December 20, 2019
This was originally created as an after-Thanksgiving-feast-is-feasted-on cocktail (featured on the fantastic New Day Northwest), but I was thinking the other day, as I sometimes do, that, hey, you know, the winter holidays also deliver lots of moments where the eating heads into eating-a-whole-lot territory, and you know what that means? That this stomach-easer will also easily be a hit throughout the whole darn holiday season! Try it friends, and see if I’m wrong. A hint: I’m not. It has some bitter-ing, but also some sweet underneath it all, and well, the holidays are sweet, though they pass so quickly often that there is a little bitter-where-did-it-all-go-ing, too. This drink has all that!
Stuffing’s Lament
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Seattle Distilling Company gin
1 ounce Brovo Amaro #1
1/2 ounce Four Leaf Spirits Sásta herbal-tea liqueur
1/2 ounce Woondinville Whiskey Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup
2 dashes Scrappy’s Grapefruit bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add each ingredient with a holiday smile. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Drink up. Then head for the leftovers.
Tags: amaro, bitters, Brovo Amaro #1, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Four Leaf Spirits Sásta herbal-tea liqueur, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Scrappy’s Grapefruit bitters, Seattle Distilling Company gin, Stuffing’s Lament, What I’m Drinking, Woondinville Whiskey Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
December 17, 2019
![I Shot the Buddha (A Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery Book 11) by [Cotterill, Colin]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51HXkkVaxvL.jpg)
This is a weird day. I’m realizing that somehow (unless I’m just missing posts on my own blog, which is very very very possible) I’ve never had a Cocktail Talk featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun. Weird, right? I mean, you think so, too, I’m sure. If you don’t, it must mean you don’t know Dr. Siri, which would also be weird. But just in case, he’s the main character (and what a character!) in a series of books by a dandy writer named Colin Cotterill. Dr. Siri – at the beginning of the series – is the national coroner of Laos in the 70s, post communist revolution, and he solves a whole variety pack of mysteries in both traditional and non-traditional ways. The books are bubbling over with history, jolliness, a huge cast of memorable characters, spirits (Dr. Siri is the host of a thousand-year old shaman!), drinks and liquid spirits, insights into Laos at the time, fun, and at least two memorable dogs. The books are at the level of awesome where I sometimes forget that I don’t actually know Dr. Siri – which is high praise, I hope. You should read them all if you haven’t. I Shot the Buddha is especially full of magic and mystery (multiple mysteries, really), as Dr. Siri and his wife Madame Daeng (who also makes the best noodles) end up at a Thai village of spiritualists and mystics of various kinds – and it’s a spot where three murders have happened! Mr. Cotterill, in a kind gesture, says at the book’s beginning, “…this edition is headily spiced with supernatural elements. For those of you who prefer your mysteries dull and earthy, this is not the tome for you.” Let’s hope you like creative, individual, mysteries books as much as me, and as a much as Dr. Siri likes Scotch (and other tipples, between us).
As always, Siri’s travel baggage amounted to a small cloth shoulder bag with wool bobbles dangling from it. But everything he needed on a journey could fit comfortable into that bag. This evening it was oddly bulky. He reached into it and produced a bottle of whiskey, and not just any whiskey: Glenfiddich. Daeng welcomed it into her arms like a mother being handed her newborn for the first time.
–Colin Cotterill, I Shot the Buddha
December 13, 2019
I was browsing the small-but-swell Standard Cocktail Guide from Crosby Gaige today, and read this, “In this year of 1944 it behooves the prudent mixer to know his rums. Good whiskey is now scarce and will be scarcer for some time to come while good rum is in plentiful supply.” First off: glad we have so many plentiful options of both rums and whiskey (and other delights) today! Secondly, it still behooves the prudent mixer to know and love rum. Thirdly, I found a delightful little recipe in this Rum section of this delightful little book, one I can’t remember if I’d made before, called The Frank Morgan. So, I wanted to make it again, even though I’m not sure which Frank Morgan it’s named after – though I think it’s the early 19th century actor. Let’s say that!
Anywho, the drink is deceptively simple: rum, sherry, Angostura bitters. But with that simplicity, the rum must be one – it behooves the drink – that really shines. Lucky for me, I recently received a bottle of Bacardi Gran Reserva Especial dark rum in the mail (don’t hate me, be happy for me!). Admittedly, this is a really fine, fine rum, and one that in most situations you’d want to sip solo. I mean, it’s a limited-edition number, aged a minimum of 16 years (!) in American white oak in the Caribbean. You’ll find stone fruits, caramel, a little island forest, and more unveiling as you sip, and an overall lushness that can’t be beat. So, sip solo for sure. But, you know me (right?), I had to try it in a cocktail, too, and this one is ideal, cause the rum really does shine, with just a few other players. Starting with the sherry side, where I went with Williams & Humbert Dry Sack Medium sherry, which has a nice nutty and spice notioning that matched well. Add old pal Angostura, and here we are. Well, almost! Though it’s not in the original recipe from the esteemed (from whatever afterlife bar he’s at) Mr. Gaige, I added a small orange twist. And that burst of citrus was a treat. Both he and Mr. Morgan would approve, I believe.
The Frank Morgan
2-1/4 ounces Bacardi Gran Reserva Especial dark rum
3/4 ounces Williams & Humbert Dry Sack Medium sherry
Dash Angostura bitters
Thin orange twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add all but the twist. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the twist. Sip, and think about 1944 – and about the bounties in your local liquor store.
Tags: Angostura bitters, Bacardi, Bacardi Gran Reserva Especial Dark Rum, bitters, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, dark rum, Friday Night Cocktail, Rum, sherry, The Frank Morgan, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Rum, Sherry, What I'm Drinking
December 10, 2019
Eating too much this holiday season? Well, you need a good digestif – and I’ve got a bunch to suggest, all made by the world’s best distillers, right in WA state! And I’ve got the perfect place to suggest them – the mighty morning show New Day Northwest, with mighty morning show host Margaret Larson. Okay, to be honest, the show was right before Thanksgiving. But the digestifs are still good, and the sipping advice goes through the whole season – and beyond! Check it out, pals!
Tags: amaro, apple brandy, bete, Cocktail News, digestifs, drinking on tv, grappa, New Day Northwest, Nocino, Washington distilleries
Posted in: Cocktail News, Distillery
December 6, 2019
What a name for this cocktail! Credit has to go to pal mighty Matt Dupree (thanks Matt!), who I used to work with at a big game-making company. And this here drink – which honestly isn’t bad, but I don’t think it lives up to the name; then again, what drink could? – was going to be the one had one my final day at said company, but then fate (as fate does) didn’t allow it all to play out that way. But no worries! You and I can drink the below drink any day, and still enjoy it’s slightly sweet-with-a-little-bitter nature, which matches leaving a gig you’ve gigged at for some years, but also matches, say, a day you’re sad to see go, or finishing a good book, all of that. As you might expect for a drink that I originally crafted for a day as described that took place here in WA, this drink definitely leans local, though if not in WA (but really, why aren’t you? At least visiting), you could still put together wherever you may be by doing some ingredient hunting, which is a fun pastime indeed. It starts with gin – for me, I used Scratch’s Martini Style gin, a jolly medium-juniper-y gin with 17 botanicals and oodles of flavor. Then, Salish Seas lovely Allspice liqueur, delivering the spice that’s nice, and Scrappy’s Aromatic bitters, available in big bottles as well as the small one pictured! And a perfectly-pitched aromatic bitters for a host of classic bittering needs. For the sweet (well, the liqueur is a little sweet, but not overly so), a splash of Woodinville Whiskey’s Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup does the trick so well, I can’t even describe it. You’ll have to try it. And this drink! Which I am toasting to all the past co-workers right now.
A Suitably Bittersweet Memoir of Games, Copy, Friends, and How They Might Be Found on a Friday in Mid-November
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce Scratch Martini Style gin
3/4 ounce Salish Seas Allspice liqueur
3 dashes Scrappy’s Aromatic bitters
1/2 ounce Woodinville Whiskey Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add it all, with the memories, too. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Sip, muse about stuffs, sip more.
Tags: A Suitably Bittersweet Memoir of Games Copy Friends and How They Might Be Found on a Friday in Mid-November, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Salish Seas Allspice liqueur, Scrappy’s Aromatic bitters, Scratch Martini Style gin, Washington distillery, What I’m Drinking, Woodinville Whiskey’s Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
December 3, 2019
The Hal Masur Cocktail Talking continues! Or Harold Q. Masur if you prefer (my guess is he wouldn’t have cared a whit). But either way – hard talking, hard drinking, hard lawyering, hardly ever skipping a chance to flirt lawyer Scott Jordan (Mr. Masur’s regular protagonist) is at it again here on the Spiked Punch, this time with a quote from the deadly-named Bury Me Deep. We had a swell Dubonnet and brandy-fueled quote in our Bury Me Deep, Part I Cocktail Talk many courtrooms ago, but I just re-read the book, along with other Jordan escapades, and had to put a second quote up here. And it’s right down below, and is one that reminded me of all the wonderful distillers I’ve known.
“Quite a coincidence,” I said. “I have a present for you.”
She pressed my arm lightly. “You’re a psychic. I love presents. Let’s have a drink on it.”
She poured some bourbon into a pair of thin jiggers and we touched glasses. It was fine bourbon. The distiller hadn’t become impatient. It was smooth as a hummingbird’s wing. She turned to me with a shine in her eyes.
“I’m terribly excited. What is it?”
—Bury Me Deep, Harold Q. Masur
November 29, 2019
That’s right holiday pals and pals, it’s Gizmo time! Thanksgiving was yesterday, which means leftover (for your sake, I hope) cranberry sauce, which then translates into the great and powerful Gizmo, created by jazzy Jeremy H and recipe’d below. So, eat your leftovers over everything else, sure, but don’t forget to drink your cranberries.
The Gizmo
Ice cubes
2-1/2 ounces gin
1 ounce homemade cranberry sauce
1/2 ounce simple syrup (optional)
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin and cranberry sauce, and syrup if using. Shake exceptionally well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Hopefully you have enough leftovers for two!
Tags: cocktail recipe, cocktails, cranberry sauce, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, simple syrup, Thanksgiving drinks, The Gizmo, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
November 26, 2019
Okay, I have had a far-reaching trio of Cocktail Talks featuring Hal Masur’s lawyering-drinking-scrapping-cuddling 50’s lawyer Scott Jordan, as the first of the three quotes from the book was years ago. The second was just last week, and I’d suggest reading both to get your bearings in the case. This quote is a shorty, too, but does contain some words of wisdom for any burgeoning young business folks:
It was the kind of practice that needed plenty of front and Edward St. John Avery had it. A corner office, immense and square, sumptuous but dignified, with a sedate unit against the wall that he could magically transform into a glittering bar. Important clients are often weaned on spirituous liquids.
— Harold Q. Masur, So Rich, So Lovely, and So Dead
