Drinks! (2004–2007)

[chappie]

From the results of the "Summer Sips" contest on Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/20...cktail_results/

I found this one intriguing and made it Saturday night.

"Iced Tea Classic

Submitted by: Emily Whetstone, New York

Emily writes: "The inspiration for this cocktail is traditional iced tea with lemon. The prep is a bit complicated, but so worth it:

1 to 2 parts Earl Grey-infused vodka

2 parts lemon soda (Editor's note: We used Limonata)

a sprig of mint

a thinly sliced lemon

a splash of simple syrup (optional)

To make Earl Grey-infused vodka: For a 750 ml bottle, steep 4 tea bags for four to five hours (or until it's brewed-tea color; don't let it sit too long, or it will get bitter and tannic).

To construct cocktail: Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour one to two parts vodka (depending on how strong you like it [Editor's note: Uh ... we used two]) over ice. Add two parts lemon soda as a mixer. (Folks who like their iced tea sweet may want to add a splash of simple syrup [Editor's note: We didn't]). Add a sprig of crushed mint and one or two thinly sliced rounds of lemon as a garnish. It looks lovely."

I used more teabags than the recipe called for, and tried both an Italian lemon soda and plain-old Squirt (like non-diet Fresca). The sprig of mint, squeezed to release oils, was essential, and I really liked the complex spice of the Earl Gray. I've since infused a big bottle of it to keep in the freezer, and I just picked up several different lemon sodas (and one organic peach one) to try with it.

We drank entirely too many of these that night, but I still liked the taste of it on Sunday, so that says something.

One of the other winning drinks doesn't seem original at all. Dark rum, orange juice, a slash of Grenadine and Galliano? Hunh? I can't believe that made the cut.

[TBoner]

Last night, I made a drink that I learned from a friend over at straightbourbon.com. He calls it The Front Street.

1 1/2 oz. rye

1/2 oz. Ramazzotti Amaro

1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (he recommends Vya; I used Cinzano)

1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur

Stir with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass; garnish with cherry

This drink is very similar to the bushwick cocktail which is Rye, Picon, Maraschino and Antica. Both sound very tasty.

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Tell me more. Proportions?

BTW, I had another Front Street with Dalmore 12 tonight. 2 oz. Wowee.

Now sipping some Wild Turkey Rare Breed.

[bostonapothecary]

"Iced Tea Classic

Submitted by: Emily Whetstone, New York

Emily writes: "The inspiration for this cocktail is traditional iced tea with lemon. The prep is a bit complicated, but so worth it:

1 to 2 parts Earl Grey-infused vodka

2 parts lemon soda (Editor's note: We used Limonata)

a sprig of mint

a thinly sliced lemon

a splash of simple syrup (optional)

all summer at the bar we've served the "john daly" whom is the alcoholic counterpart to arnold palmer on the course and in the glass....

2 oz. black tea rum*

3 oz. lemonaide

*to make the black tea rum.... put black tea in rum and try to keep small quickly used quantities so the tea doesn't oxidize too much.... 45 minutes of steeping works nicely.

newmans own lemonaide is far superior to anything made by hand and really captures the essence of the man in the drink....

as far as a tobacco pairing.... menthol cigarettes are the perfect foil for the drink....

[chappie]

as far as a tobacco pairing.... menthol cigarettes are the perfect foil for the drink....

Of course! The sprig of mint, so to speak.

What I've been doing with the Earl Grey vodka is more of a 4-5 hour steep then remove the teabags, funnel liquor back into bottle and whisk it into the freezer.

Are you using a clear rum for this? A local store recently started getting Don Q, an affordable clear Puerto Rican rum my friend from PR used to bring back in great quantities to college. Might work well.

I was thinking of steeping black tea for a few hours in vodka, then straining and adding all the whole spices used in chai, letting it infuse a few more hours then long-term storage in freezer. Mix with milk.

Edited August 21, 2007 by chappie (log)

[eje]

Love them Cuban Manhattans, I'm sure made even better with home made vermouth...

Here's a vieux carre variation back atcha:

1 oz St. James Ambre

1 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy

1 oz Punt e Mes

Dash Benedictine

Dash Peychaud's

The scent of the apple brandy and earthiness of the rhum agricole are quite interesting. Very complex libation.

Plus, today sucked, so the alcoholic kick in the pants, is where it's at.

[bostonapothecary]

Are you using a clear rum for this? A local store recently started getting Don Q, an affordable clear Puerto Rican rum my friend from PR used to bring back in great quantities to college. Might work well.

i think we use only cruzan.... we used to have angostura, barbencourt, brugal, bacardi, clement, myers clear, etc. we consolidated into only cruzan. i like to work under an artistic constraint and try to remove as many options as i can.... jerry thomas had only one clear rum....

if you want to embellish the clear rum add a fraction of a vanilla bean....

[bostonapothecary]

Love them Cuban Manhattans, I'm su

Here's a vieux carre variation back atcre made even better with home made vermouth...

ha:

1 oz St. James Ambre

1 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy

1 oz Punt e Mes

Dash Benedictine

Dash Peychaud's

The scent of the apple brandy and earthiness of the rhum agricole are quite interesting.  Very complex libation.

Plus, today sucked, so the alcoholic kick in the pants, is where it's at.

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wow, thats my kind of thing... and i've got the stuff to make it... tomarrow is a 14 hour day... it will probably suck. that will be the perfect drink. i almost forgot about st. james... i think hemingway mentioned it in islands in the stream...

it all makes me think of foie gras and plantains... flambe it with the st. james... maybe i can pick up some foie gras at savenors... plantains at hay market... clement XO laying around to pair with it all...

its not decadent its just advanced...

[eje]

I guess "Vieux Carré" is another name for the French Quarter in New Orleans. In French, it actually means "Old Square".

Chuckle!

Perfect cocktail for me!

Could call this version, "viejo cuadrado" or "vieja manzana".

[johnder]

I have been working on a version of a cocktail for the bar and putting this one out for comment.

1.5 oz Grouse 12 year

.5 oz Bonded Applejack

.5 oz Vya Sweet

.6 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1 dash peychauds

The jury is out on this one, I kind of like it personally.

[bostonapothecary]

I have been working on a version of a cocktail for the bar and putting this one out for comment.

1.5 oz Grouse 12 year

.5 oz Bonded Applejack

.5 oz Vya Sweet

.6 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1 dash peychauds

The jury is out on this one, I kind of like it personally.

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i think your hard spirits need to fight it out at an ounce to an ounce.... if there is no balance kick out the grouse.... the apple jack is the much cooler of the two....

i really like the vieux carre model and i don't try to change the proportions but only the spirits.... 3/4 oz. of vya and a spoonful of yellow VEP?

if you use Vya in a cocktail (and i'm not lucky enough too) does it become the show? and obscure your inner flavor contrasts.... i've wasted some really cool spirits mixing them with combos like rosso antico and amer picon.... this led me to the bianco vermouth as an alternative to give the spirits more of a showing....

in using really cool vermouths and benedictine etc....i've found that it becomes the center peice and underneath it your concerned mostly with alcohol content....

[Mayur]

I'm going to have to agree with bostonapothecary here. I tried putting this cocktail together, and the Famous Grouse kicked all the other ingredients out of the park. I'd recommend coming down to 0.75:0.75:0.5:0.6 (the variation I tried). That gets you a two-and-a-half-ounce cocktail (plenty fine by old school standards) which has lots of character. The Vya and chartreuse both express nicely in this variant. I tried one at 1:1:0.5:0.6, but this actually had too much smoke for my tastes, and somehow this slightly higher amount of scotch managed to obliterate both the vermouth and applejack accents. (The chartreuse survived nicely.)

Just IMHO...

[bostonapothecary]

last night a guest bought me some clement XO. i have had it before but never with a chance to sit down and fully appreciate it. the gentleman by the way was looking for whiskey. something like pappy or black maple hill that i don't keep at the bar. "specialness" was more important that a particular flavor. it went over very well with him and myself.

i drank my glass while on the patio with a maduro and reading kate chopin's "story of an hour". how appropriate a creole rum with a creole short story.

drinking while reading is fun. a couple month's ago i read jacques roumain's "masters of the dew" split up between glasses of ice cold mauby and glasses of cinnamon spiced clairin...

[bostonapothecary]

i'm really flavor bored and in need of a little something...

i'm nominating plums over strawberries as the most erotic fruit... the flavor is so seductive and so late summer... i need to take as much of it in while i can... tonight in the form of eau de vie...

1 oz. clear creek blue plum

1/4 oz. dry vermouth

gonna pay tribute to the alto cucina and rim the glass with finely ground espresso

last night i had oysters with grains of paradise and i just need more of it... an aphrodisiac to go with a seductive fruit?

1 oz. clear creek blue plum

1/4 oz. dry vermouth

dusted rim with finely ground grains of paradise.

don't be afraid to awaken any dull flavors with a drop of simple syrup

[jsmeeker]

I'm still at work, so I have not had a drink today.. But yesterday, I made an Americano

Campari

sweet vermouth

soda water.

all on ice in a tall glass.

Very nice.

[TBoner]

Went simple tonight.

Whiskey sour made with fresh lemon juice, homemade 2:1 demerara syrup, and Overholt.

Now having a small pour of some mid-1980s Old Forester Bottled in Bond. Terrific, gutsy American whiskey. The rye comes across as both floral and spicy, with just enough oak to tame the fire. I love this bottle, and it's nearly empty, with no replacement in sight.

Sigh.

[bostonapothecary]

writing about something before i drink it... but its on the list for tonight...

from an a to z cocktail book i found in a drawer at the bar... (i think gary reagan's) but its not in the savoy??

andalusia

2 oz. dry sherry

1/2 oz. brandy

1/2 oz. clear rum

on paper this sounds a little bland but with interpretation it can be kicked up a notch...

manzanilla

apple brandy

reposado

maybe a spoonful of simple to awaken it all or agave nectar for thematicity...

or

1/1/2 oz. manzanilla

1/1/2 oz. elixir de agave (my aphrodesiac flavor enejo) built in flavor enhancing sweetness (2 oz. of the tequila has the perceived sweetness of 1/2 oz. cointreau), inherent apple character, tequila goodness, thematicity...

i think i want to get some tapas tonight...

[bostonapothecary]

writing about something before i drink it... but its on the list for tonight...

from an a to z cocktail book i found in a drawer at the bar... (i think gary reagan's) but its not in the savoy??

andalusia

2 oz. dry sherry

1/2 oz. brandy

1/2 oz. clear rum

on paper this sounds a little bland but with interpretation it can be kicked up a notch...

manzanilla

apple brandy

reposado

maybe a spoonful of simple to awaken it all or agave nectar for thematicity...

or

1/1/2 oz. manzanilla

1/1/2 oz. elixir de agave (my aphrodesiac flavor enejo) built in flavor enhancing sweetness (2 oz. of the tequila has the perceived sweetness of 1/2 oz. cointreau), inherent apple character, tequila goodness, thematicity...

i think i want to get some tapas tonight...

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the drink wasn't very good... i added some creole shrub... still not very good. i think the elements were too comparative and with not enough alcohol content. back to the drawing board...

[KatieLoeb]

It got really warm and humid here again the last couple of days so I went with a round of Watermelon-Basil mojitos for shift drinks for the staff tonight. I'd bought a container of watermelon to snack on and never got to it so it seemed as good a use for it as any. I'd forgotten how much I like those flavors together and how utterly refreshing it is on a hot muggy night.

[TBoner]

Sounds terrific, Katie. I have way too much basil in my garden right now, so perhaps a trip to buy a watermelon is in order.

As for me, I've been drinking Improved Holland Gin Cocktails recently, and last night had a nice riff on the Vieux Carre:

1 oz. 1800 anejo tequila

1 oz. Flor de Cana 7yo

1 oz. Cinzano Bianco

1 tsp. Ramazzotti

2 dashes Regan's orange

2 dashes Angostura

Flamed orange twist

I'll be making this again.

[bostonapothecary]

Sounds terrific, Katie. I have way too much basil in my garden right now, so perhaps a trip to buy a watermelon is in order.

As for me, I've been drinking Improved Holland Gin Cocktails recently, and last night had a nice riff on the Vieux Carre:

1 oz. 1800 anejo tequila

1 oz. Flor de Cana 7yo

1 oz. Cinzano Bianco

1 tsp. Ramazzotti

2 dashes Regan's orange

2 dashes Angostura

Flamed orange twist

I'll be making this again.

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more vieux carre fun!

1 oz. clear creak 8 year apple brandy

1 oz. clement VSOP

1 oz. martini rossi bianco

1 tsp. ramazotti

2 dashes hermes orange

2 dashes peychaud's

(wish i had an orange twist)

i like the bianco vermouth, ramazotti combo. it lets you taste lots of the spirits underneath. i think i need to try it on top of just one spirit that i'm really familiar with to see how exactly it works.

last night i made four liters of black berry shrub... tonight i drink brambles!

[bostonapothecary]

again i'm abusing the thread because i plan to drink this first thing in the morning... as i was rambling around town tonight i thought of slivovitz and how cool it is... and how i found an imported supply of it at 25 dollars a liter... i promise to drink it as its listed but it just seems very sexy to me to kill the rum and go all slivovitz and to go apry over cointreau because apricots share an overlapping season with plums...

Abrame from the cocktail database...

Shake with ice and strain

1/8 Cointreau (1/2 oz, 1 cl, 1/8 gills)

1/8 Amer Picon (1/2 oz, 1 cl, 1/8 gills)

3/8 rum (1 1/4 oz, 3.5 cl, 5/16 gills)

3/8 slivovitz (1 1/4 oz, 3.5 cl, 5/16 gills)

[KatieLoeb]

An impulse (but wise and frugal purchase) of a 1.75L bottle of Eagle Rare 10 year old bourbon led to some play this evening.

First tried some fresh ginger muddled in .5 oz. Velvet Falernum, dashes of both Peychaud and Fee Orange bitters and then topped with 1.5 oz. bourbon and .5 oz. Apry. Really spicy and bit too sweet so a big splash of Bitter Lemon took care of that. I like the apricot and bourbon together - seems a natural match with the spicy ginger. Need to work with this some more.

My second pass was an attempt to play with my Kassatly Ajyal Jallab Syrup, that I'd bought several months ago and hadn't really gotten around to fooling with yet. It's a very thick and sweet date and rosewater flavored syrup. The drink I made with it was much too sweet since I'd underestimated how thick and flavorful the Jallab syrup was. Much smaller doses are in order for the next attempt. I'm thinking something along the lines of a Marrakesh/Maghrebi Manhattan, substituting all or part of the sweet vermouth with the Jallab syrup. I'll report back when I have better success and actual proportions figured out.

Edited September 12, 2007 by KatieLoeb (log)

[TBoner]

Apry, ginger, and bourbon...sounds terrific.

1/4 oz. Apry seems to do well in the Slope. Maybe would work here, too, to reduce the sweetness. A dash of peach bitters would help point up the flavor of the Apry as the amount used goes down.

[jpschust]

I just gained the ability to post, thus I'm putting my first post down here. Before I get to it, thank you, thank you, thank you for having a serious spirits and cocktails forum. I've been looking for this for ages. I just moved to Chicago and as luck would have it I moved around the corner from the Violet Hour. OK, getting on now.

I'm working through Colin Peter Field's Cocktails of the Ritz Paris Bar Hemmingway. I love this book.

I was in a Rye mood today, so I decided on the Millionaire.

According to Field, the Millionaire dates to no later than 1922 from the Hotel Ritz London.

The recipe is as follows:

white of a fresh egg

2 dashes of Curacoa

1/6 gill of grenadine

2/6 gill of Rye

First off, I have no idea what a gill is and no clue how to measure it, but the instructions are helpful in that I've got the ratio. Thus, I used 3 oz of Rye, a touch less than 1 oz of grenadine, 2 heavy dashes of curacoa and the white of a medium egg. I'd been told this was an overly sweet drink, but in using Old Portrero Rye I found the heat to nicely balance out the grenadine. The egg added a wonderful texture and the Curacoa didn't add much to it I'll be honest.

In any event I should have pics up on my new blog shortly: www.acocktailaday.com

Cheers,

Jonny

[bostonapothecary]

again i'm abusing the thread because i plan to drink this first thing in the morning... as i was rambling around town tonight i thought of slivovitz and how cool it is... and how i found an imported supply of it at 25 dollars a liter... i promise to drink it as its listed but it just seems very sexy to me to kill the rum and go all slivovitz and to go apry over cointreau because apricots share an overlapping season with plums...

Abrame from the cocktail database...

Shake with ice and strain

1/8 Cointreau (1/2 oz, 1 cl, 1/8 gills)

1/8 Amer Picon (1/2 oz, 1 cl, 1/8 gills)

3/8 rum (1 1/4 oz, 3.5 cl, 5/16 gills)

3/8 slivovitz (1 1/4 oz, 3.5 cl, 5/16 gills)

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the abrame was a great drink and i totally see the merits of the rum... will drink again...