Drinks! 2014 (Part 2)

[Craig E]

I ordered it in part because I was a bit terrified myself. (I find patchouli used as a deodorant a horrible, horrible thing.) A kind of unsound, sounds-so-bad-it-must-be-good theory that is the kind of thing that arises during the last round of the last night of a cocktail tour business trip. Wise or not, it paid off this time.

The patchouli was light enough to just lend herbal notes, and the Merlet apricot liqueur was similarly restrained. And the basil took the form of the tiniest little leaves perched atop the lemon-slice garnish, for the nose's sake only. The drink essentially tasted like a gin and tonic with an enjoyable complexity to it.

[EvergreenDan]

Bobby Burn-ish, Rye, Laphroaig 10, Punt e Mes, Benedictine, dry vermouth, twist. Yum.

[Hassouni]

Beer

 

whisky

 

that's about it

 

 

I did pull a white-girl and have a HUGE glass of red wine while watching Netflix on Friday night. I dunno how they do it, it was way too much wine....

Edited January 28, 2015 by Hassouni (log)

[Czequershuus]

Enjoyed a Darkness til Dawn last night after work - Apple Brandy, Cerry Heering, Fernet Branca, Lemon Juice.. This one has been sitting on my to-drink list for a while, but never popped to the forefront until now. Very nice drink, I love Halloweenesque color. Only modification I might make is upping the Lemon by a quarter ounce. 

[bostonapothecary]

In the negroni family.

 

1.5 oz. gin (wire works from South Boston)

1 oz. sweet vermouth (M&R)

1 oz. toy amaro** (orange & quinine)

 

this is a delicious drink using the negroni template and an amaro I just whipped up with bottles found when cleaning the house. I say toy amaro because I made just 100 mL of it and constructed it with pipettes and my kitchen scale. it went through numerous trials to arrive at the final blend which wasn't a big deal because the rejected blends were so small. as long as the stock are available, it is very easy to re-blend because the recipe is written so precisely.

 

unfortunately its not worth while to share the recipe because I lost all the specs on the distillates and extracts I made everything from. many were quite a few years old. there was a potent infusion of quinine, another of gentian, a distilled version of the quinine infusion, cointreau that was redistilled, and an infusion of seville oranges that I used to make Creole Shrubb with. I tried to mimic Campari as far as bitterness and sweetness go, but with a slightly higher alcohol content. when I calculated the averages the alcohol was about 35%. my co taster thought the amaro might have slightly too much aroma but then changed his mind when tasting it in the cocktail context.

 

one unique thing about this amaro is it features the special effects concept. a portion of the bitter principle is infused so it has gustatory bitterness while another portion is distilled where the gustatory bitterness is separated (from the aroma). this means there is a differential with more aroma of bitterness than actual gustatory bitterness. the differential heightens the emotion the amaro provokes. a painter who looks at these connected points of tension might call it emotional content but the culinary world will probably freak out if anyone said that. you could also call it a supernormal stimuli and that idea is gaining traction. because where there is a response tendency, we are creating an exaggerated response through abstraction via distillation. fun stuff to play with and I can't wait to start working with better materials.

[ChrisTaylor]

After-Dinner Saz with a couple modifications. Nikka from the barrel for the whisky. My homemade coffee bitters to supplement the Angostura. Workable. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

As posted in another thread...

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/150462-eg-cook-off-68-citrus-fruits/?p=2005045

 

 

 

[bostonapothecary]

1.5 oz. cognac (still drinking the late 90's single distillery Izambard)

1 oz. toy amaro

.5 oz. lime juice

 

I wanted another way to test the amaro out while being a significant quotient of the drink. not bad at all. I wish I had a bigger tasting panel because I'd like to know if I should tuck in the bitterness a bit.

[FrogPrincesse]

I went classic last night with a Martini, 2:1, Tanqueray Old Tom, Dolin French vermouth, Regan & Fee orange bitters.

 

 

A couple of nights prior, didn't feel like mixing a cocktail, and just went with St. George Breaking & Entering bourbon. Too bad they can't make more due to increasing costs.

 

 

 

[Fernet-Bronco]

I did pull a white-girl and have a HUGE glass of red wine while watching Netflix on Friday night. I dunno how they do it, it was way too much wine....

 

Isn't that why those wine glass bowls are so big?? Fill 'er up!

[tanstaafl2]

From last night, a Bobby Burns with Highland Park 12 scotch, Dolin sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Angostura bitters.

 

Now that my bottle of Highland Park is practically gone, I wonder what I should replace it with (it will be used for mixing).

 

 

[bostonapothecary]

boulevardier

 

1.5 oz. J.W. Dant distillery "Olde Bourbon" from the late 50's or early 60's

.75 oz. M&R sweet vermouth

.75 oz. toy amaro

 

I whipped up another 100 mL batch but I'm calling this one less than stellar. this has more gentian than quinine and I think I prefer quinine. I don't remember the proportions for these infusions because they were made so long ago but I'm pretty such they had the same gram amount of bitter botanical yet they have markedly different amounts of gustatory bitterness and even different shapes of bitterness.

 

When I whipped up the batch I didn't even taste it. A measure just went into the mixing glass with the vermouth and bourbon. I don't really know how you're supposed to develop these or how many people it would take to get any consensus on a path of progress. I don't think one lone person can do it. You need perspectives and you need more people to metabolize all the calories. You also need to avoid pallet fatigue. I probably shouldn't even finish this drink if I'm going to make another blend. I think I'm just drinking it to be polite.

[EvergreenDan]

It's a Martinez, it's a Red Hook, it's Batshit good.

 

2 oz St George aged dry rye gin

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/2 oz Maraschino

1/2 oz dry vermouth (Bossiere) 

 

Stir, rocks, Luxardo cherry.

 

I don't see this gin on the St George site. I'm not sure if the site is old or the the expression was a limited run. I like it a lot. It's different from Ransom, but seems to go in the same places. 

[tanstaafl2]

It's a Martinez, it's a Red Hook, it's Batshit good.

 

2 oz St George aged dry rye gin

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/2 oz Maraschino

1/2 oz dry vermouth (Bossiere) 

 

Stir, rocks, Luxardo cherry.

 

I don't see this gin on the St George site. I'm not sure if the site is old or the the expression was a limited run. I like it a lot. It's different from Ransom, but seems to go in the same places. 

 

Isn't it here? Towards the bottom of the page.They call it a "reposado" gin. Or is this something different?

 

"We also make a limited-release, barrel-aged version we call Dry Rye Reposado Gin. Rested in French and American oak wine casks, it has a lovely pink hue and a deep, rich flavor that we think of as an offering to the gods of gin, whiskey, and wine!"

Edited February 3, 2015 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[tanstaafl2]

It's a Martinez, it's a Red Hook, it's Batshit good.

 

2 oz St George aged dry rye gin

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/2 oz Maraschino

1/2 oz dry vermouth (Bossiere) 

 

Stir, rocks, Luxardo cherry.

 

I don't see this gin on the St George site. I'm not sure if the site is old or the the expression was a limited run. I like it a lot. It's different from Ransom, but seems to go in the same places. 

 

Isn't it here? Towards the bottom of the page.They call it a "reposado" gin. Or is this something different?

 

"We also make a limited-release, barrel-aged version we call Dry Rye Reposado Gin. Rested in French and American oak wine casks, it has a lovely pink hue and a deep, rich flavor that we think of as an offering to the gods of gin, whiskey, and wine!"

 

A link with a picture of the bottle.

Edited February 3, 2015 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[bostonapothecary]

the wind up

.5 oz. gin (wire works)

.5 oz. kiuchi no shizuku (hopped spirit)

.5 oz. douglas fir eau de vie (clear creek)

.5 oz. greenhook ginsmiths beach plum gin liqueur

.5 oz. toy amaro (the older version I liked, not the most recent)

 

I didn't have any dry vermouth or dry sherry so really what else was I supposed to do?

 

I don't think I've ever mixed so many antiseptic gin & gin-like things. its a type of alliteration. I don't know if it beats the clarity of experiencing one thing at a time. and that is really relevant to me right now. how many ingredients do I have to put in this amaro to make it complex? nobody these days is likely to call just quinine ordinary only to be made extraordinary by blending it with another bitter botanical. I can go the other route and explore special effects, ramping up the aroma relative to the bitterness and that according to Nisbett's the Geography of Thought, is the Western way. An extraordinary foreground salient object. If you look back into the 2003 eGullet symposium there is a great quote by Thomas Keller: 

The way to keep the experience fresh is not by adding flavors, but rather by focusing more on specific flavors, either by making them more intense than the foods from which they come, or by varying the preparation technique.

 

 

I need more experimenting. and more tasters.

[Rafa]

Where do I sign up?

[Rafa]

Thanks, Hassouni.

[Rafa]

My contribution:

Edited February 6, 2015 by Rafa (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Nice selection. Did you and Hassouni have a giant tasting?

 

Last night I was looking for a good way to showcase a gin distilled in San Diego, San Miguel Southwestern gin from Old Harbor. The gin is distilled with fresh local ingredients that include cilantro and sage. I thought about making a Southside but in the end the cocktail did not need the fresh mint - the flavor of the fresh herbs already present in the gin really came through nicely. 

 

 

2 oz Old Harbor San Miguel gin

1 oz lime juice

3/4 oz simple syrup

dash Angostura bitters

 

 

 

 

[Hassouni]

Rafa had a giant tasting, but I restrained myself since I'd already tried all of them (except the Don Q Gran Añejo).

 

I also gave him samples of several Green Zone drinks, the carnage of which is here:

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Everything looks fabulous.

Is that the new Cocktail Kingdom/Don Lee-designed strainer in the last picture? How do you like it?

[Craig E]

Girly-O Martini

 

2 oz Gin

3/4 oz Dry vermouth

1/4 oz Cherry Liqueur, Cherry Heering

1 ds Orange bitters

1 twst Lemon zest (as garnish)

 

Stir; strain; up; garnish.

 

This is my entry for this month's Mixology Monday theme, "That's not a martini!" 

 

It's basically a martinification of a Gilroy, a sour that I love. 

[ChrisTaylor]

Espolon silver-powered Margaritas using the Death & Co ratio.

[Hassouni]

Everything looks fabulous.

Is that the new Cocktail Kingdom/Don Lee-designed strainer in the last picture? How do you like it?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, that is the Koriko strainer. I have mixed feelings about it. It's EXTREMELY solid, and the coil is ultra tight and equally sturdy, which largely eliminates the need for a double strainer, unless you like ZERO ice fragments in the drink. Most would say these are good things.

 

Less appealing: The size and heft I'm sure are a plus for many, but I got used to the OXO strainers, which are much smaller (without that handle), lighter and quite nimble. Also, the coil on the OXO strainers is a bit more open, allowing for a MUCH faster pour. Double straining with the Koriko strainer is a particularly slow process. 

 

Finally, it's allegedly designed for double-pouring, but I have yet to figure that out consistently. The angle and positioning of the strainer/shaker have to be just right.

 

For home use, or lower-volume bar, it's a great strainer. For a fast-based bar context I'd favor the OXOs. (FYI I haven't tried CK's other Hawthorn strainer, there are a few bars in DC using them)