If You Want To Splurge, This Should Be Your Signature Cocktail Of Summer 2014

San Remo cocktail from Scarpetta restaurant

Some of us have reason to drink a little this summer, and I'm exploring cocktails as my dropping alcohol tolerance lets me splurge.

When you're only going to have one drink, then you can splurge a bit on that glass -- especially if you construct it at home.

Our inspiration came from a very special birthday dinner for our niece at Scarpetta in New York City.  I tried their "San Remo" drink.  I thought it was delicious, and Mrs. HowChow was stunned to find a bourbon cocktail that she actually loved.

That's because it's about 10% bourbon.  The brown stuff is in the mix, but Scarpetta's "San Remo" is a bright orange glass with two juices and four liquors.  It's a bracing, refreshing drink.  No harsh alcohol flavor, especially if you follow the HowChow variation.  I think it would be popular with folks who want fancy cocktails and with folks who just want a fruity drink.

To make this happen, we went to Perfect Pour in Elkridge on the way home from New York.  We got good advice and toned down two of chef Scott Conant's liquor choices.  It's still a touch more than $100 for four bottles.  Of course, that's many, many drinks for you to enjoy this summer, and it's a great way to check out both Perfect Pour and the deluxe cocktail craze.

Scarpetta's San Remo
adapted from The Food Network's posted recipe

You can make one drink at a time or measure larger quantities, then shake individual drinks as you want them.  

You'll see that we bought cheaper versions of the elderflower liquor and the bourbon.  The Perfect Pour employee said the difference between St. Elder and St. Germain would be imperceptible in a mixed drink.  I just like Buffalo Trace, and it was less than the Michter's from the restaurant.  You can splurge even more if you want Conant's original.

Also, we doubled the orange juice.  The recipe calls for one ounce of juice.  We both thought the drinks tasted more like the restaurant with about two ounces.

1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth such as Carpano Antica
1 ounce elderflower liqueur like St. Elder (or pricier St. Germain)
1-2 ounces orange juice like the fresh-squeezed stuff from Wegmans
1 ounce bitter orange liqueur like Campari
1/2 ounce bourbon like Buffalo Trace (or pricier Michter's bourbon)
Juice of 1/2 lime
Ice
Orange twist for garnish

1) Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

2) Shake well, then strain over ice in a rocks glass.  Garnish with the orange twist.

Cool Detail: Perfect Pour Has Its Own Barrel Of Buffalo Trace, Bottled And Selling Now

Buffalo Trace at Perfect Pour

I hadn't noticed a shortage of Buffalo Trace bourbon, but I stumbled on a cool detail Monday at Perfect Pour in Elkridge.

Apparently, there have been times when Buffalo Trace isn't available.  The giant liquor store apparently  avoided disaster because it had agreed months ago to buy an entire barrel.  That barrel -- bottled up -- has arrived, and it's for sale both in front and in the bourbon aisles.

I'm new to bourbons, but Buffalo Trace has been a favorite -- especially because it costs less than $30 and less than many of the small distillery liquors on the same shelves.

The Perfect Pour bottles even have a special sticker on the side commemorating the barrel.  It's a cool detail, and I'll post next week about the bourbon cocktail that we stumbled on in New York City.

If you're a bourbon fan, this might be a reason to run over.

Let's Talk Liquor: Bourbon And Rye Enter Our Liquor Cabinet, But We Need More Advice

Woodberry Kitchen's "Deadwood" cocktail with Rittenhouse rye

Has anyone ever told you that scotch tastes like dirt?

I drank scotch for almost 20 years.  I learned to drink on cheap beer and Cuba libres, and I got adult by adding bottled beer and the scotch loved by my grandfather and father.  Scotch is easy.  You can drink with the boss.  You can impress your friends.

But drinking scotch is hard . . . because it tastes like dirt.  Smoky.  Peaty.  I tasted the flavors that aficionados love, but I admitted at some point this year that they taste awful to me.  So my friend asked if I liked bourbon.  Bourbon?  I thought that was harsher than scotch.  It turns out that it's sweet.  Sweet!

This started as a summer of bourbon.  DonkeyKong introduced me to Buffalo Trace bourbon at Kloby's Smokehouse, which does bourbon, beer and barbecue.  Then Woodberry Kitchen taught me about rye.  Specifically, it was a wonderful "Deadwood" cocktail with "honeyed rye," a smoky tea, peaches, a sage leaf and other magic.

Rye w/dinner of
potatoes, tomatoes and eggs

Now, I'm trying to recreate the experience at home.  I have shopped around.  Buffalo Trace from Roundabout Liquor in Laurel.  Rittenhouse rye at Perfect Pour in Elkridge -- a giant store that can really offer variety.  Then a special mixer -- ginger shrub -- at i.m. Wine in Fulton.  Shrub is a non-alcoholic vinegar, and i.m. Wine sells an entire line from Shrub & Co. 

So far, it's good fun.  I'd recommend either Rittenhouse or Buffalo Trace.  Just a glass and an ice cube make a great drink.  But I'd love some advice -- about cocktails and about other options.  What liquor stores have something special?  What restaurants serve cocktails on the Woodberry theme?  What cocktail recipes could you recommend?

Canned Beer You Can Love

It ain't Milwaukee's best, but you can buy more and more interesting beers in cans these days.

Practically, canned beer works well for summer events like picnics or concerts where you don't want to risk those classy glass bottles.  But it is also a kick to anyone who drank beer when classy glass bottles were just too expensive to even consider.

Ah, the Milwaukee's Best 12 pack.  At an age before I even knew about gift bags and bringing a bottle of wine, I proved myself a good guest by ringing the doorbell with canned beer -- cheap beer, but more than I planned to drink myself.  Now, craft brewers are getting into the act with a variety of beers canned for quality, not quantity.

Personally, my favorite is a Scottish Ale from Oskar Blues.  For an adult review, you really want the Baltimore Beer Guy.  I'll tell you that it's delicious and flavorful, and it's perfect for a barbeque.  I think it's pretty available at liquor stores, certainly available at i.m. Wine in Fulton or Perfect Pour in Elkridge.  Perfect Pour's beer wall has canned beer from Brooklyn Brewery, the Reading Brewing Company, and even a hefeweisen from Butternut Beer.  They even have a $17 four-pack of Oskar Blues' Ten Fidy imperial stout.  That's $4+ for each can of beer.

(Update: Check out the Craft Cans blog mentioned in a comment below.  The Mama's Little Yella Pils is one of the good Oskar Blues brands available around here.)

If you're interested in beer, check out the Baltimore Beer Guy for news from the local craft beer bars or read my post about the Sudsy Triangle of Howard County.

Link: Thoughts on Perfect Pour's Beers

I wrote briefly about the enormous wall of beer at the new Perfect Pour liquor store at Rte 175 and Rte 108. An absolutely amazing selection for people who want to try something new or find something rare.

Now Greg from A Food and Wine Blog has taken some down from the wall of beer,and he posts about a tasting where he tried beers from the Otter Creek Brewery. Greg has a separate post about the beers from Clipper City, which I believe you can also get at Perfect Pour.

The Perfect Pour in Elkridge

The Perfect Pour is the Ali Baba's cave of beer. A liquor store with a more extensive -- and more interesting -- selection of beer than I have ever seen before.

Fifty feet of beer -- most of it six shelves high. The selection runs heavily to craft and foreign beers, and it's breathtaking. Entire shelves of brews that I have heard of, then entire shelves that are completely new. Entire sections from hotspots like Germany and England. Rarities from Russia. Beers that cost $25 a bottle. My favorite Shiner Bock, plus four other Shiner varieties that I have never seen before. There must be 1,000 different beers, and the Perfect Pour invites you to discover something new, find something rare, or just amuse yourself by picking by type, country or wacky label art.

But you could easily miss it all. The sign outside doesn't even say "Perfect Pour." Just a door with "Spirits Beer Wine" overhead stuck between a running store and the soon-to-open Fatburger in the new shopping center with Trader Joe's and Costco east of Columbia on Rte 175. Step inside, and the stock seems to go forever off to the right. The light wood shelves of a store trying to separate itself from the shopping center joints decorated with Coors Light posters. Friendly people. And what a selection! The wine and the liquors would be notable on their own. Somehow, they paled as I walked the beer section and passed old favorites (Red Stripe from my years in Miami, Singha from my honeymoon, etc.) and fascinating new options (a mead, a gaggle of Belgian beers, an entire shelving area of hard ciders, etc.) This is a perfect pair with Trader Joe's -- absolutely worth a long drive and a place to fill a cart with a few month's supplies at once.

The Perfect Pour does offer "make-your-own" six-packs like I enjoy at i.m. Wine. I'd also suggest that you ask for advice. After enjoying "cristal weis" beer in Germany, I have found the filtered wheat beer only twice in the U.S. in the last decade. The Perfect Pour had two German

brands and an American variety as well. One of the workers had taste-tested it a few weeks before and gave me his personal reviews.

Go taste test on your own. The Perfect Pour will host a gala tasting this Saturday -- 3 to 7 pm, September 6, 2008 with discounts, plus food by Mamma Lucia. Plus, there is a calendar just inside the door that lists dinners that they're coordinating with restaurants like Victoria Gastro Pub.

Thanks to reader Kate for the tip!  For more beer news, check out The Baltimore Beer Guy or Greg' s post from A Food and Wine Blog on The Perfect Pour or his post about Spanish beer.  The Beer Guy post some more photos of The Perfect Pour.  I still like i.m. Wine for "make-you-own-six-packs" and honest advice.

If you're at The Perfect Pour, you're also near Parsa Kabob and just across I-95 from the empanadas at El Patio or the seafood at Frank's.

The Perfect Pour

6610 Marie Curie Dr. #E

Elkridge, MD 21075

443-285-0702

www.perfectpourcolumbia.com

NEAR: This is in the same shopping center as Trader Joe's. You enter from Rte 108 just north of Rte 175. It's easy access from I-95 or Rte 175.