Happy Friday, Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby weekend! Normally in this space this time of year and especially this weekend, I’d get creative making my own, or finding some obscure bourbon cocktail I can make to tie into the Derby, or some off the wall tequila cocktail for Cinco de Mayo. However this time is a bit different. There is a rather important ceremony going on across the pond Saturday morning. Regardless of your feelings about the Royal Family, it is a rather historical event, and one that I will be watching because I’m a sucker for events like this. Plus the way that family lives who knows when the next opportunity will come.
So, in honor of the occasion, I dug out the Waldorf Astoria Bar Book to break out a recipe I’ve been saving since the Queen died in September. The (aptly named) King Charles:
1.5 oz. Greenhook Ginsmiths Old Tom gin (I used Gordons)
.5 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters #6
4 oz. chilled club soda
Add spirits and bitters to Collins glass. Fill with large ice cubes. Add chilled club soda and stir to integrate. Garnish with orange peel, lemon peel, and brandied cherry
The only scent I can get off the top is the maraschino liqueur and a touch of orange from the bitters. There should be a little more orange I think, but my oranges went south and had to 86 the lot of them, so no secondary garnish with the lemon, but c’est la vie.
So this is an interesting highball. The flavor consistent all the way through, with mostly the maraschino liqueur really standing out. Of which, Frank Caiafa says the original recipe had more maraschino liqueur than what was called for. He scaled it down and I agree that it was the right call. The 4 ounces of soda is really the great equalizer (or neutralizer) of this. Since this is technically a cooler, the soda does it’s job well. It reduces the booze kick and checks the maraschino. This makes it extremely drinkable, bordering on the dangerously delicious category. You cannot taste the gin in here at all. Which for me is a slight setback in my opinion, but only just so. Again, that is just my personal preference for stronger drinks. Your mileage may vary.
So yeah. This is good. Is it my absolute favorite? No, but I think that’s due to the aforementioned deference to stronger tasting drinks, as well as the fact that I’m enjoying this on a 55ish degree rainy day. So a cooler isn’t exactly something I’m craving for an alcoholic beverage at the moment. But, it works and is tasty. Which is all you can ask for in a cocktail.
GSTK!
(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)
Bud Light’s revenue is down 21% since the incident with the “trans can.” Miller and Coors sales are up 21%, because after all the human body cannot survive without water.
Also, this:
I will write a whole post on this, but we lost Bun Bun today. Somehow one of our dogs knocked his cage over and was able to get him.
Thanks for all the kind words on the pictures that I’ve posted. My wife and I tried to save the little baby and give him a good life, but we did not succeed.
I’m going to go back to crying now.
Oh no! You did everything you could for him, and treated him like a king. Don’t beat yourself up over it.
Ah shit, man. That sucks.
For what it’s worth you guys tried, that’s far more than most people would have done, and that rabbit survived a lot longer than it would have if you hadn’t tried.
Vaya con Dios, Bun Bun.
Even your best can’t defeat nature. Combined with jealousy it’s a Challenger explosion like situation.
You’re great, compassionate folks. My condolences.
Oh no! At least Bun Bun had a great time while it lasted, with plenty of gourmet bunny meals. You can’t control fate, so even if the outcome isn’t great you still can appreciate the positive impact you had along the way
Sorry man, that’s rough all the way around. All the best to you and your family.
My standard for the perfect English summer drink is always a Pimms, so how would this compare?
I like a Pimms better, but this would be a good alternative if you’re out of Pimms
Work systems are back up and running. After noon on a Friday. First email from my manager is that we should watch a 38+ minute video that has nothing to do with what I do every day.
I got through 6 minutes and turned it off.
Just run it in the background while we wait for Request Line.
I sent an email to my manager asking if this affected me and the answer was no, so it’ll be running in the background on mute.
RIKKI: [realizing he has forgotten to put his mutual fund order in before market close] Oh well, it’ll buy at market close tomorrow. As long as things stay relatively flat tomorrow it will be no big deal…
MARKET: [overhears]
Darn. I guess you’ll just have to use the funds for other investments, like expensive booze and tasty drugs.
Shame, that.
Don’t worry, it’ll fluctuate back down on Monday, just have to get through the weekend without blowing it all on collectible PEZ dispensers
I just watch the Netflix show “The Pez Outlaw”; that is some wild shit.
Crazy that it’s a true story
I was rooting hard for the guy, even though he was blatantly in the wrong*. His wife is a saint.
*Blatantly in the wrong about little plastic candy dispensers. On a scale of 1-10 of things that keep me up at night he’s somewhere between 0 and 1.
The Pokemon tend to be better looking
And hygienic, let’s not forget.
Highballs is also what the dwarf calls Horatio
Goddammit.
Come on now, that’s a low blow*
*Also known as a normal Thursday night in the Cornblower house
Just tried to set up an account so I can get estimates of my Social Security so as to better plan my retirement.
I got through the first few steps and was then informed they are sending me a letter with an authentication code that I will get in the next 15-17 days and then I can complete the process.
I am this close to joining the Libertarian Party right now, and I still need to call the DMV.
Get ready for your double verification every. Fucking. Time. That you log in. Getting familiar with these fuckers.
I found another site that would give an estimate, and the good news here is that if I retire at 67 at my current level of income, my wife and I will be in decent shape in our golden years. As long as, you know, the markets stay reasonably stable and nothing bad happens to Social Security.
/reads newspaper
Right, so, cat food 4 nights a week and suicide at 71 it is! Just like the old Gypsy woman said!
I’m pushing real hard for 65 to retire but the monthly pay variance between 65 and 67 is substantial.
C’mon 401K!
I don’t know what make you think having the Libertarians in charge would make this better. Sure, you wouldn’t have had to pay into Social Security, but you’d have already blown through it all and more paying tolls on the privately owned roads every time you leave your driveway.
My theory is that it will speed the end of the world from 12-15 years after I retire to “next Thursday, say, 11ish?” and I won’t have to worry about retirement.
As far as I can tell from my interactions thus far, the entire point of government entitlement programs is to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to actually get the benefits they’re entitled to. That’s why there’s so much fraud, because it’s only worth the effort if you didn’t pay into it in the first place and don’t have legitimate ways to spend your time
I did that recently. What a cluster. And I still didn’t get an answer to my questions. There’s a big SS office in Palm Springs, I’m just going to go in there and talk to a person. Well, not really a PERSON, a soulless bureaucratic automaton. But as a former postal clerk, I can understand them.
It’s important to have a common language and be familiar with that level of apathy.
How am I spending my unexpected day off, a day that is Cinco de Mayo no less? Glad you asked. I’m on the phone with my car insurance company because Mrs. Horatio backed into a friend’s car in our driveway.
And if this ever ends, (it doesn’t sound like it will, and I will die of old age still on this call), I’m going to to DMV to get my car transferred to my son so he can register it in Vermont and I can get him off my insurance.
Someone kill me. Kill me now.
may the odds be ever in your favour
Your fault for being straight.
You sound like my Boy Scout troop leader telling me why I wasn’t making Eagle Scout.
/that and a complete inability to understand knots.
I work remotely and our system has gone completely tits up. No one can do anything. Looks like a day off.
You mean “Looks like a day spent diligently* trying to get back onto the company’s system, and not use any PTO time.” Right?
*not trying at all
I have 280+ hours of PTO time; I can afford it.
But I am absolutely not going to take it. This isn’t my fault and I’m here and ready to work.
Are you one of those weird people who don’t use their PTO, or are you saving it for something specific?
Neither. “Litigation attorney” and “free time” don’t usually go together, but having 280 hours saved up over 15 years, (I get 120 a year, now 160 having passed the 15 year mark), isn’t too bad. Especially because for most of it I had college educations and a mortgage to pay for.
Now that I have neither my ambition is to whittle that time down to a more reasonable 2-3 hours.
For instance, I took my birthday off because I didn’t feel like working, I’m taking the 22nd off because I’ll be at a beer fest on the 21st, and the 26th off because I can make that a 4-day weekend. For the troops!
Be sure to thank the IT department for giving everybody a “Fuck Around Friday”
Sending flowers and chocolates now.