EvergreenDan

Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit (my favorite citrus bump) Bittermens Mole Fee Whiskey Barrel Aged (use where you might use Angostura) Angostura Orange Peychaud's Some sort of lemon or lime bitters for making seltzer and bumping up the citrus without changing the acid/sweetness Boker's to add bitterness And you, haresfur?

I suspect that a niche business like The Boston Shaker uses an off-the-shelf tool for its e-commerce. There may be complications shipping some products to Canada and the e-commerce tool may not be studly enough to handle them. For example, most bottles of bitters contain alcohol, and there may be shipping restrictions on flammable liquids to Canada. Adam is a good guy, and The Boston Shaker is a first-rate store, with great customer service. I hope he can tend to this pain point for Canadian customers. Or maybe this whole thing is actually about the Stanley Cup.

Katie -- Good luck with your project. Sounds fun. I understand the market positioning that you are targeting. Certainly making fresh ingredients (or even just using fresh ingredients) is a big step forward for someone whose idea of a Margarita starts with a bottle of mix. It sounds like you are also attacking cocktail construction. Some books help the reader understand cocktail families. Helping readers create new cocktails within families (and even outside them) would be great.

Yikes. Two different Mezcal drinks with the same name: Maximilian Affair by Misty Kalkofen, Drink, Boston, adapted by Eric Felton, WSJ 1 1/4 oz Mezcal, Del Maguey 3/4 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain 1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Punt e Mes 1/4 oz Lemon juice 1 twst Lemon zest Note: Original ratio is 1:1:1/2:1/2. I've been served a version of the above with a Fernet rinse, which was nice.

For the benefit of anyone else wondering... Cameron’s Kick 1 ounce Scotch (blended, please — Famous Grouse works well) 1 ounce Irish whiskey 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice 1/2 ounce orgeat (From Cocktail Chronicles)

Yes, they are dissimilar. My may may be thinking of Cocchi Americano, which is very similar to Lillet, sharing the strong orange flavor, but having a better bitter aspect. Bonal is more like sweet vermouth -- rich and spicy. For a sub, I'd try a sweet vermouth with maybe 1/4th Punt e Mes if you have it. Or Carpano Antica although that has its own flavors going on. Next time you are out of sweet vermouth, I heartily recommmend you try a bottle of Bonal. It is nice enough to drink straight from the refrigerator, maybe with a wedge of lemon. It's pretty widely available in Boston now.

Sunny -- that Coral Reef sounds pretty sweet, no? Maybe that's the reason for the soda?

A ginger post-storm! Stephen Hawking said that for every equation in A Brief History of Time, the readership was halved. Maybe the same for homemade ingredients? Or at least for the home enthusiast? I tried the Arrack Attack with 1 oz Arrack and 3/4 oz each Canton and lemon. This keeps the overall volume the same. It pumped up the ginger, but I missed the strong "buttered stripper pole." I need more Arrack for experimentation. As much as I hate to use a odd-ball fresh ingredient, a muddle slice of fresh ginger would be good.

Canton is a frustrating modifier. It has a mild ginger beer flavor. (Creme de Gingembre has a ginger ale flavor, which is less interesting to me.) Canton, is fairly mild right out of the bottle. If you soured it up and carbonated it, it would could be "Mike's Ginger Beer." It is also extremely sweet. If you use more of it to increase the ginger kick (which I think would be nice), you will dilute the other flavors and I'm not sure which one(s) you'd want less prominent. You will also have to increase the acid probably 1:1, so you'd need a full ounce. You'll also have to scale back the overall volume, unless you want to bathe in it. Let me know how your experiments go. I wish there were "ginger bitters" that I add to bump up the spicy ginger without affecting the other flavors so much. My feelings about salt come from beta cocktails. If you can taste the salt, it's too salty. Feel free to omit, although a touch can bump up the savory dimension, I think.

Hey Sunny -- I note that you have collected a couple of cocktails, but haven't posted any yet. Hint.Hint. Looking through this thread, I need to try the Airbag, too. I'd be interested in your feedback on the following. It's just an Arrack sour a bit gussied up with a little bitter and Tiki-esque flavors. Please excuse the name. I was suffering from a bout of creative insufficiency. Arrack Attack by Dan Chadwick, Kindred Cocktails 1 1/2 oz Batavia Arrack 1/2 oz Cynar 1/2 oz Ginger liqueur, Canton 1/2 oz Lime juice 1 ds Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters, Fee Brothers 1/8 pn Salt (tiny amount) 1 sli Lime (as garnish) Shake, strain, rocks, low ball, lime wheel

I believe that the Kindred Cocktails ingredient editor described it as like a buttered stripper pole. Apparently I like buttered stripper poles.

All these Negroni variations. Hmmmm. Negroni flights? That would be so fun.

Tri -- Tried the Poison Dart. Nice. I increased the lemon to 3/4 oz, sub'd Becherovka for Cinnamon Syrup, and use half rye and half bourbon since I didn't have Bulleit bourbon on hand. A very enjoyable drink. Next time I might try all rye and maybe more Cynar. Thanks for posting it.

Folks from Manhattan camping in the Pacific Northwest and making cocktails. Makes me smile.

I like Tanqueray too. I like the bitterness of the drink, and use Punt e Mes if it's available to me. I've tried using more gin. I like the lessened sweetness, but I miss the bold flavors. It's like Miss Negroni married Mr. Martini. Not a bad thing necessarily. KD -- have you tried a perfect one? The Negroni d'Or has more your ratio, BTW (3:1:1 gin:dry vermouth:gran classico).

Nate - If I may be so bold, try a perfect Negroni, splitting the 1/3 sweet equally into 1/6 sweet and 1/6 dry vermouth and let us know what you think. One of my all-time favorite drinks.

I got my Black Manhattan recipe from a Washington Post recipe referencing Bourbon and Branch. I believe the B&B recipe calls for only Angostura, although this is only implied in the Post. Did you like it? Averna is very sweet, and I found it a bit on the sweet side for me.

Ha, Fred, I was eyeing Teenage Riot, although the Amontillado I have open is not dry. Tonight we tried: Dirt 'n Diesel by Cale Green, Tavern Law, Seattle, WA 2 oz Dark rum, Cruzan Blackstrap 1/2 oz Fernet Branca 1/2 oz Rich demerara syrup 2:1 1/4 oz Cynar 1/4 oz Lime juice 1 wdg Lime (as garnish) Shake, strain, straight up, coupe This was actually already in Kindred Cocktails, although I hadn't tried it. I used that last of some Old Monk I was trying to use up (which isn't that dissimilar to the Cruzan) and regular simple. A nice drink, although I would probably swap the quantities of Fernet and Cynar next time. Worth trying again. I served it on the rocks, and liked it better as the ice melted, so I'd suggest a long stir. Also tried the Negroni d'Or 1 1/2 oz G'vine Nouasion gin (Tanqueray) 1/2 oz Dolin Blanc 1/2 oz Gran Classico Stir, strain, one large cube or sphere, old fashioned glass. I liked this, although not as much as a perfect Negroni. Lovely yellow color. I'm not sure how my substitution affected it, as I've never tried the G'vine gins.

Matthew - Yes, there is some of that -- i.e. complicated recipes involving foams and special housemade syrups and obscure brands and the like. And some assume you have an open bottle of all sorts of sherries, ports, and aromatized wines. And many recipes call for a specific brand (because that's what the bar uses, or that was the spirit that sponsored the competition). Still, there are lots that I could make as-written from my average-size-for-an-enthusiast liquor cabinet. And there were lots where I thought I could substitute brands, substitute ingredients, or even omit some ingredients. Even the ones that I probably won't get the stuff to make are interesting to read about and consider conceptually. It's an inspiring and thought-provoking book. I think lots of the cocktails will appeal to a wide audience, whereas lots of the cocktails in the Beta Cocktails will appeal to geeks (like me). It would not be a good book for someone trying to maintain a 12-bottle bar, though.

I got Gaz's new book Annual Manual for Bartenders, 2011. It has an interesting first installment of his bio, some basic bartending info, and a chapter on "Mindful Bartending", plus 102 cocktail recipes from bartenders around the world. I thought I'd start a thread about trying some of the recipes, and the results. Anyone want to play?

From what? I use 3/4oz of each for 3oz into the tin.

CR#2? Odd. With equal parts gin, Lillet, Triple Sec, and lemon juice (plus an absinthe rinse), it should not need simple. I wonder if something was mis-measured or if the lemons were uncommonly sour. I love this cocktails and find that hit holds up to lots of substitutions / variations. Green Chartreuse for Absinthe. Creole Shrubb for Triple Sec, other aromatized wines for the Lillet. Apple Pucker for the lemon juice. OK, maybe not the last one. Edit: I just made this tonight, and it is tarter than I remembered. While I love tart cocktails like this, I can see that one might scale back the lemon juice a bit for a sweeter drink.

Anna -- I'm guessing that the "apricot brandy" intended in this recipe is true brandy -- the unsweetened aged distillate of fermented apricots. Alas, today "apricot brandy" usually means apricot liqueur -- a base spirit (perhaps distilled apricots, but perhaps neutral spirits or other base), with apricots juice and/or flavor added, and sweetened. If you used the later, I bet the drink was way sweeter than intended. Gary Regan's recipe sounds good to me, particularly if the orange juice is bright and tart.

Parents. Centrifuge. Fish House Punch. Aged one year. Since before you were born. My head is spinning. My parents got "fancy" around the holidays by making Old Fashions.

If you included the simple in Intro, try it without. That said, I do love a good Negroni. Try a perfect Negoni, dividing the vermouth between sweet and your newly-acquired dry.