brinza

I love the Bluecoat Gin bottle. It's like an antique apothecary bottle. Another bottle I love to look at is Noilly Prat's new bottle. I've always liked the Drambuie bottle, and I'm saving empties since the bottle design is about to change completely. I think the Michael Collins Irish Whiskey bottle is very elegant--even the cap is quite smart looking. The Samurai Vodka bottle is just too cool for its own good.

Rats, I prefer my mistakes to be uncommon. Anyway, I've started drinking the Lucien Gaudin Cocktail from the new edition of VS&FC. Damn. I may never make another Negroni again. Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's that good.

Sweet vs. Dry Vermouth ← Hell, you're right! I wonder if I've been drinking Boulevardiers all this time thinking they were Old Pals, because somehow I got it into my head that an Old Pal was a Negroni made with whiskey instead of gin. What a stupid mistake.

Raise your glasses to Angelo Cammarata, a Pittsburgh bartender who is the world's (Guinness-certified) longest-serving bartender and will be announcing last call today, at 95 years of age. He has been serving drinks since the moment (literally) that Prohibition ended. Oh, and he drinks Beam and Coke every day! http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09232/991889-389.stm btw, this is Fort Pitt: http://cgi.ebay.com/1957-FORT-PITT-BEER+AL...819163008r32455

That would be a Boulevardier, provided one agrees that PeM can be subbed in for sweet vermouth without it becoming a new drink. ← Maybe so, but I think that the Punt e Mes deserves at least special mention, if not a new name. It was fantastic. ← The Boulevardier is great, I prefer it with a spicy bourbon, but there's certainly nothing wrong with good rye in its place. ← Is there an intrinsic difference between the Boulevardier and an Old Pal?

I kind of like their Jerry Thomas bitters. Perhaps they are not as complex or as intense as Angostura, but they serve as an interesting alternative aromatic bitters. Actually, to me, they seem more like a standard aromatic bitter than TBT's "aromatic bitters" which seem to be very clove-y in an Allspice dram sort of way. Of course, that only means that we have another bitter to choose from that's not the same as any other. As for their orange bitters, I got the opposite reaction from the OP who said they are in a different style than Regan's. To me they are closer to the style of Regan's in comparison to Angostura or Fee's (not to suggest that those last two are anything alike). The upshot of all of this is that it demands much more experimentation!

I've wondered about that myself. Is Aperol a liqueur or an aromatic wine?

Report back. That sounds like it could be interesting. I'd be curious to see if the limoncello plays nice with the other ingredients. Speaking as one who mixes with limoncello with some frequency, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. That can be a good thing, when you really want a big punch of lemon flavor, but can be a bad thing when you can't taste anything else. ← You might be right. Since I had already though about reducing the amount of curaçao, maybe it would be better to start with 1 oz. curaçao and 0.5 oz. limoncello. Me and my big mouth--now I'm gonna have to go out an get some actual limoncello . . .

I have a bottle of applejack made in West Virginia by the Forks of Cheat Distillery. It's nowhere near the quality of Laird's. It's very funky and, frankly, not all that good. I suspect it's not aged for very long. When used in standard recipes, the result is not what you'd be expecting. I'll work my way through eventually, though. It's not bad enough to just dump.

I just had a Curaçao Punch as revitalized in the new edition of Dr. Cocktail's VS&FC. I can't believe I never made this before. Really nice on a hot night. When I made it, I didn't use any of the sugar called for. Two ounces of orange curaçao! That made it sweet enough. Granted, I only had DeKuyper's which is going to be sweeter than higher-end curaçaos. I also took the Doctor's advice and used additional lemon juice (I used a good splash rather than the "2 or 3 dashes", although a full half-ounce wouldn't have done any harm). And for a little pizazz, I added a few drops each of Fee's Lemon and Orange bitters. I used Fee's Orange since this is a punch and I wanted the fruitier, rather than the spicier accents of Regan's or TBT. While even these few drops of bitters quelled the sweetness just a bit, next time I'm cutting the curaçao to 1.5 ounces. I'm thinking though, what about 1 ounce orange curaçao and 1 ounce limoncello?

I'm not really a fan of cucumber, but I was at Mitchell's Fish Market recently and saw something on the menu that sounded really good on a pleasant summer afternoon--the Cucumber Collins. Hendrick's gin, fresh muddled cucumber, fresh ginger, and fresh lemon juice. It was delightful. I'd get it again.

While I love the taste of Bombay Sapphire, I find it to be a bit delicate. It can easily get washed out when used in a G&T, and, though I've never made a Gimlet with it, I imagine the effect might be similar.

We have Marie Brizard here? I've yet to see any.

I use Fee's Grapefruit bitters often. Unlike their Lemon bitters, which are rather monotone (but not bad), the Grapefruit bitters seem to have some complexity and really do add an indefinable something to a cocktail. I find that they work very well with St. Germaine's Elderflower, Lillet, dry vermouth, and even tequila. As for Fee's Aromatic bitters not being too concentrated, while they don't seem quite as intense as, say Angostura, the flavor is rather pronounced and certainly makes itself known if overdashed. I think the issue with them is that they're not very bitter. The Bitter Truth's aromatic bitters have a very heavy clove or Allspice topnote. Not a criticism, just an observation. In fact, they could nicely fill in for Allspice Dram if need be. I love the Jerry Thomas's Decanter Bitters. They are a good, versatile aromatic bitter; actually more middle-of-the-road than TBT's Aromatic.

I once had the idea of combining mezcal and lapsong souchong tea, which, in theory, should work, but I've yet to try it. The reason for that is probably that before I had any mezcal, I tried combining the lapsong souchong with Islay Scotch. Ergch. Bad idea. Never mix smoke types--who knew? Somehow it tasted like dirty dish rag. Here are a few: Quetzacoatl Julep Savory Compost Prairie Dog Panic Tuber Maneuver

14 dashes is a whole lot less than an ounce or ounce and a half, especially in a champagne cocktail. True. Wow, that's different. Sounds good, though. I'd probably like that. I'll have to give it a try.

Great! I'll stop over for a drink, then. Actually, those half-moon "cubes" are good for cracking, however. If you hold one with the flat side down and your hand slightly cupped and whack it in the middle, it cracks nicely, so long as it is cold and dry. I know this tangent probably belongs in the ice thread, but why don't you like shaking with them? (BTW, those tovolo cubes are nice, aren't they?)

I made the Angostura Sour this past weekend. I halved the recipe, but for no other reason than I did not want to waste a third of a bottle of bitters in one drink. The thing that surprised me most was the color--it looked like oxidized (brownish) tomato juice. BTW, it was delicious. So far I feel OK other than feeling like having another one. Another drink with a lot of bitters is the Seelbach Cocktail, with a total 14 dashes.

I'm guessing that ice came from your freezer's automatic ice maker. I'll put those into the shaker, but never in the glass. I hate trying to drink through those things.

One of my sillier screw-ups: I was making something (really can't remember what) that called for a dash of sweet vermouth and an ounce of dry vermouth. Since I had only about a shot or so of sweet vermouth left and plenty of dry vermouth on hand, this choice of drink was a good fit for what I had available. Just after dumping in one ounce of "french" vermouth--you know, the red, sweet kind , I realized I had not only mixed them up, but used up just about all the sweet (Italian, dammit!) vermouth I had left. I drank it anyway--not undrinkable, but obviously nowhere near what it was supposed to be. Another time I had a shaker fly right out of my hands and hit the floor, and to my amazement, it never came apart! And it contained grenadine. As it was tumbling through the air all I could think of was cleaning the sticky off of everything within a six foot blast radius. When things go south like that or if I'm tired, I do the same thing as many others have already mentioned-- go with either a brown spirit, neat, or a two-part something like a Rusty Nail, a Dark 'N Stormy, a B&B, or my favorite I'm-too-tired-to-think-of-anything-cocktail, the Old Fashioned (the simplest kind).

I think that drink is revelatory. My only problem with it is that it is rather delicate (proof wise). As far as it being a loss leader, I heard the same complaint from the person who made this for me, but I'd like some clarification on that point. Peychaud can be had (in bulk) for about $0.70/oz. That puts it at about $18 for a 750ml. I'm likely missing something else that goes into the equation of 'pour cost', as I'm very out of my element here, but I think that drink deserves to be evangelized, and wouldn't want the impression that it's too pricey to prevent someone from trying. ← I was wondering about the pour cost of the Angostura Fizz at first, too. But at $1.10 per ounce (based on the price of the 10-ounce bottle, not the 4-ounce) that works out to about $27 for 750ml. Not as bad as it at first sounds. BTW, I notice that this drink also appears in Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, but it likely gets overlooked by most people because it's hidden . . . in the non-alcoholic drinks section! That's right, a "non-alcoholic" drink that calls for 1 full ounce of 90-proof bitters!

My mouth is watering as I ogle those bottles.

I'm wondering if the inclusion of the Cuba Libre was meant to remind people that a Cuba Libre is more than just a Rum & Coke. It looks like an interesting book, if for no other reason than to add it to the collection, but I saw at least three drinks in the preview pages that look rather enticing.

My vote goes to BLOODY BUTRUM. I mean who the hell thought this could possibly be an appetizing name for a cocktail? I don't care what's in it; I don't care whether it's good; I just don't want to know.

I'm going to have to give this a whirl. I've been wanting to make something that was decidedly bitter put tasty and this looks like it would fit the bill and sounds like a great aperitif. Is this your own recipe? I've got Fever Tree Bitter Lemon and everything else you list. Now I know what tonight's first drink will be. ← I'm not sure I'd call it a recipe - I just tossed it together. Let us know what you think or what you would do differently. I've been playing with small amounts of Fernet Branca to add an interesting dimension without bowling you over after having a Toronto cocktail at Zig Zag. ← Sorry I didn't report back sooner. I did make this that night and I really enjoyed it. Funny thing was that it didn't even seem all that bitter! The one I made was fine just the way you laid out. Nothing comes to mind that I would change, but now that I think of it, I might try it with Peychaud's in place of the Fee's just to see what that would be like.