Scofflaw's Den

Since my "other unpaid second job" is a video game reviewer for GamersInfo.net, I spend at least a bit of time each day perusing sites such as Kotaku. Today on there I saw this post listing out the drinks EA came out for the EA Games Spring Break 08.

I was even more amused to see this after instantly recognizing the reference to a video game in the punch drink from Monday night's dinner. Let's see what my initial looksie here has me feeling...

Battlefield: Bad Company: Herradura silver tequila, cointreau and fresh squeezed lime served on the rocks.

Battlefield: Bad Company got some bad press initially due to the fact that it was going to give an advantage to players who paid more by giving them better weapons.  The basic concept of the game is much like Kelly's Heroes, the classic Clint Eastwood movie where soldiers basically go AWOL to go after a cache of gold.  This game is set in the modern day as an FPS and seems a bit grimmer given the descriptions, so having what is basically a margarita without simple syrup seems like an appropriate choice - though not necessarily one I'd drink.

Battlefield: Heroes: Hendrick's gin, fresh rasberry, cucumber, shaken and strained, served up with a splash of kumquat dry soda.

Unlike the other Battlefield game, Battlefield: Heroes is a more cartoon-ish game, a third person multiplayer-only free to play online game set between two sides, the Royals and the Nationals, who are having a dispute over the Olympics.  It's more of a casual, have fun, almost kind of care-free killfest from what I've seen, and thus the combination of light, fruity tastes in the Hendricks and its companions in the drink sound quite refreshing.  I'd just be careful of having too many while playing, but outside (gasp!) in the summertime I'd be all over this drink like grenade spam from a newbie.

Left 4 Dead: Fresh muddled lime wedges, mango puree, cachaca, shaken and poured over rocks.

I'd say that the Left 4 Dead cocktail reminds me of the caipirinha, or the classic cocktail of Brazil, but honestly, that's probably just due to the cachaca, as this one has no mint in it.  Still, it's another fruity drink, this time named after a first person shooter slash survival horror game that emphasizes teamwork for the humans and 28 Days Later-esque "Infected" zombies on the other side, some with grotesque powers, others who will curbstomp you while you're down.  Like the zombies, I'd bet this drink would pound your head into the curb if you're not careful.  Cachaca can be dangerous stuff.

Warhammer Online: Oronoco rum, freshly squeezed lime, simple syrup and muddled cucumbers, shaken hard poured over ice.

Ya see, we get into a game I'm really, really looking forward to and from a company that's local here to me (EA Mythic, over in Fairfax, all of whom are nice guys and gals the times I've met them) and it has a drink that I'm a bit confused as to how it relates to the game.  Warhammer Online is the upcoming PvP-focused MMORPG based off the legendary Games Workshop IP.  It's grim but with a sense of British black humor (would that be humour?) to it, and given Mythic's experience with Dark Age of Camelot it should be a lot of fun - and it has been the times I've tried it.  Somehow, though, the background, to me, doesn't say "rum", with what almost ends up being kind of a tiki drink here.  I'm not saying it'd be bad, though I may have to leave this one for tmfiii to try out.

Dead Space: Maker's Mark, Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, Disaronno amaretto, served up with a cherry.

What happens if you rip a planet apart and there's something in there?  That's the basic premise of Dead Space, the space-horror game that keeps making me think of the ancient ICE title from the 1980s.  I'm still up in the air on this game from what I've seen - the big thing being the sci-fi background to it, it seems like they're going for a more hard sci-fi background but then you have a whole premise of mining entire planets by destroying them and a serious lack of natural resources which seems hard to justify (to me).  I will admit I haven't seen the whole background story yet but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.  The drink, on the other hand, looks really good to me, a variant of the Manhattan with amaretto added.  We used to sometimes add amaretto to our bourbon and cokes in college, but I do have to admit that I'm wondering if they added bitters to this drink.  If not - for shame.

And it better not have been one of those fluorescent red "maraschino" cherries that any good reader of the Den would know isn't a true maraschino cherry.  Maybe that's the "horror" aspect of it if it was a fake cherry...

Rock Star: Drink like a rockstar, Skyy citrus, fresh lemon and lime, served sparkling in a tall glass.

If you haven't played Rock Star you're really missing out, it's a heck of a game.  Up to four players, with lead guitar, bass, drums, and a singer, it's a great party game.  I'm leaving this as quoted from the article because I'm really hoping that they didn't add that horrific "Rockstar" energy drink to the drink.  I'm not a huge Skyy fan, and I'm assuming that by sparkling they're adding club soda or seltzer water or something, but as a light drink this doesn't seem like it'd be overly bad unless you're an anti-vodka fanatic like Marshall.

Skate It: Jameson, fresh lemon, ginger beer, a touch of blood orange bitters and pomegranate.

I'm going to be honest here.  I'm not a skateboarding fan.  Sure, I have a long sleeved Tony Hawk t-shirt garnered from E3 one year, and I always seem to end up covering those games at E3 even though I don't like or really understand the appeal to them, but there you go.  So I know nothing about Skate It.  I don't know if Irish whiskey would really be "skater" but actually I like the idea of this drink a lot.  I'd have to think the Irish will be rather subtle when coupled with the ginger beer but this is another one that I might have to try to make sometime soon.

Mass Effect: Fresh basil, Lotus vodka and fresh lime juice served straight up.

Bioware's RPGs have always been a lot of fun and Mass Effect really sucked me in.  I've even read the novel twice and will probably buy the sequels.  At first glance, a combination of basil, Lotus vodka (I've never heard of Lotus vodka - but according to its website it has a "vitamin vodka" and an "energy (drink) vodka" though the article doesn't say which is used), and fresh lime juice seems a bit weird for the game, but the more I thought about it the more appropriate it seemed, especially for the more "biotic" characters.

So hey - at least one drink in here listed bitters.  I'm betting it was the Stirrings Blood Orange bitters.  If anyone out there got a chance to try one I'd love to hear how they are, and as I said, I might try to make one for myself.  I just wonder if EA would get mad if I drank an unauthorized one while playing GTA IV...

Drink of choice for flip cup, bowling, and diet purposes?  Miller Lite.

If I can find that 64 calorie Beck's Light, though...

(Random post for the day thanks to a night of bowling.  Next post has more meat in it, I promise!)

Let's see what I can knock out here as I try to fall asleep...

If you followed the Twitter feed you saw the order things happened.  I had a bit of Drambuie and left my house at around 5:30-ish (having to come back twice for my iPod headphones and my Scofflaw's Den cards, respectively).  I got down to Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro around 6-ish, where I called tmfiii and arranged to meet him at PS7.

At PS7 I had a vanilla sidecar (very good) and a gomme de guerre, described as a rich cousin to the margarita but not one I was a huge fan of tonight.  Marshall had a lavender gimlet - as I knew he would - and a vanilla sidecar.  Both were very tasty.

Off to Proof.  There was a bit of a line at the door and we had a chance to chat with Jake Parrot, local distributor extraordinaire, and Heather, whom we had met at the rhum tasting at Bourbon.

Once inside we were immediately shuffled off to the right where we got to try the PaRappa the Rapper Punch - yes, you heard it right, a punch named after a video game.  It was invented by Adam Bernbach of Bar Pilar who had a much longer name for it.  It was Tommy Bahama gold gum, strawberry, szechuan pepper & tonka bean syrup, lime juice, tarragon and strawberry puree, and Peychaud bitters.

As we gnoshed on appies and talked to people we moved on to the Lady Randolph's Revenge.  Legend had it that Churchill's wife (if I remember correctly) would order Manhattans but only for the cherries.  This was Woodford Reserve bourbon, homemade bing cherry and Madagascar vanilla vermouth, Luxardo maraschino, Fee Bros. whiskey barrel aged bitters, and maraschino espuma, made up by John Hogan of Hudson Lounge.

We moved on and got a chance to talk briefly with the legendary Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, PX, and Majestic.  By this point I'd grabbed a Zenzero Apertivo by Chantel Tseng of Tabard Inn, a mixture of sparkling wine, Caravella lemoncello, ginger syrup, and a dash of absinthe, with a a candy structure of ginger in it.

We went on to try to talk to Gina from EatBar but she was busy, but we did meet a friend of hers and had a good time hanging out with her (I'm not certain how to spell her name, I believe it was Kiljay).  Next we had a Tarragon Gin Fizz, from Justin Guthrie of Central Michel Richard, and that was tarragon-infused Hendrick's Gin, lemon juice, a Georgian beverage called Natakhtari Tarragon Soda, and some Fee Bros. lemon bitters.  I could've drank tons of this one.

The last drink in the appetizer course was the Puffin du Velay by Rico Wisner of Poste Modern Brasserie.  It was Reyka vodka, fresh sour mix with agave syrup, Vervaine du velay, and sparkling wine.  I also around this point got to meet Don Rockwell, whom I'd always considered more of a force of nature rather than the very nice and gracious guy I got to talk with briefly.  Hopefully that doesn't break any mysterious Interweb personas out there. (grin)

It was time to sit and we sat with two very nice ladies to talk the night away.  The first course was chilled seafood and hearts of palm cocktail, almost like a cold soup.  It was served with Todd Thrasher's "The Dr. Who Cocktail", made of Machu Pisco, celery and jicama soda, and homemade celery bitters.  While perhaps an odd combination it worked very well and also very well with the food.

The second course was sake glazed salmon with pickled honshimenji mushrooms, local asparagus, and tamari-radish emulsion.  With it was a Hibiscus Fizz from Derek M. Brown of Komi - Finlandia vodka infused with hibiscus, rose hips, and orange peel, yuzu and lemon juices, topped with soda.  I really dug this drink and food.  Both were excellent on their own but together they just sang!

Next was braised Shenandoah lamb with spring pea-tarragon risotto and grilled ramps.  On its own, this was one of the most amazing dishes I've ever had.  It was served with Gina Chersevani's (of EatBar) Cereza la Fuma, a drink made with Milagro silver tequila, Lillet Rouge, Cherrywood Smoked White Pepper Meringue, Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, and topped with Fleur de Sel.  The drink was definitely peppery and paired fine with the food though at least one person at our table, despite her love of spirits, wished for a glass of wine with the amazing lamb.

The next dish was simple but - wow.  Cheese.  Four different kinds of cheese, I couldn't tell you what they were, but if someone could tell me please do because the two on the outside (the blue cheese and the other) just blew my pathetic taste buds away.  It was served with Sebastian Zutant's (from the hosting restaurant, Proof) "Medicine Man" aka "Sebby Potter and the Teeming Cauldron of Booze".  Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Blandy's Madeira, Lillet Rouge, Lustau East India Sherry, Fee Bros. whiskey barrel aged bitters, garnished with an armagnac and port soaked (for, like, 3 weeks) prune.

As the kids would say "OMGWTFBBQ".  This drink, especially with those cheeses, was flat out amazing.  This course was worth the price of admission right there.

Finally, dessert was a strawberry & pink peppercorn shortcake with creme fraiche and honey lavender ice cream.  Honestly, the dessert let me down a bit after the previous course and I was pretty full at this point.  The accompanying drink wasn't bad, and worked well with it, though.  It was a Truffled Amaro Flip by Tom Brown of Cork - Korbel brandy, Ramazzotti Amaro, egg whites, lemon juice, truffle oil, and Jerry Thomas Decanter bitters.  This led to a great sight of all those amazing mixologists shaking tons and tons of shakers of the drink.

All in all this was an amazing event.  If you didn't make it, you really missed out.  I headed out fairly quickly to grab a train and got to say hi to Derek Brown of Komi, who said he wanted to grab a drink some time, and his brother Fritz (edit: see comments, as I'm a dumbass).  I grabbed my swag bag which had a bottle opener from Finlandia, a pen from Tommy Bahama, a mini of Hendrick's gin, a couple of cards from Proof, and a black t-shirt from Finlandia that said "Bartenders are gods".  Unfortunately, I can't wear a large, so I gave it to a blonde cop from LA that we met at Metro Center who used to be a bartender.  Hey, it'll look better on her...

I can't say how much of a great time I had.  I'm still jacked and keyed up, and I need to sleep.  So it's back to my scotch and desperately trying to sleep.  My cat will be happy once I do.

AND HEY - if y'all were there tonight, give a shout in the comments and say hi!  Tonight was a great example of how awesome the cocktail community in DC is!

I've rallied my (internal) troops to overcome my "blech" feeling today and get ready for the dinner.

If you're looking to follow along, I plan on Twitter blogging as much about it as I can.  Make sure to let us know what you think!

if you know how we roll here in the Den - and if you're reading this, you might quite possibly understand - we tend to do two things for every month's MxMo and I, at least, tend to post on Sundays because I can never guarantee getting one out on a Monday.  A big "hooah!" out to Trader Tiki for hosting this month.

As I'd mentioned previously, my plan had always been to get my friend dan_oz to help me pick out rum drinks.  Unfortunately (or not), that didn't happen.  Not only did we not make it to the kickball party I'd been planning on going to but we just hung out with our friend Roy and my brother Matt at our house and at the new local bar Dogwood Tavern, drinking copious amounts of beer.  I did manage to give him his bottle of Scarlet Ibis and I can't wait to hear what he thinks of it.  Still, I'm not a huge rum guy.

Today, after a brunch downtown at Kramerbooks, I was talking with my cohort tmfiii and we remembered MxMo (which I had completely forgotten):

[17:35] T. Marshall Fawley III (Talk.v104DAA3B7B8): after dinner, I need to figure out mxmo . . . doh
[17:36] seanmike: oh crap
[17:36] seanmike: hey it's rum

Notice the blistering level of discourse that goes on behind the bar in the Scofflaw's Den.

But I'd talked about something yesterday, hadn't made it, and so now it was time.

Before that, though, it was time for dinner.  We cooked up some steaks, corn on the cob, some green beans, but in the kitchen, because, well, the weather...



(Not pictured: rain pouring down)

Let's try the other side of the house.

Feh.



Trust me, it looked more rain-ful in real life.

While cooking, I decided to make a drink before we hit the true "Mixology Monday" drink of the night.

Dark and Stormy
3 ounces Goslings Dark Seal Rum
8 ounces ginger beer

Mix in a tall glass, garnish with a wedge of lime.

(Recipe from a card deck called "Classic Cocktails" from Barnes & Noble.)

I'm not huge on exact proportions for things like this...



That's a 9.8 ounce bottle of ginger beer, but I stuck with the 3 ounces of rum.

(And no, that's not my broccoli in the background.)



Refreshing.

We had a tasty dinner, watching that Mother's Day marathon of "The Deadliest Catch", and despite the rain I thought I'd have a cigar.  I didn't get one last night and appropriately enough I had one perfect for this month's MxMo.

It was time for a Ti' Punch.

I'll quote from the Caribbean Spirits little recipe card I got at the rum tasting the other month...

Ti' Punch
Traditional Recipe

• Splash of Petite Canne Sugar Cane Syrup
• Slice of lime rind
• Rhum Agricole Blanc
• Stir, Add ice

Now, this recipe suggests using the Neisson Agricole Blanc, which I have a bottle of, but I have to be honest, I use it more as a mixing liquor rather than a drink it nearly straight.  I wanted to use the La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux, which is whisky and bourbon barrel aged, so I did.  I did the following proportions:

2 ounces La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux
1/2 ounce Petite Canne Sugar Cane Syrup
etc.



I mixed it up and pulled out my cigar accoutrements.  It was time...time for the La Aurora Rum Barrel Aged cigar!

Told you it was appropriate.



I have to tell you what - I really, really liked that ti' punch.  It was sweeter than the one I had at Bourbon lo those many months weeks ago, and I just enjoyed the heck out of it.

The cigar itself was also extremely good.  As I'd been warned by a coworker you need to let it go for a minute or so first to get the taste right up and I enjoyed the heck out of it all the way down to the end.

So that's it for me tonight.  Two very simple rum drinks - but both quite good in their own way, and, I think, a good way to show off that rum doesn't have to be just in tiki drinks.

Arggghhhhh, Matey!  I guess'd ye be searchin' for a cuppa grog . . . or maybe ye tongue wants to lash at a Zombie or a Mai Tai . . . ye look like scurvy dogs from down here in ye old Scofflaw's Den. 

But AYE!  It be yet another Mixology Monday hosted by the esteemed Trader Tiki.  The poison this Cap'n of the High Seas has chosen is that nectar of Aphrodite, that elixir that keeps a Scofflaw's tongue whetted . . . RUM.

Alright, so a full post in pirate talk would be a bit much and I'm about ready to kick my own ass if I keep this up much longer. 

I love rum.  There isn't any other way to say it as clearly as that.  I love it.  This has also been a pretty hectic weekend for me and unfortunately I'm afraid it is going to have to infringe on my MxMo day.  But I don't want to make a bunch of excuse, lest you make me walk the plank.

When I started thinking of what to write, I decided to first take stock of what rum I had in this Scofflaw's Bar.



From left to right I have:

Ron Zacapa 15yr
Depaz Blue Cane Rhum Agricole
Dogfish Head Honey Brown Rum
El Dorado 12 yr Demerara Rum
Mt. Gay Rum
Cruzan Black Strap Rum
The Scarlet Ibis Rum
Dogfish Head Wit Spiced Rum
Neisson Rhum Agricole Blanc

After I took stock, I felt completely overwhelmed.  I guess I should take a perverted sense of pride in this feeling.  Most folks probably has a bottle of rum . . . maybe two.   I also wasn't sure of what to do for a cocktail for you good folks.  Should I go tried and true tiki?  I love me some tiki (as I have said over and over), but think a lot of folks will do traditional tiki drinks.  One I idea I had, and will do eventually, is a tasting of Rum Collins - try each of my rums with a squeeze of lime and some tonic water.  Sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon if you ask me.

So I turned to the books.  Again, tons of rum drinks and none that really grabbed my attention.  Maybe it was the feeling of rushing around and I was trying to force something . . . not allowing the spirits (heh!) of those by-gone Pirates flow through me and give me inspiration when I needed.  I needed the spirit of William Dampier to infuse my soul with a yearning to find something new. 

So when all else fails, pick something at random!!!

I chose the Tahiti Club from Gary Regan's Bartender's Bible.  It goes something like this:

Tahiti Club
1 oz light rum
1 oz dark rum
1 oz pineapple juice
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz lemon juice
1 tsp maraschino liqueur

Shake, strain over fresh ice cubes in a rocks glass.


As you can see from the picture, I used the Depaz and the El Dorado.  Just a quick note to say that I really love the Depaz Blue Cane Rhum Agricole.  It smells of sweet grass, fresh sugarcane and has almost a whiskey/bourbon undertone as well.   It is also one of the few (maybe the only one?) rums to receive the Appellation d'Origine Controlee from the French Government. 

The cocktail was good - but very tart!  For my tastes, I think the tartness hid some of the nuances of the Depaz and the El Dorado.  I think a dash of rich simple syrup would really bring the inherent flavors of the rums from behind the juices.  The maraschino liqueur lent an interesting funkiness to the nose of the drink, but worked very well with the fruit juice flavors.

Hmmm . . . now that my whistle was whetted, I wanted to do a little concoctioneering.  Actually, I was going to use this space for a drink I came up with while over at Sean's Friday night, but he beat me to it and posted it here.  That scurvy bastard . . .   :-)  So check out his post for an extra-special-hey-look-there-is-an-extra-chest-of-booty-type rum drink from your's truly.

So yeah, concoctioneering.  I had some coconut milk left over from some coconut sticky rice I made a few days ago.  I decided to try and use that in a drink.  This isn't the pre-sweetned Coco Lopez stuff, rather it is what you find in the Asian section of your market.  For help using it, I turned to some notes I had written one afternoon playing with some coconut water.  The water is the clear juice that is inside the coconut right when you open one up.  One of the recipes I had tinkered with was the following:

2 oz rum
2 oz coconut water
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz falernum
.25 oz grapefruit juice
.25 oz raspberry syrup
1 dash maraschino
1 dash absinthe

I really liked this mix.  It was boozy, sweet and had flavors and aromas coming out of the waa-zoo.  For me, definitely a keeper.  But at some point I'll need to name it . . . .  But this was the launching pad to use the coconut milk.  What I came up with was this:

2 oz rum
1.5 oz coconut milk
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz falernum
.25 oz Aperol --> I ran out of grapefruit juice and wanted a substitute for the bitterness in grapefruit.
.25 oz raspberry syrup
.25 oz grenadine
1 dash maraschino
1 dash absinthe

Now to be honest, the drink came out looking kind of funky.  It was a creamy dark pink color.  Not unappetizing by any stretch, but just not a color that I normally associate with drinks.  It kind of looked like the pinkish hue you find on seashells.  Hmmm . . .

The taste was also something I wasn't expecting.  It was much more tart than anticipated.  It was creamy, sweet and tart.  The rum gave it a good backbone (I used the Mt. Gay) and the Aperol tamed the sweetness of the syrups.  (If anyone out there tries their hand an making this, please, please let me know what you think . . . any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated!)

Alright, I think it's time for me to bring my MxMo post to an end.  Again, I want to thank Mr. Blair Reynold's, aka Trader Tiki for allowing us on deck for this rum soaked episode of Mixology Monday!

Cheers!  

IF YOUR NAME IS DAN OZDOWSKI DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL 5/11 OR LATER!

Just kidding.  I'd be shocked - shocked, I tell you, shocked! - if you actually had the opportunity to read this before you show up tonight.

They say a good salesman can see a sucker coming a mile off, and in my case, that is perhaps not inaccurate.  (I definitely don't not love me some double negatives, too.)  Or maybe it's just that I'm special but not the kind of special that necessarily requires a helmet.

I had a very specific goal in going down to visit Ace Beverage again today.  One of my best friends, the quiet-as-of-late dan_oz, is in town and will be coming by my place later tonight.  His birthday was the other week so I needed to procure him a present.

I wanted to get him something that he couldn't get down in smelly ole North Carostinkylina.  Given the fact that he's a huge rum nut (rummy?  Rumsfeld?  rumoholic?) I thought that a good gift would be a bottle of the Scarlet Ibis rum.

Having that in mind, I also decided that I would like to get myself a bottle of the La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux.  That's the whisky and bourbon barrel aged rum that I tasted at Bourbon a few weeks ago.  Given that I got a couple of the rum barrel aged cigars this week I really wanted to make a ti' punch with it.

This is what I ended up with when I got home today:



We have, from top to bottom: a fifth of Maker's Mark and a bottle of Drambuie (both bought at VA ABC), a bottle of Petite Canne Traditional Martinique Sugar Cane Syrup, the Scarlet Ibis, Bloodys by Buz Full Flavor Original Bloody Mary mix, Green Chartreuse, Damrak gin, the La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux, and a bottle of Black Bottle five year old blended Scotch (that Master Shake is attempting to taste).

Let's go over each.

Maker's Mark - my standard mixing bourbon, especially for the always popular bourbon and cokes and for mint juleps.  My brother Matt wiped out my bottle recently so it was time to replace it.  I thought about going for the liter bottle but the price point per liter in Virginia is almost the same between the fifth and the liter.

Drambuie - I thought that it was the same price in Virginia as it was at Ace.  Unfortunately, it was $5 more.  I was already stuck though with either getting it in Virginia or going back out, and I didn't feel like doing the latter, so here we are.  I first tasted Drambuie a few weeks ago after kickball one night and I quite enjoyed it.  Given the Scotch, I wanted to try a Rusty Nail at some point as well.  In general, I feel like you can't have too many liqueurs of this sort because they're really quite very tasty especially after dinner while smoking a cigar.

Petite Canne Traditional Martinique Sugar Cane Syrup - whew!  When I mentioned to Joe that I was going to make a ti' punch with the rum, he asked me if I was going to use sugar cane syrup.  Slightly befuddled, I responded that I usually use rich simple syrup.  He poured me a taste of this stuff, adding that it made him think of pancakes, and it was "BIFF BAM BOOM!" right to my head.  Damn good stuff.  It's simple syrup on crack.  (Actually, I think Joe said "simple syrup on steroids" but that makes me think of Jose Canseco making simple syrup and my brain cries a little bit.)

The Scarlet Ibis - this is the rum formulated specifically for Death & Company in NYC.  I haven't opened my bottle yet but everyone seems to rave about how good it is and thus I figure Dan will get a big kick out of it.

Bloodys by Buz Full Flavor Original Bloody Mary Mix - According to my mom, I make really good bloody marys.  My granddad agreed.  However, mom always insists on using Clamato, and seriously, clam juice and tomato juice is just not a combination that makes me a happy camper.  I thought about buying a bottle of clam juice so she could just bring regular tomato juice, or maybe juicing my own clams (JUST KIDDING) but both thoughts made me unhappy.  Joe had highly recommended this mix, and, well, you know what, I just looked at it and saw that it had clam juice in it, so maybe it'll make mom happy.

And maybe I should be careful about adding horseradish infused vodka to it.  Ingredient List: Tomato Puree, Water, Horseradish, Clam Juice, Sugar-based non caloric Sweetner, White Distilled Vinegar, Mustard Seed, Anchovies, Tamarind Extract, Buz's Full Flavor Original Spice Mix, Sodium Benzonate, Potassium Sorbate added for freshness.  I bet it's the Sodium Benzonate that really makes it sing!

Green Chartreuse - Chartreuse is one of those expensive liqueurs that's needed in so many drinks.  Ace had a good price on it so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some.  They only had green, however, so I'll still need to find yellow somewhere.

Damrak Gin - tmfiii was over last night and between beers, an unexpectedly shaken Sazerac that I made (oops), and the very very good Padron Anniversary Edition cigar I smoked (did I mention very good?), I found that I couldn't stop thinking about his bottle of Damrak Gin.  Seriously.  I'm a little disturbed by how fixated I was on it.  I didn't mention it to him because, I don't know, it might seem creepy or something, but there it is.  And now here it is.

In honor of last night, here's a recipe Marshall pulled out of the air:
Marshall's Randomass Tiki Drink
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 1/2 oz. gold rum
1/4 oz. brandy (he used the E&J brandy I had that is slightly infused with apricot)
1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
5 solid dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
1 dash Angostura
1 big dash rich simple syrup (my bottle, she is very big, and pours quickly)

(Master) Shake with ice.

Strain and drink and pontificate.

La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux - Obviously, I've talked a good bit about this one already.  Is it time for me to go outside and drink it?  Maybe if I can just shut up on here!

Black Bottle Five Year Old Blended Scotch - Just as I was about to leave I asked Joe about a good mixing Scotch.  I'd tried Pinch before and it had seemed to work but I trust other people's impressions.  The thing is that you can always mix with single malts, but, I've found, they're so different in tastes between bottles that it can take a lot of guess work in how something will work with one versus another.  This was a good deal so I had no problems giving it a shot.  It appears to be the same company that also makes/distributes Deanston, Bunnahabhain, Ledaig, and Tobermory Scotch.

So that was my unexpectedly expensive liquor run for today.  If you'll excuse me, I'm finding that sobriety is become more and more of a chore on this lazy Saturday afternoon, so in the words of a wise man: "Screw you guys, I'm going home."

Every Friday in the Washington Post, as I would assume occurs in every other major newspaper in the US, they publish their "Weekend" section that lists movies, shows, concerts and generally all kinds of things to keep the masses occupied during their days off.  And in a city like Washington DC, many times people are happy to get one day on the weekend off and ecstatic when they get the whole weekend.

Anyway, in today's Weekend section there is a small article about a new Gin Joint in DC.  Literally a Gin Joint.  It's a bar that, according to the article, has "almost two dozen selections" of gin and carries three different tonic waters.  The tonics listed in the article are Schweppes, Canada Dry and Fever Tree.  Hmmm . . . which one of those doesn't belong?  I'm a little surprised that Schweppes and Canada Dry are the only other two tonics they have.   No Q or Stirrings . . . strange.  They also serve some classic gin cocktails, the Knickerbocker was mentioned, along with some of their own creations. 

Anyway, the place is called New Heights Restaurant's Gin Joint and is located at 2317 Calvert St., NW.  

I think the Scofflaw's are going to have to try and arrange a visit . . . .

Have a good weekend all!

Cheers!

I work in Rosslyn, which if you don't know anything about it is a small part of Arlington county, Virginia, right across the Key Bridge from DC.  Such as it is, it's a pretty corporate environment without a whole lot to show for itself other than about one decent restaurant (Ray's the Steaks) and a couple "eh, not bad" places as well as a lot of corporate and government offices.

Across the street from my office is a cigar store called Total Tobacco.  I had gone over there once a while ago and wasn't impressed with the prices but later realized that it might've been simply my perceptions that were a bit askew.

One of my coworkers is into cigars too so the other day we headed over there to check out what they had.  There were a couple of sticks that he highly recommended and that were about $5 less than he could get nearer to his house in Alexandria - though, unfortunately, I cannot remember their names right now.  I went and bought two of them, plus a short little triple maduro.

While there we saw an advertisement for a La Aurora event.  It was today from 12-4 so right at noon we headed over there to see what they have.

The big thing was their rum barrel aged cigars.  They had several other kinds there too and they were doing a promotion - buy 3, get 1 free, buy 5, get 2 free, or buy a box, get 8 free.  I was going to buy one of the rum barrel cigars for tmfiii, so I ended up getting 6.  Unfortunately, it wasn't buyer's choice for the free cigars, but on the other hand, I got two La Aurora 1495s, so that wasn't bad.

I bought one of each size of the rum barrel cigars, plus an extra small one for Marshall, a Don Lino 1989, and a Special Selection.  A nice little haul on the cigars and I can't wait to get a chance to actually smoke something sometime soon!  Stupid other things to do!

Now in the kegerator: Stella Artois

Mmmmmm

Better than it was Sunday at Nats stadium!

While watching "Great Cocktails" from my DVR and working on Cathy's virus-laden computer I got a beer from the kegerator (a Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale) and whaddyaknow, the keg died.

Time to make a drink.  A Pimm's Cup and Fever Tree ginger ale wasn't bad but I wanted one more.

A while ago someone responded to a post I had talking about Batavia Arrack and suggested a drink.  It was equal parts Batavia Arrack and lime juice with 3-4 oz. of ginger ale or ginger beer.

Whomever the friendly anonymous commenter was (I'm guessing Joe), he (or she) didn't say how much of the Arrack and lime juice, so I went ahead and put two ounces of each into my collins glass.  I filled the rest up with some Bundaberg diet ginger beer.

(Why diet?  Because it's the only ginger beer I have that has a resealable cap.)

My - that's a tasty drink!  I probably should've gone with a bit less of the arrack and lime juice but I've topped mine off with the ginger beer as I drink it.

It's a very interesting drink.

This month's MxMo is rum; good thing our good friend dan_oz is coming up!

I'm on Zagat's mailing list, probably because I filled out a survey or something for them.  I tend to glance over their e-mails but not pay much attention to them.

As you've seen, I noticed they had an article on shochu recently.  In that same e-mail, they mentioned that Proof was hosting a benefit for the Museum of the American Cocktail.

Basically, there will be five specialty cocktails and hor d'oeuvres served at first, followed by five more dishes each with a special cocktail of its own.  There will be a number of the big names in DC's cocktail community there, such as Adam Bernbach of Bar Pilar, Derek Brown of Komi, Tom Brown of Cork, Gina Chersevani of EatBar, Justin Guthrie of Central, John Hogan of Hudson, Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, Chantal Tseng of Tabard Inn, Rico Wisnor of Poste , and Sebastian Zutant of Proof.

Wow!

Excited, we - that is, Marshall and I - put in for our tickets and got them.  It's a bit expensive, but I've paid nearly that much for wine dinners before and this looks like a lot more fun to me.  In addition, it looks like a great chance to meet some amazing mixologists!

I'm excited as heck about this event, even if it means I'm missing another meeting that I'd really like to go to that night.  If you're in the DC area, you should try to go.

And as I recover from my long weekend - and the excursion to see the Nationals play yesterday, helped out a lot by the fact that they served Stella Artois near my section - I realize it's Cinco de Mayo, and I've got a buddy of mine coming in tonight for dinner...

Last Tuesday at the Hotel Helix, the top ten semi-finalists for their Spring/Summer cocktail competition met for a no-holds-barred cage match to the finish . . . well maybe not, but here the the exciting conclusion of the cocktail competition.  (You can read the first portion Here.)

It turns out that there were over 140 entries in the competition.  Already I felt pretty good about being in the top ten.  They ran the competiton like "American Idol."  As one competitor was in front of "Not-Randy," "Not-Paula" and "Not-Simon" (and let's not forget "Not-Ryan") the next contestant worked with the bartenders to make your drink to go before the judges.  

Well, long story short, I came in fourth!  I talked with the judges afterward (the judges were actually the Assistant GM, the Food & Beverage Manager and the Bar Manager) and learned that I lost by 3/10ths of a point.  Boo!!!  AJ, the Food & Bev Mgr., said that he really liked the execution of my drink and enjoyed the flavors.  Angie, the Bar Manager, said that she knew my drink was in the top 10 simply from the recipe - it had the flavors, and used gin - something missing from the menu, that she loved.   Two quick notes: 1) Most of the drinks in the top ten were incredibly sweet and vodka based.  B) The bartenders rushed through the muddling on my drink and short changed the simple syrup a touch.  The resulting drink came out much dryer with less "fresh strawberry" flavor. 

And while I didn't make the top 3, I think my "consolation prize" is much better.  Angie said that she loved my drink so much that it would probably still make its way on the Spring/Summer menu.  Then she asked, if I didn't mind, if she could contact me later in the summer and consult on the Fall Cocktail menu!!!  Wooo-Hooo!  

(Now, realistically, I wonder whether or not I'll actually get an email.  But at that moment, it was still nice being recognized as someone who has some knowledge of what he's doing - enough to get asked for help.  Maybe a moral victory, but I'll take it!)

Along with that cool little turn of events, everyone at Hotel Helix were super nice and friendly and they seem to really want to make their bar program a destination for DC drinkers, not just hotel guests.  It was a fun evening and I'm certainly glad I participated and got to meet everyone.

Cheers!

Marshall's gonna kick my ass; I begged off on something else (details if it works out) due to busy-ness here at work, and here I am now, posting TWO things in the Den!  I blame the fact that it suddenly got very quiet here...

...and that I'm probably going to leave in 17 minutes if I can.

I made jell-o shots for my kickball team.  Some of them have been reading the Den (hi guys!) and some of them asked for the recipe I used.  I'll post it right here, but I got it from WikiHow.  Just ignore all the spam in the article for the squeezable jell-o shot cups.

I used "Twist-n-Shot" cups.  They hold two ounces and you can twist them to get the shots out.  They're also re-usable, though not the one that somebody stepped on.  They're also a hell of a lot of fun (not) to clean, believe you me.

Here's what I used:
Boil 2 cups (16 oz.) of water
When it's boiling, pour into a mixing bowl with 6 oz (one big package) of orange Jell-o.
Mix until dissolved.
Add 6 oz. (3/4 cup) cold water and 10 oz. of orange Smirnoff.  (The last batch ran low on vodka; I used 7 oz. Smirnoff and 3 oz. Cointreau, and those were quite tasty).
Mix.
Pour into cups and chill.

Now that I've tried them, I've got three other things I want to do:

1. Find vegan gelatin.  We have at least one vegan on the team.
2. Make different flavors.  Orange is the official color of our team (DC Detention) so orange is the usual flavor, but next time I want to experiment.  One of our teammates is a huge margarita fan.  I'd love to try Sazerac ones, Gary Regan has a whiskey sour recipe (along with margarita) in The Joy of Mixology, and I've been threatening people with absinthe ones.
3. Black cherry ones, made as above - I've got most of a bottle of black cherry Smirnoff and one 3 oz package of black cherry jell-o thanks to various things.

Anybody else do any weird ones?

I was reading over an e-mail from Zagat when I saw this article about shochu.

Shochu is the Japanese version of it; the Korean version, which I've had and enjoyed, is called soju.  From what I hear, from servicemen who were station in South Korea, they consider it swill, but I thought it was tasty.

One of the notes in the article is that it's often used in cocktails instead of vodka.

Maybe that'd be tmfiii's cure for vodka!

Does anyone have any good cocktail recipes using shochu?  For whatever reason I'm thinking a Gibson...

The New York Times today has an article about citrus vodka (link awareness thanks to Slashfood; they screwed up all the links in their post, however).

It's an interesting article about a citrus vodka tasting but I have to admit, I was disappointed that they didn't list all the vodkas that they tasted nor did they post the ratings for any but six of them (of the approximately 25 they tasted).  The article does feature quotes by some of our favorite mixologists, however, such as Audrey Sanders, Gary Regan, and David Wondrich.  (EDIT NOTE:  I originally misspoke and mentioned Eben Freeman, because I am dumb and misread the article.  The Eben mentioned is Eben Kremm.  Feel free to smack me in the head, either Eben!)

One of the top two they list there is the Hangar One Buddha's Hand which I might have to try out next time I buy a bottle of citrus vodka.  That being said...

Obviously, tmfiii has said often and loudly his disdain for vodka in general.  (He'd probably enjoy Gary Regan's quote about how when he goes for flavored vodka, he typically ends up with gin.)  I, on the other hand, tend to have a few different flavored vodkas around, mostly for specific drinks.

I keep Charodei for just "regular" vodka.  My mom prefers Grey Goose citrus vodka for her Cosmopolitans; I had bought a bottle of Ketel One Citroen for when she visited but that was stolen by some guys replacing our refrigerator.  When I had to make orange jell-o shots for kickball last night, I got a bottle of Smirnoff citrus vodka because, honestly, it was cheap.

(And making 60 shots, using a recipe I found on WikiHow, took 30 ounces of vodka - it seems a fifth only holds 27.  Damn.  I ended up finishing off the last batch with three ounces of Cointreau.)

(I'd also threatened to make absinthe and/or Sazerac jell-o shots.  I didn't, this time, because (again) honestly, this is my first time I've ever made jell-o shots.)

I've got a few other bottles lying around.  I have a bottle of Absolut Kurrant which I bought simply for the bottle itself to make a vase for some flowers for a girl I was going out with at the time.  It's now in another bottle and I have absolutely no idea what to make with it, except occasionally a Metropolitan.

I made a bottle of horseradish-infused Fris vodka thanks to a recipe in Imbibe!.  I haven't made a horseradish egg sour lately, but I often make Bloody Marys (in reality, I only "often" make them for mom) so hopefully that'll be slowly used up.

I've got a bottle of black cherry Smirnoff which I bought in my quest to replicate the recipe for a cherry lime rickey.

I don't think I have any other bottles but there might be another one hiding somewhere.  When I inventory my bar again (mental note: need to replace the Maker's Mark that my brother killed the other night) I'll have to check.  I have been very tempted to make my own bubble gum flavored vodka thanks to going to Tailor!

(That would probably lead to me dying.  I could see myself drinking a whole bottle of that in no time.  Or maybe it'd finally catch up with me.  I'd probably be better off giving it to some (over 21 year old) college girls.)

Personally, I feel that flavored vodka is another tool in the chest of the mixologist.  It shouldn't replace using natural flavors but in certain drinks a good flavored vodka can enhance the overall drink, and some people prefer the taste - or lack thereof - of vodka over more intricate and/or stronger liquors.

Any preferences from y'all?

I don't know how many of you picked up the brief mention in this post, but a few weeks ago I entered a local cocktail competition.  The competition is held by a local DC hotel, Hotel Helix, for their spring and summer cocktail menu.  The winner get his or her name and cocktail featured on the lounge's cocktail menu and an overnight weekend stay at the hotel. 

This past Friday I was informed that:

I AM A SEMIFINALIST!!!

WOOO-HOOO!!!!

This Tuesday, April 29th, the ten semifinalists are invited to the lounge to test their cocktails.  The final three will be chosen that night by a panel of the hotel staff.  The winner will be decided on Saturday, May 3 at 10pm.  That night, patrons of the bar will sample each of the three finalists cocktails for $7 and the winner decided by crowd approval.

Here is the recipe for my entry, and I will keep you updated with what happens on Tuesday. 

De Lente Smash
3-4 strawberries
5-6 basil leaves
2 oz. Genever Gin (or 1.5 oz London Dry)
.75 oz rich simple syrup
2 dashes Peach Bitters

*In a mixing glass muddle the strawberries, basil and simple syrup.
*Add gin and peach bitters and shake over ice.
*Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  (I use the Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh sieve.)
*Garnish with a small basil leaf that has been smacked between your hands to release the aroma.




Wish me Luck!!!

Cheers!

So somebody (coughcough harmakhet coughcough) sent me a link to "The 11 Manliest Cocktails in the World".  Intrigued, of course, I had to check out that link.

If you want to read the article first, go ahead, or not, whatever.

The first couple of drinks are fine.  They're not necessarily cocktails, per se - well, I mean, a car bomb is sort of one, and the "Kentucky Tea" is water and whiskey.  I've never known anyone to drink moonshine and water, it's always just straight, and also, moonshine ain't aged - so it's not going to look like tea, if that's where the name came from.  I don't know if it did or not, but I've never heard of it before.

Rusty Nail - sure.  I've never had one, but it's like the world's most expensive cocktail that my friend Aimee sent me a link to - which was 55 year old Macallen scotch, passion fruit syrup, and dried peach bitters (or something like that).  If you're drinking good Scotch, why add to it, and if you're not drinking good scotch - yikes.

On the other hand, I only first tasted Drambuie last week, so I might have to try a Rusty Nail before condemning it.  As for manliness - eh.  I don't know...sure.  I mean, it's scotch.

A Snake Bite - Yukon Jack and a dash of Lime.  I've seen Yukon Jack a gazillion times in the store, but never tasted it - is it good?  Bad?  Is this some kind of harsh drink?

A Jagerade, which is Jagermeister and Gatorade.  I've never heard of anyone drinking that, either, though I'm not pretending to know everything about what everybody drinks.  Now grain alcohol and Gatorade, there's a manly drink, and heck, if you want something with Jager in it, I'd do Jager and Red Bull myself.  That's manlyer (manlier?  manly-er?) than vodka and Red Bull.

Gin and juice.  Though they decorate it with a picture of a gin and tonic.  I'm not going to argue with Snoop Dogg.

A Nuclear Waste - supposedly, this is Keith Richards' drink, and it's vodka and Sunkist orange soda.  Seriously.  That's not a manly drink.  I don't care how many drugs he's done.

The final three are good, I think - a Sazerac, a martini, and a Manhattan.  It's number four that got me.

A Tequila Sunrise.

Seriously.

THAT is a manly drink?!

The article claims it's a breakfast drink, but seriously, whatever, dudes.  You want a manly breakfast drink, stick with bourbon and Coke.  Or hell, make a Bloody Bull - that's a Bloody Mary with beef bouillon in it.  Make it with tequila, if you want - I can't remember what's that called.  Or just have a whiskey sour, or an old fashioned, or a mint julep.

But a tequila sunrise!?

Egads.

Why not a boilermaker at that?

 Now where was I . . . 

Ah, yes, Saturday.  After waking up and getting ready, we headed out with a buddy Ed for some more drinking and a few places Ed wanted to take us.  Our first stop, Aquavit where Ed plies his humble trade.  After navigating our way to the restaurant, dealing with the road closures and the throngs of people there for the Pope's visit, we made our way to the bar.

We started off with some flights of Aquavits.  I can't remember what everyone else had, but I tried the Blueberry, the Fig-Cardamom and the NYC blend (which is white cranberry.)  All of the aquavits had a wonderful nose of them.  The smelled exactly as the flavor imparted.  The taste was much lighter than the nose would have to believe.  Each one I tasted was very good.  My favorite flavor though would come later in the sitting.

As Sean mentioned, we were treated to a varitable smorgsbord (hehehehe, I really wanted to use that word while writing about Aquavit!) of food to taste.  We started with three types of herring - curried, pickled and something called "gentleman's delight" - all of which were very good.  We then had a hot smoked salmon with squid-ink mustard and some white creamy/cheesy sauce.  Another fantastic plate.  Then the waiter brings out a tasting of lobster rolls.  These were fantastic (probably my favorite thing I ate) - lobster meat inside thinnly sliced pickled apples with salmon roe and small squares of smoked bacon on top with a little sauce on the side.  Delicious!!!  Just when we were thanking everybody for the great food, another plate comes out with a meatball tasting.  Each plate had a mountain of mashed potatoes, four meatballs and gravy, pickles and lingonberries.  Our bartender for the afternoon Alex (a wonderful hostess - friendly, incredibly attractive and fun to talk to!) poured us each a small glass of lingonberry aquavit.  This was my favorite of all the aquavits we tried.

This is the lingonberry aquavit.  Ummmmm . . . 

We bid our farewells to the nice folks at Aquavit and decided to head over to the Museum of Modern Are where Ed worked in the Cafe.  The Cafe at MoMA is part of the Danny Meyer umbrella of restaurants.  Probably the best cafe/museum food in the US.  There we had a charcuterie plate and some coffee.  Then we walked around a bit, had the Meryl Streep siting, saw some wierd stuff (guess I'm not into the whole modern art thing) and headed over to The Modern.

Ed had been talking about a cocktail at the Modern for quite some time and I felt that I had to give it a shot.  The drink was called "Coming Up Roses" and contained muddled rose petals, rose water, simple syrup, lemon juice, gin (I think) and topped off with champagne.  After I took my first sip, I noticed two things.  First, it did indeed have a wonderful rose taste and smell.  Second, it was way too sweet for me.  Luckily after about three sips a bartender came by and added more champagne to the drink.  This happened twice and by that time the drink was indeed great.  The smell and taste of rose, the bubbles from the champagne and just enough sweetness to really feel like you were drinking a rose cocktail.  We had a great time talking with the bartenders there too.  They gave us suggestions on places to try for cocktails and Ed talked about several restaurants he worked at.  We were trying decide if we wanted another round and asked if we could split a cocktail called Twlights Clearing which contained boubon, pear puree, basil and lime juice.  It was another fantastic cocktial and better yet when informed it was on the house.  Score!  So far we had had free aquavit, a smorgsbord of scandanavian food and a cocktail at the Modern.  This is the way to see NYC!

After leaving the Modern I wanted to walk over to the new location of Nat Sherman.  I think I've been to Nat Sherman every time I've visited NYC and certainly wanted to see their new location.  Their new shop is across the street and less than a block over from their old location but all of the charm is still there.  Sean purchased a boxed set of cigars and was dying to have a smoke.  He asked if there was a place there to smoke and George the Greek (yes, that's how he introduced himself) offered to take us down to the new lounge.  I decided I would buy a cigar to smoke downstairs, but before I could make a purchase, George the Greek grabbed a cigar out of the humidor, handed it to me and bid me to follow.  Wow, free cigar!  Talk about a great day!

In the lounge, the three of us smoked our cigars; Sean and Ed had Manhattans from the bar and I had a sparkling water.  We talked with a nice couple from Boston who was in town visiting and prior to leaving had a nice conversation with the manager.  We all exchanged cards and he welcomed us back whenever we're in town again.  We certainly will be back!

We left Nat Sherman's to head over to the next big stop on our cocktail tour, The Pegu Club.  



The Pegu Club is named after a British Colonial Officer's Club located up the Rangoon River in Burma in the late 1800's.  It is run by the esteemed Audrey Saunders (herself a Goddess of the Libations).  Pegu is on the second floor of a building and you enter much like PX.  After you go through the front door, you ascend some dim stairs until you turn the corner into very welcoming place.  

The hostesses are dressed in kimono-esque garb and the bartenders are sharply dressed as well.  We took our seats at the bar and started to look over the menu.  Being at the Pegu Club, I had to order a Pegu Cocktail to begin.  It was delicious as I expected it would be - a sweet and tart mixture of gin, curacao, lime juice and bitters.  We all tried various drinks, I also had a pisco punch using pineapple infused pisco which was fan-fugu-tastic and a Cocktail de la Louisiane.  When I ordered the Cocktail de la Louisiane, the bartender didn't know the recipe and said he would have to look it up.  I was a bit surprised by this, but no more surprised than he was when I rattled off the recipe.  I think he was a little wary of the ingredients, but before handing it to me tasted it and seemed to by happy.  When he handed me the drink, he said that he hoped it met my standards.  I sipped.  It did.  Delicious.  Every time I have this cocktail, I am always taken to a happy place.  But I'll tell you, that pineapple pisco drink came pretty cluse to heaven!

We also decided to eat a little food while at Pegu.  I had the chicken satay and Ed and Sean had the salmon deviled eggs.  The three of us split the mushroom raviolis which were very good.

We finished eating and were getting ready to get the check.  I couldn't leave without at least asking if Audrey was around to say hello.  The bartender went to check and a few minutes later, Audrey came behind the bar to say hello.  We introduced ourselves and gave her a Scofflaw's Den card and told her of our drinking tour of NYC.  She was a gracious host, asking if we liked the Pegu Club, how the food was and even talked to us of the importance of quality.  To make her point she said that the mushroom raviolis we had enjoyed were probably going to be dropped from the menu because they don't come out perfectly 100% of the time.  We discussed the bars we had already hit, where we wanted to go next and even Ed got into the act telling her about the milkshakes at Stand (See Below).  We talked about Tales of the Cocktail a bit and she urged us to go.  Damn this job . . . and money . . . and no time . . . Grrrrr.

I loved Pegu!  Everything about it is the kind of place where I like to spend time.  Audrey was awesome and I really can't wait to go back.  

We left Pegu and decided to hit another place Ed wanted to take us to for dinner - Stand Burger.  Stand is a neighborhood burger joint that really specializes in milkshakes.  Ed had been telling us about the toasted marshmallow milkshake and I knew I had to get one.  So I ordered a house buger and a toasted marshmallow milkshake.  The burger was okay, I've had better, and honestly, 5 Guys would have put the burger to shame.  But the milkshake.  Good God this is what a milkshake should be.  It came with two toasted marshmallows on top and tasted just what you would think a toasted marshmallow milkshake would taste like.  Note to self: Try and make a toasted marshmallow milkshake at home . . . 

After Stand we headed to our next stop, Sam Tailor's new restuarant Tailor.  Tailor is known for his moleculor gastronomy which he learned from Wylie Dufresne at wd-50.  With Tailor and Dufresne at wd-50 was a mad-scientist bartender/mixologist who used the same techniques used on the food on his cocktails.  That bartender is Eben Freeman.  Eben's cocktails are certainly avant garde and really pushes the evelope on flavor profiles, textures and delivery systems.  Having read about what was going on at Tailor, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  

We walked through the front door and the first thing I saw was Eben, in his crows-nest type roost above the main dining room mixing drinks for the diners.  We told the host we were just there for drinks and followed him down a set of stairs to the bar.  After a few minutes of hovering over one barstool, the three of us could all sit at the bar.  Troy was our bartender and the first "drink" I got was called the "Solids."  It was three small tastings on a plate that consisted of a Cuba Libre in Jello form, a Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallow and a White Russian bowl of rice krispies.  It was really neat to try cocktails in solid form.  Each piece tasted like the liquid form of the cocktail, with the slight caveat that the Ramos Fizz marshmallow seemed less tart than I expected.  Ed drank the mushroom margarita and Sean had the Violet Fizz.  (Note: for ingredients in these drinks, check Sean's recap as he twittered each drink we all had with ingredients.)

Our next round of drinks was much more interesting.  I had a Blood and Sand that, instead of the orange juice found within the cocktail, the drink was topped with a thick orange foam.  As you drank the scotch/vermouth/cherry ale mixture below, it mixed with the orange foam on top to make a Blood and Sand.  It was a very good drink, but I think I prefer the more traditional Blood and Sand.  Ed got the Waylon, which was bourbon and smoked coke.  It was very good.  It even ellicited a debate on the cab ride back to Ed's on how the Coke was smoked.  Sean on the other hand was not so lucky.  

Now Sean loves spicy stuff and has never been one to shy away from anything that is spicy.  His drink, the Aqua Verde, contained tequila, tomatillo, cilantro and habenero.  All things that we knew he liked.  He took one sip and almost fell off his stool.  Ed took a drink with the same reaction.  Me . . . I'm smarter than that and just enjoyed my Blood and Sand.  For the first time in his life, Sean returned a drink.  The bartender told us that the drink should be spicy, but graciously took the drink and replaced it with one of Seans' choosing.  

At this point, dear readers, I want to step aside from my recap.  I want to point out that everyone we met on our cocktail jaunt was kind, gracious and enthusiastic.  Troy was a little defensive about Sean returning his drink, but all evening he was nice, helpful and really fun to talk to.  After returning to DC, Sean beat me with his recap.  As I sit at work yesterday I get a text message with "I'm such a girl.  Eben responded.  :-)"  So I check the comments of his recap and sure enough, Mr. Freeman himself had responded to the post.  You can Eben's post here.  Seriously, he did not have to take time out of his day to respond, much less read, our little blog.  This just underscores the attitude of us cocktail geeks.  :-)

Alright, where was I, oh yeah . . . So for Sean's backup he chose the Bazooka.  A bright pick cocktail made with bubble gum cordial, vodka and lemon juice.  Troy laughed when Sean asked for this and said, "That was NOT what I expected your back-up drink to be!"  We all got a good laugh out of that.  I tasted the Bazooka (the bubble gum cordial is apparently made by mascerating double-bouble chewing gum in vodka . . . two pounds of gum!) and it really tasted like Bazooka gum.  We joked that you wanted to chew the cocktail!  My final drink at Tailor was a Mate Sour, which was a pisco sour made with yerba mate.  It was earth and sour, a real nice finish to our cocktails at Tailor.  So we thanked Troy, settled up and hit the road to our final stop.

That final stop was PDT.  PDT, short for Please Don't Tell, is a modern day speakeasy attached to Crif Dogs (a hot dog place) fairly close to Death and Company.  You walk down the steps into Crif Dogs and enter into an old wooden phonebooth.  You pick up the phone, push the talk button and the back wall slides open where the hostess greets you.  The place is very small, probably less that 30 max occupancy, but I'm guessing here.  The hostess asked if we had reservations - D'oh!  We were told that there was only 13 spots at the bar and the place was full.  But she took my cell phone number and said she would call if space opens up.  We turned around and went topside, slightly defeated that the last place on our list for this weekend would be denied.

At this point it was fairly late and we were stuffed with food and drink.  We thought about going back to Death & Co. or hitting another place like the Flatiron Lounge.  In the end, we decided to make it a night and head back to Ed's for some drinks and hanging out around the house.

Sunday, after breakfast, we bid our farewell's to Ed, hung around his place a bit and then headed down to Penn Station.  Our train was late from DC, but luckily we got on an earlier train and got back to DC without much hassle.

Endnotes

The trip was simply fantastic.  Everyone we met, talked to and had the privilege of drinking their wonderful potions were friendly, professional and gracious.  I can see spending long hours at Death & Co. and Pegu Club.  I'm looking forward to going back to Tailor and saying hello to Eben and trying more of his cocktails.  The food and drink at Ellataria were both fantastic and Lynnette was awesome behind the stick.

PDT, Flatiron Lounge, Little Branch, (maybe trying for Milk & Honey) you three are on notice!  The Scofflaw's will be back and we will be on your doorsteps.  

I can't wait.

Cheers!

Unfortunately, I'm going to break my recap down into two posts.  Post one will cover Friday.  Post B will cover Saturday and Sunday. 

Wow.  That pretty much sums up our trip to the Big Apple.  Before I get to my recap for you folks, I would like to send a hearty THANK YOU to our friend Ed and his gorgeous fiance Francois.  Thanks to their hospitality, the Scofflaw's trip was much more financially feasible.  Now if we can just get them some drinking glasses . . .

Anyway, our trip started on Friday.  We had an early morning Amtrak train from DC to Penn Station.  As Sean has mentioned, we splurged for business class . . . definitely the way to travel!  I had to have a cocktail for the trip and deciding on what was a bit difficult.  I really didn't want to do the Irish coffee route nor did I want to simple take a bottle of booze.  What I decided on was a bottled cocktail.  I found the instructions here.  It is a really interesting read because it shows the importance of ice.  In short, if you are making bottled cocktails, you need to figure in a certain amount of water because the water from the melted ice when you shake or stir will not be present in the bottled cocktail.  Anyway, I realized that I had way too much applejack and quite honestly, it was taking up valuable liquor cabinet space.  After searching for an appropriate drink, I settled on one found from CocktailDB - an A.J. Cocktail.  The drink is comprised of 1.5 oz each of applejack and grapefruit juice and .50 oz of grenadine.  Using the formula Bar Mix Master's site, I had a great bottled cocktail.

Sean has already wrote about Brother Jimmy's and my chopped brisket sandwich was very good (basically the burnt tips of the brisket!)  After lunch, we headed to the West side and dropped our stuff off at Ed's.  We rested a bit and then decided hit our first stop.  DEATH & COMPANY!!!!

Now I've read a lot about this bar and was chomping at the bit to have a drink - or three - there.  I knew they opened at 6pm so we left Ed's with plenty of time to find the place.  One of the interesting aspects of D&C is that they are very low key.  The bar is in a residential neighborhood and they don't have a ton of signage advertising they are there.  The plaque on the door and the front mat is all they need.



We walked in to the dark interior and took our seats at the bar.  Philip Ward, the head bartender, was our bartender for the evening.  I ordered a Cocktail de la Louisiane first which was fantastic.  Now here is where Sean's and my recap will differ.  He was smart enough to at least twitter what drinks we had when we had them.  When it came to my next drink, I told Phil that it was bartenders choice, but that I would like to try the Cynar - an herbal liqueur with a base of artichoke.  He asked some guiding questions, such as whether I wanted sweet or sour and what spirit was my favorite (bourbon or rye).  He exclaimed that it was an easy choice and handed me a Cynartown.  Quite frankly it was delicious, sweet and herby with a bit of a licorice-y undertone.  I then ordered a China Fizz and a Buffalo Soldier.  The Buffalo Soldier used a candied pecan Buffalo Trace bourbon and came with a side of candied pecans.  WOW!

Our conversations with Phil were great.  He seemed generally interested in our little website and what we are writing about.  We talked about various cocktail related minutia and he even poured me a gratis hefty ounce the Anchor Distilling Genever Gin.  Very nice of him and completely unwarranted, but that's the way these guys do business.   Sean mentioned how we missed our opportunity to get on the list of Milk and Honey but we just didn't know who the guy was at the time.  Maybe before one of our next trips we can try and reach out to some of the cocktail folks work out an invitation.  Who knows until you try, right?!?!  I could have stayed at Death and Company all night.  I really wanted to.  But alas, food and another stop had to be made.  As Sean said earlier, on the next trip, I can see myself planted at the bar at Death & Co. for an entire evening.

We bid our farewells and headed to