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We have a bottle that we found in Massachusetts ($20 at Julio's in Westborough). Between the peel and the spices, it is different from triple secs and curacaos. As for uses, there are a bunch in European cocktail books from the 1920s and 30s such as the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book (some of those recipes were entered into CocktailDB.com), UKBG's Approved Cocktails, etc. And even some newer recipes such as the Comet in David Wondrich's Killer Cocktails. VdH is also essential for the lady series -- it's in the Brown Lady (I also discovered both a Blue and a Green Lady, but I might pass on those except for a Martian or Smurf theme party).One that I'm curious about is Caperitif -- an aromatized wine frequently mentioned in the Savoy Cocktail Book. CocktailDB says that the manufacturer of Caperitif is now defunct (don't know for how long) so you would probably have to get lucky to find a remaining bottle. If Lillet is an alternative then I presume Cocchi would be as well, especially since Cocchi is touted as a closer approximation of the original formula of Kina Lillet. I had passed the word about VdH to my friend when they were in Jo'berg but by that point they didn't have time to look and it wasn't readily available at the airport duty free. Next time perhaps. There does appear to be a NY based importer but I didn't investigate further.

Sotol is a completely different species from the agave plant although it is in the same family (the same family includes asparagus of all things). Sotol is generally distilled and produced in a similar fashion as mezcal but to me it has a much lighter taste. But enjoyable all the same. I have the Hacienda de Chihuahua añejo and have tried the reposado (the only brand I find in my area routinely) and find them pleasant to sip on their own merits. In a mixed drink they typically do not come through as strongly as tequila or mezcal does to me.

Ended up giving this task to the Corzo añejo since I like the Casa Noble and El Mayor añejo too well as a sipper. But the Corzo is about gone so I may have to crack open the bottle of Don Sergio añejo a friend gave me to try. But mainly I think I still have a way to go to develop a full appreciation for the stronger bitter tasting liqueurs. This one was OK but was not like the Eva Peron that has made Fernet Branca work for me. Needs just a little more sweetness to help balance out the drink like perhaps a 1/2 oz of simple.

If you happen to have Clement Creole Shrubb, sub it for the triple sec, or add a dash or two of Angostura Orange bitters. If you happen to have Cocchi Americano or even Bonal Gentiane Quina, sub that for Lillet. That should give you some depth. I've tried the CCS + BGQ combo and loved it. Also a stand-up juniper-forward gin would help. Interesting suggestions. Just got some Creole Shrub and have a bottle of Cocchi on order that hopefully will arrive this week at some point, primarily because of its advertised properties of being more like the original Lillet. But would not have thought of using the Shrubb here. Will have to give it a try. I would think that the original Tanq would be pretty much near the top of juniper forward gins. The Hendricks might tend to get lost a bit in this drink. But always worth a try to see what you like! Last night I found it wasn't all that long a way to Tipperary after all. A nice drink but may have to try it again to see if it is one I want to have on a regular basis. I was searching around on the KC website looking for ideas for using the Clement Creole Shrubb and came upon the Margara. 1 1⁄2 oz Añejo tequila 3⁄4 oz Clément Créole Shrubb 3⁄4 oz Lime juice 1⁄2 oz Cynar 2 "dashes" Angostura Orange Bitters Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail glass half-rimmed with salt. I probably will skip the salt altogether. Very odd but interesting sounding drink. Since I have just recently also acquired Cynar it seemed like a great opportunity to try out both with one of my añejo tequilas. Might leave the 100 proof Dulce Vida on the shelf this time and go with something a little lighter though!

It seems like Cointreau has come down a bit in price recently for whatever reason at least locally while Combier has drifted up a bit. I last bought Cointreau for about $30 for 750ml on sale while the Combier was $31 for 750ml. Made it an easy choice for me.

Boy, do I know that problem! And it can quickly become an obsession if one is not careful. 2-3 years ago or so I had a very limited liquor cabinet. Kind of one of every base liquor to satisfy guests and a handful of Bols/DeKuyper type liqueurs. Never owned or even knew much about bitters for example. Then I got interested in all things tequila. That was followed by gin and classic cocktails in general. I just cleaned up my liquor cabinet inventory list and was surprised to see that I have over 150 different bottles of "stuff" to include more than 50 different liqueurs alone! I am also now the proud owner, and regular user, of 9 different bitters. And that doesn't even include beer and wine. Or Romulan Ale... I was not careful.

I recently played around with the Chrysanthemum cocktail which can be found in the Savoy Cocktail thread. The Drinkboy website and many other sites have a similar recipe: 1 1/2 ounce dry vermouth 3/4 ounce Benedictine 3 dash absinthe Garnish: Orange twist. Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. But this recipe from CocktailDB is a good bit different and says: Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain 1 oz dry vermouth (3 cl, 1/4 gills) - I used NP dry 1 oz Benedictine (3 cl, 1/4 gills) 1/2 oz pastis (1.5 cl, 1/8 gills) - I used Herbsaint Add orange peel Not sure where exactly that recipe comes from but they are pretty different! My reprinted copy of the Savoy Cocktail book is basically the same as the first one except it says to shake instead of strain. I think most sites use the first ratio and suggest stirring rather than shaking. I tried it both ways. For the pastis 3 dashes for me was about 2/5 teaspoon (2.1 ml) as compared to 15 ml for 1/2 oz. I used Herbsaint but absinthe or most any pastis would probably do although it can certainly have an impact on the drink. That plus the 2:1 ration versus a 1:1 ratio make them different drinks. The 1:1 ratio makes the Benedictine stand out a good deal more and if I had to choose I would probably lean towards that one. The other version is a little lighter in taste to me and less "herbal".

Yes, I thought they were similar but wasn't sure they were identical. They seem to vary between 90 and 100 proof. Do you have any opinion on the brands available here in the States? Drinkupny has three that I can find, Gantous & Abou Raad Arak, Razzouk Arak and El Massaya Arak. Astor wines has the last two. Razzouk I think may be the only one I have since seen locally besides Yeni but I haven't looked in a while. El Massaya was the one I was initially trying to find before I went on my trip. Beltramos has both the Efe you mentioned and Yeni raki as well as Razzoux (I assume it is the same as Razzouk, maybe with a typo) and a different brand called Haddad. Those three are the main internet sources I have used in the past. I don't usually bother with K&L because they won't currently ship to my state. Although I suppose I won't be looking for another until I finish the Yeni and that may be awhile!

Yerba mate? As in what seemingly everybody in Montevideo drinks 24/7? Didn't even know it was readily available in the US. What was the Turkish raki that you used? I acquired a bottle of Yeni raki on a whim a few months ago after a trip to the Middle East. Was looking for Lebanese arak (I have since seen some at drinkupny) but this was the closest I could find at the time. Haven't really figured out what to do with it other than mixing with water and sipping as is more or less done in the Middle East.

Try not to get too hung up on brand recs, Bushmills or whatever makes a fine Tipperary. In general, for Irish Whiskey, column still can be subbed for column, pot still for pot still--texture is usually the primary consideration. For SM Scotch, stay within the region of the brand recommended and while you may not get the same drink it should work ok. For American Whiskey, proof is usually the critical quality to get right when subbing out other brands. For Canadian, sub 90 proof American Rye Thanks, all good suggestions. I love Black Bush but didn't have any handy. But I would love to try the Wilde Heart using it so that one I will wait until I can get some. But I will take a run at the Tipperary with my Bushmills as you suggest. Oddly, I have never been a big Scotch fan, single malt or otherwise, so I have very few in the house and typically have just the basics really. JW Red and Glenlivet may be all I have on hand at the moment for example. And my newly acquired bottle of Glayva of course. I do rather like Scotch liqueurs despite not drinking a lot of Scotch on its own.

Hadn't really thought about it but like the suggestion to use genever instead of gin on your website to make a version called The Latest Word. Although given the historical place of genever compared to gin perhaps it should be called The First Word! Had also read about a version using a good rye in place of gin that sounds interesting called The Final Ward which is also on the KC website. The name is reportedly based on the NYC bartender who came up with it who was named Ward. Had been meaning to try it but never did. No time like the present! Well, later this evening anyway. Now might be a bit of a problem...

Flipping through the SEP/OCT Imbibe and came across "The Last Barrel". It harkened back to my recent Canton period and so I decided to give that a try. 1.5 oz blended Irish Whiskey (Bushmills) 3/4 oz Canton 1/2 oz lemon juice 1/2 oz demerara syrup (1:1) Combine in shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain and garnish with a swatch of lemon peel I must say that it was pretty good! A pretty decent balance and the Canton seemed to work well. May try the Tipperary (Have all the components except I don't have the suggested Michael Collins single malt) and the Wilde Heart (Don't have Black Bush but have a friend who does. I know because I gave it to him!) on the next couple of pages. Enjoyed "The Last Barrel" while reading the article about that "charming curmudgeon" Ray Foley. Not sure I agree with him completely but I think he makes some interesting points about the rapidly changing industry. Of course his own website seems pretty commercial as well... But it made a nice companion article to the slightly curmudgeonly but interesting drink!

Guess I need to add Pimm's to my long list of things to try!

I don't think it was mentioned so I will suggest The Last Word if you want to explore chartreuse. Since you have the Luxardo Maraschino already you can easily make it. Or if you have a competent bar nearby it is one to consider trying. Excellent but a pretty powerful drink in my opinion. But perhaps not quiet as strong as a Silent Order. 1 oz. green Chartreuse 1.25 oz. gin 0.5 oz. Maraschino liqueur 1 oz. lime juice Shake ingredients with ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Some recipes suggest equal parts of above. I like it both ways but the additional maraschino makes a difference.

Tried an El Presidente last night using Brugal Amber, NP dry, Senor curacao and Doc Cocktails homemade grenadine. Seemed pretty good to me but I suppose I lack the sophisticated palate of some. But I thought the version with sweet vermouth was more to my taste so I may lean that way in the future. Then went back to my "Canton period" and had another Eva Peron. Really liking that one. Not a particularly strong drink but quite tasty in a bracing sort of way. May use up that Fernet Branca after all!

True enough. It was just the gin on gin thing I guess that got me. Kinda like the Rusty Nail of gin...

Never had Pimm's #1 but my understanding is that it is a 50 proof gin based drink to begin with so if you add more gin that would be a lot of gin! I see from looking up a couple of recipes that gin is a common companion to Pimm's. Is it pretty typical to add more gin to drinks containing Pimm's? I suppose if it works then that's OK! Does this drink have a preponderance of the fizzy lemon part of the equation?

Inka Cola is the bright yellow soda right? I was in Peru and Ecuador (not really Ecuador proper, just a day in Guayaquil and then to the Galapagos) this past May and saw that drink often! Especially on the plane flights. Tried it a couple times but not really my cup of tea. Maybe a nice dark rum would help it for me. Couldn't hurt!

The dropper bottle would indeed be great for adding drops. I currently have a couple of small dropper bottles I use if I am adding drops and really want to be precise. And of course for my dash I just use a syringe and measure out 0.7 ml. Much easier than counting drops!

This is a Bittermens recipe. They were made under contract by The Bitter Truth before Bittermens started making them themselves here in the US. The The Bitter Truth forumla was adapted for production by TBT, a small departure from the "real" Bittermen's recipe. They could not make Bittermens original recipe in their facility. You purchased a bottle of old TBT inventory (which is fine). When that inventory is sold through, only the current Bittermen's will be available. The two versions are very similar. It is very powerful stuff. A few drops goes a long way. That "spendy" bottle will make tons of drinks. Great stuff. Considered by some to be a modern "essential" bitters. TBT has made a new chocolate bitters, which is presumably unrelated to the Bittermen's recipe that they made under contract. I have not tried it. I'm sure they made it to fill the hole in their product line when the stopped making the Bittermens version. Bittermens Xocalatl Mole Bitters The Bitter Truth Chocolate Bitters Thanks for filling in the details! I look forward to using it in a few rum and tequila cocktails to try it out. And I must say I absolutely love the choice of eyedropper style bottles in the current version! It makes me wish I had found that first.

Enjoy the Linie. And drink it like the Norwegians do: room temp. Fuller flavor for sipping. And so I shall! And have. Although I suspect the rooms in Norway might be a tad cooler on the average! Has been a while since I had aquavit but this was definitely smoother than I expected thanks to it is long journey there and back again no doubt.

Amsterdam?! Genever should be the order of the day! Swedish Punsch will be available to you in short order, but anything other than Bols or the forgettable Boomsma are unlikely to be imported anytime soon. And it's rather more versatile anyway. Yes, they passed through Amsterdam this morning on the outbound leg and did a bit of reconnaissance in duty free. No Roggenaer to be found (or any van Wees products it would seem which seems odd) but a lot of different Bols genevers. You would think there might be some other brands of genever to be had besides Bols! But I may not have all the details. Options they reported seeing include: Bols Corenwyn (corn wine) Bols Corenwyn 6 jaar gelagerd Bols Corenwyn 10 jaar gelagerd And possibly the Bols zeer oude Genever I don't know much about them yet but have a little time to decide if I want to try one. Leaning towards the 10yo Corenwyn since the older it is probably the less likely I am to find it here. Older isn't neccesarily always better but in this case it is my fall back position when buying a pig in a poke! Anybody ever have something called Coeburgh Classic? Apparently a Bols Dutch market only blackberry flavored spirit of some sort. Also a cranberry, cherry and raspberry flavor. I am always willing to take a gamble on something out of the ordinary although I have no idea if it would be found in the airport duty free stores.

Well, it looks like London is out. My friend was rerouted and now goes through Amsterdam both going and returning. I have even less idea what might be available there but we did decide not to take a chance on Cuban rum given the circumstances under which they are traveling. I suppose it would be too much to ask of the liquor gods for their to be a bottle of Swedish Punsch and/or van Wees Roggenaer in the duty free shop...

Christmas comes early! Of course that can happen when you are buying "presents" for yourself. Got word that an internet order had arrived and picked it up on the way home this evening. I opened my "present" to find the following: Clement Creole Shrubb (I do like the orange liqueurs!), Depaz Rhum Agricole, Starr African rum, Amaro CioCiaro and just for fun a bottle of the rather spendy Bitter Truth/Bitterman's Xocolatl Mole bitters. It is interesting how the picture on the Bitter Truth website has a label that says Chocolate bitters but the label on my bottle says Xocolatl Mole bitters. Intended for different markets perhaps? Or a recent change because Xocolatl Mole was confusing people? Anyway, looks like a little impromptu rum tasting for me tonight!

I have the R&W CdV but don't have the Drillaud. I ended up also getting Creme Yvette for comparison to the CdV only to find that those two are kissin' cousins at best.