Keith Orr
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Posts posted by Keith Orr
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Last call tonight. Tried a Bijou. Used 3/4 oz each M & R sweet vermouth, Green Chartreuse and Boker's Gin and a dash of Angostura Orange Bitters. Seemed a bit cloying - the best part was a good blast of juniper from the gin. Frankly, I didn't really enjoy it that much.
Okay, Second last call. Tried it again with Punt e Mas and 2 dashes of orange bitters. Wow, what a difference. The botanicals from both the Punt e Mas and the Chartreuse really come forward - I really like this version. I wouldn't make the first one again. This one is worth repeating..if not tonight.
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Here in Portland OR a local place called Toro Bravo makes a Manhattan with Bourbon,
sweet vermouth and sherry garnished with a twist of orange peel.
Today I've been playing around with my homemade variation.
1 1/2 oz Wild Turkey Rye
1/2 oz Punt e Mas
1/2 oz Amontillado Sherry
Dash of Angostura Orange Bitters
Stirred and strained into a glass and garnished with a homemade cherry.
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I've got a co-conspirator here, and we're making some dram. I scored a bottle of LH 151 so I'm going to be using that along with some Wray & Nephew. I'm also cutting back on sugar (I thought it was too sweet), bumping up the nutmeg, and cutting out the Angostura.
Steep for two weeks:
1 c Lemon hart 151 demerara rum
1/2 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum
1/2 c allspice berries, crushed
5 black pepper berries, crushed
5 cloves, crushed
2 cinnamon sticks, broken
2 nutmegs, crushed
Strain. Add:
1 c Lemon Hart 80 demerara rum
simple made with 1 lb of demerara sugar & 2 c water
That seems like a lot of nutmeg, although I notice it's double what you had in an earlier batch. I find a little nutmeg goes a long way, even though I like it.
So how strong is the nutmeg in the finished product? How are you crushing the nutmeg and how fine are the pieces?
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Cherry Heering is available here in Oregon. $24.95 per bottle. It's shown on the Oregon Liquor Control Commission Monthly Sheets.
If you're in NE Portland, the Rose City Liquor Store has it on the shelf.
Picked up a bottle today. Singapore Slings tonight!
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Shop Egg Nog
Ingredients:
12 Egg yolks
1 c Sugar
1/4 ts Salt
3 c Bourbon
2 c Brandy
1 c Dark rum
2 quarts half and half
12 Egg whites
1/2 c Sugar
Instructions for Egg Nog
Beat yolks until very light with about 1 cup sugar and the salt. Add half and half - combine and stir until well mixed Add booze and beat well.
Beat eggwhites with 1/2 cup sugar until stiff peaks and float on top of the rest of the mix
Store in a cold cellar for a week. Serve with freshly-grated nutmeg. The egg nog should be ladled from the bottom of the bowl, and never stirred, in order to maintain its layered quality.
We used to serve this at the shop Christmas Party until drinking on the premises was banned. It's best with a week of aging, but I've served it the same day with no complaints....at least until they wake up the next day.
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Also, maybe I'm a stickler, but I don't like the usage of saying Grand Marnier or Brizard Orange Curacao are based on Brandy/Cognac.
This, to me, implies that somehow it is the base spirit for the infusion and/or distillation.
As I pointed out, Grand Marnier and Cointreau are made in exactly the same manner.
Flavoring essences are distilled and then used to flavor a sweetened liqueur.
The only real differentiation point is the type of spirit with which the orange essence is blended after distillation. One is blended with brandy and the other is blended with neutral spirits.
So the dried orange peel is soaked in water? alcohol? Then distilled and added to the brandy or Cognac?
I'm getting an education - Thanks
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Put the hot syrup in pint or quart canning jars and process it in a water bath canner for 15 or 20 minutes. Keep the open jars in the refrigerator. You can process fruit syrups the same way.
It seems like a whole lot of work for plain old simple syrup though.
No, no, no! Hot water bath processing is only used for acidic foods. Grenadine and other fruit syrups are fine to process this way, as the acid prevents botulism and other food-borne diseases.
But botulism thrives in a low-acid environment. (Especially a high-protein one, so please don't process nut syrups like this.) Non-acidic foods require processing temperatures of 240' (rather then the 212' of boiling water), so to do it at home you need a pressure canner (different from a pressure cooker). This sufficiently eliminates these risks.
But yes, a lot of work for simple syrup.
Aaaack, Thanks for the correction - I know better. I meant to say process fruit syrups in a hot water bath. You should also check the pH to make sure it's 4.6 or lower - some fruits may not have enough acidity to achieve that low of pH. Most winemaking shops have pH strips to test the pH.
You'd have to use a pressure canner for anything with pH higher than 4.6
That's what I get for posting late at night
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It is so easy!
Go to your local ethnic market and get a packet of Goya brand passion fruit pulp.
Ought to cost you under three bucks.
Thaw it out and add equal amounts of the pulp and sugar water (simple syrup).
(Or: 2 parts pulp, 1 part sugar, 1 part water)
Heat it all up just a little to make sure the sugar melts and properly integrates.
Let it cool and pour it into a bottle.
Shake it all up like a mo'fo', add a shot of clear rum as a preservative, and you're done!
I used to use Trader Vic's brand Passion Fruit syrup but never again!
It is all HFCS crapola.
This simple home made recipe blows away anything on the shelves.
Thanks.
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Yesterday at the Asian Market I saw a big bag of them for $4 so I bought it. Anybody got any tips other than the obvious "Soak them in a bottle of brandy and add some sugar"?
Seems like the right beginning, though that would make more of an orange curracao. If you want something more in line with triple-sec, I'd use (primarily) neutral grain spirits as a base.
In either case, let us know how it goes...
My understanding is that Gran Marnier is made with Cognac and is a type of triple sec and Curacao as an orange flavored liqueur is also a type of triple sec. I don't know what type of spirit base is used for Curacao.
Anyway, I have dried orange peel soaking in brandy, rum and vodka and hopefully we'll all know more in a few weeks.
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Hello old friends -- I'm trying to make a shelf stable simple syrup. What's the best way to preserve it?
When I made a batch a couple of weeks ago, it developed a fuzzy gray coating at the top - I'm assuming surface mold.
I've heard that sodium benzoate might work...but only if I also add citric acid?
I've also heard that ethanol might work.
Any molecular mixology experts out there have an opinion, or advice?
...and yes, I know that a good bartender would mix up a fresh batch of syrup, and wouldn't touch the preserved stuff.
Put the hot syrup in pint or quart canning jars and process it in a water bath canner for 15 or 20 minutes. Keep the open jars in the refrigerator. You can process fruit syrups the same way.
It seems like a whole lot of work for plain old simple syrup though.
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There was an article on Haitian Dried Citrus peels being used for making Gran Marnier on Bunnyhugs
Yesterday at the Asian Market I saw a big bag of them for $4 so I bought it. Anybody got any tips other than the obvious "Soak them in a bottle of brandy and add some sugar"?
I'm wondering if dried citrus is anything like dried mushrooms, where the flavor seems to strengthen and become so much more intense.
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1/2 oz. home made passion fruit syrup.
I've been looking for passion fruit syrup and can't find any.
Are you willing to share your technique for making the homemade variety?
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Blackberry Beret! I like it! I like the idea of it being purple too, but an addition of creme de mure would make the drink too sweet and probably wouldn't work since the grapefruit juice is the primary color. It's a yellow drink in the glass...
Actually, to make the syrup I blanched 1/2 cup of packed sage leaves in 1/2 cup of honey for about 2 minutes. I added 1 cup of water and let it simmer for about 5 minutes, adding one more 1/2 cup of water as it evaporated. I then buzzed that through the blender and let it sit overnight to cool. Strained it and it was REALLY sage-ey. I then diluted it with 1 cup of premixed 1:1 honey syrup and 1/2 cup of Fee Brothers Falernum. I didn't want to cook the falernum for fear of changing the flavor of it or messing with the aromatics. The end result is a syrup with enough sweetening power and delicious aromatics that I can just measure into the drink on a busy night and not fuss with muddling as well as it always being consistent. It's strong enough that a little goes a long way, in a good way, if you know what I mean.
I will undoubtedly make my own falernum someday, but for now the Fee Bros. is wha't's available to me in PA. No Velvet Falernum here yet. Again, it's consistent and I like that.
I was inspired to combine these flavors because I know that sage and grapefruit work together and I know that sage and blackberry work together. I just decided to see if it was transitive...
Thanks for sharing the sage falernum recipe. I've tucked that away.
The grapefruit sage combo sounds good. I think I might try some sage on a bruleed grapefruit
I love the title "Intoxicologist" BTW
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I'm tweaking a new cocktail for my fall menu. I finished the Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup today and made one for the staff. Everyone loved it. It needs a clever name. If anyone has an idea let me know...
1.75 oz. Stoli Blakberi vodka
.75 oz. Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup
.5 oz. fresh lime juice
1.25 oz. grapefruit juice
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float a sage leaf on top.
Basic flavor profile is Blackberry, Sage and Grapefruit with a hint of honey in the background and a wee bit of savory-ness from the falernum. Delicious combination of flavors. I can't for the life of me think of a cool name for it.
My first thought was "Home on the Range" because of the sage - yes I know it's not about sagebrush, but that name appears to have already been taken.
Second thought was Blackberry Beret, because for 20 plus years I can't get Prince's lyrics to stop once I hear anything with XXXXBerry mentioned.
Sounds like a tasty drink. Did you use all honey when you made the Falernum? It's a substitution that's never occurred to me.
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Friday October 3rd
From My Preserving Log "(August 23rd, 2008) I bought a couple of pounds of Bing type cherries at HMart on my way home from McMinnville today. I put them in a half gallon jar with the stems and pits intact. Dumped in two cups of sugar, a cup of Luxardo Maraschino and topped it off with a couple of cups of Clear Creek Kirschwasser.
I'm hoping that in 6-8 weeks I'll have something suitable for Manhattans and some to share with friends and family."
Back to Last Night - I broke into these tonight to see how they were progressing.
I tried them a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty good, but seemed rather simple.
Tonight it seemed like the almond notes from the pits were starting to infuse the cherries from the inside out - very maraschino like with the almond notes. I think they need another month or so.
The cherries were packed into a 1/2 gallon jar. Now the cherries take up about 60% of the jar. The cherries have shrunk dramatically in size and the texture has firmed up. Almost crunchy texture. Next year I'm going to try adding some extra cherry pits and crush them when I make this. I can tell this isn't going to make as many cherries as I'd have liked. I think they also need a bit more sugar.
Made a Manhattan with them
2 oz Jim Beam Rye
3/4 oz Punt e Mas
1 Tablespoon of the Liquor from the cherries
two cherries
It was lacking just a bit at this point so I added a couple of drops of Peychaud's bitters for the aromatics
Pretty damn good!
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i want to finish this bottle of sherry so i thought i'd whip up a cocktail... after drinking alot of the single vineyard la gitana manzanilla i think i prefer the la cigarrera which as a bonus comes in smaller bottles.
1.5 oz. suntory yamazaki 12yr
1 oz. pastrana single vineyard aged manzanilla
1 oz. chamberyzette (replica)
bar spoon honey liqueur (single varietal dandelion)
dash peychaud's
strong enough for my mood but a cask strength whiskey would be better, the dandelion honey adds a gamey something extra that you never really find in a drink. divine flavor contrast from the smokiness of the scotch and the fruit of the aromatized wine. if anyone can import dolin's chamberyzette and get decent distribution they will make alot of money...
I'm curious about the chamberyzette - did you make it yourself? Will you share the recipe? Conceptually it sounds wonderful.
Edited to Add - Found your recipe in your blog Here - Nice looking new blog for me to explore!
Is the honey liqueur made from dandelion honey or honey and dandelions?
Sounds like a very interesting drink. I'm a big fan of Peychauds and it seems like it would go well with the strawberry in the chamberyzette
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Sorry to be such a bummer, but i am curious how the current economic climate is affecting what people are drinking when they go out, your choices as a bartender or your personal drinking habits?
for me, it is mostly making more drinks at home and not going out as much
I was hoping to retire early next year. That's not going to happen now short of some sort of economic revival bordering on miraculous. I've been cutting back for a while. So I've not felt the same sort of sting that some are feeling.
I've been drinking less, but drinking better!
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Try dropping the Cointreau to 1/4 ounce, try a "backbone-ier" gin, and/or maybe a lemon or orange twist.
EDIT - Oh, you were using Beefeater - never mind the bit about a backbone-ier gin.
I'll give it a try with the lesser amount of Cointreau next go around. I thought about that already and giving it a shake of some Angostura Orange Bitters to keep the orange level up.
I like my gin with a pretty heavy juniper hit and Beefeater seems to deliver that pretty well for a reasonable price.
Thanks for the feedback.
Lord Suffolk V.3
2oz Beefeaters Gin
½ oz Luxardo Maraschino
½ oz Punt e Mas Vermouth
¼ oz Cointreau
Lemon twist
• This is getting closer. I posted my first results on eGullet and got some feedback to reduce the Cointreau and add a lemon twist. This is better. I like the flavor the lemon twist adds and it’s still got enough orange. I think I might reduce the Maraschino to a ¼ oz as well in V.4
I'm pretty sure this will never be a top 10 drink for me, but I'm having fun finding the best version for me.
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I live in Portland OR and we've got several places that make good cocktails and one place, the Teardrop Lounge, where the cocktails are ethereal - I usually call the bartender there by his first name - Daniel.
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Try dropping the Cointreau to 1/4 ounce, try a "backbone-ier" gin, and/or maybe a lemon or orange twist.
EDIT - Oh, you were using Beefeater - never mind the bit about a backbone-ier gin.
I'll give it a try with the lesser amount of Cointreau next go around. I thought about that already and giving it a shake of some Angostura Orange Bitters to keep the orange level up.
I like my gin with a pretty heavy juniper hit and Beefeater seems to deliver that pretty well for a reasonable price.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Having purchased a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino and being too cheap to get a bottle of Chartreuse (For a Last Word) I searched CocktailDB for a new drink to try and came up with the Lord Suffolk.
.5oz Maraschino
.5oz Sweet Vermouth
.5oz Cointreau
2oz Gin (Bokers)
Very tasty.
I tried this one today
Lord Suffolk V.1
2oz Beefeaters Gin
½ oz Luxardo Maraschino
½ oz Rosso Sweet Vermouth – Rosso is cheap crap from TJ’s – This stuff seems ok, but I need to learn more about vermouth – given the way vermouth interacts with other ingredients; How in the hell do you compare vermouths?.
½ oz Cointreau
• Got this recipe off of the eGullet “Drinks - What you Drinking Today” thread. I really want to like this drink. All of the ingredients are ingredients that I like, but the drink was too sweet for my taste. It lacked balance. It might be better with something more bitter like Punt e Mas substituted for the Sweet Vermouth.
Lord Suffolk V.2
2oz Beefeaters Gin
½ oz LuxardoMaraschino
½ oz Punt e Mas Vermouth
½ oz Cointreau
• This drink is much better than it was with the regular sweet vermouth. The bitterness of the Punt e Mas gives it more balance, but overall it doesn’t ring my bell. Still on the sweet side but it’s better. I’m thinking late at night it might work. I wonder if the ratios were changed a bit? Orange juice instead of Cointreau? A bit of Orange juice and the Cointreau?
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There isn't anything on the Luxardo website about a higher proof version.
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Some of the local McDonalds here in Portland Oregon have "Filet O Fish Fridays" where you can get them for a buck a piece.
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I love patty melts. I make them at home a couple of times a year. Good rye bread, gruyere cheese and like the article says "grind your own beef".
Pimento Dram
in Spirits & Cocktails
Posted
I can't get Wray and Nephew Overproof. Given the comments about using demerara, I was wondering what folks thought about using Cruzan Clipper at 120 proof to come up with a less rummy product at about the same proof?