Check us out in this short webisode recorded with the Liquid Muse at Tales of the Cocktail on the Small Screen Network!
Cin cin!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
scenes from Tales of the Cocktail: Day #1
Mimi at the Napoleon House, looking like a '70s Album cover
A pair of perfect Pimm's Cups...
Napoleon House's big as your head Muffelatta. This is the "quarter" size.
Chad Solomon of Cuff & Buttons pours sample Pisco Sours at the Emerging Spirits panel. This conference was tough, tough work.
Rebirth...the Remix.
Dancing 'til dawn...
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
scenes from Tales of the Cocktail: Pre Tales...
Barbara West is presenting at the conference and had to make sure she had all her materials on hand. Don't expect to get on a plane with a portable bar and a bottle of Picon without raising some eyebrows...
Babs' Contraband
Lunch by the pool with MiMi and longtime LUPEC friend, Em...
Pink Gin + Fried Roast Beef Po' Boy = Heaven
Babs' Contraband
Lunch by the pool with MiMi and longtime LUPEC friend, Em...
Mimi, Pink Lady & Em, at dinner at Jacques-Imo's.
Pink Gin + Fried Roast Beef Po' Boy = Heaven
Hanky Panky & Pink Gin + bubbly = heaven. What else does one drink with a Fried Po' Boy?
Last night we drank these. Try one and live vicariously through us:
Vieux Carre
1 ounce rye whiskey
1 ounce Cognac
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Bénédictine D.O.M.
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Mix all ingredients in a double Old Fashioned glass over ice; stir.
Cin-cin!
Last night we drank these. Try one and live vicariously through us:
Vieux Carre
1 ounce rye whiskey
1 ounce Cognac
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Bénédictine D.O.M.
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Mix all ingredients in a double Old Fashioned glass over ice; stir.
Cin-cin!
The Storied Sazerac
With half of LUPEC Boston in NOLA for the Tales of the Cocktail festival this week, it only seemed right to raise a glass to the Sazerac, the city's official cocktail. It's not just a tag line you know: last month the Louisiana House of Representatives proclaimed the Sazerac New Orleans' official cocktail in a 62-33 vote. (Did those 33 other legislators vote for the Ramos Gin Fizz?)
But you can't write casually about the Sazerac. The history of the cocktail is complex and much debated, "so intricate and entangled in myth," writes David Wondrich in Imbibe!, "it requires a monograph of its own." Wondrich reached page sixteen of his Sazerac treatise before his editor made him stop, and if this historian-come-cocktail authority won't try for encyclopedic in his coverage of Sazerac, neither will we. However, we can guide you to a few fun sources that sketch the lore of the Sazerac. Below are a few facets of the Sazerac myth which may or may not be true, but should absolutely be embellished to provide the most exciting story possible.
The Sazerac is the original cocktail. That's likely false, as Wondrich argues rather compellingly in Imbibe!:
"There is in fact no written record of [the Sazerac] before the first decade of the twentieth century, which is perfectly understandable: When all is said and done, the Sazerac is merely a plain Whiskey (or Brandy)...Cocktail made with Peychaud's bitters and finished with a dash of absinthe. A generation earlier, you could have ordered the same thing in any bar in America that served mixed drinks."
As Wondrich's research reveals, written record of that elusive noun, "cocktail" appears as early as 1803 in a tiny little newspaper produced in a tiny little town called Amherst, New Hampshire (which is coincidentally, where I grew up.) The debate goes on and on, but the nomenclature and the execution of such a drink with such a name likely predate Peychaud's home tippling.
The Sazerac was originally served in an egg cup. On The Gumbo Pages, Chuck Taggart provides an excellent overview of the history of the Sazerac. Here we learn that Creole apothecary Antoine Amadie Peychaud moved to NOLA in the early 1800s, set up shop in the French Quarter, and began selling his signature tincture to "relieve the ails of all his clients." After hours Peychaud mixed that magic tincture with a little cognac, water, and sugar for his friends. He served the drink in the large end of an egg cup -- a coquetier en Francais -- and the improper American pronunciation of this term led to the eventual appellation “cocktail”. In that version of the myth, the Sazerac is thus the original cocktail, Peychaud its father, and New Orleans its cradle. It’s as likely as landing a dinner meeting with the Easter bunny, but a good tale nonetheless.
The Sazerac became the Sazerac at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street. Sewell Taylor christened the "Sazerac Cocktail" as the signature drink of his Sazerac Coffee House on Exchange alley in 1853 . The drink was to be made only with Sazerac de Forge et Fils brandy, a popular brand of cognac of which he was the sole importer. Or was it John Schiller who opened the Sazerac Coffee House in 1859, and christened the Sazerac Cocktail its signature drink to be made with Sazerac brand cognac, for which he was the sole importer?
In any case, it was at the Sazerac Coffee House that an innovative barkeep introduced the step of rinsing a glass with absinthe, and it was here, under new owner Thomas H. Handy (or was it John Handy, as cited in The Craft of the Cocktail?) that the principal spirit was changed from cognac to rye whiskey, circa 1870. Reasons for that switch are clear, at least: the phylloxera epidemic in France made cognac hard to come by...or was it simply that the American palate favored rye? Maybe it was a little of both.
Sazerac de Forge et Fils perished in the 1880s, but as one brand dies, another is born: a decade later the Sazerac bar had grown into a Sazerac company who began to bottle and sell the rye-based version of the drink. That same company sells a six-year-old Sazerac brand rye today, as well as many other spirits.
Oh, what a tangled web history becomes when its scribes hit the bottlet! The beauty of these modern times is that all of these ingredients (save the Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac) are available today -- event absinthe! We suggest experimenting with the ingredients, ratios, and recipes you like the best, and matching it to your favorite foggy detailed story while mixing one up to impress your friends. Here are a few variations to get you started.
Exhibit A: Original(ish) Sazerac
from Imbibe! by David Wondrich
This recipe is the first one in print for the whiskey-based version. Reprinted in David Wonderich's Imbibe!, it was first published by William Boothby as the late Tom Handy's recipe in an undated supplement to THE WORLD'S DRINKS AND HOW TO MIX THEM:
Frappe [chill] an old-fashioned flat bar-glass; then take a mixing glass and muddle half a cube of sugar with a little water; add some ice, a jigger of good whiskey, two dashes of Peychaud bitters, and a piece of twisted lemon peel; stir well until cold, then throw the ice out of the bar-glass, dash several drops of Absinthe into the same, and rinse well with the Absinthe. Now strain the Cocktail into frozen glass, and serve with ice water on the side.
A free copy of the LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF COCKTAILS goes to the first reader to try this with a good cognac and an egg cup and report back with pictures!
Exhibit B: King Cocktail's Sazerac Cocktail
from The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff
Dale DeGroff's version calls for a little bit of everything. The plot thickens...
Splash of Ricard or Herbsaint
1 oz. VS cognac
1 oz. rye whiskey
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
lemon peel for garnish
Chill one rocks glass while preparing the drink in another. Splash the Ricard into another glass and swirl it, then pour it out. Add the cognac, rye, simple syrup, and the two kinds of bitters. Stir with ice cubes to chill. Strain into the chilled rocks glass and garnish with lemon peel.
Exhibit C: NOLA Gals Weigh In
from In the Land of Cocktails by Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan
This modern recipe calls for both Peychaud's & Angostura bitters in uneven ratios, Herbsaint, the local pastis that served as absinthe's understudy during the ban, and shaking, not stirring, the ingredients.
Enjoy your Sazeracs, and Happy Tales to you!
But you can't write casually about the Sazerac. The history of the cocktail is complex and much debated, "so intricate and entangled in myth," writes David Wondrich in Imbibe!, "it requires a monograph of its own." Wondrich reached page sixteen of his Sazerac treatise before his editor made him stop, and if this historian-come-cocktail authority won't try for encyclopedic in his coverage of Sazerac, neither will we. However, we can guide you to a few fun sources that sketch the lore of the Sazerac. Below are a few facets of the Sazerac myth which may or may not be true, but should absolutely be embellished to provide the most exciting story possible.
The Sazerac is the original cocktail. That's likely false, as Wondrich argues rather compellingly in Imbibe!:
"There is in fact no written record of [the Sazerac] before the first decade of the twentieth century, which is perfectly understandable: When all is said and done, the Sazerac is merely a plain Whiskey (or Brandy)...Cocktail made with Peychaud's bitters and finished with a dash of absinthe. A generation earlier, you could have ordered the same thing in any bar in America that served mixed drinks."
As Wondrich's research reveals, written record of that elusive noun, "cocktail" appears as early as 1803 in a tiny little newspaper produced in a tiny little town called Amherst, New Hampshire (which is coincidentally, where I grew up.) The debate goes on and on, but the nomenclature and the execution of such a drink with such a name likely predate Peychaud's home tippling.
The Sazerac was originally served in an egg cup. On The Gumbo Pages, Chuck Taggart provides an excellent overview of the history of the Sazerac. Here we learn that Creole apothecary Antoine Amadie Peychaud moved to NOLA in the early 1800s, set up shop in the French Quarter, and began selling his signature tincture to "relieve the ails of all his clients." After hours Peychaud mixed that magic tincture with a little cognac, water, and sugar for his friends. He served the drink in the large end of an egg cup -- a coquetier en Francais -- and the improper American pronunciation of this term led to the eventual appellation “cocktail”. In that version of the myth, the Sazerac is thus the original cocktail, Peychaud its father, and New Orleans its cradle. It’s as likely as landing a dinner meeting with the Easter bunny, but a good tale nonetheless.
The Sazerac became the Sazerac at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street. Sewell Taylor christened the "Sazerac Cocktail" as the signature drink of his Sazerac Coffee House on Exchange alley in 1853 . The drink was to be made only with Sazerac de Forge et Fils brandy, a popular brand of cognac of which he was the sole importer. Or was it John Schiller who opened the Sazerac Coffee House in 1859, and christened the Sazerac Cocktail its signature drink to be made with Sazerac brand cognac, for which he was the sole importer?
In any case, it was at the Sazerac Coffee House that an innovative barkeep introduced the step of rinsing a glass with absinthe, and it was here, under new owner Thomas H. Handy (or was it John Handy, as cited in The Craft of the Cocktail?) that the principal spirit was changed from cognac to rye whiskey, circa 1870. Reasons for that switch are clear, at least: the phylloxera epidemic in France made cognac hard to come by...or was it simply that the American palate favored rye? Maybe it was a little of both.
Sazerac de Forge et Fils perished in the 1880s, but as one brand dies, another is born: a decade later the Sazerac bar had grown into a Sazerac company who began to bottle and sell the rye-based version of the drink. That same company sells a six-year-old Sazerac brand rye today, as well as many other spirits.
Oh, what a tangled web history becomes when its scribes hit the bottlet! The beauty of these modern times is that all of these ingredients (save the Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac) are available today -- event absinthe! We suggest experimenting with the ingredients, ratios, and recipes you like the best, and matching it to your favorite foggy detailed story while mixing one up to impress your friends. Here are a few variations to get you started.
Exhibit A: Original(ish) Sazerac
from Imbibe! by David Wondrich
This recipe is the first one in print for the whiskey-based version. Reprinted in David Wonderich's Imbibe!, it was first published by William Boothby as the late Tom Handy's recipe in an undated supplement to THE WORLD'S DRINKS AND HOW TO MIX THEM:
Frappe [chill] an old-fashioned flat bar-glass; then take a mixing glass and muddle half a cube of sugar with a little water; add some ice, a jigger of good whiskey, two dashes of Peychaud bitters, and a piece of twisted lemon peel; stir well until cold, then throw the ice out of the bar-glass, dash several drops of Absinthe into the same, and rinse well with the Absinthe. Now strain the Cocktail into frozen glass, and serve with ice water on the side.
A free copy of the LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF COCKTAILS goes to the first reader to try this with a good cognac and an egg cup and report back with pictures!
Exhibit B: King Cocktail's Sazerac Cocktail
from The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff
Dale DeGroff's version calls for a little bit of everything. The plot thickens...
Splash of Ricard or Herbsaint
1 oz. VS cognac
1 oz. rye whiskey
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
lemon peel for garnish
Chill one rocks glass while preparing the drink in another. Splash the Ricard into another glass and swirl it, then pour it out. Add the cognac, rye, simple syrup, and the two kinds of bitters. Stir with ice cubes to chill. Strain into the chilled rocks glass and garnish with lemon peel.
Exhibit C: NOLA Gals Weigh In
from In the Land of Cocktails by Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan
This modern recipe calls for both Peychaud's & Angostura bitters in uneven ratios, Herbsaint, the local pastis that served as absinthe's understudy during the ban, and shaking, not stirring, the ingredients.
Makes 1 cocktail
1 tablespoon Herbsaint
1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey, preferably Old Overholt or Sazerac rye
1/2 teaspoon simple syrup
4 to 5 dashes Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 lemon twist with the white pith removed, for garnish
Combine the rye, simple syrup and Peychaud's and Angostura bitters in a cocktail shaker with ice. Cover and shake vigorously.
Discard the ice from the glass and strain the shaker mixture into the glass. Rub the rim of the glass with the lemon twist, add to the drink and serve immediately.
Enjoy your Sazeracs, and Happy Tales to you!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
More fun and easy ways to create your own cocktail
by Bourbon Belle
Wishing for a drink that you just haven’t been able to find at your beloved watering hole? Or dreaming about making the perfect cocktail to suit a specific taste? It’s surprisingly easy to concoct a well-balanced cocktail in the classic style, so long as you keep a few basic rules of thumb in mind.
One of the earliest known definitions of the term “cocktail” comes from the May 1806 issue of The Balance, and Columbian Repository, a Hudson, N.Y.-based weekly newspaper of yore: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters ...”
So let’s start with the spirit of your choice—Bourbon's as good as any. Next, you’ll want to sweeten it up for balance. Let’s go traditional and throw in some sweet vermouth. Following the cocktail "definition," we’re going to add some bitters; Angostura bitters make for a traditional Manhattan. Now, let’s make an original by including a flavor you’d like to impart into your drink. What goes well with Bourbon? How about … peaches! Let’s add a touch of peach liqueur—Mathilde Peches is my personal choice. And now you have your own twist on a traditional cocktail, made to suit your own flavor preferences.
Just remember: a spirit, a sweetener, a bitter (fresh citrus juice is also great for balancing out the sweetness) and water (in most cases, just consider the melting ice sufficient).
Cin-cin!
BOURBON BELLE
3 ounces Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 ounce Mathilde Peches Liqueur
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (Martini & Rossi or Cinzano preferred)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Fill a shaker with ice and add all ingredients. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
More fun and easy ways to create your own cocktail follows this same concept. Take a drink you like, and just put a little spin on it!
Maybe you LOVE a classic Negroni, but sometimes prefer something a touch more smooth. Try another original created by one of our LUPEC ladies called the Contessa. Change up the Campari for Aperol (Campari’s less bitter cousin-as quoted from Hanky Panky the Weekly Dig 7.2.08-7.9.08) and even out the portions of all three ingredients.
Contessa
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add:
1.5 oz Beefeater Gin
1.5 oz Aperol
1.5 oz Cinzano sweet vermouth
Stir and strain in a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with an orange twist
How about a classic Sidecar variation? Swap out the traditional brandy for Belle de Brillet, a pear flavored Cognac, for a smooth and delicious Pear flavored Sidecar.
Belle de Brillet Sidecar
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add:
2 oz Belle de Brillet
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
Shake gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass that has been rimmed with raw sugar.
Garnish with an orange wheel
The sky's the limit. After all, as Imbibe! author David Wondrich writes, "the small, idiomatic differences...are the mixographer's delight!"
Cin-cin!
Wishing for a drink that you just haven’t been able to find at your beloved watering hole? Or dreaming about making the perfect cocktail to suit a specific taste? It’s surprisingly easy to concoct a well-balanced cocktail in the classic style, so long as you keep a few basic rules of thumb in mind.
One of the earliest known definitions of the term “cocktail” comes from the May 1806 issue of The Balance, and Columbian Repository, a Hudson, N.Y.-based weekly newspaper of yore: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters ...”
So let’s start with the spirit of your choice—Bourbon's as good as any. Next, you’ll want to sweeten it up for balance. Let’s go traditional and throw in some sweet vermouth. Following the cocktail "definition," we’re going to add some bitters; Angostura bitters make for a traditional Manhattan. Now, let’s make an original by including a flavor you’d like to impart into your drink. What goes well with Bourbon? How about … peaches! Let’s add a touch of peach liqueur—Mathilde Peches is my personal choice. And now you have your own twist on a traditional cocktail, made to suit your own flavor preferences.
Just remember: a spirit, a sweetener, a bitter (fresh citrus juice is also great for balancing out the sweetness) and water (in most cases, just consider the melting ice sufficient).
Cin-cin!
BOURBON BELLE
3 ounces Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 ounce Mathilde Peches Liqueur
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (Martini & Rossi or Cinzano preferred)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Fill a shaker with ice and add all ingredients. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
More fun and easy ways to create your own cocktail follows this same concept. Take a drink you like, and just put a little spin on it!
Maybe you LOVE a classic Negroni, but sometimes prefer something a touch more smooth. Try another original created by one of our LUPEC ladies called the Contessa. Change up the Campari for Aperol (Campari’s less bitter cousin-as quoted from Hanky Panky the Weekly Dig 7.2.08-7.9.08) and even out the portions of all three ingredients.
Contessa
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add:
1.5 oz Beefeater Gin
1.5 oz Aperol
1.5 oz Cinzano sweet vermouth
Stir and strain in a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with an orange twist
How about a classic Sidecar variation? Swap out the traditional brandy for Belle de Brillet, a pear flavored Cognac, for a smooth and delicious Pear flavored Sidecar.
Belle de Brillet Sidecar
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add:
2 oz Belle de Brillet
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
Shake gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass that has been rimmed with raw sugar.
Garnish with an orange wheel
The sky's the limit. After all, as Imbibe! author David Wondrich writes, "the small, idiomatic differences...are the mixographer's delight!"
Cin-cin!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Oh When the Saints...
The ladies of LUPEC Boston are gearing up for our annual excursion to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail. For five days we will be learning about everything from Shochu to sensory perception. And for five nights we will be eating, drinking and dancing at our favorite haunts. Sounds like something real close to heaven. So to get us in the mood let's pour out a tasty, low alcohol cocktail from one of NOLA's finest restaurants, Herbsaint.
Half Sinner, Half Saint
2 oz French Vermouth
2 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Herbsaint
Lemon Twist
In a rocks glass combine the vermouths over ice. Float the Herbsaint. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Cheers!
Half Sinner, Half Saint
2 oz French Vermouth
2 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Herbsaint
Lemon Twist
In a rocks glass combine the vermouths over ice. Float the Herbsaint. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Go Tiki Yourself
When The Weekly Dig's Christine Liu asked the LUPEC ladies to advise her readers on summertime drinks, we enthusiastically obliged by studying up and drinking our way through the books of Beachbum Berry and Trader Vic. Check out our story in this week's Dig! But could it additionally be possible to get one's tiki on in Boston?
Because of the Puritanical background of Massachusetts one may assume that our fine state was never a part of Tiki Nation. Not so, my dear friends. In fact the Boston area was a hotbed of tiki torch amusements. Those of you who have been in the Boston area for a while will remember Aku Aku, the Polynesian delight that used to occupy the space that now holds Jasper White's Summer Shack near Alewife Station. Boasting sister locations in Worcester and Newton, Aku Aku offered up Polynesian fare and stand up comedy that one could wash down with delicious tiki libations. Heading back to mid-century, Boston hosted Kon-Tiki Ports in the Sheraton at the Prudential Center, Trader Vic's in the Park Plaza Hotel, the Polynesian Village in the Somerset Hotel, Bob Lee's Islander in Chinatown, and the Hawaiian on Boylston St.
And let us not forget the Aloha Lounge!
Talking about tiki of yore can make one thirsty. Fear not! We may not be able to sit in the Kona Hut of the Polynesian Village, but there are still options for those of us longing to have our engines revved by a Jet Pilot. On Beacon St in Newton we find South Pacific. This unassuming store front in a strip mall hides a secret tiki enclave featuring bamboo, tiki fixtures and murals.
Want to head someplace more accessible by T? Head on over to East Coast Grill in Inman Square and limbo on in to the Lava Lounge. This Cambridge institution is known for quality seafood and BBQ, but we heart East Coast Grill for it's tribute to Polynesia. Order up a Pu Pu Platter, sip on your Erupting, Flaming Volcano (serves 2, limit two per couple) and enjoy the sites!
Next on our field trip of all things tiki we find ourselves in Medford at Tiki Island. Although it's not as elaborately decorated as it's tiki predecessors, Tiki Island happily boasts "Exotic Polynesian Tropical Drinks." Who are we to say no?
On Route 1 in Saugus, we find the Kowloon. Established in 1950 by the Wong Family, the Kowloon is a New England Polynesian institution. After passing through the entrance guarded by a 15 foot tiki you have the choice of sitting in the Volcano Bay Room, the Thai Grill Room, the Luau Room, the Hong Kong Lounge or the Tiki Lagoon while you sample an eclectic menu of Szechuan, Cantonese and Thai food.
Heading to the Cape for a long weekend? Don't forget to stop by Tiki Port in Hyannis! Since 1977 the Tiki Port has been serving a blend of Cantonese, Szechuan and Mandarin cuisine along with an extensive menu of Polynesian drinks.
Back from your long weekend and in need of something refreshing to erase the memories of bumper to bumper Cape traffic? Park your car, grab your friends, hop on the T and bang the gong at Pho Republique. Their Scorpion Bowl boasts mango, pineapple, passion fruit and an assortment of rums. Yum!
The post-war Golden Era of Tiki may have passed, but that doesn't mean a new generation can't live it up Island-style. Also, when's the last time you went to Saugus? Put a little rum in your summer by taking a pilgrimage to any of these Tiki spots. Or mix up one of these bad boys in the comfort of your own home/Island Oasis.
The post-war Golden Era of Tiki may have passed, but that doesn't mean a new generation can't live it up Island-style. Also, when's the last time you went to Saugus? Put a little rum in your summer by taking a pilgrimage to any of these Tiki spots. Or mix up one of these bad boys in the comfort of your own home/Island Oasis.
Jungle Bird
.75 oz Campari
.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup
4 oz fresh unsweetened pineapple juice
1.5 oz dark Jamaican rum
Shake well with plenty of ice cubes and pour into a double old fashioned glass or a tiki mug. Garnish with an orchid, plus a maraschino cherry speared to lemon and orange wheels. Place a lei around your neck and enjoy.
From the Aviary Bar of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, circa 1978.
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