I found another cocktail production today called The Cocktail Spirit (h/t: Darcy at The Art of Drink). The Cocktail Spirit is actually a video podcast, rather than pedestrian little blog like this, and is produced by a group called the Small Screen Network. The Cocktail Spirit is SSN’s first series, but they plan more. From the quality I’ve seen so far, this should be considered a good thing. In fact, I have only one beef from a production standpoint: Once I subscribed via iTunes, I found out that their video format is incompatible with my new iPhone! Not to worry, I’m sure that SSN, like all other humans, will soon be assimilated….

Anyway, no Pegu episode (yet), but I’d still like to point out the Stocking Your Bar installment, as it pretty closely tracks with my own methodology. I’m writing about it here, because if you build your bar stock this way, it makes it easier to try a Pegu for the first time, and thus is, once again, a good thing!

Boiled down to its essentials, he gives the very good advice of not going out and stocking your bar with whatever Full, Deluxe, H2 Hummer of Home Bars list you find at the back of your average cocktail book. I tried this when I was younger, and hurt my back putting the two grocery carts of booze back after the sales clerk told me the damages. Instead, find a drink you want to try. If you don’t already have all the ingredients, go out and buy whatever you don’t have. He expands on how to do this, but I won’t detail it all, because I want you to go watch the show. This is not a great method for instant gratification, but you can take the money you save and the next time you go out to eat dinner, you can upgrade your Australian Chardonnay to a nice bottle of Puligny-Montrachet. (Or, if you actually were going to take home those two shopping carts of booze, you can instead make the mortgage payment on said home!) Just remember to order a Pegu first….

The real point that he makes, though not explicitly, is that everything consumable in your bar either lasts three days, or has the half-life of depleted Uranium. As the wise sage we called Ernie back in college, who would sell booze to ten of us as long a one had an ID, often said when would stock up on liquor we obviously had no knowledge of, Great thing about Booze is, it don’t spoil. So, even if you spit out that Negroni that you bought the Campari to make, rest assured that a year later, the Campari will still be just fine when you want to try out an Americano.

So, if you are ready to try a Pegu, you will probably just need to pick up a bottle of Angostura Bitters. Or use the one that you bought for making that Singapore Sling two years ago. Chances are it still nearly full, and is certainly still good. Then sit back and watch The Cocktail Spirit episode in question, and fast forward through the recipe at the end for The Last Word, or you’ll getting back in your car and heading off in search of Chartreuse….