Drink of the Week - The Perfect Gimlet

Boy has it been hot in LA the past few weeks.  And there is nothing better on a hot LA weekend then a cool, refreshing cocktail, and Thirsty Lawyer's mint, cucumber gimlet fits the bill.

The Perfect Gimlet

2 oz Plymoth Gin
Mint
Cucumber
Lime
.25 oz Simple Syrup

Muddle mint and cucumber in a cocktail shaker.  Juice one lime, add gin and simple syrup.  Shake and serve up.

Bar Review - The Buffalo Club

The Buffalo Club
3.5 out of 5 On The Scales of Drinking Justice

Buffalo Smash

Situated among the taquiras and industrial production facilities and hidden behind a nondescript facade sits an incredibly charming drinking establishment.  Its been open since 1994, but doesn't feel stayed our outdated.  The one complaint I have is about televisions over the bar in the courtyard.  Televisions over bars should be reserved for sports bars, dive bars or bars in hotels.  They are not appropriate for a bar that is trying to be anything other than those three things,  My advice to the Buffalo Club is loose the televisions; they are not doing anything for you anyway.

The Buffalo Club is serious about its cocktails.  They have a respectable menu, offering both the classics and modern creations.  On my recent visit, I had the Buffalo Smash (Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Fresh Muddled Orange, Lemon and Mint, Demerara Syrup, Angostura Bitters) and Mrs. Thirsty Lawyer had the Green Side (Hendrick’s Gin, Green Chartreuse, Fresh Lime Juice, Mint, Cucumber).  The drinks were well crafted and well balanced, especially the Green Side.  A heavy hand with Green Chartreuse can ruin a cocktail. 

The Buffalo Club gets a good score for its commitment to a solid cocktail program.  This is a good place to come to have a drink at the beginning of the night or if you don't want to have to fight a crowd (and don't mind the noise of the television over the bar.) 

Drinks From La La Land

Thirsty Lawyer is now in Los Angeles full time. While I took some time off to deal with moving, I am back and looking forward to bringing you posts about So Cal's cocktail culture and the occasional law related musings.

Happy (day after) National Daiquiri Day

The much maligned Daiquiri; what happened to you?  You were a very noble and sophisticated cocktail; now most of the time you are blended with tropical fruit and poured out of a Slurpee machine.  This is far cry from where you once started – a rum sour. With yesterday being National Daiquiri Day (certainly a non partisan effort) my mission to introduce you to a real daiquiri;   the Hemingway Daiquiri .

They say that the Hemingway Daiquiri was invented for Ernest Hemingway in the La Floradita bar in Cuba.  It’s also said that Hemingway allegedly drank sixteen of his namesake libations and was still able to amble out of the bar upright.  Are those just  “fish tales”? It's National Daiquiri day so suspend your rational thinking for a while. What I do know is that the Hemingway Daiquiri is a well balanced and refreshing cocktail, and it should be in high rotation this summer on your go to cocktail list.

1 ¾-ounces Dark  Rum
¾ -ounces Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1-ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
¾-ounce fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
¼-ounce simple syrup
1-brandied cherry, for garnish

One Thirsty Holiday Week

Long holiday weeks usually make for lots of drinking. However, I believe this holiday week might have included more drinking than usual. You see, Mrs. Thirsty Lawyer and I spent most of the week running around Los Angeles looking at a wide variety of housing options in anticipation of my August 1 start date at the Beverly Hills office of my current law firm, and at the end of a day full of house hunting a drink or two are certainly in order.

Starting with a wonderful Saturday night dinner with friends at Ella. Cocktails, The Usual Suspects, Irish Whiskey, Scotch Amaro, Lemon Bitters; Wine, an amazing bottle of white wine, Rolly Gassmann "Auxerrois", Moenchreben de Rorschwihr, from Alsace. With dessert,, a 1989 half bottle of Vouvrey Huet, (utterly amazing that a white wine aged so well. Our sommelier explained that the wine aged well because of its hight acid content).


Tuesday. Dinner at Kay and Dave's in Culver City. Cocktails, a fantastic margarita made of Mescal, triple sec, fresh lime juice and a chili pepper rimmed glass. 

Wednesday. Lunch at Fords Filling Station in Culver City. Cocktails, Bourbon Bunny Maker, Makers Mark Bourbon, fresh carrot, lemon and apricot juice, chamomile infused agave. For Ms. Thirsty Lawyer, the Refresh Thyme, Aviation gin, cucumber, thyme, agave and fresh lime juice. Later we warmed ourselves on a chilly Malibu evening watching fireworks by enjoying a glass of Pig's Ear blended 5 year old scotch and 10 year old Edradour single malt scotch.


Thursday Dinner in Los Angeles at the Westside Tavern- an upscale neighborhood bar and grille on the westside of town. Cocktails, Pepper Smash, pressed spearmint, Aviation New Western Dry gin, lemon and bell pepper juice, homemade clover honey syrup, and for Mrs. Thirsty Lawyer, Cucumber and Cantaloupe Sour, Plymouth dry gin, muddled cucumber, fresh lemon juice, cantaloupe juice, homemade clover honey syrup.



Friday. Cocktails at the very old school, but still hip Matteos. Dirty vodka martinis of course.

Saturday : Water. What, we drink lots of water.

George Washington Loved His Hooch

With the 4th of July quickly approaching, I found myself thinking about the cocktail and America and how the two have been intertwined since our great nations birth.  Up until the the American Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783),  rum had been the spirit of choice for the then American colonists. While most of the rum consumed in the colonies came from the British controlled Caribbean, smaller quantities of rum was also being produced domestically.  When the British navy blockaded the importation of Caribbean rum, sugar and molasses, resorsefull colloniests  turned to their abundant supply of corn and American whiskey quickly became the spirit of choice.

In late 1790s George Washington ran one of the country's largest rye whiskey distilleries. Washington began his venture into destilling spirits in June 1797 with the below correspondence to his Scottish plantation manager James Anderson,

Distillery. Is a business I am entirely unacquainted with; but from your knowledge of it and from the confidence you have in the profit to be derived from the establishment, I am disposed to enter upon one....

At the peak of production, Washington's destillery produced  about 11,000 gallons of rye sold at 60 cents per gallon, netting Washington a profit of $7500 in 1799 (which is $136,363.64 in 2012 dollars), sold mainly to his thirsty local community.  According to archeological dig records, Washington's Mt. Vernon destillery was only a 75-by-30-foot distillery.  Diring its time, it was  was among the largest structures of its kind in the eighteenth century.

(In researching this post I came across an fantastic event east coast burbon fans should try to attent.  The Mt. Vernon estate is featuring a whiskey tasting and dinner event on August 3, Gentleman Distiller.  This sounds like a great way to  learn more about Washington’s role as “Distiller-in-Chief.”)

Feeling patriotic, I decided to toast our great founding father by making a cocktail with great history (and one of my favorite rye based drinks) - the Sazerac.  The Sazerac is known as the oldest American cocktail and has its roots in pre–Civil War (1861 - 1865) New Orleans, Louisiana.  I am certain George would approve.

The Sazerac

2.5 oz Rittenhouse 100 proof rye whiskey 
half teaspoon brown sugar
half teaspoon simple syrup
Peychaud's bitters
Angostura bitters.
Herbsaint (substitute for Absinthe)

Season a rocks glass with Herbsaint (I use an small atomizer but you can swirll the liquid around the inside of the glass and then discgard the excess) then chil.  In a seperate mixing glass add both sugars and saturate with 3 to 4 dashes of Peychaud's bitters and 1 to 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.  Mix the sugars and bitters into a gritty paste, add the rye and then stir gently.  Add a generous portion of ice and continue stirring.  Strain into the chilled rocks glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Drink of the Week- The Archangel

The warm weekend weather got me in the mood for summer. Personally, summertime cocktails are refreshing, thirst quenching libations. Thumbing through my cocktail recipe books for inspiration, I found a drink in the that I just had to try- The Archangel

Start with a few slices of cucumber and muddle well in a shaker. Add 2.25 ounces of Plymouth gin and .75 oz Aperol. Shake and serve up with a twist. If you are Mrs. Thirsty Lawyer, add .5 oz fresh lemon juice.