An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

What could better after a long day?s work than heading to Jack Rose Dining Saloon for a whisky tasting? A few weeks ago, I took part in an exclusive whisky tasting featuring six different bottles from around the world. The tasting was held in an intimate, dimly lit space known as Jack Rose?s basement bar. The setting was inviting, as whisky bottles were set atop a beautifully hand-crafted, rustic, wooden bar top, greeting every patron upon entry.

What were the whiskies I was able to try?? Here?s a glimpse:

From Canada, I tasted Still Waters Distillery, Stalk and Barrel single malt whisky.? This comes out of Ontario and is Still Waters and Ontario?s first single malt whisky to be distilled, bottled and aged in Ontario.? It was released on April 27, 2013.? My thoughts:? At 46%ABV and aged only 4 years, I would say this whisky is a bit young and should be kept in the barrel longer.? I caught some fruity notes but the overall flavor was short-lived and dropped off quickly leaving a bit of a burn.

From Australia, I tasted Sullivans Cove double cask single malt whisky aged in American and French Oak barrels. ?This Tasmania distillery was not allowed to distill until 1921 and has come up quickly on the international market.? Bottled at 40% ABV this whisky was a lot creamier than the first and had a slight hint of honey.? I liked this whisky much more than the first, but again the flavors faded quickly and overall too light for my liking.

From Scotland, I tasted Glenglassaugh?s Evolution, a limited release of 6,000 bottles which has been matured in ex-bourbon casks from the Tennessee distillery George Dickle. Glenglassaugh has an interesting history.? Located on the east Highland coasts of Scotland it was closed on and off for a total of 66 years before re-opening for the fourth time in 2008.? This revived distillery is on the right track and at 57.2% ABV this scotch had more flavor to offer.

From India, I tasted Amrut?s Fusion single malt whsikey.? I love the peat flavor in whisky so I was more partial to the flavor profile of this whisky.? This is a vatting of a 75% Amrut single malt and 25% Amrut peated malt whisky.? Once the two whiskies have been added together they are aged for an additional six-nine months. To me this whisky had an earthy, mineral taste and the peat flavor very moderate.? I liked a taste but am not sure I would drink a whole glass given other options.

From England, I tasted St. George?s Distillery English Company peated single malt.? What a delicious surprise here!? I have loved most St. George products, especially their gins, but with whiskey I was skeptical.? Non-chill filtered and bottled at 46% ABV I was surprised how strong the peated flavor and overall mouth feel of this whisky presented itself.? I highly recommended this whisky.

And lastly from Scotland again, I tasted a Blackadder Raw Cask Bunnahabhain ?Moine? heavily peated and aged 6 years.? Of course this was my favorite!? Blackadder, one of the best independent bottling companies of Scotland, is a true love of mine.? I am never disappointed by their products as they are quality through and through.? Check out their story here.? The mouth feel of this whisky was distinguishable from the rest, a bit leathery and richer.? The lingering peat smoke unveiled layers of flavor.

And of course no Jack Rose Dining Saloon experience could be complete without toasting to the scotch consultant of the East Coast, the one-and-only, Harvey Fry.? This man is a legend and if you love whiskey, a person you must seek out.

(Photo: left to right: Amy Alabaster, co-worker of mine, Harvey Fry, scotch consultant of Jack Rose Dining Saloon, and me)

I am absolutely positive that joke has been used a million times already, but I refuse to let that dissuade me. I do feel bad for the lack of pictures in this post but oh well, I don’t want to fire up the grill for just one lemon…

Next week I’m headed out to a pool party and one of the hosts asked me to make some punch for it. Of course I agreed, and then immediately moved to Twitter to ask for recommendations. After all, I barely make cocktails at home most of the time, much less punch. Fairly quickly I got two recommendations.

The first came from Rick aka @martinigroove.

@highwaystar Here’s a fancy one that I made that’s pretty solid: http://t.co/AtszauBgmC

? Cocktail Rick (@martinigroove) July 24, 2013

So, off I went to try it. I took it in a couple of steps.

About once a week or so I tend to have a long grilling session where I smoke cigars, listen to music, and grill up veggies and proteins for the upcoming week. Typically I do a steak for that night and chicken and pork for the upcoming week (typically they end up in taco form) along with asparagus, onions, peppers, and jalapenos. That’s honestly how I’ve been losing weight lately. This time, after finishing the other veggies but before the meats, I followed the recipe and put a thinly sliced (as best I could) lemon on the grill.

After it cooled down I threw it in a ziploc bag.

The next day Marshall and I hit Ace Beverage for supplies. The recipe called for 8 ounces of bourbon, specifying W. L. Weller, and 2 ounces of apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter). After some hijinks I ended up with what I needed. Later that night I headed over to Marshall’s apartment for the experiment.

Now, one thing I did realize was that I only bought one bottle of W. L. Weller, so I used Four Roses (which is one of my favorite bourbons especially in terms of value). I muddled the lemons in a pitcher, added the bourbon, apricot liqueur, and simple syrup, then added ice and stirred.

A few observations from this point:

• This makes a lot less than I expected.
• And the punch is mostly booze. Both a good and bad thing.
• We had particulate matter in the drink.

Garnished with fresh mint, we sipped, and it was fairly tasty. However, after tasting, I thought about a few things, and here’s how I’ll change it when I do it next weekend.

• I’m doing a a triple batch.
• As Rick noted, it’s all about the presentation, so I’ll make it there rather than batching ahead of time. I will batch the liquor part of it, though.
• Before adding ice, I’ll stir it up. Otherwise, it’s hard to get the lemon fully incorporated it seems. Then I’ll strain it through a fine mesh strainer to get out bits of char and seeds. I might grill an additional lemon to use as garnishes.

This punch is good, but I think it could also be livened up with some spice components. I don’t know if I’ll have time to experiment ahead of time on it, but some clove could be nice in it, or even perhaps a dash of heat in terms of some hot sauce. I’d want to avoid anything else sweet, as it’s already pretty sweet despite the lemon, but at the same time bitters might be the wrong way to go. Like I said, I might think on it a bit…

The second suggestion was a Pimm’s Cup punch. While the reasoning behind suggesting it wasn’t appealing (neither I, nor my hosts, give a shit about the royal baby) the drink itself is a classic.

But which recipe?

After spending hours (okay, maybe minutes) combing the web, finding old websites that might be compromised, and craving cucumber sandwiches, I had an epiphany. Instead of a Bloody Mary bar, I’ll do a Pimms Cup bar!

A few bottles of Pimm’s, a couple of gin, lemonade, lime juice, ginger beer, 7-Up, etc.

As our friend Ed would say: “It’ll be great!”

And so I hope. This time, I will take pictures, and I’ll give you an update later. (Especially since I’ll be sober for two weeks in August, I’ll need?something to talk about!)

?Everybody knows the Martinez, right?? asks Dave Wondrich before his demonstration. Open before him is one-time Esquire Magazine drinks writer, David Laskin?s, Wine and Liquor Handbook published in 1984.

?Gin. Vermouth. Stirred. A little splash of liqueur. A very elegant drink. The beginning of the martini, et cetera,? he says.

Jeff ?Beachbum? Berry listens intently. Wondrich looks down at Laskin?s recipe very closely and begins building it.

?First, we put into the blender cracked ice…?

Unfortunately I don’t get to travel as much as I’d like. There are so many cities and bars and people I want to see but never as much time and money to do it all. San Francisco is one of those cities I had never visited but always wanted to. The food alone would be a reason to visit. But if you’re a cocktail professional or enthusiast, you have undoubtedly heard of some of the great bars and people in San Francisco. I’ve been lucky to meet and become friends with great people in this industry over the years. Some of those friends, Anita and Cam, Dinah and Joe and Martin Cate, live and work in San Francisco and have constantly told me how I needed to visit.

Luckily, my wife’s job requires her to travel to an annual meeting once a year and that location changes yearly. This past meeting was in San Francisco! So basically, I could fly to SF, stay in her employer-paid-for hotel room and visit some of the places I had read about or heard others speak so fondly of but never tried myself. So in this article and a few more to come, I’m going to share my experiences with you at some of these places.

I flew in on a Saturday morning and made my way to our hotel in the Union Square neighborhood. After a cross-country flight there were two things I absolutely had to do – shower and eat. After the former and checking in with my better half at the conference I went in search for the latter. Luckily our hotel was less than two blocks from a place I had heard some good things about – Jasper’s Corner Tap & Kitchen.

Jasper’s is really a neighborhood restaurant/bar. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner AND stays open late with a late night menu. Not only had I heard good things about their negronis on tap but their food was supposed to be great. A nice little surprise while looking into Jasper’s was learning Kevin Diedrich was the bar manager. Kevin worked in DC for a while and we ran into each other a couple of times. Great guy and friendly as hell. Unfortunately, he wasn’t around during my visits (yes I went to Jasper’s multiple times.)

The first thing I had to try was their famous on-tap negroni. Made with plymouth gin, Campari and sweet vermouth is was a perfect starter to my San Francisco trip. The cocktail was perfectly balanced and hit the spot perfectly. My bartender Drew was a great guy who loved to talk about the spirits, cocktails and food at Jasper’s. The menu was unique (to me anyway) in that it gave the origins of the drinks. Who created it, a small story behind the drink, or something that gave you a greater connection to the drink than just the individual ingredients that went into it.

After scarfing down a fantastic burger with truffled-parmesan fries, I decided to give one of their bottled cocktails a try. These are kept in the refrigerator with their bottled beers and opened to order and poured over ice. I ordered the Cherry Smash with cognac, curacao, cherry herring, lemon, mint and cherries. The drink was very good although it was a lot drier than I expected.

Because Jasper’s was so close to our hotel it became my default headquarters. It was a great place to meet folks and have a drink and food. If you’re ever going to San Francisco I highly recommend you stop by.

If you’re interested in seeing more of my photos from San Francisco check out the entire Flickr set here. In the upcoming installments of “A Scofflaw goes to San Francisco” I’ll cover my trips to Li Po, Comstock Saloon, 15 Romolo and Smuggler’s Cove.