thirtyoneknots

In 75 years will people have as much trouble pinning down just exactly what Pama or Hypnotiq were?

Oh, nothing particularly. But, I'm a flavor junkie, and after a couple bottles worth of Savoy cocktails calling for "Bacardi Rum" made with Flor de Cana Extra Dry, I'm about ready to try something else. I live in hope that I'll find another White Rum that will blow me away... ← I know it's a stretch, but only a small one; Bacardi made a Carta Oro in addition to the Carta Blanca, so maybe use the FdC 4 yr Gold, just to spice things up a bit?

Geez, what's wrong with the Flor de Cana?

Seems to be but why they changed the package is beyond me. The old ones looked way cooler and were much, much more bartender-friendly. At home I keep refilling my old ones, though that might be weird (no worse than the rest of you I'm sure )

Is it even theoretically possible to remove the toxic elements of these plants (even in a laboratory) without removing the flavor?

One of my best regulars was in Chicago last week and was able to snag me a bottle of Plymouth Sloe Gin. After dinner and a few cocktails and wine I decided to try out the only cocktail I could come up with offhand aside from the Sloe Gin Fizz; the Millionaire from Dr. Cocktail's book: 1.5 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (he calls for Meyer's, I used Appleton Extra) .75 oz Apricot Brandy (Brizzard Apry) .75 oz Sloe Gin (Plymouth) juice of one lime (~1.25 oz) Shake/strain/up (split 'tween two glasses) That's what we call a seamless drink, extraordinarily delicious with no flavor dominating. The imported sloe gin is clutch, though. I tried it a few years ago with DeKuyper's. No. In fact we tasted the two side by side. It's remarkable that they can even market the two products under the same name. I noted from the essay on the drink that the original reicpe is from the Savoy. Might have to try the original preportions with a dry apricot eau-de-vie instead of the liqueur. I can't imagine it being offensive. -Andy

Herbsaint as well, no?

← I wonder at what point the beverage in question began to resemble something we would recognise though...surely it would have changed a bit over 400 years. I'll certainly give credit to Bols and all but I'd be shocked if you could make a palatable Sidecar or Mai Tai with 17th century versions of orange liqueur.

Bah, of course that means we won't be seeing it in Texas.

As in so many cocktails, subbing St. Germain for the liqueur yields lovely results. Try to use a milder tequila though as the delicate St. Germain can be overwhelmed sometimes by more robust bottlings.

Now that is odd. Why didn't they just call it a Jouralis-tini for the sake of consistency? Especially since they've already applied the hatchet job to the Harvey Wallbanger immediately preceeding it. I love how they practically take credit for inventing the smoky martini. I was in a place in Newport News where they listed a cocktail consisting of tequila, cointreau, and lime juice. They had the nerve (or the ignorance) to call it a Margari-tini. ← I get this all the time: "What is that?" "That's an Old-School Margarita" "Oh what's in it?" "Just a good blanco tequila, Cointreau, and fresh lime juice" "Oh! A Mexican Martini!" <Stabs self in eye with barspoon>

Amen

We seem to be having difficulty obtaining Maker's Mark around these parts, anybody know anything about this?

Saz 18 and Handy are both allocated, limited-release bottlings from Buffalo Trace, so they aren't going to be on the shelf year-round. I highly suspect that even the big Spec's gets no more than maybe 6 bottles of each (I've actually never seen the Saz 18 there) per year (or at least that's about what they make available for retail purchase). I thnk I may have bought all the 2006 allocation myself and am hoarding what remains of it.

Make sure to get an imported one, Marie Brizzard is good as usual.

I guess it would come down to The Bitter Truth, which I haven't tried, and Hermes (I have the Orange, but not the Aromatic bitters). I'm thinking of making another batch of orange bitters, and tweaking it to try and bring some of that Cocchi magic to Lillet cocktails. So, up the cinchona, add a little cinnamon, eliminate and/or reduce the coriander and caraway.... I'm still working this one out in my head. ← TBT Aromatic Bitters are good, have a very nice flavor profile, but I find them to be a little lacking in concentration and thus somewhat tricky to use (it seems to be very easy to make a drink too bitter without adding enough flavor). Hermes aromatic on the other hand, might be the blandest bitters I have ever tasted.

I made this the other night and it was extraordinary. I was a bit apprehensive about the Lillet and whiskey combo, but they were both supported by the cointreau and bitters which brought out the best qualities of both. A really great drink. I also made a James Joyce and a Gloom Lifter (with bitters added) and both were also both very good. ← Slightly off the Irish Whiskey topic, but another great whiskey/lillet combo is the Bourbon Dynasty, also a Wondrich original: 2 oz Bourbon (I think he specifies Maker's Mark) 1 oz Lillet 1 tsp Creme de Cassis 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters up with a twist.

I just had a thought and am not sure if this has been addressed: Was Hercules ever popular or even available in the US? I guess if not that would go a long way towards explaining the lack of info on it. Perhaps it's popularity had almost completely waned by the repeal of Prohibition.

For some reason, the only bar spoon I could find had holes in it. Good for stirring, but not so good for measuring. I'll have to swing by the restaurant supply store and try to find spoon without holes. I didn't realize they were a standard size. ← Approximately standard, I think might be a good qualifier to add. Typically though within a dash or two of a tsp.

A standard barspoon is the same as a teaspoon, or close enough. 1 tsp = 5ml and 6 tsp = 1 oz. If you're not sure exactly how big your barspoon is or just want to be even more meticulous then just use a measuring spoon. -Andy

I second that recommendation, a great success for us as well, which is especially notable when you consider that many people who walk in have no clue what Albarino is (ie, it has to be sold to them by the staff). It's good.

My first thought when you mention the orangey flavors and bitters is howzabout a Crusta variant, with the obvious substitution? Sounds like it has potential to me... ← Your idea is making me think...I think once you get outside of obvious (and delicious) things like Manhattan variants, Irish Whiskey starts to mix a lot more like a brandy than like American Whiskey...Imbibe has shown us that the Brandy Cocktails of old are legion...should be ripe for experimentation.

My first thought when you mention the orangey flavors and bitters is howzabout a Crusta variant, with the obvious substitution? Sounds like it has potential to me... ← I think the idea definitely has merit, although my latest kick has been to try to make flavored vodka interesting by combining it with more charactered spirits as the base of a cocktail. I've had a few successes, perhaps most notably with mixing Skyy Passion [Fruit] and Sazerac Rye in a sour with grenadine. I was pretty pleased with it and it made the Skyy reps happy, but more importantly, made the Passion Fruit vodka not taste like Skittles. In this vein, I wonder what might happen if Bushmills and Hangar One Mandarin Blossom were combined in the right preportions...or maybe even (a stretch here) Campari? Of course those Hangar One flavors are kind of tricky.

Re the Judgette: what kind of circumstancial evidence might there be to support the intended use of dry, barrel-aged peach brandy here? With just a dash of lime it seems plausible, although the feminine diminutive would suggest that the drink should be somewhat sweet. Thoughts?

The top two for me offhand are probably the James Joyce, Mr. Regan's Oriental variation made with the obvious spirit substitution, and the Emerald/Paddy/etc or whatever other names an Irish Whiskey manhattan might go under, though definitely this one needs orange bitters. It's not bad when made with Angostura, but it becomes much more exciting with a dash of The Bitter Truth (or whatever your favorite is). I do like the Tipperary noted above, though like many Chartreuse drinks it can be a bit rich at times. I nearly forgot to mention Mr. Wondrich's Weeski, which should have gone on the top line as one of my top faves. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I do not have any blockbuster original Irish Whiskey cocktails. As much as I love the stuff, and enjoy the above mentioned drinks, I've not experimented with it as much as I ought to. I'm off the rest of this week but I now am on a mission to find or create something to contribute. Irish Whiskey goes so nice with orangey flavors, that should create a good place to start.