Now that Halloween is wrapped up, it’s time to start looking down the road to Thanksgiving, the holidays and beyond. As we approach this busy and festive season, it’s a good idea to mark a few significant dates on the calendar so they don’t get lost in the shuffle, and in these parts some of the most important dates are upcoming Mixology Mondays.

• Mixology Monday IX takes place November 13 over at A Dash of Bitters. Our kind host, Michael Dietsch, has suggested a theme of Bitters. I think this can be a really exciting event — whether you’re blogging about a bitters-laden staple like an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, a homemade batch of bitters, a cocktail including beverage bitters such as Campari, Cynar or Aperol, or anything in between, there should be a lot of great drinks coming out of MxMoIX. Michael’s announcement post is here; be sure to let him know of your post by November 13.

• Mixology Monday X is scheduled for December 11; our host for the final MxMo of 2006 will be Brenda over at The Spirit World. Suitably for the season, Brenda has chosen Drinks for a Festive Occasion for her theme. Stay tuned for a more extensive posting on this event as the date grows closer, but start thinking about your favorite drinks for winter celebrations.

• Kicking off 2007 is Mixology Monday XI on January 15, hosted by the good folks over at Imbibe Unfiltered. As winter tightens its grip (at least up here in the Northern Hemisphere — the Australians taught me a lesson during the “Summer” MxMo), it’s time to fight back, so the theme for this event will be Winter Warmers. More details to come as we head toward the new year.

So take part, and help out — post notices for these events on your own blogs (cocktail-related or not), and spread the word about the party. We’ve had a great turnout these past few months, so let’s end the year with a bang.

Questions? Volunteers for February and beyond? You know where to find me —

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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A couple of months back, I received an e-mail with a simple, one-word subject line: “GIN!”

As you can imagine, I opened it immediately.

The gist of the message was that one of the local monthlies was planning an article on gin, and the editor wanted to invite me to participate in a gin-tasting panel the next day. My name entered the mix, apparently, based on this blog, and they approached me for the panel — no doubt after they’d been turned down by several more-qualified local bartenders, chefs, and food writers, along with other gin aficionados such as the guys who camp under the Alaskan Way viaduct. “Exposure! Publicity!” I thought. “Ah, who am I kidding — free gin!” I was in.

Anyway, the story is finally out, and I can finally mention the tasting (I’d been sworn to secrecy — blog-wise, at least — until the article was published). The panel included Robert Hess, of Drinkboy and MOTAC fame; bartender and wine manager Jason Crume, formerly of Lupa in New York and Bricco Della Regina Anna in Seattle; local oenophile Chris Nishiwaki; and myself, along with a gaggle of magazine staffers and interns (local food & wine writer Cynthia Nims also sat in on the panel for a short spell). Our task: to sample eight different gins in a blind tasting, starting with the spirits neat, at room temperature; then with a little cold water added to open up the flavor. The top four gins were then mixed in martinis (3:1 gin:vermouth, with a dash of Regan’s orange bitters) and in aviations, and presented to the panel.

Blind tasting, especially in a group atmosphere, can be a bit nerve-wracking, with the potential for surprising and even embarassing results. I kept remembering the New York Times vodka tasting from 2005, when a group of experts tasting super-premium vodkas was tripped up by a joker who placed a bottle of Smirnoff in the mix, and the lowly Smirnoff proceeded to take the top marks. Gin presented an extra set of challenges, as it’s the one spirit in the liquor cabinet that most people (myself included) have rarely tasted neat. What if I spat caustic remarks about a sample, only to find out later that it was a swoon-worthy martini mixer like Old Raj; or praised a soft, citrusy gin, only to discover that it’s Seagrams? Tasting gin blind is like feeling your way through a dark room, and I found myself using whatever cues I could find to piece together an idea of what the gin would taste like when mixed in different cocktails.

But it all worked out okay; we tasted gins ranging from the familiar (Plymouth, Tanqueray, Hendricks) to the harder-to-find, mostly regional brands (Junipero, Aviation, Hamptons, Cascade Mountain, Desert Juniper). From my tasting notes, my top four (in order) were Junipero, Plymouth, Tanqueray and Hendricks; in a martini, Plymouth took my top vote, with Junipero, Tanqueray and Hendricks following behind, while in the aviation, the distinctive juniper notes of the Tanqueray made it stand out from (and above) the other gins in the pack.

The panel’s ratings were pretty similar to mine; I believe Plymouth took the top marks, with its soft, citrusy flavor; the long, licorous-like finish of the Junipero scared off some of the gin novices in the group, but it still came in near the top; Hendrick’s complex floral character was beguiling and very friendly; and Tanqueray’s ramrod-straight character made it the perfect example of what you expect a London dry gin to taste like. (My notes must differ from those of the organizers, as I had these four gins finishing top; in the article, Aviation takes the place of Tanqueray on the “panel favorite” spread).

Anyway, if you’re interested to read more about the tasting (and live in the Seattle area, or in a place that carries city magazines), the story is in the November issue.

(Oh, and the “almost, sort of” tag above? While I was mentioned and quoted in the story, this web site somehow didn’t make it into the piece (I was instead credited as “contributor to Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail“). Well, you know about it, anyway.)

Tags: Gin by Paul
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I’ve gnashed my teeth before about the escalating prices of vintage cocktail manuals on eBay and online bookstores, but even books currently in print can take a toll, in terms of both finances and time. Case in point: Ted Haigh’s modern classic, Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails.

Granted, the price tag is only $15.99 (cheaper if you buy it at Amazon or another big bookseller), which is certainly reasonable. But you have to take the other costs into consideration: in the two years that I’ve owned the book, Doc’s recipes and entreaties about ingredients have led me to drop no small amount of cash on bottles of Parfait Amour, apricot brandy and Lillet blanc; prompted numerous experiments with pomegranate juice in pursuit of the one, true grenadine; made it so I can’t venture into a grocery store without swinging down the jams and syrups aisle in search of the elusive Smucker’s raspberry syrup, Doc’s recommended brand; and created a low, keening longing for the unattainable Swedish Punsch, a desire that only became more acute after Murray managed to obtain a couple of bottles at Zig Zag last summer and proceeded to make me fall head over heels for Haigh’s eponymous cocktail.

Two years later, I’m still shelling it out. Latest purchase: a bottle of Rose’s Kola Tonic. As with the Parfait Amour, Haigh calls for Kola Tonic in exactly one of the cocktails in his book; of course, you’ll never find anything smaller than a 750 ml bottle, so now I’m the proud owner of 3/4 of a liter (minus a 1/2 ounce) of this weird, kind-of-but-not-entirely cola-tasting syrup, which I had to have shipped from Los Angeles.

Mixed in a Filmograph Cocktail, the syrup creates a flavor that’s hard to pin down. I’d like to say it compares to the deep, funky roundness of a good cola, but that’s not quite it; the aroma of cola is there, but in flavor, the brandy and especially the lemon juice shove it aside. It’s not unpleasant, just a bit odd. Next round, I’ll try racheting back the lemon juice a bit, so the acidity will stop getting in the tonic’s way.

While my inner cheapskate makes me groan about the expense, the Kola Tonic really is quite a bargain (less than $20, including shipping), as compared to other cocktail ingredients. Now if I could just find the damn Swedish Punsch….

Filmograph Cocktail

• 2 ounces brandy
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce Kola Tonic

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Tags: Books, Brandy, Drinks by Paul
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These are heady days for drinkophiles (beverage believers? libation lovers? whatever–). Today’s proverbial cups runneth over with more and better types of custom-roasted coffees, premium teas, microbrewed beers, fine wines, artisan-distilled spirits and, of course, culinary cocktails than perhaps at any other time in our history. But while there’s a growing number of books, magazines, newspaper columns and websites (including, of course, blogs) delving into every aspect of this abundance, a quick survey of my local bookstore shows very little crossover between the cooking and food sections, the few exceptions being the obligatory wine-pairing guides and the maddeningly vague and mostly useless catchall category of “entertaining” books.

That has now changed.

In July, while attending Tales of the Cocktail, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a seminar titled “Pairing Food with Cocktails,” with a panel that included cocktail luminaries Robert Hess, Ryan Magarian and Audrey Saunders, along with a couple with whom I was not familiar: Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of several volumes that transcend the “cookbooks” label (read my writeup here). Not quite three months later, Andrew and Karen have released their latest book, What to Drink with What you Eat, a comprehensive guide to pairing foods with most anything you can pour into a glass. With this useful, rigorously researched book, Dornenberg and Page have more thoroughly and efficiently linked the food and drink categories than has any other volume you’re likely to find on the shelf.

Ever the cynic, I was prepared to be disappointed when I first opened WTDWWYE, expecting yet another bland guide to pairing chicken with chardonnay and beef with pinot noir, with beer and especially spirits left confined to the beverage ghetto, included only as an afterthought or used in downscale pairings such as Budweiser with hot dogs or margaritas with tacos. As is often the case, I was wrong — Dornenberg and Page have placed a special emphasis on creating a work impressive in scale and comprehensive in scope, seeking input from dozens of seasoned culinary professionals to design pairings for foods ranging from grilled salmon to Kit Kat bars and beverages spanning the spectrum from oolong tea and lemonade to Cotes du Rhone and Armagnac.

Introductory chapters cover the basics of sensory enjoyment, a primer to pairings and shopping suggestions, and closing chapters feature pairing menus from prestigious restaurants such as Chanterelle in New York and Frontera Grill in Chicago, and “desert island” lists of food and drink from an array of sommeliers, bar directors and chefs. But the guts of the book are what make WTDWWYE so valuable: two extensive sections — one arranged alphabetically by food, the other by drink — with thorough breakdowns of preparations or varieties with listings of different pairings, including bolded recommendations for especially potent matches. Halibut tonight? Grab a bottle of chablis or white burgundy; if you’re grilling it, sauvignon blanc works well, but if you’re going the roasted route, a pinot noir might be what you need. Or maybe at this time of year, you’ve got a bottle of hard cider you’re ready to use; match that with a few oysters, a pork dish or maybe just a few tastes of brie and pont l’eveque. Subcategories are given thorough attention: sake merits eleven breakout categories, from the medium-bodied daiginjo to the sweet kijoshu, and for a dish such as steak, pairing recommendations are provided for 32 different cuts and preparations.

Being a spirits and cocktails geek, I found some satisfaction in the book — I’m looking forward to trying out the pairing of Asian spring rolls with gin-based drinks — and while I’d like to have seen some attention to vermouth (a chilled glass of French dry Noilly Prat is fantastic with raw oysters, or vermouth-steamed mussels with garlic and shallots) and maybe a bit more breakout for different whiskies, I think the authors did a remarkable job in including spirits, cocktails, beers and other beverages in a world typically dominated by wine. What to Drink with What you Eat is going to see a lot of use in my house.

Check out the book’s website here. Or, to purchase, follow the handy link:

Tags: Books by Paul
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It’s been a blisteringly busy few weeks. Not just the normal kind of busy, but the brain-boggling, overdrive kind of busy where you wake up thinking of all the things you need to do, then flail away at that list all day until finally giving in to exhaustion, and fall asleep while thinking of all the things you still need to do when you get up in the morning, just a few short hours away…

Times like that, there’s not much room for futzing around with cocktails. Sure, they’re around — they’d almost have to be — but it’s the simple, A + B = C, comfort-food kind of cocktails like good, potent Manhattans and simple, soothing Old Fashioneds, cocktails you don’t have to think about that much, and that don’t require much time to prepare.

But, it’s over (mostly). Deadlines have been met (or slightly fudged), and I can finally take a moment to breathe. But after such a long, frenzied streak, it’s tough to get your mind back into normal mode, and sometimes special tools are needed. That’s where our good friend the Grog Log comes in.

Jeff Berry‘s tome of tiki packs a lot of good juju in its less than 100 pages, and there are plenty of options available for snapping you out of the workaday world and into a short mental vacation to the islands. After an extended hunkering down, I clearly need something exceptional — something cold and soothing, yet with the stress-busting capabilities of a tactical nuclear weapon. That makes it time for a drink I’ve been contemplating for months: Berry’s own creation, the Tahitian.

Consider this drink for a moment: on its face, it’s a run-of-the-mill tiki drink, with a rum base, a pineapple and lime fruit quotient, a sweetening liqueur and a dash of Angostura to add a little mystery. But the Tahitian takes these common tiki qualities and amplifies them, matching the pineapple and lime with white creme de cacao — which lends a gentle touch of chocolate that comforts you as it positions you in your happy place — and then methodically bludgeoning your daily concerns away with a whopping four ounces of rum: two ounces of the lean, aromatic Rhum Barbancourt, one and one-half of lush amber Jamaican and another half of the crisp gold Puerto Rican. Served over ice and sipped through a straw, the Tahitian seems mighty friendly; by the end of the glass, you realize it’s perhaps too friendly, as your lips grow numb and your eyebrows start to feel funny.

Wait…..work?

Mission accomplished.

Tahitian (from Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log)

• 1 1/2 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce white creme de cacao
• 1/2 teaspoon simple syrup
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 2 ounces Rhum Barbancourt
• 1 1/2 ounces gold Jamaican rum (I used Appleton V/X)
• 1/2 ounce gold Puerto Rican rum (I used Bacardi 8 )

Shake with ice cubes, then pour into a collins glass. Garnish with pineapple wedge stuck to rim of glass; stick paper parasol into pineapple wedge.

The Tahitian comes to you as part of Mixology Monday VIII: Exotic, hosted by Meeta over at What’s For Lunch, Honey? If you haven’t already posted your entry — could anybody be running later than me? — be sure to get it up, and then check in over at Meeta’s place in a day or so for the wrap-up.

Tags: Drinks, Mixology Monday, Rum, Tiki by Paul
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