Vakkotaur

For some time I've been trying various cocktails. Some time ago it was at bars, but that is generally expensive and means a certain loss of control of the ingredients. It also means being limited to what the bar has in stock and what the bartender knows or is willing to look up (or deal with). So I started acquiring spirits and liqueurs so I could mix things myself. This has grown to the point I suspect I can mix a good many things not to be found anywhere else in (this rather small) town. Granted, that's easy when the local VFW lacks Galliano and thus can't even make a simple Harvey Wallbanger.

For a while, I've been a bit hesitant about the Jasmine. Supposedly it tastes "just like" grapefruit. I held off, as I can't stand grapefruit. There's some chemical in it that I can taste (and evidently jmaynard cannot) that is irredeemably nasty. It's bitter to the point of evil.

But today I decided to risk it, if only to clear the recipe page off of my browser's open tabs.
So I mixed this thing:

• 1 1/2 ounces gin (I used Broker's. I suspect most any decent gin will do.[1])
• 3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice (I went with store-bought bottled. I had it.)
• 1/4 ounce Campari
• 1/4 ounce Cointreau

And I omitted the garnish. And, to me... it tasted sort of like grapefruit, only without the nasty bitter note. I had Jay try it. He pronounced it identical in flavor to grapefruit. So now I know what people who don't taste the nasty bitter note taste: something that actually isn't bad.

As the_gneech noted in a followup to his post about the troll that failed, different styles appeal to different audiences which might not necessarily overlap. I regularly read Suburban Jungle[1] for instance, but find the style of It's Walky unappealing. Not bad, just unappealing to me.

That's just one example. The Animaniacs character of Rita (the cat) was voiced by Bernadette Peters. Rita often sang, the singing also done by Bernadette Peters. And the singing was, of course, quite good. But somehow it never appealed to me. Was it too many high notes? Too much like a whine? I'm not sure. When I listen to the singing to judge it, it's fine. But I can't listen to it for enjoyment.

There's a lot of stuff out there that isn't actually bad, but I simply don't like it very much. There is, of course, also an astonishing amount of genuine crud. Those are not the same, but sometimes I think folks get the impression that they're all lumped together. In the sense of "don't care for it" they are lumped together. The reason for not caring for each class differs, however.

( Example: Breakfast )

[1] Suburban Jungle is being done by guest artists for a little while, so if you're looking at it around the time I post this, you're not getting a representative sample unless you check the archives a bit.