Rob Simmon

Fox River Cocktail 4 Dashes Peach Bitters 1 Lump of Ice 1/4 Creme de Cacao (0.5 oz. Marie-Brizard) 3/4 Rye Whiskey (1.5 oz. Old Potrero 18th Century Style) Stir gently and squeeze Lemon Peel on top. Odd but good, despite a poor choice of rye. The Old Potrero is too funky, and takes over the drink instead of melding into it.

Duffy includes a list of drinks with a Chartreuse base, so of course I had to try one. Unfortunately they're mostly pousse-cafe's that look vile. However, one seemed palatable: St. Germain Cocktail Juice of 1/2 Lemon (0.75 oz.) and 1/4 Grapefruit (1.5 oz.) White of 1 Egg (oops, somehow I managed to forget to put that in, and didn't notice it until now, a day later!) 1 Liqueur Glass Green Chartreuse (1.5 oz.) Finally, a drink that's balanced! The grapefruit and lemon cut the intensity of the Chartreuse just enough to bring out the herbal characteristics and mellowed the gentian somewhat. A friend who had never had Chartreuse before said it reminded her of basil. Quite nice, and probably a good summer drink with soda water and lots of ice. I've gotta give it another go with an egg, though.

Xanthia Cocktail 1/3 Cherry Brandy (Cherry Marnier) 1/3 Yellow Chartreuse 1/3 Dry Gin (Magellan) Stir well in ice and strain into glass. I had to try this with both yellow and green Chartreuse. It turns out the yellow is superior: green dominates the drink with herbal flavors (gentian) but the yellow blends in quite nicely. Yet again on the sweet side. Does anybody know if Duffy means kirsch when he specifies cherry brandy? I tried kirsch, yellow Chartruese, gin, and thought it was inferior to the drink made with Cherry Marnier. Oddly, the kirsch dominated. Any of the above may be improved with a lemon twist, flamed orange peel, or perhaps best of all, a grapefruit twist. (For those of you who are wondering, Cherry Marnier is available in the US Virgin Islands.)

After Dinner Cocktail (Special) 1 Jigger Cederlund's Swedish Punsch (1.5 oz. Carlschamn's Flaggpunsch) 1/2 Jigger Cherry Cordial (0.75 oz. Massenze creme de griotte) 1/2 lime (0.5 oz. lime juice) shake well with cracked ice and strain Again on the sweet side, but not so much as the previous two. Better balanced and more drinkable. Could stand to have the amount of cherry reduced, and likely calls for a dash of Angustora or a spice tincture to really put it over the top.

My brother lent me a copy of the Offical Mixer's Manual by Patrick Gavin Duffy on Tuesday. Copyright 1934/1940. It's got boatloads of very odd cocktails, many featuring defunct ingredients. (What is Hercules? or Orange Gin? or Caperitif? (CocktailDB has the answers, but you get the picture) I'm going to work my way through the book, make the cocktails that catch my fancy, and post the recipes and my thoughts here. The proportions will be listed as written, and then I'll add what measures I used. (How much is a glass?) Kola Tonic Cocktail 1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz. Damrak) 2/3 Kola Tonic (Rose's) Stir well in ice and strain. Add a cherry. Good for a sore throat. The Gin adds some nice citrus and herbal notes to the Kola Tonic. Might be better at 50/50. Mule Hind Leg 1/5 Gin (1/2 oz. Damrak) 1/5 Benedictine 1/5 Applejack (Laird's Bonded) 1/5 Maple Syrup 1/5 Apricot Brandy (M-B Apry) Stir well in ice and strain. Serve in glass #1 (essentially a cocktail glass) Hmm. Sweet. Thick, syrupy, and sweet. I think I'd cut the sweet ingredients in half, possibly leaving the Benedictine as-is.

If this cuban restaurant is near the American Museum of Natural History, I've ordered one of the drinks in the pineapple. They're killer!

1/2 oz. 1:1 simple syrup is not equal to 1/4 oz. sugar. In simple syrup, the sugar is dissolved in the water, so some of the sugar molecules are squeezed in between the water molecules. (or vice-versa). The Journal of the American Cocktail (fabulous book, by the way) has a long and detailed discussion of the equivalent measurements for various simple syrup concentrations, but I'm too lazy to pull it out and transcribe the relevant bits.

Proving that it's a small world, and I have the memory of a flea, the last drink I mixed before crafting this--out of Wondrich's Killer Cocktails--was already named the Paloma, so I'm going back to the name drawing board.

My girlfriend hopped over the border from New Mexico to Paloma, Mexico and brought back some tequila and crema de membrillo (quince). Seemed like a good combination, so: The Paloma 1 oz. Reposado Tequila 1 oz. Crema de Membrillo 3/4 oz. lemon juice garnish with a lemon twist, or perhaps a dash of an aromatic tincture? The mebrillo is mild, so a sweeter and/or heftier liqueur would likely need to be used more sparingly.

Quite nice, but maybe reduce the Campari to a teaspoon? It dominates at 1/4 oz. Great color!

If you're willing to mak e a trip down to DC, several of the liquor stores here carry Vlevet Falernum. Very different from the Fee's: less syrupy and different aromatics. I think this is the store where I buy mine: Circle Liquors of Chevy Chase 5501 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20015 (202) 966-0600

Personally, I enjoyed minibar a lot more, but I didn't do the Tour at Alinea, and I did minibar first and enjoyed it so much that it would be hard for any other restaurant serving similar cuisine to measure up to that experience. ← Yup, that's about right: I was completely blown away by my first meal at minibar last August, and was inspired to visit Alinea, Moto, WD-50, and Gilt as a result. They're definitely not copy-cats of each other, and all have unique feels. The personal interaction with the chefs at minibar is a key part of the experience. Alinea and Gilt are very formal, and a focused on the regular high-end diner (Gilt even more than Alinea). Service at Alinea was perfect, Gilt took way too long between courses, and refused to split a wine pairing (after a fishbowl-sized cocktail, I didn't need an entire flight of wine). There were a couple of incredible foie gras and truffle dishes at Gilt. Moto and WD-50 are much more relaxed, and focused on technology. (Edible menus and fish braised in a patented plastic box at your table at Moto, lemon-flavored yogurt that curdles in broth at WD-50). minibar carries more of the philosophical underpinnings of molecular gastronomy: deconstructions, reworked junk food (maple pork rinds, popcorn envelope, frozen potato chips). They also are very closely linked to Ferran Adria, utilizing at least a few el Bulli recipes. (Adria apparently visited on the 28th--I missed him by one day! Argh!) I re-visited minibar wednesday, the first day of their menu featuring several new dishes. New items from August 5, 2005 to March 1, 2006: salmon roe cone, frozen potato chip, popcorn envelope, minibar olives (calcium chloride olives, awesome), ajo blanco (this is where the olive oil bonbons currently reside, joined by a balsamiic bonbon as well), corn on the cob, oyster with champagne grapes, and passionfruit air. Unlike the first visit I needed to make reservations a full month in advance (by calendar date--trying to make reservations for March 1st on January 29th didn't work). I was stressed before the visit, hoping that the first wonderful experience wasn't just the result of novelty. I should not have worried! On the vegetarian question: the chefs seem to take it as a challenge, not an obstacle, so expect a vegetarian (or even vegan) menu to be just as surprising and delightful. I wish I could sign up for their test kitchen ...

I tried: 1.5 oz. bourbon 2 tsp. chartreux nocino 1tsp. amaro (Torani Amer) this evening. Meh. Not bad, just not interesting. maybe I need to "invert" the ingredients and use the nocino as a base and bourbon as a secondary ingredient.

I have a bottle of "Liqueur Eau de noix" from Chartreux (I think they also made a Crem de Myrtle and Framboise). Does anyone know if this is similar to Nocino? I haven't figured out a way to mix it, maybe with bourbon and an Amaro?

I've been making it a habit to visit Pegu every time I'm in New York (only twice since it opened so far, I'm hardly a jet-setter) since I enjoy it so much. Exquisite cocktails, both original creations (unfortunately I've forgtten specific names), standards (Ramos Gin Fizz, garnished with cardamom), and antique (The Last Word). Already looking forward to my next trip.

I went to Gilt on Friday (the 18th of February) and me and my guests were impressed, thanks for the suggestion. Hopefully I'll get a full review up in the appropriate thread. As far as the semantic side of the discussion is concerned, if Herve This uses the term molecular gastonomy, I think it's ok.

An extensive repertoire of cocktails. When I'm taking the time and trouble to go out to drink, I want something more interesting than a cosmo or a manhattan. Unfortunately many of the bars in DC don't go very far beyond the basics, except perhaps for a small list of (primarily) vodka-based specialty cocktails. It's also frustrating to point to a bottle of liquor on the bar to ask what they use it for (Chartreuse, perhaps) and hear "I don't know" in reply.

I use a combination of 1.5/0.75 oz. and 2/1 oz. jiggers, plus measuring spoons and a (somewhat innacurate) shotglass labelled in teaspoon increments. I'm also tempted to get a set of graduated cylinders, acknowledging that it's totally over the top!

Both of these drinks look very interesting. Are you serving them at a bar? On the honey front, it seems like you're heating the honey for better consistency, though I could be wrong. I've taken to making a simple honey syrup (1:1 with water) in the microwave. It helps with consistency, and it's also a little easier to work with on the sweetness front since honey can easily overpower a drink. (The honey syrup idea came from a variety of bartenders in USA & London who seem to be using honey this way.) ← I'm just playing around for pleasure and to entertain my friends. I considered the honey/water mixture, but didn't feel up to making a batch-it did take the warm honey quite a while to dissolve in the scotch. I've also thought about Barenjaeger, but haven't picked any up yet.

I've posted this recipe before (a sidecar variation), but thought it was worth another mention: 1.5 oz. solera (Spanish) brandy 1 oz. Liquor 43 0.75 oz. lemon juice shake with ice, garnish with a fat lemon twist and something I tried last night but needs work: 1.5 oz. scotch (a moderately peaty Highland Park) 1 tsp. warm honey 1 sprig lavender, de-stemmed dissolve the honey in the scotch, then muddle with lavender. shake over ice, then strain (with a fine-mesh). perhaps it would work better as an infusion?

Just wait until you start haunting hole-in-the-wall liquor stores, and travelling to the far corners of the globe in search of rare liqueurs.

I'm making my way through VS&FC for the second time, trying to pay attention to the drinks that dind't strike me one way or the other when I first made them, to see if I was missing something. With the Park Avenue, I sure was: 2 oz. gin 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth 3/4 oz. pineapple juice 2 tsp. orange curacao With Carpano Antiqua formula, it really rocks! There's a bitter component that really ties everything together.

Try recipes from Beachbum Berry's Grog Log and Intoxica! When I feel up to it I'll pull a few. The recipe Alchemist sent is more or less the classic Mai Tai, without 0.25 oz. simple syrup. Personally, I would lay off combining a flavored rum with the syrups: too many fruity flavors at once. How about a modified Aviation: 1.5 oz. gin 0.75 oz. orange flower syrup and 0.75 oz. lemon juice?

I picked up a bottle in Edmonton, but haven't found a use for it in a cocktail yet. On it's own it's sort of sickly sweet.

Have you tried the Vya vermouth yet? I think it's splendid.