tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28119761849837701622024-03-05T04:50:20.147-05:00A Dram of BrineA foray in the wild world of spirits and the sea.The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-42779157116109634852008-08-07T16:19:00.002-04:002008-08-07T16:19:20.347-04:00Infusing...This Time With WineFor those of you who are familiar with Bermuda, you are also familiar with that most wonderful of Bermudian condiments: Sherry peppers. Since I have been cooking regularly, I have found that I am almost unable to cook without my secret ingredient, the aforementioned sherry peppers. They are quite hard to come by in the States, and I didn't get to Bermuda this year.What to do? Well, I could just The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-7319955553505429302008-08-06T14:05:00.002-04:002008-08-06T14:08:29.592-04:00Hello, Hello!I am writing to you from the new Dram of Brine, also known as A Mixed Dram. Yeah, I know, name changes, and everything. If you are on the old Dram of Brine site on Blogger, you should be looking at the new blog on Wordpress. If you would rather have the URL, it's:http://mixeddram.wordpress.comThe site is not 100% live yet. I am still getting the indexes linked up and I need to also The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-58597815540316851282008-08-04T16:07:00.003-04:002008-08-04T21:29:54.744-04:00The Times, They Are A Changin'Just giving you all a heads up. A Dram of Brine is changing. I've been playing with Wordpress and I find it to be better than Blogger. To be honest, this website was mostly to start getting out there so when I moved to a domain (which should be happening within the year) I wouldn't be starting from nothing. While I am not sure that Wordpress works with domains easier than Blogger, I do find it toThe Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-6933829781878865932008-08-02T23:03:00.004-04:002008-08-02T23:18:43.533-04:00The Grape and the GrainWhile the conventional wisdom is that you should never mix the grape and the grain, when I ducked into Downtown this afternoon, they seemed against that. They were offering tastes of Lowlands whisky, and Australian wine.Sizing it up for the Scotch was Auchentoshan Select, a mixture of unspecified ages, but likely around eight years or so. This was a light whisky, as the Lowlands malts tend to be.The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-76228453524429505542008-08-01T12:00:00.002-04:002008-08-02T12:59:08.484-04:00The Session: A CelebrationFor those of you who are new to the Dram, what I do here is blog on beer and cocktails, in roughly equal portions. This month I am also blogging on wine. However, in general, you can find reviews of beer, usually three per month, plus beer cocktails, and other cocktails as well. Anyway, onto the Session:Unfortunately, I couldn't get a six pack of Tuckerman's, which I usually drink when I get downThe Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-22033309441792710122008-08-01T09:00:00.001-04:002008-08-01T18:52:31.018-04:00August is Wine MonthThat's right! Here at the Dram, I decided to make August wine month in honor of Wine Blogging Wednesday's four year anniversary. Here is what you can expect in the following month:Wine reviews. Whether you like 'em sparkling, still, fortified, or infused, we'll be talking about them. The spirit review will be replaced by a fortified wine review, and the usual beer review will be replaced by The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-64483250324775781772008-07-30T22:52:00.003-04:002008-07-30T23:05:04.602-04:00Right Place, Right TimeThere are some beers which are tied to a very specific place. For me, this is one such beer. already reviewed another offering from this distinguished brewery, their Pemi Pale Ale. The Pemi is by far my favorite Woodstock offering, but there is a place in my heart that loves their darker ale. Whenever we go up to the Loj, a log cabin in the White Mountains that Tufts owns, it is inevitable that The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-46225812016032308542008-07-29T21:21:00.004-04:002008-08-01T11:45:21.717-04:00Drink Softly, and from a Big GlassIf you look at cocktail blogs and sites across the 'Net, you can find literally millions of way to combine alcohol with everything from Tabasco to rock candy to bacon. People will turn it into a gummy bear, shake it up with ice and myriad other ingredients, or simply drink a pure solution of ethanol and water. Mixologists around the world are concerned with taking whisk(e)y, rum, brandy, vodka, The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-11202539366136277522008-07-28T09:00:00.003-04:002008-07-29T11:20:27.841-04:00MxMo: Cocktail EtoufeeNow without a doubt, this MxMo will break down into three distinct groups. The tikiphiles out there will whip up a bunch drinks from Don the Beachcomber, a New Orlinian. The classicists out there will be slinging milk punches, sazeracs, absinthes suisse, and vieux carres like they're going out of fashion, not coming back in. Meanwhile the innovators will be modifying more modern New Orleans The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-5244295484134515032008-07-27T12:10:00.002-04:002008-07-27T12:52:35.783-04:00My Bowl Floweth OverLast night we celebrated my housemate's 21st birthday in the appropriate style with lots of carrying on and suchlike. While we offered a full, if low end, bar to our guests, the focus was on a rum and sparkling wine punch.Pomegranate Birthday Puncheon3 L - Sparkling Wine (We used J. Roget which is "methode moderne" or gas injected. Please use better wine.)1 L - Rum (Bacardi works, but something The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-21971796878282485072008-07-26T15:51:00.002-04:002008-07-26T16:29:20.369-04:00Keep it Simple, StupidOkay guys, I hate to do this, but I have read one too many recipes which call for orange infused vanilla simple syrup with a hint of bacon. While there is nothing wrong with such an ingredient as such (though it is a bit hard to make), that isn't "simple syrup." Simple syrup or sugar syrup, also known to chefs as cottage syrup, has two ingredients: sugar and water. If you want to make it slightlyThe Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-49251432659652968882008-07-25T16:05:00.005-04:002008-07-25T17:43:31.492-04:00Welcome to My Life...So I get home from the liquor store and read the review of orange bitters over at Oh Gosh! and discover the Stirrings blood orange bitters I had bought weren't really cocktail bitters at all, though I suspect they'll go nicely in soda, and a bitter soda is another treat I enjoy. Anywho, I headed back to Downtown today and picked up a bottle of Regan's #6, and discovered that between when I went The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-15970026906502433712008-07-24T23:54:00.002-04:002008-07-25T00:05:28.269-04:00A Bitter VictoryAbout six months ago I went to my better spirits shop looking for bitters (yes, I have three package stores, my cheapie, Hillside Liquors, with crappy selection but good prices, my better spirits shop, Downtown Wine & Spirits, which is more expensive but has whatever you are looking for whether it's premium spirits, exotic beers, or wines, and my big box, Kappy's which is pretty far, but has The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-1250476066274941752008-07-23T23:12:00.002-04:002008-07-23T23:31:01.148-04:00An Out of This World LiqueurFor those who are fans of Alton Brown and Good Eats as much as I am, the idea that pomegranate is an alien fruit comes as little shock. For the rest of you, and you are missing out, it still shouldn't be a big shock. Pomegranates are pretty fussy things, and kinda weird. Regardless, for the dinner I did at the beginning of the month, pomegranates were one of the key fruits. I used them in all The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-61863718371194752192008-07-22T23:22:00.002-04:002008-07-22T23:47:53.200-04:00Reviewing Spirits, Beer, Wine, and Some MiscelaniaI thought that I would put forth my review methodology and some things I think are important in reviewing. I do this both so you all have a standard by which to judge my reviews and so that the internet community can give me suggestions on to how to improve my process.First off, the glass. I currently use a Ministry of Rum official tasting glass for my reviews. It is a tulip shaped glass of The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-40595110297936487942008-07-21T23:35:00.006-04:002008-07-27T15:43:29.398-04:00Mixology Monday: The Search for Peychoud's BittersSo, there are no Peychoud's bitters in Boston, at least none that I can find. This proved a bit of a determent to my New Orleans inspired cocktail, but more on that in a week. Yes, indeed, MxMo has been postponed for a week. However, I will give you a mini-MxMo. Pfiff says I to those who need time to "recover" and "travel." I need none of those things! Okay, so I wasn't at Tales, but I can, you The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-1459226352838024512008-07-19T11:59:00.003-04:002008-07-19T12:40:44.823-04:00Have I Got a Tale For YouAs anyone who reads more than one cocktail blog knows, this weekend in Tales of the Cocktail, a mongo convention of bartenders, distillers, cocktail bloggers, mixologists, and other people involved in the industry. If I am really the only blog you read, well, I'm honoured. Anywho, I'm not there. I know, bummer. However, I have been keeping up on the fifty or so bloggers who are there, and there'sThe Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-81017851696443797912008-07-16T20:57:00.002-04:002008-07-16T22:18:26.800-04:00A Fearless SpiritWhen I was in Dublin, I had the joy of going to the Bow Steet Distillery where a very special spirit has been manufactured for over two and a quarter centuries. I wrote about the experience for Refined Vices, and you can read about it here. When I was in Israel, I stopped by the duty free. They had some very expensive bourbons (about twice what they cost in the States), some Scotch that was, The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-70482042339360419942008-07-13T19:23:00.003-04:002008-07-13T19:56:52.698-04:00A Dark ArtI have been enjoying a new desert recently: A glass of quality rum, and a square or two of chocolate. We currently have a large quantity of premium Monbana chocolate in the house, and I also brought back some Max Brenner chocolate truffles. Both are wonderful products. The Monbana comes in 53%, 60%, and 70% cacao. Meanwhile, as far as Max Brenner goes, the guy is slightly crazy. He is trying to The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-12872791600547137082008-07-09T21:19:00.003-04:002008-07-09T21:33:13.065-04:00You Are Feeling SleepyIf you aren't, then the next review might make you. The most noticeable thing about the beer I am about to review is its spirally label. In fact, some of my friends called it "That spirally beer" for a long time, and some continue to do so. Regardless, the Magic Hat brewery produces a large number of wonderful ales. I am about to review their flagship "#9" while their somewhat imaginative wheat The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-53170688988957766632008-07-07T17:45:00.002-04:002008-07-11T20:45:00.798-04:00Molecular Mixology Woes and Cocktail GoodnessSo, as promised, I did, indeed, attempt to create "caviar." One was a pomegranate-soy caviar and the other a ginger infused pomegranate-lime syrup. The former was supposed to be the topping for a really cool sushi-inspired dish I was working on. It was supposed to be a play on a classic caviar presentation of sour cream on a bellini topped with traditional fish roe caviar. Instead I was planning The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-52332841921986068722008-07-03T11:19:00.001-04:002008-07-23T23:31:35.199-04:00A Hop-ining PlaceTwo nights ago we went to the Hopleaf bar in Chicago. The Hopleaf is Chicago's best beer bar. It features a whopping 45 beers on tap, which rotate regularly, and a bottled beer list of eighteen pages. Now, you might assume that with such a huge number of beers, people probably only come for the beer, and don't worry about the food. Not so! Our onion rings were exquisite, as were our oysters, The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-85647767619614797372008-07-02T19:12:00.003-04:002008-07-02T19:19:08.250-04:00True Hoppines?So, I think I'm starting a short string, or at least two, posts inspired by that most divine of flowers, the flower that gives beer its wonderful flavour: Hops. Today, I review Wyerbacher's Hops Infusion IPA. I acquired this bottle quite by accident, since I usually don't enjoy ales that are too hoppy. Here are my tasting notes:Weyerbacher Brewing Co.: Hops Infusion IPATasting conditions: It satThe Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-36255198351617084702008-07-02T00:37:00.003-04:002008-07-02T19:07:13.338-04:00What's Coming Up In JulyWow! Another month down already. How quick it all goes. So it's now July. I have lots of great stuff coming up in the coming month as well. Hopefully as I get unpacked this blog will hit its stride and do all I promised to do. In the next month you can expect:Bar reviews! I have been to some good bars, and hope to go to some more goodies. Of course, I will let you learn from my triumphs and The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2811976184983770162.post-81934504853062990852008-06-29T13:18:00.003-04:002008-06-29T14:10:01.543-04:00Swilling in ChicagoYesterday I went to the Chicago Rum Festival hosted by Ed Hamilton from the Ministry of Rum. This was a great event, and I had a great time. While I only went to the rum tasting, I am sure the distiller's seminar, the dinner with the distillers, and the island music festival were fun as well. I missed the first two because of my travel schedule and the last because of a dinner with the The Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12078224330069318724noreply@blogger.com0