Drinks! (2013 Part 1)

[bostonapothecary]

.5 oz. campari (slightly super**)

1 oz. m&r bianco vermouth

.5 oz. aguardiente de medronhos

1 oz. walnut oil aromatized slivovitz

**slightly super campari is campari that was freeze concentrated one iteration which based on its sugar content I estimate only concentrates it 10%. it is not exactly amazing but I still have to finish the bottle.

this elaborated 50/50 is delicious but it doesn't exactly highlight the walnut aroma. I might have to try the vesper template next.

[bostonapothecary]

vesper template

1.5 oz. walnut oil aromatized slivovitz

1 oz. citadelle gin

.5 oz. cocchi aperitvo americano

really tasty for a booze bag style pile of alcohol. the cocchi americano has a way of illuminating the nutiness of the experimental distillate. all the beautiful tones here have a sympathy for the cooler weather we've been having lately.

[Snark]

I know you'd keep posting this sort of stuff here and on your site even without this sort of encouragement, but I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading (about) the research you're doing. Terrific stuff.

"left for dead"

.75 oz. walnut oil aromatized slivovitz**

.75 oz. peruchi spanish sweet vermouth

.75 oz. der lachs danzig goldwasser

.75 oz. lime juice

posthumous dash quinine tincture

**the slivovitz was distilled with the walnut oil as part of my project to hunt for new aroma sources. after seeing the success of fat washing nut oils seemed like a good candidate. I actually left the stuff for dead because at first it was so unremarkable yet somehow a year later it has really transformed. I suspect a good deal of the transformation is post distillation esterification and the spirit approaching various equilibriums after the big shake up of distillation. It would be so cool to explore more of non-traditional esterification but the projects really need a year of foresight and investment. I recently put 8 lost distillation papers on my blog that delve deep into aroma creation within the pot still. I found them in the archives of Roseworthy agricultural college in Australia and convinced the school to digitize them. I think they were forgotten due to WWII and that is why they were never collected by U.C. Davis.

this might read interesting but before the quinine was applied it tasted like Tang brand fake orange drink. I suspect it is from the alliteration of orange aromas in the sweet vermouth and goldwasser. quinine's bitterness added an adult edge but I'd still call this a failure. I need to come up with a new context to show off the remainder of the funky distillate.

a redeeming feature of the drink is that I put the goldwasser through the colloid mill a long time ago to mince all the gold. it didn't became as small as I thought but somehow in this drink it forms a beautiful suspension of gold dust instead of just sinking to the bottom like usual. it might be worth exploring a little deeper.

[FrogPrincesse]

Stephen does some pretty amazing research for sure. Extremely creative.

[bostonapothecary]

Thanks for the encouragement! The projects are fun and I really enjoy doing them. I would love to make things in more of a commercial context some day but I haven't really figured out how to do that in Boston. Some day... I apologize for the poor formatting of my blog. I spend so much time reading, writing, and playing that I've never really learned how Word Press works. It is kind of embarrassing. Some day there will be pictures and a way to organize the mountain of older content but I can't spare the time to learn that yet.

The blog has taken a break from cocktail topics to republish eight distillation research papers from Australia that were more or less lost during WWII. The papers point to some parallel forgotten work done in South Africa that I can't for the life of me find (yet).

Next up is more advanced (but simpler) kegging techniques. Hopefully it will help the next generation of super high volume places up their composed cocktail delivery and a la minute places that don't believe in batch-o-rama can just use them as de-aerated storage vessels for infusions, house made aromatized wines, and other oxygen phobic projects.

The champagne bottle manifolds are selling at a trickle but to some of the coolest bar programs in the world. Hopefully more beautiful carbonated cocktails will be out there in the wild pretty soon.

Modern bar tending is heating up and almost ready to pass through its gimmicky phase. When we can legally practice distillation in small bar programs I'll be ready!

Stephen does some pretty amazing research for sure. Extremely creative.

I know you'd keep posting this sort of stuff here and on your site even without this sort of encouragement, but I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading (about) the research you're doing. Terrific stuff.

[FrogPrincesse]

@Frog. Yes.

Bitter Elder

by AmateurHour, commenter on Oh Go.sh and Cocktail Chronicales

1 1/2 oz Gin

3/4 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain

1/2 oz Campari

1/2 oz Lemon juice

Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail

My notes: Absolutely delicious. Made with Tanqueray. More Campari isn't bad -- 3/4 oz

I just made this a few days ago with the new-to-the-market St. Elder. It's the best use of Elderflower liqueur that I know.

Finally reporting and yes I liked the Bitter Elder!

The elderflower cordial had a mellowing effect on the Campari (I used 1/2 oz per the original specs). Very nice.

[FrogPrincesse]

Also worth trying a Maximilian Affair with your cordial.

I also liked the Maximilian Affair. Smoke and flowers is a good combination. The cordial had the same mellowing effect with mezcal as noted above with Campari.

[Rafa]

Caipirinha with La Favorite Blanc. (Can I still call it that? Agricole Smash?) Delicious, but I miss the rocket fuel edge that many cachacas bring to the drink. Maybe next time I'll mix in some Wray & Nephew...

Edited August 27, 2013 by Rafa (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Metropole tonight:

1 1/2 oz Fundador brandy

1 1/2 oz Dolin dry

2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

1 dash half-n-half (Fee's & Regan's) orange bitters

Stir; strain; cherry.

A great drink, drier than (an) El Presidente but similarly taking advantage of a swell dry vermouth.

[FrogPrincesse]

Chris - excuse my ignorance but how does the Fundador brandy compare to a cognac? I don't think I've ever had Spanish brandy. Thanks!

[Adam George]

Two parts Cynar, One part Campari topped with soda in a half pint.

Possibly a new favourite aperitif.

[lesliec]

Last night, at Wellington's wonderful (and tricky to find if you're not in the know) Hawthorn Lounge, Tres Sangres:

Ooo, that's good. Starts sweet, finishes huge and dark and bitter. I like that in a woman ...

Back story of this is that our barman Gian is about to enter a cocktail competition and a condition for one of the drinks is it has to have at least five dashes of Angostura. I remembered seeing eGullet's thread on Bitters as the Base and sent him to it for (possible) inspiration. After a Tres Sangres I was certainly inspired.

[EvergreenDan]

I know it's not fall yet, but I'm on a Redhook kick:

Red Hook
by Enzo Enrico , Milk & Honey, Manhattan, NY
2 oz Rye
1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1 Maraschino cherry (as garnish)

Stir, strain, straight up, cocktail, garnish

My homemade cherries pale, literally, in comparison to the Luxardo cherryI had at Spoke in David Sq, Somerville, MA. I think I would prefer a perfect version; that's next. I also think I prefer it on a single large rock -- a bit of extra dilution isn't bad, especially it you find it a touch sweet as written. It is surprising out a Manhattan can be transformed with just a bit of Maraschino and vermouth choice.

Also, inspired by the Martinez thread on Chanticleer Society, I made a Martinez with Punt e Mes. Wonderful.

[bostonapothecary]

a few drinks using the elaborated 50/50 template

1 oz. arrette tequila

.5 oz. vida mezcal

1 oz. aged hercules rendering (menthe-mate aromatized wine)

.5 oz. cynar

this was pretty cool and I really believe a masterful menthe-mate aromatized wine on the market would do really well. I wish I tried it with campari but I ran out. the success of my hercules rendering is mostly luck but also following Amerine's guidelines.

1 oz. lagavulin

.5 oz. trimbach mirabelle

1 oz. florio sweet marsala

.5 oz. russo? nocino (40% alc.)

dash peychauds

others really enjoyed it and I bet it would be very successful on a menu but for some reason a part of it was stuck in the ordinary for me and didn't hit its full potential. there seems to be a simplistic chocolate character contrasted by an awesome smoke expression. I think next time I would either break the marsala/nocino combo and try bianco vermouth/nocino or borolo chinato/nocino or add a dash or two of angostura.

these are just little poems or maybe little puzzles and you rearrange them to make something its most extraordinary and memorable.

[Rafa]

A dry Martini with a mix of St. George Terroir and and Douglas Fir eau de vie as the "gin." I used Dolin dry, but Vya might be more appropriate, if intense (you might have to cut it with a softer vermouth). Grapefruit bitters and twist. I would have garnished with a pine/fir needle if I'd had one.

[lesliec]

Yesterday I finally signed up with Kindred Cocktails (hi, guys) and found this splendid thing:

The Man Comes Around is Cynar, Mezcal, Spanish brandy (I used Garvey's Esplendido), Fernet Branca and Xocolatl bitters, and is a creation of our very own Rafa (who goes by DrunkLab on KC). Just my style, with lots of bitterness. The Cynar is quite dominant, to the extent where I'm not sure I could detect the FB - that's quite an achievement!

Highly recommended if you like bitter.

[FrogPrincesse]

A simple Gin Fix with St George Terroir. Perfect for the heat and a great way to enjoy this gin.

(By the way, Rafa, your Martini with Terroir & douglas fir sounds Amazing).

Edited September 3, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Hassouni]

Racketeer variation, following suggestions on Kindred Cocktails

1 oz Rittenhouse 100

1 oz Fidencio Mezcal joven

1/2 oz Dolin Rouge (no Carpano at hand)

<1/2 oz Bénédictine

<1/4 oz Chartreuse verte (instead of jaune)

3 dashes Peychaud's

Rinse of Laphroaig cask strength

This is EXACTLY what I wanted - smoky, strong, with a warm herbal note. Wicked.

[lesliec]

I stumbled upon something tasty last night. But first, some background ...

Joiy (previously known at Ritzling) is a low-alcohol, Riesling-based, mildly lemon-flavoured, slightly sparkling local product, although its creator Chris Archer's aim is, I quote, 'world domination'. Joiy is certainly available in Australia as well as here, and I believe at least some has found its way to Hong Kong and the US. It's generally sold in packs of four 250ml bottles and on its own is a pleasant 'sitting under a tree in summer' kind of drink.

Wifey and I have been experimenting with Joiy as a cocktail ingredient for several months. It's a surprisingly troublesome little beast to get to play nicely with other components; its slight lemon taste immediately suggested gin, but we've had great difficulty getting that combination to work. A couple of weeks ago, as part of the annual Wellington on a Plate festival, we entered two of our creations in a Mixing with Joiy cocktail competition. Modesty forbids. Oh, all right; we came second and third. At some point I'll start a dedicated Joiy topic on eG, but to return to last night's creation ...

Inspired by getting started in Kindred Cocktails and loading my cocktail book with a bunch of the classics, I tried a French 75 variant, henceforth to be known as the Wellington 75. In a Champagne flute: 30ml gin, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (I'm not keen on sour in my cocktails; you might like more lemon) and 15ml simple syrup, topped up with Joiy. Very simple, and amazingly delicious. I did another one with brandy instead of gin; different but also delicious. Sorry, no photos - the drinks went down too fast!

For those of you who can find Joiy, give this a try. I'd recommend a fairly 'floral' gin if you can manage it - I cheated and used my own.

[haresfur]

Haven't been making anything worth writing about recently but, having some grapefruit still, I made a Blinker out of Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. I enjoyed it. I think the trick is to go light on the raspberry syrup so it doesn't dominate.

[bostonapothecary]

two cocktails:

1.5 oz. le panto XO spanish sherry finished in pedro ximinez barrels

1 oz. brillet pineau des charents

.5 oz. real deal wray & nephews "berry hill" pimento dram

1 oz. cashew cream**

**the cashew cream was made by blending cashews in water, running them through the colloid mill, centrifuging, separating the fat and the solids, then mixing 150 grams of fat to 350 grams of cashew water then running it through the colloid mill to homogenize. I'm sure it would love a hydrocolloid to hold it together slightly better but whatevs. the running through the colloid mill after blending was to best reduce the size of the solids so I could use them as shaving cream. I might darken the shaving cream a little bit with quinine. you will soon be able to buy it at Neiman Marcus for way too much money.

well this was as epic as it reads. ultimately when this is served on monday to some very special patrons of the arts, the le panto will change to el dorado 15.

1.5 oz. generic 100% agave blanco

1 oz. cinzano sweet vermouth

1 oz. special, special edition cherry campari**

**the campari is double special edition because the regular cherry campari is rendered from kirschwasser aromatized with wormwood, in this case it is kirschwasser aromatized with yerba mate which is another bitter aroma further into the dark end of my imaginary spatial aroma scale. campari simply is dehydrated to preserve all its legendary non-volatile parts then reconstituted with some algebra from a recklessly executed, low involvement distillate based on the brilliant product, hiram walker kirschwasser.

this is just the most sinister agavoni ever. the unique contribution of the special, special edition campari is subtle. you would have to be a negroni enthusiast to notice that "this is the same, but completely different", "this has completely dissolved all my complacency and anxiety and I am ready to be a better version of myself". I was inspired to miss remember that Paul Butterfield song as "Baby, I wanna drink from another cup, too". on monday, for the patrons of the arts, this will become a boulevardier with flaked rye aromatized bourbon.

[Plantes Vertes]

Your drinks could drive one to patronise the arts.

[tanstaafl2]

Your drinks could drive one to patronise the arts.

You just about have too! Because you can't make most of them at home, that's for sure! At least I can't. And I consider my liquor cabinet to be reasonably well stocked.

Unfortunately, I'm just not into the making my own infusions/mixtures side of things. If it doesn't already come ready made in a bottle I tend to do without.

[Plantes Vertes]

If it doesn't already come ready made in a bottle I tend to do without.

My life's motto.

[lesliec]

If it doesn't already come ready made in a bottle I tend to do without.

My life's motto.

Now then, people - spare a thought for those of us who actually like making our own stuff! There's plenty of gin in bottles but it's a helluva kick opening a bottle of one's own. Likewise things like orgeat and falernum, where I haven't had a commercial product that's anything like as good (to my taste) as mine.

But I digress ...

Wifey and I are forming a very bad habit. For the second Sunday evening in a row we took ourselves to the marvellous Hawthorn Lounge. Last night Gian was in charge and having a pretty busy time of it, but he was in fine form when it came to creating good things to drink. We had three different things between us and all three were off the cuff, recipe-less creations. Also nameless, but that may change. And delicious.

First, this one:

This introduced us to a new gin, from Western Australia. West Winds makes two gins; The Sabre is 40% and this one, The Cutlass, is 50%. They use local botanicals, as one must, including wattle seed and Australian bush tomato (no, I don't know which one). The recipe for the drink was 45ml of the gin, 20ml crème de cacao and 15 ml Cynar, with a good spray of orange oil over the top. It was lovely; seemingly quite light in spite of the stronger gin, with the chocolate a very subtle background note.

Next, some spectacle:

Yep, that's a real Blazer right there. El Dorado rum, Angostura bitters, 2:1 syrup (Demerara, I suspect) and Luxardo apricot brandy. Hot, sweet, fabulous.

Finally, this one:

I spotted some Cachaça on the shelf and asked for an introduction to it. Gian gave the matter considerable thought before coming up with an Old Fashioned, with New Orleans coffee bitters (probably Bittermens, but I didn't notice), Angostura and palm sugar. He warned beforehand it might be rough, but it wasn't. In fact, it was so good Wifey ordered one for herself.

I'm starting to enjoy Sunday nights ...

Edited September 9, 2013 by lesliec (log)