Drinks! (2007–2009)

[thirtyoneknots]

Meant to put this up last night but forgot.

I was trying to think of a rye drink I hadn't had in a while while cooking supper for a bit of a celebration and hit on a Slope, which I had previously made with preportions something like 2:.75:.25 and enjoyed immensely. Well while measuring I got destracted and accidentally overpoured the Punt y Mes and Apry. Never fear! I was able to improvise to success, to my palate even better than before:

.25 oz Apry

.75 oz Punt y Mes

1 oz Thomas Handy Rye

stir/strain/up (this is to go in a 3 oz glass). Garnish with a lemon twist, or don't.

I really wish there were a more available barrel-proof rye. Even if it wasn't significantly cheaper than Handy, I'd still love for there to be something with that much oomph that I didn't have to hoard and dole out on special occasions. 100 proof is nice (should be the standard in my opinion) but sometimes you just need more.

[KatieLoeb]

Finished off the batch of fruit with a couple of glasses of the Melon Basil sangria we've had on the menu this week. New batch tomorrow. White wine, melon liqueur, brandy, fresh lemon juice and Thai basil syrup in the wine portion. Watermelon balls, tiny lime wedges and diced Granny Smith apples soaked in the liqueurs and such at the bottom of the glass. And ode to the end of summer...

[percyn]

From CocktailDB, the Alfonso cocktail:

3/4 oz red Dubonnet

1 dash aromatic bitters (used Fee's whiskey barrel bitters)

1/2 oz simple syrup

Fill with champagne

This was better than I expected--I had two 

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Why is this called the Alfonso cocktail (I thought it would have Alfonso mangoes)?

[thirtyoneknots]

From CocktailDB, the Alfonso cocktail:

3/4 oz red Dubonnet

1 dash aromatic bitters (used Fee's whiskey barrel bitters)

1/2 oz simple syrup

Fill with champagne

This was better than I expected--I had two 

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Why is this called the Alfonso cocktail (I thought it would have Alfonso mangoes)?

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Can't help with the name, but the drink, as far as I know, originates in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, the recipe appears here in it's original form.

[eje]

Can't help with the name, but the drink, as far as I know, originates in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, the recipe appears here in it's original form.

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The Alfonso Cocktail was actually one Craddock (or the Savoy Editors) likely swiped from Harry McElhone's "Barflies and Cocktails" (Cocktail Kingdom link) or "Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails".

In "Barflies and Cocktails" Mr. McElhone notes, "The above cocktail was very popular at Deuville in 1922, during his majesty the King of Spain’s stay at the popular Normandy resort."

Thus, I suspect it was named after King Alfonso XIII of Spain (wikipedia link).

Edited September 6, 2008 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

.75 oz. aquavit (o.p. anderson)

.75 oz. rooibos & rye (redistilled)

.75 oz. dry sherry (la cigarrera's manzanilla)

.75 oz. chamberyzette (replica)

bar spoon of benedictine

2 dashes of peychaud's

float of overproof rum (lemonheart 151)

this is the coolest drink i've had in quite a while. the eccentric ingredients are worth it because the flavor contrasts are so strange and so familiar at the same time... so rarely assembled in the same space... the character of the aquavit is the coolest contrast to the fruit of the vermouth... relative to the vermouth and bitters everything contributes some sort of cigar like experience but nothing really gets stuck in a flavor trap where together everything tastes simple like bad chocolate...

delicious.

[KatieLoeb]

It's too late to edit right into the post, but here's a pic of the Melon Basil Sangria I mention above in post #775

I wish you all could see how pretty the antique back bar is. It's from 1893. A pretty back bar makes the bartender prettier... :

[syoung68]

Having purchased a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino and being too cheap to get a bottle of Chartreuse (For a Last Word) I searched CocktailDB for a new drink to try and came up with the Lord Suffolk.

.5oz Maraschino

.5oz Sweet Vermouth

.5oz Cointreau

2oz Gin (Bokers)

Very tasty.

On another note, last week I made lemon balm simple syrup. I steeped about a cup of tightly packed lemon balm leaves in 1.5 cups of water. Then measured out a cup of the "tea" and made a 1:1 syrup.

My first concoction:

2oz Gin (Bokers - it is what i currently have)

.5oz lemon juice

.5oz LB Syrup

Dash of Peychaud's

shake/strain/up

Garnished with a lemon twist.

It was pretty good if one dimensional.

[avant-garde]

Enjoying a couple of these bad boys. Not too shabby.

The Bohemio (Created by Eben Freeman)

2 oz. Reposado Tequila

¼ oz. Mezcal

½ oz. Lemon Juice

½ oz. Orange Juice

½ oz. Simple Syrup

½ oz. Becherovka

1 Orange Twist, Flamed

Shake, Strain, Flame Orange, Serve on ice in rocks glass

[bostonapothecary]

last night i needed a cocktail on the fly to follow a negroni...

1 oz. glen livet 15

1 oz. carpano antica

1 oz. nocillo (handmade in sorrento 17 years ago...)

2 dashes of peychaud's

this went over very well. good feedback...

"i want to fossilize in this tar pit" -roman

[maks_p]

I made up a drink, though I can't honestly say that nobody has done it before.

1.5 oz. Goslings

.75 oz. Pimms

.75 oz. Lemon Juice

1 Dash Regan's

1 Dash Angostura

Shake and strain into cocktail glass, top off with ginger ale.

I was pretty happy with it. Refreshing with some nice depth to it.

[bostonapothecary]

today i was asked to make a cocktail with green chartreuse...

.75 oz. green chartreuse

.75 oz. vergano's "luli" (aromatized wine)

.75 oz. gin (seagram's distillers reserve)

.75 oz. lime (because its tarter than lemon)

dash angostura...

this was delicious and balanced and brought out all the elderflower fruit of vergano's wine... a few people thought st. germain was in the drink but its just vergano's gorgeous moscato wine base... lately i regard vergano's products as the best new entries of the year to the cocktail market... i haven't touched that bland lillet stuff in months... i usually can't enjoy many of the equal parts cocktails because i'm a high acid fiend but this was within my tolerances and went over well with others...

[bostonapothecary]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

i think this really fits the weather today (too cold for my taste)... the 1/3 of vermouth is really integrated under the other loud flavors and is hopefully important to some part of the drink... the cynar is only faintly noticable because it isn't that large a contrast to to the scotch and apry. it does have a nice bitter that reminds me of nocino. all these strange nut flavors roll across your mouth... the stone fruit pit almond flavor being one of them... the drink reminds me of bual style madeira meets really old sherry... and its low enough in alcohol i can handle it before noon...

[Chris Amirault]

Give it a name. I'm putting it on my list.

[birder53]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

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Would Vya or Noilly Prat be best here. No Macallan right now. Highland Park 12, The Balvenie 12, Dalwhinnie 15 and Glenlivet. Any suggestions?

[birder53]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

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Would Vya or Noilly Prat be best here. No Macallan right now. Highland Park 12, The Balvenie 12, Dalwhinnie 15 and Glenlivet. Any suggestions?

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Okay, we went with the Highland Park and the Noilly Prat. Very nice! Waiting for a name!

[bostonapothecary]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

←

Would Vya or Noilly Prat be best here. No Macallan right now. Highland Park 12, The Balvenie 12, Dalwhinnie 15 and Glenlivet. Any suggestions?

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Okay, we went with the Highland Park and the Noilly Prat. Very nice! Waiting for a name!

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boissiere has a really fresh taste from its wine and is more like Vya than the oxidized honeyed style of noilly prat... but to be honest boissiere compairs best to the fruit character of M&R...

i'll promote anyone elses name. i can only make it a couple more times before i'm out of scotch...

[Relish]

I'll suggest "Who Else?" for the name of this, as in "Who Else but bostonapothecary would come up with this?"

I can't remember whether I've ever actually tried one of his concoctions because I almost never have all the ingredients on hand, but they at least sound good to me. Just need to gets me some Cynar, or sherry, or sloe gin... Except that I'm moving right now and am drinking down stock rather than adding on.

[MSRadell]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

i think this really fits the weather today (too cold for my taste)...  the 1/3 of vermouth is really integrated under the other loud flavors and is hopefully important to some part of the drink...  the cynar is only faintly noticable because it isn't that large a contrast to to the scotch and apry.  it does have a nice bitter that reminds me of nocino.  all these strange nut flavors roll across your mouth... the stone fruit pit almond flavor being one of them...  the drink reminds me of bual style madeira meets really old sherry... and its low enough in alcohol i can handle it before noon...

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I've been watching the discussion on this drink and have one silly question. Why are you ruining good SCOTCH? Any serious Scotch drinker knows there is only one way to drink it in that way is neat! That's the only way true Scotch drinkers drink it.

[thirtyoneknots]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

i think this really fits the weather today (too cold for my taste)...  the 1/3 of vermouth is really integrated under the other loud flavors and is hopefully important to some part of the drink...  the cynar is only faintly noticable because it isn't that large a contrast to to the scotch and apry.  it does have a nice bitter that reminds me of nocino.  all these strange nut flavors roll across your mouth... the stone fruit pit almond flavor being one of them...  the drink reminds me of bual style madeira meets really old sherry... and its low enough in alcohol i can handle it before noon...

←

I've been watching the discussion on this drink and have one silly question. Why are you ruining good SCOTCH? Any serious Scotch drinker knows there is only one way to drink it in that way is neat! That's the only way true Scotch drinkers drink it.

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The only way to drink good scotch is The Way You Like It. If neat is the only way you go who knows what you might be missing out on? Neat spirits are lovely but purchasing the bottle entitles you to mix it with Cynar and Apry if you so desire

[bostonapothecary]

i was trying to finish off some bottles so i mixed up this...

1 oz. macallan 12

1 oz. boissiere dry vermouth

.5 oz. cynar

.5 oz. brizard apry

i think this really fits the weather today (too cold for my taste)...  the 1/3 of vermouth is really integrated under the other loud flavors and is hopefully important to some part of the drink...  the cynar is only faintly noticable because it isn't that large a contrast to to the scotch and apry.  it does have a nice bitter that reminds me of nocino.  all these strange nut flavors roll across your mouth... the stone fruit pit almond flavor being one of them...  the drink reminds me of bual style madeira meets really old sherry... and its low enough in alcohol i can handle it before noon...

←

I've been watching the discussion on this drink and have one silly question. Why are you ruining good SCOTCH? Any serious Scotch drinker knows there is only one way to drink it in that way is neat! That's the only way true Scotch drinkers drink it.

←

The only way to drink good scotch is The Way You Like It. If neat is the only way you go who knows what you might be missing out on? Neat spirits are lovely but purchasing the bottle entitles you to mix it with Cynar and Apry if you so desire

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i'd say the most masterful component of the drink is the cynar... everything else is successfully imitated...

tonight to celebrate the completion of canning 1000 pounds of tomatoes i mixed up something old fashioned...

2 oz. hand made pear brandy (pears from a friends back yard, yeast, a still...)

.5 oz. simplel syrup

4 dashes of angostura bitters

definitely no garnish

i think i remember hearing of the violet hour making eau de vie drinks of this style... the sugar definitely rounded out the roughneck style of my brandy. we never figured out the proof but was sure it was over 100. angostura was divine flavor contrast for the highly aromatic fruit of the brandy... if anybody comes across any clear creek pear i'd give it a go with some bitters and sugar...

[bostonapothecary]

2 oz. atxa patxaran

2 oz. something bubbly...

patxaran is the coolest liqueur i've come across in a while... sloe berries in anise flavored spirit with a couple coffee beans and fraction of a vanilla bean... the basques are smart people...

i usually find anise liqueurs so peasanty but this is very sophisticated stuff...

[Mike S.]

Wow, the pear brandy old fashioned is amazingly good made with Clear Creek Williams Pear Brandy. I'm calling this the "Clear Creek Old Fashioned".

[helenas]

i just brought several bottles of Clear Creek eau de vie (including the pear) from Portland so thanks for ideas.

And had a very nice Apple Sidecar (made with Clear Creek apple brandy) at Wildwood.

[bostonapothecary]

today i picked up the "reserve" version of JM's rum aguardente de santo antao ($20)... the young version is cool and i highly endorse it but it may not be ready for prime time... this reserve version is phenomenal... its made from sugar cane but tastes like pisco... i still suspect its mouthfeel and hardness is due to the water its cut with... not exactly branch water... they also make some sort of cape verdean "ponche" that i have yet to pick up...

small spoon of sugar

.5 water

4 dashes bitter

2 oz. JM rum reserva especial

i also saw a south african gin on the books (in stock!) from a small importer... anyone else come across this stuff?