FrogPrincesse

Vimto? Not familiar.

1) Exactly. Chlorophyll is very soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water.

That makes sense. I would start with nylon to remove the coarse particles, then filter again in paper to remove the finer particles. Then a last filtration step with the Büchner to get to clarity.

From Tuesday night, another safe Manhattan, this time with Blanton's bourbon, Cocchi barolo chinato, Miracle Mile forbidden bitters. Jo - has l'Esprit arrived yet?

The pleasure was all mine, Adam. I made myself something with Cynar last night, but it was not nearly as successful. It was the Smoke & Mirrors (Neil Kopplin), a Negroni-esque drink with aquavit (Krogstad), Cynar, Campari, flamed orange zest. It was very savory and quite busy, with the strong caraway & anise notes from the Krogstad not meshing too well with the Cynar.

Last night's Manhattan, after a bunch of crazy experimentation for this month's MxMo: The Unknown (due tonight). Elijah Craig bourbon, Cocchi barolo chinato, Miracle Mile toasted pecan bitters, brandied cherry.

Matt - That sounds great. The Almond Blossom Crusta (Charles H. Baker Jr), which is essentially the same thing with gin + cognac (no bitters), is also worth trying.

In the same family, you can add maraschino and make this, which is heavier on the Cynar and aperitif-style. This one from beta cocktails is lovely as well.

Oui

You will get the tingle, but not the dry sourness.

Cocchi Americano Rosa has a lot of berries as Rafa said, almost like sangria... It's not very bitter at all. I had it on the rocks and thought it was pleasant but a bit "light", in weight and in taste. Regarding Cocchi Americano (white), it does well in a lot of cocktails that call for Lillet, but Lillet is still needed if you like White Negronis. One of the differences comes from the fact that Cocchi contains gentian in addition to quinine, which is the only bittering agent in Lillet. They are different enough that I buy both. Lots of discussion about this in the Lillet and the Cocchi threads.

I know at least one person who did that, for the MxMo Coconut challenge. For me, it made more sense to use fresh since it's available, and I did not really mind the extra work. Also I needed the coconut water for the challenge already.

It looks like some kind of medieval torture device! I did ok with a hammer, an old pairing knife, and an OXO vegetable peeler. Since my yield was close to 1 liter, I won't need to do this again any time soon.

Oh Kerry - first a big thank you to you regarding the acid phosphate!!! I think I am going to play with it some more this weekend. There are very few cocktail recipes that I can find that use it, so I will have to get creative. Regarding the coconut orgeat - there is nothing much to it, really. It's like an orgeat (Jeff Berry's recipe), but with a fresh coconut. It's more work than almond orgeat of course because the coconut needs to be cracked (that's the fun part), the meat needs to be separated from the shell, and then painstakingly peeled. I was going to post a little more details when life is less hectic.

Jo - it's great to read that you enjoyed it! Is this really tiki? Ok, let's say that it is heavily tiki-influenced, although the flavor is unusual for a tiki drink. After making a coconut orgeat, I finally had a chance to duplicate a drink I had at Son of a Gun some time ago (snow cone in the back in the photo). Lost Cause (Daniel Warrilow) with aquavit (Krogstad), white rum (Banks was specified, so I used Plantation 3 stars with a touch of batavia arrack), coconut syrup (homemade coconut orgeat), lemon, lime, acid phosphate. Shake with ice, strain onto fresh shave ice (crushed), like a snow cone. Some versions of the recipe published online don't include the phosphate, but I was really eager to use mine. A few thoughts on this one. First I tried to imitate shave ice by running crushed ice through a blender. Rookie mistake. I managed to get a finer texture, however the ice was completely water-logged which was obvious as soon as I tasted the cocktail. The flavors did not pop, it tasted mostly of lemon juice and everything else got lost. Very sad. But I was not going to give up, even on a lost cause, so I forged ahead and made a second one, this time strained onto fresh crushed ice. It tasted like a different cocktail altogether. The aquavit gives a savory note that is really interesting combined with the coconut. All the different acids were fun together, with the acid phosphate (I only used a couple of drops) giving an extra lift, a slight tingling sensation on the tongue. Very cool. Hoping to find more interesting things by Daniel Warrilow after this one and the Crafty & Elusive Elk.

A couple of tequila cocktails in the Tiki discussion. From a couple of nights ago, Chris Bostick's La Lucha Sigue. Añejo tequila (7 Leguas), sweet vermouth (Dolin), amaro Nonino, absinthe (St George), orange bitters (Regan and Fee). Very interesting. Strong absinthe nose giving way to orange and spice. The resulting bitter orange and fennel combination is very pleasant; it reminds me of Provencal cuisine. The aged tequila adds a bass note that is not unlike amber.

Misty Kalkofen's Hôtel Haute-Savoie: rye (Rittenhouse), St Germain, dry vermouth (Dolin), absinthe (St George), Angostura bitters, orange bitters (Regan's). This cocktail is based on the Lawhill Cocktail from the Savoy Cocktail book, substituting St Germain for the maraschino liqueur, and altering the ratios. I was expecting this to be on the sweet side, and it was, but not overly so as the absinthe tended to neutralize some of the sweetness. What I did not expect was, after the herbal aromas from the absinthe and vermouth (which blended very harmoniously in the cocktail), to have these incredible chocolate notes. Such a good cocktail with the Rittenhouse rye.

Another one by Hess that I like a lot - their rye IPA, Habitus. What I like is that it's super malty and spicy with the rye very pronounced, and then it also has this intense bitter kick (86 IBU). Still, it's enjoyable even for non bitter lovers, meaning that it's really well balanced. Highly recommended.

With the continuing heat wave in San Diego, I felt a Ti Punch was in order last night, and decided to go with L'Esprit de Neisson. Not for the faint of heart, this rhum clocks in at 70%. It was created to celebrate Neisson's 70th year anniversary, and is obtained directly from the still with no dilution. It's remarkably smooth given the proof. Fresh cane flavor, banana.

Stone Stochasticity Varna Necropolis. Stochasticity is a new project from Stone where they explore imagination and randomness through brewing (I am paraphrasing their press release) - essentially, it's a line of experimental beers made at large scale. Varna Necropolis was inspired by Belgian strong golden ales (Duvel, Delirium Tremens, Matilda, Russian River Damnation, AleSmith Horny Devil, etc, to list a few of my favorites), with the addition of a high dose of hops and an aging step in bourbon barrels. Trying this beer with no preconceived notions, to me it drinks very much like a cocktail. Pretty far from the inspiration. I definitely taste bourbon, with a lot of citrus, mostly grapefruit (with its bitterness). Very much like a Brown Derby in beer form. I like it better than when I first tried it at the brewery.

That's too bad. Duvel is such a great beer. Hess Grazias Vienna Cream Ale. Pretty high on the malts, with a slight bitterness. Very easy-going.

After Tanqueray, Anchor Distilling has announced that they were going to release an Old Tom gin. I am very curious about this, although I am perfectly happy with the Tanqueray already.

Hi-Time carries their line. But everytime I think I am going to order the XO, it's sticker shock, big time. And I've spent way too much money at Hi-Time this month already.

With the heat wave in San Diego, a Daiquiri was a must-have last night. Clement Canne Bleue (2011) is a single varietal rhum agricole, made from a variety of sugar cane from Barbados that has a violet-greyish tinge. I brought it back from a trip to Paris a while back, and had not made a Daiquiri with it yet, just a Ti Punch. On its own, in terms of intensity, it's on par with Neisson but less powerful than La Favorite. It makes a wonderfully aromatic Daiquiri, very nuanced and elegant.

I am with you. Camus makes very nice cognacs. I am still thinking of the XO I had years ago. Too bad it is so expensive.