MySideOfTheBar

I did not think of this idea as it was in this quarters Whisky Advocate , however I thought it was a great idea and I also thought I could do a better job. The task? Buy a nice selection of American Whisky’s as possible for a hundred dollars or less. I will not list the ones in the original article and if you want to see them you will need to pick up a copy of this publication. So without further ado, here is how I allocated the Benjamin.* My first choice, which I am sure comes as no surprise was Four Roses Yellow Label as this is the official Bourbon of MySideOfTheBar . I picked up a bottle for $14.00 Next I wanted to include a Rye and as I keep Old Overholt as part of my Whisky Rolling Stock it was an easy selection especially at $10.00 I wanted to include at least one mid-priced selection and I used to carry 1792 Ridgemount Reserve as my “go to” Bourbon so I picked up a bottle for $26.00 I realize I could have included Four Roses Small Batch here, but I wanted to give m...

It is hard to believe that this was the fifth annual Baypoint Condo Crawl. How fast five years can go by. The Crawl started in 2008 with six condos and of the six only two of the originals are still crawling. Here is a short review of this year: The pre-crawl started at our condo around 11:00 with S.O. and T.M. stopping up for some Bloody Marys The official crawl started at noon and we had a Rat Pack theme complete with Classic Cocktails I unveiled my Perfect Manhattan and it must have been a hit as I served several. Pulled-Pork with the traditional sides was served for the noon meal. The winner of the Name The Rat Pack Contest was S. M. and S. O. who will be receiving a special surprise selected especially for them. From this point on I can assure you I am not 100% accurate on the description as the weather was great and there were a few condos I did not even make inside of. The second stop of the crawl was at V.N. and was co-hosted by A.S. and all I really remember was ...

For the tens of you that follow MySideOfTheBar regularly you already know I have been in search of the Perfect Manhattan for a long while. So now I am happy to report I am very near the Perfect Manhattan. As you know the bartender of the year as rated by MySideOfTheBar is Vegas of the Fogo de Chao . He has taught me much about Mixology as well as creating Manhattans. So I can give him a lot credit for what I am about to divulge. I long ago suspected that the missing link in a Perfect Manhattan was the Vermouth, but not until recently did I uncover a great Vermouth. If you read the blog about the Extra Virgin you probably know that I discovered this missing link to a Perfect Manhattan. While Vegas taught me about zesting an orange for my garnish, he was limited by the ingredients he has at hand in his environment. So without further ado here is the secret of a Perfect Manhattan 2 Parts Four Roses Bourbon (I prefer the Yellow Label) 1 Part Carpano Antica Vermouth (yes the missi...

Ok, take you mind out of the gutter! A couple of weeks back Central Patti and I were looking for a new spot to have a couple of Cocktails and dinner. We have been using this website called Open Table to pick out new spots, make our reservations and rate establishments. By using this site you earn points and that goes to free meals at participating restaurants. Depending on the week and availability some have lots of points available. This works very, very well and so far out of the half dozen spots we have reserved a table at all reservations have been waiting for us. There are many states and cities available on the Open Table so give it a shot. This particular week we choose The Extra Virgin in K.C. As you can tell by the picture it is very modern and all seats are in a bar setting, including some small cozy sofas with tables. Our table was waiting for us when we arrived and we looked over the drink menu. For those of you that follow MySideOfTheBar you are aware of my purs...