EvergreenDan

Or it could be that I only wrote down what I sub'd for. Your recipe could have been some other Islay or smokey scotch, for example. I have all those ingredients, which makes me suspicious that this may have happened. I've tried searching around on eGullet, but I can't find this recipe. Not knowing the original ingredients makes that pretty hard. Oh, well. I'm still giving you credit for it.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't find the original source reference by searching eGullet. I almost certainly collected this before I created Kindred Cocktails. This leads me to believe that I may have modified the recipe with ingredients that I had on hand. If BostonApothecary cares to confirm/correct the recipe and/or name it, I'd be more than happy to update the entry on Kindred Cocktails. If it keeps the Rob Roy name, it should probably be Perfect. I need to revisit this recipe myself. Rob Roy (Smokey and Funky) by Boston Apothecary 1 oz Scotch, Laphroaig (Quarter cask) 1 oz Dry vermouth, Dolin 1 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula 1/2 t Orange liqueur, Clément Créole Shrubb 1/2 t Maraschino Liqueur 1 ds Peychaud's Bitters 1 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters Stir, strain, rocks, lowball

That's what my bottles says on the back, but my bottle is at least a year old since it took me a while to get around to opening it.

Argh. I really hate it when I enter a cocktail into my local development server Campari Swizzle entry should be all set. Let me know if there are any corrections. Gotcha on the substitutions, but I it's a very fine cocktail and deserves being made where Vergano Americano isn't available. BA is right, it's quite sweet. I hadn't noticed it before because it has an alum-like astringency, like the tannin in red wine, which hides the sweetness.

No Punt e Mes? Is it to late for you to jump into the Niagara River at Goat Island? I haven't tried it, but I think I'd try a dry, fruity red wine with Bianco Vermouth, or absent that, maybe a mix of sweet and dry vermouth. I'm sure either would work well enough to enjoy the cocktail, even if it might be different than intended.

Oh my. Oh my, oh my. My oh my oh my. This went straight into Kindred Cocktails (Campari Swizzle). You say that it is a big seller in summer, but, hey, it's red, so I think it makes a fine Christmas cocktail. Anyone who likes this sort of thing should make this immediately. I'm not sure what I'd use to sub for the Vergano, should someone have to -- maybe a mix of bianco and Punt e Mes?

I recommend either dropping a zero or getting a really REALLY big glass.

My error. Fixed now.

I renamed the above to Antihero. Thanks! I have a bottle of Vergano Americano. I haven't opened it yet. I just restocked some aromatized wines / vermouths, but maybe I'll open this first. I bought it as the (awesome) Dave's Pasta in Davis Sq, Somerville, MA. You might call and see if they still have it. Without even having tasted it, I suspect its market penetration may have been hampered by an inscrutable bottle (doesn't say what it is on the front (just a difficult-to-read Americano in script) and barely on the back) and the high price. See the Vergano Americano bottle. Contrast that with Bonal Gentiane Quina, which says what it is on the front and actually describes it in some depth on the back. See the Bonal Gentiane Quina bottle.

In preparation for bringing cocktails to Thanksgiving, I'm going to made a base of: 2 oz Apple brandy (Laird's, although Calvados would be awesome for the adventurous) 1 oz Clear Creek Oregon Cranberry Liqueur 1/2 oz lemon 1 dash Angostura Then for bitter lovers, add 1/2 oz Campari And for the sweet lovers, add 1/2 oz simple syrup. Two pretty different cocktails for two different crowds without having to figure out who's going to want how many drinks of which. Not the most original perhaps, but I was happy with the final trial run last night.

I had to give this a name on Kindred Cocktail, so I picked Martini de Hueso(pending complaints). If Christopher would like to name it, I'm most happy accept it. A Hueso is the pit in a stone fruit. I hate calling it a Martini, but it is pretty similar, given the small amount of liqueur.

This is a great drink with a confounding comment. BA didn't name it, so I called it Boston Apothecary 2. (BA, if you want to name it, I'll gladly update the name on Kindred Cocktails.) I lack the M&R Rosato, so I used a 50:50 mix of Carpano Antica and M&R Bianco. The resulting drink is tart, but pleasingly so. I don't often add acid to wine-based cocktails, but based on this cocktail, I will more. The comment that confounds me is mixing acid with bitter. I find that acid balances bitter + sweet, simultaneously taming the sugar and tempering the bitter. I absolutely love this 3-way combo. The Paper Airplane is another great example of this template. I have a somewhat harder time liking bittersweet cocktails, but then I don't care for sweet cocktails with odd exceptions (like a Manhattan).

I should note that this is one recipe where Kindred Cocktails intentionally did not stay faithful to the historic recipe. It calls for a hideous amount of syrup, and would be much too sweet by today's standards. The version we used is from PDT, but there are many other similar ratios in use by various folks. Apple Jack Rabbit by Savoy Cocktail Book 2 oz Applejack 3/4 oz Lemon juice 3/4 oz Orange juice 1/2 oz Maple syrup Shake, strain, serve up.

I just tried Luxardo Amaretto, Trader Tiki (now BG Reynolds), and Fee. The Luxardo is intensely almond flavored, not excessively sweet, pure in flavor. I didn't detect the bitterness you noted. More like almond extract. Trader Tiki, being a syrup, is intensely sweet, with a much more mild almond flavor. More like eating an almond while being beaten with a sugar cane. Fee is also extremely sweet, with an almond extract flavor that is not as convincingly natural as the Amaretto. On Chowhound, StriperGuy recommends Luxardo Amaretto for Mai Tai's (and he's made a lot of them). When subbing, I think you would need to cut the quantity down and perhaps use a secondary sweetener or adjust the acid in other ingerdients. The flavor would not be the same, but I think it would be compatible. A Tiki fanatic may, of course, feel quite differently.

I think Drink Lab 8 took a big step forward. Zach Pearson suggested anejo tequila. I forgot the anejo part and tried reposado. This is a much better drink than with rye. Very nice, in fact. Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope) 3/4 oz Tequila (Reposado or maybe anejo?) 3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth 3/4 oz Campari 3/4 oz Lime juice Shake, strain, lowball, rocks

Just tried a Paper Airplane riff with my newly-acquired 1L bottle of Amaro Nardini. I like this stuff. I had ready about it being minty, but the mint is very subdued. Mostly bitter orange. Fairly mild. Would be a nice aperitif with some lemon and soda. I like all the variations, but I still like Ramazzotti best. I did restock on Gran Classico, so I want to revisit that with CioCiaro. I also picked up a bottle of El Dorado 15. Very nice. The flavor is somewhat similar to Zacapa 23, but without the sweetness. I could easily enjoy a glass of that neat.

That. Sounds. Amazing. Just had a: The Shift Drink by Jacob Grier, Portland OR 1 1/2 oz Rye 3/4 oz Ginger liqueur, Domaine de Canton 3/4 oz Lemon juice 1/2 oz Fernet Branca Shake, strain, cocktail glass, lemon twist. I found the Fernet took over the Canton and it was a touch tart. I added another 1/4 oz of Canton (1 oz total) and found it superb.

I'm going to shove Ramazzotti in a Paper Airplane into the ring. It really has some magic going on that the original Nonino doesn't. The lemon works beautifully with the pie-spice flavors and sweetness of the Ramazzotti. The Campari contributes its brightness without totally taking center, uh, ring.

I tried three variations last night: Dan Perrigan's (the other Dan's) New Red House (1:1:1:1/2 rye, Campari, CioCiaro, Lemon). Nice, but I prefer the tartness of the original 1:1:1:1 formula. I can see that those who like a touch of sweetness would like this. My recollection is that when I did this with Gran Classico for the Campari, it was magical. Alas, my bottle is gone so I'll have to try it again when I restock. I then tried 1:1:1:1 rye, sloe gin, Ramazzotti, lemon. Meh. Ok, but not as good as the same drink with Campari instead of sloe gin. Then I couldn't resist going back to the Last Word: 1:1:1:1 Tanqueray, sloe gin, Campari, lemon. (Ok, in truth some lime since I ran out of lemons). Enjoyable, but not as good as either the Last Word or the Paper Airplane. Right now, my go-to drink of this sort is still the 1:1:1:1 rye, Campari, Ramazzotti, and lemon. I prefer it to both the Paper Plane (Nonino/Aperol) and Paper Airplane (Nonino/Campari). I think it is some sort of magical, synergistic combination. I also love it with Gran Classico and CioCiaro. I haven't given up on the sloe gin, but I think it should be a drink that is either better than the competition or sufficiently different as to avoid the "I wish I were drinking a Ramazzotti Paper Airplane" disappointment. So tonight I took a break: 2 oz rye, 1 oz Carpano Antica, 1 oz Sutton Cellars Brown Label, and 1/2 oz Amer Boudreau with a homemade cherry. Pretty nice after is sat on the rocks for a while. I think it would have been better with Punt e Mes. I'm not sure that I'm loving my batch of Amer Boudreau. It seems harsh in the orange dimension, and really intensely bitter. I think I need to use less. Maybe too long infusing the bitter and sweet orange peels.

Don't sweat the bitters and any rye is fine for this purpose. Mix something up and let us know what you think!

Hi Dan, I'll try your New Red House. Amusingly, I had a variation like yours (CioCiaro for Aperol/Campari), but also with Gran Classico for Campari. I called it the Balsa Airplane. I think it is my favorite version so far. Alas, CioCiaro is not distributed in MA and I'm not sure when I can get another bottle from NY. I also did a right / wrong face-off between the Paper Airplane as I *thought* it was (with Ramazzotti) and as I now know it is (still with Nonino). The right version is all about the Campari and lemon. The Ramazzotti version is quite a bit richer and more complex. I think it is a better drink, and cheaper too! I got the incorrect version from Chowhound. I think it was simply a substitution that wasn't noted, esp. since Ramazzotti is quite a bit easier to find than Nonino. As for Drink Lab 9 -- you just gave me the idea: I wonder if you could skip the Campari and use some dark amaro, like Ramazzotti. Or if you'd need all three (including Sloe Gin) to make it work. I also wonder if given the gin base of the sloe gin, it should go back to gin as the spirit. Lots of directions this could go....

I was thinking asteroid.

I was playing on the union of the Paper Plane idea and the Last Word / Final Ward idea and tried: Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope) 3/4 oz Rye 3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth 3/4 oz Campari 3/4 oz Lemon juice 1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens 4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish) Shake, strain, lowball, rocks, garnish with orange bitters The idea was to interplay the bitterness of the sloe gin and the Campari. The result was a touch one-note, I think. It would also benefit for expressed orange peel, rather than the Angostura Orange, and I might drop the grapefruit bitters. It does need another layer -- maybe upping the rye? (I used Redemption.) I called it Drink Lab in the hopes that other people would chime in with their ideas and the cocktail would evolve a la wiki. If there's interest, I will cross-post any ideas from here on Kindred Cocktails and vice versa.

Reviving an old thread. I am not a big fan of chocolate liqueurs, but sometimes there's a drink that I really want to try that uses it. I think clear Creme de Cacao would be the obvious choice, except that the Marie Brizzard brand is a bit hard to find, and I suspect even it is pretty awful. I would try the Mozart black liqueur as I've read it's less sweet and more like bittersweet chocolate. And I would definitely try the Mozart chocolate spirit, but I've never seen them. Has anyone had the Meletti Chocolato? It's readily available. I realize that it won't be clear, so the appearance of drinks where I might sub it for Creme de Cacao will be off.

Here's what I picked up today: Yup, nothing. Walked on this nice fall day an hour or so to the store with a knapsack. Picked out 8 bottles -- some restocks (Aperol, Dolin dry, Cocchi Vermouth, Gran Classico) and some new experiments (The Bitter Truth Elixir, Blume Marillen apricot eau de vie, Zu, El Dorado 15). Left my Mastercard at home and they refused to take Amex or a check. Walked home empty handed, disappointed, and strangely relieved. Buyer's remorse averted.