Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

Death's Door Spirits

Sometimes what you really need is a blaze of white.

The Classic and Vintage Roadshow bringing together a variety of distillers at Nopa in March also gave us the opportunity to sample the lovely range of clear spirits from Death's Door of Madison, Wisconsin. We've previously enjoyed their excellent gin in an Old Fashioned mixed by Kirk Estopinal at The Violet Hour – a recipe we don't normally associate with gin, but a truly fine spirit like this demonstrates exactly how that simple foundation is strong enough to hold up the whole modern edifice of cocktails.

Death's Door's vodka is a perfectly delightful example of the species, but vodka is never our first choice of ingredients, so we moved quickly on to taste their white whiskey. This chameleon spirit has been showcased for us in cocktails recently by the Nopa team, but it was fascinating to try it on it's own. White dog whiskey is young, but not too hot and brings a range of subtle notes ready to be amplified by the other ingredients in a drink. Paul Clarke has compared this spirit to Dutch genever with its rich, malty flavors.

We enjoyed spending a few minutes chatting with Death's Door president and distiller Brian Ellison and sampling his beautiful, small-batch products, all of which we recommend you seek out for your own enjoyment.

Paul Clarke

Paul Clarke writes well. If that's all we had to note about him, it would be enough to warrant a Bibulo.us profile, but he is also our benefactor as the founder of the fine monthly online cocktail event, Mixology Monday.

Paul's clarity and wit would make his writing delightful even if he didn't offer much depth, but he brings his historical research and good journalistic skills to the table too, so we're always happy to see his byline on pieces in Imbibe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, or anywhere else we encounter his excellent work.

From 2008, we particularly recommend his pieces
"Drinking Outside the Temple" (NY Times)
and
"The Truth About Vermouth" (San Francisco Chronicle)

He is based in Seattle - and his local connections are featured in a charming "Under the Needle" piece about him from SeattlePI.com - but wherever you find him, listen to him. If he recommends a drink, you won't go wrong trying it. Smart fellow, Mr. Clarke.

Our nominations for the Tales of the Cocktail 2009 Spirited Awards

Bibulo.us would like to honor and thank the following places and people for their great work in 2008:

World's Best Drink Selection: Montgomery Place, London

World's Best Cocktail Bar: Montgomery Place, London

World's Best New Cocktail Bar: Heaven's Dog, San Francisco

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book: Preggatinis: Mixology for the Mom-to-be by Natalie Bovis-Nelsen

Best Cocktail Writing: Paul Clarke (Imbibe, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, cocktailchronicles.com)

Mixology Monday

This monthly online cocktail party is hosted by different sites each month, but you can always get the details at MixologyMonday.com.

Founded in April 2006 by Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles, MxMo has covered a wide range of topics from specific spirits (whisk(e)y, gin), liqueurs (pastis, creme de la creme) and other ingredients (mint, bitters) to more esoteric themes from "Farewell to Summer" to "Local Flavor". Here's the full list of past events.

Bibulo.us is getting into the fun with MxMo XXXI. Our chosen topic is "19th-century Cocktails" and we're looking forward to kickin' it old style with everyone.

Since the day of Mixology Monday always sneaks up on folks, we're opening up the comments early for you here. We'll be posting a big roundup on September 15th, so, as Paul so eloquently put it, start dusting off your crustas and pondering your cobblers and other old-school drinks!

Bonus points to anyone who can bring us early William "Cocktail" Boothby recipes, especially pre-1900 versions of the Ruby Cocktail.

Channel Knives

You need a good channel knife. Though an essential garnishing tool, the difference in use between the varying styles may not become clear to you until you give them a really good test drive.

Bibulo.us currently endorses the funny looking, but great cutting Zyliss Zester as the channel knife of choice for the home. Lots of control, gentle on the hand, and performs like a champ even for exceptional twist-generating projects like New Year's Eve Champagne Cocktails for the whole party.

If you don't like the way the Zyliss cozies up smoothly into your palm, do get yourself a more traditional style channel knife to help you garnish appropriately. One major reason to use this tool is so you can cut a twist safely right over the glass and achieve the proper spray of citrus oils across the top of the drink.

The excellent channel knife showdown by Kevin Ludwig, of Beaker and Flask, in the July/August 2007 issue of Imbibe Magazine (the existence of such an article was the clincher for our getting a subscription) gives more tips on fail-safe twists as well as the pros & cons of four other knives. Kevin's pick was the Zyliss, for which advice we are most grateful. Back issues of Imbibe are cheap and this one also has a great cover story by Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles on obscure vintage ingredients and a short piece by Camper English, noted Alcademic, on throwing spirit tasting parties.