brinza

I say let's kill Peach Bitters now before we're inflicted with some disturbing variant of the Fuzzy Navel.

I see both Erik's and Adam's points here. Erik is saying that basically, anything in a bottle has always been fair game as a cocktail ingredient, so why doesn't Pimm's show up in old recipes? OTOH, as bottled cocktail already, perhaps it was looked upon only as an end product--just one example of a variety of Cup or Sling. It would be like using one of today's RTD products like, say, Cuervo Margarita as a cocktail ingredient. I can't imagine anyone doing that. But then again, if Pimm's really was once upon a time bottled at 40% alcohol, that basically demands it be mixed with something, and was therefore not really all that RTD, as it sort of is now. I have a feeling I'll be drinking me some Pimm's this weekend . . .

I use one of these too. Not exclusively, but I use it a lot. I agree about finding the right scale, plus it's also difficult to use looking at it straight on. I always turn it around and look at the scale I want through the far side of the glass. It's easier for me that way.

One that I like that has also been a hit when I've made it for friends is the Causeway: 2 oz Irish whiskey 1 oz Drambuie 1/4 oz lemon juice 4 dashes Angostura bitters 2 dashes orange bitters Top up with Ginger ale Drambuie really should be employed much more than it is. I don't think it's nearly as problematic as working with Scotch in cocktails.

Recently acquired three new bitters: TBT Celery Bitters TBT Creole Bitters TBT/Bittermens Grapefruit Bitters I've only started experimenting with these, but I've had good results so far. The grapefruit bitters are amazing. I've had Fee's Grapefruit bitters, which have worked well enough in what I've used them in, but now I'm looking forward to going back and revisiting all those drinks using Bittermens' version. The Creole Bitters are interesting. Distinctly different from Peychaud's yet there are of course similarities. It's exciting to have another bitters that's in the same realm as Peychaud's but with a different approach. I use to think of Peychaud's as being in a class by itself. The Creole Bitters are going to be a lot of fun to play around with. I found a terrific drink on Kindred Cocktails in which to try the Celery Bitters: The Pimm's Up. (I used Damrak Amsterdam Gin as I don't have Bols Genever, but I think it worked nevertheless). I really liked this--it was such a different cocktail experience. I would recommend this to anyone looking for ways to use their celery bitters.

Hmmm. It looks like I'm going to have to start buying Angostura in the 10oz bottles.

If you require a 94 proof, traditional-style gin, Beefeater often runs a little less than, say, Tanqueray (but obviously not where-ever Boilerfood lives). Cheaper still is Seagram's Distiller's Reserve, which is surprisingly good. If an 80- to 90- proof gin is acceptable to you, you should be okay with Bombay Dry (actually an excellent gin--much cheaper than Sapphire, more traditional taste profile, but only 88 proof), Gordon's, or even Seagram's Extra Dry. Booth's is 90 proof and rather cheap, but I find the taste kind of tinny. For dark rum, you can't go wrong with Gosling's Black Seal, and believe it or not, Bacardi Select is quite a decent dark rum for the price. Cruzan Black Strap is certainly inexpensive and super delicious, but I'm not sure it would work in all situations. I've used three Cognacs that are under $20 and while maybe not spectacular, are still noticeably distinct from ordinary brandy in the same price range: Chalfont, Salignac, and Landy.

In almost every other aspect of life, a statement like this would normally indicate that something was pretty bad. Only in the realm of cocktails would this mean that it was actually pretty good; enough so that you might even want to do it again!

I'm drinking this right now; you're right, this is a fantastic drink. Kind of a Saffron Martini, but there's a sense of mint that seems to come from nowhere. (I used Beefeater and Dolin and the same OB combo). One of my favorite drinks is the Alaska which is simply gin, Yellow Chartreuse and orange bitters (many books don't mention the orange bitters, but I feel that they are essential), and I intend to try using Strega to see how that works. This drink is similar, but with vermouth added, which adds a whole new dimension to the Alaska formula.

For $20, I might be tempted.

Having just acquired a bottle of S&C, I'm definitely giving this a try.

An old comment, but to weigh in - your midtown store was an anomaly! I picked up the bulleit rye near brooklyn heights for around $32. I'm also sure I saw their bourbon for a similar price around 23rd and 7th, so they're around! Still, I'd love to be able to pick it up for $21. As I mentioned in another thread, a friend of mine found Bulleit Rye for me somewhere in Maryland and reported that it was selling for $21.99.

Sunday, I went to one of Pennsylvania's "specialty" stores. These are simply stores with larger than average footprint that can afford some shelf space to a few unusual products. The PLCB has been trying very hard of late to bring in more products that cocktail enthusiasts are demanding, so I give them credit for that, but not everything is available everywhere. The store I visited* isn't all that far, but there are at least 3 other stores closer to where I live, so I don't go there on a regular basis. So my wife and I took a ride on a rainy Sunday and filled up a shopping cart with: Hayman's Old Tom Gin (had never tasted before; tried it, love it. Should be loads of fun to experiment with) Smith & Cross Jamaica Rum (tasted this in a bar and was bowled over; haven't cracked the bottle open yet, though) Liquore Strega (have tasted it before, but never bought a bottle. It's nicely Chartreusey. Curious to see how it would work in an Alaska or a Yellow Parrot) Ramazzotti (already have a bottle, but it's nearly gone and I love this stuff) Plymouth Sloe Gin (finally broke down and bought some) Herbsaint Original (Hey, it was $13.00 off the regular price!) Marie Brizard Orange Curaçao (Until now, the only products we had in PA that served as orange curaçao were Grand Marnier and its imitators such as Gran Gala, etc. It will nice to be able reach for this when a recipe calls for, you know . . . orange curaçao). All of the above are rather new to PA (meaning within the past few months) we also picked up: Cherry Heering (been out of this for a while--now I can make Blood and Sand and Singapore Slings again!) Elijah Craig Bourbon Cinzano rosso vermouth For any and all Pennsylvania residents, I highly recommend Nathan Lutchansky's incredibly informative blog PLCB Users Group. It's a godsend for anyone who regularly buys liquor in PA. Postscript: After all this, doesn't my friend call me last night while driving through Maryland to tell me he's at "this amazing liquor store." Arggh. I tell him I just spent a small fortune on liquor two days ago. He mentions Dolin Vermouth, so I say OK, get me a small bottle of Dolin Dry. Then he says into the phone, "What's this? Bulleit Rye?" Aaahhh, damn you! You know that just came out, don't you? And you know I want it. All right, get that. Don't tell me about anything else! I don't want to know. * for anyone who cares, it's the Fox Chapel store in the Waterfront Plaza (Rumor has it that this is the store where Mario Lemieux used to buy his wine).

Did you taste the Cherry Heering straight? It should have a deep, rich black cherry flavor. I have to say that the corks in the bottles I've had weren't the greatest. The color in the glass on the left looks normal, but is odd that your Singapore Sling is brown.

I didn't buy Lucid Absinthe which is on closeout in PA for $40. I was tempted, but everyone seems to kind of pooh-pooh it, so I even though it's $20 off, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Didn't buy Ri(1) because I never do and never will--it's $45 and barely worth $15. Plus the bottle is stupid. PA insists on continuing to carry it, and I can't imagine who is buying it. I should start measuring the dust on the bottles. Didn't buy Bulleit Rye because we don't have it here yet. Our choices are basically Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, and some other one (see previous paragraph). I think we've got Old Overholt back, but this time around it's $20 (really?) because I'm led to understand Jim Beam doesn't really want anyone to actually buy it.

Made a trip this afternoon. Got a bottle of Corralejo Blanco Tequila--on closeout for $21! I should have bought the other bottles they had. Also picked up Pimm's No. 1, Ron Bacrcelo Anejo Rum, and Landy Cognac; plus Jim Beam Rye and Beefeater because they were on sale. Luksusowa is a very good potato vodka, and a good price, too. Worst thing about it is trying to pronounce the name. If you ever see Boyd & Blair up your way, give that a try, too.

I was a bit hesitant to try Laphroaig at first, only because of what I'd read about it. My first taste of any single malt was Lagavulin, so I was spoiled from the get-go. I instantly fell in love with it and went from there. I was intrigued by the idea of Laphroaig but kept reading warnings like "not for the faint-of-heart," "love it or hate it," etc, so I wasn't sure if I would like it. What I did was try Ardbeg first, which was a good choice and enabled me to muster the courage to try Laphroaig. By then it wasn't much of a shock and my reaction was "And to think I hesitated." I'm just thankful that no one gave me Glenlivet 12 as my first single malt, because I would been nonplussed, wondering what all the fuss was about, and might never have bothered to try any others. For smokey, peaty malts that are not as medicinal as Laphroaig, I'd suggest Caol Ila, Ardbeg, Talisker, and Lagavulin. I once marinated a steak in Laphroaig . . .wow.

Hm, actually, I believe the earliest recipes for the Scoff-law, from "Harry's ABC" and "Barflies and Cocktails", call for Rye, not Canadian Whiskey. Fun Quote: Chicago Tribune, January 27th, 1924: “Hardly has Boston added to the Gaiety of Nations by adding to Webster’s Dictionary the opprobrious term of “scoff-law” to indicate the chap who indicts the bootlegger, when Paris comes back with a “wet answer”—Jock, the genial bartender of Harry’s New York Bar, yesterday invented the Scoff-law Cocktail, and it has already become exceedingly popular among American prohibition dodgers.” The Savoy Cocktail Book does call for Canadian Club, perhaps by 1930 Rye Whiskey had become harder to come by. Interesting. I wonder then, since the recipe was formulated for rye, if the formula should be adjusted when using Canadian Club, or does the Savoy recipe have different proportions than the one given in "Harry's ABC" and "Barflies and Cocktails"? (I don't have either of those last two books)

A lot times when making a Sazerac, I'll go with Herbsaint rather than actual absinthe. In fact, last week, in honor of Mardis Gras, I used my last shot of Thomas Handy Rye in a Sazerac and I used Herbsaint, mainly to keep it all New Orleans-y. It was one of the best Sazeracs I've ever made. I happen to belong to the camp that says the Scofflaw should be made with Canadian whisky. The drink was invented during Prohibition and called for Canadian whisky. Sure, they probably would have preferred to make it with American rye, and were probably thinking (even if wrongly) of Canadian whisky as a rye stand-in, so they used what they had. To make a drink, whose name actually meant someone who consumed alcohol in defiance of Prohibition, using a spirit that was unavailable at the time seems illogical to me. But in this case, I'm not sure which would be designated the "real thing" and which is the substitute.

Thanks, Paulo! The bottle I have is the "Coronel Xavier Chaves". You said it's ideal for cocktail-making. Any suggestions? BTW, you're English is excellent.

Manhattan, Martini, or Gin & Tonic would all work for me in this situation. For those times when I want a tasty cocktail but I'm too tired to flip through the cocktail books or come up with something new, I have this thing I just throw together--sort of a quick and dirty Planter's Punch. I just take some dark rum, a little Falernum, a little lime juice, and Angostura bitters. Works every time.

Why is that significant?

I was just in a Italian market this afternoon looking for flavoring syrups and came across a bottle of something called FERNET Magnoberta Bitters, so I though, what the hell. It's a decent FB sub, but it's a bit thinner tasting (maybe due to lower alcohol content), not as rich and lush as FB, but still delivers and works in cocktails (I'm enjoying it in a Bernet Frankenstein right now (with Black Bottle 10 Scotch and PeM)). When I first saw the bottle, I assumed it was a non-alcoholic bitters beverage--this is Pennsylvania. Amazingly, it's 23.5% ABV and sold in a food market . . . in Pennsylvania. Very interesting that they can sell this. I think that had me wanting to buy it more than anything. And it was only $12.95. Another interesting aspect is that the label lists what seems to be all of the ingredients: Aloe, quinine, gentian, rhubarb, zedoary, myrhh, chamomile, licorice, carcamon (sic), galangal, centaury, imperatoria, angelica, calumba, saffron, peppermint oil. Perhaps bostonapothecary or someone can shed some light on a few of the more mysterious of these (zedoary? centuary? imperatoria?). I assume "carcamon" is a misprint of cardamon.

Yikes! Pennsylvania has just added these to its SLO list: http://www.diep9genever.com (WARNING: Loud, annoying music--mute your speakers before clicking through) I don't know why anyone would do this. These seem awful. I haven't had a lot of exposure to different genevers, but enough to know that their flavors tend to be subtle and nuanced, so when you douse them with fruit juices, cream, and chocolate, does it really even matter that it's genever? They don't even offer a plain version so you can judge the quality of the genever by itself. I'm sorry, but these are just freaky. And they're made in Belgium? ETA: Oh, and they're $38. Yeah, right. Good luck moving those!