My sweet husband and I went to the yacht club (a euphemism for people with pontoon boats looking for a place to tie up) last night for food, fun, and fellowship—and a little bingo, at least I bingo-ed, and he visited with a friend.
When we returned home he, who barely has a toddy these days, decided to peruse the contents of our rather weird liquor cabinet. I have to admit, we have some weird stuff: a bottle of absinthe that has to be about 50 years old, carted around by my grandmother, then after she passed away, my own sweet mother carted it around, from new city to new city, for Lord knows how many additional years! At least the label is pretty. I’m not even sure there’s any alcoholic content left in that bottle. So I asked my mother, “why did we keep this????” It seems as though her father and a favorite sister-in-law had a demitasse and some absinthe every Sunday afternoon! Really?!?! The name of the liquor store is still on the top label, and I assure you AND my mom, those folks are out of business for at least 50 years, the building is torn down, the family has passed away, and so it goes.
The next oddball item we came upon was a bottle of Kirsch, I have no idea what it is. I just told my mom, “Yes, ma’am, I’ll take it.” And that’s been 3 or 4 years ago. We opened it up to get a whiff, and frankly, we can’t tell what in the dickens it is, even though it has a picture of some very pretty cherries on it.
Then the boy found Pernod, a licorice tasting drink used to make a Sazerac and some mighty fine oyster dishes. It had been opened when my friend Tom and I decided we NEEDED a Sazerac, and you literally swish it (a very small amount) around a highball glass, and toss it! Needless to say, we have a LOT left over!
Now we move on to sweet and dry vermouth—sweet vermouth for a Manhattan, and dry for a very good martini. Again, the swish around and toss technique.
OMG, then he found Marsala. “Like for making Veal Marsala????,” he asked.
“Yes, dear, or even chicken Marsala!”
“When are you going to make that????”
Well, soon, I hope!
He next finds a small bottle of raspberry rum, where in the world did THAT come from??? It’s now “dans le garbage”! We could definitely smell that, and who wants cough syrup for an afternoon adult beverage??
Storage is important if you’re holding on to certain liquors and liqueurs, I can attest to that from when my fabulous mother-in-law was still with us. She stored many an item in the cabinet over the fridge, which emitted quite a lot of heat. This technique curdled numerous bottles of cream based beverages—can everyone say “Bailey’s”?
Do you have relics in YOUR cabinet? Have a good laugh over them, learn how to use them, or maybe it’s just time to give them the old heave-ho! Like I told my mom when we were moving her to independent living, 15 year old Café du Monde beignet mix is NOT a souvenir!! So it goes with liquors and liqueurs, but then again, I get nostalgic because I, too, hate to think of giving up on that bottle of absinthe from Ackal’s or Ackel’s (the label is blurred!!!) Wholesale Liquors on Center Street in New Iberia, Louisiana!!
Laissez les bon temps roulez!!
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