Drinks! (2012, part 2)

[tanstaafl2]

juice of 1 Valencia orange (do you really want me to measure?)

Yes! What could it hurt? Measurements are a good thing!

[dml]

I needed a drink quickly, so made this one up tonight on the fly. No measurements. In descending order by volume:

Vodka

N-P sweet vermouth

Cointreau

chipotle-infused Milagro reposado tequila

homemade bitters

The fruity, herbal, and smoky components worked together well, though the proportions need a little tweaking (unsurprisingly).

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. scarlet ibis

.5 oz. trimbach's prunelle sauvage (sloe berry eau-de-vie)

1 oz. macvin du jura

.5 oz. "sugar swap" chartreuse (jaggery)

really lovely. extraordinary aromatic tonality.

[FrogPrincesse]

To celebrate the first day of spring (and because I have an abundance of mint), Audrey Saunder's Gin Gin Mule.

I really like this Bunaberg ginger beer, it has a great taste. For some reason the Beefeater got lost in this drink so I would use something different next time.

[CalumC]

Couple of things I've been playing with recently, firstly a Clover Club. Following Jeffry Morgenthaler's recipe, I made some grenadine as a test for moving the bar I work at to more homemade products, hopefully orgeat will be th next test. Clover Club is pretty simple, 50ml dry gin, 25ml lemon juice, 12.5ml grenadine (ended up tweaking up to 25 as homemade grenadine had a much darker flavour) and an egg white (about 30-40ml?). Shake hard without ice to emulsify then with ice to chill and dilute a little. Strain into a coupe. Lovely light drink.

Also, was taken by a cocktail in the savoy book for a Spencer. Guide is for 2/3 dry gin, 1/3 apricot brandy, dash of angostura and a dash of orange juice. We found this far too strong, so tweaked for 40ml gin, 30ml apricot brandy, 25 ml orange juice and a dash of angostura, which made it delicious.

[bostonapothecary]

.75 oz. tanqueray rangpur

.75 oz. plymouth sloe gin

.75 oz. jaggery sweetened formerly green chartreuse

.75 oz. from a very old and tired lemon

this was cute. the gin and sloe gin came from a large bag of "donations". sloe gin is so overshadowing.

.75 oz. plymouth sloe gin

.75 oz. madeira "doux"

.75 oz. medronhos "nova"

.75 oz. lime juice

intent on conquering the sloe gin i pulled out the big guns. first a certain tonal modifier courtesy madeira which also creates a sugar content that can contrast the volume of lime juice. next was the infamous al garve moonshine of the "strawberry tree" called medronhos which has a certain penetrating aroma. this is like tasting iodine in a single malt for the first time. you shouldn't enjoy it but you do. and it is so aromatic that the people sitting next to you are more or less drinking it along with you. people that relish batavia arrack may also enjoy medronhos.

[JAZ]

Couple of things I've been playing with recently, firstly a Clover Club. Following Jeffry Morgenthaler's recipe, I made some grenadine as a test for moving the bar I work at to more homemade products, hopefully orgeat will be th next test. Clover Club is pretty simple, 50ml dry gin, 25ml lemon juice, 12.5ml grenadine (ended up tweaking up to 25 as homemade grenadine had a much darker flavour) and an egg white (about 30-40ml?). Shake hard without ice to emulsify then with ice to chill and dilute a little. Strain into a coupe. Lovely light drink.

Not that this is practical for a bar, but you really should try a Clover Club made with either fresh raspberries muddled, or at least homemade raspberry syrup instead of the grenadine. It's an entirely different drink -- not that the one with grenadine is bad, but raspberry makes the drink, in my opinion.

[Tri2Cook]

Tried the Star Crossed Lovers from the Heering website (the original is 5 oz, I did a 3/4 recipe)...

1 1/2 oz Redbreast 12 yr Irish whiskey

3/4 oz Heering cherry

3/4 oz lemon juice

3/8 oz orgeat

3/8 oz egg white

Dry shake, shake with ice, strain, coupe. Garnish: freshly grated cinnamon, 2 drops Angostura bitters (the recipe says to drag the Angostura to make 2 little hearts on top of the drink, I didn't bother for myself).

[KatieLoeb]

Hosting a Lillet aperitif Happy Hour next Friday at my bar. Borrowed the Fashionably Lillet and Katie-fied it just a bit with some ginger syrup and muddled blood orange slices and brandied cherries and renamed it the Fashionably Lil-Late, so as to distinguish it as a different cocktail. We'll be using Hudson Manhattan Rye with that. It's joining a Fleur de Pomme (my own concoction) made with Stoli Gala Apple, Lillet, St. Germain, spiced simple, fresh lemon and Peychaud bitters and a classic 20th Century made with Hendricks for the specialty cocktail lineup for the night. I'm using these particular spirits as they are all under the same sponsorship umbrella, of course. At least here in PA. But I'm looking forward to showing off my love for Lillet and turning a few folks on to it as well.

[tanstaafl2]

Went fairly simple this evening with a Pompadour.

1.5 Rhum Agricole (Depaz 80 proof because that's what I have handy)

1.5 Pineau des Charentes (Prunier)

0.5 lemon juice

Pleasant enough but not quite what I was hoping for. Maybe I need a different rhum?

In any case I think I would prefer to just drink the Pineau by itself on most occasions.

[tanstaafl2]

1.5 Rhum Agricole (Depaz 80 proof because that's what I have handy)

1.5 Pineau des Charentes (Prunier)

0.5 lemon juice

Getting too old for that fine print on the bottle! Depaz Blue Cane Rhum Agricole is bottled at 90 proof, not 80.

[haresfur]

Limes are apparently in season and cheaper than lemons for a brief period -$1.98/kilo. So I made a Pegu Club with Plymoth gin. Can't say I was impressed with this one. I see more rum in my future.

[FrogPrincesse]

Our drinks a couple of nights ago for the season premiere of Mad Men.

For him, an Old-Fashioned with Bulleit rye and Jerry Thomas own decanter bitters.

For me, a 1:1 Martini with Beefeater gin, Noilly Prat dry vermouth, Regan's and Angostura orange bitters.

Both excellent.

[EvergreenDan]

Simple Manhattan-formula: 2oz Germain-Robin fauxognac, 1oz Bonal, stir, strain, down, lemon twist. Lovely. Much lighter than a regular Manhattan, and not quite as sweet. Bonal comes through nicely without overwhelming the brandy. Sort of a Vieux Carre for the simpleminded. Or lazy.

[FrogPrincesse]

Cocktails by the pool at the Pearl hotel.

For him, their twist on the Manhattan with Buffalo Trace bourbon, sweet vermouth, Cointreau, and orange bitters.

For me, the "British Juan" with Ballast Point Old Grove gin (a local gin), muddled lime, cilantro, & mango, and ginger beer. It was quite good and reminded me of a Gin Gin Mule. I think I prefer the original though.

[Tri2Cook]

In honor of the late, great Earl Scruggs, I mixed up the Foggy Mountain Breakdown from the Fogged In Lounge...

2 oz blended scotch

3/4 oz Drambuie

1 oz lime juice

ginger ale or ginger beer to fill

Combine all except ginger ale over ice and stir. Strain into 10 oz tall glass. Add fresh ice and fill with ginger. Stir gently.

Thanks for the music Mr. Scruggs!

[tanstaafl2]

Friday night so I decided to try something new!

Tonight it was a "Scarlet" Rhum Club from the PDT Cocktail book. The book calls for Banks 5 Island rum but I don't have that so I decided to sub The Scarlet Ibis rum instead. At least I have one island covered...

A very nice drink indeed although perhaps not for the Appletini crowd as it is fairly spirit forward from the rum. The Creole Shrubb seems to come through nicely and add a nice undertone to the drink and helps the orange bitters give this an orange/citrus edge to me. Calls for an orange wedge garnish but didn't indicate to put any oil from the peel in the drink. I suppose the shrub and bitters are sufficient.

Has anybody tried the Banks 5 Island rum? Sounds like it might be interesting.

Rum is composed of five different rums from distilleries located on the islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, and Java (the largest Indonesian island). Each rum is aged between 3 and 12 years, filtered, and then expertly blended together with just a touch of Batavia Arrack.

Or is it more of an overpriced gimmick? At probably at least $30 or more locally it seems a bit spendy. I will have to check to see if it is even available although I think I have seen it before at H&F.

Seems to get a positive, if brief, endorsement here.

Edited March 31, 2012 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[KD1191]

Has anybody tried the Banks 5 Island rum? Sounds like it might be interesting.

Rum is composed of five different rums from distilleries located on the islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, and Java (the largest Indonesian island). Each rum is aged between 3 and 12 years, filtered, and then expertly blended together with just a touch of Batavia Arrack.

Or is it more of an overpriced gimmick? At probably at least $30 or more locally it seems a bit spendy. I will have to check to see if it is even available although I think I have seen it before at H&F.

Seems to get a positive, if brief, endorsement here.

It's pretty tasty, and relatively unique. That said, there certainly comes a point where if you have enough rums on your bar, you can achieve a similar effect, but Banks takes the guesswork out of it. How do you feel about Batavia Arrack? Banks is a nice segue into that milieu without being overly funky.

Edited March 31, 2012 by KD1191 (log)

[tanstaafl2]

Batavia Arrack is already a staple in my liquor cabinet. Not to mention Kronan Swedish Punsch! I particularly enjoy the occasional Airbag and Arrack Attack.

So I suppose Banks would be a nice to have but not need to have.

[ChrisTaylor]

Looked around for my first chance to use orgeat and settled on Wikipedia's recipe (which I think is based on the Trader Vic version) for the Mai Tai. It's not bad. In fact, it's maybe even good.

[ChrisTaylor]

I wanted to try a Zombie but was confused to find three very different versions between my DeGroff and Regan books. I understand why there are different recipes, but it's hard to know where to begin. I settled on a messed up version of Dale's Zombie: instead of orange juice I used pineapple juice, as per Regan's suggestion (not because I have anything against oranges--it's just that I struggled to find straight pineapple juice, so I figured I'd better use it in something other than Mai Tais). The other problem was my lack of Falernum, something that's really obscure in Australia: I used some pimento dram instead.

It's pretty good. Does it taste like what a Zombie should taste like? I have no idea. Maybe that doesn't matter.

[Tri2Cook]

It's pretty good. Does it taste like what a Zombie should taste like? I have no idea. Maybe that doesn't matter.

I've been a bit confused on the Zombie topic as well. I narrowed my research down to the following three and decided to stop there unless I find something that warrants further investigating. I didn't keep in my notes which name goes with which version. Other than the serious rum content, they're not particularly similar in taste. Hopefully somebody that knows more about it will jump on this one because I'm curious too.

1934 Zombie:

1 1/2 oz gold rum

1 1/2 oz aged jamaican rum

1 oz 151 demerara rum

3/4 oz lime juice

1/2 oz don's mix (2 parts grapefruit juice to 1 part cinnamon syrup)

1/2 oz falernum

1 tsp grenadine

1/8 tsp absinthe

1 dash angostura bitters

shake with 6 oz crushed ice, pour into tall glass

1950 Zombie:

1 oz light rum

1 oz gold rum

1 oz 151 demerara rum

1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz lemon juice

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz passion fruit syrup

1 tsp demerara syrup

1 dash angostura bitters

shake with 6 oz crushed ice, pour into tall glass

1956 Zombie:

1 1/4 oz gold rum

1 oz dark jamaican rum

1 oz 151 demerara rum

1/4 oz falernum

3/4 oz maraschino liqueur (I have it in my notes that it was suggested to lower this to 1/4 oz on the site where I found it)

3/4 oz lime juice

1/2 oz grapefruit juice

1 1/2 oz pineapple juice

1/4 tsp grenadine

1/8 tsp absinthe

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

shake with 6 oz crushed ice, pour into tall glass

All three call for a mint garnish.

[ChrisTaylor]

For those who've tasted Falernum before, is it something worth acquiring?

[mkayahara]

It seems to me that Jeff Berry does a pretty good job of untangling the Zombie in "Sippin' Safari," and offers a bunch of interesting variations in "Beachbum Berry Remixed" as well. As far as falernum goes, depending on your local liquor regime, it might be easier to make your own than try and buy a commercial bottle. It's definitely worth it.

it's just that I struggled to find straight pineapple juice, so I figured I'd better use it in something other than Mai Tais

Wait, what? There shouldn't be any pineapple juice in a Mai Tai!

[EvergreenDan]

Are you keen on Tiki / tropical drinks? If so, I'd seek it out. If not, I'd put it in the optional category - worth having if you have room and can find it easily. Similar to Pimento Dram in that regard.