March 7, 2012
If you missed it in my earlier Sun Liquor Distillery post, those tipsy ladies at Seattle Magazine have me writing a monthly Bar Hop column, and a new one has just hit the energetic e-airwaves and will soon be on newstands. It’s focusing on new-ish Cap Hill spot Chino’s, which has not only a small host of healthy (and healthily tasty) tiki-ish drinks whipped up by bartendress supreme Veronika Groth but also an array of intriguing snacks. But hey, don’t stop at this summary, go read the Bar Hop.
January 18, 2012
I feel that I can write about aging. I mean, my nephew just turned sixteen, so I feel pretty darn aged. But (ah-ha!, the “but”) in this particular case, I’m talking about aging cocktails. As you might expect, this blog being at least nominally about cocktails and not about me musing on my ever-increasing years. Some Seattle bars (such as Liberty, whose swell owner Andrew is pictured to the left), like bars in other cocktail hot-towns, have in the last year or so gotten into this idea of aging cocktails, usually in oak (but sometimes not), to see what it does to the cocktail’s taste. Which leads, often, to tasty things for us cocktail lovers. All of which led to me writing a fairly short, but incredibly awesome (I say, humbly) article on aged cocktails here in the Emerald City for the sweet Seattle Magazine. You, if you’re interested in Seattle bars, cocktails, aging cocktails, booze, bars, or me talking about my grandfather, should go and read it now.
January 5, 2012
So, there’s been a bit of a paucity of posts around the ol’ Spiked Punch saloon recently, because I’ve been holding off (and if anybody cracks wise about how I don’t post a whole lot anyway they get cracked) so that the finishing touches could be touched up on my brand spanking new website. Check it out y’all–isn’t it amazing? I think (modestly) it’s the best site on the whole web (outside of Neilalien, who is somewhat dormant and who has Dr. Strange on his side). And I had little or nothing to do with it. The heavy brain and imagining and pretty-ing and polishing and everything was concocted, unrolled, shaken, stirred, and poured by the Wandering Works Design Co, which by day equals the dashing Sam Schick and the elusively debonair Eli Van Zoeren. These guys are the tops, the Champagne of web site designers and makers and if you want to have a website that’s almost as good as this (which is 99% better than anything else) I suggest you contact Sam immediately. Well, first, spend some time browsing around, watching the cocktail videos, rounding out your book collection, all that. And hey, come back often, ya’hear?
PS: Huge, immeasurable, thanks to Leslie Pierson of the almighty Schtickers for all her free and wonderful help on the website in the past. She rules.
December 20, 2011
I know, I know, I’m a little late to the party (which doesn’t happen as often as you might think, unless I’m going to like 5 parties in one night). In this case, I’m specifically referring to the Bitters party. If you don’t know about the Bitters party, then I’m glad to be the one to invite you. In this case, I’m not speaking of bitters in the larger sense, but Bitters in the sense of Brad Thomas Parsons’ wonderful book of the same name, a book which will (if you get on it and get to ordering) make your holiday season the jolliest, not to mention making every shin-dig you throw in 2012 tastier. To roll out the full title, Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas is packed with (you might expect this) recipes for bitters, recipes for cocktails with bitters, and recipes for culinary delights with bitters. But it also is bubbling with (and this you might not expect, cause few books deliver on it) histories, stories, and most of all darn fine writing of all of the above. See, Mr. Parsons isn’t just a recipe developer, or a cocktail cultivator, or a historical researcher of food trends and triumphs throughout the years. Though he is all of those things, he’s also a darn fine storyteller and yarn-spinner, and it’s the stories and his always charming writing that makes the book such a fine read and such a boon bar companion (much like the man himself). But heck, I’m gushing like a teenager. Here’s my final word–don’t take my word for the brilliance of Bitters. Go on and get yourself a copy. Because you certainly don’t want a mundane holiday season, or a boring 2012. And Bitters will make both better.
November 30, 2011
Whew, that’s a long title. But I wanted to make sure to get it all in there, so you didn’t just skip over this post like the others (I kid, I kid. I hope). The title really says it all: I’m hosting a class at the amazing Delancey Pantry, and the focus/menu/tippliciousness is an Italian Winter Cocktail one. What does that mean? Sign up for the class and find out, cutie. I can tell you a little more. First, the Delancey Pantry is the coziest spot for sitting around a table drinking and making drinks that you can think of, or that I can think of (it’s behind the pizza awesomeness of the Delancey itself, in Ballard, WA). Second, the four drinks we’ll be making are: Sicilian Sling, Negroni, Hanky Panky, and the Cynartown. Third, the Pantry is at: 1417 NW 70th Street, Seattle, WA. Fourth, the class takes place on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 7 pm. So, c’mon, sign up today and be a part of it all, Italian style.
PS: Even if you don’t sign up, check out the Delancey Pantry website. Isn’t it lovely? It was done by Mr. Sam T. Schick, who should probably redo your website, too.
November 29, 2011
Even if you don’t live in Seattle, the general Seattle area, in the western part of Washington State, Washington State, the Pacific Northwest, or even the United States, if you like good liquors and liqueurs and cocktails then you’ll probably want to read my Seattle Magazine article on the host of new local-ish distilleries. I don’t want to say too much (cause when you go read it, you’re going to get a lot of me anyway), but A: though it’s good online, pick up a real, in-your-hands, copy of the issue if you can because the layout and photos and such are fantastic in mag form (even more than the online version, which is also awesome), and B: reading through the article again makes me even happier to live out here. Thanks to all the distillers for talking to me and taking me around, it was one tasty article to write. Oh, also, I have an accompanying article about 12 specific new Seattle bottles-of-booze I thought were worth sipping—ones tasted while writing (sometimes tasted for the 2nd or 32nd time) the main distillery article. You should check those out, and the new liquors and liqueurs coming out all the time, by golly. If you don’t live here, come on by to visit and then check ‘em out. We’ll be glad to see you.
Tags: Bainbridge Organic Distillery, cocktail article, Cocktail News, Distillery, Pacific Spirits, Seattle Distillery, Seattle Magazine, Seattle spirits, Sound Spirits, Woodinville Whiskey
Posted in: Almost Drinkable Photo, Cocktail News, Distillery, Seattle Magazine
November 3, 2011
Hello dear readers. For those of you not living in Seattle or visiting in the next few days, feel free to walk away from this post right now (I mean walk away, too—I expect you to leave the computer on with this site up so the drunken elves that live in your house can read this). For those in Seattle, I’m sorry this is a little last minute, but there’s still time to clear your calendar so you can go to the Manhattan Experience contest (sponsored by Woodford Reserve bourbon and Esquire Magazine) this Monday, November 7th, at the Columbia Tower Club’s Columbia Room at 701 Fifth Avenue, downtown Seattle. You do have to register first (though it’s free!) at www.wellcraftedmanhattan.com. They’ll be a host of local and local-ish (all from in-state, mind you, if not in city) bartenders (well, a small host of six I think) making their updated takes on the mighty Manhattan. Does the Manhattan need an updated take? No. But, is it nice to have a bunch of drinks made in the spirit of the Manhattan? Yes. And is it even more fun if I get to judge which one is best? Double yes. And yes, I am one of the judges, which means I’ll get to spout off to someone about why the Manhattan is the Dark Knight of drinks, and my whole DC-cosmology-into-drinks theory. Which is always nice. But it’ll be nice if you’re there. So, come on by. But leave the drunken elves at home.
PS: The Manhattan photo above, which is the best Manhattan photo ever, was taken by Melissa Punch for Good Spirits. Which, if you don’t have, you should have.
June 25, 2010
These days, everyone wants to go Hollywood (welcome to Hollywood, what’s your dream). Or is it Bollywood? I get confused now and again. Of course, I also picture Hollywood as filled with Carole Lombards and not a bunch of over-tanned floozies, so I may be a little out of touch. But no matter, because either way you serve it up, Wine Cocktails is making a summertime hit in the land of lovelies. Not via a Greyhound bus tour, as you might expect, but via a very nice article entitled “Cocktails bring the beach home” that was in the O.C. Register. The article, by the witty and friendly Cathy Thomas, isn’t just about the W.Cs., but does have a lot of drinks from it, as well as quotes from yours truly. So, why not transport yourself by going and reading it. Right now. Or very soon after now.
PS: I fully realize that Hollywood isn’t in the O.C. But how much fun would we have just had in the above paragraph if I would have started it by saying “These days, everyone wants to go to Santa Ana?” Not nearly as much.
