We saved a lot of pits over the last few months. My lord. There’s a lot of noyaux over here. I’m not exaggerating. We’ve got a couple gallons and we have three different types–cherry, peach, and plum. The verdict here is that the result of doing something so mind blowingly simple and having it produce such spectacular effects is a little shocking. All it is is roasted pits and booze, then some sugar. It’s a bit like milk punch in terms of the ooh and ah factor for guests.

There’s no recipe I follow. All you need to do is save your pits, roast them at 350° for about 30 minutes, smash them, and dump some high proof booze over them, preferably 151 rum or Spirytus Wesoly. Stick it somewhere and let it sit. When you remember it, that’s when it’s done.

I’ve yet to find a use for all of it, but I did make up an excellent batch of Army Navy cocktails for a wedding at the beginning of summer using cherry noyaux.

Army Navy

1.5 oz. Gin

.75 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.5 oz. Creme de Noyaux

.25 oz. Almond Amazake Orgeat

2 Dashes Ango

Pretty delicious stuff.

Smashed up a bunch of these little suckers in the trusty molcajete last night during service. This seems to be the best method. I have seen other use the bottom of a pan and even a hammer, but one good strike with the molcajete will do. It just takes a long time to do them all individually. For whatever reason, I don’t put them in a robot coupe out of fear they will wreck the blade.

I think we’re ready to explore another cocktail with creme de noyaux. Not sure what quite yet. The flames of inspiration have been waning a bit as of late. Lots of family shit going on right now. Yes, I know the blog has been a bit shitty lately. I was on a bit of a tear since my last bout of malaise. creativity is like life with its ups and downs. It’s ok. As long as you realize that, you’ll be fine.

An old buddy from up in Ojai came in last night. Nice to see her. Reminded me of the time I did the bar program for those guys up there. Strange time in my life. I think it was December of 2021 and January of 2022. I was going up there a bit and trying to figure out the two crazy bar set ups in the same giant restaurant. I learned a lot. I also learned that Ojai was a real weird place. I guess I’ve never written much about it and I should. Goddam, there was a lot of shit going on then and there’s a lot of shit going on now. I think the older you get the more of that there is if you want to stay in the game of life. As the clock turns, it all gets more and more weird until the final curtain falls. Yeah, I’ve been a little dark lately but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with thinking about things no one wants to think about. I don’t know, I’ve always been that way. I don’t want to talk or read about stupid shit, I want to talk about the real shit.