I like checking out Chinatowns in different cities.  A week or so ago I took a walk around the Santo Domingo version.  Chinatown in the Caribbean, pretty exotic.

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Yesterday was supposed to see me head from Sosua to Puerto Plata to tour the Brugal Distillery.  Unfortunately a hurricane blowing across the island messed up my plans.  The heavens opened during breakfast, and leaving the hotel suddenly seemed a very bad idea.  Even leaving the restaurant was going to mean getting very wet. The Brugal tour would have to wait until Monday.

The weather settled a little in the afternoon, and I took advantage of the break in the rain to hop in a shared taxi to Caberete, a smaller settlement several kilometers down the road.  I had heard a rumor that beside the Caberete petrol station was a shop stocking Siglo de Oro and selling it at non-extortionate prices.

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I first tasted Brugal rum in Shanghai, when Austrian mixologist Markus Bernthaler (formerly of Taras) all too briefly had a bottle of the Extra Viejo stashed on his top shelf. The Brugal Extra Viejo proved amazingly smooth and cognacy.  It was a rum unlike anything I had tasted before. I dropped back a couple of times with friends so they could have a taste too, and before long the bottle was gone. Read the rest of this entry »

This is really just a rehash of a post I made over at E-Gullet.  If you saw my post already no need to read further.

So cute, but she can’t sing! So plain, but what a voice!  The unfortunate Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi.

There may be people out there who got all excited about the Beijing Olympics, purchased an extra big television, invited both of their friends over, then suddenly realized they had no idea what to mix up as their Chinese-themed Olympic cocktail.  Since this blog has featured a few Chinese-themed drinks, I thought I would dust them off and line them up for the world to appreciate.

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The theme for this Mixology Monday (hosted at Save the Drinkers) is Local Flavor.  The idea is to make a drink featuring local ingredients.  I will treat New Zealand as my locality.  During my temporary sojourn in the Dominican Republic I have no bar besides a couple of bottles of rum.  I think I should blog on a drink I invented a few years ago and had the foresight to photograph.

Sensitive readers should be aware that this drink contains vodka.

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I dropped by Sofitel in Santo Domingo a few days ago trying to track down Brugal Siglo de Oro. I did not find the Siglo de Oro, but I did see they were offering interesting rum flights. I went back last night for their “Rums of the Caribbean” flight, comprising Zacapa 23 Anos, Karukera 1995, and J.M. Martin. I have no idea why Ron Zacapa, a Guatemalan rum produced near the Pacific, is included in a Caribbean rum flight. Maybe someone in the Caribbean is feeling jealous?

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I had an unusual beer experience today.

The beer I ordered with dinner poured into the glass with a slushy sorbet consistency.  Very weird.  The beer flowed out of the bottle no problem, and none of what remained in the bottle after I poured was frozen.  The beer itself seemed perfectly normal.  I think what was happening was that the beer was only just above freezing, and the chilled, thick-bottomed mug I was pouring it into was even colder.  The temperature differential between the two meant the beer froze into a foamy slush when it touched the mug.  Or maybe not.  Anyone got a better explanation?

Anyway it was quite disconcerting.  At first I thought the restaurant had developed a trick for deliberately achieving this amazing effect.  Then I remembered the waiter looked as surprised as me to see a beer sorbet on my table.  Perhaps it was just a fluke.  Or was the waiter surprised at my surprise?

Are there any restaurants or bars that deliberately try to reproduce this effect?  I guess it’s the ultimate in a cold beer.

My only other frozen beer experience (besides the obligatory exploded bottles in the freezer) was on an Eva Airways flight from Taipei to Manila.  I settled in and asked for a beer.  I think it was a Kirin.  When the beer showed up I found it not only refused to pour more than a dribble, but something was rattling around inside the can.  Realizing it had frozen solid I asked the flight attendant for another one.  No need she said.  If I would only wait this one would eventually defrost.  Well at least that sorted out my in-flight entertainment.  Thanks Eva Air!

This month’s Mixology Monday sees me without ready access to a bar to mix a drink.  On well, I’m going to go ahead and post something anyway.  The theme this month is New Orleans cocktails, so I thought I could post a couple of tips related to making drinks containing egg white, with particular reference to that venerable old New Orleans drink – the Ramos Gin Fizz. Read the rest of this entry »

My Tales of the Cocktail swag bag contained a miniature bottle of G’vine gin from France.  Time for a mini tasting. . .

I am sitting in a hotel room in the Caribbean with nothing besides the rest of my Tales of the Cocktail swag bag mini-bar, a maxi-bottle of Beefeater that came with the Tales of the Cocktail goodies, and some little bottles of Dominican Republic rum.  OK, and I also have my computer, clothes, toothbrush, etc.  What I was really getting at, in my typically convoluted manner, is that this post is not going to contain the words “double strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with three drops of orange bitters and a lemon twist”.  I don’t even have ice handy.  I’ll drink the gin straight, then with tonic water.  No lemons or limes will be hurt in this tasting. Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I should post a quick something to just round off the Tales of the Cocktail thing. I may still post more on individual sessions later of course. A few random thoughts and observations follow: Read the rest of this entry »