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Welcome to eG richl2214.

Glad to hear Chris. I'm waiting for this one to arrive in oHIo. I luvs grapefruit in all of its various forms.

Full, interesting press release can be found here. I wonder which brand of base vodka and tequila are for this endeavour. Cheers!

Full press release can be found here. Anyone of the eG home brewers/enthusiasts going? Sounds like great fun.

Yum. Full press release here. http://www.danzka.com Cheers!

Today's SF Chronicle/SFGate article here. Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms! Cheers!

Here's a link to something that may be helpful, but maybe not.... It is a post from my dearest queneau69 who bartended for quite a length of time in Paris. Scroll down a wee bit.

Today's Cleveland (!) Plain Dealer article can be found here, in full. Cheers!

Yesterday's Detroit Free Press full article here. Cheers!

No, anything that high in alcohol won't degrade. If it's stored in direct sunlight, it may change color slightly. I remembered reading something about this fairly recently, but Gary Regan has a differing perspective/point of view on this: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry555044 It is my general, unpublished bartender opinion (read: not as experienced with product knowledge as one Gary Regan ) that it varies with with the type of alcohol. I don't see much happening to a bottle of vodka, but can understand what may occur with a fine bottle of whiskey. It also may be something of a matter of perception. One that enjoys a spirit often enough to discern a difference with "age" (length of time it has been opened -- I couldn't think of a better term) would be different than one who will drink the same spirit infrequently without noticing any said differences. Perhaps a side by side, tasting comparison? New bottle versus an old? But then Steven will be stuck with two bottles of the stuff and it's already taken him this long to start using up the first bottle of x, y or z!

For gimlets, I use fresh squeezed lime juice and simple syrup. I'd like to try the same with the key lime juice that I purchase and usually use for pies.... Simple syrup is a necessity in any home or commercial bar.

Yum. Key limes. Useful - yes! Replacement for Rose's goo - technically, no. But I'd give it a try since I keep a bottle of Rose's around only for guests that like it.

Oh yes! I forgot about grappa. Rarely have I been of age and anywhere that it was available for sale. The one time I did venture into a LCBO, I did purchase grappa, and it was inspired by the lovely bottle. I also forgot about Poire William. The first time I saw the beautiful bottle encapsulating that seductive whole fruit... I'd also like to add, of the Japanese liquor bottles I saw on occasion while in Sitka, were also beautiful. I suspect it was whisky, and similar to this one. What about Damiana? Unique.

More on Margarita variations here from Newsday for tomorrow. And for a frosty variation on what they list -- cube (bite sized work good) a watermelon and lay on a parchment/wax paper lined baking sheet. Do not let the pieces touch. Cover with plastic cling wrap. Place into the freezer. When frozen solid, place the cubes into a ziploc baggie and use those instead of ice cubes when making a frozen watermelon margarita with your blender. Cheers!

This is tough because there are so many beautifully shaped or decorated bottles. For modern, clean lines: Absolut Clever: Danzka's metal bottle Cute: Shaker Vodka (I love penguins) Eye Catching: the holiday bottle for Blue Ice Vodka, a limited offering... but their regular bottle still fits the bill. Stunning: almost anything that is truly high end -Cognacs (Remy Martin's Louis XIII, Extra, XO Excellence; Martell's XO; Hine Rare or Hine Antique; Hennessey Paradis) -Armagnacs (DeMontal, and another one that is triangular in shape whose name I cannot remember at the mo') -Cuvée du Cent Cinquantenaire Grand Marnier -Bacardi Millenium -many Tequilas that I cannot remember their names... but Porfidio's hand blown with a green glass cactus in the middle of the bottle is pretty cool, and I love Patron's simple bottle shape. I still haven't seen the acclaimed Frank Gehry's designed bottle for the luxury Polish vodka Wyborowa Single Estate, and I can't remember the vodka that has a ring on the cap.... There are just too many! Ugly bottles of booze? I'm not sure there are any! Just some are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than others!

Okay... nice side track, but shelf life, please? Take a sip of it and see how it tastes. That's all that will suffer -- the flavour, colour or texture. The stuff, Galliano being a liqueur (liqueurs contain a minimum sugar content of 100 grams/liter), won't poison you for being old. As far as Steven's initial question about vermouth, this fairly recent DrinkBoy post on Webtender may be helpful.

Maybe it is this stuff? I think it had a very short life because I find it listed by many liquor web resources as a new one for the States from Germany, a few other all German websites about it but the Feiling website itself never has seemed to be up and running. I hope LEdlund returns with a name because I *love* figs!!!!

What's that song? "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!" But seriously now.... Full press release can be read here. Cheers!

True, a Margarita is one of the best drinks when the sun shines! Here's an article that covers the basics of this lovely concoction. The best part of the article, IMO: Read about it here. Cheers!

I am a lucky recipient of a gift bottle of wine. Even better, one from my employer! This Rosato di Sangiovese is a lovely colour and a mere 12 cases were available for the ordering (I suppose allotted to the Cleveland area). Not quite red, and a wee bit more than to be really deemed as a "pink" hue. Anyone try this vino?

birder53 -- I can only get Pitu as well, but I understand from my dearest, wild Northern Irishman that Germana is a lovely cachaça. When I've added ginger, it has only been a wee chard or two. A little seems to go a long way. Behemoth -- Nice tribute. Great avatar, BTW.

Thanks for reminding me. I love squash. I've cooked/steamed a few spaghetti squashes, butternuts and acorns in the microwave. I also need to correct the above wherein I stated I boil water for my McCann's oatmeal -- I use milk and let it just start to boil. I've even used it to "roast" up a few nuts (walnuts or pecans) in a pinch that I love to add to my same oatmeal morning constitutional regime during the colder months of the year.

I agree. I do remember Simi had a lovely reserve Cab that I enjoyed during a fantastic dinner I had at the Salish in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington. It was just the right amount, it wasn't cheap but it was great -- very well worth it.

Some spirits experience a decline in their overall quality and taste if kept for long periods of time. Some are faster than others, too -- such as a creme liqueur product. (They often recommend refrigeration and usage within three months, or so, after opening). However I don't imagine a plain vodka (one without flavouring) suffers much from age other than continued, albeit slow, evaporation. Others may darken or fade in colour with time. While anything I purchase for home or entertaining purposes generally doesn't see much longer than a week or two (depends on the spirit ) I have found with the slowness of our Kahlua sales we'll hold onto a bottle for perhaps a month or thereabouts. The older it gets, it seems to become thicker and a bit gritty/sugary in any of the drips that may grace the threads under the screw cap, or build up on the stainless steel pourer. (Which is why there are designated pourers for liqueurs that are larger in size/width than a regular liquor "speed pourer" and are usually washed/soaked each week, but may be missed in the list of regular bar chores). Vermouth does loose something but I cannot venture to say the timeline for its life. DrinkBoy or Doc may have a better estimation.... Rose's -- the only time I've had a botte go sour was when a few bottles were stashed in a milk crate at the end of the bar against a beer bottle cooler. The exhaust didn't blow directly onto it, but it was a warmer spot. The bottles turned red and were thusly pitched to the dumpster. My general dislike for the product has prompted one litre sized bottle of the stuff to remain in my fridge for the last year and a half. Still green. Still nasty. (IMHO) Not spoiled yet! Bitters seem to last forever. Hopefully others more in the know will weigh in on this.

Please forgive if this has been tossed about before, as I did a search for microwave and came up with only a bizillion posts mentioning the word and after scanning some five pages of topics covered containing said word, I gave up my exhaustive review of the search results. (I'm on the 100 posts per page controls option). Okay! Well the thing takes up a fair amount of footage on my counter and I grew up sans microwave so it is probably the most ignored appliance. Except for when I used as I learned to cook when I was out of the familial household and on my own. College the little thing was a treasure and absolutely necessary! Office years of toil behind the lines of legal research, etc. the 'wave gave a quickie meal of reheated leftovers for lunch or that occasional snack time urge for popcorn. Now, it often boils water for my instant McCann's oatmeal or that spot of anytime tea. Cooking? It seems to be that dirty little secret akin to admitting to using and enjoying Mrs. Dash! (no offense intended Soba ) So, what do you use yours for? What do you cook in it? I'll fess up. I will cook the ingredients for a homemade McMuffin breakfast meals of one scrambled egg, a piece of Canadian ham and one cheese slice (whatever I have on hand). I then run a knife around the edge and plop the gooey mass onto an already toasted English muffin. Yum. I also love to cook rice in the microwave in one of my glazed ceramic Chantal lidded bowls. It is always a success and little rice is wasted, which is inevitably a super-glue strength mess at the bottom of a stainless steel pan using the stovetop method! I recommend it for anyone without a rice cooker! Now it is your turn.... Maybe I'll learn something, try something different and new as I have with many other eG cooking threads. Thanks!