brinza

Wasn't Southern Comfort initially referred to as rectified whiskey? I never thought it made much sense to call it that, but I heard it referred to that way. Would this code also prevent restaurants from serving house-made Sangria, or does it only apply to spirits?

I've never been to Texas, but from what I've seen and heard, that's quite a formidable task you've set for yourself, there! Safe to say you don't work at Billy Bob's?

I'm still trying to figure out how this differs from diffordsguide. At first I thought it was going to replace diffordsguide #8, but I see that #8 has also been published. There seems to be little difference between the two.

There is something to be said for ritual when making certain drinks, like Old Fashioneds, Sazeracs, and Caipirinhas (see posts #74-76 in the Old Fashioneds thread). Sometimes the ritual is half the fun. Sometimes you just want the damn drink and don't feel like screwing around. Although I always make Caipirinhas by muddling the limes with granulated sugar, I'll admit that when someone asks me what a Caipirinha is, I tell them, "It's like a Daiquiri, but a lot more work." I don't even bother with Mojitos, mainly because I don't care for them, but also because I tend to be too brutal with the mint. As for rinsing, I wonder if it's really only effective is you use a tall glass, but make the drink to fill it only halfway, so you get the most out of the effect of the aromatics clinging to the sides of the glass.

Sipping this right now. OMG is this good. How did you ever come up with that? I haven't tried any of your other augmentations either, but I plan to. I stirred and strained. Is that how you make it, or do you have it on the rocks?

What a great idea! I got hooked on the trick that was suggested somewhere around here a while ago which involved using orange marmalade if you've got no fresh oranges on hand. I've also suggested using Wild Turkey American Honey as a quick and easy sweetener for Old Fashioneds. Your friend's idea make so much sense. Grapefruit bitters always seems to work well with tequila, but I'm not sure how it works with mezcal, or if it would be right for an Old Fashioned. Maybe I'll try it and let you know. I think for an Improved Mezcal (or Tequila) Cocktail, what we need is a lime liqueur. Why isn't there one?

This artificial price escalation is my main complaint with Plymouth Gin. Maybe, just maybe if the proof were higher, the price might seem a little more justifiable. As it is, I have stopped buying the product altogether. It's up to $30 in PA. There are better products out there for less money (I picked up Citadelle in NC for $17. Wonderful stuff--why didn't I buy a case?). And I think the notion of Plymouth being so indispensable has been highly exaggerated.

Pennsylvania began selling Zwack last year. It's not bad, but it's a pity that Unicum isn't imported. Zwack does possess similarities to Jagermeister, but I'd say the flavor is closer to Averna, though perhaps a bit sweeter. TAPrice, would you say that Unicum compares to Killepitsch in any way? Now I'm off to try that Kirsch/Zwack/Campari concoction!

Hypothetically speaking, right? (you might want to redact the name of the establishment from your post like I did. Just in case. Never know who's reading this. )

Exactly. By that definition, all cocktails are illegal. And that statement about changing the alcohol content; Anything you do can only reduce the alcohol content, not increase it, so what's the problem? "Barkeep, I'll have a whiskey and water." "My apologies, dear patron, but I'll have to serve you the water on the side. Were I to add it to your whiskey, it would change the alcohol content of the spirit, which, under the laws of the Sovereignty of California is not allowed." Furthermore, anything that "changes the character and nature of vodka" can only be an improvement. And I challenge the claim that mixing sugar and citrus juices with vodka "initiates a maturation process." They seem to have no clue what they are talking about.

The Oh! Henry is one of my favorites. Simple combination--seems almost too obvious, but it works. I can't recall if I've ever made the Alice, but it seems like it should be good. The Hoots Mon that Chris mentioned is another one I can definitely vouch for as well.

This is an interesting question. For me, I'm often surprised at what I run out of, because it's never what I think I'm drinking the most of. I always think I drink more whiskey cocktails than anything else, but I always seem to be running out of gin. I guess part of the answer is that I usually have four or five different kinds of whiskey on hand (eg 3 ryes and 2 bourbons), and perhaps only two different brands of gin. Naturally, I also go through a lot of vermouth and Cointreau/Curacao, but who doesn't? One thing I'm dreading running out of is Benedictine. When Pennsylvania decided to delist the full strength liqueur and only stock the diluted B&B, I tried to get what I could. The eastern part of the state has lots, but I bought the last three bottles in the entire western part of PA. I'm down to 2. When it's gone, it's gone. I'm not looking forward to having to adapt all kinds of recipes to substitute B&B.

Actually, David Embury called it that back in 1948 in his The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, where he states it rather matter-of-factly as if the name was already in common use by that time. (page 130, following the Side Car de Luxe recipe):

So far, I've used Appleton Estate V/X, Flor de Caña Gold 4 yr, and even Kraken. I haven't tried it with white rum, but as the original recipe calls for gin, the clear spirit probably makes more sense. I have some Mount Gay Eclipse Silver that should work nicely.

I like Bluecoat a lot and have used it in several applications, whereas my reaction to New Amsterdam upon first tasting it was "What could you possibly do with this stuff?" I wonder if the differences in proof (Bluecoat being 94 and New Amsterdam being 80) have anything to do with people's response to them.

You're absolutely right. This afternoon I found it listed as the Tango No. 2 in the Waldforf-Astoria Bar Book. Good catch! I'll have to look it up on Jay's blog.

As far as I can tell, there has always been a variety of proofs and age statements on Seagram's gin products. The "Extra Dry" seems to be the one that is 80 proof and "barrel mellowed" whereas the "Distillers Reserve" is 102 proof and not "barrel mellowed." According to the Seagram's Gin web site, Distiller's Reserve is still 102 proof. But I've heard changing statements as to which was which and what proof was what any number of times. It's a bit odd if they're turning Distiller's Reserve into more or less high proof Extra Dry. The bottle I have is still Distiller's Reserve. It says so in large, friendly letters. Everything about the label design, bottle color, back label copy (about the Master Distiller selecting the best batches, blah blah) etc., is the same except where it used to say 102 proof it now says Barrel Mellowed. AFAIK, all Seagram's gin is barrel aged for a short period of time, even the Extra Dry. I assume the Distiller's Reserve always was as well. I think that rather than change the '102' to a '94' in such a conspicuous place on the label, they chose to put something else in that spot, and move the proof number to the bottom.

Has anyone else noticed that Seagram's Distiller's Reserve has been knocked down to 94 proof? It's no longer 102 proof. After I bought a bottle the other day, I happened to look at the label, and in the little tan-colored oval where it usually says "102 proof" it now says, "Barrel mellowed". I thought I wonder why they changed tha--uh-oh." So I looked down at the bottom edge of the label and spied, in smaller print, "94 proof." I'd love to know why they play these games.

Just wanted to mention here that I've finally been able to get myself a bottle of Handy last weekend. I've tasted it twice before, but this is the first bottle I've been lucky enough to find. 129 proof. Price: $55.99 I have no real comment to offer (It's Handy! What else needs to be said?), other than to simply say I'm a happy boy.

Flipping through Robert Hess's The Essential Bartender's Guide, I came across a drink called Tango. It seems to be considerably different than the one in the Savoy and in Duffy. It may be Mr. Hess's own variation since no source is given in the book. Equal parts: Rum Sweet vermouth Dry vermouth Benedictine Orange juice This was one of those drinks that as soon as it hit my tongue it became an instant new favorite. It has its own flavor and no one ingredient seems to dominate. I've made it now with different rums and different vermouths and it was good every time.

I'll bet you'd make a great Manhattan!

Or every time you peel an orange to eat and orange oil is spritzing in all directions, you weep thinking of how good that would be sprayed over a cocktail . . .

This is an interesting discussion. The only thing I could suggest to Kent would be, at this point, just get what appeals to you and have fun with them. For a party I had in December, I came up with something I called, "Old Fashioned" Christmas, which is an Old Fashioned using apple brandy instead of whiskey. The key to the drink, however, is that I used two very specific bitters: Fee's Aromatic and TBT Aromatic. The TBT I find to be very clove-y and the Fee's Aromatic has a more rounded Christmas-spice profile. Together with the apple brandy and a bit of sugar . . .

Yeah, the only Calvados I could locate was around $35. There was just no way I was going to dump that into a punch. But even with applejack, it's not a cheap punch to make since it calls for two full bottles of booze plus all the other stuff (whole spices, honey, juices, etc.). I'd estimate the total cost to be around $40-$45 per batch (figuring $30 for the liquor).

If anyone is looking for a good Christmas punch, I can highly recommend the Carousel Punch recipe that appears in the Nov/Dec issue of IMBIBE Magazine. I made it for a party earlier this month and it was a big hit. The only cheat I resorted to was using Laird's Apple Brandy instead of Calvados. But I followed the sub-recipe for the spiced honey syrup precisely. Since the full recipe doesn't seem to be available on the IMBIBE Magazine website, I don't think it would be proper to reproduce it here (unless a moderator counsels otherwise). This was a wonderful punch and well worth the effort. It was so good that I'm thinking of making it again just for the hell of it (sadly, not a drop was left over after the party). The recipe doesn't say how many servings it should yield, but it's well over 100 ounces of liquid.