Rogue (now beta) Cocktails

[thirtyoneknots]

I've only seen Branca Menta for sale once in TX and when I went back it wasn't there, otherwise I'd be giving that one a try. Looks like a Stinger for some evil supervillain.

Just to show how the old is new again, Audrey Saunders has a drink I love called "Goodnight Irene" dating from some years ago. It's 2 parts bourbon and 1 part Branca Menta on crushed ice. Definitely related to the Stinger -- but way, way better.

Yeah that drink was what initially called my attention to the product and why I was seeking it out. Unfortunately at least 12 other people were, too, and I wasn't quick enough.

[campus five]

I thought the Good Night Irene was equal parts...hmmm.

[Tolovana]

is there any way to get this book online now or anywhere in nyc? i saw there were the trademark issues but i don't know if anything has been resolved.

This is what I found: http://betacocktails.com/

Here's the quote from the site:

"beta cocktails is the successor to rogue cocktails, a now-defunct cocktail guide that featured 40 unique and unusual recipes published in July of 2009. rogue cocktails is no longer available for purchase. beta cocktails will be released in the Summer of 2010."

Tolovana

[Chris Amirault]

Just made the 2 to 2:

1.5 Aperol, 1 Lucid (I used Kubler) 1 lemon, 1/4 simple (I used gum syrup), orange bitters (Angostura). I also added an egg white. Mouthfeel is great, and the drink is very "rogue": I love the bitterness competing with the absinthe, but if you've hated the other weird ones for being too bitter, you'll definitely hate this one.

[Chris Amirault]

Along the same lines, tonight's libation was The Warning Label, a crazy-ass quilt with Cynar, Lemon Hart 151, Punt e Mes, Bittermen's grapefruit bitters, Campari, Regan's orange bitters...

Just lovely.

I think that these Piles of Bitter are the book's real forté, either to its credit (says me) or debit (says others). "This one needs to cook a little longer than you'd expect," says Maks. Uh... yeah.

[plattetude]

Along the same lines, tonight's libation was The Warning Label, a crazy-ass quilt with Cynar, Lemon Hart 151, Punt e Mes, Bittermen's grapefruit bitters, Campari, Regan's orange bitters...

That.

Sounds.

AWESOME.

Christopher

[Chris Amirault]

It was. I keep thinking about it. If you've just gotten a Yarai Japanese mixing glass and like 'em bitter, try to find this book somewhere: it's no end of fun.

[TAPrice]

Today I stopped into Octavia books in New Orleans, which handled book sales at last year's Tales. They had 3 or 4 copies of Rogue Cocktails on display. I'm pretty certain they would ship a copy.

I did a short item for the Times-Picayune, the daily here, on Beta Cocktails' trends for the new year. It include a few notes about their plans for a Beta Cocktail book.

[EvergreenDan]

Thanks for the Octavia Books tip; they have one fewer now. $25 shipped. Reading the vile recipes quoted above, my selfrestraint failed. I'm sure this collector's edition will sell for thousands of dollars a century from now.

[EvergreenDan]

The Red Danube

2.0 oz Zwack

1.0 oz Punt e Mes

.50 oz Campari

3 big dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Stir, Coupe, Lots of Orange Oil.

I feel like I did something wrong. I'm using the US version, "Zwack Liqueur" in the round dark bottle. Without any acid, this is a very sweet drink, as all three ingredients include sugar. Adding a half oz of Lime balanced it for me, and made for a delightful drink. Was the drink intended to use the non-liqueur version (which I don't see in the US, but I could be wrong)?

[EvergreenDan]

I got my copy of the booklet, and after getting over the disappointment of its brevity, have to say that every drink I've made has been right up my alley. What's more impressive to me is that my wife has loved most of them too -- this a woman who liked nothing more challenging than Batida until about a year ago.

Last night I mixed up The Search for Delicious, which starts with 2 oz of Cynar, then "softens" it with Punt e Mes. I expected to be drinking that one, but she wouldn't give it back. 2 to 2, Warning Label, Moment of Silence, Cleirmeil, Art of Choke, Gunshop Fizz -- all great.

I found the Broken Shoe Shiner a little candy-like. I thought it needed less pineapple and pernod and more lemon, and maybe skip the egg white. I did substitute Creme de Violette for the rose water, though, and Absinthe for the Pernod.

In the Gunshop Fizz, I substituted Campari and soda for the hard-to-find Sanbitter, and I thought it was great, plus bumped the alcohol a bit. The drink might benefit from a high-proof spirit to slow down your consumption. I'm reveling in the bitter aftertaste now. Simply great.

I can't speak for the manifesto or the professional scene, but I consider myself a thoughtful drinker and a fairly serious home drink-maker. This recipes and ideas in this book pamphlet are provocative, interesting, and stimulating.

Edited February 28, 2010 by EvergreenDan (log)

[kathryn]

Any word on Beta Cocktails?

[TAPrice]

Any word on Beta Cocktails?

The second hand word I got from a bartender at Cure is that it's coming but not in time for Tales

[EvergreenDan]

No Mint Bittered Cynar Julep

1 1/2 oz Matusalem Clasico

1 oz Cynar

1/2 oz Branca Menta

-1/2 oz demerara syrup

dash Angostura

lime (Ti Punch slice)

Made this tonight. Great drink. I have to admit that I omitted the syrup and added 1/4 oz lime, plus a squeezed end slice of a lime. I'm not sure what a Ti Punch slice is, and wikipedia didn't clarify it.

This is the kind of complex cocktail that I love. The flavors linger and evolve on the tongue. The Menta comes through at the end, for example, after the sour and rum funk have faded.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks -- glad you liked it.

A "Ti Punch slice" is an oval cut from the side of the lime running from stem to stern. It had a large proportion of skin to flesh, providing a tasty dose of lime oil to the drink.

[Chris Amirault]

Revised Racketeer:

1 oz rye (Rittenhouse BIB)

1 oz mezcal (San Luis del Rio)

1/2 oz Benedictine (ancient bottle with lots of funk)

1/2 oz Carpano Antica Formula

1/2 oz Talisker

1/4 oz yellow Chartreuse (another ancient bottle with lots of funk)

3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

The Talisker was supposed to be a rinse, but I spilled out half an ounce, and, at $60 a bottle, it wasn't going into the sink. Hell, I think it works. It may be that those two old liqueurs are bumping up the funk enough that the extra scotch is just fine.

[thirtyoneknots]

Revised Racketeer:

1 oz rye (Rittenhouse BIB)

1 oz mezcal (San Luis del Rio)

1/2 oz Benedictine (ancient bottle with lots of funk)

1/2 oz Carpano Antica Formula

1/2 oz Talisker

1/4 oz yellow Chartreuse (another ancient bottle with lots of funk)

3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

The Talisker was supposed to be a rinse, but I spilled out half an ounce, and, at $60 a bottle, it wasn't going into the sink. Hell, I think it works. It may be that those two old liqueurs are bumping up the funk enough that the extra scotch is just fine.

Rinse can be deposited into the mouth as well, or even back into the bottle if you want to be lame.

[vice]

Rinse can be deposited into the mouth as well, or even back into the bottle if you want to be lame.

To prevent any flavor cross-contamination from what was in the jigger prior, it seems safer go with the former. Life is so tough sometimes.

[Chris Amirault]

I've been making the 2 to 2 for a few different folks at the bar lately, and last night I dry-shook it like a Polaroid picture for a several minutes with a Hawthorne strainer coil before adding ice. The meringue was amazing: lasted well over an hour, at which point I had to wash the glass. I love that drink.

[KD1191]

Earlier tonight I was drinking what I'm told was the precursor to the Search for Deliciousness, the Bitter Giuseppe:

2 oz Cynar

1 oz Carpano Antica (I did 1/2 ea. Punt e Mes and M&R)

Dash Orange Bitters (Bittercube)

Who needs whiskey?

[J. Williams]

Has anyone gotten word of whether the pamphlet version of Rogue Cocktails will be sold online? I wasn't at Tales, and I'd love to own a copy!

[bostonapothecary]

Has anyone gotten word of whether the pamphlet version of Rogue Cocktails will be sold online? I wasn't at Tales, and I'd love to own a copy!

bumping this thread. i'm dieing to get a copy as a gift for my older brother. any news on distribution?

[philadining]

Just checked with Maks, and he says that you can drop an email via the website:

http://betacocktails.com/

(There's a contact link on the right column)

They'll get back to you with a link to paypal them $7, and they'll mail you a copy. It's just a basic photocopied thing, not like the original Rogue book, but there are some very good drink recipes in there! I'd say it's easily worth the $7.

[Chris Amirault]

For $7? It's a steal.

[vice]

Any idea if the pamphlet contains only the recipes from the original book, or if new ones have been added?