February 3, 2015
Not too long ago I had my first George Simenon Cocktail Talk post, and in that very post mentioned that I thought I’d probably have more – and I was right! I’ve read a few more Inspector Maigret books since then, most recently A Man’s Head. And it was a good yarn indeed, fast-paced, intriguing, nicely mysterious, and really tightly plotted. Everything you’d want (if what you want is a worthy book, that is). Also, a fair amount of the action takes place in bars, which I’m all for, as you might guess. The main bar is the American bar in the Cupole, where Maigret makes a sorta rare foray into cocktails.
He heard someone call out.‘A Manhattan.’
And he said: ‘The same for me.’
He was not himself of the cocktail generation. Beer was more in his line. The barman pushed a dish of olives toward him, but he did not touch them.
—A Man’s Head, George Simenon
October 14, 2014
Hey bar lovers, genial drinkers, lounge lizards, speakeasy devotees, dive dwellers, and rathskeller revelers. It’s time to trot yourselves again through my recent Seattle Magazine Bar Hop columns, which highlight select bars in the Seattle area. Get off the couch, yo, and visit:
• Elysian Bar
• Revolver
• Le Zinc
* See all Seattle Magazine articles by me
Tags: Bar Hop, Bars, Cocktail News, Elysian Bar, Le Zinc, Revolver, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine, Seattle Magazine Bar-Hopping
Posted in: Bar Hop, Bars, Seattle Magazine
July 29, 2014
Hello Seattle and surroundings drinkers! Here’s little round up just for you, of bars in the area I’ve recently reviewed for the swell Seattle Magazine (just in case you missed them). Drink up at:
• BarCode
• The Hollywood Tavern
• Triumph Bar
* See all Seattle magazine articles by me
Tags: Bar Code, Bar Hop, Bars, Bellevue bars, Cocktail News, Hollywood Tavern, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine, Triumph
Posted in: Bars, Cocktail News, Seattle Magazine
July 22, 2014
Hello – it’s summertime, which means it’s the perfect time to sit on down with the old computer in one hand and a drink in the other and spend some time browsing some of my recent Seattle magazine posts you might have missed. Heck, you wouldn’t want to miss any of the below, right?
• 4 Drinks That Pair Perfectly with Summertime Books
• New Local Spirits and Liqueurs to Try this Summer
• 4 Drinks for Golfing
• 4 Drinks to Have While Missing the Sonics
• Seattle Happy Hours: A.J. Rathbun Picks Four of His Favorites
*See all Seattle magazine articles by me
March 4, 2014
Though it’s hard to believe for all but my mother (who of course always believes), the amazing Seattle magazine is still letting me write a column highlighting a different bar each month. Yeah, I’m lucky! But so are you, because you can read said columns and figure out where you and your pals are going go this weekend to kick up your heels with a dandy drink. Without further palavering then, here are three fine bars to read about:
• Teachers Lounge, Greenwood
• E. Smith Mercantile, Pioneer Square
• Witness, Capitol Hill
–See all of my Seattle magazine articles
Tags: Bar Hop, bar news, Bar-Hopping, Bars, E. Smith Mercantile, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine, Teachers Lounge, Witness
Posted in: Bar Hop, Bars, Cocktail News, Seattle Magazine
January 7, 2014
Hello Seattle cocktail lovers, visitors to Seattle, those who are thinking about a visit to Seattle, and anyone interested in cocktails. Recently, I was lucky enough to work on the lovely Seattle magazine’s end of the year issue, which was amazing and had a huge cocktail-and-bar-and-spirit focus. In case you missed it, or weren’t here to read it, some of the articles are now online for your reading pleasure, including:
• What’s Shaking Now: Drinks of the Moment
• The Superstar Bartender: Erik Carlson
• Best New Bars in Seattle (Plus One Standout in Tacoma)
• Top Shelf Advice: Where the Bartenders Go to Drink
• Entertaining with a Well-Styled Bar Cart
*Read all A.J. Seattle magazine articles
November 19, 2013
Calling all bar lovers from near and far (but especially near). It’s time to round up the latest bars I’ve profiled in my monthly Seattle magazine Bar Hop column. You should read the below, pick which best matches you and your mood today, and go have a drink. But don’t forget – tip your bartender people. They work hard. Bars to hop:
• Anchor’s Down
• Montana
• Rocco’s
— See all A.J. Seattle magazine articles
Tags: Anchor’s Down, Bar Hop, Bar-Hopping, Bars, Cocktail News, Montana, Rocco’s, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine
Posted in: Bar Hop, Bars, Cocktail News, Seattle Magazine
October 29, 2013
Hello dear hearts. There’s time I think for one more quote from the The Compleat Imbiber #5, which we’ve been talking up here on the ol’ Spiked Punch due to it’s greatness and my love of The Compleat Imbiber series. This time, it’s from a piece called Four O’Clock at the Five O’Clock, by a gentleman named Hugh Massingham. It’s mainly a look at American drinking establishments by someone not native to this country, and is built off a stop at a spot in Denver (I wonder if it’s still there) called the Five O’Clock, which didn’t at first seem friendly, but which had, from the below quote, quite a friendly line up for the times.
Suddenly, behind the bar, artfully lit from below, is a blaze of welcoming friends. There is good old Johnnie Walker, as spry as ever. There is that authentic notes of Floreat Etona, Harvey’s sherry. There is historic Beefeater – the snob gin in the United States – and those two dogs yapping away on behalf of Black and White, and soft-tasting ding-dong Bells and kindly tempting Teachers and Cutty Sarks in full sail. There is bicarbonate of soda on draught and tots of Alka Seltzer – the necessities for a hangover morning, familiar sights in an English bathroom, but unknown in English pubs. True, there are a number of bottles that are strangers, and that wink away at you with the offer of novel and perhaps dangerous pleasures. Leroux’s ‘Ginger-Flavoured Brandy’ should surely tickle some secret spot hitherto unexplored by the milder and less adventurous brews of your native land? Then there is gay Dixie Rose, a cross, perhaps, between a Gone-With-The-Wind lady and a gypsy, who is offering for your relaxation in this subdued light a bottle of London dry gin. There is Hill Billy Reserve Whiskey, with its suggestion of some smoky still in a mountain chasm. There is Popcorn Straight Cut Whiskey, made, apparently – and yet can this be true? – from the same fat white salted ears piled up in the dish by your elbow. There is ancient Carstairs (established 1788) with his White Seal Blended. There is good old Thompson – don’t let’s forget his blended bourbon. And there is Vernon and Paddy and a bottle with a playing-card label, showing a King both face upwards and face downwards – delights still not tested after all these weeks of travel.
— Hugh Massingham, Four O’Clock at the Five O’Clock, The Compleat Imbiber #5
Tags: Bars, bars. whiskey, Beefeater, Bells, Cocktail Talk, Cutty Sark, Hill Billy Reserve whiskey, Johnnie Walker, lots and lots of booze, Popcorn Whiskey, Teachers, The Compleat Imbiber, White Seal
Posted in: Bars, Cocktail Talk, Whiskey
