FlaSoxxJim

Spievak Zombie alterations have maybe marginally improved he drink, but I think that the lack of authentic Demerara 151 and also a less than authentic (compared to whatever they used in 1950) passionfruit syrup are keeping this cocktail from reaching its full potential. I do know that two of these is all I can take on on a school night, so I'll have to continue this exploration another night.

The Spievak 1950 Zombie. A heralded and well-regarded interpretation of the famous Don Beach cocktail that Donn himself may or may not have given Louis Spievak the recipe for. Finally armed with a halfway decent substitution for Lemon Hart Demerara 151 (somebody find me a bottle!!) — Gosling's Black Seal 151 — I'm now able to do this drink justice. As I sip it, I'm liking the big flavors (and the buckets of rum!), but I think I can tweak this one and (gasp!) make it better. Here's the recipe as published in 1950: * 1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice * 1 ounce fresh lemon juice * 1 ounce fresh lime juice * 1 ounce passion fruit syrup * teaspoon brown sugar * dash Angostura bitters * 1 ounce gold Puerto Rican rum * 1 ounce 151 Demerara rum * 1 ounce white Puerto Rican rum - - Dissolve sugar in lemon juice. Shake everything well with crushed ice and pour into a Collins glass. Garnish with a mint sprig. I mixed this to specs, subbing Gosling's 151 for the Demera, and using Cruzan 2-year as the gold and and Cruzan light as the white rum. On tasting, I immediately decided this incarnation was too sour, and I upped the teaspoon of brown sugar to a tablespoon. I used Finest Call passionfruit puree, extra blended to combat some of the pectin viscosity. Wondering if Torani's completely artificial passionfruit syrup might might actually work better in this one, but unfortunately I don't have any on-hand. If I decide I have another monster rum drink in me tonight I'll remix this one, but cutting the lemon, going w/2-3 tsp of brown sugar, and maybe going 50/50 passionfruit juice and passionfruit syrup. Yea Big Rum Drinks!

Ugly situation, for sure. We have a wildfire season here, but it's orders of magnitude less devastating than what CA gets every year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 07:10 PM) I hate it when people complain about random things... The elastic on my right sock is all stretched out.

So what's the latest on life with the wildfires, Balta??

We need a random complaint thread.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 04:17 PM) Pff. Tesla did this a century ago! If Tesla told me how to never have to plug a laptop or cell phone or iPod into an outlet again I'd be Fan #1, despite all the cr@ppy music they have put out.

Link to CNN Story.

Pachuco Cadaver. . . Her sedan skims along the floorboard. Her two pipes hummin’ carbon cum. Don was an odd one for sure.

No more bridge from Tuesday t' Friday. Everybody's gone high society. [Trout Mask Replica Rocks]

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 02:47 PM) Just had a sudden desire to hear some Captain Beefheart. :headbang Lido Hotel (Standin' onna porch of the). Floozies in the lobby love the way I sell. . .

Hot meat. Hot rats. Hot cats. Hot ritz. Hot roots. Hot soots. Hot zitz. Hot meat. Hot rats. Hot cats. Hot zitz. Hot roots. Hot soots.

Frogs with dirty little lips, dirty little warts on their finger-tips. Dirty 'n green, tiny 'n mean, floppin' around by the edge of the stream.

Camarillo brillo . . . Mendocino Bean-o . . . that's what it takes to rule the Toads of the Short Forest and every newt in Idaho.

Apostrophe ( ' ) is definitely the crux of the biscuit.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 10:25 AM) Att he very least I would think that Tarantino haters could appreciate True Romance The counter to that is that Tony Scott's directing was what fueled the success of True Romance. I don't agree, and I think it's Quentin's story that makes the film.

Xcalibur should have been a better animated series than it was, given the involvement of Tin Tin creator Amélie Aubert.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 08:53 AM) That's interesting. Pete Cetera started his high school career at Quigley South, the seminary high school - in MY father's class - before leaving for another high school (never knew which one until now). I didn't know he started out at Quigley (I almost went there for HS but decided to opt for the Jesuits at the last minute). Cetera was class of 1962 at Mendel, graduating a year after my dad did. He and Michael Sheehan are pretty much the only names i recognize from the "Mendel Hall of Fame".

QUOTE (Baines3 @ Sep 1, 2009 -> 11:13 PM) I will be glad when this season is over. I think that happened two weeks ago.

Very disheartening end to an already underwhelming season.

QUOTE (SockMe @ Sep 1, 2009 -> 11:08 PM) Last week someone posted a Predict the Roadtrip thread and I said 1-9, more as a joke but at the time I knew we sucked, and now that prediction is sadly unfolding before are eyes, what is that 3 walk offs now? 1 in each series? Thats pathetic, weak ass pen, weak ass lineup. You mean this nightmare is all your fault!!! Keep your %^$#@! predictions to yourself next time, buddy.

Thornton and Pena cough it up tonight to make sure everybody gets in on the $hit Party. Fock Me.

My dad went to high school with Pete Cetera (Chicago bassist and singer prior to launching his crappy solo career) at Mendel, and went to college with Dick Butkus at U of I. Played intramural basketball with Butkus and vividly recalls his ability to clear an entire gymnasium through the power of his flatulence.

OK, I'm tackling these big Cigar City Brewing Company beers one by one. Today's beer, their "Humidor Series" Ale is. . . absolutely wonderful! The defining feature of the rotating Humidor Series is going to be that all the beers are aged in cedar (like the lining of a cigar humidor), rather than oak of other more common aging woods. This is the first offering in the series, released about two months ago. The second beer — Improvisacion oatmeal stout — just came out two weeks ago. The label of this one is very cryptic, and in fact the beer is just caled "Ale." But a little digging revealed that Humidor Ale is the cedar-aged version of the Brewery's Jai Lai IPA. Clocking in at 7.5% abv and packing a ton of IBUs using 6 different hop varieties, the brewery website calls Jai Lai a "monster interpretation of an American IPA". The beer poured bright orange with pronounced chill haze (which doesn't phase me in the least) and a dense 2-fingered white head that had very god retention, eventually subsiding to a persistent thin wisp of white bubbles. The nose is just spectacular! The best nose I've smelled on a hop-accentuated beer this year since Bell's fine Hopslam. And, in fact, there is a commonality to thse beers that is immediately apparent: Simcoe hops and lots of 'em. Simcoe's popularity s relatively recent, and goes hand-in-hand with the recent explosion of "Imperial IPAs", "Double IPAs", etc. It's an American hybrid hop that is essentially Cascade hops on steroids (Cascades are the floral citrusy hop that is so wonderfully evident in the aroma and flavor of classic American pale ales like Sierra Nevada). Simcoe is a considered a dual-purpose hop which means it is suitable both as a bittering as well as an late-addition aroma hop. Honestly, though, any high-alpha hop is suitable for bittering. But the Simcoes shimmer and shine as aroma hops — and especially as dry hops (added after the wort is cooled and run into the fermenters, thereby contributing almost nothing to bitterness or flavor and everything to aroma). I could go on and on about the aroma of this beer, but I'll try to contain myself. Suffice to say, citrus, pine, and fresh floral grassy aromas completely enthrall and hint of things to come. The flavor is exactly what you expect from the nose, and in that regard it does not disappoint at all. Assertive hop burst but no sharpness and no biting finish — just fresh hoppiness all the way. Malt and alcohol are sufficient to balance the hops, and there is a pleasant oily aspect to the mouthfeel that is again due to the lovingly extravagant hopping regime. The cedar nuances are evident, unusual enough to perk up taste buds, and a nice compliment to the rest of the flavor profile. Damn, I really like this one. A shame, because I think I shelled out $13 for this bottle. I have no clue if bottled Jai Lai IPA makes it anywhere close to me, but I will certainly be on the lookout for it to hopefully serve as a serviceable stand-in once the Humidor edition is no longer available. G&T, even though you and big hops don't exactly see eye-to-eye, this is one to seek out while you're down this way.