Salty Dog

So, like any other Friday evening, I head in to see Joe to "research" this week's cocktail. "Hey, Joe," I begin, "I had a great idea for a cocktail recipe. How about..." "No!" He stopped me, abruptly. "We are doing The Salty Dog. I have decided." "Huh?" I replied, somewhat stymied. "Listen! I mix the drinks, you type and make your little pop-ups! I grind this organ, you dance, Monkey!" I felt spanked, (and not in the good way!) Joe then plunked down his latest creation, cast me a dirty look, and said, "Here. Drink it. $6.50, and you better tip well this time!" Okay, I confess. This is NOT what happened at all. (I just thought I would add a little drama to the narrative. After all, we were just presented with a nice, new "Blog Star" award from AddYourBlog.com, so I figgered I'd try punching it up a tad with some conflict, a la"creative writing.") Back to reality... What did happen that evening was that Joe DID tell me, (and quite amicably, too,) that he really wanted to do The Salty Dog and had for some time. He spoke of some "improvement" to the original recipe, (in the form of the Canton Ginger!) And presented me with his version of The Salty Dog for my consideration. The saltiness took me off guard with my initial sippage, but was easy to acclimate to. (Caveat: Use caution in your salting: you can always add more!) And the addition of the ginger really brings this doggy home!

The Recipe:

Into a shaker full of ice, add:

- a 4-count of Bombay Sapphire Gin,

- a 3-count of Grapefruit Juice,

- a 2-count on Canton Ginger Liqueur,

- Shake, and strain over fresh ice,

- Hit it with 2 good shakes of salt, (Fer heaven sake! Careful with that salt shaker!)

- Garnish with a wedge of lime and a cherry.

Joe's Notes: The Salty Dog is basically a Greyhound, (vodka and grapefruit,) with the addition of salt. Most Salty Dog recipes you will see call for a mix of gin and grapefruit, poured into a salt-rimmed glass. I prefer to add the salt directly into the mix. (As some of you may know, I have a bit of a peeve with people salting the glass, then drinking from a straw.)

The other reason is that when drinking from a salt-rimmed glass, (without the straw,) the salt for the first few mouthfuls can be a little overpowering and can leave a sticky residue both on your hands and around your mouth. Adding the salt directly into the drink gives a more uniformed drink from start to finish. I have also added a little Canton Ginger liqueur. I love Gin and Ginger, I hope you do too. But please, try both recipes and choose for yourself.

"What's this?" you may be asking yourself. "Is Joe becoming a little less opinionated? Did I see an actual choice? Are we not to follow his directive to the letter?" Yes, I have mellowed recently. Partly due to an interaction with a customer a couple of weeks ago. This is his story.

While I was setting up the bar one Friday evening a couple of weeks ago, a man hurried into the bar and sat at one of the stools. "Give me a Sapphire Martini straight up and I'll have a shot of Jack while you make it." he said.

I put the shot glass down in front of him and poured his shot. While I was making his Martini I looked him over. I am always suspicious of people who come into the bar and order drinks like that. He looked relatively normal, he was dressed in a business suit, the addition of the baseball cap was a little odd, but hey, each to his own.

"Had a rough day at work" I asked.

"Yeah, something like that"

"Well, if you want my opinion, a couple of stiff drinks and a bite to eat and you will feel much better."

"People's opinions are the last thing I want. Other peoples opinions and advice is what got me into this state in the first place."

Feeling a little reprimanded, I shuffled off and cut a few lemons. "O.K." I said "I'm intrigued. What happened?"

"I had a job interview today. It was for a managerial position in a firm that I really wanted to work for. I had been discussing the upcoming interview with some friends the other night while having a few drinks.

"The general consensus was that although I was qualified for the position, I probably would not get it because of my age. They said firms now are looking for younger men. Somebody my age and with the experience I had demanded to high a salary."

"You're not that old, what went wrong?"

"I got up this morning and thought to myself that my friends where probably right. So I went to the pharmacy and bought some hair dye and hemorrhoid cream."

"Hemorrhoid Cream?" I asked.

"Yeah, I read somewhere that rubbing hemorrhoid cream on your face smooths the skin and makes it look younger. I also dyed my hair."

At this point he took his cap off, exposing a shock of jet black hair .

"So, I'm sitting in the interview and all I can think of is that I have a**hole cream all over my face. I start to sweat and this just makes it worse. I keep hearing my interviewer using words like experienced and maturity. I can feel the sweat running down my face and try to wipe it off with my hand. it comes away like I have dipped my hand in a bucket of lard. The interview thankfully comes to and end and my prospective boss shakes my hand. The look of horror on his face tells me if there was ever any doubt, that I have blown the interview. I stumble to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. The image that stares back at me is a hybrid of

Joan Rivers and Wayne Newton."

"My last piece of advice," I say, "Have another drink."

- Joe

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This week's video is a strange one. Mr Crispin Glover's "Clowny Clown Clown."

Uh, "Enjoy?" (Not sure if that is the right word...)

C:

Bramble Ale

The holiday season can sure be a busy one! Both Joe and myself found our respective selves preoccupied beyond the point of making a blog post feasible!

With great effort, however, we brought our "Holiday Hiatus" to a conclusion and have returned with many a great recipe lined up for your reading and drinking pleasure!

Our first offering for "Twenty-Eleven," (its way cooler to call it "twenty-eleven" I am told!) is The Bramble Ale. Enjoy!

The Recipe:

into a cocktail shaker full of ice add:

- A 4 count of Bombay Gin,

- A 2 Count of Cointreau,

- A 2 count of current "bar-star" Ribena Blackcurrant,

- The juice squozen freshly from 1/2 of a large lemon,

- Shake to living daylights outta that thing,

- Strain over fresh ice,

- Top with soda,

- Garnish with a slice of lemon and maybe a maraschino cherry.

Joe's notes: The Bramble Ale is our variation on the classic English cocktail, The Bramble. As creme de mure (blackberry liqueur) is not so readily available on these shores, I have chosen to go with Ribena.

Now I know what you are saying. Ribena is blackcurrant, not blackberry and it also contains no alcohol. But I believe that the addition of cointreau not only makes up for the lack of alcohol in Ribena it also adds a very nice flavor combination.

Those of you that are regular readers of this blog probably realize by now that the H.Q.of TGDitWTW, (The Passage Lounge ) is a hang out for many ex-pats, both British and Irish. We spend many an evening reminiscing of the days when we happily ate fried offal in damp kitchens, or lay awake dying of the heat, sharing the bed with numerous siblings in an un-air conditioned bedroom.

The cure for a sore throat was to have an aspirin, a pair of your fathers (worn) socks wrapped around your neck and a cup of warm Ribena.

A story about Blackcurrants and other things:

When I was a boy, my friend Jeremy and I scrummed the blackcurrant foliage hanging over the wall of the local convent.

Inevitably, a nun was going to appear. She did in the form of sister Bernadette. Mouths and pockets stuffed with blackcurrants we awaited the tirade of anger and accusations. "Boy's," she said, "If you want some blackcurrants why don't you just knock on our garden gate?"

Being boys we said nothing. "Follow me." We followed her through the doors of the convent. Polished wood and stone met our eyes, the smell of boiled cabbage and lilac powder awoke our prepubescent terror. The nuns, silent but surprisingly young, smiled and waved us through. We arrived at a garden with the biggest and most heavily laden blackcurrant bushes I have ever seen to this day." Take what you want, but return tomorrow and help is in the garden".

Jeremy never went back (I think he became a lawyer.)

I went back the following week. I spent a summer drinking tea in fine china cups and eating very small sandwiches with the crusts cut off. They never actualy needed my help with the garden, but rather extended their love to one very small and insignificant boy.

Ribena, nuns in a bottle.

Chris's Notes: It was a frosty, windswept evening when I made it to the Passage Lounge that night. Senior Research Assistant, Kerry, was already seated at our usual seats with guest researcher, Sharon Mc.

They greeted me as they shuddered with the blast of wind that followed me in.

I told Joe that I was in the mood for something with gin in it. As I explained that gin always reminded me of winter, Kerry reminded me that "always" was only for about a year or so, since we had been blogging.

Whatever. It is a good cold weather spirit and what I wanted. So there!

Joe grinned as he bustled about his "other" job responsibilities and explained that he had a nice gin drink already in mind. A variation of a classic cocktail from back home, England-way, calledThe Bramble.

The gin and the orange of the Cointreau created a flavor almost bordering on the grapefruit spectrum, but the sweetness of the Ribena, Joe's current booze-muse, (or "mooze!") and the tangy sour of the lemon bring the tastes to all interested tastebuds.

The sparkle of the soda, (another deviation from the original Bramble, and the reason for the "ale" in the name, akin to "ginger ale,") send a wake-up call to the palate that really drives this baby home!

So, Cheers, and Happy New Year!

Chris

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This week's video goes WAY back to 1945. An appropriately named little number by Spike Jones: "Cocktails for Two."

Cheers - C:

Guy Fawkes

So, Friday is November fifth.

Joe has a special treat in store for those familiar with the holiday associated with this date back in Great Britain. And a great cocktail it is, too!

Enjoy the "Guy Fawkes!"

The Recipe:

Into a cocktail shaker full of ice, pour:

- a 4 count of Bombay Sapphire Gin,

- a 2 count of Canton Ginger Liqueur,

- a 2 count of Orange Juice,

Shake viciously,

- Strain into a large martini glass,

- Drop in a single maraschino cherry

Original recipe by Joe the Bartender, The Passage Lounge, Salem, MA

Joe's notes: This week's cocktail is dedicated to the celebration in the U.K. of Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night.

Depending on which side of the Atlantic you are reading this on, you may be unaware of the great celebration of November the 5th.

To give a short history lesson: a little over four hundred years ago Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up King James, (the 1st,) during the opening ceremonies at the House of Parliament in London. His plot was foiled.

He was arrested, taken to the tower of London, tortured and stretched on the rack. He was then hung, drawn and quartered and his decapitated head was displayed for all of London to see on traitors gate.

Every year the children in the U.K. celebrate by making an effigy of Guy. Similar to a scarecrow, old clothes are stuffed using newspaper, straw and rags. The"Guy" is then paraded around the neighborhood, usually in an old baby carriage, his head lolling back while his arms and legs hang over the side, depicting his torture.

The children call out "Penny for the Guy". The money collected is used to buy fireworks for the evenings events. Huge bonfires are built. When the day has turned to darkness the bonfires are lit, the sky is filled with fireworks and Guy is thrown on the bonfire to burn. Quite often effigy's of modern day religious or political figures are also thrown on the fires.

It is all a bit of harmless fun, although to see your own effigy burned on the fire most be quite unsettling.

I have very found memories of being a child in the U.K. standing with my family, chanting Guy Fawkes rhymes and watching the fires burn.

"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November! the Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why The Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot..."

"Rumour, rumour, pump and derry! Prick his heart and burn his body,

And send his soul to Purgatory."

Enjoy your Guy Fawkes Cocktail.

Joe

Chris's notes: Yikes! This blog packs some educational value, anyways! (Even the teetotalers can benefit from reading here now and again!)

I gotta say, I really enjoyed this drink. I mean, sure, I know almost nothing about "Guy Fawkes" or the holiday that surrounds his story. In fact, I had never heard of it before Joe told me that he wanted to do a drink for it.

I did enjoy the creation process, though. Joe INSISTED on Gin, (for merry old England, of course,) with Bombay Sapphire being his Gin of choice.

He decided on Canton for a nice "Gin and Ginger" direction.

Orange Juice came about originally out of necessity: Joe wanted a drink that looked like fire, (the burning of the effigy, and all,) but worked so nicely together. And it was research regular, Michael B. who suggested dropping the cherry to the bottom for the final touch.

The outcome: Brilliant! The gin is the dominant flavor here, all tangy and sharp. The flavors of ginger and orange play such a pivotal role in cushioning the taste, though, that what you get is a collection of flavors in perfect balance.

Absolute yummers!

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This week's "Barely-Related Video" is almost entirely unrelated to this week's drink. Just another example of "foreign." Try to enjoy... "Elektronik/Supersonik" by Vlad!

She-Wolf

This week we are offering up the works of a long-time Greatest Drink supporter and contributor.

Cheers, Diane! And congrats for your Diners, Drive-ins and Dives appearance!

The Recipe:

- A 4 count of Gin, (the original She Wolf prefers Hendricks, but feel free to use the gin of your choice,)

- 2 count of St-Germain

- 1 ½ count of Campari

- Top with Tonic Water

- Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Joe's notes: This week's Greatest Drink in the World was concocted by Diane "Dee Dee" Wolf. Dee Dee and her husband Lee "Squire" Wolf own and run The Lobster Shanty restaurant here in Salem. After spending the day schlepping about in the Shanty's kitchen, Dee Dee will come into The Passage Lounge for her favorite libation, the She Wolf. Dee Dee prefers to use Hendricks gin in her She Wolf; I think it is fine to use Tanqueray or some other quality gin. The reason I give the option is that Hendricks can be quite expensive and with the combination of Campari and St-Germain it is quite possible that the subtleties of flavor in Hendricks would be lost.

Quite often Lee and Dee Dee are joined in the Passage by Lee's brother "Young" Kevin. (Wolfs often travel in packs).

This coming Monday night, (September 27, 2010,) The Lobster Shanty is going to be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Hosted by Guy Fieri on the Food Network!

So sit back, mix yourself a She Wolf and join me in congratulating the Shanty Crew on their television debut.

One last thing, If Lee continues to say "We were raised by Wolfs" I am going to start calling him and his brother Rom and Rem .

Enjoy!

Chris's notes: Y'know, as a fairly regular fixture at the Passage, I have seen the Wolf pack come in, order their usuals and drain them fairly zealously on a number of occasions. But I always thought they were drinking something fruity, and sweet. I mean, C'MON! Look at that thing: All bright red and icy and just shouting, "Drink me, I am so refreshing!"

I imagined it to have a strong cranberry component, or some other ruby red juice found just inside of Joe's reach for just such a purpose.

"DAMN FOOL!" I chastise myself for my naïveté in thinking for even a moment that this bunch of foodies, restauranteurs and cocktail aficionados would embrace anything so commonplace. Of course, I found out about this drink in the best possible way: Joe put it in front of me!

Joe reminded me of the forthcoming Diners, Drive-ins and Dives episode and suggested this as a way to tie in with the local buzz.

As I said, I expected something fruity. When I sipped the She Wolf I was more than pleasantly surprised, I was a bit shocked. Pleasantly shocked, though!

Campari has a way of doing that to me. It has such a dominant flavor of bitterness, I just love it. The sharpness of the Gin and the soft flowery sweetness of the St-Germain blend nicely to sand off the edges off the She Wolf to bring it easily into TGDitWTW standards!

Incidentally, one of The Lobster Shanty's own signature cocktails, The Lobstertini, is scheduled to appear Monday night! It has the honor of accompanying the Shanty's (highly recommended,) Pan-Seared Mozzarella appetizer. Other Shanty offerings discussed will be their Marinated Steak Tips, and the Shanty's renowned Pulled Pork, warranting, I am told, Guy Fieri's patented move, "The Hunch."

Perhaps if Mr. Fieri returns to Salem, he could review the She Wolf on his show! There really isn't enough cocktail-based television on the airwaves these days...

Uh-oh, Joe! Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Call the networks! I'm prepping the pitch!!!

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Please forgive me. I can never resist making the Video of the Week somehow related. Here now, The B-52s.