Hassouni

you absolutely must go to R&R Taqueria near BWI Airport (in Elkridge?). Ultra-authentic, utterly delicious Mexico City cuisine...in a gas station. It's worth the trip.

FrogPrincesse I'm ever in your debt for leading me to the gems of the BC App. I made this tonight (killing my Landy VS and Traveller's Belize rum), at 50% increased volume. I'm about half way through it and: 1. Excellent drink. Like spiked juice but much classier and more refined 2. STRONG. Let's see what I'm like by the bottom of the glass!

Just made something tasty off the cuff: 1.5ish oz LH 151 diluted down to 80 (over 24 hours then left another 24 hours to settle) 3/4 oz or so homemade pimento dram 3/4 oz lime juice 3 dashes Angostura bitters Shaken and served up. Does this drink already exist? (Demerara rum, pimento dram, lime and bitters?) If not, I henceforth name it the Jaguar's Tail, after the national animal of Guyana. I might up the rum in the ratio, I only had 1.5 left though.

My shop used to have the clear Senior, but last time they only had the orange. Then I found out it's ALL artificial color. Wonderful.

First mai tai of the season: 1/4 oz homemade orgeat (slkinsey's scaled down recipe) 1/4 oz 2:1 evap. cane syrup 1/2 Senior Curaçao 1 oz lime 2 oz Scarlet Ibis Shaken with ice cubes, strained over crushed ice. First time doing much with Scarlet Ibis besides sipping it, and the combination of that and the homemade orgeat (which is better than my last batch) really knocked this out of the park. Perfectly balanced, deceptively strong, and deliciously refreshing.

Hmmm...what kind of pork bones are used for the broth for the hakata style ramen, do you know? Kenji did a Food Lab feature on it here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/how-to-make-tonkotsu-ramen-broth-at-home-recipe.html

Southeast Asian noodle soups, hakata-style ramen, Arab/Turkish style lentil soup, and the mack daddy of all Iraqi soups - shorbat hamudh shalgham - a tomato based soup thickened with soaked pounded rice, with swiss chard, turnips, chickpeas, and a special kind of spherical kubba, eaten only in that soup.

No pics, but at one of my favorite pubs in DC (The Saloon), had a nice pint of Eggenberg Dunkel - very dark, rich, and malty, like a good black bread.

Let me try it in a cocktail first...but if that's a failure...

Yeah I recently discovered the 12 bottle bar site. Thanks for the other recipes! Anyone want a bottle of Mezcal?

Replenished my Campari supply and got a bottle of the new-production Lemon Hart 151 for experimenting with dilution (to see how it compares to the old product). I also finally broke the "clear spirits should be cheap" ceiling and got a bottle of Bols Genever. This stuff is AWESOME - I had a maybe half ounce tasting and I can't wait to use it in drinks. Suggestions? I'm guessing Jerry Thomas-type stuff. Speaking of more expensive clear spirits, I also got some Mezcal. Fidencio Clasico Joven. $5 more than Del Maguey Vida, and I prob should've got the Vida. The Fidencio starts out OK, but it has a really gnarly and unpleasant acrid taste on the finish, the second the tongue is dropped off the palate. I hope it redeems itself in cocktails, because I really can't drink it straight.

Oh. Shit. I know what I'm doing tomorrow! For what it's worth, I think the record is pretty clear that Hemingway's daiquiris were heavier on the lime than the grapefruit, and did not have that much maraschino in them.

It's definitely a sipping rum, given how smooth and mellow it is. I just prefer more funk and character (I'll sip S&C and WN overproof with a splash of water). Rumdood and Capn Jimbo give it decent marks, and given an infinite budget and infinite shelf space it has its place, but it's just not distinctive enough for me to warrant a repurchase when it's finished. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say it's fairly close to the Matusalem Gran Reserva, which is also very nice, but not something I'm crazy for. Flor de Caña 7 is supposed to be the one to get for PR/Cuban. The Montgomery County Temtpation Store has it on sale this week for $15....and I told myself no frivolous purchases this week....but...I also an out of Campari....

I think I got it for about $20, so I have no issue using it in complex drinks. It's just kind of...boring on its own. I'm sure it's been doctored up with caramel and sweeteners and maybe other flavors. It's a perfectly pleasant and inoffensive rum but nothing overly compelling. I have at least 2 dozen rums now, most of which are very distinctive and deserve their place, but when the Barcelo is done I think I'm going to replace it with the even more economical FdC 7.

Yep, 2 parts sugar, 1 part water, (I had a bit less than 2 cups sugar, so I went off that), 3 sticks cinnamon smashed into small fragments in a mortar and pestle. Bring to the boil, stir constantly, and let it boil for a couple minutes. Take off the heat, let it cool and steep for 2 hours, then strain into the container you plan to use.

Yeah, it basically is. That was my "aperitif" drink (if you can call a drink with nearly 4 shots of booze in it an aperitif), having a Jet Pilot now for dessert - the latter is certainly nice and fun, but it doesn't quite have the subtle balance of the original Zombie

1934 Zombie courtesy of Beachbum Berry's Tiki+ App (thanks Frogprincesse for hyping it up, it's a great app!) Used Appleton Extra for the "dark Jamaican", Barcelo Imperial for the "gold PR" [because I don't have anything gold and Puerto Rican besides Barrilito 3 star, which is too good and rare for cocktails, nor any Flor de Cañas/Brugals/other comparables). For those unfamiliar, the recipe is: 3/4 oz lime 1/2 oz Don's Mix (10ml grapefruit juice, 5ml cinnamon syrup [homemade]) 1/2 oz falernum (homemade) 1.5 oz dark Jamaican rum (Appleton Extra) 1.5 oz gold Puerto Rican rum (Barcelo Imperial) 1 oz Lemon Hart 151 (RAGE!) "6 drops Pernod" (a small dash of Lucid absinthe) 1 dash Angostura bitters 1 teaspoon grenadine (homemade) What an absurdly strong yet utterly delicious drink. It should be called "Danger: Bad Decisions in a Glass"

Unphotogenic shot of my 1934 Zombie. Made according to the standard recipe à la Berry, using Appleton Extra and Barcelo Imperial for the JA and PR rums (obv Barcelo is not from PR, but I wasn't going to use my precious bottle of Barrilito 3 star!). Also used my homemade grenadine, homemade cinnamon syrup for the "Don's Mix", and homemade falernum. Unbelievable drink. I can see why Don had a 2-per-customer limit. I made the 1950s recipe a week or two ago, and that's less of a pain to make, but this one just hits like a sledgehammer being swung by tropical angels. Amazing.

Made the 34 Zombie. F Me (or as I said to my friend, "fuckity fucklington"), this may be the strongest yet most beguiling and inviting drink I've ever had. I can see why Don had a two-per-customer limit, because two would be my limit in one sitting, AND it was a pain in the ass to make! But so, so so worth it.

I'd like to say you inspired me with the last few posts on this thread, as I just made some cinnamon syrup, but really I just wanted to kick into Tiki time with all cylinders firing Used 2:1 by volume plain old Domino white sugar and filtered water, 3 long sticks of Ceylon cinnamon smashed to tiny bits, boiled for a few minutes, and approaching the end of 2 hours steeping. It's bloody delicious. First up, either a Jet Pilot, or 1934 Zombie.

No I think Seale's is probably not altered, it's very light-colored and dry tasting. Doorly's XO might be, because it's younger yet "smoother"

So, I want to rekindle this was the subject of unaltered rums. Most rums available to us at a normal shop have added flavor/color, etc, which makes for a boring and same-y sort of drink across several brands. Independent bottlers have stashes of great old barrels of rum, to which they add nothing, but each bottle costs an arm and a leg. Are there any, say, <$40 rums that are not sweetened/colored/flavored/chill filtered besides the ones I'm about to list? I can count WN overproof, S&C, Scarlet Ibis, and maybe Pusser's and Sea Wynde. Maybe also Seale's 10. What about the others? Mount Gay? Appleton? Flor de Caña? El Dorado almost certainly has caramel and sugar...with the exception of Wray and Nephew, none of the others in the first category are major producers.

This looks amazing. Don't listen about knife skills, I'd destroy that chicken and that's what counts.

Sooo opened the bottle about 10 minutes ago. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to do a rum tasting while my mouth is healing from super hot pizza last night....cos it stings a bit! But with that aside, this is very dry and refined stuff. No apparent caramel (it's actually rather pale) and no apparent added sweetness. There is some butterscotch on the nose, some bitter orange/lemon going on, and almost a sweetish coconut on the finish. It almost has a savory, umami character to it and a slight peppery quality (I'm not fluent in tasting analysis). It has a lot in common with some Scotch whiskies. I'll try this again when my palate has healed, but it seems pretty good so far.

Made this last night - great drink.