what a mixologist has to work with

[trillium]

hi there,

I'm wondering how you feel about the availability (or lack thereof) of liquors on a state-by-state and country-by-country basis. The selection of available liquors in some states in the US is truly dreadful. Further, there is the frustration of trying to find certain liquors used in cocktails that are just not widely distributed in the US (like maraschino) or were distributed but are no longer (like Amer Picon) or just aren't even available here at all (like Cinzano's Orancio). If you could pretend that you didn't travel internationally, but liked to make and drink a wide repertoire of cocktails, how would you cope with a lack of distinctive ingredients?

regards,

trillium

[Kingcocktail]

Hi Trillium,

Ah the legacy of prohibition! When Roosevelt ran and won on the repeal ticket he made a compromise to get the amendment to repeal prohibition and that compromise was to turn over control of spirits top the state and therefore the local level.

I feel the pinch of this constantly because I travel so much with my work. I did a series of cocktail dinners around the country with different chefs and I had to clear all my ingredients with the local bartender to be sure I could get them, and in many cases I brought my own spirits!

One of the ways to get odd or even not so odd items is online, people will ship to you from around the country and overseas.

Sadly one of the downsides of the big reorganization in the spirits industry that took place over the last four years as companies merged and dissolved is a lot of low case volume spirits dropped of the market. Many will probably come back as small businesses begin to take up the slack and grab their brands for distribution.

Cheers

Dale