When Everything I Mix Sucks, I Make a ...

[Chris Amirault]

Thought I'd embrace the second anniversary of Portland's fantastic Teardrop Lounge and make one of David Shenaut's Dizzy Sours. Got to the lemon and couldn't find any, so I tanked it. Strike one.

Found a lime, though, so I thought I'd make this funky punsch sour I have been working on. Got everything ready to go and, instead of turning the empty glass over the metal shaker, I turned the full glass over the floor and myself. Strike two.

At this point, I found the half lemon in the fridge, so I decided I should make a version of a Gloom Lifter I've been wondering about, subbing in some scotch with the Irish whiskey and adding a dash or two of cinnamon tincture. Grabbed the demerara I was going to add, squirted it in -- and realized it was mislabeled ginger syrup. Strike three.

When I'm making bad drink after bad drink, I nearly always go to the Manhattan, a nearly un-screw-up-able drink: Rittenhouse BIB 2 to Punt e Mes 1. Happily, I have Luxardo Maraschino cherries in the fridge, and I took two. Figured if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, you know?

When you're down and out, making swill drink after swill drink, what's your go-to, back in the saddle libation?

[Nishla]

Last word, definitely. Can't screw up equal parts!

[Lisa Shock]

The Martinez

[JAZ]

Early in the evening, a Gimlet; late in the evening, a Rusty Nail.

[Friend of the Farmer]

A Hemingway Daiquiri with Neisson Eleve Sous Bois - like a genie in a bottle

[haresfur]

Sometimes you've just got to pour some good brown spirit over an ice cube (or not) and call it a draw. Latest favorite in that role for me is Barbancourt 5*.

[annecros]

Gin and tonic with a humongous slice of lime.

[weinoo]

When I'm making bad drink after bad drink, I nearly always go to the Manhattan, a nearly un-screw-up-able drink: Rittenhouse BIB 2 to Punt e Mes 1. Happily, I have Luxardo Maraschino cherries in the fridge, and I took two. Figured if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, you know?

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I think I'd call that a Manhattan variant, though, since the Punt has quite a different profile than sweet vermouth, at least to my taste. Your drink, with the addition of a few shakes of orange bitters, is called an Orange County - from Phil Ward during his D & C run.

[KD1191]

When I'm making bad drink after bad drink, I nearly always go to the Manhattan, a nearly un-screw-up-able drink: Rittenhouse BIB 2 to Punt e Mes 1. Happily, I have Luxardo Maraschino cherries in the fridge, and I took two. Figured if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, you know?

←

I think I'd call that a Manhattan variant, though, since the Punt has quite a different profile than sweet vermouth, at least to my taste. Your drink, with the addition of a few shakes of orange bitters, is called an Orange County - from Phil Ward during his D & C run.

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The Luxardo Maraschino cherries probably make this closer to a Red Hook than an Orange County.

ETA: Oh, and the Red Hook is generally my 'go to' drink when all else fails, unless there's a particularly spectacular failure, in which case it's a sazerac.

Edited July 20, 2009 by KD1191 (log)

[freshherbs]

negroni. equal parts is your friend

[lancastermike]

Sidecar, never fails.

[mkayahara]

negroni.  equal parts is your friend

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Ditto here. The Negroni is my go-to drink under nearly all circumstances. You can't screw it up, and it never fails to satisfy.

[Chris Hennes]

Scotch, neat. Even I can't screw that up.

[daisy17]

negroni.  equal parts is your friend

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Ditto here. The Negroni is my go-to drink under nearly all circumstances. You can't screw it up, and it never fails to satisfy.

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Same. I'm convinced any proportions work. Or an americano if I want something lighter.

[birder53]

Manhattan - true comfort food in a glass

[weinoo]

When I'm making bad drink after bad drink, I nearly always go to the Manhattan, a nearly un-screw-up-able drink: Rittenhouse BIB 2 to Punt e Mes 1. Happily, I have Luxardo Maraschino cherries in the fridge, and I took two. Figured if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, you know?

←

I think I'd call that a Manhattan variant, though, since the Punt has quite a different profile than sweet vermouth, at least to my taste. Your drink, with the addition of a few shakes of orange bitters, is called an Orange County - from Phil Ward during his D & C run.

←

The Luxardo Maraschino cherries probably make this closer to a Red Hook than an Orange County.

←

The Red Hook has maraschino liqueur in it, I believe.

Neither one is a true Manhattan, however.

[KD1191]

The Red Hook has maraschino liqueur in it, I believe.

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Yes, I would think chrisamirault's drink would pick up just a bit of that flavor profile from using the Luxardo Maraschino cherries.

Neither one is a true Manhattan, however.

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If Punt e Mes is your preferred sweet vermouth, the result is not a 'true Manhattan'? Are types of rye that may be more robust than the norm also verboten?

[Alcuin]

The Red Hook has maraschino liqueur in it, I believe.

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Yes, I would think chrisamirault's drink would pick up just a bit of that flavor profile from using the Luxardo Maraschino cherries.

Neither one is a true Manhattan, however.

←

If Punt e Mes is your preferred sweet vermouth, the result is not a 'true Manhattan'? Are types of rye that may be more robust than the norm also verboten?

←

Luxardo cherries don't share much with the eau de vie funkiness of the maraschino liqueur, but they are like the Sangue Morlacco which is a cherry brandy.

Also, I don't buy the notion that using Punt e Mes should change the name. PeM is just bittered sweet vermouth, but it's sweet vermouth alright just as much as M&R or Cinzano or Antica. It changes the character, but so does Antica as opposed to M&R.

Adding orange bitters instead of aromatic: that calls for another name.

[weinoo]

Also, I don't buy the notion that using Punt e Mes should change the name. PeM is just bittered sweet vermouth, but it's sweet vermouth alright just as much as M&R or Cinzano or Antica. It changes the character, but so does Antica as opposed to M&R.

Adding orange bitters instead of aromatic: that calls for another name.

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I'll buy that.

[KatieLoeb]

Anytime - bourbon and diet Coke or diet ginger ale.

Hot summer day - tequila and Wedge (Wegman's brand diet grapefruit soda similar to Fresca)

[MikeInSacto]

Manhattan. Rittenhouse BIB and whatever vermouth is available.

[maggiethecat]

Something brown, reeking of peat, two ice cubes, one ounce of tap water.

[brinza]

One of my sillier screw-ups: I was making something (really can't remember what) that called for a dash of sweet vermouth and an ounce of dry vermouth. Since I had only about a shot or so of sweet vermouth left and plenty of dry vermouth on hand, this choice of drink was a good fit for what I had available. Just after dumping in one ounce of "french" vermouth--you know, the red, sweet kind , I realized I had not only mixed them up, but used up just about all the sweet (Italian, dammit!) vermouth I had left. I drank it anyway--not undrinkable, but obviously nowhere near what it was supposed to be.

Another time I had a shaker fly right out of my hands and hit the floor, and to my amazement, it never came apart! And it contained grenadine. As it was tumbling through the air all I could think of was cleaning the sticky off of everything within a six foot blast radius.

When things go south like that or if I'm tired, I do the same thing as many others have already mentioned-- go with either a brown spirit, neat, or a two-part something like a Rusty Nail, a Dark 'N Stormy, a B&B, or my favorite I'm-too-tired-to-think-of-anything-cocktail, the Old Fashioned (the simplest kind).

[eje]

[...]

Also, I don't buy the notion that using Punt e Mes should change the name. PeM is just bittered sweet vermouth, but it's sweet vermouth alright just as much as M&R or Cinzano or Antica. It changes the character, but so does Antica as opposed to M&R.

Adding orange bitters instead of aromatic: that calls for another name.

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Generally, if I use Punt e Mes in a cocktail that doesn't call for it specifically, I will forgo the aromatic bitters in a cocktail, unless I know it is someone crazy for bitters.

I've often wondered how "traditional" the recipes for either Punt e Mes or Carpano Antica are, but have never gotten enough ingredients together to attempt a real reproduction of 19th Century torino vermouth recipes. I know Eric Seed may have made some revelations along these lines in his presentation at Tales this year.

Does a Manhattan with Punt e Mes, deserve another name?

Maybe not, but it is far enough outside of expectations, that I wouldn't serve it in someones drink unawares, unless it was the house sweet vermouth (*cough*alembic*cough*).

[Mike S.]

+1 on the big ol' G&T and/or brown spirit (typically rum) on the rocks. Sometimes both, in that order.