Drinks! (2007–2009)

[brinza]

Is there an intrinsic difference between the Boulevardier and an Old Pal?

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Sweet vs. Dry Vermouth

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Hell, you're right! I wonder if I've been drinking Boulevardiers all this time thinking they were Old Pals, because somehow I got it into my head that an Old Pal was a Negroni made with whiskey instead of gin. What a stupid mistake.

[campus five]

I've seen several places that have listed an old pal with sweet vermouth. It's not an uncommon mistake.

[brinza]

I've seen several places that have listed an old pal with sweet vermouth. It's not an uncommon mistake.

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Rats, I prefer my mistakes to be uncommon. Anyway, I've started drinking the Lucien Gaudin Cocktail from the new edition of VS&FC. Damn. I may never make another Negroni again. Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's that good.

[bostonapothecary]

Anyway, I've started drinking the Lucien Gaudin Cocktail from the new edition of VS&FC.  Damn.  I may never make another Negroni again.  Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's that good.

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i was going to join you on the lucien gaudin but i couldn't find any gin so i put a local spin on it...

1 oz. aguardente de santo antao (rum) "reserva especial"

.5 oz. campari

.5 oz. dry vermouth (stock)

.5 oz. passion fruit liqueur (maracuja do ezequiel "the best azorean regional drink")

interesting shades of fruit with subtle pleasing bitterness. the dry vermouth and rum make it pretty sophisticated stuff. the passion fruit liquor is sweeter than cointreau but does have acidity to make the drink manageable. gin would probably be more fun.

[Chris Amirault]

.5 oz. passion fruit liqueur (maracuja do ezequiel "the best azorean regional drink")

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Is this the stuff in the squat little bottle with passion fruit on the label? Any good?

[bostonapothecary]

.5 oz. passion fruit liqueur (maracuja do ezequiel "the best azorean regional drink")

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Is this the stuff in the squat little bottle with passion fruit on the label? Any good?

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its not too squat but it tapers seriously towards the neck. there is a passion fruit on the label. i've seen many brands. $14/750ml i'd say good but i like the fresh juice because i can add my own sugar source. whats cool is that its supposedly a solid stand alone tradition. i bet it is 400g/l of sugar with some built in acidity similar to a pomegranate.

its good. a beautiful fruit expression.

i just drank some with:

2 oz. overholt

1 oz. maracuja do ezequiel

1 oz. lemon juice

dash angostura

stirred and served over shaved ice. a beautiful fruit expression contrasted with rye-angostura spiciness...

and then my brother made. (we split both drinks)

2 oz. st. james ambre

1 o.z maracuja do ezequiel

1 oz. lime juice

(he can't seem to remember to add bitters)

shaken and served over cubed ice.

with lime juice it was still a wonderful fruit expression. a definite keeper and quite affordable.

[Alchemist]

Sorry if this sounds pedestrian, but WTF

3 dash A.B. Smeby "Black & White" Bitters

2.0 oz 1942

1 ice cube

Oh, the depth, not sure if it would be better with a whisper of sweetner. Really good as is.

Cheers,

Toby

[bostonapothecary]

so i wanted a vieux carre but i didn't want all the alcohol so i came up with a compromise...

1 oz. overholt rye

1 oz. pineau des charentes (brillet)

1 oz. dry vermouth (instead of sweet!)

spoonful of benedictine

2 dashes peychaud's

2 dashes angostura

lemon twist (to freshen it up)

because i switched to pineau des charentes which has built in sugar similar to sweet vermouth i switched to dry vermouth which worked out well. i was afraid of having too much acid but that wasn't the case. the pineau des charentes (exacerbated by something else) brings a really mature white wine character to the drink. the mature character is strange. i'm on the fence from whether its a frail too old sort of character or a nuttiness. other people really liked the drink but i bet a fruit liqueur like maraschino instead of or as well as benedictine would add awesome defined round fruit contrast.

Edited August 23, 2009 by bostonapothecary (log)

[KD1191]

I went simple this evening, as well. Ransom Old Fashioned using mostly Ango, but two drops of Ango Orange at the end that really brightened things up.

[thirtyoneknots]

Was at Anvil last night and after a mind-blowing Martinez with the Hayman's and Carpano Antica, I asked them to make me a Sazerac with Linie Aquavit. I have a love-hate relationship with aquavit, but that was awesome.

[Chris Amirault]

Boston's own Misty Kalkofen (of LUPEC and Green Street fame) created the 1820, a mezcal and genever sour that gave me the stones to try something I've been wondering about:

• Cocktail Tradicional y Holandés
  (Mexi-Dutch Old Fashioned)
  1 1/2 oz genever (Genevieve)
  1 oz mezcal (Real de Magueyes Añejo)
  barspoon simple syrup
  dash Angostura
  Stir; strain into Old Fashioned glass with three large cubes; garnish with small lemon twist.
  

I'm a nut for Genevieve, and thus perhaps not objective, but I think that this one is just about perfect. Strangely enough, it also goes remarkably well with Steve Sando's Rancho Gordo eye of the goat beans.

[haresfur]

Pan-Pacific Southern Canadian Old fashioned

2 oz Tangle Ridge Whiskey

2 tsp. Matcha simple syrup

3 good shakes Peychaud's bitters

2 good shakes Fee's Peach bitters

I wanted to try some flavors that didn't blow away the Canadian and were not blown away by edgier rye. I'm pleased enough that I'm on my second.

I do have to eat some crow, though. This bottle clearly says, blended whiskey. I'm sure my first one said 100% rye.

[helenas]

Sweet Heat is a great margarita with jalapeno and Licor 43.

I think that a margarita with vanilla taking the place of the O. Curacao is wonderful.  I have never had the MB vanilla, but Licor 43 is one of my favorite's and has been for a long, long time.

Toby

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[KD1191]

The gorgeous day demanded a pisco sour...luckily, my copy of Rogue Cocktails finally arrived. This is the '8th and Collins', a riff adding Genevieve. For the Pisco, I'm using Mosto Verde Quebranta from Estirpe Peruana. The genever is there on the nose and the finish. and gives the drink a greater depth than your average pisco sour. The musty character of this particular pisco plays superbly with the gin, and there's none of the 'heat' in back of the throat that I tend to associate with many dutch-style gin cocktails.

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. rittenhouse 100 rye

1 oz. kirshwasser (hiram walker)

1 oz. taylor's velvet falernum

1 oz. lemon juice

dash angostura bitters

so i drank this again with a different rye. the rittenhouse is far more potent than overholt and makes the drink really exciting. i had forgotten that i previously used peychaud's bitters but i think angostura may be better to contrast the roundness of the eau de vie, falernum, and lemon juice.

i made another similarly themed drink substituing maracuja for the falernum because i thought it was similar in sugar ethic and brought a unique fruit expression. unfortunately i also inverted the acid to lime juice and used a yellowish lime that turned out to be really bitter in a negative way. i guess i'll have to try it again when i'm done metabolizing.

in general i was looking for a collage of flavors and was trying to avoid any alliteration which i failed at because of the rye-angostura combo. i think i need some sort of new aromatic bitter that isn't so comparable to rye.

[campus five]

Nothing particularly unique or avante garde, but enjoying something I haven't had in a while:

Black Feather (Robert Hess)

2 oz. Cognac (Hine VSOP)

1 oz. Dry Vermouth (Dolin)

.5 oz. Cointreau

2 dashes Ango

Stir, strain, up.

Orange Twist

I only had a lemon for the twist, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

[vice]

I only had a lemon for the twist, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

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he calls for lemon here

[MattJohnson]

Nothing particularly unique or avante garde, but enjoying something I haven't had in a while:

Black Feather (Robert Hess)

2 oz. Cognac (Hine VSOP)

1 oz. Dry Vermouth (Dolin)

.5 oz. Cointreau

2 dashes Ango

Stir, strain, up.

Orange Twist

I only had a lemon for the twist, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

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Its a great drink. Wish I could find Dolin around here. I'd really like to try it.

[thirtyoneknots]

Nothing particularly unique or avante garde, but enjoying something I haven't had in a while:

Black Feather (Robert Hess)

2 oz. Cognac (Hine VSOP)

1 oz. Dry Vermouth (Dolin)

.5 oz. Cointreau

2 dashes Ango

Stir, strain, up.

Orange Twist

I only had a lemon for the twist, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

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Its a great drink. Wish I could find Dolin around here. I'd really like to try it.

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Dolin Dry and Blanc are both remarkably good vermouths but there's nothing wrong at all with Noilly Prat and it should work just fine in this drink.

[MattJohnson]

Dolin Dry and Blanc are both remarkably good vermouths but there's nothing wrong at all with Noilly Prat and it should work just fine in this drink.

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Yeah, thats my go-to dry vermouth. I just like to try new ones and have only heard good things about Dolin.

[slkinsey]

Lately I've been playing around with a formula that I have to assume someone already came up with.

2 ounces rye or bourbon (Woodford seems to work especially well)

3/4 ounce Carpano Antica Formula

1/4 ounce St. Germain

2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters or Fee Bros. Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Stir/strain/up/flamed orange twist

[mkayahara]

2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters or Fee Bros. Aztec Chocolate Bitters

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Are these two bitters actually interchangeable? I contemplated buying one of them the other day, but the Bittermens ones were really expensive, and I hadn't heard any reviews of the Fee Brothers ones, and didn't want to take the chance if they weren't very good. I subsequently tasted both (just in the palm of my hand), and found them to be quite distinct, with the Fee Brothers ones much more chocolate-flavoured, though nicely bitter, and the Bittermens ones more integrated and spicy, like an aromatic bitters.

Edited August 31, 2009 by mkayahara (log)

[slkinsey]

Right. They're not interchangable. Or, rather, they're only interchangable to the same extent that different brands of clove-forward aromatic bitters are interchangable.

My impressions of the two are much like your own (Fee's = more forthrightly chocolatey but less spicey and complex, Bittermens = more complex and spicey, but less chocolatey). They both point up the chocolate notes of Carpano Antica Formula, albeit in different ways.

[Moderator note: This topic continues in Drinks! (2009–2011)]

Edited April 8, 2013 by Mjx (log)