My Favourite Cocktail of 2023 (so far)

Even before I started making cocktail videos for YouTube, I made a lot of cocktails. Once I started my cocktail-focused YouTube channel I started making a LOT of cocktails. I can usually tell by looking at a cocktail recipe whether or not I’ll like it and as a rule, I don’t make cocktails unless I expect them to be at least 7 out of 10 on my rating scale. I have noticed that on average once or twice a year I discover a cocktail that’s new to me and is an instant favourite – a 9+ out of 10.

This year, my frontrunner for cocktail of the year is called L’Anniversaire (The Birthday). It was created in 2015 by Pier Schirru at Century Club in London, England and it caught my eye because it combines elements of an old fashioned and a Manhattan. The original recipe I found is as follows:

50 ml Cognac
10 ml Drambuie
5 ml Italian red bitter liqueur
20 ml Antica Formula or other well aged sweet vermouth
10 ml Raisin sugar syrup

If you watch the video I made, you’ll see I made a few substitutions:

The brandy I used isn’t technically a cognac – it’s Martell’s “Blue Swift” which is their VSOP cognac which is then finished in bourbon casks. Because of the strict laws surrounding what can be called cognac, the finishing means this can’t be marketed as cognac. But it’s really good.

Instead of Drambuie, I used a whisky and rum liqueur that I’d made myself. For the “red bitter liqueur” I used an Australian bitter citrus aperitivo from the Saint Felix Distillery. For the vermouth I used an Australian vermouth from Maidenii which had been barrel aged for 7 years. Instead of a raisin sugar syrup, I used a spiced apple brown sugar syup I’d made.

Something I didn’t realise when I was making the video is the name of the cocktail is probably taken from a Marc Chagall painting. So that’s nice.

Marc Chagall
Birthday (L’anniversaire), 1915

Is this the perfect Martini variation for beginners?

The Martini is one of my favourite cocktails (dry with a twist of lemon, thanks) but I freely admit it can be a challenge to get into. I’ve seen a few ways to give people a gentler introduction to Martinis and recently found this recipe on the Difford’s Guide website. It’s called the Argentina Cocktail (no idea why) and it starts with a dry gin/dry vermouth base the adds some modifiers that make the drink more approachable.

This drink is really good in its own right but I do like the idea of using it to provide a gateway to the world of Martinis – a drink more people should be enjoying. Another thing in its favour is this is an easy to prepare drink:

1oz/30ml dry gin
1oz/30ml dry vermouth
1/4oz/7.5ml orange liqueur
1/4oz/7.5ml DOM Benedictine
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir all ingredients on ice then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Served up with no garnish. I score this an 8 out of ten – I’d definitely make this again.

Trump supporters – the stupid goes all the way up

Today on “The stupid goes all the way up” – this is the latest talking point from people stupid enough to actively support trump. The suggestion appears to be that you can’t impeach trump because this map shows virtually all of the country voted for him.

 

Unsurprisingly for trump supporters, this is stupid on several levels.

 

First, that map is virtually meaningless in telling you how many people voted for trump as the red areas are very sparsely populated and the number of voters in the blue areas is orders of magnitude larger. As everyone but trump supporters knows, he lost the popular vote by several million.

 

Second, impeachment proceedings have nothing to do with the public vote. They’re a political process conducted wholly within the congress and senate. The public has zero involvement (except maybe in their ability to sway the votes of congresspeople and senators).

 

The real kicker for me is this takedown by an historian showing a comparison with Nixon’s electoral map. It really is meaningless.

 

And if you’ve never heard of Lara Trump, she’s married to Eric Trump. So that tells you how smart she is.

Emergency Broadcast Network

You can find almost anything on YouTube. This particular bit of 90s lunacy is a favourite of mine. It’s definitely a specific sort of taste this appeals to – I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t like it. It’s quite abrasive and difficult to like.

I actually saw this at a house party in Sydney in the 90s (probably 94/95) while under the influence of certain hallucinogens which might explain why it imprinted on me so strongly (plus I have a soft spot for industrial techno). A lot of people’s favourite moment is Bush doing “We Will Rock You” (and that is good) but I really like Harrison Ford going “Get Down” repeatedly and the preacher really shook me.

By the way, a content note – if you’re vulnerable to something like a preacher repeatedly saying “I’m going to die” you might not want to watch that bit (it’s at about the 16:30 mark). At the time I remember thinking that would be a bit much for people who were already at risk of dark thoughts.

Two things stick with me: how difficult this would have been to create with 90s analogue technology. I haven’t bothered to look up anything about the creators but the fact they were able to access all of this material and edit it means they were probably working at a TV station. But that doesn’t account for the second thing that sticks with me:

How the hell did I see this on a VHS tape in Sydney – the other side of the world from the people who made it when it was NOT released as a commercial product?

This was pre-internet when things like this were spread by word of mouth and strange artifacts handed from person to person. We’ve lost something with the easy availability of almost everything but I certainly wouldn’t give up the modern world.

But the old world had a weird sort of magic.

Milkshakes vs fascists – the revolution will be pasteurised

I’m doubtless one of many people who didn’t imagine milkshakes would become the symbol of resistance to ultra right wing bigotry and hate but here we are. As the number of gammon getting milkshaked (milkshook? milkshaken?) increases I have to say I’m completely on board with this as a non-violent protest against these worthless scumbags.

And for anyone who wants to say this IS violent – fuck off. Just fuck right off. The bleating garbage who have been shrieking about how unacceptable this is (going so far as to call it terrorism) will always turn a blind eye to the outright thuggery of right wingers up to including murder (Nigel Farage famously said Brexit had been achieved “without a single shot being fired” despite one of his supporters having gunned down an opposition MP only a week earlier).

I like this as a form of protest because while being non-violent it definitely humiliates the. It makes them look stupid and they hate that. Then when they bleat about how terrible it is, they look even more stupid. And look at how much this kid loves seeing Farage get the treatment:

It’s gotten to the stage where even the representation of a milkshake winds them up. And that’s just beautiful.

 

How to spot “Fake News”

I’m going to start posting my videos here again. This one’s a fun 20 minute romp talking about serial fraudster Jacob Wohl (I can’t believe he isn’t in prison) and how to spot “fake news”.

Scott Morrison spouting crap

You know how writers on shows like Veep have their politicians say absolutely vapid, meaningless word salads when articulating their policies? The idea being we laugh because they’re exaggerating the way real world politicians talk garbage? In Australia, we had an incident recently where the government actually used a Veep slogan, almost word for word.

Oh Dear

Apparently wanting to avoid a similar embarrassment, our (hopefully) soon to be ex-government has taken the innovative approach of trying to put the Veep writers out of business by spouting garbage far more meaningless than anything they’ve ever written for their TV shows.

If we weren’t on the verge of throwing them out, I’d say we were doomed.

Another spectacular week of Trump train wrecks

It’s so easy for me to find material with Trump and Co. moving from crisis to crisis. Whether it’s his supporters, his lawyer or Trump himself being neck deep in shit, he’s the gift that keeps on giving. And he topped off the week beautifully with a call in interview to Fox and Friends that got so bad, the hosts themselves ended up cutting him off mid sentence.

Australia’s Banking Royal Commission and ANZAC Day controversy

It’s somewhere between fun and bizarre to watch the conservative LNP government act like they wanted a Royal Commission into the finance sector now that the scale of malfeasance in that industry is becoming apparent.

Also, with ANZAC Day approaching that means it’s time to get ready for the relatively recent national sport of people who call anyone who disagrees with them a snowflake losing their tiny little minds if anyone’s response to ANZAC Day deviates one iota from their declared orthodoxy.

What’s worse for Trump – bombing Syria or the Michael Cohen raid?

A spectacular week for trump, even by the extreme standards set by the shitshow that is his administration. When your lawyer who’s been looking after all your dodgy deals for years gets raided, you’re in serious trouble. Also, he’s falling out of favour with some of his staunchest supporters for joining allies in a missile strike on Syria.