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Thanks. Yeah, I've seen the ones for Scotch, so that was kind of what I had in mind. I think if someone created one for gin that would be very useful, at least as a guide for when you're trying to figure out where some of these gins and gin species fit into the scheme of things.

One of the best values I've come across is the seldom mentioned Ezra B. Single Barrel Bourbon. This bourbon is 12 years old, single barrel, and 99 proof . . . for $25 in PA. Name me one other bourbon that meets all those criteria at anywhere near that price. (And I'll buy it, because Ezra B. has just been de-listed in PA ) Seagram's Distillers Reserve is another good bargain gin that can hold its own with premium gins. It usually costs around $14.

If Hayman's and Ransom are so different, I wonder what it is that they actually do have in common. I've never had either, and I think I can get Hayman's but after reading the older posts in this thread, I'm more curious to try Ransom. What we need is a scale or a wheel to show the relative flavor relationships of London dry gin, American/Modern gin, Old Tom Gins, Plymouth Gin, various genevers, and stand-out products such as Genevieve, Smalls Gin, Martin Miller's, Damrak Amsterdam Gin, etc.

Paulo, what can you tell me about Santo Grau? I was given a bottle of it a couple years ago and I've been using it sparingly. One description I found on the web made it sound like a quality product. It's certainly intense to be sure.

I agree with Matt that those ratios are merely good starting points when experimenting. At least you know that the first attempt won't be a total disaster. If it's at least "servicable" you're more likely to have a good idea of which direction to take it from there. (Also, if you weren't writing things down, it's easy to remember where you started.) They can also be useful for professionals and amateurs alike when someone makes that ever-popular request of "I don't know what I want--surprise me." Another famous ratio to add to those mentioned in the OP is David Embury's 1-2-8 ratio for sours of sweet, sour, spirit. I wouldn't call if a no-fail ratio, however, because it seems to be somewhat controversial since many people find the result either too boozy or too tart. But I had two drinks that I could never seem to get quite right until I tried this ratio: The Jack Rose and the Scofflaw. No matter how I dickered with these, including trying various grenadines in the Jack Rose and different whiskeys in the Scofflaw, for example, they never tasted right. With a lot of sour recipes, the lemon often overpowers the spirit and adding more sweetener simply makes the drink too sweet and you end up with boozy lemonade. Once I applied the 1-2-8 ratio to these drinks (the Scofflaw has a 4th ingredient--vermouth--but you can still apply the principle), they came alive. I could taste the Applejack which was subtly enhanced by the modifiers, and not struggling to competing with them.

My only experience with white dog was a bottle of Isiah Morgan Rye Whiskey that I bought in West Virginia a couple years ago. I didn't have much success mixing with it either. Straight, I found it to be odd--kind of grassy and earthy. bostonapothecary's suggestions sound promising so I might give those a shot. I've never had 'corn likker' so I can't comment on that. I suspect the surge in sales is due to the novelty of the stuff. I can't imagine it would achieve any kind of lasting popularity. I don't think any whiskey distilleries should cancel their barrel orders and tear down their maturing warehouses just yet!

My guess would be that Mr. Embury was referring to the "Lillet Dry" created some time around 1920. My other guess would be that the modern Lillet Blanc is an off shoot of the "Lillet Dry" product, rather than the earlier Kina Lillet product. Also, the elusive Jean de Lillet is likely the modern version of "Sauternes Lillet". As to what happened to Kina Lillet, (or "Lillet Export Double Quinine" for that matter,) your guess is as good as mine. It appears that branch of the Lillet family died out some time after Mr. Embury's writing. You're probably right about the Lillet Dry. That has to be what Embury was drinking. Too bad it's no longer around. It would be fascinating to find out why he prized it so highly. And I wonder who is correct regarding Lillet Blanc--the Master Blender or the Lillet timeline.

To further confuse matters, David Embury describes a Lillet vermouth which he claims was a distinct product from Kina Lillet, and apparently, the word "kina" was dropped long ago, not in 1980. That was from the introductory section on aperitif wines. Later in the book, under Short Drinks, he has an entry for Kina Lillet drinks: So what does everyone make of this? Was there yet another Lillet product--a vermouth no less--that may have been called for in certain drinks? If we are to believe that Kina Lillet never really changed, is what we are looking for to faithfully re-created old drinks something else entirely? I can't imagine Embury was completely mistaken about this, especially since he cites it as his favorite French vermouth. Surely he knew what he was drinking. Gotta love that he feels that the only way anyone would possess a bottle of Kina Lillet is "by accident."

Made an Acacia from Embury's The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. Simple drink, common ingredients (and all booze!), but very good. Very angular flavor notes. Some may find it a bit sweet, so Embury suggests adding some lemon juice. Oh yeah, and more gin! 1 part Benedictine 3 to 4 parts gin 1 tsp Kirsch The more curious aspect of this drink is that according to Embury, this drink won first prize at the championship cocktail contest at Biarritz in 1928, and yet I cannot find any reference to it in any of the other major cocktail guides (which explains why I never noticed this drink before). On the internet, CocktailDB includes it (twice), and the Washington Post published it, but cites Embury as the source. I wonder why none of the other books picked it up.

Quoth David Embury: "Someone said that whoever named near-beer was a darned poor judge of distance. I say that whoever named the "Perfect" cocktail was a might poor judge of perfection." Of course, Alcuin has the correct answer, and I've no doubt Mr. Embury knew that full well.

This is exactly what I was going to touch on. I have a friend who often asks me to concoct a drink based on a name or a theme or an idea, and this just doesn't work. I have better luck if I make a drink around one key ingredient. For example, I think my most successful creation (for me, success is based on the fact that I like it enough to make it on subsequent occasions because I actually want to drink it) came about when I had a little bit of Boomsma Oude Genever left and wanted to come up with something to use it in. The result was the CROCUS: 1-1/4 oz Boomsma Oude Genever 1/2 oz dry vermouth 1/4 oz london dry gin 1/4 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur 2 dashes grapefruit bitters small dash simple syrup (optional--omit if you prefer a very dry drink)

This is very informative and nicely laid out. I hope to see it eventually fleshed out with in-depth descriptions of the products in the buying guide, and some drink ideas for Bonal and Cocchi Americano. I thought I would put his 1.5/0.75/0.25 ratio to the test and choose a bizarre collection of ingredients. I mixed cachaca, dry vermouth, and Rose's Lime Juice. I thought I was mixing up an ipecac, but actually, it's pretty damned good!

Just wanted to say that Pennsylvania has started to stock Carpano Antica Formula and Cinzano vermouth. And the Cinzano is a 1 liter bottle for only $8.99! Since I finally got to try Cinzano Rosso last summer, I've settled on it as my favorite "everyday" Italian vermouth. I'm now sitting here with about 2 1/2 liters of Cinzano and I can finally enjoy my open bottle of CAF without feeling like I have to ration it out carefully, since I know that I have another bottle waiting in the wings. Now if we can just get them stock Punt e Mes . . .

Generally I like cork stoppers, but I've had a couple bad experiences with them. The only bottle of Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb I ever had had a cork stopper that was extremely dry and started to disintegrate very quickly to the point where bits of cork were falling into the bottle--not very pleasant. When I bought a bottle of Quintessential gin which had a cork stopper, as soon as I opened it, the plastic cap pulled off of the cork (the cork split just under the cap) requiring me to draw the cork out with a corkscrew. I then had to find something else to cap the bottle with. Damrak Amsterdam gin has one of those flip-down hoop clasps of the type found on old flasks. It has a porcelain stopper with a rubber gasket. Someone should tell them that alcohol and rubber don't mix because the gasket gets stuck to the lip of the bottle and when pulled off, leaves small bits of rubber stuck to the rim of the opening which can easily fall into the gin. Quaint package design, but not well thought out.

The Nov/Dec 09 issue of Imbibe featured the Death & Company: 1 1/2 oz bourbon 1/4 oz green Green Chartreuse 1/4 oz absinthe 3/4 oz spiced honey syrup 1/2 oz lemon juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters Garnish: lemon twist The recipe for the honey syrup was given, but like you, when I made this, I used the spiced honey syrup I had already made for something else (in my case, the Carousel Punch from that same issue of the magazine), which was close enough. The spiced honey syrup recipe provided specifically for this drink consists of water, honey, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, star anise. The drink is amazing, btw. That syrup might also work in a Lion's Tail cocktail.

I tried this last night with Damrak Amsterdam Gin, and since I don't have Averna, I used Luxardo Amaro Abano which is much more peppery than Averna, but it worked nevertheless. I could have used Ramazzotti which I have just now learned the original recipe calls for (didn't know that last night!). You should try it again with the flamed orange peel. And I can see how this would be the ideal garnish to complement the Ramazzotti. I'll definitely have another go at this one. I might also experiment with other orange bitters choices.

A friend stopped over lasr night and brought me a little jug of fresh maple syrup. We decided to make a Brown Derby cocktail, from the CocktailDB. Then we made another. And then we made another. They were that good. First iteration: 1 1/2 oz Flor de Caña 7 year. 1 oz lime juice 1 tsp maple syrup We found this a little too tart, so we added more maple. Then it was very good. Second iteration: 1 oz Mount Gay Sugar Cane Rum 1/2 oz Cruzan Black Strap 3/4 oz lime juice 2 tsp maple syrup This was excellent. There is no third iteration, because we repeated the second version.

That stuff makes a kick-ass Dark and Stormy. Just be sure to use a good Ginger Beer. I like The Ginger People or Gosling's. Turkoftheplains, if you're in Pittsburgh, have you had Jamaica's Finest Ginger Beer? It's made by Natrona Bottling. It's the "hottest" ginger beer I've ever tasted. ETA: Cruzan's 9 Spiced Rum is really good, too. It blows away Captain Morgan or just about any other so-called spiced rum around (although Kraken's not bad).

Perhaps what you are not understanding is that in the U.S. there are fifty different sets of liquor laws dictating who can buy what, where you can buy it, when you can buy it, and where you can get it from. For most people, that means that, other than things like bitters, potable alcoholic beverages cannot be purchased online. That's not to say, that people don't do it; I might have even done so myself . . . . So, yes, anyone can buy bitters from Amazon or Kegworks, but as far as liquor, the liquor store really is easier.

I've tasted the a'Bunadh a few times, but have never had my own bottle. It is truly wonderful. It's so dark, deep, and rich. The only other thing I've had that comes somewhat close to that flavor profile is Balvenie Doublewood, but it's not as intense, of course.

Two drinks: Tried Erik's reformulation of the Savoy's Spring Cocktail in which he employed Bonal. That is a superb drink. I followed Erik's advice of using only about a 1/4 ounce of Benedictine. Good advice. Even though I love Benedictine, any more than that would have made the drink much too sweet, not to mention overpowering the herbal qualities of the Bonal. I think I liked this better than the Bonal & Rye. Catnip Julep. I never seem to have any mint on hand, but this summer I grew catnip in my herb garden. Cats are smart animals. Like smart cooks who use fresh seasonings, cats know that the fresh article is way better than the dried stuff sold in stores. Since catnip is in the mint family, I've always felt that it can substitute for mint in certain situations. Just now I made a Catnip Julep. Prepare as you would a Mint Julep. However, since the catnip leaves more triangular than mint leaves, garnish the drink with two broad leaves pointing upward, about two inches apart, to suggest a cat's ears. Enjoy. Meow.

Hmm. Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'protein shake.'

I ended up putting a sprig of fennel in a martini last night (forgot I had that when I posted then). It was 5:1 using Junipero Gin and Vya Vermouth. The fennel added a nice subtle aroma to each sip.

After Googling for "drinks with Bonal," found a link to Todd Smith's Bonal and Rye. Enjoying it now. Really enjoying it.

You used Bonal in a CR2? That really worked? I might have to try that.