A is for Absinthe...Drinking Lessons at the Sorrento

Big thanks to guest blogger Janice Wilson Vaché for covering our May meeting. This is Janice's 1 year anniversary of being in LUPEC (or close to I think)! Janice has a great blog IceClinkDrink which you should all take a peek at. Thanks to Andrew, Kerri Benecke and the Sorrento for putting on our private class, I think the it was a big success and even those of us with a good knowledge of absinthe came away with some new info. ~Wendy 

If the adage that “practice makes perfect” is true, then LUPEC members certainly need no lessons in drinking – we are already very, very good at it. But we love to learn (to get perfect-er?) and were eager students at the special Sorrento Drinking Lessons held just for our May 1st meeting. Not even May Day protesters (or at least the traffic of those fleeing them) could keep us from learning all about absinthe from Andrew Bohrer, bartender, cocktail history buff and Spirits Portfolio Manager for Vinum distributors.

Absinthe has a rich and varied history, from toast of the town in the 1800’s to modern-day bootleg production in dorm bathrooms. Andrew took us through the developments – such as the use of wormwood and herbs as additives -- in spirit production that eventually led to the creation of absinthe in 1797. By 1840 it was the most popular non-wine spirit around, and vintage cocktail books reflect its use in many, many cocktails. An entire drinking ritual was created for it, and while drinks like the Moscow Mule may have their own special serving glass, absinthe boasts a range of apparatus (take that, vodka!) like the fountain and slotted spoon.

A victim of misunderstanding about its ingredients, blamed for psychotic incidents and later slandered by threatened wineries, “the Green Fairy” was banned in the United States and elsewhere for up to 90 years. Fortunately for us, the bans have ended and an explosion of absinthe producers gives us many choices for enjoying the spirit and using it in cocktails. With the help of Alex mixing and Jen and Molly serving, Andrew treated LUPEC members to three samples of absinthe and three absinthe-laced cocktails.  

A Test for Our Tastebuds

Our glasses of Lucid, Trillium and Pacifique absinthes were served in the customary manner, with a bit of sugar and a ratio of 1 part absinthe to 3-5 parts water. Andrew explained that the cloudiness in the liquid is called the louche and results from the water separating the essential oils locked in during the two-step distillation and maceration process that defines absinthe production. Its green – vert – shade comes from the chlorophyll of its ingredients. While most absinthes use the herbs absinthium (wormwood), anise and fennel during distillation, more variation is used among brands in flavoring the secondary maceration and that results in a range of distinctive tastes.

Could we taste the differences among the three absinthes? Indeed we could. The LUPEC consensus was that the Trillium (not unexpectedly discontinued) was too cloying, especially compared to the softer, more complex Pacifique (which Wendy compared to beloved Good & Plenty candies). The Lucid, with a beet base, showed that the spirit can evolve and still remain true to its roots.

Comparing their bottles, Andrew also explained some practicalities about absinthe: because it is a very high proof spirit, it is susceptible (i.e. explosive) to heat. Therefore, Trillium’s narrow necked bottle was a detriment as it trapped heat; for us home bartenders, that means we must not store any absinthe near the stove!

While absorbed in the nuances of each absinthe, we were also excited to sample them in cocktails. In keeping with the theme of absinthe history, Andrew served us up three classic cocktails (recipes below) with absinthe as a key player: the Corpse Reviver #2, the Chrysanthemum, and the Sazerac. Andrew’s parting advice on the last is that to make a Sazerac New-Orleans-style, you must add the absinthe to an empty glass and then toss it in the air to provide the proper rinse. This is better advice for the first drink of the night than the last, if you value your glassware.

• Corpse Reviver #2: gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, absinthe – shake with ice
• Chrysanthemum: dry vermouth, Benedictine, absinthe – stir
• Sazerac: rye whiskey, sugar cube, Peychaud’s bitters, absinthe, steady hands for tossing glass – stir

Absinthe graduates

Class is Dismissed

Having gained knowledge, excellent drinks and a delicious meal provided by our hosts at the Sorrento, we LUPEC members mingled in the plush Fireside Room. There were no diplomas touting our expertise in the Field of Absinthe, but – even better! – we were treated to parting favors:  a tasty “to-go cocktail” of the Clipper Ship (Voyager gin, Pur Blossom liqueur, lime juice and Pacifique Absinthe), plus an atomizer of absinthe for our home bars.  We thank Andrew Bohrer, the Sorrento Hotel, Alex, Molly and Jen for their great help in presenting another informative, tasty LUPEC meeting. 

Cheers to you all!

Janice Wilson Vaché (iceclinkdrink.com)

(A Necessary Diversion)

While steeped in absinthe (almost literally), the opportunity to ask a distributor about the state of liquor availability was too irresistible. Where and when will cherished brands return to shelves? What should we stock up on before June 1?  Andrew said that Voyager gin and Pacifique Absinthe will be stocked next month at Fred Meyer and likely at Metropolitan Market, QFC and independent stores as well.  Andrew will post availability on the LUPEC Facebook page to keep us updated. Those not wanting to run dry on smaller Italian liqueurs should stock up; many of their producers are not prepared for the changes in distribution.  

Bastille: Une Soirée Très Agréable! *

 All our LUPEC meeting venues welcome us graciously, but LUPEC ladies who walked in the door of Bastille’s Back Bar for our April meeting may have felt a little extra special. It was a delightful surprise to see three large tables decked out with black tablecloths, cloth napkins, cocktail plates, drink and dinner menus, and (the always important) water glasses. But maybe I should have expected that from a bar with a gigantic Illuminated chandelier as its central decoration.

I was immediately drawn to the two barrel aged cocktails featured on the menu: Barrel Aged Primrose Hill Cocktail (gin, dry vermouth, maraschino, fernet branca) and the Barrel Aged White Point (white dog whiskey, punt e mes, yellow chartreuse, angostura & orange bitters). I have been reading about barrel aged cocktails, even seen a few featured in online cocktail menus, but thus far, hadn’t had the chance to try one. Always a sucker for Punt e Mes and generally preferring whiskey over gin, I selected the White Point. In traditional LUPEC manner, my cocktail was passed around for tasting by the ladies at my end of the table. I am happy to report that even those that aren’t white dog fans agreed it was very tasty, and a few ordered the White Point for themselves.

By the next round of drinks large platters of cured meats, bowls of olives, crostini and mustard arrived to help sustain us through the lively evening.

Throughout the evening I had the delightful opportunity to taste several cocktails from the menu, including: Bankhead Cocktail, Saint-Marc Daiquiri, and Trinidad Buck. However, my favorite was the Pinfire Cocktail—basically a double old fashioned, but with some house coffee bitters and one of Bar Manager, Erik Carlson’s signature hand-chipped ice cubes. It was an appealing presentation, lovely flavor, and a smooth coffee finish that I didn’t expect, but was truly delightful. I was so pleased with this drink that I am determined to make some coffee bitters for my next liquor project.

Some other LUPEC members chose to let our bartenders get creative, so I got to taste some funky rhum agricole-based drinks as well. I will definitely be expanding my rum horizons and the number of rums in my liquor cabinet as a result.

This meeting reminded me why I enjoy LUPEC so much. Sometimes there is a formal educational element or structured tasting. But more often than not, I’m just socializing and learning about cocktails and ingredients from my fellow LUPEC members. Some of my favorite LUPEC things:

• I can taste at least three cocktails before ordering my own.
• Everyone understands eye contact with them may be sketchy until you place your first drink order.
• Having a passion for trying new drinks and owning more than five types of sweet vermouth is not viewed as a “problem”.
• I go to bars I never would have gone to and taste drinks I never would have ordered on my own.
• The more meetings I go to, the more welcome hugs I get from the fabulous ladies I get to know better every month.

Who wouldn’t like that?

A big LUPEC thanks to Bar Manager, Erik Carlson, and all the delightful Bastille staff for the great service, tasty bites, and of course, the delicious cocktails. À votre santé! **

* A delightful evening

** Cheers! (more literally "to your health")

April's guest blog post is brought to you by Karen Kenyon, a true enthusiast and connoisseur of fine cocktails. Thank you so much Karen for a very well  written account of our meetings, I couldn't agree more! And big thanks and kudos to Bastille's bar manager Erik and his team for treating us all so well. And of course for making such fine cocktails. ~Wendy

Eat.Run.Hope

As you know, LUPEC isn't just about lovely gatherings and well made cocktails. We are also an organization that nationwide strives to help our communities by getting involved in charitable organizations and events. Sometimes we hold them ourselves. This time we got involved in the Eat.Run.Hope Food and 5K put on by Ethan and Angela Stowell to benefit the Fetal Hope Foundation.

What a great event this was! A clear and crisp morning was perfect for the 5K (we walked) around Seward Park. Good thing we worked up an appetite because there was a whole tent full of delicious food from area restaurants to be had after!

LUPEC Seattle had a goal of $500 to raise for the cause and as of today (donations have still been coming in!) we've raised $1,825!!!! I couldn't be more proud!

I want to thank the ladies who walked (and ran) with me: Sonja G, Danielle F, Jan L, Tracy M, Stevi D.

I also want to give a special shout out to Stevi and Tracy who went above and beyond and raised money on behalf of the cause.

And of course all of the ladies who donated to help us reach our goal: Danielle F, Jan L, Jen B, Lynn & Chelley, Carolyn R, Elisabeth K, Katarina K, Brook H, Lauren E, Sonja G, Elaine S, Leslie S, Valentina V, Leslie D, Sandra S, Julie B.

And of course thank you to those who aren't a member of LUPEC but who supported us with donations also!

We'll be doing this again next year!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

LUPEC Seattle Goes to Ireland

Or, to Mulleady’s Irish Pub on the edge of Magnolia. But I prefer the first title. So, LUPEC Seattle Goes to Ireland, via Magnolia.

For the March 2012 LUPEC Seattle meeting we went to Mulleady’s where owner Travis Stanley-Jones created some Irish Cocktails and Beer Cocktails for us. And punch, he created a lovely punch for us. Brian Lee was on hand to make cocktails as well, and he did it very ably!

At this point in this post, I’d like to say that Irish Whiskey and I don’t have a very storied, long, or good history. I’ve only ever had one drink with it I enjoyed. So, I may have been hesitant to try the drinks that were created for the group. But, I’m one for trying things, so I had to do it!

Back to the evening’s happenings… The punch was delicious and served warm – it was made with Redbreast 12yr, Demerera Sugar and Lemon & Orange Juices. The punch was very easy to drink – perhaps too easy? It was gone very shortly after the group arrived, and no one I spoke with could find a flaw with it. For a cool night, it was a deliciously warm yet dry drink. Not too tart or tangy, but it did allow the whiskey to come through. Travis made a beautiful garnish out of the LUPEC Seattle logo – a dried orange colored with bitters – to float on the top of the dainty punch glasses.

For the cocktails, we had the choice of Lady Flannery, Brainstorm and an Irish Pal. The Lady Flannery would be a good drink for non-whiskey lovers, in that it was more on the sweet side, and gorgeous on top of it all! The Brainstorm had my favorite name and was a very well balanced drink with Redbreast 12yr, Dolin Blanc and Benedictine. It was a very smooth, spirit forward drink. The Irish Pal was a great ending drink and very mellow.

For some reason, I decided to try one of the Beer Cocktails that Travis & Brian offered to us. I went with the Beer Cassis, which consisted of Maritime Old Seattle Lager, Dubonnet Rouge and Briottet Crème de Cassis. Perhaps it’s the local girl in me (Maritime is down the street from my house) that wanted the Maritime in my cocktail. The Crème de Cassis nicely offset the Lager, and while I don’t know much about Crème de Cassis, I have it on good authority that this kind is lovely. And hey – it’s fun to say! Briottet! Dubonnet Rouge is also quite fun to say. So, all around, it was a delicious beer cocktail and had some great names in it to boot!

Travis was kind enough to offer us some great complimentary bites of Chicken Mousse on Endive, Champ Croquettes and Vegetable Crudite. If you missed out on the Champ Croquettes, you MISSED OUT. I might have to go back just for those.

Travis gave us some information about Powers 12 year single pot still Irish Whiskey, but then proceeded to tell us that it’s not available in the states – I felt like that was him being a tease. All in all, anyone want to go to Ireland to find some?

Mulleady’s offers trivia on Monday nights, and they have Trivial Pursuit cards available all the time, in case you need to add some questions to your life while you’re eating dinner. Which I think is always necessary.

If you missed March’s meeting, please go see Travis and if you ask nicely enough, I think he’d probably make you one of the drinks he made for us that evening. And if you get enough smart, cocktail-loving women with you, you can recreate the meeting! Just call me up – I’ll come down.

 Many thanks to Travis, Brian and Mulleady's for hosting their 2nd LUPEC meet up! And big thanks to guest blogger and new LUPEC member Noelle Royer, Noelle just recently moved to Seattle and this was her first meeting! You can check out Noelle's blog, which has lots of fun stuff about travel, eating, diving and other fun stuff at Events By Noelle.

~Wendy

Friday, February 17, 2012

LUPEC February: Eye of the Needle

Allison at the ready!

FEBRUARY 1, 2012: "Ada Coleman!" These words were uttered by the dolled-up dames of LUPEC Seattle in order to gain access to the jewel-box speakeasy Needle & Thread, which sits hidden above the main room of Tavern Law in Capitol Hill.  Utter the right password into a rotary phone on the north wall, and a vintage bank safe door cracks open, allowing passage to the secret bar upstairs.

The speakeasy trend may be long over, but every time I visit Needle & Thread, I get a little thrill speaking the secret phrase into the phone and hearing the safe door buzz open (they let me in!), the anticipation building as I climb the stairs.  What mysteries await? Who will be there? What will the bartender concoct for me when I request "something with gin and Chartreuse, no citrus"?

The sense that you are at an exclusive, clandestine party where anything might happen is reinforced by the bar setup at Needle & Thread.  There is no menu; instead, you tell the bartender what you are looking for in your cocktail (something brown, bitter, and stirred, for example), and the bartender lets his or her creativity fly.  On this occasion, the ladies behind the stick were Allison Milner and Monica Buntha.  Allison and Monica rose mightily to the challenge of LUPEC broads clamoring for variations on the Manhattan involving amaros, Champagne cocktails spiked with rum, and other libations.  There were even some involving flame!

A gin joint done up Prohibition-style seemed an appropriate place for LUPEC members to gather.  A group of whiskey and bitters-loving females is not so earth-shaking now (though still challenging to Lemon Drop and Cosmo stereotypes and the Boys Club), but if it weren't for cultural and political changes during the early 20th century, a group of dames gathering en masse for regular cocktail-swilling at bars (and paying for their own damn drinks) would be rather scandalous. So don't forget to raise a glass to our flapper forebroads for tossing out their corsets in favor of hot jazz, Pink Ladies, and loose morals!

At the gathering, the ladies did in fact toast an important forebroad, a patron saint of LUPEC, Ada Coleman.  Fittingly, party goers had to drop her name for entry (although rumor has it that a certain LUPEC member gained admission with a much naughtier phrase).  Ada Coleman was certainly a pioneer in challenging the Boys Club--she was head bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel at a time when there were few women bartenders, invented the Hanky Panky, and even patented an invention for an adjustable book cover--handy for keeping books open behind the bar (US Patent 1,698,391, if you're curious). Ada was highly influential during a golden time of the cocktail, providing mentorship to other famous bartenders, and she continues to be a role model today.

Monica serving it up with a smile!

After cheering for Ada, sipping drinks by Allison and Monica, and enjoying stimulating conversation with strong, interesting women, ultimately the time came to say good evening, and ladies slipped back downstairs, through the secret exit, and out into the brisk February night air.  The hidden exit is yet another sexy touch at the Needle & Thread, adding to the sense of being in a magic space: regular bar patrons might see you go in, but they never see you leave. It's almost as if you were never there.

Big thanks to Anne Magoon and Monica for offering to host us and also for the great goodie bags! Don't forget to use your free brunch cocktail coupon! And of course thanks to Tracy Meeker who volunteered to write up this month's blog post, well done! 

Be Mine Bitter Valentine

For the second year in a row Tales of the Cocktail is taking its show on the road and heading to Vancouver, Canada. This year it's a 3 day adventure, including one full day of nothing but tasting rooms! mmmmmm......

And of course there are lots of extracurricular activities such as parties, spirited dinners and bar crawls. Some of Seattle's LUPEC ladies are heading up for the event again and we're really looking forward to it as we had a ball last year!

One such party is the official closing party being held on Valentine's Day and sponsored by Campari. Now some people go for all that hearts and roses crap but LUPEC ladies would rather don a hot red number and get a little bitter. With a cocktail that is! The Bitter Bash is going to be a big ole love affair with Campari, Aperol, Cynar, etc. Talented bartenders from near and far will be stirring and shaking up bitter concoctions. Attendees will be wearing red so it won't even matter if you spill after you've had 2 or 3! And for everyone who joins in the fun there will be bitter swag for you to cozy up with later. Be sure to join us in wearing red and you may just find yourself with a best dressed prize (one each for men and women). 

Ticket packages are still on sale! Come join us!

December Meeting: Chino’s Preview Night

This months post is brought to you by LUPEC lady Jackie Moffett. Jackie writes a great blog of her own that you should check out called DrinkGal. You can also follow her on Twitter. Thanks so much Jackie! ~WM

You only need to whisper “cocktail” to get the ladies of LUPEC rallied and ready to drink. Yet sometimes our fearless leader Wendy Miller is able to not only swing us a place to imbibe, but also a new spot to nosh and preview before the rest of Seattle is granted a peek. This was the case with Chino’s, a new eatery nestled in the gastronomic playground of Capitol Hill, in the former residence of the Oasis Café. With a street-food-truck-turned-stationary concept and a cocktail menu put together by Veronika Goth (formerly of Poppy), it wasn’t hard to get the ladies out on the town, despite the cold December temperatures.

Touting an intriguing mix of Taiwanese and Mexican, the menu wasn’t what we were expecting. We were served rounds of Gua Bao (pork belly buns) and Spicy Chicken Wings, and I’m fairly certain that we all ate our weight in the delicious Furikake Kettle Corn while fighting over the last of the Pickles of the Day (made fresh in house, of course). The idea behind Chino’s isn’t a high-concept fusion of the two cultures, but bits of both, served as easy comfort food one can snack on while enjoying one of their delicious cocktails.

Which is what lured us there in the first place! The gents behind the bar had kindly put together a LUPEC Mai Tai to start us off with, a tasty take on the classic with Rhum Agricole, Demerara Rum, ginger and a brilliant little 5 spice sugar cube. Made of fennel, star anise, clove, cinnamon and Szechwan peppercorn, our hosts weren’t shy to tell us what was in the delicious little cube, but the quantities? Mum’s the word.

Our delectable cocktail, as it turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg. Just like the food, the cocktail menu is divided in two: classics any seasoned drinker will know and love, and tiki drinks, the new favorite of cocktail enthusiasts. From a Ramos Gin Fizz to a Widow’s Kiss, the classics covered any liquor you might be craving. And if you are tempted by tiki there’s a plethora to choose from. Perhaps a Zombie if you are feeling too sober… or a Suffering Bastard if you’ve had too much. And our Mai Tai? One of 3 Mai Tai’s that Chino’s pours: you can sip Don the Beachcomber’s, Trader Vic’s or the seasonal concoction, whatever your rum-swilling heart desires.

A huge thanks to the owners of Chino’s Walter Lee and Mari Tiscareño Lee for our delicious preview, for bringing a little spicy SoCal to the chilly Northwest, and of course letting the LUPEC ladies invade for an evening of tiki and street food done right. Cheers!