haresfur

http://mlkshk.com/r/1DR5 Archaic use as medicine. Really? So there is no-one consuming bitter beverages to aid digestion? And no-one consuming bitters as a remedy due to their proven medicinal qualities? Bitters aren't just added to a drink for bitterness (although the bitterness plays a key part in affecting the taste of the drink) but if you want to use this nonsensical point then you're free to do so. I think you are missing Dan's point. If you want a bitter drink as a digestif, reach for the Fernet Branca or other potable bitter and have a drink with some significant bitterness. As you said up-thread we are discussing non-potable bitters and in most cocktails they don't add much bitterness. They are used to affect flavour and smell. Are you or anyone else is compounding bitters for the purported herbal-medicinal effects of the other ingredients? If you are please let us know so I can decide which ones to avoid. So yes archaic. I'm glad you agree bitters aren't just added to a drink for bitterness. As for using the (intentionally) nonsensical point, perhaps I'm easily amused but that is as good a reason as any to continue using your definition - not that I have much say in how language evolves.

Maybe Chris' question up-thread about astringency is relevant to this.

Now you've done it! We have a class of ingredients that are defined by an archaic use as medicine - no longer used as such and a bitter taste but don't add noticable bitterness to the drink. Prepare for another few pages of semantic arguments...

Cool! I think there is a lot of prior use of the term California-Common as a beer style in the home-brew and beer judging works so I don't see their drama about using that. Companies can trademark drink names (Bacardi cocktail - at least that has their company name). My personal protest is to use the name with whatever ingredients I want for personal use, and never order the drink by name when I go out. Take that Dark 'n Stormy!

Thanks for the link. The jury is still out. I might be able to keep up with the old Dalmatian as she follows her nose into the bush but she's crafty about not sharing her food.

Is that what my dogs are finding to eat in the woods? I thought maybe 'roo droppings. Seriously, anyone know anything about foraging for the things?

But it is also not unusual for these pots to last decades without chipping or only minor chips that don't seem to signal complete demise. I think you are over-generalizing.

I don't disagree, but it's just 5 past midnight here and I thought I might give it a try, only to find myself without Peychaud's. Isn't there a Peychaud's crisis-line you can call?

I like doing it by hand. If you wet the grounds with a little water, wait a few seconds for them to soak it up and start to release the flavour, then pour the rest of the water in, this isn't a problem, and you get complete contact. But most electric makers I've seen start off with a pretty slow drip. Guess I've never peered into the basket at the crucial time, but I'm surprised this is a problem. Can't say I've ever noticed a paper taste (except in Uni where they used paper towels from the men's room to line the percolator basket) but I haven't tried bamboo.

No, but I just ordered a 6 L Fagor. Thanks for the help deciding what to get. Looking forward to seeing what it can do.

New to my local Dan Murphy (Aussie Chain) Santiago de Cuba ron anejo. Haven't mixed with it yet but I had a sip and IMO it's very tasty.

After Pizza Hut buffet lunch with friends (not my choice), the associate manager/cashier asked the perfectly reasonable question, "How was everything?". My response was, "Up to your usual standards."

Well, I don't want to correct all the recipes for density, which is quite different across the range from sugar syrup to overproof rum. I use a 4 oz measuring glass that also is marked in teaspoons, tablespoons, and ml. The main trouble is trying to find and read the right scale. I got 2 at a (US) grocery.

You haven't? Fair enough but realistically these are pretty much being used as a custom bitters formulation in a bulk process. Quite different from making a couple of drinks on the spot. I haven't revisited the whole book, and there is a milk punch that calls for the aromatic tincture (contains valarian - don't know if you consider that bitter - certainly medicinal). In any case it isn't really germane to the issue of developing new ingredient recipes for a category that for all practical purposes doesn't exist in the marketplace.

True, but if you know your style and the amount of malt, you can use IBU to adjust for variation in hops and hit pretty much the right bitterness. The reason I ask is that I was wondering about Peychaud's. I don't claim any great sensory finesse, but they impress me as even less bitter than Regan's Orange Bitters and the least bitter of the classic bitters I know (can you call them bitters? ) I don't think anyone is arguing for rules regarding what can be used in drinks (as long as it doesn't make you go blind, etc. but it really is an arguement about categories, although there is perhaps an undercurrent that certain products are less worthy). I don't think I've ever seen a drink recipe that uses the term "tincture" and that's a problem for the splitters vs. the lumpers. All & all, I think it's like trying to get "herb tea" drinkers to realize they are drinking infusions, not tea.

... and the post WWII height of Martini drinking predates most of the people drinking choco-tinis by at least 2 generations.

Is there a bitterness measurement scale like the one used for hops that can be applied to tinctures and bitters?

And I don't understand why this is frustrating. Don't you smell and taste them first, anyway? Then figure out how they might work for you? Surly mole bitters are a long way from anything used in classic cocktails so you are already expanding the category beyond the classic. Don't get me wrong, if you want to fight the good fight and encourage the name be applied in a narrow way, that's fine with me. Personally, I don't care one way or another and think you are going to lose unless bartenders start to boycott inappropriately labeled bottles. And the manufacturers should probably be sensitive to this and try not to piss off their target market. A long way from rhubarb season here...

I think I may be starting to understand a tiny bit of what you are saying. Scary. I'm also beginning to think that maybe we should retire the term "bitters" in favour of "tinctures" and expand the choices for drops of stuff to put in my drinks. Afterall, except for maybe Underberg and potable bitters, no one seems to use these things for medicinal effects any longer.

Is Edgefield the McMenamins distillary?

The potato is ok. I had already ordered when I noticed they had sweet potato scollop and that sounds pretty good to me. I think it would be great if the shops did tempura, too.

I really like my rice cooker but it's a luxury not a necessity. Nothing wrong with luxuries IMO.

Rhubarb tastes bitter to me. Bitters, as the name states, are there to provide additional bitterness. The cocktail world has just confused the word "bitters" with "tinctures", which can just as easily qualify as nonbeverage alcohol as they can pass the unsuitability tests, even if they do not deliver bitterness. This just shows what happens when we are sloppy with language - we end up with engineers that don't work with engines and bitters that just aren't bitter. What's next? Apothecaries that can't dispense prescriptions? (and yes, that was meant as a joke, not a dig... I may be a bitters maker, but I'm not that bitter!) ... and cocktails that are not cocktails. Like it or not, language is dynamic. In my mind, the question is whether the distinction between bitters and tinctures is useful. I would say, probably a little to the purchaser, although there is probably a wide range in bitterness that would tend to put them on a continuum. To the seller or food writer, probably better to grab peoples' interest with the currently trendy "bitters" (and I think bostonapothecary probably has "just what the doctor ordered", not to mention that apothecaries originally didn't need no stinkin' doctors. )

A corn dog is coated in a fairly thick coat of corn bread rather than flour batter. I think I'll explore some of the other unknown items. I think I'll stay clear of the battered, fried snickers, though.

Duplicate post deleted. Sorry.