bostonapothecary

boulevardier template 1.5 o.z bourbon (grand dad) 1 oz. sweet vermouth 1 oz. aroma modified cynar** this is quite lovely. familiar gustatory proportions, exotic & extraordinary aromatic tonality. **the aroma of cynar is modified by simple dehydration. the soluble solids are reconstituted with kirshwasser (hiram walker!) to a target alcohol content of 20%. the results is really cool and intuitive to use. i aspired to use jalinek slivovitz instead of kirschwasser, but i was out. the original idea was to trade the orange expression of campari or cynar for one from a fruit eau de vie, or dry sherry. besides the olfactory-sweet orange expression in campari and cynar there is also a lot of aroma that converges with bitterness. this technique removes those bitter aromas, but does not replace them. it is interesting to see how the aroma from the bitter botanicals contributes to the over all bitterness. i think all in all the modified product only costs a $1/ounce to produce. aroma could also be replaced non-alcoholically (yerba mate & orange blossom water) so that you could make campari high balls for pregnant women and young children.

you are not exactly going to churn out classic cocktails with wray & nephews, but i adore it. in jamaica they drink drink their overproofs with campari. "JB" from the trelawny distillery and campari with soda was the favorite drink of Raymond the mason when i spent a month in jamaica in the fall.

.75 oz. tanqueray rangpur .75 oz. plymouth sloe gin .75 oz. jaggery sweetened formerly green chartreuse .75 oz. from a very old and tired lemon this was cute. the gin and sloe gin came from a large bag of "donations". sloe gin is so overshadowing. .75 oz. plymouth sloe gin .75 oz. madeira "doux" .75 oz. medronhos "nova" .75 oz. lime juice intent on conquering the sloe gin i pulled out the big guns. first a certain tonal modifier courtesy madeira which also creates a sugar content that can contrast the volume of lime juice. next was the infamous al garve moonshine of the "strawberry tree" called medronhos which has a certain penetrating aroma. this is like tasting iodine in a single malt for the first time. you shouldn't enjoy it but you do. and it is so aromatic that the people sitting next to you are more or less drinking it along with you. people that relish batavia arrack may also enjoy medronhos.

1 oz. scarlet ibis .5 oz. trimbach's prunelle sauvage (sloe berry eau-de-vie) 1 oz. macvin du jura .5 oz. "sugar swap" chartreuse (jaggery) really lovely. extraordinary aromatic tonality.

1 oz. jalinek 5 year old kosher plum slivovitz .5 oz. fernet 151 1 oz. domain de montbourgeau macvin du jura .5 oz. cynar this is so delicous. macvin du jura is a pineau des charentes style fortified wine that has distinct and potent black tea aromas similar to those found in some grappas like the berta's of italy. insane stuff. imported by rosenthal if anyone wants to track it down. fernet 151 is 151 proof fernet create via numerous exotic and proprietary processes. it is pretty amazing on its own. if taken as a shot you think you think you survive the first massive wave of flavorants and everything will be okay, then after a split second delay you get clobbered by the gratuitous alcohol content. applied to a cocktail, you can cram tons of flavorants into a small space. the drinks template is the elaborated 50/50. this will be made again, but probably with regular fernet.

2 oz. pear eau-de-vie (aqua perfecta) with reconstituted barrel residue 4 g. non aromatic white sugar 4 dashes angostura bitters this worked out really nicely. the barrel really bridges the gap between the aromas of pear and the aromas of the bitters. i've tried nearly every fruit brandy i've got with this faux barrel aging method, but so far the peach brandy has been far and away the most spectacular. unaged, its like bubble-gum, but add the attentional tension created by the barrel and you've got something really extraordinary. the essence reconstitutes easily, but with the pear there were some clumps that didn't re-dissolve and i suspect the vacuum flask always needs a double boiler as it gets to the last ounces. i'm wondering if i could dehydrate some bourbon in the glass i want to serve a drink in then have a chilled drink poured over it and let the guest incorporate the two for some aviary style theatrics. only one way to find out..

2 oz. hiram walker kirschwasser with reconstituted barrel residue (80 cents/ounce!) 1 oz. lemon juice 8g. domino organic sugar (pretty close to white) 2 dashes peychaud's bitters distractingly cold and tart drinks are not the greatest for testing out aroma, but i really enjoyed this. the barrel residue adds something hard to pin down that really pushes the ordinary into the extraordinary.

i tried the applejack with reconstituted barrel residue. pretty good. i gave it a test run with a marconi wireless 1.5 oz. applejack with reconstituted barrel residue .75 oz. m&r sweet vermouth dash peychaud's bitters this made for a lovely drink. vacuum reduction was much faster but the dehydrator seemed to also produce nice results. i haven't touched the applejack bottle in quite a while. the back said 35% finest apple brandy and 65% neutral spirits, but i think that the other detail they leave out is that with the 65% portion, they are making an faux apple brandy by simply re-distilling those neutral spirits with unfermented apple pulp. they get lots of apple aroma but not fermented apple aroma. labeling laws probably do not allow them to describe that 65% as an "apple brandy". i'd like to think the aroma tells that tale, but can anyone confirm their techniques?

modern rendering of fish house punch .75 oz. lemon juice 1.5 oz. pineau des charentes .75 oz. kuchan indian blood peach brandy with faux barrel finishing feel free to complain that i omitted the rum. the faux barrel finishing is creating by terminally vacuum reducing bourbon. the resultant residue is simply reconstituted with the peach brandy. this works well because most of the flavorants a barrel contributes to a spirit are not volatile at the boiling points of water or ethanol. the aroma from the grains evaporates away. the process can also be done on the nano scale and the batch i made was only 100ml. if you have a vacuum still like a rotovap the solvent can be recovered to either subsidize the cost of the process or to be concentrated itself then rejoined to create faux barrel proof renderings of spirits (overproof overholt or fernet 151...). i'm testing the technique using a simple dehydrator, but i haven't yet had time to evaluate the results. it took 12 hours to dehydrate two 100ml containers of bourbon at 105F. i reconstituted one with the cheap applejack and the other with hiram walker kirschwasser.

Can anyone comment on the blender method? Given that the more shaking the better, wouldn't a blender be the ultimate method to create froth? I was also thinking about using an immersion blender for slightly less cleanup. i've had success in the past with a malt mixer. sam's whip cream canister idea sounds really practical. regardless of how you froth it up, putting soda water in the glass before you pour in the ramos mixture produces the most dense and desirable froth.

1 oz. blood orange juice 1 oz. sweet vermouth (m&r) 1 oz. luxardo sangue morlacco 1 oz. villa rosati grappa from moscato expressed peel of blood orange this was a nice take on the blood and sand. my co-worker is obsessed with eating blood oranges and keeps us well stocked at the work. interesting tonality. it is a challenge to avoid "medicinal" proclamations whenever concentrated cherry aromas are involved, but this somehow does it. i think acidity is key and the expressed oil of the peel.

gifford-wood flip 1.5 oz. macallan cask strength 1 oz. 10 year madeira "doux" 4 g. non aromatic white sugar 1 oz. fernet egg yolk liqueur (pasteurized yolk fluid gel!)** **the egg yolk fluid gel is detailed here and was really easy to construct with the colloid mill. the blue cheese heavy cream of a few days ago eventually separated and i think it needs to be a fluid gel instead of the dispersion i created. i will probably have to add carageenan if i want it to be stable similar to the heavy creams in the super market. i thought i'd try my foray into fluid gels with some simple yolks. serious success. the drink is over the top with elegant richness. the fernet provides lovely contrast for the epic overtone produced by the aromas of the whiskey & madeira. between the fluid gel egg yolk liqueur and the homogenized coconut cream (which i think might also be considered a fluid gel), i think it would be easy for many large bars to justify a colloid mill.

1 oz. eau-de-vie of perique .5 oz. carpano antica formula the aroma is fairly interesting, but not exactly extraordinary. somehow it made me want to trade in the drink for a plain glass of madeira...

from yesterday: 1.5 oz. jamel cachaca .5 oz. 10 year madeira "doux" 1 oz. lime juice 1 oz. "toasted" coconut cream (homogenized) i ended up putting a can of the pressure cooker "toasted" coconut cream (goya) through the colloid mill. the results were interesting. the drink never ended up producing any of the usual unsightly flecks of fat that cling to the sides of the glass. it was just milky and gorgeous. and a day later still has not separated. i thought the flecks might be from fat denatured by the acidity, but maybe not. i'm not sure what is happening, but the "homogenized" cream produced a much nicer drink. i didn't have any mamajuana left so i decided to add a small quotient of madeira to increase the sweetness slightly above the normal 2:1:1. the colloid mill, so far, is not exactly a wonder tool. coconut cream turned out to be a challengingly viscous liquid for the mill and it only trickled from the spout. the cream seemed to be getting pushed back up into the hopper as opposed to pulled down and pushed through the spout. i might need another stator with a larger exit hole or just bore the stator i have and tap it to put on a nicer spout.

believe it or not, opportunity knocked and i acquired a colloid mill. it is probably the smallest you can get; a gifford-wood that runs on 115 current. our first idea was to turn cheese back into milk and see if we could homogenize it. we started wit a danish blue. inverse alexander 2 oz. pineau des charentes 1 oz. st. james ambre 1 oz. nano scale homogenized danish blue "heavy cream" the drink is pretty cool. not a much an acquired taste as you might think. though i wish i had used a sauternes or trockenbeerenauslese. the blue cheese aroma is definitely there and everything performs just like a cocktail made with standard heavy cream. my companion could not get over the symbolic wrongness of the drink, but he somehow also finished his first... if i did anything differently with the danish blue cream, i'd add lactose to sweeten it up a bit and contrast the prominent acidity. next up tellegio and nut milks. and don't worry we are already developing a whiskey aromatized with baguettes.

is the mistell & brandy fully oxidized in a barrel like a pinot des charentes? what varietals do they use to make it?

.75 oz. genever style gin (malta goya aromatized gin!) .75 oz. mezcal (vida) 1 oz. madeira (d'oliveira 10 year "doux") .5 oz. brandymel (most essential of all honey liqueurs) half bar spoon of lavender "essence" dollop of pistachio "cream" the creaminess is opulent. the smoke and malt contrast each other perfectly. the overtone of the madeira and brandymel is spectacularly enigmatic. i was making some pistachio milk for a bread pudding so i stole a spoonful of the centrifuged fat. the malt-mezcal-lavender trio was inspired by something i had at Drink a year or so ago... the lavender essence was originally made to mix with ammonia and clean my floors, but it also tastes good in a drink.

i thought i'd drink along... i substituted caledonia gin from vermont, 4g of non aromatic white sugar, and the special addition jaggery chatreuse. really wonderful. the intense dryness is a distraction from the aromas so i don't think my special selections made the drink any better or worse. most of the time i prefer gustatory dryness to aroma anyhow. tart drinks are therapeutic. will make again.

an oldie but goodie. "boston flip" 1.5 oz. glen fiddich 12 1 oz d'oliveira 10 year madeira demi doux .5 oz. simple syrup egg i haven't made an egg drink in quite a while. i remember these being really enjoyable quite a few years ago. i went through a dessert wine flip phase back then. this one is really elegant stuff.

four part collage .75 oz. lime juice .75 oz. vergano americano .75 oz. brandymel .75 oz. villa rosati grappa of moscato quite lovely. bitter and sour. though their aromas shout, no ingredient dominates the conversation.

rum from the island of madeira! 1 oz. lime juice 8 g. non aromatic white sugar 2 oz. "caninha", "rum agricola da madeira" "distilled from fermented juice of sugarcane" $20/L retail. the rum is pretty cool relative to the price, but doesn't well compare on a sensory level with the rums of cape verde or of minas gerais in brazil which are similarly priced. the rum did result in a spectacular daiquiri enhanced by the new symbolic angle (madeira!)... you could run an entire bar program based around products from the portuguese empire. if anyone wants to sponsor me i'll do it.

1 oz. st. james ambre .5 oz. vida mezcal .5 oz. wray & nephews "berry hill" allspice liqueur 1 oz. chateau bel air "vieille vignes" 2009 noble rot semillon a good time. i haven't made a drink with dessert wine in quite a while. the back of the bel air bottle disclosed a residual sugar of 114g/l which screamed cocktail to me. i thought i owned a bottle of benedictine but apparently not so i opted into allspice liqueur. the mezcal makes the drink a bit of an acquired taste and seems to be a distraction from the splendor of the dessert wine aromas. if made again i'd trade the mezcal for either cognac or for lemonhart 151, otherwise the other three ingredients sing harmoniously. do not be afraid to put extraordinary dessert wines in cocktails. as long as you do not unite them with aromas that overshadow or are too distant like the intense smoke of the mezcal, the uniqueness and singularity of a special dessert wine can be shown off quite well.

.75 oz. caledonia gin from vermont .75 oz. green chartreuse restructured to be sweetened with jaggery .75 oz. rendering of maraschino with the sugar/alcohol ratio of 1920 .75 oz. lime juice unique tonality. delicious. this doesn't exactly blow the original away, but it did support a local distillery, prove a tradition could be practiced when the original experience might not be available, and add specific exotic aromatic tonality and symbolism on the cheap for those needing relief from complacency.

improved gin cocktail 2 oz. ransom old tom gin 4 g. non aromatic white sugar barspoon absinthe aromatized with yerba mate instead of wormwood. barspoon maraschino** applied peel of lemon **maraschino is essentially sweetened kirschwasser that also includes the aroma of a portion of the stones. the maraschino here is designed as a substitute for those in regions without access to commercial maraschino. hiram walker kirshwasser and a "standardized" aromatic concentrate of the stones are precisely diluted and sugared to the same proportions a book on separation science gives for maraschino liqueur in 1920 (many of the techniques of separation science were taught using liquor). the aroma is adjusted for intensity via raw empathy or a tasting panel. this was delicious but not exactly a great recipe to show off the maraschino.

vesper template .5 oz. cocchi aperitivo americano 1 oz. savory & james "brandy of cream sherry" 1.5 oz. caledonia spirits "barr hill" gin a spectacular drink. i was not overly enthused with the savory & james brandy. it seemed like a good idea in theory but is kind of bland. the subtleness made it seem like a nice vodka stand in and it fit the drink quite well. the new caledonia "barr hill" gin is spectacular. it was $18/375ml. "made with juniper and raw honey". the tonality of their juniper aroma is extraordinary and the intensity leaves nothing to be desired. the juniper is elegantly contrasted with the aroma of the honey. the honey supposedly is added just before bottling and probably makes up their legal limit of sweeteners. bravo to caledonia spirits.