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Yes, it seemed likely that the stronger Trappist ales were bottle conditioned and would do well on the shelf for a few years. I am less sure of some the US made beers and how well they might do.

Well, perhaps it will be tasty enough to make you want to weep... Good luck with your recipe!

Perhaps La Llorona (the Weeping Woman)? If it is spicy enough might bring a tear or two to your eye and as the name of a Mexican ghost it fits the Halloween theme! I'm not real experienced in the naming game either...

Ah, thanks! Should have made the connection. I think I have been to this website before I think as a result of the recent Bitterman's spirits discussion.

At the halloween party last night I ended up going with Satan's Whisker's (curled), Corpse Reviver #2 and a mix of pomegranate juice with blue curacao and vodka that I called Dragon's Blood for no particular reason other than to be somewhat thematic. My experiment at home came out pretty black but at the party they seemed to be more blue. In any case they all went well and the Corpse Reviver was the biggest hit (no surprise) and easiest to make because it was too damned dark to see very well! But 1:1:1:1 was easy to measure even in the dark. Used Aviation gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, Lillet and few drops of Herbsaint with a garish red grocery store maraschino cherry as garnish. Was being greedy and keeping the Luxardo cherries for myself and besides I had to use those day-glo cherries I bought before I got the Luxardo ones somewhere...

And more important for those of us out in the sticks but who might venture to the big city on occasion, who or what exactly is A y A? Not much luck with google.

Thanks! Some great ideas here.

Excellent! Thanks.

Anybody have any suggestions for a Halloween themed cocktail? Got a last minute invite and thought I might try to bring an appropriate drink. I have a pretty good sized liquor cabinet but don't have a lot in the way of exotic fruit juices or infusions to use. Any and all thoughts welcomed!

I use the grenadine syrup suggested in Doc Cocktails Vintage Spirits book. It combines Pama liqueur with Sonoma Syrup company pomegranate simple syrup (both of which contain pomegranate). Of course that requires access to both those ingredients. The syrup can probably be bought on line but I suppose shipping could be costly. Don't know how close it is to "real" grenadine but it tastes pretty good! He also suggests Stirrings Authentic Grenadine as another alternative that contains pomegranate. Don't know if either of those syrups are readily available in Australia. The classic Rose's grenadine is apparently sans pomegranate and mostly artificial flavoring.

Always good advice to avoaid the cheap shit when possible! But before you do without it might be worthwhile to check with locals in the biz to see what they think if you have any connections with bar tenders or mixologists you trust in your part of Australia to see if they have an opinion on how well any of these brands do in drinks. Might be that some things are better made than others. I know, unlikely but you never know unless you ask! Marie Brizzard Apry for example is generally favorably regarded as a mixer in cocktails by many and yet it gets trashed in Kindred Spirits 2 by Pacault. What the hell is up with that??? The MB White Cacao on the other hand gets 5 stars! Go figure...

Trying to build a small collection of beers to put away for a while to see how they do. Noted the discussion suggesting IPA’s and American barley wines might not be a good choice. Any thought on whether any of these would not benefit from a bit of age? Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock 8.2% ABV (regular, 2004, 2006) Cockeyed Cooper Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine 11.1% ABV (Uinta Brewing Co.) Karmeliet Tripel 8.4% ABV Midas Touch Ancient Ale 9.0% ABV (Dogfish Hand Craft Brewery) Mikkeller Black 17.5% ABV Nøgne Ø #500 Imperial India Pale Ale 10.0% ABV Rodenbach Grand Cru Ale 6% ABV Sierra Nevada Sierra 30th Anniversary Ale 9.2% ABV Widdershins Oak Aged Ale 8.8% ABV (Left Hand Brewing Co.) Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue) 9% ABV La Trappe Oak Aged Isid’or 7.5% ABV La Trappe Oak Aged Quad (Batch 6) 10% ABV La Trappe Quad 10% ABV Trappistes Rochefort 10 11.3% ABV Westmalle Dubbel 7% ABV Westmalle Tripel 9.5% ABV Any value to putting the sour lambics on the shelf awhile? One post above suggested they could handle a little time. Drie Fontenien Oude Kriek Lambic 6% ABV Drie Fontenien Schaerbeekse Kreik Lambic 6% ABV A few others I have but that I hadn’t specifically given thought to aging. Should I reconsider? Aecht Schlenkerla Märzen Rauchbier 5.4% ABV Delerium Nocturnum 8.5% ABV Hennepin Seasonal Belgian-style Ale 7.7% ABV (Brewery Ommegang) Lagunitas Bavarian Style Doppel Weizen 9.0% ABV (Lagunitas Brewing Co.) Boon Framboise Lambic Lindemans Framboise Lambic Timmermans Framboise Lambic Yes, I confess I do like the framboise lambics! Would like to try the Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise but haven’t seen it around here. Or any Cantillon around here for that matter. I would also love to try the Cantillon Blåbær pictured above! Is it even still produced? I see some other interesting suggestions in this thread I will have to look for.

I think that's a great idea. I'll have to try it myself and maybe refine the recipe. With Creole Shrubb, the Angostura Orange is probably redundant. Yes, that was kind of my thinking along with the fact that the bitters seems to be a good pairing with tequila in general. In any case I was happy with the outcome. A good drink for the Creole Shrubb and I liked it better than the first one I made with Ango orange and others seemed to like it as well. So I will likely keep making it that way.

So is that a resounding "No Thanks!" on the stone ice cubes? They didn't really impress me either. They're also terrible at chilling the drink. So anyone have an opinion on these? This is what I got as a gift this summer. Used them a couple of times and seemed OK. Didn't notice any plastic smell in the drink. I usually wash and then briefly boil them after use to try to insure they don't carry any aroma or anything else from drink to drink.

Libbey glassware makes just about everything and I often find them at a nearby restaurant supply store. Can be ordered online as well. Biggest problem I have is convincing them to break a case. I can't really use 3 or 4 dozen of them! Libbey model 127 old fashioned glass This is a good example. 6.5 oz glasses that are about $1.33 each new. Unfortunately they come as a case of 4 dozen. Might be a couple more than you want... Might be able to find a store that will sell you less but cost will likely be higher. I bought some Libbey coupe glasses here (they will sell you as many or as few as you like but it is expensive) and they have some single old fashion style glasses (Paris 5.1 oz, Tossa 7.6 oz or Banquet Whiskey 8.8 oz glasses). Or can try the goodwill/dollar store route suggested or Ebay. Usaually a deal to be found if you are persistent. I have seen single old fashioned glasses as part of a "gift set" this time of year. Crown Royal used to do that alot. Assuming you have any use for Crown Royal! And of course that means the glass usually has the name of the booze etched on them...

Small dinner party last night in which I featured the El Presidente recipe in the September issue of Imbibe by Splificator/Dave Wondrich as the opening cocktail. 1 ½ oz. rich white rum 1 ½ oz. Dolin Vermouth Blanc (Martini & Rossi or Cinzano Bianco are fine substitutes) 1 barspoon orange Curaçao or Grand Marnier ½ barspoon real grenadine Thinly cut orange peel Garnish: maraschino cherry (optional) Stir ingredients well with cracked ice and strain into a chilled glass. Twist a swatch of thinly cut orange peel over the top and drop in or discard as you prefer. Garnish, if desired, with a cherry. Didn't have a rich white rum (I assume something like Flor de Caña 4 yo white? I have the Starr rum from Maritius but wasn't sure that was the right choice) so I used Barbancourt 8 yo since it was a special occasion. Used the Senor white curacao and the grenadine mix from Doc Cocktails Vintage Spirits book. Orange peel and a Luxardo cherry sealed the deal. But most importantly broke open a new bottle of Dolin Blanc and it really did seem to help. Will have to try this side by side with regular dry vermouth and see if it is a big difference or just my imagination. I also liked the El Presidente variation I had at Leon's a couple of weeks ago that used Carpano Antica so I may try that again soon too. Dinner was Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food which wasn't exactly Caribbean themed but seemed to work out OK. Also mixed it up with a few Margara's during dinner (tried the Bittermans Xocolatl mole bitters instead of Angostura orange which seemed to work) and I had an Eva Peron for myself just to change the pace. The evening finished with Castries peanut rum cream and 1921 Tequila cream liqueurs. Everyone seemed to have a good time! Well, those that could still move...

So is that a resounding "No Thanks!" on the stone ice cubes? They didn't really impress me either.

So just as a matter of curiosity what about "plastic" ice (was given to me as a gift by someone who thought they were helping...) or the cold rocks you see advertised (I don't have those!). There are times when I would like to chill something a little bit, but not a lot, but not keep the bottle in the fridge or freezer and also don't really want it diluted any further. A nice 80 proof rum perhaps that doesn't need any further dilution to bring out the flavors. You can chill the glass but that only lasts so long and these tend to be slower sipping drinks. Or something to be had out on the deck on a warmer evening where you want to keep it a little cool but not dilute it further.

In my opinion it is great quality for the price and pretty good quality whatever the price. I love the Espolon reposado as a mixing tequila for Margarita's on the rocks and my current favorite, the Tequila Mockingbird #2 (I like to use raspicello instead of limoncello if I want to make it a little sweeter. And besides, I just love raspberry in general!). Most people probably tend to use a blanco in a Margarita and that is fine to me if it is a generic frozen margarita. But for a good margarita on the rocks I like to use a reposado and the Espolon has always worked well, especially if I am making a lot of them for a party.

I always feel that The Last Word is a nice drink to get to know Green Chartreuse. It is an easy 1:1:1:1 ratio of gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur (I have Luxardo) and of course the Chartreuse. Shake with ice, strain and poor in a chilled cocktail glass. Usual amounts suggested are 3/4 oz of each but since it is an even ratio of each ingredient it just comes down to how much you want to drink before it has time to warm up. Mine don't usually last very long!

I had the chance to attend a rum themed dinner last week that was hosted by Ed Hamilton, importer of Lemon Hart. The end of the dinner featured a rum tasting which happened to include a bottle of both the old and new formula of the spirits. Ed said that to him there was minimal difference in the formula (the producer says the new formula is "better") and I tried both with a splash of water (not terribly precise in my measurements of the water) and could not tell a difference between them. And of course a lot of tasty rum and food had been consumed before I got to this point of the evening! The label is quite different in appearance on the old bottle as it was predominantly yellow with a red circle on it rather than the darkish red of this new bottling. The "151" is also much more prominent on the new label. There is a on youtube where Ed and another person taste them both and proclaim them to be similar.

No idea what the numbers mean and make no claim to be an expert but I think the McKesson Liquor Company was only around under that name from the late 1970's (maybe the going back to the 60's?) to the late 1980's suggesting it might be from that time period. McKesson History Another site suggesting the 1970's

The Huffington Post has a preview video here. It is a pretty basic promo of the show. Premieres November 21st. And probably other sites as well. There is a preview video on Travel Channel but I can't get that one to load from the office. Sounds like this is in addition to rather than instead of No Reservations. I plan to give it a try as I have enjoyed most episodes of No Reservations. I do confess I like the travel part of No Reservations as much or maybe even more than the eating part of the show.

You may certainly have my permission to share the photo. I will even PM you with a link to my photos from that trip that I have online for you to look at should you wish to do so. And I love to travel so I don't need much of a reason to go to Philadelphia. Just need the time!

Sure, would be happy to have the recipe. I enjoy a good rum Old Fashioned and would be happy to give these two new acquisitions a try. May have to do a little work to get all the spices together as I am not a big cook but worth a try. I even have the whiskey barrel aged Fee Bros. bitters so the spiced simple is all I would need. That is no lightweight of a drink. In addition to the 114 overproof of the S&C the Ibis is 98 proof itself. Makes me wonder what the other 5 (or more?) Old Fashioneds are! At least it sounds like I know where to go for a good drink or three the next time I am in Philadelphia.