tikibars

I have to agree with this, sorta. I thought the drinks were 'fine', but the are nothing appreciably better than what can be had at Pegu Club or Violet Hour or VTR in the US for one third the price. The atmosphere was nothing special either. Cocktail geeks may want to make the pilgrimage to this very famous bar while in Paris, but frankly I am barely resisting the urge to quote Public Enemy here: "Don't believe the hype!".

I did a GM Mai Tai last night and it came out really nice... and if there is one drink that I have down to a science it is this one. By the way, not to get off of the orgeat subject too much, but in Tiki Road Trip, I suggest Appleton VX and St. James for rums in a Mai Tai, but lately I have been getting great results with just Brugal.

Absinthe is now legal in most (all?) US States. So the issue here is no longer whether or not you can get Absinthe in the US, but rather whether or not the ones from Europe are better... and that of course is entirely subjective.

Making your own Passion Fruit syrup is insanely easy. I get Goya-brand Passion Fruit pulp at my local ethnic grocery for about $2.50. I mix that with simple syrup in a 1:1 ratio (and my simple is 1:1 sugar to water... so in other words we're looking at 1 part sugar, 1 part water and 2 parts pulp). Shake it up real good, add a spoonful of lemon juice, and add a shot of clear rum or vodka as a preservative and you're ready to go. Beats the hell out of anything in a bottle.

...problem is that I don't have any more bottles (that haven't been in the sun) to compare it with. I am not sure my taste memory from last time I drank old Campari, straight up, can be relied upon to make an accurate comparison with the sun-soaked bottles. But this has made me curious about how exposure to sunlight can affect our beloved beverages. Has anyone done any studies or research on this?

Also, I meant to add in my previous post that we DID use a dash of orange bitters in each of the drinks, but we didn't have an orange on hand for the flame. (also typo: gas = glass) So, last night we did another test, with the classic 1:1:1 ratio (measured extremely carefully), and with a flaming orange zest over each of them, but with three different gins. I only had some fairly standard gins on hand, Beefeater, Sapphire, and Tanqueray. We were surprised to find that the Bombay Sapphire worked the best of the three in the Negroni. (In one of my own drinks, the Velo - recipe listed on the St Germain thread - the Sapphire was the LEAST appealing gin of the bunch). The Beefeater seemed to be a little sweeter than the others, and the Tanqueray was not bad at all but just not as complex or interesting in this drink as the other two. So I guess the next step is a third test with three different vermouths....

I did three different Negroni recipes last night, all using methods found on this thread. Gal Friday Night and I compared. This was an experiment in ratios: we used Beefeater gin, a fairly generic red vermouth, and "old" campari. We did the classic 1:1:1, plus Toby's (Alchemist) 2 gin, 1 vermouth, .5 Campari ("for people who don't know they like gin yet"... but we certainly do!), and someone else's (sorry, it is buried back on page 1 somewhere) flip on that with 1 gin, 1 vermouth and 2 Campari. We found the latter to be just too much Campari, the gin and vermouth get lost and it becomes a gas of Campari with a few modifiers in it. We liked Toby's and the classic, and think both have their uses - the classic most of the time, but Toby's when looking for a bit less of the bitter bite of Campari. Next refinement is to do three more, with the same ratios, but different gins....

I found two bottles of 'old' Campari at a dusty liquor store in rural Michigan last week. Picked them up, natch, but I am slightly worried by the fact that they were sitting next to a window in direct sunlight, possibly for years. Any opinions on how the exposure to sunlight might affect the taste?

I found (with no small amount of help from the people who replied above) no less than six very nice cocktail bars in Tokyo. My report is much too long to post here, but if you'd like to read it (with pics) see here: http://www.cocktailsnob.com Click the JAPAN link on the left side of the page. I also visited six or eight Tiki bars in Tokyo and Yokohama, for info on those, see my Summer 2008 article in Tiki Magazine (Vol. 4, no.2, which was released a few weeks ago). http://www.tikimagazine.com/ Thanks for all of the help, fellas!

Maybe the rivalry between Donn Beach and Trader Vic, and their lawsuit over who really invented the Mai Tai Roa Ae?

Here is my favorite of the St. Germain concoctions I have played with so far. Jeff Berry called it a "home run", but I call it... Velo: 1 oz. St. Germain. 1/2 oz. home made passion fruit syrup. 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters. 1.25 oz. Gin (Hendricks and Beefeater work well, Tanqueray is not bad, Bombay does not work). 3/4 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice. Shake for a long time with a lot of ice and strain into a wine glass (or a cocktail glass).

Sampled this one on Thursday, as well as a second Cynar cocktail on the VH menu. Good stuff!

Hi everyone. I am so happy that I just happened to randomly catch you all at Violet Hour last night. It was very cool to put some faces to the screen names. I am looking over the schedule for the rest of the eGullett weekender and will try to rendezvous with you all at some point (I do have a bunch of other obligations over the weekend) -- can tickets be bought 'at the door' for these things?

Someone mentioned estate sales; I once got three cases (6 bottles each) of Pampero Anniversario for about $11 per bottle at an estate sale. That was a couple of years ago. Still working my way through it. Not sure what to do with the growing pile of leather sacks that is accumulating in a dusty shelf above the sink...

Back in the day, Tiki bars WERE the place to go for both escapism and excellent drinks. Although it is true that most Tiki bars serve crappy drinks these days, it is also true that most regular bars serve crappy drinks too. I feel that percentage-wise, your chances of getting a good drink in a Tiki bar are about equal to your chances of getting a good drink in any other bar. In other words, maybe one bar in twenty can make a good Sazerac or Sidecar, and maybe one Tiki bar in twenty can make a good Mai Tai. The problem isn't Tiki bars in particular lowering their standards, it is ALL bars lowering their standards.

Someone above mentioned bugging the distributor, so that US distribution of Picon might eventually occur. Did my part lat week. The reply is not encouraging, but let's stay at it.... "June 12, 2008 Dear James, Thank you for taking time to contact Diageo. Your feedback is important to us. With regards to your inquiry, Picon is not available and we do not have any future plans of marketing the product in the US. We value loyal consumers such as yourself and we appreciate your enthusiasm. If there is anything else we could help you with now or in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us. Once again, thank you for contacting Diageo. Sincerely, Lorena D Diageo Consumer Representative"

From my Japan journal (got home a few days ago): "Did I mention yet that my policy towards food in Japan is: if I cannot identify it, I must therefore go out of my way to eat it? I ate a whole lot of things in the land of the rising sun that I absolutley could not even classify as animal, vegetable, or mineral. Or for that matter, I didn’t even know if some of them were person, place, or thing. The two most questionabe delicacies were both fed to me by Emi. Tonight, she ordered a bowl of ika. Ika is squid. I have had calamari before, and I like tako, which is sushi or sashimi made of rather pretty prurple, maroon, and white octopus tentacles, but this ika was something else entriely. Baby squids, whole, not processed or seasoned or cut or otherwise prepared. A bowlful of them. Right from the sea and into this little ceramic bowl. Maybe three inches long, and maybe six or eight of them neatly laid out for inspection. I did not hesitate. These were freaking bar snacks, and I have never turned down a bar snack. Manipulating my chopsticks (or so I thought) like a native (except for that I am left handed and used my chopsticks that way, which - as I learned after arriving home - made me seem to be essentially a retard with no manners or hygiene), I plucked a lil’ squiddly diddly from the bowl and bravely popped it into my mouth. Hmmmmm.... Fishy. Salty. Rubbery. So far so good. Crunch. Crunch? What part of a baby squid goes “crunch”? Just one - the little tiny speck-sized black eyeball. It did not give e a satisfying pop like a yummy salmon egg served up over rice, it was a hard crunchy crunch, like a little piece of coal or something. Emi only ate one. I wondered if she was seeing how far I would take this. Before my second pot of sake was gone, I had polished off the school of squid. Bring it."

There is a lot of love on this thread for Gosling's Black Seal rum. IThere is also a bit of like here for Cruzan rums. Put these two things together and what do you get? Cruzan Black Strap. A more than worthy rum for use any application where you'd use Gosling's. Did an A/B taste test of both of them one day, and I like the Cruzan Black Strap a LOT better than Goslings (which by no means sucks), and I believe it is cheaper.

One of Jeff Berry's books has a recipe for aquavit and gin called Peg Leg Punch. I am doing a tiki drinks seminar here in Chicago on July 31 (at Sam's in the South Loop), which was set up for me by the good people at North Shore Distillery. info: http://www.samswine.com/summer-mean-tiki-d...p-10069439.html Conveniently, North Shore makes a gin and - interestingly - an aquavit. For the seminar, I plan to use North Shore's gin and aquavit in a Peg Leg Punch, and then do two rum drinks (of course). I'll be experimenting with and tweaking the Bum's printed recipe to tune it for the North Shore products in the coming weeks; I will let you all know what I come up with.

Cool. Looks like there is plenty of selection available, and prices are pretty similar to here. I do plan on sampling lots of sochu and sake, and I do always try to slip into local custom whenever I travel, but I will be there for three weeks and an occasional western-style cocktail might just be what keeps me sane, be it in a bar hidden behind a copper door, or a Zacapa nightcap from a bottle in my room!

Ah, that Japan Times article is perfect. Three to definitely hit, and one to avoid. Not a bad ratio. Thanks for all the info, guys. Now... That Times article also mentioned Zacapa 23, one of my fave rums (possibly my fave, period... on certain days...). I was also going to make a post asking what rums are available in Japan, and how prices compare to US prices in stores. Good to know that I can get some Zacapa in a pinch. But there - I have asked. How much does a bottle of Zacapa 23 go for in Tokyo (it is about $40 here in Chicago)? Can you get Havana Club? El Dorado? Pampero? Matusalem? Santa Teresa? St. James................

Thanks for the suggestions so far -- keep 'em coming! The Wright bar at the Imperial Hotel sounds great, I plan to track town the 'mysterius copper door', and yes, I do plan to explore Sochu too.

Hi Wondering if anyone knows places to get high-end cocktails in Tokyo. Not looking for trendy sugar-filled "appletinis", but rather for traditional drinks like Gibsons, Sazeracs, Sidecars, and Negronis - or even better, the indigenous Japanese equivalent. In other words, some place like New York's Pegu Club, FlatIron, or Milk and Honey, or Chicago's Violet Hour, or Cleveland's Velvet Tango Room. Not so interested in posh, trendy, or clubby atmosphere, just want great tasting, carefully prepared drinks. Any suggestions?

This is becoming a new favorite for me. Sometimes I used Applejack instead of Calvados. Any idea where this recipe comes from? I was at velvet Tango Room in Cleveland on Tuesday, and they are going to add it to their new menu. I was surprised that the recipe that thay have is COMPLETELY different from this one. Theirs calls for orange juice, Conitreau and other stuff (If I remember correctly... it was late...).

I had a Negroni at VTR on Tuesday, and although it used the new Campari - I asked - it was also just about the best Negroni I have had. Nice job Jennifer!