checked out gather restaurant. had a ‘winter wonderland’ which was basically a sidecar with spiced syrup. really nice.
the bartender did something interesting: measured the citrus and the syrup, but free poured the brandy. i’m not a fan of the free pour, but this hybrid technique makes more sense. still [...]
been on a few social outings lately. difficult and rare, these days.
rickhouse:
blue and red smash – bourbon, lemon, red and blue berries. excellent.
kentucky buck – bourbon and ginger/ginger beer, other stuff. also excellent.
favela – cachaca, lemon, coffee. not very good.
some kind of sling – gin, cherry heering, other stuff. also not [...]
went to beretta with the inlaws. got two cocktails:
il gitano (amaro, lime, pineapple gomme, grapefruit, bitters). excellent. interesting use of amaro as a base spirit.
the acadian (rye, sloe gin, lemon, honey, absinthe, rosemary). also great. delicate hand with the absinthe which can easily overpower a drink. i didn’t detect [...]
smugglers cove: got a ‘dead reckoning‘ (rum, lemon, pineapple, maple, tawny port, vanilla liqueur, bitters, soda). good but not as amazing as i’d hoped or expected. i didn’t get anything from the port or maple syrup or vanilla liqueur. ‘merely’ a delicious pineapple-rum drink.
incredible menu, and a fun, cozy space. [...]
la strega nuda – rum, strega, lime, orange, orgeat. an orangey, creamsicle version of the mai tai, with interesting accents from the strega.
nocino manhattan – as advertised, made with housemade nocino. tastes like a manhattan up front with walnuts on the finish. awesome.
went to the independent spirits expo last week. at some point i got fed up with the crowds and left before i could taste it all.
some highlights:
loft liqueurs (deep, clean flavors)
j witty (like a subtle falernum variant)
pc7 (though i know nothing of scotch)
north shore gin no. 11
square one botanical (basically a light, modern gin)
hangar [...]
…hotsy totsy! this place has been around forever, but has recently been taken over and fixed up a bit (while still preserving the old school vibe) by a husband and wife team who know their cocktails.
they have a facebook fan page, james hetfield is a fan!
and they bring in a taco truck [...]
i didn’t write down the drink components, and t-rex’s online drink menu is 404.
cocktail #1 – grapefruit, thyme, lemon balm syrup (?)
cocktail #2 – watermelon, cucumber, spicy-heat
in both cases the flavors were very good. but, cocktail #1, was warm and not strained. wtf people. cocktail #2, wasn’t cold, kind of watery.
had a couple cocktails at a cute neighborhood place in denver called venue bistro. i don’t know if i was in the right mood or what, but i really enjoyed our dinner despite it having some clunky flaws. i think i liked that everything seemed well-intentioned. aka “made with love”.
cocktail 1: stone fruit [...]
visited jackie patterson at heaven’s dog.
cocktail 1: tequila, mezcal, allspice, ango
cocktail 2: rum, ginger, lime, egg white thing
cocktail 3: gin, lime thing (comped)
the cocktails were very good, but not as complex as the drinks i’ve had by her at the cuesa gatherings nor (seemingly) her competition-winning drinks.
i did get to talk to her [...]
as mentioned in a previous post, cuesa has a farmer’s market cocktail night every quarter/season. tonight was their night of summer cocktails. overall, the drinks this time around were much better than last time; nothing was bad, many were very good.
favorites:
green and orange (jackie patterson) – green chartreuse, lime, carrot, honey, cantaloupe, cilantro [...]
had three cocktails at nopa:
escondido romano – chipotle vodka, cynar, dimmi, cava
valkyrie – aquavit, aperol, vermouth (dolin blanc), sunshine (saffron) bitters
sherry shrub – manzanilla sherry, huckleberry shrub
i admired these more than i liked them. what i mean is: none were boring. all were perfectly balanced. the flavors were new, interesting. but [...]
part 3 in the “better know your neighborhood bars” series…
jp, kue, and i went to this place for dinner. i knew from a previous scouting that the cocktail menu was two parts boring one part nightmare: one of the drinks contains spiced apple puree (from a bottle no less) which, for reasons posted previously, [...]
part 2 in the ongoing series, ‘better know your neighborhood bars’
last night i went to a new-ish bar down the street. its part of a restaurant that has been around for awhile, but the bar itself only recently went from beer-n-wine to full. i asked the bartender for a recommendation from the ’specialty [...]
my rickhouse trip is summarized on yelp.
after i left (without getting my drink), i soul-searched a little, thinking, was i wrong to be upset? i try to be an understanding person. bartenders at hoppin, douchey bars don’t have too easy a job. maybe it pays well, who knows, but it is still [...]
swizzle from cafe rouge. rum, falernum, lime, pineapple, ango. was ok. velvet falernum is pretty lame as it turns out.
tina modotti from pizzaiolo. tequila, grapefruit, lime, aperol. really good. maybe i need to procure some aperol.
stopped by pizzaiolo after running some errands as i “just happened” to be in the area.
sfizio alla pesca – rum, lemon, peach, lemon verbena syrup
andina – pisco, lime, drambuie + something else i forgot to write down, maybe orange bitters
of note, cate used a half a peach per drink. that’s commitment!
…
as per [...]
five:
basil gimlet – really delicious but the basil could have looked better. just for cosmetic reasons if nothing else.
unnamed drink – bardude comped me a drink in exchange for being a guinea pig. a brandy sour made with vanilla sugar, with an aged rum float. excellent, though there was a slight [...]
i’ve been doing a little internet reading-watching-research lately. in particular:
eGullet
small screen network
(egullet is a great resource, but it is populated by fanatics. and fanatics always scare me a little. they remind me what i am not, which makes me sad, and also what i might become, which makes me sadder.)
might be time for [...]
