Where do we go next? That would be citrus (for juice and zest) and liqueurs (flavored infusions – usually used as an accent flavor). As I promised old and forgotten drinks today, we’re going to two that I picked for the name alone, and one for history. All of these are gin based, but you can always swap out your clear liquors.
To begin making any of these cocktails, the first thing you need to know is how much liquid your glass holds. Make sure not to fill it all the way up to the rim, that’s begging for a spill and wasted alcohol. After you’ve measured out the amount that your glass holds, you want to fill it with ice water to chill it down (or keep it in the freezer if you have copious freezer space). After that, fill your shaker with ice, and we’ll start building the cocktails.
Satan’s Whiskers
This is a fun one, but one I very rarely order out, as it’s a six ingredient drink and is usually mistaken for some new trendy drink. There’s history for it that goes back to the 1930’s. There’s two options for it, either straight or curled:
- 2 part gin
- 1 part Grand Marnier (straight)/1 part Orange Curacao (curled)
- 2 part sweet vermouth
- 2 part dry vermouth
- 2 part Orange Juice (fresh squeezed is better)
- 2 dashes Orange Bitters
Fill your shaker with ice, add the ingredients, and shake until the outside of the shaker starts getting frosty. Dump out the ice water in your cocktail glass, and strain in the cocktail. Garnish is traditionally a twist of expressed orange peel.
As a side note, if you really must, you can substitute Blue Curacao for the Orange Curacao, but I will warn you that the color of the drink will no longer be appealing.
Monkey Gland
Come on… it’s called the MONKEY GLAND! The history for this one goes back to the 1920’s, and it’s got a great name. This one requires a little bit of extra work and a touch of a more exotic mixer (and a glass wash, which I’m not a big fan of in general).
- 8 parts gin
- 4 parts Orange Juice
- 1 part Grenadine
- Dash of Absinthe – to wash the glass
Fill your shaker with ice, add all of the ingredients except the Absinthe to the shaker. Shake until the outside of the shaker starts to frost, set aside for a moment. Dump out the ice water, put the Absinthe into the glass, and swirl to coat. Dump out any excess (this is why I generally eschew glass washes), and strain the shaker into the glass. Garnish with an orange wheel.
We’ve got one more drink to go, but I’m sure there’s a couple people wondering about this whole part thing. This is why you need to know what your glass holds. I know what my glasses hold, and what will fill them to the right level to leave a collar so I can drink it. Keep in mind that shaking will add a small amount of ice shards and melted ice to the cocktail, increasing the volume by a bit. As an example, if your cocktail glass holds 5 ounces filled to the rim (didn’t I ask you not to measure that level?), or 4 ounces with an appropriate collar then the parts would be about ¼ ounce. This means the Satan’s Whiskers won’t fill the glass, but the Monkey Gland will; however, if you increase it to ½ an ounce, then the Satan’s Whiskers will fit in the glass, but leave you very little collar or room for error. I never said there would be no math.
Martinez
This is the oldest drink we’re talking about today, it dates back to the 1880’s, and is considered the precursor to the Martini (that’s a later column). At the time, it was a twist on the Manhattan.
- 1 part Gin (London Dry or Old Tom are traditional)
- 1 part Sweet Vermouth
- 1 teaspoon of Maraschino Liqueur
- 2 dashes of Orange bitters
Fill your shaker with ice, add the ingredients, but avoid shaking it this time. This cocktail gets stirred (to avoid breaking the ice into chips, which will provide a clearer cocktail) until chilled. Dump your ice water out of the cocktail glass, strain in the drink, and garnish with a slice of lemon. If you prefer to go the Manhattan route, swap out the Gin for Bourbon or Rye and adjust the mix to 2 parts Bourbon/Rye and 1 part Sweet Vermouth, and drop out the Maraschino. The Manhattan gets garnished with a cherry traditionally.
Next time depending on the comments, I’ll either switch over to mixed drinks (and the ratios you can use to make your own), or defining quite a few of the terms that you can use to modify your drink order at the bar.
I’ll either switch over to mixed drinks (and the ratios you can use to make your own)
This one please, I would love to get a little foundation to be able to come up with drinks instead of just looking up recipes.
Same here. I’ve “invented” a few drinks, but when you want to go that route, a little informed theory goes a long way.
I think both of you will really enjoy the one I write up about tiki drinks.
You’re right, I love tiki drinks!
Classy Long Island Iced teas.
8 parts gin
4 parts Orange Juice
That makes it sound as if you’re mixing it in a bucket.
NTTAWWT
Batching cocktails will be another column.
Hey, Neph – great series. Much more thoughtful than certain other (ahem) commenter’s posts on cocktails.
I think I’ll make a Monkey Gland tonight, as its been too long.
*blinks*
So… do you know where the name of the Monkey Gland came from, or was the jape unintentional?
Know where it came from? It was part of my post on the drink, back in the Belly Up to the Bar days.
Which I can’t access because our firewall doesn’t get along with the archives.
Mea culpa.
I’m glad you’re appreciating these. I was a bit concerned that I would be stepping on your toes.
No such thing as too many cocktails.
My cocktail style is more oriented on speed and volume. There’s a reason why every recipe started with “3 oz. of booze” and generally included only 2, maybe 3, other ingredients.
Are you daring to insinuate that DOCTOR Serge Voronoff was…incorrect???!!!
Good stuff Neph.
^^
Well, in honor of fruit, gin, & liqueur day, I think I’ll have an Aviation tonight
What does straight and curled mean in this context? Or are they arbitrary designations?
I was wondering but didn’t want to be that kid in class.
To my knowledge, they were arbitrary. The straight one is a little stronger, the curled one a bit weaker. If I had to wager, some wag noticed that curacao started with a “C”, thought about hair, and started referring to it as a curled whisker. Making the other one straight by exclusion.
I’ve graduated from “klass klown.”
I saved the half bottle of rum I strained off the dried fruit when baking last night. (the other half got soaked up) so I have fruit-infused spiced rum. Other than simply drinking it straight, what can I use it for?
Use it as a base for a marinade…or just drink it.
got any recommended marinade formulae?
No, I would just experiment. Another option is use it as a deglaze for a pan seared pork and make it a sauce. Again, no recipe as I have never cooked with rum…yet.
This is the glaze my mom always made for corned beef.
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1/3 Cup brown sugar, firmly packed.
1/6 Cup tomato ketchup
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. rum
Melt butter in a saucepan; add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour over boiled corned beef and bake at 350° for 30 minutes, basting with the sauce several times.
Bananas Foster?
Hrmm…
Tiki drinks. TIKI DRINKS!
You haven’t posted that article yet.
Assuming you’ve got it in a glass bottle with a good lid, and the proof is still high enough… it’ll keep
It started out 94 proof. I have to assume it’s still close to that, since there can’t have been enough sugar dissolved out of/off of the fruit to siminish it too much. And yes, it’s a glass bottle.
I clearly need to pick up some orange juice.
I am trying to prevent the standard cocktail thing of listing three really good cocktails, all of which have a different expensive (or hard to find) ingredient that’s used in a small part.
Martinez
A few years ago, I asked a local bartender, “I don’t think I like gin but I’m willing to try again – whatcha got?” and he presented me a Martinez.
It is now one of my favorite drinks.
Negronis are now part of my gin repertoire as well. Simple and delicious (and strong AF).
(is “Negroni” already plural? Should I be ordering a Negronus? Will I get thrown out of the place for saying “I’ll have two negronorum“? When did I turn into Judge Nap?)
Quite likely.
negronorum, please
Boyd Crowder on the Negroni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0Ujet360s
I had forgotten that scene.
Jere Burns is an underappreciated gem.
Thanks Neph! This is fun. I’m disappointed that my Old Mr. Boston Official Bartenders Guide doesn’t list either of these
I was bummed to learn the Old Mr. Boston Guide is out of print now.
The Martinez isn’t in there? That’s kind of surprising.
Of course, none of these are drinks I’d order in any bar that didn’t specialize in cocktails.
What edition, Tulip?
Mine (75th Anniversary Edition) has all three; e.g.,
https://mrbostondrinks.com/recipes/martinez-cocktail
Ok, the martinez is in there, but not the other two. It’s the 1963 edition.
The Venn diagram of 1935 recipes and 2012 recipes is pretty interesting:
https://mrbostondrinks.com/about
I was bummed to learn the Old Mr. Boston Guide is out of print now.
They deplatfoprmed Old Mister Boston?
*sharpens pitchfork*
local place used to sell them regularly and told me it’s out of print when I went to buy a copy as a gift. Was a regular seller for them, so I dunno.
On the plus side, the IP owners did put everything online: https://mrbostondrinks.com/
I like cocktails.
Whitmer has the crazy eyes. From childhood we’re told to never judge others by their appearance, but it’s impossible to deny that physical traits are often a dead giveaway for certain people’s moral fiber or lack thereof.
The color of your skin, eyes, hair, those are physical traits.
Crazy Eyes is a behavior.
Old Mister Boston and I were good friends but alas, we now have nothing in common. Sunday mornings are a lot calmer now, at least on my stomach. I’d be the designated driver but I don’t see so well at night anymore so y’all are on your own.
When guns are outlawed, only Congressmen will have guns
US Capitol Police are investigating an incident in which a Republican lawmaker was stopped from bringing a concealed gun onto the House floor on Thursday, sources told CNN, the first time a member of Congress has been discovered with a firearm by the metal detectors now set up outside the legislative chamber.
Rep. Andy Harris, of Maryland, set off a metal detector outside the House floor on Thursday and an officer soon discovered it was because he was carrying a concealed gun on his side, a Capitol official told CNN. The officer sent Harris away, prompting him to ask fellow Republican Rep. John Katko, of New York, to hold his weapon.
According to a press pool report, Katko refused to hold the gun for Harris, saying that he did not have a license. Harris then left the area and returned moments later, walking onto the House floor without setting off the magnetometer.
The Capitol official confirmed to CNN that Harris did not enter the House floor with a weapon. Harris’ office did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Capitol Police officer who saw the gun informed his superiors and the department is investigating the matter, a Capitol Police source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Firearms are banned from Congress except for members, who are granted certain exemptions under a 1967 regulation from the Capitol Police Board, a source confirmed to CNN. Members of Congress are able to carry firearms in the halls of Congress and on Capitol grounds as long as they have Washington licenses and they carry ammunition separately, the source added. Under no circumstances are lawmakers allowed to bring firearms onto the House floor.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night that “I think a very considerable amount, a lot of members” of the House “still don’t yet feel safe around other members of Congress,” slamming Harris for the incident.
Shutting down the nuthouses was a bad idea.
“Members of Congress are able to carry firearms in the halls of Congress and on Capitol grounds as long as they have Washington licenses and they carry ammunition separately”
I’ve got this guard dog, but I keep his teeth in my purse.
Meh, by the time you get to cover, you can have it loaded and chambered.
This is, in fact, not true. Members of Congress can carry on Capitol grounds without any license, and they’re perfectly free to keep their shit loaded.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night that “I think a very considerable amount, a lot of members” of the House “still don’t yet feel safe around other members of Congress,”
If you’re so frightened, why not haul your ass back up to Saddle River?
Fuckit. Close the capitol, all legislators meet online from their home districts. They can safe room the shit out of their offices if they want to.
*checks BOR*
Nope. Nothing in there about a busy body Karen asshole supremacy clause.
“The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger. It is irresponsible, it is reckless, but beyond that it is the violation of rules,” she said.
“You are openly disobeying the rules that we have established as a community, which means that you cannot be trusted to be held accountable to what we’ve decided as a community. And so I don’t really care what they say their intentions are, I care what the impact of their actions are, and the impact is to put all 435 members of Congress in danger.”
Can’t we just give her a dayglo orange vest and a little stop sign? She really just wants to be a school crossing guard.
“The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger.”
I don’t think the hat can animate a gun and cause it to fire recklessly.
The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger.
Assertion without evidence.
All 435?
That’s a lot of bullets.
Not really. There’s a lot of congresscritters so old and infirm that the shockwave from a passing bullet will reduce them to dust.
Stop trying to boost the covid death stats.
Okay you can have it your way, so long as you bring back dueling as a means to settle grievances.
They can be trusted to have the power to impose misery, suffering and destruction on millions of people. But, they can’t be trusted to carry a loaded weapon. Does she have any inkling how utterly moronic that sounds to anyone who stops for even a moment to think about it?
No.
Next question.
??
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1352209350224441344
Guys, peace at last. CNN is back to taking everything a government offical friendly to the admin says as true without ever questioning.
They did that before, it was just a fictional character that had bad things to say about Orange Man.
I’m not going to twitsearch, but I thought I heard that St. Fauchi immediately contradicted that claim.
He did, and now i’ve seen tweets from journolists calling him “A Trump administration holdover”. Fauci is going to learn what a harsh mistress that media light can really be.
Oh gawd that’s hilarious and schadenfreude-tastic! You haz links?
https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1352474387576971269
I have the receipts (via tom woods)
I’ll be in my bunk
Please let that be true, please let that be true, please let that be true
*clicks heels*
And actually attributing the words to them?
No plan to speak of and yet they were vaccinating about 1M per day. Maybe what they mean is that there is no plan for a centralized bureaucratic plan that will likely slow things down.
Why did I read the replies??!! I’ll just triple each recipe above and drink this memory away….
Fun gin fact:
The doctor advice to not sleep with a young baby due to risk of rolling over it and smothering is due to the era in England of heavy gin drinkers. It made more sense to recommend putting babies in a separate crib/bassinet than to tell women (and men too, I guess) to stop getting black out drunk before bed.
In other words, the risk is incredibly low if you go to bed sober.
Huh… Could have been useful information to me years ago.
Gin was also a popular method of making the kids go to sleep.
Obligatory: https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/ad_223447260.jpg
Always relevant.
Aw gee: https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/ad_223447260.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all
Third time’s the charm.
That tears it!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/GinLane.jpg/1200px-GinLane.jpg
There was an article I read a while back (and I think I linked it here at some point) comparing the alcohol consumption (per capita) of people from the founding of the US on. We are truly slacking when it comes to how much they drank back then (and up until prohibition).
Based on my recent alcoholic over-indulgence, I can safely say there is no way I could keep up with history.
It’s worth noting that most workers, blue and white collar, drank all day, every day, before they even got off of work until the mid to late 1980’s.
Women…
Three-martini lunch.
TBF, martini glasses were about 3 oz. back then.
Still, 9 oz. of mostly gin would get you a decent buzz.
Another reason I dislike recipes given in volume instead of parts. Nothing is more disappointing then pouring a drink into a glass, and seeing the glass is only half full.
At the Casa Dean, a half-full cocktail glass means you done drunk half of it already.
There are recent studies demonstrating a higher risk of death for bed sharing and strangely these often are funded by crib manufacturers.
I researched the literature pretty thoroughly before we decided to skip the crib for our kids. While the studies show a significantly higher death rate for babies who sleep with their parents, virtually every instance of smothering was associated with either heavy alcohol/other drug use or the parent sleeping on a couch or recliner. That “the risk is incredibly low if you go to bed sober” is for some reason always left out of the conclusion even though that’s exactly what the data shows.
I think it’s Australia’s national public health body of all places that offers reasoned guidance on the topic. The US health care system and various NGO leeches still view bedsharing as a death sentence.
FIFY
^^^^^thissss
This is the Covid equivalent of the “I shot an AR-15 and it gave me PTSD” article:
https://twitter.com/DLeonhardt/status/1352596455450701828
“Study after study has shown that masks reduce the virus’s spread. ”
*citations needed*
“I was shaken”
Way to public announce you’re a gigantic pussy.
Why? Isn’t it your position that leaving the house for non-essential reasons is morally equivalent to killing grandma? Whatever business you had in St. Louis, why didn’t you do it virtually or skip it until the pandemic is over? If you truly believed that staying home is saving lives, you should have taken your own advice.
Oh, shush you.
Nationwide, about half of Americans are not wearing masks when in close contact with people outside their households, according to a survey by the University of Southern California.
It’s a brazen lie. 95%+ of Americans wear face masks indoors in public. Everywhere. Including everywhere in Florida that doesn’t have a state government imposed mask mandate.
Yep. I live in MD. Everybody is wearing the mask. Unless this guy is going to Bumfuck, MD (i.e. not where the people and thus COVID cases are), there’s no gas stations, convenience stores, etc. where people aren’t wearing masks. I haven’t seen a single unmasked individual in an indoor commercial space since May.
The only conceivable way to get to that number is to include eating or drinking with people not in your household.
And even then, the statement is grossly misleading, as it makes it sound as if half of Americans aren’t wearing masks at all, even, anywhere. Which would be nice, but ain’t happening.
Yep, absolute fucking lie. I drove pretty much that same route to visit family for the holidays. Every gas station and restaurant had everyone masked up. Saw multiple MAGA and TRUMP 2020 face masks. People are wearing masks. They are wearing them even in the places full of the white people that this fucking NYT reporter hates.
This has become a sick and twisted parody of religious faith. These people insist that the Deplorables are Not Masking, because their Precious TV Screen tells them that “Masks Work!!!” and that All the Smart People are wearing their masks. Therefore the spread of the virus is due to the Deplorables.
It’s infuriating.
You need another hobby, Karen.
So odds on the GOP impeaching Trump? I think it’s pretty good actually. The senate is mostly establishment GOPers and this will be their opportunity to ensure he doesn’t run in 2024.
It will be funny that of all the people who have ever been impeached the only guy who was convicted was a guy who was already out of office. A futher symbol of the sheer weakness and cowardice of Congress.
Plenty of judges have been convicted.
Too bad Sullivan isn’t on the list.
Ok. First President to be convicted. Though that’s not even true, since he’s not a president.
And you think I’m the Evil twin.
I dunno about plenty. I would say not nearly enough, myself.
What would be the names for the parties formed after the implosion of the GOP if that happened?
Probably one would still be the Republcian party, since there are names on that bank account already.
I still want Trump to start the Buffalo-Moose party.
The Kek Party
4chanican Party
The Trumplicans
Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho Party brought to you by Brawndo
Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho Party brought to you by Brawndo
*pre-files party registration*
I’m in.
Same here.
Donny and the Dickheads?
If that ISNT already a band…
My plants are in, they crave this leadership.
Republicans and National Workers Party?
The Reform Party / Reformers
A good spin would be for a candidate to run Republican but always say they’re actually the reform party, but due to the rigid power of the 2 party establishment… and so on.
NAFC – Not a fucking commie party
Trump voters voted for Trump, not the GOP. That would be a bad move for GOP Senators.
My shocked face is really getting worn out.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2021/01/22/shocker-impeachment-star-lied-about-her-contacts-with-christopher-steele-n314409
“Fiona Hill, a top Russia expert in the Trump administration, was the person who introduced former British spy Christopher Steele to a former think tank analyst who would serve as the primary source for an infamous dossier he compiled on President Donald Trump, according to newly declassified FBI notes.
Hill, who was the director for Russia and Eurasia on the National Security Council during most of the Trump administration, introduced Steele in 2011 to Igor Danchenko, according to a summary of Steele’s interviews with the FBI in September 2017.
Hill kept secret her role introducing Steele and Danchenko all throughout her tenure in the Trump administration, as well as during congressional testimony she gave as part of the Trump impeachment hearings in November 2019.
Hill’s role in linking Steele to Danchenko was revealed on Tuesday, with the declassification of notes from interviews that Steele had with investigators working for the special counsel’s office in September 2017.”
“Expert”. People keep using that word.
Hey, Ownbestenemy, while you’re in OKC, you should check out my friend’s places (depending on your vices, of course):
Wilshire Dive Bar
STAG Whisky Bar
Omerta Cigar Co.
Just so’s ya have something to do outside of the hotel.
Thanks. I may have been to STAG, but don’t remember. There used to be a blues bar with open mic but I doubt that is going on anymore. I have a dive there (and it really is a dive), with a couple cute bartenders but I value my marriage too much to go to it.
I just tried to find some sort of information about the snowpack in Yellowstone national Park.
What a complete waste of time. Is it really that hard? Everybody at NOAA should be shot into the sun.
SNOTEL Map
Everybody at NOAA should be shot into the sun.
More of a NASA punishment, but really, can either of them be trusted to arrive there?
“Study after study has shown that masks reduce the virus’s spread. ”
*citations needed*
No shit. If actual observational studies of real populations exist, please, by all means, produce them.
Spoiler alert: computer models don’t qualify.
Spoiler alert: computer models don’t qualify.
So this. The models themselves work on assumptions. Nothing wrong with that. But, the assumptions have to be tested to be reasonable and accurate. If they aren’t any computer model is only going to give you a recycled version of the assumptions themselves.
“According to our model, our model is correct.”
And models get less reliable when you’re dealing with human factors. You could make a computer model of a new airplane design and have some idea of how it will handle in the sky because we have at least a basic understanding of the major factors involved. But even those are not considered a substitute for actually test-flying the thing – they’re just educated guesses on how it might work.
When you start making models of things with a huge amount of known factors and even more unknown factors, it’s a wash. That’s why climate models are a fucking joke too.
And yea, if you get to design the model, of course you can get the result you want. I could make a model of an economy, put in the parameter that welfare reduces economic output by n, then proclaim that I’ve scientifically proven the effectiveness of libertarianism. But I have the feeling that this wouldn’t be accepted.
The closest thing to an observational study I’ve seen is a county-level comparison. But it didn’t seem to account for the confounding variable that the virus spreads at different rates and times in different places. Last I heard, the study was yanked when some more time passed and the trend it identified had not proved consistent.
I have no doubt xe is referring to the “studies” showing that masks limit droplet spread. Well, some masks. But not really the cloth masks everybody is wearing. Some of which make it worse by aerosolizing the droplets. But other than that, sure.
As far as I know, the debate over whether the ‘Vid is droplet or airborne transmissable has never been settled.
The other day, I asked somebody where the thousands and thousands of people killed by the Sturgis soopurspredder! were.
He had no clue what i was talking about.
The first two aren’t in my Mr. Boston (’94 edition). Their Martinez calls for triple sec and dry vermouth.
This Quaalude sounds good, if sweet and Lebowski-ish: equal parts vodka, Frangelico, and Kahlua on rocks with splash of milk.
NEW EVEN MORE DEADLY STRAIN
LOCKDOWN FOREVER
In the face of the undefeatable microscopic menace, our Commander In Chief has decided that humanity’s best course of action is unconditional surrender.
?
Thx, Plinker
We use it to plan snowmobiling trips.
Unpopular booze opinion: I don’t like the trend of replacing any clear liquor with vodka (e.g. vodka martinis). You’re taking out flavor and replacing it with nothing at best… I say “at best” because the top-shelf vodka has no taste whatsoever, and any lesser quality has a noxious chemical taste. Unlike other liquors, vodka can never be described as delicious. The best it gets is completely neutral.
That’s not really an unpopular opinion.
Yeah, I’m pretty much on board with that as well.
Not unpopular at all. Vodka didn’t really become a popular ingredient until the 70’s, when the classic cocktails were seen as stodgy and old fashioned. FFS, Ketel One has introduced a botanical flavored vodka, which I’m sure is popular with people who say they dislike gin.
a botanical flavored vodka
That made me grin when I saw that in the store.
“If only we had a name for such a thing…”
Juniper berry infused vodka is much more appealing and not old and stuffy.
Back in the late 90’s I remember joking that Absolut Juniper would become a huge hit.
I bought some Manischewitz wine just out of curiosity one time, and the 15-year old cashier remarked, “Is this like, turn’t up grape juice??”
Yea, alcoholic grape juice… I wonder what you’d call such a drink?
Haha wow, glad I’m in good company here.
I suppose it’s just the people in my immediate social circle (omg!! GATHERINGS!!!!!111) who prefer vodka cocktails above everything else.
The only reason I have vodka in my house is for making pastry
I have a bottle of Tito’s sitting on the bottom shelf of my liquor shelves. The girlfriend is a fan of the flavored (vanilla usually) vodkas (or… *sigh* bourbons) to mix with pop as a quick drink if she’s having one.
My sister was offended that I had Tito’s on the bottom shelf.
The Dean liquor cabinet.
One shelf. I do have a closet that holds the strategic reserve booze.
The picture on the main page is of my liquor shelves, at least the top of them.
Yes, I know you shouldn’t store glasses upside down, but the ones mounted on the backs of cars have a tendency to roll if you leave them right side up.
You shouldn’t? I like to keep out the dust and silverfish.
Toxteth:
The issue is that if you have any moisture in there, instead of dust and silverfish, you have a potential of mold growing on the glass. If you have them hanging, that’s fine.
Ah. I do make sure they’re dry first.
I gotta say, I drink a lot of Tito’s. Sometimes, a vodka soda is the right thing to drink, when you’re drinking for several hours.
e.g., it’s my go-to when going out to watch a football game at my local. Back when I had a local that was still in business :-/
I keep the Zing Zang cans around to mix with my Titos when I make steak and eggs on a weekend morning. Or sometimes I’ll have a Greyhound.
We keep it for cooking and cause it is the only hard alcohol that my wife can now drink and that is even starting to wane. Too many headaches, and not from drinking too much. One glass of anything now or even a beer she gets em.
Dude, about those “headaches” . . .
Damn it!
A far more unpopular booze opinion: with very few exceptions, all booze sucks.
I’m offended.
I basically didn’t drink. Then one day a friend offered me a taste of his home-made blueberry mead.
Suddenly, a whole new world opened before my eyes.
I’ve done home brew mead.
I learned how from a medieval food scholar who dug up all sorts of recipes.
It’s fantastic, but generally too sweet for more than particular occasions.
Cider is somewhat acceptable.
But I’d rather just have weed.
I have a friend with a PhD in archeology. He has his friends from around the world translate 2000yo recipes for him. It’s cool, but they are rarely a pleasant tasting drink.
Mead can range from bone dry to syrupy sweet. Depends on who makes it and what they are trying to accomplish.
My cider is all semi-dry and carbonated.
My red wines are dry and white wines are semi-dry to semi-sweet.
My ales are all sour.
No weed until the feds give in and I am retired.
Is it physically painful to be so wrong about something?
The weed helps.
whiskey, water, tea, honey
adjust ratio to match how you are feeling
The toddy, another classic drink. I generally stick to hot water, and add in some lemon and spice (using a cassia stick to stir is a popular trend in my household).
When we were in Ireland the pubs would have hot water going behind the bar, next to a bunch of lemon wedges with cloves stuck in them. I asked what it was for, and the answer was “hot whisky”. Place some sugar, a lemon wedge with cloves and some Jameson’s in a glass and add some hot water. Most of the Irish folks started drinking them at the end of the night, so I tried one. It was pretty good.
Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea?
our Commander In Chief has decided that humanity’s best course of action is unconditional surrender.
This.
Neph, I’d like say that I appreciate these cocktail writeups, but my input on the topic is pretty much zero since I’m a beer n bourbon yokel. Maybe one day I’ll make a thing.
Glad you enjoy them. If you want a simple one to start with, go with the Old Fashioned (from last weeks column). Very simple, very customizable, very delicious.
I should say thanks as well. I’m a pretender when it comes to booze.
Love me an Old Fashioned. In fact, that will be my drink for the night after I wrap up work for the day.
I find Manhattans even easier (no simple) – a great starter cocktail.
https://mrbostondrinks.com/recipes/manhattan
Negronis are good in that it’s 1-1-1 gin/sweet vermouth/campari – hard to screw up those measurements.
I enjoy a good Old Fashioned every now and then. Very easy to make.
Whiskey, sweetener, bitters, water. If it doesn’t taste right, add more of something.
Last night’s wound up being 1/2C Beam, 1T maple syrup, fout solid shales of orange bitters.
A terabyte of maple syrup seems like a lot to me, but what do I know.
well, considering a bit of maple syrup is only ~8 carbon atoms long , e15 of them doesn’t take up much room.
Where’s Hyperbole with his sign?
“NERDS”
Sorry to go OT, but it’s pretty clear that the neither the election nor the impeachment have dented this man’s trolling abilities
If by trolling you mean making Congress look bad not being a total dick, then he’s got that down pat.
“by not being”
*sigh*
Well, I think it makes Congress and the administration look like a bunch of petty douches.
Awesome.
This is one of the greatest things I’ve read in a while.
That would have been better reported by Trump in a tweet in all caps.
And that is why they were removed from the place they were staying in the Capitol.
Is every Keating a douche?
O captain, my captain!
He should have just said “I’m celebrating with my family” and that would have made him exempt.
Also acceptable: “I’m protesting systemic racism. Masks are all about eliminating the identity of black and brown people.”
My halfway-thru the season why the hell am I watching this review of Lovecraft Country
It’s some racist, god-awful crap.
Thanks for these Neph. I made whiskey sours last night. I thought they were good, but my wife and her friend dumped theirs for wine instead. In fairness, they aren’t bourbon fans so I should have seen that coming. I also managed to score a handle of buffalo trace when going to ABC for the simple syrup. Very nice surprise since they get it in randomly and limit to 1 per customer.
I’m planning on covering the classic sours in another column, including an ingredient that is very rarely used in the modern day. Raw egg whites.
But you purchase simple syrup? I’d recommend making your own, it really is simple.
Raw egg whites
Now I want a Pisco Sour.
Flip?
Negative. Quite a few of the traditional sours used an egg white to add body, balance out the citric acid, and to look damned fancy.
I was also thinking of a fizz.
Whiskey sours are great, but they’re even greater when made with an egg white.
Related bonus – use the egg yolk in your Hollandaise sauce. The circle is now complete.
Yeah, I rarely make cocktails besides margaritas in the summer. My preference is bourbon with coke or on the rocks (depending on the bourbon). If I drank cocktails regularly I’d make the syrup myself instead of buying.
You live in a place where even Buffalo Trace is on allocation?
Yep. Trucks restock VA ABC on Friday mornings (around here at least). The employees don’t know what’s on the truck until they unload. If a case of Buffalo Trace is on it, they don’t even bother to stock the shelf and instead just stick the box behind the counter. Every bottle is sold by the end of the day and then you have to wait a month or two for the next truck to randomly bring it.
Welcome to liquor stores run by the State. It was pure luck I happened to be in there at just the right time and grabbed the last bottle.
Ohio has a state run liquor agency, with a surprisingly good website where you can search and check availability at any of the liquor agencies. The inventory isn’t always correct, but since the prices are set by the state, there’s no reason to shop around.
Virginia ABCs web site only lets you order certain boozes online for curbside pickup. Buffalo Trace is definitely not available for curbside online ordering.
I do too. Its real hard to find in the VA ABC store. I always bring a couple bottles back when I travel to points closer to Kentucky.
That just ain’t right.
The liquor store nearest to me has a mountain of that on hand, always.
From wdalasio’s link:
The troops were told to evacuate the Capitol building grounds on Thursday, after a Democrat congressman complained about one National Guard member not wearing a mask at a cafe in the building, according to Breitbart.
According to a source, Rep. Will Keating (D-MA) reported to the Capitol building authorities earlier in the day that a National Guardsman was seen in a Dunkin Donuts without a mask on.
After Keating commented out loud that masks were required to be worn at all times in a federal building, the National Guard member responded, “I appreciate my freedom,” according to the source.
National Guard commanders are now looking for the National Guard member, according to the source.
Fucking petty vindictive tyrants.
And the authorities are on the hunt for the terrorist who declined to bend the knee.
Sacred temple of democracy they say.
National Guard commanders are now looking for the National Guard member
Why? What provision of the UCMJ did he violate?
He dared talk back to a member of the vaunted class. Seriously though, like all things government, the UCMJ has a nice catch all, Article 134
If they were looking to throw the book on that NG member, most likely under “Offenses involving conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces”.
I know that the President is commander in chief of the armed forces, but I didn’t know representatives hold any rank.
Honestly, the guy probably didn’t know who Keating was, and thought it was just some fuckwad annoying him.
If he thought it was just some annoying fuckwad, well, he wasn’t wrong.
No but those commanders will feel the pressure from their governors of their respective states when Rep. Will Keating makes it his mission to punish the state if they don’t do anything.
That’s what Article 134 is for – “We want to fuck you over, but you didn’t actually violate the law, so we can use this vague catch-all category”
“I appreciate my freedom” = “But the emperor is naked”
…or that should be the case. Where is his commander ordering all of the unit to unmask? When will the first domino fall?
Rep. Will Keating (D-MA) is a piece of diseased rhinoceros shit and deserves a very hard throat punch.
My understanding is that military does not answer to congress. But Nancy P basically committed sedition recently and no one seems to care about that.
I have no doubt xe is referring to the “studies” showing that masks limit droplet spread. Well, some masks. But not really the cloth masks everybody is wearing. Some of which make it worse by aerosolizing the droplets. But other than that, sure.
I assume those are the ones I have seen which probably wouldn’t have gotten you a B at the science fair at my high school in 1972, which basically involve a plant sprayer and a rag. And they are completely untethered to any serious consideration of the virus itself and its contagiousness. How many parts per million of environmental contaminant does it take to cause an infection? Who knows? And stop asking!
https://twitter.com/TRHLofficial/status/1352377054529003523
HAHA
And- you may think those goddam train robber bandanas are cute, but don’t pretend they’ll save your (or anybody else’s) life.
Was it one of you guys who mentioned that Will Wilkinson was fired from Niskansen?
Indeed sir, it was me. I laughed my ass off while reading it.
Indeed.
It’s particularly delicious if you take a look at Wilkinson’s past statements on the subject.
That second one makes me dislike him even more! What a turd. No one attacks Fruit Sushi but us!!!
Greenwald made some hilarious slights towards him while discussing the subject.
“Will Wilkinson is about as mainstream and conventional a thinker as one can find, and is unfailingly civil and restrained in his rhetoric. But yesterday, he was fired by the technocratic centrist think tank for which he worked, the Niskanen Center, and appears on the verge of being fired as well by The New York Times, where he is a contributing writer. This multi-pronged retribution is due to a single tweet that was obviously satirical and sarcastic and for which he abjectly apologized. But no matter: the tweet has been purposely distorted into something malevolent and the prevailing repressive climate weaponized it against him.
Neither Wilkinson nor his tweet are particularly interesting. What merits attention here is the now-pervasive climate that fostered this tawdry episode, and which has unjustly destroyed countless reputations and careers with no sign of slowing down.”
Gotta admit, I’ve been enjoyed Based Greenwald.
Neither Wilkinson nor his tweet are particularly interesting.
Steel on target.
That’s hilariously mean.
Seriously. Greenwald does ‘Bitchy Old Queen’ like no one else since maybe Florence King.
Facebook shows me clip from a video about a nice, young man from Rwanda that does nature photography.
It starts with “My real parents died before I was born . . . . ”
So. translation error? or con man?
A Jerk.
I was born a poor black child.
I was born at a very young age.
I got cheated – I was born old.
https://twitter.com/Tim_Matheson/status/1352703272981696512
I found one of those Nativists that Brennan was warning us about.
Hope those cookies are warm. They can use them to keep their hands warm while they’re sitting outside and sleeping in a garage.
The sycophancy in the comments. Ugh.
*TwitBlock ON*
That also caused me to hit ‘Disable Twitter’. Those people…
Not Otter! That saddens me.
The dude retweets The Lincoln Project.
Apparently he’s not a great thinker.
There is literally no way that a 70s actor doesn’t have vast amounts of cancellable skeletons in his closet.
How many unwelcome gropes do you think Timmy has under his belt?
This is a guy whose signature role was a rich fratboy who fucked as many girls as he possibly could.
This is a guy whose signature role was a rich fratboy who
fucked as many girls as he possibly couldraped an underage girl.Wasn’t that Larry? Otter’s conquests (at least the ones we see) were Mandy, Fawn Leibowitz, and Mrs. Wormer. Larry was the one who ended up with the 13 year old from the supermarket.
You are correct, sir. It has been many moons since I watched Animal House.
I thought we weren’t allowed to complain about immigrants’ language skills? Doublethink is confusing.
Apparently the Trump card is, well, a trump card.
Glad to see someone tagged Siraj in the replies
My favorite cocktail of the moment is The Chapel Hill. I was looking through the Mr. Boston guide and saw the name of my alma mater. Discovered it was a bourbon drink and I was hooked. The traditional version is as follows:
1.5 oz Bourbon (or other whiskey)
1 oz triple sec or curacao
.5 oz lemon juice.
Put in a shaker with ice and shake until cold as a witch’s tit.
Strain into martini glass
Garnish with orange slice if you like.
I’d love to know the history of it, but my DDG-fu fails me.
Some quick searching shows it to be from the 1950’s or so, and is a variation on the sidecar.
I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, if cancel culture is wrong, it’s wrong even for someone like Willkinson.
On the other hand, if a Wilkinson doesn’t get cancelled, what ever changes? If the advocates of cancel culture never run the risk of cancellation, what incentive do they ever have to reconsider the idea? If there’s never a “You tomorrow”, “Me todays” can go on forever.
If cancel culture is one-sided, it will never be reformed.
I decided I’m comfortable in holding the contradictory positions of A)firing someone for a bad joke is wrong B)since it’s Wilkinson, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I’ll admit i laughed a bit, which probably was wrong. But i’m not sure it is _wrong_ that winllkinson is on the receiving end of this. Is it wrong that a dropped glass shatters? These are the inevitable consequences of what he has preached. Do i like them? No. But he is only reaping what he has sowed.
To be clear. Niskansen commiting cancel culture, is wrong, but Winkinson getting cancelled is just a predictable outcome of him advocating cancel culture.
I have no difficulty holding the positions that:
(1) Cancel culture is stupid and wrong, and
(2) Anybody supporting it shouldn’t complain if they get cancelled.
Oops.
A puzzler to ponder:
How can both of these be true?
(1) Trump incited the riot on Capitol Hill.
(2) The riot on Capitol Hill was planned and coordinated on Gab.
“Shut up!”, they’ll explain.
Thanks Neph!