Episode #37 is about Knickerbockers. Besides being a really fun word to say, Knickerbockers are a real thing that has significance in American history. In 1809 Washington Irving wrote a satirical history of New York under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. That’s where the term is born. That name became synonymous with the Dutch elite […]
Not long ago I saw St. George posted some pics of their fruit liqueur production and immediately made it my goal to obtain some to try. I looked around, and all I could find at my usual providers were St. George gins. I engaged them in the Twitterverse to see where I could get some […]
I know we did Spiteful Brewing before, but recently they came out with two very intriguing flavors that made me Tweet excitedly at Charles. We tried the Raspberry Pigeon Porter and the Honey Stout. Between those tastings, though, Charles discussed his experience at the Sumerian Beer dinner hosted by The Gage here in Chicago […]
Classic cocktail #36 is the Park Avenue. Aside from its origins being the 1940s, we have no other history behind this one. It seems like just another product that garnered fans by virtue of its name. How many products, recipes, etc. have relied upon the symbols of success to gain attention? I suspect that before […]
This is our 1st Potions Class episode wherein we take something non-alcoholic and make it less liver friendly. For this first one I pulled the bottle of Naked Blue Machine out of the fridge and brought it to Fion. I’ve often wondered what could be done with a thick juice like these smoothie style beverages. […]
Episode #35 features the Ramos Gin Fizz. I know we did fizzes already, but one can never get enough shaking. Apparently Henry C. Ramos really couldn’t get enough of the shaking. His drink required 12 minutes of non-stop shaking to be properly fizzed. In 1888 Ramos created his fizz which became a sensation at his […]
Episode 34 introduced the Vesper. The unique thing about the Vesper in our menagerie of cocktail monsters is that it was fabricated entirely in a story by an author of fiction. We have encountered a cocktail whose origins come from a movie title, but it was created by a bartender in honor of the movie. […]
In December, in addition to my usual go to brands (Avery, Solemn Oath, Une Annee, and of course Pipeworks) we cracked open the beer the lovely Ms. Kathleen gifted to me, the pack of International Beers from World Market. Since I received it, I’ve wondered if these would be good or if they would be […]
This next episode is taking the project in a whole different direction. Several months ago as I was doing one of our classic cocktail episodes, it struck me that I think I know a lot more about alcohol than I do. I have the standard understanding of what it is and where it comes from…but […]
A couple weeks ago, our beer guy, Charles, invited me to his home to taste a line of beers with some of his friends. Once we were all gathered he revealed that the brand we’d be sampling from was Spiteful Brewing, a Chicago based brewery that has a line of eclectic beers as interesting as […]
