2366 Comments
User's avatar
Matthew Hooper's avatar

Slow night at the bar; people are out for spring break. Might get an early cut and visit another bar myself. Post questions here.

Bob's avatar

You've written in the past that vermouth is wine, should be refrigerated, and spoils. Is the same true for Cocci Americano?

Calamity Pain's avatar

matty hoops! i made your painkiller on easter and it was awesome. thanks for the years of recipes.

Meccalopolis's avatar

Sother Teague is the mixologist behind this menu, he runs the bitters bar at Amor y Amargo next door, where many fine bitters are to be found: https://www.amoryamargo.com/

https://substack.com/profile/9505442-meccalopolis/note/c-112166302

motmelere's avatar

Drinking is a fine thing, is it not? I seem to attract the weird ones when I'm at the bar.

Dogfather, deluded wine mom.'s avatar

I just went down an etymology side-track with post as in "post questions here." Post-modern, man.

Cheers Y'all's avatar

Next week is Derby Week, prep those Mint Juleps!

Salty Badger's avatar

Ewwww and I say that as a Louisville resident.

wavicles's avatar

Why is the sky blue, and why am I so blue?

Majordomo Billy Bojangles's avatar

Rayleigh scattering, and the current political situation at a guess.

TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

Me Dad (PBUH), was a classic martini man and he passed this lore to Mr S, who uses a slighter vermouth to gin ratio and prefers a lemon peel to olives, the heretic. When my Dad was without power for weeks after hurricane Isabell, and stubbornly refused to come stay with me, used an eye dropper with water to simulate the dilution of melted ice. Navy man, you know.

Jeff, still got my guitar's avatar

We're in the golf doldrums between majors now. Your course opens and the patrons get warmed up for the PGA mid month, it's gonna be festive around there!

tehbaddr's avatar

Can you really call it a Martini if it's just chilled Gin or Vodka?

Dogfather, deluded wine mom.'s avatar

Shake vermouth with ice, strain out vermouth, stir gin into strained ice, strain and serve with 3 large green olives, no pimentos please.

𝔅𝔢𝔢𝔩𝔷𝔢𝔟𝔲𝔟𝔟𝔞's avatar

Endless jokes about having a bottle of vermouth in the room, and opening it for a moment . . . etc etc etc . . . seem to have caught on as actual instructions.

Nigel R. Toppinglift, III's avatar

I believe waving it over the glass was the proper form. I quote Roger Sterling when asked if he’d drink vermouth: “yes, I’m afraid I would.”

WannabeWonk's avatar

Or whispering the word, "vermouth", across the glass of gin. I think I heard that attributed to Churchill

tehbaddr's avatar

Vermouth is only for coating the glass!

Bob's avatar

That's how we made them in the restaurant I worked in, but it was cheap vermouth.

JustDontSayDittos's avatar

That's how I used to make 'em. But back then I didn't drink cocktails. I might dabble with this sometime.

Matthew Hooper's avatar

The customers do, and they pay me, so…

DirtDogEmeritus's avatar

In a sidewalk bar in Laos, I encountered a drink called a Jungle Bird, which was a good sipper after a day of 90°F weather with near-saturated humidity. Back home with internet access, it is a variable mix of dark rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, and Compari, and is considered a tiki-bar drink, so right up your alley. The internet also tells me that it was a 70s invention and is a little out of style, which might explain why I had to "discover" it in Laos. Is it a common tiki-bar drink and just a fluke of my life that I hadn't seen one before, or is it uncommon and out of style?

"M"'s avatar

That sounds yum

("Campari"? Or do they spell it differently in Laos?)

DirtDogEmeritus's avatar

My bad. I was spelling it how I pronounce it, and I did not have the bottle in front of me. In Lao, it's ກັນປາຣີ, which is just a transliteration of a phonetic approximation. The internet can provide fun things like that sometimes.

Nigel R. Toppinglift, III's avatar

OK, drinking in the tropics: 1000 years ago, or maybe almost 20, I was in Thailand and could only deal with beer, given the climate. So whilst watching White Lotus I was gobsmacked at the guy power throttling whiskey, neat. I mean, god damn, that’s a fine cold weather drink, not a 90°/90% drink.

DirtDogEmeritus's avatar

In Laos, the most-seen beer is Beerlao, which is an OK mild lager. It was typically available in a 640 ml (~21 oz) bottle for the equivalent of about $2. My wife and I shared one at lunch every day we were there. Cocktails were for after dark.

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

I was introduced to the Jungle Bird twenty some years ago at a party . I will order it whenever I run into it in the wild. The last time, oddly enough, was at Disney's Magic Kingdom while on a multi generational family trip.

NABear's avatar

Got a recipe for this (and a free sip of one) on the Sazerac House in New Orleans in January 2024, but that was the first I had heard of it.

DirtDogEmeritus's avatar

Got home from a show (we're in Pacific time) and made our best approximation of your 2022 version. (Planterey Original Dark, and regular simple syrup instead of demerara, but the rest matches.) Two thumbs up. Thanks very much.

eppe's avatar

Do you often get a chance to talk shop with the bartender at a place that you visit? Is there a semi-secret underground of veteran barkeeps in your locale?

NABear's avatar

Industry bars are a thing. Portland had a couple that I stumbled into, one that overtly courted waitstaff, cooks and bartenders and the other that was just where folks in the business liked the vibe. Not sure how much they talk shop but folks know each other, tip each other off to jobs and stuff like that from what I could see.

Harrison's avatar

MMMMm gonna try my hand at these.

I recently did a Lambeth Walk Fizz cocktail recipe I adapted from James Beard winning bar Maison Premiere for easy home mixing!

It’s a decadent ode to New Orleans culture, giving the creamy Ramos Gin Fizz a tropical, Willy Wonka-esque spin.

check it out:

https://thesecretingredient.substack.com/p/get-james-beard-winner-maison-premieres

The Mighty Ox's avatar

I had to look up "Sidecar". It's both a service and a drink. Neat!

David sparks's avatar

I don’t think I ever tried Cocchi Americano, but I sometimes use Lille’s Blanc for something a little between a martini and a vesper

DV Thrombossa Nova's avatar

The last time Hooper selected a recipe with Cocchi Americano we bought a bottle because the recipe sounded wonderful. Our palates are obviously unsophisticated as we found it to be a rather nasty little potion. In the cocktail it presented first as very bitter but finished sweet-ish. By itself it began thickly sweet and finished like rusty fender washers. The bottle was donated to friends who appreciate Aperol and Campari. YMMV.

Satanic Pancake's avatar

We drank more last weekend than we had in the previous three and a half months, so sadly will probably not be able to try the fitty squares for another month or two. Three drinks in three days was way too much for my revirginized liver.

Whale Chowder's avatar

You need to punish it for being weak and soft. Have a drink!

TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

I will leave you with an cat for Caturday and be off on my errands https://substack.com/@tootsstansbury/note/c-112252306

Shallow state's avatar

A fairly constant theme in Kurt Vonnegut's writings was how human beings almost invariably take away the wrong lesson, for instance from Christ's teachings or from WWII. That's something that has weighed on me in our 21st century fascists' thin veneer of performative support for Jews. A Vonnegut perspective might be that the lesson the fascists took away from WWII is "if you're a Nazi, try not to fuck around with the Jews" instead of "don't be a fucking Nazi."

The Estivating Hibernian's avatar

"Mankind is great at building things and terrible at maintenance"

Schmannity's avatar

Brain Trust weighs in:

"Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote on X:

“Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre has died by ‘suicide.’ The truth needs to come out no matter who is responsible.”

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) was even more blunt:

Virginia Roberts Giuffre didn’t commit suicide. No chance"

Former Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wrote:

“Imagine believing this was actually suicide….”

SkeptiKC's avatar

Jaysus.

Not even in death will people leave this woman in PEACE.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

She was ... oh her life was terrible. If the accusations are true, and I think they are, but they've not been tried in a court of law.

Gosh, who's that with Prince Andrew? (and Maxwell in the background)

https://e3.365dm.com/25/04/768x432/skynews-prince-andrew-virginia-roberts_6897144.jpg

My heart breaks for this poor woman who got no go at life because of shitheads.

Including the current President, allegedly (I have to add that word).

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

And I can absolutely believe that she died by suicide, because she was caught up in an international sex scandal with very important people and the pressure that puts on someone who was raped as a kid by vile people?

Epstein, Trump, Prince Andrew, far more

Fuck you Gaetz especially.

Schmannity's avatar

Prince Andrew: Can I come back now?

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

I think there's an oubliette at Balmoral. He deserves no better.

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Allright off to do homework.

Be good y'all

Remember June 7 WonkMeet in VT tell your friends!

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Camp Plymouth State Park, Ludlow VT

I’ve reserved the Wedding Grove pavilion. Guests will have to pay thror own entry fee, $5 if you don’t already have a park pass. Many towns have passes you can check out of the library for thr day, too.

https://www.vtstateparks.com/parks/camp-plymouth

John Thorstensen's avatar

Great! I should be driving by then, I hope -- I had major surgery a bit over a week ago but by then I should be nearly recovered.

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Yassss!!!!!

I hope you’re feeling like the surgery went well.

John Thorstensen's avatar

No unusual complications, at least, but any surgery is rough on the body!

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Happy to know it’s in the rear view.

WannabeWonk's avatar

Hey! It's great to hear you! Being here on Wonkette after a week is a good sign I think. It took me two or three months after my last one. Take good care of yourself physically and emotionally, we care about you.

John Thorstensen's avatar

Thanks! Open heart-surgery is a big blow but I'm on the mend

Menotsure's avatar

Man! Late spring in Vermont sounds good. Wish I could come.

Menotsure's avatar

I may have to save some shekels and effort a trip.

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

I’m really excited for it now that I’ve made the reservation! I haven’t been to this park yet, myself. I tru to see a new one each year.

Sister Artemis's avatar

Suzie, send me the deets and I'll get it up on the WonkMeet site - location, time of day, host (you?) (with contact email if host is comfortable with that), and if possible, photo of the place. I've googled and pulled images off location websites, or google street view in the past - I think it helps if people have a visual for the place they're looking for, and nice to see an inside shot too. If you want to do a brief write up, that's good, but I can do something simple if needed.

sisterartemis@gmail.com

Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Thank you, I’d sent it to the another Wonk address, and just forwarded it to the address you listed here. Thanks for your help and please let me know if you need anything else or if you have any suggestions for me.

Teen Laqueefa's avatar

@Boom-WhatsGoingOn.bsky.social

‪@boom-whatsgoingon.bsky.social

What a sad old man…

So disrespectful, sleeping at the Pope’s funeral, he should have stayed home, nobody wanted him there anyway…

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

I am at best a very lapsed Catholic, but Pope Francis was one of the good ones who read his Bible and tried his utmost to model Jesus' call to the faithful.

I cannot overstate my white hot fury of a thousand suns at these two showing such disrespect and contempt at his funeral.

Tetman Callis's avatar

He's such an embarrassment.

tehbaddr's avatar

I bet he was farting up a storm making a stank also, too!

SkeptiKC's avatar

Is that a WEDDING RING I see on Melanoma's left hand?

And what's with the matron-in-mourning costume she's wearing? Is she experimenting with funeral fashion in anticipation of becoming the Widow Drumpf?

Menotsure's avatar

Auditioning for the touring company of "The Addam's Family" musical?

Tessie's avatar

Yeah, well Lurch didn't get into Harvard.

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!

That's in town right now.

Next week her husband will be about three miles from my home.

The thought of her treading the boards at the same time, in the theater I have dozens of very happy memories, just...

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

Gotta be the most fashionable and faux devout to play the part at a big International party....er gathering......wait what was the purpose of the event? Don't you hate it when a funeral breaks out during your cosplay?

I do not have words for my white hot fury at the disrespect these two showed to a truly good man at his final rest.

Tessie's avatar

Surely someone of t666p's vast wealth could afford a baggy, ill-fitting *black* suit, no?

SkeptiKC's avatar

What I'm inclined to articulate will get me ban-hammered forever.

I will have to think a little bit more loudly...

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

I hear you loud and clear! I've had to today rewrite and edit more than once to avoid the ban hammer.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

That's all three of us then. Probably more.

We can think it though.

I can't even say it on the phone or on zoom because Green Card.

I can let go when I'm in Berlin and I think people are shocked.

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

Silly shocked people!!

But just more proof of the Worst Bullshit Timeline we are in.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

I think I just heard that from here and I agree.

SkeptiKC's avatar

I'll clean up most of the mess when I'm finished.

There won't be a damned thing that ANYONE is going to be able to do about the stench.

Whale Chowder's avatar

The safe word is "bawk!"

Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

Excuse while I go clean up the coffee I just laugh spat out everywhere.....

Tetman Callis's avatar

A kink for those who chicken out?

Schmannity's avatar

I promise not to tell you how to be The Chosen if you promise not to tell me how to be the Frozen Chosen

"Progressives Abandon Christianity, Become Episcopalian"

https://www.dailywire.com/news/progressives-abandon-christianity-become-episcopalian

John Thorstensen's avatar

One of my professor colleagues is very active in the local Episcopalian church, and he is a wonderful human being.

Pope Scipio Newburyporticus's avatar

"Christian" includes only Southern Baptist, Pentecostal snake handling, and cults.

NatalyaResists's avatar

Satire? I don't know about that. "Episcopalian" seems like the perfect fundie attempt at an insult.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

Which falls flatter than a very flat thing, unless you're a fundagelical.

Mr blob's avatar

I fully even missed that this was satire. My brain confused dailywire with dailycaller, and I fully would expect to read this same article word for word there

SkeptiKC's avatar

My younger sister converted to the Episcopalian faith when she married her husband.

Now neither one of them ever goes to church.

paxpax's avatar

I AM an Episcopalian - AND there IS truth to that. As I type this I am IN A CHURCH MEETING!

Schmannity's avatar

Also too, but the MAGAs are still mad about the nasty woman Bishop at the National Cathedral and a Black or PhD woman as Presiding Bishops

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

Are you supposed to be wonking and Espiscopalianing at the same time? I could get behind that.

Ambiance Chaser's avatar

So, it's like detention ? . . .

Ambiance Chaser's avatar

"People are avoiding being nice, afraid others might think they're a part of a religion." . . .

Tasner Hasenpfeffer's avatar

I'm glad it's marked "satire" 'cuz I really can't tell any more.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

I like the way it ends with "Watch the Andrew Klavan show"

You know what? No.

Bobathonic's avatar

That's still Christianity.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

Uh yeah, and it dates back from the Revolution. It's High Church, like Anglicanism, but more for Americans. It's a different Church of England. It's very Protestant.

Nothing wrong with it all all. They just tend not to be dicks to people.

Always Be Ithacating's avatar

Nice time: Prof. Karen Attiah had a course she taught at Columbia – "Race, Media and International Affairs" – canceled by the university administration. This week she decided to float the idea of teaching it instead at a new independent Summer Resistance School.

Over 30,000 people responded positively. Within four days of the enrollment announcement, more than 2500 paying students signed up; there is now a waitlist. https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/columbia-canceled-my-course-on-race

Tasner Hasenpfeffer's avatar

Columbia: "Okay, but before Harvard stood up and everyone joined them, caving in seemed like a good idea at the time."

Everyone: "Caving immediately without even an attempt at resistences always seems pathetic."

blueicebank's avatar

"This California town has a breathtaking waterfall — and no legal way for the public to get there"

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-26/dunsmuir-mossbrae-falls-public-access

[Paywalled, except for first timers]

DUNSMUIR, Calif. — Less than a half a mile from the city limits of this Northern California railroad town is a natural wonder so enchanting that locals compare it to geologic features in Yosemite or Yellowstone.

... Fed from glaciers on Mount Shasta’s majestic slopes, Mossbrae Falls cascades out of lava tubes and down mossy cliffs into the Sacramento River in ethereal curtains of mist, sending rainbows dancing in all directions.

... Though Mossbrae Falls sits less than 2,000 feet from Dunsmuir city limits, there is no easy — or legal — way for the public to access its watery splendors. And for decades, every attempt to create legal access has foundered on the rocky shoals of property rights and lumbering bureaucracy. .. About 30,000 people each year visit anyway, according to a city study, most of them trespassing for more than a mile along oily train tracks that wend along the Sacramento River. ... The issue, as just about anyone in Dunsmuir can explain, is that the land on the east side of the river, where the waterfall spills down from the cliffs, is owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, a religious group that considers the waterfall and Mount Shasta sacred and doesn’t take kindly to the public wandering through.

Now for the pics:

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3c625b1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1365+0+171/resize/1240x826!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F33%2Fb7%2F74a7ba174d3db4dfa7b770d214dd%2Flandmark-0624.jpg

---

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0cc1b15/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3744x5616+0+0/resize/1240x1860!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fff%2F64%2F915465984d7f86851d6b1ad001e5%2Fgettyimages-953677348.jpg

---

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b7a5da0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4000x2667+0+0/resize/1240x827!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5d%2F5e%2F172ecc7c4b50b820f5a53e254f11%2F1322607-la-me-burney-falls-overcrowding-048.jpg

Biff52 vrag naroda's avatar

I 'member the horrible toxic spill there 30-something years ago

https://wildlife.ca.gov/OSPR/NRDA/Cantara-Loop-Dunsmuir

SkeptiKC's avatar

Absolutely breathtaking!

In a way I'm grateful that these magnficent places remain isolated from filthy, exploitive human beings.

Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

Hey Bill, aren’t you insulting the 3,000 people who died on 9/11?

Bill Maher Takes Brutal Dig At Trump Sec Pete Hegseth — ‘Worst Thing To Hit The Pentagon’ Since 9-11

https://www.mediaite.com/entertainment/bill-maher-takes-brutal-dig-at-trump-sec-pete-hegseth-worst-thing-to-hit-the-pentagon-since-flight-77/

Rocket Cat's avatar

Chihuahua on drunk chihuahua violence

biologydave's avatar

Bill Maher...how is this still a thing?

Ambiance Chaser's avatar

Nice try, but we can still see the Trump pube in your teeth . . .

TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

Haha! Funny as a heart attack, asshole.

Tecolote's avatar

That op-ed by Larry David really kicked him to the curb. Looking forward to seeing his next gig as selling supplements or auto repair insurance on late night tv.

NatalyaResists's avatar

HE WILL NOT BE IGNORED!

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

"Hi! I'm Bill Maher! You might remember me from ... oh you don't. OK. Anyway, TaintFloss(tm) is a remarkable product ..."

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

I think he's flaming out and will UA93 soon.

SkeptiKC's avatar

That cannot happen soon enough.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

I wasn't sure if that was too much, because many people died that day.

But fuck Bill Maher and his bullshit jokes while whining about dining with Nazis.

FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

Bill Maher whined just earlier about people calling Trump's gang of thieves Nazis. Fuck Bill Maher. He really is as irrelevant as Kid Rock.

Tessie's avatar

Bill Maher and P.J. O'Rourke are the same person -- big-nosed pricks who think that parroting authoritarian talking points makes them edgy rebels. That schtick was tired 50 years ago; how much do I care now?

Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

Also bill maher…

Bill Maher Fumes Over Larry David’s Op-Ed Mocking His Trump Meeting: ‘Insulting to Six Million Dead Jews’

https://www.mediaite.com/news/bill-maher-fumes-over-larry-davids-op-ed-mocking-his-trump-meeting-insulting-to-six-million-dead-jews/

Bobathonic's avatar

Blah blah blah, just because your guy doesn't have a final tally.