If the meager choices at a standard soda fountain aren't enough for you, there's hope in sight. Coca-Cola is testing a fountain system that can dispense more than 100 beverages from the same machine. [via Engadget]
Coca-Cola Light is about to become the sexiest soda around. Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has created these three animal-print bottles for the beverage, giving it a sensual status symbol look. The limited-edition bottles will be available in Italy from September to December. Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to console ourselves with the boring old bottles of Diet Coke.
Since eel is supposed to give you an energy boost, the Japanese encourage eating lots of it during the summer to combat natsubate, or heat lethargy. In fact, there's even a specific day called Doyo Ushi no Hi during late-July, when temperatures are at their hottest, dedicated to eating unagi, or grilled eels.
So leave it to the country who bats nary an eyelash at strange flavor combinations to come up with eel soda. Called Unagi Nobori (which translates to "Surging Eel"), the beverage contains eel extract and vitamins commonly found in eel. Yellow in color, the carbonated drink apparently has a similar taste to unagi. It's like an energy drink and liquid meal hybrid!
Starbucks is unleashing another "healthy" answer to the extra caramel Frappuccino with extra whip. Launching Tuesday, the "Vivanno" will taste, look, and act like a smoothie but since it's "so much more than a smoothie" according to Starbucks, they won't let you call it one.
The Vivanno will come in two flavors: Orange Mango Banana Blend, made with Naked Juice, protein and fiber powders, milk, and ice, with 227 calories in a grande. In the Banana Chocolate Blend, mocha syrup replaces the juice, and there's 270 calories for the same 16 ounces. Each blend also contains a whole banana, which Starbucks really wants you to know and love. According to one barista blogger, staffers were reminded repeatedly that there's “at least one serving of fruit with a whole banana" throughout corporate training. They even watched a DVD underscoring the banana presence.
And bananas are good. Americans eat as many bananas as apples and oranges combined, according to banana sage Dan Koeppel. Less than 300 calories is also good, as Frappucinos can easily reach the 600- to 700-calorie range.
But is Starbucks a smoothie house? Not according to the barista blogger. "This isn’t Jamba Juice. This isn’t Smoothie King. This is Starbucks Coffee & Tea. Not Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Smoothies. Or I suppose Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Nourishing Blends."
What do you think? Would you grab a not-smoothie from Starbucks?
Read our review of the Starbucks Vivanno and a comparison to Jamba Juice Smoothies.
Mixing energy drinks with alcoholic beverages has come a long way since the simpler days of DIY Red Bull-and-vodka concoctions, with companies like Budweiser and Miller creating drinks containing energy-boosting elements of taurine and ginseng, in addition to the caffeine. Now facing pressure from state officials, Anheuser-Busch has agreed to stop selling alcoholic energy drinks:
The attorneys general and the Center for Science in the Public Interest have threatened to sue A-B and Miller Brewing Co., charging that their alcoholic energy drinks are marketed to underage drinkers and also pose health risks.
A-B, while maintaining that the beverages are legal and not marketed to underage drinkers, nonetheless notified CSPI that it would agree to stop marketing alcoholic drinks with energy supplements such as caffeine.
Earlier, Anheuser-Busch called the concerns over alcoholic energy beverages as being "alarmist," pointing out that their products like Bud Extra and Tilt had less caffeine than a Starbuck's coffee and had met all federal requirements and approvals. Now, however, they say they will reformulate the drinks so that they do not contain supplements like caffeine and guarana. State officials say they are continuing to investigate other producers of alcoholic energy drinks.
Photographs of fridge and cans from agentparanoia on Flickr
Homer's favorite alcoholic drinks can also be yours! Kind of. In our non-animated world they only come in the form of energy drinks found at Universal Studio's Kwik-E-Mart (or online at xoxide.com and possibly at Spencer's Gifts and Hot Topic). Of course, you'd buy it for the looks, not for the prospect of a refreshing beverage; agentparanoia tried the Duff energy drink and said, "It tasted awful but looks cool on my desk."
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I share Marvo of The Impulsive Buy's sentiment: "I’m allergic to cocktail umbrellas and drinks that make me look like a drunk sorority girl ready to flash her boobs when a video camera and Joe Francis come by." Hence I, like Marvo, have never experienced a Blue Hawaii cocktail, consisting of rum, pineapple juice, blue Curacao, sweet and sour mix, sometimes vodka, and always a festive paper umbrella.
Maybe I'd enjoy the Blue Hawaii better in soft drink form. This summer, Pepsi unleashed the limited-edition Pepsi Blue Hawaii. Sorry, unlucky Americans—it's only available in Japan. Marvo got his hands on a bottle and reviewed the drink, describing its color as "Smurf-like," and the pineapple and lemon flavor combo as "really smurfing sweet and artificial." Although the bottle is spiffed up with a picture of a palm tree and the blue Hawaiian sea, consumers are left to find their own cocktail umbrellas.
Last summer, Pepsi Japan did a similar limited flavor release for Pepsi Ice Cucumber, which sold out in less than a month.
Summer is one of the best times to enjoy tequila, and yesterday Emily Koh gave a great overview of the basic types of the agave spirit. Currently, though, there are several tequila producers who are working to refine tequila’s category even further, sourcing the agave to certain fields to see if there’s a distinctive enough difference in the tequila made from these different regions.
This topic of tequila terroir is addressed in this month’s Wine & Spirits by a tag team of spirits writers composed of Camper English and David Wondrich—and it’s a sticky topic, indeed. While there’s long been a noted distinction between the sweeter, floral highland tequilas from Los Altos and the earthier lowland tequilas from Tequila Valley, breaking the flavors down further can be a challenging process.
If you think Cuervo Gold is good tequila, you may want to check out Bill Bumgarner's tequila guide and educate yourself. The majority of tequila consumed in the U.S. is adulterated tequila, which for the most part is not so good taste-wise, and is also a ticket to a not-so-fun morning should you have too much.
Your best bet would be to look for one that is made from 100 percent blue agave. Cuervo Gold and other cheap brands are composed of at least 51 percent blue agave (as required by Mexican law), and the remaining 49 percent is cheap sugar cane–based liquor. This, combined with the addition of caramel (for flavor and color) and the low-quality agave distillate is responsible for that awesome bulldozer-squashing-your-forehead sensation the next day.
"If all you have had is a Cuervo (or Mezcal with a worm in it), then you really ought to give a true 100 percent blue agave tequila a chance," notes Bumgarner, calling it a "night and day kind of experience."
There are four kinds of 100 percent blue agave tequila:
Robb Walsh tells serious eaters everything they could possibly want to know about Dr Pepper in a brilliant piece of reporting and commentary, including these facts:
Walsh had passers-by blindly taste both kinds of Dr Pepper. Younger people thought the original Dr Pepper tasted weird. Walsh himself likes to cook with and drink the originally formulated version.
Click through for some more Dr Pepper picker-uppers.
Classic beverages have a certain form/function coalescence. Makes sense that a bitter shot of espresso (or four) will jolt you into wakefulness; a neon, sugary sports drink will propel your last treadmill mile; and a voluptuous red wine will wash down a plate of hearty braised ribs.
Drank: "Slow Your Roll" may very well be new to this lexicon. It's a carbonated, grape-flavored "anti-energy" drink. Drank is spiked with melatonin, valerian root and rose hips and comes in a pretty purple can.
The press release explains, "every aspect of this calming drink was inspired by today’s popular hip hop artists who embrace the much sought-after hip hop lifestyle that encourages people to capture a stress-free state of mind." So if all that caffeine has you buzzed, slow your roll, drink a Drank. It is reportedly good with vodka.
It’s tax time, and once you’re done sweating over the paperwork and writing out your check, you could probably use a drink. Ah, but there’s the rub—the IRS just walked away with your wallet, there’s a recession staring us in the face, and, to top it all, the real estate market is peeking into the abyss. At times like these, it’s hard to saunter out of the liquor store with a $50 bottle of scotch in your hand when within a few months it could turn out to be worth more than your house.
But that’s okay (well, it’s really not, but let’s pretend it is for now)—you can still have friends over for a perfectly satisfying and relaxing drink without cracking into the kids’ college fund. Here are a few ways to accomplish this (beyond the patently obvious "drink less"); be sure to join us in the comments section with any ideas you have.
So is the new 'Bucks jolt juice as smooth as they say? We asked some coffee drinkers at the Starbucks branch in Rosslyn, Virginia, and heard a lot of mixed sentiments. Too strong. Smoother. Watery. Worse than Dunkin'. Worse than McDonald's. Free. Old-school. People, make up your minds!
After a sweaty workout, don't you just wanna reach for that refreshing bottle of liquefied Hungarian Goulash? When the fruity flavors get old, this chunk-less papriky stew should do the trick. Though authentic gulyás recipes call for water, this seems a bit excessive. If you're more of a liquid bread crumbs person, Meat Water also has an energizing Weiner Schnitzel formula. (No cutlery necessary)
A typical way to describe kombucha is to say it’s fermented mushroom tea. So when faced with a choice of a well made cappuccino or fermented mushroom tea, that voice inside your head may scream, "double cap extra foam." But Uzbekistan-born Lev Kilun will let you sample his house made kombucha on-tap while you wait for your organic espresso drink at Café Lyon in the Rockridge district of Oakland, California. Before your double cap is done brewing, you might wish you ordered the kombucha instead.
That svelte Red Bull can won't just contain fluorescent yellow stuff anymore—it could have brown liquid in there too! The brand is launching a "strong and natural" cola alternative with crazy ingredients like mustard seeds, ginger, cloves, licorice, orange and cardamom. Following suit of Pepsi Raw and Retro, this could be part of a growing "healthier" pop trend. Maybe I want phosphoric acid in my cola, okay, Red Bull?
My brackets got royally screwed after Georgetown's tragic loss, let's forget that b-word and embrace another: beer. The Washington Post has been updating a Beer Bracket with leagues divided by Lagers, Ales, Specialty & Fruit, and Dark. They're a bit ahead of the NCAA schedule with the Elite Eight already decided. It includes Flying Dog Old Scratch, Raven Lager, Stone Pale Ale, Troegs HopBack Amber Ale, Ommegang Hennepin, Oxford Raspberry Wheat, Sam Adams Honey Porter, and Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown. Would your bracket win?
Photograph from on jmilles Flickr
When it comes to sweetening a drink, many times sugar alone just won’t hack it.
The current issue of Imbibe includes a short article I wrote about one of the alternative sweeteners being rediscovered by bartenders: maple syrup. Yeah, I know, many people find the idea of mixing their Log Cabin with their Grey Goose absolutely revolting, but pure maple syrup mixed with a rich brown spirit, such as bourbon, dark rum or apple brandy, is capable of bringing much more flavor and character to a drink than a spoonful of sugar ever could.
Since when did the low-class hooch known as kirsch become the stuff of the connoisseur’s table? That’s a question that underscores Eric Felten’s recent “How’s Your Drink?” column in the Wall Street Journal.
Distilled from fermented cherries, pits and all, kirsch is part of the larger category of eau de vie—fruit brandies, typically unaged, that are dry in flavor and intensely aromatic. As Felten points out, a century ago kirsch was, when paired with coffee, a not-uncommon French workingman’s lunch, and the stuff drunk by criminals in grubby Parisian bars.
One of the uncomfortable aspects of talking and writing about spirits and cocktails is the dark side of the topic. While other parts of the culinary world have unfortunate consequences that accompany over-indulgence—obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, to name a few—perhaps none has as an immediate, visible and potentially deadly a flip-side as does the consumption of alcohol.
I’ve been thinking about this recently, thanks to a post at the excellent Drink Boston blog titled “The Pink Elephant in the Room,” which questions why drink writers rarely (if ever) mention the intoxicating aspect of enjoying beer, wine and spirits. With two recent articles in the New York Times exploring the ugly side of alcohol consumption—Sunday brought us “Starving Themselves, Cocktail in Hand,” a look at the double-threat of heavy drinking and eating disorders; and on Tuesday, the paper ran “When People Drink Themselves Silly, and Why,” an exploration of binge drinking—and with another alcohol-sodden St. Patrick’s Day coming up on the calendar, talking breezily about the enjoyment of fine libations without looking at all aspects of the issue becomes even more difficult.
Your favorite soft drink of the fictitious animated future may be coming to a grocery store near you! Slurm, previously only produced on the planet Wormulon as featured in the TV show Futurama, has been trademarked in order to be used with just about every kind of beverage that isn't alcoholic. I can't wait to get my hands on a refreshing can of Slurm! [via Boing Boing Gadgets]
It seems that every time I step into a liquor store, a new gin has appeared on the shelf, from new formulas promoted by established liquor giants to microdistilled boutique gins flavored with ambitious—and sometimes unpleasant—new combinations of botanicals.
But as Jason Wilson pointed out last week in the Washington Post, many gin and cocktail aficionados are ignoring the new gins in favor of something old: in this case, a gin known as genever.
In today’s New York Times piece, "Eat 300 and Say 'Spherification'", Pete Wells looks at a big development in one of the most attention-getting aspects of contemporary cocktails: molecular mixology.
Following in the footsteps of Ferran Adria at El Bulli, adventurous bartenders have, in recent years, been working with assorted chemicals and lab techniques that enable them to change the appearance, texture and styling of cocktail ingredients—think gelatinous cubes of Campari, and scoops of “caviar” made from gin. But even as these techniques have inspired a certain degree of gee-whiz admiration, the number of bartenders skilled in the techniques has been until recently quite small.
That could soon change. As Wells writes, liquor behemoth Remy Cointreau is introducing a kit that has everything a bartender needs to convert the company’s signature orange liqueur into tiny tapioca-like pearls, which may then be spooned into a Cosmopolitan or a glass of champagne. The company plans to introduce this kit at 20 bars in New York, including several that are the reigning regents of cocktail culture.
Scattered near Southern Cali college campuses like UCI and UCLA, Asian-style bubble teahouses stay open late, serving the student community. They go through boxes of extra-fat straws, wide enough to fit tapioca balls or "boba" as it's often called, about the size of marbles. Stab their fluorescent-colored straws into cellophane-wrapped plastic cups which is filled with traditional flavors (green or black milk tea) or fruitier options (lychee, honeydew, mango).
Gummy and gelatinous, the tapioca boba bubbles sitting at the bottom of each cup symbolize a cultural staple for young Asians in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and all over California. For only about two bucks, the drink (hot or cold) is just as important as the scene—brightly-lit with comfy couches, usually blasting techno music. It’s the coffee shop alternative, with fat straws involved.
Here's a round-up of favorite boba hangouts in Southern Cali.
I've heard of chicken soup to heal colds, but sake and egg? Tamagozake, or egg sake, is a traditional home remedy in Japan for the cold. Mix together 3/4th cup of sake, an egg, and a tablespoon of sugar and heat until just before boiling. Serve with chopsticks. And let the healing begin! [via Peter Payne]
Ballantine Ale may no longer be a hit beer—the glory days fell apart during the '60s—but if you close your eyes, an Olde English 800 should do the trick. Once the fourth largest brewer in the 1940s and 50s, the ale later became a pop culture icon in an SNL skit in 2003, and two years later, a Notorious B.I.G. reference in his hit, "Long Kiss Goodnight." As Biggie Smalls professes: "distribute to kids who, take heart like Valentine, drink Ballantine, all the time." So drink up, kids.
...after drinking thirteen different cans of energy drinks over the course of a long weekend I am convinced that my opinion is completely awesome and I could—if needed—run completely through the living room wall into the neighboring apartment.
And that's the effect that comparing and reviewing 13 energy drinks will have on you, folks.
As the interest in fine spirits and cocktails has grown in recent years, demand has likewise increased for Italian amaros. The garnet-red Campari has long held a place of prominence, and recently the milder flavored Aperol has earned fans in the cocktail community. Now, the Sicilian herbal tonic called Averna—already the leading amaro in many parts of the world—is hoping to become the next indispensable ingredient in the American bartender’s arsenal.
With a recipe dating to the 1860s, Averna is a much different style of bitter spirit than the more familiar Campari. Where Campari is sharp and bright (essential elements for an aperitivo), Averna is deep and rich, with a gentle, slightly sweet bitterness and a full, firm body that makes it great as an after-dinner drink.
How would you like to gulp down a frothy, steaming glass of...beer? According to American expat in Japan Peter Payne Japanese beer company Kirin is introducing Hot Beer, beer that is heated to about 120°F and accompanied by a cinnamon stick and sugar cubes. "The heat of the beer is supposed to bring out flavors not present when served cold, including a deep aroma not unlike that of coffee." If you're curious enough, you can try this at home by microwaving your own beer.
Earlier this week at The Spirit World, cocktail expert Robert Hess addressed the history of that most iconic barroom vessel, the Martini glass. You know the one I mean: its V-shape sleek and modern, easily rendered in neon and often seen in the company of an olive.
While the V-shaped glass is certainly the most prominent type of stemware found in the cocktail kingdom, this wasn’t always the case: a tour of old cocktail manuals and bar catalogs reveals an array of glasses designed to deliver a short one, ranging from Marie-Antoinette coupes to tulip-shaped goblets.
But what really got my attention is the way sizes have shifted. Look for a cocktail glass in the housewares section of a department store and you’ll find 9- to 12-ounce monstrosities more suitable for use as birdbaths than for serving a respectable drink. Here in Seattle, one of the most popular bars in town draws its name from the gargantuan size of its drinks, poured into glasses so obscenely large that a woozy patron could topple forward and drown in one. If Morgan Spurlock were to reprise Supersize Me in many American bars, his liver would give out halfway through the film.
Dave Cook of Eating In Translation was tired of drinking the standard coffee, tea, and hot chocolate over and over again, so he searched the New York City area for other hot drinks to get him through the winter. His list of 18 wintertime drinks hailing from a wide variety of cuisines should keep your taste buds toasty without tiring them out.
Dedicated lovers of Scotch whisky may wish to look the other way right now.
In his "Shaken and Stirred" column in Sunday’s New York Times, Jonathan Miles addresses one of the touchiest topics in mixology: the crafting of cocktails using single-malt Scotch. Miles writes, “As a Scottish proverb says: ‘There are two things a Highlander likes naked, and one of them is malt whiskey.’ But we New Yorkers are islanders, not Highlanders, and adulteration befits us.”
Outraged purists aside, Scotch is already a very difficult spirit to mix. A handful of cocktails achieve success with blended Scotch—the Rob Roy, Cameron’s Kick and Blood and Sand among them—but these victories are badly overshadowed by the failures. These losses can be seen in the cases of good whisky squandered in undrinkable concoctions that must have seemed promising at first, had it not been for Scotch’s near-sociopathic inability to get along with others.
Orange is one of the most popular and venerable flavors for liqueurs. Early versions of the Manhattan and Old Fashioned called for dashes and drips of orange-flavored spirits, and without these liqueurs it’d be impossible to mix a proper Sidecar, Mai Tai, or Margarita. From the crisp austerity of Cointreau to the lush richness of Grand Marnier—with side trips to Gran Gala and Prunier La Lieutenance, and through a dizzying array of brands of triple secs and curacaos—there is no shortage of boozy citrus options to choose from.
Here’s one more: Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb is another addition to the shelf of orange spirits, but one that distinguishes itself in a couple of ways. While most orange-flavored liqueurs are based on neutral spirits or brandy, Creole Shrubb uses rhum agricole, a distinctive type of rum from Martinique that is made from sugar-cane juice rather than molasses, the base material for most other rums. Rhum agricole has a sharper, more peppery aroma and flavor than do molasses-based rums, and this feature gives the Creole Shrubb an unusually crisp character. Flavored with bitter orange peels and a mix of spices, the Creole Shrubb is lean and sharp, with the rich orange notes typically found in curacaos but without the over-the-top sweetness that mars many other liqueurs.
It may take some searching to track down a bottle of Creole Shrubb, but the result makes the effort worthwhile. I’ve enjoyed using it as a component in exotic rum drinks and as an extra flavor boost in a glass of Champagne, and that’s just the start.
Does anyone else have experience with the Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb? How do you take it?
Inside a Sheetz gas station on U.S. Route 29 in Virginia, next to the predictable Slurpee machine, sat an almighty F'Real shake-maker this weekend. Something like a DIY malt shop from the future, it lets you pick from a mini-freezer of ice cream cups (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or a limited-edition egg nog) and thickness settings (extra, regular or less thick). After dropping my vanilla into the sleek blue machine and choosing extra-thick, the cup levitated to a shake-making heaven. Some bzzt noises later, and it dropped back down to our mortal world.
Creamy and chalky-white, it wasn't much more sophisticated than McDonald's vanilla soft-serve, but very satisfying with all that buttercream and host of scary chemicals. Cellulose gum, maltodextrin, carrageenan and dextrose. For $2.29, the most satisfying part, of course, was the futuristic, hands-on element. There's absoltuely no countertop, no glass case or no middleman of any kind between you and the shake! You're basically on par with Jimmy, the jolly-looking, old-timey mascot wearing his ice cream parlour lab coat, smiling at you. He must be thinking back to the dinosaur days of churning by hand. Ha!
At least one barista at Starbucks is incensed about having to refer to drinks as "skinny," the term given to drinks made with sugar-free syrup, non-fat milk, and no whipped cream. She supports her stance by saying that the term is politically incorrect, confusing to customers, discriminating, and has a negative effect on people's self esteem. [via Gothamist]
That is one buzzed-looking robot. He probably drank too many of Never Bashful With Butter's Robot Graveyards—a mix of six juices, two sodas, and a shot of rum. [via Tastespotting]
In today’s New York Times, Michael S. Sanders explores one corner of an often neglected world of spirits: Armagnac.
Widely enjoyed in Gascony and largely an afterthought almost everywhere else, Armagnac is Cognac’s less-famous sibling. With its distinctive robust flavor, Armagnac is often thought of as the country bumpkin cousin to the more sophisticated Cognac. Quoting Marc Darroze, whose family has been buying some of the best vintage Armagnac from French farmers and selling it worldwide for more than 50 years, Sanders writes, “If Cognac is feminine, Armagnac is masculine, dense, powerful, individualistic, reeking of terroir.” Where Cognac can be sweet and fruity, Armagnac can be rich and earthy, a close relative with its own inimitable character.
More than 500 bottles of Cognac were imported into the U.S. last year for every bottle of Armagnac. But at a time when the American palate is becoming more adventurous, seeking out regional delicacies with distinctive flavors that set them apart from their more familiar relatives, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more people exploring Armagnac in the next couple of years (and in many fine restaurants and bars, a growing interest can already be seen).
My own experience with Armagnac is woefully limited. Any fans of this intriguing brandy out there who’d like to share their experiences and their favorite bottlings?
Does Brawndo really have what plants crave? Reading For Dummies plans to find out by conducting an experiment where two tomato plants will be fed carefully measured amounts of water and electrolyte-enhanced Brawndo for three weeks, or until one of them dies. Whichever comes first. Watch the experiment's progress through the magic of time lapse photography!
“A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss our affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”
A Christmas Carol
The old Smoking Bishop is one of a family of once-common drinks that now make their sole appearance during the holidays, if then. But this near-forgotten class of punches is worth rediscovering, for both culinary and social reasons. As Eric Felten writes in How's Your Drink?
The holiday season is hot cocoa/hot chocolate season no matter where you live, so as a public service the Serious Eaters have endeavored to taste every hot cocoa and hot chocolate we could find at a reasonable price. That means we set a price ceiling of 75¢ a serving. That means delicious fancy-pants hot chocolate mixes like Jacques Torres and MarieBelle's are not included in this tasting. They do contain chocolate, they are delicious, but they're just too pricey. The Land O' Lakes Supreme Hot Chocolate, which was pretty good, is also too expensive for our survey, at 99¢ a serving.
Before we begin, we must define our terms. Hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder, a by-product of the chocolate-making process. What that means is that almost all hot cocoa/hot chocolate varieties we found in our price range contained no chocolate. Even some brands that called themselves hot chocolate, like Lake Champlain Chocolates' Traditional Hot Chocolate, are actually mislabeled because they contain no chocolate.
In a recent article in the Washington Post, Jason Wilson reminisces about the time a friend of the family took him to a nice hotel bar—where he was apparently a regular—and announced to the bartender that the time had come to switch to his winter drink (a Stinger, in case you were wondering).
Reading this story reminded me of a rule I read on an online message board back when I was first starting to explore mixology: As the seasons change, so should your drink.
Since reading that instruction, I’ve happily taken it to heart—besides, December is no time to be ordering a mojito. While I’m always exploring different recipes, I typically have one or two favorites that I keep returning to, but those favorites change as predictably as the calendar. Spring to me is typically gin, often with citrus such as in the moody, meditative Corpse Reviver #2, but just as often without, as in the crisp and slightly bitter Hoskins. Summer is the season of rum, with variations on the venerable daiquiri high on my list of preferred drinks, and autumn brings the return of brown spirits such as applejack and Calvados, with Fallen Leaves and Stone Fences seeming very attractive.
The Grocery Ninja leaves no aisle unexplored, no jar unopened, no produce untasted. Creep along with her below, and read her past market missions here.
I don't know about you, but I'm still full from Thanksgiving and it's mighty uncomfortable sitting for hours before the computer, trying to churn out a halfway decent paper while feeling (and looking, no doubt) like an overstuffed turkey.
Thankfully, I have company, and the company is just as stuffed. So, in between moaning about how we're ready to explode and helping prune each other's bloated academic prose, the Argentinean housemate and I have been taking turns brewing mate.
For people like me, who know almost nothing about the family of espresso-centric drinks, Lokesh Dhakar's illustrated guide to espresso drink composition may be helpful. The illustrations won't help you much if you want to make the drinks, but they're great for providing a simple overview of the ingredients. [via Boing Boing]
While dining in Paris, Dorie Greenspan saw her waiter put a silver spoon in an opened bottle of Champagne before storing it in the refrigerator.
Sticking a silver spoon in an opened bottle of Champagne to preserve the fizz is an old wives' tale, but at least one waiter in Paris (among others) swears by this trick. Research has found (of course there's been research) that spoons don't do a whole lot but are better than recorking, that neither spoons nor corks are needed, as long as the bottle is refrigerated after opening, and that the only way to avoid losing fizz is to drink the whole bottle at once or seal it with a hermetic cork.
One of my friends explained that the spoon acts as a heat sink, thus cooling the inside of the bottle and causing a slower release of carbon dioxide.
Or maybe it's just urban mythology.
InventorSpot give their list of the Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Drinks as proof that Japan is at the forefront of beverage ingenuity. Do you dream of cucumber-flavored Pepsi? They've got it! How about salad flavored water? Got that too! Kids want to join in on the beer-drinking fun? Just give them a frosty bottle of non-alcoholic Kidsbeer!
If you have a local Japanese supermarket ("browsing supermarkets" is one of my major pastimes, at least) be on the lookout for "interesting drinks that probably wouldn't survive in the US market." There are loads of them. Check out Dan's photos of bizarre Japanese beverages for inspiration.
While there are many different taste preferences for Tang around the globe, Kraft researchers have found that consumers’ perceptions of the brand are quite similar across all markets: Tang is a symbol of a mother’s love for her family. —Kraft Foods, on the company's Tang brand focus page
My favorite beverage review site of all time, Kevin Fanning and Josh Allen's The Knowledge For Thirst, has finally started up again after a painfully long hiatus. I guarantee you've never in your entire life read a beverage face-off quite like the one they just put up of Mexican Coke Vs. Passover Coke. Accept no substitutes.
Lauren Chapin of the Kansas City Star says craft beers are getting more popular, and the people who drink them are getting more selective:
To drink better, they’re willing to pay a premium. A Rogue Imperial India Pale Ale from Newport, Ore., goes for $13 for 750 milliliters, a price more comparable to wine than a six-pack. Even the O’Fallon Smoked Porter, which is best enjoyed with barbecue ribs, rings up at $4 per 22-ounce bottle. Boulevard craft beers will cost $7 to $13 for 750 milliliter bottles (about 24 ounces).
A growing segment of the population wants more flavorful products, more premium products,” Gatza says. And, like wine, "they will have several different beer styles in the refrigerator, from several breweries, so that they can match beer to the occasion."
I know it makes me a foodie Philistine, but I drink lots of readymade diet iced tea. I know, I know, it doesn't take much to put up your own iced tea, but when you're walking down the street with a powerful thirst and you pass a deli or bodega, a bottle of diet peach Snapple hits the spot. Even when I'm home, it's extremely satisfying to know that when I open the fridge I will find a big plastic container of my current diet iced tea of choice, decaf Turkey Hill iced tea.
I've been buying 64 ounce containers of decaf Turkey Hill decaf iced tea for a few years now. Most of the time it's on special for $1.99, and that represents a lot of thirst quenching for less than two bucks. It doesn't have much tea flavor, but it's cold and sweet with the merest hint of lemon, and it's strangely satisfying. But the last couple of weeks, when I duck into the Fairway at 74th and Broadway, I've found no Turkey Hill iced tea. The only thing they have in the cold case is Diet Nestea in those coated paper containers.
So I bought one of those containers. What a mistake! Diet Nestea tastes awful, downright vile. It has a funny, unpleasant aftertaste that I associate with diet soft drinks made with saccharin. Sure enough, when I looked on the list of ingredients, the sweetener was among them. Nestea, you're a big company with almost unlimited resources. Can't you make a diet iced tea that doesn't make me gag?
Four days of eating on Martha's Vineyard and what did I discover:
The best local soda I've ever tasted: Cape Cod Diet Cranberry Ginger Ale: Simultaneously sweet and tart, plenty of cranberry flavor, could go a little heavier on the ginger. I know about Cheerwine and the like, but are there other great local sodas most people don't know about?
A very fine Little Rock Farms blueberry pie made with wild Maine blueberries.
An excellent Mrs. Blake's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with her usual moist and flaky crust and filling that could have been less sweet.
Fried clams from John's Fish Market in Vineyard Haven that were crunchy, clammy, and yummy. Wispy, thin onion rings that were battered to order (as were the clams. Next time up here I'm going to taste test John's and the Bite's fried clams. May the better clam win!
Pretty good bacon and fresh mozzarella pizza from the Chilmark Store. Too much regular mozzarella made for a very heavy pie. Bacon was in tiny pieces, like bacon bits.
Awful peach crumb pie from the Black Dog Bakery: It's hard to screw up peach crumb pie, but the folks at BDB managed to do it. The pie was a soupy, gloppy mess, and the peaches tasted canned.
By far the best bites of food to be had on this island are the Gold Bud Farms peaches and nectarines sold at Eden outside Vineyard Haven. These are simply as good a piece of stonefruit as you will find on this planet.
This photo of some sliced Gold Bud peaches is courtesy of a Chowhounder. Each piece is juicy and sweet with just the right amount of acidity. How good are they? We bring them as either house presents or dessert when we're invited over to dinner, and we have now become the most popular dinner guests on the island. Ron Mansfield, Goldbud's owner, will ship. Call him at 530-626-6521.
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