Way out west there was this fella, and his drink, I wanna tell ya about. Goes by the name of Keith Waldbauer. His drink goes by the name, “Union“. At least that was the handle its loving creator gave it. Now, “Union” – there’s a name no man would seek out to associate himself with in the South where I come from. But then there was a lot about Keith that don’t make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that’s why I found the drink so darned interestin’. See, they call his bar “Union” too; but I can’t say I’ve come here to talk about that, exactly. But I’ll allow it as there are some nice folks there, in Seattle. ‘Course I ain’t never been to London, and I ain’t never seen France. And I ain’t never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I’ll tell you what – after drinking the “Union”, and this here story I’m about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin’ every bit as stupefyin’ as you’d seen in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin’ like the good Lord gypped me.

Now this here drink I’m about to tell you about came about in the early twenty aughts – just about the time of our conflict with Sad’m and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there’s a drink… I won’t say a classic, ’cause, what’s a classic? Sometimes, there’s a drink. And I’m talkin’ about the Union here – the Union from Seattle. Sometimes, there’s a drink, well, it’s the drink for its time and place. It fits right in there. And that’s the Union. The Union, from Seattle. And even if it’s a fine drink – and the Union is most certainly that. Quite possibly one of the more finest in all of King County, which would place him high in the runnin’ for worldwide. Sometimes there’s a drink, sometimes, there’s a drink. Well, I lost my train of thought here. But… aw, hell. I’ve done introduced it enough. Read More »

The 'Aviator' is a variation on one of my favorite cocktails, the 'Aviation', which started me on the road to cocktail obsession. This particular recipe is from a collection I recently purchased while at the bookstore (I seem to find myself stopping by there when it's out-of-the-way for my errands, like a literate H.I. McDunnough at the local Kwik-E-Mart) in the Food and Wine Cocktails 2007 guide. Now, I'll write up a full review of this uneven, if well-produced, guide later on but you should know that essentially it's a compendium of cocktail (and some bar food) recipes from around the U.S. that the Food & Wine magazine editors compiled in their research and visits during the past year. Thus, it was natural in flipping through it that I was attracted to the 'Aviator', developed by Jay Crabb at the 'Martini Monkey' bar in the airport at San Jose, California. It takes the basic 'Aviation' cocktail and puts a spin on it that includes creme de cassis, egg white, and throws in some orange bitters to boot to keep the drink more balanced against the sweet liqueur. Read More »