I have been as much behind on my reading as on my blogging!
Jay Hepburn, at Oh Gosh!, has been doing a long series on orange liqueurs, spending large amounts of time and money so that you (and I) don’t have to.
His (I think) apotheosis of the series came out last week, and I missed it until now.
Jay tests his raft of quality oranges on three cocktails: The Margarita, the Sidecar, and of course, the Pegu.
I’m excited and annoyed by this post. In addition to Pegus, Sidecars are a big part of my personal, regular oeuvre, and I use only Cointreau for both. Of course, I use Cointreau in practically everything I use. But Jay’s hard work leaves me wondering about what variations I might find. Am I in a Cointreau rut? Do I want to spend the cash to find out, or do I stay happy in my hole? Fortunately, Jay offers at least a conditional conclusion that the Big C still is supreme in the Pegu, so I don’t need to make plane reservations to Houston, just to lay in new stock for my bar.
If you mix Pegus, or any cocktail that uses Cointreau, you owe it to yourself to read Jay’s piece (the whole series, in fact).
If you just use a bottle of generic Triple Sec in your mixing…. Well, I don’t know whether to say you have to read Jay’s stuff, or just shake my head and offer up a silent wish for better days ahead for you.