FrogPrincesse

Fish House Punch from a few weeks ago, for a party with a bunch of French friends. This punch is always a big hit. There was nothing left after the party! This version had Plantation 5 Stars rum (they just changed the packaging but the juice seems unchanged), Landy VS cognac, Daron XO calvados mixed with Briottet peach liqueur as a sub for the peach brandy, and then of course lemons and sugar.

Am I the only one here eating cheese? Haha. I doubt it... But it is one of my favorite "snacks". Here is Rioly Run from Stepladder Creamery. A semi hard cow milk cheese with a rind washed in beer. It has a little bit of character, although it's not super strong. Not bad.

Manhattan with Michter's straight rye whiskey, Cocchi vermouth di Torino, Berg & Hauck's Old Time aromatic bitters, French brandied cherry. I am still a very big fan of the Michter's rye. It's wonderful for mixing and for sipping too.

A recent 2:1 Martini with 33 Portland dry gin; Dolin dry vermouth; Regan, Fee, Angostura, Berg & Hauck orange bitters. Some bars mix three kinds of orange bitters, so I figured I might as well blend four in my home bar! The 33 Portland dry is a gin that is quite similar to a London dry with prominent juniper and pine/evergreen. Less nuanced than something like Sipsmith for example. Still, a very solid gin.

I am doing my best to avert eyes from this fruit salad... ! A friend brought up to my attention an (unknown to me) Old Fashioned variation named the Godfather. With amaretto as the sweetener, it sounded a bit diabetic and I was concerned, so I proceeded with extreme caution. The ratios I used (from the Bartender's Choice) put my mind at ease because they went easy on the amaretto (there are equal parts recipes floating around!). I reduced it a bit further. It was a wonderful drink! I was very pleasantly surprised. Not too sweet at all. Godfather cocktail with High West American Prairie Reserve bourbon, Lazzaroni amaretto, Angostura bitters. Then yesterday I was reading about Difford's new entries in the cocktail database which included a Smoked Almond Old Fashioned that is very much in the same vein, and that I would like to try soon.

Gin-Gin Mule (Audrey Saunders) with 33 Portland dry gin, lime juice, Reed's extra ginger brew, mint from the garden, rich syrup.

@DianaB You are welcome! This thread also has a lot of ideas for things to do with your orgeat!

Bread from Le Parfait Paris at Liberty Station. That place has a selection wonderful pastries, but the bread was not so perfect. I got a rustic loaf of sourdough which was on the soft side. And then it had what I am guessing are proofing issues, with giant bubbles running through the whole length of the loaf. Not ideal for tartines...

I got some pickling cucumbers last week in my CSA, so I made a (small) batch of cold process pickles! I covered them in salt and left them at room temperature for 24 hours. The next day I rinsed them, added slices of shallot, some garlic, peppercorn & coriander seeds, a bay leaf, and topped the whole thing with white vinegar. Now the tough part - waiting a few weeks for them to be ready!

@Kerry BealHaha. Thanks Kerry!

I know IP as intellectual property. Is it equivalent to PC (pressure cooker) in your case? Thanks!

I completely understand. I have been too lazy to make a new batch lately, and would buy a bottle of BG Reynolds or Small Hands orgeat in a heartbeat if my local stores had them in stock! Ordering is too much trouble, so eventually I will buy more almonds to make a batch (I even have a brand new nut milk bag that should make the whole operation even easier). Tiki Oasis is only a few weeks away so I have no choice.

Hi @DianaB! I am happy to help. Your question makes sense. If you never had orgeat, it is a good idea to try a commercial product first so you have some kind of benchmark to compare against. My first bottle of orgeat was Torani (which isn't horrible but I wouldn't recommend). The first time I made my own I knew I could never use the commercial stuff again! But nowadays there are a lot of brands that are made on a small scale and are actually quite good. I would vote against Monin. It is rather indistinct and won't give you a true idea of what orgeat can be like. I think Giffard is a better bet if you don't want to go through the trouble of making your own. We have access to several small artisanal brands in the US, but I am not sure if there is an equivalent in the UK. I browsed on amazon UK for a bit and didn't come across any. Difford's, a respected cocktail website which is based in the UK, has a bunch of orgeat reviews. They also prefer Giffard to Monin. Also, I am not sure about shipping costs, but a place like The Whisky Exchange is a much better source (selection and price-wise) than amazon for cocktail-related purchases. You might want to check them out! Master of Malt is another good one, but they only seem to have Monin. Good luck! Out of curiosity, do you have a specific use in mind for the orgeat? A Mai Tai maybe?

Very nice report! That sounds like a fun evening indeed. if you liked El Dorado 5, try to get the 8 instead. It's only a few dollars more and even better, same flavor profile but more intense and complex. It's one of my favorite rums for mixing. The 12 I tend to reserve for sipping because it often gets lost in cocktails.

@RobertMNot to derail the discussion, but what you call the "house" brand, aka the well spirits, is what a bartender will use as a default if you don't specify. These are your basic gin/rum/bourbon/etc. If you want something a bit more refined then you have to request it by name. It's not exactly like they are all interchangeable!

In PUNCH there was an interesting article about Amari that are made in the US. In that list I've tried Margerum amaro, which is closer to a sweet vermouth with a bitter edge than an amaro per se but is delicious nonetheless. Also Fernet Francisco that I mentioned already and recommend. Lastly I had a chance to try St. George Bruto Americano last week. I had it on ice and it is very intensely bitter, less sweet than Campari, and with much less orange. With its very long gentian finish, it reminded me more of Suze. I was told that it works great in a Negroni!

For reference - the Death & Co orgeat recipe is discussed on the orgeat thread.

@blue_dolphin I am not a huge fan of St. Germain or elderflower liqueurs in general, but this drink I tried recently was pretty good. Maybe reduce the amount of liqueur since yours seems to be quite intense?

So the rubbing alcohol is to test the concentration of your pectin? Are you going to use this pectin in pate de fruit maybe? I've rendered pectin in the past using this method but didn't test it. I just used it and hoped for the best (and it worked, but this was in jams).

Rhubarb and vanilla freezer puree (compote might be a better descriptor). The ultra fresh rhubarb that I got in my CSA box was slow-cooked for about 40 minutes with a bit of sugar and water, and a split vanilla bean. Now normally this would go into the freezer, but since it is a small batch it's just going to reside in the fridge because it will disappear very quickly.

Contralto from Andante Dairy. Very mild despite the scary color. It's hard to believe this is goat cheese. This is not unpleasant by any means, but not memorable either. (I found more info on this cheese here and here, confirming my impression).

Soup! I find that they taste a bit like sorrel. I like this recipe by Mario Batali.

Pineapple Express (Freddie Sarkis), a Daiquiri with Plantation Pineapple Rum Stiggins' Fancy, Neisson rhum agricole, lime juice, simple syrup. Delicious! I had tried a Daiquiri that was 100% Sitggin Fancy before (at Rumba in Seattle). This is great too!

[Host's note: This topic forms part of an extended conversation that grew too long for our servers to handle efficiently. The discussion continues from here.] Too hot for rum? Nonsense! Here is a Rum Crawl (Bourbon & Branch) from last week with Appleton 12 Jamaican rum, lime juice, homemade falernum (Adam Elmegirab's recipe), Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, Fee Brothers' whiskey-barrel aged bitters. It's exotic and complex. This rum works beautifully in this drink.

I think the recipes in Remixed are also very easy to make. I've never had a problem. Actually I tailored my home bar to make a very large number of recipes from that book, and then when I got Smuggler's Cove I could barely make anything because it was calling for all these rums I didn't have! Perfect excuse to buy more, of course... Here you can see how heavily I've used the book... every little blue tab is a recipe I have made, often multiple times! Get both books, you won't regret it! The Total Tiki app based on Jeff Berry's book is pretty handy as well, but doesn't replace the book(s).