BillBuitenhuys

Drink what ya like is the way to go!

100% agave is only the first sign, right? Do they use traditional ovens/slow roasting or rapid pressure cookers? Tahona vs high efficiency commercial crusher? Slow fermenting yeast or commercial yeast with accelerators? Column vs pot stills, etc, etc....

I do like to use blanco in a Margarita, similar to enjoying a white rum in a daiquiri. If you go with a good quality blanco (Ocho, Arette, Fortaleza, Azunia, etc), they are wonderful to sip as well. Repo doesn't necessarily mean it is better quality than a blanco. It is aged a bit so that changes the flavor profile, and it's typically more costly because of that, but more often than not I'd rather be sipping a nice blanco than a repo or an anejo so I can really taste and enjoy the agave flavor.

It's a pretty fun place, isn't it? Good drinks made by really really good people. While not quite the Stirred Bird, cocktailvirgin has this stirred recipe from Brick&Mortar (which I've made a few times) and is a nice Jungle Bird variant. Should give you some ideas on ratios. Jungle Stirred 1 oz Plantation Jamaica 2001 Rum 1 oz Plantation Stiggins' Fancy Pineapple Rum 3/4 oz Campari 1/4 oz Velvet Falernum 1 dash Angostura Bitters Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with lime oil from a twist.

Good call on the cone shape! Ohh, Laphroaig in a spritz is better than a Binaca Blast!

I made this one last week and it was quite yum. McKittrick Old Fashioned (Lieberman, Milk&Honey, 2011, from cocktail virgin website) 2 oz Bourbon 1/2 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry 2 dash Mole Bitters Build in a Double Old Fashioned glass, add a large ice cube, and stir to chill. Garnish with a cherry.

Good list! Couple of other ideas A small fine strainer to double strain those citrus drinks Maybe a couple of 2oz bottles with spritzer tops? I love using these to spritz absinthe for Sazeracs or aromatic bitters for Old Fashioneds. (btw, a rum OF with maple syrup as the sweetener and a good aromatic bitters is pretty seasonal in my book).

Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to find this one!

Not at all similar, IMO. To me, it tasted like very diluted Campari.

I made a couple of Dos Besitos (Scott Teague) last night as the internet was filled with tequila-based drinks. The recipe calls for both repo and blanco tequila along with pineapple, lime, agave syrup, and grenadine. I used Altos Olmeca blanco, Arrogante repo (reduced by 1/4oz), and added a 1/4oz of Del Maguey Vida to kick it up a bit. Very slurpable!

We can't buy spirits from KL to be shipped to AZ but HiTime will ship spirits here. I've used them many times and the $10/case shipping is very good. I know DrinkUp ships to here as well.

Zombie time! This was pretty wonderful for a warmish AZ afternoon. Donn Beach, c1934. Rums, falernum, lime, Donn's mix, bitters, Pernod, grenadine And I'm totally enthralled with the funkiness of the Hamilton Jamaican rum.

Young's Market distributes Hamilton here in AZ but I haven't seen it on a retail shelf. Some bars/restaurants, like Cowboy Ciao, have a retail license and have been willing to special order.

[Host's note: This topic is part of an extended discussion that grew too large for our servers to handle efficiently. The discussion continues from here.] Seeing it's white grapefruit season in AZ, we've been drinking our share of Navy Grogs.

A couple of weeks ago was Arizona Cocktail Week and as part of the Artisanal Marketplace we served up a drink to the masses that we called Waiting for Watube (recipe by Micah Olson). We made a batch for sitting in the backyard this weekend. Gotta love how Montenegro and pineapple play together. 1 oz Plantation 5yr Barbados 0.5oz Hamilton Gold Jamaica 0.5oz Montenegro 0.75oz lime 0.75oz pineapple syrup (1:1 fresh pineapple juice and sugar) Quick shake with crushed ice and dump all into glass 4 dashes aromatic bitters (AZBL Mi Casa) floated on top dehydrated lime wheel garnish [Host's note: this topic is part of an extended discussion that became too large for our servers to handle efficiently. The discussion continues here.]