Czequershuus
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Posts posted by Czequershuus
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I am with you. Camus makes very nice cognacs. I am still thinking of the XO I had years ago. Too bad it is so expensive.
I ran into a ridiculously cheap bottle of the VS a few years ago(under $20) but have not seen a Camus product in my area at any price since
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Thanks to Dan's advice my bottle of Bonal is comfortable resting in my fridge. However, before it put it in I had to try a few experiments.
My first go was the Now Voyager (link), a creation of none other than the inimitable Rafa
1 Oz Jamaican Rum (Smith & Cross)
1 Oz Rhum Agricole (La Favorite Blanc-also a new purchase)
1 Oz Bonal
2 ds Xocoatl Mole Bitters
Stir, strain, up, lemon twist (discard)
Fantastic drink, lovely rich deep flavors. The combo of chocolate bitters and the Bonal is a great one.
To find out how Bonal worked in a sour application, I also tried Ted Kilgore's Word to the Wise (link)
1 Oz OGD 114 Bourbon (Wild Turkey 101)
0.5 Oz Bonal
0.5 Oz Green Chartreuse
0.5 Oz Maraschino
0.5 Oz Lime Juice
Shake, strain, up, cherry(omitted)
Perhaps a touch sweet, but very nice flavor combo. The Chartreuse, Maraschino, and lime puts me in mind of a Last Word, but with the extra herbal notes from the Bonal it is more complex - less refreshing but more contemplative.
I am loving the Bonal so far. I was a little worried when I tasted it at room temperature, as it had a bit of an aftertaste. But chilled or in cocktails it is very lovely.
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I have never tried them, but I do have a couple guesses in mind. Spirit wise I would think it would pair well with Gin, as juniper and hops do have a bit on an affinity. Probably pair even better with Genever, given the juniper plus malt factor. As a substitute it sort of depends on flavor profile. If they taste like citrus forward hops you could maybe sub for grapefruit or orange bitters. If they are funkier I am not as certain about subs. Take all this with a grain of salt, though, as I have not had a chance to taste the bitters.
Or, as a joke drink, put one small drop in a vodka and soda and call it a Keystone Light
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Quick question, what is the best way to store Bonal? Based on the ABV I am inclined to refrigerate, but based on limited space if it is reasonable to store at room temp without spoilage that seems preferable.
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My Drinkupny order arrived today!
The first three on the left are restocks but the rest is all new to me.
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The Bronx cocktail has always been one of those classics I could never get behind, but I figured the more spirit forward a lemon juice balanced Bronx Bomber would suit me more
Bronx Bomber (Link)
1.5 Oz Plymouth Gin (Only have Beefeater at the moment)
0.25 Oz Sweet Vermouth (Punt e Mes)
0.25 Oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
0.5 Oz Orange Juice (Si, which is preferable to the quality of oranges in grocery stores at this time of year)
0.25 Oz Lemon Juice
0.25 Oz Simple Syrup
Shake, strain, up, orange twist.
Much better than its more famous cousin. If I were to try again I may up the lemon to half an ounce, but even in this balance these flavors came together quite well.
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It's a bit strange: if a bottle of a given liquor is almost empty, I'm motivated to finish it off. But if there's just a little more than a little left in it, I'll tend to avoid using it and to make drinks with things from the more flush part of the inventory. So ostensibly I'm thinking about clearing bottles out of the bar, but in practice I'm winding up with a ton of bottles that are hovering just above the tipping point.
I do the exact same thing. I think for me it stems from a feeling that if I finish off a bottle too quickly, I will probably run into a cocktail I really want to try with that ingredient later.
Other than that foible, I keeping a running list of cocktail that I want to try and usually go by this. I also keep track of what I have tried with ratings so I can revisit these when I am in the mood. It can be a lengthy process, sometimes choosing a drink takes longer than making it.
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Improvised a genever cocktail tonight and was quite happy with the result. I have dubbed it the Magically Delicious, as the aromoa oddly remind me of Lucky Charms (YMMV)
Magically Delicious
1 Oz Genever (Bols standard American offering)
1 Oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica)
0.25 Oz Frangelico
2 dashes Boker's Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
I am tempted to say garnish with a cereal marshmallow, because the aroma is oddly evocative of a standard breakfast for me at age nine. Regardless, it is a lovely tipple.
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I have to admit that I am sometimes guilty of picking cocktails not based on ingredients alone, but also names (I know, that sounds awfully superficial. It is what is inside that counts.). An interesting name is always more intriguing, plus it's easier to remember. Also it's fun to serve to other people, and even better if there is a good story that goes with the name. No idea what the story is with that one though. I will have to make something up.
I do the same thing. I sometimes find myself really hoping a cocktail with an awesome name will be brilliant, and then being terribly disappointed when it is not. But when a great name accompanies a great cocktail, it is just a win-win.
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A drink called the Tempest popped up on Cocktail
VirginSlut. I had all the ingredients and have been looking for some non-Tiki uses for Passionfruit Syrup, and this fit the treat.Tempest
1.5 Oz Ron Abuelo Rum (Appleton V/X)
0.75 Oz Meletti
0.5 Oz Passionfruit Syrup
1 Oz Lime Juice
1 Oz Soda Water
Shake with ice and strain an ice filled rocks glass.
This took me two attempts to make, as I missed the line about the soda water and ice the first time, and just did it up. The drink actually worked both ways, the soda-less version being excellently intense, the other was much more refreshing. This is a fantastic drink overall, one of the better uses of Meletti I have found.
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I was inspired by my current lack of lemons and limes(cash flow is quite tight until my upcoming paycheck) to use the shrubs I have had sitting around in my fridge. I find shrubs difficult to work with, something about the balance eludes me. Anyway, I had some cold green tea left over from a less successful experiment, and thought it would work nicely in a punch esque operation with some Batavia Arrack. But I had no citrus, so I tossed in my autumn apple shrub, which I made last fall with apples, apple cider vinegar, as well as cloves and allspice and I believe cinnamon. I must admit, it turned out rather splendidly. I did not measure exactly except for the Arrack but I imagine it was about 1.5 oz arrack, 3 oz of tea, and about .75 oz of shrub.
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I guess the obvious answer is the Martini, as long as you call an olive a garnish and not an ingredient. My other though is an equal parts mixture of sweet and dry vermouth, served over ice, although this can be improved by the addition of bitters, which makes it a Vermouth Cocktail.
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I have been playing around with my bottle of Pelinkovac over the past few evenings. It is quite bitter and fairly dry, and I wanted to play around with something a bit Negroni like, but not on the exact template. Because the Pelinkovac is less sweet than Campari, I switched out the Sweet Vermouth for a liqueur. I had plenty of Cointreau, and the orange flavor worked well with the Pelinkovac, so I went with that.
For each drink I went with the formula of equal parts spirit, Pelinkovac, Cointreau (1/2 oz each part)
I tried it with Gin(Beefeater, Dry Rye), White Whiskey (Buffalo Trace), and Brandy (Ansac VS Cognac)
The clear winner was, rather surprisingly, Brandy. The richness worked well with the bitter Croatian liqueur. The London Dry gin was the least pleasant, something in the botanicals clashed to much.
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Fairly vigorous blind testing on Serious Eats: The Best Way to Store Vermouth
Interesting that the tester could not detect a difference in the dry vermouth after a month. I Vacu-Vin my vermouth and store in the refrigerator, but after a month I almost always notice off flavors. I may have to blind test this myself. With the sweet though, I totally understand. I had a bottle of Carpano Antica that I forgot about in my cabinet that tasted just fine 8 months with no refrigeration.
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I love WNOP when paired with other strong components, as otherwise I lose subtler favors. Green Chartreuse is a good bet as the Bikini Atoll http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2011/10/bikini-atoll.html or the Nuclear Daiquiri http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2011/04/nuclear-daiquiri.html I also really enjoyed it mixed with Ting soda, which is, apparently, a popular drink in Jamaica.
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While I agree with the posters above, If these really are your only three options, and you are dead set on a Piña Colada, I would say either of the first two options should be serviceable.
Putting a bar made drink in the fridge or freezer will likely cause the coconut cream in the drink to solidify, leaving you with a very unpleasant concoction.
The pre mixed bottled cocktails are usually pretty bad, but I would guess I would not matter much with a classic Piña Colada.
If you go the rum and mixer route, just choose a nice solid white rum. My standard is Cruzan, which is very cheap, and I have always found to have a pleasant flavor. Other will have different recommendations.
However, if you are willing to put in just a bit more work, I agree with dan up thread about shaking the ingredients. this will be far superior to the other alternatives.
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Be sure to store it in the fridge. A while back I made syrup with panela (basically the same thing), and left it out for literally no more than 3 days and it got quite moldy by then. It was pretty close to 2:1, too...
That was my plan, but I will be sure to keep a close eye on it. Thanks for the warning.
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Found some extremely nice and very cheap Jaggery Sugar at a local asian market I frequent. As I was nearly out of the turbinado syrup I had been using I decided on this for my latest dark sugar syrup.
The Jaggery is pretty easy to works with, and only takes a little longer to dissolve than more refined sugars. I made a 2:1 syrup as I normally do, and the result is a viscous, almost caramel-like, slightly funky syrup.
I tried it in a Rye Old Fashioned first, where it worked well, but it really shined when I tried it in and OF with some White Dog, where the rough edges of each harmonize very nicely.
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Something about having a nearly full bottle of Fernet inspires me to make Fernet heavy cocktails. I was looking for a nice desert/nightcap that was not too sweet and this one popped out at me.
1 Oz Fernet Branca
1 Oz Becherovka
0.25 Oz Godiva Chocolate Liqueur (I only have DeKuyper, which I think is passable in small amounts)
0.25 Oz Agave Syrup (Turbinado)
0.25 tsp Cocoa Powder
1 Egg White
4 ds Chocolate Bitters (Xocatl Mole)
Dry shake, shake, strain, up
Wow, this was fantastic. Spicy, sweet, bitter, great texture. Certainly not a cocktail for all occasions, but this to me is an excellent adult desert replacement.
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Finally got around to makign a Silver Fizz the other night. Stange, how often simple classic like this escape my notice.
2 Oz Gin
1 Oz Lemon Juice
1 tsp Superfine Suger (Turbinado Syrup)
1 Egg White
Top with soda water
It is simple, but it is also damn tasty, and a nice relief from the sticky, stormy, humid weather we have been having. To follow it up, since I still had half of an enormous lemon, I repeated the experiment with cousin drink the Golden Fizz, which substitutes egg yolk for egg white. Very similar, but I think for me the egg white version is superior, both in terms of appearance and texture. The taste is not affected, as is to be expected.
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Yes, thanks this is really cool. After a quick perusal I have to say I am much taken by the drink name Flutemaginley, which is purported to contain a small glass of cider, soda water, sherry, brandy, lemon peel, sugar, and nutmeg. You know, it sounds crazy, but it might work. If nothing else, the name is so fabulously of its time.
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A late night coming home from a busy day sometimes requires a nicely complex drink. This night I went for:
1 Oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse BIB)
1 Oz Lemon Juice
0.5 Oz Fernet Branca
0.5 Oz Falernum (Velvet)
0.5 Oz Grenadine
2 ds Angostura Bitters
Shake, rocks(I served up. Oops, I too often forget to read this part of a recipe)
What a delightfully big drink. Surprisingly the Fernet is almost lost here, the acidity of the lemon and the grenadine came charging through. A really refreshing drink, given its ingredients.
On a side note, has anyone else had the experience with homemade grenadine that it does not go off. I must have made my current bottle six months ago or more, and I keep expecting it to crystalize, or mold, or start to taste off as happen to all my other syrups, but it just holds strong and flavorful. I am not complaining, mind you, it is actually very fortuitous.
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In the mood for a bitter repast tonight, I chose this one
Laughing Boy (Link)
1.5 Oz Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum (Appleton VX)
0.5 Oz Carpano Antica (Punt e Mes)
0.5 Oz Fernet Branca
0.5 Oz Meletti Amaro
1 ds Aromatic Bitters (Angostura)
1 ds Orange Bitters (Angostura)
Stir, rocks, pinch of salt, lemon twist.
Really hit the spot after a long day. Bitter, dark, and rich. On to more new Fernet cocktails, having just restocked!
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For the value I feel Evan Williams is unbeatable, but I have recently become enamored of Wild Turkey, which is also quite reasonable.
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Best of Rafa/DrunkLab
in Spirits & Cocktails
Posted
I had a Chelsea Manning the other night that was extremely enjoyable. I used Crosse & Blackwell for the Marmalade, but I have been considering trying to make my own sometime, and this drink just gives me one more reason to try.