FrogPrincesse

This one made last weekend, with orgeat and a cinnamon-absinthe combo, is unmistakably a tiki drink in the vein of Don the Beachcomber's best creations, even though it's rye-based. But don't tell anyone or they may call it tacky... Winter Diamondback from El Dorado Cocktail Lounge, another hipster hangout in downtown San Diego that just celebrated its 5 years. Rye, lemon juice, homemade orgeat, cinnamon syrup, black walnut bitters, egg white, absinthe rinse, and a grated nutmeg garnish. It is essentially Harry Craddock's excellent Rattlesnake with a sweetener change, with cinnamon syrup and orgeat replacing the simple syrup. I don't have black walnut bitters so I make do with Fee's whiskey-barrel aged bitters. It still worked for me.

Finally got to try Rafa's Man Comes Around. Also a Waldorf Cocktail, which is a bourbon Manhattan with an absinthe rinse (I used St. George).

The Man Comes Around by Rafa. His reputation is well deserved. He is really good.

Not a fan of that one when made with Remy Martin VSOP, but maybe I should give it another try with the Pierre Ferrand.

Humboldt Fog with a romaine salad. A decent goat cheese, although it does not reach the heights of French-made goat cheeses.

Got a new packet (or rather, brick - it's the Costco size) of yeast so I am making bread again. Italian semolina bread. Crumb a bit dense but it was decent. Is it worth getting the revised edition of the book? The update includes weight measurements (finally!).

I got a very large butternut squash in my CSA so I made David Lebovitz's butternut squash pie. I used a 10-inch pan this time and ended up with just a small excess of filling.

Cool.

Yep, that one is a San Diego cocktail creation, by Christian Siglin (cf. the Negroni thread) who now heads the bar at Banker's Hill for those who keep track of that kind of thing.

Made Jon Santer's Revolver with my newish bottle of House Spirits coffee liqueur (they use coffee roasted by Stumptown in Portland). The creator describes this cocktail as a coffee Manhattan. It's 2 oz rye-heavy bourbon (I used Buffalo Trace), 1/2 oz coffee liqueur, 1 dashes orange bitters, flamed orange zest.

It looks like a kaffir lime to me.

Too much negativity around here. I am going back to tiki-land.

Me again. Restocking on La Favorite & Cynar. Decided to get the dry rye gin to try in Negronis and genever cocktails. (Plus a few more things that cannot be revealed at this time).

As you can tell, we are all pretty clueless on this board without your input. I went for bold & direct last night with David A. Embury's Toronto. 2 oz Bulleit rye, 3/4 oz Fernet-Branca, 1/4 simple syrup. This is much heavier on the Fernet than what Chris posted upthread. Lemon peel because that's all I had, but would have preferred orange. On the first few sips, the Fernet is not as forward as I had imagined, but rather meshes well with the rye and augments its flavor instead of fighting with it. It's surprisingly tame, at least initially. As someone else wrote earlier, it is rather intriguing; as the flavor evolves you want to take another sip to find out where it is leading you. The Fernet does not become completely obvious until the end when it finally takes over. Nice cocktail.

You need to relax, man. Tiki is not just about the drinks, it's a state of mind.

Too bad that it didn't quite hit the spot for you. Maybe I just got lucky with my choice of ingredients, or our taste buds are just different.

Adam,Thanks for taking the time to share your thought process. I think that's really cool. I don't have access to the same rums otherwise I would try your version in a heartbeat. My experiments went in a different direction because I went with the Appleton 12 early on and it has plenty of depth. Then it was just a matter of pairing it with a compatible aged agricole. I tried a few and some were surprisingly too tame to add much interest to the drink. I really like it with La Favorite vieux rhum because it is still a bit rough around the edges like a white agricole, and complements the Appleton amazingly well. I recently bought a bottle of the Clement VSOP based on the recommendation from Rumdood and after trying it at Tiki Oasis. Also I had a chance to try his version of the Mai Tai at 320 Main a few times and it is quite good. (They use Clement VSOP + Appleton Reserve + Clement creole shrubb.) But I haven't had a chance to crack open the bottle of Clement yet.

Ça suffit pas, Princesse? C'est pas mal, Hassouni, but I was looking for Le Shrug. Thanks for your help though. Always good to revisit the classics.

Well, I guess if they were mine they would be tacky. I prefer plain crystal without decoration. Very untiki of me. Crystal? Definitely untiki.

Fine strainer - see Adam's profile picture. I use the julep strainer with my mixing glass (for stirred cocktails) and a Hawthorn for shaken drinks.

I am starting a kickstarter campaign asap.

Trifecta of spousal abhorrence: Mezcal, Spanish brandy, Fernet Branca. We're having it tonight.... Delivery of Cynar just arrived. Will the drink produce the same effect if using Vida Mezcal and PF cognac? (I know, I know... but I am completely maxed out with respect to my home bar inventory)

Plantes Vertes, That looks good. What is your rationale for altering the equal-parts ratios? (Are you just triyng to minimize your consumption of Chartreuse? That stuff is expensive.)

This is a bit puzzling. I could see how a coupe glass could be a little more forgiving than a same-capacity V-shaped glass if you are worried about being too close to the rim. But if your glass is 6 oz and your shaken cockail 4 oz, you should have plenty of room there.

No true cocktailian would neglect to try that masterpiece. Noted. Next time I see King Cocktail, I will make sure to ask him to make me one.