Any update on this?

It kind of depends on what kind of liquor you want. Are you looking for fruit brandies, gin, and vodka? The craft distilleries are pretty good and fairly easy to find (almost all the stores have all the clear creek fruit brandies).

If you're looking for whiskey or aged brandy, I'd just say forget it. The only craft whiskey I've had that is as good as what I get from a big distillery is the Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey. It's not as good as most bourbon priced a lot less, but it is better than Bernheim Wheat Whiskey (which is probably the only fair comparison).

The Back Door in Fremont is designed like an oldschool speakeasy with some pretty amazing art on the walls and one of a kind lamp fixtures, many of which they purchased from Europe. They recently started putting on shows that include burlesque -maybe not romantic, per se, but always sexy- and they have a little curtained and mirrored cove that is perfect for a date. Their cocktails are STRONG and for the strength and quality, are fairly cheap ($7 where it would cost $10 on the Hill); three of them will knock you on your ass. l know l'm late to the conversation, but you should check it out anyway.

It is "Coeur d'Alene Lake" No old-timer would ever call it anything else. The same goes for Hayden Lake, Payette Lake and any other lake in Idaho.

Idaho lakes are name - lake. Someone in Boise is trying to make a back-water place like Idaho seem sophisticated by renaming the lakes. It is the worst kind of pretentious re-branding. No one is going to think the state is fancy just because they put "lake" first. They even changed Cascade Reservoir to "Lake Cascade." As if.

Was it a law? I thought it was just a distribution and marketing policy of Coors's. When we lived in Texas in the early 70s, my dad bought a ton of Coors from a guy who did exactly that, bootlegged a truckload from Colorado to Dallas.

I still remember the bizarre push-button can top, where instead of pulling off a ring, or lifting a lever like today's cans, you pushed in a big button and a little one. These sucked for drinking out of, but they were futuristic.

The first beer I tasted was Coors, sometime around then, after running out to the fridge in the garage, where those contraband Coors cases were kept, to get another one for my lazy dad in front of the football game.

I'll be around the week of Christmas. I vote for a few days before or after Christmas. As for location, anywhere you can take a Bus to is cool with me (no drinky drivey). Preferably somewhere on a more "main line" Metro Route.

As I am outside of Seattle so will just have to see what you come up with and figure out how it might work for me. If a place had reasonable food and non-alcoholic beverages available that would be great, especially if having to avoid leaving due to rush hour.

I did enjoy that meetup with Sacrelicious and rickibot at Third Place Books about a month ago. Lots of tables and open area to meet in and talk.

I would prefer Ballard or Fremont. Greenwood is a little far from home and work for me. 6ish on a weeknight at the People's Pub in Ballard would be my first choice.

City Cellers in Wallingford - http://www.citycellar.com/

They purposefully put together a 100 bottle selection of wines under $10.

They try to have equal representations of all major wine producing regions and they also include local WA wines too.

It's tough to get small winery wines for under 10$ because of their scale of production.

This one made their top ten under ten of their 100 list:
2009 Lone Birch Red Blend, Yakima, WA $10 Soft tannins, good acidity, and flavors of dark fruit and spice. A blend of seven grape varietals.

Though I guess they're using "less than or equal to $10.00" as their definition of less then 10 dollars.

I've been pretty pleased with the Snoqualmie wines, and they're almost all $8 http://www.snoqualmie.com/Wines/columbia_valley

If you're ever in Prosser, doing the wine-tasting thing, they're a nice stop.

Barnard Griffin Chardonnay and also Sauvignon Blanc are my favorite white at 10 or under.

For reds, the K cellars Charles and Charles Cabernet Sauvignon/ Syrah is my pick. What you see now is that so many Washington wineries are pussy-footing with syrah, blending it into basic cab. blends that are ordinarily Bordeaux-inspired, such as Cab/ Merlot. What K does is go whole-hog, with a 50/50 cab/ syrah, more like a Provence blend. Other Washington reds that do that blend can cost a lot more.

I like to drink beer, if I'm at a place I haven't been to before I'll just ask for a type of beer instead of a specific brand. This way I don't have to make the server rattle off a laundry list of beers and I'd forget half the list while trying to decide anyway.

If you drank a mixed drink at your biddy's house and he called it something silly and you don't want to repeat it you can ask the bartender to make you a 'spirit' + 'mixer' + 'liquor' and they'd be like "Oh yeah sure I can make you a 'thing'." and then you'll learn the common name that wont make you red in the face to say in public.

I worked in a place where the colorful clientele would order a "pink pussy" which was grapefruit juice + vodka, any other place that'd be called a "greyhound"

Another quick tip: If it is embarrassing to say the name of a drink then don't order it. Better yet: If you imagine that it would be embarrassing for your mom to say the name of a drink then don't order it.

You may be comfortable ordering a "blow job" or a "Slow Slippery Screw Up Against A Wall" but most decent people are not. Take a page from their book.

Ordering these drinks gets you put in the "asshole" category by the bartender.

You can always ask the bartender "what's your favorite drink to make?" or something to that effect if you're at a bar on a quieter, slower-paced night (I'd skip the chitchat if there's music blaring and the bartender is running around, making 5 drinks at once).

Any kind of alcohol can be a shot. But, people commonly stick to shots of whisky, tequila, jagermeister.. Shots can get fancy, as in more than one ingredient in them (recommended: Raspberry Stoli Kamakaze). But, you can literally point to a bottle and say "I'd like a shot of that" and I only recommend you make sure it has a proof of 80 or better. 80 proof means it's 40% alcohol. 60 proof would mean that 2/3 of your tiny little shot is not even alcohol because 60 proof is 30% alcohol. So, what's the point.

Now, cocktails are actually pretty simple a lot of the time. They can get complicated, yeah, but when I tended bar I made a lot of drinks that had one kind of alcohol and then one or 2 mixers (a mixer is something non-alcoholic that one mixes with alcohol; i.e. soda or juice).

My favorite was once gin and tonic. Then I began to enjoy just gin on the rocks (ice). Then I gave up drinking! haha.

Don't worry about sounding like an idiot. Even if others look comfortable, the bartender hears people reveal themselves to be in the dark about things all the time, and it's OK not to know everything about booze! I advise you to look at a drink recipe book, not so much for the recipes but for the other info it provides: safety, tipping, and a basic vocabulary.

Also, trendy drinks come and go. There's usually a drink of the summer that changes every year, like fashion. The mojito has been popular the past few summers I guess, just saying. It's a wonderfully refreshing drink that is rum-based and tastes like mint and lime.

Below is a little list to begin with and you can narrow down your tastes with this, and possibly find your favorite drink, or find the direction of your fave drink. Some drinks are ordered by name ("Long Island Iced Tea" "Margarita" "Kahlua Sombrero" -you can Google these), but many are just asked for by ingredients ("Rum and Cranberry" -yuck btw). Just keep your composure. Fake confidence is everything when getting swilly.

*[Classic] Martini: gin and a drop of dry vermouth
*Vodka Martini: made w/ vodka
*Vodka and Cran
*Vodka Tonic
*Vodka and Soda: the drunk's choice because carbonated drinks go to your head faster. Soda is club soda. Vodka comes unflavored as standard but you can see what they have for flavors. If you end up liking vodka, there's a huge difference in quality. Paying an extra buck is worth it for top shelf stuff.
*Madras: Vodka, Cranberry and OJ
*Rum and Coke (they'll ask whether you want spiced rum. I say yes. Sailor Jerry's or Captain Morgan's. If you don't want spiced rum you'll maybe get Bacardi)
*Jack and Coke
*Jack and Ginger
*Tequila Sunrise: tequila, OJ, and a little cherry syrup

...Geez, there are many more...

If you like a fancy concoction at one bar, yeah, they can probably do it at another bar but you might have to sort of know & tell the bartender the ingredients for a closer approximation.

Have fun! Tip well!

Not a full answer, but here's a collection of related bits of info in no particular order:

* Don't worry about sounding like an idiot. Just be polite and respectful; bartenders prefer polite and clueless over rude know-it-all any day. If it's a busy night, make your mind up before you get to the front of the line so you don't keep the bartender (and other customers) waiting. If you get a last minute bout of indecisiveness, just go for a simple standby like a rum-and-coke.

* Tipping: if it's a simple drink that's just some alcohol and a mixer (eg. rum and coke), $1 per drink is usually fine, just as you'd do with beer. If it's more complex, and involves shaking, straining, muddling or whatever else, consider tipping more. ($2 for a $9 cocktail is reasonable, given that the bartender could have served up two $4 beers with a $1 tip each otherwise in that time.)

* Practice this phrase and use if often: "...and a glass of water, please." Pretty much any bar will happily pour you a glass of water with your drink for free - whereas you'd have to pay $3 or so for a bottle of water if bought separately. Stay reasonably well hydrated to avoid the worst of hangovers.

* Most bars will essentially have the same set of basic spirits to play with - usually some selection of well-known brands of vodka/rum/gin/whiskey/tequila; and then various other liquors in all flavors of the rainbow. Two given bars may not have exactly the same set of name brand whiskeys, for example, but they'll still have at least a couple to choose from.

* The possible exception to this is some bars that focus on a specific type of spirit; eg. some bars may have an extensive selection of whiskeys/scotch or tequilas; asking for a "whiskey" there might be a bit like going to a Starbucks and asking for "coffee". But chances are if you're in one of these bars, you'll know it - they'll list their selection in a menu or on a chalkboard - and have something specific in mind (and will pay a premium for it too!). And these places typically have a full selection of the other spirits too.

* Be sure to use the phrases "oh, what did you get? Can I try a bit?" when hanging out with friends. This is the best way to try new things without committing to a full serving of something you might not like. This is probably how many people discover their favorite drink.

* At a basic approximation, drinks break down into a few common categories; the simplest two are single pours of just one type of spirit (eg. getting a scotch on the rocks - I think this is done usually just for whiskey-family and tequilas); and getting a simple single spirit plus mixer (gin and tonic, rum and coke, whiskey and ginger ale, vodka and orange juice - the last one being often called a screwdriver). You can pretty much order any of these in any bar. The other category is mixed drinks or cocktails, that have more complicated preparation and usually involve one or two base spirits and other ingredients.

* There's a set of well-known cocktails that you can get just about anywhere regardless of whether they are on the menu or not. These include eg. martinis manhattan, margarita, cosmopolitan, lemon drop, appletini and so on. Google for "classic cocktails" or similar to see various lists of these on the web. Named drinks on a menu are often house speciality drinks specific to a particular bar/restaurant. Sometimes, though, these are just variations on well-known cocktails.

* Shots - I'm not going to mention them other than to say that they generally don't have the same name as other mixed drinks.

* Terminology - sooner or later you'll come across "Well drinks" vs "call drinks": Basic idea here is that in most places if you just ask for say "rum and coke", without specifying a brand name for the rum, you'll get a basic cheap generic rum, usually one that's in a bottle in an easy-to-reach (for the bartender) area behind the counter, alongside the tools and ice - called the "well". On the other hand, you can ask for a specific brand - say "bacardi and coke" or "captain morgan and coke" - and you'll get that specific brand; this is called a "call". Generally, a call is more expensive than a well, and may (or may not) be of better quality. While some bars do have cheap wells (with brand names you'd never hear of but only see on the lower shelf at the liquor stores), some others just use decent well-known mid-shelf brands, and it's all the same price; it can vary by bar. Calling is done usually with spirit+mixer drinks - like the examples above - but also for some cocktails, notably martinis/manhattans: eg. you might order a "Tanquery martini" to be sure you got one with that brand of gin rather than whatever they are using in the well.

* Another terminology thing: some drinks you can get "up" or "on the rocks"/"in a rocks glass"; depending on the place and the drink you order, you could get asked which you want. "up" just means in a martini-style glass; "rocks" means a short tumbler (usually with ice).

* Another terminology thing that's good to know: 'Martini' can mean different things to different people. Originally it meant a drink that was mostly gin with a touch of vermouth. Then it came to mean a vodka-based drink to a large group of people. And it can also mean "any mixed drink served in one of those martini glasses with the angled sides". Depending on where you are and who your with, you may need to be specific about what you are looking for. Or if you're getting a drink for someone, and they ask you for a 'martini', be sure to ask them what type.

Most bars will have the ingredients to make a variation of most drinks. If you're ordering something weird ( like the drinks with silly names) know what goes in it and how it's prepared. But if you're ordering classic cocktails you can get them anywhere. I'd suggest trying things and figuring out what you like. If you figure out what brands of alcohol you like you can specify that. If you find a signature cocktail you love at a bar take note of the ingredients and try similar things at other bars. The perportions change but you'll at least have a starting point. And if you ask for something complicated at a busy bar ( things with muddling and what not) tip your bartender well

I was in New Orleans this weekend, and lucky enough to dine at Cochon one evening (and yes, I AM bragging!!). They'd just added a specialty cocktail that involved bourbon and a home-made pumpkin syrup infused with cardamon, cloves, etc. It was so delicious, I almost cried. (I'm also always a huge fan of autumnal fall flavors). But I don't think you want to infuse the bourbon itself, but considering some fun syrups and other flavors that can be added to the bourbon by the glass, rather than to the whole bottle.

Orange? and clove, cassia, cardamon, cloves, ginger, vanilla, and /or allspice (pumpkin pie flavors). I haven't tried it yet but this Supertaster article about orange and spice infused scotch whiskey was posted on Chow a couple of days ago. While I'm usually an enthusiast of no bullshit beverages (straight whiskey, black coffee) I must admit it does sound really good and while it wouldn't have the smokyness of scotch to bounce the orange/spice flavors off of it seems like it would work well with burbon too. And if your BF likes old fashioneds then it's in the flavor ballpark.

I don't have a recipe and I'm not going to pull a bitchy LMGTFY on you so I'll just go ahead and google "orange infused whiskey"... well dadgummit! this was on top (this is sounding better and better!) 

As far as brand of burbon Zeagle's reccommendations are great and I'd toss in Makers too depending on your finances and access, but ask someone at your fav liquor store- you don't need to and shouldn't spend a lot on a bottle, it might not work and unless you have years to experiment, the subtle flavors of an expensive burbon will be lost in the infusion. If you're hella broke and can't risk $25-30 and your BF likes rye you could try Old Overholt- it's cheap, historic, "not too bad for that price", and I think that it could really benefit from infusion.       Unless your BF is into Kid Rock (or just really likes them, for some reason) don't bother with Jim or Jack- the $5 up to the next level is worth it. 

FWIW your idea is risky but awesome, Zeagle and Griffin have good points but if he likes old fashioneds he's not just into straight burbon- he likes fancy shit too (if I were writing an article on 'what you drink says about you' I'd say old fashioned = "manly yet stylish") you know your guy.

There's a lot of rad in a heartfelt, hand-made, novel gift. Even if it doesn't quite work the first time the process might spark a burbon interest in you and an infusion intrest for him and then suddenly y'all are being all cute and couple-y with your newfound joint activity. 

Best of luck and have fun!

I agree with everyone here. Don't mess with the liquor itself. The 12th and Olive wine shop ( http://12thandolive.com/ )has an awseome selection of bitters.   

If you are interested in making your own bitter for your boyfriend's Old Fashonds then I'd still recommend dropping by and soak up some interesting and unique ideas for bitters. 

Most bourbon drinkers like the taste of plain, good bourbon. A dear old professor friend of mine refers to mint juleps as a waste of bourbon.

Basically, I would find a way to ask your boyfriend what he thinks of preflavored booze--if he thinks it's an interesting idea, he'll probably openly wonder about some citrus infusion or whatnot, and you have a direction. Maybe blood orange?

If he just likes bourbon, though, he'll say infusions aren't his thing. In that case, either buy him a very nice bottle of bourbon or bitters, or you could make him some boozy cherries for garnish (this is only if he likes fruit in his alcohol).

Yeah, I would infuse with neutral vodka, mix with the bourbon. That way, if you screw it up, it won't make you or him as sad to see good bourbon wasted :p Or, as the others mentioned, just mix up a custom batch of bitters!

You don't need to buy good bourbon to make Bitter. In fact most of them use grain alcohol or vodka. Some use rye.

Here are some super easy recipes for making home made bitter:

http://www.chow.com/food-news/54547/bringing-bitters-back/

There is a new book that just came out about bitters. It has some good recipes in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Bitters-Spirited-Cure-All-Cocktails-Formulas/dp/1580083595/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1320447629&sr=8-11

Good luck.

Why infuse at all? It's tricky and you might ruin a perfectly delicious bourbon with something crazy like cured pig meat.

I'm a big old fashioned fan myself and I think it would be more fun to buy a range of specialty bitters to go with an excellent bourbon.

The other night I had cardamom bitters in a delicious old fashioned that was like autumn melting in my mouth.

For the bourbon, I'd recommend Woodford Reserve, Bulleit or Buffalo Trace.

For the bitters, I'd recommend locally produced Scrappy's Bitters. http://scrappysbitters.com/

Buy a few...drink a lot.

Minea farm in Redmond. They have ciders made from different specific kinds of apples and can supply the sugar %s for each, so you make some actual choices about the cider you want to brew. I've bought from them in the past for brewing and it worked out well. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minea-Farm/122138054515100

http://www.bartend.tk has some great recommendations for bartending guides. Way better than black book or mr. boston, these books have become old and outdated, although they provide many old classic drink recipes, they also provide many recipes that are not real drinks and certainly you wouldn't find a flaming lamborghini or anything like that. I recommend the official international professional bartender's guide you can get it on amazon or from bartend.tk

Winewharehouse,north seattle..univ exit off i5..left off highway..you can see it from the road..tons of wine..call first

How much money do you have? Big bottles tend to be full of pretty good wine, and thus expensive, plus there's a lot of it in there.

McCarthy & Schiering in Ravenna has some biggies, I think even 6L bottles of some Italian stuff (Methuselah?). Be aware that these things are HEAVY, and awkward, and can be difficult to pour out of. Drop it on your foot (or just break it) and the comedy stops. I'd call first: (206) 524-9500.

The Living Room on Olive. Small and I think pretty cheap too.