bostonapothecary

i drink that kind of thing while i'm working...

more vieux carre fun! 1 oz. clear creak 8 year apple brandy 1 oz. clement VSOP 1 oz. martini rossi bianco 1 tsp. ramazotti 2 dashes hermes orange 2 dashes peychaud's (wish i had an orange twist) i like the bianco vermouth, ramazotti combo. it lets you taste lots of the spirits underneath. i think i need to try it on top of just one spirit that i'm really familiar with to see how exactly it works. last night i made four liters of black berry shrub... tonight i drink brambles!

the drink wasn't very good... i added some creole shrub... still not very good. i think the elements were too comparative and with not enough alcohol content. back to the drawing board...

writing about something before i drink it... but its on the list for tonight... from an a to z cocktail book i found in a drawer at the bar... (i think gary reagan's) but its not in the savoy?? andalusia 2 oz. dry sherry 1/2 oz. brandy 1/2 oz. clear rum on paper this sounds a little bland but with interpretation it can be kicked up a notch... manzanilla apple brandy reposado maybe a spoonful of simple to awaken it all or agave nectar for thematicity... or 1/1/2 oz. manzanilla 1/1/2 oz. elixir de agave (my aphrodesiac flavor enejo) built in flavor enhancing sweetness (2 oz. of the tequila has the perceived sweetness of 1/2 oz. cointreau), inherent apple character, tequila goodness, thematicity... i think i want to get some tapas tonight...

i just pre-ordered the book... i own no cocktail books except what can be downloaded on google books... i can't wait. the bonvivants companion is what got me interested in making liqueurs. i hope that quince liqueur and decanter bitters are covered in the book... i need a nice source for pine splinters to add to my cans of sloe gin... (that is if specialty produce comes through with the sloes)

i have had that drink and it is delicious... i am wondering if the sugar contents on the amer picon changed at all when the proofs changed... maybe someone with an old bottle and a refractometer can help us out...?

I recently saw one of the bartenders at Alembic here in San Francisco do that when he dry shook a Pisco Sour. Hadn't seen it done before, either. He did get a very impressive head of foam. They also use those battery powered milk frother things for some egg white based foam drink toppings. ← i've used the hand milk frother when i made leo engel's "knickebein" but now i use the malt mixer.

that is my kind of thing.... the season over here is slowly synchronizing with those flavors...

Hawthorn, upside down, springs facing up, egg yolk nestled in by the springs while the yolk drained into the shaker. ← that is a really good idea... i've never seen that done before. sometimes i take the left over yolk as a shot like a boxer... i stand by the freshness of my eggs... = ) i had a cocktail with eggwhite at no. 9. where he took off the spring of the hawthorne and put in the shaker while he dry shook so it would act as a whisk and make it extra frothy... not sure if it was more frothy than usual but i'd be willing to perform some gin based controlled experiments to find out... =)

i paid 23$ for a 750 of rothman's creme de violette. it's pretty good. i think the liqueur over all is over hyped. so many other things are more go to.... to much violette liqueur leaves a chemical association... i like rothman's brix ethic. it leaves lots of room for you to play with potency without over sweetening... though i am not sure the alcohol content is the best choice. i wonder what the decisions were based on and what exactly classic was? hermes violette sounds to be more like "parfait amour" especially which additional flavors fighting for dominance.

i'm really flavor bored and in need of a little something... i'm nominating plums over strawberries as the most erotic fruit... the flavor is so seductive and so late summer... i need to take as much of it in while i can... tonight in the form of eau de vie... 1 oz. clear creek blue plum 1/4 oz. dry vermouth gonna pay tribute to the alto cucina and rim the glass with finely ground espresso last night i had oysters with grains of paradise and i just need more of it... an aphrodisiac to go with a seductive fruit? 1 oz. clear creek blue plum 1/4 oz. dry vermouth dusted rim with finely ground grains of paradise. don't be afraid to awaken any dull flavors with a drop of simple syrup

last night a guest bought me some clement XO. i have had it before but never with a chance to sit down and fully appreciate it. the gentleman by the way was looking for whiskey. something like pappy or black maple hill that i don't keep at the bar. "specialness" was more important that a particular flavor. it went over very well with him and myself. i drank my glass while on the patio with a maduro and reading kate chopin's "story of an hour". how appropriate a creole rum with a creole short story. drinking while reading is fun. a couple month's ago i read jacques roumain's "masters of the dew" split up between glasses of ice cold mauby and glasses of cinnamon spiced clairin...

i tried the angostura orange bitters last night at no. 9 park.... pretty cool stuff. i only tasted them on their own but ryan was mixing them up for guests.... they had an intensity that other orange bitters lacked. the actual bitter quality was real serious. very sexy stuff. can't wait until i buy them at the supermarket....

The "measured drink"? What does this mean, exactly? Using a jigger instead of free pouring? This is something the best bars in NYC have been doing for years. ← i mean the jigger.... it is not very common in boston.... boston is really wierd. consumer demand for a good drink outpases the supply. there is an old generation of bartenders that have really bad habits.... i keep seeing so many people interested in a good cocktail but going to wine because they know the bartender can't mess it up.... its kinda funny you think the bartenders would be setting the pace. it only takes a couple incredible bars spoiling their clientelle to make other places' drinks look really bad relative....

no. 9 park is doing a really simple fernet foam that sits atop some chilled rye with a little simple to become a modernists toronto... (they name it after a neighborhood of which escapes me in toronto with lots of bars...) i was skeptical for a split second but it was really tastey. better than anything i've ever had with fernet.... because of the shape of the common martini glass you never used up all the foam before the rye. it married with the booze as you sipped. best foam drink i've had so far.... the greatest technological breakthrough in cocktails is the measured drink.... its as significant as indoor lighting.... unfortunatley so many bars are working in the dark....

the jellied gin and tonic sounds pretty cool. i've made things like the pink lady in the soda siphon.... i like to take a simple espresso martini to the malt mixer.... you get a very cold drink with very little water break down but unreal amounts of air mixed into it.... a really interesting textural element that can be done really quickly at a very busy bar....

i think your hard spirits need to fight it out at an ounce to an ounce.... if there is no balance kick out the grouse.... the apple jack is the much cooler of the two.... i really like the vieux carre model and i don't try to change the proportions but only the spirits.... 3/4 oz. of vya and a spoonful of yellow VEP? if you use Vya in a cocktail (and i'm not lucky enough too) does it become the show? and obscure your inner flavor contrasts.... i've wasted some really cool spirits mixing them with combos like rosso antico and amer picon.... this led me to the bianco vermouth as an alternative to give the spirits more of a showing.... in using really cool vermouths and benedictine etc....i've found that it becomes the center peice and underneath it your concerned mostly with alcohol content....

← don't do anything until next years tour de france or you will jinx us all.... root for euskaltel euskadi, drink picon, and be merry.... next year we will take the yellow jersey....

wow, thats my kind of thing... and i've got the stuff to make it... tomarrow is a 14 hour day... it will probably suck. that will be the perfect drink. i almost forgot about st. james... i think hemingway mentioned it in islands in the stream... it all makes me think of foie gras and plantains... flambe it with the st. james... maybe i can pick up some foie gras at savenors... plantains at hay market... clement XO laying around to pair with it all... its not decadent its just advanced...

i think we use only cruzan.... we used to have angostura, barbencourt, brugal, bacardi, clement, myers clear, etc. we consolidated into only cruzan. i like to work under an artistic constraint and try to remove as many options as i can.... jerry thomas had only one clear rum.... if you want to embellish the clear rum add a fraction of a vanilla bean....

interesting..... can in syrup rather than alcohol.... Herve This had an article about canning.... i think the rule was your syrup should match the brix of the fruit. so they don't absorb too much.... i'm confused now on what to do.... i will have to consult some books. personally i've never had a hand made maraschino cherry i've liked.... i prefer an orange twist.... but i love a fresh bing cherry. there has to be a great way to preserve them....

hmm. i will either skip trying that one or scrap the cream and go egg yolk....

i've been buying bing cherries at the market lately to keep around the bar for people to snack on.... they are practically giving them away.... the season is about to end so i was thinking of preserving a 10 month supply or so.... maraschino is one way to do it.... but i was thinking cherries ramazzotti.... or cherries gambrinus.... for 10 months of cherries i could just do all three.... i don't really understand how maraschino liqueur could really enhance a cherry? isn't it kind of redundent? what about rye whiskey with a healthy dose of vanilla beans in it? saterday is the day.... maybe someone else has been at this crossroads before....

that sounds delicious. i think i'd put on ice cream....

i remember working at the franklin cafe and there was this cocktail on the menu with supposed pomegrantie mollasses.... it was there before i started working there.... no one liked it. it got sent back constantly. i looked at the mollasses bottle and it was date mollasses instead of the pomegranite.... one lesson learned is to taste more of your own drinks....