EvergreenDan

Duplex with Alessio "Vermouth" Chinato and Elisir, with a squeeze of lemon. Best use yet.

I tried it in lieu of dry vermouth in my perfect red hook. 2 oz rye 1/2 each maraschino, punt e mes, and elisir Good, but not as good as with dry vermouth. Still looking.

@FrogPrincesse - maybe add dry vermouth, or split the sweet 50/50 with dry? I do that a lot. That banana addition scares me.

I too have had trouble with it. It's not so much the bitterness but the flavor. I've used it in small amounts to add a little bitterness and depth. I'm interested to see if anyone has a recipe that uses it in larger amounts.

@FrogPrincesse Probably my favorite Red Hook variation is: 1 1/2 oz rye 1/2 Islay 1/2 Maraschino 1/2 Punt e Mes 1/2 Dry vermouth or sherry. good cherry Sounds very similar to the above.

How about dissolving the honey right into the bourbon? The ABV would be a bit higher. A long shake and you'll be back to normal ABV in the final drink.

I played with Looks Familair, using: 2 oz blanco tequila 1 oz Bigallet 1/2 oz Laphroaig 1 d Boker's. Expressed lemon peel, wipe and dunk. Very nice. Next time I'd reduce the Bigallet to 1/2 to 3/4. I think it needs more than a rinse of Islay. I'm not at all sold on the concept of a rinse except when used in a glass with lots of space above the water line (e.g. a Sazarac).

Professional. Yes. Maybe a touch sweet. Anyone tempted to go 1 oz Campari -> 3/4 oz Campari + 1/4 oz dry vermouth or fino sherry?

@Craig E - Thank ice photo makes me think of Christmas. Beautiful.

Montenegro has been described as a slightly bitter creamsicle. It does work as a modifier though.

I tried the Lion and the Rose, although with Talisker "Dark Storm" because I couldn't bear the thought of risking Lagavulin. It was quite good. I would make it again, although I might be inclined to try Islay in a Brooklyn or maybe sub Bigallet China China for the Montenegro.

Just got this Negroni-template "Lion and Rose" with Lagavulin, Montenegro, and dry vermouth from Gaz Regan's e-mail newsletter: http://www.gazregan.com/101-best-new-cocktails-lion-rose-by-samuel-tripet-lily-blacks-melbourne-victoria-australia/ Plan to try it. It scares me less than Frog's Chartreuse / Coffee combo.

Holy perky monk. Really?!

More the other way around. The raspberry is fairly subtle. I'm actually not a huge fan of berry in cocktails, but the grassy + berry + funk think was very nice.

2 oz Rhum JM blanc 1/2 oz St George Raspberry "brandy" (eau-de-vie) 1/2-ish oz Luxardo Maraschino 1/2 oz mix of lime and lemon juice, not entirely by choice Pretty darn nice. Maybe worth more fiddling with ratios.

I feel like a grump saying this, but other than simple syrup, I would focus on buying quality ingredients (including syrups) from some place local or like The Boston Shaker (good people, too). Then squeeze fresh juices, buy good spirits and high-quality liqueurs. You then have the staples to follow recipes, modify recipes, and venture off into your own creations. The analogy to food would be to bake your own bread, but don't mill your own wheat, at least to start.

Still not my favorite, but certainly an improvement.

The Widow's Kiss isn't my favorite, but I'm definitely going to try @Rafa's version. It's almost 8am here. Too early?

Craig E posted the wonderfully-named Italian Greyhound, a 50/50 drink of Punt e Mes and grapefruit, with a salt rim. Thinking it might be a touch low-proof, I tried: 1-1/2 oz CAF 3/8 oz each Aperol, Campari, Maraschino 3/4 to 1 oz lime Salted half-rim, big rock. Goes right down, but very tasty. Edit: Corrected CAF -> Punt e Mes. Thx, @Rafa

Interesting. From reading the website, it appears to be the eau-de-vie of cashew fruit juice. Or is it sweetened into a liqueur? It is clear (implying that no juice is added to it)? If you tell us what it tastes like, we might be able to suggest recipes into which it could be substituted. I'm wondering about using it in lieu of apricot brandy or apricot eau-de-vie. Or perhaps peach or pear. But I've never tasted the cashew fruit, even though I've seen them in St Lucia. I assumes it tastes nothing like the nut.

The moon is big. Takes a lot of leaf to gild it.

FTFY

Try it, Leslie. I found it pretty tasty on its own, yet didn't love it in The Fall of Man. I think the Cherry Heering enhanced the bitter+cherry=cough syrup association. I need to look at other Unicum ideas.

I'm a zesty nibbler too.

In an ill-conceived moment of failed creativity, I thought I'd try a Ransom Old Tom Martini. The spice in the Ransom blew away any hope of balance, so I added Campari, for a sort of Martini/Dry Negroni variation. I'm liking it. 1.5 oz Ransom Old Tom .75 oz Gin (Beefeater) .5 dry vermouth (Dolin) .5 Campari Probably a big lemon peel would be nice. Next time.