Cocktails That End Up in the Sink

Chris Amirault · June 9, 2009

I think that we can all do the world a service by sharing the experiments that have gone down the drain, never to be made again. That way, we can avoid making the mistakes of the past, both ours and others.

So, to avoid that doom, I urge you not to try to make a Blood and Sand with bourbon. The absent bite of the scotch is made worse by the corny sweetness of the bourbon, and the whole thing is just a sloppy waste of Heering.

More to follow from me, I'm very sure. You?

RoyalSwagger · June 9, 2009

But, have you ever tried Rye in a Blood and Sand? May I say an improvement on my palette. Mmmmm, good!

**JAZ** · June 9, 2009

I once tried Calvados in a Jack Rose. Despite what's been said about this substitution by others, I found it undrinkable. Maybe it was bad quality Calvados, but I'll never do that again.

thirtyoneknots · June 9, 2009

I once tried Calvados in a Jack Rose. Despite what's been said about this substitution by others, I found it undrinkable. Maybe it was bad quality Calvados, but I'll never do that again.
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I agree, Calvados only works in limited cocktail applications. The rest of the time, Jersey Lightning is what you want.

Chris Amirault · June 17, 2009

But, have you ever tried Rye in a Blood and Sand?
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Yes: not sink-bad, but I wants me scotch in a B&S.

Bought a bottle of Maker's Mark for a visiting friend who likes it neat, and the Goodnight, Irene (2 bourbon:1 Branca Menta) I made with it was without character. That drink needs the punch of a bigger, higher proof bourbon to work. Now I'm wondering what to do with the MM...

mkayahara · June 17, 2009

But, have you ever tried Rye in a Blood and Sand?
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Yes: not sink-bad, but I wants me scotch in a B&S.
Bought a bottle of Maker's Mark for a visiting friend who likes it neat, and the Goodnight, Irene (2 bourbon:1 Branca Menta) I made with it was without character. That drink needs the punch of a bigger, higher proof bourbon to work. Now I'm wondering what to do with the MM...
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It makes a nice ice cream...

johnnyd · June 17, 2009

You guys are wussies. I submit the highly unrecommendable Clamparinha

While making littleneck clam ceviche and caipirinhas one summer weekend a light bulb of dubious wattage winked on, and here you have it. :wacko: It wasn't half bad until I made another with a much less chilled clam meat. Never again.

RoyalSwagger · June 17, 2009

I think that one takes all but, here is one I tried last night.

1 oz Bacon infused Rye

1 oz Cynar

1 oz Swt Sherry

stir strain

I've never gagged on a drink before... until last night.

johnnyd · June 18, 2009

You know, I've had bacon-infused bourbon, but the thought of cynar and sherry in there gets me thinking like how I insulted a perfectly good shot of cachaca last sumer - as seen above

Mattmvb · June 18, 2009

Once upon a time I was making a sour for an extremely attractive lady customer, I can't remember what the base was. Whilst I was engrossed in taking my time explaining how important it is to get the sweet sour balance right one of my staff decided to swap the gomme for a bottle of Wray and Nephew. Needless to say I was too involved in looking good to actually notice I had the wrong bottle in my hand. Cue a rapid trip to the toilet and much laghter...

Pride cometh before a fall...

ETA: I was freepouring, it seems that in the time it takes to pour 10ml of gimme you can pour a good 30ml of overproof rum...

Edited June 18, 2009 by Mattmvb (log)

haresfur · June 18, 2009

You guys are wussies. I submit the highly unrecommendable Clamparinha
While making littleneck clam ceviche and caipirinhas one summer weekend a light bulb of dubious wattage winked on, and here you have it. It wasn't half bad until I made another with a much less chilled clam meat. Never again.
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Is that like a white-pizza version of a bloody Caesar?

Pierogi · June 18, 2009

Tried this one tonight......don't know where I found the recipe, but I *sure* don't recommend it.

Green Tomato Martini

1 small green tomato, quartered

1 lemon wedge

1 Tablespoon sugar (shoulda known it would go south right here......)

4 oz. gin

Muddle tomato, lemon and sugar. Add gin, shake with ice. Strain and, wellllll.......

HORK............

Not good. Didn't taste of gin. Didn't taste of the green tomato. Didn't even really taste of lemon. Just. Bad.

haresfur · June 19, 2009

Tried this one tonight......don't know where I found the recipe, but I *sure* don't recommend it.
Green Tomato Martini
1 small green tomato, quartered
1 lemon wedge
1 Tablespoon sugar (shoulda known it would go south right here......)
4 oz. gin
Muddle tomato, lemon and sugar. Add gin, shake with ice. Strain and, wellllll.......
HORK............
Not good. Didn't taste of gin. Didn't taste of the green tomato. Didn't even really taste of lemon. Just. Bad.
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But it was well balanced! :raz:

Lisa Shock · June 19, 2009

I tried making drinks with gari for the ginger contest in another thread. Muddled gari with gin was perhaps the worst combination.

Chris Amirault · July 19, 2009

Just spent too much time trying to find a happy marriage between pisco acholado and lavender honey syrup. Didn't get 'em to the altar.

Wild Bill Turkey · July 19, 2009

She likes Bison Grass vodka (Zubrowka), so I decided to experiment with that. Tried modifying the grassiness of it with Green Chartreuse.

What was the word? Oh yeah...

HORK............

KatieLoeb · July 19, 2009

I've been screwing around with Root liquor all week in anticipation of a Root cocktail competition here in Philly on the 28th. It tastes a bit like a very strong root beer whiskey, with some smoky elements. It's tasty, but hard to work with because a tiny bit takes over the whole drink. My first thought was to combine it with bourbon and vanilla as a tall drink. 2 parts bourbon, 1 part Root, 1/2 part Licor 43, topped with club soda.

Ewwwww....

Most of my failures are at least palatable. Not so much this time. One of the first things I've made in a while that I actually did pour down the sink.

My final drink for the competition combines muddled mint and demerara syrup, bonded applejack, Root, Benedictine, fresh lime, Angostura and Aztec Chocolate bitters. Much better. :smile:

If anyone has a great idea for a name for my drink entry I'd be eternally grateful for a suggestion. I can't seem to get one I really like.

Edited July 19, 2009 by KatieLoeb (log)

Mike S. · July 19, 2009

On somebody's cocktail blog I once found a recipe for something called the "Smoker's Delight", a mix of Islay scotch (call Laphroaig) and Mozart Black dark chocolate liqueur with a dash of aromatic bitters. I love Islay scotch and have often enjoyed sipping it in between bites of good dark chocolate, so I was very interested to try this. I even bought a bottle of the Mozart Black (which is excellent BTW) to do so.

Dear Lord, this drink is bad. One sip and down the drain. Smoker's Delight? More like week-old ash tray.

thirtyoneknots · July 19, 2009

While making ginger ale syrup the other day at work I had a thought when I grabbed the bag of jalapenos that were on top of the box of ginger, so I got two of them, sliced and seeded them, and made a syrup with them. About every third person who tastes the syrup loves it, and everyone else finds it strange to a fault. Made a drink with 1/2 oz syrup, 3/4 oz lime, and 1.5 oz Blanco Tequila and it was not the drink I was looking for by a mile. The regular who was letting me experiment on him loved it though. I have to say if I'd been making it for myself it would have gone down the sink.

The 'Cock-tail' made with bourbon and the Jalapeno syrup was pretty neat though...sort of a jalapeno cornbread effect.

brinza · July 23, 2009

On somebody's cocktail blog I once found a recipe for something called the "Smoker's Delight", a mix of Islay scotch (call Laphroaig) and Mozart Black dark chocolate liqueur with a dash of aromatic bitters. I love Islay scotch and have often enjoyed sipping it in between bites of good dark chocolate, so I was very interested to try this. I even bought a bottle of the Mozart Black (which is excellent BTW) to do so.
Dear Lord, this drink is bad. One sip and down the drain. Smoker's Delight? More like week-old ash tray.
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I once had the idea of combining mezcal and lapsong souchong tea, which, in theory, should work, but I've yet to try it. The reason for that is probably that before I had any mezcal, I tried combining the lapsong souchong with Islay Scotch. Ergch. Bad idea. Never mix smoke types--who knew? Somehow it tasted like dirty dish rag.

My final drink for the competition combines muddled mint and demerara syrup, bonded applejack, Root, Benedictine, fresh lime, Angostura and Aztec Chocolate bitters. Much better.
If anyone has a great idea for a name for my drink entry I'd be eternally grateful for a suggestion. I can't seem to get one I really like.
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Here are a few:

Quetzacoatl Julep

Savory Compost

Prairie Dog Panic

Tuber Maneuver

KatieLoeb · July 24, 2009

Mike:

Thanks for the suggestions. Here's the final version with name:

Dr. Hadley’s Root Restorative

.5 oz. Demerara simple syrup

6 large mint leaves

1.25 oz. Lairds Bonded (100 proof) Applejack

1.0 oz. Root Liqueur

.5 oz. B & B

.5 oz. fresh lime juice

2 dashes Fee Brother’s Aztec Chocolate bitters

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Garnish: Mint sprig

Muddle mint in simple syrup. Add ice and other ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with a spanked mint sprig.

This is one that ought not to go down the sink. Or at least I hope the judges think so next Tuesday.... :unsure:

KD1191 · August 10, 2009

They had just opened a fresh bottle of Carpano Antica behind the bar and I was enjoying a bit straight up. A bartender who knows my palate rather well decided to experiment with a 'Carpano Sour'...bumping up the proof with Booker's. It sounded promising, but he sampled the mix and declared it "pretty bad". I insisted on giving it a try. Sadly, the lemon absolutely killed the flavor of the vermouth. Can't imagine those two playing well together, at all.

MikeHartnett · August 11, 2009

They had just opened a fresh bottle of Carpano Antica behind the bar and I was enjoying a bit straight up. A bartender who knows my palate rather well decided to experiment with a 'Carpano Sour'...bumping up the proof with Booker's. It sounded promising, but he sampled the mix and declared it "pretty bad". I insisted on giving it a try. Sadly, the lemon absolutely killed the flavor of the vermouth. Can't imagine those two playing well together, at all.
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Have you had the Tongue in Cheek at the Violet Hour? They go quite well in that one...

KD1191 · August 11, 2009

They had just opened a fresh bottle of Carpano Antica behind the bar and I was enjoying a bit straight up. A bartender who knows my palate rather well decided to experiment with a 'Carpano Sour'...bumping up the proof with Booker's. It sounded promising, but he sampled the mix and declared it "pretty bad". I insisted on giving it a try. Sadly, the lemon absolutely killed the flavor of the vermouth. Can't imagine those two playing well together, at all.
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Have you had the Tongue in Cheek at the Violet Hour? They go quite well in that one...
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Yep, one of my wife's favorites. I think we both talked about it over in the VH thread. I didn't realize it had lemon juice in it. Do you know how much? ...in any case it wouldn't be as much as in a 'sour'.

Alchemist · August 11, 2009

I would put it solidly in the sour family with .75 oz lemon.

Toby

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