bentness

Made this up tonight (Christmas)… kind of like it:

1 shot gin (Citadel)

1/2 shot Batavia Arak

1/2 shot Maraschino (Luxardo)

splash (1/4 ounce?) Green Chartreuse

splash Sweet Vermouth

dash Peychaud’s Bitters

Stirred on ice, strained into “my cocktail glass” (stemless goblet) and served (to myself) with a lime twist. Yummy.

Sigh, this is why I went so long without creating another blog after I killed my old one six years ago… I just never seem to get around to posting anything. And then when I do, it’s this silly “boy I suck at blogging” kind of post.

Ahn, whateva. Here’s something I did recently:

Last weekend was the House Spirits Holiday Booze Bazaar and my two brothers and a whole platoon of their Seattle cocktail friends came down for it. Ironically I was only at House Spirits for about a half hour. I was starving and talked some of the crew into going to get food. That wound up taking a while and we didn’t make it back to the party. I think the guys I was with were jonesing to get to Uptown Liquors and Specialty Liquors anyway.

I did get a chance to sample the brand-spanking-new Ouzo that House has released under their Apothecary line. Also tried Ransom’s new Old Tom Gin, which was really nice. Then there was House’s eagerly anticipated (at least by me) Rum. That was quite nice too, but I think it still needs a bit more time. Also had some Marteau Absinthe. That was nice, as was having several long conversations with it’s creator, Gwydion Stone, over the weekend.

There was also some flavored caramels, several locally made cheeses, and I think some other stuff, but my memory fails me. That was a whole week ago! Anyway, I wasn’t at the Bazaar long but I got to try a lot of good stuff. I actually don’t think I needed much more time there than I had.

My liquor store purchases that day included a bottle of Batavia Arak, my new favorite base spirit. It’s distilled from sugarcane and fermented red rice and has a really interesting flavor. I think that’s from the rice, but I can’t say for certain. It’s often called “rum-like” because it’s distilled from sugar cane. But it doesn’t taste like rum to me. It just tastes totally different.

Our carousing that night included visits to Secret Society, Mint, Clyde Common, 1001, 50 Plates, and of course, Teardrop (we closed the place).  Secret Society has expanded their cocktail menu to include a lot more esoteric, classic recipes. I think a couple people in our party had some gripes… don’t think the bartender was on the top of his game that night. Still, I got to try a couple classic cocktails that I hadn’t heard of (don’t ask me what, cuz I don’t remember).

I went to Mint mostly to see if they’d gotten over their vodka obsession. Last time I was there, a year and a half ago, their cocktail menu was about 70-80% vodka and fruit drinks. I think they’re down to about 50% now, but still, that’s just too many vodka drinks, in my opinion. Several of the Seattle folks wanted to go to Mint just cuz they hadn’t been. But I don’t think anyone was remotely impressed.

Later that night, Teardrop provided a nice bookend to that Mint experience: they have a vodka drink on their cocktail menu now! It’s tongue in cheek though, including house-made Red Bull bitters… heh. I didn’t have the balls to try it, but did get a taste of the bitters… one of the most horrifying gustatory experiences of my life!

All in all, it was a very fun and educational day. A friend of my brothers’, his jaw loosened by nearly twelve hours of drinking, strongly encouraged me to increase my participation in the Munat Brothers’ endeavors. I told him that I’m game, but not sure what shape my help will take. Stay tuned — er, or at least check back once or twice a year to see if I’ve actually managed to post something — to find out.

I went to the Great American Distillers Festival last weekend, and what a weekend it was. Not only was it a lot of fun, but I learned a great deal and got to sample some wonderful liquors and cocktails.

I went largely because my two brothers are big on the NW cocktail scene, going by the name Munat Brothers. And, well, I’m a Munat Brother too. I was actually included in the logo on the assumption that I’d get more involved eventually… and it looks like that expectation is coming true.

Charles and Ted put together a cocktail book called Left Coast Libations to give out at Tales of the Cocktail. It features witty banter and drink recipes from some of the hottest bartenders on the West Coast. Ted is also the fertile mind behind a blog called Le Mixeur, which revels in everything cocktail and liquor… often bathed in faux French.

They also put on cocktail parties called, of course, Le Mixeur. The fifth of these takes place on October 4th and I have promised to attend… my first Le Mixeur. I’m looking forward to it.

Anyway… the Distillers Festival. A good chunk of my time there was taken up with the mixology competition. On Saturday, this featured 20 local bartenders (2 were from Corvallis) making drink of their own devising. They had 5 minutes to set up and then 7 minutes to make enough drinks for the judges. They were judged on the drinks flavor and appearance, but also on the consistency. The competition was split into two rounds, with a different set of judges. Two finalists were picked from each of these rounds. Then, on Sunday, these four finalists were given a mystery ingredient and expected to make up a drink on the spot.

To cut to the chase, the first-place winner was Jamie MacBain from Park Kitchen and second place was Blair Reynolds from tradertiki.com. Jamie received a check for $1000 from the festival sponsors, Imbibe Magazine and Rogue Spirits. Just before the final round, the company that provided the mystery ingredient — Loft Liquers — announced that they would provide a $500 check to the first runner up. So Blair walked with that.

Well, we Munat Brothers didn’t want to be left out, so we cobbled together our meager resources and came up with a prize for the third place winner — which was Chris Churillo (sp?) from Cloud 9 in Corvallis — of $42.26 in cash. However, by the time we awarded that, we mananged to panhandle a bit more, bringing the final prize up to $77.77. I got to present the prize myself. It was great fun.

Sheesh. This is getting long and there’s so much more to talk about. Well, I’ll just quickly mention that there was much revelry and visiting of several great local bars (1001, Teardrop, Clyde Common) after the Festival on Saturday night.

Then, on Sunday afternoon before the final round of the competition, there were some talks by cocktail and liquor experts. “The History of the Cocktail” by Seattle’s well-known cocktail historian, Robert Hess, was fascinating. There was also a panel discussing the history and myths of Absinthe… short summary: all the bullshit about it being dangerous or a hallucinogen is just that: bullshit.

Sunday evening, there was a closing party at 50 Plates, with the incomparable Lance J Mayhew behind the bar. If you haven’t been to 50 Plates yet, definitely check it out; great food and great drinks.

All in all, a very fun, whirlwind of a weekend. And now, for better or worse (probably better for my taste buds and worse for my liver), I’ve been dragged into the Munat Brothers world.