KD1191

What about some sort of Michelada? Usually there's something salty/spicy going on there.

I think making a NY Sour to try to impress a sommelier is kinda being set up for failure. The wine isn't the star of the show, and if you try to make it stand out you're probably going to have to abuse a very nice bottle of wine or compromise on the overall flavor of the cocktail. That said, you probably shouldn't over do it. Maybe even do something that down-plays the 'quality' of the wine involved. I've enjoyed a drink called the Cymbaline that took the classic gin sour (with Plymouth) and used a jasmine-infused white wine as the float. The jasmine played nicely with the botanicals in the gin.

Method: Made my 'desert island' drinks list, and then worked backward to what I'd need to make them. Tanqueray Noilly Prat Dry Punt e Mes Campari Rittenhouse BIB St. George Absinthe Buffalo Trace Luxardo Maraschino Amaro Nonino A bottle half and half of green/yellow chartreuse (is this cheating?) I didn't consider bitters to be 'bottles' for the purposes of the experiment. Peychaud would replace the Amaro if I had to.

I realize that - the problem is that my infusion has that synthetic cherry flavor that's in cough syrup. ← I wonder if the 'numbing' effect of the Szechuan peppercorns could be presenting or enhancing this medicinal/synthetic flavor.

Well, unless we're related I don't think he made it up. My mom (born and raised in rural Montana) also called this a One Eyed Egyptian Sandwich. When I started reading this thread and didn't see anyone else mentioning that name, I assumed she'd made it up, but then turned to Google and found a recipe under that name here.

Bryan, thanks for the detailed report. I'm getting ready to take a similar trip this fall (Bangkok, Phuket, Siem Reap, Hanoi, Tokyo). Your descriptions of Bangkok and Hanoi will surely be invaluable. That said, I am wondering if there was anything you'd do differently in retrospect.

Thanks for the insight. We'd probably just want to see a sight or two and eat some really good sushi.

Hoping we'll see the Gilded Cage make an appearance in this thread. Though I tend to prefer it with rum, I know the original vodka version has many admirers.

I'll be traveling through SE Asia this fall, and had planned to change planes in Seoul on my way there from Chicago, however another itinerary has become available that would leave me with a 13 hour layover at Narita (~6 am to 7 pm on a Saturday). As I've never been to Japan, I thought this might be an interesting opportunity. Has anyone had any recent experience with extended layovers? Assuming an hour+ in transit to-from Tokyo, plus the time spent in immigration/security, would it be worthwhile?

Two pieces of Chicago restaurant info: Sadly, Aigre Doux closes today. On a happier note, Schwa's voice mail wasn't full as of this posting and said they were taking reservations through the end of September.

The Boulevardier: 1 1/2 oz Bourbon (use something spicy, I chose Old Pogue) 1 oz Sweet Vermouth (I used M&R) 1 oz Campari Certainly tasty, but not in the same league as a good negroni.

Yeah, I'm probably confusing mint/menthol and eucalyptus...

I like the relatively new Tasting Table - Chicago newsletter for the latest about Chicago. If you're looking for restaurant recommendations, I've found that a lot of chefs really enjoy Chicago's wealth of Korean BBQs and taquerias. For the former, I'd recommend San Soo Gab San (on Western, just north of Foster). There are a lot of good K-BBQ places in Chicago, but SSGS is set apart by the sheer volume (and overall deliciousness) of the banchan. They cover the entire table. You'll get a wealth of argument on the taqueria question, I imagine. Currently, my favorite is El Asadero (on Montrose, just West of Lincoln) for their carne asada and al pastor tacos. Up thread there is a lot of good discussion of finer dining...I agree with most everything said about The Bristol (though it gets full-and loud-very quickly, and they don't take reservations). Any of Paul Kahan's places would be a great choice (The Publican, Blackbird, Avec). Definitely go to the Violet Hour, definitely sit at the bar, and I would suggest avoiding Friday/Saturday. Hot Doug's lines have been insane on Friday/Saturday recently, too. There's a Twitter thread @WaitWatcher who has been monitoring waits at places around Chicago that don't take reservations, including Hot Doug's, The Bristol and Kuma's Corner.

FB, not Menta...yeah, there was a definite minty thing going on...not necessarily mint, maybe peppermint and menthol.

Aka'd as 1 1/2 or 1.5 oz I assume? ← Yes, 1.5 oz of each.

Ordered a Fernet Flip last night at the Violet Hour. He's what Ira came up with. 3/2 oz Fernet Branca 3/2 oz Carpano Antica Whole Egg 1/8 oz Demerara Dash Angostura Trying to minimize the number of ingredients and accentuate the Fernet, he tried it first without the Angostura and Demerara. The finish was really funky. After the minor tweak it was very pleasant all around. Perhaps the best Fernet drink I've had. Minty smooth, but not at all in the "I just left the dentist's office" sort of way I feel after many drinks that are heavy in Fernet.

Yes, I would think chrisamirault's drink would pick up just a bit of that flavor profile from using the Luxardo Maraschino cherries. If Punt e Mes is your preferred sweet vermouth, the result is not a 'true Manhattan'? Are types of rye that may be more robust than the norm also verboten?

I think I'd call that a Manhattan variant, though, since the Punt has quite a different profile than sweet vermouth, at least to my taste. Your drink, with the addition of a few shakes of orange bitters, is called an Orange County - from Phil Ward during his D & C run. ← The Luxardo Maraschino cherries probably make this closer to a Red Hook than an Orange County. ETA: Oh, and the Red Hook is generally my 'go to' drink when all else fails, unless there's a particularly spectacular failure, in which case it's a sazerac.

Staring at the French Pearl recipe, I realized I had no mint. I'd been wanting to try a version with ginger in place of the Pernod, so started subbing things and ended up with this, which I will sheepishly call the Gin Gin Rose: 2 oz Gin (I used Tanqueray) 3/4 oz Lime 3/4 oz Homemade Grenadine 1/2 oz Koval Organic Ginger Liqueur Given the pedigree of the various drinks this is ripping off, I'm not surprised it's tasty. Now, I just need to get my hands on some of Koval's Rose Hip liqueur, to try the Gin Rose Rose.

Stopped by for a couple drinks on my birthday on Tuesday, only had one drink off the new menu: Indian Summer : Gin & Tonic :: Cuba Libre : Rum & Coke The Indian Summer won't knock your socks off, its superiority is subtle, even familiar. It's what you've been imagining gin and tonic should taste like all along. And, what it will do is ruin you for plain G&T for a good long while.

Pour your own vodka shots?

The proprietress of a liquor store on Rue Mouffetard in Paris put two 'airline' sized bottles of Green Chartreuse (one regular, one VEP!) in the bag when I purchased a bottle of VEP Yellow from her back in November...certainly a nice surprise.

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 guess Sanbitter is a pricey ingredient. However, I get the impression that it can be approximated with a few ingredients readily available behind most bars. But, perhaps I'm incorrect there, too.

Understood. I guess in that case it would be an issue of interpretation from context. If you trust the gatekeepers/authors of this compilation, or to a lesser extent the other contributors, or if you are intrigued by how such an apparently bizarre concoction could end up in a book of otherwise intriguing recipes, then perhaps you give it a whirl...if not, trust your instinct and avoid. I know you are just using Stephen and the Broken Shoeshiner as an example to elucidate your larger point, but for any who might be interested Stephen is also of the Violet Hour in Chicago. From my conversations with him, he appears quite devoted to absinthe. The Broken Shoeshiner was featured on TVH's Summer and Fall menus in 2008. The first two Google hits for "Broken Shoeshiner" lead to positive reviews of the drink (from the same source), the third and fourth to Toby's own posts in the Violet Hour threads at the Chicago LTHForum and here on eGullet regarding new drinks for Summer '08.

Knowing about who came up with a recipe might help in making a split-second decision on whether to read the recipe or not, but the recipe rather speaks for itself. If someone who worked at a Red Lobster came up with the same recipe, wouldn't it be the same drink? I don't disagree that the book could have been more informative about the history of a drink or a bartender. Maybe this was an oversight, or maybe that style of relating recipes is also one of the conventions they are challenging. As they say, it's just a drink.