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Who is Rachel Maddow?


JAZ

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She is the host of her own show on MSNBC and, as I learned in this interview in the NY Times, among others, a self described 'hobbyist bartender', and hardcore cocktail geek.  She's even worked a few cocktail references into her show.  She did a two part segment on Repeal Day (for that, she recommended a Sazerac), and the other night she made an analogy (I can't remember the exact context) describing something as being like the Cherry Heering in a Singapore Sling.

Personally, I freakin' love her.  I watch her show every night, and keep holding out hope that she has an equally witty straight twin sister.

ETA: 

her piece from Repeal Day.

Glad to see my gaydar was bang on!!!

Everyone's "gay for Rachel". It's an old tag line on the blogs. You should see her photos off screen (like in the NY Times profile or Vanity Fair or was that Vogue?)

Edited by tsquare (log)
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I think the very fact that we can be quibbling about the grenadine, juice or precise variety of apple brandy in the Jack Rose a national figure is making in public is a sign that the old days of cocktail geeks being a small band of crusty traditionalists in a world of apple martinis are definitively over.

I know Rachel a little bit and if she's not a member of the cocktail fraternity than neither am I.

aka David Wondrich

There are, according to recent statistics, 147 female bartenders in the United States. In the United Kingdom the barmaid is a feature of the wayside inn, and is a young woman of intelligence and rare sagacity. --The Syracuse Standard, 1895

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She was on the Martha Stewart show today  making a cocktail.

Sam:

Thanks so much for posting that link. I flipped the channel 10 minutes from the end of the program this afternoon and having read the program guide, realized I'd missed Rachel's segment already. Thinking back to this thread, I was hoping she had made a cocktail (because we all know Martha loves a good cocktail) and sure enough, here it is.

Cherry Julep looks quite tasty. Might have to make me one of those if I can only get my hands on some Plymouth Sloe gin.

CaliPotuine, as for your gaydar, I think it needn't get tuned. Rachel was first in Out magazine's "Out 100" list of the "gay men and women who moved culture" in 2008.

Edited by KatieLoeb (log)

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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CaliPotuine, as for your gaydar, I think it needn't get tuned. Rachel was first in Out magazine's "Out 100" list of the "gay men and women who moved culture" in 2008.

When I saw her on Martha, I had NO clue who she was, I'd never seen her before, or read about her. But, when I saw a clip of her that Martha showed( interviewing the former gov. of IL), I thought " she looks all wrong in that dress( and not to mention the way she was sitting), she has got to be gay!!

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" she looks all wrong in that dress( and not to mention the way she was sitting), she has got to be gay!!

That's pretty funny. She does seem more comfortable in her usual attire of khakis and a button down shirt, that's for sure. But Ms. Maddow has never been shy about being out. If you Google her name you'll see that she's been a "first" for a lot of things. I just think she's brilliant. You should check out her show some time.

Back OT, I hope she has the opportunity to parlay her notoriety into helping educate the masses about proper cocktails. A rising tide floats all boats, y'know, so if she can create a few more customers for her fellow cocktail geeks that work behind a bar, I'll be eternally grateful.

Edited by KatieLoeb (log)

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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I'd like to echo what I believe Katie is saying. How can this in any way be a bad thing? Rachael talking about cocktails can only be a positive for Katie and everyone else who makes a living in the business. Ripping this woman for having a bottle of store bought grenadine is just a little much for me.

Cocktails: I like mixing them and I like drinking them. If I need to pass a purity test to be considered as part of the cocktail "culture" perhaps I'll pass on it and just enjoy my drink

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I finally got a chance to view the video, and I have to say I find it delightful. And I'd say it's a net plus for cocktail enthusiasm.

All the talk about grenadine made me search out the eG thread on home-made stuff. Sounds pretty simple. (Or I could just remember to buy some when I'm at VTR, but I always forget...)

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Here's a sharp and articulate person pointedly addressing some pressing matters. If she appreciates fine cocktails, we've got all the more to talk about, and welcome.

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  • 1 month later...

Rachel has been into PDT a few times and has always been engaged in the experience. Asking questions, learning, drinking. She has always professed herself to be in love with cocktails and considers herself to be obsessed with them on an amateur level.

I am all for her getting the good word of cocktails out there, and happy with the way she is doing it. Yes, sure, she could have used a better grenadine, but I blame that on the fact she had to make do with what the studio gave her and the time slot she had to do things.

I would much rather people who have little knowledge of cocktails see her actually using a jigger and learning a brief history of a classic cocktail than to be stuck with the idea of anything in a martin/cocktaili glass is a martini.

I hope people out there saw her make the cocktail with bad grenadine and strive to learn how to make it better by making their own grenadine the next time.

John Deragon

foodblog 1 / 2

--

I feel sorry for people that don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day -- Dean Martin

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Please. Tell me she's not awesome.

Rachel Maddow makes cocktails for Jimmy Fallon

I just came on to post that - you beat me to it! It's nice to see that when she does these segments she's pulling out drinks relatively unknown to the general public.

"Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other." - W. Somerset Maugham

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Just came across this today, a piece from her Air America radio show on

"Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other." - W. Somerset Maugham

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Just came across this today, a piece from her Air America radio show on

That was good. I was glad to hear that she made sure to include orange bitters in the Martini recipe, stressed using small glasses for cocktails, and that she kept her Old Fashioned recipe very basic (though I'll concede to an orange peel or a spoonful of orange marmalade). I got a laugh out her comment, "White Bacardi is disgusting!"

Mike

"The mixing of whiskey, bitters, and sugar represents a turning point, as decisive for American drinking habits as the discovery of three-point perspective was for Renaissance painting." -- William Grimes

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