An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

Ahhhh . . . Mixology Monday XLVI.  I’ve never been good at roman numerals, so I’m not even going to guess what that translates to in normal non-roman number type things.  Regardless, it’s that time again and this month we are being hosted by Sonja at Thinking of Drinking.  Sonja’s chosen theme is absinthe and a fitting theme she has chosen, especially since Sonja is the brain behind North Shore Distillery’s Sirène Absinthe Verte.  Sonja’s instructions:

The topic for February is Absinthe. That much maligned, misunderstood, mistreated spirit, suddenly plentiful again in the US and other parts of the world. Absinthe played a role, whether large or small, in a variety of great cocktails from the 1800’s and early 1900’s – the Sazerac, Absinthe Suissesse, Corpse Reviver No. 2… I’m getting thirsty. So let’s celebrate absinthe’s history, and it’s future, with all manner of cocktails using absinthe.

For this task, I turned to a myriad cocktail books to find a new drink to present to you good folks.  Looking through the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Recipe Book, I found a very tasty looking tipple.

Green Fairy Sour
1 oz Absinthe (I used Vieux Carre)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz mineral water (I used plain ole filtered water)
.75 oz simple syrup (2:1)
1 dash Angostura
half an egg white

Dry shake all nice a long.  Add ice and shake like a 19th Century absinthe addict.  Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

First, I’d like to point out that this was the best foam I’ve ever gotten on a drink with egg white.  Woot!  Second, this is a fantastic drink!  It isn’t too sweet or too sour.  The absinthe is front and center but not overpowering by any means.  Honestly, I think I’d like to try it with a little extra absinthe in the mix.  Maybe another dash of bitters.  Regardless, this is a damn fine tasty drink.

I can’t wait to see what other beverages folks write about utilizing absinthe.  But, as is our want, we like to give you at least one more drink for your consumption.

So I’m going to use this opportunity to pimp my favorite cocktail yet again.  Plus there is the added benefit of having the New Orleans Saints as Superbowl Champions to celebrate while drinking this down.

Cocktail a la Louisiane
1 oz rye whiskey
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Benedictine
.25 oz absinthe
3-4 healthy dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir all ingredients until frosty cold.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and twist some lemon peel over the drink.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a lemon twist.  Yes, I like both lemon peel and a cherry.  Sue me.

There you have it.  A few great uses for absinthe.  Thanks again to Sonja for hosting and I’ll see you at the bar!

Cheers!

For the first time since I got into all of this cocktail wackiness I had a chance to visit San Francisco.  I’ve met a number of people from there, know at least one person who has moved out there from here, know others that moved here from there.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a trip solely to introduce myself to the food and drink delights that San Francisco has to offer; I was going out there for work, which meant I was there with a few coworkers and got to spend a week working while here in DC a snowstorm shut down the Federal government for four days straight.  I was lucky in terms of flights – not so much as a delay, despite leaving from Reagan National Airport.

I knew I had three places I definitely wanted to visit.  I heard a lot of good things about Alembic and Bourbon & Branch.  I’d also had a chance to meet Martin Cate at Tales of the Cocktail last year and I knew he’d just recently opened a new tiki-themed place called Smuggler’s Cove.  Having talked to a Facebook friend out there, I decided to try to hit Alembic Tuesday night and then Smuggler’s Cove Wednesday night.  Bourbon & Branch I’d save for Thursday night.

Tuesday my coworkers wanted to join me so we piled into a cab and went to Alembic.  We got there just a bit before 5 PM, which is when their lunch menu switches to a dinner menu.  However, they were having a Stone beer dinner that night, thus we could still order off the lunch menu if we wanted.  Two of my coworkers got rockfish sandwiches, which surprised them with how good they are, and another got the banh mi – again, he was surprised at how good it was.  I got the jerked duck hearts and some peppers that were fried and covered with smoked salt and loved them.

Most of the time I was asked to order.  For one guy who I know likes proper martinis, I ordered a Gilded Lily – Plymouth gin, yellow Chartreuse, orange flower water, topped with sparkling demi-sec and gold flake.  That was definitely a hit drink while I enjoyed a Vasco de Gama (Buffalo Trace bourbon, garam masala spiced apple syrup, Islay scotch).

The Vow of Silence had rye, Benedictine (always a good combination), creme de griotte (which is cherry), and Angostura bitters.  It reminded me a bit of a De La Louisiane without the absinthe.  Camper English via text suggested the Blue Steel, a drink whose Zoolander reference I’d missed, which was Appleton rum, creme de cassis, dashes of absinthe and Angostura, a splash of rye, and garnished with a sprig of cilantro and a twist of lemon.  A very interesting drink and the cilantro definitely was a different garnish, but yet it added something to it that I couldn’t quite pick out.

I felt a bit bitter that night thanks to [SECTION REDACTED DUE TO OBSCENITY]ore and so I asked for a bartenders choice with something of his choice, but bitter.  I saw Cynar, bourbon, Benedictine and Angostura, and definitely missed something else – it was an interesting change of pace.  I couldn’t resist tasting the Southern Exposure – Junipero from Anchor, mint, lime, sugar, and celery juice – however you juice celery, I guess.  It was a nice change of pace from the previous drink.

We finished up with a Negroni which was made just the way I like it – Beefeater gin, Punt e Mes, and Campari in equal proportions.  Yummy.

The next night my coworkers headed out for dinner; it didn’t really sink in until I got there (despite having been on the website that day) that Smuggler’s Cove doesn’t serve food, but hey, that’s okay, fruit juice is like food.  I met Jennifer and hung out with the bartender.  She sipped rum and told me about the rum programs there and at Forbidden Island; he told me about his trip to Dubai.  Martin wasn’t there, unfortunately, so I left a note for him, and started with the drink that was always my favorite at Trader Vic’s in Atlanta – a Navy Grog.

Reza, the bartender, said that the “Three Dots and a Dash” was the best drink on the menu so of course I had to try it.  Camper told me to try a Jet Pilot if I dared, so of course I did, and I had to get a Rum Barrel so that I could get, well, a rum barrel tiki mug.  While there one of my coworkers joined me and fell in love with the place.  He (and the next night the other coworker confirmed it) how much better they liked the bartenders at the Cove than at Alembic.  Reza was the epitome of the gracious, talented and knowledgeable bartender, patient with all of his customers and more than happy to help you out and give you his thoughts and opinions when asked for them.  Our bartender at Alembic wasn’t rude, but definitely had the “if I don’t see you I can relax, even if I’m right in front of you and your glass is empty” attitude you get sometimes.

How could you blame him?  The decor is great, vintage tiki.  It’s a small place, with three levels – you walk in on the second level right to a bar, and there’s one below.  The upper level is just seating and there’s no table service.  We sat on the middle level bar and hung out, and I have to admit, I did read the entire “Yo ho ho” poem on the wall of the men’s room.

You’ll note that I didn’t write down the ingredients here.  I’m going to be honest with you – it’s too much of a pain in the butt to do that with tiki drinks on a Palm Centro!  Just go buy some tiki books, why doncha.

Thursday I planned on going to Bourbon and Branch but ran into two problems.

First, I didn’t realize how important it was to get reservations.  I hadn’t, and there was no room at the inn, as it were.  There were possibilities but I was feeling a bit daunted at that point.

Second, after training was over, I passed out for an hour.  I didn’t mean to, but I sat down on the bed and WHAM, out.  That put me running a bit behind.  I went down to the hotel-ish sports bar and got some happy hour nachos, a beer or two, and some Fernet to wash it down, which showed one of the nice things about SF – Fernet even at crappy hotel sports bars!  YAY!

When I got back ahold of my coworkers from their foray to Chinatown they wanted to go back to the Cove, so away we went!  This time Martin was there and it was good to be able to say hi to him again.  He’s an amazingly nice guy and runs a heck of a shop at Smuggler’s Cove.  I tried a few different drinks and ended the night with a delicious Painkiller (3).  Yummy.

Next time I go to San Francisco I will definitely need to try to make reservations for Bourbon & Branch – but I can’t wait to go back to the Cove.

Remember how I mentioned before about books and drinks?  Obviously, the same thing works for movies – but with the shorter run time, and the possibility of spoilers, it can be harder…

Tonight I watched Inglorious Basterds.  Yes, it took me a long time to see it.  Yes, it was a GREAT MOVIE.  I’d like to put in a lot of cuss words to show how much I liked this movie, but I just finished watching it, so I’m high on adrenaline and lots and lots of booze.

How do you do a drinking game for a movie you haven’t seen yet?  It’s called the pause button.

I’d been out with a friend of mine earlier, came in, fired up the movie.  The joys of pay-per-view, though in my case, it took a few tries because, well, FiOS was having “issues”.

Okay, we’re watching a movie with Germans, French, and Americans.  We need a drink, and I make one, declaring it the “Inglorious”:

Inglorious
2 ounces rye whiskey
1 1/2 ounce Belle de Brillet (a French pear-flavored cognac)
1/2 ounce Underberg (I originally used 3/4 ounce, which is the size of a mini-bottle of it, but that’s too much)
Stir, strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a twist of lemon peel.

Actually, that was pretty good.

I kept watching the movie and needed another Lt. Aldo drink.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS DRINK.

The Basterd
2 ounces applejack
1 ounce Dolin dry vermouth
1/2 ounce Barenjager
2 dashes Marshall’s moonshine bitters
Shake and strain into a glass with a twist of lemon

Unfortunately, the Barenjager overwhelms the drink in this one.  It needs work.

Notice something on those?  I went for French-German-American.  But I got tired, and the movie went to a scene where they order “33 year old” Scotch whisky.

WARNING SPOILERS

Well, we’re in it again.  Today started the beginning of a huge snow storm blowing over DC and the surrounding areas.  As of 10pm, we are under a blizzard warning until 10pm tomorrow Feb. 6 and they are saying we could get up to 30 inches of snow or more.

Snowfall as of 9pm

Now I love snow.  And truthfully, I’m excited to be in my first blizzard warning.  Of course I want everyone to be safe and warm all that jazz, but this is just cool.  And obviously, this kind of weather calls for more warm beverages . . . preferably those of the alcoholic variety.  In my last post, I gave you the Celestial Warmer.

Non-Union
5.0 oz African Roobios Tea, hot
1.5 oz Mezcal, I used Ilegal Mezcal
0.5 oz agave syrup
1 very long strip of grapefruit peel

Pour syrup and mezcal into a glass or mug and stir to combine.  Brew the tea and pour into your container of choice, stirring to combine.  Cut a long strip of grapefruit peel over the glass and throw it in.  Enjoy.

Finally, I’ve had some folks ask me about how much snow we’ve had so far in DC.  I decided to take a little video and share it with everyone.  This video was taken on my balcony around 11pm Friday, Feb. 5 2010. The noise you hear in the video is the wind.

Tomorrow I’ll post another video that shows the overnight accumulation. And, of course, another warm drink!

Cheers!