Our topic today is how to stuff a pear into a bottle...

As some of you know, Lauren and I made Pear Liqueur last year from the 100-year old pear tree that lives in the backyard of Lauren's grandmother's house in Brooklyn. I think we were both a little surprised by the results...pretty much everyone loves it. Had we known, we would have made a lot more. We've only got a few bottles left, which we're saving for the wedding in October. 

This year, we're planning ahead. Not only are we going to make more, we getting a little fancy by tying some of the bottles to the tree with the little pears inside (when they're so small that they'll fit in the hole, eh). The idea being, of course, that the pears grow inside the bottles, which then get filled with the booze that we make from the tree that the bottles are hanging from. 

We're hoping it all works out---the bottles would look so cool with a pear inside. That, coupled with an awesome label by this wonderful graphic designer I know...it will all be very impressive. The only thing missing, of course, would be free beer...

Two at a time, eh!

Liquor cabinet: check!

Success! The liquor cabinet is complete! We got the counter top the other day, as well as some hot vinyl to line a couple of shelves. We're all cleaned up, stocked, and ready to go! There was a little grumbling over some odd shaped bottles, but other than that it's perfect. There's a spot for all the bar tools, a shelf for bitters, reference books up top, a rack for glassware---even a place to let the homemade infusions steep. Brilliant. It's still going to be a work in progress, as we come up with more ways to organize as it grows, but we love it. I'm ready to mix!

Second base!

As I mentioned in the first post, there's beer brewing at my house. Well, technically...it's down the hall. But I have a half interest in the beer, and it lives nearby, so...close enough. Monday night, the beer went from the primary to the secondary fermenter. Thankfully, Tom knows what that means and why we need to do it. I'm learning, though. We haven't come up with a name for this delightful brew yet, but in the early running is "Gloria's IPA", or "The Beer", or "Tom Kills Barker with Hops". More on this "brewing" story in three or so weeks, when we go to bottling...

Lovely golden color, wouldn't you say?

More hops? Yes, please!

Barker 2, Friday 0

Not a bad day, last Friday. First, I went in my local antique shop and found these guys:

Two antique blue glass carboys, one with a crate, at an extremely reasonable price. Once fully cleaned and sanitized, these will look beautiful with beer (or soda!) brewing inside. If only Tom and I would have stopped in a week earlier when we were all over the island looking for carboys...but more on that later.

The second score is better, if I do say so myself. Lauren and I had been looking for a Hoosier cabinet for a week or so, since she came up with the idea that all the booze should live in it's own cabinet, rather than the kitchen cupboard that the bottles have currently taken over. Ebay introduced us to one in Vermont that nearly got the nod, but the cost of getting it back home figured to be a little too much. Craigslist had one in Manhattan...but we were too late on that one. I explored Craigslist further, and found this very innocent-sounding ad tucked away in the North Jersey pages:

Interesting, I thought, and the price is certainly right. I called, and spoke with a guy named Sal, who sent me some very small and blurry pictures via text message. Couldn't tell much from the pictures...but again, the price was right. Why not? Even if we just use it as a place holder until we find one we really like, it's worth $100. So we went to West Orange Friday night and picked it up. And this is what we got:

Hooolllleeee crap...awesome. We love it--look at the style! Deco! Wonderful! Of course, there's no countertop, but we're ordering one. And it didn't always look this good... 

...as you can see, it was a little dirty from having been in Sal's basement for 25 years. A little 409, a little soap and water, a heap of elbow grease, and voilá! Liquor cabinet!

Once we get the countertop, line the shelves, and add the booze, I'll post more pictures. Good idea Lauren!

The Bar is Open

I like a drink every now and again. I'm not afraid to admit it. Lately, though, I've been getting into it a bit deeper. Not more, necessarily...just better. 

For Christmas this year, Lauren got me a mixology class. Now, I have worked as a bartender before, at a couple of places. The first was a last-chance dive bar. When the drunks got kicked out of everywhere else in town, they came to us. It also housed the local music scene. Bartending there consisted mostly of opening bottles, pouring pitchers, pouring shots, and breaking up fights. 

A few years later, I found myself working in an Irish bar in Chicago, near a college campus. It was a pretty big and popular place, but you know...college crowd. If I never pour another Jager bomb, vodka/red bull, or open a Miller Lite again, that will be fine with me. 

Don't get me wrong---both were great places, and I learned a lot. But these were quantity places, not necessarily quality. Quantity as in "how much Captain can you legitimately put in in a glass and still call it a Captain and Coke", or "how many shots of Jager can a person drink?". That kind of place. 

So I had a little experience going into the mixology class. Lauren and I had dabbled before--the pear liqueur we made was a big hit. We had a great time at the class, made some awesome drinks, and even went back for the second class. A lot of people leave those kinds of recreational classes with what they learned. I left with what is possible. 

I've been cooking a bit lately too, and here's what I discovered: I get a little weird. With ingredients, with technique, with trying new things. Weird as in I think I can do it better. I think I can make a better salad dressing. I think I can make a great loaf of bread. I can roast it longer and lower! Oh yeah? Up yours!

Weird that way. And it's carried over into drinks now. 

I want to make bitters. I'm brewing beer for the first time. I want to steep things in other things, and make more liqueurs. I've been eyeing home distillers. I want to try old recipes. I want to make all kinds of syrups. I want to make homemade pop. I want to then use the homemade pop and the homemade syrups and the homemade bitters to make a homemade drink that is better than the drinks I can get at a bar. 

Because I think I can. I'll let you know how it all works out.