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I drank every cocktail
- Jeremy1026 1y agoSo, looks like you narrowed down your favorite to either the Porto Flip or the Rabo de Galo. If you had to pick one, which would you say is your favorite?
- aaaronson 1y agoThey're so different and hard to compare, but considering I've had three rabo de galos now and loved them every time, I'm leaning in that direction
- imustachyou 1y agoVery fun! Would love to see a tier list to start checking off myself, and maybe a caption for the pictures
- bravesoul2 1y agoDamn I thought it was going to be https://scottaaronson.blog/ https://scottaaronson.blog/ and wondered what cocktail was an analogy for, or if he just had a fine night out.
- mikhailfranco 1y agoThere is a podcast from Sean Carroll about cocktails, if you like your mixology from a physics & philosophy guy: Mindscape 307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCSmrdzistc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCSmrdzistc
- rbranson 1y agoIf you wanna run thru this list and get a tally, I quickly created this lovable app: https://cocktail-checkered-log.lovable.app/ https://cocktail-checkered-log.lovable.app/. I'm at 68/102!
- vincefutr23 1y agoDoes this maintain state if navigate away ?
- imrehg 1y agoYes, the site seems to save the checked cocktails into Local Storage (you can click some, and in your browser's inspection tools you can check. Eg. in Firefox > Inspect > Storage > Local Storage, there's a key with "cocktail-tracker"). I've checked and closing/reopening works (of course locally only, no incognito tabs, etc...)
- tristor 1y agoNice, I'm at 75/102 apparently. Some of these I haven't heard of.
- pnt12 1y agoCool! 27 here! And I thought of myself as a connoisseur!
- jsbg 1y agomy favorite cocktail these days is the bijou, which you can think of as a negroni with green chartreuse instead of campari, and with orange bitters—you wouldn't think chartreuse and italian vermouth would make a good drink but it's fantastic bonus if garnished with a green olive
- jfengel 1y agoI'm out of chartreuse. Think it'll work with absinthe?
- jamestimmins 1y agoThat'll give you a totally different drink. Chartreuse and absinthe both have strong but different flavors; not to mention that a bijou has 3/4oz of chartreuse but that much absinthe would totally overpower any other ingredient.
- voxadam 1y agoIt would be radically different. I love absinthe but there's a special place in my heart for Green Chartreuse. Damn, now I want a Last Word.
- p1necone 1y agoChartreuse doesn't really have any good substitutes that I can think of, it's got a very distinct flavour that's nothing like absinthe (I like to lovingly describe it as lawn steeped in everclear). Still make the drink with absinthe and see how it goes though - it'll taste totally different but it might still be good, and the ABV and (lack of) sweetness of chartreuse and absinthe are at least fairly close.
- mkozlows 1y agoGenepy is the best substitute. But now that the monks aren't making as much, other subs have popped up. But definitely not absinthe.
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- BSOhealth 1y agoVery cool motivation around personal “lists” generally! Gin took me the longest to “get” and subtle cocktails that play to its strengths seem to have had the most lasting appeal. Whiskey drinks are great but I’d usually just rather have a nice whiskey straight, versus diluted with sugar. Whiskey+wine has some good combos. Likewise with tequila. Rum/rhum I still don’t get the sipping side, so cocktails is still the go-to there. A splash of nice white wine+rum has been a recent successful experiment. Vodka… well what’s the point?
- shagie 1y agoWhile its a "you really should have it straight..." One of the things that I've found is various advent calendars of a given type or theme of spirit. I've had three different ones for gin (several different ways to approach it) and I've found great variety in them while maintaining an amount of "yep, that's gin." There are subtle gins and not so subtle gins. The one that was the least subtle was Hepple Gin ( https://theginisin.com/gin-reviews/hepple-gin/ https://theginisin.com/gin-reviews/hepple-gin/ ) which if you notice on that chart has a very high juniper flavor profile. > The nose is delicately spicy with lots of juniper. Green, piney-juniper, fir branch, with a bit of citrus tinged herbal notes beneath it. https://hepplespirits.com/products/hepple-gin https://hepplespirits.com/products/hepple-gin - note the equipment for the process. I also had a South American gin... which was "ok, instead of old world botanicals and base, new world." It was gin... but it certainly wasn't London gin. If I had to have a gin gin, moonshot was my favorite. If you're curious about it... in September start looking for them.
- gleenn 1y agoI was in the same boat about sipping rum not being very interesting until I found Zacapa Guatemalan rum. It's relatively common and reasonably priced and very delicious coming from someone who likes whiskey neat and also many cocktails. If you wanna feont the cash for the Zacapa XO for ~$125+/bottle then you are in for an amazing treat.
- b_e_n_t_o_n 1y agoVodka is for adding to juice or simple drinks (oj, cranberry, lemonade etc), and when you don't want to muddle up the flavour of something else. Or for shots of course :)
- addaon 1y agoDid you, though? Many great cocktails (including ones on the IBA list) are really show cases of a very specific liqueur or spirit... and when that product dies, you may have something similar, or something inspired by, or something attempting to recreate... but you haven't had the classic cocktail. For example, unless you stir up a new-old-stock bottle of Kina Lillet (and its flavor has held up over time), I'd argue that you haven't had a Vesper.
- RajT88 1y agoLillet Blanc is supposed to be the closest you can get. But admittedly, it is likely different. I would bet there are some DIY infusions out there which nail it though.
- addaon 1y agoI think most would consider Cocchi Americano much closer than Lillet Blanc -- modern Lillet has basically no bitterness. But that's rather the point, and at some level, the challenge -- a cocktail is designed around and balanced around its ingredients, so when you change one, you have to rebalance it. For a showcase cocktail like a Vesper, I'd consider that a new cocktail -- in the same way that an Aperol Negroni is not a Negroni. And when making a non-showcase cocktail with spirits called out by family, your job is to balance around the selected ingredients. A Woodford + Carpano Antica Manhattan is not going to optimize at the same ratio as a Basil Haden + Dolin Rouge Manhattan, for example.
- BSOhealth 1y agoI get the downvotes, kind of omitting his qualification in the very first sentence. but if this really interests you it seems like an obvious opportunity for something like “the 102 impossible drinks” or something. figure out the DIY recipes and go to YT
- addaon 1y ago> his qualification Are you referring to "every" cocktail meaning "every IBA" cocktail? No complaints there, that's just headline writing. But there's a reason I called out the Vesper -- it's on the list! And I'd argue it's the cocktail on the list that, most obviously, no one can make today. It's not a cocktail that allows creativity or substitution in its ingredients -- it's specifically a showcase of Kina Lillet -- and its key ingredient isn't available today. The correct response to someone ordering a Vesper should be "I can't make you that, but maybe you'd like a <something related>." (Or, honestly, "meh, we can do better than that" -- it's a mediocre cocktail at best, but that's not the point.)
- jamestimmins 1y agoSuch a fun and entertaining read. I'd never suggest someone give up a software career to become a food writer, but I'd love to read more of OP's writing as he pursues these goals.
- aaaronson 1y agoWriter of the post here, really appreciate this! When I was really little I did say I wanted to be a food critic when I grew up...
- gms 1y agoI also found this to be a fun read! Was intending to skim but ended up reading the whole thing. The level of care shines through - nice work.
- pragmatick 1y agoHi! I wondered why the Gin Basil Smash is in the column with rare, specialized ingredients? Sounds pretty basic to me, especially compared with the other cocktails in the list.
- aaaronson 1y agoPurely because basil, in my experience, in the US, is not commonly stocked at bars (this might change as the gin basil smash grows in popularity). I had to go out of my way to find a bar with a gin basil smash on its menu, because the few I tried didn't have basil on hand.
- lenocinor 1y agoI drank the whole list too, but back when it was a lot easier due to having less cocktails on it, as you note in your post. Sent you an email!
- userbinator 1y agoHe wouldn't be the first to go from software to alcoholic beverages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Pietrek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Pietrek
- gammarator 1y agoI’m surprised the author didn’t try to make more at home! Personally I’m a fan of the apps at https://mixologytech.com/ https://mixologytech.com/, especially “Modern Classics.”
- getup8 1y agoI had a similar obsession with cocktails starting in 2019 after moving out of NYC and missing it. So I started making my way through the Death & Company book and it inspired https://www.cocktaillove.com https://www.cocktaillove.com to keep track of everything and know what I could actually make given the ingredients on hand. It’s been a fun side project ever since, and I’ve made a little over 200 (and photographed them all) so far.
- MuffinFlavored 1y ago> I have more than a drink or two in one night I'm curious the opinion of those here on this. Are you able to be classified as "having a problem with alcohol" if you "only have 2 drinks a night" a lot?
- rpmisms 1y agoCan you skip a night and not miss it, and does it negatively affect your life? If there's no ill effects and you're not dependent, I don't see a problem.
- MuffinFlavored 1y agoSure. But over the course of 90 days, I feel like there's regression/reversion towards the mean. Average a few drinks a week kind of thing. Skip a night, sure. Skip it for 3 months... probably not. Is that how addiction starts?
- stronglikedan 1y agoCan't know just from that one data point. A "problem with alcohol" is a lack of self control, like, if you're social and have dinner out with friends most nights a week, do you feel compelled to have a couple drinks on nights you're home doing nothing in particular.
- samdoesnothing 1y agoHaving just a couple of drinks is hardly a lack of self control. The whole bottle or 6 pack on the other hand...
- stronglikedan 1y agoStill can't know. Could be 2 strong IPAs (i.e., a six pack).
- shpongled 1y agoI think you cropped out the important part of the quote: > It’s rare that I have more than a drink or two in one night. I don't drink that often any more, but 2-3 drinks in a night, done occasionally is not a problem. I've had weeks where I drink a beer (or two!) every night, and also don't struggle with any alcohol problems. 2 drinks every single night? Leaning that way - and not great for you just from a health/caloric perspective.
- whiterook6 1y agoThis was a pleasant read. I want a goal like this to try and achieve. Neat!
- senjin 1y agoI agree! It's really nice to have a goal like this that could take you years to accomplish because you have no deadline. I did the same thing with a list of some of the best scifi [1] over the course of 15 years or so. I would get into a series and read the whole thing before moving on or really get into an author for a while. Some books are the 2nd, 3rd or 5th book in a series (looking at you Murderbot...) so you kind of have to read the preceding books. You could read the whole list in a couple years but it was really nice to work through it really slowly. Anyway, I think this list of cocktails will be my next long term goal [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_joint_winners_of_the_Hugo_and_Nebula_awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_joint_winners_of_the_H...
- owenversteeg 1y agoFor those that are getting into cocktails, by far the best piece of advice I can give is: know when the quality of ingredients matter and when they don’t. If it’s a very sugary/salty drink, or people are smoking, or already drunk, most people won’t care, but for a lot of cocktails the ingredients make a massive difference. The best bang for your buck is Carpano Antica, a sweet vermouth with real complexity to it; the worst value is high end vodka.
- azhenley 1y agoDo you have a ranked list of items that pay off to spend a bit more versus doesn’t matter?
- addaon 1y ago#1) Good Maraschino cherries or similar.
- terribleperson 1y agoGood maraschino cherries are expensive and yet so incredibly good they're absolutely worth it. The syrup they're in is also incredible.
- addaon 1y agoI have never poured them into a cereal bowl with whole milk and used a spoon. Or so I claim.
- technothrasher 1y agoAmarena Fabbri cherries are my go to for a Manhattan. So much better than even the good Maraschinos.
- addaon 1y agoAgreed.
- zem 1y agosurprised the white lady is in the obscure category, it's a delightful cocktail with common ingredients and a simple recipe. highly recommend trying it, it's one of my go-to cocktails to make at home.
- b_e_n_t_o_n 1y agoHah. What a great idea for a side quest. Still tempted to try to speed run it though. I reckon in a place like NYC or London you could get it done in a week easy :D
- drcode 1y ago> Incidentally, my 24th birthday was quickly approaching What would have been hilarious is if he had said "my 14th birthday was quickly approaching" at this point in the post
- TheBoozyGenius 1y agoThis would've made me R-O-F-L.
- maest 1y ago> First semester that year, I took a Beverage Management class, which was ostensibly about managing bars, but it was no secret that everyone took it because of its tasting component. Is this breadth of topics common for the American higher educational system or did the author go to a special university?
- TheBoozyGenius 1y agoThe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is something of a "special" university...
- ordersofmag 1y agoAt the very largest universities there is a really really wide variety of programs and courses. For example here's a course catalog where a search for 'intro' returns 3500 different courses. https://classes.osu.edu/#/?q=intro&client=class-search-ui&campus=col&term=1258&p=1#top-nav https://classes.osu.edu/#/?q=intro&client=class-search-ui&ca... You can see the variety, from "Introduction to the Army and Critical Thinking" to "Introductory Meat Science" This breadth is typical of the very largest universities in the U.S.
- hattmall 1y agoYeah, but just to be clear there's only ~1500 classes offered there. The 3000 comes from many of the classes having multiple components, lab etc. The number is further reduced by the fact that many of them are the same class with special qualifications to ensure placements. For example intro classes for designated transfer students. So you have the same class but 10 seats or something are only available to certain transfer program students. The real number looks like somewhere in the ~400-600 range. Which is still very impressive but 3500 different intro subjects would be wildly excessive.
- mNovak 1y agoAs an aside if you're in Ohio, the OSU Animal Science lab sells meat raised at the university teaching farms for very good prices [1] Related to the broader catalogue, I had fun in my Riflery and Table Tennis classes in college. [1] https://ansci.osu.edu/about-us/facilities/sales https://ansci.osu.edu/about-us/facilities/sales
- krebby 1y agoSuch a sweet story! My friend actually went to the author's Borg party a few weeks ago and I'm second-guessing my choices that night after reading this. Funny to see it on Hacker News! If you guys like reading about this kind of thing I recommend Cocktail Codex from the people behind Death & Co (referenced in the article). It's a great way to think about cocktails as a remixable grammar and the purpose behind all the mixing, muddling, and stirring.
- adamnemecek 1y agoIf you can get you hands on a bottle of Becherovka, try Beton. literally just Becherovka and tonic. https://punchdrink.com/articles/beton-becherovka-tonic-cocktail-czech-republic/ https://punchdrink.com/articles/beton-becherovka-tonic-cockt... Best cocktail.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- antognini 1y agoIf anyone is interested in getting into cocktails I really can't recommend Cocktails with Suderman enough. The early posts are free and go into the theory of how cocktails are structured and why they work. Once you start to understand the structure of the major cocktails it makes it a lot easier to understand how you can play with the ingredients and make something new. For instance, tons of cocktails fall into the "sour" category. They usually have proportions of 2:1:1 or 3:1:1 of a liquor, a sour, and a syrup. If you have rum, lime juice, and simple syrup it's a daiquiri. Swap out the lime juice for lemon juice and the rum for whiskey and you get a whiskey sour. Swap out the simple syrup for honey syrup and you get a Gold Rush. Use tequila, lime juice, and a blend of agave syrup and Cointreau and you have a margarita. Gin, lime, and simple syrup is a gimlet. And so on. Also, as others have mentioned, the quality of the ingredients and the brands often matter a lot. A Manhattan calls for whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters, but the choice of whiskey and vermouth makes a big difference in the character of the drink. (And if you are using old vermouth that has been sitting out on the counter for a few years, or making a drink with bottled lime juice, it's just not going to turn out all that good.) https://cocktailswithsuderman.substack.com/ https://cocktailswithsuderman.substack.com/
- ReptileMan 1y agoMy rule of thumb for cocktails is - they were created to mask the flavors of shitty base liquors so this is what should be used. The best old fashioned comes from jim beam white label. Unless you use some really strong medicinal smoked whiskeys you probably won't be able to pick up much of the delicate flavors from the good stuff with so much syrup and bitters in it. and if you want to add complexity - just make a more complex syrup.
- lordleft 1y agoI found this to be a pretty charming blog post & an enjoyable read. Does anyone else feel like some of the newer entries in the IBA list seem a bit contrived, maybe to promote a particular type of spirit?
- vrosas 1y agoThe aperol spritz is one of the greatest marketing achievements in our lifetime and no one even noticed.
- jeffreyrogers 1y agoI believe the monkey gland is called that because around the time it was invented there was a surgeon (Serge Voronoff) who was promoting a surgery in which he would implant baboon testicles into men (there was a corresponding surgery for women as well). It was supposed to improve the libido. An early, probably ineffective form of hormone replacement therapy.
- 3eb7988a1663 1y agoThere is even a wikipedia page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_gland Which still sounds super fake to me. It takes a host of modern drugs to prevent rejection when doing human-to-human transplants. I have long odds that monkey tissue would result in anything but a painful, septic death. As a medical benchmark, penicillin was discovered in 1928. Edit: I was ignoring the obvious - sham surgery! Just leave a bit of a scar, maybe inject them with some cocaine, and everyone comes out smiling.
- Sincere6066 1y agoAt once?
- mNovak 1y agoIt's strange to note that a Dirty Martini, probably one of the most popular cocktails in the world, isn't on the IBA list. Likewise I've found many cocktail books also won't deign to list it as a 'real' cocktail. But I'd argue the heritage is the same as a great many now classic prohibition drinks -- adding ingredients to distract from low quality liquors. I think that's a disservice, and it's worth standardizing; just like many of these, it can be surprisingly hard to get just right.
- stouset 1y agoDo yourself a favor and use cerignola olives.
- tekknolagi 1y agoExcellent subtitle "let's have a tiki". Great joke
- wirrbel 1y agoJust reading the title. As a college student the premise of screening through the cocktail menu would have sounded like a great project. As a 30 something I am more interested of drinking my way through the mocktail menu.
- ashoeafoot 1y agoMissing the dictator. A bloody marry in a soup coup, with a brainshaped bannana vodka jelloshot in the middle. Decorated with dark chocolate pistols, dark choclate toy soldiers and a stenciled sugarlines looking like cocaine maps on the rim. Would that (a redecorated bloody mary ) get in the list?
- bigfishrunning 1y agoNo, the IBA list is weirdly specific -- stuff also periodically rotates in and out of that list -- a few get added and removed every year. Using the IBA list as the definition of "every cocktail" is really strange.
- yellowapple 1y agoReminds me of my go-to bar's "Order 66" club, where you're handed a list of the 60 cocktails they make year-round + 6 "write-in" spots for seasonal cocktails (or maybe it's 56+10 or some other combination; can't remember) and if you order/drink everything on the list within a year you get your name on the wall.
- dguest 1y agoFor about 6 months I tried to order a Jack Rose [1]. Only one bartender knew what it was (lime, applejack, and grenadine). And no it's not on this list. How can I excuse such a pretentious mission? Well someone told me that "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" [2] was The Cocktail Bible and a Jack Rose was the thing I'd never heard of. Turns out no one else has either, at least since Hemingway was drinking them in Paris in the 1920s. Funny how things change in 100 years. But it's actually pretty good: applejack pretty much died out in the US with the prohibition and cheaper liquors, but if you can find cider or calvados it's worth a shot. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rose_(cocktail) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rose_(cocktail) [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fine_Art_of_Mixing_Drinks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fine_Art_of_Mixing_Drinks
- Balgair 1y agoJack Rose is one of my favorites! 99 Red Balloons is also a great one
- tristor 1y agoI love a Jack Rose. Unfortunately it's hard to find any good Applejack. I bought some Laird's Apple Brandy that was supposed to be of a special release, thinking it'd be good, but it was very harsh and ended up (before a move) getting dumped. It's really difficult to find any decent Applejack, even though this used to be a quintessentially American drink.
- dguest 1y agoThe French version of the Wikipedia article [1] actually lists calvados [2] instead of applejack. So who knows what the Lost Generation was drinking, maybe the french version is just as good. [1]: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rose_(cocktail) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rose_(cocktail) [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvados https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvados
- tristor 1y agoYes, I've made it with Calvados and also with French pear brandy, which was pretty good, but Calvados and Applejack aren't exactly the same. Calvados is done with "cider apples" and Applejack was done with "eating apples" (from my understanding when I was reading into this), which meant Applejack was supposed to be sweeter and was often drunk straight, but it's pretty much disappeared after we learned to make Bourbon in this country.
- alex-moon 1y agoSince no-one else has mentioned it so far, I wanted to say I appreciated the big warning at the top. As someone who has struggled with (and overcome!) alcohol dependency in the past, having a big reminder that literally says "You should probably stop reading this" shows a sensitivity to the issue I rarely see online. The other thing I loved about this write-up was the photo of the "best cocktail bar in the world" being the skeeziest, most dangerous looking flat-top you've ever seen. Having known a few bartenders in my life, I am absolutely not surprised that a "bartenders' bar" would look like that.
- dcminter 1y agoEh, that's also kind of the East London aesthetic for you. It used to be (maybe 30 years ago) very dodgy and is now (mostly) very hipster. The Bar Americain which he mentions but doesn't show a picture of, on the other hand, is excellent, slap bang in the middle of Picadilly, and quite opulent. That's great to combine with a meal at the surprisingly cheap (given the location) brasserie Zedel.
- NoboruWataya 1y agoYes, I haven't been to Satan's Whiskers but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was as expensive as Bar Americain (or moreso). Bar Americain is probably my favourite cocktail bar in central London, though I'm not much of a cocktail drinker so that's not saying much. The Connaught is good for a special occasion (very opulent, also very expensive).
- mgaunard 1y agoThe trick to having a good time at a cocktail bar is sitting at the bar and talking to the bartender. Tell him what kind of things you like and he'll be happy to make recommendations and even have you taste some unusual ingredients he recommends for a twist on any of the classics. There are a lot more good addresses in London than the ones he listed, it's clearly a hot spot worldwide for this kind of thing. In NYC there are a few good ones as well, but I feel it's below London. It's also a bit too busy.
- octo888 1y agoAny particular recommendations for London? I feel a thirst coming on!
- mgaunard 1y agoHappiness Forgets is one of my favourites for a classic experience. Discount Suit Company has a cool vibe, a bit more party-like, I remember dancing a few times there (despite it being tiny). Waltz is a new one that's a bit different, Japanese-style, their creations are quite unique and masterfully delivered. Shapes is also very popular for some reason, though I don't really see the point of places that only do bottled cocktails. In Shoreditch and adjacent areas there are many other ones.
- octo888 1y agoThanks :) Happiness Forgets is right next to where I was going to grab some pizza later. Sorted
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tpm 1y agoOh, no sgroppino? I'm the trendsetter again it seems.
- moehm 1y agoSince the Ninja Creami hit the market as the "Pacojet Killer", I like to make my own lemon sorbet and Sgroppinos. But of course I swapped the vodka for Limoncello.
- darkwater 1y agoSince we are talking cocktails and we are on HN, shout out to Drinkable [1], a mobile app with cocktail recipes, 100% opensource, available on F-Droid as well [1] https://github.com/MOIMOB/drinkable https://github.com/MOIMOB/drinkable
- Graziano_M 1y agoNot free or open source, but Mixel[1] is fantastic. You can find recipes by name, by ingredient, by taste. You can say what ingredients you have, and see what you can make, and you can even have it calculate which ingredient, if purchased, will open up the most new recipes to you. [1] https://www.mixelcocktails.com/ https://www.mixelcocktails.com/
- ik_ben_paul 1y agoI was surprised to see the Pornstar Martini outside of your Well-Known category, that's a big North America/Europe difference! eg Wikipedia cites a claim it was the most ordered cocktail in the UK a few years ago.
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- TomMasz 1y agoWhen I was in Rio for business, one of my hosts took me to lunch and we had Caipirinhas, but with vodka instead of cachaça. He explained it would make it harder to detect on your breath. Either way, they're very sweet and go down nicely.
- tompark 1y agoA caipirinha with vodka is called a caipiroska. I name my computers after caipirinha varieties. Once at the office my laptop screensaver was showing "caipiroska" and a Russian guy exclaimed, "what's that?!?" Apparently "piroska" has a certain connotation in Russian that's nsfw.
- a3w 1y ago"I tried every drug in the category of X and survived to tell it (for now)" is a hackernews topic? Who did all kinds of cocaine and cannabis and wants to share that? Those seem to be safer than alcohol.
- vintermann 1y agoThere was another article about quality ice (for cocktails) on the front page very recently. It could be shadow marketing, it could be the temperatures... But it's likely a bit of both.
- thinkingtoilet 1y agoI think it's the nerdiness involved in the pursuit that's the attraction here. People here appreciate others sharing their obsessions. This wasn't some random drunk ranting about what he's drank over the last few years.
- Jedd 1y agoI was both a) delighted and b) disappointed to discover, in my late 40's, the negroni, at a hotel in Brisbane Australia - because a) it became my favourite cocktail, and b) I'd somehow never had one before. It's not, at first glance, a complex drink - but has somehow become surprisingly popular the past few years. Experimenting with variations on the original brand-name elements is doubtless a big part of the fun - Campari is a very sweet bitters, and Rosso Antico is a competent but not spectacular vermouth. The third component is gin, of course. Here in Australia there's some delightful local options for each of those three ingredients. (Switching out the bitters for Fernet-Branca turns it from a Negroni into a Hanky Panky -- which is worth knowing about, but perhaps not worth the experience of drinking.) TFA mentions in passing a 'rusty nail' which is even simpler - barely worth the moniker of cocktail - a blend of whisky and Drambuie (itself a blend of whisky and honey, herbs, spices). I recall my first fondly, even if my liver does not -- a generous pour, foisted into my hands by the spitting image of John Cleese (along with his partner - an American version of Patsy-from-ab-fab) at a bed and breakfast, somewhere near Loch Ness, and sometime towards the end of the last century.
- vrosas 1y agoI discovered the negroni sbagliato on holiday in Italy just a few weeks before it blew up on tiktok. Still my go-to summer drink.
- Balgair 1y agoAside: The internet is terrible for cocktail recipes. Discovery is terrible, recipes are badly listed most of the time, and the blogs don't curate well. Youtube is not that bad if you can find a good channel with someone that has actually worked in a bar, but even then, they tend to go downhill after a while. It's a time limited gig. The best way to grow your repertoire is to go to Goodwill and browse the book section there. The dollar bin section at any bookseller is good too. Used bookstores too. I have no idea why this is, but these crummy non-seller books have the best recipes and the best curation; it's bonkers. Sure, grab Smugglers Cove and the other hits, actually read them. But I have found that the best cocktail recipes are in the books no one wants anymore.
- AdmiralAsshat 1y agodrinkboy.com used to be my go-to for cocktail preparation. I liked that some of the articles had a bit of history behind them. Plus, in an era before YouTube destroyed all other video hosting sites, it was nice to see a video of the drink's preparation. Plus I figured the HN crowd would enjoy that it's managed by Robert Hess, longtime Microsoft employee.
- pnt12 1y agoOn YouTube, I follow: - Steve the bartender - How to drink - Cocktail time with Kevin Koz - The educated barfly - Anders Erickson Good recipes, sometimes adding new things, but usually tasteful. But maybe they're better to search for than to strictly follow regularly; there's so many cocktails that is impossible to buy all ingredients or try all of them.
- davelee 1y agoI've only been to Italy once, and Riva del Garda is one of the places I visited. Funny to see it called middle of nowhere. Grappa is delicious, yet it is surprising to see that it's used in an "official" cocktail.
- zackmorris 1y agoAh Urbana-Champaign, my alma mater. I was there from 1995-99, starting the year after Andreessen took NCSA Mosaic and made it into Netscape, when the internet hit the world. It warms my heart that KAMS is still there, at that time arguably one of the frat boy capitals of the world ..the wafting scent of vomit baked onto the sidewalk stands out vividly in my mind. Back then the drinks of choice were Aftershock and Goldschläger, looks like the first was discontinued?! Obviously alcohol poisoning had nothing to do with it. Ice 101 was huge, Everclear (my roommate did a shot which turned to plastic foam in his mouth), and home-brewed wine made of frozen grape juice, sugar and bread yeast which tasted like ham and had to be thrown out if one substituted orange juice instead. Not that I condone such research. My first cocktail was an Amaretto Stone Sour at Joe's (still there too it looks like?), which didn't make the IBA list: https://www.liquor.com/amaretto-stone-sour-cocktail-recipe-5112791 https://www.liquor.com/amaretto-stone-sour-cocktail-recipe-5... Midwest beer stunk so our first binges were on MGD (notes of corn), the Beast - Milwaukee's Best (notes of grass clippings) and if we were desperate Miller High Life (notes of hay). Keystone Light was considered too crude due to the specially lined can which tasted of washed charcoal. The best we could get was a Black and Tan (Guinness and Bass) which was $4, ordinary beer like Bud was always $2 or less. A case of Coke was $4, Old Milwaukee $8, imagine the possibilities. Minimum wage was $4.25 but went up to $5.15 in 97, and a night out was $20, which none of us had because we lacked jobs or even cars, but saved by crashing events for free pizza and buying ramen. I fondly remember the first time I rolled around on the ground after 3 free beers at the frat next door where there were actual girls and ended the night dancing in a circle, arms locked shoulder to shoulder with other drunks singing American Pie. That began a 4 year quest to get into a party every weekend or bust. The weeks consisted of pre-partying in the dorms, bar crawls, basement parties and after-hours parties until 4 am, with some studying mixed in. We often made our 8 am lectures. One time I was in Chicago and an unhoused man (back during the politically correct era we still said homeless) was selling good booze out of a shopping cart for a newspaper promotion. I bought a bottle of Drambuie for $4 and began my excursion into "mixed drinks". I had no idea what I was doing, so crafted my own, my favorite of which was The Boot (whiskey and Diet Dr Pepper), but during the summers while camping I drank The Meagerita (tequila and Squirt). One can hardly call it a cocktail with 2 ingredients, but it is what it is. The air today feels uncannily like 1995. There's a palpable feel that everything is wrong. Making fun of it all once again becomes our civic duty. AI just landed, which will disrupt established rich people as surely as the internet did then. There seems to be a 30 year generational cycle. So in the 90s we dressed like the 60s like kids today dress like the 90s. The counterculture is so overdue that it's already here. It hurts to dance as the world burns but history demands it for our own salvation.
- NoGravitas 1y agoHonestly, there are far too few cocktails that showcase Jeppson's Malört.