MxMO – Blog Love
It’s Mixology Monday time again, which this month has the slightly different theme of blog love – the idea being you pick a cocktail you first came across in another blog, and write about the cocktail whilst also plugging the source blog. Personally I’ve done this several times before already, with the Charleston from Erik and the Last Word from Gabriel to name but two. I could have chosen a delicious drink from any of the blogs I link to on the sidebar, but in the end I decided to try a Pegu Club from, appropriately, The Pegu Blog.
Pegu Club
- 1½ shots gin
- ½ shot Cointreau
- ½ shot lime juice
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Shake well with ice and fine strain in to a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
The Pegu Club cocktail hails from the Pegu Club in Burma. I couldn’t find a firm date for its origin, but it is mentioned in The Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930, so dates from at least the 1920s. Like so many older cocktails its recipe varies wildly, but I’m using the one Doug lists on his site. Upon first taste it reminded me a little of the Oh Gosh!, thanks to the use of lime and Cointreau, although the use of gin and bitters gives it a very different taste overall. It has a lovely refreshing initial taste, with the bitters providing a complex after-taste that works really well. I can see why Doug drinks so many of these, an excellent cocktail indeed.
As part of MxMo Paul also asked “why’d you start crossing your cocktail shaker with your keyboard?”. I started this blog as somewhere to record the recipes I was trying and perhaps provide other beginners and young people with a take on cocktails from a peers perspective. Real cocktails aren’t all that popular with people my age, who tend to measure drinking in quantity rather than quality. I therefore hoped this site might, in its own small way, encourage people to try something beyond the sugary, luminous “Tini’s” that make up the cocktail range in 99% of pubs and bars I seem to come across.
In addition, since starting this blog I’ve found that by writing about the cocktails I drink I give them a lot more thought and consideration. Before I began blogging I would mix up the ingredients and enjoy the drink, but would give it no further thought other than “that was nice”, or “won’t be trying that again!”. I now find myself considering the ingredients, identifying their flavours in the cocktail, and giving real thought about that I like or dislike about the cocktail. It’s also encouraged me to be more adventurous with what I make, rather than drinking my favourites all the time, as I’m always after new things to write about here.
The nicest thing I discovered though is what a warm and welcoming bunch my fellow bloggers are. Every one I have spoken to, whether in the comments section of a post or by email, has been incredibly friendly and happy to share tips and information. So here’s to all the bloggers I’ve spoken to, the cocktail blogs I link to, and no doubt the many others I’ve yet to discover – cheers!
Posted in Aromatic Bitters, Curaçao & Triple Sec, Gin, Lime, Mixology Monday, Recipes
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July 16th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Swoon! Oh, I’m feeling the Blog Love!
Thanks for the plug, I do appreciate it.
I agree wholeheartedly about the effects of reading the other blogs. As with any intellectual reading, you find yourself with new tools to examine what your own thoughts are. The more you know about why you feel the way you do, the better you can persue the positive and avoid the negative.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Excellent site here! Don’t know why I didn’t find this site sooner – but now I’ve got Mixology Mondays to thank for that!
I’ll try your recipe on my blog soon, and I’ll be back often!
July 17th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
[...] at Oh, Gosh! prepared a classic Pegu Club, which he’d read about, suitably enough, on The Pegu Blog. [...]
July 19th, 2007 at 12:19 am
[...] writing my post, and lots of fun reading others! A big thanks to Jay at OhGo.sh for profiling the One True Cocktail™, and to everyone else, for putting up so many posts that were interesting enough for me to get [...]
July 19th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Don’t know why I didn’t find your site sooner, but I’m glad I did. The Pegu has long been one of my favorites and since I included it on the menu at Union in Seattle, it has become one of the most frequently ordered drink on the menu. Great post, and I couldn’t agree more regarding the sugary sweet Tini’s that pass for cocktails these days…
July 21st, 2007 at 6:14 pm
“…since starting this blog I’ve found that by writing about the cocktails I drink I give them a lot more thought and consideration.”
Right on! I’ve found that knowing later on I’ll be writing (and drawing) about a given recipe really makes me prepare & drink it with a lot more awareness.
July 25th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
hey,
been reading your blog for a little while now. i want to win the contest for the modern mixology DVD. i chose to comment this entry because i am a fan of pegus and that is how i found your blog.
thanks!
July 15th, 2008 at 4:47 am
The Pegu Club has become one of my favorites. It’s a great drink to re-educate people who profess to hate gin.
I’ve made mine with Cointreau & with Senior’s Curacao, & I like the Curacao version a bit better. I think the more earthy tone of the Curacao goes especially well with the bitters.
I’d be curious to hear some other opinions on Cointreau vs. Curacao in the Pegu Club.
This is my first comment on a terrific site- you dragged me into the open with your contest!
August 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Chuck – I talked a little about the Pegu Club and different liqueurs in my mixing with orange liqueurs post, which was part of my orange liqueur comparison series.
July 18th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Hey Jay
What Gin do you recommend for this cocktail?
London Dry, Old Tom?..
Kind regards
Mardec