After just sitting down to work on manuals, we hear squealing tires and loud crashes. Some guy comes skidding out of Todd's she-she subdivision and slams into the next door neighbor's townhouse. Needless to say, this was a bit distracting.

4th of July Redux

Spent the 4th of July this year cooking whole hog barbecue with my dad's volunteer fire department. An annual event for the Bostwick VFD, the preparation of this picnic starts about 18 hours before serving. Pigs were smoked under corrugated shigles with indirect charcoal heat. The heads, along with beef shoulders and whole chickens, were boiled for brunswick stew. And after an all-nighter, which included bourbon for me, the pig picking began. A cool experience, and I think I held my own on shveling coals, picking pigs and working the stick on the stew, but dad may be on his own next year.

Jazzoo

This is what you do while you are waiting for a restaurant to be built. The zoo is a cool charity, but soaking in the muggy heat and watching amorous kangaroos may not be the best way to spend a Saturday night. We got great response to duck with bourbon barbecue sauce, except maybe from the vegetarians. "Oh, is that meat?" To which I started to reply, "yes, braised panda."

Here is a sneak peek at what I think is the completed One Flew South cocktail list. High volume and limited space dictated some product changes and a reduction in size, but I am happy with the turn out. 

Champagne
Georgia Bellini
champagne, peach puree, ginger syrup

French 75
champagne, Plymouth gin, sugar, lemon

Lush Life
champagne, Russell's Reserve bourbon, Leopold Brother's blackberry, bitters

Shorts
Old Fashioned
1895 – Old Forester bourbon, sugar, bitters, lemon twist
Modern – Wood Reserve bourbon, orange, cherry, sugar, bitters, soda

Caipriuva
Cabana cachaca, grapes, lime, sugar

Quetzalcotl
Don Diego Silver tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, agave syrup, smoked sea salt

Tall
Mojito
Niesson Rhum Blanc, mint, lime, sugar, club soda

Ruby Slipper
Rain vodka, ruby red grapefruit, rosemary syrup, club soda

Silver Wing Fizz
Blue Coat gin, lemon juice, sugar, egg white, club soda

Up
Aviation
Aviation gin, lemon juice, Leopold Brother's cherry

Manhattan
Sazerac rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, allspice dram, bitters

Portrait of a Bartender...
Finian's Irish whiskey, St.-Germain elderflower, orange bitters

"So I freaked out, joined the military, became an assassin..." Actually, I left the Seelbach, left Louisville, moved to Atlanta, and I am working feverishly to open a restaurant in Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport named One Flew South. Along with Todd Richards and Duane Nutter, the principles of our company Lush Life Group, LLC, I am helping creating the first upscale eatery in the country's busiest airport. Proper cocktails, a sushi bar and globally influenced dishes made from local, sustainable products will be served from E Concourse, aka International. Mid-to Late October (knock on wood), check back soon...

I'm Back! 

And what better way to come back to Barrel Proof than with an uncut/unfiltered opinion on Bacon. The man on the left is Allan Benton, aka King Bacon. Here he is putting the rap on a group at Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta. A former guidance counsler, Allan makes country ham and bacon in little ol' Madisonville, TN. Check out www.bentonshams.com. We received a "sample" for One Flew South (more about that later) and you can smell the smoke through the cryovac. Allan buys heirloom pigs, like Berkshires, and does little more than add salt and smoke and let then let it do its thing. Viva le Cochon!

Southern Foodways Last Night

Why yes, that is a magical bacon forest. What were you expecting?
Note the "real" smile on Todd Richards (vs. some pr pictures) flanked by Elizabeth Moore and Tom Freeland.
The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band
OK, one more bacon tree picture.