Cocktailians

Drinky Linky: Happy New Year Edition

A roundup of some interesting things that have caught my eye around the Interwebs lately:

• Robert Simonson covers the aged-cocktail trend in the New York Times (my encounter with Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Barrel-Aged Negroni is described here);
• Simonson also limns bars devoted to the punch resurgence;
• Speaking of punch, here's another nice review of Wondrich's latest;
• Simon Ford checks out the Portland cocktail scene (previously covered by yours truly here, here, here, and here);
• A friend of Cocktailians opened a distillery in Eugene;
• and another good friend of Cocktailians started the Five o'Clock Cocktail Blog;
• It's not just Oregon: the Times looks at craft distilling's rise in the Northeast;
• NPR covers microdistilling;
• and so does Grub Street, noting the arrival of Brooklyn bourbon;
• and there's the Great Brooklyn Gin Battle as well;
• Paul Clarke looks back on 2010 in spirits and cocktails;
• Darcy O'Neil predicts what 2011 will look like;
• and the Village Voice lists their 10 Best Cocktails of 2010;
• and Derek Brown lays out his Top 5 Cocktail Experiences of 2010 (and resolves to drink more in 2011);
• more listicles! USA Today lists 10 great classic American cocktail lounges;
• the Times checks out mixology apps (in my meager experience, a lot of these aren't terribly sound, overly focus on weird shots with "funny" names, or don't have some necessary ingredients. Best I've seen is Cocktails+, based on CocktailDB, but I'm not sure it's still available. I'd dearly love an Android port of that one);
• While I do not brook the dissing of Charles H. Baker and his Gentleman's Companion, I liked this list of good cocktail books;
• London's Experimental Cocktail Club looks interesting;
• Eatocracy talks to LeNell about what (and who) she's learned to love;
• and here's a nice interview with Jim Meehan;
• did you know that if you don't hire a bartender for your party, you're just a loser? At least to d-bags?
• and Jason Wilson responds to the above story, to great effect;
• Chocolate-rum mousse!
• Fernet on tap!
• The Harvey Wallflower? The Old Milwaukee Thermidor? The Crest Mint Julep? Must be New Year's resolution-themed craptails;
• also in the Bad Idea Digest: TGI Friday's wants to make bartending an Olympic sport;
• if you really want a virgin New Year's Eve, here you go;
• and if you've lasted this long, both on the post and with the blog, thank you! Cocktailians turns three years old tomorrow, and we appreciate your eyeballs, your comments, and your presence. See you next year!

Beefeater Winter Edition Launch Party

Beefeater recently launched Beefeater Winter Edition, the latest brand extension from Pernod Ricard with a party at New York's Lambs Club. Of course, Beefeater London Dry has been around for a long time, and Beefeater entered the super-premium gin market last spring with Beefeater 24 (see my review and report from the launch party). This summer came the limited-edition Beefeater Summer Edition, with elderflower, hibiscus, and blackcurrant botanicals. (I also just got my hands on a bottle of this, so a review will be forthcoming.) And so this newest limited edition has arrived: Beefeater Winter's botanicals highlight cinnamon, nutmeg, Seville orange, and pine.

These are interesting botanicals, and they really do convey a wintry feel to the gin. Normally I think of the white spirits as spring and summer beverages and the brown liquors as being appropriate for cooler climes, but I'm not really sure why I think that way -- after all, a whiskey sour is refreshing on a hot day, and I make my share of gin cocktails during the winter. And, gin's clarity and juniper do make it well-suited for that snow-on-the-evergreens feel. This gin adds the "Christmas spices" of cinnamon and nutmeg, so well-conveyed in Angostura bitters, and the noticeable orange flavors contribute to a winter taste profile as well. I didn't notice the pine right off the bat, or rather I had difficulty distinguishing between the juniper and the pine botanicals. (I'll try some more, and compare it with the regular Beefeater London Dry. The sacrifices we cocktail bloggers make...) But, the pine is there. Master distiller Desmond Payne told me that "the pine is treated in exactly the same way as all the other botanicals, that is: all the botanicals in the Winter recipe, including the pine shoots, are steeped in the gin still for 24 hours with the neutral spirit. On the second day the distillation takes place in the usual way. For London gin no flavors can be added after distillation." (This approach is similar to how Clear Creek makes their wonderful Douglas Fir Eau de Vie -- they macerate just-picked Douglas fir buds in neutral grape brandy before distilling.) Brand Ambassador Nick van Tiel let me sample the gin neat, and it was more appealing than any other gin I'd tasted in this way: its slightly oily, viscous texture and sweet warm notes were quite pleasant. (Most gins, including some of my very favorites, tend to do better when cooled, diluted slightly, or otherwise mixed.)

At the party, they had a few different cocktails available. The first was a "Hot Apple Gin" -- basically heated cider with the gin added. I couldn't really taste the gin in this, but it was warming and certainly welcome -- to come in from the very cold outdoors and have this thrust into one's paw upon arrival was a pleasant way to warm up.

They also offered the "New Year In Lambeth": the Beefeater Winter Edition, some Plymouth Sloe Gin, apple juice, lemon juice, simple syrup, and Champagne. This was sweet and went down easily, but I think it had a few too many moving parts for my taste, and there were an awful lot of sweet ingredients. Tasty, though -- I might try to adopt a similar approach, but maybe paring down the sloe gin and ditching the apple juice. (By this point, my notes were getting a little sozzled, or at least I was: my phone's speech-recognition feature records my impressions of this cocktail as "apple gymboree reminiscent of amstel intercom the new year and lambert tube.")

I also tried the "Fashionably Ginger", which I liked the best of the three on offer: Beefeater Winter Edition, of course, with the addition of creme de cacao, Monin gingerbread syrup, and Regans' Orange Bitters. This was the most balanced and was quite refreshing.

However, what I most wanted to try, after tasting the gin neat, was to accentuate the cinnamon-nutmeg botanicals with Angostura bitters in a Pink Gin. (That fusty, redoubtable relic of the British Empire and most specifically the Royal Navy -- no, they didn't drink just rum -- tends to be undrinkable to my palate unless made with Plymouth, which is not a London Dry gin but rather its own unique style.) The resulting Beefeater Winter Pink Gin was staggeringly lovely, balanced, and dangerously smooth and sippable. I think this one is definitely going into the repertoire, for real gin aficionados.

Incidentally, if you want to pick up some of the Beefeater Winter, you'll have to move fast: it's truly limited-edition, with just 300 cases hitting the US (split between New York and San Francisco.) It's also got a relatively low price point of $18.99, which puts it much closer to normal gin pricing than the super-premium market (such as the higher price point enjoyed by Beefeater 24 and Tanqueray Ten, for instance.) It should be available in bars and at your more comprehensive liquor stores.

(You can see a few more pictures of the event here.)

Noggin' It

You really should go over to Eatocracy and check out this post I wrote on eggnog and some variations thereof. (Included: Jeffrey Morgenthaler's eggnog recipe, my mother's favorite eggnog recipe, and my grandmother's recipe for Southern Boiled Custard. All yummy.)

Countertop Ice Maker Review

What’s the first thing you run out of when you’re serving up cocktails? For me, it’s not the gin (perish the thought!), the Antica Formula, or even the fresh lemons. No, the Achilles heel to my party plans is always the ice. My smallish freezer has room for two ice-cube trays, and with a little planning I can usually sneak in enough plastic containers to make big chunks of ice. But if I’m going to be shaking up a lot of drinks or if more than a few people are coming over, then I always need more ice than I have. My downstairs neighbor (and co-author) Tony Hightower has graciously provided trays of ice, and I have resorted to picking up a bag of ice down the street at the 7-Eleven.

However, this all changed when the folks at Air & Water got in touch and asked if I’d consider reviewing their NewAir AI-100SS countertop ice maker. Despite my not having too much countertop to spare – I have a small New York City apartment – I agreed, and they sent one to me so I could check it out.

It’s fairly big as far as countertop appliances go, but isn’t huge – I fit it right in between my microwave and my fridge fairly easily. It’s simple to operate, too: fill it with tap water, turn it on, select a cube size, and it goes to work. The first cubes come out in six minutes or so, but they’re smallish and wet. It produces only a few cubes at a time, so if you’re looking to fill up a Boston shaker or even a Collins glass, it’s best if you wait a while. I had the best results when I could start the machine going several hours before my guests arrived, so it would have time to really fill up the ice receptacle. (I like the design – one neat feature is that the slotted bottom of the ice bin drains into the water tank, so any meltage gets captured and recycled into new cubes. And it keeps making ice until it either runs out of water, the ice bin is full, or you turn the machine off.) Once it’s filled up the ice bin, I tend to empty the bin into an ice bucket or put the ice in the freezer so the ice maker can make more. After the party, any water that’s left in the machine can be drained out a side port, and that’s pretty easy as well – I just tend to turn the ice maker sideways on the counter and place a plastic cup underneath the drain before I open it up.

I cleaned it thoroughly when I received it, and have used it several times since. I notice a strong new-plastic smell when I open up the lid to get the ice or fill it with water, but that hasn’t affected the taste at all. The ice it makes is cup-shaped, with lots of surface area. It’s not a Kold-Draft, but then again it's a lot cheaper, smaller, and doesn't need a water line. The ice it produces is fairly warm as ice goes, and melts faster than big cubes or spheres -- it doesn't last long in the shaker, but is just fine for stirring or cooling drinks quickly -- but it is really nice to have a steady supply of ice available when I need more than my two measly plastic trays can provide.

(Top pic courtesy Air & Water, Inc. Bottom two pics are mine.)

Cure For What Ails Ya. Even If It's Sobriety

I have a slight cold. So it was the perfect excuse to write about hot toddies on CNN.com.

Drinky Linky: Bad Ideas (and Some Good Ones) Edition

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus another links roundup post so soon after the last one. But there's a lot of stuff that's worth your attention.

Including some horrible ideas. We looked at this last time around in brief, chiefly the idea of spiking a Thanksgiving turkey. But, alas, along with all the cool holiday cocktail stuff (of which more below), there's some lamesauce as well:

• Such as the higher-fat version of Four Loko -- alcoholic whipped cream. (I'm not above adding a touch of brandy to homemade whipped cream, but that's REAL whipped cream, whisked in a bowl as God himself intended, not nitrous-charged and dispensed from a can.) It's making Eatocracy yell at the heavens with impotent fists of rage;
• (Program note: I have acquired a can of Four Loko, prior to its banning. It's tucked in my fridge, waiting for me to work up the intestinal fortitude to taste-test it.)
• And apparently a Maraschino cherry factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn is making the local bees turn red and rendering their honey inedible. (Much better to make your own cocktail cherries. Rewarding, tasty, and no Red Dye No. 40.)
• And if Spike Lee's Absolut Brooklyn wasn't strange enough, he's now apparently collaborating with NYC faux-barbecue chain Dallas BBQ on a 20-ounce "frozen apple martini." (If he wants to go for the real Brooklyn flavor, he could do worse than rye, dry vermouth, Maraschino, and Amer.) 40 Acres and a Manhattan?
• The eight cocktails of Hanukkah. Really.
• Campari thinks you're stupid;
• And apparently, so do Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. $34 for a Vesper?! Stop faffing around with the gold leaf, guys...or are you just trying to sucker the tourists and hedge-fund weenies?. (A shame, because the rest of the cocktail menu looks pretty good.)
• This was posted a while ago, but I just ran across it: whiskey toothpaste. There are no words.

However, it's not all bad ideas:

• OMG Sriracha bitters. (Hmm. Is that a bad idea, or a good one?)
• Mark Bittman (late of weird cocktail recipes) comes up with an idea for something he calls a "Grown-Up Granita", but is more accurately described as a grown-up Slurpee. Still sounds good, though.
• Rachel Maddow improves the pina colada;
• Eatocracy posts a brilliant mix'n'match guide to the holiday cocktail season. It's like Garanimals, but for booze;
• ...and not to be outdone, the Times' Dining section today is chock-full of stories in their drinking-themed issue, including a nifty interactive selection of some interesting holiday cocktail recipes;
• and an appreciation of Port;
• and a traveling bitters set from The Bitter Truth. (Were they inspired by this Cocktailians post about improving the airline drinking experience?);
• and a warning that vigorous shaking can lead to repetitive-strain injuries. (See this Cooking Issues post for more on various shaking styles, including the memorable "crazy-monkey shake.")
• and a chronicling of Albert Trummer's unusual approach to his drinks. (It's not often that you read an article with the line "Lighting the bar on fire was never part of the original business plan.") I do wonder, though, what kind of bartender says that you have to burn off the alcohol to make 40- or 50-proof liquor "drinkable." (He must have a horror of overproof rums, poteen, or cask-strength whiskey. That's fine: more Red Hook Rye for me.)