Booze.

[NowhereMan]

Google searching says that Gin should be fine provided it's 100% distilled spirit. Also a few anecdotal cases of people puking their guts up after having it, though that's possibly down to drinking cheap gin that had stuff added in. Theoretically, like Vodka, it should be fine.

[Sheepherder]

Can anyone verify whether gin is gluten free or not?  With  my celiac I can pretty much rule out most alcohols, except for wine, tequila, some vodkas, etc.

You actually should be able to consume most alcohols, as the proteins responsible for celiac shouldn't make it through the distillation process, unless it's being introduced into the drink after distillation.

Just wait a few months, and chew on your xmas tree. Then you'll know what drinking gin is like.

There's a reason for that, Juniper.

[Furiously]

Can anyone verify whether gin is gluten free or not?  With  my celiac I can pretty much rule out most alcohols, except for wine, tequila, some vodkas, etc.

Who cares Patron is darn good drinking!

[Samwise]

Several years ago, a mixologist friend introduced me to the Brooklyn, and I've been on the lookout for Amer Picon (or a reasonable substitute) ever since.  After I killed my last bottle of Amaro Montenegro I decided to do some more serious research into what it would take to get the real deal, and discovered the recipe for Amer Boudreau.

A month and a half of steeping orange peels later, it's time to mix myself a pitcher of knockoff bitters.



I tried an early taste before its final week of resting, and it's good.  Similar enough to the Montenegro that I can see why that's one of the standard substitutes, but the orange really sets it apart.

[Hawkbit]

We got hooked on Black Manhatten drinks for the fall and winter, replacing the vermouth with Averna Amaro and upgrading the cherries to Luxardo. Averna is a digestive, and it just settles the belly with whatever meal is coming.

Whats your standard whisky for the Brooklyn? Always looking for mid-range stuff to improve cocktails.

[Trippy]

From the linked Serious Eats article on the Wiki page and looking at other recipes rye whiskey is the standard for the Brooklyn, which makes sense since it's a Manhattan variation. For rye cocktails I would say Rittenhouse is probably the standard in bars, at least in the US. It's also what's recommended by the Death & Co folks in their Cocktail Codex book for things like the Manhattan. I use either High West Double Rye or Bulleit Rye at home. For cocktails that ask for blended Scotch or non-specific whisk(e)y I use Monkey Shoulder. For bourbon cocktails I use Four Roses Small Batch.

[Samwise]

Redwood Empire’s Emerald Giant Rye has been my go-to for a while.  For bourbon I think my wife has settled on Lost Republic to make her Vieux Carre with.  We like to keep it local.   

[HaemishM]

I got the Redwood Empire Pipe Dream (one of their bourbons) and it's a great neat pour. Very subtle when compared to most bourbons which tend to be a lot brasher and more ethanol forward. I'm not sure it'd be good for cocktails, mind you.

[Trippy]

Several years ago, a mixologist friend introduced me to the Brooklyn, and I've been on the lookout for Amer Picon (or a reasonable substitute) ever since.  After I killed my last bottle of Amaro Montenegro I decided to do some more serious research into what it would take to get the real deal, and discovered the recipe for Amer Boudreau.

A month and a half of steeping orange peels later, it's time to mix myself a pitcher of knockoff bitters.

Bitters & Bottles carries Bigallet China-China Amaro which is supposedly a very close substitute. Might want to give that a try too.

https://www.bittersandbottles.com/products/bigallet-china-china-amaro

[Samwise]

Oo, I can try a side by side with my homemade version.

[Samwise]

I didn't even notice when you originally posted the link that the store is in South City, and it looks like a fun place to browse.  Conveniently I'm going to be down there next week for other business so I can save myself $10 in shipping, and probably cost myself a lot more picking up stuff I didn't know I wanted.   

[Trippy]

Yeah that's why I linked it since I know you live just north of there. And they do carry a lot of the stuff you don't normally find at your typical corner liquor store or even the big chains including a large selection of their eponymous bitters in both liqueur and flavoring forms.

[Samwise]

Yeah, I've been doing most of my liquor shopping at Total Wine in Colma since they're massive and have all the stuff that Bevmo doesn't, but they didn't have this.

Cask does have it, though, so points to them.

[Sky]

At some point I need to open the bottle of homemade mead a buddy gave me back in 2014.

[Samwise]

Supposedly mead bottle-ages really well.   

I'd always thought of mead as being very sweet (like boozy honey soda), but we went to a meadery on a recent trip to Pt Reyes that does these really dry champagne-like meads. 
Link.  You can still taste that it's made from honey, but the sweet part is dialed way back, I guess because of the type of fermentation they do.  Not sure if that's a common style and I've just happened to only try sweet ones or if they're relatively unique in that respect.

[Sky]

He told me to stash the bottle for no less than 5 years. I've never tasted mead, so I dunno!

[Khaldun]

I picked up a mead for a cooking recipe that was made in Delaware and it wasn't half bad--definitely not excessively sweet. More like a complicated beer with a slightly thicker mouthfeel.

[Samwise]

Oo, I can try a side by side with my homemade version.

Did the experiment of tasting them both on their own.  The basic botanical profile is very similar; lots of orange and spice in similar ratios.  The Bigallet is a lot more syrupy (similar sweetness/mouthfeel to something like Chartreuse or Benedictine), whereas the Boudreau is more dry/sharp, and maybe a touch more bitter.  I think for sipping on its own I'd lean towards the Bigallet but now I need to do a side-by-side comparison in the context of a cocktail to see if that extra sweetness is overpowering (if it is that'll call for more experimentation -- my Brooklyn recipe calls for a splash of Luxardo, but maybe a sweeter amer makes that unnecessary).

[Samwise]

now I need to do a side-by-side comparison in the context of a cocktail to see if that extra sweetness is overpowering (if it is that'll call for more experimentation -- my Brooklyn recipe calls for a splash of Luxardo, but maybe a sweeter amer makes that unnecessary).

The experiment results are in (over the course of multiple days so I'm not knocking back multiple cocktails every night) and I don't think the China-China works as well in a Brooklyn.  With my standard recipe (2 rye, 1 dry vermouth, 1/4 Luxardo, 1/4 amaro) the result is not bad but is sweeter than I prefer.  Same recipe minus the Luxardo and the spice notes in the amaro overpower the drink.  The homemade Boudreau is my favorite.  I can see people who prefer a sweeter cocktail preferring the China-China in the standard recipe though.

[Mandella]

So a while back I tried Curiada, one of those online booze buying places. I have the common problem of having plenty of liquor stores around, but they never seem to keep the odd or really good stuff in stock. So what the heck, I tested the waters by buying some St. Germain Elderberry Liqueur, and they have an interesting policy where you can get free shipping if you buy some of their overstock, so I picked some odd Fig Brandy to round out the order.

I honestly forgot about it until a couple weeks later when Curiada's customer support team sent me an email telling me that they had noticed that I had not yet received my shipment, and in fact said shipment had not been shown to move for eight days on the tracker, so it was probably stolen or lost or damaged. Anyway, no need for me to do anything, they had already filed an insurance claim and my order was being reshipped.

Okay, cool, especially as the original order shook loose that very day and arrived on my doorstep the next. Being a good little customer I sent an email back asking if I should return it? and they basically just went lol enjoy your extra booze.

So anyway, now I have two nice bottles of St. Germain, and also two bottles of Fig Brandy which honestly aren't to my taste by themselves but I'm sure I'll find a cocktail it will work in.

[Goumindong]

now I need to do a side-by-side comparison in the context of a cocktail to see if that extra sweetness is overpowering (if it is that'll call for more experimentation -- my Brooklyn recipe calls for a splash of Luxardo, but maybe a sweeter amer makes that unnecessary).

The experiment results are in (over the course of multiple days so I'm not knocking back multiple cocktails every night) and I don't think the China-China works as well in a Brooklyn.  With my standard recipe (2 rye, 1 dry vermouth, 1/4 Luxardo, 1/4 amaro) the result is not bad but is sweeter than I prefer.  Same recipe minus the Luxardo and the spice notes in the amaro overpower the drink.  The homemade Boudreau is my favorite.  I can see people who prefer a sweeter cocktail preferring the China-China in the standard recipe though.

While it would not be a brooklyn without the maraschino you might try using a sweet or blanc vermouth instead of the dry when removing the luxardo (and/or upping the vermouth/rye mix) in order to counter act the spice notes without making it too sweet when using the china-china. If you added cherry bitters you could probably keep the tenor of the drink pretty similar

[Khaldun]

I have no idea why a Shirley Temple with alcohol in it is suddenly the hot cocktail, by the way.

[Goumindong]

I have no idea why a Shirley Temple with alcohol in it is suddenly the hot cocktail, by the way.

I don't think putting grenadine in a mule is terribly weird.

[Trippy]

It’s because of the NYT calling it the “in” drink of the Summer:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/dining/drinks/shirley-temple-vodka.html

[schild]

just put tequila in a fucking sonic diet cherry limeade like god intended

[Goumindong]

now I need to do a side-by-side comparison in the context of a cocktail to see if that extra sweetness is overpowering (if it is that'll call for more experimentation -- my Brooklyn recipe calls for a splash of Luxardo, but maybe a sweeter amer makes that unnecessary).

The experiment results are in (over the course of multiple days so I'm not knocking back multiple cocktails every night) and I don't think the China-China works as well in a Brooklyn.  With my standard recipe (2 rye, 1 dry vermouth, 1/4 Luxardo, 1/4 amaro) the result is not bad but is sweeter than I prefer.  Same recipe minus the Luxardo and the spice notes in the amaro overpower the drink.  The homemade Boudreau is my favorite.  I can see people who prefer a sweeter cocktail preferring the China-China in the standard recipe though.

Since I have neither the patients nor the ramazotti I went and made that with sazerac 6, Dolin, maraska, Benedictine, and orange bitters. I didn’t quite use the full 1/4 oz of the maraschino or Benedictine but it turned out pretty well

[Samwise]

Couple dashes each of Angostura and orange bitters also works in a pinch.  Benedictine isn't one I'd have thought to try; we keep it stocked for vieux carres and I've never used it in anything else.

[Teleku]

I originally first tried it back in the day when I was first building a home bar and needed it for Singapore Slings.  I actually quite like it, and became a fan of B&B's.

[Samwise]

I have to share this small joy: I spotted a bottle of green chartreuse on the shelf at a corner store yesterday while out with the child and grabbed it.  Feels like catching a rare pokeyman.  We don't go through it that fast these days (I went through my phase of having a chartreuse tipple every night as a dessert/digestif some 20 years ago as a much younger hipster, thank you very much), but every now and then we have some extra limes and say "you know what would hit the spot?  a Last Word/Oaxacan" so ever since the great shortage began I've been keeping an eye out lest we someday find our cupboards bare (and I refuse to pay online scalper markups).  We're up to a few bottles in reserve now so I could probably stop, but I won't.   

And while I'm posting, a Brooklyn update: I saw a bottle of the Golden Moon Amer dit Picon a while back and picked that one up since I'd been curious, and it's very close to the homemade stuff -- just a little less orangey and a little less bite.  It works just fine in a cocktail (none of the annoying syrupiness of the China-China).  I recommend.

[Khaldun]

Has Chartreuse become hard to find? I used to pick up a bottle every once in a while, mostly to make champagne cocktails with it.

[Trippy]

Yes. Demand shot up during the pandemic but production has not increased.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/dining/drinks/chartreuse-shortage.html

In 2020, as the pandemic turned many people into at-home mixologists, sales of Chartreuse in the United States doubled, a pattern that held true worldwide, according to Chartreuse Diffusion. Global sales topped $30 million in 2022.

This rise in popularity directly conflicted with a collective decision that the monks quietly made in 2019 to cap production of their ingredient-intensive spirit in order to limit the environmental impact and to focus on their “primary goal” of solitude and prayer, as explained in a letter released in January.

“There’s only so much Chartreuse you can make without ruining the balance of monastic life,” said the Rev. Michael K. Holleran, a former monk who oversaw Chartreuse production from 1986 to 1990.

Production is currently set at 1.6 million bottles per year — the highest level since the late 1800s, when the Vatican pointedly reminded the Carthusians that they were monks, not businessmen. But the United States is limited to 90 percent of its 2021 volume. Retailers and hospitality professionals say they are feeling the pinch.