Sunday, June 22, 2008
Food, Wine, Beer & Spirits
Fond farewell
After almost four years, it’s time to pull the cork
istockphoto.com
Try a green-eyed monster cocktail to cheers “To the Moon and Back,” from Feb. 18, 2007
GREEN-EYED MONSTER
- 1 part Plymouth gin
- 1 part sweet vermouth
- 1 part green Chartreuse
Shake and strain to a chilled cocktail glass.
Maxim U: Meet Mollod and Tesauro in person at MaximU, their new “manners, savvy and vice” seminar series debuting June 26th at Maxim Prime. Details at www.themoderngentleman.com.
By Jason Tesauro and Phineas Mollod
On the penultimate episode of the Johnny Carson-era "Tonight Show," Bette Midler, in full diva mode, belted out “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” to a tearful Johnny, and then on the final night, he showed clips to reminisce about the years past, closing with a heartfelt thanks. After almost four years, it’s time to pull the cork. We’ve decided to use this template for our closing Wine and Spirits column (and before you all shudder in fright, Joan Rivers will not guest-host for us in our absence).
We’ve had the pleasure to interview some amazing authors, distillers, winemakers, glassmakers and mixologists and experience a great range of wines and spirits: artisanal whiskies, hand-crafted vermouths, beguiling liqueurs, tart ciders, singular microbrews, redolent gins and genevers, vintage ports, rhum agricole, organic wines, sumptuous shochu and sake, designer tonic, grappa, rosé, bubbly, bitters, lost spirits, hot drinks, layered drinks, ice wine and even malt liquor. Thinking back, some favorite columns come to mind: “Chartreuse/Into Great Silence,” “Booze for Breakfast,” “Bloody Marys,” “2008 Primary Drinks,” “the Monkey Gland Cocktail,” “XYZ Affair,” “Crème de Violette,” “James Bond Drinks,” “Crème de Menthe” and “Hangover Cinema.”
We’re moving on to other pastures (but may pop up in the Food section on occasion). Many, many thanks to EIC Kevin Moreau and the lovely Life, Food & Style Editor Kirsten Ott for their excellent stewardship and superior cool for giving us the elbow room to write on far-flung topics and tolerating our booze-inspired logodaedaly. To the bars, cafes and retailers that have been expanding Atlanta’s liquid palate … bravo. And most importantly, thanks to all our loyal readers and fans of The Sunday Paper, particularly those who tried shaking all those crazy cocktails. Cheers!
And now, onto the awards:
OUR MOST FAVORITE TITULAR MOMENTS
“Pontiff-icating Châteauneuf-de-Pape,” “The Milkman Cometh,” “Barrique, c’est chic,” “Pamp and Circumstance: matriculating to the gentleman’s juice,” “Antioxi-drunk,” “Prophylaxis to the Max” and “Yule Just Love a Nogg”
MOST TERSE JUXTAPOSITION OF WINE AND WOMEN
“Sweater Wearing Sipping,” Feb. 20, 2005
If wines were human, top flight Bordeaux would be the classic redhead who takes 25 years to fully blossom, though New World blends can sometimes resemble a barely legal teen with nice gams that’s ready now, but not worth the headache.
MOST LEARNED PHRASING BY TWO LIBERAL ARTS STUDENTS [AND MOST REVILED COLUMN BY OUR EDITOR]
“Vino Poesy,” Nov. 27, 2005
Vino, likely as old as poetry itself, can be more than the subject of boozy panegyrics, and enliven the page as the symbol for flowing beauty or youthful spirit, or both, as evidenced in Sara Teasdale’s “In a Restaurant” (“The heat was full of savors, and the bright / Laughter of women lured the wine to flow”).
STRANGEST INTRO THAT SOMEHOW WORKED
“To the Moon and Back,” Feb. 18, 2007
Almost two years ago, Georgia’s own wild-eyed Runaway Bride was a tabloid darling, a tale of cold feet and fancy fibbing not seen by these authors since Tesauro canceled his date at the last minute with Justine Peddinger (name changed to protect the jilted), mumbling something about being grounded for bad grades and hanging up the phone quickly, only to encounter her later that evening at the middle school dance in the dim lights of the cleared-out cafeteria as he pranced with eighth-grade heartthrob Jinny Tumbleton (name changed to protect the temptress).
FINEST SEND OFF WITHOUT SENDING FLOWERS
“Daredevil on the Rocks,” Dec. 9, 2007
And so goes one of the world’s most glorious and durable showmen (and all this before affordable HMOs). Evel Knievel recently completed his final stunt, apparently jumping 14 Greyhound buses, two archangels, the heights of Pearly Gates, and then the entire width of the mythological river-stream Oceanus on his way to landing in the Elysian Fields, the last resting place “whither mortals favoured by the gods were transported without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss.” SP
Phineas and Jason are the authors of “The Modern Gentleman” and “The Modern Lover.”