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Yojimbo

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Everything posted by Yojimbo

  1. Not intending to stop the conversation on Eeyore's Requiem (must get me some Cynar), but I made a Gin Blossom using the recipe from Clover Club in the New Brooklyn Cookbook, using Beefeater and Marie Brizzard along with the vermouth and orange bitters -- tasty, but I'm beginning to kick myself for not buying the R & W apricot, which I believe is dryer than the MB. It's just too sweet as it stands, and adding lemon juice to balance it out would change the whole flavor profile. Anyone playing around with this one? More bitters? The Doulin blanc is worth playing around with, next contestant up is silver tequila.
  2. Katie, thanks for pushing me to try it with gin -- you're right, it does go very nicely, it's just that nothing will ever take the place of a classic 2-1 dry martini in my heart, er, stomach. As for Eyore's Requiem, it sounds fascinating, but without Fernet (I wouldn't call myself a hater, but I'm not an aficionado either) or Cynar, I'm stuck. Time to start subbing and see what happens!
  3. I tried David Wondrich's recipe for an El Presidente from Imbibe magazine yesterday (or close to it, the only grenadine around was Leroux, so I subbed pomegranate molasses, simple syrup, and a drop of orange blossom water). It was good enough for me to ponder other recipes for blanc vermouth; it has a softness and additional sweetness that dry vermouth lacks, so I'm not sure it would play as well with gin, say, without citrus or something else to counteract the sweetness. Anybody else experimenting with this stuff?
  4. Don't forget Sahadi's in Brooklyn, and the two other Middle Eastern groceries on the South side of Atlantic, especially for Middle Eastern mixes like ras el hanout, ground mahleb cherries, and even mastic gum!
  5. Just got a bottle of Marie Brizard Apry, so I've been experimenting: 2 oz. Rittenhouse BIB 1 teaspoon maraschino 1/2 oz Apry Stirred and tasted, played well, but obviously needed something sour to counterbalance the sweetness of the Apry (is R & W apricot drier than Apry?). The solution: yuzu juice. A couple of splashes, and I was very content.
  6. Has anyone done a side-by-side tasting of R & W and Apry since Brizard dropped the ABV? I noticed that Clover Club has added a whole category of "Bell Ringers" to its menu -- described as analogous to a Sazarac's absinthe rinse, but with apricot brandy instead. I don't think apricot brandy is the next absinthe, but I'm curious . . . .
  7. Snuck into Astor Wines last week to get the bottle of El Dorado white that I'd passed up the week before (bought Barbancourt 8, a small bottle of green Chartreuse, and a bottle of fino sherry instead). The El D is truly a steal at $13 and has more flavor than I'd ever expected from a white rum. Alas, they were out of Marie Brizard Apry, so another trip is in order . . .
  8. I recently had a blood orange margarita at a local restaurant, and it reminded me that you have to be very careful when squeezing blood oranges -- the skin has a very oily, resinous flavor that does not add to the drink -- kinda like meyer lemons, to my taste at least. The oily, pithy flavor kept the drink from being truly enjoyable, despite the quality ingredients. I wouldn't use blood orange zest without testing carefully first. What I wish I could find more of are calamondins or kalamansis, the cross between bitter orange and kumquat. It makes a great indoor tree, so I get a dozen or so fruits from mine, but seeing as they act rather like fresh squeezed orange bitters in a drink, and the skin oils play well with the juice, it'd be nice to have more and see what you could do with them. Old Tom gin, or mezcal, or . . . .
  9. I recently got a leftover bottle of St. Germaine that had been bought for a fundraiser; it allowed me to compare it with the more-than-half-full bottle that I've had for almost two years. The old bottle is noticeably darker, with a dark brown sediment at the bottom. The taste is, well, kinda like a bottle of asti spumanti that's sat out for a day or so with a little bit of water-from-the-vase-filled-with-dead-daffodils. The fresh floral zip, the citric tartness, the candied flower sweetness have been replaced by something much funkier. An Aviation riff with St. Germaine subbing for the creme de violette in a rather larger ratio did not turn out well; the S-G dominated to such an extent that, if I had to put a name to this one, I'd call it Send Me Dead Flowers. I could just dump my off bottle in the next bowl of punch I make, or I could try and figure out what it would work with in its current over the hill incarnation. Has anyone else dealt with this problem? Any tips for keeping it fresher for longer? I really like St. Germain, but not enough to go through a fifth before it starts turning to swamp water. 50 ml bottles for me next time.
  10. For a big shaker, I recommend the ol' Ball half-gallon canning jar. I recently played mixologist at my school's fundraiser and did a riff on a recipe from Imbibe that I called Schoolhouse on the Rocks: 1 1/2 oz. gin (we got Breuckelen Gin to donate at cost) 1/2 oz. each fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, St. Germain, and Maraschino Shake and serve over ice, top with green tea. A friend and I did about 60 drinks, so I now have even greater respect for what the pros deal with!
  11. 1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse BIB 1/2 oz. Maraschino 3/4 oz. Punt e Mes (more or less) One Calamondin orange, squeezed and dropped in. Stirred and served over ice. Nice.
  12. A case of Casal Garcia vinho verde, to which my wife is addicted, and a bottle of Rittenhouse BIB, to which I am addicted. Everyone's happy!
  13. Whitley Neill gin, where have you gone? This was my fave at Astor Center's gin tasting a few years back. 50 ml bottles of Creme Yvette -- seriously, I like an Aviation as much as the next drinker, but not $42 much. St. Germain got with it, why can't Mr. Cooper help us out on this one, too? Second on the peach brandy, by the way.
  14. Something unnamed I got off the St. Germain thread: 1.5 oz. rye (Rittenhouse) .5 oz. St. Germain .5 oz. Dolin dry vermouth 2 dashes orange bitters shaken and poured over ice Tasty, but I wasn't exact with the measurements; if I made it again I'd dial back on the elderflower and up the vermouth a bit.
  15. OK, so the Last Word variant was not a success. I tried: 1oz. Beefeater 1oz. Maraschino slightly less than 1 oz. Galliano over ice and tasted to decide whether to use lemon or lime juice. Interestingly, I got an almost creamsicle-like flavor and mouthfeel, so I now understand why OJ is paired with Galliano so often. I wonder if bitter orange would've made for a better drink. 1 oz. lemon juice resulted in a drink that was just . . . . off -- the anise flavor didn't sync with the other flavors. I tried a capful of orgeat syrup to try and smooth things out, but it needed something to balance the sweetness. A couple of dashes of Angostura didn't do the trick. Not awful, just not great. I have a feeling KD's right and rye will make a better marriage with this stuff, will try tomorrow.
  16. Chris, or anyone, What's the recipe for the smoked pineapple syrup? Now that I've gone and done the gum syrup, this seems like the next thing to tackle. It just sounds too good not to try.
  17. Chris, that's the first time I've heard of absinthe in a Martinez, but given the ingredients and the provenance of the cocktail, it seems a natural. Must try . . .
  18. Katie, That one's priceless -- hope that lightning strikes twice when you get the chance to recreate it! I'm going to try a variation of the Last Word tonight, subbing the Galliano for the Chartreuse, but I'll have to fiddle with proportions and maybe switch to lemon juice, since the Galliano's so sweet.
  19. I have an obscure feeling that Galliano has potential as an ingredient that hasn't been tapped yet -- but I haven't found inspiration yet, other than dumping it over ice cream. Too many recipes online take the form of liquid desserts with creme and an embarrassment of other sweet liqueurs, or have orange juice as the main mixer, which to me speaks of a lack of imagination. Has anyone been using Galliano lately for anything other than mixing up a Harvey Wallbanger for a gold-chain-and-Hawaiian-shirt-wearing overage surfer? Jim
  20. How would people rate the Creme Yvette vs. Rothman and Winter's version, or even the cheaper Parfait D'Amour? This is another liqueur, like St. Germain, that I dearly wish would become available in smaller (i.e. less pricey) bottles, so the cost of Aviations wouldn't be so high.
  21. This is from last night: 1 part Irish Whiskey (Jameson's was on hand) 1 part brandy (Paul Mason, trying to economize) 1 teaspoon maraschino 2 dashes Peychaud's built on the rocks and stirred, went down very well. I also boiled up some gum arabic for making gomme syrup -- still at the ugly stage, but if it works out I'll try the smoked pinapple syrup next. Matthew, what apricot brandy do you use in the Lindberg? Jim
  22. My only experience with the dog was at a Slow Food event, where a local gastropub was mixing up Tuthilltown corn whiskey with just a little sugar and lemon. I was expecting alcohol and heat and not much else, so I was surprised at home much grain flavor came through. If my budget were more expansive I'd probably indulge in a bottle, but I think Mike's comment that novelty is driving much of the interest at present is accurate. It'll be interesting to see whether it settles into a comfortable space alongside the rye and bourbon, or fades back into the hills again . . . . Jim
  23. Just to muddy the waters a bit more, in line with acknowledging that, to paraphrase Martin Mull, talking about taste and fragrance is a lot like dancing about architecture -- I'm wondering if the term "smooth" is used by regular folks (as opposed to professionals, who have a more precise, and more commonly agreed-upon vocabulary) to convey a sense of a spirit or drink being well-balanced, with no one flavor note predominating to the detriment of other flavors, so that it registers agreeably on the nose and palate? I come from the world of orchids, where people have described the fragrance of certain flowers with such phrases as "100 dead elephants rotting in the sun," and my personal favorite: "Starts somewhere around pickled housefly legs, transits through French whorehouse perfume, and finally manages a nice spicy, grapey fragrance" de gustibus non disputandem est. yojimbo
  24. To me, fall is Sidecar season. It is also, of course, applejack season, single malt season, genever season, madeira season, and many others: I am not rigidly orthodox in my approach to celebrating calendrical movement, thank you very much. The thing is, I'm running out, simultaneously, of the bottle of VS cognac I was using for mixing, and I'm so low on the Armagnac I splurged on last year that I'm reduced to sniffing the bottle after dinner. I'm anticipating it will last until 2020 at this rate, at least. Paul Masson VSOP has been recommended on this board as a good bottle to have on hand, but I haven't seen it in my go-to liquor stores lately. So my question has different levels to it, like a pousse cafe. What brandy do you choose to use when mixing up sidecars or other brandy-based cocktails at home? What brandy would you use for mixing when you want to make something really special? And, just to get new ideas, what brandy-based cocktail do you regularly mix up, other than a sidecar? Thirstily anticipating the response, yojimbo
  25. On the theory that almost anything tastes good preserved in brandy, I dropped a batch in some decent VS, and while I wouldn't put them in most cocktails, they were killer on ice cream.
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