Help for a Couple of Cocktail Novices (Part 1)

[Okanagancook]

Couple of days of catching up to do.

The Applejack Cocktail.

The Boulevard.

The Abbey Cocktail - with blood orange juice.

The Boulevard is very nice. Googled it and mixed it with 1.5 oz rye, 1/2 oz. each vermouth and Grand Marnier a couple dashes of orange bitters. Yum

[Kerry Beal]

Hubby decided he wanted to try a Mojito. Went back through the eG thread - settled on 1 1/2 ounces rum, 1/2 ounce lime, 1 tsp sugar, dash angostura and 2 ounces of seltzer. Gently bruised mint!

[Beth Wilson]

So, how was it? Is it a do again?

[Kerry Beal]

So, how was it? Is it a do again?

Yup - quite yummy - will do again for sure.

[Beth Wilson]

The herb box from last summer had some mint in it and I have noticed lots of new shoots are coming up so I will have a supply of fresh mint on hand.. So I figure it will go on my list of things to try!

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight caipirinhas - Leblon cachaca on sale at the LCBO for a pretty fair discount - hope that doesn't mean it's discontinued. Interestingly the price on the website hasn't changed. I wonder if individual stores can discount stuff that isn't moving?

[ChrisTaylor]

I just mixed up a Mai Tai following Wikipedia's recipe. And I like it. I've had it before. The dominant note, for me, is the orgeat ... altho' it's not so strong that it overpowers the lime/rum factor. And yet the other night my partner ordered a Mai Tai when out. I tasted it and all I got was lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime. Like maybe they used a drop too much lime juice. >_>

What's the 'point' of the drink? What's meant to be the 'star(s) of the show'? Did this bar get it right and me, a cocktail novice, screw it all up with my (real almond but not actual orgeat) orgeat?

[thirtyoneknots]

I just mixed up a Mai Tai following Wikipedia's recipe. And I like it. I've had it before. The dominant note, for me, is the orgeat ... altho' it's not so strong that it overpowers the lime/rum factor. And yet the other night my partner ordered a Mai Tai when out. I tasted it and all I got was lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime, lime. Like maybe they used a drop too much lime juice. >_>

What's the 'point' of the drink? What's meant to be the 'star(s) of the show'? Did this bar get it right and me, a cocktail novice, screw it all up with my (real almond but not actual orgeat) orgeat?

Caution: Wikipedia uses a very questionable source for their standard drink recipe authority, and this is no exception. The 'point' of the Mai Tai was originally as a showcase for a very fine old pot stilled rum from Jamaica, which being rare as those things often are, became scarce very quickly. The creator (so goes the legend) soon moved towards using two different rums in order to imitate the qualities of the original brand. In general, the preferred mix is equal parts (1 oz/30 ml each) of a smooth, full bodied, aged rum, and a medium body agricole or similarly funky rum--ideally also with some age.

A typical recipe might look something like this:

1 oz/30 ml Smith & Cross

1 oz/30 ml El Dorado 12 yr

.5 oz/15 ml high quality curacao or Grand Marnier

.5 oz/15 ml quality orgeat (the subtle perfume of orgeat makes it superior to almond syrup here)

generous 1 oz lime juice, say 30-40ml or to taste

The whole thing is shaken up with a glass worth of crushed ice then poured, ice and all, into a pint or double old fashioned glass. Canonical garnish is the shell from half a lime, and a spring of mint. Straws are a good idea.

NB if you found a Mai Tai you had out to be overly tart, maybe start with the low end of the range on lime.

[Kerry Beal]

FrogPrincesse had a drink at the Noble Experiment called a Sunflower and linked to it in the Noble Experiment thread here. It was a Sam Ross variation on the Corpse Reviver. His used Plymouth gin - I don't have any so used the Citadelle. A very tasty drink. Hubby asked for a second!

[FrogPrincesse]

FrogPrincesse had a drink at the Noble Experiment called a Sunflower and linked to it in the Noble Experiment thread here. It was a Sam Ross variation on the Corpse Reviver. His used Plymouth gin - I don't have any so used the Citadelle. A very tasty drink. Hubby asked for a second!

Hi Kerry,

I am glad that you liked the Sunflower. I found it delicious, and quite subtle compared to the other drinks we had that night. The Corpse Reviver No. 2 is such a great drink and it's fun to try its variations.

In the same family, you may also like the Paddington from PDT if you haven't tried it already.

[Kerry Beal]

Again FrogPrincesse points me in the direction of a winner - Sam Ross's 'Too Soon'.

Still waiting for a bottle of Beefeater to be brought from the duty free by one of the nurses who has a place down in Ellicottville where she spends all her time off - but I did find this bottle of Bombay Sapphire waiting for me at work yesterday. Makes working a Sunday worthwhile!

[Tri2Cook]

Just beating the LCBO price on the Beefeater?

[Kerry Beal]

Just beating the LCBO price on the Beefeater?

Yup.

[Tri2Cook]

Just beating the LCBO price on the Beefeater?

Yup.

Always a good thing... well, maybe not as good as free Bombay Sapphire. Beefeater is my go-to gin but free is free.

[Kerry Beal]

Last night made "The Art of Choke" after lots of discussion about it on other forums. I loved it - hubby got instant heartburn and needed his replaced with a caipirinha. Sadly that meant I had to drink both of these! Told you - I'm a lightweight.

[Tri2Cook]

I like that one Kerry. With it being Cinco de Mayo, I decided The Gringo sounded kinda nice. Not bad at all. I skipped the salt rim, not a fan of those for any drink.

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight a Coral Reef from Gaz Regan. Quite lovely - reminds me of my favoured Brother's Perryman. As you can see I've finished off my bottle of St Germain - the LCBO is not showing any bottles in my area - but I'm sure I saw it last week so a bit of a search is in order.

[janeer]

There are so many cocktail threads (who knew) that I am not sure this is the right one, but here is the Swiss Mist from the PDT, made with Bombay Sapphire.

[Tri2Cook]

Tonight a Coral Reef from Gaz Regan. Quite lovely - reminds me of my favoured Brother's Perryman. As you can see I've finished off my bottle of St Germain - the LCBO is not showing any bottles in my area - but I'm sure I saw it last week so a bit of a search is in order.

The St Germain never made it to this end of the province. I grabbed a couple bottles of the Chase Distillery Elderflower (which has disappeared from the stores at this end now as well so I'm glad I did) and I've been happy with it... but I've never had the St Germain to compare.

[EvergreenDan]

Again FrogPrincesse points me in the direction of a winner - Sam Ross's 'Too Soon'.

Too good. No. I mean it. Too good. It disappears a bit too quickly. Thank you Yarm for pointing this out of overlooked gem from Gaz Regan's 2011 Bartender's Guide. I need to dig deeper into that book.

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight a Coral Reef from Gaz Regan. Quite lovely - reminds me of my favoured Brother's Perryman. As you can see I've finished off my bottle of St Germain - the LCBO is not showing any bottles in my area - but I'm sure I saw it last week so a bit of a search is in order.

The St Germain never made it to this end of the province. I grabbed a couple bottles of the Chase Distillery Elderflower (which has disappeared from the stores at this end now as well so I'm glad I did) and I've been happy with it... but I've never had the St Germain to compare.

Apparently the St Germain is coming back to Vintages again this Saturday. The 5 bottles that were at Queens Quay yesterday weren't there today! I grabbed some of the Chase - the fellow at the LCBO who has tasted both said that the St Germain was more refined - but both were fine in cocktails.

[tanstaafl2]

Again FrogPrincesse points me in the direction of a winner - Sam Ross's 'Too Soon'.

Too good. No. I mean it. Too good. It disappears a bit too quickly. Thank you Yarm for pointing this out of overlooked gem from Gaz Regan's 2011 Bartender's Guide. I need to dig deeper into that book.

I think I missed something. So what do you do with the 2 orange wedges? Are they just garnish?

[EvergreenDan]

I shook the 2 orange wedges with lots of cold, hard ice. A surprising amount of orange juice and also orange peel oil flavor came into the drink.

[tanstaafl2]

I shook the 2 orange wedges with lots of cold, hard ice. A surprising amount of orange juice and also orange peel oil flavor came into the drink.

OK, sounds reasonable. After popping by to see Professor Wondrich this evening I may give this one a try.

[Kerry Beal]

A friend was in Halifax a couple of weeks ago and was kind enough to bring me back a bottle of Cruzan Blackstrap which is unavailable in Ontario. I was over at his house the other day dropping off the nine bottles of Bacardi 1873 that I had managed to accumulate for him and to pick up my rum.

He mentioned that he'd bought a bottle of grapefruit liqueur that he found way too sweet and would I like it to see what I could do with it - if I could come up with something tolerable we'd split the remainder of the bottle. Well - sounded like a good deal to me!

I was pleased to see that it was Combier - which vies with MB for excellent liqueurs as I understand it.

So tonight it was a Pigou Club. I enjoyed it more than a Pegu club actually. Apparently I didn't do a good job of focusing pre-cocktail!