October 15, 2013
A few posts ago, I talked about my recent purchase of The Compleat Imbiber #5, and said there’d be more to come from it – and I didn’t lie, because now here we are and have another delightful Cocktail Talk quote straight from that august compendium. This particular one is from a story called A Party for the Girls, by H.E. Bates, in which a hero is tasked with making a Moselle Cup, but he can’t quite remember how it goes. So, foraging his path via experimentation, he ends up with a drink that ends up being “genius.” Sometimes it takes a little luck . . .
‘You said mint. What about mint now? Shall I go and get it? We’ve got lemon mint, too, I think’
Horace, who was trying hard to remember the exact proportions of the cup’s ingredients, put a dozen cubes of ice in a jug and coloured them with a golden film of brandy. Hesitant about something, he stood biting his lip. Oughtn’t there to be a dash or two of curaçao? Something seemed to tell him so.
‘You haven’t a spot of curaçao, I suppose?’
No, but they had maraschino, Maude said, and she thought also a little Cointreau. By now Horace was mildly confused. He couldn’t remember for the life of him whether it was curaçao, Cointreau, or maraschino that the cup demanded and again he stood biting his lip with that shy perplexity that affected Maude far more sharply than any look of open appeal.
–H.E. Bates, A Party for the Girls, The Compleat Imbiber 5
October 11, 2013
The Cocktail to Cocktail Hour episodes are coming with rare regularity so far in Season Four (but don’t expect miracles people – genius takes time). And for Episode 3, we have a special guest making his second appearance on the show – call us lucky – the mysterious and well-coiffed Stereolad himself, Mark Butler! In this episode he’s teaching us how to make the Horse’s Neck, and being generally awesome.
Tags: bourbon, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail video, Cocktail Videos, Friday Night Cocktail, Horse's Neck, Mark Butler, The Horse’s Neck, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail Videos, Dark Spirits, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
October 8, 2013
It’s time to take a tipsy spin again through some fun-tastic recent posts I’ve written for the swell Seattle magazine, covering such topics as local bar and spirit news and the best places in Seattle to eat when you’re having jury duty (for those living here), and drinks to have when you’re tailgating or on a hayride, or when you want to think of summer (since it’s, well, sadly gone now).
• Fall Spirit and Distillery News
• Early Fall Bar News
• Fall Cocktails Perfect for Hayrack Rides
• The Best Places to Eat When You Have Jury Duty
• Four Drinks for a Triumphant Tailgating Experience
• Late Summer Wine Cocktails
• Summer Sipper Recipes
See all A.J. Seattle magazine articles
Tags: bar news, Bars, cocktail catch up, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine, spirit news
Posted in: Bars, Cocktail News, Recipes, Seattle Magazine
October 4, 2013
Buon giorno cocktail fans, and fans of cocktail videos, and Italian fans, and fans of good drinks, and fans of good translations, and welcome all y’all to another episode of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, the world’s best cocktailunmentary show. This episode is extra special, as we have a guest who’s traveled all the way from Italy to share a special recipe with us. So, watch up, and ciao until next time.
PS: Special thanks to AK Translation Services for the immaculate translating.
Tags: Aperol, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail video, Cocktail Videos, Friday Night Cocktail, Prosecco, Spritz, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: aperitif, Aperol, Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
October 1, 2013
Those chosen few, who have dawdled here on Spiked Punch since days of yore, or since days of long ago, may have been blessed enough to chance across a Cocktail Talk post featuring some wit or wisdom from one of the Compleat Imbibers that I am lucky to own. If you, rascal that you are, missed one of those earlier posts (my guess is you were out chasing whiskey bottles up trees), then by all means, go read them. Now you know that The Compleat Imbiber was a series of anthologies covering everything about drinking, with lots of wine talk, some boozy poems, some pictures of glassware, some etching of famous tipplers, and more. Overall, awesome. And during my recent trip to the U.K., I managed in a London bookstore to find a copy I didn’t yet own, number 5. So, expect some quotes over the next little while from it, starting with this one from a short essay by C. Gordon Glover about those who might bore you at the bar with their chatter.
‘Good gracious Fossbridge! Never seen you drinking gin before.’ ‘Hollands, dear boy. And chilled. I always telephone Mrs. Mason in the afternoon if I propose to drink a glass of Hollands in the early evening. She puts a bottle in the refrigerator for me. But not gin, as you understand it – definitely not the brutish juniper. . .’
Of course, there is no need to suffer it at all. There is always the snug fireside. But yet, and yet – they would be missed. And we, too, possibly, may bore the dying nightlights out of them!
– C. Gordon Glover, Boring at the Bar, The Compleat Imbiber 5
September 27, 2013
I recently was talking to a friend, and they mentioned that they didn’t like Chartreuse. I was flabbergasted. I didn’t, like, knock them over the noggin with a three-legged stool or anything, but I did decide then and there to never talk to them again (okay, maybe not – but that would have been sorta great). I also decided to go right home and make myself a Chartreuse Daisy, in honor of the lovely herbal French liqueur/aperitif that had been maligned by my one-time friend. I think you should do the same. We certainly don’t want Chartreuse to feel bad, after all.
Chartreuse Daisy, using the recipe from Ginger Bliss
Cracked ice
2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 ounce grenadine
1 ounce yellow Chartreuse
Strawberry, for garnish
Orange slice, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, and grenadine. Shake very well, until the shaker gets frosty.
2. Fill a goblet three-quarters up with cracked ice. Strain the mixture over the ice. Stir briefly. Float the Chartreuse over the ice, and stir again briefly. Garnish with the strawberry and the orange slice.
Tags: Chartreuse, Chartreuse Daisy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 24, 2013
Just last week, I talked about finding and reading and digging the book by Madison Smartt Bell called Straight Cut. Go read that post if you haven’t. Back now? Great, that means it’s time for you to dive right in to some more Cocktail Talk quotes from said book. The first is about grappa, and the second, for balance, is about rum.
In the early evening I went to the trattoria for an early supper and mainly to get out of the house and there I remembered about grappa. There’s no language difficulty about ordering grappa. You just say “grappa” and the man brings you some, in this case a sizable portion for the equivalent of about thirty U.S. cents.
On the Bayswater Road, near the corner of Kensington Gardens, I found a booze shop and bought a quart of dark naval rum. Circling back about Queensway, I picked up some plastic cups at a grocer’s and then I went back to the room. It was time to get drunk and think it over.
— Straight Cut, Madison Smartt Bell
September 20, 2013
Sometimes, you (or I – though if this doesn’t happen to anyone else I’ll eat my hat) forget about a drink that you actually really like. There are so many drinks out there! Then you come back to it like an old friend after that first sip and think, why did I not drink this for so long? I recently had this moment with the Perseverance, which is a recipe featured in Wine Cocktails. It’s actually a nice end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall drink, so fit my mood as well. Tastiness.
Perseverance
Ice cubes
1 ounce vodka (I think Rocket vodka is good)
2 ounces chilled Maryhill Rosé Sangiovese
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the vodka, rosé, maraschino, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Strain the Perseverance equally into two cocktail glasses.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Maraschino, Perseverance cocktail, Peychaud bitters, rosé, vodka, What I'm Drinking, wine cocktail, Wine Cocktails
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, vodka, What I'm Drinking, Wine Cocktails
