bartenderkyle

Brinza, So is the Genepy more along the lines of yellow Chartreuse? I'm heading to HiTime this weekend and was thinking about picking some up.

It is... um... squirrelier. Rougher edges, more tops and tails, I'd imagine. Better for mixing in nearly everything save things like a Vieux Carré, where you want the uber-smooth cognac. But in a Brandy Cocktail, or a Mississippi Punch, or nearly everything I usually make, it's the beans. Whenever I see a bottle of Fundador I grab it.Cocktails with squirrels? Who remembers the Monty Python cocktail sketch? A squeeze of lemming, anyone? Chris, I can't claim huge experience with cognac but we find (some) Spanish brandies are smoother, or at least more approachable. Esplendido, our current favourite, is very drinkable on its own; it's possibly even a bit understated for mixing. But I do anyway, such as in the Man Comes Around (post 516, above). But with names like Esplendido and Fabuloso, it's almost worth seeking these things out for the names alone! I bought a bottle of Spanish brandy just to make this. Wonderful drink, Rafa. You're an artist. Another cocktail great containing squirrels, contributed by Rafa... Craft Squirrel Sex Manhattan by Dale DeGroff, Clyde Common, Williamsburg, MA, as told to Rafa García Febles over Slippery Nipples in Monaco. 3/4 oz Limoncello 3/4 oz Strawberry eau de vie (squirrel-infused) 3/4 oz Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir 3/4 oz Raspberry Shrub 3/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur 3/8 oz Cranberry (Pickled) 4 pn Tartaric acid powder 1 ds Demerara syrup (3:1) 1 rinse Grenadine 16 spl Fernet Branca Plant, grow, ferment, and distill eaux de vie from lemons, strawberries, and Douglas Fir on-site in the greenhouse on the terrace of your Brooklyn loft. (Must be on-site. Must be Brooklyn.) Sweeten the lemon eau de vie with fresh cane syrup. Infuse the strawberry eau de vie with squirrel (fresh only!). Combine. Hand craft a barrel out of staves rescued from your father's first yacht and age spirits in barrel for six weeks or until you've grown bored and moved on to your next artisanal project, whichever comes first. Empty barrel, and heart. Combine contents of barrel (but not heart) with handmade raspberry shrub (with raspberries plucked from your significant other's father's estate) and authentic Maraschino liqueur. In a mortar and pestle, mash with pickled cranberries overnight. Strain. Ferment in the gullet of a hoatzin, the Guyanese stink-bird (for that touch of Demerara smoke!). Kill and gut bird; double strain. In Erlenmeyer flask, add tartaric acid (fresh squeezed only!) and Demerara syrup, then smash the flask over a rotary evaporator and evaporate its contents rotarily. Convert the remaining liquid into a spray and serve out of an atomizer inserted into the mouth of a grenadine-rinsed and hand-taxidermied squirrel (eastern gray only!). Splash Fernet Branca (or other difficult amaro) until fragrant. Serve up. -- Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community Thank God for KC, otherwise the world would be a much emptier place.

Hi Turk (can I call you Turk?) Firstly, if you haven't already visited the site, I highly recommend kindredcocktails.com. It is a great database for professional and home bartenders alike to catalog their cocktail creations. I've posted many on there, even though I don't consider most of them finished, and am still refining all of them. For me, it's mostly a place to write down thoughts and ideas, although there are many, many quality quaffs to be found. As far as refining a drink and deciding when it's done...well I guess that's all subjective. I love anything "brown, bitter, and stirred", but my wife doesn't, so if I'm creating a cocktail with her in mind, I'll start with a basic idea, then refine it until it's something she likes, which is usually something sparkling and a tad sour. And though sometimes during the refinement process cocktails kind of wander off on their own, it's also useful to keep in mind something Antoine de Saint Exupery once said: "It seems that perfection is acheived not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove" (although I often forget that, and it's probably something that never occured to Donn Beach). I also think that drinks are rarely ever "done". There are always going to be variations on variations of cocktails, or some bartender will tweak ratios ever so slightly so that a cocktail will stay basically the same, but with a little bit of his or her own personality. Martinis, I think, are a perfect example of this; I was told once there is no right way to make one, but there are a lot of wrong ways. A martini made 2:1 with Angostura orange bitters and made 3:1 with Regan's follow the same basic formula, but will taste noticeably different. The only thing you can really say is "done" about a martini is the fact that it will have some combination of gin, vermouth, and bitters. Naming cocktails is probably the hardest part. To me, cocktail is worthy of a name when it is (relatively) unique, and it is something you would be proud of serving someone. Although the Savoy Cocktail book would disagree, I don't believe a martini made 2:1 with no garnish is worth of a new name; it is simply a variation of a martini. A 2:1 martini made with half a part of Benedictine, however, is substantially different from one without, and I think worthy of a new moniker.

Nothing wrong with a boozy slushie. If it makes you happy, drink it. Sometimes there's nothing better than a can of PBR. And while I agree with the Holy Trinity of cocktails, I'm surprised the Mai Tai hasn't gotten more love. It's been around 90 degrees here the past few days, and there isn't much better than a Mai Tai or five on your porch in the afternoon heat. Edited for typos.

There is a series of beer and amaro pairings on Savoy Stomp.

Haven't had shochu and the only baijiu I've had is the one I mentioned, but it is very aromatic, it reminds me of a genever. And it does work very well as a float.

It looks as if you've got the food and libations covered; my only contribution, then, is to ask whether you really want to call her your girlfiend. I mean, if she's down with it, that's cool... (Heh.) I have to admit, I don't get it Girlfiend.

I just bought a bottle of Baojing a few weeks ago. Since I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it and am slightly uncreative, so far I've just used it as I would a vodka, albeit an especially aromatic one. It does have a very distinct aroma, though, and I've been experimenting on using it as an aromatic garnish.

That makes sense. Adding xantham gum or gum arabic wouldn't affect the flavor much, would it?

Same here, I've only used homemade orgeat.

Funny this is mentioned, I had this happen to me for the first time last night. I had made myself a Mai-Tai and was drinking it slowly as I was making beef bourguignon, and after I put it in the oven I looked into my glass and notice the orgeat was definitely curdled. I'm not sure if it was because it was exposed to the lime juice for so long (I can usually finish Mai-Tais in 2.5 seconds flat) or because I added .5 oz more than I usually do, but I found it very odd.

/thread. Nothing will ever top this.