Drinks! 2014 (Part 2)

[bostonapothecary]

1 oz. lime juice

8 g. non aromatic white sugar

2 oz. aged rum cut with maple water**

 

**so I took a barrel sample (55% alc) of probably two year old New England rum and cut it down to 40% with maple water. the math made it about 27% maple water which is a significant volume for its unique qualities to be shown. this also puts the final sugar content at 4 g/L.

 

water is important enough to spirits that I wondered what would happen if I could find the most extreme nth degree water source possible. maple water is bled right from the trees and only has about 16 g/L of sugar. it is far from syrup and has never been heated or concentrated in any way. there is an extra subtle sweaty character to it similar to coconut water. I wonder if this will fade with more aging or not.

 

everything is subtle but so is changing any water source. but is it different enough to warrant a special bottling? that is what I'm trying to figure out.

 

I used to use a lot of the honey called Melata di Bosco which is a honey dew honey and thus from tree sap. Aphids attack alpine spruce trees and bees collect the excess aphid secretions. the honey is ironous and blood like with a spruce pineyness and overall sorrow. relatively maple is a lot more jolly.

Edited February 19, 2015 by bostonapothecary (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Speaking of the devil, here is the Devil's Soul (Ted Kilgore via Gaz Regan) with Rittenhouse rye, Vida mezcal, Averna, St Germain, Aperol, flamed orange twist.

Boozy with smoke and orange undertones, and a hint of St Germain at the very end. Very enticing.

 

 

[lesliec]

I seem to have been somewhat remiss in my recent postings in this thread.  I assure you it's not because I've stopped drinking.

 

Last night we had a new Rafa special from Kindred, Conjurers & Concubines - rum, oloroso sherry, allspice dram, Bénédictine and mole bitters.  If you like 'em big, try this.  From past experience with the oloroso I have at the moment (Gonzales Byass Matusalem) I felt a mildly assertive rum would be a good idea, so I used Smith & Cross.  Yep, that worked!

 

Fascinating, lingering flavours.  Sherry with molasses in it doesn't sound particularly complimentary but that's pretty much the taste, and we had no problem with it at all.  Definitely a sipper - tossing it back would be a waste.

 

Another good one, Rafa.  Keep doing what you're doing.

[Hassouni]

Oi Rafinha, would Amontillado work instead for that one?

[Rafa]

I guess so, though it'll lose some bass notes. My preference is to split the difference with a palo cortado, but those are harder to find than olorosos.

Glad you liked it, Leslie. I haven't tried it with Smith & Cross; I'm surprised it didn't kick the other ingredients in the ass.

My one regret with that drink is misremembering the Steve Earle lyric I had in mind when I named it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Severe mouth pain here at the moment so this might well be my entry in the dinner thread.  (To give you an idea, tonight there was a peanut butter course.)

 

Mississippi punch, followed by an autumn in Jersey.  But the autumn in Jersey is a riff...I'm running out of Laird's bonded, so I used 4 oz of Laird's apple brandy and half a lemon (left over from the delightfully preceding Mississippi punch) -- plus half a lime.  Not bad at all.  And I hope it gets the job done.

[Craig E]

A Fritz (equal parts gin/Punt e Mes/maraschino/Peychaud's [!]).

Enjoyed it, but not as much as I remember liking Rafa's rye riff Tango 'til They're Sore. 

[bostonapothecary]

barspoon sugar (about 8 grams)

1 oz. lime juice

2 oz. seagram's gin

dash angostura bitters

 

so I picked up the bottle of seagrams and the front label said "new look" so I gave it a all a read.

 

the back of the label says "Since 1939, Seagram has artfully blended the world's finest botanicals with a pristine neutral spirit in a low-temperature distillation process, preserving the true essence of the botanical flavors."

 

so basically its a partially vacuum distilled gin. which makes it interesting that Oxley could get a patent for doing such a thing. I remember seeing conversations in the California Oral History series describing Herman Wilkie's early work on vacuum distilled gin. that stuff hasn't made any of the various histories of gin or talks on gin at Tales or the others. If I were ever a brand ambassador I'd want to be the Seagram's gin brand ambassador. I'd really crush it covering huge territory on my motorcycle and have it in every well up and down the east coast lowering the cost of cocktails for everyone. Its the best selling gin in the world so I imagine I'd have the budget to throw giant raucous parties with donated product. they also make tons of line extensions so I imagine I could pitch my wacky ideas then have special edition Tabasco seagram's produced with pH neutralized Tabasco added as a botanical. how the hell such a widely seen label could be made and not designed by a famous artist is beyond me. don't these people know who Brooks Stevens was? its regrets and missed opportunities all around. pretty much the whole industry has no vision and just doesn't know what is possible.

[Hassouni]

Made 6 Jet Pilots. Drank one of them. Use 1 oz each Smith and Cross and WNOP, and 3/4 oz Angostura 7. Homemade Kaiser Penguin recipe falernum, and Lucid for the "6 drops of Pernod".  Good stuff.

 

Also did some tests with a friends homemade vermouth - Manhattans with gen 1 Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye - RUBBISH! With Willet, MUCH MUCH better. Also, a 5:1 Martini with the vermouth (it's sort of halfway between dry and sweet) and Green Hat gin. Also excellent. 

[Rafa]

2 oz Denizen Merchant's Reserve

3/4 oz Palo Cortado Sherry

1/4 oz Bénédictine

1/2 oz Kronan Swedish Punsch

3/4 oz Lime juice

1/2 oz Honey syrup

1 dash St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Hogo. Worth the ingredient intensity that makes this a sometimes treat.

[Rafa]

2 oz Blume Marillen apricot eau de vie

3/4 oz Lime juice

3/4 oz Pineapple juice

 

This one always seems to go over well, especially when I cut the brandy with rum. A nice quick burst of tropical refreshment in a terribly unending winter.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Thank you, Rafa.  It's about time someone updated this thread.  Yesterday it got above freezing, perfect weather for a zombie I found.  Tonight my drink is a white mai tai and my hands hurt from the shaker.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My second drink was another white mai tai and I used oven mitts on the shaker.  I am not ashamed.  My feet are cold.

[Rafa]

Made for a friend:

 

2 oz Angel's Envy Rye

1/4 oz Cynar

1/4 oz PX Sherry

Absinthe rinse

 

The Angel's Envy rye is wild stuff. Not exactly balanced--it swings suddenly from pickle brine notes from the MGP-sourced rye into Christmassy lushness from the rum finish--but it is full of surprising flavors and a delight to mix it with. I think it was a limited release. Our distributor gave us a few bottles after, I assume, no one else bit. I'll miss it when it's gone.

[sbumgarner]

1 oz Rye (I had Redemption on hand)

.75 oz Appleton V/X

.75 oz lime

.25 oz LH 151

.25 oz Becherovka

.5 oz orgeat

.25 oz grenadine

Dash of tiki bitters

few drops of salt solution

 

Shake, strain, coupe

 

For a wintertime sour/tiki experiment it wasn't bad, crushed ice might have been better than up.

Edited February 24, 2015 by sbumgarner (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My spirits monger has been trying to interest me in angel's envy.  So far I have resisted.

[Rafa]

The bourbon is pleasant but undistinguished, imo. The rye is something else. Definitely not for everyone but for those of us who value new experiences over the old balance it's a winner.

[Craig E]

Broken Flower (Chris Lane)

1 1⁄2 oz Reposado Tequila, Espolon Reposado (Cazadores)

3⁄4 oz Cynar

1⁄2 oz Lime juice

1⁄2 oz Grapefruit juice

1⁄2 oz Cinnamon syrup (Becherovka)

2 ds Bitters, Angostura

1 twst Grapefruit peel

 

Really enjoyed this grapefruity concoction. Had a tingly finish (maybe heightened from my Becherovka substitution?) that left me wanting more with every sip. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The bourbon is pleasant but undistinguished, imo. The rye is something else. Definitely not for everyone but for those of us who value new experiences over the old balance it's a winner.

 

What I was speaking of was the rye.  I was afraid it would be a little too sweet.

[Rafa]

It's more rich than sweet—strongly aromatically sweet on the finish, with Christmas cake-y flavors, but not sugary. Your mileage may vary. Your spirits monger may just be trying to unload a slow seller.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Your spirits monger may just be trying to unload a slow seller.

 

This is exactly what I thought.

 

 

Edit:  though in all fairness he has steered me onto some nice things.  However in this case I still think the problem was excess inventory.

 

In general I look at what bottles sell out the quickest...i.e. W&N.

Edited February 25, 2015 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[blue_dolphin]

My spirits monger has been trying to interest me in angel's envy.  So far I have resisted.

 

The bourbon is pleasant but undistinguished, imo. The rye is something else. Definitely not for everyone but for those of us who value new experiences over the old balance it's a winner.

 

What I was speaking of was the rye.  I was afraid it would be a little too sweet.

 

It's more rich than sweet—strongly aromatically sweet on the finish, with Christmas cake-y flavors, but not sugary. Your mileage may vary. Your spirits monger may just be trying to unload a slow seller.

 

This is exactly what I thought.

 

 

Edit:  though in all fairness he has steered me onto some nice things.  However in this case I still think the problem was excess inventory.

 

In general I look at what bottles sell out the quickest...i.e. W&N.

 

You've reminded me that I have a bottle of Angel's Envy Rye that I hid from my visiting brother.  I must retrieve it and pour myself a portion as I thought it was lovely stuff. 

[tanstaafl2]

Made for a friend:

 

2 oz Angel's Envy Rye

1/4 oz Cynar

1/4 oz PX Sherry

Absinthe rinse

 

The Angel's Envy rye is wild stuff. Not exactly balanced--it swings suddenly from pickle brine notes from the MGP-sourced rye into Christmassy lushness from the rum finish--but it is full of surprising flavors and a delight to mix it with. I think it was a limited release. Our distributor gave us a few bottles after, I assume, no one else bit. I'll miss it when it's gone.

 

The AE rye is a regular bottling but is getting towards the pricey end these days. I see it on the shelf everywhere. It is indeed a very unexpected whiskey and practically a cocktail on its own. I love it by itself as a post prandial whiskey in the same vein as a nice port. Not the same profile of course but fills a similar niche.

 

Don't think I have seen many cocktails that specifically call for it and it is probably something that would be very difficult to substitute for. I would never have thought of adding PX sherry to this already very sweet, or as you point out, rich whiskey but I definitely need to give this a try!

[Rafa]

I should mention that I made that drink as a dessert drink, and dessert-y it was. I normally make it with Rittenhouse, which turns it pre-prandial.

3/4 oz Batavia Arrack van Oosten

3/4 oz Pusser's

3/4 oz Passion fruit syrup

3/4 oz Orange juice

3/4 Lime juice

1/2 oz Strega

My bar has eight or nine bottles of Strega, untouched since before my time as manager. I'm trying to find a home for it on our menu. Exactly as its color implies, it's reminiscent of both yellow Chartreuse and Galliano, with the latter's strong vanilla and anise notes. I've had success trying it in place of those two in old standbys (Final Ward, Harvey Wallbanger), and I'm tinkering with it in a version of the tiki obscurity the Sundowner (Cognac, Galliano, Cointreau, lemon juice). But I keep coming back to this un-seasonal punch, which tastes like a Cobra's Fang donning the leisure suit of a Painkiller or Wallbanger.

[pto]

Enjoying a fantastic Daiquri. Picked up this bottle of Pampero Blanco blind and it turned out to be a flavourful little silver rum. Very nice.

 

2 oz Pampero Blanco

wee bit less than 3/4 oz lime jiuice

1/4 oz ss