Drinks! (2007–2009)

[bostonapothecary]

some rare individual the other night wanted a cask-strength-single-malt-madeira flip but tragically i had run out of madeira... so i substituted a strange dessert wine from pojer e sandri that i had just picked up. the wine is called "merlino" and is made in the style of port but fortified with a more distinct grappa. i'd say that the merlino differs from port in the way thats its flavors are more focused, electric, and maybe even neon. there are no muted tones... kind of awesome and probably very reactive with food.

1.5 macallan cask strength (or overproof lemon heart!)

1 oz. merlino

.5 oz. simple syrup

one entire small egg.

the merlino has the color of a bright port but something strange happens here and a surprising violet color is created like if chambord was in the mix. the first drinker preferred the merlino substitution to the usual malmsey but i thought all the components were too comparative with not enough contrast...

lately i've been smoking straight latakia (maybe syrian and not the cyprus variety) which is a really intense blending tobacco with an over the top smokey character a shade between laphroaig and mezcal. smokiness seemed like the perfect contrast to the drink so i added a laphroaig rinse...

pretty good. though on one iteration i traded out the scotch for over proof lemon heart and it may have even been more fun...

[bostonapothecary]

zummy cocktail from robert hess' book...

.75 oz. gin (seagram's)

.75 oz. benedictine

.5 oz. sweet vermouth (stock)

.5 oz. dry vermouth (stock)

bar spoon of campari

stir.

this drink was pretty cool. rather sophisticated and aperitify. strangely i tasted a subtle anise flavor which i know isn't prominent in any of the ingredients but probably just got brought into focus by the magic of mixing random things...

i would be happy to drink it again.

[brinza]

Made three very interesting drinks this weekend, all of them winners. First was one from the Savoy with the rather uninspired name of Cherry Mixture:

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1 Dash Maraschino (Luxardo)

1/2 French Vermouth (Vya Extra-dry)

1/2 Italian Vermouth (M&R Rosso)

This really surprised me. As simple as it seems, it's amazing. You get all the herbal character from the two vermouths and the bitters, with a little added sweetness from the maraschino (don't overdo that dash, though). Hard to guess that there is no spirit in this. At first I thought it might be a good way to use up vermouth, but once you start into these, you might find yourself buying more vermouth just the make them! I had mine "up", but next time I'll try it on the rocks as Erik suggested in the Stomp. With any luck, I'll also be able to make that next one with Carpano Antica Formula.

The next thing, also from the Savoy was the Self-Starter Cocktail. A rich resume of strong flavors play off one another much in the manner of the Corpse Reviver #2:

1/8 Apricot Brandy (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot) [1/4 oz]

3/8 Kina Lillet (Lillet blanc) [3/4 oz]

1/2 Dry Gin (Bluecoat American Dry Gin) [1 oz]

2 Dashes Absinthe (Kübler) [1 dash, using "dash" measuring spoon]

Since I opted to make a smaller drink than what was probably intended, I used only one dash of Absinthe. One of those drinks where everything plays it role nicely. The apricot is very apparent, the Lillet makes its presence known, and the absinthe gently pokes through, all on a canvas of gin. A lot of flavor here. I might even suggest that the apricot brandy be scantly measured as it seemed to be a little more assertive than the other flavors. Alternatively, one could increase the gin slightly. While this drink could easily become unbalanced if one is not careful, there are several ways to experiment with adjusting it (not to mention trying it with different brands of products) to get it preferable to one's taste. And it's definitely good enough that it's worth the effort.

The Last Word

I used:

Bluecoat Gin

Luxardo Maraschino

Green Chartreuse

Fresh squeezed lime juice

I'd never had one of these before, and now I know why it's talked about so much around here and receives the praise that it does. It's been a while since I had any Green Chartreuse on hand, so having purchased a new bottle, I knew I had to make this. Totally amazing drink. Aptly named, too. Difficult to describe--it has to be tasted to be understood--so it's the drink itself that has the last word.

Edited March 2, 2009 by brinza (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Went on a liqueur and flavored syrup making spree at home on Monday, and the cinnamon syrup was so good I made some at work yesterday as well. While playing with it I came up with using it in a Mojito vs Simple, subbing Flor de Cana 7 for the rum, which was pretty good. Even better tho was this:

1.5 (should probably be 2) oz Old Grand-Dad BIB (house bourbon)

.75 oz 1:1 Cinnamon Syrup

juice of half a lime

few slices ginger, about the size of a nickel

Press the ginger in the lime and syrup to extract some liquid. Add bourbon and ice and shake hard to further bruise ginger. Strain into tall glass with ice and top with soda.

Hit of the night with the staff, but the more I thought about it the more the recipe sounded familiar. Then I finally thought of Chris Amirault's beloved Gingered Gentleman, which omits the cinnamon syrup in favor of ginger syrup. Oh well. It's still good.

[brinza]

Drink more Vermouth.

I'm working on it, Andy! The wife returning from a business trip this week will be bringing back some Carpano Antica Formula and Broker's Gin. With a fresh bottle of Campari waiting in the wings, it's going to be Negroni heaven!

Edited March 4, 2009 by brinza (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Drink more Vermouth.

I'm working on it, Andy! The wife returning from a business trip this week will be bringing back some Carpano Antica Formula and Broker's Gin. With a fresh bottle of Campari waiting in the wings, it's going to be Negroni heaven!

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Antica, oh you lucky dog.

I've taken to stocking up on old formula Noilly Prat in 375s. I know it won't keep forever and it's probably not a very wise investment (esp since the price seems to have increased about 50% in the past year) but I'm just not keen on this kind of change. The wierd part is now I'm accumulating all this vermouth and trying to hoard it, but at the same time I've developed quite an affinity for a splash of it on the rocks with a twist, as well as vermouth heavy cocktails like the Bamboo.

Can't win em all, I guess

[bostonapothecary]

2 oz. cognac (gaston lagrange VSOP)

1 oz. lime juice

1 oz. arrack based pomegranate seed triple-sec (*)

dash peychaud's bitters

so i made a distilled liqueur from batavia arrack van oosten and pomegranite seeds. it has a grand alcohol content like cointreau and has the same sugar content.

the liqueur makes the drink very familiar in structure (sidecar, margarita, etc.) but awesomely different. i should probably make it again with a neutral spirit but definitely keep the epic triple-sec structure. if someone brought this to market it could probably do pretty well. i'd buy it.

[Chris Amirault]

Can you say more about what you did with the arrack and pomegranate seeds? Very intriguing.

[bostonapothecary]

Can you say more about what you did with the arrack and pomegranate seeds? Very intriguing.

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i wanted to make a high alcohol fruit liqueur like cointreau. because there really isn't many. i tried making an infusion but the seeds have so much acid that even with sugar you could never add lime juice. but if you distill it you leave the acid behind because its the volatile type. i used arrack because i put it in everything i drink. i sugared to the same level as cointreau. results tastey. the seeds seem to distill just as naturally as a citrus peel.

[bostonapothecary]

i just picked up a "parisian" shaker because i thought it might be good for egg drinks...

flip

1 oz. cognac (gaston lagrange vsop)

.5 oz. mezcal (del maguey chichicapa)

1 oz. pineau de charentes (brillet)

scant spoonful of sugar stirrd in

entire very small egg

the smokiness of the mezcal was awesome contrast to the comparative nature of the cognac and pineau de charentes... and the shaker worked nicely as well. a good liquid lunch.

[haresfur]

Barbancourt ***** 8yr rhum, neat.

My first time trying this (thanks for the reviews Ed!) Yummy.

[Chris Amirault]

Drinking a Bamboo Cocktail with hoarded NP vermouth, snacking on Nam Yu peanuts. Most excellent.

[haresfur]

Working 12 hr night shifts this week, which has really cut into my drinking I don't know how you bartenders can handle the late nights and the after work activities.

There is something particularly decadent about mixing spirits with milk and I figured this was the perfect time to try a milk punch for my 1:00 PM breakfast. The Kitchen Aid blender did a good job of turning ice to snow. I used cheap brandy and Goslings Black Seal rum. After a taste comparison I agree with Dr. Cocktail that a splash of good vanilla extract goes well. Besides drinking vanilla ups the decadent factor. As does serving it is one of those plastic beer mugs with liquid in the walls that you freeze to keep the drink frosty. Garnish with a recycled Starbucks straw.

Thank you New Orleans! Time for my afternoon nap...

[eje]

Drinking a Bamboo Cocktail with hoarded NP vermouth, snacking on Nam Yu peanuts. Most excellent.

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Except with a cocktail as old as the Bamboo, you'd probably be better off with the newly available (to the US) "original formula" Noilly Dry.

Edited March 14, 2009 by eje (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Excellent idea!

Those milk punches are good with vanilla, without vanilla, with a bit too much rum, with a bit too much brandy, with good liquor, with a dusting of nutmeg, with....

[thirtyoneknots]

Excellent idea!

Those milk punches are good with vanilla, without vanilla, with a bit too much rum, with a bit too much brandy, with good liquor, with a dusting of nutmeg, with....

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True that this one is hard to screw up too bad, but a milk punch with Cruzan Single Barrel is to die for.

I'm out of milk

[bostonapothecary]

i've been drinking wine lately but have been trying to get back to the mixed drinks...

1.5 oz. glen fiddich

1 oz. 1979 pedro ximinez

1 oz. espresso

.5 oz. cherry heering

egg yolk

double strain.

tastes like an imperial porter with killer texture...

[thirtyoneknots]

Got a Waring ice crusher on ebay last week and it is to die for, the only and I mean only drawback is the lack of adjustment for the relatively coarse crush--more like a fine crack--but this is easily rememdied by passing the Waring ice through the hand crank job (which is thus much easier to turn) when finer ice is desired. Used this procedure to produce several ice cones and used one to enjoy a Luau Grog from Sippin Safari this afternoon, mighty fine and to my taste more elegant and better balanced than the Navy Grog it is only slightly tweaked from. This was also only my second use of the El Dorado 5 yr Demerara and so far I have to say it is smoother and more friendly with other spirits than the Lemon Hart I'd previously used. Add to that that it's more than 20% cheaper and has far wider distribution in TX and the problem becomes easy to solve.

Edited March 24, 2009 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[sadistick]

Created a new drink the other night - -

2 parts citrus infused dark rum

1 part lemon maple juice

3 or 4 dashes of ango bitters

shake then serve over ice

Mmmmm these could become evil.

[thirtyoneknots]

Created a new drink the other night - -

2 parts citrus infused dark rum

1 part lemon maple juice

3 or 4 dashes of ango bitters

shake then serve over ice

Mmmmm these could become evil.

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Lemon maple juice? As in unrefined maple sap is involved or is this like a sour mix involving lemon juice and maple syrup?

[bostonapothecary]

daiquiri

2 oz. rum (bershire mountain distillers ragged mountain rum)

.75 oz. lime juice

scant spoonful of raw sugar

shaken!

i'm really into this rum. it has a delicate "arrack-ness" that brings awesome complexity to it. it doesn't have dense, stuck flavors that remind me of wines that are too young like the rogue distillers rum i bought last time. pot distilled molasses goodness mellowed in oak probably just like the rogue but for some reason very different. the other half of the drink was made under pathetic circumstances with an ancient, tough skinned lime that only had 3/4 oz. of juice. yet i'm completely revived.

[thirtyoneknots]

bostonapothecary--

I noticed you seem to enjoy funky high-ester rums. Some commercially available ones I've enjoyed are the Goslings 151 (cut by half with the standard 80 for a killer punch rum) and the Pussers, though I've never seen you mention either. The Goslings 151 is not exactly common but I was curious if you had any experience with the Pussers.

[bostonapothecary]

bostonapothecary--

I noticed you seem to enjoy funky high-ester rums. Some commercially available ones I've enjoyed are the Goslings 151 (cut by half with the standard 80 for a killer punch rum) and the Pussers, though I've never seen you mention either. The Goslings 151 is not exactly common but I was curious if you had any experience with the Pussers.

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i haven't had the pussers in years but i have a bottle of the goslings 151. delicious stuff if diluted appropriately. i think i'm going to use it on the cocktail menu with my new supply of kola nut tonic.

[thirtyoneknots]

bostonapothecary--

I noticed you seem to enjoy funky high-ester rums. Some commercially available ones I've enjoyed are the Goslings 151 (cut by half with the standard 80 for a killer punch rum) and the Pussers, though I've never seen you mention either. The Goslings 151 is not exactly common but I was curious if you had any experience with the Pussers.

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i haven't had the pussers in years but i have a bottle of the goslings 151. delicious stuff if diluted appropriately. i think i'm going to use it on the cocktail menu with my new supply of kola nut tonic.

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Agreed, Goslings "115" is my favorite rum of the moment, along with St. James Amber.

[bostonapothecary]

bostonapothecary--

I noticed you seem to enjoy funky high-ester rums. Some commercially available ones I've enjoyed are the Goslings 151 (cut by half with the standard 80 for a killer punch rum) and the Pussers, though I've never seen you mention either. The Goslings 151 is not exactly common but I was curious if you had any experience with the Pussers.

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i haven't had the pussers in years but i have a bottle of the goslings 151. delicious stuff if diluted appropriately. i think i'm going to use it on the cocktail menu with my new supply of kola nut tonic.

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Agreed, Goslings "115" is my favorite rum of the moment, along with St. James Amber.

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st. james amber is epic and ignored by too many bars though it does have annoying distribution here.