Hassouni

Am I correct in thinking you aren't using proper crushed ice? If so, try that.

"FrogPrincesse: encouraging you to drink not so responsibly"

There's not much to get. Bourbon is sweet. I don't think it's the vanilla and whatever flavor components from the oak, I think it's the use of corn, which is a very sweet grain. I personally don't like the sweetness and find most bourbon insipid. WT101 is the exception, but that may be because its 50.5% ethanol!

In my fridge right now: (Always try to keep these stocked): carrots celery various kinds of japanese mushrooms (some combo of enoki, shimeji, maitake, and oyster) larger, milder green chiles. Not jalapeños, but the ones labeled as "Korean pepper" at H mart, or shishitos, or something of that nature napa cabbage daikon scallions negi or what i believe is negi Other stuff I buy fresh, exclusively, that I may or may not have right now: Any kind of leafy green lotus root broccoli cauliflower other cabbage beets (pre-cooked vacuum sealed, if that counts) burdock all kinds of squash (summer and winter) bell peppers radishes (this list could go on for a while...) Canned (nothing right now but what I would and do buy): bamboo shoots water chestnuts various beans, esp chick peas diced tomatoes, though right now those are in a jar artichoke hearts Frozen (again, nothing at the moment): sweet peas corn chopped spinach (for Perso-Iraqi spinach stew) very hot chiles (habanero, Thai, Indian finger chiles)

No

I'm not arguing with that, but for my curiosity's sake, what did you read and where? A quick search hasn't yielded any breakthroughs on butter in the news.

Yeah, I know....

By discard do you mean drink?

I tend to just add a dash of absinthe directly to the mixing tin, unless I'm putting on a show for a crowd, and then I, erm, attempt the whole tossing-glass-while-shouting-"Sazerac!" thing. That doesn't achieve the same effect. You want to coat the glass so that the aroma hits you before you even take a sip. I suppose one of those Absinthe atomizer things would work just as well.

Holy shit, with 2 oz of WN and an oz of Pussers it would have to be satisfying!

Pussers and S&C are rums cut from the same cloth. Smith & Cross is stronger, and maybe has a bit more hogo to it, but Pusser's is not far behind. I'd say Pusser's has the same general character, but doesn't stand out quite as much. Smith & Cross dominates a drink, whereas Pusser's asserts itself. For the price and wide availability, it's a damn good buy. ETA: you're in Australia right? Is your Pusser's the 42% version, or the stronger one? Here in the US we only get the 42

Demerara syrup always. A scientifically measured small puddle. I use Rittenhouse, and no soda. I chill the glass first, and do the absinthe rinse after dumping the ice and right before straining the rest into the glass. I also don't throw out the leftover absinthe.

Speaking for myself, a Sazerac is always winged.

I bought my first bottle of Wray & Nephew Overproof today. Welcome to the dark white side

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Berry is the one who unearthed Vic's original recipe, no? At the end of the day, it's what you prefer. If you like 1:1, do it. If you prefer sweeter, do it, etc.

Yep, exactly what Princesse said. I find USUALLY 1:1 sweet:lime has a bit of remaining tartness, without losing balance, which I like. A Mai Tai should be rich and balanced, neither too sour nor too sweet.

I also tend not to use eggs at their very freshest, though I often will make egg white cocktails with a new batch of eggs, just for the novelty. That said, my non-egged shaken drinks get quite frothy by themselves if I don't double strain, so even with less than super fresh eggs, I get decent if not fluffy froth. Doesn't gum syrup set the froth? Perhaps adding a touch of that if you have it (I don't) might preserve whatever froth is created so that it doesn't fizzle out in the glass.

I assume you do a dry shake first?

I bought a lot of cookbooks when I first really got into cooking (at university), and in retrospect, most of these are not particularly great cookbooks. I haven't ditched them yet (mostly because they've been packed away), but when they're unpacked soon, I don't see a need in keeping them.

OMG. I love how you think. PM me for more on my approach to combat. It's official, this is my favorite/the best thread on eG. :-D Soooo last night I ran my pop up bar to great success. No pictures yet. There were 11 or 12 guests, almost all of them had their full 4-drink allotment of Champs Elysées, Scofflaw, Brooklynite, and Lion's Tail. No pics yet, but my friends took a few so I'll post when I get them. A few thoughts, never having made drinks for more than 2 or 3 people before: 1. Quickly free pouring into jiggers gets messy. I can see the appeal of pour spouts (for use with jiggers, not for free pouring right into the mixing tin) 2. The Koriko tins are freakin' sweet, but what's this about being easy to separate? Not from what I discovered 3. 1 bartender for 12 people is pushing it. My cousin was acting as my barback, and that was absolutely necessary to ensure speedy service 4. Store bought ice SUCKS! The ice from my freezer's icemaker is vastly superior by comparison. All the guests' drinks were made with the store bought ice, and dilution was a real problem, despite keeping the ice in a huge igloo cooler. 3-3.25 oz input came very nearly to 5+ oz in my 5.5 oz coupes. Thank god I wasn't using my martini glasses, there wasn't much spillage. When there was a lull, I made myself a Trinidad sour (about 3 oz of inputs), using my freezer's ice, and in the glass it didn't approach the lip. 5. The Champs Elysées was the most popular, followed by the scofflaw and then the lion's tail. The Brooklynite, which I think is a great drink, got the least acclaim. 6. Citrus reamers suck. I'm getting a lemon sized steel press. 7. Lemon and lime juices look damn near identical once squeezed and bottled.

Uh...not sure where to start but... First, know the heat of the chiles you're putting in. If they're jalapeños, know they aren't very hot. Serranos, a bit hotter. Thai chiles, much hotter, etc. If it's chile powder or generic dried red chiles, try a tiny bit to see how hot it is. I haven't found the other ingredients to affect the heat, only the ratio of chile added to the overall dish, and how hot the chiles themselves are. If using fresh chiles or whole dried ones, obviously if you leave them in for the entire length of cooking, it will be hotter. For chile powder, you obviously can't remove it, once it's in, it's in.

The reason for 1/2 orgeat and 1/2 SS (or RCS or whatever) is so that the orgeat doesn't dominate the drink. If you make it with 1/2 orgeat and no sugar syrup, you get a very dry drink (which is nice as well). Try a full ounce of orgeat, then try just half an ounce and no syrup, and compare to the one posted in #117

Supplies bought for the cocktail party, and whisky bought for myself, the day after. (I expected the Pusser's to be finished, but somehow it wasn't...)

I bought some recycled and "green" alu. foil at Whole Food's, so-labelled "heavy duty"....it doesn't hold a candle to Reynold's heavy duty. Harumph.