I recently received a marketing email saying that whatever one drinks on St. Patrick’s Day, “you better be sipping on something green.” It then went on to describe a cocktail made with tequila and Midori. Because nothing says Ireland like tequila and melon liqueur…
Personally I could care less about drinking green and am perfectly happy with good stout and Irish whiskey. For the latter, I’ve been fortunate over the last week to sample more than 20 Irish whiskeys as part of Lance Mayhew’s informal “tasting panel.” Lance provides a primer on Irish whiskey here and fellow taster Geoff Kleinman makes some great recommendations on his new blog, Drink Spirits.
If you’re in a cocktail mood, my favorite mixed drink with Irish whiskey is the Tipperary, made with Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Chartreuse. As a bonus Chartreuse does happen to be green, though the final drink won’t be.
Finally, there’s the elephant in the room, the extremely politically incorrect Irish Car Bomb. If you’re in a real Irish bar tonight you should not order one of these. Even so, I do have a soft spot for the drink, and judging by the number of search referrals this blog is getting for Irish Car Bombs today other people do too. Here’s photographic evidence that everybody loves an ICB. Or if you want to make this drink more sophisticated and stable, try the Defusion, a deconstructed version of the drink I served at Carlyle. Finally, if you really want to be adventurous, make it with Upright’s Oyster Stout. We tried it at Branch and it puts Guinness to shame.
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I would have posted about this sooner had I known tickets were close to selling out, but on Sunday, April 11, I’ll be among the presenters at CocktailCamp PDX, an inaugural event for cocktail lovers in and around Portland, OR. I’ll be drawing on my barista experience to talk about ways to use coffee and tea in cocktails without destroying these wonderful products. Steve McCarthy from Clear Creek Distillery will also be presenting, as will blog pals Matt Robold, Blair Reynolds, and Craig Hermann. Check here for the complete list of presenters.
Tickets are only $10, but as of tonight there were only 10 seats remaining. Head over now to purchase one if you’d like to be a part of this fun event.
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One of my favorite new bars in Portland, Spints Alehouse, has a couple fun events coming up. First is the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, during which chef Alyssa Gregg is offering a different sausage pairing for every beer on tap. That’s 13 sausages, people! There’s no prize for getting through all the pairings but it will be fun to try.
After that, I’m getting back behind the stick for a week-long run as guest bartender. In addition to Spints’ own craft cocktail menu I’ll be serving up a few drinks of my own. The plan as of now is for me to be there Friday-Sunday this week and Thursday-Saturday next week, working 4-9ish each day. I’d love to see some familiar faces there and if you haven’t been to Spints yet I highly recommend it: Great German-inspired food, a really good beer list, and a very cool atmosphere. For more information on the beer and photos of the winter dishes, check PDXplate.
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Nick Hogan, the British pub manager who lost his job and was sentenced to prison for six months after failing to pay £10,000 in fines for violating the smoking ban, has been freed thanks to voluntary contributions gathered online:
Speaking outside the prison, Hogan said: ”I’m devastated to be sent to jail. The smoking ban has cost me my pub, my job and my liberty.
”I’d like to thank everyone who donated money to get me out of jail, and all the well-wishers who sent me cards and letters while I was behind bars. I can’t thank them enough.
”It’s wonderful to know that so many people feel as strongly as I do about the smoking ban and its impact on ordinary working people.”
Blogger Anna Raccoon said: ”Nick Hogan is free because ordinary, hard-working members of the public, smokers and non-smokers alike, dug deep in their pockets to raise the money to return this man to his wife and home.
”The fact that so many people responded is a powerful message from the voting public that politicians would be well advised to heed.”
Congratulations to Hogan, and hopefully the publicity from this case will help raise the profile of opposition to smoking bans.
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Wisconsin may become the next state to legalize raw milk sales to the general public:
Hundreds of raw milk advocates packed a legislative hearing Wednesday, demanding the right to buy and sell unpasteurized dairy products that some claim have powerful health benefits but that detractors call dangerous.
Bills in the state Legislature would allow consumers to buy raw milk and other dairy products directly from farms and exempt farmers from liability if someone becomes ill from pathogens in the milk.
As expected, health authorities are opposing the bill on the grounds that they know better than consumers what people should put in their bodies. The Farm Bureau is opposed as well, wanting to prevent reports of tainted milk of any kind from getting into the news. It will be a victory for individual liberty and food rights if this passes the legislature.
I’m less sure of the part of the bill freeing farmers from liability. There should probably be some assumption of risk for raw milk consumers, but removing liability could end up making raw milk less safe. Unfortunately the article is short on specifics about this aspect of the bill.
[Thanks to Ryan at Inertia Wins for the pointer.]
Previously:
Raw milk rebellion
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Ron weighs in on the effects of offal’s rise in popularity:
In regards to the mega meat processors, they’re going to be just fine as Grier mentions, since no one doubts the efficiency of the modern abattoir. But Sysco isn’t providing offal to Olive Garden, nor are the corporate restaurants leading the charge. The usage of offal (and the hipness that may result) is being driven by artisanal kitchens working with artisanal farmers and ranchers. These farms and ranches don’t possess the same economies of scale or distribution channels, and would much rather sell a whole hog to a restaurant or chef.
This, then, returns the usage of offal to that magic word: necessity. Faced with a whole animal, a restaurant kitchen works to maximize every scrap. And so, the rise in popularity of offal has a higher effect on artisanal producers and the people that work with those producers.
Read the whole thing, complete with pictures that might entice even unadventurous readers to try some odd animal parts. This blog’s previous post on the topic here.
(Beeronomics is a regular category at the Oregon Economics blog. Will ball-o-nomics catch on here? Let’s hope not!)
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If I were to add a fourth item to my Guide for Good Blogging, it might go something like “Always link to stories about mountain oysters.” I’m not going to adopt that rule but I will link to Ian Knauer’s Atlantic piece in praise of partaking of the testicle and of offal meats in general:
But who really practices true nose-to-tail eating? How many among us delight in brain, or tendon, or testicles? These nasty bits, although they have a small following, often go ignored. But in the religion of head to tail, it’s the brains and balls that promote the eater from politically correct do-gooder to enlightened food guru. And, for the record, balls (when cooked the right way) are delicious. [...]
Here’s a video demonstrating the peeling, puncturing, roasting, and slicing of a pair of deer testicles. It features Trent, Steve, Greg, and Elvis.
If you’ve come as far as where the video begins, then the hard work is done. Bread and fry the slices of balls as you would prepare fried green tomatoes. Most importantly, you can feel good about yourself as an eater knowing that none of an animal has gone to waste. Welcome to true food enlightenment; feel free to bask in the salinity.
Be sure to read the whole thing for expert advice on how to avoid the unpleasantness of mountain oysters exploding in your oven, a terrible mess to have to explain to one’s life partner, roommate, or maid.
I agree with Knauer that eating offal is a fine thing. Seared fois and crispy sweetbreads are two of the most delicious foods on Earth; I wouldn’t put either of the testicle dishes I’ve had on the same level, but they can be tasty too. However, should one really feel virtuous about eating offal?
These odd parts of animals are not often eaten by humans in the US, but that doesn’t mean they go to waste. I’m not an expert on meat processing, but my guess is they’re sold off for secondary uses like dog food, industrial feed, and lots of other products. Modern farms are anything but inefficient.
So what happens when more people start eating mountain oysters and such? One effect is that demand for offal goes up, raising its price and therefore raising the value of the entire animal. And when demand goes up, so does production. We’re reducing waste in one sense of the word, but we’re also sending more animals to slaughter, using more resources to feed them, and putting more of their methane into the atmosphere.
However there could be an offsetting substitution effect too. If people are eating offal instead of more expensive cuts of meat, that could reduce the value of whole animals, resulting in fewer animals being killed and less resources used in their production. On the other hand, the substitution effect could work the opposite way if people are choosing an offal-based appetizer to their steak dinner instead of the salad they used to eat.
I don’t know which of these effects will outweigh the others (and if anyone has any hard data, please let me know, because I’m genuinely curious). If consumers substitute unwanted offal for more expensive meats that would almost certainly be a good thing, but is that what they’re doing? Or is our new love of offal going to make our society more carnivorous, not less? If the latter we can enjoy foods like mountain oysters because they’re tasty and different, but it would arguably be more virtuous to simply eat less meat in general.
Previous ball blogging:
Great balls of fryer
The Mystery of the Five-Inch Bull Balls
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The Washington Post reports that DC city councilman Jack Evans has succeeded in obtaining a waiver from the District’s smoking ban for two groups he personally favors:
Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has asked his council colleagues to keep tradition alive for the all-male Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and another organization, Fight for Children, which hosts an annual smoke-filled professional boxing fundraiser.
Evans, who is a member of the Irish organization, said the measure was narrowly crafted, making an exception for only two nights a year and protecting workers by allowing venue employees to opt out of working the events.
But the bill has proponents of the District’s 2006 workplace smoking ban in a huff.
Angela Bradbery, co-founder of Smokefree DC, urged Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) in a letter Monday to veto the legislation that she said would force workers to choose between their health and a paycheck; open the door for other organizations to request exemptions; and send a message that “it’s okay to break the law if you’re on the council or a buddy of a council member.” [...]
Despite opposition from the smoke-free camp, he succeeded last week in passing a one-year waiver on a 10 to 3 vote. The bill initially failed to get the necessary nine votes, but Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8 ) switched positions on a second try.
It’s a rare day that I agree with groups like Smokefree DC, but they’re right to oppose the exemptions. Jack Evans attempted to pass one for the Sons of St. Patrick last year as well, at which time I wrote:
Evans has discovered the pain of having one’s treasured tradition banned by a bunch of meddling bureaucrats. I’d be sympathetic if not for the fact that Evans is one of those meddling bureaucrats. If he doesn’t like the law, he should introduce changes that open up smoking venues to everyone, not just to clubs that happen to have a city councilman in their membership.
In 2005, Evans voted for the DC smoking ban that took away the rights of business owners, employees, and patrons to determine tobacco policies by voluntary exchange.
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Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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