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!

 

I joined mixoloseum I just haven't had a chance to get involved in the chat.

 

And how the hell do you stay up that late drinking!? Jesus, I'm the old guy I guess.

 

Oh, and the Sam Adams rauchbier in the mix this fall is a good beer. As one might expect it doesn't have much smoke but it is tasty.

Dear Flaxx and crew:

 

What drink would you recommend to a Sox fan after a season like this?

 

 

 

Yrs,

 

knightni

Probably this...not that it's actually available...

Edited August 20, 201114 yr by G&T

Better than cyanide.

FINALLY-- after years of transitioning through Corona/ Miller Lite/ Heineken, I've finally found MY drink.

I'm in love with Julian Hard Cider!

It was a server's recommendation about 6 months ago. (thank you, random bar for being OUT of riesling.)

It's the only thing I'll drink now, but I've only found it served at the Village Tap in Roscoe Village.

It is SOOO good.

I hope you guys will like it too!

 

 

 

http://julianhardcider.biz/products-julian...r-orchards-pie/

 

 

 

 

OMG, I just saw this... YEARLY?!? $600 was about my MONTHLY expenditure on alcohol throughout grad school. My cohort and I just about became alcoholics toward the end---best year of my life.

Yeah, $600 a year sounds like a bargain.

Remember folks, it is averages. I figure I'm probably at about 1/2 of that amount.

Remember folks, it is averages. I figure I'm probably at about 1/2 of that amount.

 

Start pulling your weight.

Start pulling your weight.

Tell your Earth Sciences department to start hiring.

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.

Being the curious sort, I wanted to try a mai tai with cachaca. So I did, expecting something to be horribly wrong since I haven't read about this combination. The recipe was

 

.5 lime

.5 curacao

.5 orgeat

.5 syrup

1 Appleton 12

1 Leblon

 

This was a winner. The cachaca adds a brown sugar note up front which compares (more or less) to using a demerara. It's the finish where the cachaca shines to finish out with a smooth fruity only-can-be-cachaca flavor. I might try this with VX to let the cachaca do a little more work up front.

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

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

 

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.

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.

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.

 

Yeah I've read that before but I guess I don't find it offensive. I've detected some sulfur I suppose but nothing off-putting.

 

In any event, if it's funk I love then HOORAY FUNK!

And this may be of interest to some moreso than me, a whiskey book from a guy in upstate NY but with contribution from Dave Wondrich.

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.

Well. Drink selection tonight will be easy. Few different recipes for "hurricanes".

So which was the winning Hurricane recipe??

 

I have become fonder of the orgeat batch I thought I had botched. The next batch I make will be killer, but in the meantime I have decided that the winning mai tai recipe and rum combination of the moment is:

 

0.75 oz Smith & Cross

0.75 oz Rhum St. James Hors D'Age aged agricole

0.75 oz Appleton 12

0.75 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz Clement Creole Shrub

0.5 oz homemade orgeat

0.25 simple

spent lime shell and fresh spring mint garnish

 

This is a bulletproof mai tai.

I actually only tried the O'Brian's recipe listed because once I tried it, I was in love. Whether a true hurricane or not is not important. It is a killer drink. I used Appleton special for the light rum and Goslings for dark, homemade grenadine and passion fruit syrup. I actually cut out the simple because the recipe calls for passion fruit juice and simple which is overkill if passion fruit syrup is used even though the ratios are a bit off. Each ingredient is well balanced and individually discernable. On the whole, it is similar to a perfectly ripe plum.

 

So I see you sprang for some new Appleton 12, eh? I have to track down that St. James...speaking of which, I haven't heard about my all spice dram...

Yeah, once I finally found the Hors D'Age and shelled out $45 for that it seemed like I'd be shooting a potentially awesome drink in the foot if I didn't shell out for the Extra as well. On top of that, the Missus had a taste for a ginger-leaning cocktail I make with Zaya, so I had to drop another $30 for that bottle. There goes the monthly bottle allowance.

Drinking Midori tonight courtesy of my Japanese roommate, delish!

I have been craving hops all day. My area just got Firestone Walker so I am sipping a Double Jack IPA. Far maltier than one would expect from a DIPA. May be a freshness issue, but I don't care. It's damn good. Lots of pineapple and pine in the nose. Apples, sugary sweetness and some hop bite. A bit syrupy in the mouthfeel. Alcohol completely hidden. This is actually quite chuggable, which is a problem...