FireAarro

Great! Final question, would the flavour extraction suffer notably if I went with a 80-proof base such as Inner Circle Red or Myers? I happen to have those around the house already.

Ok, cool. What's a good sort of proof for the final product? Do you think it'll be mixable enough using such a full flavoured rum?

There aren't many overproof rums on the shelves here in Melbourne - I think Bacardi 151 and Inner Circle Black (both at about 151 proof) are pretty much the only two. At least there's no W&N in sight. What rums should I choose to make the dram given this fact? Maybe the Inner Circle for steeping, cut with a lighter (white?) rum? And taking cost into consideration, would the product suffer from using lower, say 80, proof rum? Perhaps I could use the Inner Circle Green (at 114 proof), again cut with a bit of white rum?

Keith: do you think if we make it to his recipe (but with bourbon) and leave it for a few days that'll do the trick then?

Wow, $11 a bottle? Here in Australia the only place I know that stocks has it for $70. Jim Beam Rye is $34. (

KD1191: How do you fancy the flip would work with regular maple syrup? Would be difficult to get hold of the Blis where I live.

That last drink is ridiculously pretty. I'm going to have to make a trip to The Gallery Room. edit: I couldn't find any info on the Gallery Room so searched for Jason Williams and he actually works at the Blue Diamond.

Yeah, gosh I hate that. A couple of friends and I stopped by one of Melbourne's supposedly premier cocktail bars a few months ago and the bartender was pretty much scoffing at us as we entered and read the menu. Not to mention the undissolved sugar at the bottom of my Mint Julep, and the unwieldy and stale looking fancy lemon peel garnish in the French 75... haven't been there since.

Awesome! Do you by any chance know how the Red, Green and Black compare to each other? Being in Australia we have no short supply of Inner Circle, and I have a bottle of the red spot on my shelf . So IC is also made in the old pot-still style then? (Funnily enough the Smith and Cross packaging doesn't not remind me of the old Inner Circle bottles)

I think if you're using homemade orgeat you'd want to go a little heavier than a teaspoon, maybe cutting back on the curacao. How much is an American teaspoon in mL, anyway?

I just read today that Batavaia Arrack is distilled from palm sap... Does this make it the same as the Arak that can be found in Indonesia, generally also distilled from palm sap? I was just in Bali a few months ago and found the local arak pretty interesting, but didn't bother to bring any back home. ~~~~EDIT: nevermind, my source about the Batavia Arrack was from the Art of Drink article which seems to be incorrect. Batavia Arrack is apparently not made from palm sap. Does anyone have any idea where I could obtain Batavia Arrack in Australia?

Thanks for the science and tips, Sam! Regarding the apricot kernels, would it be appropriate to use a kernel from an apricot from the tree in my yard? I've no idea where to purchase packaged apricot kernels, or bitter almond oil... As for the disagreement: Basically, I made a Japanese cocktail and was struggling to find the almond flavour in it. I can taste the almond fine in the orgeat by itself, but it has very little 'cut' and it does indeed taste like munching on the almonds rather than marzipan. Sam seems to say this is the norm for homemade orgeat, at least in a Mai Tai, I suppose perhaps its flavour should come through more obviously in a Japanese given the far simpler nature of the cocktail.

Dang! I spent an hour and a half peeling the darn things and occupied most of my evening with general orgeat production activities. So it's meant to be a very concentrated and pungent sort of marzipan-ish flavour like the commercial syrups? I might add a tad of almond extract to save it...

I am making a small batch now to Sam's recipe, is it normal that the almond flavour isn't particularly pronounced? I have been (guiltily) substituting Monin Amaretto syrup which is very strongly flavoured and overpowers any drink if used as a direct sub for orgeat without reducing quantities.

Finished my writeup! Covering the Prado, Royal and Golden Gin Fizzes, Margarita Custard and Morning Glory Fizz.

Writing up a huge egg post on my blog right now, stay tuned...

Sadly, Jim Beam is the only reasonably priced Rye in Australia, at $35 for 700mL (others start at about $50). As a result, I haven't really tried any others and wonder what I'm missing out on. The Beam has performed wonderfully in cocktails for me though, and stands up better in most everything than any Bourbon I've mixed with.

Made a small Fair and Warmer from the Savoy book/thread tonight. Was pleasantly surprised. Vermouth was a bit dominating, more than in a Manhattan, but tasty regardless (I love sweet vermouth times infinity). I was glad I liked it because I haven't yet found any other good uses for the Havana Club Anejo Especial I got from relatives duty free (accidental buy, I requested the Anejo Blanco). Any suggestions? I tried an Anejo Highball with it but didn't like it much- have been having bad luck with these ever since I ran out of Appleton V/X, which is a pity because they were one of my favourites before.

Any opinions on Pisco Control? That's the only brand I've ever seen in Australia thus far. I think it's also known as "Guarda"?

That's too bad about the New Pal - the Old Pal is one of my favourite drinks and severely underrated. I make mine using Robert Hess's recipe (1 rye, 3/4 each Campari and dry vermouth) and haven't directly compared but found an amazing synergy of flavours when using Cinzano Extra Dry that didn't quite come together with Noilly Prat. I was also using Jim Beam rye (the only rye not ridiculously priced in Australia).

Wanting to find at least one use of the Marie Brizard vanilla liqueur I foolishly bought for myself, I just invented myself an unlikely but pretty tasty drink. I'm quite surprised it turned out this well. Kind of a light and citrusy brandy flip. 45mL Brandy 15mL Marie Brizard Vanilla Madagascar liqueur 15mL Lemon juice 5mL Benedictine 1 Whole egg 1/2tsp brown sugar Small dash of bitters Soda water Mime shake and shake all but the soda, strain into a fizz glass, top with ~40mL Soda Water and fresh grated nutmeg. The vanilla liqueur is quite subtle when mixed. The nutmeg makes the experience much livelier. I'm not sure what to call this drink - as it's basically a Brandy Royal Fizz with vanilla, I was thinking Royal Madagascar. Any other ideas for drinks with vanilla liqueur?

Drinking a Tip Top right now- Noilly Prat with a dash of Angostura and Benedictine, and a lemon peel. Tastes exactly as you'd expect. Light, herbal, slightly funky. Goes down very easily due to low proof. On a side note, how long do you think vermouth can keep in a fridge before it goes off? Also, I had an idea on the train back home; if people are making tequila old fashioneds, how about a tequila crusta? I'm not likely to have Anejo tequila in my house any time soon, though, so anyone wanna give it a shot? I'll admit I've never tried anejo tequila so my thoughts might be far off. Say, two ounces of tequila, a splash of lime (and grapefruit?) juice, dash of maraschino and cointreau, grapefruit bitters? garnish with a grapefruit spiral?

I'm curious about what effect leaving the solids in for shaking has, I thought most of the cucumber's essence would've been extracted during the heavy muddling? Also, do you fine strain the mint specks out to serve this? I fine strained the whole thing because I didn't want any possibility of cucumber bits floating around but mint specks can be quite effective visually.

I gotta second this. Generous measure of tequila, juice of about half a lime and one ruby grapefruit, a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of soda, all over cracked ice. It's nigh impossible to find grapefruit soda in Melbourne but I can't imagine preferring it to the fresh juice. One of my favourite drinks at the moment, quite dry and very refershing, and I'll only love it more when summer rolls round. I also tried the Whoa Nellie! recently, as posted on cocktailnerd's blog. This basically ended up tasting like a very interesting whiskey sour.

I made two of these for the first time the other night, for friends, and they turned out wonderfully. Unfortunately I did not get to make one for myself but the tastes I had revealed a delightfully complex flavour. Will definitely be serving a lot more of these (though they take me a while to make!). A few thoughts though: 1. The flavour profile of the drink changes dramatically with the amount of cucumber muddled. The two drinks I made were pretty much completely different (though I added more cucumber to the second after tasting to correct for this). I think from now on I'll be muddling the cucumber into a pulp and measuring out the juice used for consistency (sounds more reliable than cutting out even cucumber chunks, for me). 2. In the photos I've seen of the drink, people seem to get their Angostura drops on top to stay in a little red circle. Mine just splash and swirl everywhere (which looks pretty cool anyway). Should I just be dropping them closer to the surface? I might actually prefer the swirls though. Also, should the drink be a slightly muddy colour or does this indicate I've put too much Angostura in to shake? 3. My mint plant is dying I hope page 3 isn't too old a thread to revive on these forums!