DrinkBoy

Andiesenji, Thanks for the additional details... a picture is definately worth a thousand words... or at the very least a couple hundred :-> One set of bottles that you listed (the first set), are what I use for dispensing scented oils, takes several seconds just for a single drop... never thought about using them for bitters. The lower viscosity of bitters might actually work well. ...but I've never seen these at a Cost Plus, guess I need to drop in more often. What I've actually found quite handy for dispensing bitters is good old-fashioned "eye-dropper" bottles. I usually carry several 1/4 ounce bottles with me with various bitters in them, just in case I happen to be at a bar without something I'm needing for a drink I'm hankering for. As for "Rist", I've made purchases from them in the past, this was the company refered to in "...but had picked up years ago from another supplier..." of my previous post. They had a rather high minimum order, and in additon to a dozen "dashers" and a several bitters bottles (only a couple of which survived shipment) I had to order a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff just to meet their minimum order. The dashers they sell are the same that WMF (as well as APS Glass & Bar Supply) uses in their bitters bottles, and are too large for the Hazel Atlas bottles. -Robert

Carolyn, I've used Posi-Pour spouts in the past for serving "wine tastings" and don't remember having any problems with drips. Spoon, Are you looking for dashers to fit antique bottles (ie. Hazel Atlas) or to use on some other bottles that you have found that you'd like to "use" as bitters bottles? I doubt you'll have much luck finding "just" dashers on eBay or other auctions sites, you'll most likely have to buy the bitters bottles with them. And most of the bitters bottles that I've picked up (that still had their dashers), the dashers were in poor shape. you could try contacting WMF to see if you can buy some replacement dashers for the types of bitters bottles they sell. Those dashers won't fit the Hazel Atlas bottles (too big). Their size essentially fits a beer bottle quite well, so if the bottles that you are using have the same opening size as a beer bottle, they'll work for you. -Robert

While we are on the topic of hamburgers... I was driving around in Issaquah yesterday and happened to drive by the "Triple XXX" Drive in. I always see it from the freeway as I zip past, and constantly think I should drop in and check them out, well, this time I did. Besides just driving by all the time, I know absolutely nothing about this joint. Apparently it is a big hangout for vintage hot-rod types. All around on the insides are pictures from various car meets, and at the booths are catalogs and magazines related to refurbishing your 50's vintage auto. Definately lots of character. I suppose others here know more about it, but it apparently is the "last" of the Triple XXX chain of drive-ins. Not sure how far spread they once were, but I seem to recall seeing them around as a child. There used to be another one down by the Airport, but as I recall it is now a Thai restaurant or something. Looking at the menu, I wanted to try to pick something out that was a "standard" at the XXX, and I saw a "Triple XXX Burger" listed... so I ordered it... I should have known something was up when the person taking my order (with the number of photo's of him on the wall, I think it was the owner) asked me if I'd ever had one before... When it arrived, it was -huge-. The bun was as big as a dinner plate, and within it were three large burger patties and all the fixin's. While perhaps not one of these "dare you" size of burgers that only few folks could even think of finishing, it was still definately a big and filling meal. From a quality standpoint, it was better then most, but perhaps not worthy of a "Best Of" rating. At $10 for burger, and regular Root Beer (which was very good), it was more then a burger and soda would cost you at Dick's, but I also didn't have to eat for the rest of the day :-> -Robert

Yep. Yep. Hmmmm.... I just toss mine in the garbage. Never thought about "safe displosal" Since by this time all they are is a sealed metal canister they should be safe for simple disposal as a spent arasol can, but you wouldn't want to toss them in a burn barrel!-Robert

idrink... oh, no wonder :-> If by "peppers" they mean "bitters", then that would be the first time I've ever seen it used like this. I would assume they meant "Tabasco"... but then they include tabasco in the recipe as well. I'd personally write that recipe off as being flat-out wrong. -Robert

No. Dicks is nothing like an In and Out. Personally, my favorite hamburger joint is Kid Valley... perhaps just for sentimental reasons. I started going to it back when it was just a small shack near the UDistrict. I think they were better back then, but I think they are still better then most anything else out there (although I haven't tried Red Mill yet, and I always here great things about them). I still love their deep fried mushrooms. -Robert

I think Andiesenji is getting a little bit off-mark, and Carolyn is getting further off-mark. I "think" Andiesenji is actually describing just a standard oil bottle (please correct me if I'm wrong!) which is different from a dasher. And Carolyn appears to be describing a "Posi-Pour". Which are -great- for portion controlling wine at tasting events. However I also often see them used at Williams-Sonoma on their oil bottles that they set out to allow people to try different flavored dipping oils. For a "store" I can see the use here, they don't want somebody to accidently pour oil out all over the place, but at home, for pouring out oil, I don't think they are terribly handy. -Robert

I've got a bottle of the Vert Suisse 65, but haven't opened it yet :-> Of the two, I'd buy the Nouvelle-Orleans. Primarily because it has a beautiful label, while the Vert Suisse is essentially unlabeled, with just a little gold sticker on it. For a Sazerac, with how little Absinthe is really used, I don't think it makes much of a difference, as long as you use something good. Of the Faux-Absinthe (aka. "Pastis") I prefer Absente. -Robert

The term "dashers" are often used to refer to the cork+pourer that would be inserted into a bitters bottle in order to allow it to be used to dispense cocktail bitters in "dashes". It can also be used to refer to the bitters bottle (with dasher cork) as a unit. Perhaps the best known version of this is the "Hazel Atlas" one that crops up on eBay all of the time. Unfortunately, no longer being made. Back in those days, when bars had many different types of bitters, there were several different types of bottles that you could find. Fostoria made some beautiful cut-glass ones, as did many other manufacturers. However, that doesn't mean you can't find a modern bitters bottle if you look hard enough... just not here in the US. On some of my trips abroad, I often see bartenders dashing out not only bitters, but pernod, amer picon, and other such ingredients using very nice looking bottles which appear to be available through WMF... but again, just not sold here in the US. I keep meaning to try to contact WMF and try to order some of these... but thought and deed just haven't come together yet :-> I have recently picked up a few bitters bottles from APS Glass & Bar Supply(Amsterdam). You can see it pictured here: (http://www.apssupply.com/APS/products/M200DB.jpg) Fortunately, mine didn't come with the black industrial rubber cork shown here, but instead came with the cork shown in this picture (also from APS): (http://www.apssupply.com/APS/products/00065.jpg) This second bitters bottle I also have, but had picked up years ago from another supplier. I don't like it as well, not only do I find the "crackled glass" to be a little too fragile (several have broken on me), but also the top of the bottle isn't as carefully produced, and the sizing ends up varying quite a bit. In some the opening is so small the cork barely fits, while in others the opening is so large that the cork also doesn't quite fit. -Robert

I've tried many different brands of Absinthe, but not the two you list (Logan Fils, Absinth King of Spirits). Sabor was the first brand I had tried many years ago, and I still find it to be "good enough" when compared to many of the rest. But hands down, my favorite has got to be Jade Liquor's new Absinthe... (as already recommended by winesonoma)... yes, at about $100 a bottle it is expensive, but if you are going to do it, I would recommend doing it right. This stuff is fabulous! Forget trying to go for the highest possible thujone content. That's sort of like wanting to try a great cocktail, and then reaching for the EverClear because it has the highest possible alcohol content. "Real" Absinthe, back in the days when they were really making it, wasn't about the high thujone content, except perhaps in the rot-gut varieties. -Robert Hess

Think of it this way... compare corn bread to rye bread... ok, that's probably a little too simplistic :-> Corn is the 51% ingredient in Bourbon, and if you've ever had freshly distilled 'bourbon' (ie. crystal clear, before being aged) it has a very distinctive corn flavor to it. Quite amazing stuff, really. I've never had freshly distilled 'rye', but I could imagine that it would have a flavor very reminicent of rye bread. So the basic difference will normally be that Bourbon will have a slightly sweeter note, while Rye will be slightly spicier. Of course even from one bourbon to another there are significant differences, so it can get difficult to compare these two whiskies accurately in generalities. -Robert

FINALLY was able to catch Via Tribunali when they were opened. This after at least 4+ attempts at various times and on various days. They STILL don't have their hours listed (or their name displayed, or even an "Open" sign), but they open at 5pm, and if I remember correctly they are closed Monday and Tuesday. The Pizza was great, since I'm not an expert on any of the "authentic" varieties, I can't make any claims as to how close they actually get to the "Neapolitan" style they claim to represent, but I do know when things taste good, and they do. I also love their atmosphere, a lot better than Tutta Bella... and the fact that they have a full bar, with a great bartender, cranks my ranking of them way up! -Robert

Strange... that's not the common recipe I know for the bullshot. most/all sources have it as essentially a bloody mary in which the tomato juice is substituted with beef broth. Where does this "orange juice" variation come from? -Robert

Thanks for the link! And they appear to ship to the US as well. -Robert

It's been ages since I've been up to Canada (no excuses however, since I live in Seattle!), do the liquor stores really categorize Canadian Whisky as "Rye"? Here in America, for an American Whiskey to be labled as "Rye" it has to have at least 51% rye in it's recipe... I think there are only one or two Canadian Whiskies that have anywhere near that amount, most use very little actual rye in their recipes. Perhaps it shouldn't, but it always bugs me when a bartender asks me if I'd like my Manhattan made with Rye, they always reach for a Canadian Whisky, the flavor difference between that, and a true American Rye is substantial. It is my understanding that part of the reason that people refer to Canadian Whisky as "Rye" is that prior to prohibition (American) Rye Whiskey was the most common/popular version, but when prohibition hit, that clearly dried up the supply. Canadian Whisky then stepped in to take it's place, and so when somebody ordered a "Rye"... they got Canadian instead. And this name switch just survived even after prohibition when American Rye was finally available again. Although it never did come back into the same level of production as it once did. Most (if not all?) of the rye producers were on the east coast, and during prohibition their distilleries were not only closed down, but converted to other purposes. Many of the Bourbon distilleries however were simply closed down, and were able to be re-opened without too much trouble. Thus Bourbon became the predominant American Whiskey post-prohibition. -Robert

I expect that this would be "Nurse Cocktail" :-> Doc's lovely wife.

That sort of depends on what exactly you mean by "by law". There is nothing wrong with making bitters "potable". For the most part, Jagermeister and Fernet Branca are examples of products that can easily play the roll of "cocktail bitters", but are for the most part potable (although some might argue with that point). The "law" issue comes into play when you look at what the cost and distribution options of these products are. A "potable" alcoholic product is in a wildly different tax bracket then a non-potable one. So Angostura could change the formulation of their product such that it was deemed "potable", still sell it in the same bottles, for the same purpose, but not only would it now have to be sold in the state liquor stores here in Washington, but it would also cost more. This was the little speed-bump that Gary Regan ran into with getting his new bitters to market. The FDC determined that it was potable, and while this wouldn't have prevented the sale, it would have made it cost and distribution prohibitive, so they have reformulated it, and it will be on the market very soon now. -Robert

...guess they must not be opened for lunch. I stopped in on Saturday but they weren't open, and didn't even have their name or hours listed anywhere... sigh...

Depends on how you make it :-> I'm well known amongst the bartenders here in Seattle as fairly consistantly having three, and usually only three, cocktails when I go out. At Chopsticks, where they have my Mai Tai ready for me almost before I even sit down, I only ever have two. -Robert

The Mai Tai is one of the early drinks I cut my teeth on prior to being christened "DrinkBoy", and when properly made it still remains one of my favorite drinks. I was fortunate in that my introduction to the Mai Tai was done at a nearby restaurant that does them "right" the Original Trader Vic way. It was when I would order this drink elsewhere, and be served something "radically" different, that I started to put my chef training to work and focus on trying to research into the origins and "proper" construction of this and other cocktails. Part of the reason that there are -so- many variations of the Mai Tai (many bartenders will quote their recipe as "Rum and a bunch of juices"), is that many of the recipes from the Tiki era were closely held secrets. Trader Vic wanted you to need to come to "his" restaurant in order to get a Mai Tai, and Don the Beachcomber likewise wanted to own your allegience to the Zombie and others of his drinks. This meant that customers going into some other bar and ordering a Mai Tai would get a blank stare in return... Resourceful bartenders however are always trying to please their customers, and would therefore try to discover from the customer how they might "approximate" this drink for them. If they ended up with something that appeared to satisfy this customer, then that is what that bartender will record as their recipe. Thus many recipe books will list the Mai Tai as including Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, Passion Fruit Syrup, Guava Juice, Falernum, or any number of other ingredients. While these might often produce a great drink, they don't produce what should be considered a Mai Tai. We no longer have a Trader Vic's here in Seattle, and I never had the opportunity to visit it before it closed down long ago. It was only recently that I finally had the opportunity to actually try a "real" Mai Tai, at a "real" Trader Vics restaurant (in Atlanta). I was frankly shocked at how uninspiring it was. It tasted like rum, and a bunch of juices. Definately not a drink that would be memorable enough to seek out again. The bar staff was clearly using bottled Mai Tai Mix (but dark brown, while it normally is more of a light tan in color), and having used the official Trader Vics Mai Tai mix in the past, I know that it can make a good (but not great) Mai Tai. So I'm not quite sure exactly what the problem was. Now, imagine my surpise, in reading the above referenced article, to see it say: If I'd only known I should have asked for an "ORIGINAL Mai Tai"... dang, guess that means I've got to plan another trip to another Trader Vics :-> (Note: I'm not sure what they mean by it having "less cherry flavor", since there isn't any cherry flavoring in the recipe!) -Robert

Perhaps not really here nor there, but I think both of the recipes (San Martin, Sand Martin) are actually from Jones, who perhaps got them from Savoy. -Robert

The Absinthe available from Jade Liqueurs is absolutely fabulous! Nouvelle-Orléans, is the result of many years of exhaustive research and preparation by Ted Breaux to create an absinthe that is as close as possible to the absinthe that was made back in the 1800's. The various modern brands available pale in comparison. The website for more overall information about this is: http://www.vintageabsinthe.com, and if you are interested in purchasing some, you can do that here: http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/Jade.html I ordered several bottles a while back, and they arrived in just a matter of days.

Frankly, the reason I go to Thaiku is for their bar the "Fu Kun Wu", run by Perryn Wright... He's doing some absolutely wonderful things with the cocktails they serve there. Unfortunately they don't do full meal service in the bar, just appetizers (which means I've never actually at a meal at Thaiku :-).

You guys make me extremly jealous. Being able to drop in and share such wonderful cocktails with Audrey anytime you want to... :-<

Fee Brothers also has a Falernum (0% alc) that they came out with just a few months ago. It and the Da Vinci product are pretty much interchangeable flavor wise, but the same cannot be said of Velvet Falernum. To the best of my knowledge, those three products (Fee, Da Vinci, Velvet) are the only Falernum's currently being sold in the US. If you can get Velvet Falernum, then that is the better of the three, but also harder to find (I can't get it here in WA, has anybody seen it being sold online yet?). -Robert