Contemplating Cocktails with Keith Metro Melik

In this episode we hear the story of how Soup Spoon Cafe began. Owner Nick Gavrilides shares HIS-story.


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Did you know that Johnny Appleseed was a drunk?
But first Metro Melik goes off on a tangent about a real life Jack Sprat situation. Keith gets things back on track as to why Johnny Appleseed went around the land planting cider apple trees. Let's start in 1698 with William Laird in New Jersey who started making apple whiskey that eventually became applejack.
Cider apples are necessary for applejack.
This episode has a lot of the beginning history of the United States of America. Laird's is the first licensed distillery in the US of A. Check out their pictorial history here: https://lairdandcompany.com/our-history/


The Cocktail of the episode is the Jack Rose. 2 1/2 oz of Laird's applejack, 3/4 oz of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/2 ounce of grenadine 


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Keith considers this mezcal's other half to be tequila. With mezcal and tequila we discuss the circle of life.
Tequila comes from blue agave of cactus.

Chihuahua Mountains are where blue agave grows. The name threw off Melik and trying to do math shows. The first recorded distillation of tequila happened in 1666.

Weird story from Melik talking a little bit about his dance history. Strippers were involved kind of. Then there is a reference to the old Way Side Bar also known as Sparty's that had a wonderful drink special for Blue Motorcycles.

The bonus episode will be part of the Patreon mix.

Then Keith talks about when tequila began to be imported to the western expansion of the United States of America.

The cocktail of the episode is the Oaxaca Sleeping Potion. Ingredients - Mexico chocolate / aqualita, steam milk, 1 oz of tequila, 1 oz of mezcal, 1/2 ounce orange liqueur

an important economic product of Jalisco, Mexico, due to its role as the base ingredient of tequila, a popular distilled beverage.


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What is amaro?

But of course there's a Melik sidebar that happens first. He talks about date night that had an enjoyable meal.

Amaro has a simple meaning of bitter. It is a bitter liqueur. Grappa based spirit that has herbs, spices, botanicals added to it that is reduced from a 'brandy' to an amaro. This is a followup of "booze can be medicine". A lot of amaros were made to be medicinal. "Holistic medicine is that amaro is all about", Keith.

Keith adds Fernet Branca to the mix with a flavor of spice melange. [Melange, often referred to as simply "the spice", is the name of the fictional drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert, and derivative works.]

Melik talks about the treatment of people in the service industry.

Amaro is a digestif that can be defined as "the end of the end".

The recipe for this is simple - Fernet Branca and Coca-Cola, as the Argentinians do. There's also Branca Menta which goes well with a little bit Sprite. The Coca-Cola Company are not paid advertisers.

If you can find Art of the Age - "Root", you'll find a special treat.

Cocktail Recipe: The Toronto - 2 oz of Canadian Whiskey, 1/4 oz of Fernet Branca, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, and a dash of Angostora bitters. Shake, pour on the rocks, and orange peel as the final ingredient.

Melik does throw out a few curse words in this episode.


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In this happy meandering episode:
Keith is happy to be a bicycle rider in the middle of the Mitten, Lansing Michigan.
The drink is the vehicle for two passionate people to share good stories. This episode will have stories circling around the spirit of moonshine. This moonshine story begins with the Whiskey Rebellion.
Think about how different production, purchasing goods, and consuming goods have changed over the last 240 years [or so]
Keith explores how moonshine became to be called moonshine. You can decide whether or not you believe Keith's moonraker story. Melik tells on himself with one of his moonshine pastimes.
Then Melik shares one of his favorite childhood memories.

"Justice like lightning should ever appear to some men hope, to other men fear"


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Warning: Melik curses a few times in this episode.

Clear, flavorless spirit distilled from cereal grains and an often misunderstood spirit. Ideally vodka has no flavor. Vodka is the diminutive of voda is "water" in several Slavic languages, similarly to uisquibah which is Gaelic for water of life. There's a lot of misconceptions about the distillation process in general that are discussed in this episode. Basically vodka is gluten free.
There's a history of vodka that is a whole lot of nothing from something that makes some of the best vodka. |

Define foie gras: liver of a specially fattened goose or duck prepared as food.

Tito's Handmade Vodka changed how people were misinformed about spirits.

Martini has become redefined, which also can cause confusion with customers and traditional bartenders.

Keith has a favorite, which surprised Melik.

Vodka is a distilled beverage composed primarily of water and ethanol, sometimes with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits or sugar. Traditionally prepared vodkas had an alcoholic content of 40% by volume.


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