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Check Out This Amazing Cocktail Chart

This poster is pretty darn amazing. Click to enlarge in a pop-up. 

 

 

Also, it's on sale today, January 30th until noon Eastern Jan 31 for $28.

I can't seem to paste the text of the press release, but here's where to go to buy it from Pop Chart Lab.

 

Rome and Amalfi Miscellany

Here are some random pictures and notes from my trip to Rome and the Amalfi Coast with Pallini Limoncello. 

Rome is a very, very crowded city, especially around tourist attractions. On our second day there we had a guide who was amazing and knew all the ways around the lines. That's the only way to do it. 

I had a gelato at San Crispino, supposedly the best in the world. I can't vouch for that, but my two flavors - whisky and honey- were delicious. 

The view from the King Victor Emmanual II memorial is great. 

(Look kids, it's the Vatican!)

The Colliseum is a lot bigger than I had imagined. I was thinking it was about three stories tall and could fit a couple thousand people. Nope. It's huge, you can see it from everywhere, and it sat 55,000 people.

 (This is the view from my hotel room on the last night, the Hotel Palazzo Manfredi. Wowza.)

(Seating went all the way up to the top. The stage at the end used to cover the whole floor. The stuff below is where the animals and gladiators were kept between fights.)

We went to a bakery called Panella that makes old Roman-style bread once used for travelers. Naturally, they were out of it on the day we went. 

Fried artichokes are a thing in Rome. We had them a few times. 

The Pantheon is an architectural marvel. This and other ancient temples only survive today because they ripped out all the pagan stuff and replaced it with Christian stuff. Good thing gods are interchangeable. 

(At night, outside.)

(Inside, daytime. There is a hole in the roof. This acts as a sundial as well.)

We stopped for an espresso nearby at Eustachio, again supposedly one of Rome's best. Their trick is to use some sort of sugar foam. Maybe they run it through the milk steamer. 

Pallini also used to make a fernet!

I bought a Crodino on the Amalfi Coast. It tastes like a non-alcoholic Campari & Soda. Delicious!

I also bought something called China Martini, which I'm guessing is a sweet vermouth derivative using quinine. 

And speaking of bitter, while at a restaurant called Sol De Riso, I tasted all the amari on the menu that I previously hadn't tried. 

• Amaro de Capo - a locally made amaro with notes of quinine, orange, and saffron. Pretty good. 
• Radis - Tastes like cola, quinine, orange. You could imagine mixing it with soda water to make a cola.
• Don Baioro - Very Chrismassy. Tastes of prune/raisin, clove, molasses, and coffee.
• Petrus - Perfumy yet incredibly bitter. We took pictures of everyone's expression while tasting it. Here was mine. 

An Amusingly Disgusting Way to Drink Vodka in Sweden

While I was in Sweden with Karlsson's Gold vodka, we learned a traditional way to drink vodka. It is called Kaffegök, and it is gross.

You take a cup and put a coin in the bottom.

Then you fill it with coffee until you can't see the coin anymore.

Then you add vodka until you can see the coin again. That's how you know you have enough vodka in there.

Then you drink it. Damnnnn that's some kinda breakfast.

 

How NOT to Dehydrate Campari

I figure, why not try the method that looks easiest first, even if it seems doomed to fail? 

That's what I decided to do as an experiment in dehydrating liqueurs down to sugar: to see what happens when you cook Campari the fastest way possible to get all the liquid out. 

I put two ounces of Campari in a silicone cupcake cup and tossed it in the microwave. After 30 seconds it boiled over. First it came to a rapid boil, then turned to a real frothy boil. 

After the liquid evaporated more, the boil turned more gentle; around three and a half minutes in. But soon enough, at four minutes, came the smell of caramelizing/burning sugar. 

At five minutes most of the liquid was gone, and then the sugar started blackening. The Campari turned black, puffed up, and started smoking. I had to open all the windows in my apartment to keep the fire alarm from going off. 

A black crust formed where the red sugar was. After removing it from the microwave, it cooled quickly then I tried it. Surprisingly, it tastes just like a burnt marshmallow; just a little more molasses-y. There was no Campari taste to it at all. 

In conclusion: That Didn't Work. 

The Solid Liquids Project is sponsored by Skyy Spirits. Content created and owned by Camper English for Alcademics. For the project index, click on the logo above or follow this link. 

Camper English: Penthouse Model

In the June issue of Penthouse, I have a travel story about my trip with Dos Equis to Playa Del Carmen. You can read the original posts here on Alcademics in part one, part two, and part three.  

I've written for Penthouse previously, but this is the first time I've appeared in its pages as a super sexy model. Check me out!

Hot stuff, right? 

Suggested Absolut Vodka Flavors for San Francisco Neighborhoods

Like any city, San Francisco is made up of many unique neighborhoods with people who self-identify to those particular neighborhoods. As we know, Absolut vodka has chosen San Francisco for the next city edition of the vodka: Absolut SF, but do its flavors of grape, dragon berry, and papaya really express the flavors of the city?

I suppose it depends on which part of the city. Thus, I have created a list of: 

Suggested Absolut Vodka Flavors for San Francisco's Neighborhoods.

Absolut Mission: Guacamole and Roasted Coffee

Absolut Noe Valley: Baby Powder and New Car Smell

Absolut Sunset: Surf Wax and Sweet & Sour Chicken

Absolut Haight: Hemp and Incense

Absolut Castro: Banana and Latex

Absolut The Fillmore: Exhaust Fumes and Cigarettes

Absolut Pacific Heights: Fresh Baked Bread and Hedge Clippings

Absolut Presidio: Eucalyptus and Asphalt

Absolut Marina: Axe Body Spray and Peroxide

Absolut Richmond: (unflavored)

Absolut SOMA: Urine and Concrete

Absolut North Beach: Tomato Sauce and Brass Polish

 

Any other suggestions?

A Thousand Year Old Drunken Regret Letter

For my book club I read the book Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk. It's about European explorers finding and raiding the artwork of abandonded and sand-buried cities along the silk road.

In a chapter on finding a hidden library of ancient scrolls at Tun-huang, the author notes (page 175) that they found "a thousand-year-old 'model' letter of apology in Chinese designed for inebriated guests to send to their hosts."

I think you'll find it's still useful today.

Here's the translation:

'Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was so intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realized what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the ground with shame...'

The letter adds that the writer will soon come to apologize in person for his transgression. A suitable reply for the outraged hosted is suggested, which Giles translates thus:

'Yesterday, Sir, while in your cups, you so far overstepped the observances of polite society as to forfeit the name of gentleman, and made me wish to have nothing more to do with you. But since you now express your shame and regret for what has occured, I would suggest that we meet again for a friendly talk...'

Sounds like something I've heard from a bartender or two in this millennium. 

A Better Use for Peeps Than Eating Them

A couple years ago I made Peep straws. Here's the original post.