| Author |
Message |
Marccampbell
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 8:06 pm: |   |
yes, I know the elixirs connection to Absente via Michael Roux (Dr. Roux?). But, despite being ditributed by a con artist, I like the drink. |
2loucheltrec
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 5:04 pm: | |
marc-c, yes the bottle does look nice , "dr. roux" also comes from the same people who gave us absente, hence my hesitation (i still have a bottle of absente that's 90% full), i was afraid he was trying to get people from that market. don't get me wrong though, they do import two of my fav clear liquours, absolut and bombay sapphire, which was partly the reason for considering it. they also make something (which i've ordered but hasn't come in yet) OP , it's part flavored vodka part auqavit. have you tried it? |
Marccampbell
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 4:40 pm: | |
I have had Dr. Roux's elixir and enjoyed it very much. Ted has had some nice things to say about it, if my memory is correct. I love the bottle. |
Barsnake
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 4:39 pm: | |
Maybe the weirdest thing was when I went to visit a snake handler in Guangdong province. Down in a cellar, he had huge barrels half buried in the earth and packed with dead snakes soaking in grain alcohol, which he bottled and sold as "snake liquor." He took me down there and opened one of the barrels and pulled out a snake, bloated and white like a vacuum cleaner hose, took a sniff and said with a smile, "Ahhh, goood liquor!" He had another kind of liquor that he made with snake semen and that he insisted I drink. But the truly bizarre part came when we were sitting in his office talking and he hit a hidden switch under his desk and theatrical smoke whooshed out covering the floor and then dozens of snakes started crawling out of holes in the walls and dropping from holes in the ceiling. He said they were his security system in case he were ever attacked.
Excerpts from Craig Smith
NY Times Bureau Chief - Shanghai |
2loucheltrec
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 4:36 pm: | |
just yesterday i was at my local ABC store, i was special ordering an armagnac for a friend's upcoming birthday and replenish my supply of sapphire, i decided to wander around to see if i felt like anything else and found "elisir du dr. roux" . has anyone here been brave enough to give it a test? |
Tabreaux
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 2:37 pm: | |
No, the snake liquor is probably delicious when compared to this putrid liquid.
This is supposed to be the popular Chinese liquor 'Mao Tai', but as was pointed out to me, something is seriously 'wrong' with it. You don't want any! |
Mvario
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 2:23 pm: | |
Ted,
I once asked a rather unruly bar patron if he wanted a shot 'on the house', and naturally he could not refuse. I kept this bottle of peculiar Chinese liquor
That wasn't the stuff with the snake it it was it? |
Barsnake
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:56 pm: | |
Original Joe's - second best place for sweetbreads...sadly, the best place closed down. |
Barsnake
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:54 pm: | |
I have a pet peeve about people in bars that are drinking beer and somebody offers to buy a drink...and they switch to mixed drinks. That's when I insist on buying them a Fernet. |
Petermarc
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:45 pm: | |
>Original Joe's in San Jose
i used to live just down the street, right before they put in the tramway (did this happen?)
a 'joe's special' ... an 'italian' combination of eggs, spanich and ground beef, best with A1 on it...best had very late...damn, it seems like a lifetime ago... |
Absinthespoon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:44 pm: | |
never mind |
Absinthespoon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:43 pm: | |
 |
Absinthespoon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:40 pm: | |
oops |
Tabreaux
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:40 pm: | |
Quote:He said "Hang on to your money. Anybody that likes this shit drinks it for free!"
I once asked a rather unruly bar patron if he wanted a shot 'on the house', and naturally he could not refuse. I kept this bottle of peculiar Chinese liquor carefully hidden for just such occasions. The eternally-lingering flavor was so putrid, that it was unbearable....and worked better than a bouncer with respect to patron removal.
A Chinese person later informed me that something was 'wrong' with the liquor in this particular bottle. I believe I still have a sample of it logged as an analytical 'unknown'. |
Absinthespoon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:40 pm: | |
\image {cynar and fernet} |
Larsbogart
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:40 pm: | |
A friend of mine in Italy did the music they use on the second site. His CD is called "Ambient Elegante". I wonder if he knows they use it.
[wacky Fellini type music] |
Mvario
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:34 pm: | |
Never tried Fernet Branca (should I?) but according to the website it lists wormwood among its "more than forty herbs and spices"
http://www.brancaproducts.com/pages/herbs.html
http://www.brancaproducts.com/pages/history2.html |
Mvario
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:23 pm: | |
I tried www.cynar.it and it took me to the Campari site. The new Cynar bottle looks a lot different, the stuff on the shelf is probably antique. New label still has the pic of that big ol' artichoke though.
http://www.campari.com/campari_com/anglais/showroom/fstshow.asp |
Barsnake
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:22 pm: | |
One nite in Original Joe's in San Jose - after a great dinner I noticed a bottle of Fernet in the back bar - as I've always liked a shot at the end of the evening, I asked for a shot. The bartender gave me a funny look, set up two shot glasses, poured the shots, held his up and said "salute". I toasted, we downed the shots and I reached in my pocket to pay. He said "Hang on to your money. Anybody that like this shit drinks it for free!" |
Dr_Ordinaire
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:21 pm: | |
"Undoubtedly, the Czech affinity for very bitter liquors influenced their perception and their products. "
This reminds me of what my dad told me once. When Coca-Cola came to Argentina, a lot of people disliked it. He would only drink it if there was nothing else available. "Parece remedio" (It's like medicine), they said.
Obviously, he and millions of others grew accostumed to it. Nowadays nobody thinks of Coke as tasting like medicine.
Pretty amazing what marketing can do to change the taste perception of entire countries. |
Tabreaux
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 1:06 pm: | |
I wholeheartedly agree, and I offered the same observation some time ago. Undoubtedly, the Czech affinity for very bitter liquors influenced their perception and their products. |
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