Drinks (2009–2011)

[vice]

i love to go to sleep, and thus have a serious soft spot for 'goodnight' drinks (both chris and irene). hankering for something along those lines tonight, i decided to go for equal parts brandy (Dudognon) and Ramazzotti amaro over cracked ice. I'll be damned if on the nose and first sip isn't eerily similar to coca-cola. while just as integrated as its brethren, it's a tad smoother (thank the cognac). to whom should we say goodnight with this one?

Edited November 17, 2009 by vice (log)

[vice]

while on the topic of nightcaps, I've been digging phil ward's chocolate martica since I finally acquired the bittermens mole bitters

1 oz Appleton V/X Rum

1 oz Cognac (Courvoisier VS)

1 oz Carpano Antica

1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino

2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Bitters

I also subbed in Smith and Cross for the rum while I was going all out with new ingredients. Awesome.

Edited November 17, 2009 by vice (log)

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. seville sour orange juice

2 oz. laird's BIB

.5 oz. green chartreuse

half bar spoon of sugar stirred in

dash peychaud's bitters

shaken and garnished with a flamed seville twist

i made this last night accidentally using rittenhouse rye instead of apple jack and it was palatable but all angles and no roundness... the roundness of apple jack really fills out the drink and adds a lot more dimension than the rye. the tonal effect of the apple brandy and the sour orange juice is pretty wild. these kinds of contrasts, encountered in a bar, could incite intense spontaneity.

Edited November 19, 2009 by bostonapothecary (log)

[Ktepi]

I've been playing around with variations on Giuseppe Gonzalez's Trinidad Sour -- 1 oz Angostura, 1 oz syrup, 3/4 oz sour, 1/2 oz spirit -- and I'm hard-pressed to find a version I DON'T like. Tonight's is my favorite, and I don't know how much of that is due to using 1/2 oz of Fee's whiskey barrel aged in place of the Angostura, which I abruptly ran out of while shaking them into the measure:

1/2 oz Angostura + 1/2 oz Fee's wba

1 oz Rose's Kola Tonic

3/4 oz lime juice

1/2 oz rum (Prichard's)

Really great. The Kola kind of disappears next to the bitters, so it's not as rum-and-Coke-like as I thought it might be, but that's just fine.

I need to pick up more Angostura, I don't want to use up the Fee's on these. But I want to try cachaca and tequila variations.

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. "ice wine" grenadine

2 oz. seagrams distillers reserve

spoonful del maguey chichicapa

2 dashes peychaud's bitters

thin float of gosling's overpoof rum

a familiar structure but with strange contrasts. the tonality, both in color and flavor, of the grenadine is very seductive. mezcal and a float of over proof rum sounds like overkill but i assure you they were both necessary and quite amusing together. excellent grotesquery...

[thirtyoneknots]

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. "ice wine" grenadine

2 oz. seagrams distillers reserve

spoonful del maguey chichicapa

2 dashes peychaud's bitters

thin float of gosling's overpoof rum

a familiar structure but with strange contrasts. the tonality, both in color and flavor, of the grenadine is very seductive. mezcal and a float of over proof rum sounds like overkill but i assure you they were both necessary and quite amusing together. excellent grotesquery...

That is a fascinating flavor combo, at least on paper. I wonder if something in the Vieux Carre vein could be managed with OP rum and Mezcal...if I had any Mezcal I'd be very tempted to go try it myself right now.

Edited because while Mezcal is from Mexico there's no such thing as Mexcal.

Edited December 4, 2009 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. "ice wine" grenadine

2 oz. seagrams distillers reserve

spoonful del maguey chichicapa

2 dashes peychaud's bitters

thin float of gosling's overpoof rum

a familiar structure but with strange contrasts. the tonality, both in color and flavor, of the grenadine is very seductive. mezcal and a float of over proof rum sounds like overkill but i assure you they were both necessary and quite amusing together. excellent grotesquery...

That is a fascinating flavor combo, at least on paper. I wonder if something in the Vieux Carre vein could be managed with OP rum and Mezcal...if I had any Mezcal I'd be very tempted to go try it myself right now.

Edited because while Mezcal is from Mexico there's no such thing as Mexcal.

wow, OP rum and mezcal vieux carre... hmmm. i can't metabolize that until tomorrow.

[thirtyoneknots]

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. "ice wine" grenadine

2 oz. seagrams distillers reserve

spoonful del maguey chichicapa

2 dashes peychaud's bitters

thin float of gosling's overpoof rum

a familiar structure but with strange contrasts. the tonality, both in color and flavor, of the grenadine is very seductive. mezcal and a float of over proof rum sounds like overkill but i assure you they were both necessary and quite amusing together. excellent grotesquery...

That is a fascinating flavor combo, at least on paper. I wonder if something in the Vieux Carre vein could be managed with OP rum and Mezcal...if I had any Mezcal I'd be very tempted to go try it myself right now.

Edited because while Mezcal is from Mexico there's no such thing as Mexcal.

wow, OP rum and mezcal vieux carre... hmmm. i can't metabolize that until tomorrow.

I dig the Goslings but I'd think Wray & Nephew or Smith & Cross would be the order of the day here.

[KatieLoeb]

I've been working on a "holiday cocktail" at the urging of the folks at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, the masterminds behind Sailor Jerry spiced rum and Root liqueur. I decided to create a hot toddy that incorporated both of their products and that would be easy enough to reproduce in a high volume commercial environment, even under the gun on a busy weekend night. Here's the end result:

Hot Buttered Sailor

1.5 oz. Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum

.75 oz. Root liqueur

.5 oz. Grand Marnier

Dash of bitters, either Angostura or Fee Brothers Old Fashioned or Aztec Chocolate bitters

2 strips of orange peel, removed with a vegetable peeler

4 oz. boiling water

1 Tbs. Spiced Brown sugar butter*

1 cinnamon stick for garnish

*Spiced Brown Sugar Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 level tsp. Chinese Five Spice

Cream butter with sugar in food processor or with electric hand mixer and add five spice powder until well incorporated and fluffy. Turn creamed butter out onto a sheet of wax paper and roll tightly into a 1" circumference log. Freeze until ready to use. Cut into 1/2" coins for serving.

Add rum, Root liqueur, Grand Marnier and bitters to a heat proof mug or Irish Coffee mug. Twist orange peel strips and add to mugs. Top with boiling water. Add butter and stir with cinnamon stick until melted and well incorporated. Sip contentedly and feel warmed.

Edited December 4, 2009 by KatieLoeb (log)

[FireAarro]

Sounds tasty Katie, and the name is brilliant!

Tonight I had a Tomate- one part pastis to half a part homemade grenadine in a tall glass filled with ice and topped up with five parts water. A tad sweet but very tasty and a bit more approachable than just the Ricard with water. My grenadine isn't particularly colorful however but that is likely preferable to the neon red of the commercial stuff...

[Chris Amirault]

Hot Buttered Sailor

...

1 Tbs. Spiced Brown sugar butter*

*Spiced Brown Sugar Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 level tsp. Chinese Five Spice

This sounds great -- though due to a misread I thought the butter would be "browned butter," not "brown sugar butter." I wonder if that wouldn't make a nice additional element, adding a bit of melted and cooled browned butter to this mixture....

[brinza]

A Negroni variation:

Punt e Mes

Aperol

Gin (Quintessential)

garnished with orange slice

I was surprised that the PeM did not make it more bitter than a Negroni--perhaps the Aperol is a little sweeter than Campari. Anyway, it worked. It was delicious.

The story: A week ago I had occasion to dine at a finer Italian restaurant not five miles from my house, but one I had never been to before. Our dinner arrangements included spending some time at the bar beforehand. The back bar was very impressive to say the least (who am I kidding, I was awestruck). When I saw the Campari, I knew I could at least get a Negroni here. I was especially intrigued when I spied a small shelf to one side crammed with an array of Italian bitters and liqueurs (strangely the Campari wasn't on it, but was in the main area), including a few things that, not only had I never tasted, but that aren't (technically) available in Pennsylvania. One was Aperol. I requested a glass of Aperol straight up so that I could try it, which was served in a snifter by Omar, the bartender. I hadn't realized that it was that similar to Campari, but it is much lighter.

The big surprise was when he took the bottle of Aperol down from the shelf, behind it was Punt e Mes! After finishing the Aperol, I then asked for some Punt e Mes. Omar seemed to think I was nuts for wanting to drink that stuff by itself. He asked if I wanted in on ice. Well, it was not so much asking, as "You want that on ice, don't you? You want it on ice." Ice it is then. I liked it. I could taste similarities to Carpano's Antica Formula, but without any of the sweetness.

With the idea of the Negroni still in the back of my brain, I said to Omar, "Here is what I would like next: Would you make me a Negroni with this (pointing to the PeM) instead of vermouth, Aperol instead of Campari, and you choose the gin." He obliged although he insisted (and I agreed) that it's not a Negroni. He suggested the name Schizophrenia. I wouldn't have called it that, but I suppose it kind of fits; it's a drink with an identity problem. At least this way, I can go there any time, and if Omar is there I can ask for a Schizophrenia and he'll know exactly what to make. And since that's something I can't make at home, it gives me a reason to go to a specific place for a specific cocktail that I can only get there. I'm sure I'm not the first to try that combination, but it was exciting how the circumstances enabled everything to come together the way it did.

(sorry for the long-winded explanation)

[KatieLoeb]

I wonder if that wouldn't make a nice additional element, adding a bit of melted and cooled browned butter to this mixture....

I don't think so Chris. It was still pretty softened even after a night in the freezer. I think I'll change the instructions to just spoon into a small container and freeze and use a spoonful instead of a slice. It wouldn't hold up to slicing already...

[thirtyoneknots]

I wonder if that wouldn't make a nice additional element, adding a bit of melted and cooled browned butter to this mixture....

I don't think so Chris. It was still pretty softened even after a night in the freezer. I think I'll change the instructions to just spoon into a small container and freeze and use a spoonful instead of a slice. It wouldn't hold up to slicing already...

Sounds like too much air got beaten into it...I'd just mix it by hand in the future if the softness is a problem.

[JAZ]

I wonder if that wouldn't make a nice additional element, adding a bit of melted and cooled browned butter to this mixture....

I don't think so Chris. It was still pretty softened even after a night in the freezer. I think I'll change the instructions to just spoon into a small container and freeze and use a spoonful instead of a slice. It wouldn't hold up to slicing already...

Katie, I use browned butter in many applications where I want the butter to be firm -- just refrigerate after browning. If anything the browned butter is firmer than regular butter, because you've cooked most of the water out. If your mixture is soft, it's because of the sugar, not because of the butter.

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. "ice wine" grenadine

2 oz. seagrams distillers reserve

spoonful del maguey chichicapa

2 dashes peychaud's bitters

thin float of gosling's overpoof rum

a familiar structure but with strange contrasts. the tonality, both in color and flavor, of the grenadine is very seductive. mezcal and a float of over proof rum sounds like overkill but i assure you they were both necessary and quite amusing together. excellent grotesquery...

That is a fascinating flavor combo, at least on paper. I wonder if something in the Vieux Carre vein could be managed with OP rum and Mezcal...if I had any Mezcal I'd be very tempted to go try it myself right now.

Edited because while Mezcal is from Mexico there's no such thing as Mexcal.

wow, OP rum and mezcal vieux carre... hmmm. i can't metabolize that until tomorrow.

I dig the Goslings but I'd think Wray & Nephew or Smith & Cross would be the order of the day here.

i tried the smith and cross, mezcal vieux carre. it was drinkable but not really greater than the sum of its parts. i think the mezcal was the weak point and its brand of smokiness didn't really have affinity for the other elements. the smith and cross which was new to me is awesome stuff i'd try it again with S&C plus cognac, rye, or even kirshwasser.

for some reason the bartender doubled the benedictine. this made the drink slightly sweeter than my usual ethic and overshadowed the other elements a little bit. i guess i just have to make this kind of stuff at home.

[KatieLoeb]

I wonder if that wouldn't make a nice additional element, adding a bit of melted and cooled browned butter to this mixture....

I don't think so Chris. It was still pretty softened even after a night in the freezer. I think I'll change the instructions to just spoon into a small container and freeze and use a spoonful instead of a slice. It wouldn't hold up to slicing already...

Katie, I use browned butter in many applications where I want the butter to be firm -- just refrigerate after browning. If anything the browned butter is firmer than regular butter, because you've cooked most of the water out. If your mixture is soft, it's because of the sugar, not because of the butter.

Thanks Janet. That makes sense in theory. Maybe I should use half browned butter and half cold butter and mix for a shorter amount of time with the electric mixer. I buzzed this in my little hand blender, so the idea of too much air, combined with the very moist brown sugar could make for a too "wet" end result. Doesn't matter much though, since it's just getting dolloped in and melted anyhow. I won't bother trying to roll it into a log again. I'll just put it into a small container and spoon it out.

[KD1191]

I didn't get any suggestions on what to do with the Vietnamese Hibiscus Brandy over in that thread, so I decided to give it a try in place of an aromatic pisco in an 8th & Collins riff, which turned out rather nice.

1 1/2 oz Hibiscus Brandy

1/4+ oz Genevieve Gin

1 oz Grapefruit Juice

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/4+ oz Simple Syrup

1 oz Egg White

Garnished with Angostura.

[eje]

Hm, boy there is certainly nothing wrong with a Genever Sazerac.

Oh!

Next! Ransom Old-Tom Sazerac!

Mmmmm.

[KD1191]

Some expertly prepared (not by me) Applejack Mulled Cider and Ginger Toddy last night, combined with the cold snap in Chicago (it being ~80 degrees cooler here than it was in Thailand last week) got me in the mood for a hot beverage. A Whisky Mac ought to do the trick:

Filled a coffee mug with boiling water, allowed to sit for a minute, then tossed.

Added 2 oz Famous Grouse, 4 oz Stone's Green Ginger Wine and a splash of Benedictine (inspired by Colin Field's variant with Green Chartreuse).

Topped with a bit of hot water. Squeezed a swath of lemon peel over and dropped it in.

Yum.

Edited December 12, 2009 by KD1191 (log)

[Shamanjoe]

I could sure go for a Tom Collins right about now. I think that'll be the drink I make when I get home later.

[Ktepi]

Calamondin juice and Aperol -- not sure of the exact proportions, I just juiced the calamondins into the glass and added Aperol until it tasted balanced. Man, this is good.

[haresfur]

No energy to shake after packing house all day

3 oz Havana Club (cus that was what was left in the flask)

1 oz Campari

1 oz Contreau

juice 1/2 lime (like I'm going to take the effort to measure...)

stir with ice, decide to take the effort to strain over the rocks and top with soda.

Aah!

[Dan Perrigan]

A Martinez. Man, that's a nice drink. And I don't even need to cut fruit.

Does a Perfect Martinez work? (half sweet / half dry vermouth). I think I'll give it a try...

[campus five]

I stopped in a fairly new liquor store out by my parents' house and was surprised to see some Thomas Handy behind the shelf. After googleing the proof to find out it was the 2007 vintage (which was wonderful, as compared to the oddly sour 2008), I left with two bottles. In honor of the new purchase, I killed the remaining ounce of 2007 Handy in my old bottle, and along with an ounce from the new bottle made a killer Sazerac (2 oz Handy, 1 barspoon 2:1 demerrara, 4 dashes peychauds, 1 dash ango). So, so, so good.

Also I used another new acquisition, a bottle of Vieux Pontarlier Absinthe for the rinse. It's way more anise-y than our current house absinthe, St. George. It'll take a couple more cocktails to get a handle on the stuff.