590 replies to this topic

[bostonapothecary]

2 oz. st. james ambre rhum
1 oz. cynar
1 oz. sour orange juice

i almost made something like a bronx then all this talk of bitterness inspired me to reach for cynar.

this might read scary, but by some strange phenomenon it is really elegant. bitterness and simultaneous sourness seem to divide our limited abilities to pay attention to the features of the drink and none seem as aggressive as they can often be solo. it needs a dash of appropriate bitters, but i was too indecisive to pick.

a fruit that doesn't exist is conjured and the artifice is compelling.

i am reminded of Huysman's character Des Esseintes

"He wished to go one step beyond. Instead of artificial flowers imitating real flowers, natural flowers should mimic the artificial ones."...

[haresfur]

Your use of the wedge of lime to balance your Cynar Boulevardier shows that the drink is a bit too sweet (at least for you and me). I sometimes use dry vermouth for that, although it is a much weaker acid, of course.

Actually it was a Campari Boulevardier, I wasn't clear due to my attempt to tease our favourite alcohol scientist. Sometimes adding an ingredient seems to help the flavours blend together in a drink so you percieve one integrated taste. In this case, for me, the lime seemed to provide another focal point so my awareness went, "Oh, Campari. Oh, Bourbon. Oh, lime. Oh, some of each." Repeat... Very nice. I wonder also if the lime tempered the bitter more than the sweet. It seems to me it tasted sweeter after adding the lime. More research is in order.

Need to try a Cynar version, too.

[FrogPrincesse]

Bermuda Sour (Sam Ross): dark rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, egg white, orange wedge, Angostura bitters garnish.



This was really nice, and would have been even better if I had used a dark rum with a little more personality (I used Whaler's).

[ChrisTaylor]

A couple guests tried making a Dark and Stormy w/ pimento dram instead of regular dark rum. Kind of works.

[haresfur]

I think about a tablespoon of pimento dram in addition to the rum works. But my favourite addition is a splash of Fernet Branca.

[ChrisTaylor]

To a Dark and Stormy?

[haresfur]

To a Dark and Stormy?

Yes. Forgot to quote.

[ChrisTaylor]

I read your post as I was sitting in a local restaurant, waiting for a takeaway order. On the way home I hit Coles for some ginger beer. Just for this. And it was worth it.

[Hassouni]

Oh good God did I create something wonderful

Highball glass
rocks
white rum (FdC)
fresh pressed pink grapefruit juice
splash of Cointreau
splash of homemade grenadine
top with soda water
garnish w/ grapefruit twist.

[bostonapothecary]

b.b.s.
2 oz. st. james rhum ambre
1 oz. vintage 2008 homemade aromatized wine*
scant spoonful brandymel

this was a pretty cool brown bitter and stirred sort of drink.

i found a forgotten bottle of the aromatized wine when cleaning out part of house. it tasted like the day i put it in the bottle. it was simply bottled in a 20 oz. beer bottle, filled to the top and crown capped.

the aromatized wine most closely parallels bonal or vergano's grignolino based "americano". they both weren't on the market back then. the most significant attentional features are the extraordinary red fruit expressions and the elegance of it gustatory bitterness.

i think i remember adjusting the tonality of a montepulciano rose (often referred to a "cerasuolo") with dried fruits. i was trying to mimic the other frappato/nero-d'avola "cerasuolos" of sicily. the fortifier was a blend of grappa and slivovitz. the bitter botanicals were wormwood, gentian, and orris. i also remember there being bergamot peels. the ideas was to be like a super stimulus version of a cerasuolo as is a barolo chinato to a barolo.

back then i measured the sugar with a refractometer. i was incorrect about the numbers it generated (alcohol content influenced the measurement), but somewhat accurate in the tool's ability to make comparisons to other commercial products. now i've developed techniques that are significantly easier and more accurate.

i'm on the verge of making another aromatized wine. it might be really avante-garde and include boutique brewers grains as botanicals as well as be sweetened by a combination of mistelles and single varietal honeys. i think my base wine will be the bonny doon dry muscat.

[ChrisTaylor]

From the other day: another haresfur-brand™ modified Dark and Stormy. This time it was a shot of rum and a half shot of Cointreau (it seemed like a sensible starting point--I didn't want to overdo it) w/ the ginger ale. Surprisingly quite sweet. I say surprising because Cointreau isn't hugely sweet, so far as that sort of thing goes, by itself. Still, I don't think I'd want less of it. The orange-ginger combo works well. At some point I might get around to seeing what orange bitters or Grand Marnier (in place of both the rum and Cointreau) might do to it. Maybe.

[KatieLoeb]

Working on some Asian inspired cocktails with crazy ingredients from the Asian market that I've never had before. Taiwanese plum juice is tasty with either gin or tequila. Trying to figure out how to utilize those gelled candy snacks as an ingredient or a garnish. There are so many items I never would have tried had I not been guided in the proper direction by someone who could read the labels. I have a lot of lab work ahead...

[haresfur]

Ti punch. Barbancourt 5*. About perfect.

[bostonapothecary]

imitation savoy cocktail
2 oz. ransom old tom gin
1 oz. vintage 2008 homemade aromatized wine
spoonful algarvinha (almond liqueur from the south of portugal)
dash regan's orange bitters

these seemingly unrelated ingredients have a fun, but kind of advanced sense of harmony together. it reminds me of some of the odd cocktails in savoy cocktail book.

[EvergreenDan]

1/2 oz cachaca
1 oz aged agricole (Clement VSOP)
1/2 oz dark molasses-forward rum (Flor de Cana 7)
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Zucca
1/2 oz lime
7 dashes Peychaud's
7 dashes Angostura

A bit of a kitchen sink, but sort of fun. You can detect the three different rums(-like) ingredients. The Cynar takes the edge off the Zucca, which I think can be overpowering. The bitters are still there because of the large quantities. Not a world class drink, but deeply complex and sort of "intellectual" in that in each sip there is something to think about. More development may be warranted.

[Kerry Beal]

20 pieces of Viking for us, with a Wolf 36" induction cooktop. Also, a thin Wolf exhaust hood, for a mid-century home. We're both 1000% happy--- ask away with any questions.

Also, There are cast iron plates that allow you to use other cookware.

Tell me more about Zucca?

[EvergreenDan]

Zucca has four 26,000 BTU gas burners, an induction burner, and an 80,000 BTU wok burner, with a gas oven and an electric oven. It is made from rhubarb, with a distinctive taste. It is moderately bitter, in the style of Cynar. Use it where you would another vivid amaro. It comes in a 1 liter bottle and is a little hard to find, at least around Boston. I wouldn't consider it indispensable (as I would Campari and Cynar), but it is a very welcome addition to the bar of a bitter lover.

[Tri2Cook]

Zucca has four 26,000 BTU gas burners, an induction burner, and an 80,000 BTU wok burner, with a gas oven and an electric oven. It is made from rhubarb, with a distinctive taste. It is moderately bitter, in the style of Cynar. Use it where you would another vivid amaro. It comes in a 1 liter bottle and is a little hard to find, at least around Boston. I wouldn't consider it indispensable (as I would Campari and Cynar), but it is a very welcome addition to the bar of a bitter lover.

Great. I've grown quite attached to the bitter family... and here's yet another that will probably never make it to the LCBO. grumble grumble grumble

[sbumgarner]

Threw this together last night:

3/4 oz Smith and Cross
3/4 oz Fernet Branca
3/4 oz lime juice
3/4 oz 1:1 simple
1/4 oz Prunier orange
pinch of salt
half an egg white

Dry shake, shake w/ice, strain into coupe, add 3 drops of Bittermens Tiki bitters on top.

The S&C and pinch of salt filtered out much of the bold bitterness of the Fernet and left behind some periphery botanicals that really made this drink. Probably could have left out the egg white, not sure if it did much in this case.

[bostonapothecary]

dark & stormy

5 oz. guyana style sweet potato ginger beer**
1 oz. goslings 151
quarter of a lime

this was pretty cool. i've made it in the past, but it has been a few years.

i carbonated the ginger beer with my new custom carbonator. i bought a peugeot champagne stopper and a plastic molding kit. the pump that is intended for use with the stopper basically doesn't work so i molded and recast the threaded plug imbedding in it a gas fitting. with the custom molded plug, i reuse their collar to latch onto a champagne bottle and their food safe seal with one-way valve. it works really well. i've made versions that use standard gas fitting for over night slow carbonation and versions that use chromed "schrader" quick release valves (idea courtesy milwaukee makerspace blog. with the schrader valves you can set your regulator to 55 psi gas up the bottle and shake to carbonate up to 20 psi fairly quickly. i'm using 375ml champagne bottles that can be recapped with 29mm crown caps for aesthetic elegance. the schraders also easily adapt (more easily) to conventional soda bottles.

**ginger beer for one liter batch
90grams non aromatic white sugar
300 ml ginger juice (cut across the grain and juice with an acme)
650 or so ml sweet potato water
the sweet potato water was made from boiling peeled sweet potatoes with water, blending, then centrifuging to create an aromatic water. you can probably clarify them easy enough by also running them through the acme.
don't centrifuge the ginger juice. what ever makes it piquant will come out of solution.
if your piquancy fades add a tincture of cayenne dissolved in spirits.

[EvergreenDan]

3/4 oz Smith and Cross
3/4 oz Fernet Branca
3/4 oz lime juice
3/4 oz 1:1 simple
1/4 oz Prunier orange
pinch of salt
half an egg white

Dry shake, shake w/ice, strain into coupe, add 3 drops of Bittermens Tiki bitters on top.

Skipped the egg white on your suggestion and had no Tiki bitters, but this is wonderful. I used Cointreau and about 1/2 oz of simple. I think 3/8oz would be perfect for me, or the egg white.

I also made a variation with Cynar (no egg white, no bitters, about 1/4 oz simple). Excellent. I would like to have the Bittermens Tiki bitters to try.

[Tri2Cook]

Skipped the egg white on your suggestion and had no Tiki bitters, but this is wonderful. I used Cointreau and about 1/2 oz of simple. I think 3/8oz would be perfect for me, or the egg white.

I also made a variation with Cynar (no egg white, no bitters, about 1/4 oz simple). Excellent. I would like to have the Bittermens Tiki bitters to try.

I have the tiki bitters but the LCBO doesn't carry Smith & Cross... which I'm assuming would be a much more noticeable difference than the missing bitters. Too bad, it does sound tasty.

[thirtyoneknots]

3/8oz

Stop.

Please?

Edited by thirtyoneknots, 29 April 2012 - 01:38 PM.

[Hassouni]

After reading all about Bermuda rum swizzles here, had my first ever at my favorite bar in DC, the Passenger:



Made with Blackwell rum, something I've never seen before. True to form -or as I've read- it got icy condensation on the outside of the glass, and was properly delicious. I must learn how to make these...

[FrogPrincesse]

A Negroni with Junipero gin and Vya vermouth tonight. No orange bitters, the vermouth had plenty of interesting flavors on its own. Bitter and intensely fruity at the same time.

[sbumgarner]

Skipped the egg white on your suggestion and had no Tiki bitters, but this is wonderful. I used Cointreau and about 1/2 oz of simple. I think 3/8oz would be perfect for me, or the egg white.

I also made a variation with Cynar (no egg white, no bitters, about 1/4 oz simple). Excellent. I would like to have the Bittermens Tiki bitters to try.

Thanks Dan, glad you enjoyed it. From your posts you seem to like your cocktails a bit drier than I prefer mine but I'd also like to try this with less simple; the original didn't feel cloying to me but given the bolder ingredients "self-regulated" more than I had envisioned the simple wasn't as crucial. A touch less could maintain balance and maybe let some other flavors through. I'll have to give the Cynar version a spin.

[bostonapothecary]

houghton street swizzle

1 oz. caninha rhum agricola da madeira
1 oz. perucchi sweet vermouth
1 oz. ponche de tambarina de santo antao
1 oz. lime juice
float lemonhart 151
crushed ice
swizzle with green chartreuse swizzle stick until the glass frosts over**

a great drink. a tincture of ginger or chili is the only thing that could elevate it.

the highlight of the drink is licking the residual liquid off of the swizzle stick. the high acid flavor converges perfectly with the angular-crystal-texture of the rock candy stick.

**i grew the rock candy swizzle stick in green chartreuse by sugaring the chartreuse an estimated 50 grams per liter over its maximum room temp sucrose solubility. the extra sugar and chartreuse were put in a canning jar and heated in a water bath until it all dissolved. seed points for the crystals to form on were built on the stick by dipping them in syrup, sprinkling with sugar, then dehydrating them in the dehydrator for an hour or so. the crystals take a week to form, making them far from viable in a commercial context. they didn't pick up much of the green color, but picked up some of the aroma. next up i'll see if campari has more non volatile that the crystals can pick up.

[FrogPrincesse]

I went to a class this weekend and learned to make a delicious cucumber lemonade that can be used as base for cocktails. Our instructors were local mixologists Lucien Conner and Ian Ward of Snake Oil Cocktail company, who designed the cocktail menu at whisknladle, among other places.

The cucumber lemonade (made with cucumber water) is great on its own, but adding a little gin doesn't hurt. It's very fresh/green and tart.



I imagine that tequila or white rum would be good too. I used Hendrick's gin for its cucumber notes.

This lemonade gives me a lot of new ideas for summer cocktails.

[EvergreenDan]

I used Hendrick's gin for its cucumber notes.

Sometimes going in the opposite direction works when picking ingredients. Since you already have an overwhelming amount of cucumber flavor (or aroma) from the cucumber itself, picking a gin with complementary contrasting botanicals might work -- maybe a classic juniper-forward London dry?

[thirtyoneknots]

I used Hendrick's gin for its cucumber notes.

Sometimes going in the opposite direction works when picking ingredients. Since you already have an overwhelming amount of cucumber flavor (or aroma) from the cucumber itself, picking a gin with complementary contrasting botanicals might work -- maybe a classic juniper-forward London dry?

Until the price went from "too high" to "insulting", Plymouth was my choice for pairing against cucumber.