for their Pink Lady. So I’ve played with that, but the results haven’t been perfect. I need perfect, dammit… Next I experimented with adding seltzer after shaking for a minute or so, then shaking more. This created a much “frothier” texture and appearance…the closest I’ve come thus far. Do you have any advice regarding method: prep, shaking, straining? Thanks, -alex