thirtyoneknots

Oh man, preach it. We stopped carrying it completely at work in favor of Flor de Cana but some nitwit raised enough fuss that we have bacardi hiding in a cabinet all the time now. I should have given him 1/3 FdC and 2/3 vodka in his coke to see if he would pick up on it. Of course now he watches us make his precious rum and coke every time so I doubt I could get away with it.

I think who your target audience is should determine a lot of your approach...if it is mostly people who already have an interest in home mixology and/or professionals, then you can skip things like how to stock a bar, since they presumably already have something to go on there. On the other hand, the kind of things that we think should be stressed (like the poor quality ice in your anecdote) should become self-evident throughout the session and can be dealt with almost as an aside. Tasting an overly watery Daiquiri or Sidecar should be all the reminder anyone needs. Even assuming people who already have an interest in the craft, a palate for the unique and pungent flavors of liquor cannot be taken for granted and it would I think be a good idea to have some gentle intro drinks ready at the beginning, moving into 'advanced' stuff later into the thing. You can't of course build a palate in a day but at least they won't be shocked at the beginning. One of the things I do when I'm training new bartenders at work is to have them make a lemonade, while I also make one. I don't qualify the order at all, so it could be as open as pouring it off the gun, but then I let them compare with mine and we work on lemonade until the feel for acid sugar balance is grasped. Then when they are halfway there I might make another one with flavored syrup or something to throw a curve. It's something that I've found useful as an early step in training to help with concepts of balance as well as illustrate the importance of A) always using new juice and B) making sure you know what your customer is ordering...the variations in something as simple as lemonade are legion...and theres not even booze in it.

Yeah, what's the deal with his 8:2:1 ratio for everything? Those are some boozy Daiquiris... ← That sounds about right for a Daiquiri to me, maybe cut back on the sugar a bit?

Agreed, from what I understand ten years is a very conservative estimate of its cellar potential.

Of course, rudimentary principles that I somehow forgot. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

There's already an 'Emerald' as well...this sounds like a possibly spin on the Tipperary, combing [sweet] vermouth, Chartreuse, and malty Irish Whiskey, subbing a different malty spirit and fiddling with the vermouth. Sounds tasty at any rate. edit: spelling

What, one wonders, would distinguish alcohol free vodka from bottled water?

I've seen others warn that this drink was formulated specifically with the sweetness and relative restraint of Pernod in mind, and that subbing Absinthe was not adviseable. That said, would be nice to get some more opinions.

I would second the Moscato d'Asti recommendation, or some imitation thereof. The Australian winemaker Two Hands makes a fabulous Moscato called Briliant Disguise. Locally it's about $17 for a 500ml bottle. That's pretty much the most you'll be able to pay for that type of wine, Italian examples should be a bit less, in general. For my preferences though, I might have coffee with the dessert and drink the wine after that.

I've wondered about this before...at one point he says don't be stingy and use a 2 oz jigger, and in anotehr place he states with no qualification that a jigger is 1 1/2 oz. Given the context of the recipes, where he will sometimes say things like one jigger of this and two ponies of that I have always interpreted his recipes with a 1.5 oz "jigger". Not that that necessarily helps very many of them.

That's more or less how I remembered the story - that the odds were 15:1 against him, but when I did a quick look around on the web today, most stories pointed to the version above. History: not always an exact science. ← The version less flattering to Montgomery is a bit more in keeping with his record, being an extremely cautious commander in the field--though perhaps rightfully so. His successes were due in large part to his very methodical nature and insistence on choosing to confront the enemy on his own terms, though 15:1 is clearly an exaggeration in that regard.

Needed a nightcap while studying, mixed up 1 1/2 oz of ginger infused Paul Masson VSOP and 3/4 oz of homemade cinnamon liqueur (basically half cinnamon syrup and half Flor de Cana gold) over crushed ice. Mighty nice. The real show though was earlier, playing with the same brandy, made this: 1.5 oz Ginger-infused brandy 1 oz St Germaine 1/2 lemon (about .75 oz) Build in tall glass and add soda to fill slightly over halfway and added crushed ice to fill. Lots of fun contrast between the ginger and the floral sweetness of the liqueur.

That has a very different character than Cruzan Single Barrel, would be far too heavy as a sub. You'll be glad to own a bottle of the CSB, and this is as good a reason as any to buy a bottle. Also makes awesome Milk Punch.

When I make these at work I use extra frothing mugs from the espresso machine, they have the right shape and insulated rubber handles. Works great, I would imagine you could buy them on ebay or at a kitchen supply store (or a coffee shop, I guess). Downside is I think they are probably at least $15 apiece, used ones I guess are less.

I would think that a club in that kind of place could get whatever kind of spirits were in demand, not necessarily limited to something naval issue with Britain's large and powerful Merchant Marine...the whole point of the 'Club' was to be able to have a bit of London out there on the frontier, was it not? This would certainly mean no skimping on quality (not that there is anything wrong with Plymouth, mind you).

Ain't nothin' wrong with good old American Rye. ← Never had this particular bottling, but Canadian Mist, I think, remains the single most awful whisk(e)y I have ever tasted. I gave the bottle away after 3 attempts to make it palatable.

Oh I think I've seen that but I'm not sure if I have lately...I usually kind of skim over that line. I think it was just called 'Fraise' right?

I would imagine that sweetening some Tequila Por Mi Amante (strawberry-infused tequila) would make a nice liqueur...you could even keep it in the family and use agave nectar to sweeten it.

To echo the comments here, it's not that you couldn't make an acceptable or even tasty drink subbing those items, but the flavors are unrelated and it would be a pretty radically different drink. Maraschino is more akin to a sweetened 'cherry grappa' than to something that actually tastes noticeably like the fruit. So will mixing scotch, vermouth, oj and maraschino make a tasty beverage? Perhaps. Would such a thing have much in common, flavor-wise, with what is commonly accepted as a Blood & Sand? I doubt it...the red fruit notes of the liqueur, present in all the products listed by Mr. Kinsey, is more or less central to the flavor profile. But yes, the items are also inappropriate to sub for each other in general as well, keeping in mind that the end result is not likely to be offensive to drink so much as it is unlikely to taste anything like what was intended. It might be considered roughly analogous to subbing Cointreau and Grand Marnier for one another.

Yeah this has been covered elsewhere but Maraschino is not a sub for Heering or vice-versa. As far as uses go I'd place it closer to Cointreau.

I usually make batches of ginger beer using the Audrey Saunders recipe. Would ginger beer + simple syrup (1:1) be an appropriate substitute for ginger syrup? ← Maybe you can just sweeten the ginger beer, which after all is really just a kind of ginger water. You can make a 1:1 ginger beer/sugar syrup and that might work. Really though I think slkinsey's suggestion to muddle some ginger in syrup and double strain is the best solution. I've done it (usually to make Penicillins) and it works perfectly, loaded with ginger spice. Best of all, it doesn't really take much extra time for good results. The problem of ginger syrup shelf life isn't going to go away no matter how you make the syrup. ← If you slice the ginger thin enough, like with a mandolin, I bet you can just shake it hard and you dont even have to muddle.

Was intrigued by the 'Murderer Cocktail' in Barflies and Cocktails the other day so I took it for a spin: 1/3 (3/4 oz) Calvados (Daron) 1/3 (3/4 oz) Swedish Punsch (homemade) 1/3 (3/4 oz) rum (Bacardi 8) one dash bitters ("Abbott's") 2 dashes absinthe (Jade Edouard) Stirred and strained into cocktail glass, absolutely delicious with a subtle richness. I'm tucking this away for the cooler months.

We actually did have this on one of our first menus, and it was a top seller, made more or less as you have it here. It's one of those favorites of mine that for some reason I don't seem to make very often. I've seen this drink tweaked (Esquire Drinks?) to 2 oz rye, 1 oz vermouth, 1/2 oz each lime and curacao. It's a bit less sweet that way and if I recall, thats how we were making them when they were on the menu.

I agree, Calvados only works in limited cocktail applications. The rest of the time, Jersey Lightning is what you want.

Very interesting, thanks.