Only 10 Bottles
I’m going to go out on a limb here and wager that when you open your liquor cabinet, you have trouble deciding what to make. However, the problem lies not in the lack of options, but the sheer abundance of them. Should you use the Aperol or Campari? What one of ten gins should go into your martini? Do you really feel like putting in the effort to make a tiki drink using that lovely bottle of Lemon Hart 151 sitting out front? (of course you do Paul)
After a long moment of surveying the scene, you’ll inevitably fall back on a familiar cocktail, likely one you’ve been enjoying to excess that week (the Kaiser has been quite enamored with Absinthe Suissesses since Tales).
But what if, instead, your problem was a lack of ingredients?
What if you could only have 10 bottles of alcohol for the rest of your life?
Obviously the bottles would be replenishable, but you could never have any other spirits or even brands of a particular spirit. What would you choose? Here is my semi-thought-out list:
The 10 List
- Plymouth gin
- Lemon Hart 151 rum
- Sazerac 6 rye whiskey
- Carpano Antica
- Noilly Prat dry vermouth
- Coruba dark Jamaican rum
- (making this list is giving me great distress by the way)
- Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- Laphroaig 40-year
- Campari
- Chartreuse (or a gold rum… or absinthe… oh this is a big problem!)
KP Question
- What’s your list of 10? Don’t forget to include the brand!
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- Carpano Antica
– Gosling’s Black Seal
– Plymouth Gin
– Rittenhouse Bonded
– Applejack Bonded
– Lucid Absinthe
– Havana Club Light
– Noilly Prat Dry
– Chartreuse Green VEP
– a tie between Scarlet Ibis and St Elizabeth All Spice Dram
Ok, I’ve posted my list here: http://anavolena.livejournal.com/133415.html
Hendrick’s Gin
Rum Zaya
Rum Clement Premiere Canne
Vaya Sweet Vermouth
Vaya Dry Vermouth
Kubler Absinthe
Luxardo Maraschino
Willet Rye
Black Maple Hill Bourbon
Yamazaki 18 or Clynelish 14
I think, I’ll probably change my mind soon.
1. Vya Sweet Vermouth
2. Vya Dry Vemouth
3. Makers Mark
4. El Dorado 12
5. Plymouth Gin
6. Havana Club Blanco
7. Benedictine
8. Cointreau
9. Amaro Poli
10. Navan Vanilla Cognac
1. Angostura Bitters
2. A nice mid-shelf Rye Whiskey. I’m not picky. Sazerac, Rittenhouse Bonded, or Wild Turkey.
3. Sweet Vermouth. If it’s free for the rest of my life, I’d probably pick Carpano Antica. Dolin Sweet, also tempting.
4. Dry Vermouth. Dolin Dry.
5. Orange Bitters. Angostura, maybe? Or Regan’s.
6. Absinthe. Again, if it’s free, I’m going for Jade Pernod Fils 1901.
7. Junipero Gin. My favorite all around gin.
8. A Good Cognac or Armangac with some spine. Pierre Ferrand Ambre, maybe?
9. Barbancourt 5 Star.
10. I’m torn between a Barolo Chinato and an Americano. I think I’m going to have to go with a Barolo Chinato, as it is my all time favorite after dinner beverage.
Let’s see…
1. Appleton Estate 21 Rum
2. Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 Anos Rum
3. Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb
4. Sazerac 6yr Rye
5. Plymouth Gin
6. Oronoco Rum
7. Maker’s Mark
8. Foursquare Spiced Rum
9. Lemon hart 151…no, J. Wray & Nephew Overproof…no, Lemon…um…
10. El Dorado 15 Rum
10. Clement VSOP
10. Appleton Estate Extra
10. Brugal Siglo de Oro
10. George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey
10. Do bitters count?
10. Rhum JM VSOP
10. Can I have 11?
1. Juipero Gin
2. Vya Sweet
3. Vya Dry
4. Clement VSOP
5. Creole Clement
6. Sazerac Rye
7. Luxardo Maraschino
8. Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot
9. Herradura Silver
10. Green Chartruese
Bitters don’t count right?
I’ve been thinking a lot about that post today…it’s a hard one.
Do you go for the best, or do you go for the ones that play the best with others?
Do bitters count? Vermouths?
Do they have to be in your cabinet now or can you just say “Sure, I’ll have a Glenfiddich 50 year old”?
But I’d probably say, based off what I’ve actually got in my cabinet:
1. Willett 6 year old bourbon
2. Plymouth gin
3. Red Hook rye
4. Glenfiddich 15 year old
5. Vya dry vermouth
6. Carpano Antica
7. Creole Shrubb
8. Green Chartreuse
9. Aperol
10. Anchor Genevieve gin
1. Bombay Sapphire
2. Cadenhead 80 proof
3. Bulleit Bourbon
4. Sazerac 6 yr.
5. Tito’s Handmade (hey…sometimes a guy wants a Moscow Mule or a Cape Codder ;-)
6. Zaya 12 yr.
7. Havana Club Blanco
8. Pitu
9. Noilly Prat Dry
10. Berentzen Apfel Korn
[…] over at KaiserPenguin popped a fun little exercise up yesterday. We cocktail crazies have rows of bottles, but what if we only could have Ten? Only […]
Stuck mine up over at http://tdif.brotherhoodofif.com/2008/08/22/desert-island-spirits-picks/
Here’s the list:
* J Wray 17 year old Jamaican Rum
* El Dorado 15 year old Demerara
* Mount Gay Extra Old
* Plymouth Gin
* Rittenhouse 23 year old Rye
* Lillet Blanc
* Punt e Mes
* Glenfiddich 21 year old Caribbean rum cask
* Green Chartreuse VEP
* Everclear (for making my own infusions and distillations)
- Lemon Hart 151
– Rhum JM VSOP
– Green Chartreuse
– Wild Turkey Rye 101
– Coruba
– Carpano Antica Formula
– Appleton 21 year
– Ardbeg 10 year
– Laird’s Bonded
– Flor de Caña Extra Dry
in no particular order
Rick, you should have my trackback in a few minutes, http://www.boozecouncil.org/?p=91
Well, if bitters don’t count I’d sub in:
Luxardo Maraschino.
Orange Liqueur. Tempted to say Cointreau, but maybe Clement Creole Shrubb.
If Vermouth doesn’t count, I’d probably add one of the W.L. Weller Bourbons and an Apple Brandy. Laird’s Bonded, maybe or Calvados Roger Groult Réserve 3 years.
1 J Wray 17
2 Appleton 30 year old
3 El Dorado 15
Silver Seal 15
4 Lemon Hart 151 demerara
5 Havana Club blanco
6 J wray overproof
7 Gin 209
8 Campari
9 Makers Mark
10 Luxardo
[…] I’m not the only one who had deserted tropical beaches on my brain. Rick at Kaiser Penguin posed a very interesting question: which ten bottles would you choose to be marooned […]
1. Angostura Bitters
2. Myers’s (so many beautiful rums, but the one I’d miss most)
3. Bombay
4. Punt e Mes
5. Cocchi Americano
6. Johnnie Walker Black Label
7. Evan Williams or Jefferson Bourbon
8. Courvoisier Napoleon
9. Senior’s Curacao
10. Luxardo Maraschino
Just Ten Bottles…
Over at Kaiser Penguin, Rick proposes the question What if you could only have 10 bottles of alcohol for the rest of your life? Obviously the bottles would be replenishable, but you could never have any other spirits or even brands of a particular spir…
Extremely interesting question…
My fovorite in my liquor cabinet are:
1. Havana Club Anejo 7 Anos
2. El Dorado Damerara 21 y.o.
3. Bombay Sapphire
4. Cointreau
5. Havana Club Blanco
6. Leyenda de Milagro Single Barrel Reposado
7. Cinzano Rosso
8. Ricard
9. El Dorado Damerara 12 y.o.
10. Angostura aromatic bitters…
Cointreau
Belvedere Vodka
Bombay Sapphire Gin
Courvoisier VS
10 Cane Rum
Angostura Bitters
Glenrothes Single Malt
Nolly Pratt Vermouth
Hendrick’s Gin
Johnny Walker Green
Please note that I might just HAPPILY restrict myself to this list if it meant a lifetime’s supply of free Cointreau. My kid’s college fund would certainly benefit….
[…] Penguin has a fun exercise up right now, in which he asks you to name ten bottles. Let’s say you live in a place with […]
Oh, and I put a second list, one more closely related to my own blogging, on my site.
1. Idol Vodka
2. Bulldog Gin
3. Patron Cafe
4. Remy Martin XO
5. Don Julio Gold
6. Johnny Walker Blue Label
7. Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka
8. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
9. Cruzan citrus rum
10. Bacardi Rum
1. Luxardo Maraschino
2. Angostura Bitters
3. 1919 Rum
4. Middleton Whiskey
5. Plymouth Gin
6. Macallan Cask Strength
7. Christiana Vodka
8. Espolon Tequila
9. Lairds bonded
10. Domain de Canton
The last I just started playing with but it has enough ginger flavor to make some nice cocktails. They are having a contest, if anyone wants to try to create a new cocktail. http://www.domainedecanton.com
[…] I am nothing if not a dedicated following of the whole drink-blogging fraternity and, over at Kaiser Penguin, they’ve birthed a bouncing baby meme that I am, of course going to jump right on board. So – […]
[…] Scriam acum un an de fernet branca, iar intre timp am incercat si alte bittere, atit intern cit si extern. Si am fost dezamagit, puternic. Cam toate au o planta, sau o mirodenie in ele care e in cantitate mare si care le da, dupa mine, o/un aroma-gust mai mult sau mai putin puternica de coaja de copac macerata in alcool. Asa ca am revenit la Fernet Branca, si l-am probat, si reprobat si degustat atent si nimica de “lemn” prin el, doar multe plante. Asa retete de cocktailuri cu fernet sint destule in lume, printre ele si clasicul argentinian: “fernet con cola”: gheata, 1 parte fernet si 2 parti cola. Plecind de la intrebarea unui “barman neamt” de origine indiana(apropo de Germania: sa uitam de ea, caci s-a dus in asa hal la vale…. ca la multe faze e ca in ro): cum se cheama ce bei tu acolo, adica “fernet con cola”, am scos un nume nou: Argentina libre Pinguinu Kaiser are o intrebare de 10 puncte, pardon de 10 sticle. […]
Appletons 12 year old (will accept 21y, 30y, and Master Blender’s)
Plymouth Gin
Sazerac Rye
Rhum St James Hors d’Age
Senior Curacao
Luxardo Maraschino
Pastis (or Pastis-like: Herbsaint or Absinthe)
Pusser’s (will accept 108 proof Navy rum)
Lillet Blanc
Nolly Pratt Dry Vermouth
Here’s my 10:
Plymouth gin
Bulleit bourbon
Laguvulin 16-year-old Scotch
10 Cane rum
Noilly Prat sweet vermouth
Noilly Prat dry vermouth
Luxardo Maraschino
Campari
Cointreau
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
Really frustrating not being able to fit Chartreuse and Creme de Violette in there! And I’ve gotta assume I can still have beer separately…
Late to the party, but here are my poisons:
– Citadelle Gin
– Coruba Dark Jamaican Rum
– Carpano Antica
– Oronoco White Rum
– Everclear (making my OWN damned liqueurs)
– Stock’s Maraschino Liqueur
– Pimento Dram
– Green Chartreuse – V.E.P.
– Blanton’s Bourbon
– Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye
Great cocktail meme, Rick!
I am also much to late… but here are my buddies:
1. Absolut Black [for all my potions I have to prepare; if I have to limit my selection, I have to become creative].
2. Straight Rye Whiskey – lets say Rittenhouse bonded
3. Tanqueray 10 or eventually Hendricks
4. Wild Turkey Rare Breed
5. Havana Club añejo 7 años
6. Sauza Hornitos
7. TBT Aromatic Bitters
8. Cointreau
9. Vya dry
10. Carpano Antiqua Formula
[…] at Kaiser Penguin, Rick has posed a challenging […]
1 – Makers Mark, or maybe a stronger bourbon
2 – Hendricks Gin
3 – Goslings Black Seal Rum
4&5 – Sweet&Dry Vermouth (brand?)
6 – Orange Bitters (home made?)
7 – Campari
8 – Luxardo
9 – Cointreau
10 – Lillet Blanc
bottle 11 would be Vermont Gold Vodka.
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Benedictine
Partida Reposado
Grand Marnier
Campari
Beefeater, or Tanqueray
Rittenhouse 100
Carpano Antica
Maritime Imperial IPA
A really nice Champagne