J_Ozzy

29 degrees Celsius today in Calgary, so it was time for a hot weather drink. Ti Punch. For me, it's the hot-weather Old Fashion. 1.5 oz La Favorite Blanc 0.25 oz 1:1 demerara simple syrup small squeeze of lime (a little off spec, but I love my citrus) round of lime peel ice cube mmm. A drink you have to respectfully sip to keep your wits about you.

Ben Jones (of Rhum Clement) usually walks around with a pocketful during Tales events. I was lucky enough to snag one this year by asking nicely. I don't know of a source for the real thing, but I've seen a very clever small wooden dowel arrangement that approximate the effect (a slightly larger dowel is bisected at right angles by two smaller dowel stubs at one end). Not sure if anyone is marketing those commercially, but they probably stand up better to wear. Edit: found a site with pictures: click

mkayahara, Nothing wrong with Sortilege, I'm a fan of all well-crafted maple products Just a quick thank-you to everyone who chimed in. I managed to find most of what I was looking for, and got to at least taste many I didn't find at retail. Katie, Your aquavit was wonderfully complex, layered with flavours without losing its nordic presence. Jesse, Thanks again for the coconut bitters, an unexpected windfall that I will cherish.

Hi Katie, Same producer, but not Sortilege (which has always struck me as maple sweetened whisky). It's the real deal; fermented maple syrup, distilled & aged

Well, since there's no takers, the Quebec apple Brandy and the maple syrup eau-de-vie will be making an appearance at the Tuesday Taste event. See you there

In a similar vein to Jesse, I've got maple syrup eaux-de-vie, Quebec apple brandy, Taboo Absinthe and old-formula Campari as my local offerings

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, folks

that's good news, Todd. I couldn't find the aforementioned two year ago, so my recollection (along with the Martin's wine cellar website) was the basis for my list(email inquiries to Dorignac's have gone unanswered).

Is there any interest among Tales of the Cocktail attendees in swapping a bottle or two? As product availability varies from region-to-region, it seems that Tales would provide a suitable hub to make this happen. There's a decent selection of things that can be bought locally from Vieux Carre, Martin's and Dorignac's in New Orleans, but a fair number of products are not available. For those of us flying in internationally, my understanding is that US Customs allows for 1L of declared spirits duty-free (someone please correct me if I am mistaken). accordingly, I can offer up to three standard half bottles (or 1 standard and one half) from the following catalogs: LCBO (select "LCBO&Vintages" radio button for widest results) SAQ Alberta Liquor I can source products from the first two catalogs until July 1st, after which only products from the 3rd catalog are available to me. I'd be interested in things like: Junipero Gin Rittenhouse Bonded Laird's Bonded Plymouth Sloe Gin Cooper Creme Yvette Toriani Amer Kuchan Barrel Aged Peach Brandy and pretty much anything Haus Alpenz imports feel free to pm me if you find something you'd like, or post your own list.

Up here in Canada we have these guys: Whisky Works They don't seem to ship internationally, unfortunately.

Janet, In your opinion, is this interchangeable with something like Rinquinquin?

At Tales 2008 they were sampling some remaining stock in one of the sessions, and I believe it was mentioned someone was working on a possible commercial resurrection (one of the sons of Jaquin & Cie owner perhaps, the guys behind St Germaine, Domaine de Canton and Creme Yvette 2.0?). Second hand as I missed that particular session, and I haven't heard anything since. In any event, I haven't heard of any replica attempts, I imagine the limited remaining stock makes it hard to compare attempts against the original.

I have a bottle, but haven't opened it yet. There's a thread over at the chanticleer society, if you care to take a look. The reviews over there have been positive. I'm hoping to track down the 16 yr old to do a comparison.

The aptly named "Hot Drinks" (Heiss & Heiss) has a fair variety of steaming tipples, though many of them skew into sweet dessert/digestif territory. Has anyone tried fat-washing a spice-infused bottle of rum to create a boosted Hot Buttered Rum variant?

If you're willing to go a tad more north than Vermont, there's a Quebec Eastern Townships cider producer which does apple ice wines and brandies. Producer site SAQ (Quebec Liquor Board) listing I've got their brandy and eau-de-vie in the house, but not much to compare the brandy against (Laird's 80 proof and basic Boulard calvados (no age statement)). I like it, in any event. Their literature infers at leasts two years of barrel aging.

61 for me; Tales seminars helped boost my initial number by a dozen or so

Heh, and you've made me want to purchase this: http://www.goantiques.com/detail,glass-192...an,1659809.html (though I'd want to do a chemical analysis before trying any, and the bottle is in suspiciously good condition, and customs clearances would be problematic...) edit: not to mention it's most likely some sort of re-release, given the capping material.

Canadian Club is not nearly as assertive as Sazerac Rye. I'd hazard that the canadian whisky and the vermouth work in concert to dampen the Campari's excesses in the original, rather than compete with it.

They were a sponsor at Tales last year, so there were a whole bunch DdC drinks on the index cards. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them, but I can dig them up if it's ok.

Granted, shaking the entire batch each time fulfills these requirements. But then we're back to shaking; things like frothing/foaming effects require prompt and significant agitation at the time of serving, which could be onerous given the size of a batch.

Batching ingredients is used to great effect in high volume situations (Tales of the Cocktail, large parties,etc), but I'm not sure you can get the temperature down to everyone's liking in a freezer vs shaking without running into slurry problems in more complex drinks. (the "stirring and cooking" topic has some in-depth discussion around thermal concerns) The integration of other ingredients beyond citrus (eggs, dairy, etc) also benefits from the shaking/stirring routine where a passive cooling process may fail. Heck, given enough time, you could end up with a massive poussé café as the base spirits sort themselves by specific gravity.

Indeed, I brought a purpose-made styrofoam packer to accomodate my precious cargo. I had to make a couple modifications to accomodate St Germain bottles, but it worked out nicely.

I travelled with over 9 litres of spirits on my way back from Tales this year, so they're fairly flexible on the checked baggage side.

There was something intensely karmic about the experience of sipping on a 20th Century cocktail while reading the contents of prohibition cabinet. I'm glad I had the chance to visit (The brandy milk punch was also superb). I think that's as close as I'll ever get to a sealed pre-ban bottle of Pernod Fils. All in all, a great way to cap off Tales.

I have to concur with Glacies, the drinks were glorious. I caught sight of johnder for a moment on the last day at the "making your own ingredients" seminar, he mentioned that he (and the rest of the tenatious crew) weren't running on much sleep. My hat's off to him for going above and beyond to answer questions and talk about his bitters despite everything else going on.