Czequershuus

Finally purchased the bottle of Luxardo Amaro Abano that has been sitting at my local store for months now. I have been thinking "I'll buy that later" and I saw they were just down to one, so I jumped for it. It reminds me a bit of Ramazzotti, only the cola notes is replaced by a hint of anise and cinnamon. I tried it out in the Brooklyn Heights, as I always think something in the Manhattan universe is a good test of a dark brown Amaro. Certainly tasty the Abano plays well with the dry vermouth, not overpowering it. A nice little Amaro, and a bargain for 22 dollars.

I show these pictures to my fiancée to help convince her my cabinet is not too crazy. It helps!

Finally got around to making my own Orgeat. I used this recipe from Serious Eats. I used Turbinado sugar for the syrup, and I cut back on the orange flower water, as my bottle is quite powerful. I also used white rum rather than vodka as a preservative, as I do not regularly keep vodka around. The straining was a messy process, as I realized to late I was out of cheesecloth, and was forced to used a clean dish towel. It served its purpose. The result is very flavorful. Not sure if it is better than BG Reynolds, but it is certainly cheaper, which is important. I tried it out on a couple of Mai Tais, by this recipe 1 Oz Appleton V/X 1 Oz La Favorite Blanc 0.5 Oz Cointreau 0.5 Oz Orgeat 0.75 Oz Lime Juice 0.25 Oz Simple Syrup(scant) Really nice. I do love this drink, and I think this was the best I have had it. I added Tiki bitters for the second, which was a nice change up.

Stopped at a liquor store I only get to occasionally, but that sometimes has inexplicably good prices, as well as inexplicably bad ones. Today I happened on a 375ml bottle of a 100% agave Reposado Tequila for under 5 dollars.It is called Cabrito. It is not sensationally good, but damn good at the price.

I got to experiment with my bottle of Salers Gentiane a bit weekend. First drink I with the Harry Palmer, as it seemed a nice simple way to test it out. I used I used Punt e Mes for the vermouth, and maybe the overpowered this cocktail. It was good, but the subtleties of the Salers disappeared. It did provide a nice extra bitterness, sort of a more ethereal Manhattan. Also had a Salers drink with my new bottle of Cocchi Americano. The Little Valiant was an awesome, low alcohol aperitif. Exactly the sort of thing you would want as an enticing pre-prandial. I might up the lemon juice when I make it again.

Opened up my first bottle of Cocchi Americano last. Definitely better than it's cousin, Lillet Blanc. A bit more bitters, sharper, and not quite as sweet. I was really digging it on it's own, so I first set out to make a classic corpse reviver #2. It was good on the first sip, but not great, then I realised I forgot the Absinthe! Dashed some in, and boy does it make a huge difference. I always discover what a big role small amounts of ingredients can play when I screw something up. Anyway, the drink turned out great, better than with Lillet Blanc After the CR #2, I went for something that has been floating around my to try list for literaly years, Dave Wondrich's Weeski. I used Cocchi instead of the called for Lillet, and Redbreast 12 for the Whiskey. Delightful drink, though likely more appropriate for summer time. All in all I am loving the Cocchi, very happy with the purchase.

I find it more complex than most sweet vermouths I have tried, and possibly a little drier as well. You could easily sub it in for a sweet vermouth, as they are very much in the same area, but you would not quite get the same effect.

My Bonal last five months refrigerated with no discernible change it taste. Pretty much the same as a sweet vermouth. Now If only dry vermouth would last that long.

Winter does seem to inspire a certain desire for the tropically tacky, especially when accompanied by a heavy does of the spice element. The Lizard King fit the bill nicely. I subbed Appleton V/X for the rum here, and used my homemade allspice dram and cinnamon syrup. Delicious drink, very focused on the cinnamon/allspice flavors. Nothing to complex, but there is enough going on to keep on interested to the bottom of the glass. I would repeat this one.

Tried the Coney Island last night. It is a very straightforward chocolatey Manhattan, and a good drink to try out my Marie Brizard. I recommend it if you are in the mood for something tasty and not to challenging.

Previously I had only tried the Brooklyn with Torani Amer, which makes for a rather uninspiring drink. Last night I tried it with Bittermans Amer Nouvelle Admittedly this bottling is not so much an attempt to recreated the old Picon, but rather reinterpret it. I used the Diffords recipe as so 2 Oz Rye (Rittenhouse) 0.5 Oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin) 0.25 Oz Maraschino (Luxardo) 0.25 Oz Amer Picon (Amer Nouvelle) I must say it was a very enjoyable drink. The Bittermans has a lovely clean flavor that worked great here. Even if it is not historically accurate, I can see myself going back through other old Picon drinks to give this bottle a try.

Drinkupny order arrived today. Apologies for the poor picture quality. The Punt e Mes and Smith & Cross are restocks, but the rest are new to me.

I would not order from Drinkupny if you need your order in a few days. Their selection, prices, and willingness to ship pretty much anywhere are awesome, but they do not move quickly. I placed an order early yesterday, and 24 hours later it has still only processed, not shipped. This has happened with previous orders too. I don't really mind, as ordering online is a luxury I only engaging in once or twice a year, but if you need something quick they are not the way to go.

Enjoyed a Darkness til Dawn last night after work - Apple Brandy, Cerry Heering, Fernet Branca, Lemon Juice.. This one has been sitting on my to-drink list for a while, but never popped to the forefront until now. Very nice drink, I love Halloweenesque color. Only modification I might make is upping the Lemon by a quarter ounce.

Not necessarily a cocktail thing, but this showed up on one of my favorite web comics today and I thought people here might appreciate it.

Starting off Thanksgiving morning right. The Cokes-Up Monk has everything to start turkey day off right: whiskey, wine(in the form of vermouth) and beer, to cover the traditional holiday imbibeables, Coca-Cola for caffeine, and and egg, for morning protein.

I do not have much experience with Calvados, in fact I only have one cheap bottle myself, but the gym sock description does lead we to wonder if it may be a bad bottle. My cheap little bottle of Pere Magloire, while certainly not earth-shattering, is quite bright and nice. Subtler than my Laird's BIB, but not funky or strange flavors.

I had not thought of freezing, that makes so much sense.

I recently made some quince syrup following this recipe from serious eats. The result was lovely and light, and while I love the lower sugar content compared to my usual syrups, I also know it will not keep as long. So, that's a good excuse to play. Last night I was in the mood for a tequila drink, so I improvise this - 2 Oz Lunazul Blanco 1 Oz Lemon juice 0.75 Oz Quince syrup 0.25 Oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot 1 ds Fee's Rhubard Bitters Shake, pour into a rocks glass, becasue your lazy and dinner is ready. I was really quite happy with how this turned out. My previosu experiment with the syrup had been a simple gin sour, which was good but not great, but this had a lot of character.

That would be my instinct as well. The only case I might make an exception in is if the spirit component is very high proof. For example, the Smith & Cross punch follows this basic format, and I strongly prefer that drink over ice.

Been waiting to try this one for a while: The Notorious F.L.I.P. A bad pun always attracts me to a drink. And this one did not fail me. I mean, it was really fantastic, deep, rich, one of those cocktails that is more than the sum of its parts. Only problem is I am nearly out of Smith & Cross now.

If you can get Willett for roughly the same price as Rittenhouse, then I would go for the Willett.

Restocked on Beefeater today, but also picked up a bottle of Nardini I have been eyeing for quite a while a at my local liquor store. I have to say, after tasting it, it is totally worth the 45 dollars I spent on it!

Sipping on this right now, and it really is fantastic.

I finally remembered this drink at the same time a having a pineapple on hand. Not bad, I do like the way Violette and Campari play together. The color is amazing though, a really striking pale purple. Not something I would likely repeat, but I am very glad I finally got around to trying it.