Go Latino!, originally uploaded by Globe Trodden.
I know it's really a day when you should be drinking a "good glass of Burgundy" at Davy Byrne's, (What do you mean? It's June 17th. --Ed. (Yeah, but I started writing this post yesterday.) Hmmmph. --Ed.) but here's a roundup of things mixological that I've found interesting lately:
- I loved the above photo, taken by ace "Ask The Pilot" columnist Patrick Smith at the bar of the Novotel in Accra, Ghana. As he puts it, "Apparently, if you are a West African, your idea of 'Latino' is a crazy old woman smoking a gigantic cigar." And if you're curious, ten Ghanaian cedi is worth approximately US$7.38 at today's cash rate;
- Who are the best cocktailian bartenders? Cocktail Kingdom wants you to vote;
- I think I'll give the Rectum Bar a (pun all-too-sadly-intended) pass;
- What's in a name? The Times' Frank Bruni examines odd cocktail names. (I sympathize, as I am absolutely terrible at naming original drinks);
- I need to pick up a copy of Daniel Okrent's new book about the rise and fall of Prohibition. (I talked to him in December 2008 about Repeal Day in New York.) In an excerpt run in New York magazine, Okrent suggests that Prohibition gave birth to modern New York nightlife;
- Along with the Okrent excerpt, New York also published an interesting map of Prohibition-era watering holes;
- Slate, in a review of Okrent's book, limns why Prohibition didn't work;
- Creative -- possibly too creative: burning rosemary to "release its essential oils"? -- cocktails hit Miami;
- A Manhattan nightclub is selling a "sensual, exotic, mythological" cocktail that costs $160 and includes Louis XIII Cognac (at $1,600/bottle) and Iranian saffron oil (at $300/gram.) Seems purely like trendwhore bait, though, as the drink -- comprised of homemade absinthe that's flamed, two drops of the saffron oil, a handcarved cube of ice "made by a world-famous ice sculptor", and the Cognac -- certainly sounds like a waste of good brandy. (Besides, if I'm ever in the position of being able to go for a truly pricy cocktail, I'll go to Paris and get a Ritz Sidecar made with pre-phylloxera 1865 Cognac);
- While we're talking about setting absinthe and rosemary on fire, perhaps these bartenders should be careful. Apotheke owner Albert Trummer was arrested Sunday by fire marshals for pouring liquors along the bar and igniting them, which created a huge fireball. (Again with the waste of good booze.)
- Did you know that people of class drink alcohol? Or at least ones with higher vocabularies?
- Robert Simonson takes note of Rye bartender Sother Teague's "90-Day Sour", a take on the aged-cocktail boom started by Jeffrey Morgenthaler (and sampled by yours truly.) Sounds great. (I should note that I went to Rye for the first time a couple of weeks ago for a very nice brunch, and got the best Ramos Gin Fizz of my life from Teague. He also makes his own bitters and has put together a very good-sounding cocktail menu);
- Pete Wells of the NYT lists his twenty-five favorite bars -- haute, divey, and everything in between;
- This approach to a cucumber gimlet -- with cucumber puree! -- looked interesting (thanks to Kosmonaut for bringing it to my attention);
- White dog is getting trendy;
- Dave Arnold and Nils Norén of Cooking Issues (interviewed also here) made their high-tech gin & tonic for Jimmy Fallon recently;
- Clover Club will be opening for lunch, and owner Julie Reiner is opening an Hawaiian-themed bar as well;
- New York magazine had an interesting feature a while back called "The Booze Chain", in which they asked a bartender their favorite current drink, then asked the creator of that drink what their favorite is, and so on;
- Gran Classico Bitter sounds like it might be an interesting ingredient. I want to do more cocktails with amari and other digestive bitters;
- Who's the best bartender in New York City? Frank Bruni (along with Dale DeGroff and Jim Meehan) nominates Doug Quinn at P.J. Clarke's. Quinn answered reader questions here, here, and here.
- Wow: "Continuing its spirited marketing embrace of the fashion industry, Belvedere Vodka has enlisted Matthew Williamson to create a limited edition kaftan inspired by the launch of its new pink grapefruit flavor." The $1,450 "vibrant pink print" garment is on sale now. I guess if you can't sell the flavor, you can at least try to sell the image;
- Guess who else is hawking vodka? Spike Lee, for one, whose "Absolut Brooklyn" is flavored with red apple and ginger. (Really? Brooklyn's redolent of many, many things, but I doubt I'd go there.) And, as Miss Heather points out, Absolut apparently successfully bribed bloggers for coverage of an event with bottles of vodka and Flip video cameras. (NYT story here.) For the record, I'd like to state that while Cocktailians does accept freebies (invitations to events, products for sample and review, and the odd bit of inexpensive promotional swag), they don't sway our coverage, and we will absolutely disclose these gifts when writing about the givers. It's only fair to the reader, and it's the law. (The bloggers who took the vodka and the video cameras to write about Absolut without that disclosure should Absolut-ly know better.) While we really need to put together a proper About page (Married With Dinner's is particularly good), this is not a new policy for us at Cocktailians.
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