Chinese and Jewish-American culture may not seem to be all that similar but there are two quirky links that come up from time to time. One is the oft joked about Jewish-American love of Chinese-American restaurant food — most often noted these days as a Christmas tradition alongside a movie — and other is the game of mahjong. The game, often compared to gin rummy played with tiles, remains popular enough in China that its authoritarian government has bothered to crack down on it. (What’s the point of being authoritarian if you can’t try to ruin someone else’s fun every once in a…
Author: Bob Westal
Bob Westal
Writer guy Bob Westal was literally born in Hollywood and has commented on the worlds of movies, popular culture, politics, and food ever since. His interest in cocktails is more recent, but he made up for lost time with hundreds of “Drink of the Week” blog posts for Bullz-Eye. In addition to writing and editing, Bob also talks a lot.
If we’re doing any drinking these days, far more of us than ever before are doing it alone. Sure, some of us have permanent company but I’m guessing many of us don’t have it in drinking — giving alcohol to pets is very ill-advised — not to mention all the people with nondrinking significant others or housemates. I started working on 11 Mothers several weeks ago — an allegedly immune-boosting spin on a dirty martini or Gibson and a Bullshot — back when it seemed less clear to a lot of us, myself included, just how huge this COVID-19 was going to be. I was…
Unless you feel like getting drunk on Guinness and Irish whiskey at home, St. Patrick’s Day this year just isn’t happening, at least not if you’re smart and socially conscious…and so I feel less bad about not having one of my usual Irish whiskey cocktails this week. Instead, I have a drink with a name that feels appropriate for this point in history even more than for the Friday the 13th on which this post goes live, Satan’s Whiskers. Such sources as Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails don’t care to speculate about the provenance of the drink or its name but,…
Before these blog posts were first suggested to me, I had a repertoire of just a few classic cocktails. The Sazerac was a favorite but also the most complicated to make according to the instructions I was using back. I was a newbie then myself and now it seems pretty easy and very simple. An Old Fahioned with a twist or two, and no drink without fresh juice is ever much of a hassle. I had learned of the Sazerac listening to Rachel Maddow’s seemingly forgotten “Cocktail Moments” on her almost as forgotten Air America radio show and it made sense…
It is my belief that there are two pieces of essential cocktail wisdom that everyone who takes a sip really should know. Fresh juice whenever possible and never partake of packaged sour mix for it is Satan’s cordial. Vermouth goes bad. Buy vermouth in small bottles, if possible, and always store it in the refrigerator after you’ve opened, try to use it within a month. That stuff you’re parents kept in the liquor cabinet for 10 years has ruined countless lives. In recent years, Carpano Antica has become the go-to higher-end sweet vermouth for the simple reason that it’s awesome. Rich…
The etymology of cocktail names is typically a murky business — often a game of telephone spanning centuries, where the legend is often the only thing that gets printed. That being said, they typically break down into two very simple categories: 1. Named after/in honor of someone or something famous or 2. Named for the drink’s creator or a some heavy drinker who favored it. In the case of today’s Scotch-based cocktail, it would be only natural to assume it was named for the poet Robert Burns. Burns is a national hero and something of an avatar for Scotland, now on…
I happened upon this week’s drink on YouTube at Robert Hess’s channel but a less well-balanced drink is to be found in The Savoy Cocktail Book. Modern variations are to be found all over the Internet but I’m sticking with Hess, who usually gets these things right. As to why this drink at this time, there’s obviously a bit of symbolism. Maybe I should have saved this one for July 4th but it’s never a bad time to toast a dream. The Eagle’s Dream 1 1/2 ounces gin 1/2 ounce creme de violet 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon superfine/baker’s sugar…
I’m not sure how I’ve missed the Rosita, a very cool spin on a Negroni all this time. I’ve been a fan of both negroni-type drinks and tequila based cocktails long before either was a craft bar staple, but here we are. I found it leafing through Robert Hess’s The Essential Bartender’s Guide and I was immediately taken by his description: “This is an excellent cocktail to celebrate, rather than mask, the flavor of tequila.” He’s right. If you like bittersweet flavors and the taste of agave, this drink is for you. The Rosita is a drink with no stories behind it…
A quick Google search gives us two definitions of the term “cold deck. 1. a deck of cards which has been dishonestly arranged beforehand. 2. a pile of logs stored away from the immediate area where logging is taking place. Which of these do you think the Cold Deck is named for? Like drinking and gambling, logging is a fine pursuit if done responsibly. Still, it’s got to be the crooked deck that this drink is named for. Have you ever met a gambler who didnt drink? Have you ever seen a lumberjack in a movie swilling a martini? The…
More than five years back I took a long look at the Monkey Gland, a cocktail containing gin, fresh orange juice, grenadine (occasionally raspberry syrup), an absinthe rinsed glass and — I’m sure you’ll be relieved — absolutely no primate parts! For my first post of the 2020s, we’re revisiting the formula but with a very different base spirit. Let’s see what you think. The Monkey Heart 1 1/2 ounces brandy or cognac 3/4 ounce fresh orange juice 1/4 ounce grenadine Approximately 1/2 teaspoon absinthe or similar anise-flavored liqueur Orange peel (garnish) Combine the brandy, juice and grenadine in a…