May 2013
2 posts
4 tags
The Return
It’s not too often that I start writing before 6 am. The last couple weeks have had the blog on the back burner. Between work travels, a cold that made me want to go to bed at 8 pm and some other evening commitments, I just haven’t made time for a post. I’ve also found myself more eager to pick up the novel (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) that I’ve been reading. It’s a fine book that’s...
5 tags
Obligatory Mint Julep post
(on your mark, get set)
It’s Derby week. So it’s the time that all cocktail writers and especially bourbon bloggers should write posts about mint juleps. I don’t usually feel like I need to follow these kinds of conventions. This blog has no commercial interests so I can write about whatever I am in the mood to discuss.
The thing was that I really felt like making a mint julep...
April 2013
4 posts
8 tags
Marathon madness
The past week I’ve been unable to concentrate on anything but the terrible events that took place at the Boston Marathon and the dramatic manhunt that eventually ensnared what we believe to be its primary perpetrators. It caused some late and sleepless nights, and some genuine anxiety about friends participating in the marathon and living in the Boston area.
Seattle seems almost as far away from...
5 tags
Hail to the Prince
One thing that surprised me after moving to Seattle more than a decade ago was the absence of regular thunderstorms. In nearly all the places I’d lived up to this point, they were a regular occurrence. Summertime thunder and a hard rain showed up nearly every day between 4 and 6 pm in Colorado, and growing up in Connecticut a lightning bolt started a fire in a house on our street.
This past...
4 tags
Bitters challenge
A little over a week ago Chris and Liz showed up at our front door. They had returned from a trip from Portland where they procured me some Jerry Thomas bitters that I’ve had my eye on for a while. Chris’s sister had a baby girl just ahead of Archer’s birth, so they’ve gone down to visit a few times in the last few months. His sister lives in the same Portland neighborhood as the Meadow, which...
4 tags
Spring's tease
(I took this photo outside which is a sure sign of spring)
Locals will tell you that summer in Seattle doesn’t start till July 4. Spring is much more ambiguous since our winters aren’t usually composed of snow and ice but a tireless cold rain. Last weekend here was the ultimate tease because it got warm enough that I even managed to get a sunburn in a noon time soccer game. I’m not saying my...
March 2013
3 posts
5 tags
Staggering
This blog has somehow morphed into a weird genre over the last three months – cocktails ineptly made by an overtired new dad. This whole parenthood thing, it sure does take over your perspective and allow you to think silly things like “certainly all of my facebook friends would like to see a dozen more photos of my smiling son. How can they possibly resist his smile?” The biggest change is how...
1 tag
Veteran lesson
Less than three months into parenthood means most Fridays are spent at home. Rebecca just started a very limited return to work and had some duties to attend to this weekend, so Archer and I had a little boys night at home. We were fortunate enough to have a couple different shifts of visitors. Our friend Stephanie was in town from SF and she stopped in to cuddle with him for the first time.
It...
3 tags
In like a Lion
(Archer and my early morning started with me dressing him in full Sounders gear)
Last weekend was the start of several things. A new month. A new season for my favorite local team the Seattle Sounders. Saturday was also the first time I had Archer solo for the day as Rebecca was teaching a class that ran from 8:30 am till 5:30 pm.
From the start, I’ve felt pretty confident as a dad...
February 2013
3 posts
2 tags
Chinato Cabin
(we’ll be splitting, we’ll be stacking, we’ll be burning)
This past weekend Rebecca and I packed our car to the gills with various baby friendly items. It was our first attempt at a getaway with Archer. The eight week mark seemed like a reasonable time to make such an effort. After all, we’re used to traveling quite a bit and although my appetite for serious expeditions is...
6 tags
Suburban living
(Maybe they should have called this cocktail “Ruby Slippers”)
I grew up in a small town. Maybe not John Cougar small; but when that song played on MTV we sang along. Right when high school started I moved to the Chicago suburbs which were terribly exciting in comparison. No longer was it a major endeavor to go to a movie theater and the mall(s!) had every shop imaginable instead of...
6 tags
Tea Time
(Sean & Lacey enjoying their libations)
Seattle is known as a coffee town and after we moved here 13 years ago I started drinking it regularly. Before that I drank considerably more tea, and I still like to have some in the afternoon when the weather or office is cold. These days I’ve been making more tea than ever as it seems to be the beverage of choice for the many daytime visitors of...
January 2013
5 posts
4 tags
Premier Sidecar
Right now there are obviously a lot of firsts going on. First time alone with our baby. Archer’s first visit with a cousin or aunt or grandparent. First time for our newborn with a giant octopus. In truth, it was my first time with a giant octopus too. Sometimes you are surprised with what you’ve done or haven’t done.
(apologies for the blurry iphone photo at a not so well lit aquarium)
This...
9 tags
Another round
(do these folks look like they are having fun?)
So much has happened in the last year since I started this blog. Rebecca went back to Italy to teach for a month and found out her book of poetry Self Storage would be published. We visited Chicago, Colorado and Massachusetts to see family and friends and witness a wedding. I had a blast participating in fundraising for Seattle Arts & Lectures...
6 tags
Boobs & beyond
(is Lucas reaching for Dad’s cocktail?)
Turns out when you have a baby you spend a lot of time talking about boobs. I can’t say it is the same crass discussions that we would have as teenagers. Our friend Taylor pointed out that they often sound more like an economics class to her – all the talk about supply and demand, and various strategies to increase production. She and her husband...
3 tags
Best of 2012, only 5 days late
With the new baby and all the work associated with that, I’m a bit behind on putting together a 2012 recap but I figured better late than never. Here are some of my thoughts on the best of what I made or tasted in the past year for the blog.
Favorite Cocktails:
Frog Leg – a Manhattan variation with rye, amaro, and cynar - http://loudtalknliquor.tumblr.com/tagged/frog-leg
Gold Rush – a simple...
New year, new look?
Hello faithful readers or whoever happens upon this page. I made some updates today to change the look of the site. I actually really liked the old look but felt it was hard to find older posts or drinks with ingredients I had used before. So hopefully this at least solves that problem. Now that I have a full year’s worth of material, it had gotten a bit unwieldy.
Feel free to pipe up if...
December 2012
6 posts
7 tags
Judgment day and other new beginning cliches
(The illustration from page 153 in PDT is one of my favorites)
Over the last year since I started this blog, I wrote most of my posts nestled up on my couch. There is a big bay window in our living room and I’ve often placed whatever drink I am writing about on the sill. A good percentage of the time I’ve had a friendly wrestling match with my cat who likes to occupy a place on my laptop. I...
13 tags
Waiting game
So much for my announcement last week that Canon would be the last bar that I visited before baby. Turns out “the Conrad” is in no hurry to leave his friendly confines. Not that we’re overly eager, but it is funny to be in a state of limbo. We haven’t exactly just stood still. We fit in visits to both the old favorites like Sun Liquor and Delancey, as well as their respective neighbors Terra...
7 tags
The 4 experiments - updated!
My sister Meredith and I both love living in Seattle and I’m happy she’s out here these days. But we both have some favorite foods we miss from our days in the Chicago suburbs, and we usually hit those places on our trips back there. For her birthday in October, some of her friends sent her the mother lode of Chicago gifts: frozen deep dish pizzas from Lou Malnati’s. Somehow she managed restraint...
4 tags
Seattle's bourbon bank
This could be my last post before our baby arrives. It better be good since I assume any writing in future months will be sleep deprived at best and downright delirious at worst. It’s hard to say what effect having a newborn around is going to have on this hobby of mine of mixing drinks and telling little stories about them. Quite a few friends have soldiered on hosting dinner parties and taking...
The 4 experiments
My sister Meredith and I both love living in Seattle and I’m happy she’s out here these days. But we both have some favorite foods we miss from our days in the Chicago suburbs, and we usually hit those places on our trips back there. For her birthday in October, some of her friends sent her the mother lode of Chicago gifts: frozen deep dish pizzas from Lou Malnati’s. Somehow she managed restraint...
November 2012
10 posts
1 tag
37 weeks
Rebecca and I obviously like to host dinner parties. Thanksgiving is the dinner holiday of the year and one of my favorite events. That said, with us being in the homestretch with “the Conrad” it seemed this year was a good one not to be the place that many people relied on for their plans. After all, we’ve reached the point where he could arrive any day even though he isn’t expected to show up...
5 tags
Turkey Day Negroni
Port cocktails have a long history but I don’t have much experience with them. Before I developed a taste for whiskey, I occasionally had a splash of port post dinner. It is a classic colder weather drink, and with November in full form it seemed like a good opportunity to try to make use of the nearly full bottle I had sitting on my shelf.
The obvious choice for me would have been to do a...
5 tags
Accidental old fashioned
It’s always fortunate when Rebecca gets in the mood to bake a cake. Last family dinner she decided she wanted to make one of our absolute favorites – the Gateau Basque from Suzanne Goin’s Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Pretty much everything we’ve made from that book is delicious and complicated. I usually don’t attempt anything from it unless I have the better part of the day ahead of me, but Rebecca...
3 tags
Crossing things off the list
Ten months ago when I started this blog, one of my stated goals was to try to use just about every ingredient on my bar shelf at least once. At first glance, I’ve done a pretty decent job considering that I still have the months of November and December remaining. That seems especially true when I consider how often I’ve made drinks that are in the bourbon & rye category which is obviously my...
October 2012
10 posts
2 tags
November miracle
Eight years ago on election night I sat in a bar called the Miracle of Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s a beer bar and known for its hamburgers, and it happens to be across the street from the hotel that I essentially lived out of for a couple years. I had a lot of business travel to Boston, enough that walking into my hotel lobby felt like a scene out of Cheers.
I was on first name basis...
6 tags
Friend in need
I don’t usually write two blog posts in a week. Surely I could, but it’s not like I’ve got millions of readers anxiously awaiting a new bourbon recipe. This week I decided to ignore my rule of thumb since I saw the news that one of Seattle’s most famous bartenders has fallen ill and will need the help of our community to get the healthcare he needs.
Chances are good that if you read this blog,...
6 tags
"Boys Night"
For a quite while now, my friend Matt and I have been meeting up semi-regularly on Monday nights for a cheap beer at our neighborhood dive bar. We don’t always make it due to travel or other schedule snafus, but it’s a regular occurrence. It’s a nice little tradition especially since we don’t work together anymore after sharing the same employer for more than decade. Matt is one of my oldest...
2 tags
Hunting Season
The fall is truly upon us in Seattle. Today the roads were slick with oil after our Indian summer came to an end, and cars seemed to be spinning all around me. I listened to the underdog Seahawks beat the Patriots on the radio while tooling around town trying to pull off an upset of my own.
What was I trying to do? I was hoping to come upon one of the several rarer American bourbons and ryes that...
4 tags
Figgy fall
I have many pleasant memories associated with figs. The earliest is the classic Newton cookie and eating a stack of them after school, risking ruining dinner. On the trip to Sonoma in our early twenties, Rebecca and I happened upon a restaurant across from our hotel called The Girl and the Fig. It was Oscar night and the place was quiet, and we had a showstopper dinner that we loved so much that...
September 2012
7 posts
7 tags
Out of my usual rut
Spoiler alert. This post isn’t only about a cocktail featuring bourbon or rye. I know, they pretty much all are and there does seem to be an endless variety of them. I’ve mixed in the occasional champagne or tequila based drink, but the vast majority of the drinks I’ve featured have had some sort of brown liquor in them.
This weekend though we had our friends John and Cait join the usual family...
3 tags
Simplicity has its pleasures
The fall is looking like a busy travel time for me. Most of my trips are work related at the moment, but Rebecca and I did take a whole week vacation to visit family in the Berkshires and Cape Cod. After a brief stop back in Seattle, I was in Toronto last week for work. It was successful enough from a work point of view, but filled with logistical hassles and delays. I’m usually a very patient...
3 tags
Amaro adventure
Labor Day came and went, and by eight pm it is now dark in Seattle. Summer has done its very best to hold on, and even today against the odds I wore shorts and enjoyed the forty fourth day without rain. That’s truly a run of biblical proportions in our little rain forest city, and I’m grateful for it after a couple half baked summers.
Two of my more recent cocktail projects were to redo the Peach...
