brinza

With that "absynthe," this cocktail sounds awfully like a (brandy) Sazerac, no? But here's the thing: there was no New Orleans Sunday Mercury--as far as I can determine, the newspaper that this item was cribbed from would have to be the weekly New York Sunday Mercury, a sporting paper with a national reputation that was founded in 1839 (the almost-as-famous Philadelphia Sunday Mercury wasn’t founded until 1850). So it appears that the swells in New York were drinking something very much like the Sazerac seven years before the Sazerac Coffee House even opened. Curioser and curioser. P.S. That "Chesterfield" reference is to the 18th-century Lord Chesterfield, who laid out the rules of polite behavior. ← Helluva find! Perhaps it was the use of Peychaud's bitters that put the New Orleans stamp on it?

This looks interesting. An acquaintance from Brazil recently sent me a bottle of Santo Grau. It's very very heady and pungent--should stand up to the scotch real well. I'll be trying this with White Horse and Patron Citronge.

The Sazerac is one of my favorite cocktails, and I've tried several of the suggestions here for uses of St. Germain (and enjoyed every one of them). This looks like another one well worth giving a try! Thanks.

I don't know if the bottle the syrup is stored in makes a difference, but the first time I made simple syrup, I merely put it (mainly due to ignorance) in a glass bottle with just a cork and didn't refrigerate it. After a time it became moldy mainly around the mouth of the bottle and the cork. After that, I began keeping it in a small Drambuie bottle. I still don't refrigerate it, and it keeps for weeks--even a couple months--with no spoilage. Although my last batch was 2:1, prior to that I was making only 1:1 and it still didn't spoil. I get a little crystallization in the bottom of the bottle, but no mold. I don't know why that is, but there you have it.

The first time I bought Boodles, which was only something like two years ago, it was $15--seriously. Right now, Pennsylvania (although they've relegated it to a special order item. which can affect the price), is listing for $40.69.

I'm not a Chicagoan but I bought mine online from kegworks.com ← That's how I got Angostura Orange, along with a few different Fee Brothers items as well. I like that site because it's the only bar supply site I've been able to find that also stocks bitters in addition to the usual tools and supplies.

It was only last Winter that I first tried the hot-chocolate-and-orange-liqueur thing . . . oh my. (never though about adding rum, though. Something to look forward to this winter )

It's making more sense to stick with Seagram's Distillers Reserve. A 102-proof gin for $13.99. And it's good.

Found this in Difford's. Quite good and a fun combination of ingredients. CAUSEWAY 2 shots Irish Whiskey 1 shot Drambuie 4 dashes Angostura bitters 2 dashes orange bitters 1/4 shot lemon juice top up with ginger ale

Anything over $30 for an unaged spirit is way too much, IMO. I paid $24 for Plymouth about 6 months ago. If it goes up, I'll certainly find alternatives.

Not IMO. I liken it more to Chambord (albeit cherry rather than raspberry) than to dry cherry brandies. In fact, for just about any cocktail calling for framboise liqueur, you could use Heering as a variation and it should work just as well. It's very deep, dark, and rich. The reverse should also work. If you can't get Heering or Cherry Marnier, and were to use Chambord instead in the Singapore Sling, I bet it would do it no harm at all. Here's a good discussion of the Singapore Sling recipe: http://www.tedhaigh.com/Sling.pdf

Wow that certainly looks like it would be worth a try. I'll have to snag some aquavit to try it. Any recommendations on a brand? I remember hearing that one of the favorite brands was recently dropped by it's importer, and then I saw it locally shortly afetr reading that. Trouble is now I can't remember which one it was. ← I used Aalborg, as that's the only brand we have here. I did see it mentioned elsewhere that Aalborg was no longer being imported, but PA still seems to be getting it. I don't know if they just had an enormous inventory or if the rumors of it no longer being imported are untrue. The scotch I used was White Horse. I keep coming back to that as my mixing blend. I like its peaty character--it very flavorful for a blend in its price range. As for the vermouth, I ended up using M&R. I purposely did not use Noilly Prat since it was going up against scotch (as bostonapothecary says, "you have to stage a fair fight" (I always think of that when I'm experimenting)), but I thought the Vya might make the whole thing a bit too busy, so I settled on the M&R. I'm thinking I might try this again with the Vya, however, just to see. I thought about adding bitters, but refrained since it thought it would disturb the subtleties of the vermouth, aquavit, and agave nectar. The agave doesn't have a very strong taste to begin and since you wanted to build the drink around that and the scotch, it seemed best to avoid using another ingredient that could overpower everything. If I were to add bitters, it might be one small dash or a couple drops of Peychaud's, perhaps.

Try this: 1.5 oz blended scotch 0.5 oz dry vermouth 0.25 oz aquavit 0.25 oz agave nectar I read your post in the thread on simple syrups and, having finally picked up some agave nectar, I was intrigued by your quest and saw it as an interesting challenge. I tried to come up with something that wouldn't just end up being a Rob Roy variation, so I discovered that Scotch and dry vermouth is a combination that, while unusual, is not unheard of, so I started with that. Looking for another favor component, but not something sweet, since it will already have that in the agave nectar, I settled on aquavit--just a little--as an accent. I thought it was quite good, and I'd make it again. But you'll have to be the judge as to whether it's the earth-shattering cocktail you're looking for. You'll probably want to tweak the proportions a bit. I fiddled with it myself and don't really know exactly what I ended up with.

This Spring, I set out to devise a portable cocktail bar that could be carried on a bicycle. This is what I came up with. I took an Axiom rack trunk and turned it into a portable martini bar. There is ample room to add a few more items to increase the variety of drinks that could be made. In this photo you can see gin miniatures (the vodka bottle is for vermouth, naturally); a mini shaker; a thermos (with insulated case) for ice; orange bitters; and two small cylinders for olives and twists. Plastic martini glass are slung onto the side by velcro straps. If more liquor is required, a 375ml bottle fits nicely. Since the entire rack trunk is insulated, the gin can be pre-chilled and will stay cold (and the olives and twists will stay fresh) for a long time: And, for those who insist on a being served their drink on a real wood bar, even out on a bike trail . . .

Well, except for the fact that the product didn't exist in 1930. I'm still sticking with "Gin and Wormwood" as the current best answer for "Absinthe Bitters" in the Savoy Cocktail Book. ← Okay, I mistook the product description's mention of Martinazzi Bitter as suggesting that this had been around since 1929, but that was only referring to a product which was the Campari-like component in the Kallnacher. My bad.

Pennsylvania hasn't de-listed it, but they no longer stock it in their retail stores--it's only available through their online service for which they have over 160 bottles in inventory. It'll probably be a while before they realize they can't get it any more. But I'm sure they'll jump at the chance to use that warehouse and shelf space for more vodka. Here's a question. Is Heering a cherry brandy or a liqueur? When a recipe calls for "cherry brandy" I never know if I should use this or something more like kirsch, a critical detail since the two are worlds apart. I know that it's called a liqueur on its own label, but several cocktail writers have stated that Heering is a good choice for when "cherry brandy" is called for, but I'm never quite sure.

The answer to that is . . . scaffas!

All bitters have (or are meant to have) quinine in them? Are you sure? ← Yep, typically in the form of cinchona bark. Quin-quin, quinquina and chinotto are all bitter aperitif-types whose names are derived from cinchona. "Bitters" that don't have it lack spine and complexity to me. Like adding an extract. Yes, it adds flavor, but think of, say, a Pegu Club with orange extract rather than orange bitters. It wouldn't be an untasty drink, but it wouldn't have the depth that the quinine brings to it. The bitters elevate the Pegu Club above what would otherwise be a gin kamikaze. ← It sounds like you're describing potable bitters--aperitif type bitters (Campari, Fernet Branca, Averna Amaro, Killepitsch) , but then applying the requisites to non-potable cocktail bitters, such as Angostura, etc. I'm not sure they're supposed to be necessarily formulated in the same way.

It's interesting that they list Angostura Bark as an ingredient in Angostura Bitters (which label clearly states that it does not contain Angostura Bark). This calls up several questions. 1) Did the Angostura Bitters label always say that; if not, when was it added? 2) If the notice was added later, was it because of that book? 3) Did the compilers of the book assume Angostura Bark was an ingredient because of the name of the product, or did it actually at one time contain Angostura Bark? 4) What else about the ingredient list is inaccurate?

Cool, eh? ← Wonderful! I'll be buying this without a doubt. I love the original. It's even enjoyable to just to sit back and browse through. The writing style is very entertaining and the photos and illustrations are like a museum catalog. The flat-open binding will be a welcome improvement (the current edition is one of the most difficult books ever to try to prop open while mixing the drink).

Thanks. That's good to know. I couldn't remember if Herbsaint had been used from the beginning or if that came later.

This would seem to be the answer to the question discussed here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1423576 The Savoy Cocktail Book includes a drink that calls for (in addition to absinthe) "absinthe bitters."

All bitters have (or are meant to have) quinine in them? Are you sure?

I liked that article, although it couldn't seem to make up its mind whether it was talking about mixes or bottled cocktails. Case in point: Make up your mind; which is it?I loved this line, however:

I'd been wondering about that too. It can be tricky to tell for sure. Older recipes may state absinthe, but some specifically call for Pernod. Were these meant to be made with Pernod, or was the writer just resigned to the fact that absinthe was not available and they recast the recipe for the next best thing. Some of the current writers call for "absinthe-substitute" so are we to assume that they would use real absinthe in those recipes we they can, or are they really suggesting using only the substitute? Such turmoil we cocktail enthusiasts must cope with! That's it. When you've been making a drink with Pernod for so long you come to believe that's how it should taste. Then, when you finally get the real thing (like you, I got a bottle of Kübler a few months ago), and make your favorite drink with it, you discover that it is different. Perhaps better, perhaps not so. What about the Sazerac? Use real absinthe or not?