Happy Thanksgiving from all the Cocktailians to you.
I don't have a particular Thanksgiving cocktail to share with you, but I will probably be making Tippecanoe Sparklers tonight after the day job releases me.
And, recently I was the lucky recipient of a gift of Pumpkin Spirit from the Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee. (Well, the gift was from my friend Anne — thanks! — and the spirit was from the distillery.) The stuff isn't quite what I'd expected, as the pumpkin nose is immediately apparent on opening the bottle, but the flavor isn't as readily noticeable, and exists more as a light aftertaste. The spirit isn't sweet at all, and it tastes like a whisky, with its attendant burn. But it's a burn redolent of pumpkins and spice. I can attest that it makes an excellent Old-Fashioned, particularly with Fee's Whisky Barrel-Aged Aromatic Bitters.
What's going on with you? Here's some stuff that's caught our eye lately:
- Do you get your turkey drunk before slaughtering it?
- Or do you infuse it with various horrible-sounding flavored vodkas before you cook it?
- The Chicago Tribune covers what they term "the most unnecessary bottle of vodka in the world", which is really saying something;
- CNN.com's Eatocracy spoke with Dale DeGroff;
- This is interesting. Has anyone ordered these "bitters pack" recipes and ingredients from this guy on eBay? I'm very curious about these bitters kits;
- Frank Bruni's excellent "Tipsy Diaries" column in the Times covers coffee cocktails;
- …and bars with art;
- …and the Frisco Cocktail;
- The Times' tasting panel also tackles hard cider;
- Is rum — which definitely seems to be an increasingly-trendy spirit — really "the bore behind the bar?";
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Clyde Common (my review here) concocts an original holiday cocktail for downtown Portland;
- Camper English has possibly solved the mystery of Pyrat rum's strong oranginess;
- how "proof" works, and how gunpowder is involved;
- and last but far from least, a celebration of David Wondrich's new book Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl. I'm in the middle of reading it, and it's excellent and as much of a tour de force as his prior book Imbibe!. I'll post a full review when I'm done, but here are interesting reviews and stories about it in the Wall Street Journal, the Times, and the Chicago Tribune. I would also be remiss if I did not note that you can purchase bartending-themed shirts from his concern Drunkistan, and also mention that he has founded the North Gowanus Institute for Cranial Distempers. (I assume the Institute is rather more devoted to the creation than the alleviation of said distempers. At any rate, carry on.)
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