November Meeting- Sauced!

I see that I never commented on November's outing, apologies! Us ladies went out on the town and attended "Sauced" a "cocktail theater" show of sorts. Chef Nordo teamed with Murray Stenson of Zig Zag to provide interesting cocktails and nibbles during this tale of love, intrigue and libations.

The first drink served was called The Slippage.  Blanquette de Limoux sparkling wine and St. Germaine. Next up came The Secret Kiss AKA The Alaska:  Yellow Chartreuse and Pacifique Distillery Gin from Woodinville. 3rd in line was A Box of Nails AKA The Crumb Bum: Evan Williams Bourbon, Triple Sec and dashes of Angostura. Stirred, never shaken. For dessert there was a sweet chocolaty concoction called Nordo's Ephemera.

It was a fun evening and a chance to see a little theater which held our beloved booze in the spotlight!

(Thank you Tracey Meeker for the photo!)

10 Q's for a LUPEC Lady- Sonja Groset

1) what is your name, your LUPEC cocktail name & why did you pick that?

 

Vesper, because it sounds like either a fast Italian sports car or the name of a stripper. Plus, it was my gateway drink to Gin and it's delicious. Further proof that Lillet makes everything taste amazing.

2) what is your profession?

 

Web Producer to pay the bills; Food Writer to subsidize my passion for cooking and eating. I just started writing reviews of cookbooks and cocktail books for the Seattle Weekly online at http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/cooking_the_books/. 

3) What was your favorite cocktail before you new any better?

 

Rum and Coke: "Teaching teens to drink for decades."

4) What's the worst cocktail ever and where did you drink it?

 

The worst cocktails I've had are the ones I've made myself at home. I'm not great at improvisational cocktail making. For me, it's like baking - all about precision. Maybe someday I can riff a great cocktail...but I have many more years of training. It'll be hard work, I know. 

5) If you could ban 1 drink what would it be?

 

Anything in a souvenir glass.

6) If you could have a drink with anyone, living/dead, who would it be and why?

 

For me, the best drinking partners are ones that are hilarious, energetic and chatty. For those reasons, Amy Sedaris would be my drinking partner of choice. Plus, she's a great writer, baker and craftaholic. She has a book called "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence." That's my kind of gal!

7) What are your favorite non cocktail activities/hobbies/interests?

 

Cooking, baking and snowboarding. I'm obsessed with my three cats - and all animals to be honest. My husband and I are in the process of remodeling our Mid-Century Modern home, so MCM design and anything DIY. Also travel, beer and wine. Especially wine tasting while traveling, while drinking beer. I have a food blog at satisfythecraving.com where I generally write about it all. 

8) How did you first hear about LUPEC?

 

Twitter - where I seem to hear about all great things these days.

9) What is your go to drink or spirit?

 

Manhattan. Anything with Bourbon really. Or just Bourbon, neat.

10) What is your favorite cocktail bar and/or bartender right now?

 

We visited the Jimgerman Bar in Waitsburg (near Walla Walla) and can't stop talking about it. We had some great cocktails. Jim uses lots of fresh juices and herbs in his drinks. He made a Gin convert out of my husband which I had not yet been able to do (see question #4). Plus Waitsburg is an adorable town and is a great side trip from Walla Walla.

 

Do be sure to check out Sonja's blogs if you haven't already.  She is a great writer, dedicated drinker and a hell of a good time to be around! Thanks for being in our spotlight Ms. Vesper!

October Meeting- Mulleady's

October is the 1 year birthday of LUPEC Seattle! Our first meeting was at Naga Lounge in Bellevue, there were about 12 of us and Andrew Bohrer was our bartender.

How things have changed! Andrew is now at MistralKitchen, we've had 10 monthly meetings, 1 homework assignment, 1 class, 1 national meet up and there are generally 30-35 members participating regularly. Good job ladies! It's been a fun year and especially great to get to know you all better.

We celebrated our birthday with the exceptionally nice folks at Mulleady's. They went all out creating a menu of cocktails that had elements of orange (a traditional 1st anniversary food) like theZelda Gatsby (Ransom Gin, Gewurtztraminer syrup, orange bitters and a touch of fire) and the Orange Marmalade Sour (Cachca, Lemon, Lime, Sugar, Egg White & Marmalade) - even sending each of us home with a little jar of marmalade!

Complimentary snacks (you sure look nice!) were also served. Peat smoked nuts, martini marinated olives, savory pumpkin beignets, arancini with blue cheese and almond orange olive oil cake. The bar really went out of their way to make us feel welcome and I'd say it worked.
 
Mulleady's is a very cozy space complete with fireplace. Craft cocktails served in nice glassware and an extremely friendly staff. Big thanks to them for hosting and making us feel so welcome. Special shout out to Travis who made it all happen!

If you didn't get a chance to join us be sure to visit Magnolia & Mulleady's!

10 Q's for a LUPEC Lady- Cameo McRoberts

I know we haven't had a "10 Q's" lately & I apologize- the summer totally got away from me!

1) What is your LUPEC cocktail name & why did you pick that?

My cocktail name- I waffled back and forth between apple pucker shot and this one, finally I decided to go with Alaska Cocktail.  Giving props to my heritage.

2 dashes orange bitters
1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse®
1 twist lemon peel
ice

2) what is your profession?
chef, and other stuff

3) What was your favorite cocktail before you new any better?
whiskey and ginger 'whiskey press'

4) What's the worst cocktail you ever had and where did you drink it? 
I had a Death in the Afternoon made with 'home made' absinthe.. it was awful, but what made it the worst was I was then chastised for not appreciating absinthe! I won't say where because I am not a spitful person. 

5) If you could ban 1 drink what would it be?
red bull and anything!!!!

6) If you could have a drink with anyone, living/dead, who would it be and why?
Going the I miss them and would just love to see them route: My Grandpa and Grandma collectively

and the famous route : Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, the cast of 'how I met your mother'... Tina Fey.... Tim Robbins (though I hear he's a jerk) Anthony Bourdain

7) What are your favorite non cocktail activities/hobbies/interests?

I sing and play guitar. I also am big on crafty stuff... you know I like to glue stuff to other stuff

8) How did you first hear about LUPEC?

Erin Williams from Cointreau told me about it at Tales, and I vaguely recall being there when the first meeting was being planned but I couldn't make it. I love that it has caught on and continues to provide a night out a month to put on something a little fancy, hang out with such a diverse set of killer ladies and support the ever amazing talent in this town.  and the rest is HERstory...

9) What is your go to drink or spirit?

Depending on mood and climate it was bourbon but I am becoming more of a Rye girl and I love me a Negroni almost all the time.

10) What is your favorite cocktail bar and/or bartender right now?

I love Sambar cause it is in walking distance from my house and I think Eric at Moshi Moshi is a rock-star, but I am just constantly in awe of the whole community and am grateful that the list of great bars is so long and so diverse and that often I am not only getting a great cocktail but it's being made by a friend. Bonus

Thank you Cameo, great answers you crafty drinker! If you haven't had a chance to meet Cameo be sure to introduce yourself to her at the next LUPEC meeting.

pür Spirits, MistralKitchen & LUPEC

It was another great meeting in September, this time with Kiki Braverman and her line of pür Spirits taking center stage at MistralKitchen. Kiki's company distills interesting liqueurs and vodkas in Germany. The business is in the process of moving from Seattle to San Francisco so it was a great opportunity for the ladies to hear all about it before she left.

MistralKitchen's bar manager Andrew Bohrer came up with 5 specialty cocktails each using the pür Spirits products.

-Roman Holiday: pür Blood Orange, Earl Grey tea, orange juice, Cabernet, Tuaca

-Pear Caipirinha: pür Pear Liqueur, muddled lime and Cachaca

-Stonewall Cocktail: pür Beirbrand, pür Elderflower Liqueur, dash of biters (in the style of a Manhatten)

-Sloe Collins: pür Sloe Vodka, lemon, Cassis & soda

-Framboise Sour: pür Framboise Vodka, lemon, sugar, egg white and Absinthe

Andrew, Amber and the team did a fantastic job keeping up with the drink orders and even resorting to alternative glassware when the dishwasher wasn't as fast as they needed. And the space at MistralKitchen was great! One private room with lots of cubes to sit on and another semi private space perfect for mingling and chatting. I kept noticing patrons of the restaurant looking at our group, wondering why we were having such a good time & they weren't invited (especially the men! ha!)

Chef and owner William Belickis and his kitchen sent out amazing pork belly sliders, cheese plates and pizzas. Pastry Chef Neil Robertson sent out delicious chocolate brownie bites right at the end of the evening.

Big thanks to everyone who made the night so much fun! And all the best to Kiki in her new home of San Francisco!

MistralKitchen
2020 Westlake Ave  
Seattle Wa 98121
206-623-1922
http://mistral-kitchen.com

Rum, Rhum, Ron!

    
 

August 16th was National Rum Day but us LUPEC ladies, having little patience, celebrated all things rum on Saturday Aug. 7th with a class given by LUPEC member, Eastcoast transplant and all around kick ass bartender Marley Tomic Beard.

   

  

This was LUPEC Seattle's first ticketed event and it was a big success (I hope those of you who attended would agree). Held at Spur and limited to just 30 seats the event was a sell out. Chef and owners Brian McCracken and Dana Tough set out nice platters of nibbles to help soak up the booze. Marley and Michael, her assistant for the day, set out lots and lots of glasses. Notes on the discussion were passed around and we were ready for our education to begin!

   

 

Class started with an overview of the various types of rums, how they are made and what their characteristics are. We sampled Bacardi Light, Mont Gay, Bacardi 8, Meyers, Aniversario, Zaya, El Dorado 15, Sailor Jerry, Lemonhart and Matusalem. Many of the ladies had not had a chance to taste a lot of these so there was lots of discussion and even some voting of favorites!

   

   

And there were cocktails! After the overview Marley discussed tiki drinks with us. We were treated to a Planter's Punch, dueling Mai Tai's using Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber's recipes (Trader Vic's winning that if I remember correctly) and a Zombie.

   

  

 
A big shout out of thanks to Anne Magoon who couldn't attend but helped to make this happen! Marley for all the amazing work you did on the class, the notes and the recipes! Michael for dealing with all of the estrogen in the room and working your ass off! Dana & Brian for having us in during your normal time off! And of course to all you ladies who made the event fun and successful! THANKS!

   

  

If you attended the class I'd love to hear your thoughts and also your ideas on additional classes you'd like to see offered. Feel free to write in the comment section or send me a note directly on Facebook.

All awesome photos are courtesy of LUPEC lady Valentina Vitols. If you haven't had a chance to meet her be sure to do so at our next event and be sure to check out her work here ->   http://valentinavitols.com/

July Meeting- Copper Gate

I think I speak for all of us when I say July's meeting was one of our most fun to date. Thanks to Jon and his kind offer from the Copper Gate in Ballard who invited us to have our meeting in the very private "Pussy Room". It was a full house with about 35 ladies joining in on the fun. The Copper Gate staff plied us with aquavit cocktails like the Stor Agurk (The Big Cucumber) and delicious appetizers throughout the evening.

Jon took a few minutes to tell us all the history of the bar as well as some of the interesting entertainment they have in the private room on week days. Can you say trapeze?

And everyone got to see all the old porn photos that decorate every wall. Some of us even saw the "good stuff" in the boys room! Such trouble makers we are!

Again many thanks to Jon, Joann and the crew for making our July meeting a hell of a good time! If you weren't able to join us I encourage you to get to Copper Gate and if you did and you liked it I encourage you to put it in your regular rotation! Skoal!

Copper Gate

6301 24th Avenue Nw
(between 63rd St & 64th St)
Seattle, WA 98107

(206) 706-3292

www.thecoppergate.com