Craig E

An interesting idea: stirring with a thermometer for precise timing (not to reach a certain serving temperature so much as to gauge the dilution). https://youtu.be/0qCCtVylPkk Has anyone tried this?

Slurred Word Smith & Cross, green Chartreuse, maraschino, lime, pineapple

Received a bottle of Zwack from a friend who had himself received it from somebody else: there may in fact have been a long chain of regifting of this Hungarian herbal liqueur that nobody knew what to do with. It has some good potential in cocktails I'm finding. Tonight it was The Tempest, with lime juice, ginger syrup (honey-ginger syrup), Angostura bitters, soda, and an orange wedge.

A lovely green basil gimlet.

After three nights of Negroni happy hours, we gathered over $500 for our Nepalese charity. It was great fun too--I think I'll make it an annual tradition!

Which drink did you try second? ;-) A friend of mine told me she was working on perfecting a cocktail's proportions. Every night she'd make it one way, then alter one thing and find the second was better than the first. Then she'd start with that recipe the next night, with another alteration that made it even better. She assumed she was incrementally working her way to the perfect drink, but at some point she realized she merely enjoyed the second drink more every time because she was tipsy.

Prosecco 'cause I needed it; Hendrick's 'cause I wanted it.

I'm hosting a few Negroni Week happy hours at my home. I made a signup sheet online for 6 guests/evening and launched the invite to all of my Facebook friends. Asking minimum $10 donation from each guest, all of which goes to Nepalese earthquake relief. Here's the menu: First one is Wednesday.

Finally found a more drinkable use for my syrupy date-infused bourbon: a Boulevardier riff: 1 1/2 oz. date-infused white-label Evan Williams bourbon 1 oz. Campari 1 oz. Cocchi Americano (with the idea that sweet vermouth is too redundant with the dates) Served on rocks with a maraschino cherry garnish.

Is Cocchi vermouth di Torino pretty much your standard sweet vermouth? What does it bring? (I've never tried it.)

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148631-drinks-2014-part-2/?p=2012366

With my first bottle of calvados, made a Tantris Sidecar. (Subbed 3/4oz pineapple syrup for the pineapple juice and simple.) Goodness this is delicious!

Yep, it's 375ml. So pleased my local shop carries them.

Just tried the Cornwall Negroni that weinoo posted. Pretty great: all the bitterness you need, but less of the syrupy quality that sometimes mars the equal-parts Negroni for me.

I think the best drink I've made with tonic was a Rangoon Fizz.

I've made it before and enjoyed it a lot. My tasting note was "Like a more interesting, slightly nutty margarita."

http://kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/infante

If the Campari and dry vermouth are at hand, you're a bottle of rye whiskey away from an Old Pal, or a bottle of tequila away from a Jalisco Stroll, either of which is worth trying. Sticking with gin/Campari combinations, if you could find St. Germain you could make a Bitter Elder, or with Cointreau a Robert Hess Jasmine. If you like grapefruity flavors you'll likely enjoy either of those. But you might just keep tinkering with the Negroni too. Are there vermouths one shelf up from what you have that might be worth trying out?

Vermouth and gin are restocks, liqueur and sherry are new to me.

Just bear in mind, if this is all new to you: decide whether you like it on your *third* try, not your first. Many people find there's an odd switch from "detest" to "adore" that only gets flipped around Campari cocktail #3. (Doesn't have to be in a row, of course!)

Prospect Park Rich and sweet, chocolate and cherry flavors, just the right bitterness in the finish. A worthy drink among the Brooklyn-neighborhood crowd.

Update: tried 2 oz. date-infused bourbon, 1 oz. Dolin dry, 3 dashes Angostura. Still too date-y and syrupy.

And here's my Manhattan experiment, for the month's Mixology Monday. My starting point was some date-infused bourbon I'd made (by soaking medjool dates in high-proof Evan Williams for a couple of weeks). What got me going in that direction was this old New York Times article about a date old-fashioned. Right when the infusion was complete, the Mixology Monday challenge was announced, so I decided to see if I could make a nice Manhattan out of my date bourbon. At first taste I realized the bourbon really sucked up the sweetness from the dates, so that would be the balancing challenge. Thus I decided first to make a "perfect" Manhattan, subbing in dry vermouth for half of the sweet vermouth. Then I thought using Punt e Mes would contribute a more bitter note to also hold up against the sweetness. A dash of homemade fig-citrus bitters (a gift from a friend) along with a dash of Angostura and an orange twist completed the drink. And the result? Well I was right in ascertaining that tamping down the sweetness would be the challenge--and I don't think I met that challenge. This drink has a lovely nose, nice flavors, but it's just a bit too syrupy sweet. The date's contribution is, in the end, hopelessly redundant with sweet vermouth I think. I could try a dry Manhattan with the infused bourbon I suppose, but I think the next use to which I put it will involve some kind of acid to put up more of a fight.

A Left Hand, perhaps?

Mixed drinks for a small get-together this afternoon. My menu: Venetian Spritz Long Faced Dove Scofflaw Worked well. The Long Faced Dove has a bit more elaborate prep so that slowed me down a bit, but it's worth it--a delicious margarita-like cooler. Only the Scofflaw is shaken, so that saved me a lot of shaker-rinsing time. I think the last time I made a Scofflaw at home I still was using Rose's grenadine, so these today (made with Stirrings) were more subtle than I remembered. The Venetian Spritz (Aperol and prosecco with a splash of soda) was the newest to me, and I was eager to see how the traditional garnish of green olive and orange wedge--which seem so incongruous in theory!--would work out. Sure enough, works great!