eje

Goddamn that sounds cool. Every cocktail listed is as inventive as any I've heard of, yet still inspired by the classics. Congrats for pulling it off!

Oh, also in the "credit where credit is due" department, when googling "Duppy", I ran across this article on slakethirst regarding the Sunset Gun. I dunno why the name got changed from "Duppy" to "Sunset Gun" but they do appear to be the same cocktail. Also, I agree with Slakethirst's assessment that this is very good with Scotch instead of American Whiskey. Though, perhaps, given the pedigree of the name, experimentation with interesting rums might be in order.

You and the vast majority of Jamaican drinkers. Apparently it accounts for 90% of the rum sold in Jamaica*. Personally, I was kind of surprised Jamaican Rum wasn't called for in the Duppy Cocktail. Would make a lot more sense than Scotch. *Source, Appleton website.

I can't say your new bottle sounds entirely outside of my experience with the brand. It is unaged industrial rum after all. I don't think it is even really blended, is it? Maybe they rest it for a day or two in stainless tanks before putting it in bottles. Frankly, when I've tried it I seem to get a hangover before I get drunk. It's got a certain rough charm, but it's more like a boxing match than a purring cat. I don't know, you might want to let it sit around for a while...Sometimes the nose on rums seems to mellow a bit after a month or two of being open. Either that or I just get used to the funk. edit - Oh, funny to look at the picture in the food blog! The rum still had a metal closure. You have had that around the house for a while. I think it has had a plastic top for at least 5 years.

This is the Fourth in an ongoing series of bartender features in the Savoy Topic. Previously, I had experimented by asking the bartender at Montgomery Place to make me a Bombay Cocktail No. 2, but this just seemed to result in a grumpy bartender. To make it less of a shock, I thought I would contact some local bartenders and give them a choice of the dozen or so Savoy Cocktails that might be coming up in the book. Surprisingly, some actually were game. --- Continuing with the of out of town bars, I traveled to Lincoln and Sherman in Alameda, CA to meet up with Martin Cate at the bar he co-owns there, Forbidden Island. Now, it's true that the Tiki phenomenon really didn't take off in the US until after World War II, but, a lot of the philosophies Martin takes with the bar fit in with Pre-prohibition ideas of bartending. Home made ingredients, (Falernum, Arrack Punch, etc.) fresh juice rather than mix, really hard working bartenders. In fact, should you feel like a sidecar or Martini, you can be sure it will be made with the same care the bartenders put into their exotic, complicated tiki creations. This Tiki guards the door... And Martin Cate guards the bar. First off, I have to apologize for the quality of photos here. Tiki bars are very dark and I should have brought along an auxiliary light. As Martin explained to me, the philosophy of the bar is all about escape. Pretending you are on a tropical island, not just on the way home from work, you don't want to see the laundromat or nail salon across the street. Also, I don't know what it is about the Regan's Orange Bitters, but it seems like every time Gary Regan's face is in the frame the camera chooses to focus on him instead of the cocktail. Must be his magnetic personality, even just in picture! East Indian Cocktail Equal parts of French Vermouth (Noilly Prat) and Sherry, with a dash of (Regan's) Orange Bitters. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Not much to say here, we tried this other than it tastes like Sherry and dry vermouth. A nice aperitif cocktail, would probably go well with food. We tried it with an Osborne Fino and a Manzanilla. We both preferred the Fino. Eclipse Cocktail 1/3 Dry Gin. (Plymouth) 2/3 Sloe Gin. (Plymouth Sloe Gin) Put enough Grenadine (Forbidden Island Home Made) in a cocktail glass to cover a ripe olive. Mix the spirits together and pour gently on to the grenadine so that it does not mix. Squeeze orange peel on top. An interesting experiment in physics and very difficult to get a photo of especially in a dark bar. The olive floats to the top of the grenadine and hangs at the intersection between it and the mixture of sloe and dry gin. Martin was good enough to bring in his personal stash of Plymouth Sloe Gin for me to try and I brought along the bottle of Lindisfarne Sloe Gin I scored the last time we were in England. The Lindisfarne is much more tart and bitter than the mellower Plymouth. I was surprised that the Sloe Gin really does provide enough tartness to make this a pretty interesting combination. Martin's comment was, "there's a good cocktail in this somewhere." The olive, though, is a bit odd. Some comparison between the floating olive and a finger came up. Maybe a good Halloween cocktail? Eddie Brown Cocktail 2 Dashes Apricot Brandy. (De Kuyper) 1/3 Glass Kina Lillet. (Lillet Blanc) 2/3 Glass Dry Gin. (Plymouth) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top. This Martini variation proved to be the most popular cocktail of the evening with much of the staff. It is a fine sophisticated cocktail. East India Cocktail 1/8 Pineapple Juice. 1/8 Orange Curacao. (DeKuyper) 1 Dash Angostura Bitters. 3/4 Brandy. (Missed the brand) Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. This isn't an unpleasant cocktail, but it didn't it really stand out. Missed its photo op, unfortunately. Eagle's Dream Cocktail 1 Teaspoonful of Powdered Sugar. The white of 1 Egg. The Juice of 1/4 Lemon. 1/4 Crème Yvette. (Hermes Violet Liqueur) 3/4 Dry Gin. (Plymouth) Shake well and strain into medium size glass. My friends Anita and Cameron over at Married...With Dinner were kind enough to loan me their bottle of Hermes Violet Liqueur for this cocktail. The Rothman and Winter Violette is a little too austere to be an appropriate substitute for Creme Yvette. Also, interesting to taste just how different the Hermes and R&W violet liqueurs are. The R&W is clearly all about the violet and the Hermes has quite a few adjunct flavors. Some citrus, maybe vanilla. Martin's comment was, "This tastes like Brunch." I felt like it tasted like brunch for blue haired grandmothers. The first few sips are good, but it's a little much for me after that. At about this point, I began to realize that instead of choosing a couple of cocktails out of a dozen, Martin had decided to plow through all 12 (well, 11, we didn't have an appropriate substitute for "Prunelle".) Well, goddamn, that helps me get some speed on this thing! In an evening of special treats, this treat was the real stand out. Martin convinced Lance Winters of St. George/Hangar One to part with a small sample of his soon to be released Absinthe for us to taste. I was impressed with how well distilled this product was. Very smooth and easy to drink. He's using a good portion of star anise instead of simply going with green anise, giving it a bit more of a bite and a modern flavor profile. He's also got some unusual herbs in there that stand out in the aroma and early flavors. Still, all in all, a very solid Absinthe. Very cool that the first legally distilled American Absinthe since the ban is a good one. The Earthquake Cocktail 1/3 Gin. (Plymouth Gin) 1/3 Whisky. (Cutty Sark Scotch) 1/3 Absinthe. (St. George Absinthe) Shake well and serve in cocktail glass. Mostly because it is just not a very good cocktail. Having made the Bunny Hug, I knew what to expect. Maybe there is some magical combination of particular brands of Gin, Whisky, and Absinthe where this doesn't just taste like a big glass of booze, and maybe there are some folks who enjoy it. Mostly I felt a bit sad to be using a fine Absinthe in this cocktail which seems like nothing more than something to get you as drunk as possible as quick as possible. About the only thing I could think of to speed the path of the alcohol to your cortex would be to top it up with Champagne. East and West Cocktail 1 Dash Lemon Juice. 1/4 Bacardi Rum. (Cruzan White) 3/4 East India Punch. (Forbidden Island house made Arrack Punch) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Cocktaildb indicates that the now defunct East India Punch was likely, "Likely to have been a brand or other descriptive designation for a Swedish Punsch-style liqueur." I brought my Swedish punch, but Martin has been making an Arrack Punch in house with lemon, cardamom, and sugar, so we used that instead. Whoa! Nice stuff, but that Arrack goes straight to your head. Amusingly, even though Martin digs it, the Batavia Arrack has not been overly popular with some of the staff. I forget the exact words they used to describe its flavor, but they were not very complimentary. However, we did get a few grudging, "that's not bad," and, "pretty good," comments for this cocktail and they seemed to come back and try it again after the initial taste. Unfortunately, I also missed getting a photo of this one. To me, one of the more enjoyable cocktails of the evening. Elk's Own Cocktail The White of 1 Egg. 1/2 Canadian Club Whisky. 1/2 Port Wine. (Ruby Port) The Juice of 1/2 Lemon. 1 Teaspoonful Sugar. Shake well, strain into wineglass and add a slice of pineapple. I kind of liked this one, though some felt it tasted a bit like "watered down wine." Certainly, there are not many modern cocktails with a similar flavor profile. Elixir Cocktail 1/2 Kola Tonic. (Rose's Cola Tonic) 1/2 Calvados. (Calvados Cardinal) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. This was surprisingly tasty. The funk of the Calvados and the flavor of the Kola Tonic combined nicely. Not going to win any modern cocktail contests, but quite an interesting combination of flavors. Empire Cocktail 1/4 Apricot Brandy. (DeKuyper) 1/4 Calvados. (Calvados Cardinal) 1/2 Gin. (Plymouth Gin) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Pleasant, light, and not too sweet, this was good, but didn't win any popularity contests. E. Nos Cocktail 1/3 French Vermouth. (Noilly Prat Dry) 2/3 Nicholson's Gin. (Anchor Junipero and dash of simple) 3 Dashes of Absinthe. (St. George Spirits Absinthe) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. From what I can tell, Nicholson's Lamplighter was an Old-Tom style gin, so I asked Martin to use the Anchor Junipero (he was doubtful) with a dash of simple. I really liked this cocktail, the touch of sweetness really brings the Gin and Absinthe to life. Probably, my favorite of the evening. I love the slightly translucent hint of the Absinthe louching out its oils. The line up of dead soldiers and Mr. Cate's original cocktail: As always, it's a lot of fun to taste these vintage cocktails with bartenders and see and hear their reactions. I had a great time, and was certainly treated with that famous generous Tiki hospitality. Not only that, but in a single evening, Martin helped managed to kill just about all of the "E" cocktails. Holy crap. Interestingly, the next day my friend's Theremin Lounge band, Project Pimento, played a gig at Forbidden Island. Late Saturday afternoon had been pretty quiet, with all of us in the bar having a chance to chat, bullshit, and try the Savoy cocktails. Forbidden Island with Project Pimento playing was an entirely different matter. The place was packed, standing room only with patrons lined up several deep at the bar. It was totally impressive to see the Forbidden Island machine going full tilt. Martin greeting guests, placing orders, and serving. The two bartenders at their stations making those incredibly complicated Tiki drinks non-stop. The other server carrying trays of huge drinks out to the tables and standing guests. I have to give a shout out to the bartenders Melanie and Lara, along with the server Stephanie. Not only were they incredibly personable and pleasant to talk to, but those girls kicked ass. Anyone who doesn't think bartenders work hard or that a bar can't do both quality and volume hasn't seen Forbidden Island in action.

Exactly what I wonder. There is a tremendous amount of buzz around Absinthe right now, but what will happen once the reality that it is simply anise, fennel, and herb scented booze sets in. One thing that is going in its favor is that other herb flavored booze, like Chartreuse, is also relatively popular, at least among bartenders these days. Add in the fact that fresh herbs are much more common in the American diet and that things like pesto have made it to the mainstream of American eating, and I think people are probably much more receptive to these sorts of flavors than they might have been even 15-20 years ago. The thing I continue to hear that is most annoying, even among relatively knowledgeable persons, is the continued belief that the new Absinthes aren't the "real" stuff. It is still very common to hear either that the old Absinthes were significantly different from the modern ones, or that, if you splurged to get the thujone rich versions from Europe you'd be tripping out. There is still much education to be done.

To give credit where credit is due, Mr. David Wondrich first turned me on to the idea that combining the two orange bitters gave results superior to using either singly. It's not as obvious in this cocktail, as there are more flavors going on from the spirit, but it makes a big difference in a Dry Martini.

Duppy Cocktail Pour 4 1/2 glasses of Whisky (2 oz Asyla Scotch) into a large glass and soak in this a few cloves (for an hour or two - eje). Add 5 or 6 drops of Orange Bitters (Healthy Dash Regan's, Healthy Dash Fee's), and lastly put in 1 1/2 glasses of Curacao (3/4 oz Brizard Curacao). Place the lot in the shaker; shake (stir, strain - eje) and serve. This is a cocktail that got a lot more interesting as it warmed. Chilled, it just tasted pretty much like cold Scotch. As it warmed, the clove and other spices of the orange bitters expressed themselves more fully. Duppy, from what I can tell, in Jamaican folklore refers to, "restless spirits of the dead that are believed to haunt the living." Not sure what Jamaican ghosts have to do with Scotch, cloves, bitters, and curacao. I noticed no otherworldly effects resulting from consuming the cocktail. Perhaps it helps to get rid of them?

Yup, it's a Venezuelan, Molasses based, medium dark rum. Quite nice and not dissimilar from the also very good Santa Teresa.

Dunlop Cocktail 1 Dash Angostura Bitters. 1/3 Sherry. (3/4 oz Don Nuno Dry Oloroso Sherry) 2/3 Rum. (1 1/2 oz Diplomatico Rum) Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. (Squeeze lemon peel over glass - eje) Pretty wide open drink here on the ingredient front. At least it specifies which type of bitters! I started by picking the sherry, and then headed down to the garage to investigate the smells of the various rums I have stored down there. I was thinking dark and dry in combination with the Sherry, and the Diplomatico stuck out as an interesting combination. Ended up quite tasty, but really needed the added aromatic zip of the peel to bring the drink to life.

Dunhill’s Special Cocktail (6 People) In a shaker filled with cracked Ice place a spoonful of Curacao (Dash Brizard Orange Curacao), 2 glasses of Gin (1 oz Beefeater Gin), 2 glasses of Sherry (1 oz Fino Sherry), 2 glasses of French Vermouth (1 oz Dolin Vermouth). Stir thoroughly with a spoon, shake, strain, and serve. Add an olive (uh, oops!) and 2 dashes of Absinthe (Verte de Fougerolles) to each glass. As usual downsizing this to a single (slightly large) portion. Aside from the puzzling directive to, "stir...shake, strain and serve," this cocktail's ingredients intrigued me. And indeed, served to illustrate another side to Absinthe's flavors. In this case, the combination highlighted the savory aspects of the ingredients, almost to the point where it tasted like an Aquavit cocktail instead of a Gin cocktail. I'd definitely swear there was some caraway in there somehow. A very nice dry cocktail, that I could imagine going well with food of some sort.

Apparently, there is a real chance of a severe allergic reaction and anaphylactic shock with a certain small subset of the human population when exposed to natural carmine/cochineal. I assume this informed gruppo campari's decision to remove it from Campari. Pesky arthropods spoiling all our fun.

Digest: San Francisco Chronicle Wine Digest and 96 Hours section, Friday, December 07, 2007 2007 Winemaker of the Year: Josh Jensen of Calera Wine Company, Jon Bonné Spirits: Bitter Italian Aperitif a Must for Every Bar, Laura Compton Recipes: Bitter Celebration, Created by Carlos Yturria at Bacar in San Francisco. The Cheese Course: Biodynamic farm makes raw goat's milk Sierra Mountain Tomme, Janet Fletcher Pairings: Chicken roulade to match with tawny Ports, Lynn Char Bennett Recipes: Port Sauce Blue Cheese- & Pecan-Stuffed Chicken Roulade with Port Sauce Chronicle Wine Selections: Tawny Port, Lynn Char Bennett 5 Winemakers to Watch, Jon Bonné 2007 Winemaker to Watch: John and Helen Falcone of Rusack Vineyards, Jon Bonné 2007 Winemaker to Watch: Arnaud Weyrich of Roederer Estate, Stacy Finz 2007 Winemaker to Watch: Robert Pellegrini of Pellegrini Family Vineyards, Karola Saekel 2007 Winemaker to Watch: Stewart Johnson of Kendric Vineyards, Jon Bonné 2007 Winemaker to Watch: Jennifer Williams of Spottswoode, Jon Bonné 96 Hours Bargain Bite: Hotaru, Miriam Morgan "Downtown San Mateo probably has a higher concentration of Japanese restaurants, grocers and stores than anywhere else in the Bay Area outside of San Francisco's Japantown. Lots of places vie for your eating dollar, but one of the best values is Hotaru. The bright, immaculate spot just off El Camino Real specializes in Japanese home cooking, which means udon and soba noodles, the rice bowls called donburi, teriyaki dishes and fried foods." Bar Bites: Metro Lafayette, Lynn Char Bennett "You'll have to look hard for the sign of this revitalized dining spot that used to be Aladdini's. The hunt is worth it to enjoy the seafood-focused menu chef Mark Lusardi - formerly of Pearl Oyster Bar in Rockridge - has developed for Metro's owner, Jack Moore. The mix of raw bar, small plate, appetizers and entrees is perfect for the neighborhood, but intriguing enough to warrant a visit from out-of-towners."

Digest: San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Sunday, December 08, 2007 Top 100 Wines 2007, Jon Bonné Pairings: Perfect partners for exemplary bottles, Lynne Char Bennett Five recipes to match the complexities of our 10 favorite wines Recipes: Truffled Wild Mushroom Risotto Cakes with Smoked Sturgeon Lamb Shoulder Braised with Cannellini Beans Za'atar-Crusted Pork Tenderloin & Saucy Mushrooms Cauliflower Beggar's Purses High-Low Sliders Les amis shows promise, but needs some fine-tuning, Amanda Gold

Yes, that was my point. My bottle, albeit a bit old, is labeled as being colored with "Natural Carmine" (Cochineal) not any other artificial substance. I'm pretty sure, though, that I had read that they had relatively recently discontinued using real cochineal to color Campari. Could be wrong about that, though.

Campari was originally colored with Cochineal. I thought I had read somewhere that they no longer color it with that substance, but see my bottle sez, "Colored with Natural Carmine". Is "Drinks" a magazine?

I've wanted to try De Dolle Dulle Teve for a while now. The name sort of put me off. I mean, "Mad Bitch?" Apparently the brewers mean this name in some sort of affectionate way towards their Mother who often leads the tours of their brewery?! Belgians! Who knows! Anyway, goddamn, this is a nice beer! I'm not normally a fan of the triple, as many are too sweet, but this one manages to marry sweetness with complexity and a dry finish. I had it with a spicy, fishy, dinner and it went toe to toe with my dinner in terms of complexity, matching it and complementing it in ways I didn't expect at all. Just fantastic. Definitely has to go in my top ten beers!

Duke of Marlborough Cocktail 1/2 Sherry. (Fino) 1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Punt e Mes) 3 Dashes Orange Bitters. (Dash or two of Fee's, Dash or two of Regan's) Stir well and twist orange peel on top. Cheating slightly here by using Punt e Mes instead of regular Sweet Vermouth and as always making the vermouth cocktails on cracked ice instead of up. I guess the question is, which of the 10 (at the time) Dukes of Marlborough this was named after. It appears likely that they were a Spencer, Churchill, or Spencer-Churchill. The seventh, John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 1822–1883, was the paternal Grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill. With Punt e Mes, this is quite tasty. Almost Americano-like. Still, I wouldn't blame you if you chose to add an ounce or so of Gin. I have no doubt that Sir Winston would. Though, now that I think about it, he might just glance at the bottles of Sherry and Vermouth, shrug, and pour himself a big glass of plain gin.

It's important to remember that the only criteria for a recipe to be in cocktaildb is that the recipe has to have been published in one of the books they have sucked into it. There has been no attempt to editorialize or say that one or the other versions is the "definitive" recipe. Anyway, made a version of the Prince of Wales cocktail last night for myself to celebrate Repeal Day. Didn't have pineapple, so cheated and used pineapple juice. 1 1/2 Wild Turkey rye, 1/2 oz pineapple juice, dash maraschino, healthy dash Angostura Bitters, 1/2 tsp sugar, lemon peel, stir and strain into cocktail glass. Topped up with some Piper-Heidsieck Brut I had leftover from the other day. Yummy! What did you make? edit - oops, forgot the recipe had bitters.

By the way, I do recommend this. Whether you make the hellfire bitters or Erik Adkin's Chile Tincture it is much handier for cocktails to have that spicy kick without the added burden of the vinegar.

I would except the lovely folks at the TSA took it away all my pinhead torx bits the last time I forgot them in my briefcase and tried to fly with them. I guess they were afraid I was going to take the plane apart in mid-flight. If you've got a tech heavy crowd, I wouldn't count on them sticking around too long. ;-)

re: Queen & Dubonnet. Paul, I do remember reading that somewhere. I believe in Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink". He has a section about Dubonnet and the history that resulted in Heaven Hill owning the US rights to the brand. Duchess Cocktail 1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Noilly Prat Dry) 1/3 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Cinzano Rosso) 1/3 Absinthe. (3/4 oz Marteau Verte Classic) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Not the most wildly appealing looking cocktail. The combination of the louched Absinthe and Italian Vermouth gives it a murky brown tan color. Kind of like tea with milk in it. Fairly tasty, however, if you enjoy Absinthe.

The very busy Jeffrey Morgenthaler got half the roundup written up before he had to jet off to New York to promote repeal day for Dewars: Mixology Monday: Prohibition Jimmy Patrick finished off the job of summarizing the MxMo posts here on his blog: Mixology Monday: Wrap-up part II

Advocaat and Rompope (rumpope) are both preserved egg and cream liqueurs. Can't say they appeal.

Wacky, never expected anyone to make those. I have to admit, aside from my bizarre and perhaps unsuccessful attempt at creating a bitters using only ingredients I have foraged or grown in and around San Francisco, I've not been really continuing with bitters projects. Hard enough to convince others to make cocktails you create without having them have to go through a month long project before hand. But, most folks who have tried the clementine bitters have given me positive feedback, so I'll be curious what you think. Next you'll have to go for the Hellfire Bitters! John, do you think I could make the grapefruit bitters with pomelo? Seems like it would be cool. Oh, and what's a good kitchen scale for these small measurements?