Drinks! (2012, part 2)

[ChrisTaylor]

Bought a new bottle of Booker's and in a moment of gross stupidity managed to remove the plastic cap from the cork when opening it for the first time. Gee. Well. Luckily I had a dram of Rittenhouse left, so I consumed the Ritt, washed out the bottle and decanted the Booker's into the now empty screw-cap bottle. Tried some cut with water and then made a Manhattan, factoring in my dislike of sweet things: 2 oz Booker's, 1 oz Punt e Mes, 1 subtle dash each Fee's whiskey barrel, Fee's orange and Regan's orange. It probably offends the Manhattan Gods and every right-thinking person everywhere, but this works nicely for me: a combination of bitter and whisk(e)y). And voetsek strong.

[KD1191]

A Martini for Martini Day yesterday.

Apparently I was also celebrating, albeit unknowingly...a reverse, perfect that turned out quite well thanks to the overproof gin.

1 oz Leopold Bros Navy Strength Gin

1 oz Noilly Prat Dry

1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

12 drops Bittercube Barrel Aged Blood Orange Bitters

Lemon Twist

[Vieux Carré]

.75 oz. ransom old tom gin

.75 oz. puysegur bas armagnac

.75 oz. gran classico amaro

.75 oz. sour orange juice

dash peychaud's bitters

What is "sour orange juice"?

[Chris Amirault]

My guess is that it's the juice of a sour/bitter/Seville orange, easy to find hereabouts at Latino mercados and essential to several old-school punches.

[KatieLoeb]

I'm working on a one night tiki pop up bar event here in Philly that will take place in August. Went over to the host establishment today and hung out with the owner doing some R&D for the event. After years of swearing I was going to create a cocktail that contained aquavit and had some sort of flaming garnish floating on top just so I could name it a Viking Funeral, the stars aligned and we figured out that a pineapple leaf, with one end stapled together is the perfect small receptacle for a wee pour of overproof rum to be set ablaze before serving the drink. The Viking Funeral is an aquavit based Mai Tai riff with pineapple and lemon juices, orgeat, simple syrup, coconut water and a few dashes of Peychaud bitters to dial it back a bit. We're using the House Spirits Krogstad Aquavit. It's a really tasty drink and the flaming garnish is the gilding of the lily. I'll take photos and post one next time we get together to finalize the menu. It looks really cool!

[ChrisTaylor]

An Old Fashioned with Van Winkle rye. Shut the door. Turn off the lights.

[EvergreenDan]

Katie: That sounds incredible. Or make it as a punch, carve the pineapple half into a boat, tiny oars and all, fill with JWray, light, and sink it just before the ceiling blackens.

[bmdaniel]

.75 oz. ransom old tom gin

.75 oz. puysegur bas armagnac

.75 oz. gran classico amaro

.75 oz. sour orange juice

dash peychaud's bitters

What is "sour orange juice"?

Note that if you are going to sub, lime juice is your best bet (it's quite acidic, regular orange juice will not do).

[blue_dolphin]

I started off my long holiday weekend with one of the drinks from yesterday's WSJ article Summer-ize Your Spirits. A number of them sound appealing but I picked Adriatic Dreams (which the article credits to Bryan Dayton of Oak at Fourteenth, Denver) to use up a few almost over ripe strawberries.

It starts with muddling a strawberry and adds 1.5 oz white rum, 0.5 oz each aperol, lemon juice and agave nectar plus orange bitters and mint leaves before shaking with ice. I cut the agave nectar to 0.25 oz and thought it was plenty.

As strawberry drinks go, I'd prefer a pour of Tequila por me Amante over ice with a squeeze of lime but this was pleasantly fruity, but not cloying, afternoon sipper.

[Tri2Cook]

Went with the Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails version of the Jasper's Jamaican. Equal parts dark Jamaican rum (I used Appleton Extra because that's what I have) and Jasper's Secret Mix (a mixture of lime juice, sugar, a healthy dose of Angostura bitters and freshly grated nutmeg) with crushed ice. Very tasty. The Angostura makes it's presence known in a nice way. Seems to give an illusion of dryness that I wouldn't have expected looking at the recipe if that makes sense.

[Emily_R]

Last night for a dinner party I made a pitcher of my favorite drink of this summer, a spicy mint limeade. A nice sweet-tart mint limeade spiked with serrano infused vodka. Every person I've served it to has raved.

[FrogPrincesse]

Last night for a dinner party I made a pitcher of my favorite drink of this summer, a spicy mint limeade. A nice sweet-tart mint limeade spiked with serrano infused vodka. Every person I've served it to has raved.

Emily,

That sounds really nice, although I would probably substitute gin or tequila for the vodka for a little more flavor. I have a friend who makes a killer Serrano cocktail "spice", so I would not even need to infuse the alcohol.

How do you make your mint limeade?

[Emily_R]

I make Brazilian limeade, but without the sweetened condensed milk. Basically this involves putting whole (cut into pieces) limes into the blender with sugar and water.... Blending them with their peels and then straining extracts the essential oils from the peels, and makes an amazing limeade! Here's a recipe with the proportions...

1 lime, cut into eighths

1/4 cup sugar

1.5 cups water

Handful of mint

Blend together and then strain! The recipe can of course be scaled up for however big batch you want to make...

Edited July 2, 2012 by Emily_R (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks Emily, I would never have thought of putting limes in the blender! I will try this recipe soon.

[ChrisTaylor]

Felt like something in the Negroni family, wanted to try Aperol, wanted to finish off a bottle of Punt e Mes ... and, so, maybe this is too much of a good thing (although I feel like it needs some work--maybe an addition .5oz of regular sweet vermouth? regular sweet instead of bittersweet? maybe a touch of something sweetish like averna?): equal parts Punt, Aperol and Campari w/ a slice of orange and one large rock. This isn't for everyone but I'm happy with my bitter baby.

[KD1191]

Interesting start to the weekend...

1.5 oz Leopold Bros Navy Strength Gin

1.5 oz Secret de Montbourgeau (fortified vin jaune liqueur?)

4 Dashes Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters

The liqueur is quite tannic, like sweetened black tea. It's an interesting pair with the notable bergamot of the gin. Ultimately, this was too sweet. I could have been even heavier handed with the bitters, or tried to find an amaro to dose the drink with, but instead I let it cook while I answered a few emails and came back to it a few minutes later. For an entree to the weekend, it'll do.

Edited July 13, 2012 by KD1191 (log)

[bostonapothecary]

Interesting start to the weekend...

1.5 oz Leopold Bros Navy Strength Gin

1.5 oz Secret de Montbourgeau (fortified vin jaune liqueur?)

4 Dashes Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters

The liqueur is quite tannic, like sweetened black tea. It's an interesting pair with the notable bergamot of the gin. Ultimately, this was too sweet. I could have been even heavier handed with the bitters, or tried to find an amaro to dose the drink with, but instead I let it cook while I answered a few emails and came back to it a few minutes later. For an entree to the weekend, it'll do.

1 oz. jalinek 5 year old kosher plum slivovitz

.5 oz. fernet 151

1 oz. domain de montbourgeau macvin du jura

.5 oz. cynar

this is so delicous. macvin du jura is a pineau des charentes style fortified wine that has distinct and potent black tea aromas similar to those found in some grappas like the berta's of italy. insane stuff. imported by rosenthal if anyone wants to track it down. fernet 151 is 151 proof fernet create via numerous exotic and proprietary processes. it is pretty amazing on its own. if taken as a shot you think you think you survive the first massive wave of flavorants and everything will be okay, then after a split second delay you get clobbered by the gratuitous alcohol content. applied to a cocktail, you can cram tons of flavorants into a small space. the drinks template is the elaborated 50/50. this will be made again, but probably with regular fernet.

i think the secret de montbourgeau is just another labeling for their macvin de jura which is produced like a pineau des charentes but definitely has different aromas; very grappa-like. i had some fun with a bottle of macvin a few months ago. pretty cool stuff. i finally acquired another bottle, but i've been putting off opening it.

[kayb]

It's awfully simple, but awfully good.

.75 oz peach-infused simple syrup

1.5 oz good vodka

Stir or shake well and pour over ice in a tall glass. Fill glass with sparkling water.

Very cool and refreshing.

[blue_dolphin]

That does sound good, kayb! I've been doing something similar, enjoying my homemade peach liqueur (based on the recipe here on Serious Eats but infused for about a week and not sweetened as the peaches from my tree were very ripe and sweet) with sparkling water and a squeeze of lime.

Last night, I used it in something like the Queen Eleanor martini variation

1.5 oz gin (Plymouth)

0.5 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)

0.5 oz creme de peche (homemade)

dash celery bitters (used orange bitters: Fee's/Regan's mix)

The "something like" part is because I have no celery bitters and used orange bitters instead.

I don't think I'd like this with a very sweet peach liqueur but my homemade stuff brought a lot of peach fragrance without any cloying sweetness so I thought it worked well.

[tanstaafl2]

Last night I went with the Mabel Berra from the Swedish Punsch thread. A surprisingly good cocktail.

Tonight it was off to a Tequila tasting put on by the Diageo rep that included the full line of Don Julio tequila including the Real, 1942 and the new "70th Anniversary Anejo Claro limited edition". This is a filtered tequila that has the barest hint of straw yellow color.

Had wanted to try the Real and since the entire tasting cost less than what a pour of the Real would likely cost it seemed like a pretty good deal!

I was already quite familiar with the reposado and the delightful 1942 from my own liquor cabinet. But a chance to try the Real made this interesting.

The blanco was surprisingly good as a sipper with plenty of agave and pepper but also a moderate mineral quality (almost a trace salty) that made it quite interesting. Between the reposado and the anejo I still prefered the reposado which still carries some of the strong agave of the blanco but adds its own caramel quality and perhaps a bit of cinnamon spice.

The 70th Anniversary didn't do that much for me. The filtering took out the color and a good bit of the personality along with it. Supposedly the filtering would give you a smooth tequila like an anejo but retain the agave notes. For me much of the agave was gone as well.

The 1942 was superb as always but the Real was a little bit of a disappointment. At 30 months on used bourbon barrels (the rep claimed they were new barrels but I don't think that is true) the 1942 has a real pleasant sweetness while retaining enough agave personality to remind you it is tequila. At 50 months the Real has become much drier with the taste not being that much different from the regular anejo but at 6 times the price.

That is one bottle to scratch off the wish list. I am perfectly happy sticking with the 1942 as my favorite dessert tequila.

[FrogPrincesse]

The tequila tasting sounds like a fun event, tanstaafl2. My knowledge of tequila is very limited, but I like the Don Julio "basic" blanco tequila a lot. Thanks for sharing your notes regarding the rest of the line.

Last night, I made a Talent Scout: bourbon, curaçao, Angostura bitters.

This may or may not be considered an old-fashioned variation with its use of curaçao (1/2 oz if my memory is correct). Given the amount of the debate regarding the use of curaçao on the old-fashioned thread, I reserve judgment on this issue and defer to the experts.

I also made a Negroni with Beefeater gin, Vya sweet vermouth (and Campari of course). I used a flamed orange twist - after watching Dale DeGroff demonstrating this technique masterfully in the videos provided as part of the training program for BarSmarts, I just had to try it!

[tanstaafl2]

Took a run at the Vellocet from Beta Cocktails, flaming mint and all. Managed to forget to take a picture. Not sure I made it exactly right although I stuck to the formula. Also didn't have a swizel stick and I am not sure a chopstick is an adequate sub!

Wasn't bad but perhaps not what I was expecting as it seemed pseudo tiki-ish but the Chartreuse as a base spirit was obviously more sharp and herbal than a rum based tiki drink might be.

[bostonapothecary]

step into the 19th century...

half sinner half saint

1.5 oz. sweet vermouth

1.5 oz. dry vermouth

float herbsaint

garnish the hands of the imbiber with "lilac vegetal" hand sanitizer

i could have stepped into the 19th century with a drink that represented the era better, but i've already drank enough and needed something lower in proof.

lately i've been making aromatized hand sanitizers through various exotic and proprietary processes. the one used here is based on the pinaud fragrance, lilac vegetal. i don't wear cologne and using the santizers has made my hands feel as though they were not my own. drinking a drink with strange perfumed hands is like rubbing elbows at a bar with someone else or maybe some where else, but really its like "some when else". modern fragrances to me have too much individuality. i smell a modern fragrance and only one individual is conjured. simplified fragrances like lilac vegetal become successful stand-ins for broader and wider swaths of time; they become time machines.

this drink took me to 19th century locke-ober of the 8th ward where i sat at the lunch counter in the men's cafe and indulged in electioneering potions.

[turkoftheplains]

My fiancée and I like to play a game where she lists ingredients and I have to mix a cocktail with them. I'm nowhere near the pros that frequent eG, but I can usually produce something vaguely potable (which is no small feat considering one of these challenges was smoked bourbon and Malibu "rum.")

Last night's game was unusually productive, yielding two cocktails I plan to keep making:

1. Challenge: Applejack and TBT Celery Bitters

2 oz. Laird's Bonded

1/2 oz. Plymouth sloe gin

1 oz. Lime juice

3/4 oz. grenadine (home-made)

1/8 oz. simple syrup

10 dashes TBT celery bitters

2 dashes Regan's orange bitters

This is a Jack Rose variant, but I think it's distinctive enough to be its own thing. My grenadine is on the less concentrated side, so 1/2 oz. may be plenty if yours is more potent.

2. Challenge: whiskey and blackberries (not the toughest ingredients)

1 1/2 oz. rye (Old Overholt)

1/2 oz. peaty scotch (Talisker 10)

1/4 oz. Cointreau

1/4 oz. Aperol

3/4 oz. Lime juice

Muddle blackberries in shaker. Shake, double-strain, and serve up.

[haresfur]

I think I like this

Not sure

1 oz silver tequila (Sauza)

1+ tsp nocello (homemade gift)

3 drops Bittermans xocolatl bitters

This is the prototype size. The three ingredients each have taste profiles that I find rather strange and don't balance but seem to complement each other.