Joe Blowe

Nice, short article that touches on New Orleans cocktail history, bitters, Huey Long, and the Sazerac. The following link will only work for the next seven days (until Oct. 7): http://online.wsj.com/wsjgate?subURI=%2Far...Em4%2C00%2Ehtml Enjoy.

Regarding Pikesville and Rittenhouse (among others), I actually did the footwork on this and found out that they are simply not distributed in California. You won't find it, UNLESS your local proprietor is circumventing the assigned middlemen. So, the LA Times just did not have access to those brands... However, it wouldn't have been too difficult to mail-order them like I did. I love my Rittenhouse BIB (purchased from Binny's), and I can't wait for the day that I can cruise on down to my local liquor store and pick up a bottle as needed.

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...ll=la-home-food Also included is a list of 10 ryes tasted by their panel...

Thought I would revive this thread with a link from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...ll=la-home-food Free registration required -- use bugmenot.com to get yours.

Don't ask me about the time I tried mixing Tanqueray and Squirt in an attempt to make "Gin and Juice" -- needless to say, gin and glycerol ester of wood rosin doesn't mix too well... Joe B. 100

From some guy's website:Legalilty Summary: It is only legal in New Zealand. Some European countries turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential legal ramifications. [...] United Kingdom (UK): If you do and are caught you will be liable to pay the duty on the alcohol in the spirits you make (currently £19.56 per litre) and to pay a fine of whichever is the greater of £250 and 5% of the duty payable. (Finance Act 1994 s9(2)). Forget getting a license. There are rules about how large (or rather how small) the still can be which would render any home device unlawful and in any case you'd have to pay the duty which sort of defeats the object. As far as I can ascertain, you are not committing a criminal offence by distilling alcohol. All the above are civil matters. I assume that Customs and Excise would seize all your product and your equipment too. In short, you might say that the consequences of a raid on a genuine hobby distiller making liquor for him or herself would be embarrassing but not necessarily disastrous. As for the likelihood of getting caught; well I have never heard of a case in my lifetime (I'm 47). My own guess is that the Customs an Excise are far too busy chasing drugs and liquor smugglers and dealing with VAT fraud to bother with a small time....... Hang on, there's someone at the door.

> are there restaurants down there? Cute. Where are you coming from? What type of food do you have there, and what do you seek? > ... pinnacle of LA-style bizzare/trendy... I was born and raised in SoCal, and I'm not even sure where that would be...

Congratulations on a fine program, Mr. Bourdain. You almost made me reconsider my French boycott. Almost. P.S. I could kill for a Gitanes right about now...

Whissskeeey... all you want... -- Randolph Duke to Billy Ray Valentine, Trading Places

Actually, Garden Grove would be a good place to start researching Korean food in OC. Start with this link, and stand by -- probably much more to come...

Thanks for the reply, Ed. I've got a line on quite a few 200ml bottles, which happen to be filled with Old Forester , that I'm gonna snap up, drain, and refill with some better contents...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently discovered a forgotten bottle of Royal Salute (21 y.o. Chivas) Scotch that was basically ruined due to a crumbling/disintegrating cork. Hermetically sealed liquor bottles, and previously opened and properly resealed liquor bottles, may last close to "forever." But when the bottle is open to the environment, it'll be toast...

Basically, whatever you can get your hands on. You can usually find Old Overholt, Jim Beam, and Wild Turkey Rye Whiskeys in most places. The others -- Rittenhouse, Pikesville, Sazerac, Van Winkle, etc. -- are much harder to find (especially here in L.A.).So, try whatever you can find, and go from there. IMO, Old Overholt is a great rye to start with. If you don't like that, chances are you're not going to like the others...

I just came across a ruined bottle of Royal Salute. It was a gift from about 15 years ago(!), I enjoyed a few drams (about half the bottle) over the course of that following year or so, and then I tucked it away "for special" in a desk drawer. Since then, I moved to NYC, came back, moved twice again, and then rediscovered the bottle during my last move into our new house. Needless to say, it had been mistreated, and I was rewarded with a snout full of old socks. If I had the foresight back then to rebottle into smaller bottles, could I have avoided this tragedy? I don't have anything nearly as expensive in the cabinet at the moment, but as I start buying more and more expensive bourbons I don't want to repeat this. I realize that if I were to consume my open bottles a bit more quickly, this wouldn't be a problem -- but I really like to make those expensive bottles last...

A good discussion on this point can be found here. And, after much enthusiastic research elsewhere reading about how taste profiles from recently opened older examples of bourbon differ from today's iterations, I'll go on record and say that American whiskey has probably been screwed with the most. But, if it's all in an effort to recapture market share from other liquors, and it will help keep the smaller distilleries in business, then I guess I'll just have to adapt...

I'm still recommending Stokes and Passionfish since posting in this thread... http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=35755 Lots of other good recs in there, too.

From a website I've been spending way too much time at: "The VIP bottlings are the same old regular Makers Mark bourbon, just in a different bottle with a post card you fill out and mail in. They then mail you a sticker with whatever you write on the postcard to affix to the front of the bottle. "The only Makers Mark that you can get that is actually different contents-wise is available overseas like the black label/black wax sold in Japan for example." -- posted by "Paradox" This link will only work if you're a (free) registered user. Otherwise, go to the Distillery Trips section, scroll back to a thread titled Maker's Mark (Tue Jul 29 2003).

51) Cease referring to one's self as a "foodie."

Not sure about the 'American' part, but Bombay Sapphire has only been around since the late '80s. Standard Bombay has been around for much longer...

Funny you should post this -- just read the other day how a Chivas Regal and green tea cocktail is all the rage in Shanghai...

I haven't yet, but have had this LINK bookmarked for a while now, and intend on trying it soon...

Just for reference, Bulleit is going for 22 bucks in Calif. I was actually holding a bottle of Bulleit in my hot little hands today, and the bottle looks nothing like pictured in the link...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-whol...a-home-business (may require free registration...) Los Angeles Times April 10, 2005 Is Wholesale Change in Alcohol Pricing on Tap? Pressure is rising to strike down post-Prohibition state laws governing beverage distribution that add up to higher costs for consumers outside California. By Jerry Hirsch, Times Staff Writer "Empowered by Byzantine regulations that grew out of the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, wholesalers hold a tight grip on the alcoholic beverage industry, maintaining legal monopolies in Ohio and many other states. But now these distributors, who have protected their power for decades, are facing a seismic shift in the liquor business. "Some of the country's largest retailers and beverage companies are challenging the wholesalers' power in courts and state capitols. Some want to deal directly with each other, cutting out the middleman, which they say will lead to lower prices for consumers."

I showed that article to my wife, and she just laughed and muttered an Aiyah! She's ABC (American Born Cantonese, that is), and she's most comfortable in the 888/Ocean Star/Empress realm. Anything outside of that is just showing off. Now I must admit, I think she and her family are stuck in a Chinese food rut. What used to be adventurous to me (mysterious cold appetizers, tripe, fish stomach soup ) has become routine. I'm always looking to expand my horizons, but if I'm ever going to see the inside of New Concept, it won't be with the in-laws... Getting back to the article, I'm not so sure that the "discerning immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan" are the only ones fueling this wave of innovative dim sum. My personal opinion/observation is that it's the rice-rocket-driving-ABC-kids, JOJ-kids driving daddy's Lexus, people who know about eGullet and that other place, etc. There is a nouveau aspect to all of this that does make me want to stay away until the smoke has cleared. I'm rambling. I need coffee.

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...ll=la-home-food http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...ll=la-home-food