The Preakness

Sometimes it startles me how lost I was in drinking before I found the Manhattan. It is such a quintessential part of drinking in the United States.  I know that I'd heard about it many times - maybe it's my contrarian nature, maybe it's the fact that when you're in college, anything more complicated than a screwdriver or a whiskey sour (using sour mix) is out of the question. 

Anyway, as I've delved into Manhattans, I've found a few fantastic variations along the way.  Tonight's cocktail is one of the many drinks in the fashion of the old standby.

The Preakness (Or The Bull Manhattan)

A couple ounces Bourbon
Around an ounce of Sweet Vermouth
A pour or two of Benedictine (or B&B if it's what you have)
A dash of bitters

Stir and serve in a manly-ass glass.

This will not overwhelm you with fine taste, surprise you with unexpected depth, or disappoint you by skipping the alcoholic punch.  It's a straightforward bourbon drink, and it will taste similar to a Manhattan.  Personally, I prefer it without the bitters, and with a heavy helping of B&B, but if you put too much in, you run the risk of creating a new bourbon-brandy cocktail, and not really following the flavor of the Manhattan. 

Repeal Day

Image Source

While I'm sure it would bring you joy to hear I didn't post anything on repeal day because I was too drunk, sadly I cannot make that claim.  It was down in my calendar to celebrate - and celebrate it I did in the most appropriate fashion.  However, I did forget to finish my post and get it published at 21:00 hours.  Sorry about that.

Some of the best mixologists in the world attended the DC Craft Bartenders Guild Ball on December 4th to celebrate the 21st amendment.  Drinks were poured, good times were had, and all of it auspiciously legal.

A site respectfully about repeal day:  http://www.repealday.org/

A drunken dousing of history about the President who helped get the 18th repealed: FDR: Portrait of a Drinking President


A Dewars ad in repeal form:

Yet Another Reason I Love Binder Clips

Ingenuity.  It is a perfect word to describe drinkers across the world.  No, it's not going to stop any wars, or save anyone's life.  And no, it won't even make your life all that different, but to me, there's something downright inspiring about this kind of thinking. 

Plus, I love binder clips.
 

 From Muteboy's Flickr page

Palative Potables - Bitter Defeat

War of 1812 - Battle of New Orleans

    Sometimes ignomonious defeat comes with its own reward.  As you choke down the bitter pill of loss, it is important to remember that you don't have to choke it down alone - you could be sputtering and swallowing it with a few good dashes of booze.

This Palative Potable isn't to make you feel better, it's to help you wallow in the stinking pit of losing.  It's to make you take it all in a little more, just in case there were some details of getting whipped you might have forgotten.



Palative Potable - Bitter Defeat

1 oz Vodka
1 oz Dubonnet Blanc
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
2-3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
2-3 dashes Angustura Bitters

This drink has a designed hole in it.  There is no finishing burn, no end to the taste - it starts off as a dry knuckle, and pulls back before delivering the whole punch.  Don't expect to feel satisfied at the end of the bitter defeat, expect to feel robbed.  It isn't even bitter enough to deserve the name, but it's just bitter enough to not be in any other category.

The World's Oldest Champagne

This July a remarkable find was made in Finnish waters - the world's oldest Champagne.  The champagne dates back to somewhere around 185 years ago.  Wow.

Champagne this old makes the 8-week Welch's brew look just as gross as it should look.  Everything about a 185 year-old bottle of champagne is awesome.  Not the least of which is that it was found at the bottom of the ocean... again, Wow!



Cheers to the intrepid diver who swigged a bottle expecting salt water and was instead greeted with sweet alcohol.

According to Champagne expert Richard Juhlin, the bottles could go for $135,000 each at auction depending on who shows up to bid.

The Fiery Dog

Inspired by a recipe I came across on CocktailDB while looking for variations on a Manhattan to try, the Fiery Dog is a complex and powerful cocktail.  With its odd set of ingredients, I doubt you'll be trying it out anytime soon unless you come on out to NY to visit your friendly Redface.

The Fiery Dog
1 oz White Dog Whiskey
1 oz Italian Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Absinthe
1/2 oz Benedectine
1 Dash Peychaud's Bitters


Shake and strain into a rocks glass.  Please don't put any White Dog in a cocktail glass. 

I've been trying to figure out Benedictine for a few months now, and this is the first time I've been able to add it to a cocktail and not have to choke it down.  Every ingredient has quite a powerful taste, which leads to a shifting feel in your mouth and down your throat as you drink a Fiery Dog.  The 62% White Dog makes itself known, but is unable to overpower the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

Davie Crockett's Speech Tactics

The ruse worked perfectly.  The crowd roared with laughter, and that gave him confidence to go on to other rough stories that only won the listeners even more.  Knowing that his opponent would get to speak after him, though, and worried that the man would show up the complete lack of substance in his speech, Crockett concluded by saying that he felt keenly thirsty and suggested that the voters join him at the whiskey stand.  Most of them did, leaving his opponent speaking to a largely empty field while Crockett continued his storytelling at the liquor barrel.  In the entire episode Crockett sold himself to the voters, while never risking alienating one of them with an unwelcome opinion on the subject of the county seat.

-William C. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo

 

Killing that Noxious Beast

You all know the feeling - a bottle of liquor, whether the choice was sweated over, or your typical brand was casually nabbed from your local bottle shop - sits on your shelf calling to you.  No, it's not saying your name in a frenzied attempt to draw you deeper into the sad world of alcoholism, it's just looking at you.

It's daring you, challenging you not to disappoint.  It is giving you a once over to see if you have what it takes to put up a real fight.  In the end, we all know if you go head to head with a bottle of booze, it takes at least as much from you as you take from it (I said this about martinis last week, and I repeat it again).  Instead, it works much better to sidle along, slinking from one glass to the next, offering a friend an ounce or two in between cups, perhaps quietly downing a shot in an obscure hour when there is no one to watch.

Once you have outwitted the noxious beast, it becomes less a test of wills, and more a defining of the inevitable.  As you turn the bottle up for its final pour, there is a blend of satisfaction and disapproval.  If only you'd sprung for the bigger bottle, the harder stuff, more of it, maybe the challenge would have been harder.  Yet at the same time, you have accomplished what you set out to do when you bought it.  With grim, if unsteady motions, you can put the bottle down and forget all about it now.  You are left as you were, with nothing more or less than yourself.  I just hope the guy at the bottom of the bottle has a healthy glow about his cheeks!

I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental, and profound.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Palative Potables - Outraged

Now, to be perfectly honest, I turn to the Dry Gin Martini frequently, for a variety of reasons, and even when I have no particular reason.  However, there is at least one occasion in particular when I turn to the dry gin martini - when I am pissed off.

A dry martini doesn't mess around.  It doesn't compromise, and it doesn't hide.  A dry martini has few ingredients - and they are both easy to find.  You can make as many different dry martinis as there are gins, dry vermouths, and ratios between the two.  When you drink a dry martini, it takes about as much from you as you take from it.

A Martini Moment

When I am angry and need to clear my head, I often turn to a dry martini.  It's no-nonsense complexion demands my attention at the same time that it oils my gears.  No matter how sour the thoughts on my mind, the cutting combination of dry spiced wine and London Dry Gin will force me to grimace and grin in a way that only the martini-drinkers of the world will understand.

My personal dry gin martini recipe (I am playing around with the classic touch of adding orange bitters, give it a try)

Redface's Personal Dry Gin Martini
5 parts London Dry Gin
1 part dry vermouth

Place 4-5 ice cubes in shaker, 3-4 cubes in a small cocktail glass.  Add the dry vermouth (or add a full shot and then strain it, your call) and the gin.  Shake three times lightly.  Slowly and deliberately double strain the martini into the cocktail glass (discard the ice obviously from the glass).  Add no garnish.  Gripping the glass fervently by its stem, think angry thoughts and then snarl into the glass as you suck in a full first sip.

Bubbly Cocktails

Picture Source

A glass of champagne gives you a feeling unlike any other beverage in your hand.  It is full of potential, full of airiness, and full of energy.  Whether you are enjoying a mimosa in the morning with friends, or celebrating an important event with a loved one, a glass of bubbly can liven things up in a way no other drink can.  Take a look at the Three Sheets episode on champagne.

I remember reading somewhere that it was too bad that champagne in America is only consumed on special occasions and for particular celebrations like New Year's Eve, and I agree with that.  A bottle of champagne is a perfect companion to many evenings, and can certainly be to good effect on almost any night when a few people gather.

I've never been a mimosa drinker - usually when it's mimosa time for others, I feel the orange juice is way too thick for my stomach.  Often for me, mimosas have been the staple for a morning after a long night of drinking, so I am in favor of a light drink that doesn't linger.  Suffice it to say I am no orangeman.


To circumvent the problem I have with orange juice in a cocktail in the morning, here's my take on a champagne cocktail with orange:



Orange Angelus
1/2 oz cognac
3/4 oz contreau
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz vodka
1 dash orange bitters
Champagne



Combine everything but champagne and stir.  Add champagne and sip, sip, sip.  The orange flavor comes out strongest from the bitters on the nose, but you can feel the warmth of the vodka for the finish fighting with the classic tickling of a sip of champagne.

Instead of the cognac and contreau, I use this French brand of orange liqueur and cognac that comes at 40% abv.  If you're doing that, find a comfortable ratio - for me it's 1oz "La Belle Orange" instead of the cognac and contreau.  Also, many champagne cocktails you will find will have some sweetener in them, I don't like sweet cocktails, so this is not sweet.  If you would like a sweeter cocktail, add 1/2-3/4 oz simple syrup.

Palative Potables - Paying the Bills

Today I would like to start a new Redfacery regular: Palative Potables.  In these entries, I will discuss various potables I take for everyday tasks.  Palative Potables will cover beverages I currently employ at various times in the week, or perhaps new ones for new occasions.

Today's entry, in honor of payday, is my Palative Potable while paying the bills.  Bear with me, the alliteration will not stay this agonizing.  Whenever I sit down to work out the next month's budget, pay any bills, or sign a check, there is one drink in particular I go for - cheap bourbon neat.  No water.

The Part you can't see says "80% Grain Neutral Spirits"

There is something about a glass of undiluted ethanol burning your mouth, your throat, and your gut before driving that tingle through your limbs that feels just like sending away your hard-earned cash.  Just don't breath through your nose.

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of Champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.

-Winston Churchill

You Always Thought You Were Smarter For Loving Booze.... Now You Know

The beauty in this new report on "Why Intelligent People Drink More Alcohol" is that it defines things so methodically that I couldn't find a single hole in the logic in two full reads (one sober as a monk at matins, the other a few degrees in).  Evolutionarily speaking, smarter individuals try new things - and alcohol is new.

I love it!  Plus, that zinger that finished off the third paragraph had me laughing my ass off.

The final paragraph also had a tidbit of sense that I find refreshing: 

That such behavior [binge drinking and getting druuunk] is detrimental to health and has few, if any, positive consequences, is irrelevant for the Hypothesis.  [The hypothesis] does not predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in healthy and beneficial behavior.  Instead, it predicts that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in evolutionarily novel behavior.  

 Intelligent people are not, ceteris paribus, more likely to make good (healthy, moral, salacious) decisions, they are just more apt to do novel evolutionary things.  Brilliant!  This means I can still plausibly claim to be intelligent while also explaining why I am ombibulous and spent the whole day Sunday feeling like crap.

A Recipe For Success

It is very easy to fall into a rut when mixing drinks.  For me the rut is usually seasonal - in the winter I drink a lot of Bourbon neat, in the summer it is a lot of Lion's Head, etc...  However, flexibility in mixing drinks is key.

Nobody drinks the same drink year round, or at least if you do, get a life, you're boring the shit out of me.  Anyway, there is a time and a place for particular drinks.  Now, I don't really go for rigidity in determining what to drink - I'll take an aperitif for dessert as readily as I'll take a margarita for lunchtime - but keeping up with the season is an integral part of daily drinking.

With that in mind, I'd like to encourage one thing in particular today: no matter what the season or recipe, get yourself a juicer and use fresh lemons and limes.  As a man who has many times before made drinks with bottled juice when that's what available, I feel experienced enough to have an opinion.  And my opinion is buy a couple limes for a dollar or two; put them in the fridge; when you want to use one, take it out a hour before and let it warm up.  No matter what season it is or what drink is your potion of choice at the time, fresh citrus is the way to go.

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
-Niccolo Machiavelli

The Duchess

Simple cocktail recipes always make me happy.  There's something rewarding about mixing a cocktail with even proportions, simple combinations, or easily accessible ingredients.  Well, the recipe I have in mind today fits two of those three - absinthe is still not quite as accessible as most liquors. 

You might remember the Duchess Cocktail from A Night of Vermouths.  The Duchess was a pleasant surprise, and one that has set me down a whole different path in cocktails since then.  There's something snooty about vermouth to me.  Maybe it's the fact that Jungle Juice was about the flavor complexity available in college before the Slickheel Saloon opened up.

Either way, the Duchess is a perfect example of a simple cocktail that uses the flavors of strong ingredients to craft a unique taste.

The Duchess
1/3 Sweet Vermouth
1/3 Dry Vermouth
1/3 Absinthe

Last time I said give it a light shake, this time I'll advocate stirring it.  It won't make too much difference, so do it however you'd like.  Now after a few of these, I decided the flavors were a little too touchy - one of the ones I made had a little too much anise aftertaste, one had too much dryness.  So to remedy both, I decided to add (what else?) some bitters.  My call was Peychaud's bitters, as it darkened the drink a little (I was having a little trouble with the color being a sickly mix of green absinthe and sweet vermouth, so some peychauds darkened it up). 

Gan Bei!

Satanic Cocktails - 吃 火 魔鬼

This installment of Satanic Cocktails is the Meehouland - The Fire Eating Devil.

吃 火 魔鬼
1 1/2 oz Sloe Gin
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Lime Wedge


Stir and strain.

I would suggest that you pour this into a thin, curvaceous glass, rather than a more angular glass like a rocks glass.    I'm not sure about the taste, because of the Sloe Gin, it has that sticky sweetness that a fake colored liqueur gives, and it stays coloring the glass.  I've come to love the effect perfect vermouth has on most simple liquor mixtures.  I'm glad my distaste for dry vermouth in my martinis (which endures) did not prevent me from learning to love vermouth in all sorts of cocktails.

Mustard Slap

When I taste a new cocktail, liquor, or wine, there are always a bunch of different things that go through my mind.  I've never bought into the whole arrogant, dismissive vibe that a lot of oenophiles and cocktail enthusiasts and douches seem to like - that anything you are imbibing for the first time must inherently be worse than what you've already encountered.  Instead, the three things that often go through my mind as a checklist of the quality of the potable are:

1. If I got really really drunk on this shit, and this alone, what would it be like?  Do I need to have an especially large/heavy/small/carnivorous meal before I imbibe it in order to appreciate it the most?
2. How big is the quality gap between the Nicolai and the Grey Goose, the Pépe and the Patrón, for this particular spirit?  I bought a bottle (or two) of "Hawkeye" bourbon in Iowa earlier this year - it's 80% grain neutral and 20% 36 month-old whiskey.  I sit it right next to my W.L. Weller to keep me honest in my taste assessment.
3. What would this mix well with?  What would it utterly fail with? When can I try it out?

Patrón

Pépe

With that in mind, I ask you to consider this new addition to my cocktail repertoire, the Mustard Slap.

Born out of a desire to have a powerful cocktail taste like a powerful cocktail without any alcohol taste at the end, I chose the ever-effervescent absinthe to mix with a "perfect" vermouth combo.  It has an abrasive opening taste, but fades quickly from the mouth, leaving you wondering if you got the taste quite right.


Mustard Slap
1 1/2 oz Bourbon
1 1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
3/4 oz Absinthe
Juice of half a Lemon (1 oz)

Shake and strain into a rocks glass.  Garnish with a lemon rind lightly coated in spicy brown mustard.  Alternately if you don't have a fresh lemon, just drop a tiny ball of mustard into the glass - be aware it's ugly, and don't drink it at the end :-)

Summertime Drinks

Sometime each spring there comes a day where everything idyllic about nature jumps into action.  The 65º heat combines with the returning sun to make for an afternoon that seems to stretch on until the wee hours. 

I have never been good at making drinks for that moment and the moments like it all summer long.  Maybe it's my love for bourbon, and maybe it's my background in White Russians, who knows.  I can't use the bourbon excuse because of the fabled mint julep, so I guess I'll have to go with the milk defense.  Sometime late this spring, just before I went away for the summer on various adventures, I decided that I wouldn't let fall arrive until I'd become at least passable at making frozen cocktails. 

This post isn't about my Daquiris - though they've gotten pretty good, they're still too simple for me to claim they're ready for some choice recipes.  This is about goal setting.  In order to be successful, you have to set goals, and then attempt to reach them.  Set big goals, small goals, and stupid goals.  In this case, I refer not to the self-help shtick, but to bar-tending and cocktail officianadoing. 

While my frozen cocktails are a long way from my top mixing skill, I can now put together a successful margarita, daiquiri, and frozen cooler using pretty much any spirit/fruit base.  It won't be the most inventive or nameable concoction, but it will be cold, delicious, and alcoholic.

My advice to you: go buy that bottle of whatever you've had in the back of your mind for years to try making, do some recipe trolling on google, and try a few recipes.  It's easier than you think.  Plus, if you spring $2-3 for some fresh citrus, it'll taste good almost no matter what you make :-)

From the Lab

At a party, most people see a bunch of liquor bottles and immediately clam up.  They resort quickly to shorthand recipes that taste mediocre no matter the quality of the ingredients.  Rum and Coke, Jack and Coke, Gin and Juice, Screwdriver, you get the idea.  None of these drinks will ever win a cocktail competition, but they will rule a party. 

Last weekend - before I sang a raucous ballad to the porcelain goddess - I was happy to observe this phenomenon in action.  With a beautiful menu, and a quite good spread of liquors at the party, I watched people prepare exclusively comfort cocktails that they knew.  I think most people would be much happier behind the bar if they just relaxed and realized that they can never make a drink as bad as the bankers drinks they had freshman year of college.  If people realized that - they might be a little less risk adverse when faced with the difficult task of constructing a cocktail given an unfamiliar liquor spread. 

With that in mind, here is a drink I just came up with a few minutes ago.  It stinks.

Curdled Juice:
Muddled Mango Pieces That Need to be Eaten Before They Go Bad
3 oz English Dry Gin
1 Dash Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
1/2 Tsp Raw Agave Syrup
1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Blanc

Shake and strain into small snifter.

Yuck.  The muddled mango and bitters gives it the complexion of curdled orange juice, while the dry gin and dubonnet are sour together without any positive interactions.  While I surmise the drink might have been less bad with a half ounce or so of fresh lemon juice,  I think I'll be inventing a new category of failed drinks to accompany "Dishwater" - "Curdled."

For every moderately good recipe someone comes up with, there are usually a half a dozen ones that rate only a hair above "double shot of bankers with a pilfered fountain drink chaser."  So next time you see a party spread, take heart, pour a crappy but creative drink, and if worst comes to worst, pawn it off on the drunkest guy in the room, they'll appreciate the kindness of a delivered cocktail as they swill it down.

Black Feather

Robert Hess is one of the big names in cocktails.  When he suggests a drink, I find myself inclined to believe it is very good.  So it was with the Black Feather.  After watching his video about it some months ago, I put it on my list to try out.

The Black Feather certainly does not disappoint - in fact, it is a surprising blend of flavors that is at once light on the tongue and yet flavorful!  With a unique taste, and a dryness that does exactly what he says (the vermouth sets the perfect balance between the brandy and the triple sec), it is quite a tasty cocktail.  Tasty enough in fact, that I had three or four before I even stopped for a breath.

Black Feather

4 Parts Brandy
2 Parts Dry Vermouth
1 Part Triple Sec
1 Dash Angostura

Stir with ice and strain

Yum.

You know you're a drunk when...

Your boss asks you to work overtime and you demand time and a fifth.

-FKR

A Shark's Tooth

Some days I find that every drink I mix comes out exactly as I imagined.  Whether it's an ingredient I've never used before, or one I'm deeply familiar with, there are days where I could plow through half a dozen new recipes without a bad one popping up.  Last week I had one of those days with margaritas and Sloe Gin. 

Those of you who know me are well aware that I love browsing in a liquor store.  I always feel I can get a sense both of the expected clientele, and the personality of the manager/owner of a store based on the layout and wares.  The "Wine Bazaar" a block from my house is a little confusing that way.  The guy who runs it is exceptional at pairing wines with housewives - most of their clientele is mothers coming in straight after buying groceries at the Stop & Shop next door.  I've been disappointed multiple times before at their liquor options, as the liquor seems to cater to the young and trendy crowd rather than the crotchety old man crowd that likes my kind of amber nectar. 

One thing they do always have is Eagle Rare at sale prices.  If you get a chance, it's buffalo trace's bigger, more mature older brother.

Back to the Sloe Gin - After asking several nicer liquor stores if they had some sloe gin in the last six months, I happened upon it in the "Wine Bazaar" purely by accident.  I'd listened to a podcast on midori and was willing to buy a bottle to try it, and right next to the midori was some sloe gin. 

After that successful night making a few sloe cocktails - expect a Satanic Cocktail coming soon with sloe gin - including improvising several delicious margaritas with sloe gin, tonight I decided to try the Shark's Tooth. 

Shark's Tooth
1.5 oz Dark Rum
.25 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Rose's Sweetened Lime
.25 oz Sweet Vermouth
.25 oz Sloe Gin
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Shake and pour into snifter or cocktail glass

I found the original version to be way too sweet (admittedly, I don't have passion fruit syrup, so I substituted Rose's, and I didn't have gold rum, so I went with some Bacardi Select).  It had a nice taste, but way too much sugar.  Looking at the alternate version, I can see that someone else must have had that same opinion, as it switches out the sweet vermouth for dry vermouth.  I refuse to drop the bitters though...

Shark's Tooth Variation

1.5 oz Dark Rum

.25 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Rose's Sweetened Lime
.25 oz Dry Vermouth
.25 oz Sloe Gin
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Talk about a transformation.  From a 'nice taste' but too sweet, to just plain colored dishwater.  I'm done with the Shark's Tooth.

Sloe Gin, however, I will keep sampling.

Sloe Gin - Not The Gin I Expected

You'd think with a name that included "Gin" there would be some simularity between gin and sloe gin.  Well, if you did think that (if, in the unlikely case, you'd ever heard of sloe gin before), you'd be wrong.

Sloe comes from sloeberry, but even with the 'berry' added in, Sloe Gin still sounds kinda like a mix of the sugar from candy-wrappers and bathtub gin.  I figured it would be brutal like bai jiu.

Well, it's not at all the gin I expected.  It took only one whiff of the 5$ bottle to determine that it was a sweet liqueur and not a hoary liquor.

As a replacement to sugar in my bourbon cocktails, it is changing things up.  It also plays a starring role in the last few margaritas I've had in the last two weeks.


If you're interested, take a look at the CocktailDB note on it or the Wikipedia article, both are useful.  At some point in the future, expect a detailed post where I make some homemade sloe gin!

The Water of Life - Not Just for Drunks Anymore

Most cultures have a word for their national liquor and it usually boils down to something resembling "Water of Life."  While anyone knows I could launch into a stupefying yet sophistic rant about what that says about alcohol's value in society, history, and politics, I'll stick to the recent news that my friend Jake sent my way.  Scottish Scientists Develop Whisky Biofuel.

Judging by the article, it's years down the line, but what's important to note is that it's an old process, and it uses pot ale, not whisky itself.  When I first clicked the link, I was afraid it was going to be a scientific process that told me I could just pour liquor into my tank and drive on it...  ...I'm glad that fear was unfounded.

They're starting a spin-off company from the university, so if you're interested in moving to Scotland and being a part of a project that might revolutionize the way people think about whisky, I'd investigate.

Drunk Calculus

Hello, and welcome back to Redfacery.  I know it's been a long time, but I've been busy adventuring.

Back to the matter at hand:

Drunk Calculus:

Whenever you're planning on getting drunk, it's important that you have enough booze - there's nothing worse than having a place, and the time, but no more liquid joy.  

As I mentioned above, I just got back from adventuring.  Since I've been gone so long, I'm sure you could imagine that there was a considerable amount of planning that went into that there adventure; and you'd be right.  From the 3 calories in each Altoid, to the stashes of book matches littering the gear, everything had a purpose and a place.

But we screwed up our Drunk Calculus. 

We figured two strapping young men out in the woods for four weeks would be more than happy with the luxury of three bottles of whiskey.  Two high proof ones, and one crap bottle to finish first.

We could not have been more wrong.  175 beers and 6 bottles of ethanol later, we'd moistened our trail-dusted throats sufficiently.  Carting around 12 pack after 12 pack of unspeakably bad beers, it occurred to me that there is a certain mathematics that goes into drinking.  There are particular numbers for everything in the wide world of drinking: 17 shots in a fifth, 9 ingredients in a Slickheel Lemonade, 12 ice cubes in a tray, and even unknowable ones, like how many ice cubes Justin Bieber puts in his drinks. 

What's important to learn here is that you should follow this simple equation in the future when calculating how much booze you'll need to achieve the desired level of drunkenness:

Number of people is straightforward, but drinks per person can be a little tricky.  I suggest you think about how many beers a healthy 25 year old could pound in an evening, add how many appletinis a slim girl could drink and divide by two. I find that 6-8 is a pretty good number when I'm throwing a party, but 12-15 is much more reliable when it's just a few pals shooting the shit.

The drunk factor is the party index more or less - if you want a rager, then make it huge, just be sure to have adequate blankets + puke boxes for people who tap out without making it home.  I suggest here that you make it somewhat proportional to the number of people expected.  If there are only five people there, and you want a calm night, make it 5-10, but if you expect 25, and you want the party to take off around 1am and not look back until pepper vodka smells like roses, make it 35-50.

Humanity I love you because when you're hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink.

  - E. E. Cummings

Alcoholic Art - Liquor Under A Microscope

Just a story I stumbled upon.  The whiskey picture is now my desktop background.  Enjoy!

I also really like the English Pure Brewed Lager pic.

"Party Beer"

When choosing which "party beer" to buy, I think there are a lot more factors than are usually consciously acknowledged.  Whether you're bringing a six pack to a byob party, or stocking a fridge for a house party, what you pick out matters. 
A few years ago, as I hosted weekly pre-party power hours, one week I had forgotten to get the drinks for the girls who weren't drinking beer with everyone else.  I called a friend and begged him to stop by the distributor and pick up a case of Boone's Farm.  After pleading, and promising never to make him get it again, he did.  Rather than letting him carry it out, the clerk carted it out for him and loaded it into the car.  My friend couldn't show his face there for months without getting laughed at. 




I mention this story for several reasons:  Even when hosting a power hour, most of your guests have strong preferences on what they drink.  If you want them to come next time, you have to ensure they're happy, even if their drink of choice is... ...gross.  Secondly, the brand of booze favored varies among groups of friends, and over time.  Rarely are brands set in stone, but no matter what amount of beer you're buying, you'll make a better choice if you think about the size, type, and purpose of the party.

Personally, I have no go-to beer.  I drink or bring Lion's Head whenever I can with people from college, as it's a local beer in PA.  I drink or choose PBR quite often as well.  What's your go-to, and for what kind of gathering?

Your Inner Monkey

There are many sayings about people and drinking - From Homer Simpson to Winston Churchill, most of the world's movers and shakers have had something memorable to say about alcohol.  I have always held the loosely defined belief that there is a good reason that alcohol has been around as long as it has - it serves a significant purpose. 

Your inner monkey - that guy inside you that so many people are afraid of - if you take the time to find out what kind of liquor makes you tick, well, he appreciates it.

Anyway, take the time to realize that the inner you expresses itself in many ways, but never so purely as when you drink alone.  Notice yourself in company, and if you're anything like me, you tend to keep the same overall qualities, but cater your language, posture, diction, and general behavior to the social norms to the company at hand.  This makes it hard sometimes to slow down long enough for a personal tuneup,  Well.  Take that time.

One whiskey at a time,
Redface

Homebrew Update - Drinking!

Well, this is certainly overdue.  I had the first bottle of Red Irish Ale two weeks ago, and it was delicious.  As I'd said, I was skeptical about it at bottling time.  The amount of sediment was off-putting, and the taste was overpowering.

I guess this makes me a little more experienced at brewing now, as I'm more willing to be comfortable with a strong taste or a doubtful beer.  Lesson learned - don't jump the gun.

The Red Irish Ale was just a shade or two darker than it could have been, and a shade or two cloudier than it could have been, but as my father said "I've bought ales at brewpubs that were worse than this." Now that's the kind of endorsement I love.

If you brew, I must recommend that you take the investment and buy a few cases of 22oz bottles (or pint ones if you'd really prefer), because it is worlds away from the labor that went into finding, washing, de-labeling, and sanitizing bottles when I made wine for years.  I'm sure there are many more erudite recommendations I could make, but in terms of hassle saved, having clean, unused bottles was a huge step up.  Next I think I'll spring for a bottle-washing brush, I'm getting tired of using the bent-hangar-and-rag method.

I'll include pictures when I get to it, but don't hold your breath - I'm away for the rest of the summer adventuring among other things - posts should be spotty.

Drunken Parrots

I've heard of monkeys that steal your booze at resorts but I've never heard of drunken parrots before.  I hope all of them recover - and we don't find out the drunkenness is actually something like lead poisoning.

A Short Slide Into Jerry Thomas Territory

Now, admittedly, mixed drinks are not paintings, sculptures, novels, or poems.  They are disposable and, frankly, not a little bit disreputable, standing roughly in the same relation to the culinary arts that American motor sports do to automotive engineering or hot jazz to musical composition: they smack of improvisation and cheap effects and even the most august of them lack the cachet accorded to fine wines, old whiskies, and cognac brandies.  They are easily abused; they can degrade lives and even destroy them.  Even if appreciated in moderation, they are appreciated in surroundings that rarely lead to detached meditation on truth and beauty (if those are not the same thing) or constructive engagement with the great moral and social questions of the age.  And yet neither are they contemptible.  A proper drink at the right time - one mixed with care and skill and served in a true spirit of hospitality - is better than any other made thing at giving us the illusion, at least, that we're getting what we want from life.  A cat can gaze upon a king, as the proverb goes, and after a Dry Martini or  Sazerac Cocktail or two, we're all cats.

Imbibe!, David Wondrich, page 10

A Derby Cocktail

After reading the Cocktail Hacker post on the Derby mash-up drink, I was intrigued enough to want to make a few.  They fit his billing exactly - close enough in flavor to a whiskey sour that it would be tough to call out the vermouth without knowing it was there.  With the ingredients he listed, however, I think you would be hard pressed to list any flavors but lime!  Maybe it was because I used my well bourbon, or maybe it was because the drink was 40% citrus flavor, and only 40% whiskey.

The Derby Cocktail (Cocktial Hacker)                  Derby # 2
1.5 oz Bourbon                                                          1.5 oz Bourbon
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth                                           .75 oz Sweet vermouth
.75 oz Lime Juice                                                      .5 oz Lime Juice
.75 oz Triple Sec                                                       .75 oz Triple Sec

Either way, the drink satisfied its purpose - cooling me down on a hot afternoon/evening.  After a sweaty afternoon, I was wishing hard for a cocktail to cool me down, and the Derby did just that.  But since I wasn't satisfied, I did what I usually do, I tweaked until I got to the cocktail I liked best.

It might just be that I recently made orgeat, but I felt the need to try out the Derby with a little nutty (and more importantly, non-citrus) flavor added.

Derby # 3 
1.25 oz Bourbon
.25 oz Applejack
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth
.5 oz Lime Juice
.75 oz Triple Sec
.5 oz Orgeat

My first response to this one: "Wow"
The applejack brings out just a little apple flavor, and the orgeat allows the complexity of the vermouth to come through.  All without losing the dark and sour complexion of the whiskey and sour.  I don't think I can honestly call this a derby though, so if I end up having a bunch more of these in the next few weeks, I'll have to give it a new name.

Redface Classics - Slickheel Lemonade

"Slickheel Lemonade - The Bringer of Life"

Anyone who has hosted a number of parties will know that there is a familiar flow to an evening.  It is the host's job, among other things, to manage and at times direct that flow.  One of the most potent weapons in my arsenal, if not the most potent weapon besides music or a full fridge, is the Slickheel Lemonade.  Many stories are bandied about on the topic of the Slickheel, and they should be - it is a booze-packed beverage that tastes like a frothy fresh lemonade.

Few can withstand its pull, and even seasoned drinkers have been known to be felled by two or three of these.  As the man behind the bar, I have often had occasion to mix these up by the dozen at the beginning of the night, knowing full well that by midnight, time will start its familiar whirlwind, leaving behind a room that could easily have housed a herd of wild animals and not a party.

I must confess that I went nearly a year without a Slickheel Lemonade until last weekend.  Upon inhaling its familiar and unique scent, and then watching as my vision warped somewhere in the middle of my second drink, I remembered the Slickheel's power.


So wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I ask you to raise your glass or nod your head, in silent respect for the Slickheel Lemonade.

Homebrew Update - Bottling

Last Monday, I bottled my Irish Red!  It came to exactly 24 22oz bottles - or 4 gallons.  I'd been prepared for the fluid loss, but 1/3 loss?? Must have been that 36 hours I didn't manage to check on it while it was in primary, and when I looked, the airlock had blown off the carboy, and flown almost 15 feet away.  It took me nearly ten minutes just to find the thing.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the bottling process:

Freshly sterilized bottles










The carboy as it losses contents...






Ant's eye view into the bottle

 Halfway there!








All done!  Now the trick is only to wait another two weeks - or a week from the time of this post.  Then it'll be time to drink.

After the preview I had from taking the hydrometer reading, I'm expecting it to be crisply hoppy, but chock-full of sediment.  Not exactly the ideal beer in my estimation.  But it'll be something to build on.  Update next weekend after I've tried a few.

Canadian Club Adventure Hunt

When I think of Canadian Whisky, I think of one day in particular.  It was a day that lives on in infamy, and a day that more than most, is responsible for the name Redface.  I do not wish to boast, so that story is one you'll have to get out of me through some kind of liquid persuasion.

In any case, I would have been much better off with Canadian Club, and not the Windsor I did have.  Not that it matters.  For a short history of Canadian Whisky, and an inaccurate price guide, see here.

One thing about Canadian Whisky though, it is very smooth on the way in, and quite an easy swallow - be very careful.  Many's the time I've gotten to the bottom of a cup only to realize my hand has been pouring and tipping without my knowledge.

Onto the reason for this ramble:  Take a good look at the Canadian Club Hide A Case site.  Adventure, booze, clues, and more booze.  What a combination.  Good luck finding one, and if you do, I'm sure you are already planning on sharing with your local friendly Redface.

Wise men take hearty quaffs, sing

Hail to thee, amber King of booze.

Indolent waifs sip dainty straws,

Stare vapidly at fruity hues;

Katzenjammers find everyone.

Erode sobriety with class,

Yaw home each night with empty glass

Satanic Cocktails, Diabolo Part II

I try to give each drink I make for the first time a fair chance.  I've long since discovered that some tastes build on you, and it may take until the second or third try on a cocktail to appreciate the taste.  I'm going to do that for the Diabolo - yesterday I made two of them, and was quite unimpressed, so today I am making several more.

My first impression yesterday was that the 2:1 dubonnet rouge to gin was way off.  Too much dubonnet, and not enough chance to taste the orgeat.  So after the first one, I tweaked the recipe - lowered the dubonnet, increased the gin until it was 1:1.  I added a dash or so of peychaud's bitters just for kicks (and because the color without the peychaud's had been close to crimson, and I thought it only fair to make a cocktail named diabolo a more hell-and-brimfire hue.

Diabolo #1 (Cocktaildb.com)                  Diabolo #2 (Dubonnet Correction)
1 1/4 oz Gin                                               1 3/4 oz Gin
2 1/4 oz Dubonnet Rouge                          1 3/4 oz Dubonnet Rouge
1/2 oz Orgeat                                             1/2 oz Orgeat
                                                                   2 Dashes Peychauds Bitters

Yesterday's second try had the distinction of no longer tasting only of dubonnet.  However, it also tasted like a dishwater cocktail - no distinct flavor or direction.  So, today I decided to try it first with the 1:1 ratio without the peychauds, to see if I could stick to the spirit of the drink, but fix the problem from the first try.  The first sip was great, but I soon noticed what the peychauds had covered up on the second try - too much bitter gin flavor.

Diabolo #3 (A New Look)
1 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Rouge
1/2 oz Orgeat

Well, next up I decided to push a little more towards the original, but to increase the orgeat presence.  So I went with:

Diabolo #4
1 1/4 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Rouge
2/3 oz Orgeat

This combination did for me what a decent drink often does - it slipped by without note.  I fairly slopped it back without hesitation or remark.  Almost as though I might have gotten the mixture right.  I'm guessing that my orgeat is less sweet than what is usually used.  Or, using brown sugar instead of regular sugar changed things up.  Either way, this seems to embody what the cocktail was originally.

Just to keep things fresh though, I'm trying it one more time, this time back to the 1:1, but with a spoonful of ouzo floated on the top.

Diabolo #5 (EU Bailout Special)
1 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Rouge
1/2 oz orgeat
1/4 oz Ouzo

If only I had a particularly German ingredient in there... Add everything but the ouzo, shake and twirl, strain, then float the ouzo.

Well, that's one good drink with which to finish this installment of Satanic Cocktails.  The ouzo completely takes over the scent, and adds a distinctive burn at the end, but the strength of the dubonnet and the gin preserves the Diabolo's original flavor. 

Satanic Cocktails, Diabolo Part I - Orgeat

It always slightly embarrasses me when I think an ingredient I've been reading about but have never used is something totally different than it ends up being.  I'd always had this nebulous impression that orgeat was just another orange flavored liqueur, but with some kind of nutty twist.

Well, after I promised that the next Satanic Cocktail would be the Diabolo, I was a little chagrined to be unable to locate orgeat at any local liquor establishments, or in the supermarket.  Four or five online recipes later, I was not at all excited about the idea of steeping crushed almonds in hot water for hours on end.  So I put off the Diabolo.

That is, until my mom asked me if I had any need for the organic almond butter she'd just gotten for my dad.  So now I had the impetus to make some orgeat without the tired process of steeping and draining.  What follows is my first attempt at making some orgeat liqueur. 


Redface's Orgeat Liqueur #1

2 cups water
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup organic almond butter
4 oz Vodka
2 oz Brandy

Heat 1 cup water to boil, add the sugar and reduce heat  Once sugar is fully mixed, add almond butter.  Simmer, adding 1/3 cup water every 15 minutes for 45 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool 30 minutes.  Add vodka and brandy, strain thoroughly (and repeatedly).

The taste was quite surprising in the end.  I opted for vodka and brandy to minimize the possibility of brandy taste overpowering almond.  Probably could have added only brandy, but the result was satisfying.   With a mild but persistent almond flavor, the orgeat didn't overpower the taste buds, but certainly has a distinct profile.

I also saved the leftover almond butter mixture.  It tasted smooth, with a distinct alcohol aftertaste.  It seemed like something I should try on crackers or something with a drink.  

Coming next - Bringing together the Diabolo Cocktail, and a Redfacery take on the recipe.

Smart People Drink More Alcohol

According to a recent tabulation of existing data, there are a number of surprising facts about drinkers in this country.  First of all, 20% fewer people without a high school degree reported that they drink alcohol than people with a diploma, and the number goes up even higher with more education.

Most interesting to me was the numbers by region - apparently the Northeast is the most booze-soaked area in the country.  I wonder what the reason for that is?  I'd figured the E South Central, with its Blue-Grass Parkway and Bourbon Trail, would have more drinking than anywhere else.  Guess that's just my own bourbon bias at work.

Donkey Draughts

Well, now we all know what to feed our livestock.

A Night of Vermouths

Last night was a night of exploring different recipes - I decided to drink only drinks that had both sweet and dry vermouths.  I expected it to be an interesting limitation in ingredients, and it did not disappoint.

My first drink under this rule was an Alfonso Special.  I'm not knocking it, and I'd totally drink it again, but it was far too bland to get a 'special' attached to its name.  I had planed on starting with a Beachcomber's Gold, but seemed to have misplaced my bottle of rum in my stomach - I'll have to get a new one before I can try that recipe.

Next came the Duchess.  As a 8:1 or more gin martini guy, I have been shocked recently to enjoy cocktails with strong dry vermouth components.  Though I will still not be increasing my vermouth ration in the martini, I do begrudgingly accept that dry vermouth can add significantly to a cocktail.

The Duchess

1/3 Dry Vermouth

1/3 Sweet Vermouth

1/3 Absinthe

(Use Redface's "Shake and Twirl" method for reddest results)

Next up came the Honorable Cocktail.  Finishing up the before-dinner cocktails, this was a solid pick.  I think I put a touch too much dry vermouth in it, but that could just be my sensitivity to the dry vermouth.  After a bland cocktail (Alfonso) and a complex if muddy cocktail (Duchess), the familiar warmth of bourbon was welcome.

The Honorable Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Bourbon

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

1/2 oz Dry Vermouth

(Shake and Twirl, then strain)

The Honorable Cocktail was surprisingly smooth, I'm beginning to buy into the whole mixing the sweet and dry vermouths.  Though they both have very powerful tastes, they seem to consistently allow their liquor companions to shine through. 

To finish it off, I came across a recipe that filled the gap I've been having for quite some time.  I haven't had a whiskey sour in a while, and the Manhasset more than fixes that.  

Manhasset

1 1/4 oz Bourbon

1/2 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz dry vermouth

1/4 oz sweet vermouth

Without any of the throat-sticky-sweetness of most bar's whiskey sours, and without the sugar component, the Manhasset does away with most of what makes me get tired of whiskey sours after one or two.  Instead, this one packs the bourbon taste down to make room for the vermouths, and finishes with the way sour lemon aftertaste.  It's not until after the lemon that you get the whiskey heat, and even then, it's fully tempered by the sour, sweet, and dry ingredients.

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey

Drink wine, drink beer, drink scotch and drink'ye whiskey

Keep flask in hand it will be vital aid,

So Whiskey in your veins will ne'er fade.

Homebrew Update

Well, my first home-brew beer in a while is doing well.  I had to clean and put the airlock back on four times over the course of the first four days - one time it took me nearly ten minutes to find the body of the airlock and cork, as they'd flown nearly ten feet away.

I guess I'll have to learn as I do more of these.  I feel a little like I have too much sediment in the beer, and I'm hoping it really clears up over its time in secondary.  I won't really be able to call it red ale if it's opaque and brown.

Racked into secondary, so all that remains is to wait it out! Then condition, bottle, and finally drink.

Not sure what I'll make to follow it, but I'm thinking of starting another batch when I bottle this one, that way I'll have plenty of beer for the weeks I'm home during the summer.

The Elephant's Ear

Who has the Elephant's Ear these days?  With Rush Limbaugh jumping off the deep end as often as possible, Glen Beck coming in remarkably high on Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world, and just slightly edged out by Sarah Palin at that (!), predicting the direction of the GOP is nebulous.

Well, I sat down today to puzzle over just that.  With no answers forthcoming, I slurped down a few Elephant's Ear Cocktails, turned off Fox News, and went to do something productive.  With no clear leaders, or even people willing to put forward an accomplishment (Think McCain and Immigration, or Romney and Health Care, Palin and ??????), I can't imagine the GOP coming up with any sort of victory in 2012.  But that's just me.

 I found it a little difficult to take a good picture of the drink - I kept having the problem of too little drink left, because who wouldn't want a sip or two in between frames?

1oz Gin
3/4oz Dry Vermouth
3/4oz Dubonnet Rouge

It says stir, but as usual, I found the 'Two shakes and then swirl" method more tasty.  Enjoy!

The taste was interesting, but I suggest you make your own if you'd like to know what it is.

Redface's Red Ale #1

What a week I had.  I felt like I accomplished a lot this week, from getting a job, to building a wood burning stove, to 'floating' at the math and science night.  But Friday topped the week off.  I stopped at the only brew supply store anywhere near me, and got all I needed to restart brewing.

It'd been a while, so in order to not screw everything up by being rusty, I relied on my wine-brewing sense to slow everything down.  That might've been the most important thing Jake and I learned when we brewed all those batches years ago - as long as you don't rush things, you'll end up with some good booze.  As simple as that. 

Well, anyway, here's my first solo brew:














This morning it was bubbling away - a sure sign that Booze is on it's way.

More to come on the homebrew front!

MADD Science

Now, I'm no Frank Kelly Rich, but I do get bothered by misleading and often false posters and health messages in schools.  Call me whatever name you choose, but I'm not from the school of thought that believes teaching a kid "Beer = Death" is productive.

Following a brief logic here, if you teach a kid five facts about alcohol, and two of them are "beer kills" and "drinking makes you have unprotected sex," you'll only be harming them.  While both of those statements are nominally true- since you can kill yourself by drinking too much beer, and you will be more likely to have sex when that social lubricant takes away your inhibitions.  However, any kid, no matter how smart or dumb, will figure out by the second or third time they drink, that neither of these things are true every time.  This might lead them to question or ignore all of what they've been taught about drinking.

Now, if you don't agree with that (or couldn't follow), that's fine.  Moving on to the reason I'm talking about this today: I'm no scientist, but I can read.  The article outlining this study never mentions whether there is a causal relationship, only that there is a correlation.  Simply put, there is no stated causal link between seeing a movie with drinking and drinking.  And that's MADD science, not real science.

Obama Responds to Palin on ABC Interview

I know this happened on April 8th, so it's not really news, but since I'd heard about it and never read it until today, I figured I'd post it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Here's what she (Sarah Palin) said. She said, "It's unbelievable, no other administration would do it." And then she likened it to kids on the playground. She said you're like a kid who says, "Punch me in the face, and I'm not going to retaliate." Your response?

OBAMA: I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the string of criticism has been out there among other Republicans as well. They think you're restricting use of nuclear weapons too much.

OBAMA: And what I would say to them is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not concerned about her criticisms?

OBAMA: No.

Zing! Right?  It made me laugh out loud.  

Satanic Cocktails

Last week's newest cocktail:  The Satan Cocktail found on cocktaildb.

I was looking for a recipe that used Peychauds and the new bottle of Ouzo I just got, and I wasn't having any luck.  Since I'd never heard of Pastis, I didn't think the Satan would be something I could make.  However, with a name like the Satan Cocktail, how could I not give it a look...

Turns out the suggested substitute for Pastis is "Ouzo or other anise-flavored liqueur"  My immediate response was - how quickly can I whip one of these up?  After trying several less-than-spectacular variations on a cocktail starring Ouzo the night before, I was up for it playing a supporting role instead.

For those not in the know on Ouzo (and I count as one of these) a fun intro would be to watch the Lesbos episode of Three Sheets.  Ouzo is a anise flavored liquor, and if that doesn't help describe it, think absinthe- and if that still doesn't help, think peppermint mixed with christmas trees mixed with jaegermister.  Or something like that.  It's a powerful taste, and hard to shove aside.  Something I would like to really work with, since I had no luck whatsoever coming up with a cocktail that didn't taste like pungent dishwater.

Anyway, to the Satan Cocktail!

I used the handy-dandy glass size meter to increase the proportion in this drink, so it doesn't quite match the basic version in the database.

2 1/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Ouzo
2 Dashes Peychaud Bitters

Pour all ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake twice, then twirl shaker and strain into cocktail glass (I like Whiskey glasses, but choose your own)

I found it to be a little harsh with just hardy stirring, and like it much better with the shake and twirl.  Your Smilage May Vary.

Coming next in the Satanic Cocktails section:  Diabolo Cocktail

Orange Liqueurs

Well, I did a little digging after a few gins last night, and discovered that my price range for the orange liqueurs I listed last time weren't accurate - I was pricing the Grand Marnier too low.

According to my sources over at google, the prices are as follows:

Grand Marnier:  $45
Contreau:           $40
Triple Sec:         $Depends, but anywhere from $5-20 for 750ml

That really turns me off to Grand Marnier and Contreau, because I feel like there is no middle ground orange liqueur.  Now I'm all for premium brands, and I drink them when I get the chance, but I seldom if ever have bought a bottle of premium at this point in my life.  I know there will come a time when my liquor shelf (cabinet? closet? larder?) extends to excellent brands of all sorts of liquors and liqueurs, but for now, I wish there were something better than the triple sec freshmen use for their kamikazes, but less expensive than the Hampton's priced Contreau/Marnier.

Last night I was having the bartender (behind the open bar) make a Bombay, Contreau, and seltzer drink that wasn't too bad.  Wasn't great, but if I tweak it, maybe it'll be better than a watered-down French Kiss.  I'll give an update if/when I get around to trying it.  Don't expect me to use Contreau though, not at $1.60 an ounce.  Maybe I'll put that bottle of Dubonnet to some more use though...