Drinks! (2013 Part 1)

[EvergreenDan]

Last night, Lagavulin neat with Iberico ham. Can't beat that.

Infusion, rim, or garnish?

Glad to see you retrieved the bottle. I can sleep now.

[Rafa]

Last night, Lagavulin neat with Iberico ham. Can't beat that.

Infusion, rim, or garnish?

You're joking, as though Iberico-infused Lagavulin isn't the most delicious thing you or I have ever heard of.

Glad to see you retrieved the bottle. I can sleep now.

I drank many drams in penance for misplacing my bottle, then let myself be berated by a proper Scotsman for good measure.

[Chris Amirault]

As it's named after one of my favorite songs, I've wanted to try this Rogue Beta Cocktails recipe from Tonia Guffey for a while, but I rarely have both Dolin blanc and Amontillado on hand at the same time. So, I made adjustments as indicated:

1 1/2 oz Cynar

1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse rye

1/2 oz Dolin blanc

1/2 oz Lustau PX sherry (instead of dry amontillado)

3 dashes (instead of 2) Regan's orange bitters

Stir, strain. Flamed lemon twist. (I didn't have a lemon.)

A terrific drink that makes me wonder what you'd get if you pulled the PX raisins and got that leathery, dry Amontillado as indicated...

[Rafa]

As it's named after one of my favorite songs, I've wanted to try this Rogue Beta Cocktails recipe from Tonia Guffey for a while, but I rarely have both Dolin blanc and Amontillado on hand at the same time. So, I made adjustments as indicated:

1 1/2 oz Cynar

1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse rye

1/2 oz Dolin blanc

1/2 oz Lustau PX sherry (instead of dry amontillado)

3 dashes (instead of 2) Regan's orange bitters

Stir, strain. Flamed lemon twist. (I didn't have a lemon.)

A terrific drink that makes me wonder what you'd get if you pulled the PX raisins and got that leathery, dry Amontillado as indicated...

Time to get it

Before you let it

Get to you

I've also had this on my to-try list for a while, but isn't it made with dry, not blanc, vermouth?

[Chris Amirault]

Yes -- correct -- dry, not blanc. My error. What's a man to do but work out whether it's true?

[bostonapothecary]

whittled down 20th century

1 oz. gin (gordon's)

.5 oz. cocoa aromatized whitened whiskey (50%)

.75 oz. cocchi aperitivo americano

.75 oz. lemon juice

this was fairly enjoyable. the structure is pleasant enough, not too tart believe it or not. the aromas are kind of plebeian and ordinary. the cocoa in this tart context comes across like coffee grounds. kind of inelegant. but i had no problem finishing it.

[Yajna Patni]

I have been drinking these the last few nights.

http://www.cocktailmusings.com/2010/11/lucien-gaudin-cocktail.html

The lucien Gaudin is like a negroni but with dry vermouth and Cointreau. It is a little lighter and less sweet than a negroni, which I often find a little sweet and heavy.

I1 ounce gin

1/2 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce Campari
1/2 ounce French vermouth

I used Gordons gin, and Luxardo Bitter for the Campari, and I think my vermouth is cinzano.

Another thing I like is that it has no citrus, so that when I run out it is an easy one to cobble together.

[tanstaafl2]

Didn't have Lustau but used Bodegas Grant "La Garrocha" amontillado, which had a dry nutty taste to me, and thought it made an excellent drink. And a far better use for the sherry than drinking it on its own as I didn't care for it on its own.

Would certainly be a different drink from one using a PX I would think. I save the PX for making my version of a bourbon based Spanish Harlem. Which should perhaps be renamed as a "Kentucky Harlan".

As it's named after one of my favorite songs, I've wanted to try this Rogue Beta Cocktails recipe from Tonia Guffey for a while, but I rarely have both Dolin blanc and Amontillado on hand at the same time. So, I made adjustments as indicated:

1 1/2 oz Cynar

1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse rye

1/2 oz Dolin blanc

1/2 oz Lustau PX sherry (instead of dry amontillado)

3 dashes (instead of 2) Regan's orange bitters

Stir, strain. Flamed lemon twist. (I didn't have a lemon.)

A terrific drink that makes me wonder what you'd get if you pulled the PX raisins and got that leathery, dry Amontillado as indicated...

Edited March 28, 2013 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Last night's drink was the Warning Label from roguebeta cocktails: equal parts 151 demerara rum, cynar, and punt e mes; orange and grapefruit bitters; campari rinse; lemon twist. A distant cousin of the Boulevardier that we have been discussing lately.

Edited March 28, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Rafa]

If you add a blood orange twist you can call it a Bloody Harlan.

[Rafa]

Last night's drink was the Warning Label from roguebeta cocktails: equal parts 151 demerara rum, cynar, and punt e mes; orange and grapefruit bitters; campari rinse; lemon twist. A distant cousin of the Boulevardier that we have been discussing lately.

Oooh that sounds right up my alley. I'll be making this tonight as I have all the ingredients (though not a vintage old-style bottle of LH151, sadly).

[FrogPrincesse]

Last night's drink was the Warning Label from roguebeta cocktails: equal parts 151 demerara rum, cynar, and punt e mes; orange and grapefruit bitters; campari rinse; lemon twist. A distant cousin of the Boulevardier that we have been discussing lately.

Oooh that sounds right up my alley. I'll be making this tonight as I have all the ingredients (though not a vintage old-style bottle of LH151, sadly).

"Vintage". It's not that old!

I picked up half a case before they changed the bottle & formula so I still have a few left. That was only a year or two ago!

[Rafa]

"Vintage". It's not that old!

I picked up half a case before they changed the bottle & formula so I still have a few left. That was only a year or two ago!

Ha. Didn't mean it was some kind of ancient relic! But it is an item that's no longer in production and very hard to find -- vintage the way the rereleased Tanqueray Malacca soon will be.

I just made this, expecting to love it as it combined four or five of my favorite bottles. I wasn't wrong. This is a huge, bold drink for lovers of big flavors and burly rums. I made it according to the suggestion on Kindred Cocktails with 3/4 oz each of Lemon Hart 151 and Smith & Cross and an ounce each of Punt e Mes and Cynar, substituting a grapefruit twist for the lemon as I'm out. I'm sipping it right now and I think I've found a new favorite. My one regret is that it killed off my bottles of Smith & Cross and Cynar, but that's what shopping trips are for. I think I'm going to replace the S&C with the Scarlet Ibis, which I haven't tried yet, but I can't imagine ever having a bar again that doesn't feature a bottle of Cynar.

[Adam George]

Yup, it's the simple things that are doing it for me lately.

After a designing an all new Spring/Summer menu, I've been playing it safe:

Martini:

45ml Tanqueray Ten

30ml Dolin Dry

2 Dash Bitter Truth Orange.

Lemon twist.

[Hassouni]

Last night at the newish Hogo in DC, had a Jasper's Jamaican, which is sort of like an up version of his punch (the latter is better, I think), and a flight of El Dorados - the white, 8, and 21 (all for a great price) - I'd never had any of those EDs, just the 12 and 15, and I can say that they're awesome across the board. The 8 was surprisingly luscious, and given the price may be one of my future go-to rums. They also had an old-style bottle of Lemon Hart 80, which I tried, and was similarly excellent. Demerara FTW!

Today having Cynar over crushed ice, because I ran out of soda water. It's very nice!

[bostonapothecary]

this was sort of like a resurrection.

zombie-brandy sour

2 oz. of noble rot sauternes brandy

.5 oz. lemon juice

6.5 g. non aromatic white sugar

making a brandy from a botrytised wine seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't. the result smelled like bleach and was scary. i even wrote to Randall Grahm of all people to find out what happened. Randall is the patron saint of strange projects and probably has the most diverse experience in the entire industry. he was making (and gave up on) peach brandy before hipster bartenders knew they wanted it. anyhow, the wine was supposedly high in sulfur, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid. basically the worst possible thing to become a brandy. there would be no gorgeous apricot expression.

anyhow fast forward nine months. what scared even me has mellowed. it isn't good but its drinkable. jagged highly volatile aromas that sliced and diced your senses have calmed. there is a little bit of apricot probably because the more attentional distractors have receded. it is kind of card board-y like a white wine that is too old. who knows what happened. post distillation esterification? acetaldehyde coming to equilibrium with ethyl-acetate? is this the real molecular gastronomy? drinking flawed spirits is kind of fun because you get to contemplate what the hell happened.

Edited March 31, 2013 by bostonapothecary (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I was inspired to experiment tonight. I was looking at the caramelized syrup in the pan that I baked some whole sweet potatoes on today. It's tasty stuff that I deglaze with melted butter (I always thoroughly pierce the potatoes to make sure I get a good syrup yield) and mix back into the sweet potatoes if I'm mashing them. I wasn't mashing them today so I deglazed the pan with just enough water to dissolve the syrup, added sugar at 1:1 and wound up with a caramelized sweet potato syrup that's very tasty. So...

First I expressed the oil from a couple pieces of orange peel into a glass, added a couple drops of roasted walnut oil and rubbed it all around in the glass with a stirrer then...

2 oz bourbon
1/4 oz sweet potato syrup
dash Angostura bitters

Stirred with ice and strained onto a big cube of ice in the above mentioned glass.

A simple variation on a theme... but I enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if the thought of it puts anybody off their drink.

[ChrisTaylor]

That sounds ... fucking awesome.

EDIT

I'd be tempted to use a blend of Angostura bitters and Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter bitters.

Edited April 1, 2013 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[mkayahara]

Working with some unfamiliar ingredients, I whipped this one up tonight:

Working title: "Everybody comes to Rick's"

Dash Pernod

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 tsp. Cointreau

1 oz. Basil Hayden Bourbon

1 oz. Moroccan fig eau-de-vie

3/4 oz. Williams & Humbert "Walnut Brown" sweet oloroso sherry

Stir, strain over rocks. If I had an orange twist, I would have flamed it.

[Rafa]

I was inspired to experiment tonight. I was looking at the caramelized syrup in the pan that I baked some whole sweet potatoes on today. It's tasty stuff that I deglaze with melted butter (I always thoroughly pierce the potatoes to make sure I get a good syrup yield) and mix back into the sweet potatoes if I'm mashing them. I wasn't mashing them today so I deglazed the pan with just enough water to dissolve the syrup, added sugar at 1:1 and wound up with a caramelized sweet potato syrup that's very tasty. So...

First I expressed the oil from a couple pieces of orange peel into a glass, added a couple drops of roasted walnut oil and rubbed it all around in the glass with a stirrer then...

2 oz bourbon

1/4 oz sweet potato syrup

dash Angostura bitters

Stirred with ice and strained onto a big cube of ice in the above mentioned glass.

A simple variation on a theme... but I enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if the thought of it puts anybody off their drink.

Sounds good. Got a name for it?

[Tri2Cook]

That sounds ... fucking awesome.

EDIT

I'd be tempted to use a blend of Angostura bitters and Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter bitters.

Thanks. I wasn't sure which way to go with the bitters so I went with the easy choice. There's a background of bitter in the sweet potato syrup as well, from the sugar caramelizing on the pan, so I didn't want to go to heavy on additional bittering. The spices in the Angostura seemed like a good choice with the sweet potato theme but it would be fun to try others. I have enough syrup left for a few more.

Sounds good. Got a name for it?

Didn't even think about a name. It's not very practical to make. It was just one of those moments when an idea hit me at the right time. Normally, an idea like that would hit me a few minutes after I've already cleaned the pan.

[ChrisTaylor]

This morning's trip to the supermarket I bought some sweet potato specifically to make your drink.

[Rafa]

This:

Black Francis

by Rafa García Febles, NYC.

2 oz Rye

1/2 oz Maurin Quina

3/4 oz Cynar

1 twst Lemon peel

1 Cherry, Luxardo (as garnish)

Stir, strain, rock, garnish.

Nice cherry accord. Dark and bitter. Maurin Quina rewards playing around with.

This drink also ties in with haresfur's post in the Naming Cocktails thread about naming drinks after pop culture (and indie musicians, specifically).

Edited April 2, 2013 by Rafa (log)

[san]

Likely Doubtful:

1.5 oz. Angostura Bitters

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. simple

.25 oz. Batavia Arrack

.25 oz. Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

1 egg white

splash seltzer

dry shake, shake and strain into dry collins, top with seltzer

Simple variation of an Angostura Fizz. The curacao and arrack soften the bitters enough to make this really approachable even though Ango is the main ingredient. It separates pretty quick, but the color is awesome.

[Chris Amirault]

Very interesting. I wonder whether a gum syrup would help....