Drinks! (2007–2009)

[thirtyoneknots]

My first day in nearly two weeks with no prescription painkillers and so I decided a cocktail was in order. I had been thinking about the flavor combination of the Culross Cocktail, and was trying to think if there was a way to get that nice apricot brandy/rum interplay in a drink that could use the cheaper barack palinka (not as pleasant in the original). My mind turned to the Vieux Carre formula and here is my first attempt:

1 oz White rum (Flor de Cana or similar)

1 oz Barack Palinka (or other dry apricot distillate)

1 oz Lillet (or whatever you like in it's place)

2 dashes Orange bitters (Hermes was what I grabbed first)

2 dashes Peychauds

tsp of liqueur (Van der Hum, but Yellow Chartreuse, Maraschino, or whatever you want would probably work here)

Build on rocks. Lemon twist cos I didn't have any oranges. I like what's happening here but it really screams out for a flamed orange zest. The liqueur modifier might need adjusting. Not bad though, and the interplay I was looking for is there. Unfortunately the Barack Palinka is still a bit edgy here; I can assure you it would be immeasurably better with the Alpenz stuff, which I unfortunately have to husband since I can only get it when friends travel out of state.

[bostonapothecary]

today i wanted something tart so i drank...

2 oz. JM reserve especial aguardente de santo antao

1 oz. lemon juice

spoon of sugar

dash of angostura

delicious. my new favorite affordable rum. i wish i could have this drink in a bar for seven dollars... i'd have several... i think i want to make a mojito with it next...

from my imagination what i want to drink is a genever style gin made from malted sweet potatoes... and a very delicate clovey, macey, kind of formula in addition to juniper, coriander, and orange peel... maybe i can have something ready by thanksgiving...

[eipi10]

new to cocktails. have been experimenting with manhattans. hit a home run with...

2 oz black maple hill bourbon

0.5 oz dry noilly prat

0.5 oz red noilly prat

angostura bitters (a couple of serious shakes)

the thing i'm most sure of is that i much prefer the black maple hill bourbon in the manhattan to rittenhouse rye. i also think this 2:1 ratio of bourbon to vermouth is about on. moreover, the sweetness is right for me: the sugar hits first and comforts the palate for a split second before the bitter complexity and alcohol burn take full command.

made with peychauds, this is also a very good, though remarkably, different drink. it replaces the dark, masculine pepper of angostura with brighter, more lively ideas. i prefer the angostura bitters in this drink...but really different personalities.

Edited September 27, 2008 by eipi10 (log)

[Keith Orr]

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.

I tried this one today

Lord Suffolk V.1

2oz Beefeaters Gin

½ oz Luxardo Maraschino

½ oz Rosso Sweet Vermouth – Rosso is cheap crap from TJ’s – This stuff seems ok, but I need to learn more about vermouth – given the way vermouth interacts with other ingredients; How in the hell do you compare vermouths?.

½ oz Cointreau

• Got this recipe off of the eGullet “Drinks - What you Drinking Today” thread. I really want to like this drink. All of the ingredients are ingredients that I like, but the drink was too sweet for my taste. It lacked balance. It might be better with something more bitter like Punt e Mas substituted for the Sweet Vermouth.

Lord Suffolk V.2

2oz Beefeaters Gin

½ oz LuxardoMaraschino

½ oz Punt e Mas Vermouth

½ oz Cointreau

• This drink is much better than it was with the regular sweet vermouth. The bitterness of the Punt e Mas gives it more balance, but overall it doesn’t ring my bell. Still on the sweet side but it’s better. I’m thinking late at night it might work. I wonder if the ratios were changed a bit? Orange juice instead of Cointreau? A bit of Orange juice and the Cointreau?

[campus five]

Try dropping the Cointreau to 1/4 ounce, try a "backbone-ier" gin, and/or maybe a lemon or orange twist.

EDIT - Oh, you were using Beefeater - never mind the bit about a backbone-ier gin.

Edited September 27, 2008 by campus five (log)

[Keith Orr]

Try dropping the Cointreau to 1/4 ounce, try a "backbone-ier" gin, and/or  maybe a lemon or orange twist.

EDIT - Oh, you were using Beefeater - never mind the bit about a backbone-ier gin.

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I'll give it a try with the lesser amount of Cointreau next go around. I thought about that already and giving it a shake of some Angostura Orange Bitters to keep the orange level up.

I like my gin with a pretty heavy juniper hit and Beefeater seems to deliver that pretty well for a reasonable price.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Keith Orr]

Try dropping the Cointreau to 1/4 ounce, try a "backbone-ier" gin, and/or  maybe a lemon or orange twist.

EDIT - Oh, you were using Beefeater - never mind the bit about a backbone-ier gin.

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I'll give it a try with the lesser amount of Cointreau next go around. I thought about that already and giving it a shake of some Angostura Orange Bitters to keep the orange level up.

I like my gin with a pretty heavy juniper hit and Beefeater seems to deliver that pretty well for a reasonable price.

Thanks for the feedback.

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Lord Suffolk V.3

2oz Beefeaters Gin

½ oz Luxardo Maraschino

½ oz Punt e Mas Vermouth

¼ oz Cointreau

Lemon twist

• This is getting closer. I posted my first results on eGullet and got some feedback to reduce the Cointreau and add a lemon twist. This is better. I like the flavor the lemon twist adds and it’s still got enough orange. I think I might reduce the Maraschino to a ¼ oz as well in V.4

I'm pretty sure this will never be a top 10 drink for me, but I'm having fun finding the best version for me.

[brinza]

I remain convinced that there is an earth-shattering cocktail waiting to happen in the combination of agave nectar and scotch. I haven't hit on it yet (and haven't tried much lately actually), but mark my words, it's out there somewhere.

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Try this:

1.5 oz blended scotch

0.5 oz dry vermouth

0.25 oz aquavit

0.25 oz agave nectar

I read your post in the thread on simple syrups and, having finally picked up some agave nectar, I was intrigued by your quest and saw it as an interesting challenge. I tried to come up with something that wouldn't just end up being a Rob Roy variation, so I discovered that Scotch and dry vermouth is a combination that, while unusual, is not unheard of, so I started with that. Looking for another favor component, but not something sweet, since it will already have that in the agave nectar, I settled on aquavit--just a little--as an accent. I thought it was quite good, and I'd make it again. But you'll have to be the judge as to whether it's the earth-shattering cocktail you're looking for. You'll probably want to tweak the proportions a bit. I fiddled with it myself and don't really know exactly what I ended up with.

Edited September 29, 2008 by brinza (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

I remain convinced that there is an earth-shattering cocktail waiting to happen in the combination of agave nectar and scotch. I haven't hit on it yet (and haven't tried much lately actually), but mark my words, it's out there somewhere.

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Try this:

1.5 oz blended scotch

0.5 oz dry vermouth

0.25 oz aquavit

0.25 oz agave nectar

I read your post in the thread on simple syrups and, having finally picked up some agave nectar, I was intrigued by your quest and saw it as an interesting challenge. I tried to come up with something that wouldn't just end up being a Rob Roy variation, so I discovered that Scotch and dry vermouth is a combination that, while unusual, is not unheard of, so I started with that. Looking for another favor component, but not something sweet, since it will already have that in the agave nectar, I settled on aquavit--just a little--as an accent. I thought it was quite good, and I'd make it again. But you'll have to be the judge as to whether it's the earth-shattering cocktail you're looking for. You'll probably want to tweak the proportions a bit. I fiddled with it myself and don't really know exactly what I ended up with.

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Wow that certainly looks like it would be worth a try. I'll have to snag some aquavit to try it. Any recommendations on a brand? I remember hearing that one of the favorite brands was recently dropped by it's importer, and then I saw it locally shortly afetr reading that. Trouble is now I can't remember which one it was.

[bostonapothecary]

i needed to kill some time before i kick off the day so i thought i'd mix a drink from some new acquisitions in gilroy style proportions...

1 oz. aged cape verdean rum

1 oz. patxaran (basque sloe berry, anise, vanilla, coffee liqueur)

.5 oz. dry manzanilla pasada (aged and most cocktail centric sherry...)

.5 oz. lemon juice

2 dashes regan's orange bitters

strange character from the unique rum and long lived in the mouth from the liqueur with nice complex acidic structure... kind of silly and easily successful...

patxaran can be approximated by adding 250 ml plymouth sloe gin to 750 ml pernod (my estimate), 3 coffee beans and a 1/3 of a vanilla bean. it makes me want to plant a sloe bush in my back yard... patxaran is also delicious with cold water...

[campus five]

Not anything novel, but this was so nice tonight:

1 oz Rittenhouse BIB

1 oz Van Winkle Rye

1 oz Carpano Antica

Stir, cook, strain, lemon twist.

Damn. A good manhattan is a nice treat.

[bostonapothecary]

yesterday i worked an event for brown-forman and had some fun presenting a cocktail... my drink was supposed to be an adaptation of the bee's knees and use some fruit liqueur (chambord) for extra flavor contrast... the source of honey was the potent single varietal "tarassaco del roero" which is made from dandelion flowers and has an intense gamey character... the honey was dissolved in a blend of vodka and cognac then filtered through cloth to remove the comb solids. the aim was a 1:1 syrup.

2 oz. gin (seagram's distillers reserve)

.5 oz. honey liqueur (tarassaco)

.5 oz. fruit liqueur (chambord)

1 oz. lemon juice

2 dashes peychaud's

this a tart and strong drink with fun flavor contrasts but became much more interesting and lively when later in the night i switched to a geneva style gin... for some random reason the malty character of the gin lifted the unique varietal character of the honey to the forefront in a significant way and the fun flavor contrasts were less muted... the warmth of the malt character even seemed to change the acid balance into something more elegant. by wine analogy things changed from pinot grigio to pinot gris...

[thirtyoneknots]

Finished early today so I wanted to try the gin sling from Imbibe!: generous 3/4 oz John Powers made up to 2 oz with Plymouth, a tsp of rich simple, an ounce of water and a few ice cubes. Not earth-shattering, but way tastier than it has any reason to be, next time I'll try it with the Steinhager gin, see how that comes out.

[brinza]

Try this:

1.5 oz blended scotch

0.5 oz dry vermouth

0.25 oz aquavit

0.25 oz agave nectar

I read your post in the thread on simple syrups and, having finally picked up some agave nectar, I was intrigued by your quest and saw it as an interesting challenge.  I tried to come up with something that wouldn't just end up being a Rob Roy variation, so I discovered that Scotch and dry vermouth is a combination that, while unusual, is not unheard of, so I started with that.  Looking for another favor component, but not something sweet, since it will already have that in the agave nectar, I settled on aquavit--just a little--as an accent.  I thought it was quite good, and I'd make it again.  But you'll have to be the judge as to whether it's the earth-shattering cocktail you're looking for.  You'll probably want to tweak the proportions a bit.  I fiddled with it myself and don't really know exactly what I ended up with.

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Wow that certainly looks like it would be worth a try. I'll have to snag some aquavit to try it. Any recommendations on a brand? I remember hearing that one of the favorite brands was recently dropped by it's importer, and then I saw it locally shortly afetr reading that. Trouble is now I can't remember which one it was.

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I used Aalborg, as that's the only brand we have here. I did see it mentioned elsewhere that Aalborg was no longer being imported, but PA still seems to be getting it. I don't know if they just had an enormous inventory or if the rumors of it no longer being imported are untrue.

The scotch I used was White Horse. I keep coming back to that as my mixing blend. I like its peaty character--it very flavorful for a blend in its price range.

As for the vermouth, I ended up using M&R. I purposely did not use Noilly Prat since it was going up against scotch (as bostonapothecary says, "you have to stage a fair fight" (I always think of that when I'm experimenting)), but I thought the Vya might make the whole thing a bit too busy, so I settled on the M&R. I'm thinking I might try this again with the Vya, however, just to see.

I thought about adding bitters, but refrained since it thought it would disturb the subtleties of the vermouth, aquavit, and agave nectar. The agave doesn't have a very strong taste to begin and since you wanted to build the drink around that and the scotch, it seemed best to avoid using another ingredient that could overpower everything. If I were to add bitters, it might be one small dash or a couple drops of Peychaud's, perhaps.

Edited October 3, 2008 by brinza (log)

[birder53]

Tonight - a drink from an Ardent Spirits email -

organized chaos , mach 2

Created by Gary Regan, 2007.

2 ounces Wild Turkey bourbon (@ 101-proof, of course)

1 1/2 ounces Noilly Prat sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce Pernod Absinthe

1 lemon wedge, for garnish.

Fill a medium-sized wine goblet with ice, and add the bourbon, vermouth, and the Pernod Absinthe. Squeeze the lemon wedge into the drink and drop it into the glass. Stir briefly and serve.

Even nicer with cracked ice!

[thirtyoneknots]

Had some rum I wanted to use up since it didn't fit neatly in my new liquor storage apparatus, so I was messing around with the recipes in Imbibe! and came up with the following:

Knickerbocker variation (a modest variation, to be sure):

2 oz Santa Cruz rum (about 1.5 of Cruzan Amber, made up with Cruzan Single Barrel)

2 tsp Strawberry Syrup (1883 Brand)

1.5 tsp Brizard Curacao

juice of half a lime

fill the (small) glass with crushed ice, shake, and pour back into the glass. The original directions call for berries on top, some frozen ones last forever and do no harm to the drink.

I normally use a lemon here, which is a little more tart. Lime certainly isn't bad but it's a tad sweet for my taste--maybe cut back a smidgen on the sweeteners.

Still...rum and strawberries...yummmmmm

[bostonapothecary]

i want to finish this bottle of sherry so i thought i'd whip up a cocktail... after drinking alot of the single vineyard la gitana manzanilla i think i prefer the la cigarrera which as a bonus comes in smaller bottles.

1.5 oz. suntory yamazaki 12yr

1 oz. pastrana single vineyard aged manzanilla

1 oz. chamberyzette (replica)

bar spoon honey liqueur (single varietal dandelion)

dash peychaud's

strong enough for my mood but a cask strength whiskey would be better, the dandelion honey adds a gamey something extra that you never really find in a drink. divine flavor contrast from the smokiness of the scotch and the fruit of the aromatized wine. if anyone can import dolin's chamberyzette and get decent distribution they will make alot of money...

[Keith Orr]

i want to finish this bottle of sherry so i thought i'd whip up a cocktail... after drinking alot of the single vineyard la gitana manzanilla i think i prefer the la cigarrera which as a bonus comes in smaller bottles.

1.5 oz. suntory yamazaki 12yr

1 oz. pastrana single vineyard aged manzanilla

1 oz. chamberyzette (replica)

bar spoon honey liqueur (single varietal dandelion)

dash peychaud's

strong enough for my mood but a cask strength whiskey would be better, the dandelion honey adds a gamey something extra that you never really find in a drink. divine flavor contrast from the smokiness of the scotch and the fruit of the aromatized wine.  if anyone can import dolin's chamberyzette and get decent distribution they will make alot of money...

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I'm curious about the chamberyzette - did you make it yourself? Will you share the recipe? Conceptually it sounds wonderful.

Edited to Add - Found your recipe in your blog Here - Nice looking new blog for me to explore!

Is the honey liqueur made from dandelion honey or honey and dandelions?

Sounds like a very interesting drink. I'm a big fan of Peychauds and it seems like it would go well with the strawberry in the chamberyzette

Edited October 4, 2008 by Keith Orr (log)

[Keith Orr]

Friday October 3rd

From My Preserving Log "(August 23rd, 2008) I bought a couple of pounds of Bing type cherries at HMart on my way home from McMinnville today. I put them in a half gallon jar with the stems and pits intact. Dumped in two cups of sugar, a cup of Luxardo Maraschino and topped it off with a couple of cups of Clear Creek Kirschwasser.

I'm hoping that in 6-8 weeks I'll have something suitable for Manhattans and some to share with friends and family."

Back to Last Night - I broke into these tonight to see how they were progressing.

I tried them a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty good, but seemed rather simple.

Tonight it seemed like the almond notes from the pits were starting to infuse the cherries from the inside out - very maraschino like with the almond notes. I think they need another month or so.

The cherries were packed into a 1/2 gallon jar. Now the cherries take up about 60% of the jar. The cherries have shrunk dramatically in size and the texture has firmed up. Almost crunchy texture. Next year I'm going to try adding some extra cherry pits and crush them when I make this. I can tell this isn't going to make as many cherries as I'd have liked. I think they also need a bit more sugar.

Made a Manhattan with them

2 oz Jim Beam Rye

3/4 oz Punt e Mas

1 Tablespoon of the Liquor from the cherries

two cherries

It was lacking just a bit at this point so I added a couple of drops of Peychaud's bitters for the aromatics

Pretty damn good!

[bostonapothecary]

Is the honey liqueur made from dandelion honey or honey and dandelions?

Sounds like a very interesting drink. I'm a big fan of Peychauds and it seems like it would go well with the strawberry in the chamberyzette

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the honey is single varietal from dandelions (tarassaco in italian). the bees are sent out in areas (roero) where only dandelions are in bloom. its the most potent honey i've ever come across. the texture is really waxy so i just scoop it out with a spoon into something with a wide mouth full of booze (cognac, vodka blend...) it dissolves pretty fast and the i just strain it through cloth to get the comb solids and pollen like stuff out... geneva style gin (or my malta goya version) really seems to magnify the earthy funk the honey has. kind of erotic.

Edited October 4, 2008 by bostonapothecary (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Been playing around with Routin 1883 Strawberry syrup in place of the raspberry syrup called for in many of the recipes in Imbibe! Best so far, I think, is actually the gin punch, even when made with London Dry or a 2:1 mix of dry gin and Irish Whiskey. The raspberry may work better with the brandy, but I think the brightness of strawberry works better with gin. Worth a try anyway.

[Chris Amirault]

geneva style gin (or my malta goya version)

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Ooh. Say more.

[KatieLoeb]

I'm tweaking a new cocktail for my fall menu. I finished the Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup today and made one for the staff. Everyone loved it. It needs a clever name. If anyone has an idea let me know...

1.75 oz. Stoli Blakberi vodka

.75 oz. Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup

.5 oz. fresh lime juice

1.25 oz. grapefruit juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float a sage leaf on top.

Basic flavor profile is Blackberry, Sage and Grapefruit with a hint of honey in the background and a wee bit of savory-ness from the falernum. Delicious combination of flavors. I can't for the life of me think of a cool name for it.

[Keith Orr]

I'm tweaking a new cocktail for my fall menu.  I finished the Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup today and made one for the staff.  Everyone loved it.  It needs a clever name.  If anyone has an idea let me know...

1.75 oz. Stoli Blakberi vodka

.75 oz. Sage/Honey/Falernum syrup

.5 oz. fresh lime juice

1.25 oz. grapefruit juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Float a sage leaf on top.

Basic flavor profile is Blackberry, Sage and Grapefruit with a hint of honey in the background and a wee bit of savory-ness from the falernum.  Delicious combination of flavors.  I can't for the life of me think of a cool name for it.

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My first thought was "Home on the Range" because of the sage - yes I know it's not about sagebrush, but that name appears to have already been taken.

Second thought was Blackberry Beret, because for 20 plus years I can't get Prince's lyrics to stop once I hear anything with XXXXBerry mentioned.

Sounds like a tasty drink. Did you use all honey when you made the Falernum? It's a substitution that's never occurred to me.

[Wild Bill Turkey]

If only the Blakberi imparted a little color, I'd suggest some sort of "Purple Sage" name. Maybe you could dribble a little crème de mûre over the top for dramatic effect (like a bramble) just so you could use the name...