slkinsey

Spec's out of Houston, TX sells both Fee Brothers Falernum ($2.39 for 4 oz) and Taylor Velvet Falernum ($13.67 for 750 ml). Spec's is actually one of the best liquor stores in the country. Whenever I'm in Houston I always stock up on booze I can't get easily (or inexpensively) in NYC.

Interesting. Almost everyone I know who makes dulce de leche simply boils an unopened can of condensed milk.

There is the John D. Taylor "Velvet Falernum" bottling to which Jason refers at 11% alcohol. Fee Brothers also makes a "West Indies Style Falernum" which is nonalcoholic. Da Vinci Gourmet makes a "Caribbean Falernum Classic Syrup" that is also nonalcoholic. The Sazerac company used to import a falernum from Barbados, and I think Goslings makes a falernum -- neither one of which seems to be available in the US. Since falernum is typically used in very small amounts, it shouldn't make any difference which one is used. I, too, would like to experiment with falernum. Most of the recipes one sees that include falernum are rum-based drinks. I like rum as much as the next guy, but it would be interesting to use it with other base spirits.

Was just there for lunch today. The double cheeseburger was, as always, superlative. Also had to try the Shacktoberfest wild elk sausage. Didn't do much for me.

Kumquat, along with lemonquat, sunquat and all the other members of the -quat family, has the advantage of having an edible rind, though.

What is scum-like about it? Are you sure it isn't oil?

No idea where to buy tokens. I have several subway tokens (from several different cities) in a large dish I use whenever I have to empty my pockets of loose change in foreign currencies. The subway token garnish, while kind of fun, is a little problematic actually. Since the drink includes citrus and is shaken rather hard, it's not exactly see-through. So it's hard to see the token sitting on the bottom of the glass. One possible solution might be to use a spiral of lemon zest cut with a channel knife and thread the token onto the peel.

In order for Franny's to be doable for an NY Pizza Survey-sized group, I would have to negotiate something special with the owners. One assumes they wouldn't agree to accomodate us if they weren't comfortable with it -- and that would be fine, as they really aren't set up to handle larger groups.

So, I had some time to tweak mine: 1.5 oz : applejack 1.0 oz : straight rye whiskey (101 proof is what I've been using) 0.5 tsp : yellow Chartreuse 0.25 oz : fresh lemon juice 0.25 oz : 1:1 simple syrup dash : Fee Bros. aromatic bitters Shake hard with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon and a clean NYC subway token.

I am a fan of Falk, as many people here know, for the quality of their product, for their prices (I believe Falk is largely responsible for rationalizing the stainless lined heavy copper cookware market), and not least because I like doing business with their US distributor -- aka, Michael "mharpo" Harp. I'll probably weigh in more extensively on this thread a little later on, but for now I'll humbly recommend my eGCI class on Stovetop Cookware and its associated Q&A thread for those who are interested in learning about how different materials impact the performance of a piece of cookware.

That sounds very interesting. Especially the gin/rum combination. Not something that would ever have occurred to me -- but, then again, that's why you're the pro and I'm not. I didn't have too much time to do any refinement of my idea, which was significantly less ambitious. I just wanted to make something that sounded like it might have been consumed during the early years of the subway. Anyway, as written the acid isn't balanced and the applejack doesn't come through enough. I added around a half-ounce of 1:1 simple syrup to balance it, but I'd be more inclined to balance it by cutting back on the lemon juice in the future. I'd also use either a straight applejack (I used Laird's blended), or would use the blended stuff in equal proportion to the rye. Found a recipe for the Third Rail cocktail that included dark rum, applejack, brandy and a few dashes of absinthe.

Laird's applejack is normally found in the form that is blended with neutral spirits, yes? Is this the form that one would want to use in cocktails, or would a straight version make more sense? All I have in blended, but it doesn't seem to have a particularly strong flavor and I could swear the last bottle I had had a much more pronounced flavor.

Won't the drink take care of all of that? ← Heh. Would have to include some 151 demerara rum just to make sure. Actually... an interesting thought (although probably not useful): Subway tokens are made with copper, right? I assume that if one put a subway token into a shaker with some reasonable acidic ingredient and shook it up, it would impart a slight coppery flavor.

Whoa! It's like you're reading my mind or something. Spooky. You forgot: garnish with a well-washed, sterilized and polished NYC subway token.

The problem with Irish whiskey is like the problem with Scotch... it just doesn't lend itself to blending.

I'd think that NYC's nickname "Big Apple" would be enough to make applejack acceptable in an NY-named cocktail, though. Mostly, though, rye and applejack struck me as two old-school spirits that are a little rough around the edges, so I thought it might be interesting to combine them. That neither one gets the attention it deserves is extra gravy, as far as I am concerned. Are we aware of a cocktail using both rye and applejack? I can't think of any, but of course that could be because they don't combine very well. You're right about too much Chartreuse in my thought above (whatever it ends up being named, if it turns out to be good). Just rinsing the glass would probably do it, since it's a small drink at those volumes. I like your genever idea, too. Trying to think of ingredients associated with ethnicities associated with NYC to consider: Dutch: genever English: dry gin Asian: tamarind, ginger, sake Irish: Irish whiskey Italian: something like Strega could be interesting Caribbean: falernum, rum Latin America: rum, pisco, Cachaça

Sounds like fun. We should.

Garnished with a used crack pipe?

Thinking of #2 above, I've always thought that Chartreuse gave a cocktail a certain essence of far-away places. What about something like: 1.5 oz : straight rye whiskey (I'm thinking Wild Turkey 101) 0.5 oz : applejack 0.5 oz : fresh lemon juice 0.25 oz : green (or maybe yellow?) Chartreuse 1 dash : orange bitters The rye and applejack seem old-school NY to me, while the Chartreuse is a "taste of multiculturalism." This could suck, of course, and might need some adjustment to balance the acid. But it's something that at least sounds interesting on paper.

Hmmm... three things immediately come to mind: 1. Using a base liquor historically associated with NY. 2. Using a combination of liquors from a variety of countries, since the subway is truly reflective of NYC as a multicultural melting pot. 3. Creating not one cocktail, but three: the IRT Cocktail, the BMT Cocktail and the IND Cocktail.

This is the passage from Dr. Cocktail's book I was thinking of:

Excellent point! Re keeping every last flavor molecule, though, your point is very well made. This is one reason I wish more makers of rye and bourbon would release an unfiltered product. The only one of which I am aware is Bookers, and I think there is a big difference between Bookers unfiltered bourbon and filtered bourbons at similar proof (with Bookers having more flavor, natch).

Exactly, Dave. I was trying to point that out a bit by demonstrating that the difference in alcohol is fairly trivial. There is some question, though, about whether this is a difference one is likely to notice with respect to Jack Daniels -- especially considering it's usual modes of consumption.

As I understand it, "schnapps" the generic term as it is used in Germany stands for an unaged distilled neutral grain spirit. Essentially German vodka. It's not clear to me that any of these are flavored. Anything American named "______ schnapps" on the other hand, will be a sweetened flavored liqueur. It's not clear to me what the difference is between American "____ schnapps" and generic "creme de ____."

The thing about eaux de vie is that they are a) very alcoholic, b) delicately flavored, and c) bone dry. If one is expecting or wanting something sweeter, more emphatically flavored and lower proof (typical for most fruit liquors) an eau de vie will not satisfy. If something sweet and assertive like a tawny port is your idea of a postprandial drink (and why shouldn't it be?) eau de vie may not be to your liking.