What are you drinking right now?

[gnatty8]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

Really! Very interesting. I saw a segment about Tuthilltown on PBS and put their product on my must buy list. Picked up some of the four-grain from Astor in NYC when I was last there as that seemed their signature. Very glad to hear a good review from someone who is experienced in bourbon....


Astor is a great store, did you note the Hirsch 16 year old they had in their locked cabinet?

Hudson was quite a surprise, and I actually bought it as a novelty, given upstate NY is not known for its bourbon. I wasn't expecting much, but man, I was pleasantly surprised. It's easily one of my top 5 bourbons now, and I make sure I have a bottle on hand at all times. I think you'll like it..

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by gnatty8

Astor is a great store, did you note the Hirsch 16 year old they had in their locked cabinet? Hudson was quite a surprise, and I actually bought it as a novelty, given upstate NY is not known for its bourbon. I wasn't expecting much, but man, I was pleasantly surprised. It's easily one of my top 5 bourbons now, and I make sure I have a bottle on hand at all times. I think you'll like it..
Cool. Glad to hear. And yes, a novelty is pretty much why I bought it also (and, of course to support anyone giving craft distilling a go!). I really, really, really had fun in Astor when I was there -- knowledgeable people and lots of hard-to-find spirits. I restrained myself and only spent like $300, but it was all great and unusual stuff I wanted that I just couldn't find anywhere else. About the Hirsch -- what I noticed about the locked cabinet is that only its tag was there. Fortunately I have a pair -- my family vacationed around Lancaster when I was young and we lived in Jersey. I had seen the Michter's distillery many times and we even stopped there once, so when I grew up and saw it in Jackson's Whiskey it was one of those childhood recollection moments and I made special efforts to get some. Glad I did. ~ H

 

[Huntsman]

Hmmm.....scotch time. Oban Distiller's Edition. Just so tasty. And the taste of the sea is so strong in this I'd swear it's salty. A favorite of mine for whenever I want a clean dram. ~ H Edit: 1) Coolness. Googling tells me I'm not the only one that thinks it's salty! http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/bran...whisky109.html 2) Supposedly this has received a secondary maturation on Montilla sherry casks. Ok, so Montilla is a sherry made in Montilla from PX grapes? Is this correct? I am not familiar with this Montilla -- if it is like, say a Fino with its already salty nose on top of Oban's oceanic leanings (but without the mentholy-metal I dislike in the standard) would explain the serious sea air on the palate of this stuff. 3) This is really tasty, and, oh, so evocative to this old sea dog, far, as he is, so far from the ocean's cleansing breath.

 

[hws]

I drinked calvados and wine red

 

[King Francis]

Big night for drinking last night.

Swung by a friend's place and had a dram of scotch (Aberlour a'bunadh for me, Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or for him) while he handled a spur-of-the-moment work crisis, then we headed out to join some others at a great wine bar.

It was packed and lively. I began by sampling two different Pinot Noirs; both were decent but unremarkable. Then I tried a delicious Sauternes. Several ounces of this liquid gold found their way into my glass over the course of the night. I also enjoyed a red Châteauneuf-du-Pape which had great structure and balanced acidity. A few ounces of a cheap but refreshing Sauvignon Blanc and two glasses of a good red whose provenance I forget (it was a bottle my friend's friend's wife had ordered for the table) kept my taste buds tingling.

Eventually we headed back to the house of my friend's friend (the group was perhaps a dozen strong), where I enjoyed a glass of Moscato, a Screwdriver, then another glass of Moscato. During this time I consumed great quantities of aged white cheddar and muenster cheese, crackers, some chips and homemade salsa, peanut butter, peanuts, and half a protein bar. I was ravenous.

I should have gotten something to eat at the bar, which serves delicious food (like a pan-seared flatbread layered with blue cheese, baked pear and pancetta, finished with a clover honey drizzle that I'm getting hungry just thinking about). I also should have walked out with a wedge of Ossau-Iraty. But there will be other nights, and other chances. I had to restrain myself.

Final word: To anyone who hasn't already tried Aberlour a'bunadh, I recommend doing so. It's really damn good. A complex, full-bodied, unfiltered sherry beast.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

I won't lambaste Target -- I've bought bar accessories there, in fact my standard cocktail glass is the Reidel they sell. However, I will echo part of Rambo's sentiment -- you should use a boston shaker. Further I commend you to study at the following link: http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/show/raising_the_bar/ Watch the 'martini service' and 'shaking' segments. ~ H
Hunts - The martini service video has him using orange bitters in the martini. Is that common because its new to me?

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by King Francis

Final word: To anyone who hasn't already tried Aberlour a'bunadh, I recommend doing so. It's really damn good. A complex, full-bodied, unfiltered sherry beast.
+1 on the a'bunadh. I enjoy this whisky very much indeed.

Originally Posted by Rambo

Hunts - The martini service video has him using orange bitters in the martini. Is that common because its new to me?
No, it's not at all common. I have some issues with that vid, but it has good points also. Perhaps I shouldn't have linked it. That aside, the use of orange bitters in the Martini goes back to the origin of the drink in the Martinez, and the then common practice where a drink would be spirit, modifier, bitters, e.g., the Manhattan. So for quite some time that's how the martini was served. ~ H

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

+1 on the a'bunadh. I enjoy this whisky very much indeed.



No, it's not at all common. I have some issues with that vid, but it has good points also. Perhaps I shouldn't have linked it. That aside, the use of orange bitters in the Martini goes back to the origin of the drink in the Martinez, and the then common practice where a drink would be spirit, modifier, bitters, e.g., the Manhattan. So for quite some time that's how the martini was served.


~ H

That is a great link Hunts. I'm wandering through other people too. Just watched another guy make a Satan's Whiskers. Very good stuff here.

Btw, that bartender in your link? So obviously Canadian it's funny.

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

That is a great link Hunts. I'm wandering through other people too. Just watched another guy make a Satan's Whiskers. Very good stuff here. Btw, that bartender in your link? So obviously Canadian it's funny.
Yah, everything aboot him is Canadian. Jamie Boudreau is a Quebecois, transplanted to Vancouver and then Seattle, where I think he still is. Very hardcore, a mix of old-school and bleeding edge (witness the 90 Years of Aviation). I (generally) find his technique, especially for the basics, to be very good. His very good blog is http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/ Generally very good photography to go with his collection of vintage cocktail glasses. The other guy, Robert Hess, is one of the leading amateur stirrer-and-shakers in the cocktail world. I don't believe he's ever bartended professionally. Still, a very dedicated guy. Wrote a book, the title of which escapes me. ~ H

 

[Piobaire]

Speaking of Robert Hess, watching him this morning, I grabbed a Green Chartreuse while I was out. So, I just made my first Last Word:

1 part gin (used Bombay Sapphire)
1 part maraschino liqueur
1 part Green Chartreuse
1 part fresh squeezed lime juice

Shake and pour.

Very puckerful. Tasty though. I can't see more than one or two in an evening, but extremely different and it's fun knowing this is a pre-Prohibition cocktail. I've read of another iteration of the Last Word, Refined Speech. I have to go find that recipe now.

 

[Alter]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

+1. Conne WTF. What a waste of knob.

This is true on so many levels.

 

[Aaron01]

Originally Posted by Connemara

+

Blasphemer

 

[Roikins]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

No, it's not at all common. I have some issues with that vid, but it has good points also. Perhaps I shouldn't have linked it. That aside, the use of orange bitters in the Martini goes back to the origin of the drink in the Martinez, and the then common practice where a drink would be spirit, modifier, bitters, e.g., the Manhattan. So for quite some time that's how the martini was served.


~ H

He is right about the colder the better for a Martini though; I always forget to take home a box of dry ice or a dewar of LN from work to chill my martinis. One day, I'll remember.

 

[ama]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

+1 on the a'bunadh. I enjoy this whisky very much indeed.

This is very true, but it varies dramatically by batch. Some of the older ones, notability, 6 and 14 were out of this world. Others, 16, 21, for example, were surprisingly thin despite their high ABV. 23, which at least where I live, is widely available and very good.

I'm drinking some 14 now, its like alcoholic candy. Finishes forever.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

No, it's not at all common. I have some issues with that vid, but it has good points also. Perhaps I shouldn't have linked it. That aside, the use of orange bitters in the Martini goes back to the origin of the drink in the Martinez, and the then common practice where a drink would be spirit, modifier, bitters, e.g., the Manhattan. So for quite some time that's how the martini was served.


~ H

I've been exploring various links and vids from this site. Spirit, modifier, bitters. But that's the new fangled way. The "old fashioned" is sugar, spirit, etc. The history explained is damn interesting. I'm winding up to a weekend of experiments for Labour Day.

Need to find something other than the Last Word for my new Chartreuse.