Cocktailians

Slow Drink Week

It's Slow Drink Week in New York City this week -- and no, that doesn't mean the bartenders dawdle, or that you're forced to drink sloe gin (not that that would be a problem.)  Rather, it's a spinoff of the "Slow Food" movement, which celebrates artisanal, sustainable, and basically non-industrial food practices.  Because attention to those things = increased tastiness, which we should all be able to get behind.

Slow Food principles apply nicely to the cocktailian mindset: you can't get much more fast-food-like than doing things like using premade "sour mix", soda guns, prebottled cocktails, or just plunking a bunch of sweet crap in a cocktail glass and calling it a Martini.  Slow drinking involves taking time to consider how each ingredient's taste contributes to the whole, measuring the ingredients carefully, and not cutting corners when building a tasty, well-balanced cocktail.  (It's why you squeeze those juices freshly rather than resorting to ReaLemon. It just tastes better.)

At any rate, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, so let me point you to the list of Slow Drink Week events:

Jeopardy! - Potent Potables

Any regular reader of this blog should have no trouble whatsoever solving most if not all of these clues from an episode of Jeopardy! from last week. Click through for the full set:

I'd have posted this the day it aired, but I'm behind on my watching.

The Final Presidential Debate Drinking Game (Probably)

The problem with most drinking games is that there's a lot of having to manage what drink goes with what action. Really, if you're going to actually conduct one of these things, it's best to stick to one thing and treat it like a one-line bingo game.

The Washington Post's Sleuth column has a handydandy checklist of keywords and catchphrases that's pretty easy to follow. If John McCain decides to go ahead and attack Barack Obama on assorted individual issues, or vice versa, then you should be pretty much guaranteed a rollicking good Wednesday.

(For the sake of variety and in the interests of something resembling completion, here's The Daily Show's version, the Washington City Paper's, and a short one from the people boycotting Oprah's sponsors. Your guess is as good as mine.)

I'll be watching the debate at Dempsey's Pub tonight. Come join me. In fact, come down early if you can; I hear there's trivia beforehand.

[Update: Of course, DebateDrink.com has a downloadable pdf version of their game. Crazy bastards. Anyone else I'm missing?]

MxMo Submission: Careful, Man, There's A Beverage Here!

The Mixology Monday theme this month is "Guilty Pleasures."  Like it or not, many cocktailians (including , um, yours truly) raise their noses in the air. It can be part of truly appreciating what you've spent a great deal of time contemplating, but it can also come across as base snobbery.  As host Stevi Deter puts it, "in the world of cocktail bloggery, we are often pronouncing certain drinks, categories of drinks, and even an entire base spirit to be the sign of a poorly educated drinker’s palate. There seems to be no room for comfort cocktails."  Well, I think this one definitely qualifies as a comfort cocktail.  It's sweet, has cream in it, and the base spirit is vodka.  What could be more self-indulgent?  It's even identified with the ultimate slacker touchstone, "The Big Lebowski," spawner of fan fests and souvenir products.  (Say what you will about Achievers, at least it's an ethos.)  The movie, which was released ten years ago this week, was described by the BBC as "two hours of wild self-indulgence", and clearly the "Caucasian" is a drink that fits the bill.

The White Russian is a simple cocktail, with just three ingredients; its origins lie in the even simpler Black Russian.  Invented by Gustav Tops, a bartender at Brussels' Hotel Metropole in the late 1940s, the Black Russian consists solely of Kahlúa and vodka over crushed ice.  (Tops concocted the drink to honor U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg (and society hostess) Perle Mesta, who also inspired the Irving Berlin musical "Call Me Madam.") The White Russian simply adds cream, though the Dude was known to occasionally take his with half-and-half. (During the movie, he drinks nine White Russians -- and drops one, though that one had a Mickey Finn as the unauthorized secret ingredient. I don't recommend adding that to your recipe, though it may result in vivid dreams and cab rides involving the Eagles.)

Proportions of the ingredients vary all over the place: the IBA and Wikipedia specify five parts vodka, two parts Kahlúa, and three parts cream, but I prefer the more common proportions from DrinkBoy and elsewhere:

White Russian

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. Kahlúa
• 1/2 oz. cream or half-and-half.

Build over ice in a rocks glass, floating the cream on top. Abide.

The bums may have lost, but they have a hell of a drink to console them.  And I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that.

UPDATE:   The roundup's been posted over at Two at the Most.  Thanks to Stevi Deter for hosting!

Drinky Linky

A few interesting links I've run across recently:

• the NYT contemplates the Negroni:

"A Negroni demands your full, upright attention. It will not tolerate mindless swigging, the way all those sweet summertime drinks do, which is just one reason no one has ever ordered one at a swim-up bar at a resort pool. Each sip telegraphs a terse forget-me-not message to the tongue, a pinprick of bitterness demanding respect and contemplation.

There is cheer in it, but grown-up, melancholy cheer, which makes the Negroni an ideal drink for end times — the end of summer, for instance, or the end of American prosperity. The perfect drink when the sky is falling — or merely the leaves."

• the WSJ on the tiki revival;
• Excellent news! The TTB has approved Bittermens Mole and Grapefruit Bitters for sale.  They still have a few more regulatory hoops to jump through, but their target sale date is January 15...and I'll be among the first in line.  (I haven't had the grapefruit bitters, but the mole bitters are wonderful); and
• Bloomberg News on Apotheke.  Still sounds a bit precious to me (and WTF's the point of lighting perfectly good absinthe on fire?), but this place is on my list of cocktailian joints to check out.

In case your arms get tired, poor baby...

Because doing it yourself is so hard?, originally uploaded by czeltic girl.

From Czeltic Girl, a cocktailian with an eye for the absurd.

(This might be useful for your Ramos Gin Fizzes, but you certainly can't get a crystal-clear Martini after shaking it.)

Is France Really Going Sour On Wine?

Recent government decisions in France severely restricting wine advertising and wine writing are being met, quite understandably, with protests from the French wine industry and French wine aficionados:

* A French court ruled that newspaper and magazine articles on wine must contain health warnings, in much the same way the United States requires tobacco advertising to include warnings. But remember we’re not talking about advertising, but journalism.

* That same court ruled that wine and beer cannot be advertised on the Internet.

* Proposed new laws will put wine on the same level as pornography by limiting access to wine- and alcohol-related sites only to certain hours, with the rationale of protecting minors.

This isn't a big deal. I mean, it's not like wine is a central part of the French cultural identity or a source of national pride going back centuries or anything. (Also, not.)

I guess it's worth noting that the United States does not have a monopoly on self-defeating puritanism. But we here at Cocktailians do not wish to run afoul of any laws (unless doing so is really, really convenient), so in the interests of full compliance, the following paragraph is inserted for anyone who may be reading this entry while within the French borders:

Note: Consumption of red wine is not recommended for anyone interested in the following side effects: decreased chance of heart disease, kidney stones, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, many cancers (including lung cancer and leukemia) or hypertension, an increased possibility of successfully being able to quit smoking, a better sleep cycle, and a longer, more robust, more classy life.

Cape North Vodka Cruise: Take 2

Well, second time was the charm. After a tropical monsoon wiped out their first attempt at a promotional cruise, Cape North Vodka managed to shoehorn in a twilight jaunt around the bottom half of Manhattan for them and a couple dozen of their friends and fans. And me. It was chilly in New York Harbor, and most of the guests wound up in the TV room, but there was some sightseeing to be done for those who were into such things, and while drinking to stay warm is not really the same as drinking to enjoy the spirit, I didn't see anybody complaining too hard.

I've already discussed the vodka itself at reasonable length, but their follow-through and hospitality were greatly appreciated.

TV's Greatest Lushes

Because it's Friday night, and also because what the hell: The Frisky lists TV's top five female lushes, with examples.

How Patsy and Edina from Absolutely Fabulous only managed to make #4 on this list (and combined, at that) baffles me, but whaddyagonna do.