Rogue (now beta) Cocktails

[KD1191]

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

From the BetaCocktails site:

It’s literally “just the drinks”: no manifesto, no pictures, no commentary, no precepts. Just for fun, it does include five brand new cocktails that will appear in the next real book, which we promise to publish in the not-too-distant future.

[vice]

Doh, I remember reading that now (July was a long time ago). In other news, when I stopped in at The Counting Room last week, I asked Troy Sidle about the status of the next book. He didn't have any specific information other than to relate that Maks & co. are still working on it. I reiterated that its arrival is being eagerly awaited.

[J. Williams]

My zine version of Rogue Cocktails arrived today! I'm celebrating with a Heering Flip:

2 oz Cherry Heering

+1/2 oz Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Whole egg

It is UNBELIEVABLY GOOD, this bitter chocolaty cherry concoction. Definitely the tastiest thing I've made with Cherry Heering.

[KD1191]

Copies of the pamphlet* will be available at The Whistler's upcoming Book Club night for RogueBeta Cocktails on 3/9. For info, go here and scroll down. The Peychaud will be pouring, I'm sure.

*Not the glossy original book, the later printed version...

[Chris Amirault]

A Racketeer again:

1 oz rye (Rittenhouse BIB)

1 oz mezcal (Del Maguey Minero)

1/2 oz Benedictine

1/2 oz M&R rosso

1/4 oz yellow Chartreuse

3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Talisker rinse

Just an amazing drink.

[kathryn]

BTW, Maks has left the Counting Room for Maison Premiere (also in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) and will be behind the bar on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

[vice]

So a new edition of rogue/beta cocktails is due soon at Tales of the Cocktail. In honor of this exciting occasion, I decided to finally make what may be the most bizarre drink in the first book: the Scotch Cringe (aka the Lavender Cadaver). A review included with the recipe:

This drink was once described by a group of medical students as tasting like a morgue.

Well, here we go:

2 oz Laphroaig 10 yr

3/4 oz lime juice

3/4 oz simple syrup (1:1)

whole egg

2 1" chunks of watermelon

dry shake lime and egg. add watermelon and muddle. add remaining ingredients and shake with ice. strain over ice into a collins glass.

Looking at the ingredients, you'd be sane to think it couldn't possibly work. Gathering everything in front of you on the counter, you say to yourself, "This can't possibly work." Brave, you forge ahead. You will be rewarded (but in the interest of full disclosure, I'm inordinately partial to drinks that pair fruit and smoke).

In the normal world, a drink with a full pour of Islay whisky and a whole egg has no right to turn out a light, refreshing quaff. In rogue world, you see yourself cooling off with this over the grill at a parallel-universe barbecue. Is it the the yolk that manages to tame the scotch? I guess so, but then it fades right into the background, not pulling any of the weird--albeit fascinating--flavor mutations common to other egg drinks (e.g., Chocolate and Coffee cocktails, Cynar flip). What you've got is near seamless fruit, smoke, luscious mouthfeel, and refreshing.

Hats off to Neal Bodenheimer.

[vice]

So a new edition of rogue/beta cocktails is due soon at Tales of the Cocktail.

And it's here! Great to see several Society members in the list of contributors:

Erik Ellestad, Kyle Davidson, Stephen Cole, Nicholas Jarrett, Don Lee, Toby Maloney, Paul McGee, Troy Sidle, Tim Lacey, Jeff Grdinich, Chris McMillian, Colin Shearn, Brad Bolt, Ciaran Weise, Misty Kalkofen, Mike Yusko, Al Sotack, Charles Joly, Chris Hannah, Mike Ryan, Rhiannon Enlil, Tonia Guffey, David Wondrich, and Chris Amirault

[Chris Amirault]

Wow! I had literally no idea. Does anyone have it? What drink?

[kathryn]

Just ordered it off of Blurb. $8 for shipping? Yikes!

ETA: I have had friends make books on Blurb and and also complain about the shipping rates. Uf.

Edited July 19, 2011 by kathryn (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Excellent! (the book, not the shipping fees...)

Just ordered a copy as well.

Edited July 19, 2011 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[vice]

Wow! I had literally no idea. Does anyone have it? What drink?

Placed my order too, but shipping isn't expected for a week or so. We'll have to reach out to those at Tales for the details. The preview on Blurb did reveal that Erik's drink (eje here) is the Ashtray Heart.

[Chris Amirault]

Here are the three I sent Maks:

Rough & Tumble

2 oz dark rum (Brugal Extra Viejo or Inner Circle Green, ideally, though they produce very different drinks)

1/2 oz Branca Menta

1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb

OF glass. Stir; strain over fresh crushed ice. Flamed orange oval.

Viggo Cocktail

1 oz Bluecoat gin

1/2 oz Aalborg akvavit

1/2 oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth

1/3 oz fresh lemon juice

1/4 oz 1:1 simple syrup

dash Angostura

half a kirby cucumber roughly diced

Coupe. Shake; fine strain. No garnish.

Cocktail Tradicional y Holandes

1 1/2 oz Genevieve

1 oz mezcal

barspoon gum syrup

dash Angostura

Coupe. Stir; strain. Lemon twist rimmed and in.

My money's on the Rough & Tumble.

[Chris Amirault]

Wow! I had literally no idea. Does anyone have it? What drink?

Placed my order too, but shipping isn't expected for a week or so. We'll have to reach out to those at Tales for the details. The preview on Blurb did reveal that Erik's drink (eje here) is the Ashtray Heart.

That's a great drink.

[Paulo Freitas]

Just ordere a copy too!

BTW, you guys complaining about paying $8 dollars for shipping? I had to pay $30 to make sure it arrives here in Brazil

[EvergreenDan]

The Boston Shaker (Somerville, MA) just posted on facebook that they picked up a small supply at TOTC. I put dibs on mine.

I was sorta hoping for a volume two, with all new drinks, but it looks like there are enough new drinks for me to want this edition too. Plus, it's a good project to support.

[KD1191]

My money's on the Rough & Tumble.

Picked up my copy at Cure last night. It's the Viggo.

Viggo Cocktail

1 oz Bluecoat gin

1/2 oz Aalborg akvavit

1/2 oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth

1/3 oz fresh lemon juice

1/4 oz 1:1 simple syrup

dash Angostura

half a kirby cucumber roughly diced

Coupe. Shake; fine strain. No garnish.

[kathryn]

We got ours on Friday. It's a gorgeous little volume. Great photography, high quality paper.

[Chris Amirault]

Saw a copy that a friend got at Tales the other day. Same basic design, new drinks... if you haven't picked up the original by now and read this forum, I'd urge you to grab it. And if you're trying to use up that bottle of Bluecoat, well...

[Frederic]

We're working our way through the new drinks in the new book. There are still old drinks in there plus we had already made some of the ones in the photoless 'zine-like one I was handed at the Cure in 2010 (5 in total). We've hit a road block of scoring some Amaro Nardini. The closest we got was going to Astor Liquors in Manhattan and seeing the empty spot where it usually sits. I was able to score Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength there though for one of the drinks. DrinkUpNY has it but that's not an option in Massachusetts (and all of the locations in an old Chowhound thread have turned up nothing).

[EvergreenDan]

Fred - I'm 90% sure that I saw a (pretty dusty) bottle of Amaro Nardini at Gordon'sin Waltham on the top shelf (because the bottle is tall). I also think I may have seen a bottle at Ciracein the south end. They used to have a group photo of all their amari, but they redesigned the website and now (as usual) it's less useful and slower to access.

The large bottle size and grappa base gives it a pretty high price tag. That and the mint in it made me pass, although I'd be interested now. (If you want to split a bottle, I'm game.)

[KD1191]

Was mighty impressed by the '2 Cups of Blood' from Beta Cocktails:

3/4 oz Mezcal Vida

3/4 oz Suze (I used the Chartreuse Gentiane)

3/4 Punt e Mes

3/4 Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Stirred & strained, garnished w/ grapefruit peel.

This confused the hell out of my mouth...at least for a couple sips. Several extremely intense flavors competing for ground, with the chocolate/spice of the bitters certainly at the forefront, but the smokiness of the mezcal and long lingering finish of the gentian were very pleasantly discernible. This was my first experience with the Bittermens Mole bitters, and going in I wouldn't have given them a shot at taming the powerful Suze + Mezcal, but they sure did. For as much as the recipe looks like a Clash of the Titans, it's a rather mellow, balanced concoction in the end.

[Frederic]

Dan, we went through the old Chowhound thread that included places to buy the Amaro Nardini (back in June 2010) and stopped into Gordon's in Waltham yesterday. I didn't spot it and the clerk had no clue what I was talking about and quickly try to sell me on a bottle of Fernet Branca. We would've tried Cirace's yesterday but they're closed on Sunday -- not that their website told me that since it has practically nothing useful on it anymore, but luckily Yelp had their hours.

As for the 2 Cups of Blood, we can't find Suze here in Boston although I got to taste it at a bar here that had a bottle (not sure where they got it though). I'm a little wary of recipes using large amounts of bitters that cost $5 per ounce (if it were a 750 mL, it would be a $120+ bottle).

[bostonapothecary]

We're working our way through the new drinks in the new book. There are still old drinks in there plus we had already made some of the ones in the photoless 'zine-like one I was handed at the Cure in 2010 (5 in total). We've hit a road block of scoring some Amaro Nardini. The closest we got was going to Astor Liquors in Manhattan and seeing the empty spot where it usually sits. I was able to score Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength there though for one of the drinks. DrinkUpNY has it but that's not an option in Massachusetts (and all of the locations in an old Chowhound thread have turned up nothing).

i have a 3/4 full bottle of the nardini amaro if you want it. i bought it at cirace in the north end.

it is one of my least favorite amaros. really boring with simplistic aromas. menthe-caramelized sugar.

i lent out my beta cocktails book. what is the recipe that calls for it?

[KD1191]

As for the 2 Cups of Blood, we can't find Suze here in Boston although I got to taste it at a bar here that had a bottle (not sure where they got it though). I'm a little wary of recipes using large amounts of bitters that cost $5 per ounce (if it were a 750 mL, it would be a $120+ bottle).

Suze typically gets in the U.S. by someone hand carrying it from Europe, which is how my Gentiane liqueur also made it here.

Given the potency of the bitters, and their relatively esoteric profile, I can't imagine how many years that bottle would last me if I only used them in drops and dashes. The bottle was $16, and one can spend that on a single drink at a nicer bar these days.

I find that I have to frequently remind myself that the reason I've spent a lot of time/effort/money stocking a bar isn't so that I can have a well stocked bar, but so that I can enjoy a wide variety of interesting drinks. If occasionally one of those drinks has a ridiculous pour cost, so be it. The money has been spent, the booze is there to be enjoyed. That said, would I suggest you go out and plunk down ~$20 on Mole bitters that you otherwise have no interest in owning (eta: or, plan a trip to France to track down that elusive liqueur) in order to try this drink? No, but maybe keep it in the back of your mind for the next time you find yourself in a bar with all the necessary ingredients, few though they may be.

Edited October 10, 2011 by KD1191 (log)