Oh hello! Boy, was that a quick month?! Gosh, it felt like the whole thing just flew by for me.
Some of you may have noticed I am taking a break from daily posts on Instagram. As a matter of fact, I don't even have the app on my phone currently. Nor do I have WhatsApp, Slack, Hangouts, TikTok, Twitter, etc. I am enjoying the silence and feel more productive than I have in a long while. The only proof of that I have is that I FINALLY fixed the leaky sink down in the basement. A chore I have been putting off for far too long. Silence abounds!
I may find my way back...I also may not. I haven't decided. I wrote about my decision to take a break on my personal blog if you care to read but never the less I am alive and doing well!
Shall we?
The CD Review
Drinks From January
Like most people, I started this month out with great aspirations to lose weight, get back on track, and not to drink any more (or any less, mind you!) Cocktail hour is still churning along, and alongside the mainstay cocktails, I mixed up a few others this month.
I plan to talk a lot more about diet and drink in the final post, G.P. 10, in my series on Kingsley Amis and his General Principles from his great book, Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis. Look out for tomorrow's post on G.P. 5!
G.P. 5:
The alcohol in any bubbly drink will reach you faster than in its still version. Hence, or partly hence, the popularity of champagne at weddings and other festivities.
Speaking of mainstays, I picked up this great little box to catalog my house recipes:
I do much better with tactile objects than digital ones; perhaps that's why I like making cocktails. Also, looking up a cocktail recipe "the old fashioned way" is often quicker and keeps me off my phone.
Another little thing I quickly figured out while writing my recipes on cards is that I can be much more personal with the measurements. When writing recipes for the masses, everything has to be exact. My bar spoon measurement is most likely different than yours. My glasses are different sized, and for a drink like the Old Fashioned, I know precisely where to pour my glug of whiskey. No need to write the amount on the card; a simple drawing with "Pour To Here" works just fine!
Okay! Let’s get to some recipes!
Last Monday was Burns Night in celebration of Robert Burns, the Scottish Poet. So, of course, I mixed up a round of Bobby Burns cocktails.
Bobby Burns
In a chilled and iced mixing glass:
50 ml Blended Scotch
20 ml Sweet Vermouth
5 ml Benedictine
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
Stir/Strain-Chilled Coupe/Lemon Peel
I keep a "forever bottle" of Scotch around that I use in hot toddies and, after a quick taste, realized the current blend would be a bit too smokey for the Bobby Burns and instead used a bottle of Dewar's. Looking back, I wish I would have gone half and half with some Johnnie Black, but there is always next year!
I will be doing a bit of tinkering with the classic Rob Roy next month, so perhaps I will find the blend I am looking for.
As I mentioned earlier, with the get on track and lose weight sentiments, cocktail number two during cocktail hour has usually been lighter. We always have a good splash of white wine left from a previous supper, and I keep my trusty soda siphon filled and charged, so of course, I lean towards a Bicicletta. It keeps the ABV down and doesn't die in the glass like a Martini would if I forget it while stirring risotto.
Bicicletta
In a rocks glass with ice:
60 ml Dry White Wine
20 ml Campari
Top up with Soda
Garnish with Lemon or Orange Peels or Slices
For more cocktails, check out The Cocktail Doodle Cocktails Google doc.
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ON HIATUS 🌛
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Current Reading
New (and old) books I added to the shelf this past month:
The Negroni: Drinking to La Dolce Vita, with Recipes & Lore by Gary Regan
I picked this book up written by the late Gary "Gaz" Regan not because I needed help with my Negroni but because his recipe is similar to mine in that he liked to be heavy handed with the gin and didn't care for Carpano Antica. The book also has beautiful photographs and fantastic variations on everyone's favorite red cocktail. Also, he sets the history straight on when and why the Negroni came to be. I am glad it is on my shelf next to his other fantastic and influential book, The Joy of Mixology.
Nick and Nora: The Couple Who Taught America How to Drink by Michael Turback
This is a simple book with an interesting collection of older and some forgotten drinks made with different ratios than you are probably accustomed to. I wouldn't take any of it as gospel, and thank heavens Nick and Nora are fictional characters because there is no way a real person could keep up with their imbibing! Perhaps watch the movies and skip the book!
What Shall We Have To Drink? by X. Marcel Boulestin
A book on wine written in the early thirties by a Frenchman? Sign me up. I found a pristine first edition copy of this from a seller overseas. It is understandably dated though it is always nice to know that 1895 and 1900 were good years for Burgundy. Boulestin has an excellent voice for food and drink writing. I highly recommended it.
Unfiltered by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
For Christmas, my SMWS membership was renewed, and that means I am receiving their fabulous monthly magazine, Unfiltered. This month in an article I learned that the US Navy used Dalmore as a naval base in 1917 during WWI. They moved all the whisky out and produced and stored mines there! A great read, and of course, the perks of the SMWS don't end with good writing...
New Products
Westward Honours the Northwest with Pinot Noir Cask Finish
Optimist Drinks brings botanical flourish and LA vibe to non-alcoholic spirits
Trader Joe’s Cocktails Come Ready-To-Drink Right Out Of The Bottle
Heineken 0.0 releases 12-packs in support of Dry January
Truly Hard Seltzer expands portfolio with iced tea varietal
Luxco Launches Ezra Brooks 99 Bourbon
Balcones Announces New American Single Malt, Lineage
Coravin introduces new Pivot system
Michelob ULTRA releases organic hard seltzer line
Código George Strait Origen
Molson Coors launches Vizzy Lemonade Hard Seltzer
Kōloa Reserve Five-Year Aged Hawaiian Rum
Absolut vodka debuts paper bottle
In Other (Booze) News
Bushmills Wants to Buy Your First Round of Irish Whiskey in 2021
Gallo finalizes $810 million purchase from Constellation
‘Junk science’: Australia's $160bn drinks industry fights back against new consumption guidelines and academic attack
French firm Pernod Ricard has purchased a majority stake in non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ Ceder’s
New bill could make alcohol to-go permanent in Texas
Samsung develops wine-pouring robot
The Incredible Shrinking Liquor Bottle
French wines return from space for analysis
Forget Canned Cocktails, the 'Togroni' Is the RTD of 2021
The Midwesterners Creating Their Own Natural Wine Scene
‘Drinks with 1.2% ABV or under clearly do not satisfy the definition for gin’: Gin Guild
Mississippi lawmakers consider privatizing liquor distribution
Britons will have to pay 18p MORE for a pint of beer
Beam Suntory moving headquarters from Chicago to New York
Done and done!
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