A useful comment from Sparkadelic on a post about bacon-jalapeño vodka:

As a veteran of bacon-vodka infusion, a few tips: Use more bacon - 1/2 pound of maple smoked-black pepper works great. Cook crispy, then crumble it into bits before adding to vodka. The additional surface area helps speed flavor infusion. After a couple of weeks, strain the vodka through cheesecloth, and put it in the freezer overnight in wide-mouthed jars. In the morning, use a spoon to remove the fat that will have congealed on the surface. Pour the liquid bacony booze back into a vodka bottle and store in the freezer until ready to use. Your inclination to try a martini is right on - a toothpick with two pearl onions sandwiching a twirled wedge of freshly cooked bacon, and a glass rimmed with hickory salt will send you straight to bacon heaven. Cheers!

Very nice summertime drink. And by making your own, you can tailor it to suit yourself—Meyer lemons instead of Eureka lemons, agave syrup instead of sugar, and so on. Here’s a simple recipe from Alton Brown:

2 quarts water
1 cup hulled barley
2 lemons
1/4 cup honey

Place the water and barley into a medium saucepan; cover, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the barley comes to a boil, decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. While the liquid is cooking, peel the lemons, being careful not to cut into the white pith. Juice the lemons and place the juice along with the peel into a 3-quart pitcher and set aside.After 30 minutes, strain the barley water through a fine mesh strainer into the pitcher. Discard the barley. Add the honey and stir to combine. Refrigerate until chilled.

In that recipe, for example, I would probably use pearled rather than hulled barley. Here’s another recipe:

• 5 whole lemons
• 1 cup barley
• 1 breakfast cup cut sugar
• 3 quarts boiling water

Soak the barley for several hours and strain.
Add the whole lemons, barley, and sugar to the boiling water. Boil for two hours.
Let it stand until cool, then strain and serve.

Good idea—more information is always good.

Health and consumer groups Tuesday called on the government to require alcoholic beverages to carry nutrition labeling similar to what foods and other drinks must carry. The call comes as federal regulators are mulling a 30-year-old request to require beer, wine, and liquor labels to inform consumers about alcohol content, calories, and carbohydrate content.

Many alcoholic beverages carry government warnings concerning the dangers of drinking while pregnant. Some list calories on packaging on a voluntary basis.

“It’s not standardized; it’s something consumers have to look for,” said Christopher Waldrop, director of the Consumer Federation of America’s Food Policy Institute. “The only consumer product which lacks a label is alcoholic beverages.”

Last July, the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposed listing calories and nutrients on drink labels. But the agency avoided requiring companies to list the amount of alcohol in the container.

U.S. dietary guidelines urge men not to exceed two “standard drinks” per day and women not to exceed one. But health groups said regulators’ proposed label doesn’t display a “standard drink” size to help consumers meet recommended daily alcohol intake.

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The collection of bitters arrived, so I made a Martini with Fee Brothers Orange Bitters. Not bad at all. And I made a little dip:

Lima beans
Cream cheese
Anchovies (with a little of the olive oil they were packed in)
Squeeze of lemon and some lemon zest
Dab of mustard
Dash of Tabasco
Dash of Worcestershire
Salt, pepper

Quite good. I was going to include a clove of garlic and/or a little bit of onion, but forgot. I cooked the Lima beans because of their high potassium content, of course. (Same reason I’m snack on raisins, prunes, and dried apricots, and a banana with the breakfast cereal.)

From Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen:

1 (3-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, grated on microplane grater
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 cups sparking water or club soda
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

In a blender, blend together all the ingredients, except ice. Strain and serve over lots of ice. You can also add gin or vodka too!

I’ll probably cut the sugar way back on this—or use agave syrup instead (low glycemic index).

At the same link, she also has a delicious-sounding recipe for a Sweet Yogurt Sundae with Saffron & Pomegranate.

According to the NY Times, the best bourbon value. Here’s the tasting report (click to read):

If a tree don’t fall on me, I’ll live till I die.

(Complete lyrics here.) And Accidental Hedonist has a nice piece on rye whiskey:

It didn’t take too long to dig deep enough into the history of whiskey before I came across the lost and almost forgotten rye. If someone is to list the sad stories found within whiskey’s past, certainly would be amongst those tales.

While bourbon gets all of the press when it comes to American Whiskey, and is often regarded as American Whiskey, the truth is a little more complicated than that. The Scots and the Irish who immigrated to the colonies in the mid 1700’s ended up in Pennsylvania, Maryland and the Carolinas first, long before anyone from the British Isles ever set foot into what is now Kentucky. With these immigrants was brought the skill of distilling fermented mash made from grains - not any specific grains mind you, but from any grains that were available. In Pennsylvania and Maryland, that primarily meant rye.

The marketplace easily accommodated both styles. Order a whiskey in a saloon in the late 1800’s and one would just as likely get a rye whiskey as they would get a bourbon. Of course, one could also likely get an un-aged whiskey colored with tobacco juice, as there was very little in the way of regulations, especially in the west where the law had yet to catch up with the settlers. Ask for a rye, and one would likely get a rye. Ask for a Kentucky whiskey or a bourbon, and one would get a corn whiskey. Ask for a whiskey and one would get what ever cost the cheapest.

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This looks cool. From the link:

DIY Citrus Bitters

1/2 cup raisins
2-3 cinnamon sticks
1″ piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 lemons, sliced
1 Tbsp whole cloves
1 Tbsp whole allspice
750 ml high-proof rum, whiskey or vodka (around 150 proof, if you can manage it)

1. Combine spices, citrus and liquor.
2. Cover, refrigerate and soak for 1-4 weeks.
3. Strain into a clean jar of your choice.

More at the link.

Thanks to the Accidental Hedonist:

(NOTE: My spelling of whiskey varies in the text below, for reasons that are specific to the regions. Scotch and Canada typically spell it Whisky while Ireland and America typically spell it Whiskey. I’ve tried to keep the spelling relevant to the areas discussed in the definition, but I probably failed more than not, especially when it comes to the plural. All I ask is that you cut me some slack on this whilst I try to figure out a decent solution for dealing with the militant whiskey/whisky fans who will leap at the opportunity to mention how I misspelled their favorite spirit.)

• Scotch Whisky: Whisky which has been produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (and other whole grains). The grains have to be processed at said distillery, converted to a fermentable substrate through natural means, and fermented only through the use of yeast. It also has to have been aged in oak casks of a capacity of not more than 700 liters, and matured for three years or longer. Anything less than three years, and it’s not scotch. It also has to be no less than forty percent alcohol by volume (ABV) at the time of bottling.

  There are other specific (and very legal) conditions that must be met in order for a whiskey to be called “Scotch”, but we’ll use the above as the primary definition.

• Irish Whiskey: Distilled in Ireland from a mash of cereals and matured in oak casks for at least years, and bottled at no less than forty percent (ABV). The Irish typically use barley as their grain of choice.
• Bourbon: American Whiskey made primarily of corn (at least 51%) and at least 21% of other grains within the mash. Bourbon must then be matured in new, charred, white oak barrels for at least two years. Bottling proof for whiskey must be at least 40% ABV.
• Tennessee Sour Mash: Tennessee Sour Mash is essentially bourbon with an additionally filtering step put in place. Called the Lincoln County Process, the whiskey is filtered through a thick layer of maple charcoal before it is put into the charred casks for aging.

  According to Charles Maclean, in his book Whisky Tales, Bourbons and ryes also use this sour mash process, but only the Tennessee Whiskeys use it as part of their appellation. I hope to verify this sometime in the near future.

• Rye: America’s first whiskey, made from a mash of at least 51% rye, and the rest of the mash consisting of corn and barley.
• Canadian Whisky: Canadian Whisky is almost always a blend (which I define below). Typically the blend is dependent upon rye whisky, but this will vary from producer to producer. The laws surrounding Canadian whisky are less stringent than those found surrouding Scotch and Bourbons, but there is a three year maturation rule.
• Corn Whiskey: Whiskey made from a mash containing a mixture of at least 80% corn. There are no aging requirements for corn whiskey.

Within the above categories there are often other subcategories that have their own definitions that need explaining.

• Malt Whisky/Malt Whiskey: A whiskey/whisky made from a mash comprised completely from a single type of malted grain. Barley is the best known malt whiskey, at least world wide, but ryes also are known.
• Single Malt Whiskey: A whiskey/whisky which is distilled at a single distillery, and is made completely from a single type of malted grain
• Grain Whiskey: Whiskey made from a combination of grains other than barley, or other than those mashes used in bourbons and ryes. Typically speaking, these whiskeys are closer to pure alcohol than malted whiskeys, and rarely have maturation requirements. Grain whiskeys are often used in blends.
• Blended Whisky/Whiskey:A blended whiskey is the product of blending different types of whiskeys. It is generally the product of mixing one or more single malt whiskeys with other grain whiskeys or neutral grain spirits.

  There are two basic reasons that blends are produced:
  1) Economic: Blended whiskeys can be cheaper to produce and the cost savings can be passed on to the consumer.
  2) Standardization: While Single Malt Whiskeys can vary from year to year (and from age to age), a decent blender can replicate a specific taste from the variety of whiskeys available to them, and produce a similar product over the years.

• Pure Malt Whisky: A blend of malt whiskies.
• Vatted Malt Whisky: The same as pure malt whisky.
• Single Cask: Bottled from a single cask, rather than from a mix of casks (which is the standard).
• Non Chill Filtered: Typically a whiskey/whisky’s temperature is reduced to zero degrees C and pushed through several filters prior to bottling. Non Chill filtered means that this process was avoided, often to keep the roughness of the whiskey/whisky intact.
• Cask Strength/Natural Strength: Implies that the whisky/whiskey comes straight from the cask and it’s alcohol content not been intentionally reduced. The ABV rate of these are typically higher than the standard 40% ABV.
• Wood-Finished/Double Casked: The whiskey has been matured in one cask, and the re-casked and re-racked for the final months of maturation.
• Age: In a non-blend, this is the amount of time the whiskey/whisky has matured in a cask. In a blend, this is the age of the youngest spirit found within.
• Pot Still Whiskey: Whiskey made in the older tradition of the pot still as opposed to the more popular (and more cost-efficient) column still.

This could be important this summer.

I made this last night and just had a glass. It’s wonderful.

Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

Time: 5 minutes, plus 12 hours’ resting

1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best)
Milk (optional).

1. In a jar, stir together coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.  [If you want to make a larger batch, use 2 1/4 cups of water to 1/2 cup ground coffee. - LG]

2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk.

Yield: Two drinks.

NOTE: To make hot coffee, dilute concentrate one-to-one with water and heat in the microwave. [The hot version tastes like instant, IMHO - LG]

The background article includes this information:

Cold-brewed coffee is actually dirt simple to make at home. Online, you’ll find a wealth of forums arguing for this bean or that, bottled water over tap, the 24-hour versus the 12-hour soak. You can even buy the Toddy cold-brew coffee system for about $30.

But you can also bang it out with a Mason jar and a sieve. You just add water to coffee, stir, cover it and leave it out on the counter overnight. A quick two-step filtering the next day (strain the grounds through a sieve, and use a coffee filter to pick up silt), a dilution of the brew one-to-one with water, and you’re done. Except for the time it sits on the kitchen counter, the whole process takes about five minutes.

I was curious to see how it would taste without all the trappings. The answer is, Fantastic. My friend Carter, something of a cold-brewing savant, turned me onto another homegrown trick: freeze some of the concentrate into cubes. Matched with regular ice cubes, they melt into the same ratio as the final blend.

Sounds good:

Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery’s Back River Gin is 43% abv. / 86 proof and is hand made on a family farm converted into a small winery and distillery in the town of Union, Maine. The botanicals used in Back River Gin are Juniper, Angelica root, Coriander seeds, Cassia (cinnamon), dried lemon peel, ginger root, and for a unique twist, wild Maine blueberries harvested from just down the road from the distillery.

I first tasted Back River Gin directly in the distillery just a few days ago as I had the luck of sampling the first bottling they have made. The aroma struck me instantly as I lifted the glass to my nose. I was completely entranced, more so than with any other gin I have smelled before. I didn’t even take my first sip until I enjoyed the aroma for several minutes, taking deep breaths through my nose as it was pressed deep into the glass.

The smell is quite complex. A pleasantly musky base overlain with juniper and a myriad spicy and floral scents. Hints of citrus, spices of all kinds, and the barely evident cinnamon showed through well. There was even a tiny bit of an anise aroma in there, combined with luscious and complex scents that I can’t even name or place. I said entranced before, but I really do mean it. I was spellbound by the fabulous aroma of this gin. More so than any I have smelled before.
The taste more than did justice to the aroma. Spices, juniper, citrus, hints of fruit, and a deep musky taste pleasantly coursed over my tongue and across my palate. Filling my mouth and nose with a fabulous head-filling melange of flavors, aromas, and sparking my emotions heatedly. I was completely taken aback.

More at the link. Wonder how I can get a bottle of this?

Tonight I had a Martini made with Citadelle (and Noilly Prat dry vermouth, the only vermouth I use for a Martini, so far). Although Citadelle did not make the cut in the NY Times gin/Martini tasting, the writer of the article said he would have placed it among the finalists, but other panelists disagreed. After tasting the Martini tonight, I have to agree with him and disagree with the other panelists. Although I want to re-taste the Martinis, right now I think I prefer the Citadelle Martini to the Junipero Martini—though the Plymouth Martini still reigns supreme and not really challenged. It’s in a class of its own, way ahead of the pack.

Well, the NY Times panel and I agree: Junipero Gin does make a good Martini, with more assertiveness and punch than Plymouth Gin—and perhaps not quite so good a Martini. Their report comments, ” Smooth, clean and very dry with assertive, classic flavors of juniper and citrus: a martini with one eyebrow raised.” Certainly worth trying, but Plymouth Gin is a better buy and makes a better Martini.

Plymouth gin, as we all now know, is not a London Dry gin, but rather a (and the only) Plymouth gin. It took first place in the NY Times Martini tasting/contest and, so far as I can tell at this point, deservedly so—an amazingly smooth and tasty gin.

The Wife stopped in Palo Alto and brought home two other gins to try: the second-place gin from the tasting, Junipero, by Anchor Distilling, and Citadelle, a French gin about which I’ve heard good. (Since the NY Times provided no comprehensive list of the gins tasted/tested, I don’t know whether Citadelle was included. [UPDATE: oops---the writer of the article wrote that he favored the Citadelle Martini, but the others disagreed.]) She also saw Cadenhead’s Old Raj Dry Gin, the third-place gin, but didn’t buy a bottle ($68). Perhaps later.

I’ll try these and report. Citadelle includes these botanicals:

• Juniper France
• Coriander Morocco
• Orange peel Mexico
• Cardamom India
• Liquorice China
• Cubeb pepper Java
• Savory France
• Fennel Méditerranean
• Iris Italy
• Cinnamon Sri Lanka
• Violets France
• Almonds Spain
• Cassia Indochina
• Angélica Germany
• Grains of paradise West Africa
• Cumin Holland
• Nutmeg India
• Lemon rind Spain
• Star anise France

Very confusing initially (see post below), but Wikipedia explains:

EU

The European Union follows the recommendation of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) which measures percentage of alcohol by volume at 20 °C.

British proof spirits

In Britain alcohol by volume is now used. This replaced the Sikes hydrometer system (based on proof spirit) which was used since 1816, although officially the Customs and Excise Act of 1952 defined “spirits of proof strength” (or proof spirits):

Spirits shall be deemed to be at proof if the volume of the ethyl alcohol contained therein made up to the volume of the spirits with distilled water has a weight equal to that of twelve-thirteenths of a volume of distilled water equal to the volume of the spirits, the volume of each liquid being computed as at fifty-one degrees Fahrenheit.

Previously, Clarke’s hydrometer had been used since the 1740s when Customs and Excise and London brewers and distillers began to use Clarke’s hydrometer.

In this system, spirit of 100 degrees proof contains 57.1% alcohol by volume or 49.28% alcohol by weight at 51 deg F (10.6 deg C) and is equivalent to 114.2 proof in the USA. Pure ethanol is 175 degrees proof. [1]

United States

In the definition current in the United States of America, the proof number is twice the percentage of the alcohol content measured by volume at a temperature of 60 °F (15.5 °C). Therefore “80 proof” is 40% alcohol by volume (most of the other 60% is water), and pure alcohol would be “200 proof”. If a 150-proof beverage is mixed half-and-half (by volume) with water, the product is 75 proof. US proof numbers are properly cited as, for instance, “86 proof,” not “86 degrees proof.” The use of the word “degrees” in this context is incorrect.

US Federal regulation (CFR 27 5.37 Alcohol Content) requires that liquor labels state the percentage alcohol by volume (sometimes abbreviated ABV). The regulations permit (but do not require) a statement of the proof as long as it is right next to the percentage alcohol by volume.

I finally got a bottle of Plymouth gin—surprising how many liquor stores fail to stock it—and tried a Martini. As promised, it makes a superior Martini. Give it a go. Recipe here.

As it happens, I got “Original” Plymouth (82.4 proof), not the “Navy Strength” Plymouth (100% proof). According to the Plymouth site, the Navy Strength has a richer and more intense taste, while still being smooth. Certainly the Original is good, but now I want to try Navy Strength. The history of the brand shows that it has had a good recovery from a bad time.

One of the U.K.’s oldest alcoholic brands, favored by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alfred Hitchcock and Ian Fleming.

Slashfood has an entry on Plymouth gin, and Googling will bring you more information.

As you know, I like the Martini—i.e., the true Martini, made with gin and Noilly Prat in a 4-1 or 5-1 ratio, with an olive and the top misted with a twist of lemon (the twist then discarded, not put into the drink). And stirred, for the love of God, not shaken.

The NY Times did some important research in testing which gins are best in a Martini. The complete article is well worth reading, but here are the results:

Plymouth English Gin $22 *** 1/2
82.4 proof 1 liter
Subtle and elegant with crisp, lingering flavors of citrus and juniper: a martini in a dinner jacket. (Importer: Absolut Spirits, New York)

Junipero $35 ***
Anchor Distilling Co.,United States 86 proof 750 milliliters
Smooth, clean and very dry with assertive, classic flavors of juniper and citrus: a martini with one eyebrow raised.

Cadenhead’s Old Raj Dry Gin $50 ***
Scotland 110 proof 750 milliliters
Powerful, muscular and hot, but in a good way: a martini with a punch. (Preiss Imports, Ramona, Calif.)

Seagram’s Extra Dry $15 ** 1/2
80 proof 750 milliliters
Surprisingly complex, with fruit, ginger, juniper and citrus flavors: a martini with a thesaurus.

Tanqueray London Dry Gin $22 ** 1/2
England 94.6 proof 750 milliliters
Crisp with a hint of mint and juniper flavors: a martini peeking out from librarian’s glasses. (Diageo, Norwalk, Conn.)

Hendrick’s $40 ** 1/2
Scotland 88 proof 750 milliliters
Unusual, intriguing floral aromas: a martini in a Hawaiian shirt. (William Grant & Sons, New York)

Gordon’s London Dry $12 ** 1/2
United States 80 proof 750 milliliters
Gentle and harmonious with cardamom and nutmeg aromas: a martini in a gray flannel suit.

Bombay Sapphire London Dry $30 **
England 94 proof 1 liter
Jangly flavors of mint, herbs and citrus, with detectable alcoholic heat: a neurotic martini. (Bombay Spirits, Miami)

Quintessential London Dry $30 **
England 80 proof 750 milliliters
Smooth and direct, but with an odd, bittersweet flavor: a martini with a blemish. (White Rock Distilleries, Lewiston, Me.)

Martin Miller’s London Dry $32 **
England 80 proof 750 milliliters
Soft and slightly sweet, with floral aromas, but not a hint of juniper: a martini in pedal pushers. (Skyy Spirits, New York)

Note to family: good ideas for gifts to Leisureguy.

Sounds worth a shot:

I recently brought a bottle of Cynar to a gathering of old friends whose collective taste in spirits tends toward the esoteric. Together we’ve toasted the winter holidays with cheese fondue and kirschwasser, celebrated birthdays with Goldschlager, marked one couple’s engagement with grappa and watched Fourth of July fireworks with rhubarb wine. I was fairly surprised, then, when the Cynar met with an underwhelming response. Hearing what it was made of, some individuals went so far as to refuse even a perfunctory sip. Undeterred, I turned to an expert, and that’s when it became clear that we were dealing with more than “an acquired taste.” Asked to say a few kind words about Cynar, Dennis Mullaly, a veteran bartender currently working at Otto Pizzeria, replied, “I can’t. It’s vile, unpalatable stuff.”

Fortunately, not everyone feels that way about the herbaceously bittersweet, cola-brown liqueur whose inaugural tagline was “Cynar: against the stress of modern life.” Introduced in Italy in 1949, Cynar is made from the leaves of the artichoke plant, or Cynara scolymus, and bottled at 16.5% alcohol by volume (33 proof). In recent years, thanks in part to Americans’ growing knowledge of Italian culture, Cynar and the like have begun to command a larger share of domestic bar shelves. According to Heaven Hill Distilleries, whose subsidiary, Premium Imports, Ltd., is responsible for it presence in the US, sales have gained by about 1% per year for the last three years. This may not seem like a significant increase, but it’s worth noting that the brand functions on a small case sales level, making even small gains meaningful.

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I came across this gin recently, new to me: Bafferts. It has a unique tall, twisted bottle and the cap (unusual for gin) is a cork. Hendrick’s also uses a cork, though—and has a pleasant taste that’s more pronounced than that of Bafferts.

Bafferts is a standard English dry gin—good as gin is good. One drawback is that the bottle, attractive as it is, stands too tall for the average cabinet. Still, it makes a fine Martini (link goes to best recipe).

UPDATE: The Son points out that the too-tall bottle of Bafferts is, like that of Galliano, probably deliberate: if you can’t put it away, it stays in view both as a implied suggestion to partake and to be visible to visitors.