slkinsey

From its ubiquity, I'm thinking that this is Audrey's original recipe, but I certainly don't know. The reason I ask is that my version brings the Plymouth up front a bit by dialing back on the lime and simple (to 1/2 oz each) and halves the Pernod (to 1/8 oz, my barspoon). Are there others out there making these consistently? What version do you use? Why? The result is complex and refreshing, but fundamentally it's a pretty simple drink. If you think about it, it's just a gin/lime sour with mint and Pernod. There's no reason the ratios can't or shouldn't be changed to suit one's tastes, just as one might adjust the ratios to taste in, say, a Pisco Sour or a Margarita. In my own personal journey, I find that there was a time when I trended towards more spirit-forward ratios that allowed the base to shine through in a clear way. Lately, I've become more interested in the overall transformative alchemy of combinations, and this tends to favor formulations and constituents that obscure or change the clarity of the impression of the base spirit -- but this second way is, I believe, actually a far more delicate balancing act and therefore less frequently successful.

How does the number of restaurant and magazine critics covering NYC compare to, say, 20 years ago? I wonder if we're seeing a contraction due mostly to the fact that the interest in fancy restaurant dining is on the decline for economic reasons and, also of course, because newspapers and magazines are going out of business in droves due to the internet.

None of the foregoing should be taken as disrespect or lack of interest in Japanese-style bartending. Rather think of it as respect for accuracy. Philosophically, if Japanese bartenders would like to believe that stirring at 1.2 revolutions per second with a spoon held at 6 degrees off true while focusing their ki the bowl of the spoon results in a different kind of drink than one which is made by stirring at 0.71 revolutions per second with the spoon held entirely vertical while fousing ki on the shaft of the spoon... that's cool. And worth talking about. And these guys might make great cocktails. But the fact of those great cocktails doesn't make it true that "stirring techniques are crucial to binding flavors together" -- any more than all those great dishes made by cooks who believe that searing meat "seals in the juices" makes it true that searing has any effect on fluid retention in meat (it doesn't). All that said, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about how they think this is true, and what they have to say in general about stirring techniques. Perhaps you could start a thread on Japanese bartending techniques and philosophies.

So, what was so good about your EMP cocktails? What made you like them better than the PDT ones?

Pegu Club still has the best food and by far the most comfortable setting of any bar in NYC.

Japanese bartending is interesting, but also full of untrue ideas. This is one of them.

Interesting research indicates that random chance may play a much larger part than we think in determining these trends.

I'm guessing that, in the original, the "sweetened lemon juice" already contained enough sugar to "balance."

Yes, please. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. From this post in the Mezcal thread:

I have been given to understand that, due to the profitability of selling peaches via modern shipping combined with the somewhat tricky fermentation/distillation requirements of peaches, it's extremely unlikely this will happen on any level above small batch, artisanal and expensive. As for aged eaux de vie, what do you have in mind? There are plenty of aged grappas on the market. And some of the apple brandys (e.g., Clear Creek's) are aged eaux de vie. But it's not clear to me that, say, kirschwasser or some of the other eaux de vie would benefit from wood aging. The flavors are usually etherial enough that I think they would be largely obscured by aging in wood. An aged pear brandy would be good. I don't think we're exactly hitting the mark in thinking about an aged eau de vie. "Eau de vie" typically implies a lean, super-clean, largely aromatic distillation process that most often results in a product that I don't think would take well to wood aging. Spirits that are destined for a few years in the barrel, I think, benefit from a lower proof, "dirtier" but significantly "fatter" and fuller-flavored distillation. That way the wood aging filters out the roughness and the good flavor remains. If we're just talking about the most highly regarded products we have (or soon will have) Bonal Gentiane Quina, Carpano Antica Formula, Carpano Punt e Mes, Cocchi Aperitivo Americano, Cinzano Sweet, Dolin Blanc, Dolin Dry, Dolin Rouge, Dubonnet Blond, Dubonet Rouge, Lillet Blanc, Lillet Rouge, Marteletti Classico, Martini & Rossi Bianco, Martini & Rossi Sweet, Noilly Pratt Dry, Rin Quin Quin, Vya Dry, Vya Sweet -- plus any number of vini chinati such as Cocchi Barolo Chinato, Vergano Nebbiolo Chinato and Vergano Chinato Americano, not to mention things like Mirto di Sardegna. We could have more (Noilly Pratt Ambre would be nice), but I think we're doing okay in this category.

I have little doubt that I'll like the mast'nicola, but it's certainly the most controversial of the offerings at Keste -- in these pages anyway. Some people didn't even finish it.

Well done. You're the first person to post here who liked the mast'nicola. I haven't had it yet, but will the next time I am at Keste.

I just returned from Kalustyan's in NYC, which has radically increased its bitters selection. There were on hand the following:L Angostura Angostura Orange Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitter Truth Celery Bitter Truth/Bittermens Grapefruit Bitter Truth/Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Fee Bros. Cherry Fee Bros. Grapefruit Fee Bros. Lemon Fee Bros. Mexican Chocolate Fee Bros. Orange Fee Bros. Old Fashioned Fee Bros. Peach Fee Bros. Rhubarb Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Aged 2009 Peychaud's Regan's Orange I hadn't tried (or known about!) Fee's Mexican Chocolate Bitters. Interested to try them.

I've enjoyed a variety of bean preparations. Pureed white beans with garlic and rosemary; crushed chick peas with garlic and crushed red pepper; coarsely ground fresh fava beans with mint; white beans with salt cod; etc. I have to say that I stay away from the oil bowls nowadays. It's alarmingly easy to put 500 calories worth of olive oil and bread into your stomach before you've even started dinner.

Not in my experience. And I've had half-ful bottles I've forgotten about for as long as 6 months.

Regent's Punch. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I do sometimes wonder what it would cost to get a bunch of people together on an order to have various bottles of coveted unobtanium (in the US) shipped over.

You might ask the same question about Campari. My own answer would be the same for both: no, it isn't an aromatic wine for the simple reason that there is no wine in it. It's a low-proof, relatively low intensity amaro (aka aperitif bitters).

"Jamaica rum" and "rum made in Jamaica" are not the same thing. The old style associated with the island was a potent, funky spirit. Think Wray and Nephew rather than Appleton Estate. If you imagine the dark, funky, potent pungency, it contextualizes some of the comments by Charles Baker to the effect that "9 out of 10 ladies does not care for Jamaica rum." is this to what you refer?, i have not tried it, but is available in my shop in connecticut. i tried their gin, not bad, but not memorable http://www.berkshiremountaindistillers.com...hp?product_id=1 I have no idea whether that would be what I mean or not. But I don't think so. New England used to be one of the top rum-producing areas of the world. In particular, Medford Rum (from the City of Medford, not "Medford Brand Rum") was very highly regarded and considered by some the best there was to be had. Dave writes about this a bit in Imbibe! (I think that's where he wrote about it). Medium-dark, smooth, strong, well-aged, fairly high proof I'd think.

The Celery Bitters and the Jerry Thomas bitters are the most unique. I think they're all good products, but I find them a little low in intensity for my taste. Considering that they are available in the States now, I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble of hand-schlepping some back.

The things on my wish list are perhaps more prosaic to some. I would like to see 100 proof Old Overholt, and in general more examples of quality rye whiskey in the $20-per-750 range. I would like to see Get brand Creme de Menthe. I would like to see Gilka Kummel over here again. I would like to see an Old New England-style rum. I would like to see yellow (aged) gin that's not horribly-overpriced Kensington. I would like to see far more genever of quality. I would like to see the old Kina Lillet. I would like to see a real Jamaica rum. I would like to see Swedish Punsch over here. Those last two look like Eric Seed is making happen, and Cocchi Americano (which he's also bringing over) is not a bad stand-in for Kina Lillet. The others, I don't think have much chance of happening.

I don't think "everyone's done" with any of these ingredients. I'm just saying that all you heard about for a year was St. Germain, and now that doesn't seem to be the case. Of course, there are certain bartenders at certain bars who have a professional relationship with St. Germain, and while I don't think they're contractually constrained to create lots of St. Germain cocktails for their bars, their natural familiarity with the product does make it more likely that they will create with it. I should hasten to add that I don't think this is a bad thing at all. I merely point out that if you frequent one of these bars you might not have noticed the drop-off in the ubiquity of St. Germain cocktails that has happened over the last year or so. Just like these other products, I don't think Batavia Arrack is going anywhere. I do think, however, that when it first came out there were a lot of bartenders who were using rather large amounts of it in cocktails. I think this was a bit of a "push the envelope" practice to begin with (which, again, I would suggest is a good thing for bartenders to do), but I don't think it was ever going to be sustainable. In the meantime, the main utility of Batavia Arrack (small percentage use in punches, as a base for Swedish Punsch, etc.) is still as valid as ever. I don't know if you've tried Elixir Végétal. I have. It's pretty far down on the list of things I'd like to see over here. Not all that terribly interesting IMO.

One great result of the cocktail revival has been the recent explosion of new ingredients, the importation/distribution of heretofore unavailable ingredients and the revival of defunct ingredients. To make a short list of things that one couldn't get even as recently as 5 or 6 years ago: Bonded Applejack Creme de Violette St. Germain Pimento Dram (Real) Sloe Gin Countless bitters Batavia Arrack Others I'm sure I'm forgetting Swedish Punsch on the way (?) One thing that strikes me about many of these ingredients (other than the thanks we owe Eric Seed) is the extent to which these have experienced a fairly rapid rise and subsequently rapid decline in cocktailian popularity -- except Laird's bonded, which is really in a separate category because it is a base spirit. I wonder why this is. I remember there was a time when it seemed like every other cocktail had Creme de Violette in it. Walking into a bar was a bit like walking into a store selling whatever brand of perfumed bath salts my mother used in the 70s. Every menu seemed to have at least one Creme de Violette drink on it, many of them featuring a pretty heavy dose of the stuff. Now? Not all that much. Same thing with St. Germain, Pimento Dram and Plymouth Sloe Gin. For many of these, I suppose it cen be attributed to the somewhat more limited than originally supposed versatility and utility of the spirit. As Andy Arrington said over on the Pimento Dram thread, "I find the versatility of allspice liqueur to have been drastically exaggerated from a few years back when it was being billed as 'the most important liqueur in the world.' " And that's part of it, of course. Regardless of what we might like to think, it's not like Creme de Violette and Pimento Dram are going to take the place of Cointreau and Maraschino Liqueur any time soon. In other cases, I think it has resulted from short-sighted overpricing by the manufacturers. Plymouth could be making a lot more money off their Sloe Gin by selling it at half what they sell it for now and moving three times more volume. This is a product that really can be used in large quantities as a base, or in smaller quantities as a reasonably unobtrusive "background booster" of red fruit. But at the incredibly high prices they are asking for the stuff (more than Cointreau!), bartenders and home cocktailians are reduced to holding on to a few precious bottles and stingily measuring it out into a few drinks every now and again. Thoughts? Observations? What's going to be the next big thing? And how long will it last? Do we think there really is a currently-unavailable or defunct ingredient that could take a place alongside products like Cointreau and Luxardo Maraschino? What products would we most like to see imported? I've been wanting Get Creme de Menthe for some time, and very much look forward to Eric's Jamaican rum.

Heh. Is there a single pousse-café that isn't revolting? I remember one New Year's Eve at Pegu Club when Brian Miller must have spend 20 minutes creating a 15-layer pousse-café for my wife. It was truly a spectacular work of "specific gravity art." But after a few sips she asked whether she really had to drink the whole thing.

From a legal and food safety standpoint, I have my doubts as to whether a bar could keep the yolks from eggs that were cracked and used during service. Frankly, even by my significantly more relaxed standards, I'm not sure I'd want those yolks myself.

Given all the other intense flavors going on, I would think that any of the flavors that differentiate reposado and anejo from silver would be lost. But I am far from being an expert on tequila.