Craig E

Not a purchase, but a gift (a reward for cat-sitting). What's the best way to drink this stuff?

And I make three!

Well, I think my inspiration to make it came from seeing your post, so I'm not so much a fellow great mind as a mere copycat.

Trainspotter Rye, St. Germain, Cherry Heering, Fernet Branca, grapefruit twist. Wow was this good. I thought from the ingredient list it would be all over the place (spice, elderflower, cherry, menthol, grapefruit) but it held together very nicely. I used Rittenhouse instead of the Dickel specified. That may have helped stand up to the Fernet, which I feared would take over as it often does, but it didn't. A definite keeper. Dickens Flip Light rum, Cherry Heering, Benedictine, Angostura bitters, syrup, whole egg, orange peel oil, cherry garnish. This is rather egg-noggy. The creamy egg tempers the bitterness (there's 1/2 oz. Angostura in there). Taste-wise would make a nice winter holiday party drink, but it's rather ingredient- and labor-intensive, so not too easy to churn out in party quantities I'd guess.

Tried an Ortensia, a Negroni variant with blended Scotch (Famous Grouse), Aperol, and Punt e Mes. Tasted chocolatey to me--I would have sworn it had Xocolatl Mole bitters in it, if I hadn't made it myself. Alchemy!

My issue with the versions of this I've encountered before is that the database is built with all emphasis on quantity of recipes and zero emphasis on quality of recipes. (Just because you can make something doesn't mean you should!)

It should be said that White Lyan service isn't just a matter of opening a bottle and setting it down in front of the customer. There's still a fair amount of weighing, frothing, atomizing, glass painting, etc. to the performance, depending on the drink ordered. But mostly the bartender can give more attention to talking to you about the drink than to picking out good mint or rinsing the lemon press. I went in with similar skepticism that it might not really feel like a bar but it was great fun.

Broken Flower (Chris Lane) 1 1⁄2 oz Reposado Tequila, Espolon Reposado (Cazadores) 3⁄4 oz Cynar 1⁄2 oz Lime juice 1⁄2 oz Grapefruit juice 1⁄2 oz Cinnamon syrup (Becherovka) 2 ds Bitters, Angostura 1 twst Grapefruit peel Really enjoyed this grapefruity concoction. Had a tingly finish (maybe heightened from my Becherovka substitution?) that left me wanting more with every sip.

A Fritz (equal parts gin/Punt e Mes/maraschino/Peychaud's [!]). Enjoyed it, but not as much as I remember liking Rafa's rye riff Tango 'til They're Sore.

It's great, isn't it? Try the Half Windsor if you get a chance (2oz CA, 1oz grapefruit juice, 1/2oz cognac; brief shake). I think it's terrific too. EDIT: And the Negroni Jalisco I just poured myself (equal parts reposado tequila, CA, and Aperol, pinch of salt, on rocks with lime wedge) is also wonderful!

I can vouch for this: The Search for Delicious by Kirk Estopinal, Cure, New Orleans, LA 2 oz Cynar 3/4 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Punt e Mes 18 dr Lemon juice 6 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters 2 pn Salt (sea salt) 5 twst Lemon peel Start with one "baker's" pinch of salt in a rocks glass. Add the Cynar and briefly stir. Add the Punt e Mes, bitters, lemon juice and ice. Stir briefly to incorporate. Taste, looking for only the faintest hint of salt. If the drink tastes salty, throw out your first attempt and adjust your salt levels. When the salt level is correct, express the oil from five swatch of lemon peel onto the surface of the cocktail, dropping one in along the side of the glass, skin side facing in. An 1/8 rim of salt will allow your guest to experiment with a few salty sips. Making the following sips pleasantly sweet, which will not make your brain hurt. -- Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community In the directions it seemed like too much is made of getting the salt balance right, but it's because that is indeed the key. When you hit it right this is absolutely superb.

Girly-O Martini 2 oz Gin3/4 oz Dry vermouth1/4 oz Cherry Liqueur, Cherry Heering1 ds Orange bitters1 twst Lemon zest (as garnish) Stir; strain; up; garnish. This is my entry for this month's Mixology Monday theme, "That's not a martini!" It's basically a martinification of a Gilroy, a sour that I love.

When evaluating or inventing mixed drinks, how significant do you feel the color of the drink is? Have you found yourself subbing ingredients or rebalancing ratios just for the sake of color? One problematic ingredient combination I've found is that the green of chartreuse mixed with complementary red/browns can look muddy. I noticed in tonight's tasty Clermeil and before, maybe to a lesser extent, in Phil Ward's Final Ward. (On the other hand, the gorgeous amber color of his Yeoman Warder really struck me.) Do you have good examples of otherwise great drinks with unsatisfying color? Are there drinks you really like where the color is a significant part of the appeal?

I ordered it in part because I was a bit terrified myself. (I find patchouli used as a deodorant a horrible, horrible thing.) A kind of unsound, sounds-so-bad-it-must-be-good theory that is the kind of thing that arises during the last round of the last night of a cocktail tour business trip. Wise or not, it paid off this time. The patchouli was light enough to just lend herbal notes, and the Merlet apricot liqueur was similarly restrained. And the basil took the form of the tiniest little leaves perched atop the lemon-slice garnish, for the nose's sake only. The drink essentially tasted like a gin and tonic with an enjoyable complexity to it.

Finished off my London cocktail tour business trip with a visit to Dandelyan. Favorite of the things I tried was the Patchouli Fizz (Beefeater London Garden Gin, basil, apricot, green tea, lemon, lemon and quinine).

Thanks Gareth. Turns out the Shake Rattle and Stir tours were all booked for weeks, so that helped decide. I wound up taking the Beefeater distillery tour, which was really enjoyable. A quite nice museum-like self-tour through the history of gin, followed by a guided tour of the distillery itself which was very educational too. And a nice gin and tonic at the end. Later we went to City of London distillery, not for the tour but just for drinks. Disappointingly was told they were closing earlier than scheduled, but I had time for one drink, a superb Martinez with their house London dry.

We had the place nearly to ourselves (slow Sunday night) whereas Happiness Forgets was packed to the gills. I started with the Moby Dick Sazerac which includes ambergris. Which, if you read about it, seems like about the most improbable ingredient thinkable. But it seemed to work as intended as a "fixative," extending the flavor of the drink's other ingredients well beyond what I'd normally expect. My adventurous friend had the aforementioned Salad, which was terrific. Second round was two shot drinks: See No, which was gin-based and strongly dominated by lavender, and Do No, a tequila/grapefruit/green tabasco concoction that I thought actually tasted like an intensified version of the Salad, though it shares no ingredients. I suppose many of the drinks there, by virtue of adhering to the house assumptions of no ice and no perishables, will wind up having some family resemblances. We finished with a carbonated highball called a Legs Eleven, which had prominent and agreeable flavors of brown sugar and salted cashews. Enjoyed every drink and would recommend the place to anybody with the slightest bit of adventurousness. Before going I wondered if the place would seem gimmicky and pretentious or not. Happy to report it was a great experience.

First cocktail outing while in London, to Happiness Forgets and White Lyan in Hoxton. Most intriguing drink was White Lyan's "Salad" (house gin, lettuce, Herbes de Provence, red apple soda).

Has anyone undertaken the Beefeater distillery tour, the City of London distillery tour, or a gin tour from "Shake Rattle & Stir"?

Last night's Tom & Jerry experiment was a success, but tonight's Fernet & Jerry was revelatory! Fantastic!

Are people are using (at least) two ways of talking about dilution in percentages here? When the 25% figure is thrown around, does that mean that a quarter of the finished drink is added water? Or is it a percentage of the initial mix (as is clearly intended when people are talking about 90% etc.)?

Having a go at making Toms & Jerries (?) for the holiday party tonight.

A liter of Cazadores reposado at the Guanajuato airport duty-free shop.

What does "toy" mean in this context?

Improved Tequila Cocktail by Bobby Heugel, Anvil Bar and Refuge, Houston, Texas 2 oz Reposado Tequila 1 t Maraschino Liqueur 2 ds Bitters, Bittermens Xocolatl Mole 1 ds Bitters, Angostura 1 t Agave syrup 1 twst Lemon peel (as garnish) Stir, strain, up in a cocktail glass. Twist the lemon over the drink, rub the rim, and drop it in. -- Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community A very enjoyable drink with Xocolatl Mole bitters, but then aren't they all?