Craig E

Here's a good one: the Haji Sling: 2⁄3 oz Angostura 2⁄3 oz Cherry Heering (Tattersall Sour Cherry) 2⁄3 oz Bénédictine 2⁄3 oz Lime juice 2 1⁄2 t Orgeat 2 1⁄2 t Rum (as float) (Appleton V/X) Lime wheel and cherry garnish My first sip, rum-heavy from the Appleton float, tasted distinctly and unexpectedly like a Bloody Mary. My diagnosis is that the savory/earthy aspects of the ingredients got a psychological boost from the color and opacity of the drink which could easily be mistaken for a tomato-juice-based cocktail. But the second and ensuing sips quickly picked up the more tropical flavors and found them delightful. I've always been struck by the cherry flavors of Angostura-heavy drinks (like the Trinidad Sour) so I was hopeful they would work well in the context of a Singapore Sling-type drink, and they did.

First, a Chee Hoo Fizz (Cognac, lime, orgeat, falernum, Peychaud's, egg white. Topped with soda and garnished with lime peel). This was tasty. Despite my dry shake, didn't get all that much volume from my egg white, so it took too much soda to top it. Made for an attractive photo for you guys, but watered down the drink a bit too much! After dinner, a Death Flip (Blanco tequila, yellow Chartreuse, Jägermeister, simple, whole egg. Fresh nutmeg garnish). This was a little odd: primarily warm, winterish flavors but then the sharpness of the tequila crashing the party. I'd expect something like cognac or another aged, brown spirit to fill that role--but then it might well be a more boring drink. As specified, it was definitely interesting, but it was gone before I really had a chance to decide for sure if it worked or not.

Gary Regan's Scorch the Earth: 1 1/2 cognac, 1/2 sweet vermouth, 1/2 Cynar, flamed lemon twist. I got a strong cocoa flavor out of this. Could make for a nice after-dinner tipple.

Enjoying a Gypsy (one of many drinks that go by that dated name): 1.5 gin, .75 St. Germain, .5 Green Chartreuse, .5 lime juice. Very tasty. Kind of like a Last Word with training wheels.

I like it!

Here's my go at Butter Lemon Smoke (also with Laphraoig 10, and Maison Rouge cognac). Aptly named!

A few years late, but count me on board with the Professional too!

Last night, a Williamsburg: Old Forester bourbon (Evan Williams), Ramazzotti, Cocchi Americano, maraschino. Would like to try it next to a Red Hook which it predictably resembles. The maraschino was maybe a bit too forward. This afternoon, breaking up my Iglooful of clear ice.

Erick Castro's Full Windsor. Scotch, Applejack, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud's and Angostura, orange twist. Lovely and smooth. There is a particular flavor in the finish of some drinks that is ineffable but I always want to use the word "zippy" to describe it. This has it--unexpectedly, because to date I'd only experienced it with drinks that included maraschino liqueur. Here maybe it's due to heavy bitters + benedictine?

As the linked Booze Nerds source explains, the Tallahassee is contrived to cover up unpleasant whisky (with blood orange, Aperol, raspberry liqueur, lime, and simple). I made it with plain 'ol Evan Williams. (What led me to the recipe was figuring out what to do with a blood orange.) This was tasty and very smooth--I can see how the sweet/sour/fruity could mask an aggressive whiskey well. I'd like to try it again with my bottled in bond bourbon.

At @FrogPrincesse's suggestion, inaugurated my new passion fruit syrup in a Cobra's Fang. Good stuff!

Obtained my first bottle of passion fruit syrup. I welcome ideas for its use.

To a person, all Easter guests said they were gin people, but after trying both variations @Rafa's rum variant was the unanimous winner. Now I'm enjoying 2 oz of the leftover juice blend (2 orange:2 grapefruit:1 lemon:1 lime) with an ounce of blanco tequila, an ounce of homemade falernum, 3/4 ounce Campari, and a splash of soda water in a riff on Shelter's version of a Tequila Sunrise. Ashamed I didn't pour carefully enough to get a layered effect worth a photo, but I love this drink!

Before dinner last night: The Ninth Ward and Corn 'n Oil. Saw Cruzan Blackstrap on sale at the liquor store so I thought I'd retry the Corn 'n Oil, which didn't impress me much when I tried it in the past with other dark rum. I'm still kinda meh on it. Ninth Ward is a pleasant tipple, tiki-ish flavors (lime, falernum) and New Orleans-ish flavors (whiskey, Peychaud's) married with "ketchup" (St. Germain). After dinner last night: Cynar Flip and Blackstrap Cynar Flip. Since I had the Cruzan on hand I offered the Blackstrap version for guests interested in cutting bitter and boosting sweet. But for myself I stuck to the original Cynar+egg version--rich, creamy, caramel-y dessert. Brunch today: Juice of a Few Flowers and For a Few Flowers More. Will pre-squeeze and batch the juices (grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime). Sugar the rim and add gin for the former; Add rum and falernum for the latter. Should be an easy serve and a great brunch drink, especially for a group of fellow art historians (the original recipe is taken from the papers of Jazz-age painter Gerald Murphy).

Funny you should ask because it's literally the only aquavit I've ever had. (My parents brought it to me from their trip to Iceland.) So I have no idea if it's typical or where it fits in with other brands. In taste and more clearly in aroma it has a pleasing spice that I think is caraway (though I confess that I'm not clear on distinguishing caraway from anise from fennel). At any rate there's not much dill to it, which I gather is another common aquavit spice.

Smoke and Mirrors: aquavit, Campari, Cynar. Flamed orange zest garnish. This is a winner in the Negroni-like space. Apprehensive about bitterness, I added a few drops of saline too. Caramel and fruit are the big notes, with the spices of aquavit sitting underneath, keeping everything from getting too candyish.

Ty Cobbler: Siete Leguas blanco tequila (Milagro blanco), Cynar, sugar, Xocolatl Mole bitters, brandied cherries (Bing cherries), orange A somewhat odd drink, in that in appearance it looks like it will be bright and fruity, but the Cynar and bitters make its taste more dark and boozy.

Back to Parlour in Minneapolis and had two really outstanding drinks (and a great burger): On the Button (pisco, kina l’avion, luxardo maraschino, salers, rosemary) Music Tastes Better with You (blanco tequila, dolin blanc, cucumber, habanero, lemon, jamaican #1 bitters)

Glad this suggestion made it to Kindred where I saw it. Per those directions I tried 1.5 Cocchi Americano to 1 Tito's vodka to 1/2 Tanqueray gin. So I guess that's 3:2:1. I think it's a touch too sweet, but it's more flavorful and appealing than the unreversed recipe to me. I made it with a grapefruit twist instead of orange because that's what I had on hand, and it worked well. I wonder if flipping the spirit ratios would allow the gin botanicals to match up better to the sweet wine-y flavors of the Cocchi.

I visited Kindred Cocktails and the random drink appearing on the front page was the Periodista: Dark rum, Cointreau, apricot liqueur, lime juice. This is my favorite thing I've made with my R&W Orchard Apricot thus far.

The Dare I Say Cocktail: Rye, Fernet Branca, sweet vermouth, Aperol, rhubarb bitters (cranberry orange bitters). As in another recent Rittenhouse/amaro combo, I'm again tasting peanut butter. Actually, what I get with this one is the "peanut butter and jelly" combo of Jelly Belly jelly beans I remember from my childhood (to which the candyish Aperol no doubt contributed). I was intrigued with the thought of Aperol and fernet, but the many things going on in this drink didn't quite resolve as satisfactorily as I'd hoped.

I've gotten successful recipes for such things from various sources including kindredcocktails.com, seriouseats.com, imbibemagazine.com, and here at egullet.org. Googling the ingredient + "diy" will usually net a useful starting list of links.

As I understand it, the Hamilton rum might be the best substitute for what is nearly impossible to find now. Some backstory here.

Did you really mean "1/8 Tbsp" as the measure for the maraschino? How did you measure that? I guess that would be like a fat quarter-teaspoon?

Enjoying a pre-dinner Uffizi: Bonal, Cocchi Americano, and grapefruit juice, with a salted rim. Subbed red juice for white because that's what I had; subbed smoked salt for salt because I recently got it and wanted to try it out. This was tasty and light, a real winner (and no doubt will be even better if I undo my silly substitutions next time). My drink-mixing life is accompanied by low-level but constant fretting about using up my perishable wines before they go bad. So this is additionally a double winner for helping me work down two fridge bottles, deliciously.