Drinks! 2014 (Part 1)

[Hassouni]

I think I just used plain old Angostura - I find it works exceptionally well with rum drinks, it having all those warm tropical spices and all...

[KD1191]

This is stimulating the appetite quite nicely:

 

1.5 oz Leopold Bros Navy Strength Gin

1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth

.5 oz Secret de Montbourgeau (Macvin du Jura)

2 droppers Bittercube Door County Hop Bitters

 

Stirred and strained into a coupe, topped with a healthy splash of soda water.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I started with a poor woman's Twelve Mile Limit.

 

http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/twelve-mile-limit?f=1

 

 

Cognac is not something that I have on hand so I just used one ounce Rittenhouse, along with an ounce of W&N.  A little sweet.  OK, not terrible, better than last night's whiskey punch.  I figure my formula was more or less traditional, since during Prohibition not everyone may have had Cognac sitting on the shelf.

 

I'm still looking for ways to finish the bottle of Rittenhouse.  Trinidad Sours are probably where the Rittenhouse will end up.  So far McKenzie has been best for me in Whiskey Punch, and the Mount Gay Black Barrel worked pretty well.

 

After the Twelve Mile Limit I thought to tweak the recipe a bit, but upon reflection I went with an Autumn in Jersey, which I'd not had in a while.  I cut the orgeat a bit and upped the lemon:

 

2 oz Laird's 12

1/2 oz orgeat

juice of half lemon (1 oz)

2 dashes Angostura

 

 

Very satisfying.

[Tri2Cook]

I figure my formula was more or less traditional, since during Prohibition not everyone may have had Cognac sitting on the shelf.

I don't know... the recipe you linked calls for brandy, not cognac. I'd think some form of brandy would have been more easily available during Prohibition than rum. But I could be wrong. If so, maybe you made a rich woman's Twelve Mile Limit.

[EvergreenDan]

@JoNorvelleWalker - What orgeat are you using? I'm wondering if it is really sweet, cause you sugar balance difficulties with recipes. I've never found the standard Trinidad Sour overly sweet when I make it with B. G. Reynolds, and I have a sourtooth.

[Hassouni]

@JoNorvelleWalker - What orgeat are you using? I'm wondering if it is really sweet, cause you sugar balance difficulties with recipes. I've never found the standard Trinidad Sour overly sweet when I make it with B. G. Reynolds, and I have a sourtooth.

 

Seconded. It is not meant to be a sweet drink at all.

[ChrisTaylor]

An observation: the clear bottle Bols Genever makes for a nice Last Word but the stone bottle stuff doesn't work as well. Not sure if it's the slightly lower APV messing with the formula or what. Took me a long time to warm up to genever and I preferred the stone variant from the outset so I found this a little odd. The lime and liqueurs dominated the maltiness of the stone bottle gin whereas the maltiness in the glass bottle version managed to shine through.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

@JoNorvelleWalker - What orgeat are you using? I'm wondering if it is really sweet, cause you sugar balance difficulties with recipes. I've never found the standard Trinidad Sour overly sweet when I make it with B. G. Reynolds, and I have a sourtooth.

 

After originally reading everything I could find on the subject of orgeat I've never, ever used anything but the wonderful stuff that feste makes. And I go through a fair amount. She must wonder if I run a bar. Killed another bottle off just now. True, it's sweet. Water and organic cane sugar are the first two ingedients, just ahead of almonds, organic lemon juice, brandy, orange blossom water, and apricot kernels.

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/52996-orgeat/?p=1483180

 

 

Indeed, the Twelve Mile Limit recipe I linked used brandy. However the recipe I was looking at as I was posting said "Cognac". As for tonight, I'm giving rye a much needed break. In front of me is a mai tai. What's new is that for one of the rums I'm trying the Atlantico Private Cask that I just got:

 

1 oz W&N

1 oz Pusser's

1 oz Atlantico

3/4 oz Grand Marnier

3/4 oz lime juice

1/2 oz orgeat.

 

 

When I first tasted it something was not right. I puzzled over this a while and realized I never put in the bush of mint that I had carefully washed and dried. I'd been out of mint and when I don't have it I find I sorely miss it. All is now well. Atlantico works. I find myself savoring each sip the mai tai more than usual. It has been a while and the level is down only by a third.

 

What I really want to try are some of the other rum combinations that I can't get.

[Rafa]

I discovered that El Dorado 12 is so god damn sweet on its own that it makes a great OF with just a few dashes of bitters. It's literally as sweet as if I had made it with a super-dry whisky and a half-dollar sized puddle of syrup at the bottom of the glass. 

 

Inspired by this, I stirred an ounce each of El Dorado 15 and Redbreast 12 (two simpatico spirits) with a couple of dashes of Bittermens Xocolatl bitters. Lovely.

[Hassouni]

While ED15 has a ton of added sugar also, it has a lot less than the 12. It also has more pot still distillate in it. I haven't tried it in the OF application, but now I want some Xocolatl bitters!

[lesliec]

... now I want some Xocolatl bitters!

 

Yes.  You do.

 

Can't make The Man Comes Around without it, right, Rafa?  And everybody should have one (or more) of those.  It's also pretty near indispensable in a decent tequila Old Fashioned.

[ChrisTaylor]

It's very close to Peychaud's/Angostura/a couple of kinds of orange bitters in terms of 'must have' if you're getting into beta cocktails/Kindred Cocktails/the eG Drinks thread. You'll burn through it faster than you'd even find reason to open bottles of many other kinds of bitters. Or at least you will if your tastes are anything like mine.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm having my second ever margarita (I never know when to capitalize drink names).  The first margarita I had was at chain tex-mex restaurant, and after that I never felt much need to have another.

 

But I've learned that some drinks can taste pretty good if made right, so I decided to give margarita another chance:

 

2 oz Patron anejo*

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz lime juice

 

 

*Yes, I know you're supposed to use blanco.

[lesliec]

And how was it? My first Margarita (which I theorise should be capitalised because it sounds like somebody's name) put me off tequila for years. Just started discovering it again last year and it's now a regular feature of the home cocktail menu. But not in a Margarita.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Oh, I liked it.  If there was any fault it's that the Cointreau was overpowering.  Easy for Cointreau to do in my opinion.  As is my custom I tried a glass of the spirit neat before making the drink.  I really like this Tequila.

[ChrisTaylor]

Version two of a drink I'm working on. Die Bible and Die Rifle. 2 oz KWV 10 mixed with a couple of dashes of my homemade Boer bitters, a dash of grapefruit bitters and some cane syrup. The grapefruit was my half-arsed way of making up for a lack of naartjie bitters, I guess. At least that's my excuse. Anyway. I mixed this with a little ice then drained it into a chilled glass rinsed with Laphroaig. Bye bye to the previous version's liquid smoke.

 

I doubt it'll appear in the second PDT book but, hey, it's a better drink than version one. And that's enough.

 

EDIT

 

I think that one of the problems with this one was that the smokiness didn't come through. Other options for next time: an alternative Islay or maybe even mezcal. Shame I sent my real fake ultra smoky mezcal to (what I call in my day job as a grade one teacher) 'the art gallery'.

Edited March 11, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[tanstaafl2]

I'm having my second ever margarita (I never know when to capitalize drink names).  The first margarita I had was at chain tex-mex restaurant, and after that I never felt much need to have another.

 

But I've learned that some drinks can taste pretty good if made right, so I decided to give margarita another chance:

 

2 oz Patron anejo*

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz lime juice

 

 

*Yes, I know you're supposed to use blanco.

 

 

Don't know that a blanco is a hard and fast rule!

 

Might be that the anejo was a bit too delicate? I do like a bit of age on the tequila but tend to use a reposado for my Margarita and I have developed a fondness for Solerno as the liqueur with a bit of Damiana for an additional touch of sweetness (although I admit to having a sweet tooth!). So maybe a bit more tequila and try a reposado. My "house" brand is Espolon but any one with a bit of agave kick should work.

 

I tend to eyeball it these days but i think i started with around 3 oz reposado, 1 oz Solerno blood orange liqueur, 1/2 oz Damiana, 1.5 oz lime juice.

Edited March 11, 2014 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[mhdousa]

Picked up some Daron Calvados and R&W Apricot at the store this evening.  Searched for a drink where I could use both and came across Beta Cocktails' A Moment of Silence (http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/a-moment-of-silence):

 

It calls for Laird's Apple Brandy rather than the Calvados I had, but holy s**t yes this is good.  There is so much goodness going on in here.

 

My question is would it be much different if I use the Laird's?

 

What else is the Calvados good in?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Since no one else has answered, I prefer Laird's, not that I don't like Calvados.  Though the answer to the question probably depends on which Laird's and which Calvados.  Even the best Calvados I have found is young and tastes sharply of apples, but is rather rough.  Laird's is smooth like old brandy with a base of apples.  It depends on which style you like.

 

For myself tonight I am revisiting Ward Eight.  The temperature here this afternoon got up to about 65 (18.3 C) so I celebrated with the fizzy Imbibe! version of the Ward Eight.  The real reason is I took delivery of some lovely zombie glasses and had to try them out.

 

For the fizzy Ward Eight I had to make adjustments.  The recipe calls for juice of half an orange and of a whole lemon.  I knew this would never work.  The lemons are if anything as large as oranges.  I went with juice of half an orange and half a lemon, in other words about three ounces of juice.  I added the called for three ounces of rye (Rittenhouse 100).  Rather than layering the 1/2 ounce of grenadine after the drink was poured, I omitted the sugar and shook with the grenadine.

 

One setback was that my bag of mint that was not in the hydrator froze on the middle shelf of the refrigerator.  I used this mint for shaking.  After shaking normally with the other ingedients I added the mint and shook gently a few times as specified.  I strained and poured into the zombie glass.  Here is where I made my mistake:  I poured the smallest bit of grenadine over the ice.  I then filled the glass (not that there was much room) with Gerolsteiner and garnished with fresh (unfrozen) mint.

 

Very nice but too sweet.  As I drank the level down I topped up with Gerolsteiner and rye till I got the sweetness right.  Not my best effort but not my worst.  I think it is lacking in juice at the moment.  I prefered the Ward Eight up.

 

Which gets to an interesting question:  the revealed mythology is that the Ward Eight was created for a pre-election victory party in Boston.  Why then should the Ward Eight be "distinctly a warm weather drink"?  Boston on the eve of winter brings thoughts of cold and damp.  Something does not add up about the story.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Don't know that a blanco is a hard and fast rule!

 

Might be that the anejo was a bit too delicate? I do like a bit of age on the tequila but tend to use a reposado for my Margarita and I have developed a fondness for Solerno as the liqueur with a bit of Damiana for an additional touch of sweetness (although I admit to having a sweet tooth!). So maybe a bit more tequila and try a reposado. My "house" brand is Espolon but any one with a bit of agave kick should work.

 

I tend to eyeball it these days but i think i started with around 3 oz reposado, 1 oz Solerno blood orange liqueur, 1/2 oz Damiana, 1.5 oz lime juice.

 

My Bolivian friend assures me that Tequila must be drunk with salt and lime.  She sounds like she has experience, but the Patron anejo was very smooth and very nice indeed.  I could just drink it down neat with much pleasure.  So after a somewhat unsatisfactory Ward Eight, I am having a modified Margarita:

 

1 1/2 oz Patron anejo

1/2 oz Cointreau

3/4 oz lime juice

 

 

I am much happier than with my previous 2:1:1 Margarita, but am now out of peanuts and may actually have to go cook dinner.

[Plantes Vertes]

A few days ago I tried a Chancellor, in continuation of the Heads of State theme.

 

2 ounces blended Scotch

1 ounce ruby port

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

2 dashes orange bitters

 

 

It needed a while in the glass for the orange to make itself at home.

 

Today I used Dan's suggestion to make a Death or Glory with Appleton V/X + a bit of molasses instead of Old Monk. And after I took their photo, I poured them into the appropriate rocks glasses and reflected on my stupidity while doing the unnecessary washing up that I generated for myself.

 

1 oz Cherry Heering

3/4 oz Smith & Cross
3/4 oz Old Monk (Appleton and molasses)
1/2 oz Angostura Bitters
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

 

 

A great drink that meanders all over your mouth and nose sprinkling spices and funk.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[KD1191]

My question is would it be much different if I use the Laird's?

 

As the drink only calls for 1/4 oz of Laird's, I think you'd be hard pressed to taste too much of a difference, particularly if you used a bonded Rye. If you had a softer whiskey, you might have noticed a bit more sharpness from the Laird's.

 

Even the best Calvados I have found is young and tastes sharply of apples, but is rather rough.  Laird's is smooth like old brandy with a base of apples.  It depends on which style you like.

 

I've had the exact opposite experience with regards to the majority of Calvados vs. Laird's...that is, assuming you're not talking about the Laird's Applejack (65% neutral spirit, lower proof), or the Old/Rare Apple Brandies (significantly more age, lower proof)...the 100 Proof Bonded stuff (which is what the recipe specifies, though that might not be clear on KC) is punchier than any Calvados I've tasted.

Edited March 12, 2014 by KD1191 (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Picked up some Daron Calvados and R&W Apricot at the store this evening.  Searched for a drink where I could use both and came across Beta Cocktails' A Moment of Silence (http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/a-moment-of-silence):

 

It calls for Laird's Apple Brandy rather than the Calvados I had, but holy s**t yes this is good.  There is so much goodness going on in here.

 

My question is would it be much different if I use the Laird's?

 

What else is the Calvados good in?

 

I like A Moment of Silence as well. What kind of Daron did you get, the Fine or the XO? If it's the XO, it's pretty good on its own already.

 

I've been making all kinds of cocktails that call for Laird's with calvados and have rarely been disappointed. Here are a few ideas for you: the American Trilogy (an Old Fashioned variation), the Lionheart, the Diamondback Lounge (the original with yellow chartreuse, on the rocks), Jeff Morgenthaler's Norwegian Wood (works best with the XO), Audrey Saunders' Tantris Sidecar.

 

Last but not least, here is one I've been making a lot this winter, a twist on Eric Lorincz's Norman Conquest: 1 oz each scotch, calvados, and sweet vermouth, 1 teaspoon Drambuie, Angostura and Peychaud's bitters, stir, strain on ice, orange twist (see here).

 

Calvados is also excellent in ice cream and crêpes. Enjoy your recent purchase!

[Hassouni]

My Bolivian friend assures me that Tequila must be drunk with salt and lime.  She sounds like she has experience, but the Patron anejo was very smooth and very nice indeed.  I could just drink it down neat with much pleasure.  

 

My Mexican friends assure me that your instincts are right. High quality agave (and similar) spirits are meant to be sipped, not even mixed. One of my friends shuddered at using a 100% agave añejo tequila in a paloma, for ex.

 

Wait till you try sotol!

Edited March 12, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

I've had the exact opposite experience with regards to the majority of Calvados vs. Laird's...that is, assuming you're not talking about the Laird's Applejack (65% neutral spirit, lower proof), or the Old/Rare Apple Brandies (significantly more age, lower proof)...the 100 Proof Bonded stuff (which is what the recipe specifies, though that might not be clear on KC) is punchier than any Calvados I've tasted.

I concur. To me the bonded apple brandy tastes very rough, and to be honest I did not care for it much.

Not all calvados are good though, I have tried some that I did not like either. 

Edited March 12, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)