I’m back, still breathing, after an unplanned two-week hiatus. During this vacation from blogging I spent a whirlwind couple of days in San Francisco, ushering out Cocktail Week at Absinthe and sitting (briefly) at Neyah White‘s bar at Nopa, and then spent the rest of the time diving headlong into the freelance life. But now that my Sitemeter readings are starting to free fall, and after receiving a “Dude, What’s up?” e-mail from a reader wondering if I’d abandoned this thing (thanks for checking in, Joseph), I felt the need to get my act together for a few minutes and post about something worthwhile.

Like this: If you’re at all familiar with the cocktail blogosphere, you’re certainly aware of LUPEC-Boston. Now, the ladies of LUPEC-B have taken their cocktail wisdom to the print shop, and the result is the Little Black Book of Cocktails, a slim but serious volume with recipes for a selection of vintage and contemporary libations, and photos of the LUPEC-B ladies by Matt Demers.

I finally got my hands on a copy of the LBBoC, and I have to say what a fine job they’ve done. The book has recipes ranging from old favorites like the Monkey Gland to new favorites (around here, at least) such as the Jaguar, and after wandering through the pages I don’t see a bummer in the bunch. Buy a copy from the LUPEC-Boston site, and you’ll be rewarded not only with this well-considered cocktail guide, but with the knowledge that the proceeds are going to the Friends Boutique at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Reading the book also made me finally get around to mixing a drink I’d been planning to try for quite a while. While Ted Haigh addressed this in an issue of Imbibe and Erik covered it during his recent stroll through Savoy’s H’s, I’ve sadly been behind in my consumption of Hanky Pankys. But, with the LUPEC book in hand and a bottle of Fernet Branca staring at me from the liquor cabinet, I thought it finally time for a dalliance with Ada Coleman’s creation.

Chin chin — and buy the book.

Hanky Panky

• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes Fernet Branca

Stir well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze a piece of orange peel on top.

Tags: Books, Drinks, Gin by Paul
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Hey, it’s May 16 — three years to the day since I opened a Blogspot account and thought, “Now what? How about a drink–”

Around 280 posts and 140 drinks later, with the original Blogspot site only a distant memory, The Cocktail Chronicles is still going. Back then I felt like a sozzled voice in the cyberwilderness; now, there are dozens of drink-related blogs on the Internet, and I feel a lot less lonely when I start prattling on about rum.

That the third anniversary of The Cocktail Chronicles comes on the same day that I start my full-time writing career is a very fortunate coincidence; my intention, back then, was to give myself an outlet to hone my writing chops, and to hopefully build an online portfolio covering the fields of spirits and cocktails, that might appeal to an editor, someday. Today, I feel extremely privileged to be writing about these topics for such esteemed publications and sites as Imbibe, the San Francisco Chronicle and Serious Eats, and I hope to build on this progress in the months and years to come.

It goes without saying of course that had it not been for the generous support from readers, I would likely have given up on this blog years ago, letting it drift to the bottom of the Internet ocean like so many scuttled sites. I’d like to offer a very sincere “thank you” to regular readers and commenters for your ongoing support; your visits have kept this blog afloat, and I hope I’m able to keep giving you enjoyable content in the years to come.

Tags: General by Paul
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The neutral news: Nominees for the second annual Spirit Awards were announced today. From the press release: “Through its annual Spirit Awards, Tales of the Cocktail provides recognition to those individuals and establishments that have shown an outstanding talent for advancing the craft of the cocktail.” Categories include Best Drink Selection; Best Classic Cocktail Bar; Mixologist/Bartender of the Year; and Best New Product.

The good news: I was nominated in the “Best Cocktail Writing” category, for my work with Imbibe and the San Francisco Chronicle (hmm, a certain online site wasn’t mentioned…)

The bad news: The other nominees include Jeff Berry, Ted Haigh, Gary Regan, Debra Argen & Edward Nesta, and David Wondrich. Ah, well, it’s nice to think I have a chance.

Awards will be presented July 19 in New Orleans, during Tales of the Cocktail. Be sure to drop by and watch the mascara streak my face as I’m handed the bouquet for umpteenth runner-up.

Tags: General by Paul
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I quit.

Okay, so I said it a lot nicer than that, and I gave plenty of notice so as not to burn my bridges and all that kind of thing, but while my presentation lacked the cathartic release I’d long hoped for, the fact remains: I’m leaving the safety and security of the day job to claw out a career as a full-time freelance writer. On Thursday.

Hot damn!

(Oh, shit.)

While I’m enthusiastic as all hell, I’m also slightly terrified of ruin and starvation, which means I’ve been enjoying my share of celebratory good drinks, but ones that don’t break the bank. This, of course, means rum.

I tend to go through drink-related phases, related not only to the seasons and particular moods, but also to the different projects I happen to be working on at the time. Last fall, I had a thing for sherry and, as we edged toward winter, absinthe. More recently, while working on a rum story, I’ve been all about premium rum, and rare has been the cocktail hour in the past few months that hasn’t seen me reaching for some fruit of the cane.

You’d think it’d be a lot easier, though. With rum cocktails, it readily becomes apparent that there are very few that really let the spirit shake it all in front of you. Not that I’m complaining — I have a biding love for tiki and exotics, and daiquiris and El Presidentes will always be on my list of favorites. But when you consider the other spirits, there’s always at least a few drinks that basically serve up the best the spirit has to offer, with just a few touches of other ingredients that serve more as garland than as modifier. Sure, you can substitute rum for gin or whiskey in a variation on Martinis and Manhattans, and if you use something decent, you’ll have a nice drink, but it’s not quite the same — that’s rum in a walk-on role; for really nice rums, they need the opportunity to shine.

And that’s where I kept coming up short. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone, and Murray has been willing to help me through the process. First there was the unnamed drink that Keith featured not long ago, with Mount Gay Extra Old touched with Grand Marnier and Cointreau (or, if you’ve got it, Creole Shrubb does a nice two-in-one job), and a few dashes of Bittermen’s Xocolatl Mole bitters. This has morphed into other, simply prepared but absolutely wonderful drinks: the MGEO or Pampero Aniversario with a little Giffard Ginger of the Indies Liqueur and some Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters and a lime twist has been a recent favorite. And, to get a little more complex, there’s the Coin Toss, from Phil Ward at Death & Co: Scarlet Ibis (or something Venezuelan, if you haven’t got it) with Chartreuse and Benedictine, with a good dose of Carpano Antica and some Peychaud’s to hold the center.

Ah, but I’m rambling, and drooling as I do so. I’ve freely stolen from all of these ideas, and compounded something of my own: the Short Timer.

Short Timer

• 2 ounces Barbancourt 8-year-old rum
• 3/4 ounce Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
• 1/4 ounce Giffard Ginger of the Indies (substitute Domaine de Canton)
  
• 1/4 ounce Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb
• 2 good dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

I initially made this without the vermouth, and considered sinking the drink; then, remembering the Coin Toss, I added the vermouth in 1/4 oz increments, enjoying the weird alchemy it sometimes plays with other ingredients. The finished result is mildly sweet, with an almost cola-like aspect to it from the interplay. I used the Barbancourt, thinking that its dry, floral aspect would be good here, but the next time I take a crack at this, I may use something richer, like the Pampero Aniversario. If I had more than about a 1/4 ounce of Scarlet Ibis in the house, I’d trot that out, but whaddaya gonna do.

(And super-premium thanks to my Savoy-stompin’ friend Erik for sending the bitters my way.)

Anyway, the Short Timer works — which is something you won’t be able to say about me for much longer.

This Mixology Monday is hosted by Blair over at Trader Tiki; head on over and look for his roundup.

Tags: Drinks, Mixology Monday, Rum by Paul
9 Comments »

Okay, the polls on the Mixology Monday logo contest have closed (I had to disable the poll to make it stop counting, but that also means the results won’t display to everyone — you’re gonna have to trust me on this one), and here’s where things stand: 300 people cast votes on their choice of logo, and the winner, with 107 votes, is this design created by Courtney Patubo. Congratulations to Courtney; she’ll receive a signed copy of Wayne Curtis’ And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails; thanks, Courtney! (And shoot me your address in an e-mail so I can get the book headed your way.)

And thanks as well to all the designers who submitted logo ideas, and to everyone who took the time to vote.

In the process of putting together this friendly competition, it became apparent that some folks were still fond of the original MxMo logo. To these readers, I offer an apology for not taking that logo into account in the voting, but also an explanation:

As I mentioned when I first proposed the logo competition, Mixology Monday has lasted much longer than I think any of the original participants thought it would, and has attracted many more participants than we initially imagined. Over the course of two years of moderating Mixology Monday, it became clear to me that a couple of the event’s aspects were becoming confusing for participants, and difficult and time-consuming to manage. One of these aspects was the archiving of past events — right now it’s stuck deep in the archives of this site, and it even takes me too damn many mouse clicks to get to the page that has all the relevant info. This is being remedied in the next month or so, when I get the time to give Mixology Monday its own site. Setting up a new site is time consuming and doesn’t come free, but I think it’ll make it much easier to follow upcoming events, and to find out about past ones.

The other aspect that had become difficult was the logo. Darcy was very kind to create the original design which so many people came to know and love, and pretty much every month for the past two years, he’s updated it and forwarded the new versions along to me to distribute to each month’s hosts. The downside was that the logo had to be changed every month — Darcy has professed he’s not a designer, and I’m pretty damn lucky if I remember how to log into WordPress every day, so setting up an automatic system like the Dood has been discussing wasn’t part of the equation. Compound that with the fact that both Darcy and I have outside lives, replete with spouses and kids, and a little matter of updating a logo every month and passing it back-and-forth via e-mail to the hosts can turn into a time-consuming annoyance — not a huge amount of time, true, but a pain in the ass nonetheless. And for something that’s supposed to be fun and casual like Mixology Monday, having drudgework involved kind of runs counter to the whole idea.

So how much easier, I thought, if we kicked off a new year of Mixology Monday with a new logo, one that can be used every month without any kind of administrative or technological hassle, and that’s been created by an event reader or participant, and that is voted on by everyone who’s followed Mixology Monday for months or years. And we’ll even have a modest prize, just to make it more exciting. What’s not to like?

What I hadn’t counted on was that outpouring of support for the old logo that’s cropped up in the comments of the election post. So, the loser in the header of this post is me: my apologies for not considering support for the old logo. It wasn’t my intent to strongarm the community into using another graphic, but rather my desire to make participation and hosting easier for everyone, and to make moderating the event a less cumbersome experience for myself.

I think Dood and others have a great idea to make updating the logo with event particulars an automated process, but at the same time, as others have mentioned, it’s good to have a logo that doesn’t require such updating, that can stand alone for the event. That’s my two cents, anyway.

Now, on to rum….

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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