limewine

You realize, of course, that you have to send out samples to the other participants.....

A variation of the Bobbie Burns calls for Drambuie in place of the Benedictine. This version is very nice, and worth exploring (though the Benedictine version is dandy, too).

I know that Noilly Prat and Martini & Rossi still use a variety of wormwood in their vermouths. I toured both of their facilities last summer, and at each place I was told that the variety they use has negligible amounts of thujone, and that this meant they weren't affected by the absinthe ban. Vya, on the other hand, does not use wormwood. I was told by Andrew Quady (maker of Vya) that he had considered it, but the bitterness it imparts was too strong for the product he was trying to make. I'd be surprised if Carpano didn't use wormwood. On the topic of the types of vermouths used in different places at different times, I should go back through my notes. I seem to recall (can someone help me here?) Martini & Rossi made the export market--especially western Europe and the United States--their top priority when they started business in the 1860s or so. Later on, Cinzano targeted markets in South America & the Caribbean, especially Cuba. It's been a while since I looked at this stuff, but that's what I dimly recall through the haze of an autumn spent enjoying Cocktail de la Louisianes. I'll check my notes when I get home.

Whoa, whoa...I didn't say anything about authenticity. True, Carpano had the first commercial vermouth (1786, if memory serves), but Martini & Rossi geared up production in the 1860s. Carpano says the Antica is based on the original formula, and M&R have tweaked their recipe over the years. My point was, in a cocktail that originated in the 1930s--like the Cocktail de la Louisiane--the vermouth they were using was, in all likelihood, a "lighter" tasting vermouth more along the lines of today's M&R or Cinzano, than the deeply complex, 18th-century style Carpano. As I said, I love the Carpano, and the Vya, but when mixing them in a Manhattan (I haven't tried either in the Louisiane), I tend to tone down the vermouth a bit more than when making the drink with Cinzano or M&R. It just seems a better balance that way, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the same case with using these vermouths in the Louisiane, or any of a number of other cocktails.

In this particular mix, I wonder if it's the Benedictine the whiskey is competing with. Vya has such a robust flavor; in my humble opinion, it needs to be measured differently in a cocktail than a lighter-flavored vermouth such as Cinzano or M&R (a characteristic it shares, I feel, with Carpano Antica). I love the Vya and the CarpAnt, but they can take a recipe designed to be made with a more typical vermouth and throw it out of whack. For my taste, I like the Saz6 in the Louisiane, as well as in a Sazerac, and other New Orleans cocktails. It has a satisfying roundness and light sweetness that I think pairs well with Herbsaint & Peychaud's. That said, I haven't yet tried one with the Wild Turkey; hmm, maybe I have a project for tonight....

Neither do I. When I was working on my rye story, I asked Beam representatives that question; while refusing to show their hand on any future plans (or much of anything, for that matter), their response to the point about high-end ryes was, essentially, people should drink Basil Hayden bourbon (which has a high percentage of rye in its mashbill). About a year and a half ago, I was told much the same thing while chatting with Fred Noe, the brand ambassador for Beam's small-batch selection, though he also showed distinct surprise at the number of requests he was getting for a premium rye (I was something like the fourth person that day who had asked him about it). (And as an aside, in that conversation Noe told me that the small-batch bourbons have different mashbills from the regular Beam and from each other, and that they weren't simply aged and bottled differently. Just saying, that's what I was told.)

From Kappeler's Modern American Drinks: That's it. He also lists an Absinthe, Italian style (with dashes of maraschino and anisette added, then stirred with still water) and Absinthe, Swiss Style (shaken with water and gum syrup, strained into champagne tumbler then topped with seltzer), along with your basic, everyday Dripped Absinthe.

Vermouth--both sweet and dry--do degrade rapidly after opening. Kept refrigerated and with a vacuum seal, they're best used within two months; otherwise, their flavor is off within a month. Old dry vermouth is still useful for deglazing a pan, and I like it for steaming mussels and clams--gives the dish a nuttier, more herbaceous flavor than you get when just using white wine.

Sorry, didn't mean to come across as snarky--

Rosenthal was murdered outside the Hotel Metropole, which was at or near 43rd & Broadway in New York, not New Jersey. Jack Rose (the gangster & informer in the Rosenthal trial) was born Jacob Rosenzweig. I have a hard time believing he would have taken a few years off from collecting gambling receipts for Charles Becker and doing other illicit work with a criminal gang on the Lower East Side to move to New Jersey, change his name to Frank May (but be widely known under his gangster nickname) and warmly argue with wrestlers while tending bar at a popular resort in Jersey City.

About two months ago I hosted a blind tasting of 18 different rye whiskies, including all three Sazerac bottlings. Details will be published in January, and I'll post additional info on my site, but for our panel at least, the Handy ranked quite high--three of the four panelists placed it among the top four whiskies, and I believe I ranked it second on my list (other brands and bottlings sampled included Hirsch, Rittenhouse 21-year, Black Maple Hill 23-year and two Old Potrero bottlings, along with standards like Old Overholt, Jim Beam, Rittenhouse 80- and 100-proof, Van Winkle, etc.). The Handy also ranked surprisingly higher than the Sazerac 18-year and the 6-year. Hot, yes, (for those unfamiliar with the bottling, it's cask strength), but sometimes it's nice to taste a whiskey that comes in like a fastball; it makes me respect the distiller a bit more, and whacks my humility back into its proper position. Plus, I can cut the whiskey to fit with a dribble of ice water. Anyway, details to come in January, but the point of the whole post here is that, in a liquor cabinet stocked with leftovers from the tasting panel, the Handy is one of my favorites.

Excellent work, George--I'll have to give some of these a spin. One of my favorite falernum cocktails is the Test Pilot; recipe from Jeff Berry's Grog Log (Jeff credits the drink to Donn Beach, circa 1941). Test Pilot 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce Falernum 3 teaspoons Cointreau dash Angostura bitters 1/8 teaspoon Pernod 3/4 ounce light Puerto Rican rum 1 1/2 ounces dark Jamaican rum Blend with 1 cup crushed ice for 5 seconds, then pour into double old-fashioned glass. Add more crushed ice to fill. Garnish with a wooden oyster fork with maraschino cherry skewered on prongs.

Before I wrote about the Last Word, I did a search of my (admittedly limited) cocktail library. Saucier's book was the earliest--and, if memory serves, the only--place I found the recipe (if anyone has found another printed reference, I'd love to hear about it). I included the full note from Saucier re: his source for the drink, as was pasted upthread. As to the 21st century resuscitation (I believe that's what you're asking, George), we can speculate. I do know that Murray Stenson, bartender at Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle, pulled it out of Saucier's book in 2002 or 2003, while compiling a cocktail list for the bar at a time when they were focusing on chartreuse and maraschino cocktails (the Last Word, having both, seemed a good choice). Since that time, the drink has popped up in different places, including (as raxelita points out) Pegu Club. Did Murray resuscitate the drink? Who knows; nobody can prove that one way or the other. Since Zig Zag is a bar that is popular among other bartenders and fans of quality cocktails, both those from Seattle as well as those visiting from other places, it's possible they may have introduced a number of other bartenders to the drink and its popularity spread (much as is the case more recently with the Red Hook). It could also be pure coincidence, that the popularity of and fondness for maraschino and/or chartreuse among classic-cocktail-loving bartenders in Seattle is similar to that among bartenders in New York, and London, etc etc, and everybody comes to the same small pool of drinks at roughly the same time. Through word-of-mouth and chats on eGullet, Drinkboy and Webtender, the revived drink gets around very quickly. The Last Word is not in Doc's book. You'd have to ask him why.

1) The links are, like, broken 2) The recipe makes a falernum that, I found, is very mild -- basically flavored simple syrup, nowhere near the amount of flavor and complexity you find in the commercial versions. Hence, the experimentation with recipes.

I've been playing around with falernum recipes for a year or so. My latest version is posted here: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2006/07/28/falernum-8/ I gave samples of this to Ted Haigh and Jeff Berry at Tales of the Cocktail in July, and they seemed pleased. Based on the recommendation of Chad Solomon from Pegu, I made a subsequent batch using this recipe, but added 1/4 cup of blanched, slivered, lightly toasted almonds to the initial soak. I couldn't taste much of a difference--perhaps I'll increase the amount next time (though currently I have a lot of solids soaking in not that much liquid, so there's a limit on how much more I can fit in). Haven't tried the Hanschell Innis -- where did you obtain the stuff?

I think Ned's referring to the Doctor Cocktail -- Murray at Zig Zag here in Seattle had some Swedish punsch a while back, and we pulled this recipe out of Ted Haigh's book. It's really an incredibly good drink, slightly smoky around the edges. It enjoyed a streak of popularity at Zig Zag until the punsch ran out, though that hasn't stopped the improvisation. Doctor Cocktail 2 ounces Jamaican rum (Appleton Extra works quite well, as does the V/X) 1 ounce fresh lime juice 1 ounce Swedish punsch Shake with ice & strain into cocktail glass; garnish with a lime twist.

My favorite falernum drink was created by Murray Stenson at Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle. I believe he calls it the Nightwatch. Build in an ice-filled glass: 2 oz Cruzan Blackstrap Rum (or another dark, rich navy rum) 1/4 oz Velvet Falernum 1/2 oz fresh lime juice Stir & enjoy.

Filtered this through cheesecloth, did the boiling of the dry ingredients, and after a brief steep and cool combined both and added some molasses. Boy, they smell great! I really recommend that recipe. I can't wait to try these in cocktails! ← Robert's last step involves adding water to the completed infusions--have you added it to yours? I just finished putting together my batch of these last weekend, and I think this last step may have been their undoing--the aroma and taste are fantastic, but the bitters tend to get lost in the cocktail (I made an old fashioned and a Manhattan with them). I've taken to adding 6 or more dashes to an old fashioned, but I may just go back and whip up some more infused rye and add that to the half-gallon of bitters (!) now sitting on my kitchen counter, to see if I can rev up the flavor some more.

For any Seattle-area folks still looking for ROB#6, I spotted a half-dozen 5 oz. bottles on the shelf at DeLaurenti's, in Pike Place Market, about an hour ago. Go get 'em.

Three books immediately come to mind, especially if you're starting out and want some history and perspective to go along with your drinks. What's more, all three are pretty easy to find. * David Wondrich's Esquire Drinks is one of the first books I try to foist on anyone showing an interest in cocktails. Wondrich (Splificator as he's known in these parts) has a taste for the classics, he has the history down solid and he has an experienced palate so the recipes have all been well-researched. * Dale DeGroff's Craft of the Cocktail has a good historical overview, plus a ton of recipes for both classics as well as stuff more recent. * Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology also has a very readable historical overview, plus Gary breaks out cocktails into different families, which makes it easy to get your head around a lot of classic drinks. There are a lot of decent books out there, and even more that aren't, but any of these three can be a great first step. Paul

McMenamins, the Northwest microbrew empire, runs a distillery near Portland, Oregon, that makes whiskey, two types of brandy, a pear eau-de-vie, a Genever-style gin and a coffee liqueur. I've tried none of them, since you can only buy bottles at two places around Portland, and I haven't been to one of their pubs in ages. Rogue, another Oregon-based microbrewery, operates a distillery near Seattle that makes a white rum. I picked up a bottle a few months ago and, while it's not worth the $26 price, it's a fairly decent rum, with a depth and body similar to white Jamaican rums like Appleton or Myers Platinum.

Inspired by Dr. Cocktail's declaration last year that pimento dram is "the most important liqueur in the world" (in his NYTimes profile), I've been determined ever since to get my hands on some. Since a trip to Jamaica just isn't in the cards, and the stuff doesn't seem to be imported on any reliable basis, I finally broke down and made my own batch, using the recipe Chuck Taggart posted on his Gumbo Pages. It's finally ready, and it tastes divine. Lots of allspice flavor in a gentle rum & brown sugar base. (How close is it to the original? I have no idea--I've never tasted the original, but that's not for lack of trying.) But now I'm trying to figure out good ways to use it. Cocktail DB lists around a dozen recipes; a few of them sound promising. But has anybody here played around with pimento dram in cocktails? What's a good way to mix it, so that I can fully agree with Doc's declaration? Thanks--

I was already a fan of several drinks in the book--the Aviation, French 75 and Floridita Daiquiri among them--but Doc's interpretation of the Blood & Sand (most recipes call for equal parts of the 4 ingredients; he jiggles it a bit) made a ho-hum cocktail into a very good one. Favorites spawned by Doc's writing include the Widow's Kiss (Calvados, Benedictine, Chartreuse, bitters--mmmmmm), the Corpse Reviver #2 (now a standard in my house) and the Twentieth Century. If I can ever track down a bottle of decent apricot brandy, along with several other hard-to-find ingredients, I'm sure I'll add more drinks to this list.

I agree completely--sometimes when mixing a drink from Killer Cocktails, I wind up in a wrestling match with the flip-top format. Though to be fair, I'm pretty sure the frustrating format is more the fault of the publishers than of Mr. Wondrich himself. He supplies the text we've grown to know and love, and they package it up--sometimes in ways less than satisfying to both the reader and the writer.

You've listed most of my favorites--I echo the need for Embury in your collection (some persistent digging at used book stores can still turn up affordable copies), and Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide and Book of Food and Drink are also nice to have around. On the "must have" list, I'd include: * Old Waldorf Bar Days, by Albert Stevens Crockett (as mentioned by J_Ozzy) - an invaluable glimpse into the world of drinking in what was one of the world's greatest pre-Prohibition bars * Esquire's Handbook for Hosts (1949 edition) - enjoying the best of bachelor life in the post-War years * Bottoms Up, by Ted Saucier - ok, maybe not a 'must have,' but an impressive collection of drink recipes from 1951; a nice snapshot of cocktail history. * South American Gentleman's Companion - Charles Baker's companion set to his original, which contained Jigger, Beaker and Glass * David Wondrich's Killer Cocktails - aside from Dr. Cocktail's book, the best drink-related thing to come out of 2004 While not 'must haves,' other books they'll have to pry out of my hands once I've gone to that great saloon in the sky include: * On Drink, Kingsley Amis * "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's World Drinks and How to Mix 'Em * Bernard DeVoto's The Hour - perhaps the greatest (and most opinionated) treatise ever written on the significance of the cocktail hour and the dignity of drinking. That said, if you've got the books by Wondrich, Grimes, Thomas & Haigh, you're off to an excellent start--