Charlie Palmers-- the introduction

Well it all started a few weeks ago.
My pal John and i decided to pop into Charlie Palmers for happy hour (accompanied by his terrific girlfriend). i'll be honest- i was a little frightened. Being a hardened cocktail enthusiast with enough experience on both sides of the bar has somehow made me leery of Bars in malls. Boy was i wrong. (This is the part of the story where i stop thank John for insisting that i go--thank you John.)
First off, what a gorgeous property, nice layout, very interesting design, crisp-clean lines and the moment you walk through the huge glass doors you are greeted by a friendly host or hostess-- classy. Now this is great -really great- but i am still feeling some trepidation.
So the 3 of us sidle up to the bar and we are immediately greeted by the wonderful Gabrielle. So John had been bragging about this drink that Gabrielle had invented featuring Genever, lavender infuse honey and some other secret ingredients garnish with a home made fruit pectin. So i asked for one of those (though he didn't know the name-- and i still don't).
The drink was amazing. Delicate texture, rich complexity, lingering sapor and not to sweet just the way i like my drinks. All fear cast aside i was informed that it was happy hour AND THE DRINKS WERE 1/2 OFF so with a new sense of confidence we order without compunction. Every drink Gabrielle brought us (we were sharing so that was around 8 or 9 drinks) was not only good, but GREAT!
It doesn't end here folks because then here comes Stacy, another bartender at CP's. So i thought "why not" so i ordered one from her. After inquiring as to what 'kind' of drink i would like, she improvised me one and frankly it was perfect. If they have other bartenders at CP's i would have to assume they are of this caliber, so i could recommend going in there any time of day or night for a drink, but you should not miss that Happy Hour(*Every day from 4:00-7:00pm and again from 10:00pm to midnight- oh yeah). Great time, good drink with friends and i learned a valuable lesson--don't judge a bar by it's location or how pretty it is. It is the drinks that matter.
Thank you so much Gabrielle and Stacey.

On the way out we ran into the Bar Manager Eryck Chairez. We had met before at another venue that he had previously managed so i wanted to tell how awesome the experience was. We started chatting about friends from the other place, world event, etc., and suddenly an idea for fund-raising for Haiti came into existence.

Well the day is set, so mark your calender: February 22nd, from 7-10PM. There will be great drinks (6 dollars cash), a mixology competition, raffles and a representitive from the Red Cross to take all the money made that night.
We are still hammering out some detail and i think this deserves it's own post so stay tuned for more info!

Rum You Into Submission!!

Eva and Benjamin Melin-Jones.

What a great time...
i had a fantastic opportunity the head over to a rum lover's paradise-- Eva's Caribbean Kitchen for her second installment of "RUM YOU INTO SUBMISSION", this time featuring the delectable Rhum of Habitation Clément!
So we had a sampling of all of their 'Core line up'


(Clément Première Canne, Créole Shrubb, VSOP, Homere and XO), delicious cocktails and Eva's glorious food! Oh what a night. To top it off the ever-pleasant, charming, friendly and fun Benjamin Melin-Jones (managing director of Clément and a family member) was there to share from his family's history and the care and dedication put into Clement Rhum.

The place was filled with great people like RumDood and the lovely Niki Lovejoy












and here is RumDood (Matt Robold) with Wyatt Peabody in a photo by Tobin that i call-Dood and Peabody meet at last!:




engaging chats, great food, great drinks, great Rhum! Want more proof: Veronica Castro and Dave Danni seen here in a picture i call: Veronica trying block Daves face with a cocktail. . . nice try.

There are tons of great photos taken by Tobin Sharp here . . . so take a look and see some of the fun that these and 40 or 50 other people-- all had. An astonishingly good time-- fueled by delectable Rhum/Rhum Cocktails, exquisite food and fun people!

Here are the Cocktails, and their recipes (as concieved by Benjamin Melin-Jones, batched by me and served by the caring and ever friendly staff at Eva's):

Me batching...
***Welcome Cocktail***

‘TI PUNCH (Spiced. . . )
1 ½ oz. Clément Première Canne
½ oz. Spiced Sirop de Canne
Lime disk
Add Sirop to a small old-fashioned glass, Gently squeeze or muddle the lime disk into sirop, Add a spoon of crushed ice or one large hunk of ice into glass and
Première Canne, Swizzle

my buddy Ryan Boltan helping me batch..



Sirop de Canne Prep: Simmer (1 lb) Demerera Sugar and water with 3-4 broken up cinnamon sticks, fresh grated nutmeg, 5-6 cloves and 4-5 drops of vanilla extract until it reduces down to almost ½ (Syrup consistency). Simmering time should be about 20 to 25 minutes


Eva and the monster on our second set of 60 drinks...

***First Course***
EL PRESIDENTE
1 ½ oz. Clément Premiere Canne
¾ oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
½ oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth
2 drops Fresh Grenadine
2 dashes Grapefruit Bitters
Shake and strain into a Chilled cocktail glass/ garnish with a lemon twist.


***Second Course***
CREOLE COBBLER
2 oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
Muddled Lime and Orange
2 dashes West Indian Orange Bitters
½ oz. Soda Water
Muddle an orange wheel cut, 3 lime wedges and bitters in a mixing glass.
Add Créole Shrubb and ice and shake and Strain into a Collins glass with crushed ice and top with a splash soda water. Garnish with orange and lime triangle and a cherry.

***Third Course***
F.W.I. REVOLVER
2 oz. Clément V.S.O.P. Rum
½ oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
Muddled Orange and Cherry
West Indian Orange Bitters
Orange Triangle and Cherry

Muddle an orange wheel, 2 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries, Créole Shrubb and bitters in a mixing glass. Add V.S.O.P. Rum and ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange triangle and cherry

***Fourth Course***
PLANTEUR
1 ½ oz. Clément V.S.O.P. Rum
1 oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
2 oz. fresh guava juice
½ oz. fresh lime juice
2 dashes Grapefruit bitters
Lime Wheel

Add all of the ingredients except for lime wheel into shaker, Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float a lime wheel as the garnish

***Dessert Course***
ROBA DOLCE
1 oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
1 ½ oz. Averna
1 oz. chilled Espresso
Lemon peel

Add all of the ingredients except for the lemon peel into a shaker, shake and strain into a dessert/port wine glass and twist a lemon peel on the top.

Those were just the drinks.. we also tasted each of the Rhums individually to understand the recherché beauty that each Rhum inherently displays. The drinks were selected to coincide/ pair with each food course and Eva and Benjamin both outdid themselves. Let me show you the menu:

***First Course***
Calalloo Soup

***Second Course***
Conch Fritter
Bahamian Conch, sweet corn & roasted red peppers seasoned with garlic, lime, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Served with pineapple, pimiento relish

***Third Course***
Créole Stewed Fish
Wild Australian Orange Roughy marinated in Caribbean fish seasonings and stewed in our Voodoo sauce

***Fourth Course***
West Indian Curried Chicken
Succulent pieces of fresh chicken sautéed with Madras curry, garlic, cumin, katchula and potatoes. Served with coconut rice and sautéed vegetables

***Fifth Course***
Guava Rum Glazed Pork
A juicy piece of pork loin rubbed down and marinated with Eva’s stuff. Topped with Creole Shrubb Guava Rum Sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables

***Dessert Course***
Warm Molten Chocolate Cake, w/ Ice Cream

Rum You Into Submission indeed. Fantastic night, i wish you all could have been there-- and it was amazing (as every visit to Eva's is).

MXMO-- Tea . .

So MxMo is here again!!! Hosted by Cocktail Virgin/Slut and the theme is tea. . . i of course followed the exact letter of the rules:
• Find or concoct a drink recipe that uses tea or tisane (a herbal "tea" which lacks tea leaves) as an ingredient. This can be hot tea, cold tea, tea syrups, or infusions and use it in a cocktail, punch, or other drink type.

• Make the drink and then post the recipe, a photo, and your thoughts

i used a tisane called Yerba Mate. . . an absolute favorite for all of the reasons laid out at wikipedia (and a few more... i do enjoy my mate!) The drink i made-- if you will allow me-- fantastic! It is called The Bolar Tereré which is a reference to a cold style of drink made in Brazil with mate (follow the links-- you'll get the gist).
To construct this drink put 1 Teaspoon of Yerba Mate in my shaker, with 2 1/2 Oz of Cachaca and set the glass to chill (a minute), zest a nice long ribbon off of a lemon and tie it into 2 knots (spraying lovely oils all over the chilled glass), squeeze out juice (1 1/4 Oz), add 2 dashes of agave nectar for sweetener and then add ice to my shaker and shake.... Double strain into chilled sour glass... The recipe looks like this:

El Bolar Tereré

1 teaspoon of Yerba Mate infused momentarily
2 1/2 Oz Fazenda Mae de Ouro Cachaca
1 1/4 Oz Lemon Juice
2 Dashes Agave Nectar
Shaken Vigorously and double strained into a chilled sour glass
Garnish with a long lemon zest tied into 2 knots...

This drink is wonderful. Essentially a cachaca sour with yerba mate-- but tasty, very, very tasty!

Hey the MXMO roundup is here . . .

Clément Première Canne

Clément Première Canne is exquisite, Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée Martinique Rhum. There i said it. This is how they do it:

Within thirty minutes of the sugarcane being cut, the sugarcane is crushed capturing the freshest and purest flavors of the estate-grown, A.O.C. certified sugarcane. To initiates fermentation an organic house yeast is introduced to the free-run juice, zymolysis is then further carried on by the organic field yeasts that live on the sugarcane in an open-top fermentation tanks. The length of fermentation (or zymolysis) is anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours, resulting in a Vin de Canne (sugar wine), that is between 5-7% alcohol. These first steps are of the utmost importance to the final product, this sugary wine is where the full-bodied flavors and aromas are developed, before the are concentrated and refined in the distillation. The distillation is carried out in a single-column copper still allowing the ABV to remain very low and consistent. After distillation, the fresh cane spirit is placed in stainless steel tanks and oxygenated for nine months to removes any unpleasant esters, which could detract from the creamy clean flavor of the Rhum. The last step in a carefully observed series of quality control measures is estate bottling, insuring that every step of the production is achieved under the watchful eye of Habitation Clément.

That is what is known as care. These steps also apply to their VSOP, and their other wonderful Rhums. . .. but let's get back to tasting Clément Première Canne...

The nose is luscious with candied tropical fruit, floral tones and inviting spice that is redolent and sultry. The flavors are dry, bountiful and hardy displaying clearly the tones implied in the nosing: spices (cardamon, nutmeg, coriander), tropical fruit (pineapple and mango) and flowers (orchids, star jasmine) while evolving to include cocoa nibs, plantain and banana leaf. The finish is sexy, full, delicately spiced and lingering-- Yum!

For cocktail i pull out a couple favorites that are more 'rum focused' so that CPC could show off in my drink... First up:

Blue Boy Cocktail

2 Oz Clément Première Canne
1 Oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica)
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters ( used Regan's a lot of complementing spices)
Shake until chilled & strain into chilled Cocktail Glass

and number 2 was a:


Rhum Sour

2 1/4 Oz Clément Première Canne
1 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 - 1 tsp sugar

Shake until chilled & strain into a chilled sour glass
Garnish with orange (or lemon) slice and a cherry

A dash of Peychauds is awesome in this. . .

Want to taste the entire Clement line, have some amazing drinks, with some incredible food? Eva's Caribbean Restaurant is having a rum dinner on Thursday January 28th that promises to be a do not miss event! Get your details here and here . . .