Soybomb's Profile
How many people buy supermarket chicken and meat?
I generally buy nothing but supermarket meat/chicken/produce with the exception of in season vegetables from the local farmer market. I bought 1.5 pounds of ribeye steak today for $5 from my local grocery store. Their beef is generally excel choice, sometimes prime. I could guy to the specialty butcher shop in town but if you look behind his counter you'll see the same boxes from ibp, excel, etc I think a lot of people just find perceived value in paying more for their meat, or buying from a boutique shop but never consider that it comes out of the same cryovac as the big grocery store down the street. Odd that people don't think paying more for their new XYZ cordless screwdrive at the town hardware store means its any higher quality than the same item from walmart. If you're paying more it has to be tastier, safer, more friendly to animals, or something right? That doesn't mean I don't have my preferences. I won't buy hormel pork because its enhanced, I would still order something like wagyu, sometimes I'll want prime beef, etc.
Of course I also have ill will toward a lot of the organic/free range /whatever movement. It seems like its often condescending, pushes bad science or out right lies, is often nothing more than an increased revenue stream for the same big producers as usual, and relies heavily on guilt. We're all pretty lucky to have the safe and affordable food supply we have that a lot of the rest of the world doesn't. I think a lot of people feel guilt over that. I think a lot of people want to find something wrong with our system to feel less guilt. On a lesser note I've noticed a lot of people cite taste but in the blind tests I've done with friends, their taste buds apparently aren't as accurate as they thought.
Do vague measurements frustrate only me?
Sometimes we probably take things to extremes as foodies. I suspect many of us are somewhat geeky and want to measure everything. When someone really works out a recipe to their liking though it might go past the precise measuring stage. I don't think I really am that precise wth any of my best dishes honestly. I know them by now. Luckily the vague recipe should get us close and give us room to tweak it to our tastes.
I'll confess, volume measurements for dry goods have always bothered me when baking. Whats the actual difference between my 2.5 cups of flour and yours? Why 2T salt when crystal sizes vary so much? Give me mass!
"In and out" - discarding the vermouth when making a martini?
As others have said, its fairly common. The popular notion seems to be that vermouth is bad in any appreciable quantity. I don't know why people don't just put in a few drops in the first place if thats all the want. Often the same crowd will be having vodka martinis that essentially amount to vodka straight up with an olive garnish, but they want to be seen drinking a martini so they order the bland tasting drink that passes for a cocktail today.
Drink what you like and enjoy but I think the practice of putting it in to pour it out is silly.
Is White Horse scotch available to you?
Thats a shame to hear, I was hopefully that I found an affordable islay blend. I envy the people that can get finlaggan at trader joe's.
Is White Horse scotch available to you?
I keep reading about it in older threads and would love to find some but have never seen it available in my part of the country. I'm wondering if maybe its a regional thing or perhaps there's been a availability problem in recent years. Can you get it? If so, what part of the country? Thanks!
So I went to The Keg and ordered a Manhattan...
I suspected that was an iffy figure, although I have found a couple places at $25 that do have better bartenders too. Its a gamble no matter what for certain, but if you go into a generic chain restaurant and expect the cute girl behind the bar to know how to make anything close to a classic cocktail, you're asking for trouble. Remember that to most people a martini these days is cold vodka with an olive.
So I went to The Keg and ordered a Manhattan...
Perhaps my standards are low but I generally won't order any classic cocktails at a place that is say $50 or less a plate. Lets face it, the classic cocktails aren't popular anymore in the day of super premium vodkas that get used to make some tini creation. You'll need a better bartender to make the classics. I've found places that don't have tonic at all. I've been in places where I wouldn't even ask them to make me a martini because I'm sure the vermouth is long gone, at least assuming they knew how to leave any in the glass in the first place. I'd get a beer, bourbon and coke, or a shot of wild turkey and be done with it. Squabbling over a cocktail glass instead of a rocks glass? Accuracy aside, not worth the hassle in such an establishment.
Hopefully one day "real" cocktails will make a comeback, until then I don't know that you can expect an average chain restaurant bartender to be able to make them. If you're daring, specifiy when you order.
Should I really give gin another try?
I feel like I should update this thread. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I did give it another try and wound up going with plymouth. I'm glad I did, I like it a great deal. I actually cleaned my liquor store out of their remaining stock at $20 a bottle. Sadly it looks like when its gone I'm looking at $30 bottle prices. It makes a heck of a martini with lillet blanc. It did prompt me to go back and try some of the other gins with more juniper in them too. I have more appreciation for it now in a gin and tonic. When I feel like spending money on top shelf liquor I'm not sure that I'll be buying gin often, but a nice gin and tonic is a good summer drink.
need suggestions for a winter drink
To be honest guinness has a very undeserved reputation as a rich, full, heavy, etc. I don't know if it the different feel of a nitro gassed beer, psychological effect of a dark beer on people more accustomed to the likes of bud/miller/coors, or just repeated enough to stick. No matter guinness is a relatively light beer with a thin body. It is a dry irish stout afterall. Don't get me wrong, I have a spot for it, it was the first beer I ever found myself liking. It just isn't what many people describe it to be. If you're wanting a stout that is a bit more robust and "wintery" readily available examples includes sam smith's oatmeal stout, young's double chocolate stout, and north coast's old rasputin imperial stout. They're all incredible beers.
Stepping outside of beer I really enjoy rusty nails, manhattans, and once in a while a hot buttered rum this time of year. A little neat brandy and cognac are also popular but not my favorites.
home made scotch liquer?
Has anyone tried to make one before? If so I'd love to hear about what ingredients worked and what didn't. Scotch and honey are the two obvious biggies. Wikipedia suggests drambuie contains saffron, anise, nutmeg, and herbs. People on the web suggest rosemary, fennel, angelica root, and citrus zest. Glayva is reported to include clove and almonds but I've never seen it in stores.
So whats do you guys think? I"m thinking of taking about 3 cups of a blended scotch, adding a dash of anise, cloves, and maybe a little nutmeg and letting it infuse for a few weeks, straining, and then stirring in a cup of honey. I'd like the finished product to be somewhat less cloying than drambuie.
lillet rouge and the manhattan
Martini purists beware, this posting isn't for you.
I've come to really favor lillet blanc in my martinis. Paired with plymouth gin it might be the best "martini" I've ever had. Natually my mind has turned to lillet rouge and the manhattan. Anyone ever try it? Worth picking up a bottle to make or not?
Pairing Spirits w/ Cigars
Me too, I've never been super happy with any of the pairing so if I do have something with a cigar its usually just some decent bourbon so I don't feel like I"m wasting anything too good. For me tobacco usually gets water, tea, or coffee.
I've also found I'm more partial to a pipe than cigars. It takes a little more skill to learn to smoke but there's a huge variety of tobacco flavors available and the price is so much more reasonable.
Whats your cocktail sin?
Lets hear your bad habits or controversial cocktail theories.
I'm a lazy drinker at home. I don't strain my chilled drinks, they get poured and mixed in the glass. I don't use special glasses for each cocktail, in general I just use bodum double wall glasses because they don't sweat and they don't let my drink turn watery too fast from the ice. I generally use store brand liquor for my mixed drinks.
How about you?
Small Home Bar
I think it depends on what you want to do with it and your palate. Personally I notice very little difference in vodkas and the cheap handle of burnetts will do just fine for the mixed vodka drinks I enjoy like the cape cod. If you like vodka martinis perhaps you'd want a higher end vodka.
I love Plymouth gin and make gibsons with it, but its expense is wasted in a gin and tonic. In fact I might even prefer a little more traditional in your face juniper flavor for my gin and tonic than the plymouth gives. I personally stock both a cheap bottom shelf gin for such mixing and the plymouth for gibsons and martinis.
Whiskey again is going to be a bit of a personal use thing. I don't see any reason to spend the money on knob creek, wild turkey, or makers mark just to have a guest pour it in a glass of coke. Again it might be preferable to have some favorite sipping spirits and a bottle of cheap mixer stuff for the appropriate drinks. I've not yet found a really good scotch for under $25 and I'm still experimenting with ryes.
The short of it fancy packaging, known names, and high prices aren't always a necessity to make a quality cocktail. Don't be afraid to experiment, buy the bottom and middle shelf products, maybe try to do a blind test, honestly evaluate what differences in drinks you can taste. You may be surprised at how often you don't really have to use the top shelf product. I think a lot of people don't trust their taste and buy into a lot more brand hype than is necessarily true.
Expanding my scotch tastes
For years I've drank basic scotch like glenlivet but lately I've been playing with some of the more flavorful stuff and am really liking it. Last week I had a dram of caol ila 12 and loved it, the smokey component was just great. I'd like to find something like this (maybe even more smoke) in a more budget friendly bottle, perhaps a blend. Any suggestions on what might fit the bill?
On a side note I've heard people commonly using smokey and peaty to describe a scotch but I've yet to feel like I've experienced peat. Does it come off as distinctly different from say the basic smokey flavor i taste in caol ila?
Your "signature" drink
Spending most of my time in a rural area its rare to find a bar that I trust to make much of a drink right so I save most of my experimenting for home. At an average bar in this area I'll order a gin and tonic (I even had one that was off tonight...not sure I didn't get gin and club soda). At a grungier bar I'll get wild turkey neat. Someplace that might have drambuie behind the counter will get me a rusty nail. I dream of one day finding a place in the area that I can order a gibson made with plymouth and lillet.
Generic or home made drambuie
I've taken a liking to the rusty nail but the price of a bottle of drambuie is just too much. My main liquor store didn't seem to have any generics but are there any out there? Maybe even a recipe for home made drambuie that could be made with a cheaper scotch?
My Limoncello recipe
I've been spending some time lately on trying to make my own perfect recipe and it seems to be a popular topic so I thought I'd share.
Recipe I settled on is:
2 bottles of 95% everclear
soak microplaned zest of 28 small-medium lemons in everclear for a week or more
drain/press out everclear (may want to filter a few times with cheesecloth)
Make a simple syrup with 8 2/3rd cups of water and 6 2/3 cups sugar. (final volume of this was 2570ml)
Let syrup cool, mix throughly, bottle, serve from freezer.
Net was 5.4 bottles at 35% alcohol
http://cyber-byte.com/photos/lc3.jpg
Limoncello questions...
Ethyl alcohol isn't very friendly to bacteria, I'm not personally too worried about stuff growing in 40%.
Soft drinks
What are some good soft drinks to mix up when tending the home bar? I have all these mixers and ingredients and would like to be able to offer something to guests who would like prefer a drink without alcohol other than a canned soda.
Best places to order booze online?
The physical store front for http://www.internetwines.com/ isn't too far from me. Their online prices don't seem to be huge bargains but the selection is reasonable and the staff has always been relatively helpful.
Should I really give gin another try?
I thought I'd report back, I bought a bottle of Plymouth yesterday afternoon. I'm just coming off being sick so it isn't the ideal time to be tasting anything but I couldn't resist. I started with some just poured over rocks right from the bottle. I really don't think I picked up anything other than juniper (hopefully the next few days will let me pick up the other stuff), but it was much less than what I'm used to. It seemed to be just slightly sweet and oddly enough had absolutely no burn at all. Over the rest of the evening I tried some gin cocktails I just never make like the martini, gimlet, and gin rickey. Overall I think it was a positive experience. I'll probably wait a few days until my sinuses are 100% and try it again on the rocks and in a martini. I could probably sway a few gin hating peers with it. I'll probably keep some of the other recommendations on a list and maybe keep gin a shot in the future, just watching out for the juniper strong ones.
As a side note though about it being a good value, I noticed in one of the other threads here that someone mentioned they had a price increase. My bottle was $22 in a a rural area, if I buy it closer to a large city I'll probably be paying $25 in my state.
Is there any particular name that is given to such gins?
Should I really give gin another try?
Thanks for the recommendation, I might have to give it a try. Corriander is one of my favorite spices so that could be a good match.
Should I really give gin another try?
I've been reading a lot of the old posts here and there are of course many gin lovers. It is tempting me to do something I usually regret but do from time to time anyway, try gin again. Sadly the only two gin's I remember trying right off the top of my head are tanqueray and some seagrams. I wasn't wowed by the botanicals, I felt like someone ran the christmas tree through the juicer. I'm considering trying another brand that I know I haven't had before though like tanqueray 10 or hendricks.
To give you an idea of my tastes I love fine beer although I can't drink it anymore. Cocktails I might make or order are a vodka gibson (none of that threaten the shaker with vermouth business either, it gets a reasonable splash), rob roy, rusty nail, old fashioned, vodka + cranberry, neat wild turkey, or a good single malt just off the top of my head.
So what do you think? Have I just had gin's that are too juniper heavy or am I one of those people that doesn't like such things in his drink?
