Drinks! (2004–2007)

[TBoner]

Yesterday, I went out hunting for dusty bottles of out-of-production bourbon and Scotch. Instead, in a small store with a huge selection, I found some dusty (late-70s, I think) bottles of Carpano Punt e Mes. This product is not distributed in TX, and I have been trying to get my hands on some for months. The store where I found them had many old liqueur bottles (notably Campari Cordial and yellow Chartreuse) with NY tax strips, so I tend to think these bottles of Carpano were from the same lot, probably purchased on closeout from the distributor.

At any rate, I opened a bottle last night, and...wow. Just wow. A very nice cola and nut sweetness up front followed by a wallop of bitterness, somewhat citrusy bitterness in the vein of Campari. Following a sip of the vermouth on its own, my bourbon-hunting buddy and I mixed up Red Hooks. These were spectacular, but even better was the variation on a Manhattan we did next: Laird's bonded apple brandy in place of rye, and Punt e Mes for the vermouth. No need for additional bitters. The apple character of the Laird's came through in the drink more than it does in the brandy on its own, with the spice that normally dominates taking a back seat. The fruity bitter character of the Carpano came to the forefront and kept this from being cloyingly sweet. Terrific.

I look forward to playing with the Carpano, and I found enough to keep me busy for a while.

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Not sure what part of Texas you're from, but Spec's, based in Houston, carries it and they ship statewide. Always more fun to find it like you did though.

-Andy

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Really? Great news! I hear they carry Fee Bros. bitters, too. Unfortunately, I don't get down there too often.

I've talked to a few liquor stores around here, and they've all told me it's not distributed here. Hmm... I know of a place in North Dallas that has ordered things for me before - may need to see them today.

[JAZ]

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[thirtyoneknots]

Well, at work tonight we hosted a very special event: A vertical tasting of five different vintages of The Glenrothes, including the 1979 single cask. I was working, but of course I was able to finagle myself a taste (or several) of each one. Quite an awesome event, and a real eye-opener towards Scotch appreciation for someone like me who is more into Bourbon and Rye. Of course, after most all the customers were gone, we did a little quality assurance testing on the Beam Black and WT Rye (and of course the Glenrothes Reserve).

Aren't you all jealous now?

-Andy

[KatieLoeb]

Wanting something quick and easy to sip while working on my computer tonight, I mixed myself up a tall fizzy pear drink. Absolut Pear vodka, a big splash of Looza pear nectar and filled with bitter lemon soda to dial back the sweetness. Pretty good and real easy to drink. I do love Bitter Lemon as a mixer. I think it's so underutilized and underappreciated.

[Alchemist]

Last night I was feeling inspired. First there is the happy marriage of a treacle and a Hemingway Daiq.

The Hemingway Treacle

2.5 oz. rum (I used Matusalem)

.25 oz. Luxardo Marachino

.25 barspoon demarerra syrup (2x1 sugar-water)

Bitters (I would Go Peychaud's over Ang)

On the rocks garnished with a twist of grapefruit

Named rather indelicatly after the rose and cucumber aspects of this cocktail.

The Juliet & Romeo

2.0 oz. Hendrix

.75 oz. lime

.75 oz. simple (1x1)

6 mint sprigs

3 slices cuke

pinch of salt (or in a pinch 1/2 barspoon of olive brine)

3 drops of rose water

serve up, garnish with a floating mint leaf, then spank the rest of the sprig.

[Ktepi]

Bitter Lemon's one of my favorite mixers -- terrific with Campari or tequila. No one here carries it, though. (It probably doesn't help that NH liquor stores only carry wine and liquor -- no beer, no bitters, no mixers.)

This summer I have rediscovered my love of the Dark and Stormy, with plenty of lime juice. I'm going to try it with the GuS Extra-Dry Ginger Beer later, and am curious how the reduced sweetness plays.

[bostonapothecary]

Last night I was feeling inspired.  First there is the happy marriage of a treacle and a Hemingway Daiq.

The Hemingway Treacle

2.5 oz. rum (I used Matusalem)

.25 oz. Luxardo Marachino

.25 barspoon demarerra syrup (2x1 sugar-water)

Bitters (I would Go Peychaud's over Ang)

On the rocks garnished with a twist of grapefruit

would hemmingway drink a recreational treacle?

i'm gonna try it but i'm gonna use st. james royal amber for something more expressive....

hemmingway drank st. james in "islands in the stream" i think....

[Alchemist]

If you are in the writing, or barkeeping game all drinking is part of the job so there is nothing recreational about it.

[bostonapothecary]

inspired by a buttermilk pannacotta the pastry chef made for me....because it is fun to contrast creamy things in the summer....

granadilla gin fizz....

2 oz. gin

spoon of sugar

1 oz. heavy cream

1 oz. juice of the granadilla

white of an egg

shake with plenty of ice for like 90 seconds....

splash soda water....

a carribbean take on a ramos....simply using a new very fun fruit....i was scheming on an appropriate rum but i didn't think i had one in my arsenal....

very tasty. unfortunately those i let try it drank most.

[Ktepi]

Not at all crazy about the GuS Ginger Ale in a Dark and Stormy -- the dry ginger ale (half as much sugar as most sodas, though still more than Dry Soda) is very tasty on its own, but when you add the rum, it completely overpowers the ginger. I don't know if they used less ginger flavor or if sweetness accents ginger that much -- I added a splash of Flag Hill cranberry liqueur, and it improved the drink, but made it even less like a Dark and Stormy. I really can't taste any ginger at all now.

The Flag Hill cranberry liqueur is very nice, though. They're a New Hampshire winery that opened what is evidently NH's first distillery, where they make vodka that they use as the basis for maple and cranberry liqueurs. I tried the cranberry because it was on shelf-clearing sale for $8.75 (that sounds plastic jug cheap, but remember it's NH, and you can often get Maker's Mark for $15) -- it's nice, not too sweet, tart in a way that I think would go well with tequila.

Since I don't have tequila, I'm going to try it in something with maraschino later -- maybe sub it for the Cointreau in a Beachcomber.

[stolincuervo]

Caipirinhas. (crap, had enough am I even typing or spelling correctly....)

[Alchemist]

Not at all crazy about the GuS Ginger Ale in a Dark and Stormy -- the dry ginger ale (half as much sugar as most sodas, though still more than Dry Soda) is very tasty on its own, but when you add the rum, it completely overpowers the ginger.  I don't know if they used less ginger flavor or if sweetness accents ginger that much -- I added a splash of Flag Hill cranberry liqueur, and it improved the drink, but made it even less like a Dark and Stormy.  I really can't taste any ginger at all now.

The Flag Hill cranberry liqueur is very nice, though.  They're a New Hampshire winery that opened what is evidently NH's first distillery, where they make vodka that they use as the basis for maple and cranberry liqueurs.  I tried the cranberry because it was on shelf-clearing sale for $8.75 (that sounds plastic jug cheap, but remember it's NH, and you can often get Maker's Mark for $15) -- it's nice, not too sweet, tart in a way that I think would go well with tequila.

Since I don't have tequila, I'm going to try it in something with maraschino later -- maybe sub it for the Cointreau in a Beachcomber.

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For a really good D&S make a ginger syrup Half ginger juice half sugar, then try half Matuslem and half CRUZAN black strap it will blow your mind.

The last comment in the box is mine, I have no idea why that happened.

Edited July 9, 2007 by Alchemist (log)

[bostonapothecary]

i went to no. 9 after work and ben was behind the bar so i knew i could get something good....

a vieux carre....

danflou calvados up against talisker....

dubbonet rouge

spoonful of benedictine

peychauds and agostura

orange twist....

really complex. talisker clobbers so many things but it was in perfect stalemate against the calvados. best talisker version yet.... and john's advice of dubbonet with singlemalts hasn't steered me wrong yet....

[Ktepi]

For a really good D&S make a ginger syrup Half ginger juice half sugar, then try half Matuslem and half CRUZAN black strap it will blow your mind.

The last comment in the box is mine, I have no idea why that happened.

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[bostonapothecary]

i had to make shots for some staff members i wasn't too particularly happy with so i did it on my own terms... sort of a variation of a frisco... i easily call benedictine the greatest liqueur ever...

2 oz. bacard 8 .... (i had no rye on hand)

1 oz. benedictine....

1 oz. juice of the granadilla.... (almost as tart as lemon)

they shot theirs.... i sipped mine....

it came out very nice.

[eje]

After a kinda crap Savoy cocktail, I felt like I should console myself.

I was thinking of bostonapothecary's recent posts.

Got Vieux Carre slightly confused in my head with Clisby Arthur's Cocktail a la Louisiane:

Yaaar!

1 oz Wild Turkey Rye

1 oz Carpano Antica

1 oz Benedictine

Generous dash Peychaud bitters

Generous dash Lucid Absinthe

Stir, strain, cherry or not.

Beautiful.

[bostonapothecary]

seriously jealous of the carpano antica.... (but i may have nailed down a source for it...)

tonight was the "alto cocina" or an attempt of... @ no. 9. park.... they didn't quite have the suggested brands of ingredients but made best efforts and came out very well....

1 oz. bacard 8 (tonight barbencourt 8)

1 zo. dry vermouth

1 spoonful coffee liqueur (kahlua but i wanted tia maria...)

well mixed and measured by john.... perfect side kick for my brooklyn lager....

dry vermouth leads into the coffee liqeuer in the most beautiful way.... i will play with this until i get the proportions correct.... classically it was garnished with an olive....

from the state organized socialist culinary school "alto cucina's" cocktail contest in the 60's.... many great cocktails came out of these young country's attempts at eutopia.... forget traditional values.... embrace the avante garde.... cheers!

i don't know how to compare this to a wine.... its just funky and cool and shows the specialness of the "cocktial"....

[bostonapothecary]

so i had some dessert wine around.... it was something i took off the list a month ago and had found a half empty bottle in the back of the fridge. the dessert wine seemed to be in between an icewine and a suaterne's in flavor.... and on the back of the bottle the wine maker suggested pairing it with a fine cigar.... i wanted to test his advice yet i had no cigars.... so the natural thing to do to test his advice was to prepare Jerry thomas "sauterne's flip" and add a large spoonful of benedictine....

2 oz. esoteric dessert wine.... any will do....

1/2 oz. benedictine....

1 entire egg

shake and double strain....do not garnish!....resist temptation to nutmeg....do not embellish what is naturally there....

so you can taste the entire dessert wine which is already very long.... then after tasting that you can taste the entire contribution of the benedictine (a.k.a. liquid cigar) the flavor simply goes forever.... i found it kind of creepy actually....

good advice by the wine maker....

i think i finally made a "vieux carre blanc" as long and complex as the brown spirit origional....it will be the next thing i drink.

[thirtyoneknots]

so i had some dessert wine around.... it was something i took off the list a month ago and had found a half empty bottle in the back of the fridge.  the dessert wine seemed to be in between an icewine and a suaterne's in flavor.... and on the back of the bottle the wine maker suggested pairing it with a fine cigar.... i wanted to test his advice yet i had no cigars.... so the natural thing to do to test his advice was to prepare Jerry thomas "sauterne's flip" and add a large spoonful of benedictine....

2 oz. esoteric dessert wine.... any will do....

1/2 oz. benedictine....

1 entire egg

shake and double strain....do not garnish!....resist temptation to nutmeg....do not embellish what is naturally there....

so you can taste the entire dessert wine which is already very long.... then after tasting that you can taste the entire contribution of the benedictine (a.k.a. liquid cigar) the flavor simply goes forever.... i found it kind of creepy actually....

good advice by the wine maker....

i think i finally made a "vieux carre blanc" as long and complex as the brown spirit origional....it will be the next thing i drink.

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Sounds fascinating, would you mind sharing what the wine was you used? (Just for my curiosity)

[bostonapothecary]

the dessert wine was called apianie i think.... i got quite a few bottles when we opened the restaurant a year ago....

it was italian. it might have been made from "vespiola" like the famouse "maculan torcolato"

basically a noble rot wine from indigenous grapes....

i believe that under the benedictine and the egg the wine can fully express itself.... so using your favorite dessert wine would be worth while.... i thought charlie trotter was crazy for cooking with chateau y'quem but he was apparently confident that it would fully express itself in a granita or sorbet or whatever crazy application he used it in.... try the cocktail with a good dessert wine. it was probably among the longest tasting drinks i've ever had....

i passed over the sauternes flip in the bon vivants companion and though cloying mess.... apparently not.

[TBoner]

I'm enjoying a Martini made 3:1 w/Tanq Malacca and Vya dry vermouth. Dash and a half of Regan's. I've had several of these recently, and it's hands down the best martini I've had.

I have also been playing with some Scotch cocktails recently, and have fallen in love with the Bobbie Burns. I think I may try subbing in some Dubonnet Rouge instead of Cinzano, per bostonapothecary's good experience with a Vieux Carre variation using single-malt. Incidentally, my preferred Scotch for this drink right now is a homemade vatting of Highland Park 12, Dalmore 12, and Bowmore 12. A nice interplay of smoke, sweetness, and sherry. I also enjoy Famous Grouse in my Bobbie Burns and other Scotch cocktails, but this vatting just works in this drink. Not many cocktails work with a cigar, but the Bobbie Burns seems to be an exception.

Edited July 22, 2007 by TBoner (log)

[bostonapothecary]

for the bobbie burns what are you ratios of choice? do you go pastis or benedictine? i have tomarrow off. i think i'm gonna spend some time smoking cigars and drinking....

[TBoner]

for the bobbie burns what are you ratios of choice? do you go pastis or benedictine? i have tomarrow off. i think i'm gonna spend some time smoking cigars and drinking....

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I've been mostly using

1.5 oz. scotch

1.5 oz. sweet vermouth

.5 tsp. Benedictine (seen recipes with 2-3 dashes up to 1/4 oz., but I like it on the lower end of that scale)

I tried one or two with Drambuie, but it didn't seem to add as much dimension as the Benedictine. Haven't tried one with pastis (I think it's the Robert Burns generally that calls for pastis, which is not to say it wouldn't work in this drink). I have also pushed that Benedictine as high as 1/4 oz., which I felt was a bit much. However, at about 1 tsp., it was really nice, a great after dinner drink.

I've pretty much left the Scotch and sweet vermouth in equal quantities, because I haven't found any reason not to. Most recipes I've seen call for a 1:1 ratio on those ingredients, but I don't think there would be a problem with some variation. You could go 3:2 or 4:3 without creeping into Rob Roy or Robert Burns territory.

Let me know what you think. Oh, and thanks for your comments on the Vieux Carre. I've had a couple recently, and I'm inspired by your posts to try out some variations and riffs on the basic recipe.

Edited July 23, 2007 by TBoner (log)

[bostonapothecary]

"1.5 oz. scotch"

are you going single malt or a blended scotch?

last night i stopped into no. 9. and john made me a manhattan with the bottle of the handmade sweet vermouth that i gave him....

i think he used michter's rye 2:1 and added no extra bitters.... the drink was super complex, rich, and long lived in the mouth. the bitter from the gentian, wormwood and orris was very sexy.

a delicious ass kicker.

[TBoner]

"1.5 oz. scotch"

are you going single malt or a blended scotch?

last night i stopped into no. 9. and john made me a manhattan with the bottle of the handmade sweet vermouth that i gave him....

i think he used michter's rye 2:1 and added no extra bitters.... the drink was super complex, rich, and long lived in the mouth.  the bitter from the gentian, wormwood and orris was very sexy.

a delicious ass kicker.

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On the Scotch front, I like Famous Grouse just fine for a Bobbie Burns. Famous Grouse 12 (a vatted malt rather than a blended whiskey) is better. But my favorite has been with a homemade vatting of equal parts Bowmore 12, Dalmore 12, and Highland Park 12. The Bowmore smoke is there, but tamed by the other two, and the perfuminess of young Bowmore hides behind the cognac. Awesome stuff.

I'd love to hear more about your handmade vermouth, perhaps in a separate thread. In fact, if anyone else has made vermouth, I'd love to hear more about it.