Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
November 29th, 2006
December 7: For a lot of younger people, fear of gin is simply fear of the unknown. Before you dismiss gin as weird, old-people’s booze, think of it this way: it’s the original flavored vodka. And you can test it out for free — yes, free — at the Independent in Somerville’s Union Square on December 7 from 7-10 p.m. The Indo and Plymouth Gin are hosting a cocktail party featuring some of my all-time favorite gin drinks, including the Negroni (equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, with orange peel), the French 75 (gin, lemon juice and bitters topped off with Champagne and lemon peel), and the Aviation (gin, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur), which is like Art Deco in a glass. If you ask nicely, they may also mix you a Gin and It. More and more Boston-area bars, especially those that care about classic cocktails, are stocking Plymouth Gin. I’ve come to favor this smooth, balanced spirit in my Martinis over Bombay Sapphire. If you want to go to the party, RSVP by calling the Indo at 617-440-6022.
December 15: When I first wrote about the Marconi Wireless, I declared that since its namesake, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, sent his first transatlantic radio signals from Wellfleet, Cape Cod, the drink should be featured on the menu of every Wellfleet bar. (On the right is Marconi’s station, now demolished, pictured on an old postcard.) Here’s a start: drinkboston.com and the Flying Fish Café (29 Briar Lane, Wellfleet) will host a Marconi Wireless cocktail party on the evening of Friday, December 15. For more info and to RSVP for the party, call the Fish 508-349-7292.
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November 15th, 2006
Here are the recipes for the drinks featured at drinkboston.com’s launch party, along with highly condensed versions of each bartender’s remarks about his/her drink. In order they were:
The Jack Rose (mixed by Jackson Cannon)
Some recipes call for lemon, some for lime. Applejack, a nearly forgotten spirit, is the base. Do not attempt to mix this drink without real pomegranate grenadine.
2 oz Laird’s Applejack
3/4 oz handmade grenadine (see recipe below)
1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
one dash Peychaud’s Bitters
Shake over ice and strain, garnish with a lemon twist.
Grenadine: 2 parts pomegranate juice, 1 part cane sugar. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and finish with a touch of orange flower water. Let chill, store in refrigerator.
The Sazerac (mixed by John Gertsen)
Born of the mishmash of New Orleans culture in the early to mid-1800s and believed by many to be the first cocktail. Antoine Peychaud was an apothecary whose proprietary blend of medicinal bitters was mixed with cognac before rye became the preference (rye was America’s whiskey before bourbon became more popular).
1 sugar cube (4-7 grams)
7 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 oz water
3 oz Sazerac rye whiskey
A few drops of Herbsaint (pastis)
Muddle first three ingredients in mixing glass. “Rinse” a pre-chilled, old-fashioned glass with Herbsaint (pour drops of Herbsaint into glass, swirl and discard). Add rye to mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well for 30 seconds and strain into Herbsaint-rinsed glass. Squeeze lemon twist over glass and rub around rim. Discard peel.
The Widow’s Kiss (mixed by Misty Kalkofen)
Drinks like this fell out of favor as people’s tastes moved to fruit-flavored liqueurs rather than “scary” herbal liqueurs like Chartreuse and Benedictine. There’s no real story behind this drink (it probably originated in 1895). Let’s make one up!
1 & 1/2 oz Calvados
3/4 oz Benedictine
3/4 oz yellow Chartreuse
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Stir. Strain. Garnish with a cherry.
The Millionaire Cocktail (mixed by Brother Cleve)
This is but one of several widely varying drink recipes that go by the name “Millionaire.” It appears in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, by Ted Haigh (aka Dr. Cocktail).
1 & 1/2 oz Myer’s Original Dark Rum
3/4 oz apricot brandy
3/4 oz sloe gin
juice of one fresh lime (about 1 oz)
Shake well in an iced shaker. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with lime.
Posted in Applejack, Calvados, Cocktails, Events, Liqueur, Rum, Whiskey | 2 Comments »
November 14th, 2006
Drinkboston.com lived its motto, “bars, bartenders and imbibing in Beantown,” last night at its launch party at Green Street in Central Square, Cambridge. Friends, bartenders and journalists packed into the bar area sampling vintage cocktails and snacking on Clams Casino. So many of Boston’s best bartenders were there that I got a little nervous about having all that talent gathered in one place should some freak disaster strike. Thankfully, we all made it through the night unscathed but for some light liver damage.
Four guest bartenders presented and served four different vintage cocktails: Jackson Cannon, the Jack Rose; John Gertsen, the Sazerac; Misty Kalkofen, the Widow’s Kiss; and Brother Cleve (cocktail historian, member of Combustible Edison, Ambassador of Cocktail Nation), the Millionaire. Dylan Black, owner of Green Street, was my co-host, and Joe McGuirk backed everyone up behind the bar. Stay tuned for more info, including recipes of the evening’s cocktails.
Posted in Bartenders, Events | 1 Comment »
November 8th, 2006
As usual, BeerAdvocate and the Weekly Dig (with the help of the Harpoon Brewery) did a great job setting up the Return of the Belgian Beer Fest, which took place October 27-28 at the Boston Center for the Arts (aka “the Cyclorama”). I went to the Saturday night session and tasted some absolutely delicious, unique brews. I spent about half the evening camped out near the Shelton Brothers‘ table. The brothers, Dan and Will, were serving really incredible, esoteric farmhouse ales from Belgium and France. I also sampled some good stuff from U.S. breweries, including a terrific saison from the Southampton Publick House.
Now, I can’t say enough good things about the guys who run BeerAdvocate, Todd and Jason Alstrom (they’re on my “Best drink web sites” page). They have done a lot to make Boston a great beer city — with their site, their column in the Weekly Dig, and their beer fests at the BCA. But the cover they chose for the Return of the Belgian Beer Fest guide? A nude model holding aloft a glass of beer? Have they secretly been drinking Coors? This is how they describe the thinking behind the image:
“For those of you familiar with Boston’s Weekly Dig, you might recognize this immediately. Designed by Tak Toyoshima, the Devil Girl has been a mascot of sorts for the Dig since its beginning … Others might recognize the Devil Girl when it was licensed and adapted for use with Dann Paquette’s original Rapscallion beer line … We thought how cool would it be to have an actual model pose in the exact same manner as the Devil Girl for the guide cover? This is what Tak created … Our best cover to-date! Yes, that’s an actual person. The ‘model’ will be at the fest (the Dig’s booth) if anyone wants to get their guide signed.”
Oooh, sign my guide, Devil Girl!
The ‘model’ (I guess she didn’t want her name mentioned on BeerAdvocate.com) was photographed against a red background, but a “Devil Girl?” — she didn’t exactly have a tail or horns. I’m sure the ‘model’ is a nice person and that she and the beer fest organizers thought they were being tasteful in using her image on their guide. “Hey, it’s Belgian! Europeans are cool with nudity.” But how is that different from St. Pauli Girl beer bringing its annual Playmate — oh, sorry, spokesmodel — to beer fests? You would think that an organization that is all about distancing itself from the coarse ways of major breweries might at least be ironic in putting a nude model on its beer fest guide, to show how the craft beer drinker is more intelligent than the Bud Lite drinker. Like, they might have created a guide with a nude Devil Girl on the front cover and a nude Devil Guy on the back cover. That would’ve made me laugh and say, “These guys get it! They understand that their audience isn’t just backward-baseball-cap-wearing guys who want to guzzle flavorless beer.”
There were a lot of women at the beer fest — I’m guessing around 40 percent. I’m sure a lot of them were unfazed by the guide cover. But I’m sure a lot of them, like me, said, “What the hell? Is this some kind of lame beer-guy thing? What am I doing here?”
Posted in Beer, Events | 1 Comment »
October 7th, 2006
I love gin, especially Bombay Sapphire gin, especially when it’s free. That’s why I decided to don my club clothes and go to the Bombay Sapphire “Perfect Pairings” night at District this week. The event, co-sponsored by GQ magazine, involved an Iron Chef-style cookoff between chefs Andy Husbands (Tremont 647, Sister Sorrell) and Marc Orfaly (Pigalle, Marco). Teaming up with the two chefs were two bartenders — Candace Smith of Excelsior was paired with Husbands, while Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard was paired with Orfaly — who concocted Bombay Sapphire-based cocktails to accompany each dish. The chefs had a weird array of ingredients to work with, including cucumbers, steamed clams, Frosted Flakes and Minute Rice, and 20 minutes to whip up three dishes. Truth be told, the dishes smelled wonderful, and the cocktails Jackson and Candace mixed looked cool and mouthwatering. If only I could have been the judge!
Instead, I stood amid the crowd, sampling little phyllo-and-goat cheese thingies and drinking “Inspired Cocktails” that were being liberally distributed by attractive waitresses in short, strapless dresses the color of the Sapphire gin bottle. The girls were nice, but the drinks were warm. Was there an ice shortage? The bartender who made my first drink, a Martini, stirred the mixture over about five cubes for 10 seconds. The temperature of the resulting cocktail was perfect … if I had been drinking red wine. I also tried a Strawberry Basil cocktail. The flavors were nice, but again, the drink was tepid. Bombay’s official mixologist, Jamie Walker, was there. But he didn’t seem horrified by District’s lackadaisical production of his creations as, say, chefs Husbands and Orfaly would be if their dishes languished under a heat lamp before being served.
Look, I’m not an idiot. I understand the persuasive powers of plentiful free booze. And Bombay certainly doesn’t need to convince me to drink their gin. I already do. It’s really good stuff. But if they’re going to promote their brand of gin as a worthy complement to top-notch cuisine, shouldn’t they bother to show their potential customers the beauty of a properly made cocktail?
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails, Events, Gin | No Comments »
