Apologies, we had to re-post this slide. Here's the start of the new thread for it. bsky.app/profile/lawo...

... which is why we thought it was appropriate to include what is effectively a pseudonym. Now that he's been on the ballot once and there's less name/pseudonym confusion, I think I wouldn't include the reference in future years, however.

re. Best Fan Writer - different admins will make different choices from year to year. Almost everyone who nominated James Brantner did so as Tar Vol - I don't think anyone gave his full real name. So just listing that on the ballot probably would have been quite confusing for his nominators... 1/2

I AM READY!!!

Just 50 minutes to go until the 2026 Hugo Award Finalists are announced!

Agreed. They make their own here, so had to try them!

Ducked out early from a conference dinner and went to Sugar Monk instead. Both these drinks are good, but the Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is pretty extraordinary.

But wow, why does this brand exist and who thought "rectified" was a good word to associate with whiskey in the 2020s? 2/2

I'm at a restaurant in NYC. There are no brands listed for most spirits on the cocktail menu, except for the bourbon, I think. Because it turns out that's a brand... 1/2

I think that's where we're going for dinner, so maybe I'll save the drinking for there!

Right?

Looking for pre-dinner cocktail recommendations for NYC, near Rockefeller Center. Anyone have a fave? Both modern and crafty or old school and classic are fine.

Toronto trash panda in the yard just now! (I was trying to look at the ridiculous snow that's falling and got this instead!)

Neat!

Specifically for orange liqueur people can end up with vast quantities of bad bottles because they have recipes that call for Cointreau, triple sec, white Curacao, Curacao, orange Curacao, blue Curacao, Grand Marnier and Gran Gala. And they buy one of each.

How badly will that ruin your sleep? (I can only daydrink espresso martinis.)

Of course you do

Wish I could!

They are pretty much purely decorative. I like to munch on them as a snack, but they do nothing for the drink IME. I think it started as bars trying to be sustainable and getting more life out of leftover pre-cut citrus wheels by dehydrating in-house. But now they're just another commodity.

Dried citrus of some kind. And I'm still seeing blood oranges in stores here regularly, so what even are seasons anymore?

One interesting consequence of multi-generational living in Cuba is that there's color coded signage on hotels. Some are for tourists, others are for locals who want some privacy for a night (or few hours). There's no stigma attached to it - it's just the reality of crowded homes.

I was in Cuba a couple years ago. Most people there have to live in very intergenerational homes. Our guide talked about American-style nuclear family living aspirationaly, and I cautioned against thinking of it as only good, because I really do think we lost a lot with that shift.

And then, because we had to walk past Electric Bill on the way to our various homes, and Mike had missed that spot, we stopped in for one final round. I got their amazing Whisky and Apple, which is just Lot 40 with juiced-to-order Granny Smith juice, and that was an awesome way to end the night.

Last round at Civil Liberties was low ABV shaken for me (fino sherry based sour, awesome), low ABV stirred for Evelyn (punt e mes based reverse Manhattan-ish), and Mezcal stirred for Mike, which was Negroni-ish.

As noted, Mike needed to catch up, so he had a "something very refreshing with no gin" which was a rum & passion fruit tiki ish drink.

No menu. Evelyn's "surprise me" got her a Pan American Clipper, my "something obscure from the Savoy" got me a Chrysanthemum, Mike's "mezcal inspired" yielded a Mezcal and Scotch split base house drink with no name.

Then we walked a few doors down to Civil Liberties where the delayed third member of our bar crawl joined us and proceeded to start catching up!

Much delayed posting about round 2. While vodka was the headliner on the Laughing Gear, it's really an aquavit drink, and a delicious one. Toolies was Manhattan-ish, but I did appreciate the way a bit of verjus brightened it. My preferred White Negroni recipe also does that.

It's another bar night with @evelynbaker.bsky.social ! First stop, Electric Bill. Very "crafty" drinks, but a great vibe and everything has been delicious!

Yep, something going on.