Do your alcohol justice

I love IZZE sodas, because, well, they’re not really soda, but “pure fruit juice & sparkling water,” so sayeth the bottle of Sparkling Apple flavour I have on my computer desk.  This evening at the store, I was tempted to get the blueberry flavour, having had it before, but I stopped and thought for a moment.

“Hmm… what would go best with gin?”

Out of all the flavours my local Whole Foods had on hand, which wasn’t the exhaustive list featured on IZZE’s site, the apple won out, although the grapefruit probably wouldn’t be that bad, either.  I’m testing out my theory right now, and it is magical.  A shot-ish of dandy Hendrick’s gin over ice, and about a little more than half of the apple IZZE creates a wonderfully clean beverage in which the natural apple flavour compliments, rather than overpowers, the gorgeous taste of the gin.  Considering my Sweet Sting concoction, IZZE should completely hire me to come up with and promote their product’s usage as a mixer.

IZZE executives, I will work for more IZZE.  And booze.

Another fantastic mixer that’s actually intended as a mixer is the Mojito mix from Stirrings.  Now, full disclosure: I was sent a bottle of it for free from Stirrings due to my improbable status as a “maven” on ThisNext, a website that centers around product recommendation, although much of it is more product lust than actual “I used this and it works/sucks” recs.

Now, because this was a mojito mix, I was a bit skeptical.  I had my very first mojito at Vertigo, a posh restaurant on the 50-odd storey rooftop of a hotel in Bangkok, and it has been the pinnacle of what I expect a mojito to be: drinkable, tasty, minty, limey and alcoholic.  Mojitos I’ve had since have been either meager stabs at mojitoness, or woeful interpretations of what a mojito is.  You need fresh lime!  You need fresh mint!  You need an adequate amount of simple syrup, don’t just dump sugar in the glass!  

Now, Stirrings’ Mojito is *not* this combination of freshness and effort.  It is a bottled mix, after all.  But honestly, if you’re not in the mood to muddle your own damn mint and boil your own simple sugar, this is the next best thing, especially when it seems that you can’t get a decent mojito in the town you live in.  It’s tasty and refreshing, with no chemical faux-mojito flavour because the ingredients are all-natural.  Since at the time of testing I lacked a shaker, I simply poured the rum (10 Cane, courtesy of Hao, although I did chip in) over ice, then added the mixer, and topped it off with LaCroix sparkling water rather than traditional club soda.  I stirred, and sipped, and it was wonderful.

For about ten bucks a pop, these bottles last for a number of drinks, and create a tasty alcoholic (or non, if you want to go virgin) beverage.  My bottle is about half-empty in the fridge, and it’s an incredibly refreshing way to combat the Florida heat and humidity, although lately we’ve actually been having our own version of fall begin; highs in the upper 80s, and lows in the low 70s down to the mid-60s!  Again, since the mix itself is non-alcoholic, you can easily mix it  with club soda or some sparkling water for a nice beverage.

The thing I like both about Stirrings’ mixers and IZZE is that their ingredients are all-natural.  There’s no high fructose corn syrup, no chemically-produced flavours to get in the way of you and your alcohol.  Hence the title of this post, “Do your alcohol justice,” as natural ingredients don’t bastardise the drinking experience, but rather enhance it and make it even more enjoyable.  Since I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup in food that I buy, why not in my drink mixers?

When is a glass of wine not a glass of wine?

I was poking around BBC News and came across this article: Doctors slam ’supersized’ drinks.  Per the title, I had thought the article dealt with the enormous soda cups, where a “small” is a miniature bucket, like the one I bought last week at the cinema–it was huge!  I couldn’t finish it all!

Actually, the article didn’t deal with soda, but rather the increasing trend of pubs and bars in the UK of offering larger glasses as the standard size for wine, and adding more liquor into mixed drinks than previously.  In the article, it explains “[t]he 125ml wine glass used to be the standard size but now just 16% of pubs and bars say it is their normal size.  Some 73% say 175ml is the new “standard” and 250ml the large.”

On one hand, you have the industry leaders professing they’re merely offering “value,” but the article states that 250 ml is equivalent to a third of a bottle of wine, which is a large amount in one sitting on its own for me, being the One Drink Wonder.  Couple that with two or three more glasses, and you have someone drinking at least a whole bottle on their own in only a few (huge) glasses and may not even realise it, counting glasses rather than the liquid amount.

Greg Mulholland, a Liberal Democrat, is proposing a bill in the House of Commons to standardise the 125 ml as “a glass,” and to make all restaurants, bars and pubs carry the size.  In this situation, I think that the restaurants can go ahead and offer the larger sizes for their customers should they so choose, provided the customers are well-informed.  In this earlier article on the wine glasses, I like the proposal that a reader by the name of Eddie in Edinburgh proposed:

I don’t like the idea of force, or compulsion. It might be a better idea to change the labelling, so instead of 250ml, it says Approx 3 Units – assuming a reasonable norm of about 12% by volume. I’ve noticed increasingly that more alcoholic beverages purchased in shops are doing this, maybe we could extend it to all drinks in pubs – how many units are in that pint you just quaffed…

Upon reading the rest of the reader comments, it was interesting to see a good many people support the legislation, whereas many others opposed it, likening the action to be that of a “Nanny State,” and telling people to “grow up” and the government to “stop dictating us.”

I can’t help but draw similarities to the wine consumption sizing issue to that of the sizing issues we have in the United States with food.  It’s well-known that portions have gotten larger in many restaurants, especially those national and regional chains, and there have been dietitians who have pointed out that the more on the plate, the more we eat.  It may also be true for alcohol for people; I know it’s true for me when I’m unable to measure the amount of, say, beer I’m drinking because rather than the standard bottles, I’m drinking from a large 1.5 litre bottle of La Chouffe.

Although I’m unsure if a blanket decree is in order for Britain’s wine glasses, I think it would be helpful, as suggested, to indicate the amount of units a patron would be drinking, and also to provide smaller glasses for those interested in merely whetting their whistle.

A Sweet Sting

I had previously written about different beer recipes in Casey’s Concoction and Other Fun with Beer, and was intrigued by the “bee sting,” which is a mixture of dark beer and orange juice.

So, sometime after work last week, I had a little time to kill before I watched a film with the Florida Film Festival, so I scooted by Stardust and asked Alli for a half glass of ACME Pale Ale, and a Clementine Izze. For those of you unfamiliar with Izze, it’s a “sparkling juice” beverage, much like carbonated soda, but juice and really tasty. I poured half of the bottle of Clementine Izze into my half-filled glass of ACME Pale Ale, and the result was delicious! It was a light and wonderful afternoon drink that ensured I wouldn’t be incapacitated to drive later, since I only had one (or only half a beer), and it was thoroughly refreshing. Since I’m a lightweight with alcohol, I wanted to have a bit of a beer, but not enough for me to feel unable to drive to the cinema later. This drink was ideal for that.

I’ve dubbed it the “sweet sting,” and it’s sure to be a Summer ‘08 hit for me, especially since summer in Florida has already begun to seep into our fleeting springtime days. If you’d like to recreate the drink, I would suggest any type of pale ale, heifeweizen or Czech pilsner as the beer. Izze can be purchased at Whole Foods and also at some Publixes, or you can have a go at it at Stardust like I did. If you can’t find Clementine Izze, be creative, and let me know what you come up with!

2008: The Return of the Green Fairy

For those of you who didn’t know, the ban on absinthe in the United States has become relaxed enough for a few distillers to start selling the drink on US shores. The United States now joins the European Union with a renewed look at an old and vilified drink. Per this article from the New York Times, “One reason legal barriers have fallen is that, as The New Yorker reported in 2006, the regulated chemical thujone, found in wormwood and once thought to have been the cause of absinthe’s lure and its dangers, did not show up in any significant quantities in analyses of historical absinthe. So these authentic replicas, despite containing wormwood, do not pose a legal challenge” (emphasis mine).

This revisit of the Green Fairy in the US can be attributed to an attorney by the name of Robert Lehrman, hired by Kübler of Switzerland, makers of… yep, absinthe. The inquiries began in 2000, and the regulations were only loosened late last year, so Lehrman had a seven-year fight on his hands. Granted, this is good for the Kübler distillery, but also good for other distilleries who are willing to be subjected to the rigorous approval process by the US government.

In Alameda, California, St George Spirits distillery has become the first in the United States to introduce American-made absinthe onto the market since 1912. At the moment, I’ve only been able to find information on only two other makers of absinthe who have been given the green light to sell in the US market aside from Kübler and St George: From France, Combier Distillery’s Lucid Absinthe Supérieure, imported by Viridian Spirits LLC, and a South American brand I haven’t been able to find further information on aside that it might be Brazilian in nationality. I found Absinto Camargo online, which is a possible candidate for this mystery. Any help in clarification would be greatly appreciated!

When Hao and I had initially found out about the loosening of the ban, we went to the nearest Total Wine (also known among friends as the Alco-Mall) to see if we could possibly procure a bottle. We roamed the aisles with no success, and upon asking a store employee, I found out why: it’s too new. Having done more research online, which I am now sharing with you, with only a small handful of distilled versions of absinthe being sold legally inside the US, there isn’t enough product to flood the market, or at least the shelves of our local Total Wine… yet. Perhaps within this year, as more absinthe producers apply to import into the US, or as more home-grown distilleries create some Yankee absinthe, we may see a bottle or two show up at Total Wine and ABC Liquors, along with other mom & pop liquor stores.

If you’re interested in consuming the Green Fairy, you will probably want to do a little research in order for you to figure out where you can purchase absinthe, as well as what brands to buy and what “Absente” to avoid. One of the websites I recommend is The Wormwood Society, which will explain to you the current US policy towards absinthe (10 mg of thujone per liter or less is acceptable for sale and consumption), and has recipes for absinthe cocktails, lists a review guide, showcases top-rated bottles (some made and packaged before the ban, making the bottles nearly a century old!) and a segment on “Absinthe Science,” dispelling the myths and hype of wormwood.

For more on absinthe, follow these links:

Websites

• The Virtual Absinthe Museum – Loaded with FAQs, absinthe history & lore, as well as a place to buy prints of absinthe posters and so forth, the Virtual Absinthe Museum is a wonderful primer for people wanting to learn more about this illustrious liquor.
• La Fee Verte – This website has a ton of information, especially notable for its Buyer’s Guide, which should steer you in the right direction as far as what absinthes may be right for you, and which ones you should avoid. There’s an exhaustive list of different brands from all over the world, and some of these have ratings and reviews. Very comprehensive!

News articles

• Reason The Green Fairy Gets a Green Card
• Wired Barely Legal: American Absinthe Passes the Taste Test
• The New York Times Absinthe Returns in a Glass Half Full of Mystique and Misery

Where to buy

• Absinthe Classics – Six ranges of absinthe are sold on this site, sent from the United Kingdom by courier to the United States and Canada, as well as other parts of the world. Prices are given in Pounds Sterling, so please use the online currency converter to figure out how much it will be in your nation’s currency.
• D&M Wines and Liquors – Currently selling Kübler and Lucid on its website.
• K&L Wine Merchants – Also currently selling Kübler and Lucid, as well as some liquors made without the grande wormwood, which would explain why the bottles are half the cost of the real absinthes.
• The Jug Shop – Selling Lucid and Kubler, but is also listed as a seller for US-made St George… but out of stock at the moment.
• HiTimeWine.net – Also selling Kubler and Lucing, with a listing for St George, which is also out of stock.

Please note I cannot personally vouch for any of these retailers online, having not yet purchased absinthe by any means at the present time. In other words, I’m providing this information for you to do as you like with. Don’t come crying to me if the shipping costs are painful, your booze gets lost, or it turns out you don’t like the flavour of absinthe after all.

Things are better with kalamansi power

My mother made my father pick kalamansi from their tree last week. The kalamansi, also known as the calamondin, is an awesome little citrus plant that is well-used in the Philippines for an assortment of home and health care activities. It’s used in cooking, skin care and also used as a remedy for a sore throat and cold, hence why my father was plopping several of these little guys in a small Office Depot bag for me on Superbowl Sunday.

Since Hao has unfortunately caught a bit of my cold, I took a big handful of kalamansi and mixed it with hot water and a wee bit of sugar to make a drink for him. It was something similar that my mother made for me once when I was sick in the Philippines on a trip we took back in ‘04. I think it really helped me out back then, and Hao doesn’t seem to be as sick as I was days ago–thank goodness.

Granted, Hao and I have different immune systems, and it could be something totally different, but I think kalamansi helped a good deal with its tart punch of vitamin C.

So give it a go the next time you have the sniffles. Tell my ma you’re sick, and she’ll go get my pop to pluck some kalamansi for you. Just don’t make the mistake of just popping one in your mouth like this guy on YouTube.   If you want to taste the flavour of the kalamansi, but don’t want to be sick to try it out, the Burnt Lumpia blog has an awesome pictorial entry on making a Kalamansi Granita.  Go make some, and I’ll try it out and tell you how you did.