Drinks (2009–2011)

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. mirabelle (yellow plum eau de vie, trimbach)

.5 oz. mezcal (vida)

1 oz. melata di bosco (spruce tree honey 1:1 dissolved in rye)

1 oz. espresso

some potential lurks in here somewhere. my bar at work stocks no coffee liqueur or walnut so the darkest sweet thing i had was the alpine spruce tree honey. the espresso also sucked and had this burnt popcorn kind of aroma that couldn't be overshadowed. tragic really. next time i'll go across the street to starbucks for the espresso to at least give the drink a fighting chance. instead of the honey i think i'd like to explore a darkly roasted malt syrup like something a brewer would put in a black lager or a stout.

mirabelle, mezcal, and espresso belong together somehow.

[bostonapothecary]

"boll weevil" (inspired by the alan lomax recording of vera hall and for my newfound love of the cotton ball "rinse". i'm sure a few bygone people have drank sazeracs while contemplating the boll weevil)

2 oz. ransom old tom gin

spoonful non aromatic white sugar

4 dashes peychaud's bitters

inhomogeneous lemon oil from a peel

inhomogeneous application of absinthe (herbsaint)

this drink tries to apply the "simplified gustation principle" to allow perception of as much of the aromas as possible with the minimum of distractions. this is done by basically creating a sweet drink free of the distractions from various gustatory modes of "dryness".

i then wanted to add care to separate the other aromatic adjuncts. discard the peel. and i used a cotton ball to apply the herbsaint so it didn't leach into the drink. you get a good separation for a few sips then it is all a delightful sensory blur.

i have a feeling that the extra water content of simple syrup would have simplified gustation even more by diluting the alcohol and even amplifying the aromas.

delicious.

Edited January 13, 2011 by bostonapothecary (log)

[EvergreenDan]

Oh Noni No

1 oz Cocchi Americano

1 oz Amaro, Nonino

2 oz Seltzer water

1 sli Lemon (coin)

Stir, strain, rocks, top with seltzer, squeeze and drop coin, stir gently

Touch of acid to balance the Cocchi, complexity of the Nonino with the citrus / wine flavors. Very nice. Could also be had without seltzer for a stronger drink, I'm sure. Memorable.

Edited January 14, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Sometimes my Manhattans are just terrific, and sometimes they are borderline lousy. (I think that it's nigh impossible for a Manhattan to suck, but I get close.) And sometimes I nail it:

3 oz Four Roses Small Batch bourbon

1 1/2 oz M&R rosso vermouth

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes Fee's WBA 2009 bitters

lemon twist

Luxardo cherry

I know it isn't anything earth-shattering, except insofar as a perfectly made Manhattan towers over all other drinks. Yum.

[Tri2Cook]

Since I finally have everything necessary, equal parts Beefeater, Luxardo Maraschino, Green Chartreuse and fresh lime juice danced with ice in a shaker and I had my first Last Word. I'm glad I did. The first sip, I thought "whoa, funky". Then I slowed it down and really tasted it and "whoa" became "wow". Nice one.

[Chris Amirault]

A classic for a reason, to be sure.

Enjoying a wee dram of a new bottle of Chichicapa. My goodness, what goodness.

[johnder]

If you have any pineapple gomme syrup I highly recommend the Single Village Fix from Beretta restaurant in SF.

They make it with Minero, but I really like it with Chichi.

1 1/2 ounces mezcal

3/4 ounce lime juice

3/4 ounce pineapple gomme

Shake, strain, up.

[Chris Amirault]

I do, and I will. Thanks.

[evo-lution]

Thought I should share a drink I recently came across calling for my Dandelion & Burdock Bitters

Spruce Goose

Created at Dutch Kills Bar in New York;

60ml London Dry gin

30ml Cocchi Americano

7.5ml Apricot Brandy

2 Dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Dandelion & Burdock Bitters

Method: Add all ingredients to mixing glass and stir with cubed ice for 15-20 seconds

Glass: Chilled coupette

Garnish: Fat strip of lemon zest

Ice: N/A

I'm working on a blog posting for Bruichladdich's Botanist gin that'll be up tonight and it works wonderfully in this cocktail.

[brinza]

Lately I've been working with a 5-spice honey syrup (cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, star anise) that was left over from Christmas. After making a few Derby Daiquiris with it, and a couple of small rum punches, I've been settling into whisky sours, last night with Redbreast (and some Regan's orange bitters), but tonight was money:

2 oz. Bell's blended Scotch

1 oz. lemon juice

3/4 oz. 5-spice honey syrup

2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Honey, lemon, Scotch, Peychaud's... they all came together as a beautiful whole.

(I've still got a lot of honey syrup left, though, so I'd love to hear other suggestions about how to use it

The Nov/Dec 09 issue of Imbibe featured the Death & Company:

1 1/2 oz bourbon

1/4 oz green Green Chartreuse

1/4 oz absinthe

3/4 oz spiced honey syrup

1/2 oz lemon juice

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Garnish: lemon twist

The recipe for the honey syrup was given, but like you, when I made this, I used the spiced honey syrup I had already made for something else (in my case, the Carousel Punch from that same issue of the magazine), which was close enough. The spiced honey syrup recipe provided specifically for this drink consists of water, honey, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, star anise.

The drink is amazing, btw.

That syrup might also work in a Lion's Tail cocktail.

[mkayahara]

The recipe for the honey syrup was given, but like you, when I made this, I used the spiced honey syrup I had already made for something else (in my case, the Carousel Punch from that same issue of the magazine)

Ha! Thanks for that. Mine is left over from Carousel Punch as well. I must have missed this recipe. I'll give it a try.

[Vieux Carré]

I had the hankering for a Whiskey Sour and so squeezed my lemon and pulled out my bourbon and then found out I only had 1/4 oz simple syrup, so I winged it by adding another 1/4 oz Maraschino and 1/4 oz grenadine and a dash of Angostura. It turns out to be pretty tasty. Surely I am not the first to put these ingredients together, so I'm wondering what its name is. For the moment I'm calling it a Pip, but will be happy to use its given name. Any help?

[Chris Amirault]

I dunno. Seems like a Ward Eight riff.

Found out that RI is getting Ransom Old Tom gin last night, so to celebrate I made an Old Fashioned variation that is very tasty:

2 oz Ransom

1/2 oz smoked pineapple syrup

2 dashes Boker's bitters

Stir; strain; lemon twist.

Very tasty. This smoked pineapple syrup is a keeper....

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. ransom old tom gin.

.5 oz. wasmund's "rye spirit" (high proof rye white dog)

1 oz. cinzano bianco vermouth

.5 oz. "brandymel" honey liqueur from the algarve

dash peychaud's bitters

i have no anxiety to dispel so i scratched my usual high acid drink. i think i'm also desensitized to the distractions of high alcohol. oh well.. this drink is all about gorgeous aromas. the aromas come out more when it warms because the distractions of the stinging chill wear off...

brandymel is by far the coolest pre-made honey liqueur on the market.

extraordinary sensoriality!

[Chris Amirault]

From Hollinger & Schwartz's Art of the Bar:

Le Demon Vert

1 1/2 oz gin (Citadelle)

1/2 oz absinthe (Leopold Bros)

1/2 oz falernum (Taylor)

1/2 oz lime

Shake; strain. Didn't have a black licorice stick for garnish, sadly. Excellent, nonetheless.

[Tri2Cook]

Still exploring what's old-hat for most here. Tonight I went with a Negroni.

[Chris Amirault]

Well that's a pretty damned good thing to explore -- for at least a few more years. Granted, I have a complicated relation to the drink.

[mkayahara]

Still exploring what's old-hat for most here. Tonight I went with a Negroni.

The Negroni will never be old hat. For me, it's a classic that deserves a place in the pantheon right after the Martini and the Manhattan. What did you think of it?

My indulgence tonight was a Jägerita, because that bottle of Jägermeister has been cluttering up my liquor cabinet for plenty long enough. I won't be replacing the bottle, but what an oddly compelling drink!

[Tri2Cook]

I enjoyed it. I don't think I immediately enjoyed it because I had to do a mental reset of my perception of bitter. It took some tasting and thinking to dig the complexity from beneath the bitterness but once I got it, it was there to stay. I began to understand what was going on and I enjoyed the drink very much from that point on.

Chris: That was a nice read, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Just for the record, I did equal parts Beefeater, Campari and M&R Sweet Vermouth (the only one available where I live).

[Melissa]

I just tried a Brandy Alexander for the first time. I tend to steer clear of cocktails with heavy cream. I really enjoyed it and can't believe I didn't try it before today!

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. mezcal (vida)

.5 oz. medronhos (unaged arbutus brandy)

1 oz. bianco vermouth (cinzano)

.5 oz. randall's pacific rim framboise

randall's framboise is wildly cool and was the starting point for this drink. the aroma is gigantic and requires penetrating spirits than can resist its overshadowing nature. hence the use of mezcal and medronhos which provides at least two types of aromatic tension to juxtapose with the sweet-roundness of the raspberry aroma. the framboise is also largely self contrasted by its own acidity so even though this is an elaborated 50/50 sort of drink, i do not find it to be too sweet for me.

[EvergreenDan]

My indulgence tonight was a Jägerita, because that bottle of Jägermeister has been cluttering up my liquor cabinet ...

I have tried a number of bitter, herbal Margarita variations. They work really well with the peppery, earthy flavor of the tequila. Cachaca also works very well with these. Strega, Campari, Aperol, that sort of thing.

[brinza]

Made an Acacia from Embury's The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. Simple drink, common ingredients (and all booze!), but very good. Very angular flavor notes. Some may find it a bit sweet, so Embury suggests adding some lemon juice. Oh yeah, and more gin!

1 part Benedictine

3 to 4 parts gin

1 tsp Kirsch

The more curious aspect of this drink is that according to Embury, this drink won first prize at the championship cocktail contest at Biarritz in 1928, and yet I cannot find any reference to it in any of the other major cocktail guides (which explains why I never noticed this drink before). On the internet, CocktailDB includes it (twice), and the Washington Post published it, but cites Embury as the source. I wonder why none of the other books picked it up.

[KD1191]

Needed something warm for my sore throat and congestion...so the following went into a mug and were topped off by 4 oz of boiling water.

2 oz Evan Williams Single Barrel (2000)

1 oz Cynar

1/4 oz Rich Demerara Syrup

1/4" lemon wheel

Garnish was a couple dashes of Elixir Végétal and some more lemon oil.

Have you tried Cynar warm? You really should...it's quite a wonderful transformation.

[ChrisTaylor]

Gin (Tanqueray) and tonic.