August 2021

Elmers

Burgers, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Music, Travel / By

Those of us at Buzzed Boomer love dive bars.  We love live classic rock.  We appreciate a properly prepared Martini (thanks Lindy)! We love pool tables.  We crave a great burger.  We love having our favorite IPA’s on tap.  How about a place offering breakfast and great specials?  And we’re grateful for a bar powering through the Covid disaster that closed so many restaurants.

Elmers in Burien, Washington is all of that except…. it’s really too nice to be called a dive bar.  It WAS once a dive bar but owner Rachel has been steadily upgrading Elmers.  And it looks great and it feels great.  Our kind of place!

Not from Seattle?  Elmers is a short ride from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and not far from a light-rail station if you’re visiting downtown Seattle.

We hadn’t been to Elmers in years but we’ll be back! 

– Jet Cannon

Elmersbarandgrill.com 

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Pinot Noir

Food and Drink / By

August 18 is National Pinot Noir Day.  Celebrating a red wine in the middle of summer may seem a bit counter-intuitive but maybe National Days in winter were taken. That said, the Pinot Noir is lighter than most reds.  In addition, it can be served slightly chilled.  

The pinot noir grape originates from France but some of the best regarded grapes are grown in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  Pinot Noir wine received a boost in popularity starting in 2004 from the movie Sideways.  Miles Raymond, played by Paul Giamatti, speaks fondly of Pinots while disparaging Merlots.  That proves that Pinots are good.

So summer is not just for white wines or a bottle of Rose.  Not convinced? Then you’ll get nothing and like it!

Cheers!

– Jet Cannon  

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LEO (July 23 to August 22): Watermelon Margarita

Food and Drink / By

We’re very thankful for astrology.  It’s so helpful to have guidance you can trust.  Because today is the big day!   I checked with thekitchn.com to find out what my birth drink is.

“For a drink that’s as popular and spirited as you, Leo, serve watermelon margaritas. The key? Premium tequila and lots of pretty (dare we say over-the-top) garnishes.”  

So there it is. Luckily, I like watermelon margaritas.  I was afraid I was going to have to change my birthday.

Cheers!

– Aging Prop-Jet Cannon

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Barreled Gin from tennessee

Food and Drink, Travel / By

 

We recently sampled some Barreled Gin from Nashville’s Corsair Distillery.  The gin spent some time in used spiced rum barrels where it does this, per Corsair’s web site, “Classic gin forward nose evolves into a spice medley of cinnamon, clove and coriander. Anise, black licorice, clove hit the pallet initially but give way to vanilla and rum notes before a clean dry finish.”  Now we didn’t quite detect all that and we generally don’t like craft distilleries taking too many liberties with good old gin but we enjoyed this Barreled Gin in a dry Martini.  It definitely has a little something extra without betraying its “gin forward nose.”

Corsair says this barrel-aged style of gin is becoming increasingly popular.  You may not be able to find Corsair in your neck of the woods but there are a number of other distilleries giving barrel-aged gin a go.

– Jet Cannon

Hiding from the feds in nashville

1 Comment / Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Travel / By

There are a lot of bars in Nashville.  The Broadway District has over 30.  And there are many, many more throughout the city.  On Broadway, there’s Kid Rock’s, Blake Shelton’s Old Red and many more.  You have to see it to believe the loud country chaos.  Lots of fun.

My favorite bar this trip was located I-don’t-know-where (you can look it up online).  I wasn’t driving.  There’s no sign.  It’s a speakeasy in the Prohibition tradition.  Old Glory is hiding in what used to be the towering boiler room for White Way Cleaners, formerly one of the largest steam cleaning facilities in Nashville. The space features the original electrical boxes, coal hopper, and smoke stack that were in use in the 1920s. Today it’s dark with lots of candles.  The Feds will never find us here.

The craft cocktail bartenders are something special in their own right.  Give them a hint on what you like and they will rise to the challenge and provide you with a visually-pleasing, palate-pleasing taste treat.  They use ingredients that might as well be French to me.  Turns out some of them are French.  And I don’t have them on the shelf at home which is why I need to spend more time in speakeasies.  I tried a Last Word which is gin, green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice,  Excellent.  I also asked for a “surprise me” gin martini.  It came with Ford’s Gin and a vermouth-like ingredient plus some orange blossom and bitters.  Also excellent.

Here’s to Prohibition and Old Glory!

– “Vito” Jet Cannon

Nashville Caffeine Buzz

Caffeine, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Music, Travel / By

Nashville is on the steroid juice when it comes to drinking, live country music, party buses, cut-off jeans, cowboy boots and hats, and roof-top bars.  I just wasn’t expecting art in my coffee.  Yet, plenty of caffeine is a requirement for this Baby Boomer to keep on rockin’ in this town.  Whoa!!  It’s fun.  It’s overload.  It’s draining.  But it’s a hoot!

– “Johnny” Jet Cannon

Just Plane Drinking

1 Comment / Food and Drink, Travel / By

Business.  Vacation.  Doesn’t matter.  It’s nice to have a cocktail at the airport and onboard just to unwind and relax.  Pricey?  Yes.  Worth it?  Yes.   

Onboard, Captain Tony recommends always ordering a double.  In First Class, Business Class or Premium Economy, when they offer a second cocktail they’ll likely bring you another double.  In economy, order a double because you don’t know if or when the cart will be back.  

My only issue with Plane Drinking is the  lavatories.  You just don’t want to overdo the liquid consumption.  Particularly as some of us Baby Boomers find ourselves frequenting more frequently.  Back to the lavatories.  Tiny. Overused.  There is nothing good about them and I try to avoid entering at all costs.  

Meanwhile, the Cheese Platter on my favorite airline, Alaska, reminds me what a gift cheese is to the planet.  Wish I would have invented it but I thoroughly enjoy the fruits of the talented animals and people who make such a wonderful variety of mouth watering sensations. But I digress. 

Plane drinking.  I enjoyed my first crystallized lime powder in my gin and tonic.  Cute little packet.  And it  worked!  Tasted pretty great.  Some say that actual lime slices in cocktails are only a notch cleaner than airplane lavatories because you don’t know everyone who has handle the lime or what they were doing right before that.  

As I write this, it is a fact that alcohol hits harder at 35,000 feet.  Which, given the fact that most airplanes don’t have walk up bars or lounges, AS THEY SHOULD, it’s good that a little bit…. goes a little bit further.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed flying with Jet Cannon and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  

⁃ Jet Cannon

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Hail India Pale Ale

Food and Drink / By

Thursday August 5 is National IPA Day!

Per nationaldayscalendar.com, “the IPA seems to have developed out of an idea from the 1700s. When shipping ale to India, adding hops to the beer increased the longevity of the brew. Brewers thought that hops preserved the beer for long voyages to hot climates. One London brewer gained attention for his ability to brew this particular style of beer. George Hodgson shipped many casks of pale ales to India from London. However, no one knows for sure when or who coined the name India Pale Ale.”

So grab yourself an IPA on a hot summer day!

Cheers!

– Jet Cannon

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2020 Tokyo Olympics Silver Medal Sake Martini

Food and Drink, Recipes / By

Olympic Silver Medals are totally underrated.  Second-best in the world at anything is pretty darn great.  Here’s a second best cocktail that celebrates the Tokyo Olympics.

  • 3 oz vodka
  • 1 oz sake

We’re replacing dry Vermouth with sake so make it to your own clean/dirty preferences.  Mix in an ice-filled shaker, pour into a martini glass and garnish with a peeled cucumber slice.

For what is worth from an Olympic athlete health standpoint, sake is high in amino acids, naturally gluten-free, and consists of simple ingredients.  Except that we’ve offset any benefit with the vodka.  Details. 

Cheers!

–  Jet Cannon