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.

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.

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.