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Cin cin!

The LUPEC Boston "USO SHOW"

The LUPEC Boston “USO SHOW”

Friday, November 21, 7-11 p.m.

at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center

On November 21 the Boston chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) will transform the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center into a swinging 1940's-themed cocktail party featuring retro-libations, live entertainment, dancing, delicious canapés, a prize raffle, and a USO-style variety show. It's a coed event, and all are welcome. This is our second annual large-scale fundraising event and was created to benefit women at The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans (NESHV). Tickets are $35 in advance/ $45 at the door, and can be purchased at Toro and Tremont 647 in the South End, Grand in Somerville, or online at grandthestore.com.

The LUPEC BOSTON USO SHOW is one component of our annual fall fundraising program, which raised over $10,000 for Jane Doe Inc. last year. Starting November 1, LUPEC Boston will partner with local bars and restaurants to offer a month-long “THIS ONE’S FOR THE LADIES” drink promotion, where participants donate proceeds from one LUPEC Boston-approved beverage to women at NESHV. Restaurant partners include Toro, Tremont 647, La Verdad, Eastern Standard, Rendezvous, Highland Kitchen, Flora, The Milky Way, and more. (For a full list, click here.) Proceeds from sales our recently reprinted cocktail book, THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF COCKTAILS, will also benefit the NESHV this fall.

The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans is a private, non-profit organization with a mission to extend a helping hand to homeless men and women veterans who are addressing the

Bob Hope entertains the troops

challenges of addiction, trauma, severe and persistent mental illness, and/or unemployment, and who will commit themselves to sobriety, non-violence, and working for personal change. They are recognized as one of the most effective private veteran's transition programs in the country. Learn more at www.neshv.org.

The LUPEC BOSTON USO SHOW will pay tribute to the 1940’s theme with of-the-era cocktails, a complimentary swing dance lesson, and a USO-style variety show emceed by Cathleen Carr and Daiva Deupree of the critically acclaimed New York-based sketch comedy burlesque Two Girls for Five Bucks. The show will feature acts by Thru the Keyhole Burlesque, Boston-based actor, improviser and stand-up comedian Harry Gordon as Bob Hope, and DJ Brother Cleve, a Boston institution, will spin ‘40s-era swing music throughout the evening. Vintage dress and creative cocktail attire is encouraged.

This event will take place at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center [85 W. Newton St., South End, Boston], with generous support from sponsors St-Germain, Hendricks, Cruzan, Milagro, Sazerac, Chartreuse, Mathilde Liqueurs, Harpoon, and SmartWater.

DETAILS:

The LUPEC BOSTON USO SHOW will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 21. Tickets are one sale now. Ticket price is $35 in advance/ $45 at the door and will include cocktail party fare, a variety show, dancing, and four drink tickets, with additional beverages available for purchase.

Light cocktail party fare will be provided for the evening by Toro, Tremont 647, and Lionette's Market, Island Creek Oysters will be on hand shucking their acclaimed “Duxbury Pearls”, and The Boston Derby Dames will skate around with sweets provided by Taza Chocolates.

The USO-style variety show will be emceed by Cathleen Carr and Daiva Deupree of Two Girls for Five Bucks and feature Boston-based actor, improviser and stand-up comedian Harry Gordon, and Thru the Keyhole Burlesque. DJ Brother Cleve will spin ‘40s-era swing music between live acts. Vintage dress and creative cocktail attire is encouraged.

A prize raffle will feature gift certificates donated from Toro, Tremont 647, Myers + Chang, La Verdad, East Coast Grill, Taza Chocolates, Polka Dog Bakery, Vee Vee, Flour Bakery + Cafe, ZipCar, Hollywood Express, A Brix Six Gift Pack from Brix Wine Shop, tickets to the Improv Asylum and Swing City a St-Germain gift basket, a one-year subscription to Imbibe magazine and more.

All proceeds from the LUPEC BOSTON USO SHOW will benefit women at The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans.

• Ticket price is $35 in advance/ $45 at the door including cocktail party fare and four drink tickets, with additional beverages available for purchase.
• Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at:
  • Toro, 1704 Washington St., Boston, MA
  • Tremont 647, 647 Tremont St. Boston, MA
  • Grand, 374 Somerville Ave., Somerville, MA
  • Online at grandthestore.com [service charges will apply]

About NESHV

The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans is a private, non-profit organization with a mission to extend a helping hand to homeless men and women veterans who are addressing the challenges of addiction, trauma, severe and persistent mental illness, and/or unemployment, and who will commit themselves to sobriety, non-violence, and working for personal change. They are recognized as one of the most effective private veteran's transition programs in the country. Learn more at www.neshv.org.

We've moved!

The LUPEC Boston blog has moved! We have a swanky new online home and a new look.

Please visit lupecboston.com for updates on what we're shaking up around town!

And please note: in a few short weeks LUPEC Boston will no longer be updating this ol' thang. Come see us at our new spot. 'Til then, cin-cin!

Ferneducation

...get one here, at the LUPEC Boston's new online home! And update your blog settings, guys and dolls! This ol' blogspot address is about to become totally defunct.

Cin-cin!

sock it to 'em, ladies!

Click here for our new website and a formal introduction to punch!

Stocking Your Bar with the Basics - One Cocktail at a Time

Check out lupecboston.com to read on!

Fabulous Fall Cocktails

Check out our latest post on Fabulous Fall Cocktails at our new online home.

We're Moving...

Guess what, LUPEC Boston blog fans? We’re moving!

We’ve got our own domain now, and a snazzy new design. Starting today, you can go directly to lupecboston.com to read about what we’re mixing up around town and sign up for our mailing list!

Many thanks for your readership and your continued support of our events. We’ve got some exciting stuff in the works for fall, so stay tuned!

Cin-cin!

LUPEC Boston

Reasons to Love Chartreuse

Chartreuse is an enchanting liqueur if there ever was one. As we covered in this week's Dig, the Chartreuse we drink today is based on a recipe for an "Elixir of Long Life" that was handed down to the Order of Carthusian monks in the 17th century. Reputed since their founding in 1084 as the Catholic Church's strictest order, the monks "dedicate themselves entirely to the service of God and to spiritual life, in permanent silence." Sales of chartreuse liqueur, which is most commonly found in green (its original form) and yellow, support the contemplative order.

Though the Carthusian monks were handed the manuscript for the "Elixir of Long Life" in 1605, it took over a century for them to decode it into something drinkable, the Elixir Vegetal de la Grande-Chartreuse which was first distilled in 1737. 130 different botanicals and plant extracts are used as ingredients, and the drink takes is signature color from the chlorophyll therein. The original stuff was a 71% alcohol, 147 proof, but recognizing the popularity of chartreuse as more than just a medicine, the monks created a more palatable 55% alcohol, 110 proof version which is what we know and love as green chartreuse today. In 1838 the Carthusians introduced the even milder, sweeter yellow chartreuse, which weighs in at 40% alcohol, 80 proof. A kinder, gentler version of the stuff and where you might want to start if you're new to drinking/mixing with it. White chartreuse was also produced once upon a time (1860-1900), as was a special V.E.P. in the (1960s.)

The complexity of the recipe is part of what has kept it secret for centuries. When the Carthusians were expelled from the France (along with members of all other religious orders) the recipe was nearly lost. According to the lore, the monk entrusted with the original manuscript was arrested and jailed during this time. He managed to smuggle it out of prison to another Carthusian who was also on the lam, but the recipient could make no sense of the recipe. Befuddled by the complicated instructions and believing the Chartreuse Order shuttered forever, he sold the manuscript to a Grenoblois pharmacist named Monsieur Liotard, who also didn’t “get it”. He was unable to do anything with the recipe, and his heirs returned it to the Carthusian monks after his death in 1816.

Similarly, the French government was unable reproduce the stuff after they "nationalized" the chartreuse distillery in 1903 causing the monks to flee to Tarragona, Spain. The government’s, Chartreuse-branded product failed in the marketplace within a decade (see right.)

Who wouldn't want to sip on a liqueur that's...

1. Made by an order of contemplative monks in the French Alps?
2. Based on an ancient recipe for an Elixir of Long Life?
3. Such a highly guarded secret that only two monks are entrusted with the recipe, and never known to any one person at a time?
4. Made from 130 different herbs and botanicals, secretly processed and mixed?
5. Has its own color scheme named after it?
6. So deliciously complex that its behavior in cocktails can be a total surprise?

Mix up any one of these and you'll know what we mean:

Gypsy
*Adapted by Contessa from a recipe she originally sampled at Bourbon & Branch

2 oz Plymouth Gin
1 oz lime
3/4 oz yellow Chartreuse
3/4 oz St-Germain

Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cloister

1.5 oz gin
.5 oz Yellow chartreuse
.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
.25 oz lemon juice
.25 oz simple syrup

Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cin-cin!

Genever - its a Dutch thing

by Pink Lady

When I studied abroad in Ireland my junior year, I was shocked to learn that my Irish roommates preferred Budweiser to Guinness. The American import was pissier and more expensive than their native stout, yet none of the lads would be caught in the pub with a Guinness in hand. I chalked this up to the tendency to always want what you haven't got, and related to their impulse to eschew the familiar for the exotic.

This is not necessarily so, however, in Holland, where every fourth bottle of spirits sold is a bottle of genever. I learned this fun little fact from Bols brand ambassador Simon Duff at the Juniperlooza seminar at Tales of the Cocktail, and decided to put this theory to the test by contacting up my good friend Alexander, who hails from Amsterdam.

"Do you drink genever at all? Is it popular at home in Holland?" I texted him quite out of the blue last week while working on this week's Weekly Dig column about different types of gin.

"Yes I do! I have a bottle in my freezer! It's running low. Reminds me of my dad. I only drink it on special occasions..." he responded immediately.

So, there you have it folks, straight from the tall Dutchman's mouth. The stuff is indeed popular in Holland, if impossible to come by in the US.

We had a chance to try a small sip of both jonge and oude genever while in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, and sampled it again at a recent meeting chez Bourbon Belle. President Hanky Panky managed to smuggle several bottles back to the states with her on a trip to Amsterdam last spring.

The strong juniper flavor inherent in genever makes no bones about being a great-great-great grandparent to the modern dry styles of gin we know and love today. That said, its fuller and gads maltier than the stuff you put in a modern gin and tonic, a totally different gin-drinking experience. It is indeed special stuff, and though the real Dutch spirit is hard to come by in the United States, Genevieve by the San Francisco-based Anchor Distilllery stands in as a delicious take on the product.

So here's the ultimate challenge: get your friends who live in London to smuggle you back some Old Tom Gin and your very own tall Dutchman to return from Holland with a suitcase full of Hollands. Then mix them up in alternating batches of the following cocktail, as Seamus Harris of Bunnyhugs did and reported on here this past June.

Martinez
Recipe adapted from Imbibe! by David Wondrich

1 dash of aromatic bitters
2 dashes of maraschino
1 oz Old Tom Gin or Genever
2 oz Italian vermouth

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This drink is believed to be a predecessor to the modern martini, and was originally concocted with Old Tom Gin. The genever version is delicious as well. I wonder -- what would happen if I served this to the next person who requested "a martini" at the restaurant where I work...hmmm...

Cin-cin, or as the Dutch say, Proost!

Dead or Alive: The Sour Apple Martini

On August 15, the DeKuyper(R) brand announced the bottling of its five millionth case of DeKuyper Pucker(R) Sour Apple, the neon green key ingredient in that “iconic” cocktail, the Appletini. Little did they know that to leading mixologists and cocktail aficionados , the Sour Apple Martini is officially dead.

The Sour Apple Martini was declared officially deceased on July 19th at the Tales of the Cocktail Festival in New Orleans, nearly a month prior to the DeKuyper(R) brand’s announcement. A traditional New Orleans style Jazz Funeral was held in the drink’s honor. Covering the event for the Tales of the Cocktail blog, Cocktailnerd Gabriel Szaszko writes:

There was brilliant and uplifting music played in a classic jazz funeral style and a well-attended processional of the casket with Robert Hess in the vanguard...After the processional attendees were invited to enjoy drinks and scantily clad ladies in Cafe Giovanni where a “Bartender’s Breakfast” was held. Unfortunately, the talented ladies likely couldn’t be seen due to the number of celebrants trying to get a real, true, non-floor polish-infused, drink from the veteran and highly regarded bartenders. There was also dancing in the street; it was very Martha and the Vandellas.

Complete coverage of the funeral event can be found here and here. DeKuper’s release can be read here.

Now, why don’t you hunker down with a bottle of applejack and celebrate the great Sour Apple Martini debate with a drink? The blended stuff you’re most likely to find on local shelves is delicious in the following drink. If you have friends or family in Jersey, ask them to help you procure a bottle of Laird’s Old Apple Brandy, which it bills as the “original historic Applejack”, or the older still 12 Year Old Rare Apple Brandy (which you can read up on here.) My mother is traveling in the region as we speak, and was perfectly happy to be my mule. As we all know, a family that drinks together stays together.

The Jack Rose

2 oz Laird’s Applejack
3/4 oz fresh grenadine
1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon twist.

DRINK up!

What would the perfect cocktail bar look like? When posed with such a question, a LUPEC broad's mind wanders...

"Vintage glassware would be a must," responds one broad. "Glasses like the ones I can't stop buying on Ebay."

"And corners...lots of corners. No one likes to crane their necks to talk to each other, like they're sitting on some bench, waiting for the bus," posits another.

"I dream of massive blocks of ice like they used to use before there were ice-makers," says the third. "Imagine walking into a bar and seeing a huge chunk of ice sitting back there, waiting to be hand chipped into my drink."

The LUPEC broads grow quiet, dreaming of the day they might walk into such a place.

According to this preview of Barbara Lynch's new cocktail spot, such a place will open in Fort Point Channel on Sept 15th.

We are counting the days.

Total Pimm’s-sanity: Variations on a Pimm’s Cup Theme

by Pink Lady

If you checked out this week’s LUPEC Boston column in the Weekly Dig you’re aware that creator James Pimm began to commercially produce his No. 1 Cup in 1851. The next century-plus saw the brand grow to include a total of six variations on the liqueur’s original theme – and a franchised chain of Pimm’s Oyster Houses. One can guess that the debut of each product was a sign of the times and indicative of en vogue spirits:

• In 1851 whisky-based Pimm’s No. 2 and cognac-based Pimm’s No. 3 were introduced, along with the premiere commercial version of Pimm’s No. 1
• Rum-based Pimm’s No. 4 came after the end of World War II
• Rye-based Pimm’s No. 5 and vodka-based Pimm’s No. 6 were born in the ‘60s

Pimm’s No. 2 – 5 were phased out in 1970s and around that time the oyster houses closed, too. Vodka-based No. 6 is allegedly available, if only in England, and a revamped version of brandy-based No. 3 was introduced in 2005 and dubbed the Pimm’s Winter Cup. The original Pimm’s No. 1 remains the easiest to find.

As a cocktail, the Pimm’s Cup has a home on each side of the Atlantic, both in Southern England and in New Orleans, coincidentally also in “the South”. The English-style quaff is made a little differently from the Napoleon House recipe we included in the Dig:

• First of all, the Pimm’s Cup is a high-class drink favored by Southern England’s upper crust. While New Orleans’ Napoleon House exudes an inimitable brand of faded-glory charm, it is also decidedly casual (see photos, right.)
• James Pimm poured his original in a small tankard, so if you’re a classicist, use a mug.
• “Lemonade” means lemon-lime soda in the King’s English, and British recipes are usually made with a U.K. version of Sprite or 7-Up, the exact likes of which may be tough to find here.
• Brits garnish their Pimm’s Cups extravagantly with fruits/herbs in season, such as borage, mint, orange, lemon, line, and strawberries. How common our lonely stateside cucumber must feel.

Either way you choose to enjoy your Pimm’s Cup is fine with us.

Tally ho, y’all – bottom’s up!

Clearly, Ice

by Pinky Gonzales

A world without ice implies no cold drinks - and that would be a terrible, terrible world. There of course was a time not too long ago when the world did not have chilled drinks. How did we get 'em? Boston's own Frederic Tudor, a Beacon Hill ice trade maverick dubbed "The Ice King" was Beginning in the early nineteenth century he shipped out blocks harvested from local ponds (such as Walden) and created a worldwide demand. Thanks, Fred!

Ice and ice melt, a.k.a. water, make our cocktails more drinkable. A martini needs to have a little melt, otherwise you're crazy hammered in a minute (unless your name is John Myers.) Ice gadgets for the home make it all more fun. Not everyone can have a Kold Draft machine at their house (let alone their bar), but we can stock up on a few tools & gadgets to enhance cocktail hour. (I mention these in this week's Weekly Dig):


Silicone trays. A company called Tovolo makes soft trays which render perfect, roughly 1" cubes, non-messy, and which look swell stacked high in a Collins glass. $11.95 set of 2, Kitchen Arts, Newbury St. Note: You can find elsewhere all sorts of novelty shapes too, if you must, ranging from dog bones to Playboy bunnies. I have found some of these shapes exceedingly tricky to remove, however, so be wary.

The Lewis Bag & Ice Crush Kit. A great way to get your frustration out, make your guests chuckle, and have lovely cocktails. Sturdy canvas bag with a wooden mallet. $15, BeverageFactory.com.

Manual crushers. Vintage or retro-new, hand-crank, choppers, tappers, all good. Some nice ones are made by Ice-O-Mat, Dazey, and look for the neat-o Tap-Icer gadget. And speaking of the latter, which is an old tool, the back of a good bar spoon cracks ice held in the hand just as well. Check Buckaroo's Mercantile, Cambridge, for the occasional vintage nugget.

Electric crushers. Less charm, less work. Bought mine at Goodwill for five bucks - same one I used in 1975.

Ice pick and block. Freeze water in a pan, dislodge with spot of hot water, chip away with an old pick. Drop piece into rocks glass. Fill with rye, stir with finger. Satisfyingly toast to Mr. Tudor.

For more on ice, check out what local (welcome back!!) bartender Josey Packard has to say about it here:
http://www.alcademics.com/2008/08/on-ice.html

LUPEC Boston’s own takes home First Place at Hendrick’s Gin Beantown Bartender Battle

by Pink Lady

We are pleased to announce that LUPEC Boston’s own Bourbon Belle took home first place at the Hendrick’s Gin Beantown Bartender Battle held at Green Street last night.

Just five talented finalists were selected from the vast contestant pool to mix their cocktails at the event. The challenge? To wow the judges with a Hendrick’s based cocktail showcasing one of the signature Hendrick’s botanicals, presented with no more chatter than a witty, five-lined limerick.

“I took one sip of her cocktail and I knew instantly that Bourbon Belle was going to win,” said one Green Street staffer affiliated with the event (but not on the judging panel), who asked to remain anonymous.

The competition was fierce and the judges were tough. Other contestants included Justin Falcone, a Boston-area freelance bartender, Jeff Grdinich, bartender at the White Mountain Cider Co. restaurant in Glen, NH, Claudia Mastrobuono, bartender at Highland Kitchen in Somerville, and Chris O’Neil, bartender at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge. The tasting panel included chef Barbara Lynch, Boston Globe writer Liza Weisstuch, bartender and cocktail historian John Myers of Portland, Maine, and Hendrick’s brand ambassador Charlotte Voisey.

Bourbon Belle was the third contestant to compete and seemed un-phased as she measured, shook, and strained, despite the high stakes of the competition. Fans and LUPEC members crowded around the bar to cheer BB on as she mixed and garnished; her screwdriver Seth remained close at hand, ready to assist or mop sweat from her brow as required.

First prize is a complimentary trip anywhere in the U.S. courteous of Hendrick’s gin. When asked where she’d like to celebrate her victory, Bourbon Belle responded without hesitation: "San Francisco. Drinking.”

We’ll drink to that.

Here’s the recipe for the 1st Place libation:

Nobody's Darling

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add:

2 oz Hendrick's Gin
.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 oz Angelica Root infused Honey
.75 oz fresh celery juice
.5 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Limerick

An elixir of cucumber and rose
With a scent that amuses the nose
Angelica-honey we’ll pair
Then some celery sounds fair
Yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice and there goes!

The return of rye

A bar without rye whiskey is like a story without action.

As I explain in this week's LUPEC Boston cocktail column in the Weekly Dig, rye has evolved from a nearly defunct, old-man drink to a much sought-after spirit by men and broads alike, thanks to the revival of classic cocktails. The "old fashioned" Old Fashioned (which I mention in the column), the Scoff Law, the Saratoga, the Old Pal and, of course, the original Manhattan -- all get their personality from rye whiskey, the drier, spicier counterpart to bourbon. The Ladies of LUPEC Boston are known to knock back a rye drink or two at our monthly meetings and our favorite local bars.

Wanna know more about rye? Here are a few fun facts:

• U.S. law mandates that rye whiskey be made with at least 51 percent rye (though most are made with 65 percent or more). The rest of the grain bill usually consists of corn and malted barley.
• Rye whiskey is America's oldest whiskey. George Washington distilled it.
• Rye whiskey, in its early days, was produced in the Northeast, particularly Pennsylvania and Maryland. Most of the Northeast distilleries closed during Prohibition, and today rye is primarily produced by the Kentucky distilleries that make bourbon.
• The "whiskey" in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 refers to rye. Western Pennsylvania farmers who distilled rye protested an excise tax on their product so fervently that President George Washington had to deploy a militia to quell the uprising.
• Rock and Rye is a rye-based liqueur flavored with rock candy and citrus fruits.

Check out these two articles on rye whiskey: All but lost, rye is revived as the next boutique find (NYT) and Rye, resurrected (SF Chronicle).

Some classy cocktails to get the party started this summer...

Get your hands on a bottle of sloe gin, turn up Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, and let the games begin!

Sloe Comfortable Screw
from Dale DeGroff's Craft of the Cocktail

1 oz sloe gin
1 oz Southern Comfort
4 oz fresh orange juice
Orange slice for garnish

This drink has sloe gin, southern comfort, and OJ -- get it? A sloe, comfortable screw. Build in a highball glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

Alabama Slammer
from Dale DeGroff's Craft of the Cocktail

3/4 oz Southern Comfort
1 oz vodka
3/4 oz sloe gin
4 oz fresh orange juice
6 dashes grenadine, for garnish

Shake all ingredients hard with ice, strain into six 1-oz shot glasses, and dash the top of each with grenadine. Bottoms up!

Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide Revised Edition has a whole section devoted to Sloe Gin (and Pisco!) so pick up a copy and get inspired. I tried this cocktail and loved it -- it's surprisingly well balanced, sweet but not cloying, and utterly imbibeable.

San Francisco Cocktail

3/4 oz sloe gin
3/4 oz Italian vermouth
3/4 oz French vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters

Shake with ice cubes. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a cherry.

Cin-cin!

Grenadine is NOT from grenada & simple syrup is NOT simple

by Pink Lady

While putting together this week's Weekly Dig column on syrups I became intrigued about the origins of grenadine. This delicious pomegranate syrup is a key ingredient in both my namesake cocktail AND my favorite kiddie cocktail (the Shirley Temple). But when, exactly, did this delicious syrup become a fashionable mixer?

While writing about the Daisy in Imbibe, David Wondrich refers to the cocktail circa the 1870s as "something of a dude's drink, a little bit of fanciness that came empinkened with grenadine." Maybe it started then-ish?

Who knows. The I could find little data on who innovated the use of grenadine in cocktails, but a few of the following, totally unrelated facts popped up repeatedly as I searched:

• There is a chain of Islands located in the Caribbean that share the same name as the delicious syrup. Nary a pomegranate grows on these islands, though. Nor to they grow on the adjacent island of Grenada.
• The French word for pomegranate? La grenade. The Spanish word? La Granada. There is some speculation that these islands got their name from early settlers who thought the island’s shape resembled that of the fruit. I mean, maybe that happened…
• There is an odd/fascinating legal situation a-brew wherein Grenada and/or the Grenadine islands are looking to claim rights to the name of the ruby red syrup, thus profiting from the sales of Grenadine with a capital "G". Read more about it here.
  

Irrelevant facts aside, some more recipes for the stuff can be found at the end of this post.

I also learned that "Simple Syrup" is pretty much anything but, thanks to an illuminating article chemist-turned-mixologist Darcy O'Neil contributed to the first edition of Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail.

The task at hand will always involve dissolving sugar in water, of course. But the method by which you do so -- over heat, or hot process, vs. cold process -- will have a dramatic effect on the flavor & consistency of your syrup. Heated syrup will be thinner, due to a higher presence of fructose, whereas syrup dissolved at room temperature will be nice and thick, and 100% sucrose. Rather than butchering Mr. O'Neil's eloquent explanation, I suggest you purchase a copy of the book and check out his excellent blog. In the interim, here are simple syrup recipes for you to play around with.

As with all things cocktail, make a few batches, try 'em in a few cocktails, and use whichever suits you best.

Simple Syrup:

A cold-process shakey-shakey method from King Cocktail, Dale Degroff
from the Craft of the Cocktail

Fill a cork bottle halfway with superfine sugar, the other half with water. Shake vigorously until most of the sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. It will remain cloudy for 5 minutes; after it clears, shake again briefly and it is ready to use. Stored in the refrigerator between uses, Simple Syrup will last for several weeks.

Darcy O'Neil's Simple Syrup
from Mixologist: the Journal of the American Cocktail

Ingredients: 2 cups sugar 2 cups water, 1/4- cup corn syrup, 1000 ML bottle (with milliliters marks on the side)

Add 2 - cups of water to a pan and bring it to a simmer, 122 - 140 degrees Fahrenheit, or 'til it's just slightly too hot to put your finger in for more than a few seconds. Add 2 cups of table sugar and 1/4 cup of corn syrup and leave on heat for 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat, stir until all is dissolved. Let solution cool then add to a bottle. Fill the bottle up to 1000 ML and shake.

NOTE: To try this recipe cold process, add sugar, water, and corn syrup to a 1000 ML bottle and shake 'til all is dissolved. Top off with water.

Grenadine:

A cold process shakey-shakey method from David Wondrich's Killer Cocktails
borrowed from Paul Clarke's Cocktail Chronicles

Take one cup of pomegranate juice, and place it in a jar with one cup of granulated sugar. Seal tightly and shake like hell until all of the sugar is dissolved. Add another ounce or two of sugar and repeat.

Clarke suggests: Adding an ounce of high-proof vodka or grain alcohol as a preservative, and storing in a plastic container in the freezer: "the high volume of sugar keeps it from freezing, and you can just tip out a little frigid syrup each time you need it." Thanks, Paul!

Cin-cin!

LUPEC makes it's small screen debut

Check us out in this short webisode recorded with the Liquid Muse at Tales of the Cocktail on the Small Screen Network!

Cin cin!

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...