Rafa

This thread is the closest thing to a common room that this board has, so I'll just post this here: Serious Eats named this very forum a good source for cocktail information online. In case you didn't know we were. On topic: most of my booze is still boxed after a recent move, so I'm keeping it simple. Tonight, a Laird's Bonded Old Fashioned with Angostura. Didn't even jigger it, just splashed some over a rock.

You could try a small amount of coconut essence, the kind that's used for baking. But be sparing, 'cause that stuff is strong. Other than that, maybe a coconut rum? Coconut rum, and coconut vodka, are actually useful for just this reason. Coconut cream and cream of coconut are fatty, sweet, and prone to separation, so infusions are a great way to get coconut flavor in a drink without having to deal with the textural problems. Unsweetened coconut milk is good too.

A liquor store can be very good without catering to cocktailians at all. Some great places I know have little in the way of vermouths or amari yet have stunning collections of whisk(e)y or wine. Or they have small, but expertly curated, selections. That said, the Haus Alpenz portfolio is a dead giveaway that a liquor store has cocktailians in mind. If you can find the Dolin and Cocchi wines, St. Liz, Batavia Arrack, and so on on a store's shelves you'll probably find most other bar essentials and popular-ish specialty items. When it comes to liquor stores I look for a balance between selection and price. I'm fortunate to live in a market with a high density of cocktail bars and enthusiasts, with enough demand for esoteric items that big stores can buy them in bulk and sell them at a discount.

A dry Martini with a mix of St. George Terroir and and Douglas Fir eau de vie as the "gin." I used Dolin dry, but Vya might be more appropriate, if intense (you might have to cut it with a softer vermouth). Grapefruit bitters and twist. I would have garnished with a pine/fir needle if I'd had one.

Caipirinha with La Favorite Blanc. (Can I still call it that? Agricole Smash?) Delicious, but I miss the rocket fuel edge that many cachacas bring to the drink. Maybe next time I'll mix in some Wray & Nephew...

Ratios! Had a Honeysuckle (honey Daiquiri) with Banks 5 Island and black sage honey and a drop of orange flower water. Delicious, fruity, a little savory. Um, I think you forgot to give us your ratios there, Rafa... Do you have to melt the honey? Hemingway Daiquiri 2oz Havana Club 3 1/4oz Luxardo maraschino 3/4oz lime juice 3/4oz grapefruit juice 1/2oz simple Ha. Fair enough... 2 oz Banks 5 Island 3/4 oz black sage honey syrup (1:1) 3/4 oz lime juice 1 dr orange flower water I normally prefer drier Daiquiris, but I like how the sage honey and the Banks interact, and the honey donates a drying black pepper finish. Good stuff. Great with tequila as well. Yesterday I made a La Favorite Daiquiri with a barspoon of cane syrup. Coconut, lime, and fresh cane. Will drink again.

Get out. Just leave. You obviously aren't one of us. The original calls for dark Jamaican rum, not blackstrap. Perhaps you might like that better. I also think that 4oz of pineapple is 2.5 oz too much. Jungle Bird commentary on Kindred Cocktails. It's good with Coruba in the Sam Ross ratios, without the breakfast syrup flavors the blackstrap donates. Though I like the blackstrap version. Hassouni, if you haven't tried it, you might prefer the Bitter Mai Tai. Similar concept (Campari + tropical flavors) but with a drier/funkier execution. There's also The Getaway (blackstrap + Cynar) and the Dirt 'n Diesel (blackstrap + Cynar + Fernet).

Ratios! Had a Honeysuckle (honey Daiquiri) with Banks 5 Island and black sage honey and a drop of orange flower water. Delicious, fruity, a little savory.

'Ti Punch with La Favorite Blanc. YES. It's been a while since I've posted. That last drink damn near .

Hi Muse. Welcome. Looking forward to what people cook up for this one. I have an idea or two kicking around that I might post later this week.

It's got rum and lime and sugar and, uh, other things! Alright it ain't no daiquiri. Don't mean I'm not gonna call it the Daq l'Orange.

1 1/2 oz Creole Shrubb 1 oz Cynar 3/4 lime juice Not sure if it counts as a(n orange) Daiquiri, but this was fun.

Colin Devlin, the Brooklyn restaurateur behind Dumont, DuMont Burger, and the Michelin starred Dressler has died of an apparent suicide. He leaves behind a wife and children. Dressler had been suddenly shuttered recently, and it seems that his other restaurants had financial troubles ahead. Here is a collection of remembrances from friends and fans. DuMont and DuMont Burger were two of the first restaurants I ate in after moving to New York, and remained two of my favorites in Williamsburg. Suicide and what leads to it are terrible and complex things and beyond me to discuss, but I feel for his family and employees. He'll be missed.

The Crippler by The Tippler, NYC. 1 oz Stroh Jagertee liqueur 3/4 oz Martinique Rum, Rhum JM (gold) 3/4 oz Rye, Old Overholt 1/2 oz Mezcal, Del Maguey Vida 1 ds Bitters, Bitter End Memphis Barbecue 1 bsp Herbal liqueur, Yellow Chartreuse Stir, strain, up. Off-dry, boozy, spicy (cinnamon), balanced, complex, lovely. -- Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community A friend insisted on going to The Tippler after an article about the most dangerous (i.e. high proof) cocktails in New York singled out this drink. As the article mentions, the drink is actually quite balanced and interesting, neither too sweet nor firewatery in the least, though you're definitely aware that you're drinking potent booze. Now, if it had been made with 160 proof Stroh, La Favorite Blanc, Rittenhouse bonded, Del Maguey Minero, and Green Chartreuse...

... proclaiming the Holy Spirit. Good at jokes, me. Well, I laughed. I also misspelled "slacks," though, so adjust the value of my laughter accordingly.

I believe 1:1 simple usually ends up having about 1.5x the volume of the sugar that goes into it (e.g., one cup each of sugar and water will yield ~1.5 cups of syrup), so about half a tablespoon.

Well, if PDT couldn't do it, maybe it's time to just bury the Monkey Gland once and for all.

With Blanc, it'd be closer to a bourbon Hoots Mon if anything.

I have been known to go door to door, dressed dourly in pressed slats and black tie, with a shaker in hand and a leather-bound Savoy tucked under an arm, ringing door bells and spreading the good word... I ended up enjoying a straight Daiquiri with 1 oz Barbancourt 8 yr | 1/2 oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof | 3/4 oz lime juice | 1 teaspoon sugar. Tart, dry, refreshing, deep, funky, delicious.

Monkey Gland (Palatable) 2 oz Gin3/4 oz Lime juice1/2 oz Curaçao1/4 oz Raspberry syrup1 rinse Absinthe1 ds Bitters, Angostura1 wdg Lime (as garnish) Shake, strain, up, garnish. HistoryCocktail revivalists have long lamented the tendency of the venerable Monkey Gland to resist palatability. To the modern palate, the standard Monkey Gland recipe—gin, some dashed absinthe and raspberry syrup, and a heaping helping of orange juice, justly called by Dan Chadwick the "fruit of cocktail death"—registers as an unbalanced, overly sweet mishmash of discordant flavors, lacking structure or shame. But with a bit of modern tinkering—adding some acid here, dashing complementary bitters there, substituting balanced orange liqueur for the insipid juice—we arrive at something with the zippy acidity and bright citrus flavors of a... well, we arrive at a Pegu Club, with some berry juice and an absinthe rinse. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty good thing. Enjoy. --Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community Well, I tried. It's still not as good to my palate as a straight Pegu or a Clover Club. Any other ideas for rescuing the Gland? Fresh raspberries? Different source of acid? Actual fresh-squeezed monkey gland for craft authenticity?

And now it's National Ice Cream Day, as I found out through the President's Facebook feed. (Thanks, Obama!) Cool down with one of these: Velvet Elvisby Kevin Burke, Colt & Grey, Denver, CO3/4 c Ice cream (Coffee-flavored)1 1/2 oz Milk (Whole)2 oz Reposado Tequila1/2 oz Crème Yvette1/2 oz Orgeat (1/4-3/4 oz)1 pn Nutmeg (as garnish) Blend. Pour into a hurricane glass and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Or, cough cough, this old thing: Milkshake 'n Honeyby Rafa García Febles, NYC.1 oz Oloroso sherry1/2 oz Apple brandy1/2 oz Scotch3/4 oz Ginger syrup1/2 oz Lemon juice3 oz Ice cream (honey-flavored)1 ds Bitters, Angostura1 ds Bitters, Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Blend til blended. Pour into a milkshake glass, garnish with cherry, serve with straw, two if sipping with your sweetheart.

I couldn't find the specs for Jim Meehan's French Maid online, so I wrote them up here: French Maidby Jim Meehan, PDT, NYC.1 1/2 oz Cognac, Hine1 oz Ginger beer3/4 oz Lime juice3/4 oz Simple syrup1/4 oz Falernum, Velvet Falernum4 sli Cucumber8 lf Mint (6-8)1 spg Mint (as garnish) Muddle cukes and mint in simple, then combine all, shake, and strain. Garnish with a mint sprig through a cucumber wheel.

For those of you in the US, it's national Daiquiri day. (For those of you not in the US, enjoy a Daiquiri today anyway.) I'll be celebrating by grabbing a Denizen Daiquiri at Astor Wines this afternoon and then heading home to learn whether a Hemingway with soda and mint is something worth drinking.

I was in the mood for rum and I'm out of sweet vermouth, so I made a variation of this with Lemon Hart 151 and Bonal, same ratios. Really nice.

Yes. Blume Marillen or equivalent. That's just how KC saves that particular ingredient.