FrogPrincesse

All added to my cocktail book for future inspiration. Thanks Rafa.

I saw it. This was a nod to your (now deleted) reference...

After the Cynar What I Mean (royal edition)... ... I was inspired to look for another cocktail that combined cynar and maraschino. I found this one in the Kindred database: Maloney No. 2 by John Durr of the Hawthorn Beverage Group in Louisville 1 1/2 oz Bourbon (Original recipe specifies bonded) 1 1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino 3/4 oz Cynar 1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with ice; garnish with an orange peel twist I served it up. I was delicious. The bitter herbs of the cynar seem to have a great affinity for maraschino liqueur. It did not taste overly bitter so I thought I might convert my husband to cynar, but he decided he did not care for it.

Don't pronounce it "Queen's English".The joke stems from a conversation we had behind the bar, impersonating an ill spoken person. Brice said, "D'ya know wha' I mean?" And it became the drink above. I insisted I'd get a drink called that on a menu ever since but we didn't settle ona recipe, hence I borrowed your idea. Well maybe this one should be pronounced in Queen's English... It's the Cynar What I Mean à la Royale, with sparkling wine replacing the soda water. Really good. There is something great about the cynar + maraschino combination. So much better than an Americano.

It looks pretty. With Picon it is much darker with a red tinge. Amer Picon on its own is dark brown because of the caramel.

I decided to start this new thread after some discussions with mkayahara (thanks Matt for the inspiration!). The question of ratios for the Brooklyn came up. It became apparent that there were very different recipes floating around. I first encountered this cocktail in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (I have the 2009 edition). It is essentially a dry Manhattan with a touch of Picon and maraschino liqueur. Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails 2 oz rye 3/4 oz dry vermouth 2 tsp [~1/3 oz] Amer Picon 2 tsp [~1/3 oz] maraschino The version in the Savoy Cocktail Book has a 2:1 rye to vermouth ratio similar to Ted Haigh, but less Picon & maraschino. Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) 2/3 Canadian Club whisky 1/3 dry vermouth 1 dash Amer Picon 1 dash maraschino Doing more digging there is Joseph Straub version (the original) with a 1:1 rye to dry vermouth ratio. Joseph Straub (1914) 3/4 oz rye 3/4 oz dry vermouth 1 dash Amer Picon 1 dash maraschino The modern versions seem to tweak the balance quite a bit. For example the version in diffords.com reduces the amount of dry vermouth (3:1). Diffords 1 1/2 oz rye 1/2 oz dry vermouth 1/4 oz Amer Picon 1/4 oz maraschino To make things more confusing, Martin Doudoroff and Ted Haigh's cocktaildb.com has two versions. One under Brooklyn which is identical to the Savoy version, and another one under Brooklyn Cocktail which is identical to Diffords. Then, lastly, there is the version I've been using recently. That one drastically reduces the dry vermouth (8:1 rye to vermouth ratio) and clearly puts the emphasis on the Picon. Bartender's Choice App 2 oz rye 1/4 oz dry vermouth 1/2 oz Amer Picon 1/4 oz maraschino One variable is the type of Picon that you use. Picon is a bitter apperitif made from orange zest, cinchona (quinine) and gentian. There is Picon Bière, Amer Picon (harder to track down), vintage Amer Picon (even harder to find), Amer Boudreau, Amère Nouvelle, Torani Amer, Amaro CioCiaro, etc. For example Ted Haigh says to substitute Torani Amer for the Picon. For my experiments I am using Picon Bière because that is what I have access to. But I am counting on Matt to report on his work with Amère Nouvelle and Amer Boudreau... to be continued...

Some bars (for example the Varnish in LA) use Maraska maraschino liqueur. Any thoughts on Maraska vs Luxardo?

I found the cocktail with bourbon, fernet, cherry liqueur, lime juice, falernum in the Kindred Cocktails database. Actually it is Murray Stenson's Porteño. Probably just a typo in Anvil's cocktail menu.

I noticed that too. Like you I make mine with gin, fernet branca, sweet vermouth, and curacao (discussion here).

A couple of classic cocktails last night. I was in the mood for a bitter Martini so I made myselt a White Negroni (up): Plymouth gin, Lillet, Suze, lemon twist. For him I made a Manhattan with Templeton rye, Dolin rouge sweet vermouth, Fee Brothers whiskey barrel-aged bitters and a couple of French brandied cherries.

Thanks Rafa. We had a tiki-themed mother's day (hence the background decor), but I decided to stay with the Mother's Ruin Punch because that is what I was in the mood for. I used Bombay Sapphire gin (not my first choice but I am making an effort to clean up my liquor cabinet...), a fresh bottle of Dolin vermouth and Cremant de Bourgogne for the sparkling. I tweaked the recipe a little for simplicity and ended up with: (yield: 2 drinks) 1.5 oz gin 3/4 oz sweet vermouth 1.5 oz grapefruit juice 3/4 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz simple syrup top with ~ 1.5 oz sparkling wine

Dessert was a simple crème fraîche panna cotta with strawberries. I like this dessert because it is light and appropriate for spring, plus it's a good way to showcase fresh fruit. As an additional bonus, it is prepared in advance. The strawberries were just sliced and mixed with sugar 10 minutes before serving. A well-made panna cotta can be very satisfying.

Thanks for the info Hassouni, boring is not good. Maybe the Barcelo Imperial is meant to be more of a sipping rum? I recently finished a bottle of the 4-year Flor de Cana gold which I found boring as well and was hoping to replace it with something more interesting for my Puerto Rican-style rum.

Last night I made a simple French 75 with Beefeater and Crémant de Bourgogne for the sparkling wine. Don't skimp on the gin, I think that's the key.

Hassouni -Your Zombie looks great. I am intrigued by the Barcelo Imperial. I see that it has a great review by Matt Robold and seems reasonably priced (less than $30) so now it's on my wishlist (even though my rum collection is already out of hand...).

I've been using the cinnamon syrup from BG Reynolds which I just found out is a blend of cassia and Ceylon cinnamon.

It's called Breaking and Entering. It's a blend from a large number of distilleries. I have a bottle and it's delicious.

Thank you Franci. Your rabbit dish looks fabulous. I was going to ask you for details but I found the recipe on your blog. I haven't had rabbit in ages... Now I have a craving for it!

Some catching up to do to cover the past month or so... Grilled chicken al mattone (Mario Batali), coconut kale (Vikram Vij), baby purple artichokes braised with saffron, black olives and almonds (Russ Parsons). Not super-photogenic, but this was a delicious lamb burger (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall) with cucumber raita (Vikram Vij) served with sauteed zucchini with mint, basil and pine nuts (Deborah Madison). Marcella Hazan's lamb chops fried in Parmesan butter; sugar snap peas with saffron and thyme (Suzanne Goin) Poutine with duck confit from our trip to Niagara (The Syndicate brewery) Corvina seabass with chermoula (Joyce Goldstein), grilled zucchini, yoghurt with za'atar Butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and wild sage, onion focaccia, 2009 Zaca Mesa chardonnay Pork ribs braised in Vietnamese caramel sauce (Molly Stevens) with a sweet potato mash and black kale My favorite recent meal - all shellfish. Crayfish boil Linguine con vongole (Mario Batali)

Trader Vic's Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (1947) with the ratios from PDT. Rum, lime juice, Cointreau, falernum. I was out of Barbados rum so I used Barbancourt 8. It's a very good cocktail that would be fun to try with various rums. It's interesting that this lime + falernum + Cointreau combo was also used by Donn Beach in the Test Pilot (1941), which adds Angostura bitters and pastis to get a completely different feel to the cocktail, from crisp and clean for the RBYC to complex and exotic for the Test Pilot. Very illustrative of their respective styles.

For me it's a Daiquiri Naturale with rhum agricole. Perfection.

So the Anvil list is now at the 2.0 version (here) which is now organized into categories rather than alphabetical. Makes more sense. The categories are: Sour and ShortHerbal and SpirituousBoozy and AlluringLight and LoooooooongBitter + BoldTropical & TikiOdds & EndsThe Painkiller makes an appearance as the Brandkiller... clever. My count is 58 for the new list, 65 for the old list (the link to the old list in the first post no longer works, but I found a copy here). It looks like I have some categories well covered - 100% for the Bitter & Bold and Tropical & Tiki categories! On the other end, I haven't much tried in the Odds & Ends category.

I bought my first bottle of Bénédictine only recently and have been playing with it quite a bit. I posted my results on various threads but thought it would be good to start a new topic. Last night I made the Cock'n Bull Special (an old recipe found on the Bartender's Choice app): bourbon, benedictine, cognac, cointreau, angostura bitters. It's very aromatic. If you like the Vieux Carré you will like this one.

Found a new cache of Saison de Lente at $9.99 so I feel much better... I tried this saison by Le Merle a couple of nights ago. We did not care for it. First sip, it almost tastes like a light Breton cider with a lot of apple notes. Then as you go it's very fizzy, hoppy and feels thin. The finish is bitter and almost tinny. It's a bit high in alcohol for a Saison and you can feel it. Overall, it was unremarkable and did not have a lot of flavor. The label looks cool though...

Ira Koplowitz's Six Corner Sling. The drink has a lot of aroma; it's a little sweet but still well balanced. Compared to the Singapore Sling, the base of gin + brandy is replaced with rye. In the Singapore Sling the cherry liqueur and Benedictine give it a ton of flavor. It's interesting how you can get something with a similar vibe with this Punt e Mes/bitters/Chartreuse combo. It has a very tiki-esque feel to it. Another great spring drink. Thanks again to KD1191 for the recipe. I don't have the Bittercube orange bitters (which I read have a caramelized aroma), so I used Regan's and flamed the twist. My rye was Bulleit.