Yojimbo

Thanks, Eric! Any inside tips on how mixing with the Rosa formula differs from the straight Bianco?

I'll second Chris in saying that this stuff and Ranson Old Tom are a marriage made in heaven (though not cheap!), and it makes a first rate Sidecar. Haven't tried it with light rum, must restock some Doulin Bianco . . . .

A while back there was an excellent thread discussing cocktails with two base spirits. One of the lesser known pairings suggested was gin and jamaican rum. Odd, yes, but given the people who were vouching for it, I became curious. My question is, has anyone actually made any cocktails with gin and rum, and particularly, what brand did you use -- something amber, like Appleton, or something dark and funky like Smith and Cross? What were the results? Inquiring palates want to know!

last night, it was: 2 oz. Ransom Old Tom 1 oz. each of Dolin dry and Punt e Mes 1 barspoonful (ok, I used a half capful, so more or less) maraschino and CioCiaro stirred and strained, with a twist of yuzu as a garnish. F'ing delish.

I broke open the homemade Rock and Rye I've been steeping for 2 weeks, since we had friends over and one of them claimed he had a cold coming on . . . .sweet, and tastes like my best childhood memories of prescription cough syrup with lots of alcohol and codeine (the kind that almost made a kid look forward to catching a cold), it went down very easily. Then went out to No. 7 in Fort Greene here in Brooklyn and had a Don Juancho -- aged rum, dry vermouth and maraschino, served with an orange twist. Delightful, and I must find out what rum they used -- I suspect Diplomatico -- which worked far better with dry vermouth than I ever would have guessed.

slkinsey, Thanks for the full history on the Jimmy Roosevelt, it's always good to give credit where it's due, and following the evolution of a recipe can become a fascinating end in itself, like archeological or tracing the development of a hadith of Muhammed or a Talmudic commentary . . . . there's a master's thesis for somebody in there . . . . I can see the value of a demerara rinse, but anything more and I'm with CT. Angostura helped in my recipe, but I'm still thinking along the lines of switching the chartreuse for something even more bitter -- So Fernet Branca gets to jump in the next time I try this one.

The White Hook was tasty, but I'm not sure that dry vermouth is the best partner for genever, speaking personally. I added a barspoon full of Ferrand dry curacao to get more orange flavor, but that didn't quite work either. Looking forward to trying the Dutch Courage if I can get a few more calamondins off my small tree!

Lisa, I thought the same thing at first, and certainly Laird's goes well with almost anything, but apple + apple was too one-dimensional for me. Tanstaafl2, yeah, that sounds mighty tasty, and I really need to add a bottle of agricole to the liquor cabinet (never mind that I've run out of room), but it was out of my budget and would've been too alcoholic to keep serving during a 5 course dinner. As it was, some folks were seriously slurring words by dessert . . . . KL, I seriously loves me some bourbon and cider, I think it's a great combo, butoddly haven't tried it with ginger yet; time to break out the ginger demerara simple in the fridge! I did end up going with the Chartreuse float on the cider cocktail, it was good, and certainly interesting enough for the young-ish crowd we were serving, but if I served it again I'd want to play with the ratios and see if an additional ingredient (a little Cointreau, a little allspice dram??) would round things out. I didn't expect cider to be such an overpowering flavor in a drink, but there it is. Thanks for all the ideas, keep 'em coming if you got 'em!

That's exactly the problem I'm running into making a cider-based cocktail! Normandy ciders like Etienne Dupont are excellent, but pricey, Farnum Hill Extra Dry seems to be sold out in my neighborhood (did other, smarter drinkers grab it all before me?), and everything else is just too sweet. For the dinner, I'm going with .75 oz. Barbancourt 5 star (the chef requested a rum base, and I like keeping the French connection), .5 oz. fresh lime juice, a bar spoonful of Velvet Falernum, and a dash of Angostura, toppped with cider. It'll almost be tiki-like, but lighter, and I'm banking on enough acidity from the lime to balance things out. It's tempting to add a float of amaro or Chartreuse for more bitterness, but I don't want the cocktail to overshadow the food! Rhum agricole might be an interesting choice, but it's out of my price range.

Hard cider, particularly the dry variety, seems to be a favorite "new" ingredient this season. Seeing the recent activity on the "cocktails with champagne" thread, I thought I'd start an offshoot on cider. The problem with my experiments so far are that, even with a relatively dry cider, adding sweet liqueurs that should harmonize with apple end up making the drink taste too sweet -- amaretto, even with an equal dose of lemon juice, ended up tasting like fizzy cough syrup. I'm guest bartending at a small private supper club featuring classic New Orleans dishes: oysters Rockafeller, duck gumbo, shrimp creole and grits, etc. Naturally, we're starting with Sazeracs, but I plan on switching to a dry cider cocktail to pair with the food, and to dial down the alcohol consumption if necessary by adding more cider as the dinner progresses . . . . I'm thinking of a variation on PDT's Jimmy Roosevelt, with cognac and a green chartreuse float, or a rye-based Seelbach with cider. Has anyone else been mixing with cider lately?

I haven't done a side by side taste of Rittenhouse against other, pricier ryes -- would love to hear from anyone who has -- but based on what I've tasted I'd say it'd still be a good buy at $30-35. Let's hope, though, that we don't get there any time soon!

Hmm, wonder how that last one would taste with Ransom Old Tom (which has recently made me its b$!@^), given the maltiness that it has in common with genever? Will report back.

Rittenhouse BIB is one of those absurdly-good-for-the-price spirits that you should almost never buy just one bottle if you have the space, because the extra bottle will simply not go to waste . . . . I think I need to get an extra one tomorrow to start on some homemade rock and rye.

Mmmmm, Talisker. I made my semi-annual bar restocking trip the day before Sandy hit (can't survive without whiskey, yeah, I got my priorities straight) and the tally was: Redbreast 12 yr old Bowmore 12 yr old Fernet Branca Rittenhouse BiB Flor de Cana 4 yr old white

There have been threads on maraschino, Cherry Heering and Sangue Morlacco, and postings on the importance of quality cocktail cherries, and scattered references to various liqueurs. What I hope to get going is a discussion of the flavor of cherry, and how to get that into a drink without turning it into kids' cough syrup. Maraschino, of course, doesn't taste of cherry per se -- I would never want to be without it, but it's really its own category. Cherry Heering, the few times I've had it, is more classic cherry flavored, but even though it's claimed to be on the dry side I've found cocktails with it still come out too sweet. Not so much of a problem in something like a Singapore Sling, but more so when pairing it with, say, bourbon. Luxardo's Sangue de Morlacco I haven't tried, but suspect to be similar, there are several other new cherry liqueurs, including one from Rothman & Winter, that I'm curious about. Any reviewers? As for cherry rums and vodkas, let's just not go there, unless someone's willing to stick their neck out for one of 'em. This leaves us with kirschwasser and similar eau-de-vies. Too dry? Too intense, and apt to overpower? Is anyone using cherry bitters to good effect? It seems to me that cherry is at the same time ubiquitous as a flavor, and yet somehow underused in the cocktailian arsenal. Yojimbo

Yeah, I was thinking artichoke green rather than the color of the spirit, but emotion stays the same regardless of color. Time to negotiate with my spouse on more bar space!

KD, Just the fact that you even have ROOM for that many amari is enough to make me Cynar green with envy.

If we're talking favorites here, based on what you reach for most often, mine would be CioCiaro, simply because it mixes well with a bunch of different stuff, and doesn't overwhelm; and because until recently, it was the best Picon substitute I could find for a proper Brooklyn cocktail (nod to Spliflicator for the tip). I also have Bitterman's Amer Nouvelle, which is a more accurate Picon recreation, and really nice, but because it's twice the price I find myself being miserly with it. I almost consider Campari/Aperol as in a class by themselves; namely: one of the essential Negroni ingredients that must be stocked at all times. I tend to prefer Aperol in summer for its lightness, and Campari in cooler weather, but that's a rough rule.

As luck would have it, my younger daughter and her friend are asking for, God help me, pineapple pizza tonight for dinner, so the least I can do is buy enough to make some rum infusion. Just the thing to chase a cold away!

KC, glad you liked it! Given the ingredients, I think Thorn Apple is appropriate, if it's not already been appropriated? I haven't tried Rucola (yet) but I'm willing to tinker with the basic formula to find the best ratios, and I'm curious to hear what you think when you try it with Cardamaro. Cheers!

Fall has hit in Brooklyn, and I'm finding that Cardamaro hits all the right autumn taste triggers: 1 oz. rye (Rittenhouse) 1 oz. apple brandy (Laird's BIB) 1 oz. Cardamaro juice of 1/2 lemon, more or less I added a dash of Fee's Barrel Aged bitters -- I loved the root beer nose when I first tried it, but anything more than a dash tends to be overpowering. Build in a rocks glass w/ice.

For those seeking a gentian experience, Bittermens new line includes a hefty take on gentian-based amari, Amere Sauvage, and their Amere Nouvelle is styled after Byrh's cousin, Amer Picon. Which leads me to wonder how the Nouvelle would work in some of the recipes above . . . .

Online reviews of the ice-o-matic and other hand cranked models suggest they break easliy, has that not been your (collective) experience?

Now that Suze is back in the U.S. it'd be interesting to try the original White Negroni with Cocchi subbed in . . . and if any more votes are needed on the Corpse Reviver: yeah, it's like Mkayahara said (channeling Jeff Lebowski?), the absinthe really ties it all together.

Summer, and the media are full of reciples for daisies, juleps, swizzles, alcoholic slushies, and all many of liquid refreshment calling for ice of unusual textures. My question is, for home bartenders with limited budgets and counter space, what do you do when the medicinal need for a julep or the urge to tiki rises astronomically along with the thermometer? Bag and rolling pin? Invest in an ice crusher knowing perfectly well it'll sit in the closet 8-9 months out of the year? Go to the local bar, bucket in hand, and beg? I'm sure I'm not the only one seeking a solution?