thirtyoneknots

I finally got around to trying the ATTY tonight: 1.5 oz Plymouth .5 oz Noilly Prat Dry 3 generous dashes Absinthe (Jade Edouard) 3 generous dashes Liqueur de Violette (Deniset Stir/strain/up, garnish with lemon twist. Wow what a weird drink. I've only played with the Violette a couple of times and I can't quite decide what to make of it. I haven't had any other brand so I can't really say anything useful about this stuff. I kind of want to get a bottle of Hermes as well and compare but since I'm about to move it would be silly to spend money on a second bottle of a liqueur that I'm relatively ambivalent about. It would be sort of like having a second brand of Kummel :-P Anyways, the drink. Absinthe does strange things to Martinis, makes them seem almost harsh and austere, though not in an unpleasant way. It really enhances the herbal qualities already present, and the Violette contributes a bizarre ethereal floral character to the finish. It's not one I like enough to have frequently, but it's a nice once-in-a-while alternative to your standard Martini. I would however be interested to try it again with Boodles, which already has both an assertive juniper presence and a fairly floral finish. Stay tuned. -Andy

I think bitters would work quite nicely here, as long as you have the right ones. Regans' are quite assertive, and could easily railroad over delicate flavors like Lillet if used carelessly. I reserve them for competing with other powerful flavors, like Chartreuse and the like. In this case, maybe try The Bitter Truth, Hermes, or even Fee's orange if you can't get the others. It does look sweet, though I might try it borrowing preportions from Mr. Wondrich's excellent Weeski, subbing gin for the Irish Whiskey there. It would look something like this: 2 oz gin 1 oz Lillet 1 tsp Cointreau 2 dashes orange bitters Hell you could even use Peychauds if you were really feeling adventuresome. Of course adding bitters and drastically altering preportions both seem to be grounds for changing the entire name of the drink in Craddock's mind. I guess I'll have to actually try it out to make sure I'm not just talking out of my six. -Andy

I'd love to, but it seems to be unavailable in Texas

I posted this elsewhere but I'll put it here, too, as an interesting example of a drink that uses quite a bit of pastis (or better yet, Absinthe) and yet restrains the flavor nicely: McKinley's Delight 2 oz Rye (WT for me, please) 3/4 oz Italian Vermouth 1/4 oz Cherry Heering 1 tsp pastis (I have also used Jade Edouard with excellent results) Stir and strain into chilled cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist. It gets appreciably, but not ridiculously sweeter with the use of pastis. With absinthe, it's perfect. Anise works very well with red fruity flavors indeed (cherry, pomegranate, etc.) -Andy Edit for spelling and punctuation

One of my favorites is the Bijou, which while not exactly showcasing orange bitters (though it is a wonderful showcase for Chartreuse), is an example of a drink where they are sorely missed if omitted. I have left them out by accident before and upon adding them, it tasted like a completely different drink. It is also one of the drinks where I always reach for ther Regans' bitters if I have them, though The Bitter Truth works decently as well (and are my choice for general pupose use). Bijou: 3/4 oz Gin (I like Boodles in this one) 3/4 oz Green Chartreuse 3/4 oz Italian Vermouth 1-2 dashes Orange Bitters Stir and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. It's a fairly rich drink along the lines of a Negroni, but sometimes thats what you need. -Andy

Nocino is made with green walnuts, presumably to avoid or at least mitigate any bitterness. And of course the sweetening will help.

I don't drink Heering often, but I do really enjoy the drinks that use it: High Hat 1.5 oz Rye .5 oz Heering .5 oz lemon shake/strain/up Move Over (aka "cherry martini" ) 1.5 oz gin .5 oz dry vermouth .25 oz sweet vermouth .25 oz Heering dash Angostura stir/strain/up, twist Perhaps the most fascinating use of it I've found so far though: McKinley's Delight (aka Remember the Maine) 2 oz Rye .75 oz sweet vermouth .25 oz Heering tsp Absinthe stir/strain/up, twist The McKinleys Delight is really a marvel, it's obviously a spin on your basic Rye Manhattan formula, but it ends up tasting only vaguely like it. It doesn't particularly taste like any of the component ingredients, and it's not nearly as sweet as it sounds, though I imagine it would get appreciably sweeter if pastis were used in lieu of absinthe. It's a pretty precarious balance as is. Seems like I had more than three when I started writing this, but those are probably the best ones I know. -Andy

I know upthread there's reference to making this with pecans, which are much easier to come by around here, so I figured I'd try it for a Texas take on the liqueur. I was just wondering if there's anything that should be done different when using pecans vs walnuts. -Andy

What makes you say that? ← Maybe it's partly a mood thing, or maybe one day you give it an extra shake of bitters, or a little more whisk(e)y, or a little less sugar. It's probably different if you're a bartender, and can whip these out exactly the same, cocktail after cocktail; but, at home, sometimes the simplest cocktails can be the most interesting. ← I gotcha. Different in the way that a sauce is different evey time you make it. The simplest cocktails are absolutely the most interesting, and often the most challenging, in my experience. And mood definitely has a lot to do with it. -Andy

What makes you say that?

From some historical evidence that I can't quite put a finger on at the moment and significantly more anecdotal evidence from elderly family members I think the 1940s would have been about right for electricity to become available in rural areas, though I imagine it was available in larger cities at least 20 years prior, if not by the turn of the century (at least in fancy places like hotels with bars). Bringing electricity to rural areas was a big part of the New Deal programs, if I'm not mistaken, so having it become widespread by 1940 or so makes sense. As for it being in blocks until relatively recently, that seems somewhat likely. I remember as a little kid there being a place in the town where my grandparents live that would do home delivery of block ice on request. Perhaps even with electricity and mechanical refridgeration some bars and hotels had ice delivered, which they then had the means to keep cold indefinitely. In my mind, the concept kind of fits with the time, though I don't have the slightest clue if it's true or not. -Andy

I haven't had a chance to try Aperol yet, but I hear it get compared to Campari quite a bit. If it is anything like Campari, I would definitely imagine it being a bit rich for a recipe like this. I would perhaps try it again with a normal Orange Bitter, though maybe a simpler, gentler one like Fees. I understand that thats what Dr. Cocktail used when formulating the version in Vintage Spirits... Just my $.02. -Andy

I am so jealous. The cheapest I have ever seen Cointreau in Texas is $28/fifth. I know that the cost to my place of employ is closer to $40-45/liter. Of course we buy from a local package store that seems to get kicks from screwing us over. I do love me some Cointreau though.

I would love to try some old Crown Royal. I suspect it was previously of more interesting character prior to becoming a mass-market product. And regarding spirits 'boycott' at least in my case the bar I work at was not designed with a surplus of storage space (there is no liquor storage on the backbar and we have to keep it all in rails or cabinets), so we're always trying to keep brands that are more versatile. Whiskies such as Crown Royal and Jack Daniels may be popular brands, but neither is very good as a mixer (unless you count coke). JD is too distinctive and Crown too light in flavor and body. That is my primary grievance with these two brands. Nothing personal, but man customers sure do take it that way -Andy

I'm with you 100% there, and so is my manager. For some odd reason though, 'around here' means Crown and Jack. I'm really not sure how one of the lightest flavored whiskies out there became such a 'Texas thing'. We tried to do away with Crown and there was nearly a riot. Jack he refuses to carry. We've easily got the best American and Scotch Whisk(e)y collections in town, all the way up to AH Hirsch 16 yr and The Glenrothes '79. And yet people clamor for Crown Royal. I'll never understand.

This Nightwatch cocktail reminds me of a similar drink from a 2002 book called "66 venner i baren"; In the book is a drink called "Kongen av Danmark", which is named after a popular brand of sweets, which taste of coffee and liquorice. 1 1/2 shots Vodka, 3/4 shot Kahlua, dash of Pernod. Stir with ice, and then strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. I think we can safely assume that Drinkboy doesn't have this Norwegian Publication!-) Cheers! George ← Interesting find, though I think the juniper from the gin makes the drink more interesting as well as making it not seem as sweet as it might otherwise. I was thinking about trying it with a slightly drier preportion, though I think the pastis should probably be scaled back as well in that case. -Andy

So I take it then that bars can buy directly from distributors? Here in Texas we are able to somehow buy wine from distributors but spirits must come from a package store. Translation: if the liquor store won't carry it, neither can you. And it's hard to make them care about a sale of 2-3 bottles of Brizzard Curacao when they sell 3-4 cases a week of vodka alone to each of the huge dance halls and bars you find in a college town. Fortunately we've recently found a loophole of sorts that allows us to buy liquor from Spec's in Houston due to our catering permit (otherwise we are limited to buying from in-county). Liquor laws are indeed a study in absurdity. -Andy

Oh dear. Long, boring night at work so I soothed myself with The Ultimate Sazerac: The Ultimate Saz 2 oz Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye 1 tsp Muscovado sugar 4 dashes Peychauds Bitters Muddle sugar in water to dissolve, stir with ice and strain into chilled glass rinsed with Jade Edouard Absinthe. Garnish with twist of lemon. Wow. There's about half of this bottle of Handy left. I think I know what to do with it. (Though I may scale back slightly on the sugar next time, maybe 1/8 oz). The experience was amazing, much different with other Sazeracs I've had due to the character of the whiskey. Even at 67% alcohol, this was one of the richest, silkiest, smoothest whiskey cocktails I've ever had. -Andy

If I'm not mistaken, this Kaffir Lime stuff is actually made from the leaves instead of fruit or peel, or at least that's what I've been told. To this I attribute the bizarre flavor profile.

The bar manager at work is mildly obsessed with Hangar One Kaffir Lime Vodka, which is fine, I suppose, except that no one else seems to care for it much. Every once in a while when it's slow I try to make something palatable with it, which has been difficult for me due to its pervasive aftertaste, which tastes strongly of artificial lime flavor (which is even more peculiar when you consider Hangar One's reputation for using real ingredients in their flavors). The other day I finally hit on something that may be good enough to feature to 86 the bottle taking up valuable space behind the bar: The Golden Apple (named for the boss, shamelessly) 1 oz Hangar One Kaffir Lime 1 oz applejack (blended, also trying to use up that to move on the the bonded) 1 oz red vermouth (M&R) juice of half a lime tsp-1/4 oz grenadine (homemade) shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. optional rinse of pernod. I can't really tell if it's adding anything or not. I'd use more, but then it would probably be a drink that only I like. Anise is not the best thing to add to a drink you're trying to make appealing in a college town. Any other luck folks have had with the H1 Kaffir Lime I'd love to hear about it. -Andy

Little used though they may be, another alternative in peach bitters wouldn't hurt either, maybe even one that is actually bitter (as opposed to tasting like snapple--not that that's a bad thing).

Wow where did you come across Byrrh?! I wasn't even sure it was being imported. Any mail order source?

A heavier-bodied port with more structure than the Warrior might help somewhat with the sweetness, though not enough to help it transcent the dessert category. I really wasn't crazy about the Warre's Warrior, much prefer Dow's or Cockburns Special Reserve (or Grahams Six Grapes, or...) I think for mixing purposes I'd want a port with a little more oomph. -Andy

And don't forget Cynar! Another interesting-sounding one I've been meaning to try is Green Chartreuse and tonic.

Where I work, the prices are somewhat peculiar, and sometimes reflect the tastes and opinions of the staff and/or management. For example, the bar manager despises Crown Royal and is disgusted that customers demand that we keep it in stock, ignoring probably the best American whiskey selection in town (and most likely winning the Scotch category, too). For some reason people around here get downright belligerent when we are out of Crown. His solution: keep it in stock, but raise the price $2. Either people will realise that it costs more and try something a little more interesting*, or we make much more profit. I don't think Crown Royal sales have suffered any so far. -Andy *No offense intended to our Canadian friends, but surely you agree there are more interesting drinks than the "Crown 'n Coke" that seems to be the house cocktail of College Station, Texas. Edit to fix CApitalization issues