Archive for the ‘Drinks’ Category
Red, White, and Tipsy
Posted on: July 4, 2012
- In: Drinks | Food
- 3 Comments
My ideal 4th of July consists of a long weekend filled with BBQs, picnics, and a cold beer or fruity sangria (or both (but not together, ew)). Unfortunately, I’m no master brewer, so I won’t be teaching you how to make beer today, but I figured I’d equip you with the knowledge to conquer the other elements of a relaxing July 4th. And should it be the case that you’re just getting started on your holiday plans right now, you’re in luck! Neither of these recipes involves much forethought (though they both benefit from it), so you can be on your way to your BBQ/picnic/cookout/potluck in no time. Read the rest of this entry »
100 Rieslings in One Day
Posted on: May 16, 2012
- In: Drinks | Food
- 5 Comments
Riesling: Grape of the Gods
Last week, I tried more than 100 German Rieslings in one day. How is this possible? The short answer is highly functioning alcoholism cleverly disguised as gainful employment based on an advanced knowledge of the great and varied fermented grape juices of the world. I am a buyer slash salesman for a wine shop in Manhattan. One of the perks of my job is the ability to leave work in the middle of the day and go to places where I normally wouldn’t be welcomed to taste and evaluate wines for purchase. On the day in question, a trade organization for the Wines of Germany put on a grand show in Tribeca featuring the stellar 2011 vintage. It’s hard work, but someone’s got to do it.
Before we go any further, let’s clear up a few things about Riesling. Forget what you heard, Riesling is one of the great grapes of the world, with a wide range of styles and quality levels. Riesling can be crap sugar water in blue bottles or single-vineyard God-Juice capable of ageing for a century. It can be so dry and mineral as to be nigh overwhelming to the senses (trocken) or dessert wine (Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenausle, Eiswein), or somewhere in-between (Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese). Grown in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, California, Oregon, Hungary, Slovenia and China, it’s the ideal pairing for any kind of fish, ham, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, or Szechuan food. It was a favorite of the tsars and 200 years ago, if you walked into the best restaurant in London, it would have been the most expensive bottle on the menu.
Good Riesling, for me, is akin to drinking joy. There is a more than bearable lightness coupled with precision, hidden power and quiet depth. Add a touch of sweetness and you’re left with something like a perfect spring day when the sun is strong enough to warm the skin but the remembrance of winter is still on the wind. Summer lies somewhere in the future, with all the potential it brings, but for now you’re content to simply exist in a crisp, clean moment and, my, isn’t it sweet?
- In: Drinks
- 2 Comments
Of all the strange cul-de-sacs of European aristocracy, one of the most bizarre is Ferdinand Maximilian Josef, an Austrian prince whom Napoleon III installed as Emperor of Mexico in 1860s, and who was overthrown and killed three years later.
Born into the House of Hapsburg, Maximilian was the son of Princess Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl. Karl, the shallow end of an already-inbred gene pool, has been charitably characterized as “an amiably dim fellow whose main interest in life was consuming bowls of dumplings drenched in gravy.” But his issue were keen indeed. Maximilian’s older brother, Franz Joseph was the star of the family, pushing his dumpling-loving father out of the way to become the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, and ruling with a strong hand for almost 68 years. Maximilian was not to be totally left out, however. He was appointed Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, two regions of Italy that had come under Austro-Hungarian control. Then things got weird.
It’s puck night in the Frontier Mixologist’s house. Some believe ice hockey first developed in the Netherlands, where it looked more like ice golf. In any event, the modern game was clearly developed by our friends north of the border. The relocation of a team to Winnipeg/Manitoba is, thus, fitting. As it’s their game, moreover, and, despite some trepidations based on Aaron Rome’s Game 3 blindside hit on Nathan Horton, we’re rooting for the Canucks in the battle for Lord Stanley’s cup.
As for the city of Vancouver, its cocktail scene is in good shape. Indeed, a bar there will be happy to prepare for you FP favorites the Red Hook or a Lucien Gaudin. Now, while watching the game, if offered a cold (strange) brew, I won’t refuse. Tonight, I’d rather have a cocktail. Given the importance of ice in cocktail making, it seems somehow appropriate.
Accordingly, we visit a delightful but obscure classic revived by Ted Haigh: the Vancouver. It’s been getting more and more recognition lately, particularly by bartenders around Vancouver. Don’t be distracted by recipes employing Canadian whiskey and maple syrup, strictly for hosers.
Booze in Bulk
Posted on: May 31, 2011
Bottled Negroni cocktail, courtesy of Serious Eats
Granted, we are way past the fete-filled Christmas/New Year holiday season, but there are still plenty of party opportunities coming up. Whether you plan on celebrating Flag Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, or a random summer night, you won’t want to spend your evening mixing drinks for everyone.
Instead, check out Serious Eats for tips on making drinks in advance. Being Negroni fans, we especially like their recipe for a bottled Negroni. And remember, you can always make punch.
Red Hook, I love it. The place has a faded sense of history, the polyglottal shouts of long-dead stevedores hanging in the air. It retains an atmosphere of waterfront decay à la Season 2 of The Wire that has been excised from other neighborhoods better served by public transport, even as much of Red Hook’s actual waterfront has been landscaped into parks and recreation areas. Still, looking out over the harbor, especially during the winter, one can be forgiven for concocting anachronistic adventure fantasies of hauling aboard a steamer ship bound for Singapore. As the proposal to build a street car from Atlantic Avenue down to Red Hook looks doomed, perhaps the neighborhood will continue to hold fast to its uniqueness, a sensibility that persistently remains in the face of IKEA and Fairway, which, truth be told, are very convenient to have around if you live nearby. Read the rest of this entry »
Frontier Mixology: ‘Ti Punch
Posted on: April 29, 2011
What you know as rum isn’t really rum. The light rum from, for example, Bacardi with which you’ve been making mojitos is more akin to a vodka, one that happens to have started its life way-back-when as sugar cane. It is distilled from molasses, and is produced in such a way as to remove fermentation by-products known as congeners, which also provide distinctive flavors to spirits. Thus, because of the way they are made, most light rums do not have much inherent flavor, and so a strawberry daquiri tastes, not of rum, but of… well, strawberries, I guess. This is all well and good, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Frontier Mixology: The Last Word
Posted on: April 15, 2011
Detro
it has been through a lot lately. But in the 1920s, the Motor City was a different place with a bustling economy whose better days were still ahead of it. Indeed, the Roaring Twenties roared a little bit louder in Detroit. During Prohibition, the city’s proximity to Canada — Windsor, Ontario is just across the bridge — made it a haven for bootleggers running liquor down from up north. The geographic adjective of Canadian Club is no accident, after all.
Detroit was awash in booze, which bred border-area crime much as the drug trade does these days along the Southern border. Four brothers Bernstein – Abe, Joe, Raymond, and Izzy — rose to power in the most powerful outfit around, The Purple Gang. Despite a moniker that sounds more Velvet Mafia than Scarface, the Purple Gang was into all manner of vice, and their fearsome methods were so ruthless that even mighty Al Capone struck deals rather than take them on. Read the rest of this entry »
Julie Reiner is the force behind cocktail cathedrals Flatiron Lounge and Clover Club. Her new venture, Lani Kai, is all over the map — intentionally so, with one foot in Hawaii and the other in New York. With its self-described “modern tropical ambience” it is riding the tiki wave, although it takes pains not to identify itself as a tiki bar, although you’ll find plenty of tiki-style drinks. The other side of its personality is focused on classic cocktails made with whiskies and gins, a real plus, I think. Mai Tais and Manhattans — interesting, and so I had to give it a try. Plus, this guy likes it.
Frontier Mixology: What We Talk About When We Talk About Whiskey Vol. 1, American Whiskey
Posted on: March 25, 2011
It sure does.
As a general matter, whiskey is liquor distilled from cereal grains that has been aged in wooden barrels. The word comes from usquebaugh, the Medieval Irish term for “water of life,” which was the catch-all term for all distillates at the time, e.g. aqua vitae. The Scots leave out the “e”, but modern day Irish and Americans leave it in — hence the whole “whisk(e)y” signage phenomenon you may have noticed at liquor stores. But, Scotch and Irish whiskey are for another day. American exceptionalism compels examination first of our native whiskeys – bourbon and rye.
Frontier Psychiatrist 
