Welcome to “Recorded Conversations,” an occasional feature where all the Addison Recorder editors contribute their thoughts about a question, idea, or prompt. Everyone will chime in, and then we see where the conversation wanders. For today’s conversation, J. Michael Bestul looks forward to a few drinks over the Labor Day weekend, and wonders aloud what might be drinking.
Prompt: You’re at a bar, restaurant, or pub that you’ve never been to before. The place has a pretty good drinks list, and on it, you notice ____________. And because this is one thing you always have to try when you’re at a new place, you order it.
Question: What is ____________, and why is it the libation you order?
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This question sprang up last month, when I went to a relatively new bar with a good whisky list. On this list was a particular single malt, Caol Ila 18-year. And I ordered it, as I always do, with the full expectation that I would not get it. Someone would (and did) come along to tell me that, sorry, but they were planning to get the 18-year, but were unable to do so.
I expect this answer because you can’t find a bottle of the 18-year for sale in the U.S., but its distributor seems to give the impression to restaurants that they can. I’ve yet to order a Caol Ila 18-year and actually receive it. But I keep asking for it, since it was the first single malt I’d ever tasted.
If only…
I thought it would be fun to put the question to my fellow Addison Recorder colleagues, as it is broad enough to include responses ranging from “anything with grapefruit” to “locally-brewed porter” to a specific single malt Scotch.
Forgetting the Caol Ila, there is one drink I will always try if it’s on a bar’s menu: the Blood & Sand cocktail, or any variation on it.
Not a bad thing to name a cocktail after, eh?
The Blood & Sand is a classic cocktail, named after a 1922 film starring Rudolph Valentino. Its original form was equal parts Scotch whisky, freshly-squeezed orange juice, cherry liqueur, and sweet vermouth. I would gladly imbibe any one of those ingredients by itself, so it’s as though the drink was tailored for me. I did have one concern, before I made my first Blood & Sand (many moons ago): would this combination be too sweet, since I tend to like my cocktails boozy or bitter?
Nope. This drink is Goldilocks, especially if you use the proportions from Ted Haigh’s book, and add a dash of bitters. (If you want to tone down the sweetness even further, you can do 2 parts whisky to 1 part each of the other ingredients.) And while it doesn’t lend itself to variation as easily as classics like the Manhattan or Negroni, it still presents a great opportunity to riff. The gents up at Bittercube have a bittered version called the Valentino, and if you’re on the north side of Chicago, you can try the Gods & Fighting Men cocktail at Lady Gregory’s. Both are damned tasty, and great variations on the original.
Mouth = watering.
(image from the Savoy Stomp cocktail blog)
My preferred ingredients are Johnnie Walker Black for the whisky, Carpano Antica for the vermouth, fresh blood orange juice, Schladerer edel-kirsch for the liqueur (though Cherry Heering is a fine stand-in), and barrel-aged bitters (such as Bittercube’s cherry bark vanilla). A flamed bit of orange zest for garnish, and I’m a happy imbiber.
Well, fellow Addisonians… what libations are you looking to drink when out at a bar or restaurant?
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Read the responses from the other editors (Andrew, Bean, and Travis) as they are published throughout today.
-J.
The entity known as -J. would be at home in a place like Carcosa or Night Vale, but instead lives near a far more dreary place -- Wrigley Field. He is the patron Addisonian of whisk(e)y and tabletop games, and is often adorned with a waistcoat & his ridiculous mustache.
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