Stomping Through the "Savoy" (2009–)

[brinza]

I'm guessing that ice came from your freezer's automatic ice maker. I'll put those into the shaker, but never in the glass. I hate trying to drink through those things.

[eje]

I'm guessing that ice came from your freezer's automatic ice maker.  I'll put those into the shaker, but never in the glass.  I hate trying to drink through those things.

←

Oddly, I'm completely the other way around.

I don't mind using them in rocks drinks, but hate shaking with them.

But never fear, my refrigerator's ice maker just stopped working, so it's tovolo cubes all the way, at least for the time being.

Edited July 21, 2009 by eje (log)

[brinza]

Oddly, I'm completely the other way around.

I don't mind using them in rocks drinks, but hate shaking with them.

But never fear, my refrigerator's ice maker just stopped working, so it's tovolo cubes all the way, at least for the time being.

←

Great! I'll stop over for a drink, then. Actually, those half-moon "cubes" are good for cracking, however. If you hold one with the flat side down and your hand slightly cupped and whack it in the middle, it cracks nicely, so long as it is cold and dry. I know this tangent probably belongs in the ice thread, but why don't you like shaking with them?

(BTW, those tovolo cubes are nice, aren't they?)

[eje]

Phoebe Snow Cocktail.

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

1/2 Brandy. (1 oz Osocalis Alambic Brandy)

1/2 Dubonnet. (1 oz Dubonnet Rouge)

Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.

Nothing complicated here; but an enjoyable cocktail all the same.

Interestingly, like Aunt Jemina and Betty Crocker, Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created as a part of an advertising campaign.

“Phoebe Snow, the “maid in white” who promoted the smoke-free anthracite coal used on the Lackawanna Railroad, was the brainchild of one of advertising’s earliest creative geniuses, Earnest Elmo Calkins.”

So successful was the character that the Lackawanna Railroad named its first stream lined passenger train after her in 1949.

However, as with all things railroad, in later years mounting losses took their toll.

“Still, despite fine service and great views, as with the rest of the railroad industry, the Phoebe Snow could not stave off increasing losses as passengers took to their cars and the air for faster, more efficient means of travel. With the loss of the US Postal Service mail contracts in 1966 the Erie Lackawanna decided it was time to retire the Phoebe for good and she made her last run on November 28th of that year.”

Should you order this cocktail at the next Savoy Night at Alembic Bar, July 26th?

If you’re looking for an uncomplicated before dinner aperitif, I’d give it a, “why not?”

[eje]

Oddly, I'm completely the other way around.

I don't mind using them in rocks drinks, but hate shaking with them.

But never fear, my refrigerator's ice maker just stopped working, so it's tovolo cubes all the way, at least for the time being.

←

Great! I'll stop over for a drink, then. Actually, those half-moon "cubes" are good for cracking, however. If you hold one with the flat side down and your hand slightly cupped and whack it in the middle, it cracks nicely, so long as it is cold and dry. I know this tangent probably belongs in the ice thread, but why don't you like shaking with them?

(BTW, those tovolo cubes are nice, aren't they?)

←

I'm used to shaking with big ice and find the half moons awfully fragile. You end up with a tin full of slush really quickly.

[eje]

Piccad Cocktail.

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters.

1/2 Caperitif. (1 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth)

1/2 Dry Gin. (1 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 11 Gin)

Shake well with two or three pieces of lemon rind and strain.

Still no real idea what Caperitif might have been, beyond a rich yellow quinquina, similar in character to vermouth.

Dolin Blanc, though a bit sweet, remains my current favorite substitution. And one of my current favorite vermouths. With its relatively large proportion of bitters (3 dashes!) this is a great cocktail to showcase both the character of angostura as a flavoring and that of Dolin Blanc.

Happy to report that North Shore’s products are now starting to show up in some liquor stores and bars! Even the Distiller’s No. 11, which remains one of my favorite new American gins.

Should you order this cocktail at tomorrow’s Savoy Night at Alembic Bar?

Did I mention this is a great cocktail? Yes? Well, let me just say it again, “this is a great cocktail!”

[Kent Wang]

Dinah Cocktail

First put 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh mint (1 sprig) in the shaker and bruise them lightly against the sides of the shaker by stirring with a silver spoon. Pour into the shaker 3 glasses of Whisky (2 oz W.L. Weller 12 Year) and let it stand for some minutes. Add 3 glasses of sweetened Lemon Juice (Juice 1/2 Lemon, 1 teaspoon Caster Sugar) and some (cracked) ice. Shake very carefully and for longer than usual. Serve with a mint leaf standing in each glass.

Is "sweetened Lemon Juice" sour mix?  Or lemonade?

I decided to make this basically as a whisk(e)y sour with mint.

Really, how can you go wrong?

Absolutely delicious!

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1:1 bourbon and lemon? That's crazy! I tried it anyway and it was way too tart. I had to pour some more bourbon and sugar in there to balance it out.

[slkinsey]

I'm guessing that, in the original, the "sweetened lemon juice" already contained enough sugar to "balance."

[eje]

Damn, that does sound appealing.  Now I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of Macallan Cask Strength and re-try the Affinity with that instead of the Compass Box.

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3/4 Noilly original dry, 3/4 carpano, 3/4 Macallan Cask Strength, dashes angostura.

Well, it is quite a different drink than the subtle pleasure of the affinity with the Asyla. A bit more heat and maybe less body. Still, it's one of those, "Hm, that's interesting, maybe I should have another sip. Oh oops, it's gone. Another please!" kind of formulations.

[Steamtrain]

i would dive to the bottom and never come up.

[haresfur]

The Mule’s Hind Leg

1/5 Gin. (1/2 oz North Shore Distiller's No. 11)

1/5 Benedictine. (scant 1/2 oz Benedictine)

1/5 Applejack. (1/2 oz Clear Creek 2 year Apple Brandy)

1/5 Maple Syrup. (scant 1/2 oz Maple Syrup)

1/5 Apricot Brandy. (1/2 oz Zwack Barack Palinka)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Another lovely prohibition era libation from the oeuvre of Judge Jr.

The only possible way I could see drinking this was to use apricot eau-de-vie instead of apricot liqueur. Even then, this is pretty much a waste of perfectly good alcohol.

Reduce the Benedictine and the Maple Syrup to a bar spoon or so. Add some bitters.

There might be a drink worth salvaging here.

Decided to open my new copy of the Savoy at random and make the first thing I had the ingredients for. This was it:-( As I was making it I thought, this is going to be way too sweet. Then I thought, I really should have checked what Eric had to say. I was right on both counts. I added started with 1/2 oz portions, added another oz of gin (Dry Fly), added another 1/2 oz of Clear Creek apple brandy, poured it down the sink

eta: That's one way to use up the liquor before I move...

Edited December 2, 2009 by haresfur (log)

[mbanu]

Damn, that does sound appealing.  Now I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of Macallan Cask Strength and re-try the Affinity with that instead of the Compass Box.

←

3/4 Noilly original dry, 3/4 carpano, 3/4 Macallan Cask Strength, dashes angostura.

Well, it is quite a different drink than the subtle pleasure of the affinity with the Asyla. A bit more heat and maybe less body. Still, it's one of those, "Hm, that's interesting, maybe I should have another sip. Oh oops, it's gone. Another please!" kind of formulations.

Thanks again for this. Really impressive.

[eje]

Just a note, a while ago I found it too much of a hassle to post to both my blog and eGullet.

So I moved all the new Savoy posts to the blog:

Underhill-Lounge

I hope you'll visit me there.

[FrogPrincesse]

I am currently indexing the Savoy Cocktail book for eatyourbooks.com and decided to try the Calvados cocktail that Erik documented here.

2 glasses Calvados (I used 3/4 oz Daron calvados)

2 glasses orange juice (3/4 oz)

1 glass Cointreau (3/8 oz)

1 glass orange bitters (I used 3/8 oz Angostura orange bitters)

It is dry and quite bitter, as expected given the amount of bitters. Not bad, but this is definitely a cocktail that needs to be sipped slowly.

[tanstaafl2]

I.B.F. Pick-Me-Up Cocktail

In a wineglass place one lump of Ice, 3 dashes of Fernet Branca (1 tsp. Fernet), 3 dashes of Curacao (1 tsp. Luxardo Triplum), one liqueur glass of Brandy (1 1/2 oz Cerbois VSOP Armangac), fill remainder with Champagne (Louis Bouillot Cremant de Bourgogne Brut). Stir and squeeze lemon peel on cocktail glass.

According to their Blog (!) the...

International Bar Fly (IBF) was founded in 1924 by O. O. McIntyre at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France. Our members, known as International Bar Flies, have included Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Sinclair Lewis, Franklin Roosevelt, Gene Kelly, Noel Coward, Burt Lancaster, Thornton Wilder, Marlene Dietrich, Michele Morgan, Elsa Maxwell, and many more. The organization is devoted to the uplift and downfall of serious drinkers. New members are welcome.

In any case, it is a fine, fine cocktail and a proper restorative for the drinker who may have imbibed a bit too seriously the night before. Depending on your feelings about Fernet, the I.B.F. may or may not benefit from a slightly generous hand with the teaspoon of that substance. I kind of thought it needed a little more...

I stumbled across this little cocktail from another source (Spirits Journal on the K&L blog by David Driscoll) and it sounded rather interesting. One limitation is that it has the dreaded "fill remainder with" instruction for the amount of champagne to be used. Erik Ellestad's Savoy Stomp site is the same as he posted here so it doesn't offer much help.

Probably a bit obscure but I don't suppose Erik, if you are around, or anybody else can quantitate the volume of champagne a bit more precisely for me? It calls for the use of a wine glass and a health dose of brandy so I am guessing it is more than a "splash". I suppose I can experiment and see what works best but it was be nice to have a firm starting point!

[tanstaafl2]

Last night I took a crack at this and since there was no suggested starting point I started with 1.5 oz of champagne to match the cognac/armangac/brandy. Seemed OK but I think perhaps a bit more champagne is needed, at least for my palate. I was using a fairly dry brut although of course I didn't have the specific brand of champagne or armangac (I used the Ferrand 1840 cognac) that was mentioned.

[eje]

Last night I took a crack at this and since there was no suggested starting point I started with 1.5 oz of champagne to match the cognac/armangac/brandy. Seemed OK but I think perhaps a bit more champagne is needed, at least for my palate. I was using a fairly dry brut although of course I didn't have the specific brand of champagne or armangac (I used the Ferrand 1840 cognac) that was mentioned.

It looks like I was using the tasting glasses from Greenwood Ridge, which are fairly small wine glasses. The Cremant de Bourgogne Rose I used is not super dry, despite being called a brut. I think definitely quite a bit more champagne than 1.5 oz, probably at least 3.

[tanstaafl2]

Last night I took a crack at this and since there was no suggested starting point I started with 1.5 oz of champagne to match the cognac/armangac/brandy. Seemed OK but I think perhaps a bit more champagne is needed, at least for my palate. I was using a fairly dry brut although of course I didn't have the specific brand of champagne or armangac (I used the Ferrand 1840 cognac) that was mentioned.

It looks like I was using the tasting glasses from Greenwood Ridge, which are fairly small wine glasses. The Cremant de Bourgogne Rose I used is not super dry, despite being called a brut. I think definitely quite a bit more champagne than 1.5 oz, probably at least 3.

Thanks! I will start there when I am opening another bottle of champagne and see how it goes.

[FrogPrincesse]

I wasn't sure whether it made sense to post this under "Lillet", "Cocchi Americano" or "Pierre Ferrand's Dry Curaçao" but in the end, since the Corpse Reviver No. 2 first appeared in the Savoy Cocktail book, I decided to include this information here.

I did a 2x2 CR No. 2 side-by-side tasting with Cointreau and Pierre Ferrand dry curacao, Lillet and Cocchi Americano.

The Cointreau versions had a more complete orange flavor (juice, rind, etc) resulting in a brighter drink, whereas the Dry Curacao version emphasized the bitter orange notes (not very surprising).

What was interesting was that the Lillet versions had more lemon than orange notes. Using Cocchi enhanced the orange flavors which gave an impression of sweetness (this was surprising to me since Cocchi is more bitter than Lillet on its own).

Often with this kind of experiments, there is one version that I immediately prefer. In that case, there was no clear winner. They were all good with slightly different personalities. Maybe a slight preference for the Cocchi version, but I would be perfectly happy with any of these (and no I did not attempt downing all four "in swift succession"!).

[FrogPrincesse]

I was trying to clean up my liquor cabinet last night and noticed this bottle of Bols genever with very little left in it. I decided to try the Mr. Manhattan Cocktail. No relation with a Manhattan; it's a gin sour with lemon and orange juice, plus muddled mint. I used a mandarin orange because I did not have oranges on hand, and simple syrup instead of lump sugar. Very refreshing (and too small).

[Adam George]

That is an astounding collection you have.

[FrogPrincesse]

That is an astounding collection you have.

What you are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg I am afraid!

[Adam George]

I can imagine. Nothing to be sorry about, though.

[FrogPrincesse]

The Savoy Cocktail Book is finally available on Eat Your Books (here). 897 recipes searchable by ingredients. Hopefully I did not miss anything...

[FrogPrincesse]

Was in the mood for a Martini variant last night so I made an Imperial Cocktail. I recommend it - it's excellent and beautiful too. I used Erik's specs (more or less). Also there were no olives on hand so I cheated and used a tomolive (thoroughly rinsed).

Edited March 1, 2016 by FrogPrincesse
added link to recipe (log)