An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

Since I couldn’t edit old posts and insert these without Firefox crashing…

Orange liquor battle, two pictures:

The new Rittenhouse 21 year old rye I bought:

Making a Long Island Iced Tea:

(I couldn’t do this post in Rich Text format in LJ – it crashed Firefox every time I inserted an image. Anyone else seeing this behavior?)

But I’ll be darned if I know where my USB cable is for my camera.  Thus, we’ll stick with written descriptions.

Part one:  I was at the VA ABC store next to the Harris Teeter near my house today.  I was buying a bottle of dark rum (Gosling’s) since I’d Twitter-ed some good tiki type drinks yesterday that used Myer’s, but I’m not a huge Myer’s fan.  I was also debating a bottle of Smirnoff Black Cherry vodka since I wanted to try to make a different drink they’d made at Clare & Don’s.

On my way out the door there I noticed a bottle of Rittenhouse 21 year old rye.  I hemmed and hawed, I called

tmfiii

, I debated.  After my visit to the Harris Teeter, I bought it.

I’m very excited about it.  I’d try it tonight, but we hit part two…

Part two:  I’ve been promising for a while that I’d make a video for my friend Mike Strack about how to make a Long Island Iced Tea.

Thanks to my glorious skills at teh webcamz, here’s the second part:

And that’s what I’m drinking right now.

Mmmmm.  It ain’t so bad, dudes.  If a bit strong.  Methinks I need more food…

The WSJ has an article about how cognac companies are trying to get a “signature cocktail”, like the mojito was for rum or the Cosmo for citrus flavored vodka, and popularize it.

One they mention in the article is ginger, lemonade, and cognac.

I’ve made more than a few cognac cocktails, though I often use armagnac instead.

What do you think would be a good one for ‘em?

(Yes, I have

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and my orange liqueur tasting notes here at work with me – I’ll get to them, I promise!  I’ve just had, you know, actual work to do!)

Wow, okay, so this was one tought MxMo.  Many of the drinks that I consume (only in the vien of research and to enlighten the masses mind you) are of the variety with 2.5-3.0 ounces of spirits, less if there is mixer, but nothing that I would personally consider a “Limit One” drink.  I’m sure that this is why Rick over at Kaiser Penguin picked this as the theme.  Rick, you suck!  Nah, just kidding, this was actually a great theme and challenged me to find a cocktail (or two . . . come on, you folks should know me by now!) where one is enough.

For the last few days I’ve had wonderful houseguests.  One of my closest friends from undergraduate school and his beautiful wife have been using my humble abode as a jumping off point for various family matters.  It has been a pleasure to have them here and a real treat to be able to hang out with my Noompsie again (long story . . . .)  Anyway, I was talking to my buddy Matt (the aforementioned Noompsie) and his wife about cocktails they have tried where they felt (or the bartender had told them) that one was enough.  Matt’s response was something along the lines of, “Spiccoli’s sister is a fine piece of ass!” and then preceded to go into a discussion regarding canines, five dollars and Count Chocula.  Ummmmm . . . . okay . . . . not quite what I was expecting, but hilarious none-the-less and in a strange way underscored why I love the guy.

Anyway . . . I decided that tiki drinks was really the way to go.  Traditionally, with their focus on stong rum flavors and fresh fruit juices, many tiki drinks can really pack a punch with only one glass.  With this in mind I turned to two of my Christmas presents from

runoknows.?

  The first was a book on drinks, food and tiki culture espoused by Don the Beachcomber entitled, “Hawai’i Tropical Rum Drinks & Cuisine.”  The recipe was for Colonel Beach’s Plantation Punch.  This cocktail definitely packs a punch:

Colonel Beach’s Plantation Punch
2 oz Jamaica Planters Punch Rum*
1 oz Puerto Rican Dark rum*
.50 oz Barbados rum*
1 oz Curacao (I used Clement Creole Shrub)
2 oz ginger beer (I used Regatta Ginger Beer)
.75 oz fresh lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Pernod
2 dashes Falernum

*For these rums, I had to make substitutions.  I used 2 oz Appleton 12 yr old, 1 oz Scarlet Ibis Rum, .50 Gosling’s Black Seal)  Trust me, it turned out damn tasty!!!

Shake everything with ice and pour everything into a chimney glass or tiki glass with three or four ice cubes.  Garnish with mint, pineapple, cherries or whatever else suits your fancy.

This drink was delicious!  It had me sounding like “Droopy” by the time I finished it and had to run out for dinner before continuing. ?

The second drink I wanted to write about was Trader Vic’s Tiki Bowl.  This also came from Sean by the way of “Trader Vic’s Tiki Party.” ?

Trader Vic’s Tiki Bowl
1 oz dark rum
1 oz silver rum
1 oz brandy
2 oz orange juice
.50 oz lemon juice
.50 oz Orgeat
1 cup crushed ice

Blend everything quickly just to incorporate and pour into a double old fashioned glass.

Both of these drinks were strong and tasted great.  Not too sweet and as the ice melted brought out various flavors of the different rums and juices.  One note regarding the Pernod in the Tiki Bowl – you won’t even notice it.  Of course, if you left it out, the drink would be something completely different.  Don’t believe me, make up a few for yourselves and give it a whirl.

Well, this is it for me . . . Have fun with this month’s MxMo and again I want to thank Rick of Kaiser Penguin for hosting.

Cheers!