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Among a number of things I am still on a quest to find and try Van Wees 15yo Roggenaer. It is at the top of my list for my trip to London next summer if I am still unable to find someone to bring me back a bottle or two before that. I found a site that would ship it but am a bit reluctant to risk it getting broken or hung up in customs. others seem to do it here with no problem but I think I will wait and be sure.

Was just looking for some Bonal today and almost missed it as I was looking for the key on the label. Apparently it was time for a refresh by the marketing department...

Have been wandering the streets of BA the last 3 days (with a side trip to Colonia, Uruguay) but haven't seen any must buys yet. Liquor stores aren't that readily obvious at least to me, perhaps because I am in the touristy areas, but did see a couple of aged cachaca's. May just resort to a little Havana Club rum on my way home.

Did you sub Aperol for the Campari as the picture suggests? Not being as big a bitter fan that is something I might try in making this drink at some point. A little more orange but that is not a bad thing as far as I am concerned.

I must say that I really like the etching on those glasses! A shame they aren't a bit larger but that size has its place as well. A lot of interesting drinks in the PDT cocktail book it would seem. I have it on order at Amazon but it has been on back order for awhile. I waited too long to make the decision to buy so I couldn't get it when I ordered a few other books there recently. I suppose I could cancel and order elsewhere but haven't gotten around to it yet. Edit - Just checked and it seems to be back in stock. Will probably arrive the day after I leave town at this point. Oh well...

I believe the Facile Punsch is no longer produced. Maybe look for Carlshamns if you are overseas. For anyone looking to make the Havana Cocktail from that article, I obviously couldn't test it out with the Kronan, so you may need a little more lemon (For Dan I'd go equal parts). I think I figured my homebrew to be about 200g/L. Good drink though. Could be. Amathus in London has a listing of something that sorta sounds like it so even if it is not produced anymore there may be a few dusty bottles still in stock so I may try to find it. If not my back up plan was to look for Carlshamns as you note which seems to be pretty available in the UK. I do plan to give the Havana Cocktail a try at some point although I may use Apry. Is that likely to make a huge difference? I would guess it is a bit different from the Orchard Apricot.

So I made up 2 separate Doctor Cocktails at 2:1:1 with rum, punsch and fresh lime juice. The first was with S&C and the second with Appleton Extra. The stronger proof of the S&C made for a drier drink with a bit more kick while the sweetness of the punsch remained more accessible with the Appleton which I find to be a little sweeter and mellow in comparison to S&C anyway. Of the two I think I prefer the version with Appleton although the S&C definitely has more character and funk as was to be expected. Didn't get to the Brugal last night so tonight perhaps a comparison between Appleton and the Brugal to see how much difference the rum makes. Hopefully the lime juice holds up as I went ahead and juiced what I had on hand last night.

I was also reading this article (where thirtyoneknots gets a mention!) about the master distiller who created it, Henrik Facile. He apparently has a couple of other formulations including one labeled under his own name. Not available here in the US of course but I might be able to track one down next summer in the UK for a comparison.

It is quite sweet. Then again I like sweet. With a 2:1 ratio with lime juice it was a bit like a really funky limeade. I liked it but it might not be for everyone. I did try just a wee nip straight up and it was nice enough but not sure I would want to drink a lot of it that way. I also liked it well enough to get a second and third bottle to put away for the future in case it proves hard to come by down the road! I think tonight I will make a small portion Doctor Cocktail with S&C and one with Appleton Extra for a "taste off". I am also curious to test Ted Haigh's assertion that it can make a lesser rum shine. I have a bottle of Brugal gold which is OK but nothing special so maybe I will add that to the taste test tonight and see!

Glad to hear you liked the Rusty Blade gin. I bought a bottle awhile back but haven't gotten to it yet. I need to dig it out and give it a try along with the St. George Dry rye gin and the bottle of Genevieve I have in the back of the liquor cabinet. Might add the Citadelle Reserve gin and the Bols genever as omparison points and have a little gin/genever tasting session at some point.

I certainly second that! I have been to the H&F Bottle Shop several times since the spirits license was obtained. They have a small but growing and somewhat eclectic, in a good way, collection of spirits. They were the first I know of to have the new Kronan Swedish Punsch. They have a growing bitters selection and noted they are the only shop that they are aware of with Boker's bitters. Some of my recent purchases there have been Rittenhouse BiB and the older bottling of Lemon Hart 151 rum. The staff when I have been there have always been both knowledgeable and friendly. I have since seen Lemon Hart in at least one other store, the Piedmont Tower mentioned above, which I also think has an excellent selection of beer, wine and spirits and very helpful staff. I learned on my last visit to H&F that they will be doing Cocktail classes over the next few months at Holeman & Finch Pub (The same group owns both along with Restaurant Eugene). A bit spendy at $100 a class but I hope to attend one to check it out for myself and decide. And you apparently get to drink what you make! The first is on Saturday, January 28th but I am not able to go. Hopefully next month. They also have a number of wines and a limited but interesting selection of beer at H&F. For a broader selection of beer, including growlers if one is into that sort of thing, one can try Hop City near downtown Atlanta (the website is not so helpful, it has been "under construction" for as long as I have been aware of it...) or Ale Yeah! in Decatur. Not quite as big as Hop City but still a good selection and a little more convenient if you are in or near the Decatur area.

DeGroff addresses this question directly, but not (to my mind) satisfactorily in the book. Essentially, it boils down to "real pomegranate grenadine is hard to find, so make the Bacardi with sugar and add a touch of [presumably artificial] grenadine for colour". To me, the more vexing question is: Why lemon juice instead of lime? I certainly thought lime first even though the book says lemon and made it with lime kind of as a reflex. I think I would use lime and probably forego the simple in place of using Doc Cocktails pomegranate syrup alone as you note. It certainly has plenty of sugar in it but is a bit more "pomegranate-y". Don't have Cuban rum so that wasn't an option. Might also add a teaspoon of Rose's grenadine just to get a little more color. Mine looked more like a Pink Lady. Haven't got much else to do with the Rose's anyway.

Started flipping through The Essential Cocktail today and was still feeling a bit rummy when I landed on the Bacardi cocktail. I suppose it is not truly the Bacardi Cocktail though since I went with the Flor de Caña 4yo white rum. 1.5 oz Bacardi white rum (used FdC 4yo white) 0.75 simple syrup 0.75 lemon juice 1 tsp grenadine (used the mix from Doc Cocktails book with Pama and Sonoma pomegranate syrup) Messed up and used lime juice the first time and rather enjoyed it! Tried another using lemon juice and I didn't like it as well. Mine didn't get quite as pinkish as the picture in the book. Overall I liked this book. Feels solid and the info on each recipe and their variations seems quite interesting.

Dave, where have you seen Bols Genever and Laird's bonded? Haven't seen either of those at the stores I usually frequent in town. Boosma tends to be the only genever I recall seeing routinely. I have seen plenty of Applejack along with the 7.5 and 12 yo brandy but not the bonded. Bols Genever I ordered on the internet but I would happily pick up a bottle of the Laird's bonded if it wasn't too far out of the way! Rhum agricole and a nice mezcal can be had but the selection I have seen can be a bit limited here. But I tend to stick to just a few stores these days. I suppose more could be found if I shopped around a bit more.

Dave, where have you seen Bols Genever and Laird's bonded? Haven't seen either of those at the stores I usually frequent in town. Boosma tends to be the only genever I recall seeing routinely. I have seen plenty of Applejack along with the 7.5 and 12 yo brandy but not the bonded. Bols Genever I ordered on the internet but I would happily pick up a bottle of the Laird's bonded if it wasn't too far out of the way! Rhum agricole and a nice mezcal can be had but the selection I have seen can be a bit limited here. But I tend to stick to just a few stores these days. I suppose more could be found if I shopped around a bit more.

Love all the pictures! Have enjoyed your report.

Last night was a Doctor Cocktail from the Vintage Spirits book. Got a little delayed in trying this but finally got to it. 2 oz rum (Appleton Extra) 1 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan of course!) 0.5 Lime juice Quite nice! S&C rum will be next when I return to this. Tonight I went with a "Hard Eight" taken from The Modern Mixologist by Tony Abou-Ganim which arrived today along with a couple of other books purchased with a little Christmas "mad money". 2 oz Barbancourt 5 star rhum 0.5 oz lime juice 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters Chilled Ginger beer (fever tree - I used about 3 oz) Build in a Collins glass with ice, top with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with sprig of mint. Have to say this one didn't do it for me. I find Barbancourt to be a fairly "delicate" rhum and the ginger beer pretty much dominated. Perhaps I used too much which is why I dislike these non specific quantity recipes. Wasn't a lot of discussion about this book here that I could find with a modest search so I took a chance in ordering it. The book itself seems nice enough but the first part (some 80 pages) is more basic bar info aimed at more of a starting crowd. I am no expert certainly but it didn't seem to offer much that was new to me. The 60 or so recipes include some interesting ones but it has a number of fruit purée's, a lot of pineapple juice (which is not really a favorite of mine), the odd mix of unusual ingredients I am not sure I would want to track down just to try a drink (Bonny Doon Framboise anyone?) and a surprising number of vodka based drinks (especially flavored vodka's). Nothing wrong with vodka I suppose but not a base spirit I am using much of at the moment. Pictures are nice when present but not every recipe has a picture which was also a bit of surprise given the relatively limited number of recipes and was a little disappointing I must admit. Time will tell but not sure it will be a book I return to frequently. Also picked up The Essential Cocktail and Imbibe! along with Boozehound which I thought might be an entertaining read on my upcoming trip.

Sounds interesting. I will make a note of the clubhouse. On my return from Antarctica I will have only a few hours in BA awaiting a connection between flights so I will not be able to go back into town. Anything I buy in BA at the start of the trip would have to be carried for the 2 weeks during the cruise. If it is something really interesting I will do it but weight is a bit of a concern as we must pack for extremes of weather and I always bring an excess of photo gear to begin with! Not to mention the risk of breakage.

Not the name specifically (sounds a bit like reposado for tequila so perhaps a similar origin?) but yes, I have read that aged cachaça is more a sipping drink like an aged rum and that younger cachaça is generally used in the classic caipirinha and other cocktails. Will look for both but if I had to choose I would probably go for something aged as I can get basic cachaça here at home pretty easily these days. Haven't seen much if any aged cachaça though. Seems to be a big split between larger production column still "industrial cachaça" and smaller pot still "artisanal cachaça". I expect everything in the US comes from the larger producers so I would be inclined to look for something from a smaller artisanal producer. Most sites suggest looking for cachaça made in the Minas Gerais region. We shall see. May not be all that many options in Buenos Aires and fewer still in the duty free at the airport. I am in BA to start the trip but on my return I go straight from the ship to Ushuaia to Ezeiza airport to home. Didn't really want to have to haul it around in my luggage the whole trip so I may be limited to what I can find at the airport in BA on the way home.

Good to know! Makes sense that wine country might also make a decent brandy. I have a Spanish Jerez brandy (Lepanto) so might make a nice comparison. If I decide to go the cachaça route I will look for 51 as you suggest or perhaps the pisani. But I think 51 is pretty readily available here in the US unless it is an export version that is not as good. I know it is one of the bigger brands in Brazil. Germana cachaça is one I have heard some Brazilian friends mention, especially the 10yo. Wasn't sure how much I might find in Buenos Aires. I always try to ask locals once I get there to get some ideas as well.

Now less than 2 weeks until my departure for Buenos Aires and points (very) south. Argentina is of course known for wine but other than Fernet Branca, which isn't even local, I already have and can get here in the US easily of course, there doesn't seem to be a specific liquor or liqueur to be on the lookout for. No cachaça like Brazil or pisco from Peru. So is there anything I should be looking for to bring home that reflects the country other than wine? When searching Argentina on the forum I did find this post that suggested genever is a common drink amongst porteños. Didn't know that! I wonder if I might stumble across the elusive van Wees Roggenaer there? Alas, probably not. Gotta be something with a local connection worth trying, right? Or should I stick to looking for a good deal on standard options at the duty free on the way home (maybe the aforementioned cachaça?) or consider "acquiring" a bottle of Havana Club if they have it? On the plus side I did stumble across this post about a Porteño cocktail. That sounds tasty!

I quite agree! My go to for a Dark and Stormy and its variations. No idea if they add molasses, which I suppose might be a bit impractical, or a molasses flavoring as you note which seems reasonable. Gotta think a little extra sugar comes even with a molasses flavoring but I certainly don't know for sure. Tasty either way.

Brillet is one name that has shown up here in a few searches. Would certainly try the Ferrand pineau if I can find it and it is not super expensive. Belle de Brillet also sounds like it might be interesting. Haven't seen any Floc but haven't looked closely. My favorite store does have a couple of Armagnacs so I suppose it is possible. Given the concern about its frailty I might pass though. The Dupont pommeau is the first and only brand of pommeau I have seen as well. I guess while I don't have a lot of choices within these more obscure categories at least I have an option or two now and again and that is a start.

So are you headed home yet? Was curious how the Kudu hunting went!

Cruzan Blackstrap has molasses flavoring added after distillation. So far as I am aware, LH151 comes by its distinctive profile naturally. Does that "molasses flavoring" include sugar? Molasses is about 50% sugars so if they are using real molasses, as seems likely, rather than some sort of artificial flavoring, then they would definitely be including sugar.