Mike S.

Thanks for the suggestions! One of my favorites is the Mexican bottling of Herradura blanco, which comes in at 46% alcohol rather than the usual 40%, and is typically available at BevMo here in California. May try it with that, and top up with a cup or so of Herradura reposado as suggested.

OT for a thread about St. Germain (which I like well enough), but the posts above about Tequila por Mi Amante have me very interested. Any suggestions on brand/bottling of tequila to use? Or even just thoughts on blanco vs. reposado (I'm assuming anejo would be right out)?

Bluecoat is wonderful stuff with a more than passing similarity to the flavor profile of Tanqueray Malacca (to my palate anyway). That said, I've never tried it in a martini...yet.

Boston, I'm not sure if you were being serious or sarcastic, but I'll tell you honestly -- I'd order it off a wine list by the glass as an aperitif, especially if you'd be willing to serve it to me in a nice goblet wineglass over ice with a slice of lemon. I absolutely love it that way.

The new-to US formula makes a heck of a New Haven-style white clam sauce for pasta, but I'll admit that I never tried that with the old US formula. Can't speak to the deglazing issue, but I would not hesitate to give it a go.

Yojimbo, you're in for a treat. A G&T made with Fever Tree and either of the two great gins you mentioned (Bluecoat and Whitley Neill) will be outstanding. Make it with Old Raj and it enters the sublime. BTW, if after trying Fever Tree you end up liking Q better, I'd really love to hear why. Q just does not do anything for me, but maybe I'm missing something and need to give it another go.

I'll go further still and say "It's Fever Tree or nothing at all." In fact, Fever Tree's entire line of mixers (tonic, ginger ale, bitter lemon and club soda) are now the only stuff I use. Q Tonic is, I'm sure, a well-made and respectable product, but to me it cannot hold a candle to Fever Tree. Another great thing about Fever Tree? The size of the bottles, 6.6 ounces here in America -- perfect amount for 2 G&Ts.

I just picked up bottles of all three Dolin vermouths (Dry, Sweet and Blanc). Can't wait to try them. Neil H., welcome aboard and don't give up on the new Noilly too quickly! The old U.S. formula is, I think, definitely better in the classic American Dry Martini, but I'm finding that in nearly everything else I actually prefer the new formula.

I just tried the new-to-us NP Dry for the first time tonight. First taste neat, in a small tasting glass. Much sweeter than the "old" U.S. formula, and as noted above much more floral and herbal, but not necessarily bad to my palate, in fact pretty damn good actually, just...different. Second taste in a 5:1 Martini made with (my new favorite) Whitley Neill Small Batch London Dry Gin and a goodly dash of Regans' No. 6, stirred up with a lemon twist. Not bad, maybe even good, but again...(very) different. Truth be told, although I like them Martinis have never been my drink of choice so I'm probably not the best person to say whether the old or new is the better vermouth for this drink. I rather liked it, but I can definitely see why the stalwarts are up in arms. Third taste poured over ice in a wine glass with a lemon slice as an alternative to plain white wine with my linguini and white clam sauce (itself made with a healthy splash of the stuff). Umm...brilliant! I really love it this way, better by far than my previous favorite white aperitif Lillet Blanc. Less sweet, more complex, spicier, just great. In fact, it's so good as a Lillet "stand-in" that I wonder if it wouldn't work as a replacement for Lillet in classic cocktails that call for the old Kina Lillet (although admittedly there's no quinine bite to the new NP), perhaps with a dash of orange bitters? So my bottom line is this: It's a very good, maybe even great, product that is nonetheless profoundly different from the "old" NP Dry we've all come to know and love (or not). It's definitely earned a place in my bar and I suspect I'll be drinking it quite a lot -- no joke, it is REALLY good over ice with a slice of lemon. For those rare times I drink a dry Martini...well...maybe I'll use something else, or break into my back stock of the old stuff.

Reviving this thread -- again -- because I've just found a new (to me) gin that I think is very close to Malacca, closer even than Bluecoat (which I still love): Whitley Neill Small Batch London Dry. Once again an outstanding gin on its own merits, the unique botanicals in WN -- including wild African baobab citrus and Cape Gooseberries -- give it citrus-and-spice nose and flavor profiles that to me are nearly dead-ringers for Malacca. Pot-stilled and bottled at 84 proof, even the mouth-feel is similar. The one difference that remains, to my palate anyway, is that hint of residual sweetness found in Malacca; WN is noticeably drier. That's easily fixed but I probably won't bother -- WN is absolutely fantastic just as it is. Pour a shot of each into identical tasting glasses and put away the bottles -- after a few sips I bet you'll have a hard time telling which is which. I sure did. I must say, this discovery makes me very happy!

How do folks typically classify this stuff? Is it an orange-and-spice flavored rum, or is it a rum-based orange liqueur? More to the point, does it belong on the liqueur shelf or in the rum locker in my bar? These things matter to me, not really sure why....

I'll second the comment on the 100 proof 1800 blanco (called "Select Silver") -- it makes an absolutely outstanding Margarita and the price point is spot on too.

I can't tell you the technical differences between the three, but I'll say this: Kahlua Especial is so much better than regular Kahlua (for all the reasons you mention) that I cannot see any reason to keep both. I've never actually tried Tia Maria, so I can't speak to that one.

Sharon, try the Bluecoat. You won't be disappointed.

Erik, can you think of any reason why this recipe wouldn't scale down well? I'd love to try it but I'm leary of producing 3L of the stuff at one go. I may try a 1/3 batch unless you think it would not work that way.

John, I now have all of these things (CioCiaro, Angostura Orange and Everclear) -- any thoughts on ratios to bring it as close as possible to Picon? I'd love to give this a go and see how it comes out. An ABV calculator (there are several on the web) should tell me how much Everclear to add to bring the 60-proof CioCiaro up to Picon's original 78-proof, but how much Angostura Orange?

I can promise that I'd buy it in a heart-beat. When I think of what I've spent to acquire the few remaining bottles I do have.... The idea of being able to pour myself a Malacca G&T on a whim (instead of the deliberate, considered decision it is now) makes me all whoosy inside.

Boy, does that bring me back to my days in Connecticut! I can still see it -- you ask the waiter (I was a kid then, not much interaction with bartenders [that I'll admit to]) if they have ginger ale and...there's...kind of a...pause...followed by a half-hearted "yeah, I think we have that". Guaranteed, you're getting Sprite with a splash of Coke (and often a cherry). You know the funny thing though? It's actually not half bad, and I've been known to mix it myself at fast-food joints with a self-serve soda fountain. My kids actually love it. Interesting mixological note: The amount of Coke added to the Sprite is tiny, really no more than a super-short hit from the Coke jet, just enough to tint the Sprite a sort of golden color -- but it absolutely does not work with Pepsi (or 7Up for that matter). All that said, Fever-Tree is infintely better.

Wow, the pear brandy old fashioned is amazingly good made with Clear Creek Williams Pear Brandy. I'm calling this the "Clear Creek Old Fashioned".

Kev, what's this about Damrak not being imported to the US any more? Seriously?

Ms. McArthur: I for one think your list is grand and can't fault it. Don't let anyone tell you any different. I'd personally order both the scotch and the Campari with soda leaving the water for washing up and the tonic for the gin -- or for my wife who doesn't drink and takes her tonic right out the bottle -- but whatever. Rye and bitter lemon? I'm absolutely drinking that tomorrow after work.

My "new" bottle of Torani Amer is now about half gone. Everything I've done with it has been a revelation to me. From taking it neat after a meal like a true amaro to a traditional Picon Punch to Chuck Taggart's Hoskins to Jamie Boudreau's Nirvana to Chris Hannah's Bywater to a plain-old Picon & Beer (Spaten), each drink was an outstanding -- indeed, reference (for me at least) -- example. I absolutely love this stuff. I just hope that the next bottle I buy is just as good!

Well, I'm glad at least one person can confirm this! Kev, as someone who can taste the "new" (if it's accurate to say that) TA and vintage Picon, what would you suggest as a way to bring TA even closer? Dash of good orange bitters (and if so, which one)? Anything?

The "Cinnabar Negroni" has become my favorite: 1.5 oz Campari, .75 oz each gin and vermouth, dashes orange bitters (I like Regan's). Awesome. But I'll definitely try one with Rangpur, I very much like that stuff.

Reviving this threat because I wonder if there isn't something going on with Torani Amer.... I live in Northern California where TA is very easy to find -- it's consistently stocked at BevMo, for example, among several other places. Because of this, I generally keep a bottle in my stock and can easily pick up a replacement whenever necessary...like I did this weekend. As others have noted in this thread and elsewhere, I too have always detected the distinct vegetal/celery characteristic of TA, both on the nose and the palate. It's absolutely unmistakable when TA is smelled and tasted neat (in fact, I've often experienced it as the dominant characteristic of neat TA), and it often comes through even in cocktails (Chuck Taggart's Hoskins comes to mind). Except in this bottle of TA I bought this weekend. The vegetal/celery notes are almost completely missing. On the nose, in fact, they seem to me to be gone entirely -- all I get is a deep amaro herbal richness spiked with notes of bright, clean bitter orange, even after letting an ounce or so sit out in a glass for nearly an hour. Absolutely fantastic! Tasted neat there's almost no trace of those flavors until the very tail end of the finish, where they're no more than a whisper and fade very pleasantly into the background of herbs. By far the dominant flavor of this bottle, in a way I've never before experienced with TA, is bitter orange. For reasons I cannot explain (having never tasted the real thing from any era) I've developed a dangerous obsession with Amer Picon. I've made so many batches of Jamie Boudreau's recipe that I've literally lost count. Most I've poured out, disappointed in the result (I'm sure the fault is mine, and probably in the orange peel tincture step, but I cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong). The bottle of TA I bought this weekend is better by miles than any of my home-brew attempts. It's what I imagine Amer Picon tasted like Back In The Day, although admittedly I have no personal basis to say so. It's stellar in any event; I just wish I knew why, and whether it's a fluke. Has anyone else experienced anything like this with TA recently? (Edited to add the obvious question)