The Cheese Board, what are you drinking?

thanks, that's all really helpful. we're visiting someone who's going to be in bagnols-sur-ceze so we may well stay in avignon--orange is just a little closer. i'm perfectly happy to rent a car and cruise around some small villages but it's helpful to get a sense of what may or may not be going on.

orange is very nice fwiw. I’ve spent more time in Avignon because it’s bigger but it brings the hassles of a bigger town

I do not know these wines but now I must!

A long day of whiskey and sake. Yoichi distillery was worth the trip. A really beautiful spot, very generous tasting pours, at least of the generic blended stuff which were also free. Had to pay for the rarer stuff, yoichi 10 and 21, the 10 is non existent outside the distillery. That said it’s not the richest or biggest of whiskeys at any age, there’s some peat but not a lot, somesweetness but not a lot. All in all I think I prefer the nikka from the barrel and nikka Coffey grain/malt blends to the single malts.

On to tanaka shuzuo Sake brewery. Healy interesting to taste the junmai daiginjo and and daiginjo (honjozo) from the same brewery same year. Honjozo hands down winner, crisper, cleaner and more separation in the flavours.

Back to Sapporo, dinner with Suntory Haiboru then onto a cat themed sake bar on the 6th floor of a building full of maid and nurse themed establishments. Super enthusiastic owner who knew everything about every bottle in the place, but spoke so fast it was super hard to follow. I did get that one bottle was from Hiroshima and the brewery was up a twisty road but this was about the best I could do, (she also had a 21 year old cat at home). Most interesting was was something called Cocoromi Protype Junmai, made with all white (no red koji), really great citrusy flavours.

More studying of photographs of labels needed to work out exactly what I was drinking.

Woah! Sounds COMPLETELY epic, Ed

I am trying to pick something to drink for Halloween. Who has a plan?

I am doing a DJ set and will probably stick with pale ale, sorry for boring

A friend posted a picture of amaros available at a local liquor store and Pelinkovac looked interesting

I have never had a spirit from Croatia. Would try (even though I don't love anise flavored anything).

We order in indian and I opened a 2012 Albert Boxler riesling and a not important Vosne-Romanée Bourgogne.

we had a very very pale languedoc rosé

the dead rabbit's "mixology and mayhem" arrived today so i was excited to scan through that. as anticipated i found exactly *one* drink i could make with my (very extensive) home bar without needing to make a purchase or do an infusion/tincture/etc. my initial reading is that this book doesn't have the same madcap genius of their first (understandable, since that guy isn't developing recipes anymore) but will still have some fun stuff to work on.

the drink i could make, an irish whiskey/campari/cacao/banana/absinthe joint, is a full-bodied winter warmer.

Once upon a time, I had the cachet to draw out a Yerac & and a young Ian but those days have expired. I feel like I owe CAD a decent night out of refreshments at some point (& place).

Tonight I enjoyed the Nelson Sauvin (NZ) hop to its fullest.

I brought some vinho verte back from Portugal, will be next week’s drink.

But this week we are in England, and so ESB has been the order of the day.

I was just working for 2 months 2 bocks form Dead Rabbit and never went. Next time maybe.

That Albert Boxler (not albert broccoli) was delicious.

CAD is the first Dead Rabbit book a good one? I have been thinking about an interesting cocktail book as a gift for someone.

I love British beer but I will be delighted if I never have another pint of ESB (or ESB equivalent).

the first dead rabbit book has some of my favorite drink recipes ever, but it is not for the faint of heart. if the recipient is the type of person who will make mace tincture and infuse gin with green tea and track down amaro sibilia then go for it. if not, the first death & co. book is also full of good recipes and is maybe a little more accessible. the second death & co. book (cocktail codex) also just came out...i haven't seen it yet but i understand that the premise is using 5 templates to build a ton of drinks, which might make it a good choice for someone more novice who is getting into this stuff.

also if your friend has ever enthused about exotic cocktails the smuggler's cove book is amazing and the definitive resource in that area imo.

cross-posted from my cocktails thread...this recipe is from the first DR book and is the best drink i've ever made, iirc it's called the montana club

1.5 oz. cognac
1 oz. bonal gentiane
.5 oz. anisette
.25 oz. amaro sibilla
4 dashes aromatic bitters (dead rabbit/angostura/boker's/whatever you have)
lemon peel

yum

Thx CAD, that drink sounds delicious and also it is now a small life goal to track down Amaro Aibilla. A quick look suggests that no-one imports the stuff into the UK.

I am reminded that I should get a bottle of my favourite Amaro Nonnino in before xmas.

not to put a damper on things but i have like 10 other amari kicking around here i don't think any of them would make an adequate replacement for sibilla....nonino actually might be the best option as far as making that drink palatable but sibilla has this distinct honey/floral thing that is totally unique to it.

It is super hard to get amaros where I currently am and was super psyched that they started carrying Cynar in the main grocery store here for like $15 USD a bottle. But of course I didn't buy it right away because I was leaving for a couple of months and now it's been sold out. I am adding sibilia to my list for when I am back in NY.

Yessss Sibilla.

I pretty much logged on to thank Wm Crump, here, for the trifoliate oranges he sent me. I have an infusion in a combination of vodka and Everclear that is a little oranger than Mountain Dew in color, after just a few days. It's so piney that I think even as bitters it'll be best used with gin, but we'll see.

Hahahaha, you're very welcome. I told my daughter yesterday that when I got them I knew I had to send you a boxful -- "they're an instrument I don't know how to play...I can go plink plink plunk, but I bet Bill can actually get a tune out of them."

As much fun as I've had with these things, I'm almighty tired of the cleanup.

I don't want to jinx it, but other than the smell staying on my hands for a long time, I've been okay - but I'm only dealing with a few fruit at a time and washing things right away. The cutting board where they've been resting hasn't been cleaned yet, so ... we'll see. But it was partially melted by a stove burner at some point in the past and was going to be replaced anyway.

I only talked about these on Facebook, not ILX, so to catch this board up: a friend found a stand of trifoliate orange trees near here in NE Mississippi and brought me several pounds along with a couple of seedlings. They're a variety of orange so far off the beaten path that horticulturists haven't settled on what genus they're in, Citrus or Poncirus.
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/44591246_10157796354033709_8356580403103924224_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=f1e1f53bb0846cdda723889f2ba4a7b2&oe=5C454C6E https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/44675140_10157796354048709_5356970355904741376_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=dc62748ab2de31f3d6c633c1e897d5e9&oe=5C43747B

The oil in the rind (and pulp) is very piney so you get a weird orange/pine mix in flavor and scent, and it's so resiny it takes solvents, not soap, to clean up.

They remind me a LOT of pumelo - I mean, that pineyness does, even the smell of it reminds me of peeling pumelo. (The overall flavor is not like pumelo, but I have no idea what I would guess if I were tasting it blind.)

I have a few left I haven't juiced yet, and haven't decided whether to try to make curd, or just use it for cocktails (esp tonight). I should probably juice them and see how much we're talking about, and go from there.

That looks crazy.

Omg want!!!

Looks kinda like rangpu limes but with massive seeds.

rangpur*

I was in Perth last week and had an absolutely banging 2005 Cabernet from Xabregas. Reasonably priced too.

we're drinking Lagunitas IPA and following election results

Rangpur is a comparison I hadn't thought of - but the same way that rangpurs or makruts have that strong, really fragrant oil, so do the trifoliates. Different fragrance, but in that ballpark of being a low-juice, high-oil citrus.

Today I'm probably drinking something with cider? One of the few advantages to living in NH, getting fresh unpasteurized cider from down the road.

Maybe I should start an amaro thread. Anyway, I picked up a bottle of amaro Sibilia today and am excited to try.

Very few available around here -- just the usual suspects Campari, Aperol and a couple others -- so I'm probably going to spend a stupid amount of money next time I'm in Atlanta.

I went with your three TJs recommendations by the way!

how were they? I just like raclette in general. I wonder how creamy the small french soft cheese was. I was lazy about the st marcellin like one from vermont that we got and i just nuked it in the microwave for 30 seconds instead of putting it in the oven. It totally overflowed the crockery. I told L, is it ok if I just eat the overflow with my fingers off of the microwave plate?

Bringing them to a party this weekend, will let you know.

What did LP say?

she was fine with it. I had to wash the plate after though because I couldn't get it all up.

There is this other amaro that I have been eyeing mostly because of the presentation of the bottle but I keep putting it back. Has anyone had the Forthave Spirits Amaro Marseille?

I love amaro, but I'm no expert. Bought averna for a thanksgiving cocktail that nobody else really cared for. So I've been drinking it often.

bundaberg ginger beer w/whiskey

yum! was making old fashioneds a few days ago until i ran outta rye (saddest emoticon). have a nice-looking recipe for a cynar cocktail with grapefuit juice but crappy stores near me don't carry any aperols far as i've seen. probably better in summer but i want to try https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/cynar-julep

oh that looks great, I love Cynar and have a bottle

Someone gave us a little bottle of cardamom bitters and they set off a Calvados old fashioned perfectly (my preferred calvados old fashioned uses less sugar than a regular bourbon one would, fyi).

I'd be on for an Amaro thread. Think I mentioned my love for Amaro Nonnino upthread somewhere.

drinking that Cynar julep right now, yummmmmm

I'm curious yet apprehensive about Cynar. Does it taste like artichokes?

not really, just thick bitter sweet depth, very very dark even for amaros (I am not an expert by any means, I learned most of what I know from call all destroyer's cocktail thread)

another good way to try it is the "Little Italy" - 2 oz rye, 3/4 oz sweet vermouth, 1/2 oz cynar, stir w/rocks and garnish w/orange or cherry, basically a manhattan w/cynar

That sounds good, I will try as soon as I replace the rye.

My go to with Cynar is the Tobacco Road, 1 of mezcal, a little less of cynar, peychauds bitters, stir like an old fashioned.

Some recipes call for a splash sherry, some for salt on a big ice cube.