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nrr posted:You guys are taking a throwaway joke way too seriously. It's illegal to joke about alcohol. You're off the force.
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Aug 19, 2013 06:57
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Mister Macys posted:Mad Cow Disease? I sold a guest at the restaurant I work at a Bloody Maria with Del Maguey mezcal and it was incredible. She was raving about it. That smokiness man. So tonight I was messing around with the idea of a cocktail incorporating beer. There's a bar nearby that has really great cocktails, but when it comes to beer cocktails their theory is 12 oz. beer + 1 oz. spirit + dash liqueur + bitters/twist. They're usually fine, but they mostly just taste like slightly strange beer. I wanted to try to make something that was clearly a cocktail, but incorporating beer. I happened to have some Anchor California Lager at home, so I decided to use the beer sort of like soda water with flavor – something to lighten the drink, while providing a touch of grainy malt character. I used Jameson, in part because I feel like Irish whiskey captures the flavor of the grain better than other whiskeys and in part because that's all I have besides gin (and I don't like the idea of gin and lager). I'm gonna call it the Potrero. The here's the formula: Potrero 2 oz. Irish whiskey 3/4 oz. lemon juice (I used lime because it was what I had, but I'd use lemon in the future) 1/2 oz. Cointreau (curaçao might be even better in this) 1 dash peach bitters 3 oz. lager or pilsner (eyeballed) Shake everything but the beer, strain into 14 oz. glass. Pour in about 3 oz. of the beer, then fill with ice. The first time I made it was with Apry for the liqueur and Regan's #6 for the bitters. It ended up tasting a little jumbled, since, as my girlfriend said, all the flavors were sort of hitting at once. The second time, which was much better, I used Cointreau for the liqueur and Fee's Peach bitters for the bitters. That was a nice drink. The orange flavor was brighter, and peach was a nice sub for apricot, while staying stone fruity. Super sessionable, perfect for late summer. Give it a shot if you've got the stuff laying around.
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Aug 19, 2013 08:47
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I've been experimenting with various Rye and Brandy cocktails, like Vieux Carre. But I got to say my spin on the classic Brandy and Benedictine is so good, current favorite. Even my wife liked it and she hates really boozy things. I like Paul Masson VSOP because it seems more dry than Cognac. I half the ratio of Bénédictine because that stuff is very sweet and intense. A must for any brandy lover. 1 oz Bénédictine 3 oz Brandy Splash absinthe (mine is full proof and comes in a small bottle, forgot brand) 2-4 drops Angostura bitters to balance sweetness Stir with 1 extra large ice cube.
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Aug 19, 2013 18:22
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Comb Your Beard posted:I've been experimenting with various Rye and Brandy cocktails, like Vieux Carre. But I got to say my spin on the classic Brandy and Benedictine is so good, current favorite. Even my wife liked it and she hates really boozy things. I like Paul Masson VSOP because it seems more dry than Cognac. I half the ratio of Bénédictine because that stuff is very sweet and intense. A must for any brandy lover. You should give the Monte Carlo a try. 2-2.5 oz rye, 0.5 oz Benedictine, 3 dashes Angostura, stirred on ice, garnish lemon peel, served on the rocks.
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Aug 19, 2013 19:04
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So I picked up a pair of these giant ice cube trays and don't know what to do with them. So far I've just used them to make an iced tea punch thing to have with cigars, but that will not be appropriate when the weather starts turning. They do not really fit in many of my glasses either. Right now I'm thinking of maybe hollowing them out and having ice shot glasses, but that's just a party gimmick. I'd hate to just have to grab a pick and use these as my big cubes to make crushed ice or jagged cubes for presentation.
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Aug 20, 2013 02:22
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You usually use them in highball drinks where you don't want a lot of dilution; old fashioneds, etc. Although this always bothered me because I thought the ice needed to melt to cool the mix, but maybe I'm just remembering chemistry lab wrong.
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Aug 20, 2013 03:07
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PatMarshall posted:You usually use them in highball drinks where you don't want a lot of dilution; old fashioneds, etc. Although this always bothered me because I thought the ice needed to melt to cool the mix, but maybe I'm just remembering chemistry lab wrong. You're correct - ice needs to melt to cool the drink. You want cubes to melt, but you want them to melt slowly - hence the larger ice. It's also why you want to chill the glass before serving cocktails too - slow down that drat dilution and keep the drink colder, longer. I have a giant ice tray as well, and I usually just throw the cubes into a large cup and melt them a bit in water first before they get to a size I can use in a drink. It takes a bit more prep than just throwing in a bunch of small chunks of ice, but the payoff is worth it. You can use them to also chill the cup you'll be using anyway by stirring it with water until the cube shrinks and the glass chills, then just dump the excess water and make your drink normally.
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Aug 20, 2013 04:47
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I have one of these, Japan's gift to the world of rusty nails: http://sanosyoukai.com/cc/ Pretty awesome because it forces the bubbles out during freezing, giving completely perfect ice spheres every time.
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Aug 20, 2013 05:16
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tynam posted:You're correct - ice needs to melt to cool the drink. Why is that? Pretend I don't know any chemistry, which is basically true.
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Aug 20, 2013 05:44
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Ice pick. Pre shape your blocks to avoid tetanus shots.
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Aug 20, 2013 06:25
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Van Dis posted:Why is that? Pretend I don't know any chemistry, which is basically true. Are you seriously asking why ice melts? I'm going to assume you already know and direct you to some interesting articles involving ice in cocktails instead. Please don't correct me if I assumed wrong. http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/09/02/cocktail-science-in-general-part-1-of-2/ http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/09/08/cocktail-science-in-generalpart-2-of-2/ edit: sorry if I sounded a bit assholey there. I read your question again in context - do you mean why does ice NEED to melt for a drink to be chilled? We're assuming we're using ice, but we can just as easily chill everything beforehand, use whiskey stones, a bag of ice etc. Ice is specifically used in cocktails to add dilution, which does a lot more to a drink than simply "watering it down." Other methods of chilling and keeping the drink chilled are also available, but aren't as simple, useful or effective as water ice. tynam fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 06:48
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The thermal energy (heat) that gets used up melting ice is way way more than the amount that gets taken away just by conduction (being in physical contact with the cold thing). This is why apparently a lot of people are really underwhelmed with whiskey stones and the like.
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Aug 20, 2013 07:33
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zmcnulty posted:I have one of these, Japan's gift to the world of rusty nails: http://sanosyoukai.com/cc/ How is this (as in, does it work and is it efficient and good and etc.) and do you know where can a dumb round eye who can only speak english order one/some from?
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Aug 20, 2013 08:19
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You can buy one from the Macallan for a grand.
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Aug 20, 2013 08:36
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I'm not a science dude either but it's got this plastic ball (two hemispheres), where the lower hemisphere has some tiny holes in the bottom. That attaches to a cylinder-looking thing, with tiny holes in the top. You fill the cup up with water, then put the above assembly inside the cup, filling both the cylinder and sphere with water (because of the small holes). You then take the cup and put it into the blue thermal sleeve, and place it in the freezer. A few key points: -thermal sleeve prevents it from freezing too fast, which it would otherwise do in a standard household freezer -since the plastic sleeve is open from the top, the water begins freezing from the top -this pushes the air bubbles in the water down -because of the tiny holes, the air bubbles are forced out of the sphere 8-10 hours later you have perfect ice sphere (and an ice cylinder with a lot of air bubbles) every time. Separate the two and you're done, rinse and reuse as many times as you want. Here's an image with really tiny text that's impossible to read even if you read Japanese.  Apparently the guy has a patent pending on the idea. He basically beat Camper English to figuring out what works and what doesn't, came up with a realistic way to make it happen, and starting selling them. I've seen "professional" ones at trade shows like what Kenning posted but yeah, they're $$$ and huge and as far as I know, not any more effective. If there's interest I can see about getting some for goons, it's now my go-to souvenir from Japan for drinking friends back home, e.g. all of them. Costs like $40 each, sort of silly considering it's ice, but if you appreciate good ice spheres(?) it's absolutely worth it. edit: Alternatively it looks like Tokyu Hands might ship internationally or they're using a forwarder. Awesome machine translation on that site btw. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 10:03
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gently caress it, I just jumped through a bunch of convoluted hoops to order one. Im curious to see it in action. The concept is actually incredibly simple and I'm pretty confident i could make something similar myself with a lined beer cozy and a sphere mould, so we'll see how it goes. Looks like they take quite a while to freeze though so the challenge would be how to store multiple balls for a long period of time, while maintaining the integrity of the sphere and not getting any additional ice building up around them/having them freeze together.
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Aug 20, 2013 11:30
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I use this method and it's mint. I did cut the bottoms off of the gift boxes so they are square tubes, which seems to work well. Also the article doesn't show cutting the 'tubes' of ice down to cubes but it's easy. Just cut the cloudy end off and shave any uneven sides. They look great when they are finished.
Klauser fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 16:36
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When fabricating block ice use a bread knife, the serrations work like a series of ice picks and hitting the spine with a hammer is easier on your wallet.
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Aug 20, 2013 17:18
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tynam posted:http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/09/02/cocktail-science-in-general-part-1-of-2/ Thank you for these links, they're interesting reading.
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Aug 20, 2013 19:45
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Hey guys, remember when I said that I might get some rum and tequila to start my home bar? I may have gone a bit overboard.  That would be whiskey, gin, tequila, Marnier, Curacao, a couple bottles of bitters, a small bottle of absinthe, applejack, and all three major distinctions of rum. There are also lemons, oranges and limes. Homemade Margaritas are the poo poo.
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Aug 21, 2013 00:45
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Yoshifan823 posted:Hey guys, remember when I said that I might get some rum and tequila to start my home bar? Why the blue curacao when you already got the superior curacao (Grand Marnier)?
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Aug 21, 2013 00:47
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Thoht posted:The thermal energy (heat) that gets used up melting ice is way way more than the amount that gets taken away just by conduction (being in physical contact with the cold thing). This is why apparently a lot of people are really underwhelmed with whiskey stones and the like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion Now take a look a water, see how high it is compared to everything else in the list. That is why ice is so good at cooling things. It takes a ton of energy to change phases (ie solid to liquid) as compared to changing temperature in the same phase.
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Aug 21, 2013 01:17
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The Hebug posted:Why the blue curacao when you already got the superior curacao (Grand Marnier)? A: I was under the impression that Marnier and blue curacao had different tastes, and could be used for different drinks, like Marnier and Cointreau. B: Sometimes a dude wants to drink something that can only be described as "hella blue, yo".
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Aug 21, 2013 01:23
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I'll also admit to keeping blue curacao around solely for making colorful drinks, but definitely not for dudes. And I'm too lazy to color anything myself. And I was under the impression that Marnier is a mixture of brandy and triple sec. Cointreau on the other hand is just white curacao. Or not? Seems to be a lot of conflicting views on triple sec vs curacao, some saying "triple sec" is just marketing BS that Cointreau came up with to make their curacao sound more sophisticated than other curacaos. Also a margarita made using Marnier is a called a Cadillac Margarita and tastes pretty different from a standard one, if you ask me. I personally wouldn't use Marnier when a recipe calls for a curacao. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 02:02
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zmcnulty posted:I'll also admit to keeping blue curacao around solely for making colorful drinks, but definitely not for dudes. And I'm too lazy to color anything myself. I don't care what you call it, the Margarita I made today tastes pretty loving good, and it had Marnier. I might have to get some Cointreau and... experiment. Ooh, I wonder what you'd call a Margarita made with the Blue stuff. hmmm...
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Aug 21, 2013 03:41
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Azul Margarita. From Agave Azul, the latin name for the plant.
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Aug 21, 2013 03:44
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Pretty sure he's not talking about blue agave, but blue curaçao, in which case you'd call it a travesty
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Aug 21, 2013 07:10
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I know he's talking about the Curacao. The Curacao is blue; the agave tequila comes from is blue. So a margarita name using both should incorporate elements which they share. And you need to relax. People have different tastes. Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 07:49
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zmcnulty posted:I'll also admit to keeping blue curacao around solely for making colorful drinks, but definitely not for dudes. And I'm too lazy to color anything myself. I was under the impression that generally curacao is lower proof and sweeter, while triple sec is higher proof and drier? I remember reading somewhere that if you don't have curacao but have Cointreau, you can mix it 1:1 with simple syrup to come close to a curacao, but someone probably knows better than I what the difference is. As for blue curacao, I just don't see the appeal of the brazenly obvious artificially colored drink. I can guarantee that you can get a better tasting product for cocktails that is not blue so you're just compromising for novelty sake.
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Aug 21, 2013 08:23
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Yoshifan823 posted:Hey guys, remember when I said that I might get some rum and tequila to start my home bar? Strictly speaking you have 2 of the three major language varieties of rum (what I consider to be the most significant division). Brugal is a Spanish rum – white Spanish and aged Spanish rums have quite a bit in common. You're missing a French rum, but that's totally fair, because rhum agricole tends to be expensive as gently caress. Rather than an aged Spanish rum (which can be fine in their own right) I would have gone with a Barbados or Guyana rum. Also Gosling's has it's place, but as I've said elsewhere I strongly prefer Coruba, or even Meyer's for an English rum. zmcnulty posted:I'll also admit to keeping blue curacao around solely for making colorful drinks, but definitely not for dudes. And I'm too lazy to color anything myself. The issue of orange liqueur is a knotty one. There are basically 3 significant orange liqueurs: Cointreau, Gran Marnier, and everything else. Cointreau and Gran Marnier are both technically triple secs – Cointreau is based on neutral spirits (and was the original triple sec), and Gran Marnier is based on aged brandy. Curaçao, technically, is based on the peels of the laraha fruit, rather than on oranges. If a recipe calls for Cointreau or Gran Marnier you pretty much don't want to sub anything else out. If it calls for triple sec you could use Cointreau, and if it calls for curaçao you could use Gran Marnier (according to David Wondrich), though I've used Cointreau in curaçao recipes before. If you want a proper curaçao you should get Senior Curaçao of Curaçao or Marie Brizard. The color doesn't affect the flavor, but blue curaçao will make you look silly. The issue in orange liqueur is more brand-by-brand rather than an issue of type. You need to know your drink, and know what qualities you want to bring to the table with it. Kenning fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 08:37
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The Hebug posted:so you're just compromising to get laid Fixed this for you, blue is a color I want to bring to some drinks And Marie Brizard makes a blue curacao. And Senior Curacao itself makes colored ones as well 
zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 09:06
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I'm going to post this is the Whisky thread as well since it involves scotch. I'm sipping another manhattan with scotch right now, and it's loving delicious. I'm using Glenfiddich 15 year old scotch since I'm in the process of killing the bottle. I like the taste, but here's the rub. I know for the price I paid, I really shouldn't be using it as a mixer. Yet when I drink it neat, I like it but after reading all the reviews on it I have to honest and admit I just don't get all the flavors they talk about. I get the general scotch taste, but to pick it apart beyond that, I'm clueless. I enjoy it more in a mixer, it makes a good Old Fashioned and a good Manhattan. But for the price, I feel like I'm kind of overpaying for a whisky I'll just be using as a mixer. Which leads to my question: If I'm using it just as a mixer, what's a good blended scotch to try? I've read excellent reviews of Teachers, Black Bottle, Famous Grouse, White Horse and Chivas 12. I'd be using the scotch for Manhattan's, Old Fashioned, Sours, Affinity and even Scotch and Soda. All of the ones I've mentioned are pretty close in price around here between 18-25 a bottle.
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Aug 21, 2013 09:25
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Mister Macys posted:I know he's talking about the Curacao. The Curacao is blue; the agave tequila comes from is blue. So a margarita name using both should incorporate elements which they share. You're right, people do have different tastes. However, I am yet to have found a single blue curacao that tastes better in anything because it is coloured a lovely neon blue. If you think your blue agave should be mixed with blue curacao to make your margarita taste better, then yeah I'm going to call it a travesty. Appologies for my rudeness.
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Aug 21, 2013 13:04
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rxcowboy posted:what's a good blended scotch to try? My pick is definitely Famous Grouse. I landed on that because I looked up some of the malts they use in the blend and they're all things I think I like. And when I was in Edinburgh it seemed popular in the local bars. Great stuff. But definitely experiment. I need to mix up some scotch cocktails... quote:orange liqueur I mixed up a marg the other night with just cheap Dekuyper Triple Sec. Small amount. Didn't really detract. Threw in some orange bitters too because why not? Comb Your Beard fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 15:07
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rxcowboy posted:
I get Johnny Walker Red at the high end of that price range, J+B at the lower end. BUT, that might be because my liquor stores have very little variety. No Famous Grouse or Teachers here. Have you tried a Rob Roy instead of a Manhattan? It's virtually the same. I just found Peychaud's at amazon if you don't have it in your store. http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/rob-roy posted:Rob Roy
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Aug 21, 2013 16:20
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Blue #5 is fun. If fun is not your #1 reason to make and serve cocktails, you lost the plot.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:02
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Very Strange Things posted:I get Johnny Walker Red at the high end of that price range, J+B at the lower end. BUT, that might be because my liquor stores have very little variety. No Famous Grouse or Teachers here. I actually am not the biggest fan of a Rob Roy since I don't really get the combination of dry vermouth and scotch, but I do love a Bobby Burns with the sweet vermouth and Benedictine. Here's the analogous kindred cocktails link. http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/bobby-burns
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Aug 21, 2013 18:18
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Vegetable Melange posted:Blue #5 is fun. If fun is not your #1 reason to make and serve cocktails, you lost the plot. eh. you and I got different ideas of fun. For fun last night after our 12 hour shift, we stayed behind at the bar and spent the next 3 hours doing comparative tastings on the effects of different bourbons in a mint julep. Then I got four hours sleep and now I gotta go open up the bar again. That's fun
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Aug 21, 2013 21:15
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nrr posted:eh. you and I got different ideas of fun. For fun last night after our 12 hour shift, we stayed behind at the bar and spent the next 3 hours doing comparative tastings on the effects of different bourbons in a mint julep. Then I got four hours sleep and now I gotta go open up the bar again. That also sounds fun. I'm just pointing out to the blue haters that they are fun haters and that hating is linked to cancer. So really, blue drinks are anti-cancer.
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Aug 21, 2013 23:43
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| # ? May 17, 2024 04:07 |
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Yeah, but I'm a grumpy old oval office so I get to piss on everything for no reason so I'm gonna say that blue drinks are about as much fun as umbrellas. Come at me, cancer.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:18
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