Archive for the ‘Books & resources’ Category
May 6th, 2008
Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s and Party Guide is the only thing on my iPod right now. Yeah, in order to install the Mac version of the Guide, I had to re-format my iPod, which, being a hand-me-down from Scott, was originally formatted for Windows. As anyone who has struggled with iTunes’ sociopathic quirks knows, that meant I had to erase everything on the damn thing — 35 gigabytes of music, roughly.
But now I have 1,200 cocktail recipes on hand wherever I go! Who needs the entire Beatles catalog when you have the Mr. Boston drinks database? (OK, I’m not sweating too much. I’ll have both as soon as I re-load my iTunes library back onto the pod.)
Even after all that, I highly recommend this thing. It’s really cool. You scroll through cocktails in alphabetical order by base spirit, and there are short histories of liquors, tips on bartending and party planning, etc. The screens are ultra-clean-looking and easy to read. You may be wondering: is this some jive-ass, out-of-print version of the Mr. Boston Guide? No. It’s based on the latest, “platinum” edition released a few years ago and edited by drinks writer and Boston Magazine contributor Anthony Giglio.
I showed it to a bartender friend of mine last night — someone who has an impressive library of rare, old cocktail books — and this individual exclaimed, “I want that!” If you want it, too, you’re in luck, because the Guide’s producer, Raybook, is having a sale — two sales, actually. Until the end of May, you can use the code SPRING08 to get a 20% discount off the download, which is currently already on sale for $15.99 (down from $19.99). So, if you’re not in iTunes limbo and you have 246 megabytes to spare on your iPod, you can’t really lose here.
Tags: ipod, mr. boston bartender's guide
Posted in Books & resources | 6 Comments »
April 3rd, 2008
If you attended LUPEC Boston’s Ladies Night at Toro on Sunday, it’s entirely possible that the sea of bodies filling the room prevented you from noticing that the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails were selling a book. That’s OK, because for $15 you can still get a copy of the Little Black Book of Cocktails: Namesake & Favorite Recipes by LUPEC Boston.
It’s a great-looking little volume, and it’s for a good cause. Cambridge photographer Matt Demers took photos of all the Ladies as part of what he calls his “pearls project” — portraits of a variety of women he knows, inspired by the iconic Eugene Richie portrait (below) of 1920s film actress Louise Brooks. Damned if that Matt doesn’t have a way of making everyday gals look like glamour-pusses. We (yes, I am a founding member of LUPEC Boston) were so pleased that we decided to put our photos together in a book, along with cocktail recipes, and give the proceeds from the books’ sales to an organization that seriously helps women feel better about their appearance. That organization is the Friends Boutique at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which provides wigs, prosthetics, scarves and other items to people dealing with the side effects of cancer treatment.
Each portrait in the book is accompanied by recipes for the subject’s namesake cocktail (mine’s the Barbara West) and two favorites (I chose the Jaguar and the Maharaja’s Revenge, by two of Boston’s best bartenders). The book contains roughly 40 recipes, all classics or inspired by classics.
Instructions for ordering the Little Black Book by mail are on the LUPEC Boston blog. And starting this weekend, you can purchase a copy at Magpie (617-623-3330) in Davis Square, Somerville, or Buckaroo’s Mercantile (617-492-4792) in Central Square, Cambridge. But give these places a call first to make sure they’re not sold out.
Tags: LUPEC Boston, photography, Recipes
Posted in Books & resources, Cocktails | 1 Comment »
April 1st, 2008
Drinkboston contributor Scott Howe was trying to explain Tales of the Cocktail to his fellow office workers, most of whom have never sampled a Sazerac, never mind traveled to the Deep South in midsummer to discuss the history of the Martini. The notion of a “cocktail conference” wasn’t quite registering with them. As they gave him quizzical looks, he hit upon an analogy. “It’s like MacWorld for drunks.” They nodded in understanding.
Tales isn’t just a conference. It’s a giant, week-long, educational cocktail party in the birthplace of the cocktail, New Orleans. And it’s a pilgrimage that every Craft Cocktail Convert in the nation makes at least once to anoint him/herself with Peychaud’s bitters. Where else can people attend classes where the instructors serve drinks and don’t assign homework?
Tickets for Tales of the Cocktail, which takes place July 16-20 at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter, go on sale today. If you’re thinking of going and want to stay at the hotel, book your room ASAP — attendees get a special rate of $99/night. All the info you need about seminars, events, dinners, hotel reservations, sponsors, etc. is on the Tales website.
Oh, and for the first time this year, there’ll be a group blog, Blogging Tales of the Cocktail: 2008, where drinks bloggers from around the country (me included) review seminars and discuss their experiences, among other topics. In case you missed my impressions from last year’s TOTC, click here.
Posted in Books & resources, Cocktails, Events | 4 Comments »
March 6th, 2008
If you’re a fan of Esquire magazine drinks writer David Wondrich, and you bought his recently published book, Imbibe!, perhaps you’d like to get the book signed by the author himself. On Monday, March 10, Wondrich will be in Boston signing copies of his biography of Jerry Thomas, the father of American bartending. The signing happens from 12:30-2:00 at Stir, chef Barbara Lynch’s demonstration kitchen and cookbook library. Wondrich will join John Gertsen, who works with Lynch at the famed No. 9 Park, later in the evening to teach Stir’s monthly cocktail class. This installment of the class, Winter Warmer Cocktails (aka Who Needs Ice?), is sold out, but there are plenty more in the works — just click on “Calendar” at the Stir website.
Tags: David Wondrich, Imbibe, Jerry Thomas, Stir Boston
Posted in Bartenders, Books & resources, Events | 1 Comment »
February 26th, 2008
No, it’s not a tool for measuring how much Budweiser you drink, it’s a way to find out what kind of wines your taste buds prefer. Check out the Taste Budometer. “The Taste Budometer will ask you simple questions about salt, coffee and mixed drinks that are proven in many studies to align with taste sensitivities,” says the web site. Once you complete the survey, you’ll be assigned a classification based on your taste preferences.
According to the Budometer, I’m what’s known as a Tolerant Taster. “We demand intensity, plenty of oak and power. BIG is better! High alcohol wines often taste rich and delicious.” My supposed favorite white wines? “Reserve-style Chardonnays from around the world. Rhone-style whites. Frankly I’d just rather have red wine.” And my favorite reds? “Cabernet Sauvignon and blends. Rhone and Rhone-style blends. Old-vine Zinfandels. Brunellos, Super Tuscan, Barolo, and Amarone from Italy. Intensely flavored reds from France, Spain and South Africa.”
Based on my relatively limited experience with wine — my income allows me only a passing familiarity with a lot of the fancy stuff named above — those results are pretty accurate. But they’re limited. I like a much wider variety of whites, for example, as well as some lighter reds. Granted, the Budometer is still in its beta stage. As the web site explains, it currently takes into account only the “sensory discrimination” aspect of your wine preference, not its “aspiration value.” Huh?
“The founders of the Taste BUDOMETER postulate that people’s preferences in food, music, wine and all things ‘sensory’ can be best understood in two primary dimensions: Sensory Discrimination and Aspiration Value. While people are distributed all across these two dimensions, the deep genetic and cultural influences at work mean, in reality, that people are highly clustered into groups within the Flavor-Aspiration Matrix.”
Apparently, the prime-time version of the Budometer will feature a way to measure that “aspiration value,” the better to find out where you fall in the Flavor-Aspiration Matrix. Finally, a personality test for winos.
Thanks to Stan Hieronymus, author of Brew Like a Monk, for the Budometer tip. It happened to be part of a post on his Appellation Beer blog that mentioned my latest Ms. Mug column for Ale Street News, The Pink Elephant in the Room.
Tags: taste buds, Wine
Posted in Books & resources, Wine | No Comments »
