Comments on: Build-a-Bar Workshop

By: Lee Elliott

Lee Elliott — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:44:22 +0000

Thanks Marleigh!

And I’d like to comment on the quality of the photos collected in this post as well – clean, sharp, stylish, colourful – well done! To me – a big part of the appeal of any cocktail blog – keeps me salivating.

By: Marleigh

Marleigh — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:33:12 +0000

Hi Lee—Honestly, it depends on the liqueur. Chambord has a low proof and a high sugar content, so it is shelf stable for a long time as long as you keep it out of direct sunlight with moderate temperature control. High-proof liquors like whiskey evaporate and are affected by oxidation at a much faster rate, so I try to use them up within three months of opening them.

As a general rule, I don’t worry about liqueurs at all. They’ll keep for a long time, and most of the time you don’t use enough of them in a drink that even if they were a little “off” that it would make much of a difference. (Though if you’re talking about a vintage bottle of Forbidden Fruit that was bottled in the ’60s, you should use it up as fast as you can—a bottle that old goes off much, much faster.)

By: Lee Elliott

Lee Elliott — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:21:59 +0000

Do you worry about the freshness of the liqueurs? Something like Chambord – which might take me years to use up – I wonder about shelf life. Some people worry about vermouth and not much else – and others more fussy. Opinion?

By: Marleigh

Marleigh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:28:02 +0000

Thanks Kara! If you ever want advice if/when you tackle your bar I’d be glad to share. :)

Michael–Having worked at non-profits in the past and with the Red Cross in various capacities, I have my own reasons for suggesting other aid groups. The CEO salary was just one number for the purpose of my short write-up, as my point wasn’t to undermine the work of the ARC but to promote other groups who are less known but also doing good work on the ground. The substance of my objections is immaterial toward that end, and this isn’t a blog about politics or bureaucracy.

By: Michael Weinberg

Michael Weinberg — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:28:38 +0000

There’s no reason for your dig at the Red Cross. The American Red Cross actually has lower Administrative costs than Oxfam, and spends a higher percentage of its budget on Program costs than either Oxfam or Doctors Without Borders. This is not to say that any of these organizations is better than another–they all do good work, and presumably are all doing good work in Haiti–but it is shortsighted and often inaccurate to take one figure, such as the dollar amount of executive compensation, and judging the work an organization does by it.

By: Kara Newman

Kara Newman — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:06:07 +0000

Fabulous. Just fabulous. Can you come sort out my home bar too?