MySideOfTheBar

As I was sitting at My Side of the Bar this weekend I ordered a dry martini, straight up, olives and no twist. The bartender created my cocktail and it had three olives on a stick and I replied, "Happiness is finding 3 olives in your martini at dinner time". The bartender gave me a curious look and asked if I had just made that up? I replied, "No as a matter a fact it is a favoriate quote of mine from a book I have". Actually it is not a 100% accurate quote as you will see. Several years ago I started to collect books with Martini in the title. One of my favoriates was published around 1968 by Johnny Carson and illistrated by Whitney Darrow Jr.(a pure genious when it comes to drawings) Carson to me will always be the master of witisisms. His jokes were short and to the point and he like me never gave a damn about being politically correct. So from this book here are a few of my favoriate lines from this great book. Are they political correct? Not by today's stan...

1935 : First canned beer goes on sale Canned beer makes its debut on this day in 1935. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, driving Krueger to give the green light to further production. By the late 19th century, cans were instrumental in the mass distribution of foodstuffs, but it wasn't until 1909 that the American Can Company made its first attempt to can beer. This was unsuccessful, and the American Can Company would have to wait for the end of Prohibition in the United States before it tried again. Finally in 1933, after two years of research, American Can developed a can that was pressurized and had a special coating to prevent the fizzy beer from chemically reacting with the tin. The concept of canned beer proved to be a hard sell, but Kr...

Sitting at My Side of the Bar this past weekend in one of my favorite “Gin Joints”, Tomfooleries on the K.C. Plaza I always notice the many jars of infused Vodka. Now while infusing Vodka is not new to me I am always intrigued by the different ingredients for infusing Vodka used at many establishments and found on the internet. I first learned about infused Vodka when I used to frequent the Capital Grill (also on the K.C. Plaza) On both ends of the bar they had two gigantic glass jars filled with pineapple and Vodka. The result was their world famous Stoli-Doli a name contrived from Stolichnaya Vodka and Dole Pineapple which makes one fantastic drink. You let the pineapple infuse in the Vodka for about a week to ten days and then drain off and put in a container to keep refrigerated. You can them mix three parts of this infusion with one part triple-sec in a martini shaker and strain into a chilled martini glass and you have one very smooth martini. However on this day I am going to c...

Lately at my side of the bar I have been enjoying Manhattans. The only explanation I can think of is the I really enjoy the show Mad Men where they order Manhattans like water. As the weather was very cold last weekend and we had a friend visiting I decided to try my hand at making Manhattans. This is my recipe thus far and not far from perfection. 2 OZ Bourbon (Substitute Whiskey of Choice) 1 OZ Sweet Vermouth 5 Dashes of Angostura Bitters A Splash of 7 UP (diet for me) Garnish with a Maraschino cherry Muddle two Maraschino cherries in the shaker or pitcher. Combine all ingredients in a shaker or pitcher and stir (do not shake) Strain into a chilled martini glass or as I prefer a highball glass on the rocks. The one area I believe I can improve is the vermouth and if you have a favorite let me know. Cheers

Sitting on my side of the bar this morning having Bloody Marys on the KC Plaza the topic of conversation was what else, the weather. We received another 3 inches of snow last night and this morning. The conversations brought back a memory of another snow storm years ago. Snow and lots of it! While the forecast was for eight to ten inches we already had that much on the ground and it was still falling. My three buddies, Joe, Jon and Mike, who we called Walmart due to the fact that at one time he was employed by Wal-Mart , had already shoveled the drive in my duplex that I rented two times. We were now taking a well deserved break sitting in my living room drinking beer, which was a frequent activity for us and while not always at my place we did like to lend a hand to each other when there was work to be done. I was recently divorced so as you may imagine I did not have much to sit on as I had “lost custody” of much of my furniture. I am not complaining mind you as I would have gladly g...