What cocktails once made with top-shelf spirits do you remember and miss the most? And what cocktail spirits are we enjoying right now that you think might become rare and expensive in the future?
Mar 21, 2022Liked by Robert Simonson, Mary Kate Murray
We used to have a Hakushu 12 Old Fashioned on the menu at Booker & Dax, it was wonderful… while it lasted. Then it was Yamazaki 12, also incredible. Both of which would be truly unobtainable in pour costs now.
Mar 21, 2022Liked by Robert Simonson, Mary Kate Murray
In my early 20s I didn't drink many cocktails, but in our apartment we kept a bottle of Van Winkle 12 around all the time. And when we ran out, we'd hop on the B61 and head down to LeNell's to resupply. I don't remember how much it cost at the time, but we barely had jobs, so it couldn't have been crazy. I just looked up how much one of those bottles is now, and good lord.
Mar 21, 2022Liked by Robert Simonson, Mary Kate Murray
There was a time when Elmer T. Lee was a favorite for Manhattans and Old Fashioneds at Stage Left Steak. Col. Lee himself had come to host our first ever Single Barrel Bourbon Dinner in January of 1994 and we moved cases of the stuff for years.
Mar 21, 2022Liked by Robert Simonson, Mary Kate Murray
My wife was gifted a bottle of the original Black Maple Hill for shooting a friend's wedding, and we drank it in highballs with lemon or lime LaCroix all summer long. Our friend said it'd been around $40 when she got it, so we were shocked when it was nowhere to be found when we went to get more. Only then did we learn its history and how coveted it had become.
Mar 21, 2022Liked by Robert Simonson, Mary Kate Murray
I remember when Pappy Van Winkle 13 Year Rye was so easily procured that in one of Dave Wondrich's articles for Esquire in the early 2000s, he suggested it as the base for a Sazerac. So, now we know whom to blame. ;) Kidding. That said, I have a feeling rum is the next frontier to lose age statements because of demand, while tequila could be the next one to carry them the way certain expressions of cognac do now.
William Larue Weller. That said, more than any one product/drink, I miss hunting down old/forgotten bottles in years past, something that is less and less possible today (both generally, and for myself). Some of my favorite finds included: a couple dusty, faded label original Amer Picon bottles at a nondescript Houston liquor store (the owner said a French chef had asked for a case, but only bought 10 bottles decades earlier), a tax-stamped bottle of 70's Green Chartreuse in a bottle shop attached to a Korean BBQ that had never been marked up in its 30+ years on the shelf, and a handle of Old Fitzgerald that was distilled in my birth year (at Stitzel-Weller).
We used to have a Hakushu 12 Old Fashioned on the menu at Booker & Dax, it was wonderful… while it lasted. Then it was Yamazaki 12, also incredible. Both of which would be truly unobtainable in pour costs now.
In my early 20s I didn't drink many cocktails, but in our apartment we kept a bottle of Van Winkle 12 around all the time. And when we ran out, we'd hop on the B61 and head down to LeNell's to resupply. I don't remember how much it cost at the time, but we barely had jobs, so it couldn't have been crazy. I just looked up how much one of those bottles is now, and good lord.
There was a time when Elmer T. Lee was a favorite for Manhattans and Old Fashioneds at Stage Left Steak. Col. Lee himself had come to host our first ever Single Barrel Bourbon Dinner in January of 1994 and we moved cases of the stuff for years.
My wife was gifted a bottle of the original Black Maple Hill for shooting a friend's wedding, and we drank it in highballs with lemon or lime LaCroix all summer long. Our friend said it'd been around $40 when she got it, so we were shocked when it was nowhere to be found when we went to get more. Only then did we learn its history and how coveted it had become.
I remember when Pappy Van Winkle 13 Year Rye was so easily procured that in one of Dave Wondrich's articles for Esquire in the early 2000s, he suggested it as the base for a Sazerac. So, now we know whom to blame. ;) Kidding. That said, I have a feeling rum is the next frontier to lose age statements because of demand, while tequila could be the next one to carry them the way certain expressions of cognac do now.
I am a melon head so I love when bars get playful with Midori. Obviously not top shelf but still tops to me! 🥲😝
William Larue Weller. That said, more than any one product/drink, I miss hunting down old/forgotten bottles in years past, something that is less and less possible today (both generally, and for myself). Some of my favorite finds included: a couple dusty, faded label original Amer Picon bottles at a nondescript Houston liquor store (the owner said a French chef had asked for a case, but only bought 10 bottles decades earlier), a tax-stamped bottle of 70's Green Chartreuse in a bottle shop attached to a Korean BBQ that had never been marked up in its 30+ years on the shelf, and a handle of Old Fitzgerald that was distilled in my birth year (at Stitzel-Weller).
After seeing this, Missing Good Old days badly. :D
At the moment, I'm keeping a leery eye out for any signs of rebranding on beloved products that might indicate they've been Beefed.
I'm Italian, I miss "our" The Macallan 7yo, a perfect daily single malt glass with a superb value for money.