Drinks! 2014 (Part 1)

[Ian Tuck]

How do you like the tiki bitters ?

I liked them a lot. It seemed fitting to use the Tiki ones as the flavour profile rapidly shifted as I modified (read: completely abandoned) the original sidecar idea. Since this is the first drink that I honestly would say I tried to come up with completely on my own (with the obvious h/t to the sidecar), I'd like a little more time to play with the flavours to see if I could take it somewhere else. I thought about floating some red wine on top a la a New York sour, but that just seems a little busy, and completely screws up the nice froth of the egg white. I should probably just leave well enough alone.

[FrogPrincesse]

The Taketsuru Pure Malt (12 years) is quite mild with a somewhat sweet finish, so I used it in a very nice Old Fashioned with Boker's bitters and gomme syrup. The little packets of gomme they have in coffee shops in Japan came very handy for this one.

A bit skimpy on the ice, but you should have seen the ice cube tray I was working with. Next time I travel, I will consider including a proper ice tray in my cocktail kit...

[Hassouni]

I know we have a whole thread on bitters, but how do the Boker's compare in an Old Fashioned to the more typical aromatic bitters?

[Rafa]

More assertive bitterness than Angostura, but milder flavors at similar volumes; a more floral and herbal flavor profile, with the components easier to distinguish than Ango, among them chamomile, coffee, gentian, and tons more.

[ChrisTaylor]

Are you in Japan at the moment, FrogPrincesse? Do you have access to many of these small bottles of Japanese whisky?

[FrogPrincesse]

Are you in Japan at the moment, FrogPrincesse? Do you have access to many of these small bottles of Japanese whisky?

Chris,

I am back (and slowly going through the backlog).

I wish I still had access to these little bottles, or the collection of large (and relativly cheap) ones at the airport, but that's no longer the case.

[ChrisTaylor]

Damn. I'd have happily paid or organised an exchange of something impossible-to-get-outside-of-Australia for a box of assorteds. Japanese whisky is crrraaaazzzzy expensive in Australia.

[FrogPrincesse]

I hear you... We need to recruit Japanese cocktail nerds on eG.

[FrogPrincesse]

I know we have a whole thread on bitters, but how do the Boker's compare in an Old Fashioned to the more typical aromatic bitters?

More assertive bitterness than Angostura, but milder flavors at similar volumes; a more floral and herbal flavor profile, with the components easier to distinguish than Ango, among them chamomile, coffee, gentian, and tons more.

The Boker's bitters have a base of cardamom and coffee, while Angostura has strong cinnamon notes. So even though the flavor profile is different, they are still close enough that they can be used in cocktails calling for Angostura or "aromatic bitters" in general.

My bottle has a dropper that delivers much more than an Angostura bottle, which compensates for the milder flavor if that's a concern (I haven't noticed it).

I prefer Boker's to Angostura in a Japanese Cocktail and also I think in a Martinez (haven't had one in a while). They make a great Manhattan too if you are looking for a slight change of pace.

[Hassouni]

I hear you... We need to recruit Japanese cocktail nerds on eG.

I don't know. From what I've seen, Japanese cocktails are mostly fruity and sweet and use blue curaçao.....

Edited January 24, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Yes, they are still very much into blue curaçao and piña coladas which is a little odd, but things are changing a bit.

This 2008 article from Bon Appetit proclaiming that Tokyo is the Cocktail Capital of the World is still pretty far from the truth...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My shipment from Small Hand Foods came in today, snow and all. So tonight was...

...a Knickerbocker, Jerry Thomas, 1862 (Imbibe! pp 104-106). I did not have the Santa Cruz rum called for, so my recipe was:

1 1/4 oz Appleton 12

3/4 oz W&N Overproof

juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 1/2 oz)

2 teaspoons Grand Marnier

2 teaspoons raspberry gum syrup

Shaken, strained over crushed ice. Garnished with spent half lime and a lovely sprig of mint (recipe calls for spent half lime and fruits in season). Very nice. I don't understand why the Kickerbocker is not more popular. It is a bit thinner in body than a mai tai, but O that raspberry. Very subtile, but wow.

It is not my custom to enjoy more than one drink on a worknight. However I just had to experiment:

1 oz Appleton 12

1 oz W&N Overproof

juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 1/2 oz)

2 teaspoons Grand Marnier

2 teaspoons raspberry gum syrup

2 teaspoons orgeat

Very nice! I can't quite call it a mai tai. Has anyone tried this combination and given it a name? It is not perfect. The lime is a little much and it is slightly too sweet, but the flavors are a delightful combination!

I plan to try:

2 oz rum

1 oz lime juice

1/4 oz Grand Marnier

1/4 oz raspberry gum syrup

1/4 oz orgeat

...but not tonight.

[ChrisTaylor]

Acquired some St George dry rye gin. Looked to the official website for suggestions. Settled on the Hanky Pant: equal parts (1.5 oz) sweet vermouth (I used Punt e Mes) to gin plus a couple dashes of Fernet Branca. I thought that there would be too much vermouth but this is lovely. Have to get my hands on a larger bottle of this gin.

EDIT

The rye gin is a bit of a monster. I've seen it in various places compared to a genever. Now, maybe I haven't had enough genever--I've had the stone bottle Bols and the clear bottle stuff--but I don't know about that. I mean, yeah, it's got more in common with a genever than it does with, say, a London Dry, but there's something very robust about it. I mean, genever has that fuck-you-maltiness--it's no wallflower--but this is something else. I really like it. Might even be my new favourite gin. Bye, West Winds Cutlass.

Edited January 25, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[EvergreenDan]

I mean, genever has that fuck-you-maltiness

Most people swear by their ingredients. Chris's ingredient's swear at him.

[haresfur]

My shipment from Small Hand Foods came in today, snow and all. So tonight was...

...a Knickerbocker, Jerry Thomas, 1862 (Imbibe! pp 104-106). I did not have the Santa Cruz rum called for, so my recipe was:

1 1/4 oz Appleton 12

3/4 oz W&N Overproof

juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 1/2 oz)

2 teaspoons Grand Marnier

2 teaspoons raspberry gum syrup

Shaken, strained over crushed ice. Garnished with spent half lime and a lovely sprig of mint (recipe calls for spent half lime and fruits in season). Very nice. I don't understand why the Kickerbocker is not more popular. It is a bit thinner in body than a mai tai, but O that raspberry. Very subtile, but wow.

I do like a knickerbocker, speaking of which, it's Australia Day tomorrow and Inner Circle works well. But I've found that it is easy for the raspberry to dominate and I cut it back. In Imbibe, Dave Wondrich says, "the Knickerbocker is the spiritual progenitor of the Tiki drink. Think of it as an 1850s Mai Tai."

[Czequershuus]

Sometimes a cocktail name just draws me as much as the ingredients -

Growing Old and Dying Happy is a Hope, Not an Inevitability (by Maks Pazuniak)

2 Oz Cynar

1 Oz Rye Whiskey

1 pn Salt

2 Pieces Lemon Peel

Herbsaint/Asinthe Rinse

Stir first three ingredients without ice. Add one piece of lemon peel and ice and stir. Strain into an asinthe rinsed glass. Garnish with other lemon peel.

Excellent cocktail. As my first foray into salt in cocktails, I would say there is a small but noticeable change in bitterness. The cocktail tastes mostly of the Cynar, but bolstered by the rye. The Absinthe rinse harmonizes is a cool way with the sweet, herbal Cynar, and contributes the aroma along with the lemon. An extremely well constructed cocktail, I am beginning to see a pattern in liking Pazuniak's cocktails; The Last Mechanical Art and The Arbitrary Nature of Time are already some of my favorites.

[FrogPrincesse]

I like it too.

What brands of rye and absinthe/herbsaint did you use?

[Czequershuus]

I like it too.

What brands of rye and absinthe/herbsaint did you use?

Rittenhouse for the Rye, Kubler for the Absinthe. And I did my rinse with an aromatizer.

[Ian Tuck]

juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 1/2 oz)

Man, I want to be where you are. I only ever get about 3/4 oz of lime juice from a half a lime, with either a hand press or a big lever press. I guess I should count myself as lucky that we're able to get any citrus way up here in the frozen tundra of Canada.

[bostonapothecary]

.5 oz. perique aromatized whitened whiskey (mellowed for one year)

.5 oz. old forester 100

1 oz. overproof overholt (55%)

1 oz. martini rossi gran lusso

dash angostura

impatiently I made this like a meritage where you cannot really attribute what to what, but it is quite delicious. I found the tobacco aromatized whiskey in a cabinet after not being happy with it and forgetting about it over a year ago. I guess you cannot really rule these things out until at least a year later. the aroma has really come into its own and it finally resembles the potent Louisiana tobacco from which it was abstracted. I suspect it should be redone with an acid catalyst and longer time under heat now that it shows a little promise. maybe I can come up with a drink I really like and name it after the St. James Parish.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm having what would otherwise be a daquiri, but made with Small Hand raspberry syrup, rather than plain Small Hand syrup. It's OK, nice for a change, but I think I like the traditional daiquiri better.

I will say, once I poured the drink, I could smell the raspberries across the room, even though the taste is not as evident. I wish real raspberries smelled that good! If I make this again I think I will try increasing the amount of raspberry syrup (I used 1/4 oz) to make it sweeter and less subtile. I find a straight daiquiri doesn't need much sweetness.

The other half of last night's lime gave just over an ounce, but I forgot to warm it up ahead of time and had to squeeze it cold.

[Rafa]

I'm having what would otherwise be a daquiri, but made with Small Hand raspberry syrup, rather than plain Small Hand syrup. It's OK, nice for a change, but I think I like the traditional daiquiri better.

When made with lemon and more raspberry syrup, that's a Vic's Columbia, a nice drink.

[scubadoo97]

I suspect so, though when the price hikes come, we can hardly blame Suntory. These bourbons are frankly underpriced. We're due for price increases across the board, and it's frankly surprising that an effectively barrel proof Old Grand Dad and 12 year old baby Pappy are still the bargains they are.

Under priced? Shhhh... I think the price of OGD114 is just right. Frankly the prices have been rising too fast as a result of the Pappy craze

[Rafa]

Yes, I just saw that Weller 12 had gone up from under $20 to ~$25 at my favorite local store. Of course this is theoretical, as no one can find Weller 12 at the moment…

Time to find out if I like Evan Williams Single Barrel, I guess.

[Rafa]

Made a Shiver (Campari, Doug Fir, grapefruit) for the first time in a while. Even better than I remembered.

Following the news that (non-distiller) Hood River Distillers just acquired Clear Creek Distillery, I worry about the future of a niche, labor-intensive product like the Doug Fir eau de vie. It sounds like Clear Creek's Steve McCarthy decided to cash out, and from what I've read the new GM at CC is a marketing type with no distilling experience.