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cadmixes

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Posts posted by cadmixes

  1. In my experience having mixed a good chunk of the Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, the Dead Rabbit m.o. is to make things complicated, but not fussy. The Dead Rabbit's rum blend is equal parts Smith & Cross, Cruzan Blackstrap, and Banks 7. I have to think that equal parts would be a safe starting point for Blacktail's blend.

  2. An example of my own devising: I came up with the Lindberg's Baby recipe for a fundraiser here at which I was host bartender, and it showcases every good feature of the Cocchi Americano (as well as the outstanding Ransom Old Tom gin):

    1½ oz Ransom Old Tom gin

    1 oz Cocchi Americano

    scant ½ oz Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur

    dash Scrappy's or Fee's grapefruit bitters

    dash Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter or Angostura bitters

    No need to throw out Lillet or CA. Each has a rightful place, methinks.

    I had to sub Ransom for the imperfect combo of Hayman's and Botanist but this is some nice work, Chris.

  3. From the article:

    And Wild Turkey 81, blood orange and walnut liqueur are the components of something called the Winter Martini.

    This is certainly a semantic argument, but the point to me is that we have more accurate language for most of these things (including the thing above, where "accurate language" would most certainly not employ the word "martini"), so why not use it? Seems like when people used to do things like substitute one base spirit for another, such as with the negroni and the boulevardier, they would give their creation a new name. Now we get things like "bourbon negroni" or "kentucky margarita" because people need comfort zones and hand-holding which I guess is another topic entirely.

  4. Kentucky Margarita

    Jim Beam Black Cherry Bourbon, Triple Sec, Lime, Brandy Cherry

    They aren't listing their "bourbon martini" but there's this beast:

    Dirty Southern Martini

    Crop Organic Tomato Vodka Pickle Juice, Pickled Green Tomato Tabasco

    Oh, they're also charging 14 bucks for the likes of Baker's and Knob Creek. I don't care if it's Manhattan, that is completely insane.

  5. Thanks guys, you all have me feeling a bit better about this. Dry vermouth is definitely the worst and seems to go off instantly. Sweet vermouth less so, and I've found Punt e Mes to be remarkably sturdy. Maybe my next trip to the store will result in me bringing a bottle of this home.

  6. Now that this has been available for a while, does anyone have experiences they could share on preservation and shelf-life? Is it like a vermouth where it degrades after a couple weeks? Are people refrigerating it, using a vacu-vin, etc. etc.?

    I'd love to mess with this product but am always hesitant to keep large bottles of perishable, wine-based things around because it's really hard to go through them fast enough.

  7. Like Dan said, it's hard to offer any definitive advice without knowing what else is available to you. Maybe I don't fall in the category of people who really love rum but I paid somewhere between $40-$50 for Zacapa and got a rum that I think is nice but not particularly unique and not (for me) worth paying a premium for.

    That being said, if this is your chance to grab it and you're not overextending yourself, just satisfy your curiosity. You will eventually anyway.

  8. Following this thread with amusement, but the bourbon person in me is obligated to point out that Wild Turkey 80 is NOT watered down Wild Turkey 101. It's ~5 year old whiskey while the 101 is more like 7 or 8.

    The new Wild Turkey 81 that started to hit stores this year is a lot closer to 101 plus water.

  9. Well the difference with Aperol is that it's not wine-based. I've stored my Aperol at room temp and the current bottle is old at this point (like a year plus) and I don't think it tastes any different than when it was new. If it were to develop an off flavor, it wouldn't be like when wine starts turning; it would probably be a lot more obvious/nasty.

    For wine-based stuff, I think Punt e Mes holds up quite well (think several months), regular dry and sweet vermouth less so. Lillet and Cocchi seem to turn very slightly after a couple weeks. Carpano Antica has never lasted more than that in my house.

    Cardamaro is one where uncertainty about the shelf like is actually preventing me from buying it. I'd like to have it around but there's no way in hell I could get through a bottle quickly enough if it's something that actually turns.

  10. Trust your senses, IMO. The one issue I find with your approach (which is also mine) is that it's harder to twist peel cut from fruit that's been living in the fridge for an extended period. But you can still usually get enough citrus oil pretty easily, and I have never noticed a difference in aroma between new/old lemons and oranges.

  11. I like the Espolon reposado quite a bit, especially at its current price point.

    The blanco I'm less crazy about. It's just a little too soft and muted for my taste, and I prefer a rougher, more agave-forward blanco to give margaritas some punch. But again, for the price, there's nothing really "wrong" with it.

  12. Oldly, I kind of dig a sazerac in d.o.f. glass. When the cocktail sits relatively low in the glass, there's more empty side walls to be coated with absinthe, which I feel makes for a more aromatic drink.

    Totally agree with this--that extra surface area for your Herbsaint (or equivalent) is important to the drink. I stopped making sazeracs in s.o.f. glasses because the aromatics just weren't there.

    That said, I do have a couple of these Heavy Sham Rocks Glass, 5 3/4 oz. around and use them often for sipping spirits, rock-less old fashioneds (something I make quite a bit) and certain cocktails that just seem to work better as a down drink.

  13. Hah, you're just about the last guy on here I'd expect to be sharing a bitters recipe!

    Seriously though, glad to hear your efforts are progressing well and I'll definitely be at the front of the line when you're able to release a bottling.

  14. Bump to see if anyone has messed around with peach bitters and was interested in sharing a recipe. I feel like jumping into bitters making, and I think peach is something I would get some use of while improving on the one existing product on the market.

  15. So I went down and picked up a copy of this today (it's nice living w/in walking distance of The Boston Shaker!) First impression is that it's an endearingly idiosyncratic book--part biography, part life advice, part journalism, part recipes. The first two chapters of gaz's autobiography were actually pretty entertaining, and his writing just sort of exudes positive vibes, which is nice in itself.

    I haven't really checked out the recipes beyond a quick scan, so more to come on that front.

  16. Thanks for the responses, guys.

    Why don't you just extrapolate the ratio, and use that?

    Because there are several recipes (especially when you're talking about newer recipes) that don't fit nicely into a ratio. For example, this is from the Boker's Bitters thread:

    Mariachi

    Created by Adam Elmegirab, 8th March 2011

    40ml Tapatio Reposado

    12.5ml Campari

    10ml Agave Sec

    25ml Fresh lime juice

    4 Dashes Limited Edition Spanish Bitters

    Dash sugar syrup.

    I could approximate this into a 4:2:1:1, but the purpose here is to find a tool so I don't have to!

    I spent some time thinking about these conversions and creating approximations that come close but allow reasonably round numbers in both system. In other words, they are intentionally slightly imprecise in order to achieve memorable nice measurements. Kindred Cocktails uses these approximations in converting to/from measuring systems. All cocktails entered by other users are presented in the preferred measuring system of the viewer. Maybe this will help?

    Measurement Units

    These appoximations make sense to me and I think this is a good approach! At least until I get some kind of measuring tool.

    The OXO mini has metric units on it.

    The metal ones do not. But you made me double-check and it seems that the newer plastic ones do (my old plastic one did not). As long as I remember not to accidentally melt them in the dishwasher, I would consider picking up a couple of the plastic ones again.

    When discussing well in excess of 99% of cocktail recipes in existence, the slight variation in proportion resulting from metric conversion will not adversely affect the outcome of the final drink. We're making cocktails, not nitroglycerine, so no need to be anxious about it.

    ps - I think measuring a "dash" runs counter to the spirit of the thing. Just get the feel of what a "dash" is for you for a particular item. If the bottle spits out too much at once, you could invest in some dasher bottles, which look nice, and which will give you consistency from product to product. Or eyedroppers if you're one of those anal-retentive types.

    I appreciate the sentiment here but I don't really agree with it at all. It's 2011. It should not be hard to accurately measure liquid quantities in a variety of units. I make drinks at home--I have time to take the extra step of measuring very carefully. I guess this could be seen as "anal" but to me it's more just doing something to the best of my capability. And yes, I long-ago put all my bitters in dropper bottles just to make it clear about where I'm coming from :smile:

  17. Here and elsewhere I've been encountering a decent amount of recipes originating in countries where metric measurements are standard. My general impression is that these recipes are hard to translate into customary units, probably because milliliters seem to lend themselves to a bit more precision and proportional variation than ounces. It's possible to convert and get "in the area" of the drink's intended proportions, but as soon as the dreaded dash (of all the measurements to be common ground between the two systems....) comes into play, I'm left wondering if all of my approximations have resulted in me missing the spirit of the drink.

    So I'm wondering if anyone can point me to a good measuring product with metric units. There seems to be a set of metric jiggers commonly available online, but I don't really feel like keeping three different jiggers on the bar for the occasional metric recipe (and I'm not really a jigger guy anyway--I use Oxo mini angled measuring cups exclusively). So a single tool would be ideal. I've been considering just getting a 50 ml graduated cylinder from a scientific equipment supplier but they seem kind of fiddly, so I thought I'd check with you all before pulling the trigger.

  18. ... sweetness. There are quite a few tiki-style drinks that basically consist of sweet juices, a little lime for sour, and some rum. They are more than just a little sweet, not particularly complex, and not containing unusual combinations. Are they getting excluded?

    Perhaps you could post up a craft tiki cocktail that has these characteristics, for the purpose of discussion.

    So for example the other night I was screwing around with stuff in Beachbum Berry Remixed, and made these:

    Hai Karate

    2 oz. gold Virgin Islands Rum

    1 oz. lime juice

    1 oz. pineapple juice

    1 oz. orange juice

    1 tsp Grade A maple syrup

    2 dashes Angostura

    Miehana

    1 oz. Grand Marnier

    1 oz. coconut rum

    1 oz. gold Virgin Islands rum

    1 oz. lime juice

    1 oz. pineapple juice

    1 oz. orange juice

    They were both ok, the Hai Karate a little more so. It could be argued that the Ango and maple syrup up the complexity into craft territory (I personally would not argue this, but someone could). Note the very un-craft coconut rum in the Miehana! Berry admits as much but to him it worked well enough anyway.

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