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Adapting Jamie Boudreau's Amer Picon recipe... 7 oz vodka 1 orange 10 oz Ramzzotti Amaro 2 oz Stirring's Blood Orange Bitters 1 drop orange oil Microplane the zest of 1 orange into the vodka. Let stand a few minutes. Filter through 4 layers of cheese cloth into a clean bottle, squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Pour Ramzotti Amaro through cheese cloth and orange zest, again squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Add Blood Orange bitters and orange oil. Mix. I like it better than the Torani Amer. It seems to have more spice notes and be a bit more complex than the modern Amer Picon that I've tasted recently. Make Creole Cocktail (above). Juice orange and drink juice for Vitamin C or make 4 Bronx cocktails.

Pint of Speakeasy's new "White Lightning" beer. I'd read it was a wheat beer and was really hoping for a fine new example of a German style wheat beer. Being the dope I am, I didn't connect "White" with "Wit". So, yeah, instead of being a German style wheat, it is a Belgian style white. It's all right. There's a bit of Czech style hops there at the begining, which make it a bit interesting. On the whole, though, it was too sweet for me, and the orange and spice flavors got annoying before I finished the pint.

3/4 oz Cocchi Barolo Chinato 3/4 oz Cointreau 1 1/2 oz Bombay Gin Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. This cocktail, semi-based on the Cota cocktail, was quite nice. I had a more direct negroni-like cocktail with Barolo Chinato the other day, and it didn't quite dance for me. I think maybe the mixer should have dialed down the Chinato just a touch. Others who tasted it thought it was too bitter and some of the flavors reminded them of bubblegum. They didn't like it at all.

Cota Cocktail 1/4 Hercules. (3/4 oz Cocchi Barolo Chinato) 1/4 Cointreau. (3/4 oz Cointreau) 1/2 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Bombay Gin) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. The ingredient Hercules continues to confound. Cocktaildb's ingredient database (and the Jones' Bar Guide) suggest it is an Absinthe substitute. However, making these cocktails with any modern Absinthe substitutes, they turn out to be rather horribly balanced. They are usually OK, if I reduce the Absinthe substitute to a dash. Sometimes when I visit the Cocktaildb home page (and I do quite often) one of the random pictures that shows up is what appears to be a label or advertisement in dutch for something that appears to be called "Hercules". Hercules Advert? I don't know Dutch; but, the words like "Versterkende Bloedwijn" and "Kina Wijn" on the advertisement suggest it is for some sort of red wine based Quinquina. Knowing that 3/4 oz Pastis, 3/4 oz Cointreau, and 1 1/2 oz Gin is going to be pretty undrinkable, I decided to experiment with a couple of the red wine Quinquinas I had around. The first try, with Byrrh Assemblage, was pretty lackluster. Even though I suspect it is fairly unrelated to the intended Savoy "Cota Cocktail", the formula above, with the Barolo Chinato, was actually quite delicious. Similar to a slightly sweeter and orangier Negroni. Maybe call it the "Coda Cocktail"? If anyone has any thoughts about a more appropriate Hercules substitution, please let me know.

I believe the new book is more of a "history with drinks" type book, perhaps not dissimilar to Wayne Curtis' "...And a Bottle of Rum." Well, with more drinks and a different cast of characters. "Esquire Drinks", on the other hand, was a revisiting of the various drink recipes Esquire Magazine had published over the years in books and magazines, with some history and stories. But, the primary focus was the cocktails, not the history.

Interesting! I don't usually see gentian powdered, and frankly powdered herbs just make filtering a pain. The very fine powder you usually find Cinchona (quinine bark) in, sucks to get out of any solution. On the other hand, I do usually give most spices a bit of crush in the mortar and pestle, if they are in larger pieces.

Ha! Great minds and all that. I can't wait to try these other combinations! I had a cocktail the other day that successfully combined passion fruit, campari, gin, and strawberry juice. But their preparation was way too much work... Passion fruit foam, juicing strawberries, etc. Then I was thinking the passion fruit foam had reminded me a lot of the elderflower liqueur. I did mentally toy with the idea of a foam based on the elderflower liqueur. Still think it might be fun... Maybe a bit more citrus and an egg white wouldn't be out of the question here.

Well, I have to admit I have had scant success convincing others of the charms of the Cocchi Americano. The usual response I get is, "tastes like vermouth." Then folks kind of glaze over when I start going on about the subtle orange/cinnamon flavors and delightful bitter quinine notes in the late flavors. It may be its particular combination of tastes just appeals particularly to me for some reason. At least it isn't expensive...

Well, the Corpse Reviver No. 1 is no Vieux Carre or Cocktail a la Louisiane. Still a fine enough cocktail in its own right. Corpse Reviver (No. 2) 1/4 Wine Glass Lemon Juice (3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice) 1/4 Wine Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano) 1/4 Wine Glass Cointreau. (3/4 oz Cointreau) 1/4 Wine Glass Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Bombay Gin) 1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Ahem, well, going by the rules of a "Wine Glass" equaling 2 oz, I should have used 1/2 oz portions. However, the previous evenings celebrations had left this corpse badly in need of Revivifaction. The Cocchi Aperitivo Americano is actually quite nice here, lending a bit more complexity than Lillet Blanc. So far I have yet to find a Savoy cocktail where I prefer using the modern Lillet to the Americano. On the other hand, the Americano was downright horrible in Pegu's White Negroni, a cocktail obviously created with the character of the modern Lillet in mind. Bombay Gin is another new player. I've been wanting to give the regular Bombay a try for a while now, and now that I finished off the Boodles, I picked up a bottle. Not bad at all. Patrick Gavin Duffy has a slight variation on the Corpse Reviver No. 2 in his "Official Mixer's Manual", which is sometimes reproduced in modern cocktail collections. In it he substitutes Swedish Punsch for the Lillet. 1/4 Dry Gin (3/4 oz Bombay Dry Gin) 1/4 Cointreau (3/4 oz Cointreau) 1/4 Swedish Punch (3/4 oz Carlshamm's Flaggpunsch) 1/4 Lemon Juice (3/4 oz fresh lemon juice) 1 Dash Pernod (Dash Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe) Shake well with ice and strain into glass This is tad bit sweeter than the Lillet based affair. The flavor of the Swedish Punsch really dominates the cocktail. Both are really quite nice, mild cocktails. If I had to give either the nod, I'd say the Savoy no. 2 is slightly more well balanced.

I recently saw one of the bartenders at Alembic here in San Francisco do that when he dry shook a Pisco Sour. Hadn't seen it done before, either. He did get a very impressive head of foam. They also use those battery powered milk frother things for some egg white based foam drink toppings.

Corpse Reviver (No. 1) 1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica) 1/4 Apple Brandy or Calvados. (3/4 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy) 1/2 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Apparently "Corpse Revivers" were a class of pre-prohibition drinks meant to be taken as "hair of the dog". By the time we get to the 30s only about 3 or 4 recipes survived. In the Savoy Cocktail Book we have Corpse Revivers No. 1 and No. 2. In Duffy we have Corpse Revivers 1-3, with a slight variation in No. 2 which we'll cover in the next entry. In European cocktail collections you will find another cocktail called the Corpse Reviver No. 2 (or sometimes No. 3). This drink is credited to Frank Meier of the Ritz in Paris and is identical to Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon". A shot of Absinthe topped up with champagne. I've tried that cocktail, and it definitely is a way to build up a head of steam. Not sure about it as a brunch cocktail, unless you do plan to die in the afternoon. The Corpse Reviver No. 1 is a perfectly fine and enjoyable cocktail. I did find it significantly improved with the addition of a drop or two of Angostura Bitters.

Wife and I thought this pretty good. Kind of a Bloodhound variation. 1 1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur 1/2 oz French Vermouth Dash Lemon Juice Two medium Strawberries Muddle Strawberries in ingredients, ice, shake, and strain.

A friend was kind enough to stop by Vintage Wines and pick up one of their last bottles of Suze and bring it down to San Francisco. The Suze is very strongly Gentian flavored without many of the other spice elements which make Campari so enjoyable. Is there a garnish for the White Negroni? Peel or anything?

Digest: San Francisco Chronicle Wine Digest and 96 Hours section, Friday, August 31, 2007 Chile's Pinot prospectors, Tim Teichelgraeber THE SIPPING NEWS: Figgy partner for fruity red wine Float a wine lover's boat Grape growers picking well ahead of schedule In Our Glasses: The Barbecue Special Cocktailian: Heaven? Almost - it's a Purgatory cocktail, Gary Regan Cocktail: Purgatory Cocktail Letters to Wine: Duck Fits the Bill Pairings: Pork takes a grilling for Loire reds, Lynn Char Bennett Recipe: Grilled Pork & Halloumi Skewers Chronicle Wine Selections: Loire Valley Reds, Olivia Wu The Cheese Course: Mild and woolly kasseri, Janet Fletcher 96 Hours Bar Bites: The Four Seasons Bar and Lounge, Laura Compton " It's the little details that count, particularly at a hotel bar that charges top dollar. But since it opened in 2001, the swanky Four Seasons Bar has consistently delivered a superlative experience. It starts with a dish of fiery wasabi peanuts and spicy almonds, and linen cocktail napkins that arrive at the table courtesy of impeccable waitstaff who check back frequently. Cocktails are mixed with care and top-shelf spirits; gussied-up appetizers are dramatically presented. Every night but Monday, pianist Michael Udelson mines the American songbook, from the Beatles to Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," with some jazz and Metallica thrown in for good measure. Otherwise, nothing in the plush, sprawling space gives the sense of any particular era. Which is how it should be" Bargain Bite: Frjtz, Laura Compton "It's hard to go wrong with fries, and even more so with frjtz, the Belgian-inspired version served in paper-lined parfait glasses with a choice of dips at this Valencia Street spot."

Coronation Cocktail (No. 2) 1 Dash Peppermint. (Brizard Creme de Menthe) 1 Dash Peach Bitters. (Fee's) 3 Dashes Curacao (teaspoon Brizard Orange Curacao) 2/3 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Germain-Robin Fine Alembic Brandy) Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Well, here's another one that doesn't add up to 1, again lending weight to the idea that the fractions in the Savoy may be a proportion of some standard measure. This is actually quite enjoyable. Nice feature for the peach bitters, not too sweet. Wasn't sure about "Peppermint". If that meant something like Peppermint extract or a liqueur. Such a small amount, it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference, whether extract or liqueur.

Recent quick trip back to the heartland resulted in some cultural exchange. We brought back Hangar One Chipotle vodka for our vodka fan friends, and they scored us the new Death's Door Gin. Death's Door is an interesting small company distilling their spirits from red wheat harvested on Washington Island in Wisconsin. I haven't tried the vodka; but, this year they introduced a gin, which is flavored with Juniper berries also grown on the Island. Cocktail is my usual gin test cocktail, the 19th century style Improved Gin Cocktail: 2 oz Gin, dash Maraschino, dash Absinthe, dash simple syrup, dash bitters. Stir, strain, lemon twist. The gin is very smooth and a bit sweet. Well distilled with traditional botanicals. If I had any criticism, it would be that it is a bit light in flavor. I'm just starting to experiment with it and am not sure I can detect any "wheat" flavor. If I had to put it near anything I would stand it close to the Zuidam Dry Gin. Not bad company, as far as I am concerned.

No, no sky blue tint. You know, I've never been entirely convinced by the "aviations are called aviations because of the blue tint" story. Unless creme de violette used to have a much larger portion of blue coloring, I just don't see how it would add much color to the drink. It's not like Blue Curacao.

Had a bit of a violet liqueur taste off with a few friends last night. We had the Hermes, Benoit-Serres, and Rothman & Winter liqueurs. Boy, they are different. The Hermes is the sweetest and most candy-like of the bunch. Apropos of jmfangio's comment above, several folks unfamiliar with this topic remarked that it tasted like violet pastilles dissolved in liquor. The initial flavor I got was similar to marshmallows, then violets. The Benoit-Serres the next sweetest. Stronger violet taste, with some tropical flavors in the middle taste sensations. Finally, the Rothman & Winter was the least sweet. Earthy, intense, perfume-like, violet flavor with few additional elements. edit - Oh, yeah, being the fuddy duddy that I am, I made classic style Aviations: 1 1/2 oz 209 Gin, 3/4 oz Lemon Juice, 2 dash R&W Violet, 1 dash Maraschino. Not bad and received generally favorable comments. I thought the 209 a little lacking in gin-i-ness compared to the Plymouth I usually mix Aviations with.

Coronation Cocktail (No. 1) 1/2 Sherry. (1 1/2 oz Domecq La Ina Fino Sherry) 1/2 French Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth) 1 Dash Maraschino. (Luxardo) 2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (1 dash Regan's, 1 dash Fee's) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Again, prefer these sorts of things on the rocks, so there you go. I dunno, this was really nice. I think I am coming around to dry sherry. Earlier in the evening, I was experimenting with Aviation proportions and different violet liqueurs. Palate was pretty jaded from it all. This was a pleasant, simple, relief from all that perfumed nonsense.

The Cornell Special Cocktail 1/4 Part Gin. (3/4 oz Tanqueray) 1/4 Part Benedictine. (3/4 oz Benedictine) 1/4 Part Lemon. (3/4 oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice) 1/4 Part Lithia Water. (3/4 oz Gerolsteiner Heavy Mineral Content Mineral Water) Stir well and serve in cocktail glass. Well, this one gave me a lot of trouble. I found some online sources that purported to sell "Lithia Water" but none of them would return my phone calls or emails. Driving all the way to Ashland, Oregon seemed pretty crazy. Did some more research, trying to find mineral waters with a high mineral content and taste. Gerolsteiner was one, and according to some web sites, actually contains some Lithium (Not to mention 8% of your daily allowance of Calcium! Now that is heavy mineral content!) A lot of chasing around for a drink that ends up tasting like slightly herbaceous, sparkling lemonade. It is certainly easy drinking.

The Corn Popper 1 Pint Corn (Georgia or Maryland). 1/2 Pint Cream. The Whites of 2 Eggs. 1 Tablespoonful Grenadine. Fill highball glasses half full of this mixture and fill up with Vichy or Seltzer. This is another of the recipes Craddock (or the Savoy editors) cribbed verbatim from Judge Jr.'s "Here's How". The recipe in "Here's How" includes the following recommendation, "Don't get near a fire after one of these!" Being the literalist that I am, and knowing that most of the commercial "corn whiskey" is of questionable merit, I was thinking I would use some semi-vintage J.W. Dant Bourbon I found at a liquor store. It's the only whiskey I have that actually tastes like corn. However, I decided to double check on "Corn", so consulted our resident "Moonshine" (Link to his excellent book on the subject) expert Matt Rowley in regards to that cocktail. He replied: Well, alright, then. With that in mind I set about re-doing the recipe for a single serving. The Corn Popper 1 1/2 oz clear, pungent, liquid of unknown origin 1 egg white 3/4 oz Cream 1 teaspoon Grenadine (homemade) Measure ingredients into cocktail shaker. Seal and shake well. Break seal, add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into collins glass. Top with selzer or sparkling mineral water. The drink has a nice flavor of yeast and malt. Reminded me a bit of a very potent malted egg cream. Also, interesting, that the drink really isn't very sweet. I was being pretty generous in using a whole teaspoon of Grenadine, as Savoy/Judge Jr. only call for a tablespoon of grenadine in a pint of liquor and a half pint of cream. This probably betrays some weakness of character on my part; but, I was having a Unibroue Maudite later in the evening, and thought, you know, topping up the Corn Popper with Maudite instead of sparkling water might be kind of nice.

Watermelon drinks with a little spice are nice. Watermelon Juice, lime juice, simple syrup or sugar, x amount of spicy vodka, x amount of regular vodka (or another more tasty liquor like White Rum, Cachaca, or Tequila).

I guess "Vieux Carré" is another name for the French Quarter in New Orleans. In French, it actually means "Old Square". Chuckle! Perfect cocktail for me! Could call this version, "viejo cuadrado" or "vieja manzana".

Crap! So those bottles were there at Gasbarro's when I was there 2 years ago? Sigh. I suggest, from the Savoy Cocktail Book: Creole Cocktail 1/2 Rye or Canadian Club Whisky. 1/2 Italian Vermouth. 2 Dashes Benedictine. 2 Dashes Amer Picon. Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. Twist lemon peel on top. Yeah, ignore Canadians and use a decent vermouth. Please take a picture and post when we get to the Creole Cocktail the Savoy topic.

Love them Cuban Manhattans, I'm sure made even better with home made vermouth... Here's a vieux carre variation back atcha: 1 oz St. James Ambre 1 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy 1 oz Punt e Mes Dash Benedictine Dash Peychaud's The scent of the apple brandy and earthiness of the rhum agricole are quite interesting. Very complex libation. Plus, today sucked, so the alcoholic kick in the pants, is where it's at.