Sundays Are Made for Being Tipsy
Some Sunday afternoons are ripe for cocktail drinking. Really is there anything better than sitting at a bar around 4:00 or 5:00 getting just tipsy enough... you know that state... reality is a little removed, and, although the wagon may be long gone, you aren't falling off the bar stool? The bar is nearly empty, the bartender is chatty and there are plenty of hours left in the evening to feel just fine on Monday morning.
Well, last Sunday, V., VS. CME and I completely surpassed this state at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (MCC). We fell off our bar stools. In fact, between the tasting bar, the event cocktails and the post-event drinks, we were pretty much blotto. Except CME, who was hungover and had the good sense to leave before she could reach this point.
I mentioned last week that the MCC was a bit disorganized. Being the first full year of programming this isn't completely unexpected. The four of us ladies were at Astor Center where the MCC was based to participate in Spice: The Fennel Frontier, a 90-minute session about the use of spice in cocktails led by the charming and knowledgeable Tad Carducci, one of the two Tippling Bros. (The other is Paul Tanguay, who helped developed the content for the session, including a very informative and visually appealing slide presentation.)
The seminar started quite late, and there wasn't much direction upon entry as to where to go or how long the delay would be. While we waited, we sipped concoctions from the tasting bar, when we should have been nibbling the cheese and bread on the tables. There were five full cocktails served during the event with no food or water between though if you emptied one glass fully, you could pour yourself water from the neat sinks between the chairs.
The session was fantistically fun and very informative, providing as much history about spices as interesting facts about liquor. And the drinks were phenomenal. The Tippling Bros are... well let me use their words, because they are just so well said: The Tippling Bros. are: "1.(n): beverage consultants; 2.(n): perpetuators of libational awareness and enjoyment" who "roam the land, bringing their unique brand of beverage consulting and bon vivancy to hamlets great and small." Well, thank goodness for that! Every girl needs a little bon vivancy in her life, don't you think?
You know, my friends, I am not a professional anything. Oh wait, I think technically I am a public relations professional... you know in the vocational sense. But, in the gastronomic arena I am nothing more than an amateur with a zeal for fine cocktails and good eating.
I bring this up because, if we were professionals, the four of us would have been sipping once, maybe twice from each glass, but we were not. We were, instead, gleefully indulging in the delightful and spicy concoctions set before us.
It seems the cocktail kitchen was suffering the same disorganization as the event planners. Several times during the talk, Mr. Carducci seemed surprised by the cocktail that was actually served. For example, the Sea Monkey (my favorite) was meant to have a fennel salt rim, but someone back there mixed up the fennel with cumin seeds. The result was surprisingly delicious. I never would have thought to combine fennel and cumin or to salt the rim of a cocktail with these spices.
The Sea Monkey was a mix of Death's Door gin, Averna Sambuca (made with star anise), fresh lemon juice, celery apple juice (celery juiced in a blender with organic apple juice) and Fever Tree tonic water.
I normally have a strong enough aversion to tonic water that I can't tolerate it even when mixed. So, either the kitchen used seltzer by mistake or Fever Tree is not your standard tonic. According to the company's website, Fever Tree tonic contains "the highest quality quinine from the original chinchona trees (fever-trees)." Perhaps this is the difference, or perhaps three cocktails in was the difference. Stay tuned! I'll have to try it in a gin-and-tonic and let you know.
All of the drinks served during the Spice session were interesting and flavorful. The Negroni was made with G'Vine Floraison gin, the main botanical of which is the Ugni Blanc vine flower. It's plucked before it has a chance to turn into a grape, which might otherwise be used to make cognac. Two of the spices in G'Vine's recipe are among my favorites: ginger and cardamom.
The menu also included the Little Market, a heat-laden tequila-based drink with Azunia Reposado, guajillo chile syrup, lime, pineapple, green habanero sauce and fresh cilantro served in glass with a chile salt rim. Vibrantly colored and hot on the tongue, this is a great sipping drink that would have been wonderful with a mild fresh guacamole.
The Masalarinha that followed was a twist on a caparhina made with cachaca, pineapple, grapefruit peel, lime and garam masala syrup. Garam masala is an Indian spice mix that often contains cardamom, cloves, black pepper and sometimes cinnamon.
The last drink served was The Sully with bourbon, averno amaro, carpano antica, Scotch and Barenjager, a honey liqueur. If for no other reason than the bottle, I have added this liqueur to my growing bar-stocking wish-list.
All right then, it's nearly drinking time. So as much as I would love to write on about the tasty drinks I had at Raines Law Room with colleagues on Wednesday or the celebration with V. and J. at Louis 649 where I had a wonderful drink with tequila and chocolate bitters, or even the delicious crisp I made with fresh rhubarb from the Green Market, I really must be going.
I've included a scan of the wonderful menu from the Spice session (with my messy notes) below in case you are in the mood for some home-mixing.
Stay tuned for more gastronomic good times! Oh, and in the meantime, take a look at the comments from the previous two weeks for info on the band at the MCC gala and a new organic gin from Crop.
Spice: The Fennel Frontier
Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay, The Tippling Bros.
Some Sunday afternoons are ripe for cocktail drinking. Really is there anything better than sitting at a bar around 4:00 or 5:00 getting just tipsy enough... you know that state... reality is a little removed, and, although the wagon may be long gone, you aren't falling off the bar stool? The bar is nearly empty, the bartender is chatty and there are plenty of hours left in the evening to feel just fine on Monday morning.
Well, last Sunday, V., VS. CME and I completely surpassed this state at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (MCC). We fell off our bar stools. In fact, between the tasting bar, the event cocktails and the post-event drinks, we were pretty much blotto. Except CME, who was hungover and had the good sense to leave before she could reach this point.
I mentioned last week that the MCC was a bit disorganized. Being the first full year of programming this isn't completely unexpected. The four of us ladies were at Astor Center where the MCC was based to participate in Spice: The Fennel Frontier, a 90-minute session about the use of spice in cocktails led by the charming and knowledgeable Tad Carducci, one of the two Tippling Bros. (The other is Paul Tanguay, who helped developed the content for the session, including a very informative and visually appealing slide presentation.)
The seminar started quite late, and there wasn't much direction upon entry as to where to go or how long the delay would be. While we waited, we sipped concoctions from the tasting bar, when we should have been nibbling the cheese and bread on the tables. There were five full cocktails served during the event with no food or water between though if you emptied one glass fully, you could pour yourself water from the neat sinks between the chairs.
The session was fantistically fun and very informative, providing as much history about spices as interesting facts about liquor. And the drinks were phenomenal. The Tippling Bros are... well let me use their words, because they are just so well said: The Tippling Bros. are: "1.(n): beverage consultants; 2.(n): perpetuators of libational awareness and enjoyment" who "roam the land, bringing their unique brand of beverage consulting and bon vivancy to hamlets great and small." Well, thank goodness for that! Every girl needs a little bon vivancy in her life, don't you think?
You know, my friends, I am not a professional anything. Oh wait, I think technically I am a public relations professional... you know in the vocational sense. But, in the gastronomic arena I am nothing more than an amateur with a zeal for fine cocktails and good eating.
I bring this up because, if we were professionals, the four of us would have been sipping once, maybe twice from each glass, but we were not. We were, instead, gleefully indulging in the delightful and spicy concoctions set before us.
It seems the cocktail kitchen was suffering the same disorganization as the event planners. Several times during the talk, Mr. Carducci seemed surprised by the cocktail that was actually served. For example, the Sea Monkey (my favorite) was meant to have a fennel salt rim, but someone back there mixed up the fennel with cumin seeds. The result was surprisingly delicious. I never would have thought to combine fennel and cumin or to salt the rim of a cocktail with these spices.
The Sea Monkey was a mix of Death's Door gin, Averna Sambuca (made with star anise), fresh lemon juice, celery apple juice (celery juiced in a blender with organic apple juice) and Fever Tree tonic water.
I normally have a strong enough aversion to tonic water that I can't tolerate it even when mixed. So, either the kitchen used seltzer by mistake or Fever Tree is not your standard tonic. According to the company's website, Fever Tree tonic contains "the highest quality quinine from the original chinchona trees (fever-trees)." Perhaps this is the difference, or perhaps three cocktails in was the difference. Stay tuned! I'll have to try it in a gin-and-tonic and let you know.
All of the drinks served during the Spice session were interesting and flavorful. The Negroni was made with G'Vine Floraison gin, the main botanical of which is the Ugni Blanc vine flower. It's plucked before it has a chance to turn into a grape, which might otherwise be used to make cognac. Two of the spices in G'Vine's recipe are among my favorites: ginger and cardamom.
The menu also included the Little Market, a heat-laden tequila-based drink with Azunia Reposado, guajillo chile syrup, lime, pineapple, green habanero sauce and fresh cilantro served in glass with a chile salt rim. Vibrantly colored and hot on the tongue, this is a great sipping drink that would have been wonderful with a mild fresh guacamole.
The Masalarinha that followed was a twist on a caparhina made with cachaca, pineapple, grapefruit peel, lime and garam masala syrup. Garam masala is an Indian spice mix that often contains cardamom, cloves, black pepper and sometimes cinnamon.
The last drink served was The Sully with bourbon, averno amaro, carpano antica, Scotch and Barenjager, a honey liqueur. If for no other reason than the bottle, I have added this liqueur to my growing bar-stocking wish-list.
All right then, it's nearly drinking time. So as much as I would love to write on about the tasty drinks I had at Raines Law Room with colleagues on Wednesday or the celebration with V. and J. at Louis 649 where I had a wonderful drink with tequila and chocolate bitters, or even the delicious crisp I made with fresh rhubarb from the Green Market, I really must be going.
I've included a scan of the wonderful menu from the Spice session (with my messy notes) below in case you are in the mood for some home-mixing.
Stay tuned for more gastronomic good times! Oh, and in the meantime, take a look at the comments from the previous two weeks for info on the band at the MCC gala and a new organic gin from Crop.
Spice: The Fennel Frontier
Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay, The Tippling Bros.
What a wonderful tipsy sunday! The Cocktail classic could use a few improvements, but certainly was worth those tasty drinks and great new combinations. Thanks for celebrating with us on wed- looking forward to next time. Happy drinking!
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