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The Angel's Envy is one I am trying to find a local source for. I have enjoyed the Cognac finished bourbon in the Parker's Heritage collection so I thought the port finish might be interesting as well. Although to the original post do any of these really qualify as coming from a "small craft distillery", depending on how one defines a craft disillery? Lincoln Henderson is more than qualified and I have read that he plans to distill his own bourbon for Angel's Envy at some point but the current product is likely sourced from one of the big distillers. I like to use this site to help learn a bit more about various American whiskeys. It seems quite helpful but I have no way to verify the accuracy of all the content. Eagle Rare is a one of the many smaller "craft-ish" offerings from Buffalo Trace although by all accounts a lovely bourbon and Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon is bottled by McLain and Kyne "Distillery", which as far as I know doesn't distill anyting but does reportedly use Stitzel-Weller stock in the Reserve version which is generally pretty well regarded! Don't know what the source of the regular younger Jefferson's Bourbon is. I had some Balcone's Baby Blue Corn Whiskey at a restaurant this weekend and really enjoyed. Enough to try to hunt down a bottle for myself! I think that probably qualifies as a craft distilled whiskey although not a bourbon of course. As to how it would go with peaches I couldn't say. Don't think it would be a bad choice though.

Tonight it was the Transatlantic Giant. I kind of expected it to be unusual given the ingredients, kind of Airbag-ish in that they didn't seem to fit together. Had to sub Elmer T. Lee as I didn't have Buffalo Trace in the house. But it did all come together very nicely. Not quite as good as an Airbag to me but certainly one I would have again. The Creme de Cacao did give it an interesting sweet finish. Wouldn't think it would stand up to everything else in the drink but it did a pretty good job of holding its own.

Yes, the Suze sold on the Whisky Exchange is listed as 15% ABV and has a slightly different label as compared to what i got which is 20% ABV. How much difference it makes, whether in cocktails or on its own I wouldn't be able to say having never had the European version. I suppose there is some reasoning behind changing it for the US market but that is not always necessarily a good thing. I don't think this was done solely for the US market. They had the new bottling behind the bar at Zetter Townhouse in London when I was there earlier this month. One thing I can tell you without having tasted them side-by-side is that the new is certainly a bit more pricey...I picked up a 1L of the old-format at Duty Free in CDG for less than $10 a couple weeks ago. The new make runs nearly 3x that from Astor. Yes, I had noticed that as well. Could be trying to cash in on the cocktail craze. No doubt cost more to bring it to the US market but can't imagine the product is so much different that it needs to be that much more expensive. Pulling a "Plymouth Gin" perhaps!

Yes, the Suze sold on the Whisky Exchange is listed as 15% ABV and has a slightly different label as compared to what i got which is 20% ABV. How much difference it makes, whether in cocktails or on its own I wouldn't be able to say having never had the European version. I suppose there is some reasoning behind changing it for the US market but that is not always necessarily a good thing. I volunteer to do a side-by-side comparison once I find the "savoir d'autrefois". I can't wait for more White Negroni experimentation! DSWE is the importer so perhaps they can give you an indication of when or if it will be headed your way. Would think some of the bigger LA stores might eventually get it. A place like K&L wines maybe. I think they have a store in the LA area.

Yes, the Suze sold on the Whisky Exchange is listed as 15% ABV and has a slightly different label as compared to what i got which is 20% ABV. How much difference it makes, whether in cocktails or on its own I wouldn't be able to say having never had the European version. I suppose there is some reasoning behind changing it for the US market but that is not always necessarily a good thing.

If you knew Suze like I know Suze... Well then you would probably know it a lot better than I do because I haven't had it before! But it has made it to Atlanta so I picked up a bottle this weekend. I presume it therefore has been in the bigger markets for a bit already (I see it on Astor for example). Comes in a huge 1 liter bottle. I would have been perfectly fine starting with something a bit smaller but didn't get much choice. Talked with a bartender friend who wasn't all that excited about it but then he likes to make a lot of his stuff. I am still curious to give it a try and see what all the fuss is about!

Took a run at the Vellocet from Beta Cocktails, flaming mint and all. Managed to forget to take a picture. Not sure I made it exactly right although I stuck to the formula. Also didn't have a swizel stick and I am not sure a chopstick is an adequate sub! Wasn't bad but perhaps not what I was expecting as it seemed pseudo tiki-ish but the Chartreuse as a base spirit was obviously more sharp and herbal than a rum based tiki drink might be.

A few odds and ends picked up over the past week. Was in the part of town where the Total Wine has liquor (the one nearest me does not which is moderately annoying) and was surprised to see that they carry the Seale rums from Barbados. On an impulse I picked up the Foursquare spiced (which I had heard good things about but was a bit surprised to see was 35 proof. A quick check of Whisky Exchange seems to indicate that is the standard proof. Perhaps that will be OK with a spiced rum) as well as the Doorly's XO (they also had the Seale 10yo but I decided to try the Doorly's first). But the real impulse of the impulse buys that day was a bottle of Papagayo "organic" silver rum from Paraguay of all places. Don't think I have ever seen anything from Paraguay, much less rum. Not sure I have seen "somebody" from Paraguay for that matter! In any case it may be a total bust but I bought it for the heck of it. Not sure when I will get to trying it out yet. Then I decided to have a Byrrh! Not sure quite what to do with it yet but the recipe on the back sounds interesting and I think there is a thread here about it. Suze has apparently been picked up as well and is expected to be in soon. We shall see. Finally I managed to add a bottle of the Willet 5yo rye to compare to the 4yo and got some of the newest Col. Taylor bourbon. It is a barrel proof weighing in at 134.5 proof and is being described as a "baby Stagg" albeit at essentially the same price. But I couldn't resist and look forward to comparing it to Stagg to see. May try to arrange a "boy's night in" next weekend for some serious taste testing since the lady of the house will be out of town! That way I don't need to worry about having to get home and there is plenty of floor space for any "casualties"...

Last night I went with the Mabel Berra from the Swedish Punsch thread. A surprisingly good cocktail. Tonight it was off to a Tequila tasting put on by the Diageo rep that included the full line of Don Julio tequila including the Real, 1942 and the new "70th Anniversary Anejo Claro limited edition". This is a filtered tequila that has the barest hint of straw yellow color. Had wanted to try the Real and since the entire tasting cost less than what a pour of the Real would likely cost it seemed like a pretty good deal! I was already quite familiar with the reposado and the delightful 1942 from my own liquor cabinet. But a chance to try the Real made this interesting. The blanco was surprisingly good as a sipper with plenty of agave and pepper but also a moderate mineral quality (almost a trace salty) that made it quite interesting. Between the reposado and the anejo I still prefered the reposado which still carries some of the strong agave of the blanco but adds its own caramel quality and perhaps a bit of cinnamon spice. The 70th Anniversary didn't do that much for me. The filtering took out the color and a good bit of the personality along with it. Supposedly the filtering would give you a smooth tequila like an anejo but retain the agave notes. For me much of the agave was gone as well. The 1942 was superb as always but the Real was a little bit of a disappointment. At 30 months on used bourbon barrels (the rep claimed they were new barrels but I don't think that is true) the 1942 has a real pleasant sweetness while retaining enough agave personality to remind you it is tequila. At 50 months the Real has become much drier with the taste not being that much different from the regular anejo but at 6 times the price. That is one bottle to scratch off the wish list. I am perfectly happy sticking with the 1942 as my favorite dessert tequila.

Great! Thanks everyone for the insights. I look forward to continuing to explore the book. Although that Under the Volcano was pretty darn good!

Realized I had finally gotten a copy of the book but hadn't delved into it yet. So tonight I went "Under the Volcano". Always a fan of a good tequila cocktail and this did not disappoint. Anejo tequila (I substituted El Major for Tesoro since both were highland tequilas and I hoped that might make it a decent sub) along with lime juice, yellow chartreuse, cynar and agave nectar. Plenty of agave flavor in this but the cynar seemed to keep it from being too sweet. Definitely one to make again. This was one of the few recipes to have some quantities listed with a minus sign such as -1/2 oz Cynar. The book notes it uses "industry-standard vernacular" so I hope you will forgive this mere lay persons ignorance but does that just mean a "light pour" of that particular measurement? Speaking of ignorance the next drink, the Vellocet, instructs one to "blue blazer" green chartreuse on the mint sprig garnish. Now, I am familiar with the Blue Blazer cocktail where one tries to light themselves on fire for no apparent reason by repeatedly pouring flaming scotch back and forth between two glasses. Do they mean to suggest that one annoint the mint with chartreuse and then set it ablaze briefly? That is what the picture suggests since the mint sprig looks a bit worse for wear. BTW, is there a sound reason for the Blue Blazer cocktail other than to pretend to be Jerry Thomas and put on a show (especially if you end up setting your hair on fire!)? Does it add anything to the drink itself other than to likely burn off the alcohol content?

Sounds like another combo worth a try. Would like to have a few more drinks using sloe gin to add to the repertoire!

Last night I played around with the Have A Heart and oddly named Diki-Diki cocktails from VS&FC. Wasn't really sure about gin and swedish punsch but I thought maybe this would be a good place for Tanqueray Rangpur which has been sitting on my shelf for a while because I am not really sure how best to use it. I thought its citrus-y characteristics might lend well to this kind of drink. So tonight it was a comparison of Have a Heart Coctails using both regular Tanq and Tanq Rangpur. The Tanq version had a clear gin/juniper edge which was to be expected. While OK it wasn't really a taste combination that appealed to me. The punsch does kind of get lost between the gin and lime juice. The Rangpur variation seemed a bit more tart and citrus-y with less gin/juniper predominating. But perhaps that was just what I was expecting it to taste like. Overall I thought it made a better drink and will be one that I may subject friends to in the future to get additional opinions. Then for a change of pace I gave the Diki-Diki a try. The Calvados again pretty well dominated the punsch here and I was surprised that the grapefruit juice (white and unsweetened, not pink) also was well in the background. Seemed a pretty dry drink, although that may just be my own sweet tooth, but if I try it again I might bump up the punsch to make it a 2:1:1 ratio that differs a little from the one listed in the book. While playing with the punsch I may give the last cocktail noted in the book using punsch, the Modernista cocktail, a try. Doc Cocktail's variation on the Modern cocktail (or Modern Maid), it does indeed sound like a challenging drink.

Interesting title. Not sure the Vesper is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of tropical cocktails, gin based or otherwise. I was also confused by the title initially; however you have to keep in mind that the theme of Tiki Oasis this year is described as "exotic espionage and Polynesian pulp", hence the Vesper reference. Ah! Makes a little more sense. Would like to go to an event like this but unless it is either in Atlanta or within an easy weekend drive from Atlanta it isn't going to happen this year. My trip to Buenos Aires and Antarctica in Jan/Feb and the upcoming trip to Iceland and the Arctic in August have pretty much chewed up both vacation time and vacation travel funds for the moment.

Interesting title. Not sure the Vesper is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of tropical cocktails, gin based or otherwise.

I got a bottle of their Rocky Mountain Peach Whiskey shortly after their move to Colorado, years ago...if the Georgia one is at all similar, it'll be plenty peachy on its own. I generally adore the Leopold products, but found it hard to taste the whiskey at 30% ABV. It was pretty sweet and I found myself using it more as a modifier than a base spirit...paired with an over-proof spirit, it produced some interesting results. Yes, it is also 30 proof and fairly sweet I am told. Each batch can tend to vary a bit in taste from what I have read.

It occured to me that in addition to their American Whiskey, the Leopold Bros. make a Georgia Peach whiskey that might be a good pairing with peaches. Or it might be a bit too peachy! Have seen it on the shelf but haven't tried it yet.

It's spicy, it's deep and complex, and it keeps getting better with each sip. I imagine it would be even more fantastic with homemade falernum. The pastis + Angostura bitters combination is quite a wonderful base for the cocktail. We started singing Don Ho songs at some point, not sure how that happened. The drink looks nice but what I really want are those glasses! Suck 'em up indeed!

Well, the Rye night is over and appears to have been a success. A bit toasty out on the deck but everybody seemed to make do. Ribs seemed to be a perfect accompanying dish to the rye cocktails along with sweet potatoe, veggie medley and my house specialty of baked beans. The Drinks menu (the most important part of course!) ended up as follows. The featured drink was the American Trilogy. Everyone who wanted one was greeted with this drink at he door. I cheated a bit and used a rich demerara sugar syrup insted of trying to muddle a brown sugar cube or even just using brown sugar. That way I could put the the sugar in the glass and add bitters in advance, premix and refrigerate the Rittenhouse BIB and Lairds BIB 1:1 and the add 2 ounces to the glass and stir with a single large ice cube. Seemed to work. I couldn't decide what to cut so I ended up with the following options: "Featured Drink" The American Trilogy The “Classic” Manhattan and Variations Manhattan Bensonhurst Brooklyn Greenpoint Little Italy Red Hook Classic Rye Cocktails – Vintage and Contemporary Algonquin Blinker Cooper Cocktail De La Louisiane Diamondback Final Ward Globetrotter (L.E.S. Globetrotter from PDQ) Junior Rack & Rye Racketeer Rattlesnake Red Ant Remember the Maine Scofflaw Vieux Carré Never made it to the Manhatans and variations. Had a Vieux Carré fan in the party and so everybody wanted one as the next drink. Used Baby Saz, Ferrand 1840 cognac, Carpano, Benedictine and bitters and I must say they were quite good. Did manage to work in a few others like the Rack & Rye and the Globetrotter (surprisingly tasty!) so it went well. But still have quite a few more drinks I would like to try. Ah well, something for next time perhaps.

No. The Red Hook relies upon the extra bitterness and intensity of flavor for its characteristic flavor. Subbing regular sweet vermouth for Punt e Mes would remove this crucial component of the drink. Well, I guess I break open the Punt e Mes or perhaps try the splash of Campari with the Carpano. I find Carpano to be a little less sweet than regullar sweet vermouth but presumably it doesn't have quite the bitter element of Punt e Mes.

A lot of craft distilleries come to mind although many of them are relativley new so they don't have a lot of aged product that they have made themselves. Some try help the process along by using small size barrels. Others with a lot more experience than I have had positive things to say about Tuthilltown Distillery and their Hudson Whiskeys (NY), Koval Lions Pride (Chicago) and Copper Fox Distillery Wasmund's whiskey (Virginia). I have not tried any of them yet and they are likely to be a bit different from a more mature bourbon. I have had the American Whiskey from the Leopold Bros who are definitely in the mold of a craft distillery and quite like it. It is not officially a bourbon though. But it can be tricky to identify the small distilleries making their own whiskey and companies that bottle whiskey made somewhere else (they can be good as well but are not necessarily what I would call a craft distillery). And they aren't likely to be the same as some of the bourbons from well established big brand makers. And as noted many major brands have at least one if not several "specialty" brands that they bottle on a somewhat smaller scale. Also might depend on whether you are looking for a sweeter wheated bourbon or a rye bourbon. Both have at least 50% corn of course but the type of "flavoring" grain can have a considerable impact on the taste of the bourbon

Thanks. Worth trying to see although I have not had a Red Hook made the right way to compare so will be hard for me to judge (one point of doing this after all is to try a number of different drinks). Good point on the Maraschino.

Is it still a Red Hook if you use Carpano instead of Punt e Mes? I have Carpano open (as well as a bottle of Dolin Rouge) but the bottle of Punt e Mes is not and I am hoping to avoid opening yet another vermouth until I use up the Dolin and the Carpano (which will likely serve as the primary "house" sweet vermouth for the evening). Can I add a dash of bitters to help balance it out if I use Carpano. Or is it "close enough"? In addition to the Manhattan I am planning on the Greenpoint and Little Italy in addition to the Red Hook that also call for sweet vermouth. Any reason NOT to use Carpano in any of them?

Some more excellent suggestions. Paring this down to even 10 drinks is going to be tough! Will have to try to find drinks that are reasonable distinct from one another and use that as a primary criteria.

Sounds like I need to take a look at this article. Might have to see if I can track Greg or Andy down at H&F for some additional ideas. The August edition of Imbibe is also full of summer cocktails such as the Prince of Wales I noted above. So many drinks, so little time.