Drinks! (2004–2007)

[KatieLoeb]

Tonight's effort. Kind of an easy one, but I wasn't in the mood to fuss much.

2 oz. Cabo Wabo Anejo tequila

.75 oz. Apricot syrup

Grapefruit soda (I used Wegman's Wedge)

Wedge of lime

Mix together tequila and apricot syrup over ice, fill with soda and squeeze in lime wedge. Stir gently and enjoy.

[Nishla]

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 

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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

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Ummmm...so I went to make one of these tonight, and realized the recipe actually calls for dry vermouth and not gin

So I tried the real royalist recipe, and it's also very good. Not sure if the gin version is a real drink, but I guess I've now got two for the price of one! Sorry for the total brain cramp.

[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...

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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

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Welcome Andy! My husband decided to try your version of the Bijou (equal parts), using junipero gin instead of plimouth. It's really fantastic. Thanks for the tips

[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 sounded good to me so I mixed one up on Friday night with Gilbey's gin and Old Fitzgerald's 1849 bourbon . . . 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.

←

Ummmm...so I went to make one of these tonight, and realized the recipe actually calls for dry vermouth and not gin

So I tried the real royalist recipe, and it's also very good. Not sure if the gin version is a real drink, but I guess I've now got two for the price of one! Sorry for the total brain cramp.

←

What the . . . ? I double-checked that recipe at CocktailDB for cryin' out loud. How did I miss the gin/vermouth switcheroo?

Okay, so now what? If Nishla's original version of the Royalist isn't the Royalist what is it? I checked CocktailDB and a few other drink recipe sites and came up empty in searching for something similar to Nishla's (and my) misreading of the Royalist recipe. So, I think that leaves us with only one option: to give Nishla's cocktail a name. I submit that it should be called The Nishla or, if she's feeling modest, The Royal Gin Cocktail.

Nishla, this is your baby whether you came up with it on purpose or not. What do you want to call it?

Kurt

Edited to correct an obvious oversight in the proofreading department.

Edited November 3, 2006 by kvltrede (log)

[TallDrinkOfWater]

We started tonight with a couple of autumnal/holidayish cocktails: Falling Leaves (courtesy Audrey Saunders) for Little Ms Foodie, and the Réveillon (courtesy Chuck @ gumbopages.com) for me. I used Clear Creek's Eau-de-Vie de Pomme in the Réveillon; I have some Laird's Bonded as well, and next time I'll use that to compare and contrast. Also, I made use of homemade pimento dram and a homemade variation on Robert Hess's House Bitters.

We followed that with El Floridita Daiquiris, using Havana Club Añejo Blanco and Luxardo Maraschino. Mmmmm.

And now I'm thinking about what to have for a night-cap.

[Nishla]

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 sounded good to me so I mixed one up on Friday night with Gilbey's gin and Old Fitzgerald's 1849 bourbon . . . 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.

←

Ummmm...so I went to make one of these tonight, and realized the recipe actually calls for dry vermouth and not gin

So I tried the real royalist recipe, and it's also very good. Not sure if the gin version is a real drink, but I guess I've now got two for the price of one! Sorry for the total brain cramp.

←

What the . . . ? I double-checked that recipe at CocktailDB for cryin' out loud. How did I miss the gin/vermouth switcheroo?

Okay, so now what? If Nishla's original version of the Royalist isn't the Royalist what is it? I checked CocktailDB and a few other drink recipe sites and came up empty in searching for something similar to Nishla's (and my) misreading of the Royalist recipe. So, I think that leaves us with only one option: to give Nishla's cocktail a name. I submit that it should be called The Nishla or, if she's feeling modest, The Royal Gin Cocktail.

Nishla, this is your baby whether you came up with it on purpose or not. What do you want to call it?

Kurt

Edited to correct an obvious oversight in the proofreading department.

←

I looked into what the term "royalist" means, and generally it's someone who supports a monarchy. In particular, it can refer to supporters of the House of Bourbon, which originally ruled in France (thus, the dry vermouth).

Since gin is often associated with Britain, maybe we can call the gin version a Monarchist, which refers to supporters of the British monarchy.

Edited November 4, 2006 by Nishla (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....

←

Ummmm...so I went to make one of these tonight, and realized the recipe actually calls for dry vermouth and not gin

So I tried the real royalist recipe, and it's also very good. Not sure if the gin version is a real drink, but I guess I've now got two for the price of one! Sorry for the total brain cramp.

←

...If Nishla's original version of the Royalist isn't the Royalist what is it?...Nishla, this is your baby whether you came up with it on purpose or not. What do you want to call it?....

I looked into what the term "royalist" means, and generally it's someone who supports a monarchy. In particular, it can refer to supporters of the House of Bourbon, which originally ruled in France (thus, the dry vermouth). Since gin is often associated with Britain, maybe we can call the gin version a Monarchist, which refers to supporters of the British monarchy.

←

The Monarchist it is. Well done.

[birder53]

tonight, utilizing my new stash of lairds bonded

Honeymoon Cocktail

1oz Lemon Juice

3/4 Oz Applejack

3/4 Oz Benedictine

1/4 Oz Orange Curacao

Very good, I like the heavy lemon notes, followed by the Apples.

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Now that we have the Lairds Bonded we gave this a try. Very nice drink. What will I do with my "regular" Lairds now that the bonded has arrived??

[VoodooDog]

tonight, utilizing my new stash of lairds bonded

Honeymoon Cocktail

1oz Lemon Juice

3/4 Oz Applejack

3/4 Oz Benedictine

1/4 Oz Orange Curacao

Very good, I like the heavy lemon notes, followed by the Apples.

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Now that we have the Lairds Bonded we gave this a try. Very nice drink. What will I do with my "regular" Lairds now that the bonded has arrived??

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This time of year? Throw a party.

The stuff goes great in a hot mulled punch.

HO! HO! HO!

[Ktepi]

I know there's a homemade liqueur thread, but I'll probably tinker with this. For today:

Cider Liqueur

4 cups unpasteurized apple cider (you know, the nonalcholic kind), boiled down to just over 1 cup and strained through a coffee filter to get rid of the solids.

1/3 cup bourbon

couple few dashes of Angostura

dash or two of Goldschlager -- I added a little at a time until it hit that window where the liqueur tasted different than it had a moment earlier, but before a recognizable cinnamon flavor set in

The bourbon holds up very well to that concentrated cider, and this is a drinkable strength as-is -- or, I'd reckon, on rocks. I'm sure pimento dram or various spice infusions would work nicely, and if I had any left, I'd try it on the rocks with a little Islay scotch.

[birder53]

Tried a One Spot last night. This was from Harrington's book.

2 oz gin

1/2 oz Pernod

1/4 oz lemon juice

2 drops Angostura bitters

Shake, strain, garnish with a lemon twist.

This didn't work for us at all. We used Beefeaters gin, which I thought might be needed to handle the Pernod. I tried adding a bit more lemon juice, but it still didn't work. Maybe it would work with Plymouth, but since there are so many more interesting drinks to try, we might not bother with another try at this one. Hubby said he doesn't like the Beefeaters, but we've made drinks with it before which he did enjoy.

[Bricktop]

Tonight, I made a few variants of the Affinity from cocktaildb.com

For me a bit closer to a Perfect Rob Roy than classic Affinity,

2 oz Scotch (Chivas)

1/2 oz sweet vermouth (M&R)

1/2 oz dry vermouth (Noilly Prat)

3 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters.

Garnished with a cherry.

For my wife,

3/4 oz sweet vermouth (M&R)

3/4 oz dry vermouth (Noilly Prat)

1/2 oz Marie Brizzard Parfait Amour.

Garnished with a cherry.

Both are keepers.

[Bricktop]

Another night of Aviation for me. I used the proportions that work best for me, 4:1:1 of gin, lemon juice and maraschino.

The change tonight was using Junipero, along the now requisite Luxardo maraschino, but I also put in a small dash of blue curacao (Bols).

It gave the drink a very appealing pale sky blue color which harks back to the Creme D'Yvette/Violette versions I read about.

Also, it was such a minimal amount it had no effect on the taste of the drink. I think I'll do this from now on.

[Bricktop]

Wow. Three posts in a row. Is everyone else on the wagon?

From another thread, I made the Boulevard

2 oz Rye (Wild Turkey 101)

0.5 oz Grand Marnier

0.5 oz dry vermouth (M&R)

dash Fee's Orange bitters.

stirred over ice, strained into a cocktail glass.

Very nice indeed, but that WT 101 packs a punch.

PS: On my first attempt, I unscrewed the cap of the bitters, a la Angostura's, and dumped a half bottle in. Good job I bought two bottles when I stumbled across it.

[thirtyoneknots]

PS: On my first attempt, I unscrewed the cap of the bitters, a la Angostura's, and dumped a half bottle in.  Good job I bought two bottles when I stumbled across it. 

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I have totally done this before, but with Regan's (the dasher cap came off in the screw-off one). I was making old-fashioneds, and interestingly enough it didn't taste bad at all with a half ounce or so of bitters in it. Just different.

[Nishla]

I got a bottle of Marie Brizzard Parfait Amour over the weekend, so I decided to try it in a drink tonight. I found a Parfait Amour Cocktail on cocktaildb. The original recipe called for:

1 oz gin

1 oz parfait amour

1/2 oz maraschino liqueur

I figured that would be disgustingly sweet, so I upped the gin (Junipero) to 1 1/2 oz, and cut the parfait amour down to 1/2 oz. I also added one dash of orange bitters. It's not bad flavor-wise, but still a bit syrupy for my taste. I guess this just calls for more experimentation

[birder53]

Another version of the Affinity tonight. Paul Harrington's recipe calls for equal parts of scotch, sweet and dry vermouths, bitters and a lemon twist. We planned to make this with Chivas, but it seems that we finished it and never replaced it. Chivas on the rocks with a twist used to be our house drink before we got mixed up with eGullet! We had Balvenie and Highland Park on hand and went with the Balvenie. It was a very nice drink.

[C. sapidus]

Limes were eight for a dollar at the grocery store, so last night we made this Santiago Variation from Cocktail DB. Simple and refreshing. Mrs. Crab doesn’t like full-strength cocktails, so I mixed hers with Jamaican ginger beer, which was also good.

[birder53]

Limes were eight for a dollar at the grocery store, so last night we made this Santiago Variation from Cocktail DB. Simple and refreshing. Mrs. Crab doesn’t like full-strength cocktails, so I mixed hers with Jamaican ginger beer, which was also good.

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What have you named your ginger beer variation? Sounds refreshing!

[C. sapidus]

Limes were eight for a dollar at the grocery store, so last night we made this Santiago Variation from Cocktail DB. Simple and refreshing. Mrs. Crab doesn’t like full-strength cocktails, so I mixed hers with Jamaican ginger beer, which was also good.

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What have you named your ginger beer variation? Sounds refreshing!

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I'm pretty new at making cocktails, so I wouldn't presume to name a drink. It was nice, though.

[Nishla]

Another parfait amour drink tonight...

I found this doing a google search through egullet, but of course I closed the thread and now I can't find it again, so whoever originally posted this--thanks!

2 oz gin (plymouth)

1/2 oz parfait amour

1/4 oz campari

My husband LOVED this (he'd like anything with campari), and it was a nice blend of sweet and bitter.

[KatieLoeb]

I've been working on a Thanksgiving pre-dinner cocktail tonight. I was inspired by an e-mail I received that had something similar in it, but I changed up a few ingredients and re-worked it a bit. Tried this two different ways tonight.

2 oz. Ten Cane Rum OR Laird's Applejack

1 oz. apple cider

.75 oz. fresh lemon juice

.5 oz. Marie Brizard Poire William liqueur

.5 oz. Spiced Dark Simple Syrup*

one dash Fee Brother's Old Fashioned Bitters

Lemon rind

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

My biggest complaint is probably my own fault. My market only had gallon containers of the unpasteurized fresh apple cider and I didn't have room for one in my fridge (in addition to living alone and loathing the amount of waste I already create) so I bought a smaller bottle of pasteurized cider. It just isn't "apple-ey" enough, but I suspect that would improve either drink tremendously. The Applejack version of the drink was good, but I think the Ten Cane rum version was even better. The subtle spicing from the simple syrup is a little more evident in the rum based version of the drink. Both versions are very light and autumnal and pretty well balanced.

Any suggestions on a good name for this concoction??

* Spiced Dark Simple Syrup

1.5 cups water

3 cinnamon sticks, broken up

4 star anise

10 whole cloves

1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

1 cup demerara sugar (I use Trader Joe's organic)

Bring water to a boil and add spices. Allow to boil for three minutes. Add sugar, stir to dissolve and allow to simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and allow to cool. Strain before using.

[plattetude]

Another parfait amour drink tonight...

I found this doing a google search through egullet, but of course I closed the thread and now I can't find it again, so whoever originally posted this--thanks!

2 oz gin (plymouth)

1/2 oz parfait amour

1/4 oz campari

My husband LOVED this (he'd like anything with campari), and it was a nice blend of sweet and bitter.

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Hey, that was me! I call it the Amethyst (for what should be obvious reasons). And it's been a while since I've had one. Thanks for the reminder, and glad it was a winner!

Christopher

[birder53]

We started the weekend with a drink from Drinkboy. The Canton is one of the newer drinks on this site. We used Appleton Jamaican rum, Bols orange curacao and Maraska maraschino. Very nice drink!

[birder53]

Tonight's drink was the Last Word.

1 oz gin

1 oz green chartreuse

1 oz maraschino liqueur

1 oz lime juice

Round one was made with Stock maraschino. A bit too sweet for our taste. Round two was Maraska. Perfect. We're looking for ways to use the Stock since it seems like a shame to dump it. The Maraska is drier and lets the herbal character of the chartreuse come through. What a great drink!