Pete,

Apart from what El D has said you could also add montenegro, (great digestive), and a good grappa.

Hi ads,

Yeah, I used to have grappa on the bar before I moved in 06 and it was drafted to friends. I honestly wasn't sold on it, which is why I would give Fernet Branca a try. Did kind of enjoy strega too.

Used to work with a lot of Argentinians and their standard go-to drink was fernet and coke. It tastes worse than it sounds.

As for grappa, I said get a good one. Most of them taste like what I'd imagine diesel fuel tasting like.

I store Baileys and similar cream stuff in the fridge. Although I think it's probably more important that it is not exposed to sunlight. Not sure.

Ads - yup, think I was sold crap. Not sure how sourcing in Edinburgh would go either, next time Mrs Harris and I go to Italy we'll be in touch for advice! Wrt Fernet Branca I'd read somewhere that despite it being an Italian liqueur, Argentina accounted for 1/3 of its consumption and was the only country outside Italy to have a Fernet Branca factory! I've never tried it, and was peeved when an Argentinian steak place opened in Edinburgh, I went along and looked at their booze list. No. Bloody. Fernet. wtf, peeps?

Garcia - mine is thankfully out of sunlight, but I've been scouting around for info on shelf life and the uninformed majority feel that baileys and vermouth go past their prime pretty fast. Given I don't really drink the former, and the latter i use in very small proportions, I'm not overly fussed.

Drinks wise, I prefer the Sazerac (which seems to make all but a couple of my friends wince when drinking), and confess to making pint glass size Mint Juleps at parties (I'm usually making 15 cocktails for each 1 i drink, so i usually make them biggies!). I grew up on gin (so English) so like that too.

But neat spirit wise, I go for either an Islay whisky (Laphroaig was my first, Bruichladdich what I have right now), or Blanton's/another decent bourbon/rye over ice (which is why I need to get some of these).

Speaking of grappa - when my wife and I just started dating we were out at a facny italian joint in Vegas and after dinner she was in the mood for a nice and sweet dessert wine. The waiter stopped by and offered their selection of grappas and I told her that would be perfect so she got a glass and took nice mouthful expecting a sweet and smooth mouthful of wine. Needless to say she didn't expect what she got. Fortunately she didn't leave me and now we share a laugh every time someone offers us grappa.

Don't know if this has been mentioned but discovered Robert Hess over the weekend and he seems to know his ****.

PH,

Fernet is super popular in SF. Started out as a bartender/service industry drink, then it started catching on all over. Here's a good article about it: http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-12-07/n...yth-of-fernet/

Great article, El D. Makes me love SF even more (I'm a distant 9ers fan). I like how SF:USA::Argentina:Italy. The fact Hemingway hated it is a cool fact, but I guess he liked his stuff way harder. And the saffron consumption (75% of global? Sheesh! Citation needed?) is insane.

"with ginger" I assume means ginger ale, right? That's not one which translates directly [ginger beer is better known and we of course have the bizarre Stones Green Ginger Wine to confuse things further].

Best,
Pete

Peter,

Yes, the standard Fernet back is ginger ale, though IMO that's for pussies.

Good tip on those Hess vids, thanks

grunching hard, forgive me:

part of a new years party I'm attending is to celebrate various countries new years each hour by having a drink associated with a certain country (no real rules here, I don't think people would begrudge a White Russian even though it's not at all Russian). any specific national (say, tropical?) drinks anyone could suggest that don't involve carbonation and are easy to make that fit the bill?

First one that comes to my head is the caipirinha (Brazil): http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/video/6

Also, a daiquiri (Cuba) is fairly simple to prepare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwxKqv8CCzc

I asked about books in this thread, and after some Amazon searching I bought Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar.

Very entertaining read and some interesting old-time cocktail recipes. I highly recommend it.

Er, assuming you're in the US, I'm guessing you're not going to start a NYE party significantly before midnight mainland Europe time, and if on east coast, ending by like, midnight west coast time, right? That's not many possible countries and certainly not Russia... So what country you're in really matters, as Russian New Years is sort of out of the picture for American parties, right?

I like El_T's suggestion - caipirinhas are awesome when done right and you get the perfect mix of cachaca, sugar, lime and just a bit of water from the crushed ice.

Also it seems to turbo charge parties, when I've done a batch of caipirinhas it turns some people mad dog crazy. Is raw cane spirit (CSR, Cachaca) metabolised quicker than others?

I read somewhere a barman asserted Tequila gives people a rush because it's fructose based and metabolised faster, but no citation. Any chemists understand what's going on here? I ask because 40% abv spirit would be 40% abv spirit, so you'd expect e.g. tequila and scotch to metabolise at the same rate. But I guess it depends what's in the other 60% besides water?

TLDR - do caipirinhas, someone else answer the metabolisation theory.