FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE (Felix @ Aug 27, 2011 -> 04:38 PM) Primus sucks That's what their t-shirts say anyway.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 26, 2011 -> 02:07 PM) I haven't, but I was considering ordering it. Along with Salem's Lot and the Karen Black Trilogy of Terror, it is one of my fond childhood horror movie memories.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 26, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) OK, so it was you who got me interested in seeing it. It was queued up for a while, so I forgot if Netflix was suggesting it or if someone told me about it. I saw Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark last night. I thought it was really good, and that's coming from a guy who thinks horror movies are generally garbage. It had the proper buildup and didn't rely on shock moments. Del Toro held up his reputation with this one, I'd say. The guys I saw it with seemed to like it as well, specifically referring to it as original in the sense of scary movies you see now. If you have seen the original how does the remake stack up?

In 2005 when Frances and Jeanne hit us hard, while we had power we stayed inside amusing ourselves by playing the Jim Cantore Drinking Game. Drink up every time Jim says "Hunker Down" and you find yourself pretty drunk pretty quick.

I fully remember my first encounters rum agricole, cachaca, and JWray and remember not quite knowing what to make of the grassy/begetal/kerosene flavor notes. It was NOT love at first sip, but it was something I very quickly developed a taste for and then an abiding passion for. I still need to read Gary and Mardee Regan's Whiskey book before I jump on any others.

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 22, 2011 -> 04:09 PM) See i've never figured out the flavor profile of funk in rum. I guess I just consider it "good". But it seems that cachaca and wray can go in everything for me. Dave Wondrich has more eloquently tackled the subject of Rum Funk on numerous occasions in his books and articles, and I have made the term hogo a regular part of my working rum vocabulary. Take it away, Dave. That recipe for the Red Maple down in the recipes section of the article looks quite awesome. Think I will give that one a spin. If I survive that and I feel energetic enough to batch up a bit of Sweedish punsch (now that I have Batavia Arrack), the Doctor Cocktail sounds like it would be the All-Time King Funk rum drink ever.

Once you develop a taste for the funk, cachaca works everywhere, JWray works everywhere, Smith & Cross works everywhere. Hooray Funk.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 20, 2011 -> 02:04 PM) Tell your Earth Sciences department to start hiring. We're looking for a biogeochemist for the next round of hires. How does 25% salary support and no tenure track sound? And the provost wonders why faculty retention is a problem.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 20, 2011 -> 01:10 PM) Remember folks, it is averages. I figure I'm probably at about 1/2 of that amount. Start pulling your weight.

Yeah, $600 a year sounds like a bargain.

Better than cyanide.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 12:39 PM) Link That is BRILLIANT!

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 09:23 PM) balls. bad day to have projects due. Small turnout, but still a fun evening. Here's the Twitter feed running down the evening's submissions. I liked the way my swizzle came out, and I mixed up frederic's Barbados Fix and thought it was interesting. I tinkered around with a Kraken and coconut milk drink that I wanted to work out just because I wanted to name a drink the "Krak'n Coconuts", but it didn't quite come together. Next TDN in two weeks. Get those pesky work projects out of the way and jump on. Finishing up the evening with a pair of Old-Fashioneds — the first one with traditional rye (playing with the new Bulleit Rye) as a base, and the second a Rum Old-Fashioned with Cockspur 12. Yumm! Funny that that the "serious" cocktail world has evolved to the point where we finally understand how to make such outstanding cocktails – Just like people used to make 'em 150 years ago!

Count me as one of the big Blade Runner fans. The future noir look and feel of the film has had a profound impact on how Hollywood depicts dystopian future settings. And between this film and The Hitcher, Rutger Hauer probably gave us the two best ubervillain portrayals of the 1980s. The tempo and pacing of the film is challenging for sure. It's not exactly action-packed. But I think that it effectively conveys the slogging, hopeless existence of any of those poor schmucks who have the misfortune of being alive during the early 21st century.

Late-Breaking Announcement! Tomorrow's TDN Theme: RUM!! G&T if this doesn't drag you in nothing will.

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 09:45 PM) So I decided that the faster alternative to making my own pimento dram was to ask my liquor store to find the St. Elizabeth's. They did. Bottle is ordered. Faster indeed, and you won't be disappointed. It is pretty overpowering stuff, though, and I think it might be moreso than its historic counterparts. For most Grog Log type recipes calling for dram, I ted to cut the amount in half and I find it still comes through loud and clear. The St. Elizabeth is a Haus Alpenz import, so if your grog shop can get that for you, they can also get all sorts of wonderful things for you like Smith & Cross and Scarlet Ibis rums, Hayman's Old Tom Gin, Dolin vermouth, and the unbelievable I-think-I'm-in-love Batavia Arrack. There about a dozen other Alpenz things I want to try, but haven't been able to yet. Somebody this evening on the eGullet Spirits & Cocktails mentioned mixing up Robert Hess' Voyager, which I think was the second Benedictine drink I made after the Vieux Carre when I first procured a bottle of the stuff. I'm a slave to the power of suggestion so I mixed one up this evening and it still really satisfies. I used Bacardi 8 even though I think the drink practically screams for a Demerara which I am unfortunately out of.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 16, 2011 -> 11:34 AM) LOL yes, another great one. That was just the first few movies from various genres that popped into my head. I'm sure there are dozens more that are great. Raiders Of The Lost Ark See? classic film enthusiast as you are, I am fairly stunned you left of the Grand-daddy of them all: Casablanca.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 11:50 AM) You couldn't pay me enough money to go swimming in the Amazon. It sounds like it's just suicide no matter what you do. The candiru up the weewee tale is way more myth than fact, but it makes for great gross out stories.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Aug 13, 2011 -> 02:17 AM) I'm starting to get into craft brews more, but I'm only just starting to build up my tolerance for anything remotely hoppy (i.e. anything hoppier than a wheat ale...which is everything). It's a long process, but I'm enjoying it. You will become a seasoned hophead in no time, I'm sure. The more familiar you get with all the flavors in a beer's profile, the more the hops are going to want to show themselves off for you.

That Glisan Grog is quite good. Lots of ways to play around with this one. It would make an awesome swizzle, and I think I might put a small splash of Falernum in that one the next time around. Rather than make coffee I cheated and used coffee liqueur instead to very nice effect. The pineapple and coffee interplay puts the flavor profile of this drink squarely in the camp of the better Bahama Mama incarnations — minus the coconut rum, which I think I might also throw in the Gilsan mix the next time 'round since I still have a half-bottle of my homemade stuff on hand. Honestly, if I ordered a Bahama Mama at a restaurant or bar and they made me this I would be very content. Sadly, even something as approachable as this seems out of reach for the lazy ass bartenders around here.

That looks seriously good, and I think I will be mixing it up as soon as I finish this post! Like you, I am not a huge anise fan, but I will include a scant dash (@ 1/8 tsp.) of Pernod ala' Don the Beachcomber to get just a slight anise bite into the mix. Interesting you made yur coffee this morning and set some aside for a drink, as I did much the same thing. I made a espresso brown sugar syrup this morning in order to enjoy a Batavia Arrack Flip this evening, and enjoy it I most certainly did. I went to the grog shop yesterday to buy a bottle of Cynar and to my amazement I found that the shop had finally caved to my pestering and started stocking Batavia Arrack. Man, is this stuff good. Full of so much pot still funk I can't believe I have gone this long without getting my hands on the stuff before. Two other Batavia Arrack and/or Cynar cocktails that I have tried and loved the last two nights are the Elderthorn from Robert Hess, and the Dutch East India Daisy that I am sipping now. Had to make a trip to the store to buy fennel to make that one. Yum!

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Aug 11, 2011 -> 04:45 PM) I feel blessed to say that I don't believe I've ever seen a cockroach in person. Also never been stung by a bee or wasp. My work-study student aid job in college was to wrangle and rear multiple generations of two different cockroach species for an evolutionary ecology project a PhD student was wiring on. Although I developed a contact dermatitis afer a couple of years of being up to my elbows in roach dander, I was never in the slightest bit creeped out by them. I have honestly been racking my brain trying to come up with something that gives me the willies to add to the other thread, and I can't come up with a single thing. That's not to say I like getting button by mosquitoes, or stung/bitten by fire ants, or that I want vermin in my house. But I'm just genuinely fascinated by all of the creepy crawlies, and the snakes and bats and hagfish and such.

Fluffy Bunnies

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 11, 2011 -> 08:29 AM) I don't have an answer for that, but it is a situation that will be remedied shortly. That's the spirit(s)! TDN has gone to an every other week format and this Thursday is an off night. No theme has been announced yet, but it will be announced on the Mixoloseum blog roundup next week prior to the event. If the theme sounds like it's up your alley, jump into the Mixo Bar chat forum, register and sign in starting around 8pm EST and lasting usually until 11pm or midnight or so. It's mostly booze bloggers belonging to the CSOWG group, with a few cocktail nerd civilians as well. The Beach Bum has made occasional visits if the theme is Tiki-related, and most of my favorite online cocktail geeks (Fred from cocktailvirgin, Rick from Kaiser Penguin, Dr. Bamboo, etc.), are regulars. Nobody over there knows what the heck a Flaxx is so, over there I'm Sunny&Rummy. They should probably be able to figure out what a G&T is.

I just downloaded my Kindle copy of gaz Regan's new Annual Manual 2011 (with 101 of the best new cocktails by the world's best craft bartenders). In the Forward to the book, gaz stresses to young bartenders that people don't go to bars to have a drink. The go for the social aspects of bar life, and to be taken care of, and, very simply, to feel a little better on leaving than they did when they walked in. There may be one bar within a hundred miles of me that can mix me a drink better than I can for myself. But that doesn't mean I don't make a point of getting out to a bar at least once in a while to socialize with friends or make a couple of new friends. And it costs me more than drinking at home, and it makes me wish the bars around me cared more about quality ingredients and quality cocktail programs, but the conviviality is an important ingredient. Plus, persistence dies pay off, and most of the bars I go to at least knowhow to make a proper Negroni because I told them how to do it (friggin' Italian restaurants with bartenders that din't know what Camoari is. . . Sheesh). This drink geek forum thread, and the other online cocktail forums and blogs do bring a fair bit of that conviviality into the home. It's crazy, but the Mixoloseum Thursday Drink Night online meet up gets about as rowdy as a good night out at the bar, but with folks who know their drinks way better than your average bar hound. Similarly, I just started posting in the eGullet cocktails forum and someone there just started a thread where several of us are going to dig into sone of this new winning cocktails in the gaz Regan book. Then there is always Tiare Olsen's ongoing online attempt to mix her way through the Grog Log if I get to missing the classic Tiki stuff you and I have both come to love. Cone to think of it. . . Why aren't you on all these booze nerd forums??