eje

What? Are you accusing me of ordering foo foo cocktails? It's true the garnishes are mostly eye candy. But, on all three cocktails tie in thematically to the ingredients in the drinks and are edible. Watermelon in the first. Grapefruit in the second. Mint and lemon in the third. And the mint in the third, does contribute scent, though ultimately it would have been better if they had snipped the straw to force your nose closer...

Sigh, I am getting so tired of this "West Coast Farmer's Market Cocktails" label. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with edible flowers, basil leaves, or mint sprigs in cocktails. As I have often pointed out, Jerry Thomas was using Lemon Verbena in some of the recipes in the 19th Century. Nor was Harry Johnson beyond using mint, berries, and assorted other fruit in his garnishes, at least as captured in the illustrations in his book. I do generally think garnishes should be edible and preferably lend some flavor, scent, or character to the drink beyond simply looking good. But, there's nothing* wrong with a drink looking like this: Or this: I will note that both of these drink pictures were taken in England, not on the West Coast. *edit - Oops, looking at it again, I do think the second drink should have been double strained, to do away with that float of pulverized mint.

I'm inclined to agree that reverse proportions would make this drink more suitable to my current taste. Maybe 3/4 oz of each vermouth, a half an ounce of swedish punch, and a dash of bitters for good measure. ← Forgot a note and a question... When a friend of mine traveled to Sweden, I asked him to bring back some Swedish Punsch. He had no problem finding it, as the people he was staying with routinely drank it straight as a digestiv. So even this cocktail is an improvement over that custom. Also, bostonapothecary, have you actually measured the brix of the various commercial Sweet Vermouths? If so, you should share that with us. I'd love to see the actual data. Cinzano seemed slightly sweeter to me than M&R, but I don't know if it is just because of the balance of bitter and sweet flavors.

I'm inclined to agree that reverse proportions would make this drink more suitable to my current taste. Maybe 3/4 oz of each vermouth, a half an ounce of swedish punch, and a dash of bitters for good measure.

Yeah, as long as it remains recognizably vermouth. I think I've said this before, but you might want to do some careful tasting and attempt to tease out what some of the botanicals or spices are in the M&R Bianco. Then use small amounts of those fresh or dry herbs and spices in your sorbet syrup to punch up the character of the vermouth. Any sorbet base should be sweeter and more intense than something you would expect to consume at room temperature. You have to account for the temperature it is served at.

It's probably not the alcohol content, but the sugar that is the problem with the texture. I think 1 parts sugar to 2 parts water, in a really basic sorbet, is about where you want to be. But you'd need to whip out that raw egg, or a fancy refractometer, to know exactly.

Speaking of garnishes... I don't like the citrus idea, as I think it would overpower the gentle flavor of the sake. With citrus, that would be all you tasted/smelled. I did however decide on a nasturtium flower, which I think works really well. Even quite peppery-tasty with the cocktail, if you decide to consume it. I also tried a li hing rock salt plum, which really didn't work at all. Well, it was kind of tasty, just really ugly. So... Akiko (or "Aki" for short) 1 1/2 Tanqueray 3/4 Gekkeiken Haiku Sake 3/4 oz vodka Stir with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a Nasturtium flower. "Aki" is the name of one of the Asian Bond girls in "You Only Live Twice". Played by Akiko Wakabayashi (imdb link).

Grand Slam Cocktail 1/4 French Vermouth. (1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth) 1/4 Italian Vermouth. (1/2 oz Vya Sweet Vermouth) 1/2 Swedish Punch. (1 oz Swedish Punch, eas recipe) Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. Unless you enjoy drinking lollipops, this is not for you... The flavor is certainly interesting enough, but it is just too sweet. Some bitters perhaps? Or maybe use Punt e Mes instead of regular sweet vermouth?

I know you can sometimes find fruit concentrates for making juice drinks in Latino groceries. I've seen passion fruit (Maracuja) and other interesting things from time to time. Also, if you don't mind the shipping from Hawaii, Aunty Lilikoi sells pure passion fruit juice and passion fruit syrup: Aunty Lilikoi, Passion Fruit Products Some of the fruit puree people who target restaurants and pastry chefs also make pure passion fruit puree. For example Perfect Puree of Napa: Passion Fruit Concentrate And, oh yeah, funkin has recently been making an effort to get into US bars with their products, including passion fruit puree: funkin website I dunno if they are also targeting retail outlets.

Is this an original cocktail? Seems like someone should have thought of it before. I've not had much luck finding vermouth here in Kauai, so had the idea to use a drier sake instead. Found Gekkeikenn Haiku in a store. Figured it might be too delicate to mix solely with gin so went with a modified Vesper model. Akiko (or "Aki" for short) 1 1/2 Tanqueray 3/4 Gekkeiken Haiku Sake 3/4 oz vodka Stir with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I haven't figured out a garnish, but it's really good. A nice clean dry martini type thing.

Depends who's drinking, I guess. Oh, you mean how long does it keep. If you take it off the pineapple after a couple days, don't add the citrus until you mix, and keep it in the fridge (or in the freezer for "shots" as mr. miller advises) fairly indefinitely, I would imagine.

Given the availability of many fresh fruits, you would think that it would be a sort of gimme that exotic islands would have tasty cocktails. Sadly, you are far more apt to find bartenders practicing their bottle juggling than actually crafting tasty drinks. How weird is it to see a stand selling mango smoothies and fresh pineapple juice next to a bar making drinks with sour mix? So a cocktailian in paradise is often left to their own devices. The easiest choice is to go to one of the many fresh juice stands, purchase juice, add booze. Most likely it will be tastier than any cocktail you pay for in a bar. What follows is a slightly more elaborate idea... If on a tropical island, my recommendation is to purchase a pineapple from a fruit stand. If a large pineapple, chop half, eat rest. If a small pineapple, chop whole. Place chopped pineapple in a glass jar. Cover with about a cup of (preferably washed raw or natural) sugar. Add one half bottle of amber rum (Mount Gay Eclipse is fine) and 1/4 bottle dark rum (Myers is OK). Place in refrigerator over night. Voila, liqueur. Now fill a glass with crushed ice, add 2 ounces rum-pineapple liqueur, juice of 1/2 lime, and 1/4-1/2 oz rock candy syrup. Swizzle until the outside of the glass frosts, check sweetness. If OK, float on a little more dark rum, add a straw, and enjoy on a deck or lanai. Note: This is a less elaborate preparation of a drink from Mark Miller's "Coyote Cafe Cookbook". He calls it a "Brazilian Daiquiri", a name I've never had much luck selling at parties.

Isn't there some home friendly way to tell if your sugar concentration is correct for sorbet with a fresh egg? Ah, yes: The Search for Silky Sorbet...

Oh, you're right, I forgot to note that in the recipe. I've fixed it.

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays. This month's event is being hosted by Anna over on her blog Morsel's and Musings The theme is send me your fruit liqueur cocktails!. To quote Anna from his explanation of the topic: If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Midnight, Monday, April 14th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer.

That's what many bars use here in San Francisco for cream or egg white drinks. I've even heard someone uses a copper spring for extra egg white juju. Unfortunately, I gave my spare hawthorne strainer to a friend, so I had a choice of buying another hawthorne strainer or a blender ball. Figured what the heck, try the blender ball.

New toy: I was reading somewhere that athletes and folks who drink vitamin supplements have something they call "blender balls" they put in their drinks so they can keep the particles in suspension as they are exercising. Someone mentioned using them in a cocktail shaker. A visit to a local vitamin and supplement emporium yielded results. Grand Royal Clover Club Cocktail The Juice of 1/2 Lemon. (about 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice) 1 Tablespoonful Grenadine. (1 Tablespoon homemade Grenadine) 1 Egg. (1 egg white) 1 glass Dry Gin. (2 oz Tanqueray) (Dry shake drink ingredients with blender ball or spring for 10 seconds or so. Remove your implement of choice. Add big ice and...) Shake well and strain into medium size glass. Hard to say if this if the blender ball results in an improvement. Good texture and pretty decent head, for a home bartender. But, damn it, as I was writing this up, I noticed this recipe calls for a whole egg, not an egg white! It's just so weird, as I have looked at this recipe for over a week, thinking it was odd that it was no different from the other Clover Club recipes in the book. I thought there should be something different about it, being "Grand Royal" and all. Fortunately, I was meeting a friend at Alembic for drinks. The always wonderful Alembic bartenders were willing to make a random Savoy recipe on a non-Savoy night. Actually, they seemed a bit excited to get to make a whole egg cocktail. Anyway, yep, that's tasty. The yolk gives it a delicious extra richness and texture.

There's a long discussion on the DrinkBoy site starting with fatdeko2's post here: Bitters Recipe A bit later in the topic, Dr. Cocktail weighs in on Asarum canadense and notes that it is in the same plant family, Aristolochiaceae, as Virginia Snakeroot and is thus actually covered by the FDA warning.

Just sort of FYI, I've been having second thoughts about the Knudsen Just Pomegranate lately. It is so very tannic. The fresh squeezed Pomegranate juice I get at the farmers' markets is so much fruitier, sweeter, and tastier than the Knudsen. I can hardly drink the Knudsen straight. Makes me wonder if Knudsen is getting a lot of contamination from seeds and/or membranes in their juicing process. Can't quite decide if the tannic flavor makes it a tastier or less tasty grenadine.

Well, not bacon infused vodka... PDT’s Bacon-Infused Old Fashioned Includes recipes for both the bacon infused bourbon and the maple/bacon/bourbon old-fashioned.

That does sound pretty good! I had forgotten about combining Apple Brandy and Punch in more complex cocktails. Looked through the Savoy and found: Not too far off, but yours sounds better!

I wouldn't say it's a great drink. Interesting enough, in a sort of academic way to me, between the flavor of the HC Anejo Blanco and Northshore, that I wasn't tempted to pour it down the sink. The Northshore #6, unfortunately not very widely distributed, does do some interesting things with apricot, that make this a bit more interesting than it would be with a more traditional gin. A more full flavored rum would probably lose the subtlety of the apricot. Though, something like the Park Slope, with an aged rum, apricot, and sweet vermouth, would probably be interesting.

I do like Alembic. I haven't been to B&B recently. Best advice is to get an early reservation, preferably M-R, and ask sit at the bar. Other places to check out in B&B's neighborhood are Cantina and Rye. Bar/Restaurants with worthy drink programs include: Slanted Door Beretta NOPA range Absinthe Coco500 Presidio Social Club I would also be remiss not to mention Forbidden Island in Alameda, one of the West Coast's best Tiki Bars.

Gradeal (Special) Cocktail 1/4 Dry Gin. (1/2 oz Northshore Gin #6) 1/4 Apricot Brandy. (1/2 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot) 1/2 Bacardi Rum. (1 oz Havana Club Anejo Blanco) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Tasty and sophisticated? Another drink that goes against the usual stereotypes of rum drinks. Most of the google references I find to "Gradeal" are to this drink. Interestingly, though, according to this article from an Australian paper, Rising to the Occasion, "Gradeal" was the name given to the stones Scots cooked their oatcakes on. Especially interesting, in that the Gradeal Cocktail is pretty similar to the "Culross Cocktail".

Thanks everyone, not just for the kind words, but also for participating in the Savoy topic for these past two years. I first talked to Mr. Felten when he was researching and writing about the Leap Year Cocktail. He sent me a bunch of questions, and I sent him back carefully worded answers. After getting my answers, and taking a more careful look at the topic, he told me the Savoy topic deserved an article all of its own. After a month or two of silence, I figured, oh well, it's not going to happen. Looking at the article, I am really pleased that he chose to focus on the Savoy topic as an ongoing collaboration instead of just my particularly obsessive brand of dipsophilia. For me, it is the ongoing collaboration and discussion here in the Spirits and Cocktails forum that makes writing the posts for the Savoy Topic worthwhile. Without all of your support and encouragement, I wouldn't probably have made it past "A". Here's to another two years of good drinking!