Dylan Black (invented at Green Street)
2 oz Jamaican amber rum
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
1/4 oz spiced brown sugar syrup*
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir on ice and strain into a coupe glass pre-rinsed with pastis. Garnish with a lime wedge.
*8 oz water, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 star anise pod, 2 allspice berries. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Tags: Boston Celtics, Patrick Ewing
Posted in Bitters, Cocktails, Recipes, Rum | 2 Comments »
Scott Holliday (invented at Rendezvous in Central Square, Cambridge)
2 oz applejack
1 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel. This recipe was published on Cocktail Virgin.
Posted in Applejack, Bitters, Cocktails, Liqueur, Recipes, Vermouth | No Comments »
Invented at the B-Side Lounge (named for the 1920s British boxer)
1 1/4 oz Plymouth Gin
1 1/4 oz Pimm’s No. 1
1/3 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 dash housemade aromatic bitters
Shake with ice. Twist orange rind over an empty cocktail glass and rim the edge, strain the ingredients into the glass, and drop the peel in. This recipe was adapted by Deep Ellum and published on the Cocktail Virgin.
Tags: Pimm's No. 1
Posted in Cocktails, Gin, Liqueur, Recipes | No Comments »
» Interested in going to bartending school? A website called Groupon, which posts daily deals in various cities, including Boston, is today advertising a $445 course at the DrinkMaster Bartending School for only $150. I know nothing of this school’s reputation, but, hey, it sounds like a deal worth exploring for those so inclined.
» Storied Seattle bartender Murry Stenson of the ZigZag Cafe recently celebrated his 60th birthday with a group of fellow bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts, including Jeffrey Morgenthaler, who was soliciting toasts for the fête from Murray fans nationwide. Even though I’ve never met the man, he has bought me drinks on two occasions through other bartenders. So I got together with two ladies from LUPEC Boston—Misty Kalkofen of Drink, who has also been remotely treated to drinks by Murray, and Kirsten Amman, who recently actually met him in person—to pen an homage (after downing a few cocktails, of course). To our delight, it was transcribed into “one of Murray’s first-edition copies of Embury,” says Morgenthaler. Yes. One of them.
Here it is: “Legend has it there is a bartender in the Northwest named Murray Stenson. His myth echoes from the Pacific through the hills of the Midwest, past the Isle of Manhattan, up the coast of the Atlantic. His legend comes bearing twenties to the heirs of the Pilgrim Rum. Puritans near and far long for the opportunity to glimpse Seattle’s beacon of hospitality. For now, we raise our tankards to the gracious man who touches the heart of Boston. Happy birthday, Murray, from a city of folks who love you though we’ve never met you. We look forward to having you at our bars.”
» Check out this clever montage of Boston bar and cocktail folk (including me) shaking their tails off to a soundtrack by dSonic.
Tags: bartending school, Murray Stenson
Posted in Books & resources, Nips, Seattle, Video | 2 Comments »
President Obama, acknowledging his part in spurring the media circus around the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. through his “stupid” remark about the case (which has by now been downgraded from Exhibit A: Racial Profiling Epidemic to Unfortunate Incident), and wanting to shut that circus down so that we can resume talking about life-and-death stuff like health care and the war in Afghanistan, is having Gates and Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley over to the White House on Thursday for a beer.
Whether or not we agree that this particular presidential summit is warranted, I think we can agree on the notion of getting together over a beer to solve problems. It should happen way more often. But hearing what kind of beer each gentleman requested disappointed me. From the Reuters blogs:
Asked what beer the president might have, [Spokesman Robert] Gibbs observed that Obama drank a Budweiser at the baseball All-Star Game a couple of weeks ago.
“Sgt. Crowley mentioned when the president offered this on the phone Friday that he likes Blue Moon,” said Gibbs. Blue Moon is a Belgian-style white beer brewed by Molson Coors.
Gates told the Boston Globe he was a fan of Red Stripe, a Jamaican lager, and Beck’s, a German lager.
Oh, god. Bud, Blue Moon and Beck’s? Really, gentlemen? Is the meeting at a Ruby Tuesday’s or something? Not to mention the fact that every one of these brews is made by a global conglomerate. Can I interest you in something still well-known (i.e. not “elitist”) but American-made — Sam Adams, maybe? Fitting that it originates from the city across the river from the incident. Or maybe the Cambridge guys could bring a local brew from their city, while Obama brings a D.C.-made beer to the table. I suggest, given Crowley’s taste for unfiltered wheat ales, that he grab a growler of hefe-weizen from the Cambridge Brewing Co. Mr. President, you bring some Capitol City Kolsch for yourself and Mr. Gates. That way you get symbolism and flavor.
You’re welcome. Let me know if I can be of any further help.
Tags: Henry Louis Gates Jr., obama, White House
Posted in Beer, Booze in the news | 13 Comments »
"Lauren Clark takes readers on a supremely sudsy tour of New England ales, lagers, pilsners, and porters. This is the New England the Puritans warned everybody about, but few have chronicled."
– Wayne Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails
Drink sites
For club kids
Friends
John Gertsen (invented at No. 9 Park)
Equal parts:
Punt e Mes
Booker’s bourbon
Stir gently but thoroughly. Strain into pre-chilled rocks glass without too much fanfare.