Artisanal ice cubes are all the rage with the mustachioed and plaid clad hipster bartenders around town so of course we need to be able to make our own at home. The orange square ice cube tray and round ice molds (the grey and white doodads on the upper left) first debuted on the blog back in June and they've been in heavy rotation ever since.
Not in the photo (because they're in the freezer) are the whisky stones. The tiny squares of Vermont soapstone retain the cold and add a bit of a chill to your favorite dram. Mr. C&G is a traditionalist when it comes to his whisky, maybe with a drop of water but certainly not chilled, so it's more likely I'll use them in my white wine glass. Perfect for the times I've brought home some bottles but forgotten to store them in the wine fridge.
And as fabulous as the cocktail recipes on my blog are, most of them come from these wonderful books. The two Gary Regan ones, The Joy of Mixology and The New Classic Cocktails get used the most. They're a great reference when you need a little bit of inspiration, with drink styles and ingredients organized in a very logical format. Dale DeGroff's The Craft of the Cocktail is equally indispensable and a great beverage resource for some trendier libations.
American Bar by Charles Schumann and Whisk(e)y by Stefan Gabányi are leather bound and look very impressive on your bar, but they're as informative as they are beautiful. American Bar has more than 500 recipes to work your way through, and Whisk(e)y is more of a reference book but an absolute must if you've got a whisky fan on your list.
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The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park NY |
Schott's Food and Drink Miscellany is a collection of culinary tidbits you'll want to work into your next cocktail party conversation. The Drunken Botanist I bought in the gift shop of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens purely for the title but it's been an interesting read. Who knew it's against the law to call something gin if it doesn't contain juniper berries. And who goes around and checks this? The gin police?
Capping off the book collection are two Glencairn whisky glasses, collected from visits to the Balvenie distillery and the Macallan distillery. The glasses are widely available online and a great gift for any malt lover. However the collection of Balvenie and Macallan bottles require a bit more legwork, and a trip through international duty free for some of them. Which as you can probably guess is the only thing on my holiday wish list, four round trip tickets to Europe on Virgin Atlantic, Upper Class of course.
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