Troy Sidle

Where can I get more information about the law concerning rye? When was the law passed? What are all the restrictions? Are those laws published online somewhere?

I think of Mark Bittman as the Tom Friedman of food: he's a great explainer. Usually he does a public service by this approach, and there are few people in the world who can digest and synthesize information so effectively. But once in awhile he's so glib that he jumps right off the intellectual cliff. ← excuse my ignorance, but anyone know who Pete Confalone is? he was referenced in Bittman's response... ← I've never heard of him. Where does he work? Bittman says he's a great bartender, but that doesn't necessarily qualify him as an authority.

Hey, thanks very much! It's most gratifying, I won't deny it. On to the next book! ← Any hint to what that next book might be?

Every once in a while I start with the name of a cocktail and use it as an inspiration to develop the drink. Right now I've got one I want to call The Prospector. The only requirements are that a man with a mustache should be able to drink it easily, and it should be as dark as possible - like oil. I've not had a lot of success using Cruzan black strap rum, but I'm working on it. Another one I want to be called Andromachus. I ran into a Wikipedia article mentioning a supposed venom antidote called a treacle of Andromachus made with rum and honey. Hey Brad, Keep us up to date on the latest news for when the new place is going to open. I'd love to roll in on opening day.

I like where this is going. I'll put the recipe here and if anyone has a chance to make it, maybe tasting it will provide some more inspiration: 2 Tanqueray .75 lime juice .5 simple syrup .25 honey syrup .25 Kubler absinthe 5 drops lemon bitters (or substitute orange) Shake. Strain. Serve up. garnish with thick lemon peel

Recently I've been working on a gin cocktail with absinthe and honey. It needs a name. Any ideas?

One name for a drink came directly from being frustrated with having to come up with names in general. It's a rye whiskey sour with ginger and green chartreuse (delightfully spicy). So, I was thinking green... the green... something. Ah, forget it! No green. How about red? Yes, red. Now it's name is... The Red Herring.

We've all done it. We've had an idea for a wonderful libation. We tried it, adjusted it, and developed a mighty tasty drink all our own. And now we must name this baby of ours. What a responsibility. So, how do you go about it? What are the best names you've come up with?

Optimistic Cocktail 2 Tanquerey Rangpur 3/4 lime 3/4 simple rinse Cruzan Black Strap 7 drops xocolatl mole Bitters (or 5 drops orange bitters) 1 drop rose water

It's called the I.D.T. But, it could end up being something like a Yellow Jacket. Green Chartreuse is a whole different beast and I'm not sure it would really work for this cocktail. Tonight I did play with the Green beast: 2 Jim Beam 3/4 lemon 1/2 simple 1/2 ginger syrup 1/4 Green Chartreuse dash Peychaud's S, S, Rocks, no garnish This one shouldn't work. The ginger and Chartreuse should conflict. Instead they hit the pallet at different points. The ginger is apparent up front, but the Chartreuse trails off into the last moment of the sip.

I posted this one elsewhere, but since it has Chartreuse, I'll throw it in again: 2 Applejack 3/4 Yellow Chartreuse 3/4 lemon juice 1/2 simple dash Peychaud's 1 egg yolk S, S, SU This was an experiment to see how egg yolk works in a cocktail. The Yellow Chartreuse was that last thing I thought to put in (after several iterations). It adds a great amount of complexity to an otherwise straight-forward flavor profile.

I followed Gary Regan's recipe for my orange bitters, so I used grain alchohol (Everclear).

When my bitters was initially setting in the high-alcohol mixture, it wasn't cloudy. (In fact, it was a beautiful clear caramel color.) Then I boiled the solids and let that sit in the water which is when it developed an undesirable opacity. Finally mixing the two liquids it was still cloudy. That was a week ago and my bitters show virtually no sign of clarifying. I'm on vacation for a week, so I'll see what has happens when I come back. So Avery, are you using the same method and seeing the bitters turn cloudy at the same point? And are you saying that the oils will eventually emulsify over time as opposed to settle to the bottom? I'm using Regan's recipe, and I know Charles H. Baker has a recipe in Jigger, Beaker. Are there other published sources of bitters recipes? Or unpublished recipes?

Troy, while I did make a batch of Hess House bitters, that post is in no way affiliated, endorsed or otherwise connected to Robert. However, I am still in the possession of said 30 bottles of Hess and Regans' Orange No. 5 bitters, so if anyone is up for a trans-Atlantic swap do let me know! ← Jay, Please accept my apologies. I just now realized my mistake that you wrote that article and not Mr. Hess. I read it too quickly. Also, upon further reading, I realized your synopsis of the flavor and aroma of the bitters is very similar to what I have with mine, especially in comparison to his Orange No. 6. Great article.

My bitters are finished! I followed Regan's recipe as closely as could, and I like what I've got. I can't wait to make some cocktails with it tomorrow. But, I'm wondering why they're so cloudy? Anyone have a problem with orange bitters being cloudy?

Here's a take on a fresh juice gimlet 2 oz. Tanqueray Rangpur 3/4 oz. lime juice 3/4 oz. simple syrup 3 drops orange flower water 9 drops orange bitters rinse of Cruzan black strap rum Shake, Strain, Serve Up I tested it out today, and the guys thought it had a nose of chocolate. Fortunately, I like chocolate. Unfortunately, I don't have any chocolate bitters, which I would love to substitute for the orange bitters.

You got it, boss.

I'll be in Atlanta this coming week. If anyone has in mind a place or two I shouldn't miss, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll be in Dallas, Little Rock, Denver, Grand Junction, and possibly Baltimore this year. Where are great places to knock one back? Thanks to David Wondrich and Esquire for putting together The Best Bars in America list. It's given me a great place to start.

I've never used the Wustof, and since they make fantastic knives, I can only assume they make a great channel knife. However, I suggest the Rosle. I held out on buying one because of the cost, but after being thoroughly disappointed with every other channel knife I've used I think it's worth it. It cuts a beautiful strip, doesn't bend after continued use, and has a lifetime guarantee. I love mine. Last night, I used it to garnish both a Martini and a Martinez. It was easy to cut the twists almost a foot long before coiling them up and floating them in the drinks.

This is the product of an ongoing experimentation with egg yolk: 2 oz. Applejack 1/2 oz. Yellow Chartreuse 2 dash Peychaud's 1 egg yolk 3/4 oz. lemon juice 1/2 oz. simple syrup Shake, Strain, Serve Up

Thanks for your interest, Chris. I have 2 more weeks to go. Then I'm on a short vacation. So, I should have samples ready by Valentine's Day.

While looking at the possibilities for different home-made bitters I ran accross Robert Hess's article for Oh Gosh where he writes: "... I now have almost 30 bottles of home-made bitters, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with them all. Anyone up for swapsies?" I'm a few weeks away from my first batch, but I love the idea. Anybody be willing to trade some bitters?

It's likely Regan was implying store-bought dried orange peels. And for purity's sake, maybe I should have gone that route. However, once I've discovered how to make dried orange peels I think work well, it opens up the possibilities for any dried peel (lemon, lime, grapefruit) to be added to a batch of bitters. And that's the real goal - discovering new possibilities. But, the home-made versus store-bought issue aside, the real question is how much does pith play a role in bitters? I suppose only more experimentation would provide the answer.

I'm currently working on my first batch of bitters. I'm making orange bitters following Regan's no. 5 recipe as described in Joy of Mixology. I've realized that my bitters will be unique as I interpret the recipe, especially in regard to dried orange peels. I'm wondering how much dried orange peels others of you are using. Ultimately, I'm wondering how much of the pith does or does not go into a given recipe. Regan calls for eight ounces, but eight ounces of dried orange peels without the pith takes a lot more oranges that eight ounces, pith intact. Any comments? Troy