joel's pub

a few years ago for his birthday i got keagan a great book on cocktails and mixology, "Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking" . of course, he later converted to a certain teetotaling religion and no longer needed this excellent book. so i "re-gifted" it to myself. sorry, keagan.
anyway... the book has a very old-school approach to cocktails - they should be nicely balanced and not too sweet (obviously, the writer flat out HATES all of the corny pseudo-cocktails that people consider trendy nowadays (ahem, sour apple martinis). anyway, the book basically considers the "old fashioned" to be the pinnacle of good taste and wise imbibing.

The old fashioned
place 1 sugar cube in bottom of tumbler
wet sugar with 2-3 dashes of angostura bitters
add a splash of water or club soda
crush the sugar with spoon
rotate glass to coat inside of glass
add 1 ice cube
add 2 1/2 oz. rye whiskey
add twist of lemon

- i REALLY want to try this one. the only problem is i'm always too nervous to order one when out at bars. i just wonder if bartenders these days know how to make them....

i'd also like to try a "sazerac," a legendary new orleans cocktail that's similar to the old fashioned but involves bourbon and peychaud's bitters, a bitter that's native to louisiana.
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