"Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails"

[Hassouni]

I would put Pouring Ribbons ahead of D&C, if only just, but it seems the drinking public at large disagrees.

Dead Rabbit trumps all.

 

I forgot about Dead Rabbit, but D&Co is still tops for me

 

Sadly, Death & Co didn't even make the Top 50. Granted, this type of list is highly subjective.

 

And what authority does that site have? 

[FrogPrincesse]

I forgot about Dead Rabbit, but D&Co is still tops for me

 

 

And what authority does that site have? 

The site had a recap of what is the UK equivalent of the TOTC awards. See here for the official site and here for the list of judges. Diffords just posted a recap as well.

[sbumgarner]

Art of Drink's orgeat recipe is still my gold standard and is much faster than two days.

 

It's been mine too but I honestly can't tell much of a difference between that recipe and the one in the D&C book. Orgeat aficionados may beg to differ, but I'm happy enough with it that it'll be my default recipe (for now at least).

 

And yes, either recipe is both faster and cheaper than two-day shipping from CA, but to each their own.

[sbumgarner]

A good handful of recipes in the book call for Massenez Creme de Peche - I have Mathilde Peach on hand, does anyone know how interchangeable they are? The Mathilde runs very sweet and needs to be used with care to avoid the Jolly Rancher affect, assuming the Massenez might be a bit more subtle but have no idea.

[weinoo]

These lists are so ridiculous.  FWIW, I've been going to 151 lately (that's the newest from the D&C crew). I like it a lot.

 

And we can't overlook some of Brooklyn's finest - Clover Club, Tooker Alley, etc.

[Hassouni]

 

And we can't overlook some of Brooklyn's finest - Clover Club, Tooker Alley, etc.

...Chez DrunkLab...

[Rafa]

Only when I'm tending.

Add the always underrated Maison Premiere to that list, too.

[Hassouni]

Only when I'm tending.

 

 

Perhaps I should have said it as La Cuisine de Rafa?

[FrogPrincesse]

The Death & Co party continues - first stops in LA and San Diego.

 

 

[Hassouni]

Oooh, they're coming to terminally uncool DC!

 

I wonder if I get a discount for already having bought the book...

Edited October 16, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[weinoo]

Oooh, they're coming to terminally uncool DC!

 

I wonder if I get a discount for already having bought the book...

 

At least they're doing it at a fairly cool place. I'm sure Alex will fall in love with Mockingbird Hill!

[Hassouni]

By the way, I've made it almost all the way through the recipes, and I have to say, I don't think I have the ingredients to make more than a handful of the drinks, even overlooking the specific brands called for.

 

This book is gonna bankrupt me in liquor purchases, methinks...

[FrogPrincesse]

The Monroe (Scott Teague), a pretty pale pink gin old-fashioned cocktail with orgeat and crème de pêche as the sweetener. Junipero gin, crème de pêche, homemade orgeat, Peychaud's and orange bitters, club soda.

 

Looks girly but means business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

By the way, I've made it almost all the way through the recipes, and I have to say, I don't think I have the ingredients to make more than a handful of the drinks, even overlooking the specific brands called for.

 

This book is gonna bankrupt me in liquor purchases, methinks...

 

For a second I thought that you had made most of the recipes already, and I was really impressed.

 

I did not get that impression regarding ingredients. It does not seem worse than the PDT Cocktail Book for example.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Club soda in fish house punch??  I should rather drink Schuylkill water...which I have a couple of times in my youth having carelessly fallen in.

[FrogPrincesse]

Club soda in fish house punch??  I should rather drink Schuylkill water...which I have a couple of times in my youth having carelessly fallen in.

 

I am surprised that you did not comment on the 4 sugar cubes...

[Hassouni]

For a second I thought that you had made most of the recipes already, and I was really impressed.

 

I did not get that impression regarding ingredients. It does not seem worse than the PDT Cocktail Book for example.

 

Well, later in the book I've found more recipes I can make!

 

I don't have the PDT book to compare it to, but I have a paltry selection of liqueurs and indeed other spirits besides rum and single malt, of which combined I probably have over 40. Off the top of my head:

 

Liqueurs:

 

Luxardo Maraschino

Cointreau

Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Senior Curaçao

RW CdV

Kaiser Penguin recipe falernum

Homemade pimento dram

Some random Greek mastic liqueur

Campari

Knight Gabriello Amaro di Toscana

 

Other spirits:

 

Gin:

Hayman's Old Tom

Plymouth

Dorothy Parker

Green Hat

(no London dries, it would seem, unless I have some Beefeater floating around)

Bols unaged genever

Bols zeer oude genever

Bols corenwyn

 

Bourbon:

Bulleit

WT101

OGD 114

 

Other:

 

Camarena reposado tequila

Fidencio Clasico Joven mezcal

Massaya arak

Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac

Rittenhouse BIB rye

Lucid absinthe

Dolin rouge

Noilly Prat dry

Sandeman's Port (which has never been used for anything)

 

I wanna say that's it, other than various syrups and stuff. I have run out of Chartreuse and Laird's bonded, as well as (I suspect) Beefeater or Broker's gin. I need to up my liqueur and fortified wine game if I wanna make a majority of the D&Co drinks, and that's ignoring the specific brand recs for spirits.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I am surprised that you did not comment on the 4 sugar cubes...

 

I would have said "I didn't get that far" except the four sugar cubes are indeed the first ingredient.  In all fairness to Death&Co. the 1795 recipe cited in Punch (pp 241-242) calls out for "4 pounds of best loaf sugar".

[choux]

Picked up the book on a recent trip to Portland and made a White Negroni with my new bottle of Suze picked up on same trip. Really loved it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I mixed my first drink from the book.  They say (p 48) "Anyone in the 'I don't like sweet cocktails camp' should omit the simple syrup in their next daiquiri and reconsider their stance."

 

So I did that.  I made up a 2:1:0 daiquiri with Cana Brava, and I must say it was good.  Easier to mix as well.

 

What is not to like?

 

The only downside is now my mai tai tastes cloying in comparison.

[lesliec]

It's arrived!  This is going to occupy me for some time, I think.

 

I like the presentation; the story of the bar's origins and the ingredients they like.  I was fully intending to make something from the book last night, but the volume overwhelmed me and I wimped out and fell back on Kindred.  Which isn't a bad place to have to resort to, but I'll try to do better tonight.

 

One thing we talked a little about upthread was their timesaving method of making orgeat.  I looked that up, and without getting too detailed the technique seems essentially to be to omit the multiple soak/squeeze steps I go through with mine.  Do the extra steps add nothing?  That seems to be the message.

[FrogPrincesse]

 

One thing we talked a little about upthread was their timesaving method of making orgeat.  I looked that up, and without getting too detailed the technique seems essentially to be to omit the multiple soak/squeeze steps I go through with mine.  Do the extra steps add nothing?  That seems to be the message.

Not necessarily that they add nothing, but too little to justify the extra time the staff has to spend. At home, this kind of passive prep time is not really an issue though.

[Kerry Beal]

Not necessarily that they add nothing, but too little to justify the extra time the staff has to spend. At home, this kind of passive prep time is not really an issue though.

I decided that since I'm straining out the nut bits, then putting them back in - that, while it might have some benefit, not enough to make a mess in the kitchen several times.  So I give it a few cycles of heating to 50C and stirring in the thermomix before I strain and squeeze it once.   

[FrogPrincesse]

I try to heat my orgeat as little as possible. Most of the sugar dissolves at room temperature, and I don't need to warm it past 35C or so. My thought is that the heat may destroy some of the volatile flavors.

[FrogPrincesse]

The Joy Division, a Martini with a touch of absinthe (à la Third Degree) and some Cointreau. I absolutely loved this one. It is crisp like a Martini, but I also got a touch of richness in the finish, almost like vanilla oil.

 

 

I liked it so much I decided to use it as my template for the Mixology Monday Perfect Symmetry challenge. But the original is really the way to go.