Archives for April, 2008
It takes seven times before you’ll like Campari
It was about six or seven years ago. I was enamoured with the marketing campaign for an exotic Italian liqueur. The ads all showed smart, sophisticated Europeans sipping a wondrously red drink from elegant, crystal glasses. The people in the ads were attractive, sexy and just flat gorgeous. I wanted to be like them.
I bought my first bottle of Campari and took it home.
On the bottle there was a bottle tag with two recipes: Campari and soda and something called a “Negroni.” With great expectation I mixed the simple highball: two parts club soda, one part Campari, served in a tall glass with lots of ice. I used my best crystal so I would experience the drink just like those people in the ads.
“Blah!” I yelled out loud. My wife looked at me strangely. (OK, that’s not so unusual.)
I didn’t like it.
I drank the whole drink and then mixed myself another, this time four parts soda, one part Campari.
I didn’t like that drink any better.
I would try Campari again and again over the next several weeks. But it didn’t matter how I mixed it: on the rocks, in a Negroni, as a shot. No matter what, I always had the same reaction: “Blah!”
Eventually, I shoved the bottle behind the thirty or so other bottles in the cabinet under my wet bar. I soon forgot I had it.
A few years later, I pulled the two-thirds full bottle out from its hiding place and remembered, bitterly, my previous experiences.
“Good riddance!” I said as I threw the bottle out.
Flash forward several years to late 2006.
I’m walking around my local Spec’s looking for something new to try and there’s that exotic red liqueur staring me in the face.
“Try me again,” I hear the bottle say. “The Italians have been drinking me for 146 years. I must be good for something.”
“Liar!” I scream. The store clerk asks me to keep the noise down.
But something inside me tells me that what the bottle said must be right. So, hesitantly, I put a bottle into my shopping cart and roll the cart to the checkout register.
Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting at home looking at a tall, elegant crystal glass with two parts club soda, one part Campari and lots of ice.
I take a reluctant sip.
“Hmm,” I say. “Needs a little gin and a touch of sweet vermouth.”
Negroni
1 ounce gin (I like Boodles for everyday)
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Camparishake, serve up with an orange slice
Dinner in the sky
The picture says it all.
Worth a trip to Belgium all by itself.
Thanks to Neyah White for his post.
Drinking Out Club at Beaver’s
| April 10, 2008 | ||
Are you a fan of classic cocktails?
Want to learn more about cocktails and spirits? Want to enjoy evenings out at the Houston bar scene? Want to meet people who enjoy the pleasures of a good drink in a fun place?
Drinking Out Club / Houston is all about cocktails and the fine art of drinking out. Join us as we visit some of the best bars in Houston.
- There’s no fee!
- Each attendee pays for their own drinks and food.
- The meeting starts at 7:30pm but people start drinking whenever they show up. Come on time… you don’t want to fall behind.
- Meetings last about an hour. Some people stay around after the meeting to enjoy the venue and the company.
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Interested? Sign up and RSVP for our next meeting.
FYI: We use www.meetup.com as our RSVP/Membership tracking tool. It’s free for you! |
This Meeting
Join us at Beaver’s (near Washington Avenue and Sawyer).
Beaver’s Restaurant and Ice House
2310 Decatur Street
Houston TX 77007
(713) 864-2328
www.beavershouston.com
Beaver’s Restaurant and Ice House
Beaver’s Houston is a casual restaurant and icehouse for beer, barbeque, ribs and more.
Beaver’s has a full bar and the best bartenders in Houston – Dave, Bobby and Kevin know cocktails like no one else. Go ahead, let them create a drink for you.
Something else you should know: we take beer seriously with a beer menu that reads like a wine list; while we offer the Icebox standards, you will also be able to find some truly esoteric and unexpected brews, all of which pair well with smoky and spicy foods. We also offer a signature cocktail menu of “Front Porch” drinks, incorporating Texas’ own fine spirits, as well as a “Beer-Tail” menu that puts beer squarely in the cocktail ring, where it belongs.
Want more cocktail talk? Check out Robert Huegel’s blog at Drink Dogma.
Beaver’s menus (dinner, lunch, brunch) celebrate the smoky subtleties of live-fire slow cooking. We elevate the expected BBQ standards, create new addictions, and revive retro desserts.
Chef / General Manager Dax McAnear will put up daily specials from the smoker or the hot side of the kitchen that will lay naked his passion for all things rubbed, aged, smoked and slow-cooked.
Tim Elliott is my friend
Is Tim Elliott is my friend? No, not really. I’ve never met the man.
Tim is famous as one of the original wine bloggers and podcasters with his WineCast site.
I have followed Tim’s WineCast regularly for months and sometimes that kind of familiarity can feel like true friendship. (You know, sorta like the lady who stalked David Letterman for years.) But in this case (don’t worry Tim), I really am Tim’s friend on a website called the OpenWine Consortium.
“What kind of site is OpenWine, John?” you might ask.
OpenWine Consortium is a global, non-profit wine industry association featuring the newest generation of emerging companies, wineries, publishers, services and a motivated community dedicated to changing the world of wine.
If you’re familiar with some of the other networking sites (like LinkedIn or FaceBook) you might recognize the features. Anyone can sign-up as a member and post information about themselves. Your information and the information about hundreds of other members are linked together in a way that helps everyone communicate in a meaningful way.
“Huh? What’s that mean?” would be a normal response right about now.
Think cocktail party, diary, phone book and Christmas card list all rolled into one. It’s pretty new (having just started in February 2008).
Wanna find and visit with other people that know about wine? Join the OpenWine Consortium.
