September 25, 2015

What I’m Drinking: The Morning Call

I am very sorry, dear readers, for what’s to come in the next few sentences. The kids these days call it “venting,” and I shouldn’t do it here, but we’re all in this together, and trust me, the payoff is good. So, tally ho! To all those who feel that they need to have early morning work meetings where they can be totally self-centered, churlish, idiotic, preening, demanding, aggressive, annoying, smelly, rude, obnoxious, piggish, full of sophomoric one-up-manship, self-absorbed, beastly, un-jovial, un-jolly, un-jiggy-with-it, grabby, grandstanding, stinky, vainglorious, un-fun, stoopid and stupid, pompous, jealous, vindictive, douche-y, territorial at a level way beyond petty, pushy, primpy, powermad, and just plain fatheaded, to all y’all that fit that – please, just let me know far, far, in advance when you’re scheduling your morning meetings, so I can make a Morning Call, or two, and thereby just ignore your sorry ass.

morning-call
The Morning Call, from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz

Cracked ice
1-1/2 ounces absinthe
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the absinthe, maraschino, and lemon juice. Stir well, and hang up the phone.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass.

PS: Sorry about the rant. But the drink is worth it, one hopes.

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July 23, 2013

Cocktail Talk: Two Friends

guySome say (or, said, cause after I caught up with ‘em they didn’t say any more.*) that the Cocktail Talk posts here shade too much to the pulp, noir, and mystery side, with only the occasional 1800’s English writer for balance. Pish posh, I say. But, I do believe in balance mostly and mainly, so this time, a little something that could be said to be more lit’rary. And French. And what’s more lit’rary than that? Nothing. This quote is gold, too, and reminds me of many an afternoon that started so purposeful and ended up sorta derailed. I’ll bet you’ve had those days, too, yes?

They entered a small café and took an absinthe together, then resumed their walk along the pavement. Morissot stopped suddenly. ‘Shall we have another absinthe?’ he said. ‘If you like,’ agreed Monsieur Sauvage. And they entered another wine shop. They were quite unsteady when they came out, owing to the effect of the alcohol on their empty stomachs. It was a fine, mild day, and a gentle breeze fanned their faces.

— Guy de Maupassant, Two Friends

*Kidding! I’m not so tough. I’m a cuddler.

December 8, 2010

Cocktail Talk: A Coffin for Dimitrios

Isn’t the name here ominous? Well, the book, by Eric Ambler, is less so, though Dimitrios is a rough character. This mystery-international-intrigue novel actually isn’t as cliff-hanger-ish as it wants to be, but it does globe trot across some interesting southern-European, Northern African, Easter European locales, and they drink it up somewhat along the way, which I have no problem with—heck, I don’t even have too much problem with the lack of mystery, as long the scenery is so jumping. Here are two quotes that round out this book’s particular bar:

‘Will you have a drink?’ said Latner. The Russian’s eyes flickered open and he looked round like a man regaining consciousness. He said: ‘If you like. I will have an absinthe please. Avec de la glace*.’

She had had a Mandarine Curaçao in front of her and now she had drunk it down thirstily. Latiner had cleared his throat.

 

A Coffin for Dimitrios, Eric Ambler

 

*If you wondered, this means “with some ice.”

June 2, 2009

What I’m Drinking Right Now: The Panther’s Paw

I wanted to call this post “Drinking Cats” as a balance to the below two cats drinking, but then I figured I’d get all kinds of weirdo traffic flowing in (instead of the regular weirdo traffic–ba-dump-bump. I kid, I kid). And who knows if that weirdo traffic would enjoy this newly minted (or, at least, fairly newly shaken) combination of gin, absinthe, pineapple juice, and a touch of simple syrup, accented by a lemon twist if you’re feeling it. And I’m feeling it, so you should be too (said in my drunken-two-year-old voice). I say hit up the Aviation gin here if you can, cause House Spirits rocks the party. Oh, and it tastes freaking great, like a springtime daydream. I used Lucid absinthe, which is pretty darn swell, too. But if you want to play around with other gins (Bluecoat might be interesting, and Dry Fly) or absinthes (like the mighty Marteau) then start experimenting with your Panther’s Paw. It won’t bite. Though after a couple, you may feel slightly paw’d. But maybe you like that? Wait, I know the answer to that question already.

 

Ice cubes

1-1/2 ounce Aviation gin

1 ounce Lucid absinthe

3/4 ounce pineapple juice

1/4 ounce simple syrup

Lemon slice, for garnish (optional)

 

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, absinthe, pineapple juice, and simple syrup. Shake well.

 

2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon slice if that’s what makes your panther purr.

 

January 23, 2009

Iron Bartender: Head to Head Shaking

I was lucky enough (being a drink-writer has its benefits–and I’m not just talking about taking booze purchases off taxes, or being heralded by slobbering boozers, or being able to have random people, taxi drivers, stewardesses, policepeople, look at you incredulously when you tell them what you do) last Sunday to be a judge at the very first Iron Bartender competition here in Seattle, held at the TigerTail. They sorta had to let me be a judge, cause I proofed the press release, but I’ll take what I can get. That said, it was awfully fun and a little messy, and I got to sip some tasty new mixes, which is always a worthwhile thing to do on a Sunday evening.

 

Here’s the basic overview (I’m not going to get into every teeny-tiny particular, cause I want to get to the photos). Two hot shot bar-slinging trash-talking contestants (the affable Dallas Taylor and the mighty nice Mike McSorley) battled it out over three 7 minute and two 10 minute “bar rounds.” Well, it only ended up being one 10 minute round, but that’s okey-dokey. We had a bit of a back-up in starting time, so it worked out. In the three shorter periods, the contestants used a “secret ingredient,” which I can now tell you was scrumptious Marteau absinthe, and any complementary products that they could find to create a series of drinks (the first two matching up with TigerTail menu items): aperitif, entrée, bartender’s choice, while in the two(*one in real life) longer rounds the contestants whipped out a series of drinks ordered by the crowd. The winner was crowned by a team of three alco-judges (me, awesome Andrew from Liberty, and delightful Kelly O, Drunk of the Week columnist for the Stranger, who also took the photos I’m posting here–thanks Kelly), who scored contestants on the use of the secret ingredient, the overall excellentness of the drinks, drink-making technique, style, wherewithal, and bar sense (or lack there of) demonstrated throughout the competition as well as anything else we felt like grading them on. Good spirited times. No pun intended.

 

Here are the incredible judges getting ready to use the gong (and drink up the drinks):

 

 

Here are Dallas and Mike in the beginning, before the divisive spirit of battle took hold:

 

 

And here Mike’s bringing the heat with a flaming absinthe spray:

 

 

While Dallas exhorts the crowds into a drinking frenzy:

 

 

Sadly, only one winner could be crowned (both of the bartenders brought it pretty well), and that winner was . . . Mike McSorely:

 

 

 

Okay, I realize I didn’t bring up exactly what they made, or even close-to-what-they-made, but rest assured the drinks were good, and absinthe-y, and utilized things like aloe syrup, celery, and lots of gin and fresh juice. I somehow misplaced my notes (hmm, why is it that drinking and note-taking never works out, but drinking and note passing is so much fun?), but when I find them, I’ll try to remember to give an Iron Bartender drink rundown (I do know the drink pic at the top of this post is one made by Dallas called I think the Dear Girl, which was pretty darn good). The word on the street is that they’ll be more Iron Bartender competitions soon, and I, for one, can’t wait to see the bartending badassery and liquor-y chaos unfold again.

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