EMBURY COCKTAILS

Krimko on Wine (And Cheever)

(Editor's Note: This piece from Embury Wine & Food Editor Stuart Krimko has been amongst a backlog of posts I've had piling up to due to chronic modern urban distractedness and terrible sloth on my part. How backlogged? Check the original title: Back to School cocktail reading and listening. A thousand apologies to Krimko, whose other fine pieces can be read here. J.R.)

I've got some good drinking stuff on my to-do list for the upcoming school year.  Several of you have asked me to recommend wines from Trader Joe's, which is a noble task that I have been postponing for too long; I'll get to it soon, but in case you're thirsty this moment and reading this on your smart phone in the booze aisle of your local TJ's, pick up a bottle of VINTJS Sauvignon Blanc.  This is some of the best less-than-eight-dollar-a-bottle white wine I've had in some time, and I've had it several times since realizing this was so.  If you need more convincing, I'll do my best in my next post.

Now, onto slightly more literary topics.  Over the past few months I've enjoyed making my way through the New Yorker's podcasts.  They've set up a nice format: a writer who has published a story in the magazine chooses a story that another writer published in the magazine to read aloud.  The first in the series is John Cheever's "Reunion," read by Richard Ford, in which a boy named Charlie meets his father in Grand Central Station for an afternoon of Beefeater Gibsons.  I love Beefeater martinis, but I prefer mine with olives––I was going to say I prefer mine up with olives, but I've recently been delighted by Beefeater martinis with olives on the rocks.  Will martinis on the rocks come back into fashion soon?  Were they ever in fashion? 

Cheever, not Krimko

"Reunion" is heartbreaking and hilarious.  Richard Ford does a wonderful job of switching back and forth between the voices of the meek, embarrassed, wistful Charlie, who narrates the story, and his drunk blowhard of a father.  The story takes no more than a few minutes for Ford to read, but Cheever has packed much into those few minutes: underage drinking, the proper ratio of gin to vermouth, the echoing splendor of Grand Central Station, the everlasting battle between obnoxious customers and exasperated wait staff, and the distressing vagaries of the father-son relationship.  When Charlie tells us, at the end of the story, that this was "the last time I saw my father," we want to pat him on the back and pour him another drink.S.K.

New Yorker podcasts on iTunes

Wednesday's Cocktail: Shanghai 24 Punch

 

Casita Bar's Will Foster  made an impromptu visit to New York City last week and we visited far too many of the key cocktail places in New York to properly recount (or recall) every detail here, but it was a pretty heroic push. From our first stop at the tequila and mezcal-focused Mayuhuel (which scratched South American spirits-enamored Foster behind the ears for about four happy rounds),  to our final stop at our default end-up joint Louis 649 (where you can sip spot-on cocktails without any pomp or fussiness until quite, quite late) the entire expedition was simply epic.  Day 5 brought a planned food and drinks gathering with Stuart Krimko, our Wine and Food Editor and host of the Verdita party of yore. Exhaustion after marathon drinking all around, but the punch that we came up with on the spot revived us just in time for the arrival of our guests.  I'd printed several recipes from a punch story I was working on in preparation for shopping that morning, but had neglected to designate page numbers for the document and so was immediately confused about what ingredients went with which recipe, Subsequently the Shanghai 24 is something of an amalgam of various bartender's punches, with the added variable of whatever looked good at the greengrocers' that morning. Perfect. J.R.

SHANGHAI 24 PUNCH

1 litre Beefeater 24
1 quart of unsweetened green tea (bottled, in our case)
1 small bottle club soda,
3 or 4 apricots,
8 raspberries
6 lychees (peeled and sliced in two)
2 large grapefruits, juice of
2 lemons  (no lime! and contrary to what the photo might indicated, no Gary Regan's Orange Bitters--we tried it in a small serving and it nudged it in a spicy direction, and this one is all fresh summer sweetness)
1 generous oz. Luxardo Marischino Liqueur

Muddle all the fruit first, leaving aside a few bits for garnish. Mix everything together in a large bowl with ample ice. Give it a few minutes to chill and water down--then enjoy to your heart's content. This one isn't too strong, but rather incredibly refeshing with just enough booze to keep it interesting, which is just what you want from your summer punch.

On Drinking: The Courteeners

We caught up with The Courteeners hours before their U.S. debut at the Mercury Lounge and days before they kicked off their plum gig opening for Morrissey on tour. They filled us in on what to drink pre-show (chilled red wine is good for the vocal chords) and where they drink back home in Manchester. Like The Hot Melts, these rockers from the North seem to have a fondness for the pub chain J D Wetherspoons, their local branch being The Moon Under Water. (I neglected to direct them towards the rather posher-than-Wetherpsoons bar at Harvey Nichols Manchester, where my man Matt Fairhurst is performing absolute wizardry.) If you haven't heard The Courteeners you can preview their album St. Jude on lala.com here. J.R.

Big Hands
The Moon Under Water.
Marble Beers Ltd

The Courteeners
Visit Manchester

On Drinking: The Hot Melts

Embury Cocktails caught up with scrappy Liverpool rockers The Hot Melts just before their first U.S. show opening for The Courteeners at Mercury Lounge. Later that night they (presumably) got on a plane bound for Austin, where they were to play several shows at South by Southwest. Clearly, endurance is not a problem for these guys who radiate good vibes and rock out with utter sincerity on stage.  They know a thing or two about drinking as well, and were kind enough to share some of their insights into the art of what (and how much) to drink before performing, where to drink in Liverpool, and how best to spend a hungover day (awesome detail: it involves watching "The NeverEnding Story").

The Hot Melts
Korova
J D Wetherspoon

On Drinking: 3 Pint Reverie

On Sunday afternoon I received the photo above in a text message from Justin Nuttall, with the subject line "My view right now". The setting was easily recognizable as his neighborhood spot, pencil factory bar. The text read "This is the light at the end of a very long tunnel...". I found myself opening the message over and over throughout the week, slightly hypnotized by the image. This morning I asked Justin to write something about the photo. His words below.
J.R.

3 PINT REVERIE.

You've seen this guy before, sitting by himself in that bar around the corner, lost in the volume of his thoughts, sipping dreamily on a pint.  From his point of view he watches, wet-lipped and body slack, as the day wheels by - rugged strollers, fixed bikes, tweaked rides, ceaseless pedestrian traffic, and then catches himself murmuring things out loud. He looks to see if anyone noticed (they haven't).  Everything is right. Settled. Even in the expectation of the plodding week ahead of him, his face, for the moment, is still and unburdened. Almost soft.  The quiet conversations from the other drinkers seem to recede into the wood furniture now and feeling almost weightless, his heart leaps for no reason at all.

Time for the second round. 
J.N.