CincyCraig

For what it's worth, despite Pikesville's Maryland roots, it is made by Heaven Hill in Bardstown and it is distributed via HH's normal distribution channels (ie, Southern Wine & Spirits).

I tried Stock 84 VSOP this week. It was priced right, it's made by Italy's largest spirit maker, aged in oak casks, etc....so I thought 'what the heck'. I don't care for it. The brandy is very, very It's back to Hardy VS Cognac for me. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, Craig

I know that many fellow Egullet members share my great interest in Rye Whiskey. I thought that some of you might be interested in this article from Malt Advocate Magazine, where they conducted a Rye Roundtable, and brought together every significant personality in the modern Rye distilling industry in one room to talk about the state if the rye business. The roundtable included such notables as Julian Van Winkle, Fritz Maytag, Jimmy Russell and many others. Here's the link to this article. It's a google cache of the original as MA no longer has the article posted. I hope that you enjoy the article. Cheers, Craig

I think that the "new" NP is excellent, world class even, in classic pre-prohibition cocktails. in more 'modern' cocktails, such as the modern martini, it has to be used rather judiciously, i.e., at a 4:1 or even 5:1 ration. Cheers, Craig

Matt, That cocktail blender is fantastic. It's a real mid-century classic! Cheers, Craig

I finally received my shipment from The Bitter Truth of Germany. I ordered their Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters, Orange & Celery Bitters. I've been impressed with their Orange Bitters (they are a very different style than Gary Regan's Orange Bitters), and their Celery Bitters were excellent in the Red Snapper that I made yesterday. However, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with their Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters. I found them to be rather wanting in complexity, thin, nearly colourless and generally lacking in aromatic character. They tend to get lost in a cocktail, especially when compared to Angostura or Fee's Aromatic or Whiskey Aged Bitters. So far I have used the JTDB in a Manhattan, the Improved Whiskey Cocktail, an Old Fashioned (ala Imbibe and sans fruit cocktail), a Rob Roy and a Pisco Sour, and the results have been less than impressive, IMHO. I almost feel that the bitters need to undergo a serious reduction in volume and concentration, rather in the manner that a stock is reduced in volume to make a concentrated demi-glace. I'm curious if anyone has tried TBT's line of Bitters, and what some of your opinions are about their line of products? Cheers, Craig

Unfortunately, I live in Cincinnati, and we are perpetually 10 years behind the times here. The few establishments here that are even adventurous enough to use egg in cocktails all use a pasteurized egg product. Mark Twain said it best, 100 years ago-and it still holds true today: "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always ten years behind the times."

I think that you don't notice this with bar made drinks is because they tend to use pasturized egg white products and not raw eggs.

As someone who travels for both business & pleasure a great deal, I have been in the same situation of trying to make cocktail in a hotel room with limited resources as many of you have. However, I recently had my eyes opened about the danger of drinking from the glassware that you find in hotel rooms. News stations all over the nation have conducted undercover investigations of how these glasses are cleaned (or more to the point, NOT cleaned). This doesn't seam to be a issue limited to a few hotels, but rather a larger problem endemic to the entire hotel industry. Here are a few examples of the what I am writing about: Breitbart ABC News WCPO Fox Atlanta Another expose This is disgusting, and completely unacceptable as well. Unfortunately, you & I simply have no way of knowing if those glasses in our rooms are really clean or not. I am neither an alarmist nor do I suffer from mysophobia, however I will either getting a glass (or two) from the hotel's restaurant or bar, or I will even resort to using the disposable paper coffee cups that are found in many rooms instead of using the glasses in the room in order to make a cocktail in my room. I simply will not use the glassware in any hotel room any longer, not even when I stay at a Ritz-Carlton or a Four Seasons hotel.

My Wife finally let me replace the old bar that I had since my bachelor days this past Christmas. The old bar had seen a lot of use, and was pretty battle worn. As we are redecorating in a contemporary style, we found (after months of looking) a really cool modern bar that we both liked. We found a kitchen work station at Ikea which we turned into a bar back. I finally have storage for all of my bar tools and glassware, and I can keep them organized, clean and out of sight now. There's also ample storage for my ever growing collection of booze, gadgets, cocktail books and bric a brac. Gotta have plenty of bitters....... I have a few vintage shakers and soda syphons that I can now display as well, thanks to the added room. These pics aren't very good (cheap cell phone camera), so I apologize for the poor resolution. Thanks for letting me share, I'm pretty excited to finally have a nice setup for my favorite hobby. Cheers, Craig

Here in Ohio we have a similar situation, the State of Ohio controls the sale of spirits. The Rye situation has gotten a little better, with Old Overholt & Beam having been available for some time, and Wild Turkey's Russel Reserve & Beam's new Ri now available. Ohio prices are ridiculously expensive too boot. Fortunately, I live in Cincinnati and the Northern Kentucky suburbs are part of our metropolitan area. At the two larger stores in Kentucky I can find both Rittenhouse bottelings (80 & 100), Wild Turkey 101, Russel's Reserve Rye, Beam & Overholt, Beam's Ri, Sazerac 6 yr & 18 yr, Templeton Rye, Kentucky Bourbon Distiller's 23 yr Rye, Michters 8, 10 & 12 yr, Hirsch 21 & 22 yr, Black Maple Hill 18 & 23 yr, Hudson Manhattan Rye, Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Rye (when it's in stock) and Pikesville Maryland Rye. And Kentucky has good prices as well!

I don't think they really want enlightening here--do you? ← You know, I actually like the Cruzan Blackstrap, although I do not for a moment consider it to be a Navy Rum. I like to use it as a float on various Tiki cocktails, grogs and so on. In small doses it's quite nice.

Good point Gary. I find that instead of my traditional 3:1 ratio Martini that I have been mixing for years with the old NP & Dolin, I now have to mix 4:1 with the new NP. I like the increased floral notes in the new NP as well.

The British tonic waters contain more quinine than the major American brands. The artisanal American tonics (such as Q ) contain more quinine than American Schweppes or Canada Dry, but they are still limited my American law as to how much quinine they are allowed to contain and don't have as high a quinine content as their British cousins have. Also, the British brands and the American artisanal brands are made with cane sugar, as opposed to the major American brands which are made with high fructose corn sweeteners.

Hi, I wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I keep two brandies in my bar for mixing; Paul Masson Grande Amber VSOP (a blend of French Cognac & California brandy, recommended by Dave Wondrich in Esquire recently), and Hardy VS Cognac. Hardy sells for about $20 in these parts, and is a very good Cognac-it's almost good enough to drink neat. The Masson is pretty refined for it's $12 price and makes for a very good mixing brandy. If I'm making a quick mid-week sidecar, I use the Masson. For weekends, or when we have guests over, I use Hardy's. Using good Cognac definitely makes for a much more refined sidecar. I don't think that you can make a good sidecar with triple sec or curacao, IMHO. The alcohol level is too low (some brands are as little as 12% ABV) and there is too much residual sugar in these liqueurs. Cointreau is 80 proof (40% ABV) by contrast and has a much more refined taste than the liqueurs. Unfortunately, it's not cheap. I have found one or two Cointreau knockoffs that are decent, the best of which is Luxardo's Triplum. Triplum is a pretty close Cointreau knockoff and it's $10-$12 less expensive than the name brand while still being 78 proof. Grand Marnier, or one of it's knockoffs (Torres Orange or Grand Gala) makes for an interesting twist on the classic, though I find that you must adjust your ratios a little bit to compensate for somewhat sweeter taste of the Grand Marnier vs the Cointreau. Again, just my 2 cents.

I live in Cincinnati, but I shop exclusively in our Northern Kentucky suburbs (directly across the Ohio River from Downtown Cincinnati), as KY is not a price control state, as Ohio is. Here are some good buys relative to quality that I purchase here in this market: Grants Blended Scotch: $19.99/1.75ml (good general purpose Scotch from the makers of Balvenie) Teacher's Highland Cream: $31.99/1.75ml (all round great Scotch) Old Forrester Signature 100 Proof Bourbon: $31.99/1.75ml Paul Masson Grande Amber Grande Amber Brandy VSOP: $11.99/750ml (Very good mixing brandy as recommended by Wondrich in Esquire, a mixture of CA brandy & French Cognac) Hardy VS Cognac: $19.99/750ml (great mixing cognac for more delicate drinks such as the French 75) Appleton White Rum: $19.99/1.75ml Coruba Dark Rum: $21.99/1.75 Brugal Black strap Navy Rum: $11.99/750ml Rittenhouse Bonded Rye: $17.99/750ml (would still be great at twice the price!) Bols Cordials: $8.99/750ml (good cordials for mixing in cocktails, a major step up from DeKuyper, Arrow, Hiram Walker and half the price of the superior Marie Brizzard brand) Cheers, Craig

http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...451_10001_27651 These are authentic 2" round ice moulds from Japan. They are perfect recreations of the type of ice moulds being used by Prof. Jerry Thomas and others in the prefect pre-prohibition cocktail. I received my order yesterday, and I'm using them tonight in Ward 8's. Whisky Sours and the Classic Whisky Cocktail (all from Dave Wondrich's Imbibe). ← Good point Andy, I should have further elaborated on my post. This large round ball ice would have been carved from block ice back in the day. The Japanese seem to be the only ones that have preserved this tradition of using large ball ice in cocktails, and have developed these moulds accordingly. Wondrich writes of this in Imbibe, and I'm too busy drinking my Sazerac (alright, lazy ) to get up and search for the page number right now. Cheers, Craig

http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...451_10001_27651 These are authentic 2" round ice moulds from Japan. They are perfect recreations of the type of ice moulds being used by Prof. Jerry Thomas and others in the prefect pre-prohibition cocktail. I received my order yesterday, and I'm using them tonight in Ward 8's. Whisky Sours and the Classic Whisky Cocktail (all from Dave Wondrich's Imbibe).

I am so cautious about ordering cocktail other than a Martini, Manhattan (I always specify '2 dashes of bitters') or a highball in a bar or restaurant that I won't order anything more complex without some investigation. I'll sit at the bar, and if the bartender seems halfway competent and the bar isn't terribly busy, I'll engage the bartender in some conversation. I'll say 'you wouldn't have access to any fresh squeezed lemon/lime/orange/etc juice back there, would you?' If he or she seems game, I'll ask if they wouldn't mind making a custom sidecar/margarita/pegu club/etc to my recipe. Again, if they are game for it, I'll write the ratios down for them. After they make the drink, I throw them a pretty good tip for their troubles. This ensures that the next round(s) will come the same way. I've actually 'trained' most of the bartenders at my regular watering holes in this manners. Several have become good mixologists, and I can't help feel at least a little responsible for it. BTW, I've found the bartenders at Mortons to be pretty well trained mixologists, in my experiences travelling around the country. they generally make a decent drink. Anyone else have any experience at Mortons?