I made up a couple of melon-based cocktails over quarantine, either of which should be easily adaptable to watermelon:
the cantaloupe one:
2 oz gin.5 oz Cointreau.5 oz dry vermouthcantaloupe chunks
Muddle cantaloupe in a shaker. Add other ingredients and ice; shake to combine. Serve in a chilled martini glass with a cantaloupe garnish.
the honeydew one:
2.5 oz white rum.5 oz dry curacao.25 oz blue agave syruphoneydew chunks
Muddle honeydew in a shaker. Add other ingredients and ice, then shake. Serve in a chilled cocktail glass (martini or coupe) with melon garnish.
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Friday, 5 June 2020 18:15 (three years ago) link
I've stocked my home bar with the following:
vodkas: Absolute, Grey Goosegins: Hendricks, Bombay Dry, Bully Boy (Boston area distillery)tequila: Lunazulrums: Don Q white, Diplomaticobrandy: Hennesseybourbon: Evan Wilderscotch: Taliskervermouth: Lillet, Antica Formulaorange liqueurs: Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Campari, Ferrer Dry Curacaoother liqueurs: Disaranno amaretto, Frangelico, Luxardo maraschino, St. Elder, Rothman & Wilder creme de violette
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Friday, 5 June 2020 18:21 (three years ago) link
gah wtf "Absolute"
have you done all the cost analysis stuff for the drinks that will be on the menu?
― call all destroyer, Friday, 5 June 2020 18:26 (three years ago) link
(xp to WmC)
yeah for your speedrail/well drinks you should have a talk about what the cost will be first. I remember Evan Williams was a decent rail whiskey or people go with jack. I feel like the vodka is always just whatever you can get a deal in and the rest is some version of bacardi, cuervo, seagrams/gordons.
― Yerac, Friday, 5 June 2020 18:52 (three years ago) link
I have no clue how much well drinks are anymore.
I'm going to give Chad (this is easier than typing "my boss" every time) a wholesale cost per liter for everything when I make my recommendations so he can figure out cost/drink. DJP, that's a good list, you shell out more for base spirits than I do. In my research I'm seeing reasonably good reviews for Wodka, El Jimador, Old Overholt, Beefeater, Old Forester. For rum I'm thinking good old Bacardi White and Mount Gay Eclipse... there will be higher-end call brands for every category, I'm sure...
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Friday, 5 June 2020 18:53 (three years ago) link
lol "Evan Wilder" I haven't even started drinking yet
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Friday, 5 June 2020 18:53 (three years ago) link
he's evan williams' fratty cousin.
― Yerac, Friday, 5 June 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
that's a solid list if the cost works.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 5 June 2020 19:05 (three years ago) link
Watermelon agua Fresca plus ____________
― calstars, Friday, 5 June 2020 20:42 (three years ago) link
xpost Old Forester is one of my favorite bourbons, but it might be a little spendy for a well bourbon. A very good one for the price is Ancient Age from the Buffalo Trace distillery. About half the price as Old Forester in my part of the country, but much better than other well bourbons like Old Crow (shudder).
― righteousmaelstrom, Friday, 5 June 2020 21:38 (three years ago) link
Scotch - for a blend I like Monkey Shoulder. Shit's cheap and pleasant.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Friday, 5 June 2020 21:40 (three years ago) link
i knew a guy who drank an entire bottle of monkey shoulder in one night. he was a fucking idiot but he lived to tell the tale and wasn't even very hung over the next day, relatively speaking.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 June 2020 22:18 (three years ago) link
Monkey Shoulder is about $30.40 wholesale here.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Friday, 5 June 2020 23:51 (three years ago) link
Wow, I haven't bought any in a year but it was $24 retail here.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Friday, 5 June 2020 23:55 (three years ago) link
Old Overholt is totally serviceable and <$20 per bottle retail. I’ve had much much worse well drinks than those I’ve made at home w OO bc I’m cheap.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:06 (three years ago) link
Concur on Old Overholt, but if you can get Rittenhouse for cheaper, do it (Not likely though. I think it's a couple of bucks more). Really holds up well in cocktails that have more than a couple of ingredients, such as a scofflaw.
― righteousmaelstrom, Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:14 (three years ago) link
OO = $18.44/LRittenhouse = $24.60/L
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:20 (three years ago) link
Interesting, Ancient Age is half the price of Old Forester on this list.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:26 (three years ago) link
XP. Well, there you go. Old Overholt it is. I think OO really shines in a manhattan.
― righteousmaelstrom, Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:27 (three years ago) link
Try Ancient Age in a cocktail. It's not quite as soft as Buffalo (less wheat in the mash bill, maybe) but it is not a harsh drink at all.
― righteousmaelstrom, Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:30 (three years ago) link
Created some page templates for drink recipes, large type and including clip art of the correct glassware for each, and I'm printing the pages onto cardstock
I see you haven't quit your day job.
― pplains, Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:53 (three years ago) link
hahaha, I'm angling to design the menus, too.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 01:18 (three years ago) link
based on this info, i'd buy some rittenhouse and old forester 100 proof for some higher-end drinks, and overholt and ancient age for the well. i got a bottle of ancient age years ago when i was in kentucky for work, and if it's still as good as that bottle was it would be an excellent well bourbon.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 6 June 2020 01:23 (three years ago) link
Crap, just looked at the "qty available" column and there's no Ancient Age right now. Back to Old Forester.
Any blended scotch recommendations?
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 01:55 (three years ago) link
i'd probably go famous grouse for a basic acceptable scotch
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 6 June 2020 02:07 (three years ago) link
Ugh, only available in 1.75L bottles. What a state.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 02:25 (three years ago) link
Scratch that, there's a typo in their site.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 02:37 (three years ago) link
Grouse and Bell’s are the bog-standard well whiskeys in the UK. Chivas? Whyte & Mackay? the aforementioned Monkey Shoulder? Johnnie Walker red?
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 6 June 2020 20:29 (three years ago) link
I’ve always liked J&B too
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 6 June 2020 20:36 (three years ago) link
To clarify, once I figured out the typo I realized that Famous Grouse 750ml was available, so that's what I put on the proposed order. Chad gave me a number to stay under and I sent him a list this morning that was less than half of that figure.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Saturday, 6 June 2020 23:59 (three years ago) link
The bar manager at a country club is coming in to do a bartender training session in a few minutes and oh jeez do I have a case of Impostor Syndrome. Here we go...
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Wednesday, 17 June 2020 19:53 (three years ago) link
I haven't been posting about this because it's insane, dangerous, irresponsible and indefensible for me to be doing it, but the work has been really fun and interesting. The watermelon margarita is a huge hit, and I've gotten thumbs-up on my execution of classics like Old Fashioneds and Sazeracs from exacting cocktail nerds. One guy said he hated gin but he'd only had it in a Martini, so I made him a Negroni and he said "ok so it turns out I like gin."
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Thursday, 23 July 2020 00:26 (three years ago) link
Nice
― calstars, Thursday, 23 July 2020 00:32 (three years ago) link
well done!
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 23 July 2020 00:39 (three years ago) link
Weird, weird weekend. Don't know what to think about the loud, opinionated guy at the bar who paid for the privilege of being annoying by dropping a hundred in the tip bucket when he paid up. (And then loudly announcing there should be a bell that gets rung whenever a $100 tip goes in.) Then there were 3 grimy kids, tripping or otherwise enhanced and one guy could literally not read the menu he was so jittery, who pooled their ones for an order of wings and 3 beers, no tip. When I rang the bell for last call last night, one yahoo stood up and announced a round for the house on him, something I'm sure he's been waiting to do his whole life, so I was still building drinks at one minute to closing. But then it turned out he tipped $260, which the owners decided to split equally between the servers and bartenders because we were all teamed up to fill that round at the last minute, so that was nice.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Sunday, 26 July 2020 16:47 (three years ago) link
Gotta love the humanity
― calstars, Sunday, 26 July 2020 17:27 (three years ago) link
Last night I learned about the Smoker's Cough: a Jager shot with a dollop of mayonnaise in it. Fortunately, nobody wanted one, they were just playing Stump the Bartender.
A local car dealership owner is an Ole Miss alum and was the president of his frat, and is trying to turn the place into a frat bar in the later hours after dinner service, loud foul language and service staff abuse. He got a "calm the fuck down" death stare/index finger from me, then one of the owners got in his face and really gave him the business. He's booked to be back tonight, should be interesting.
― Scampos Runamuck (WmC), Saturday, 15 August 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link
Also, and this is hilarious to me: the owner decided to drop back to ultra-cheap tequila (Torada) from the 100% agave we'd been serving. I was worried about this -- thought we'd get complaints about serving drinks with paint thinner and rubbing alcohol and such. But an older couple from San Antonio was in town last night; he was drinking watermelon margaritas and she was having regular ones. He came up to the bar as they were leaving and said "My wife and I consider ourselves margarita snobs, and these were fantastic, really well done, thanks." So there you go, snobs like paint thinner.
― Scampos Runamuck (WmC), Saturday, 15 August 2020 18:28 (three years ago) link
you can stretch some cheap liquor a long way by putting it in a nice drink
I was discussing some local drinks for shooting that are... iffy.. lately and could provide some horrible ones to introduce to the bros. Some types of camaraderie lends well to terrible drinks
― solo scampito (mh), Saturday, 15 August 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link
― calstars, Saturday, 15 August 2020 22:28 (three years ago) link
"this is the best Italian meal I've ever had. and I've been to *Dallas*!"
― popeye's arse (Neanderthal), Saturday, 15 August 2020 22:32 (three years ago) link
are you sure he wasn’t taking the pisstaking it, or drinking it?
No, he was totally sincere. He may have only had margaritas at a Chili's and at his brother in law's house back home in San Antone though.
― Scampos Runamuck (WmC), Saturday, 15 August 2020 22:38 (three years ago) link
The state's ABC is completely out of Luxardo Maraschino and has been out for a couple of months. One of our drinks, the Pink Pussycat, has a small amount and we're down to our last couple of ounces, so I went to Memphis yesterday to Buster's Liquor, an amazing store. Better stocked than all the places I've been to in Atlanta. Loaded up on Luxardo for the bar (+ 1 bottle of Lazzaroni, a cheaper maraschino liqueur, for comparison) and then spent another $300 on stuff for myself.
We're going to start doing Saturday brunch in a couple of weeks and the owner wants me to come up with 5-6 mimosa options.
― (show hidden tics) (WmC), Wednesday, 16 September 2020 12:20 (three years ago) link
Went there this summer. I've never seen so many bottles of Four Roses. Their beer selection was outstanding too. Got a 12-pack sampler of Oskar Blues for like 10 bucks!
Got my daughter out of the house for the first time in months and took her to Memphis, where she had googled three or four comic book stores.
My part of the deal was a stop at a real liquor store and a bag full of Krystals.
― pplains, Wednesday, 16 September 2020 12:36 (three years ago) link
Is Comics & Collectibles on Poplar still open? That was where I had my pull-list in my comics-heavy 1980s and 90s.
One thing Buster's didn't have was Empress 1908 gin, which my daughter was interested in. We ate lunch at Pho Saigon, which was reasonably close to Joe's Liquor (pictured on the cover of the Compulsive Gamblers 1st album), so we went there afterwards. It looks really run-down from the outside. I stayed in the car while she went in to check on the gin and a couple minutes later she texted me "hey this place is really nice on the inside, you should come check it out." Really nice selection in there as well, and a lot more beers available in singles so you can try stuff out without buying packs.
― (show hidden tics) (WmC), Wednesday, 16 September 2020 12:57 (three years ago) link
That place was all right, pretty big.
She was more impressed with 901 Comics, down around Cooper near Mid-South Coliseum. Guys in there asking about her shirt, what her favorite Star Wars character was, etc. So much attention from the Comic Book Lads!
Thought about stopping at Tip Top too, but I didn't want to spend the day dragging my 13-year-old into every liquor store in Memphis, though Lord knows it could be a fun activity for the two of us one day!
― pplains, Wednesday, 16 September 2020 13:51 (three years ago) link
Didn’t expect to see so many daughters itt lol
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 16 September 2020 18:39 (three years ago) link
Red Spot, Yellow Spot. Are you going to get a problem if it sits? Found North stuff is brilliant Canadian Whiskey but still relatively unknown.
Bourbon is pretty easy, though I do find it really fun when bars have curated some of a list of dusties, though that involves estate sales.
― horizontal, Friday, 17 November 2023 18:51 (five months ago) link
Weller Antique 107 Bourbon
― BrianB, Friday, 17 November 2023 19:05 (five months ago) link
I'm always happy to see a little mezcal selection — just two or three is fine. Smith & Cross and OFTD in the rum lineup?
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 17 November 2023 21:18 (five months ago) link
Get a decent/proper Cachaca so you can make legit Caipirinha as well.
― horizontal, Saturday, 18 November 2023 01:44 (five months ago) link
Thanks for the suggestions -- all going into the notebook. Really it'll come down to what is easy to find in Tupelo and maybe in Memphis. One example being Smith & Cross — technically it's available in MS as a special order, but I've only ever seen it in TN and GA. OFTD is readily available. Redbreast 12 is so common I can get it here in my little village but for 15 I have to go to one particular store in Tupelo or drive on to MEM.
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Saturday, 18 November 2023 22:35 (five months ago) link
Second the mezcal rec
― matcha man (outdoor_miner), Saturday, 18 November 2023 23:56 (five months ago) link
I normally don't work on Saturdays but assumed I'd be needed tomorrow because it'll be our last service of the year and we'll probably be hopping. I asked the owner on Tuesday if he wanted me to plan to work, and he finally got back to me today -- nah, "we haven’t had hardly anyone ask if we were going to be open like we did last Saturday." So I get one whole shift this week and I believe the other bartender will be annihilated tomorrow. OK by me, maybe I'll go see the Miyazaki movie and ignore my phone when it blows up.
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Friday, 29 December 2023 21:24 (three months ago) link
go see the Miyazaki movie and ignore my phone when it blows up.
definitely do this
― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Friday, 29 December 2023 22:14 (three months ago) link
I can cover the shift
― calstars, Friday, 29 December 2023 22:56 (three months ago) link
I read about Taylor Swift's favorite cocktail, the French Blonde, so for a laugh we're getting all the components and will start serving it this coming week. I have no idea if we'll be inundated with Swifties or not.
L, the other bartender, and I are going to each start doing our own Cocktail of the Week this week as well. L is going to do some two-layer frozen concoction served in a pint jar, looks terrible frankly and very time-consuming, which means she'll get bombed with orders for it when we're at our busiest. I'm going to do a riff on Death & Co's Hot Sauce Committee, a margarita variation with a house-made hot sauce syrup (bell pepper juice, habanero, vinegar, sugar, pinch of salt; quite a tongue-slap). I can't get the St. George raspberry brandy from the original spec so I'm going to use Svedka raspberry vodka, which will work out because people around here like their drinks sweet. I feel like I have to give it a different name since I'm changing a core ingredient -- thinking about "Surfing on a Rocket."
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Sunday, 28 January 2024 17:50 (two months ago) link
the french blonde sounds pleasant enough.
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 28 January 2024 18:37 (two months ago) link
it would be funny if the swifties started a run on lillet, which is kind of gross
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 28 January 2024 18:42 (two months ago) link
lol yeah
We had to get some Fee Bros lemon bitters and the boss got the 2/$20 instead of 1/$14, so we'll have a lot more than we need. I'll play with it to see what ideas come up. I believe it's glycerin based instead of alcohol so I can do a punched-up all ages lemonade without worrying about the Legions of Decency.
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Sunday, 28 January 2024 19:09 (two months ago) link
yes all the fees stuff is glycerine
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 28 January 2024 20:24 (two months ago) link
Fee Bros stuff is good (from my old hometown too).
I've never had a French Blonde, but it sounds pretty good. I like Lillet! It's a good mixer but also a nice dessert wine/apertif on its own.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 28 January 2024 20:49 (two months ago) link
feel like I have to give it a different name since I'm changing a core ingredientappending (New Reactionaries Version) would be appropriate
― bae (sic), Sunday, 28 January 2024 21:29 (two months ago) link
Legions of Indecency Version
― calstars, Sunday, 28 January 2024 22:07 (two months ago) link