Rafa

You might be able to find Overholt Bonded at that price.

Rest in power, Katie.

Kirsch is an underrated mixing spirit, and really good for drying out drinks where you otherwise want a lot of Maraschino. In my experience (three or so brands), it tends to have a resiny/rubber-y note that you don't get from most Maraschino liqueurs, but which can be very cool in conjunction with, say, mezcal.

I hate cobbler shakers. Stick to Korikos and save your kyber crystals.

Molasses will add some sugar (and acid), though less than you'd think. The final product won't be liqueur-sweet, just pungent with molasses flavor. i think last time I started with ten parts rum to one part baking molasses and found that extremely flavorful and had to rum it down. I currently work at Covina and the Roof at Park South in NYC.

Black rums (as a commercial category) are usually lightly or minimally aged, with flavorings and colorings thst give them their distinct effect in mixed drinks. Gosling's or Meyer's should work fine in most recipes that call for black rum as a category, though the rums/flavored spirits in this category tend to be distinctive among themselves and a given black rum may not work in all situations. The Dead Rabbit (as well as several other bars, mine included) uses Cruzan Blackstrap because it has a heavy molasses note which exceeds that of most commercially available honest rums. A fun trick is to take a run-of-the-mill medium- or heavy-bodied rum and infuse it with molasses.

^^I have a black Boulevardier on Kindred under the name No Loitering (#commentary). I imagine a lot of people came up with that or similar drinks around the same time. Snow day here, at the height of white grapefruit season, so I'm living it up tropically at home with Daiquiris #3 (Palo Viejo, La Favorite, Luxardo, white grapefruit, lime). Also aged 'Ti Punches with Clement VSOP and Petite Canne, because it's never the wrong season for a 'Ti Punch.

Thanks for stopping in, Craig. You were excellent company. I won't recapitulate your tippling exploits except to note that I somehow neglected to serve you anything with Midori in it or to light anything on fire for you. (The couple to your left weren't as lucky.)

The recipe for the Presidente in the Floridita bar book specifies Vermouth de Chambery, whereas every drink that calls for dry vermouth specifies dry vermouth. Blanc seems likely to be the intended style. Lately I've been enjoying this riff on a riff on a Frank's Cocktail: Intro to Cognac 1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac 1 1/2 oz Alvear Pale Cream Sherry 1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur 1/4 oz Verjus 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters Cucumber slice garnish Stir/strain/up.

Stirred Words can be quite good, though you need to watch for sweetness. I like to cut the Maraschino with kirschwasser.

Is there a What Didn't You Buy At The Liquor Store Today thread? To my dismay, K&L Wines of California has stopped shipping to NY, just as they're bringing in a raft of mouth-watering (and generally well-priced) brandies and r(h)ums. Thankfully I've secured a California-area mule, but a long-overdue trip up the PCH, collecting bottles and dispensing boomerangs as I go, might be in order.

Right, ditto Old Overholt as Pennsylvania rye, as Wondrich detailed in a two-parter last year. It was still enjoyed in that market, though, and one wonders what the well rye of Baltimore's dives will be now.

Until recently, Pikesville was a legacy product, one of the few surviving such ryes in the wild, a whiskey enjoyed by working class people in Baltimore, Maryland (where the brand originated some hundred+ years ago) and unheard of by just about everyone else. Now that product's been discontinued, and the brand has migrated up the shelves to where it currently sits, as the 6 year old, 110-proof older sibling of Rittenhouse Rye. Nothing wrong with such a product, of course, but it's a shame that one of the last reliably very affordable ryes on the market had to perish so we could have another $30+ 'premium' rye. I haven't tried the new one, but I've heard good things.

It's crazy to me that the very simple (and very good) shot Jimbo used to pour his coworkers during/after a shift has become a recognized and published drink.

Whiskey. Lots of it.