January 25th, 2008
This week in booze
Things I learned this week:
1. Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s Grog Blog features a post titled “Monks + Drunks x Sisterhood = the Pago Pago Cocktail.” It seems Berry made the acquaintance of some of the ladies of LUPEC Boston (that’s the Boston chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) a couple of months ago when he was in town for the Sippin’ Safari. He became intrigued by the cocktails that LUPEC Boston and drinkboston.com created for a Chartreuse event at Green Street back in August.
“Inspired by LUPEC Boston’s creations,” writes the tiki guru, “we combed through our cocktail library in search of vintage tropical drinks that call for Chartreuse. In a 1940 book entitled The How And When, we finally found a good one: the Pago Pago. To make it, place 1 ounce of diced fresh pineapple in your cocktail shaker, then muddle the pineapple in 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice. Add 1/4 ounce white creme de cacao, 3 teaspoons green Chartreuse, and 1 1/2 ounces gold Puerto Rican rum. Shake well with ice cubes and strain into a cocktail glass.”
I have only tasted this drink in my mind, but it’s one of the most delicious imaginary cocktails I’ve ever had. I vow to mix one up for myself soon.
2. Blackberrying me from the bar at KO Prime, a friend of mine made me aware of the steak house’s “Retro Sundays.” He said he and his wife were drinking Pink Squirrels (creme de noyaux, creme de cacao and cream). Apparently, the bartenders robe up like Hugh Hefner, Chef Jamie Bisonnette parades around in a cartoonish toque, and the dinner menu includes old-school steak house specialties like all-you-can-eat prime rib, Oysters Rockefeller and shrimp cocktail. Cool.
3. Meanwhile, speaking of old-school … over at the Independent, bartender Evan Harrison is dreaming up a special menu of “cheap scotch cocktails.” It seems the bar has a surplus of Cluny blended scotch on hand (in 1.5 liter plastic bottles of course), and, well, Evan’s going to do his own version of your grandfather’s night out. I took a sniff from the Cluny bottle during a recent visit, and it smelled like … it smelled like the first time I ever smelled whiskey: dangerous and slightly sickening. I’m anxiously awaiting that menu. (Oh, and by the way, Evan also re-did the Indo’s website, and I think it looks damn cool.)
January 25th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
wow, that “pago pago” is my style… pineapples are hitting their season… trying that will move to the top of my list…
January 25th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Maybe they can filter the cheap whiskey through some Brita filters and produce something drinkable that way … I’ve heard that it works wonders on vodka 🙂
January 26th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Not sure if this is your kind of thing to blog, but in a couple weeks, BU School of Food and Wine is holding a History of the cocktail class by Jackson Cannon.
I’m not sure how much I’ll learn about drink history, but it includes tastings.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Wow, Lis, thanks for the heads-up. Would love to hear how the class went.
I tried the Pago Pago last night, only all I had on hand was Brugal rum from the D.R. The drink was multi-layered and really tasty, but it would’ve been awesome had I used the golden rum called for in the recipe. Time to go shopping.