The 3rd Great Belgian Rum Tasting: Lichtervelde
June 17, 2023
Madou’s bar is becoming quite famous, and the rum collection is growing. Not only that, but the spa like atmosphere is outstanding…especially if you are a goat or a cow.
The welcoming committee chair.
Kay the barker and her faithful companion in the shade.
Warmup mai tai.
Part of the lineup.
Some notes from the first and second editions can be found here.
MAISON LQ MAUNY 2015:2019 – martinique (4)
hot. alcohol nose. clear gycerin use. dry on mouth. bitter
There was lots of Clement rum on hand, all from martinique.
We had to check our work with direct test tube comparisons for these.
CLEMENT 10 YEAR RHUM AGRICOLE 2012 (8)
dry. peppery. mature oak. delicious finish.
CLEMENT 5 YEAR MOKA RHUM AGRICOLE 2015 (6)
soft nose. curly esters. a bit sour turns to sweet.
CLEMENT 10 YEAR VANILLA RHUM AGRICOLE 2013 (7)
flower nose. soft. oak
CLEMENT 4 YEAR 5 MONTHS RHUM AGRICOLE 2020 (3)
gym sock nose. weak. bitter
CLEMENT XO (min 6 year blend) (7)
nice balanced nose. mature oak. balanced sugar. masterful blend. a bit corporate with nice components. banana.
CARÚPANO (up to) 21 year reserve (4)
sugar nose. central american style. ester curl works well. gycerin.
DIPLOMATICO AMBASSADOR (6)
sugar nose. some grass. hot. ester curl hell (not good). gets better each taste, but not as good as the 1976 product.
RATU 8 – fij (1)
coconut nose has to be fake. birthday cake disaster. yuck. please just take it.
BUNDABERG – australia (2)
weak nose. watery. blended down to bad.
TOPPITS (unpictured)
that’s a wrap. quite literally.
The final lineup.
Losers bracket.
There is Amer Picon to be had, including Citron which NPS has never seen before. We made liberals of course.
And we introduced the Industry Sour to Belgium
equal parts: Fernet. Green Chartruese. Lime. Simple syrup (1:1). Shake. Serve up.
Walks around the pond are available for a fee.
Sometimes things get hazy
Our hostess with the mostess.
We can’t wait to return.
fin.
Quick Hit in NYC: Hotel Indigo is Very Corporate
October 17, 2022
What was to be a long weekend in the city shrunk down to one night when business did its usual thing of melting away. NPS stayed on the lower east side on somewhat of a whim. The verdict? Meh.
Thing is, Madou had no idea that we weren’t in midtown. So we shlepped up there for sushi at Sushi by Bou. Which was hilarious and definitely worth the subway time.
Waygu and uni…surf and turf @mmadou pic.twitter.com/BBZUfT75ih
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) September 7, 2022
The place is tiny, so make a reservation. Immediately after coffee, it was back downtown for our meetings, and then back to midtown for dinner at Freemans. Dinner was great.
But skip the rice pudding fad! LOL. Ride pudding is way too filling to catch on.
After dinner, the plan was to wedge into PDF, but the hot dog place was being its persnickety self. So instead we headed to Amor Y Amargo for some fantastic cocktails. We made up an experimental cocktail called the McGillicutty.
The Indigo was generic and boring. All of the Kimpton magic has dispersed.
The shower is not plastic.
The lower east side is close to some stuff, we guess.
NPS doesn’t remember the room number. Not returning.
Back to EWR you go (in an early Uber).
The United club is all new and fancy, but the flights are still delayed.
All told, three showerheads and no more strikes for Kimpton. Anybody have a good boutique hotel chain to offer?
R2 Wine Luncheon Number 5
October 12, 2019
As always, the wine luncheon in LA was excellent. Great food, great company, and great wine. Our host Donnie did it again.
We dined at Lucques, and though we did not have a private room, we were well cared for and had plenty of room.
Donnie and I arrived in time for a cocktail before lunch got rolling.

House made Negroni at Lucques

Negroni components
The house made Negroni was, um, interesting. Infused vodka?! Overly sweet home made Campari. Sweet vermouth that was pretty sweet.

R2 menu
The food was excellent. Sadly, no pictures were snapped. The wine was plentiful as always.

The wine supply

Wine

Wine
As it turned out, a number of small French wineries were in the house looking for US distributors. After lunch, we joined them for a taste.

Vive la France
After an excellent Indian dinner, we decamped to Edison for a night cap. Good times.

Greenpoint
Back in Oslo at the Hotel Christiania Teater
August 30, 2019
Oslo is a beautiful city, but whatever you do, don’t try to drive in it. Even people who grew up here can’t do it. In particular, trying to get to the Hotel Christiania Teater from Lillehammer is, well, “interesting” in that Chinese curse kind of way.
As a creature of habit who has found a great property in Oslo, NPS is happy to stay at the Hotel Christiania Teater again. The only wrinkle is that someone else has booked 620 for Wednesday night. Scooped!
That meant we were relegated to room 510, which is a nice room with an inner courtyard facing “view.” 510 is very nice, but is not at all a 620!

510 is dominated by this comfortable bed

The suite sitting area is in the same room as the bed (which in our view makes it less of a suite and more of a room)

bathroom alcove

the shower is set apart by a huge heavy door
Sadly the plumbing seems to wake up early and make insane amounts of noise. An alarm clock of sorts.

The glass shower compartment, this shower is OK
One of the best parts of Hotel Christiania Teater is the bar downstairs which is top notch and always nice to visit.

Negroni with Norwegian gin
Excellent Indian food can be found at Jaipur.

Delicious
And of course a visit to Himkok is pretty much mandatory.

Experimental aquavit cocktail
Experimental Aquavit Cocktail
2cl aquavit
2cl tequila
4 cl beech water kefie
10 ml ambrato (bison grass)
10 ml Italicus
stir down. serve up.
After a one day delay, room 620 became available. An excellent, interesting, quirky space with a great shower.

The supermodels show off 630

bedroom is all bed

walk in shower with tub

One of two great alcoves with windows
All in all 620 has tons of room to hang out, exercise (which is important since the hotel has no gym of its own), blog, read, etc, in comfort.
Some time in Oslo, included a visit to Gøran’s cousin’s excellent art gallery PURenkel.
I added a painting to the art collection.

starfish
There was also Indian street food, beer, and espresso.
A talk.

Visiting Miles
Dinner at Hanami was very good. Excellent sushi and great service.
Just skip the bar at the thief. These people have forgotten what hospitality is.
Five showerheads for Hotel Christiania Teater, one of NPS’ favorite hotels on the planet.
Grande Colonial Inn La Jolla Gets a Facelift
May 15, 2019
What a difference a year makes. Last year the Grande Colonial seemed a bit tired and long in the tooth. It has had a facelift.

View from 102
Though the architecture of the building has not changed, the room layout is much cleaner and more spacious. Even the long skinny bathroom (which remains long and skinny) is better.

Looking in the long skinny bathroom. Hey, the shower is not plastic!
This trend to delete bath tubs and replace them with modern shower spaces is a great trend. Much better use of space, and much more reasonable approach to morning cleanliness.

The best part of this design is that the controls are situated logically. No reason to get wet while you turn on the shower.
The rest of the room has been opened up, repainted, and re-imagined. Nice work.

102 bed

Seating area 102

Look how comfortable

Sadly, the parking lot has not been deleted. The ocean is over there somewhere.
Dinner at Catania was very good for a restaurant group property. Modern italian with a negroni to boot. Recommended.
Sadly, the bar at Nine Ten (which is a very good restaurant in the hotel) is still sub-par. Gotta hire some hipsters who know what they are doing. The current bar suits the old, monied, and boring demographic of the hotel. Nuff said.
George’s at the Cove, a La Jolla establishment of many years still deserving its reputation, still has the best cocktail program in town.
Joree Weatherly was a top notch barman who served us this cocktail. It has a name, but Joree did not write it down on the recipe I asked for. Lets just call it Trentino Tincture. Actually, it turns out to be named Shiso Piney
1.5 Amaro Junipero gin
.5 Pasubio amaro (from Trentino where I spent a year in 1993)
1 lemon
.75 shiso syrup
2 dashes of pine tincture
top with soda. serve on rocks in a collins glass.
When we returned the next night with a cast of hundreds, Joree made use these great cocktails:
Mezcal Manhattan
1.5 Mezcal
.75 montenegro
.75 Averna
2 dashes mexican spiced bitters
Stir down, serve on a large cube
Negroni Amarillo
1.5 Mezcal
1 pamplemousse
1 suze
2 dashes sage tincture
Stir down, serve up with sage leaf
United upgraded us on the way out. Lets hope that works for the way back too. Global services rock on! Um, nope. No upgrade, and we’re here to tell you, economy sucks!
NPS is impressed. Nice work updating the property! Four showerheads for the Grande Colonial.
One Night at the Kabuki (Japantown, San Francisco)
March 18, 2019
After a weekend of staying with friends (paul, jim and chloe), we spent one night at the Kabuki before heading out of town early in the morning.
1602 is as nice a room as ever. We have been here before.

1602 bedroom in the upper corner
There was just enough time to dash down a craft cocktail before dinner.
The Daffodil-Narcissus
1 oz Sipsmith gin
1 oz Bols Genever
1 oz honey/water 1:1
.5 oz lillet blanc
.5 oz lime juice
spoon of greek yogurt
egg white
dry shake. shake on ice. serve in a collins with a big cube and dill garnish.
Dinner at Mourad was very good indeed. Expensive as all get out, but great food and an excellent quirky wine list.
And we now have a new driver in SF.
Four showerheads for the Kabuki and thanks for putting us up in our favorite room.