Drinks! (2004–2007)

[eje]

Had some friends over and tried a couple cocktails that have been on the list for a while.

A Big Mak (NY TimesSelect link) variation with 2 key limes, 4 blackberries, 1/2 oz simple, 2 oz Weller 12 year, and 1/2 oz Chambord (used the lemons for the Wet Spot and what I thought was cranberry at the back of the fridge was a fermenting bottle of Just Pomegranate).

The Wet Spot, which is plymouth gin, apricot brandy (Vedrenne liqueur de Abricot), apple juice (unfiltered from Sebastapol), elderflower syrup (d'Arbo), and lemon juice.

I would classify both cocktails as dangerously drinkable. To me, the Big Mak was pretty desserty. Kind of like a big glass of bourbon spiked blackberry port. Also messy to make. Those blackberry skins will stain porcelain sinks pretty badly.

The Wet Spot is one of the more complex cocktails I've tried. We were all picking out different flavor elements that seemed to be in there. Pineapple, blueberry, some hard candy from our childhoods. Good stuff.

edit - add amounts and brands.

Edited October 3, 2006 by eje (log)

[johnder]

Tonight, post blog celebration cocktail:

Linstead variation

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye

1 oz pineapple

1/2 oz lemon

1/4 oz Pernod

2 dashes Hermes aromatic bitters

Very cool cocktail. The pineapple and the rye play off nicely together. Plus I got to use my newly accquired Hermes bitters! The pernod really enhances the pineapple flavor.

I think it is a keeper.

[eje]

Ok, tonights bizarro drink.

I was looking through the Jones cocktail book...

[...]

←

I guess you mean the "Jones Complete Bar Guide" by Stan Jones.

Is that a book you recommend having around? I see it is a "DrinkBoy Choice" for "Wad-O-Drinks" type books.

DrinkBoy Wad-O-Drinks Recommendations

Eek! 4000 drink recipes. Sure glad I'm not trying to drink my way through that one.

[johnder]

Ok, tonights bizarro drink.

I was looking through the Jones cocktail book...

[...]

←

I guess you mean the "Jones Complete Bar Guide" by Stan Jones.

Is that a book you recommend having around? I see it is a "DrinkBoy Choice" for "Wad-O-Drinks" type books.

DrinkBoy Wad-O-Drinks Recommendations

Eek! 4000 drink recipes. Sure glad I'm not trying to drink my way through that one.

←

Yes, the that is the book. I love it. The thing I like about it is it has a crazy index, broken down by liquor. So if I am in the mood for a Applejack based drink, I can find 200 of them to choose from. It is super packed with recipes. The first part of the book gives a pretty good history of the various liquors too. It is the one cocktail book I use most.

[raxelita]

Last Night I made myself a Dandy:

1 1/2 oz each Rye and Dubonnet

1/2 oz Cointreau

2 dash Angostura

stirred, served up with lemon twist.

Then, to get through the late bar hours, a good old Corpse reviver 2, with the addition of a floater of Maraschino.

Also made up a new Lillet drink for the Fall:

Lavender Wine

In a wine glass with ice add:

2.5 oz Lillet

tsp lavender syrup

splash soda

wide lemon twist

very nice aromatics.

[cax77uk]

Hey... this is my first post but had to reply to this one as i have been making and selling this for over a year now - inspired by a cocktail i tried at the sadly now defunct Che in london (thai collins - with coriander syrup)

WOW. Now there's a blast from the past. CHE was perhaps the best cocktail bar in London. espresso martinis and hemmingway daiquiris just haven't been the same since!

[Cachaca_Dave]

Here's something I came up with at Donbert's Cocktails over Chauncey Street in Cambridge MA this past Saturday. As far as naming it goes Will W. took one look at it and said "It's the Blood of the Unicorn" so here it is:

The Blood of the Unicorn

1oz Luxardo Maraschino

2 oz Cachaca Fazenda Mae De Ouro

12 Concord Grapes

3 tsp Superfine Sugar

1/2 lime

3oz Ceres Apricot Juice

Muddle lime, sugar and grapes. Add Luxardo, cachaca and apricot juice. Shake well with cracked ice. Double strain into 2 chilled martini glasses.

[KatieLoeb]

Tonight's effort. No name for it yet. Kind of a riff between an apricot Sidecar and the Champs-Elysee.

2 oz. Cognac or 1 oz each Cognac and Belle de Brillet (tasty either way!)

1.25 oz. fresh lemon juice

.75 oz. Apricot syrup (I use Kassatly Ajyal Karmandeene syrup)

.5 oz. Ginger simple syrup

.5 oz. yellow Chartreuse

1 dash Fee Bothers Orange bitters

Pour into iced shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

Looks really pretty in the glass. Great color and flavor from the apricot syrup. I bought that syrup at my local Lebanese grocer several months ago and couldn't figure out what to do with it. This application works for me.

[mkayahara]

Tonight was rum taste-testing night. In the arena: Bacardi Carta Blanca vs. Havana Club Anejo Blanco. The battle? Daiquiris.

I was the one mixing the drinks, so I won't say that my preconceptions didn't influence my ultimate choice. But my partner was tasting blind.

The Bacardi daiquiri was smooth and, I thought, well-balanced. You could distinctly taste the rum, but it wasn't an especially complex taste. It was a very clean drink.

The HC daiquiri was more complex. I think the oak treatment really shone through here.

My partner thought the HC dairquiri tasted sweeter, though the lime juice didn't come from the same lime, so that could account for that, I suppose.

The verdict: I preferred the HC; my partner, the Bacardi. Which worked out well, since we had one of each.

I commented to him that at least he didn't have expensive taste. Then I double-checked and, sure enough, the HC and Bacardi are the same price here in New Brunswick. So I think we'll be continuing to stock Havana Club for our white rum.

[eje]

[...]

I commented to him that at least he didn't have expensive taste. Then I double-checked and, sure enough, the HC and Bacardi are the same price here in New Brunswick. So I think we'll be continuing to stock Havana Club for our white rum.

←

Just checking; but, you're talking about the Cuban Havana Club, right?

Not the new Bacardi Havana Club brand?

The Cuban HC, of course, isn't legally available in the US and I don't think Bacardi has started widely distributing their Havana Club.

I'm just not sure if you mean New Brunswick, Canada or New Brunswick, New Jersey, US.

[Cachaca_Dave]

LOL I was thinking the same thing. It's got to be Canada!!

-Dave

[mkayahara]

Yeah, that'd be New Brunswick, Canada. I guess I should've been more specific!

[KatieLoeb]

I was back at my local Lebanese grocer today for lunch and some shopping. I picked up a bottle of Kassatly Ajyal Tamarind syrup and decided to fool with it this evening.

2 oz. Tequila (I used Certeza Anejo)

1 oz. Kassatly Ajyal Tamarind syrup

.75 oz. fresh lime juice

splash of pineapple juice

Shake and drink on the rocks. Which I'm doing right now...

The tamarind syrup isn't as strong as I thought it would be, but perhaps would show better mixed with a less powerfully flavored spirit than the tequila. Gives the drink a nice tartness though. More experimentation is necessary.

[Nishla]

Since trying Audrey's Earl Grey Martini last weekend at Pegu Club, I've been experimenting with tea-infused drinks at home. I've got the Earl Grey drink working pretty well, so last night I tried a green tea cocktail

1.5 oz green tea vodka

.75 oz lemon juice

1 oz honey syrup (half honey, half water)

.5 egg white

Shake and strain into cocktail glass

Turned out pretty well, but the green tea flavor was a little too subtle even though the vodka itself is quite strongly flavored. I think next time I'll skip the egg white and cut down on the lemon juice. I liked the honey syrup, particularly with the tea.

[Cachaca_Dave]

And finally, a picture of The Blood of the Unicorn, (just in time for Halloween)

[KatieLoeb]

A slight jab in the ribs from Cachaca Dave made me rethink the application of the Tamarind syrup.

Tonight's effort:

2 oz. Fazenda Mae de Ouro

1 oz. Kassatly Ajyal Tamarind syrup

1 oz. fresh lime juice

.75 oz. ginger simple syrup

Shaken over ice and had on the rocks.

The cachaca is a much better delivery system for the tang of the tamarind syrup than the anejo tequila was. A most refreshing libation. I just finished it and I want another. The best recommendation I can think of...

[mkayahara]

When I ordered a case of bitters and syrups from Fee Brothers, the CSR on the phone talked me into adding a bottle of peach bitters to the order. When it arrived, I wasn't sure what to do with it.

This is one thing.

From Patrick Gavin Duffy's Official Mixer's Manual (Doubleday, 1948 edition), the "Fox River Cocktail":

4 Dashes Peach Bitters (Fee Brothers Peach Bitters)

1/4 Creme de Cacao (0.5 ounce McGuinness white Creme de Cacao - finally, a cocktail where it doesn't matter if you have the brown kind!)

3/4 Rye Whiskey (1.5 ounce Alberta Springs Canadian rye whisky - and yes, it's a 100% rye whisky, unlike most Canadian whiskies)

Stir gently and squeeze Lemon Peel on top.

The chocolate definitely dominates here, and I would probably cut it in half next time. The next most prominent flavour is... the lemon. But there's still a nice spiciness from the rye, and the peach bitters add a distinct note of complexity at the end. I recently read somewhere that the "dasher" on the Fee Brothers' peach bitters doesn't seem to work as well as the one on their other bitters, and I would agree with that. Some experimentation with various amounts of peach bitters in this cocktail will be required! It's a hard life...

Edited to add: After posting this, I see that this very cocktail appears on the bottle itself! It suggests proportions of 1 tsp. peach bitters, 2 oz. whiskey, and 1/2 oz. creme de cacao, which might work better.

Edited October 23, 2006 by mkayahara (log)

[Nishla]

Tried a bunch of new stuff over the last couple of days (all from cocktaildb.com).

First a bijou cocktail:

1 1/2 oz gin (plymouth)

1/2 oz green Chartreuse

1/2 oz sweet vermouth (cinzano)

1 dash orange bitters

Stirred and served in a cocktail glass with a lemon twist

The gin was a bit too dominant here for me, so I tried this variation

Emerald cocktail:

1 oz gin

3/4 oz green Chartreuse

3/4 oz sweet vermouth

1 dash orange bitters

I liked this better, but I think I would really prefer something between the bijou and emerald.

Tonight we tried to make use of our peach bitters (picked up on a whim a few weeks ago at Kalustyans)

Royalist cocktail:

1 1/2 oz gin (Plymouth)

3/4 bourbon. (Maker's Mark)

3/4 Benedictine.

1 dash of peach bitters.

Stirred and served in a cocktail glass

This was REALLY good. Very easy to drink

[raxelita]

mkayahara: I top off our Champagne Normandy (Champ, calvados, lemon) with peach bitters to give it a more aromatic nose.

Last night I made something like a Last Word but with rye. I have no idea what compelled me to do so. Nonetheless it turned out really nicely.

2 parts rye

1 part Green Chartreuse

1 part Maraschino

1/2 part lemon

shaken, served over rocks in an old fashioned.

[birder53]

We picked up Vya sweet and dry at LaNell's and mixed up perfect martinis to celebrate.

2 oz gin (we went with Plymouth)

1/2 oz Vya sweet

1/2 os Vya dry

dash of orange bitters (Gary's)

Stirred until the outside of the shaker got a nice frost going. It was so good we had a second round. This was our first "perfect" so we have nothing to benchmark it to, but the Vya sweet is markedly drier than M&R and worked well in this drink. We tried the Vya in bourbon Manhattans last weekend and noticed the difference in sweetness. We like our Manhattans a bit on the sweet side, so we won't be wasting the Vya on those again.

Edited October 29, 2006 by birder53 (log)

[kvltrede]

Tried a bunch of new stuff over the last couple of days (all from cocktaildb.com)....

Royalist cocktail:

1 1/2 oz gin (Plymouth)

3/4 bourbon. (Maker's Mark)

3/4 Benedictine

1 dash of peach bitters

Stirred and served in a cocktail glass

This was REALLY good. Very easy to drink 

←

This sounded good to me so I mixed one up on Friday night with Gilbey's gin and Old Fitzgerald's 1849 bourbon. I liked it but I'd have liked it more with only a 1/4 or 1/2 ounce of the Benedictine. It was easily the dominant flavor of the drink. This worked for me because I like Benedictine and bourbon together (see the Manhattan Special) but this recipe didn't strike me as particularly well balanced. The Gilbey's is a nice junipery gin (particularly good for the price) and the Old Fitz is eight years old, 90 proof and full-flavored so I don't think the Benedictine's dominance was a matter of using wishy-washy spirits but YMMV.

Another change I made, though, was to shake it instead of stir it. I saw at CocktailDB that the original recipe called for shaking so that's what I did. I'm not sure why shaking was called for but as the only real difference should be the texture I took the easy route.

Thanks to Nishla for pointing this one out. I'll be adapting W.J. Tarling's recipe to my tastes but it's definitely a keeper.

Kurt

[Nathan]

came up with a cocktail this weekend that worked out really well -- kind of a cross between a sidecar and a monkey gland.

equal parts brandy and pear liquor, 1/half part cointreau, 1/3-1/2 part lemon juice, dash of grenadine, dash of suitcase absinthe (if you have it, not necessary), orange twist.

I'm going to try it with apricot brandy instead of the pear liquor next time.

[Bricktop]

Tonight, I went looking for more drinks using maraschino on CocktailDB

For my wife I made

Seventh Heaven

1.25 gin

1.0 Dubonnet

0.25 maraschino

dash Angostura's

stirred and strained into a cocktail glass, garnished with orange peel and cherry.

and for me,

Blue Barn Farm

1.5 gin

1.0 blue curacao

0.25 maraschino

0.25 Cointreau

stirred and strained into a cocktail glass

I'd definitely make both again, despite the Windex look of the BBF. If I were to pigeonhole them into seasons, the BBF is a summer drink for sure, while the SH would go very nicely in the cooler weather. Maybe for that reason, tonight I give the nod to the SH.

[thirtyoneknots]

Tried a bunch of new stuff over the last couple of days (all from cocktaildb.com).

First a bijou cocktail:

1 1/2 oz gin (plymouth)

1/2 oz green Chartreuse

1/2 oz sweet vermouth (cinzano)

1 dash orange bitters

Stirred and served in a cocktail glass with a lemon twist

The gin was a bit too dominant here for me...

←

First off, hello everyone. I've been a lurker on this board for several months and finally decided to join in. At any rate, the Bijou is definitely a favorite around my house, a very rich cocktail. I learned it from Drinkboy's site, which calls for equal parts of the ingredients. I find that this works well, but last week I picked up a bottle of Boodles and tried a Bijou. Wow, it was like having the drink for the first time all over again. The no-nonsense bone-dry heavy juniper Boodles made its presence felt and really brings the drink to life. I just might have to have one tonight, in fact.

-Andy

[birder53]

Made an Abbey Cocktail from Regan's book. This is the second time we've had this drink and it still isn't memorable . The first time we used Plymouth gin and Angostora bitters and De Groff's recipe. Tonight we used Gordons gin and Peychaud's bitters. It isn't bad, but it doesn't have the "wow" factor we've come to expect from our drinks.