Birthdays! and cocktails! where's the party?

[shewhomust]

Over breakfast durham_rambler read me the highlights from Today's Birthdays in the Guardian. He always checks these, but it seems that February 15th is a particularly good day for cartoonists: Art Spiegelman is 71, Matt Groening is 65 and the Guardian's very own Martin Rowson is 60.

I couldn't find the Guardian listing online to link to, but On this Day confirms the first two, and since, unlike the Guardian, it doesn't restrict itself to the birthdays of the living, adds that it is also the birthday of Galileo, Michael Praetorius, Susan B. Anthony and Ernest Shackleton. And if that's not grounds for a party, I don't know what is.

Meanwhile, I was reading in yesterday's paper about micrococktails, but this is entirely unrelated, as nothing in the article would be welcome at any of my parties. For a start, the sugar-content is immense: the sweetness has been dialled down, says the article, over the last decade, but recommended mixes include Pernod absinthe, watermelon syrup and lemon juice; hot sake with gingerbread syrup; and a cocktail of mushroom vodka, maple syrup and chipotle – "Our interpretation of port," says the manager of the establishment where a small measure of this is served with the cheese course. I read this out loud to durham_rambler, and his response came out in unison with my comment: if you want port with your cheese course, why not serve port with your cheese course? (white port, in my case).

But we are old fogeys, and there are people on my f-list who are more cocktail-savvy than I am. So tell me, internets, are these drinks - err - drinkable? If a bartender offers you a shot from his bottle of Ferrari (half Fernet Branca, half Campari), do you feel like an insider, or do you suspect a wind-up? (I carry a little bottle of alicumpane...)

Comments

[sovay]

micrococktails

What a weird idea. I like cocktails as a kind of drink; I don't do, nor do I wish to start doing, shots.

So tell me, internets, are these drinks - err - drinkable?

I would not try any of the three named in that article; they may be flavor combinations that work for somebody, but not for me. The watermelon syrup kills my interest in the absinthe, I don't want my sake to taste like gingerbread, and the maple chipotle mushroom vodka just sounds confusing, especially if it's supposed to approximate port.

(I am a poor barometer for Fernet Branca in general, since it tastes less palatable than the devil to me.)

[shewhomust]

I would not try any of the three named in that article;

Not just me, then!

I am a poor barometer for Fernet Branca in general...

Fair enough. But I think of bitters as a seasoning. Use them to heighten other flavours, if you want to, but mixing two different kinds of bitters with nothing else ... just no.

[sovay]

Not just me, then!

Definitely not just you. I can be very fond of outré cocktails, but those looked like what spatch and I call stunt drinks.