Hassouni

Good idea for a topic. I too bought my first bottle recently. So far I've made a vieux carré and a de la Louisiane, both very nice.

peeling them yields a smoother texture, in hummus, among other things. It's just a GIGANTIC pain in the ass though..

I can't name a drink since I'm on a detox break (day 2!), but I agree with your statement entirely.

I was too hungry, so no pics, but first time I've cooked lunch in a while, so here's what I had: A whole (smallish) bunch of yu choy, leaves separated from stems 2 rashers of Trader Joe's thick sliced, uncured, smoked bacon with the fattier bits removed, chopped roughly 3 cloves garlic, sliced coarsely 3 thai chiles, roughly chopped I seared the bacon in my wok, pushed it to the side and added salt to the residual fat, and then threw in the chiles and garlic. Yu choy stems went in next, followed by the leaves. Everything was stir-fried for another few minutes until everything was cooked. Served atop some reheated koshihikari rice i had in the freezer. Delicious, relatively healthy, and came together in about 10 minutes.

Thanks Princesse, all of those sound great!

Then what's the point of using a French press....

Adam George, where is your bar? I'll be in London in a month.

see, to me, bourbon and maple syrup are very autumnal/wintery...

Soo it's too warm for winter warmers, but not hot enough for daiquiris, mojitos, and crushed ice tiki drinks. Anyone got any good suggestions for somewhat chilly springtime drinks? Let me tell you what I don't have (off the top of my head) that I often see in cocktails: apricot brandy, cherry Heering, amari beyond a trace of Campari and some Cynar, aquavit, Swedish Punsch, various eaux-de-vie, St Germain, Canton, various fruit syrups besides grenadine and passion fruit.

They don't deliver to my state

I tried 100 proof, and it's really good. Not firewater like the navy proof. That said, I didn't try either in a cocktail..

I make sure to press down to the bottom of the glass, but you want to be gentle with your mint

Agreed with Adam George on this. My method is taken from videos of the bartenders at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. It's not a very scientific approach but it yields the most consistently good mojitos I've made. 12 oz or so highball few sprigs of mint heaping teaspoon or so of superfine sugar (I use evap. cane sugar run through a food processor) 1/2 oz lime juice a good glug of soda water MUDDLE MUDDLE MUDDLE 2 oz (or more) of rum - Flor de Caña, Brugal, Palo Viejo will all do. You want something dry. stir add ice cubes (4 or 5) stir again if needed top with a splash of soda, but probably not necessary. I know this seems backwards, what with adding the soda at the beginning, and muddling the mint only after adding nearly everything else, but honestly, this is how they seem to do it in La B del M and it really does work. I should also point out this is one of the few drinks I make free pouring everything: lime, soda, and rum. edit: see here

holy shit, I'd buy it for that....There are sales at the bigger stores, but they don't have good mezcal

I LOVE mezcal but yeah I don't own any bottles....must...find...discounted...Mezcal Ilegal...

I have a huge problem paying that kind of money for unaged (or more or less unaged) spirit. Hence no more Plymouth gin for me

I'm not well versed in rhums agricoles, but I just want some cheapo ti punches. I haven't tried it yet, but it smells caney and funky. Very cachaca-esque.

It is, it's meant to be reminiscent of drinking skins

Wild Turkey 101!!! $30 a handle, yes, that's right, 1.75 god damn liters.

I haven't done the experiment with the new bottling yet (because I don't own it), but I find diluted Lemon Hart 151 or, for that matter, the stock Lemon Hart 80 to have a more distinctive character than the ED 5. The latter sort of melts into the cocktail, while LH brings something different.

ED 5 is a great value rum. Much smoother and softer than Lemon Hart, but for the price it's hard to beat. Works well in cocktails where you don't necessarily want a sharp bite from the liquor

is LH80 easy to get in Canada? And does it have the old yellow label or the new red one? Rafa, I'll definitely let you know. Total Wine has it for a paltry $22. The Doorly's XO, another Seale product, is only $15...and Doorly's 5, which Capn Jimbo gave a solid 8/10 (and I didn't buy), is a mere $10! It was a 90 minute shlep roundtrip, but I'm excited. Also the Dillon was $12, and Jimbo rates that very highly too. The Hayman's was cheaper than I've seen it anywhere, too.

Gosh, nobody's been shopping? I discovered that Total Wine in non-Montgomery County parts of Maryland has a full liquor selection with great stock and good prices, and some stuff that's impossible to find elsewhere, namely Seale's products:

Yeah, if you have 20 people, expect a good 80 servings...

Do you really want to juice 20 people's worth of limes? Assume that they're gonna have several drinks, too.