Thirsty Thursday: Fly the Friendly Skies with an Aviation Cocktail

You can make all the fun you want of the mixology trend with its vested historian/bartenders and their house made coffee/pomegranate bitters, but granting some silliness, these folks have done a lot to improve the way we drink. The Aviation cocktail is a case in point. Ten years ago the Aviation was all but lost to history. One of the ingredients, creme de violette, wasn't even being produced anymore and one of the others, Maraschino Liqueur, wasn't easy to find. Fast forward a decade and every fancy bar has a bottle of Maraschino, there are several brands of creme de violette being made, and the Aviation has become one of the favorites of the classic cocktail crown. And the Aviation is popular for a reason, it's cool, refreshing, simple to make and has a great blend of flavors, plyaing off sour and sweet with the botanical notes from the gin.

I use Gary Regan's recipe for Aviations (which uses a higher percentage of creme de violette than most), but you should feel free to play with the ratios:

1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. creme de violette (I use Creme Yvette)
1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
1/2 oz. lemon juice
Traditional garnish is a cherry but I usually skip it.

Shake with ice and strain - couldn't be easier.

Now, this drink is tasty done in the traditional style with London Dry Gin, but rebel that I am, I really like it with Genever Gin, which gives it a mellower herbal flavor which melds better with the liqueurs.

And if you don't have creme de violette, don't panic. Just use a double dose of maraschino liqueur. It won't be technically correct, but it's still a great drink, and unless you become a real Aviation fan, I wouldn't recommend shelling out for a full bottle of violette.

So mix one up on a warm evening. Now this is what I call "something special in the air."

Whiskey Wednesday: Big Lizard in my Backyard - Ardbeg Alligator

The now annual Ardbeg committee releases have become one of those artificial marketing gimmicks, not unlike those around the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and Pappy Van Winkle releases, which create panic based on a false sense of scarcity. The limited spring release seemed to sell out within minutes, angering those who missed out, but there will be a much larger release this fall. As annoying as that seems, it's hard not to appreciate great marketing, and the folks at Glenmorangie PLC are geniuses in that department.

Of course, none of this would work if the products sucked, but everyone knows that quality is not an issue with Ardbeg. This year's release is the Ardbeg Alligator, which contains whisky that was aged in new, charred oak barrels, the same type of barrels used for bourbon. The whisky was then vatted with their regular ten year old.


Ardbeg Alligator, 2011 Committee Release, 51.2% abv ($100)

The nose on this is gives you a blast of peat but with some very rich background aromas, including some wine notes. The palate gives you coal and smoke and the type of BBQ flavors you would expect along with a touch of both sweet and then quite salty and briny and a then some bitterness on the way down. The finish is smoky sea air. Water gives in an oily, syrupy mouthfeel and dilutes some of the salt and bitterness, making it taste more like a traditional Ardbeg flavor profile.

The Alligator, while heavily peated also has a very heavy coastal character, moreso than most Ardbegs. There's a lot of boldness and not a lot of balance; it really smacks you upside the head, but it a fun way. Despite the new charred oak, I don't get a lot of wood. It would be interesting to try the components separately so you could really get a sense of the impact of those new charred oak barrel. I'd say this is a good step up from the last few years of committee releases; it has a lot more character than Rollercoaster or Corryvreckan, even if it is a bit rough around the edges. Definitely worth a try for the peatheads out there, but then, you knew that already.
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Houston Indian: Kiran's Restaurant & Bar

I've been spending a lot of time in Houston lately, mostly in the Galleria part of town which is dominated by chain restaurants. I was happy to find Kiran's Restaurant & Bar, an upscale Indian restaurant focused on northern Indian dishes, particularly tandooris. The dishes were full of bold flavors with a bit more finesse than your basic northern Indian cuisine.

We mostly stuck to the specials, but everything was quite good. The Halibut Tandoori came with a savory watermelon sauce, a brilliant concoction with a hint of watermelon mixed with spice. I never knew watermelon could work so well in a savory dish. The lamb shank special was intensely seasoned and falling off the bone tender. Daal saag, a pretty standard dish of spinach and yellow lentils had a nice consistency which was less mushy than I often find.

Goat cheese and mushroom samosas were also very good. The goat cheese added a nice bit of funk to the samosa and gave it a bit of a lighter feel.

There were a few things I was less fond of. Duck kabobs were a bit too salty and the seasoning obscured any of the duck flavor. A deep fried, stuffed squash blossom had too much breading, making it more akin to a jalapeño popper than Kiran's other more refined dishes.

Lobster is a big emphasis at Kiran's (they have an entire lobster menu), but I wasn't up to that kind of spending. Even without the lobster though, bold spicing and use of creative ingredients to present a new take on Indian classics make Kiran's a fun experience. I'll be excited to head back the next time I'm in Houston.


Kiran's Restaurant & Bar
4100 Westheimer
Houston, Texas 77027
(713) 960-8472

Recent Reads: Beaten, Seared and Sauced by Jonathan Dixon

Another day, another cooking memoir, this time it's Beaten, Seared, and Sauced, the first book by Jonathan Dixon, in which he recounts his studies at the Culinary Institute of America (the other "CIA").

It's hard to read this book without comparing it to Michael Ruhlman's similar memoir of life at the CIA, The Making of a Chef. But whereas Ruhlman went into the CIA with the express intent of writing a book (it seems questionable whether he was even a matriculated student there; he was more an observer), Dixon appears to have been a true student. He was a former writer and professor who at age 39 opted for a second career as a chef, though likely with an eye toward the possibility of turning the experience into a paying gig much like Scott Turow did with Law School in One L.

Where Ruhlman's book is filled with awe and wonder at every crumb of culinary education, Dixon writes from the perspective of a real student, and a mediocre one at that. He struggles with classes and his culinary internship, he generally respects his instructors but also sees their faults, and with graduation one gets a sense of relief but also defeat. He may have won the battle of culinary school, but it seems unlikely that he's willing to enlist in the war that is regular culinary work.

The refusal to wax eloquent and instead stay grounded in the real world, including the burden of CIA tuition, provides exactly what was missing from Ruhlman's book: the feeling that, rather than observing with Ruhlman, you are standing right in class with Dixon. While reading the book, I actually dreamt that I was a culinary student, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

While he is an engaging writer, Dixon comes up with a few groaners (in describing a class lecture: "I sat listening, burning with revolutionary fervor, like Bill Ayers in a toque.") and the occasional awkward phrasing (describing some past its prime shrimp as "beginning to throb with rot."). Overall though, he keeps you turning the pages with clear, crisp prose.

Beaten, Seared and Sauced, a title which alludes to its author as much as the food he learns to cook, would make a great summer read for anyone who's every considered dropping everything and picking up a chef's knife. Check it out!

Whiskey Calendar: The Peatin' Meetin' this Saturday

This Saturday, June 25 is the LA Scotch Club's annual Peatin' Meetin', but this year it's bigger than ever. Focusing on the smoky Scotch we all love and featuring peat-smoked BBQ, the Peatin' Meetin' will be this Saturday at UCLA Sunset Park, 6:00-11:00p.m. and costs $75.

The event sponsors include Ardbeg, Jura, Amrut, Kilchoman, Blackadder and Bowmore, but knowing the Scotch Club guys, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some rare malts from private collections being offered. Details here.

Whisky Wednesday: Listing for Fun & Profit - My New Book

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of 18 American whiskeys that I recommend for newer whiskey drinkers. It occurred to me that, in my endless effort to monetize my blogging, this is the exact sort of thing that could turn into a book deal.

Think about it, here are just a few recently published whiskey books:

• 99 Drams of Whiskey by Kate Hopkins


• 101 Whiskies to Try Before you Die by Ian Buxton


• Great Whiskies: 500 of the Best from Around the World, Charles MacLean, Ed.


• The World's Best Whiskies: 750 Essential Drams from Tennessee to Tokyo by Dominic Roskrow

It would appear that all it takes to get a whiskey book deal is a penchant for list making, and I can make a list with the best of 'em, but I can do it bigger. To that end, I'm proud to introduce my new book. Here's the blurb:


13,765 Whiskeys You Should Try Right Now! by Sku

Internationally published whiskey blogger Sku pulls no punches when it comes to recommending whiskeys and separating the wheat from the proverbial chaff. In what is perhaps the most complete listing of recommended whiskeys, Sku painstakingly guides the reader through the 13,765 whiskies that every whiskey fan should try and includes an appendix listing the seven whiskeys that are not worth trying. Every other whiskey book is literally dwarfed by comparison.



Publishers are free to email me with inquiries or simply wire me signing bonuses. And, as a special gift to my readers, my 13,765th follower on Twitter will get 10% off the cover price!

Chinatown Eats: New Dragon

Finding good Chinese food in Chinatown always seems to be a problem, but my pal Ken Tanaka recently directed me to a pretty reliable joint. New Dragon on Hill has all the usual basic Chinese dishes, but they are done pretty well. Won ton soup with beef brisket has a rich beef broth and nicely chewy noodles. Eggplant with garlic sauce is a traditional dish done well, with nicely textured, not too mushy eggplant. Even the orange chicken was pretty good, less cloyingly sweet than the usual version. And after you enjoy your Chinese food, you can head across the street to LeBasse Gallery to see Ken's latest art show and buy a copy of his excellent children's book for adults Everybody Dies.

New Dragon
934 N. Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-6050