Drinks! (2007–2009)

[bostonapothecary]

Moderator note: The original Drinks! topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Drinks! (2004–2007)]

i started my evening at the green street drinking cocktails and talking to an MIT astro physicist about oceanography... (his drink of choice was the de la louisianne)

i had a corpse reviver no. 1 and it really reminded me of the season... clean and appley yet sort of sophisticated though i don't think there was bitters in it...

i asked from the CRno.1 but then let them surprise me with a Diamond Back... delicious. perfect prescription because i was looking for something stiff and aggressive. i think it was made 2:1:1 rye:green chartreuse:apple brandy a great drink because all the spirits were allowed to speak. pretty intense but i'd definitely do it again.

Edited April 8, 2013 by Mjx (log)

[eje]

We had a few cocktails before dinner at the Presidio Social Club last night.

An H.G. Wells, which is a dry Maker's Mark Manhattan with a dash of pastis. Quite enjoyable.

A Pays d'Auge Cocktail, which I didn't quite catch the details of. Calvados, lemon, simple and maybe some other stuff. Mostly it tasted like a glass of boozy fresh apple cider. Quite refreshing and very fall appropriate.

My wife went traditional and had a most excellent South Side and a somewhat over tart Pegu Club.

They also whipped us up a "Final Word" to try. A Last Word with Rittenhouse bonded Rye in place of the gin. I dunno if it was exactly an "improvement" over the traditional formula for the last word. Quite enjoyable in its own right, in any case.

A nice space, friendly staff, and a good bar.

They did make the mistake of asking me, "What is your favorite Rye Whiskey?" The answer to that question will bore the pants off anyone who isn't a whiskey enthusiast, including my wife.

[bostonapothecary]

i had something thoroughly interesting last night at eastern standard...

cachaca, benedictine, and luxardo amaro, lemon twist in a mysterious ratio...

there was this raisinated character and it became reminiscent of an amarone to me... (i tasted so many amarone's this week. it reminded me of one that i really enjoyed and didn't buy) strange tones i've never had before in a cocktail... luxardo's amaro is so cool with notes of nuts and chocolate. i need to get my hands on some asap...

i had ordered the last drink he had personally drank and liked... what good taste they have at ES...

[notahumanissue]

They also whipped us up a "Final Word" to try.  A Last Word with Rittenhouse bonded Rye in place of the gin.  I dunno if it was exactly an "improvement" over the traditional formula for the last word.  Quite enjoyable in its own right, in any case.

←

If done right, the Final Word should have been Rittenhouse in place of the gin and lemon juice in place of the lime juice. Its Phil Ward's variation, I think.

[eje]

Interesting, notahumanissue! I believe they still made it with lime, not lemon. I'll have to give it a try "the right way" at home. I don't think I've ever made a Last (or final) Word for my wife. She was quite taken with it.

Gave Jerry Thomas' "Improved Gin Cocktail" a try last night with the Anchor Genevieve. Holy crap, is this something entirely else from whenever I've tried making this cocktail before.

Improved Gin Cocktail: healthy dash or two angostura; scant tsp depaz cane syrup; scant tsp luxardo maraschino; dash verte de fougerolles absinthe; 2 oz hollands gin; stir with cracked ice, strain, twist lemon peel over glass.

I've tried this cocktail with Aviation (good, a bit flowery), Boomsma (fine), Death's Door (not that impressed, gin didn't bring much to the party), and BlueCoat (awful).

With the Genevieve, it is a completely different animal.

It's a big, spicy, brawling cocktail that practically jumps out of the glass and down your throat. I dunno, almost like liquid fruitcake. In a good way. Completely blew me away. If this is the sort of thing you could expect to find in a bar in the 1800s, I'm beginning to see the appeal.

Edited November 3, 2007 by eje (log)

[plattetude]

And as I recall it, I'd had it at Pegu as "Final Ward" as opposed to "Final Word", apropos of its creator. His philosophy of Mr. Potato Head-style interchangeable cocktail parts has it that brown spirits (rye, bourbon, brandy, etc) would typically marry with lemon as the citrus, and white spirits (gin, rum, tequila, etc) with lime. So with that in mind, try a cognac "Last Word" (lemon) or a rum "Last Word" (lime) or something else entirely... And of course, every rule is made to be broken.

Christopher

[KatieLoeb]

Tonight's refresher is an Asian Pear Margarita, made with Asian Pear Cider from North Star Orchard. I have waxed poetic before about their fruit clearly being the prototype for the Forbidden Fruit of Garden of Eden fame. Nothing less would be worthy of banishment from Paradise. Every autumn I eagerly await the Asian Pear Cider to hit my local Farmer's Market so I can bring some home and whirl it up in the blender with a few healthy shots of fine tequila (Corazon Reposado in this case), some lime agent (part frozen Minute Maid Limeade, part fresh lime juice), some orange agent (Clement Creole Shrub in tonight's example), a little squeeze of Agave nectar and some ice cubes. Very tasty and refreshing, even in an autumnal way. I need to come up with a cocktail to use up the rest of the Asian pear cider. I'm thinking some sort of brandy or Cognac based thing, or perhaps Applejack with a little spice and something to tart it up. Any suggestions?

[jsmeeker]

Not today... But Friday night.

A Pisco Sour and a Negroni. From the Velvet Tango Room in Cleveland. Both were devine.

[thirtyoneknots]

Finally got around to trying the Pompadour from Killer Cocktails, having picked up a bottle of Pineau de Charentes recently for this purpose:

1.5 oz Rhum St. James Hors d'Age

1.5 oz Gautier Proprietor's Reserve Pineau de Charentes (aged 5 yrs)

.5 oz lemon

shake/strain/up, no garnish.

Really fascinating drink, highly recommended. Comes on at first sort of like a Sidecar, but the finish has the unmistakeable characteristics of the St. James. Beautiful balance, slightly drier to my palate than a 2:1:1 sidecar, and at least as interesting. Definitely a drink for the jaded palate.

Side note on PdC: Does anyone know if this stuff is supposed to be refrigerated? It says 'De Luxe Cigar Blend' on the bottle, implying it to be drank after dinner (where I would normally think of sweet drinks), but most of the info I have suggest it is drank as an aperitif in it's native land. If anybody can shed a little light on this I'd appreciate it.

-Andy

[avant-garde]

Long day at work yesterday, but I had a very good evening. Made a Manhattan and then hit the Laphroaig. Oh what a good night of sleep.

Recipes:

Manhattan

2.5 oz. Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey

1 oz. Carpano Antica

3 drops Angostura Bitters

3 drops Fee Brothers Orange Bitters

Marinated Cherry

Laphroaig

Laphroaig

Touch of Water

Ice

[eje]

Enjoyed a negroni after coming home from work.

Why is it so hard to get a well made negroni? It's not exactly rocket science! All it requires is that you measure the ingredients!

Anyhoozle, while enjoying my negroni, I detected a, well, briny taste in there, and thought, hmmm... Campari & Scotch.

Could the Negroni meet the Bobby Burns?

Indeed it can!

1 oz Compass Box Asyla; 1 oz Cinzano Rosso; 1/2 oz Benedictine; 1/2 oz Campari; Stir, strain; lemon twist.

It's a little candy coated, maybe... Memorable and enjoyable tastes, though!

[bostonapothecary]

i drank a rob roy with a new very avante garde vermouth i made a week ago...

2 oz. scotch (the very ends of a couple different bottles of blended scotch)

1 oz. cerasuelo vermouth*

suprisingly good. i added no extra bitters because the vermouth is rather bitter and complex enough... though i think next time i'd try it with reagan's. everything was able to live and express itself. smokey scotchiness contrasted with a stunning complex fruit character driven vermouth. the fruit tones of the vermouth are supposed to be reminiscent of a sicilian wine called cerasuelo di vittoria (which i love with delicate smokey food)... its almost like beaujolais (but made from nero d'avola and frappato). the vermouth is also highly aromatized and gets a very sexy wormwood, orris, bitter among other notes... i fortified the vermouth with blue plum slivovitz... it seemed to add nice depth to the fruit character... its not a prime time crowd pleaser but i think i'm be able to make 3 liters disappear...

my tasting panel didn't seem to get it but i think it was the scotch part they didn't like...

("cerasuelo" means cherry. the term is used for a light flirtaceous red in sicily and differently a deeply colored rose of montepullican d'abruzzo in abruzzi. i'm a fan of both...)

[avant-garde]

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. Especially when the leaves change many different colors and the smell of burning wood from the neighborhood's fireplaces begin to fill the air at night. On top of that, all the talk around here about Strega piqued my interest to make a new cocktail that could capture this season. So, I purchased a bottle for Thanksgiving and began working on something that would lend itself nicely to these short Fall days. Since my wife baked an apple pie this weekend, I decided to do a little work of my own. The result...

Cider House Witch

Ingredients:

2 oz. Applejack

.75 oz. Strega

.50 oz. Benedictine

.50 oz. Filtered Water

6 drops Angostura Bitters

Method:

1. Add all ingredients to ice-filled cocktail shaker.

2. Shake vigorously for about 20-seconds.

3. Strain into cocktail glass.

Edited November 27, 2007 by avant-garde (log)

[avant-garde]

Tonight I enjoyed (of all things) an Absinthe Sour after seeing a recipe for a drink called Sea Fizz at Jamie Boudreau's Site. It went really damn well with Paul McCartney and Wings first album, Wild Life. The song "Tomorrow" is so amazing...

Ingredients:

2 oz. Absinthe (Absente in this case)

1/2 oz. Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

3/4 oz. Simple Syrup (50:50)

1/2 oz. Filtered Water

1 Egg White

Method:

1. Add all ingredients to shaker.

2. Shake vigorously without ice to froth.

3. Add ice and shake very hard for 30 seconds.

4. Strain into cocktail glass.

[bostonapothecary]

amidst the wine and tom and jerry's i've been drinking leo engel's knickebein... i hadn't made it for myself in many months until john surprise made me one at No. 9... (apparently he too is into labor intensive high concept shots as well...) and after that i've had a dozen more while making shift drinks for my line cooks...

knickebein

1 oz. chilled maraschino, noyeau, etc (literally for tradistionalists or figuratively for modernists).

1/2 oz. stiff gorgeous rye (substitute stiff gorgeous booze)

floated yolk of an egg

egg white merengue (noone thinks less of you if you prep in advance)

spoon on bitters... (yours, mine, angostura...)

this is all layered in those tiny piramid shaped shot glasses and drank with some ritual...

smell it and appreciate it all...

pause to reflect

slurp the foam...

pause to reflect

slirp the booze...

pause to reflect

shoot the rest and pop the yolk in your mouth

smile and thank god for the revival of free range chicken farming...

proof that leo engel improved the bon vivants companion...

[jmfangio]

Yay! My bottle of Genevieve arrived today! At noon, mind you, so I had to resist the temptation to make it a liquid lunch.

First, I tried it in the Improved Gin Cocktail, and wow. This is really something. Incredibly complex. My initial reaction to it was something like the first time I tried a Last Word. First sip - hmmm...I'm not sure about this. Last sip - I can't wait to make another.

But, I resisted the temptation, and decided to try something I just read about in Imbibe!, mentioned almost as an aside in the bit on the Sazerac:

If, however, you can get your hands on some good Hollands, be aware that it responds exceptionally well to the Sazerac treatment (the Sazerac House made many a Gin Cocktail, back in the day).

So, 2 oz Genevieve, scant teaspoon simple syrup, and 3 healthy dashes Peychaud's, stirred with ice, strained into a chilled rocks glass spritzed with Verte de Fougerolles, and garnished with a lemon twist.

Double Wow. One of my new favorite cocktails, and a new addition to the short list of what to make on Repeal Day.

Edited November 29, 2007 by jmfangio (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Finally got around to trying the Jimmie Roosevelt from The Gentleman's Companion as discussed over here, building it, for the first try, exactly to Baker's specifications, using Hardy VS for the Cognac and Freixenet Cava in lieu of Champagne (it's what I had on hand in a split). This is the sort of thing I could only attempt on a long afternoon with no responsibilities. So far, this is quite a drink, boozier even than I had imagined. It's a little overwhelming, but the flavor combination is nothing short of fascinating, and the combination definitely has some room for tinkering. Not today, but sometime I'll have to try Pegu Club's adaptation. With 3 oz of Cognac, 1 oz of Green Chartreuse, and half a split of Cava, this should last me all afternoon

-Andy

[Mayur]

Made the mistake of hitting D&Co. Friday after having worked for 19 hours straight, so the drinking has been on hold (I think my head was hitting the bar after 1 1/2 cocktails... ). Made the first drink since tonight. Nice and simple:

1.5 oz Laird's bonded

1.5 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano

dash Bitter Truth aromatic

dash clear creek apple eau de vie

flamed orange peel

Built over ice and stirred briefly. Nice and easy to drink, changes flavors beautifully over the course of drinking, going from sharply bitter-citrusy to oaky-whiskey-ish to wonderfully spicy. Those of you with larger booze-bomb tolerances might take this stirred and up with more like 1.5:1 applejack to cocchi, but it wasn't working for me (although that might still be the aftereffects of my two Coin Tosses).

[EDIT: Possible up variation? Need to experiment.]

Edited December 4, 2007 by Mayur (log)

[TBoner]

Earlier this week, I decided to play with the formula for a Sazerac. I'm sure someone else has done this before:

Muddled muscovado with 3 healthy dashes Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Bitters

2 oz. 1800 anejo tequila

Green Chartreuse rinse

Lemon twist

Results very good.

[Mayur]

Awesome idea, TBoner! I might have to give that a spin with my (sadly almost drained) bottle of Don Julio Anejo...

Enjoyed a negroni after coming home from work.

Why is it so hard to get a well made negroni?  It's not exactly rocket science!  All it requires is that you measure the ingredients!

Anyhoozle, while enjoying my negroni, I detected a, well, briny taste in there, and thought, hmmm...  Campari & Scotch.

Could the Negroni meet the Bobby Burns?

Indeed it can!

1 oz Compass Box Asyla; 1 oz Cinzano Rosso; 1/2 oz Benedictine; 1/2 oz Campari; Stir, strain; lemon twist.

It's a little candy coated, maybe...  Memorable and enjoyable tastes, though!

←

Funny; I just made myself a drink that used campari and scotch and went to this thread to post it:

Dave Wondrich's Scozesse

(from Chef, Interrupted by Melissa Clark)

1.5 oz. blended Scotch (Johnnie Red; I have a giant bottle of it)

.5 oz Hendrick's gin

.5 oz Campari

.5 oz lime juice

1 tsp honey syrup

Wondrich recommends shaking with cracked ice; I tried this method and was somewhat unsatisfied. Decided to go with something that Phil over at Death & Co has been doing and do a stirred drink despite the citrus quotient. So, for the second one (oh my liver!), I stirred the above ingredients with cracked ice in a chilled shaker.

Oh my heavens, this is good. Silky, smooth, beautiful mouthfeel, and just that residual blend of sea-smoke bite (probably from the JWalker's high Islay quotient; other blends may drink differently) and bitterness from Campari. Delicious.

[Nathan]

Last night I was with a friend at the bar at Dell'Amina and we were discussing the difficulty of making Fernet Branca cocktails. noticing the Foretti biscotti liqueur at the bar, we thought we'd get the bartender to let us dabble with it. after various attempts we ended up with something to be proud of (we thought):

2 rye

1 Branca

.5 Foretti (it's very sweet..)

.25 Carpano Antica

2 dashes Regan's orange bitters.

this rocked.

[bostonapothecary]

calvados

averna

lemon juice

i tried to order a calvados and averna sour. at a place that normally could handle such a request...

he started adding simple syrup

then he added lemon juice

then he added about an ounce of calvados

then he didn't know what averna was (which freaked me out because i worked with this bartender years ago at an italian restaurant)

then he added 2 oz of averna or so...

then i requested more lemon juice

anyhow the amazing thing was that i ended up with more or less two oz of averna to 1 oz. or calvados yet the brandy really showed itself and the combo worked well...

i think i'm gonna have to experiment making the drink myself... maybe even break out the verjus and aged balsamic...

[jsmeeker]

I was looking for a new to me cocktail that I could make with lime juice (I have some fresh limes in the fridge that I want to use up). So, I opened up my copy Joy of Mixology and found the Bennett Cocktail.

2 ounces gin

1 ounce fresh lime juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

dash Angostura.

combine and shake with ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

This is really nice. It looks like a Pegu Club, but isn't quite the same since it lacks the orange notes from triple sec and the orange bitters. The gin notes came through nicely. I mean, you can tell it's gin (FWIW, I used Beefeater). If I would change anything, it would be the amount of simple syrup. The stuff I made was 2:1. I think "Joy" expects 1:1 simple syrup. I could simple cut back on the amount on the next one.

Anyway, this one is a winner in my book. It goes into my rotation.

[thirtyoneknots]

I know there's a scientific way to do this but in my experience I find that to convert a recipe from using 1:1 syrup to 2:1, dividing the amount by 3 usually works, though this is sometimes dryer than some people prefer (and for my taste, it sometimes needs to be reduced further).

-Andy

[Mayur]

Tonight was a random riff on the Bonnie Prince Cocktail, using R&W Apricot instead of the Drambuie and Cocchi Aperitivo Americano instead of Lillet, and adding bitters.

2 oz gin (Hendrick's)

1 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano

1/2 oz R&W Apricot

dash of Bitter Truth Aromatic bitters

Measure all ingredients into (frozen) mixing glass and stir with cracked ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.

Given the entire drink-temperature thread, I figured I'd go with something slightly out of the norm, so I froze the gin, refrigerated the Cocchi and Apricot, and added a teaspoon of (extremely cold fridge-temp) water right before straining. Turned out perfectly. Not at all appropriate for bar service, but heck, I don't even bother thinking about drink recipes at my favorite cocktail bars any more, so this is purely a home exercise!