Drinks! (2007–2009)

[Scotttos]

I open a can of Coco Lopez. . . .

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You had me at coco lopez. . . . I keep two cans on hand at all times.

Drinks like this bring back memories of sitting on the sea wall in Havana passing out plastic cups full of havana club, 7yr. . . they had the best coconut mix (if that's the right word) in cuba it came in a little box, it was similiar to coco lo but less sweet and more coconut'y. Everywhere I went people were using it in drinks. Amazing stuff.

I'd be interested to know the ratios in your drink : )

Edited March 5, 2008 by Scotttos (log)

[birder53]

A Widow's Kiss last night. We should have this more often. It's a nice use of yellow chartreuse.

We used Fee's aromatic bitters in this. The Angostura bottled is done. Near disastor when we nearly dumped instead of dashed the bitters into the drink. The bottle design for Angostura is twist off the cap and dash. Fee's is a pop open the top and dash. We took of the cap to dash and luckily were using a measure. That would have been a waste of good liquor ifthe Fee's dump had made it to the mixing glass.

[thirtyoneknots]

Rewarded myself for accomlishing some yardwork with a Ghurka G3, which I'd never tried before. The sharp, dry, peppery intensity of the cigar was quite different from the type I am used to (although I am, at most, an occasional cigar smoker). I was about 1/3 of the way through it when I had a thought, went back inside, and created the following:

6 dashes (3/4 tsp) rich Demerara syrup

3 dashes Angostura

2 oz Cruzan Single Barrel (great rum at a great price)

built on rocks, twist

The woody-smoky-spicyness of the rum, and slight sweetness of the drink made it a perfect compliment to the cigar, and much more enjoyable for my palate. Fun experiment.

Anyone else ever have success pairing cocktails with cigars?

Edited March 8, 2008 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[mbrowley]

No pics as yet because I hoovered the evidence almost as quickly as it was made (and the mobile phone camera blows in any event), but this turned out to be a tasty treat:

The Dr. Noggin Cocktail

Use a vegetable peeler to get a single, wide piece of orange peel (just the zest, mind you—no white pith or pulp). Because the St. Germain is sweetened, you might back off the sugar called for in [Ted] Haigh's old fashioned cocktail.

1 broad swath of orange peel

¼-½ tsp sugar

2 dashes of Angostura bitters

2 dashes of water

3 oz bourbon

½ oz St Germain elderflower liqueur

Muddle the orange peel with the sugar, water, and bitters in a rocks glass. Put one or two large lumps of ice in the glass. Pour on the bourbon and give it a brief stir. Add the half-ounce of St. Germain to the top of the drink and enjoy. Repeat as necessary.

Full post here.

[Axefire]

Today I had some spare time and I wanted to try something with Apricot Brandy ( I missed last month event using the Apricot Brandy... )

Ive come out with a variation of the Pina Colada :

1 oz Dark Rhum

1 oz Malibu Coco

3 oz Cranberry Juice

2 oz Pinnaple Juice

Shake everything, serve in a Highball.

The first thing you notice is the similarity with the Pina Colada, but much more "fruity". I actually made the recipe using Bacardi coco instead of dark rhum and malibu, but It didnt had the body I wanted it to have.

[thirtyoneknots]

Today I had some spare time and I wanted to try something with Apricot Brandy ( I missed last month event using the Apricot Brandy... )

Ive come out with a variation of the Pina Colada :

1 oz Dark Rhum

1 oz Malibu Coco

3 oz Cranberry Juice

2 oz Pinnaple Juice

Shake everything, serve in a Highball.

The first thing you notice is the similarity with the Pina Colada, but much more "fruity". I actually made the recipe using Bacardi coco instead of dark rhum and malibu, but It didnt had the body I wanted it to have.

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Ah, but where's the Apricot Brandy come in?

[jsmeeker]

haven't made anything today. Not yet, at least. But that's why I am here.

anybody have a suggestion for a cocktail that celebrtes a new job? (no, not for me. For a friend) I know it sounds like a weird thing to ask for if there is a cocktail that might invoke this, but if you know of one, spill.

[johnder]

haven't made anything today. Not yet, at least.  But that's why I am here.

anybody have a suggestion for a cocktail that celebrtes a new job? (no, not for me. For a friend)  I know it sounds like a weird thing to ask for if there is a cocktail that might invoke this, but if you know of one, spill.

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For me, it would be the Jimmy Roosevelt, combines 3 of my favorite things. Champange, Chartreuse and Cognac.

Fill a big 16 ounce thin crystal goblet with finely cracked ice.  In the diametrical center of this frosty mass went a lump of sugar well saturated with Angostura, then 2 jiggers of good French cognac, then fill the glass with chilled champagne, finally floating on very carefully 2 tbsp of genuine green Chartreuse.

[J_Ozzy]

Seems like a good day for a Corpse Reviver No. 2

[thirtyoneknots]

For me it would be either to get tanked on French 75s (maybe even use the good stuff), a Sazerac with some of my precious Thomas Handy Rye (wasn't able to secure any of the 07 release, so I'm still nursing the previous supply), or, if the job was really great, such as one that required me to surf the internet in my pajamas while supermodels fed me foie gras, I might just go simple and have a glass of my even more precious AH Hirsch 16yr. So I guess what I really mean, is do something you wouldn't normally do (obviously), and if you've got anything unique, have a dram.

[Mike S.]

Pink Gin, New Orleans-style, per Wes over at Chuck's Looka!

3 oz Plymouth Gin (though I used Bluecoat to outstanding results)

4 heavy dashes Angostura

2 heavy dashes Peychaud's

Long stir with a scant dash of simple (my addition), strain up and no garnish. Heaven.

Cheers,

Mike

Edited March 28, 2008 by Mike S. (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Treated myself this afternoon to my first taste of Old Grand-Dad 114 proof. Holy crap this stuff is incredible! Only $20 or so for a bottle, and it's an instant favorite. Why does stuff like this never get any attention? In my opinion better and cheaper than any of the "Small Batch Collection" from Jim Beam (who I believe also makes the Old Grand-Dad line).

Edited March 29, 2008 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[TBoner]

Treated myself this afternoon to my first taste of Old Grand-Dad 114 proof. Holy crap this stuff is incredible! Only $20 or so for a bottle, and it's an instant favorite. Why does stuff like this never get any attention? In my opinion better and cheaper than any of the "Small Batch Collection" from Jim Beam (who I believe also makes the Old Grand-Dad line).

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Agreed. With the departures of some other favorites (Old Charter 12, most notably), this is now my pick for best value in bourbon. It is made by Beam, using the same recipe as Basil Hayden's from the Small Batch collection (Basil Hayden is the man pictured on the Grand-Dad 86-proof and bonded bottles). I find that recipe - which is loaded with rye - to be best when some young whiskey is included in the blend. The proof also keeps the stuff from being too light and wispy, which BH is IMO. National Distillers introduced the 114-proof version a few years before Beam bought them out, and I have had a truly magical bottle of their version. But to Beam's credit, they have kept the mashbill, yeast, etc. the same all these years. The other whiskeys they bought from ND were immediately converted over to the standard Beam recipe.

The proof, high rye content, and low price make this bourbon perfect for sipping neat, drinking on the rocks, or mixing. There is always a bottle open at our house, and I pray there always will be.

[thirtyoneknots]

Treated myself this afternoon to my first taste of Old Grand-Dad 114 proof. Holy crap this stuff is incredible! Only $20 or so for a bottle, and it's an instant favorite. Why does stuff like this never get any attention? In my opinion better and cheaper than any of the "Small Batch Collection" from Jim Beam (who I believe also makes the Old Grand-Dad line).

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Agreed. With the departures of some other favorites (Old Charter 12, most notably), this is now my pick for best value in bourbon. It is made by Beam, using the same recipe as Basil Hayden's from the Small Batch collection (Basil Hayden is the man pictured on the Grand-Dad 86-proof and bonded bottles). I find that recipe - which is loaded with rye - to be best when some young whiskey is included in the blend. The proof also keeps the stuff from being too light and wispy, which BH is IMO. National Distillers introduced the 114-proof version a few years before Beam bought them out, and I have had a truly magical bottle of their version. But to Beam's credit, they have kept the mashbill, yeast, etc. the same all these years. The other whiskeys they bought from ND were immediately converted over to the standard Beam recipe.

The proof, high rye content, and low price make this bourbon perfect for sipping neat, drinking on the rocks, or mixing. There is always a bottle open at our house, and I pray there always will be.

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I agree in turn on all counts that I am qualified to agree on. I've actually always found the Basil Hayden to be a little boring, as I also feel about Baker's and Knob Creek (Bookers is another matter, but overpriced perhaps). I recently picked up this and a bottle of the Old Grand-Dad Bottled in Bond. This, both of them, in fact, are Real Whiskey, my friends. Why Jim Beam doesn't market this stuff the way they do the Small Batch Collection is a mystery to me, but if that's what is keeping the price down, then I guess I'm ok with it.

This stuff is a revelation. May even take place from the Eagle Rare as my favorite value priced sipper.

Edited March 30, 2008 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[bostonapothecary]

i can't do my taxes without having a drink...

some sort of rusty nail...

1/2 african rye whiskey...

1/2 south west france chestnut flower honey liqueur...

i'd use ice if i had it...

some really full flavored things combine to taste only like chocolate... i thought these two things would be in danger... but in the end it worked out... pipe tobacco with strange chestnut notes... hard to describe but i drank two...

the honey liqueur is no scrawny blond dram... this is like a full figured exotic brunette... speaking to you in strangely tongues not used since high school...

i think i only wish i bittered it...

[bostonapothecary]

last night i had batavia arrack with alpenze alspice liquer,demerara sugar syrup, and lemon juice served over crushed ice and a lemon peel cut for a crusta... (it was actually presented as a "crustacean" exotic flavor contrasts were real serious... the bartender (ben @ no. 9.) tried to create something elegant by splitting the pimento dram up with syrup but i kinda like the intnese full on roughneck style of a 2:1:1 drink... it was still worth drinking again...

tonight i had some "rum" (Grogue) from capo verde... this is some clear moonshine style stuff... they actually have the sense of humor to label it as aguardiente... this had a serious funk to it like wray and nephews but something else indescribable... the importer was labeled as a super market in new bedford...

i also picked up a bottle of cruzan's "black strap" navy rum... very disapointing... to me and my tastes it was like guiness compared to an artisinal stout... i'm used to lemon heart and gosling's old... this had no complexity and wasn't full on the palate... i will have no problem drinking it but i expected so much more from the smart people at cruzan...

[thirtyoneknots]

So thanks on several levels to eje I've got s shiny bottle of homemade Swedish Punsch and I tried it out a few different ways, first, before work, in a Doctor Cocktail. I used the recipe from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, which credits Trader Vic; it differs from the Savoy by adding some rum:

1 oz Jamaican Rum (Appelton V/X)

.5 oz Swedish Punsch

.5 oz lime

shake/strain/up

Nice, but kind of nondescript.

Also tried the Biffy, which is similar, but subbing lemon for the lime and gin for the rum. I used Beefeaters, which I consider reasonably assertive gin, but the Punsch. I was surprised at how dominant the liqueur was. I took the bottle up to work and ended up talking to a regular about the stuff and he said ok make me something with it. I had been looking this morning at recipes calling for the stuff and while I couldn't recall any other specific ones, I remembered that many, maybe even most, of them included either apple brandy, grenadine, or both. So I gave the following a spin, more or less (didnt really measure, but this is close):

2 oz Laird's Bonded

.5 oz Swedish Punsch

.5 oz lemon (or a little more)

.25 oz Grenadine (give or take)

2 dashes Angostura

shake/strain/up

Now this is some tastyness, I ended up making another one for a manager and I really wanted one myself, but showed a little restraint, as there was a wine tasting group meeting after close. It may actually be something from the Savoy (if it looks familiar, please chime in with the name), but eiher way this drink alone made the expense and effort of Swedish Punsch worthwhile.

[sandersc]

I decided on a Monkey Gland while I waited for my wife to get home. It's our anniversery, and I'm an old dude... seemed appropriate. I used the recipe from T. Haigh. Seeing how I had found some Seville oranges I went with 1/1 on the gin and juice, with Valencias that is usually a little too sweet for me.

1 1/2 gin, well OK it might have been 2 - "Old Lady"(regular Bombay)

1 1/2 orange juice - Seville

1 tsp grenadine - home made (more tart than commercial)

1 tsp absinthe - Nouvelle Orleans

shake and strain

It was most delicious, and though I wasn't swinging from the chandellier when she got home, it did put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

Cheers Y'all

[eje]

[...]

So I gave the following a spin, more or less (didnt really measure, but this is close):

2 oz Laird's Bonded

.5 oz Swedish Punsch

.5 oz lemon (or a little more)

.25 oz Grenadine (give or take)

2 dashes Angostura

shake/strain/up

Now this is some tastyness, I ended up making another one for a manager and I really wanted one myself, but showed a little restraint, as there was a wine tasting group meeting after close. It may actually be something from the Savoy (if it looks familiar, please chime in with the name), but eiher way this drink alone made the expense and effort of Swedish Punsch worthwhile.

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That does sound pretty good! I had forgotten about combining Apple Brandy and Punch in more complex cocktails.

Looked through the Savoy and found:

C.F.H. Cocktail

1/6 Grenadine.

1/6 Cederlund's Swedish Punch

1/6 Calvados.

1/6 Lemon Juice

1/3 Burrough's Beefeater Gin.

Not too far off, but yours sounds better!

[Mayur]

Diamonds and Rust

1 oz Laird's bonded apple brandy

1 oz Lagavulin 16 yr

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/4 oz + barspoon Drambuie

2 dashes TBT or Angostura bitters (they give a different profile, but each is good)

1 dash Peychaud's

Measure into mixing glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into old-fashioned glass with a nice big ice cube.

Came about after I really wanted a Vieux Carre and realized I didn't have benedictine or regular sweet vermouth in the house. (Well, it's not my house; I'm living out of a suitcase at the moment.) Boozy, but tasty. While the Rusty Nail is not my favorite, it works nicely as 1/3 of a different cocktail altogether!

(Name, obviously, is a conflation of the Diamondback and the Rusty Nail. But nice to be able to use one of my favorite song titles for a drink nonetheless!)

[bostonapothecary]

last i drank a lemon sour with eggwhite fortified with cape verdian rum... the clear rum has an intense heaviness like certain piscos (don cesar)... i really bet that anyone that tried it would think it was pisco before they thought it was rum... i have no idea what part of the sugar cane its made from or if they have an interesting water situation... pretty cool. anyone that tried it straight rejected it immediately but i found if you drink it 5:1 with cold water and therefore look at it from a distance it becomes beautiful and interesting...

later i had a 50/50 anchor genavieve to cinzano rosso with some reagan's bitters and lemon peel... every other time i had the drink (eastern standard) it was with martini rossi... the differences are more subtle than napa cabs across the street from each other... if i could pinpoint the difference i think the martini rossi is richer, maybe sweeter and acts to bring more into focus the malty flavors of the gin... the cinzano is a leaner experience with a japanese design ethic... the massive integration and harmony of the gin equally matched with vermouth remind you of only minerality and not herbs...

early in the night i put together some wines for a tasting... one of the dishes i had tried earlier in the week with every open bottle of wine i had... nothing went even remotely well... the dish is veal sweet breads with mascarpone stuff capellaci, mustarda fruits, and hoshimenji (spelling?) mushrooms... these seemingly delicate mushrooms bring more to the dish than anything on the plate... they aren't earthy in an animalic way but more in a minerally way... they taste like tender sweet stones... a pairing would have to please their wierd intensity and not be messed up by the sweet elements of the dish... anyhow i gave the guest some chilled stock sweet vermouth and ordered myself the dish to retry along side him... it worked... the vermouth when chilled isn't too sweet for the dish and its botanical embellishment really parallels the character of the mushrooms...

more points for the importance of sweet vermouth...!

[thirtyoneknots]

I might get banned for this, but I've been exploring a bit with Islay Scotches. Not exactly mind bending in it's originality, but the following is quite an interesting look at the Rusty Nail, in my opinion:

1.5 oz Scotch (at home I keep Balmore Legend, at work Ardbeg 10)

1 oz Drambuie (needs a little more than 1/3 to balance the intensity)

build over rocks, add lemon twist. The smoky iodine character really does neat things with the honey and herbs. I'd normally rather have American Whiskey, but this is dang tasty.

[jsmeeker]

Plymouth gin

a bit of Lillet Blonde

a dash or two of Regan's Orange Bitters

stir on ice.

stain up.

[MSRadell]

I might get banned for this, but I've been exploring a bit with Islay Scotches. Not exactly mind bending in it's originality, but the following is quite an interesting look at the Rusty Nail, in my opinion:

1.5 oz Scotch (at home I keep Balmore Legend, at work Ardbeg 10)

1 oz Drambuie (needs a little more than 1/3 to balance the intensity)

build over rocks, add lemon twist. The smoky iodine character really does neat things with the honey and herbs. I'd normally rather have American Whiskey, but this is dang tasty.

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Now we're talking my kind of drink! Nothing fancy or sweet just a good basic drink. A Rusty Nail is certainly my favorite after dinner drink. Before dinner my favorite is an Makers Mark Manhattan on the rocks and for a sipping drinks it's a single malt Scotch on the rocks, normally a Glenmorangie 18 year old.

All of these fancy frufru drinks may be OK from some people but I definitely prefer a simpler, less sweet drink.

[bostonapothecary]

early yesterday i put the finishing touches on another five gallons of hibiscus soda... my new disgorgment technique is unstoppable... i found that my dosaging technique was over engineered and as long as things were cold enough i could simply pour the dosage right into the bottle and cap... it was quite the mess before i figured that out... i'm also testing potassium sorbate which is used in dessert wines to prevent renewed fermentation...

anyhow... in the glass real serious... fruit and adult acid and complex yeasty aromas (epernay champagne yeasts)...

and then to make it more of an adult drink i added 3/4 oz. of a really wild wine that aged past its prime... a 2000 corvina from the veneto that i fortified with grappa to vermouth range... the wine was on its death bed and exploding like a super nova of flavors... (but not complete flavors to make it a good wine... fruit was dead and no tannins)... so this stuff is nothing but dirt, earth, barnyard, coal furnace, and burnt wood... with no fruit to balance it can be a scarey flavor experience... but its marriage to the hibiscus soda was very cool...

what would you call a preserve of unaromatized wine? this stuff doesn't really need herbs to enoble it but it needs grappa to last... a coworker was worried that he liked the drink more than laurent perrier rose... i think i'm gonna hide the last two bottles of that wine before someone cooks with it...

Edited April 13, 2008 by bostonapothecary (log)