thirtyoneknots

Last night needed something that was both familiar and exotic...I was thinking about Sidecars and made one of these: 1 oz St James Ambre 1/2 oz Creole Shrubb 1/2 oz lemon served up...really hit the spot.

Many good thoughts...I'll just echo the notion that a lot if not most of the cocktail innovation, and thus demand for exotic spirits and liqueurs, is coming from a relatively limited handful of top bars in big cities, and these places generally have to work on keeping pour cost down. When the prices are so high for many of these things it limits how much people want ot use them in bars to help come up with drinks, and then there are fewer recipes floating around and less demand and I'm honestly just afraid that this could result in a feedback loop that causes some of our hardest-won items to disappear again. The observation that a lot of these things, like Pimento Dram, were never really all that important to the world cocktail scene to begin with, is a good point and while it's always great to have as many colors on your palette as possible, it also has to be expected that if you're not using the muave very much then it's going to dry up...and so goes Forbidden Fruit (and others). Distilleries, importers, distributors, bars, backage stores are all in it to make money and if the demand for a product doesn't make economic sense then it's only to be expected that they would cease production. In general I'm with Mr. Kinsey and feel like more mundane things like affordable, mixing-grade bonded ryes and geneveres are more important than something like Forbidden Fruit (not that I won't be buying some). I think there is a misunderstanding in the corporate liquor world over what drove the resurgence of rye whiskey, as embodied by the ri1 from Beam: we all grew to love it because it was different and old-fashioned and cheap and versatile and and and...but they market it as some kind of hipster drink meant to appeal to people who do things only because nobody else does. Those kinds of marketing strategies make introducing people to cocktails more difficult, I think. This is probably the best time in history to be a home hobbyist bartender though, or to be a discriminating drinker in a bigger city. The problem now isn't so much that people can't get a good drink: it's that they don't know or care that they should want one. Just my 2 dashes.

That's what I expected. However, Flor de Cana white is an aged rum (4 years) and Ed Hamilton above writes that it's filtered to remove the color. Does the filtering remove flavor aspects as well? So if an aged and filtered rum is a white rum, is a lightly aged, unfiltered "amber" going to taste similar? I suspect not, but just curious about how this works. Flor de Cana white and gold are ostensibly the same product apart from the filtering, but the white is to my palate far more floral and dry. They are clearly related but they are not the same rum. I have no idea if this would have the same result with agricole rhums but I've always understood this process to be traditional only to the 'Cuban-style' molasses-based rums. Reading Jimbo's treatise on what is an agricole, I find his arguments quite compelling. He and Ed Hamilton appear to be completely at odds about this, Mr. Hamilton being on the side of only Rhum Agricole DOC Martinique being rhum agricole. I'm not an expert on this at all, but I'm inclined to agree with Jimbo's definition. And he categorizes Barbancourt, 10 Cane, Oronoco and Charbay as agricole. I guess it depends on wether you are categorizing based on production methods or flavor profiles. I've not had Barbancourt white or Charbay so I'll reserve comment but Oronoco tastes about as unlike 10 Cane as it possibly could and still be a white rum. I have 10 Cane and like it quite a bit, but it's quite expensive. Jimbo says Oronoco is not molasses. I'll see if I can get a special order through Austin Wine Merchant. Have you had any luck with special orders through Spec's? ← I'm shocked to learn that about Oronoco. It certainly has none of the qualities I would expect from agricole-type rum, apart from the price. I like 10 Cane as well but I use it very rarely...it doesn't really lend itself to cocktails in the way that Cuban-style rums do, and the price is a killer. It my first choice for a swizzle though...mmmmmmm. I would imagine Austin Wine Merchant would give better results with special orders with Specs, which is a supremely frustrating company to work with if you want to order a product that isn't in their system already (and potentially even if it is). Wine is one thing, but trying to get them to special order a single bottle of some excotic spirit is a battle I'm not really willing to fight anymore. Good luck.

St. James Ambre is an aged rum with the color you would expect from the name. I've heard that even though it is made from raw cane pressings, Barbancourt is not a true rhum agricole due to differences in the production method. It's sort of it's own beast in a way. 10 Cane is decent and funky to a point, but Orinoco shares nothing in common with rhum agricole; it is certainly molasses-based and very, very smooth (as well as absurdly overpriced). Unless you need a white rum for sipping only or are compelled to spend $40 on what is still 'just' white rum, I don't recommend the Orinoco at all. Don't know enough to comment on the Charbay. If you find a liquor store willing to special order things for you, Depaz should be available to you (Anvil in Houston carries it but they get a lot of things otehrwise unavailable in the state by ordering it by the case).

St. James Ambre is fabulous, as is the rest of their line, but for reasons untold the price of Hors d'Age has nearly doubled in Texas lately (sitting at about $46/750 now). It's not that it's not worth that, but man it was so much more fun to drink at $27/750.

That sounds highly intriguing, but a bit lacking in piña, don't you think? I could actually see something very interesting coming out of the Arrack/pineapple combo.

Chris, do you have a recommendation for some easier-to-source rums for this? I can't get the Lemon Hart OR the W&N here in OK. Flor de Caña? Bacardi 8? ← Matter of taste. Up here, Andy prefers Wray & Nephew overproof with Meyers dark instead of the demerara. I have my MIL doing an emergency two-day steep with three things in her cabinet (Bacardi white, LH demerara, Meyers). You're getting a ton of flavor from the spices and sugar, and you need proof from somewhere. Bacardi 151 & Flor de Caña? ← The last batch I made was with all Wray & Nephew and it is gloriously funky although this may at some point limit it's versatility (I'm still working my way through the last batch and so haven't used it much). I actually think the Goslings 151 may be a better compromise between age, proof, and funk, but as much as I love that rum it seems to be even harder to find than Lemon Hart.

Cooking means to let the drink sit on the ice it is stirred with. Insofar as I understand (and use) this technique, it is more of a ticket management method to facilitate making several drinks at once rather than a necessary or desireable step for the home bartender. Ymmv. 2" rock to me sounds like a particularly large piece of ice.

Jasper's Jamaican, which is a sour with lime, Pimento Dram, and Jamaican Rum (Appleton V/X works really well). Also tasty in a Reveillon around Christmas time. While I don't think it is something I would surrender readily from my liquor cabinet, I find the versatility of allspice liqueur to have been drastically exaggerated from a few years back when it was being billed as 'the most important liqueur in the world'. When it works, it works really well...but when it doesn't, it can be frustrating. edit: spelling

I've always been given to understand that all Calvados (as well as Cognac and Armagnac) is made in pot stills, not just the more expensive ones.

I think that everything made by Flor de Cana is, at worst, very good for the price. Try some of their high end...the 18 yr is particularly nice and somewhere around the price you put forth.

Ah very well, didn't read carefully. I had thought it might be similar to The Brave from Anvil in Houston: Sotol, Mezcal, Averna, Curacao, bitters, flamed orange in a wineglass...no ice. Awesome drink. I bet something similar could be done with the Choke Artist if the sherry were a sweeter variety.

Closely related: use an anejo tequila, sub a 1/2 oz of fino sherry for the vermouth, and dash in some orange bitters and you've got a Choke Artist (via The Art of the Bar), a very nice drink indeed. Christopher ← Yeah I was thinking that an aged tequila might work better next time but that for this drink the bianco is clutch, adding some complementary funk. The Choke Artist is a cool-looking drink though...it is intended to be served at room temp, is it not?

I've never been a great fan of Gordon's, finding it too sweet and flabby but recently had the opportunity to try some 94 proof Gordon's and it was marvellous. The owner of the bottle was an Irish priest and he seemed very uninterested in the relative rarity of the contents and so I wasn't able to get a good idea of how old it was or where it had come from. If we could get that here it would be a great stablemate to Tanqueray...in fact I am under the impression they are made by the same company and would guess that the 94 proof Gordons is not imported so as to not compete with Tanqueray.

Playing around with Cynar at work today: 1 oz Cynar 1 oz Martini & Rossi Bianco 1 oz Blanco Tequila (Cuervo La Familia) Stirred with ice and strained into glass, lemon twist garnish. Not a drink that is going to work for everyone, and to be honest it could probably use some tweaking, but man it had some serious mojo going on in the flavor dept.

I'm a huge fan of Audrey Saunders' Smoking Martini, which is one of the best successes I've had pairing cocktails with food: 2 oz vodka 1/2 oz Laphroaig or ther Islay (I use Ardbeg 10 as often as not) scant spoonful of Pernod or rinse of Absinthe Stir with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with twist. Great way to enjoy the intensity of the Islay malts. I use to pair this with the espresso-rubbed venison when we had that on our menu. Really good at worst, mindblowing at best. We've also been doing this at work, in response to a managerial requirement that the cocktail menu have a vodka drink on it: Strawberry Fix Hull, slice, and muddle 1-2 strawberries in 1/2 oz of 1:1 simple in a double OF glass Add: 1/2 oz St. Germaine generous 3/4 oz lemon scant 1.5 oz vodka (Titos is the house) splash of soda to help it all mix Fill with ice few dashes of aged Balsamic on top (about 1/2 barspoon worth) Kind of sweet but not bad and the interplay of flavors is neat. To be perfectly honest though I've always wanted to try this with a more floral Pisco but we have none at work and I've never bothered at home.

Excellent point, keep in mind the original Gimlet recipe was half Rose's and half Plymouth gin...sounds way too sweet, til you consider that that Plymouth was 116 proof at the time.

94.7 degrees of alcohol by volume is a (or maybe even the) traditional proof for gin, which I suspect has to do with it correlating to a more round number in the older system for proof (alcohol by weight). Most gin lovers I think will agree that generally speaking the ones that are bottled closer to 94 proof are more flavorful than those bottled closer to 80 proof abv. The culprit could also be the specific gin used...I find Sapphire to be relatively rough around the edges compared to bottles like Beefeater, Tanqueray, or even Bombay Dry. Coldness, of course, also affects how 'smooth' the liquor will taste.

Somebody has to do it.

Is the St. Germaine just a float? Spoonful or something?

Very interesting, it sort of confirms my anecdotal results with the truly embarrassing ice we have to work with, using more of it actually seems to give reasonably consistent results.

Been making this for some folks at work lately, I think it might have some potential if I can get it to be consistent: 2 oz Old Grand-dad BIB (house whiskey) 3/4 oz cacao 3/4 oz lemon few thin slices of ginger Shake very hard and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Amount of ginger is hard to peg, it actually worked best with a 1/2 tsp or so grated in a microplane but I don't see that being practical for menu service. Next step is to infuse the OGD with ginger and see where that takes us. Also had a regular ask for something absinthey tonight so I did a 3:1 Rob Roy with Grouse and M&R, dah each of Ango and Lucid, with a twist. I'd imagine it has a name but the really cool part was how the subtlety of the lucid seemed to accentuate the latent brininess of the Scotch. If it wasn't so late I'd have made one more myself when I got home. Really neat drink.

I would agree that their aromatic bitters lack concentration, though the orange bitters I love (haven't had the opportunity to try the others except to taste the celery at Anvil). I recall hearing rumours when TBT first came out that the aromatic bitters was based off of Robert Hess' "House Bitters" which would explain the lack of concentration--the quite low proof of them would seem to confirm this. I've also heard that since then they have been reformulated somewhat to compensate. FWIW though I don't think the Fee's Aromatic are particularly concentrated either, and the glycerin mouthfeel is quite destracting. Sad to say, because it's such a significant company in the cocktail revival, but I can't recall the last time I used their aromatic, or the orange bitters solo.

Yeah I knew Taylor made a Catawba but I've never seen it for sale around these parts so I made do with a Yalumba Rose of Cabernet found on sale for $5/bottle. It's highly unexciting on it's own but seemed to work well so far in the punch...here's what I whipped up today, sort of taking the opportunity to make a hybrid recipe and use up some homemade stuff lying around. Quantities are halved from the original. 1 cup Turbinado sugar muddled with lemon peel (more than called for but I'm under the impression that Catawba would have more rs than the rose I used) 1 heaping tbs Apricot Green Tea steeped in a cup of water, used to dissolve the sugar. 2 quarts Yalumba Rose of Cabernet 2 cups Old Overholt (wanted to keep the wattage relatively modest) 4 oz Brugal Anejo 12 oz Mount Gay Eclipse (these stand in for "St. Croix Rum") Juice of 14.5 lemons (about a pint of juice) 1 whole pineapple cut in chunks little less than a pound of strawberries cored and diced about a cup and a half of homemade maraschino cherries and their syrup All of this nearly fills two huge gallon-sized jars. It is currently resting in the fridge...once the time comes this will probably fill my largest (12 qt) bowl all the way to the top, with ice block. Have two bottles of the excellent Francois Montand sparkler reserved for punch duty. This stuff looks to be a serious crowd pleaser...and I'm very glad to have halved the recipe. More reports after this weekend.

Thats quite a large cocktail (4.75 oz!)...particularly for just one dash of bitters of any kind. What is it's provenance?