Drinks! 2014 (Part 1)

[Tri2Cook]

If I could only keep one white, it would have to be a rhum agricole!

That would be a third white for my cabinet but it's a non-option with the LCBO... so I'm at two unless they decide to bring one in someday.

[Hassouni]

It is excellent. But what happened to your love for Wray & Nephew White Overproof, the Keith Moon of rums? 

 

Call me polyamorumous. WN is a beast, but it's not for sophisticated Cuban cocktails. Hell, I hardly classify it as rum, more like, a deity of spirits.

Edited May 9, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[Plantes Vertes]

Re: Splificator (Wondrich), at least he doesn't leave it at "wine-glass", making us wonder wtf a wine-glass is.

 

I've always just taken that at face value

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This would seem to be another important data point in the earlier Martini discussion. There are certain drinks for which frothiness is anathema, among them the Martini & the Manhattan.

 

For science.  I started off with a martini.  Bombay:Vya, 6:1 -- garnish olive.  Carefully stirred.  Better than my first martini experiment.  I've learned I'm pretty sure I detest a lemon twist in any drink.  But the martini, on the basis of two tries, just doesn't do it for me.

 

Next, a repeat of last night's martinez:  everything the same except shaken within an inch of its life.  I like the shaken version better.  For one thing, I didn't break a tooth.  Still, the finish is more than a little bitter.

 

But this leads to another martinez question.  The recipe calls for two dashes maraschino.  Wondrich has in parenthesis 1 TSP.  I have been using 1 teaspoon maraschino, as that seems a lot closer to 2 dashes.  Maybe next time I should try a martinez with 1 tablespoon.  Opinions?

[lesliec]

I may be misunderstanding you, Jo, but 'tsp', whether upper or lower case, always means 'teaspoon' to me. A tablespoon would be 'tbsp'.

[FrogPrincesse]

How French of you.

 

I dig La Favorite Blanc. What's your favorite?

I love la Favorite too, but I don't think I am ready to commit. For mixing, J.M and Neisson are also great. And for Ti Punch, Clement Canne bleue or l'Esprit Neisson. They are all fabulous for various reasons.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I may be misunderstanding you, Jo, but 'tsp', whether upper or lower case, always means 'teaspoon' to me. A tablespoon would be 'tbsp'.

 

You are very right.  For some reason I may have been a bit confused.  But I seem to recall your teaspoons down there are different from our teaspoons here.

 

Maybe this zombie will help.  Though since it was concocted with three day old grapefruit juice I tend to doubt it.  As much as I want it to be it's just not a very satisfying zombie.  (And, yes, I did rinse out the shaker following the martinez.)  Other than the old grapefruit I also used Atlantico, trying to finish up the bottle.  Probably a mistake.

 

Life is too short or long for drinks that are not delightful.  When I was fifteen alcohol was a novelty but those days are long since past.  With my ice cream if it doesn't taste good it goes down the drain.

 

Just for my sanity and the reputation of Mississippi punch I went back and checked the sugar.  It is indeed "TBSP".  This is why I always write out "tablespoon" or "teaspoon" in a recipe.

[lesliec]

Life is too short to be able to try all the wonderful cocktails out there!  That's why my Top 10 has (probably) 30 or 40 drinks in it.

 

OK, so a tablespoon (= three teaspoons) in this part of the world would be 15ml, which is near enough to half a fluid ounce.  Which is half as much again as the basic Martinez recipe in Kindred suggests (likewise their Jerry Thomas Martinez).

 

Split the difference; go with two teaspoons and see how you like it.  Very easy to add another one if you think it needs it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Life is too short to be able to try all the wonderful cocktails out there!  That's why my Top 10 has (probably) 30 or 40 drinks in it.

 

OK, so a tablespoon (= three teaspoons) in this part of the world would be 15ml, which is near enough to half a fluid ounce.  Which is half as much again as the basic Martinez recipe in Kindred suggests (likewise their Jerry Thomas Martinez).

 

Split the difference; go with two teaspoons and see how you like it.  Very easy to add another one if you think it needs it.

 

I see from wikipedia it is the Australians with the wrong tablespoon.  Very sorry for the aspersion.  14.78676478125 ml is what we go by.

 

Note: wikipedia says abreviation for teaspoon is always lower case which may have been (part of) the cause of my confusion.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

After my manhattan research I revisited the Zamboanga Cocktail (Charles H. Baker Jr.):

 

1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand

1 teaspoon Maraschino

3 dashes pineapple syrup (scant teaspoon)

3 dashes Angostura

juice 1/2 lime

 

 

No garnish.  I remain disappointed none of this forum's adepts has been able to reveal what type of olive is traditional for the Zamboanga.  Not disappointed in the drink, however.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

As a nightcap, a widow's kiss, Kappeler (Imbibe! pp 218-220):

 

1 oz Laird's bonded

1/2 oz Benedictine

1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse VEP

2 dashes Angostura

 

 

This continues to be a remarkably satisfying drink.

[Hassouni]

After several nights off cocktails, chatting with KC's most prolific poster inspired:

 

Jasper's Rum Punch, or what I like to call, the easiest, highest-payoff, most ass-kicking tiki-type drink out there. Made according to the Kaiser Penguin recipe, rediscovery attributed to Dr Cocktail

 

Santana Abraxas, following the KC recipe to the letter except using the Bittermen's Xocomole instead of Adam E's. This is quite a nice drink, and the earthy chocolate flavor of the bitters really pops out, with the Bénédictine trailing out on the finish

[JoNorvelleWalker]

How is this different from a daiquiri with a bit of biiters?

[Hassouni]

Wray & Nephew instead of a mere mortal rum, grate of nutmeg, which adds a lot, plus it's served on crushed ice, not up. The ingredients list may look similar but it is an entirely different drink

Edited May 13, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Thanks! Jasper's Rum Punch is exactly what I'm having now. Made as close to the recipe as I could manage. Having no cherry, "plump-with-booze" or not, I floated a dash of maraschino. For fiscal reasons I did not strain the lime. I think the punch would have been even better if I had.

 

Agreed, few would mistake this for a daiquiri. Just a thought: wouldn't the nutmeg be better mixed with the other ingedients (as in the original) rather than a garnish?

[Hassouni]

It would be better integrated, but it gives a big nutmeg whiff to your nose when it's grated on top, which is the point

[JoNorvelleWalker]

In the same vein as Jasper's punch I made an Andrew Willet mai tai:

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/25600-mai-tai-recipes/?p=1939568

 

 

Not terrible and interesting for old times sake, but not my favorite mai tai.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Feeling in a more metric mood tonight I mixed my ratio of Last Rites...having by now rubbed most of the markings off my measure:

 

50 ml Patron anejo

25 ml yellow Chartreuse VEP

25 maraschino

25 ml lemon juice

 

 

Shaken and double strained into coupe.  I doubt this concoction really qualifies for the name Last Rites, but nonetheless it is turning out to be one of my favorite drinks.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I found a lime that I didn't know I had, so I made a proper mai tai.  I will leave that to the imagination...saying only that after the somewhat sweet drink above I added a little extra orgeat.  Life could be worse.

[ChrisTaylor]

An Australian martini. First martini that I think I like, too, even tho' it's not going to topple things like the Saz or Negroni any time soon. 5:1 West Winds Cutlass to Maidenii classic vermouth.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Playing again with Last Rites ratios:

 

2 oz Patron anejo

1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse VEP

1/2 oz maraschino

1/2 oz lemon juice

 

 

Sweetness is finally in check, and tartness is close to right...maybe a little low.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

So I switched to lime:

 

2 oz Patron anejo

1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse VEP

1/2 oz maraschino

3/4 oz lime juice

 

 

Quite OK but I must say lemon works slightly better here.  I'd really like to try 3/4 ounce lemon.  Alas, for that I must go to the store tomorrow.  There are plenty of oranges and grapefruit in house...though I think perhaps I shan't go there.

 

Getting down now to the last third of the glass, I have to revise my opinion and add that lime in this is mighty fine.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The evening started out on the terribly wrong foot:  I dropped and broke one of my lovely Kotobuki ice trays.  I knew I had a backup for just such a crisis -- but where??  This is not a large establishment.  Nonetheless, half an hour later, I found it in a box in the bedroom, along with the spare Band Aids, pantyliners, right next to the emergency Fleet enema.

 

Anyhow, tonight's first beverage was an El Presidente:

 

1 1/2 W&N

3/4 oz Vya dry

1/2 oz FP dry curacao

dash grenadine

 

 

I followed Splifcator's formula and dialed back the curacao to 1/2 ounce from the original El Presidente recipe, but in this case I think he was wrong.  The curacao got a little lost, and the drink, as I made it (from the listed recipe) was none too sweet.

[Plantes Vertes]

You clearly have an acute regard to taxonomy in domestic storage. This was in the box of Very Important Things

Edited May 20, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Hehe, yes!  Now if I only had a good memory to go with it.

 

But on to my second beverage!  Sometimes one just wants a girly drink...probably from excessive creme de menthe at my departed mother's knee...particularly when one is rather short on limes.

 

Charles H. Baker Jr.'s Balaklava Special No. II.  Charge of the Light Brigade, Thin Red Line, and all of that:

 

1 1/2 oz kummel

3/4 oz FP 

3/4 oz kirschwasser

3/4 oz Jade 1901

1/2 teaspoon orgeat

1 1/2 teaspoon heavy cream

 

 

"Just why handsome women prefer sweet and creamy cocktails has always troubled us, but they do; and anyway a lot of things about handsome ladies have troubled us, so why get tweaky about the business at this late date?"

 

I can't explain it but this just works.