MxMo XIII

[eje]

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by Rick Dobbs over at Saving the World One Drink at a Time. The theme is "Shooters".

To quote Mr. Clarke:

Following Jimmy, another return host makes MxMo short, sharp & to the point on Monday, March 12. Rick Dobbs over at Martini Lounge (aka Saving the World, One Drink at a Time) gets down to business with Shots as the theme for MxMo XIII. From pousse cafes to Knuckle Blasters (okay, I just made that one up, but I’m sure someone’s done it at some point) to short, balanced tipples meant to sooth you through the final days of winter, this round of MxMo invites experimentation

Wow, well, I honestly can't remember the last time I had a shooter, unless you do count Pousse Cafe style drinks. I'm sure tasty ones are possible. I did ask for Rick to clarify what exactly counts as a shooter and he said, "A shot is really anything in a shot glass or a small glass that is pretty much one gulp. That's probably the easiest explanation. A Sex on the Beach is a large mixed drink, but an Oatmeal Cookie is a shot. As an example."

If you would like to participate, please post in this topic before Monday, March 12th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and mail them to the organizer.

Let's see some tasty gulps!

[ThinkingBartender]

Heres my entry

The Snood Murdekin.

Cheers!

George

[eje]

Aside from Pousse Cafe style cocktails in the Savoy, I'm not entirely certain I've ever really drunk a shooter.

My college libations of choice were beer, more beer, the odd gin and tonic, and lots more beer.

When I was doing the various Angel's Cocktails in the "Savoy Cocktail Book" Ms. Katie Loeb pointed out that Cherry and Rum were very good together. At that time I had an idea that it would be cool for the cherry to be on the bottom, have a clear liqueur in the middle, and dark rum on top. That would be a Pousse Cafe I could hang with.

However, I couldn't pull off layering rum on top of Cointreau.

Fortunately, with time, I've gotten more experience and a little steadier hand with the layering.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Cherry Bomb

1/4 Cherry Brandy (Massenez Creme de Griotte)

1/4 Cointreau

1/2 Aged Rum (Rhum Barbancourt 5 star)

Use liqueur glass and pour carefully so that ingredients do not mix. Serve with 1/6 lime on top and squeeze into glass before imbibing.

The cool and unexpected part here was that the lime juice went into the cocktail and settled between the rum and the Cointreau in a cloudy layer.

I was trying to think up a 70-ish hot rod related name for it, and the Runaways song "Cherry Bomb" popped into my head. Well, there ya go.

Unfortunately, there are about a million cocktails called "Cherry Bomb". So I shall use a portion of the chorus to said Runaways song to differentiate mine.

Hello Daddy, hello Mom

I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Hello world I'm your wild girl

I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Thanks Joan!

[kvltrede]

Here's my two bits on the topic. Can I get an "amen" for Mixology Tuesday?

Kurt

[bostonapothecary]

leo engels knickebein......

keep a mixture read made to hand, thoroughly combined, of the following, in the proportions given:-- one third each of curacoa, noyeau, and maraschino. when mixing a drink, fill a straw-stem port-wine glass two-thirds full of the above mixture, float the unbroken yolk of a new laid egg on the surface of the liquor, then build up a kind of pyramid with the whisked white of the same egg on the surface of the latter, dasha a few drops of angostura bitters, and drink as directed.

directions for taking the knickebein

registered

1. pass the glass under the nostrils and inhale the flavour.--pause

2. hold the glass perpendicularly, close under your mouth, open it wide, and suck the froth by drawing a deep breath-- pause again.

3. point the lips and take one-third of the liquid contents remaining in the glass without touching the yolk-- pause once more.

4. straighten the body, throw the head backward, swallow the contents remaining in the glass all at once, at the same time breaking the yolk in your mouth.

[ThinkingBartender]

It doesn't look like there was much of a turn-out for this months Mixology Monday. Hopefully there will be a better response for next month's Champagne themed event.

And it doesn't seem that my entry was good enough!-(

Cheers!

George

[eje]

It doesn't look like there was much of a turn-out for this months Mixology Monday.

Not sure what to make of that, either.

A few factors occur to me.

The first is probably the dismal quality of most of the common rail brands of liqueur in America. The cocktail I made is pretty good with good ingredients. With what likely passes for rail brands, (say Bacardi rum, LeRoux Cherry Brandy, Phillips Triple Sec, and dehydrated sour mix,) it will be Robitussin (an American cherry flavored cough syrup) in a glass.

Another factor is just be the association of shooters with binge drinking. Probably a lot of people just have had bad experiences with them when they were younger. I think Darcy's entry is probably the most explicit on that. These sentence practically made me spit out my morning coffee, "...I hate it when guys say 'I don’t drink tequila because it made sick when I was in college'. Suck it up princess and stop drinking the cheap crap, tequila is great, but because you didn’t exercise choice or self control you blew it."

The third is the attitude among some cocktailians that somehow getting buzzed isn't the point of drinking cocktails. I think Robert Hess is a great guy who has done a lot to move classic cocktail culture and drinks into the bar in America. But, when he writes things like "Drinking just to get drunk, is like having sex just to get pregnant," he shows a puritanical side which seems to be a little too common among some cocktailians.

I understand that he is taking a stand here and that there are a lot of really bad drinking habits in America. 21 shots on your 21st birthday. Beer Bongs. Wapatuli made with grain alcohol. Purple Jesus.

More than simply causing recipes to be misplaced and bartenders to find alternative careers, Prohibition destroyed drinking and bar culture in America, replacing it with one whose prime imperative was to go to a bar, get drunk as quickly as possible, and get out before the cops busted the place.

To a certain extent, I think we're still recovering.

On the other hand, you don't have to look very far to find pre-prohibition cocktails which can only be seen as something to get you as drunk as possible as quickly as possible. Take the "Bunny Hug." 1/3 Absinthe, 1/3 whiskey, 1/3 Gin. Yer not savoring that combination slowly to enjoy the complex intermingling of flavors. You're slamming it quickly between dances and heading back out on the floor to make a fool of yourself.

PS. You should send the guy a note, and have him add your cocktail writeup to the list. The Snood Murdekin sounds pretty tasty.

[ThinkingBartender]

All true.

People do drink to get buzzed, has Robert never been to an Irish bar? A night on the tiles, drinking non-alcoholic beer would never happen in one of those bars.

I know plenty of people who drink to get drunk, and I don't mean horizontal drunk. More than 6 cans of beer, which most people drink on a night out, would break Robert's 3 drink rule.

Pousse Cafes are definitely a category of drink that people enjoy letting other people see them drink. "so many layers, so pretty". The most I ever made was 13 layers, and it tasted very sweet, with no particular flavour, and we all know why (I assume).

I just remembered another shooter that I used to push, it was my own creation, so that explains it!-)

Fade to Black.

1) 1/3 white sambuca,

2) 1/3 Grand Marnier,

3) 1/3 Wood's 100

Layer in order.

drink either as a shot, or set on fire and drink with a straw.

3 layers, to me, seems to be the optimal amount, for a pousse cafe, as it displays skill, colours, and you are more likely to taste things distinctly.

Cheers!

George

[bostonapothecary]

basically the knickebein is the greatest shot ever mixed..... but i'm highly opinionated....

so basically someone should learn its principles and integrate them with ferran adria's "fruit caviar" technique to substitute the egg yolk..... and get back to me..... shooters could be a little more fun with some advanced chemistry and futuristic food textures.

i think i want a drink on the verge of cloying.... and then a ball of acid to pop on the finish! or the opposite....

classic drinks are getting boring.... the concepts can be fun as well as the history but many of the flavors don't appeal anymore.

my new favorite thing by the way is the ramos gin fizz.... and something like it made a killer "shooter" at eastern standard's valentines day party....

i love cocktails frivelous hope through novelty that helped people recover from the world wars but now i need something more.... but i'm also drunk in the middle of the day so what do i know?.... cheers!