Underhill-Lounge

I have heard from a reliable source that Seattle’s second best bartender may be doing a guest bartending stint at Bourbon and Branch in our fair city from May 26th to May 29th.
I’ve also heard that Mr. Boudreau’s next project is, tentatively, a reinvention of the vodka bar.
Goodness, that’s a change of pace!
If you get [...]

Dearest Vegetarian Friends and Sympathizers,
As you may know, even though I am not a vegetarian, one of my pet peeves is bad vegetarian food. There is no excuse for much of the pathetically inedible and not tasty food which passes for vegetarian in the US.
I blame the hippies.
In any case, I recently dined at [...]

Brandy Blazer
Use small thick (tempered) glass (or mug).
1 Lump Sugar
1 Piece of Orange Peel
1 Piece of Lemon Peel
1 Glass Brandy (2 oz Korbel VSOP)
(Warm Brandy slightly and…) Light with a match, stir with long spoon for a few seconds and strain into cocktail glass.
This can be drunk whilst still alight if so desired.
Gosh darn it! [...]

Brandy Cocktail
2 Dashes Curacao (1 barspoon Senior Curacao)
3/4 Wineglass Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
(1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters)
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
Couldn’t resist adding a dash of orange bitters. It is supposed to be a cocktail, after all!
Even more than the Brain-storm this is just about the booze. If you enjoy [...]

Brandy Special Cocktail
3 or 4 Dashes Gomme Syrup (1 cube demerara sugar)
2 or 3 Dashes Bitters (Angostura)
1 Wineglass Brandy (2 oz Korbel VSOP Brandy)
1 or 2 Dashes Curacao (1 barspoon Brizard Orange Curacao)
(Soak sugar cube in bitters and crush with muddler in bottom of old fashioned glass. Add Curacao, and stir. Add brandy, stir.) Squeeze [...]

Brain-Storm Cocktail
1/2 Wineglass Irish Whisky (1 1/2 oz Red Breast Whisky)
2 Dashes Benedictine (1 Barspoon Benedictine)
2 Dashes French Vermouth (1 Barspoon Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth)
Squeeze orange peel on top. (Drop peel into mixing glass.) Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
I liked this one a lot, actually. It’s fairly subtle, as cocktails go. Whiskey, herbey, [...]

To be honest, I was kind of a long time coming around to Anchor Brewing’s beers.
I’d drunk Anchor Steam on and off over the years, of course. However, it always seemed a bit expensive for being what amounts to a perfectly fine beer.
I’d always skip over it for beers with stronger character.
Ales and IPAs. [...]

Had a party last night for the folks who took care of our cats the last time we were out of town.
Here’s the cocktail menu and recipes, in case any of those folks want to make the drinks at home…
Cocktails for Catsitters:
Last Word: 3/4 oz Plymouth Gin; 3/4 oz Green Chartreuse; 3/4 oz Lime; and [...]

Brandy Gump
1 Hooker of Brandy (1 1/2 oz Korbel VSOP)
The Juice of 1 Lemon (about an ounce)
2 Dashes Grenadine (1 generous teaspoon Fee’s American Beauty)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Woo, this is tart and pink. I didn’t have any problem finishing it, but it’s kind of like one of those really sour candies. Bracing.
This [...]

Brandy Crusta Cocktail

Use small wine glass. Moisten the edge with lemon and dip edge into castor sugar which frosts the glass. Cut the rind of half a lemon spiral fashion; place in glass. Fill glass with cracked ice.
3 dashes Maraschino.
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
4 Dashes Lemon Juice.
1/4 Curacao
3/4 Brandy.
Stir well and strain into prepared [...]