Drinks! (2012, part 2)

[ChrisTaylor]

Er, odd typo. I glanced at the recipe for the Mai Tai again. Used lime juice in there, not pineapple. Of course. Can't remember why I purchased the pineapple juice then--possibly because it was in a bunch of recipes in the 'tropical' category of both books.

I don't know if I'm interested in tropical drinks. This is a new area for me. Altho' that Falernum recipe is easy enough for me to want to make my own (I admit to cheating with orgeat, purchasing a similar Italian product in its stead).

[Markm]

I've not tended the garden and have mint coming out of my ears. Making mint syrup for mojitos, and muddling up some juleps with Makers Mark and a splash of simple syrup.

We've had some warm weather, so I tried the Reverend Palmer from PDT. Here's my ratios:

1 oz Lemon syrup (2 c sugar, 2c water for syrup. Micro plane zest of 6 med lemons and add to syrup when cool for 15 min, then strain out)

.5 oz water

2.5 oz Black Tea infused Bulleit Bourbon (2tsp loose leaf black tea in 1 cup bourbon for 1 hr)

Shake in an ice filled shaker, and strain over fresh ice. Mint or lemon to garnish.

[ChrisTaylor]

A modified Mojito--a half quantity of pimento dram in place of the simple. Probably went a bit too heavy on the lime, altho' the pimento dram very much has a place in the flavour profile, without pushing aside the citrus or mint.

[KatieLoeb]

A modified Mojito--a half quantity of pimento dram in place of the simple. Probably went a bit too heavy on the lime, altho' the pimento dram very much has a place in the flavour profile, without pushing aside the citrus or mint.

Chris, this sounds very interesting, but I wonder if the pimento dram was sweet enough and not too overwhelming in the spice component. The simple is so much a part of the mojito flavor profile. Perhaps a few dashes of pimento dram or a float on the top of a barspoons' worth might work better?

[TheStarvingArtist]

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

I'd say it's good enough to take the 30mins to make it yourself. It's not good enough to spend a lot of money in buying it.

[bostonapothecary]

boulevardier template

1.5 o.z bourbon (grand dad)

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 oz. aroma modified cynar**

this is quite lovely. familiar gustatory proportions, exotic & extraordinary aromatic tonality.

**the aroma of cynar is modified by simple dehydration. the soluble solids are reconstituted with kirshwasser (hiram walker!) to a target alcohol content of 20%. the results is really cool and intuitive to use. i aspired to use jalinek slivovitz instead of kirschwasser, but i was out. the original idea was to trade the orange expression of campari or cynar for one from a fruit eau de vie, or dry sherry. besides the olfactory-sweet orange expression in campari and cynar there is also a lot of aroma that converges with bitterness. this technique removes those bitter aromas, but does not replace them. it is interesting to see how the aroma from the bitter botanicals contributes to the over all bitterness. i think all in all the modified product only costs a $1/ounce to produce. aroma could also be replaced non-alcoholically (yerba mate & orange blossom water) so that you could make campari high balls for pregnant women and young children.

[mukki]

The shame - it's a Pink Squirrel! It truly does taste better than it looks.

[bostonapothecary]

inspired by eje's endorsement of re-rendering the old pal

1.5 oz. overproof overholt (55%)

.75 oz. m&r dry vermouth from a magnum (i only buy the magnums now because i love the decadence)

.75 oz. gran classico (i'm pretty sure this is actually gran classico)

about a year ago i was gifted a canning jar and i'm pretty sure inside was a sample of gran classico. it has a translucent tawny color, less dark than many other amaros.

well the drink is quite lovely. its a keeper. i can't imagine using sweet vermouth instead of dry.

i adore semi-dry drinks like the sanru, old pal, sour orange bronx, and the bunch. they have a unique style of being attentional. i reserve them for times of anxiety or deep conversations that can render a drink in hand innocuous. after you start really liking them life gets complicated. most bartenders won't know how to please you because of their inflexible notions of balance and harmony.

[haresfur]

boulevardier template

1.5 o.z bourbon (grand dad)

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 oz. aroma modified cynar**

this is quite lovely. familiar gustatory proportions, exotic & extraordinary aromatic tonality.

**the aroma of cynar is modified by simple dehydration. the soluble solids are reconstituted with kirshwasser (hiram walker!) to a target alcohol content of 20%. the results is really cool and intuitive to use. i aspired to use jalinek slivovitz instead of kirschwasser, but i was out. the original idea was to trade the orange expression of campari or cynar for one from a fruit eau de vie, or dry sherry. besides the olfactory-sweet orange expression in campari and cynar there is also a lot of aroma that converges with bitterness. this technique removes those bitter aromas, but does not replace them. it is interesting to see how the aroma from the bitter botanicals contributes to the over all bitterness. i think all in all the modified product only costs a $1/ounce to produce. aroma could also be replaced non-alcoholically (yerba mate & orange blossom water) so that you could make campari high balls for pregnant women and young children.

... because no child should be left behind when it comes to Campari high balls.

I made a Boulevardier last night, without the genetically modified Cynar. I used Old Crow bourbon and Cinzano bianco vermouth, built on rocks. Started with 1.5 bourbon: 1 vermouth: 1 Campari but found it significantly improved with an extra splash of bourbon and vermouth, keeping in mind this is 40% bourbon. I also found that a wedge of lime significantly improved the gustatory proportions while maintaining the aromatic tonality. . Nice morphing of taste as the ice melted without falling over into too watery. The best use for the lousy bourbon that I've found.

[EvergreenDan]

... because no child should be left behind when it comes to Campari high balls.

I foresee "Infagroni" in the baby aisle.

I tried the Old Pal last night with Gran Classico and Boissiere dry. The Gran Classico flavor really comes through. All three of us really enjoyed it. I then made a small standard Campari Old Pal. I suspect that Gran Classico may indeed be sweeter, because the standard Old Pal seemed a bit more austere. I liked them both, though. I don't think Gran Classico has the legs of Campari. I could drink Campari every day for a loooooong time and not tire of it. I'm not sure I could with Gran Classico.

Your use of the wedge of lime to balance your Cynar Boulevardier shows that the drink is a bit too sweet (at least for you and me). I sometimes use dry vermouth for that, although it is a much weaker acid, of course.

[bostonapothecary]

2 oz. st. james ambre rhum

1 oz. cynar

1 oz. sour orange juice

i almost made something like a bronx then all this talk of bitterness inspired me to reach for cynar.

this might read scary, but by some strange phenomenon it is really elegant. bitterness and simultaneous sourness seem to divide our limited abilities to pay attention to the features of the drink and none seem as aggressive as they can often be solo. it needs a dash of appropriate bitters, but i was too indecisive to pick.

a fruit that doesn't exist is conjured and the artifice is compelling.

i am reminded of Huysman's character Des Esseintes

"He wished to go one step beyond. Instead of artificial flowers imitating real flowers, natural flowers should mimic the artificial ones."...

[haresfur]

Your use of the wedge of lime to balance your Cynar Boulevardier shows that the drink is a bit too sweet (at least for you and me). I sometimes use dry vermouth for that, although it is a much weaker acid, of course.

Actually it was a Campari Boulevardier, I wasn't clear due to my attempt to tease our favourite alcohol scientist. Sometimes adding an ingredient seems to help the flavours blend together in a drink so you percieve one integrated taste. In this case, for me, the lime seemed to provide another focal point so my awareness went, "Oh, Campari. Oh, Bourbon. Oh, lime. Oh, some of each." Repeat... Very nice. I wonder also if the lime tempered the bitter more than the sweet. It seems to me it tasted sweeter after adding the lime. More research is in order.

Need to try a Cynar version, too.

[FrogPrincesse]

Bermuda Sour (Sam Ross): dark rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, egg white, orange wedge, Angostura bitters garnish.

This was really nice, and would have been even better if I had used a dark rum with a little more personality (I used Whaler's).

[ChrisTaylor]

A couple guests tried making a Dark and Stormy w/ pimento dram instead of regular dark rum. Kind of works.

[haresfur]

I think about a tablespoon of pimento dram in addition to the rum works. But my favourite addition is a splash of Fernet Branca.

[ChrisTaylor]

To a Dark and Stormy?

[haresfur]

To a Dark and Stormy?

Yes. Forgot to quote.

[ChrisTaylor]

I read your post as I was sitting in a local restaurant, waiting for a takeaway order. On the way home I hit Coles for some ginger beer. Just for this. And it was worth it.

[Hassouni]

Oh good God did I create something wonderful

Highball glass

rocks

white rum (FdC)

fresh pressed pink grapefruit juice

splash of Cointreau

splash of homemade grenadine

top with soda water

garnish w/ grapefruit twist.

[bostonapothecary]

b.b.s.

2 oz. st. james rhum ambre

1 oz. vintage 2008 homemade aromatized wine*

scant spoonful brandymel

this was a pretty cool brown bitter and stirred sort of drink.

i found a forgotten bottle of the aromatized wine when cleaning out part of house. it tasted like the day i put it in the bottle. it was simply bottled in a 20 oz. beer bottle, filled to the top and crown capped.

the aromatized wine most closely parallels bonal or vergano's grignolino based "americano". they both weren't on the market back then. the most significant attentional features are the extraordinary red fruit expressions and the elegance of it gustatory bitterness.

i think i remember adjusting the tonality of a montepulciano rose (often referred to a "cerasuolo") with dried fruits. i was trying to mimic the other frappato/nero-d'avola "cerasuolos" of sicily. the fortifier was a blend of grappa and slivovitz. the bitter botanicals were wormwood, gentian, and orris. i also remember there being bergamot peels. the ideas was to be like a super stimulus version of a cerasuolo as is a barolo chinato to a barolo.

back then i measured the sugar with a refractometer. i was incorrect about the numbers it generated (alcohol content influenced the measurement), but somewhat accurate in the tool's ability to make comparisons to other commercial products. now i've developed techniques that are significantly easier and more accurate.

i'm on the verge of making another aromatized wine. it might be really avante-garde and include boutique brewers grains as botanicals as well as be sweetened by a combination of mistelles and single varietal honeys. i think my base wine will be the bonny doon dry muscat.

[ChrisTaylor]

From the other day: another haresfur-brand™ modified Dark and Stormy. This time it was a shot of rum and a half shot of Cointreau (it seemed like a sensible starting point--I didn't want to overdo it) w/ the ginger ale. Surprisingly quite sweet. I say surprising because Cointreau isn't hugely sweet, so far as that sort of thing goes, by itself. Still, I don't think I'd want less of it. The orange-ginger combo works well. At some point I might get around to seeing what orange bitters or Grand Marnier (in place of both the rum and Cointreau) might do to it. Maybe.

[KatieLoeb]

Working on some Asian inspired cocktails with crazy ingredients from the Asian market that I've never had before. Taiwanese plum juice is tasty with either gin or tequila. Trying to figure out how to utilize those gelled candy snacks as an ingredient or a garnish. There are so many items I never would have tried had I not been guided in the proper direction by someone who could read the labels. I have a lot of lab work ahead...

[haresfur]

Ti punch. Barbancourt 5*. About perfect.

[bostonapothecary]

imitation savoy cocktail

2 oz. ransom old tom gin

1 oz. vintage 2008 homemade aromatized wine

spoonful algarvinha (almond liqueur from the south of portugal)

dash regan's orange bitters

these seemingly unrelated ingredients have a fun, but kind of advanced sense of harmony together. it reminds me of some of the odd cocktails in savoy cocktail book.

[EvergreenDan]

1/2 oz cachaca

1 oz aged agricole (Clement VSOP)

1/2 oz dark molasses-forward rum (Flor de Cana 7)

1/2 oz Cynar

1/2 oz Zucca

1/2 oz lime

7 dashes Peychaud's

7 dashes Angostura

A bit of a kitchen sink, but sort of fun. You can detect the three different rums(-like) ingredients. The Cynar takes the edge off the Zucca, which I think can be overpowering. The bitters are still there because of the large quantities. Not a world class drink, but deeply complex and sort of "intellectual" in that in each sip there is something to think about. More development may be warranted.