{"id":551,"date":"2012-11-27T22:27:19","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T22:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cocktailians.com\/2012\/11\/holiday-gift-guide.html"},"modified":"2012-11-27T22:27:19","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T22:27:19","slug":"holiday-gift-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/?p=551","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Gift Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

I'm trying something a little different here, and putting together the first-ever Cocktailians Holiday Gift Guide. This is basically a listing of interesting things that you, or I, or a cocktailian you know, might like to get in their stocking this year. (And no one's paid anything to get on here — all these products are things that I've either bought for myself, or I haven't tried them but think they look interesting enough to buy or recommend to others. Exceptions (Chopin rye vodka, To Have And Have Another<\/em>) noted in tooltips.)<\/small><\/p>\n

That said, on to the loot, presented in no particular order:<\/p>\n

\n\"DadsA cocktailian will always accept a bottle, particularly an interesting one. You could go in several directions here, ranging from something new, like the Charbay Hop Whiskey<\/a> or Dad's Hat Rye<\/a> (more on that presently) to something newly available, like the bitter liqueurs Byrrh, Salers, and Suze<\/a>, or even something that's been around for a while. Such as a bottle of Chartreuse<\/a>, for instance, which is useful in lots of different drinks and is probably a bit too spendy for all but committed home bartenders to splash out on…so why not give someone a bit of a nudge? Also, I tasted Larceny<\/a>, a really nice new wheated bourbon from Heaven Hill, at Tales this year and quite enjoyed it. Great Lakes Pumpkin Spirit<\/a> is unusual and far more whiskeylike than I'd expected. And I haven't tried it, but I'm very curious about the Bittermens New Orleans Coffee liqueur<\/a>, with its promised chicory notes. On the gin side, there's the intense Perry's Tot<\/a> and the well-balanced, more citrusy and floral Dorothy Parker<\/a>, both from the New York Distilling Company<\/a> in Brooklyn, and Plymouth Navy Strength<\/a> is now findable. I'm also curious to taste the Half Moon<\/a> from Tuthilltown and see what it's like. And, for the vodka lover, I've been impressed with the Core Vodka<\/a> made from apples by Harvest Spirits<\/a> in the Hudson Valley (which also makes the gorgeous Rare Pear brandy<\/a>), Tuthilltown's Heart of the Hudson<\/a> (also made from apples) , and the red-label Chopin Rye<\/a> vodka is earthy and unusual — all of these have more character than most vodkas out there, so they may not be your thing if you're looking for clean no-flavor ethanol. Or you could go more personal with a bottle of homemade liqueur<\/a>; the recipe for cranberry liqueur<\/a> looks great for this time of year. Master of Malt<\/a> sells all sorts of interesting spirits out of the UK, and teeny 30mL sample bottles are available<\/a> if you just want a dram of something intriguing. Their Whisky Advent Calendar<\/a> gives you a bunch of intriguing samples (some worth \u00a3350\/bottle), one a day till Christmas. (If you don't dig on whiskey, check out their Ginvent Calendar<\/a> too.) But if you have a ton of money to burn, go delving into the Finest & Rarest<\/a> spirits on offer: pre-ban absinthe<\/a>, rhum agricole<\/em> from the 1920s<\/a> (!), Creme de Th\u00e9 from 1850<\/a> (!!), and rye from 1863<\/a> (!!!).<\/p>\n

\n\"AcidThere are lots of interesting ingredients and garnishes available, too. There's of course tons of different bitters out there: I really like the Scrappy's lime bitters<\/a>, and am amazed that there aren't a ton of different lime bitters on the market. (Memo to self: start working on lime bitters.) Dale DeGroff<\/a> has released his Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters<\/a>, developed with absinthe maven Ted Breaux<\/a>. KegWorks<\/a>, which has a pretty good selection of bitters<\/a>, offers a two-pack of Fee Brothers barrel-aged bitters<\/a>: the Gin Barrel-Aged Orange and the Whiskey Barrel-Aged Old-Fashioned Aromatic bitters. They also carry the hard-to-find Bittermens New Orleans Coffee bitters<\/a> and the intruiging, Old Bay-inspired Bitter End Chesapeake Bay bitters<\/a>. I'm also interested in trying two brand-new bitters, "Dr." Adam Elmegirab<\/a>'s Teapot Bitters<\/a> and Basement Bitters' Bitter Frost<\/a>, made by the Tuthilltown folks and featuring their rye, maple syrup, sarsaparilla, and other stuff and aged in a rye whiskey barrel. This makes them sound like they're in the same kingdom as the Bad Dog Barcraft Sarsaparilla Dry Bitters<\/a>. The Meadow<\/a>, in Manhattan and Portland, has a great bitters selection<\/a>, and they carry the full line of the evocatively-named Bitters, Old Men selections; I especially want to try the Great In '28<\/a>, heavy on the cardamom, juniper, and grapefruit. They also have the Brooklyn Hemispherical<\/a> Black Mission Fig bitters<\/a> — the only fig bitters on the market. (I make my own fig bitters, and want to check them against the pros.) And, Master of Malt sells a rum-based Black Pepper Bitters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the garnish front, the Barker & Mills Bourbon Vanilla Cocktail Cherries<\/a> are spectacular (if you don't make your own<\/a>), and the Boston Shaker has those as well<\/a>. And for mixers, KegWorks carries Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water<\/a>, the hard-to-find winner of our Tonic Water Shootout<\/a> a few months ago. And there are lots of neat syrups to play with: the Cl\u00e9ment Sirop de Canne<\/a>, a spiced cane syrup flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, and clove, makes a wonderful Ti Punch<\/a> when added to rhum agricole<\/em> and lime. Cocktailians friend B.G. Reynolds makes a great line of Tiki syrups under the Okole Maluna<\/a> banner; the grapefruit-cinnamon Don's Mix<\/a> is fantastic, as is the vanilla-pimento Don's Spices #2<\/a>, almond-barley orgeat<\/a> (though I add a teeny splash of orange flower water to this), and falernum<\/a>. I can also recommend Extinct Chemical Co. Acid Phosphate<\/a> (pictured above) — try an Angostura Phosphate<\/a> sometime — and their lactic acid Lactart<\/a> also looks interesting.<\/p>\n

\n\"Hand-blown-glass-tiki-mug-256px-256px\"And what will you be drinking out of? I like the 3oz. (ahem<\/a><\/em>)<\/small> flasks<\/a> from Cocktailians friends and neighbors SITE NYC<\/a>, as well as the pictured hand-blown glass Tiki mugs<\/a> from The Boston Shaker<\/a>. Their partner The Uncommon Green<\/a> has some neat-looking rocks glasses with street maps<\/a> emblazoned on them, you can get a 4-pack of ceramic Tiki mugs<\/a> from Cocktailians friend Okole Maluna<\/a>, and the elusive Nick & Nora cocktail glasses<\/a> are available from Tabletop Style. I also dig the round Metal Serving Trays<\/a> from SITE NYC — in either bright yellow or robins-egg blue — and the midcentury-inspired design of the Bar Recipe Glassware<\/a> from Fishs Eddy<\/a>. (Their Polka Dot Glassware<\/a> is fun, too.)<\/p>\n

\n\"ToHaveandHaveAnother-Doc\"And what will you read while you sip? Boston cocktail blogger<\/a> and Cocktailians friend Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin<\/span> Slut<\/a> has published Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book<\/a><\/em>. I can recommend Destination: Cocktails<\/a><\/em>, James Teitelbaum's exhaustive guide to the best cocktail bars<\/a> around the world. (How in the world did he find the time or resources to research all this?) KegWorks has a reprint of the 1947 Angostura Mixing Guide<\/em><\/a>. Philip Greene<\/a> has published the magnificent To Have And Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion<\/a><\/em> (more on this anon.) And, Chuck Cowdery, writer of the best bourbon-focused blog<\/a> around, also publishes the Bourbon Country Reader<\/a><\/em>, a detailed well-researched newsletter that looks like it's worth a subscription.<\/p>\n

\n\"DogAs for gear, Cocktail Kingdom of course has tons of great things, from Yarai mixing glasses<\/a> (and the beautiful Japanese Paddle Mixing Glass<\/a>) to Lewis ice bags<\/a> (and attendant big-ass mallets<\/a>), and even the hard-to-find real swizzle sticks<\/a>. If you're looking to barrel-age drinks, spirits, or bitters, Tuthilltown will sell you both small new barrels<\/a> and larger barrels that they've used to age their whiskey<\/a>, not to mention a cheaper "barrel aged cocktail kit<\/a>" of a bottle with a charred honeycomb stave in it. KegWorks even has a dog collar barrel<\/a> so your pooch can play St. Bernard!. The Boston Shaker has some nice-looking julep spoon straws<\/a> – these can be difficult to track down as well — and for those who want to dabble in the modernist end of cocktailing, KegWorks has you covered with a Cocktail R-Evolution Molecular Mixology Kit<\/a>, with pipettes, sodium alginate for spherification, lecithin for emulsifying foams, instructional DVD, and more.<\/p>\n

\n\"OneBuckFinal01\"And, if all this drinking stuff has left you a little peaked, I can also recommend great coffee from Tonx<\/a>, which'll send you expertly-sourced and freshly-roasted beans every other week. (You can get a free trial here<\/a>.) Or give an early gift with a ticket to the New York Distilling Company's Sandy benefit<\/a> on Repeal Day, next Wednesday, December 5th: you get to see some night distilling in action, you'll get half a bottle of new make rye, half a bottle of the rye after it finishes aging, and the chance to win your own personalized 5-gallon barrel of rye. If you want to get some art and help out a great bar which was hit hard by Sandy, St. John Frizell's Fort Defiance<\/a> is offering "junk bonds<\/a>": gift certificates costing double their face value, each decorated with a different bartender's portrait. What a great idea!<\/p>\n

…or wait, you were looking for a Holiday .GIF Guide<\/a> instead? Tonx has you covered there, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I'm trying something a little different here, and putting together the first-ever Cocktailians Holiday Gift Guide. This is basically a listing of interesting things that you, or I, or a cocktailian you know, might like to get in their stocking this year. (And no one's paid anything to get on here — all these products […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seen-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}