Rafa

No one's mentioned it yet, but I think Julie Reiner's Gin Blossom deserves a place: Gin Blossomby Julie Reiner, Clover Club, Brooklyn, NY.1 1/2 oz Gin, Plymouth3/4 oz Dry apricot brandy3/4 oz Bianco Vermouth, Martini & Rossi2 ds Orange bitters Stir, strain, up, lemon twist. --Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community Also one of the best names in drinks.

Ah yes. Didn't Picasso tip his servers that way, by giving them an original Picasso? I look forward to the day when I can gather my art collector friends in my foyer and show them my framed and bona fide original Simó. A Rebujito ("little tangle") is a popular highball in Andalusia and other parts of Spain, usually just light sherry and Sprite or another lemon soda. I imagine MoVida did a craftier version with fresh juice.

No idea about the Spiced Symphony, and I don't feel too sad not having found the recipe for the Christmas Pudding Martini. I am only familiar with about a third of the list. I realize that I am much more familiar with the latest American creations than what is going on in Europe. Me too. And with due respect to the many excellent European bartenders making inventive and delicious drinks (including the ones who post in this forum), I find myself more drawn to the American entries in this list.

I haven't read it, but I've heard it called one of the best contemporary cocktail books by people who have.

Thank you FrogPrincesse. Some interesting choices. I'm a fan of the refreshing, flavorful 212, but I'm not sure I would have otherwise considered it for a list like this one. I wonder what the Spiced Symphony is... ETA: Bacardi contests seem to be a big deal in Europe. I may be Puerto Rican, but I find it hard to believe that so many of the decade's best cocktails contain some amount of Bacardi rum.

Difford's Guide just released a list of 30 of the best cocktails invented since 2000, featuring several of the ones mentioned so far in this thread, and a few no one's mentioned.

I'd drink that. Any idea of the ratios? Two Trick Ponyby Joaquín Simó, Pouring Ribbons, NYC.1 oz White whiskey, Low Gap1 oz Bourbon, WL Weller (7 year)3/4 oz Lemon juice1/4 oz Orgeat1/4 oz Demerara syrup (2:1)1 ds Bitters, Angostura1 1/2 oz Beer, Miller High Life1 twst Orange peel Shake all but High Life, strain into an 8 oz mason jar containing High Life, garnish with an orange pigtail twist. --Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community Here's a somewhat blurry camera phone picture of Joaquín's drawing of a mason jar.

Paloma with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Perfection. Plus an improvised pineapple and gentian monstrosity. Let us never speak of it again.

I mixed up the recipes for the Warning Label and the Teenage Riot tonight, and made this: 1 oz Lemon Hart 151 1 oz Cynar 1 oz Amontillado Sherry Lemon twist. Pretty good!

While there are plenty of examples of lemon Southsides in the literature, this is one drink that really benefits from lime. I haven't tried it with genever, but that may have been a factor as well.

Tonight I made Dan's Wedderburn or Bite with Wray & Nephew (didn't have an old hiking boot lying around to complete the Smith & Cross substitution). Fantastic. Though deserving of a catchier name, I think.

A week ago I went to Pouring Ribbons and had the following Hot & Heavyby Troy Sidle, Pouring Ribbons, NYC.1 oz Reposado Tequila, Calle 231 oz Mezcal, Del Maguey Vida3 wdg Lemon (cut a lemon into eights and use three of those)1/2 oz Honey syrup ("hot honey"—hot pepper-infused honey)1 ds Angostura Bitters1 ds Peychaud's Bitters1 spg Mint (as garnish) Combine, muddle, shake, strain into an old fashioned glass over one big ice cylinder, insert a slapped mint sprig. and Cascabelby Joaquín Simó, Pouring Ribbons, NYC.1 1/2 oz Reposado Tequila, Calle 233/4 oz Pear eau de vie, Clear Creek3/4 oz Herbal liqueur, Yellow Chartreuse2 ds Bitters (cinnamon bitters)1 ds Bitters, Angostura Stir, strain, up. Dry but strongly fruity, with supporting notes of oak, earth, spice, and subtle floral tones. Good sipper. Both excellent. Joaquín made the second drink for me after I requested something with the Clear Creek Pear Brandy, which I've been obsessed with lately—it's a great spirit, and a great early summer flavor. He made it more pear-forward for me than he would have otherwise, though the tequila contributed earthy and floral notes that complemented the pear very well. He left the drink unnamed, so I gave it the Spanish name for 'rattlesnake,' after the original Diamondback cocktail it riffs on, and after the Crotalus oreganus, a rattlesnake whose territory spans from Clear Creek's Oregon to Calle 23's Mexico. I'm all out of pear brandy, unfortunately. I used most of it up making this: McCarren Park Swizzleby Rafa García Febles, NYC.1 oz Bison grass vodka1 oz Pear eau de vie1/2 oz Lemon juice (1/2-3/4 oz)1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain1/2 oz Falernum2 ds Bitters (1-2 dashes each of Peychaud's and Angostura)1 spg Mint Combine first five ingredients in serving glass and fill with pebble ice or crushed ice. Swizzle til well-chilled. Top with more ice, 1-2 dashes of Peychaud's and Angostura bitters, and a thin lemon twist snaked around the base of a slapped mint sprig. Serve with a short straw. --Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + CommunityWhich I enjoy greatly. Next up is Dan's Cynar + Smith & Cross thinger.

I can't speak about Sirop JM in particular, but Petite Canne cane syrup has a much fuller cane flavor than 2:1 rich simple (though it is similar in viscosity and sweetness, as FrogPrincesse points out). In terms of depth of flavor and 'terroir' I'd say it's more like a good maple syrup. Sirop Clement just tastes like the vanilla, cinnamon, and clove it's flavored with. I use it in Tiki recipes when those flavors are called for.

I made this tonight and I'm sad to say I found it too sweet and Maraschino-y. I used the specified Cocchi Vermouth and Ridgemont Reserve 1792, which is ~94 proof. I added some Islay whisky which helped balance it a bit. Since you all like it so much I'll assume my palate is just out of whack. I've been drinking mostly wine and neat spirits, so any cocktail would probably strike me as sweet. Or maybe I'm just becoming Evergreen Dan and will soon shun and hiss at all things sweet. Glad you could find room in your budget for flowering tops of yarrow at least.

By the way, MGP (formerly LDI) has added two new rye mash bills to its slate, along with some other very interesting sounding whiskeys: The 51/45/4 mash bill is MGP's take on a standard Kentucky rye, along the lines of Rittenhouse, Sazerac, Beam, and others; the 49% barley rye is as far as I know unique and very exciting. All of these went into production in April. It'll be years before we can try even the youngest expressions of these whiskeys, but they should greatly diversify the market. It seems that 9 out of every 10 new ryes is an MGP product, so the addition of new mash bills should allow bottlers more choice in what they sell, especially if they get creative with blending different mashes and aging.

The Saz 6 is pretty good too if you can't find these, but the 18 is worth splurging on. I hear interesting things about the new Angel's Envy rye. It's an LDI rye with their standard mashbill (95% rye/5% malt) but it's aged in Caribbean rum casks, which according to multiple reviews give it a uniquely rich and dessert-y flavor. Might be worth a try if you're looking for something different.

I tried this again today, this time using Angostura and more lime than yesterday. Also more dilution. I admit that the one I did before tasted a bit soapy, and I thought it could use more water. This time it was really great. Thanks for a nice new drink Rafa. You really care about this trial, huh.

I'd forgotten about this drink. I just made one with Weller 12 and Angostura rather than Peychaud's (what was I thinking with the Peychaud's?) and I'm enjoying it. Thanks for giving it a shot. Adam, that drink sounds dangerous. I'm having trouble imagining the Tanq playing well with the Plantation OP.

It's a riff on the similar Omar Bradley, named for another military Bradley. Seemed apt. Though I've probably doomed my chances of having a job in government intelligence.

Um, pretty sure a Martini needs to have an olive. And that's too small to fit into a Martini glass (16 oz). I hate to say it, but I think you blue it. ETA - maybe top it off with Blue Moon?

These things may be related. The Orgeat plays a surprisingly important role. And I agree -- this drink demonstrates how Angostura is more spice than bitter (bark than bite?). I love this drink. Sure, but I've never liked homemade orgeat. My efforts have been all texture and no flavour, unless I dump in a bunch of almond extract, which seems to defeat the purpose. I don't have a supplier for bitter almonds. My understanding is that many commercially available almond milks contain bitter almonds, and you can augment (or even replace) sweet almonds with almond milk in many recipes. There are many recipes that produce very flavorful orgeat with minimal work; I like Kaiser Penguin's.

Agree about the orange (not aesthetically amusing enough to justify using it instead of clear), but I will defend blue curacao to the death.

Can't believe it's been nearly four years and no one has mentioned the Penicillin.

Paper Trail by Colin Shearn, St. Charles Exchange, Louisville, KY. 1 1/2 oz Bourbon 1 oz Aperol 3/4 oz Gentian liqueur, Salers 1 twst Grapefruit peel Stir, strain, up, twist. -- Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community Very nice. A light, fruity, earthy Boulevardier alternative. Otherwise it's just been a long string of JT Collins* and Rickeys here lately. With the premiere of the fourth season of Arrested Development only hours away I expect tomorrow will be a day for Hot Ham Water and other AD-themed drinks from this article, or perhaps, given the weather, some Tiki medicine from Dr. Fünke. Even if it means taking a stiff one in the mouth, I'll suck it up. (1 oz Bols Genever to 1/2 oz Broker's Gin. Don't really know what to call these, but they seem to respond to both John and Tom.)

Reviving an old thread. I haven't shopped around enough to know 'best,' but I've been making burgers for a while know with Ottomanelli's 1/2 pound steak patties, and they're absurdly good, some of the best I've eaten in the city, almost entirely because of the meat. I live in Woodside, Queens so I have an Ottomanelli's nearby, but they've got a few locations in Manhattan and based on the quality of the Woodside one I highly recommend them.