Forget beer cozies. Step up to BottleKeeper. They’re sharp-looking insulated holders to keep a can or a bottle cold when the weather gets hot. They come in a variety of colors and sizes including larger sizes for pints. There are an number of brands besides BottleKeeper. I have an Asubu available via Amazon. Mine will hold a 12 oz can or bottle and has a bottle opener on top!
It’s June and Fathers Day is coming right up. Drop the hint.
– Jet Cannon
But which type of olive?! And stuffed with what? There’s lots of opportunity to step up your game from the standard grocery store pimento-stuffed olives.
You can upgrade the olive itself. Some say Spanish Queen olives are the gold star of martini olives.
“For me, there is no better martini olive than a Castelvetrano olive from Sicily,” says Pete Stanton, head bartender at Ai Fiori at The Langham, New York. Grown specifically in the Castelvetrano region of Sicily, the fresh seaside air adds a distinct mild salinity to the olives.
Then there’s the stuffing choices. Garlic, anchovy, almond, pimento, jalapeno, habanero, bleu cheese, white cheddar, feta cheese, double-stuffed (garlic & jalapeno), lemon peel, and onion to name some options. Upscale grocery stores, like Jensen’s in Palm Springs have an impressive selection. Or there’s a great selection online.
You really like vermouth? You can get olives soaked in vermouth instead of brine.
Mike, my favorite martini-maker in Crescent Bar, Washington hand-stuffs olives with blue cheese. He has a special little tool for just that purpose.
So there you go. Pick your pickled passion!
Elliot Gould in M*A*S*H sums it up nicely. Click here.
Cheers!
– Jet Cannon
Any respectable Baby Boomer has their own burger grilling techniques and recipes yet we’re always on the lookout for new tricks. One thing most of us agree on is that this isn’t a time to go healthy. That means 20% fat content ground beef. Working in Worcestershire, onion salt, garlic, etc is up to the individual but we need the fat for flavor, drips on the charcoal, and to keep things together.
A number of chefs say searing in a cast iron skillet is a must. Celebrity cookbook countess Ina Garten says we should freeze our smash burger patties for exactly two minutes before grilling. Yeah, in the freezer. For exactly two minutes. She also likes Gruyere cheese, which is a great cheese, but we think it’s un-American to use anything other than American cheese. But to each his-or-her own.
Buzzed Boomer At-Large Correspondent Hunter S. insists that burgers go on a fancy griddle like a Blackstone. A cast iron skillet accomplishes the same thing but isn’t nearly as impressive. That’s from someone who doesn’t own a fancy griddle like a Blackstone.
Our Orinda, CA Correspondent Moge Starr talks up his super-sized Blackstone grill but he hasn’t written a thing for the blog so he’s been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer.
For your traditional burgers on the barbecue, another top chef recommends creating a slight crater in your patty and placing an ice cube on top to keep things moist as it cooks. Haven’t tried it yet but it sounds promising and it’s sure to generate interest from your less-informed friends.
Keep those cards and letters coming as we continue our quest for crowd-pleasing burgers.
Cheers and Happy Chilling Grilling!
– Jet Cannon
Buzzed Boomer Assistant Chief Correspondent Old Man Wrong and I have often discussed, and he has written about, our confusion with vodka and its lack of taste; at least to our palates. What’s all the marketing fuss? It’s all the same, right? We drink gin. Because it has flavor. So as a joke, OMW gave me a tiny plastic barrel of NEFT vodka. I tried it on the rocks and compared it to my mostly-dry Bombay Sapphire Martini. I admit I was impressed with it’s smooth texture. Maybe that’s the “mouth-feel” that I’ve read about. I can’t say it had flavor but it was nonetheless appealing. Anyway, I’m going to try the bigger 750ml barrel and compare it to other vodkas. Plus it’s hard to resist the genius marketing of putting vodka in an unbreakable barrel so I don’t break my bottle by the pool as I’ve done so many times before. Okay, that’s never happened, mainly because I don’t have a pool, but I still love the barrel idea. If you get into the hype about filtering multiple times, well, NEFT’s water has been filtered for 50 years in the Austrian Alps! So it’s got that going for it. A sucker is born.
My local liquor store hadn’t heard of NEFT. But the big box liquor store probably does carry it. More to come from Buzzed Boomer’s intrepid Research Department.
– Jet Cannon
This drink looks fairly easy and it’s got watermelon!! Besides…. What a great name! A few lame jokes and you’ll be the hit of the backyard or picnic.
Per foodandwine.com
Sandy Bottoms
Ingredients
There is no such thing as 100 million year old dinosaur bones but don’t listen to me. Check in with our favorite trailer-trekkers by clicking here.
Boomers. Remember when darn near everything fun was illegal. Buying beer on Sundays. Pot. Gambling. Speeding. Wait, speeding is still illegal.
Then someone realized there’s a bit of money in them there vices. Washington state tax revenues from direct cannabis retail sales were $468.81 million in 2020, while excise revenues from liquor and alcohol sales only totaled $415.28 million and cigarette, tobacco, vapor product excise revenues only totaled $383.55 million. Lottery revenues for fiscal year 2020 totaled $820.0 million. We’re still being taxed but it’s more fun than being taxed on property or, say, plumbing hardware.
So what’s left? Sex, drugs, and rock & roll.
Hey, Ho. Legalize Rock & Roll. Or just sex and drugs. Rock & Roll is probably too dangerous.
As Beer Boy Captain Tony is fond of saying, “Legalize it and tax it”.
– Jet Cannon
The missus and I are on the road. Gypsies. Nomads. Vagabonds. In addition to a fully stocked bar and cooler, we travel with a little cannabis. It’s all medicinal.
Our supply comes from two different hobby growers in Vermont. One of them even goes all in on the marketing by naming them based on the unique high they are meant to deliver (e.g. “Lazy River,” “Train Wreck” etc. And if you had asked me yesterday, I would have said, probably based on the gentle buzz and some regional pride, that “it’s pretty good stuff.” Apparently, my assessment of quality and potency has been impacted by a lack of experimentation during Covid. Last night we met some young folks in the next campsite. They offered us a peace pipe filled with recently purchase hemp from a store in Colorado. We each took 3 hits.
To say that our pot compared to theirs was like saying our Diet Pepsi compared to their Gin. That our sugar high compared to their acid trip.
Minutes later, I was hallucinating and elucidating to our new friends about how the machines were using AI to take over the planet from us humans (true, but this seemed hardly the time or place to get into it). I had been enjoying some Pale Ales to this point, and instantly recognized that if I drank another, I would wind up in the bushes. I decided it was time to remove myself from the campfire circle and prepare our dinner. When I got into the trailer’s galley, I became paralyzed with confusion and fear. I wasn’t really sure how to proceed with washing or chopping vegetables, or breading the chicken. These tasks seemed akin to defusing a bomb in terms of complexity and concentration. My wife soon joined me and her stupor was similar to my own.
Eventually, after meandering through a culinary corn maze, we got the feast on the grill. I ate a huge portion, then went back for seconds, then thirds, until about 2 lbs. of chicken was no more. Then we got into the Snickers bars. When that wasn’t enough, we got out the breakfast muffins and grilled those in butter. Still starving, I began to comb through the larder for more of anything edible. After eating most of the food we had for the next 2 nights, I went to bed still ravenous, and completely stoned out of my mind. There was lots of giggling and comedy sketch-worthy thoughts. But sadly none survived the night.
Be careful out there folks.
Tough to beat this classic dive bar. Located in south Seattle, we made a stop after a visit to the Museum of Flight with out-of-towner Old Man Wrong. He was suitably impressed with the Tavern Burger, the patio, the Martini, and the general atmosphere. Great place!
A slow convert to the inclusion of any Dry Vermouth in my gin Martini, I was surprised to recently enjoy a gin cocktail with Sweet Vermouth. Gorgeous just to look at, it was quite tasty. Vivian at the 913 Bar pours an excellent “Martinez” with Uncle Val’s gin, the aforementioned Sweet Vermouth, Luxardo, and orange bitters. Marvelous!
– Jet Cannon
Noted Buzzed Boomer contributor, Old Man Wrong, will drop into Seattle today from the Bay Area to share his expertise in catching a Buzz in multiple ways. Faithful readers may remember OMW’s posts on the art of cooking steak, popcorn, and….. Brussel Sprouts. He also knows a bit about fitness.
An open water swimmer, OMW will first brave the brisk waters of Puget Sound to fire up those exercise endorphins. Brrrr! I’ll be doing some beer can curls from the safety of the beach.
Next, we will visit B & E Meats, established in 1958 by Bob and Earl Green, where OMW will select the proper steak for pan searing and grilling later in the evening. Yum.
Finally, a stop is planned at the Tin Room Bar for a classic, poured-at-the-table, dry gin Martini. “Quite simply, no other drink even comes up to its knees.” Further quoting Jay Jacobs in A Great And Sudden Glory, we shall “stoop to pay obeisance to this wonder. The pursed lips draw off a modicum of the only liquid to which the adjective “brittle” can be applied. The taste buds undergo extreme arousal, and a great and sudden glory is experienced in the general vicinity of the pharynx. With startling clarity the drink seems to irradiate its own descent through darkness from gullet to gut.” Queue Frank Sinatra.
We will look forward to some of OMW’s takeaways from this quick trip to the Pacific Northwest in a future post. Meanwhile, cheers!
– Jet Cannon
McSorley’s Old Ale House, generally known as McSorley’s, is the oldest “Irish” saloon in New York City. Your beer order comes two at a time and the waiters bring the mugs by the fistful. A popular appetizer consists of saltine crackers, raw onions and cheese slices. Classic.
Per Wikpedia.org, opened in the mid-19th century at 15 East 7th Street, in today’s East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, it was one of the last of the “Men Only” pubs, admitting women only after legally being forced to do so in 1970.
The aged artwork, newspaper articles covering the walls, sawdust floors, and the Irish waiters and bartenders give McSorley’s an atmosphere reminiscent of “Olde New York”. No piece of memorabilia has been removed from the walls since 1910, and there are many items of “historical” paraphernalia in the bar, such as Houdini‘s handcuffs, which are connected to the bar rail. There are also wishbones hanging above the bar; supposedly they were hung there by boys going off to World War I, to be removed when they returned, so the wishbones that are left are from those who never returned.
Two of McSorley’s mottos are “Be Good or Be Gone”, and “We were here before you were born”. Prior to the 1970 ruling, the motto was “Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies”; the raw onions can still be had as part of McSorley’s cheese platter.
McSorley’s is considered to be one of the longest continuously operating ale houses in the city due to the fact that during Prohibition it served a “near beer” with too little alcohol to be illegal. In 2005, New York magazine considered McSorley’s to be one of New York City’s “Top 5 Historic Bars”.
Notable people who have visited McSorley’s include Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and Boss Tweed.
It’s usually jammed with people and a heck of a lot of fun. Look it up when in the Big Apple.
– Jet Cannon
Georgetown Brewing Company in Seattle makes some excellent beers. Recently, I asked for their Bodhizafa IPA at a local restaurant. The young waiter informed us that they didn’t have Bodhi but they did have You’ll Get Nothing And Like It also from Georgetown. The waiter knew the name was from the movie Caddyshack, which he had seen once, but he really didn’t know anything about Judge Smails or Spaulding. These youngsters!! Anyway, the beer…. I liked it.
To refresh your memory, here’s the scene from Caddyshack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f6l1QljpMo
Cheers,
– Jet Cannon
Photo courtesy of groovyhistory.com
Yesterday, Buzzed Boomer’s Editorial Staff was asleep at the switch and missed World Cocktail Day AND National Fruit Cocktail Day. The staff did manage to enjoy a classic gin & tonic on a beautiful spring day, but failing to notify readers of such important days is inexcusable and we apologize.
So please note that today is Fintastic Friday – Giving Sharks a Voice. We’re not sure exactly what sharks would like to express but perhaps it’s to please swim a little farther out into the surf (that’s you Old Man Wrong). Meanwhile, we will pay a tribute to our shark friends with a shark attack fruit punch.
Photo courtesy of aspiringwinos.com
