Drinks! 2014 (Part 1)

[ChrisTaylor]

Speaking of rums: this Dead Rabbit cocktail, containing the minimally altered Smith & Cross and the clearly enriched Zacapa and Cruzan Blackstrap, is delicious, with a rounded rum flavor thick with hogo from the S&C and molasses from the Blackstrap, complemented with allspice, Bénédictine, and six healthy dashes of bitters.

Sure, a haresfur-related drink that contains mostly ingredients that I can't get my hands on. I could probably handle 1/4 oz of Cruzan Blackstrap though (not very fond of it in general and at that rate a bottle would last as long as my absinthe.

Zacapa is readily avaliable.

Let me know if you find Blackstrap. I purchased some aged Cruzan I found locally and only realised later that it was not at all the same thing as Cruzan Blackstrap. Once you go black you never go back, they say. Only I don't think I have the chance to go black.

[Hassouni]

I dunno. Cruzan blackstrap is super-super one-dimensional. It runs roughshod over everything else you put into a drink, though I suppose it could be acceptable in quantities of <1/2 oz.

[Rafa]

It works well played against other stong components, or as part of a rum blend. The Dead Rabbit mixes it in equal parts with Smith & Cross and Banks 7 Island to make their house Jamaican rum mix.

[tanstaafl2]

It works well played against other stong components, or as part of a rum blend. The Dead Rabbit mixes it in equal parts with Smith & Cross and Banks 7 Island to make their house Jamaican rum mix.

Sounds intriguing but a bit of a curious mixture for a "Jamaican" rum mix given Banks 7 is only partly Jamaican rum and there is none in Blackstrap. I don't really think of Jaimacain style as so much being heavy on molases as being heavy on the pot still funk that sets S&C apart and is also found in Banks to a lesser degree from the combination of pot still and batavia arrack. But the Blackstrap runs the risk of hiding the very hogo one is presumably looking for.

I suppose it gives it the color of Myers dark rum with a good bit more depth and character than present day Myers has!

Edited February 25, 2014 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[lesliec]

I'll see your curious mixture and raise you a glass of ... Dante's Requiem.

This is rather a splendid beast; very complex, with the Chartreuse quite apparent (and the FB not) but not dominating. Delightful colour, too; I'd show you a photo but I drank the subject.

[ChrisTaylor]

Last night: a St George dry rye-based Last Word.

EDIT:

Daiquiri o'clock.

EDIT 2:

Dante o'clock. It's okay. Fernet seems to smash everything, leaving only scattered Benny/Chartreuse herbal notes in its wake.

Edited February 26, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[lesliec]

One problem with the DAnte recipe is the requirement for a couple of 'dashes' of Fernet. Who knows what that means, from a bottle not designed to dispense small quantities?

Try again, Chris - I suspect you got a bit much. A single barspoon of FB is quite enough for this one.

[Plantes Vertes]

Wedderburn or Bite from the magic EvergreenDan

Arrived late at this party but loved it.

Noted that 90% of KC Smith & Cross entries are made by eGers, and the same proportion of those by Rafa

[scubadoo97]

The majority of my drinking involves whiskey neat. Tonight I had a Willett Family Estate Barrel 811. Brown Forman distillate that is down right delicious

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My best variation on a Columbia yet, this time served in a nineteenth century Champagne flute, which once upon a time may have been known as a nineteenth century sour glass:

2 oz Busted Barrel

1/2 oz W&N

1 oz lemon juice

3/4 oz raspberry syrup

I was reading tonight that the drink is named after the university. Is this true, or an urban legend?

[Hassouni]

Each Ivy League school has its own drink

Edited February 27, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

But apparently there is more than one drink named "Columbia". What is Vic's Columbia recipe named after? Columbia University doesn't sound very tikiish.

[EvergreenDan]

Hmmm. Brown University: 1:1 bourbon & dry vermouth, plus orange bitters. My kind of drink. '80 ScB

http://www.cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=350

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118919826671120943.html

I didn't find a good reference to a Columbia cocktail that was definitely the university's drink.

[FrogPrincesse]

Hmmm. Brown University: 1:1 bourbon & dry vermouth, plus orange bitters. My kind of drink. '80 ScB

I make the Brown Cocktail regularly (here) with a 2:1 bourbon & dry vermouth ratio, 2 dashes orange bitters.

The Yale Cocktail, which is a Martini with a touch of maraschino liqueur, is pretty good too.

[ChrisTaylor]

A Manhattan - 2:1 Ritt and Punt, a couple dashes of Boker's.

EDIT

Another barrel aged Negroni, too. This one seems to be significantly different to the first, even though it's only had another week in the jar. Wondering if it's a product of:

• Same quantity of wood chips to a lesser quantity of liquid
• Imagination -- it's not like I'm doing a side-by-side, here
• An extra week really making a huge difference -- sort of how things fall at a greater rate per second per second
• A greater amount of air in the jar (the jar was previously filled almost to the top) having a positive impact on proceedings

With the jar half finished I'm wondering what to age next. Manhattan? Old Fashioned? Sazerac?

Edited March 1, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[lesliec]

A very pleasant bar we visited in Brisbane last year had a nice barrel-aged Martinez. But thinking about it, I don't now remember if the whole drink had been in the barrel, or just the gin. On that subject, I've had a couple of litres of my own gin (at 55%) sitting in a small barrel for a week. I shall report further in due course.

If you're enjoying your Negroni, why not simply top it up as you drink it? Solera system, if you like.

Edited for rubbish typing skills.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Right now I am enjoying a mai tai.  Hardly unusual.  Although two nights ago I made one with an ounce of Wray & Nephew, an ounce of Pusser's, and an ounce of Gosling's Old.  This was so good I immediately made another.  For some reason I never got as far as posting about it.  Since then I am hoarding my Gosling's Old, but for what it's worth, my mai tai at the moment is:

 

2 oz Pusser's

1 oz W&N

1/2 oz Cointreau

1 oz lime juice

1/2 oz orgeat

 

 

I continue to investigate Cointreau vs. Grand Marnier.  I still think I prefer Grand Marnier in my mai tai, however Cointreau works if used at only half an ounce.  Much more than that and orange oil is about all I taste.  I still can't find any mint to buy.

 

Last night I did not make a mai tai.  I had my very first jack rose!  The drink was so lovely I took a picture, after researching the subject of jack rose recipes all day.  Sadly the image is stuck in the camera.  I can't seem to get it out.  It's my son's camera.  He has been offering advice.  I can view the previous drink pictures I posted just fine on the computer, but not the jack rose.  I used the Embury proportions.  You'll just have to imagine what it looks like.

[campus five]

I visited some friends in Boulder and Denver two weeks ago, and had several really delicious drinks.

We visited Bitter Bar in Boulder, and Williams and Graham, and Ste. Elie in Denver. St. Elie is two month-old out-growth of Colt and Gray - they turned their basement into a stand-alone bar.

Fantastic drinks and fantastic bartenders at Ste. Elie, but it was one thing in particular that has stuck with me....

They were serving a 1:1 combo of Campari and Fernet, undiluted, out of a converted Jaegermeister chiller, poured into a Glencairn glass.

The name makes me grimace just to write it... "Ferrari" or perhaps "Fer-ari."

The groaner name aside... I haven't made anything else at home since then.

I put a bottle of of 1:1 Campari:Fernet in the freezer and have just pouring myself a bit of it to sip on here and there.

It doesn't make any sense, but damn, it's good.

[ChrisTaylor]

I visited some friends in Boulder and Denver two weeks ago, and had several really delicious drinks.

We visited Bitter Bar in Boulder, and Williams and Graham, and Ste. Elie in Denver. St. Elie is two month-old out-growth of Colt and Gray - they turned their basement into a stand-alone bar.

Fantastic drinks and fantastic bartenders at Ste. Elie, but it was one thing in particular that has stuck with me....

They were serving a 1:1 combo of Campari and Fernet, undiluted, out of a converted Jaegermeister chiller, poured into a Glencairn glass.

The name makes me grimace just to write it... "Ferrari" or perhaps "Fer-ari."

The groaner name aside... I haven't made anything else at home since then.

I put a bottle of of 1:1 Campari:Fernet in the freezer and have just pouring myself a bit of it to sip on here and there.

It doesn't make any sense, but damn, it's good.

 

I just served that combo in that ratio with a robust ice block. Marvelous. Makes up for the stupid name. Renaming it, for my own purposes, as the bitter bitch.  

EDIT

Round two. I really like this. Variants I am contemplating:

* a dash of bitters--orange, most likely, or maybe (less likely) mole

 

* cynar in place of at least some of the campari

EDIT 2

'Ere we go. A variant. 1:1 Averna and Fernet. The Fernet smashes the Averna leaving only a sort of ... aftertaste in its wake. Considering I like both, tho', this is inoffensive if pointless.

Edited March 4, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Enjoying The Dry Season by Kyle Davidson, featuring the fruity Del Maguey Santo Domingo Albarradas:

 

1 oz Del Maguey Santo Domingo Albarradas mezcal

1 oz Milagro blanco tequila

1 oz Cocchi Americano

1/2 oz Aperol

 

Stir, strain, no garnish needed. Yum. 

[sbumgarner]

I don't do a lot of beer cocktails but picked up some Kolsch made by Stoudt's and it had a nice fruity/floral nose to it, which prompted me to experiment last night:

 

2 oz genever (I used WF Oude)

.5 oz R&W Apricot

.5 oz ginger syrup

.75 oz lemon

 

Shake, strain in a collins glass over ice, add 2 oz of Kolsch, top with a few drops of Bittermen's Boston bitters. A nice early spring cocktail, the ginger's heat kept the sweetness in check while adding to that fruity/floral nose from the Kolsch.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Night before last I was playing with the proportions of the Trinidad Sour.  What I ended up with was:

 

2 oz Angostura

3/4 oz McKenzie rye

1 oz orgeat

juice of half a lime

juice of half a lemon

 

 

More to my taste than the very sweet original, however I must say the original proportions are not that bad at all.  As of today I have a bottle of Rittenhouse to try in place of the McKenzie.  Unfortunately I neglected to buy more Angostura.  So tonight I plan to try Rittenhouse in the Inbibe! whiskey punch I like so much.  The hard part is that since I don't have/can't find Appleton I have to pick another rum for the Jamaican rum component of the punch.

 

My current rum supply is W&N, Pusser's, Gosling's Old, Busted Barrel, and (as yet untasted) Atlantico Private Cask.  Last time I made the punch I used Gosling's Old, but, while very good, the rum sort of overwhelmed the rye.  Maybe Rittenhouse can stand up to rum better, but I think I'll aim for a lighter rum than Gosling's.  I might try W&N.

 

Any suggestions?

[FrogPrincesse]

A nightcap earlier this week. Good stuff.

 

 

Another nightcap - this one inspired by Hassouni.

 

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.

 

I used Miracle Miles forbidden bitters, which are Abbott-inspired.

 

 

[Hassouni]

Yeah, but how was it? 

[FrogPrincesse]

Sorry I got lost in my thoughts. It was excellent of course. A dash or two of the forbidden bitters added plenty of bite and cut through the sweetness. Which bitters do you use in yours?