John the Barman

The michters 10yr rye is awesome I love the US1 as well, but the 10yr is really a jem. Your right about the price though. Try the kentucky vintage 21yr rye if you see it in a bar. great whiskey. I've tried the 23yr and i thought it was left in the barrel too long. I don't know if we need that many more ryes on the market. We need the ryes that are avalible to be avalible in every market when ever they are ordered. AND WE SHOULD NOT NEED TO CARRY RAIN VODKA TO GET A HOLD OF SAZERAC ON A REGULAR BASIS!!! Not all markets are like that, but here in LA it is. Our bar is a whiskey bar with a heavy rye collection. 21 different bottles. The problem is that it took us a long time to get to that. I don't see how a new bar starting up in this city could get more then 5 or 6 to start out with.

ri 1 has no finish RIB is the best buy in a bottle buy anything from heaven hill or buffalo trace before beam Anything that says Sazerac is great. period.

I like stirring with a chilled glass and Kold draft size ice. Coldest cocktail possible without chilling your booze. Takes a lot of turns that way though. Chilling your booze makes it impossible to get enough water into the mix. Plus it just kinda sucks.

The Oxo strainer is great, but the best hawthorn is a little cheaper and more striped down in style. The called a No Prong strainer, it's huge and covers the full top of a 26 28 shaker. You can buy them at barproducts.com. The coil squeezes together to form a good fit. Nobody has talked about 'closing the gate' yet. The reason hawthorns have that place to put your finger is because they are meant to be pushed down so the the liquid doesn's come through under the strainer, it comes through the strainer. This creats two streams of liquid. Some people use this to pour into two glasses at the same time, but the dense coil is really the payoff. The less ice cristals the better. Doubling up the springs is a great touch too. The reason i don't like the Oxo as much is it doesn't allow double pouring. The metal is great, but it bends upwards so only 1 stream comes out when you close the gate. I don't really care of the spring as much either. Not dense enough.