ThinkingBartender

Pink Chihuahua. (Dick Bradsell, 2010) 50ml Altos Blanco Tequila, 25ml Fresh Lime Juice, 20ml Orgeat Syrup, 25ml Freshly Squeezed Pomegranate Juice, 10ml Eggwhite, Shake with Ice, then strain into a Cocktail glass; Garnish with a lime wedge.

Here are two videos of Dick Bradsell, making two of his personal cocktail creations; The Bramble. and The Vodka Espresso. George

There is a well-known British cocktail called the "Cowboy Martini; Which was created by Dick Bradsell. This drink derives its name from Robert Vermiere's assertion that cowboys drank their martinis with mint in them. Cowboy Martini/ Cowboy Hoof Martini. 75ml Gin 5ml sugar syrup 2 dashes of orange bitters 4-5 mint leaves Shake hard with Ice, then fine-strain into a Cocktail glass; Garnish with an Orange Twist. The Gaucho chain of 11 UK Argentinian Restaurants lists a Pata de Vaqueros on its cocktail lists; It is exactly the same as the Cowboy Martini.

Is this the earliest occurence of Bitters in a Whiskey Sour? A publication published by Angostura themselves, it must be added. Trinidad Professional Mixing Guide, 1949. Whisky Sour. 3 generous dashes ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters, 1 1/2 oz. Rye or Bourbon Whisky, 3/4 oz. Lemon Juice, 1 teaspoonful fine granulated Sugar. Frappe and strain into Delmonico glass prepared with a slice of Orange and a Cherry. Are there earlier references for Angostura Bitters in a Whiskey Sour? Cheers! George Sinclair

Over the years I have had a very shakey relationship with the Bloody Mary, and by that I am not referring to its reputation as a morning after remedy. Too many times I have constructed Bloody Marys for customers while thinking, why are they drinking vodka with tomato juice? Regardless of how many "Ultimate" Bloody Mary recipes I have sampled, I have never quite been impressed by them; The reason for this ambivalence was never apparent until very recently; It was the wateryness of the mixture, and its increasing wateryness as it sat on the bartop. My "masterstroke" was to simply remove the ice, and thus the water, from the equation. Chill the vodka, and chill the tomato juice; And then the drink is at the correct dilution from start til finish; Your only concern will be the temperature of the libation; But will it last that long in the glass when the drink is consistently good, rather than evolving into a watery fruit juice? Bloody Mary. Into an empty rocks glass: Finely dice two slices of cucumber and a cocktail gherkin, then pile it into a rocks glass. Add a heaped tablespoon of Nando's Peri-peri sauce, and 6 dashes of Worchestershire Sauce; And then squeeze the juice of half a fresh lime into the glass, Add salt and pepper to taste; 35ml of chilled/ frozen vodka; Top with chilled Tomato juice, Stir thoroughly with a teaspoon; Serve. Note: There must be no ice, and no straws for this drink; A teaspoon is allowed. There are even more refinements to be made to this recipe, and this is best applied to jugs/ pitchers of the stuff; The tweaks to be recommended are freshly grated horseradish, celery salt, and finely diced celery. So what recipes for Bloody Marys do my fellow Egulleteers feel are worth recommending? Cheers! George Sinclair.

A "more rounded opinion" as opposed to being obsessed with vermouth, bitters, and old recipes. IMHO There is more to cocktails than the 19th century. It is meant to be taken light-heartedly, so do not be overly offended, dear boy.

Thanks David! Apparently Patrick Gavin Duffy's The Standard Bartender's Guide (1934) also has it too. Cheers! George

For those people who are obsessed with vermouth, bitters, old recipes: Tweaked Classics, Nouveau Classique, Classically Inspired Cocktails. For those people who have a more rounded opinion on cocktails/ Mixed Drinks, with an understanding of the past, present, future: Short Drinks Long Drinks

XYZ. 1/4 fresh lemon juice. 1/4 Cointreau/ triple sec. 1/2 white rum. Shake with ice, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Does anyone know when this recipe was first published/ invented? Cheers! George Website: http://sites.google.com/site/bourbongeorge/ Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53841759335&ref=mf http://www.facebook.com/BourbonGeorge "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein.

From The Young Housewife's Daily Assistant, 1862. So it is basically Gin Curacao? or is it?

The extra amount of water in the syrup has the same relative effect as a sweetener by the additional dilution it brings. An extra 15ml of liquid would "smooth out" the drink, correct? (With 15ml being the 1/2 oz extra)

As DeGroff was unable to fill the cocktail glass with sufficient volume, using a smaller amount of a more saturated syrup, he thus switched over to using a greater amount of a less saturated syrup; This is what I meant by "bulking up"; He essentially adds water to a drink to increase the visible amount in the glass.

Phew, I found the reference I was referring to.

Hi All, I notice in the US that the majority of bartenders are using sugar syrup of a 1:1 0r 2:1 nature, instead of a 9:1 gum /gomme syrup style; Its this because it is easier to make? Many moons ago I remember reading that Dale DeGroff liked to use sugar syrup to bulk up his recipes by adding more volume to his drinks; Where is this rationale derived from? Specific books. other bartenders etc. And if anyone has any fab sugar syrup quotes, lets be having them please: Cocktails, How to mix them, by 'Robert'. "Use plain Syrup, that is Sugar Syrup, or even Gum Syrup, in preference to powdered sugar. The Syrup mixes better with the drink. It should, however, be borne in mind that certain drinks are always prepared with sugar, i.e. the old-fashioned cocktail, the Champagne Cocktail, the Collins', etc." Cheers! George

Good Evening. Why are bartenders breaking ice cubes up in their hands believing it to be an authentic way of preparing cocktails? I have yet to see a reference to any ye olde tome saying that it is okay to manually handle ice at any time. However places like Milk and Honey, Pegu Club etc are grabbing ice cubes with their hands and then thwacking said ice with an implement. Why do they do this? Is their any historical basis for this practice? In Robert Vermeire's book (which I am thoroughly enjoying by the way), he uses "Broken Ice" in most, if not all, of his drinks; But he does not say "Broken Ice Cubes". Looking through his list of recommended bar equipment he lists an ice pick, which would be used for breaking up big old blocks of ice. Why would he break up this ice again (in his hands), when he could break it down to the required size when he is chiseling the main block of ice? Vermiere doesn't advocate the use of greasy mitts in the breaking of ice, quite the opposite...fork and spoon for fruit???? Where does the practice of breaking ice up in ones hands originate from? Is it laziness? Or just bad practice that no-ones picked up on? Supposed leading bars using their hands to hold ice is laughable, have they never heard of a lewis bag? Personally I think it is unprofessional to break ice this way. Does anyone want to explain/ justify this practice? Cheers! George

I was working with some mexicans and they used to make Micheladas, and their recipe was just corona, fresh lme with salt on the rim. They made me a different drink called a Cubana, which was tabasco, worchestershire sauce, lime and corona, with a salt rim.

The most interesting thing about these three recipes is that the Gin Daisy contains Grenadine, and is thus red, while being served WITH crushed ice, and the last two are non-red and merely prepared with crushed ice. The non-red Daisy predates the red version. I am just looking for the versions of the Daisy that are served "frappe" as opposed to merely being prepared with crushed ice. Cheers! And Thanks! George

george

Can anyone tell me of any references to the Daisey cocktail being served on crushed ice before 1952? It seems to me that Irwin Cobb is the only one, but is this so? Cheers! George

Wildflower 35 ml Sazerac Rye Whiskey 15 ml Apricot Brandy 10 ml Fresh Lemon Juice 5 ml Demerara Sugar Syrup 6 Raspberries Muddle the Raspberries and Syrup in one half of a cocktail shaker, though not too hard as you do not want to burst the seeds of the berries (this adds a bitterness to the drink); Add the remaining ingredients along with plenty of ice cubes; Shake and then fine-strain, through a tea-strainer, into a chilled cocktail glass; Garnish with a lemon twist. Keywords: Cocktail, Intermediate ( RG2127 )

Quibbler is just as good a word. Plus it scores more in Scrabble. Glad that you liked it. What I meant with my criteria is what I think is best, at this current moment in time, for a Cobbler, as made by me. I do not feel that I have access to the "right" Sherry to use for the Sherry Cobbler.

If a drink has citrus juice or bitter then, in my eyes anyway, it can never be a Cobbler. I am also working on Crustas, and I am wondering what the Crusta is called without the sugar rim. Cheers! George

The lemon twist is entirely optional as, depending on the spirit used, it can be a good thing or a bad thing. I did experiment with lime twists and orange twists. In fact I am working on using muddled lime twists in a Gin Cobbler. I definately think that using a liqueur is a good thing with the Cobbler, though I am using Emburys opinion purely because it agrees with my own view on the drink. I definately feel that the use of crushed ice is compulsary, though the method of preparation is open to personal taste, my own preference being to churn the ice in the style of a swizzle (once again agreeing with Embury, but that too is because it agrees with my own view). That is true. But I think that this is partly due to the Cobbler being an afterthought in most cocktail books (though this is a big assumption). The Cobbler was meant to be very popular in its time, so I assume that was because it was good. I haven't really experimented with Sherry or Portwine thus far, but I will eventually. I am a spirit man myself, so this probably/ definately has something to do with it. My criteria, for a Cobbler are: 1. Spirit only. Preferably American Rye, or Cognac. 2. Crushed Ice. 3. Churned, rather than rolled or shaken. 4. Addition of a complementary liqueur (peach, apricot, fig, etc). 5. Muddled Citrus Twists, the best suited to the spirit; Or none at all. 6. Garnish is discretionary; My taste is for simple, though a huge abundance of berries would be agreeable too. 7. Must be served in a glass with thin sides, so as to facilitate the appearance of frosting on the glass. 8. Sip straws are optional. Cheers! George

On finally having the pleasure of meeting Doctor Cocktail on his last visit to London, England, I presented Ted with my "latest invention" a Rye Cobbler. Yes, I know it is not my invention, but rather it is a re-interpretation of the often-overlooked Cobbler catergory. Both I and the Doctor were taken with just how good it was. I have thusly decided to pursue the furtherment of the Cobbler. The first recipe is the one I presented to Doc Cocktail, the others are what I came up with afterwards: Rye Cobbler. 35ml Sazerac Rye Whiskey, 10ml Creme de Abricot, 1 sugar cube, 2 lemon twists. Dash of soda-water (club soda). Muddle last three ingredients in the bottom of a rocks glass; Add the Rye whiskey and the Apricot liqueur; Fill the glass with crushed ice; Churn the drink thoroughly then top with more crushed ice; Garnish with a curled lemon twist, plus two short sip straws. Elderflower & Bisongrass Cobbler. 35ml Zubrowka. 15ml St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. 1 sugar cube. 2 lemon twists. Muddle the sugar and both lemon twists, along with a dash of sodawater, in the bottom of a rocks glass; Fill the glass with crushed ice; Add the Zubrowka and the St. Germain; Churn the ice with a barspoon; Top up the glass with crushed ice; Garnish with a shredded lemon twist. Tequila Cobbler. 35ml Herradura Reposado Tequila. 15ml Creme de Peche (Peach Liqueur). 1 sugar cube. 2 lemon twists. Muddle the sugar and both lemon twists, along with a dash of sodawater, in the bottom of a rocks glass; Fill the glass with crushed ice; Add the Tequila and the peach liqueur; Churn the ice with a barspoon; Top up the glass with crushed ice; Garnish with a shredded lemon twist. So do I arouse anyones interest in pushing the Cobbler catergory back into the limelight? A Cobbler is much more than spirit, sugar and crushed ice. Or at least I think so. Cheers! George

Having worked with Dick Bradsell, I can tell you that Mr. B didn't muddle blackberries in his bramble. Cheers! George