Hard Drinkers, Lets Drink Hard (Spirits, Liquors and Cocktails)
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Hendricks is great. Great for a martini, absolutely made for a Pimm’s Cup if you like them with gin.
Recent haul:
I mentioned to fifths already. The La Venenosa I previously had a 200mL and loved so much I picked up a fifth. The Jabali I mentioned having acquired for a friend. But I found a 200 mL of that so I’ll keep the fifth.
I very much look forward to trying the 200mL bottles. These include a Sotol, which has a similar process to mezcal but is from a different region (originating in Chihuahua) and different plants (sotol plant or desert spoon). Going to a bar for tastings or finding smaller bottles is great, you can look before you leap into an investment that might not pay off.
Here is the mezcal/raicilla/sotol/part of the tequila section from this small local liquor store. Pretty impressive.
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Like a library of bottles
Really good selection there -
@dinobarnesberlin Hendricks is good but I think of it as a summer gin. As @mclaincausey says good in martinis (or with tonic) but care is needed if you have other preferences. For me, the cucumber feels really wrong in a negroni, for example.
If either of you ever make it to London, any of the Whisky Exchange shops have that bottle library feel in spades and the Great Portland Street branch is just round the corner from Rivet & Hide
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@mclaincausey I could get into a lot of trouble in that store. Looks like they have one of my all time favorite tequilas that I cannot currently get. That’s the Cascahuin Plata. My liquor, www.astorwines.com , store has a pretty good selection of Rey Campero,but they only have the 750MM sizes,and they’re pretty expensive. They do have a blanket 15% off sale a few times a year,which is when I stock up. If you have a minute maybe you could go to their website,click on Spirits,click on pick a Producer, click on Rey Campero and it will bring you to everything they have. If you could recommend something I’d greatly appreciate it as it was you who recommended Alipus,which I love, a few years ago. Looking forward to your reviews. Thanks!
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@Jett129 PM me if you want me to ship you a bottle–it would truly be my pleasure. I'll have to grab myself a bottle in the meantime.
Astor is really great, I always come across them when googling bottles of interest.
I've played around with Sotol, which is often vegetal and minerally, and I'm hoping to find some $30-40 bottles I can keep as staples along with some of my espadin mezcals. To be able to have a sniff of special stuff from time to time, then fall back to affordable spirits is my goal.
@ARNC spot on, a negroni would be gross with it
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@dinobarnesberlin @ARNC if you want to try something different in terms of gin:
https://www.calvados-drouin.com/de/product/50/le-gin/g/5
Gin made by a calvados distiller. I quite enjoyed it, perfect for summer!
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Thanks @Tago Mago , sounds interesting.
@mclaincausey you definitely need different gins for different applications. I’ve only ever found one that works for me in a bijou (I have to modify the classic proportions as chartreuse is a bit of a thug). It’s also the only drink in my repertoire where increasing the proportion of gin results in a weaker drink!
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100% @ARNC
Speaking of gin and chartreuse, are you familiar with The Last Word cocktail? It was super hype at least in the American craft scene for a while. Interesting backstory here about how it was rediscovered from an old collection of Prohibition-era recipes; it was originated at the Detroit Athletic Club.
TL;DR: equal parts (3/4 oz) chartreuse, dry gin, lime juice, and maraschino liqueur shaken and strained into a coupe.
Big, bold, but balanced; kind of reminds me of a sour apple Jolly Rancher.
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Speaking of gin and chartreuse, are you familiar with The Last Word cocktail? It was super hype at least in the American craft scene for a while. Interesting backstory here about how it was rediscovered from an old collection of Prohibition-era recipes; it was originated at the Detroit Athletic Club.
I’ve not tried or made one but have read about them. In my head I can’t see how the combination would work, but maybe I just have to try one. I tend to expand my repertoire by subbing/adding ingredients to drinks I already like. One of my favourite discoveries was this https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/4128/via-roma.
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Damn good sotol I got in Texas
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@Tago:
@dinobarnesberlin @ARNC if you want to try something different in terms of gin:
https://www.calvados-drouin.com/de/product/50/le-gin/g/5
Gin made by a calvados distiller. I quite enjoyed it, perfect for summer!
Looks really interesting @Tago Mago Thanks for the heads up.
@ARNC would really like to check out the Whiskey Exchange. Heard nothing but good things about it.@mclaincausey probably fits better to the summer months for sure.
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100% @ARNC
Speaking of gin and chartreuse, are you familiar with The Last Word cocktail? It was super hype at least in the American craft scene for a while. Interesting backstory here about how it was rediscovered from an old collection of Prohibition-era recipes; it was originated at the Detroit Athletic Club.
TL;DR: equal parts (3/4 oz) chartreuse, dry gin, lime juice, and maraschino liqueur shaken and strained into a coupe.
Big, bold, but balanced; kind of reminds me of a sour apple Jolly Rancher.
Also available as a Mezcal Last Word ;). Phenomenal cocktail!
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There's also the Final Ward (IIRC), which substitutes rye for the gin, yellow for green chartreuse, and I think lemon for the lime juice (again, IIRC).
I associate the Last Word with the basement speakeasies I first had them in in Minneapolis, so I have no seasonal association. It's definitely too big of a drink for me to think of as something I'd have on a poolside or a beach though.
They have that and two other Sotols from that maker, in the picture I posted above @68degreesorless so thank you for the recommendation, I will check it out.
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Okay @mclaincausey wish me luck… Hopefully I don't have an aneurysm like I did last Wednesday drinking the Mickey's.
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Well, four shots in and I have a nice mellow buzz. No head/ neckache yet. I have anxiety thinking about what a sorry state I was in the last time I had anything to drink. The mezcal tastes like buttery smoke mixed with tequila. I'm probably not gonna temp fate and drink anything else and wait and see how I do. I have some cigars on the way so maybe in a couple more days when they get here I'll probably have some of this mezcal over ice and with the salt they have on the included brochure, and a cigar.
