Drinks! 2015 - 2016

[tanstaafl2]

I forgot to mention the Last Word variant had the rather tongue twisting appellation of "The Picts and the Gaels"!

[FrogPrincesse]

15 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I forgot to mention the Last Word variant had the rather tongue twisting appellation of "The Picts and the Gaels"!

Typical equal parts ratios with a spray of absinthe?

[tanstaafl2]

I think they had to vary the ratios a bit to get it to work. I will need to contact the restaurant to confirm.

[FrogPrincesse]

3 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I think they had to vary the ratios a bit to get it to work. I will need to contact the restaurant to confirm.

Thanks!

 

[DianaB]

On 26 February 2016 at 6:04 AM, lesliec said:

If you can get a bottle of Champagne in New Zealand for under NZD50 you're doing well (or it's been dumped, or something).

 

The comonn ones (eg Moet) generally start around $60 or 70, and of course the sky's the limit.

 

I make a French 75 variation (called the Wellington 75, and why not?) with a local product called Joiy.  It's a slightly sweet, slightly lemony, slightly fizzy, low-alcohol riesling-based product that its maker (full disclosure: friend of mine) is endeavouring to get into various overseas markets.  I think it's available in some outlets in Australia, possibly Hong Kong and Singapore and he's working on the US.  If you see it somewhere, give it a try.  It's nice on its own as a summer drink, and the Wellington 75 recipe can be had for a modest fee.

 

Thanks for your reply, for some odd reason it does interest me to know what people are obliged to pay for a product depending on where they happen to buy it.  Seems that for the same kind of price you would get a Champagne in England (fiscal laws differ in other parts or the UK) with a known brand. The basics, brands never advertised, would be from £9 or 19NZD if the conversion app on my iPhone is correct!

 

Still enjoying an occasional French 75, think it's my favourite cocktail of the moment but of course being right at the start of cocktail exploration I have so many yet to try.....

 

[tanstaafl2]

22 hours ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I think they had to vary the ratios a bit to get it to work. I will need to contact the restaurant to confirm.

 

22 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

Thanks!

 

 

I was mistaken. It is a typical 3/4:3/4:3/4:3/4 with Peat Monster, Lime Juice, Green Chartreuse and Maraschino. It also has a misting of absinthe from an atomizer over the top followed by a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper over the top (the part I forgot!). I thought it was very good but also thought some tweaking of the four main ingredients might help improve it even more.

 

The other drink, the King John, was more Manhattan-esque (or perhaps Rob Roy-esque is more appropriate!) with 2 oz Great King Street Artists Blend, 0,5 Carpano Antica, 0.5 Cherry Herring, 1 barspoon of Amaro del Sole, a dash of Bittercube cherry bark vanilla bitters, express an orange peel and wipe around the rim before discarding and garnish with a maraschino cherry. Perhaps a touch on the sweet side but I enjoyed it as well.

[Craig E]

On March 27, 2016 at 0:53 PM, Craig E said:

Brunch today: Juice of a Few Flowers and For a Few Flowers More. 

Will pre-squeeze and batch the juices (grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime). Sugar the rim and add gin for the former; Add rum and falernum for the latter. Should be an easy serve and a great brunch drink, especially for a group of fellow art historians (the original recipe is taken from the papers of Jazz-age painter Gerald Murphy). 

 

To a person, all Easter guests said they were gin people, but after trying both variations @Rafa's rum variant was the unanimous winner.

 

Now I'm enjoying 2 oz of the leftover juice blend (2 orange:2 grapefruit:1 lemon:1 lime) with an ounce of blanco tequila, an ounce of homemade falernum, 3/4 ounce Campari, and a splash of soda water in a riff on Shelter's version of a Tequila Sunrise. Ashamed I didn't pour carefully enough to get a layered effect worth a photo, but I love this drink!

[FrogPrincesse]

From last night, a classic - Kingston Negroni (Joaquin Simo) with Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, Campari, Cocchi vermouth di Torino.

The Death & Co books says that only Carpano Antica can stand up to the rum, but I like it with the vermouth di Torino...

 

[FrogPrincesse]

From Easter Sunday - a round of Daiquiris with La Favorite rhum agricole blanc, lime juice, simple syrup.

 

 

 

[ananth]

10 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

From Easter Sunday - a round of Daiquiris with La Favorite rhum agricole blanc, lime juice, simple syrup.

 

I noticed that you use a lot of La Favorite rhum agricole . Is it that good? Any noticeable difference with Neisson for instance?

Also, I have never tried a rhum agricole based daiquiri. I guess the Ti Punch's notes would pop up. Do you use the same ratios as a more standard daiquiri using molasses white rum?

[FrogPrincesse]

8 hours ago, ananth said:

I noticed that you use a lot of La Favorite rhum agricole . Is it that good? Any noticeable difference with Neisson for instance?

Also, I have never tried a rhum agricole based daiquiri. I guess the Ti Punch's notes would pop up. Do you use the same ratios as a more standard daiquiri using molasses white rum?

Yes, obviously it's one of my... favorites.  But most rhum agricoles are very good, including Neisson. While each one has its own character, they are not fundamentally different from one another.

 

I use the same ratios (10:3:2 with rich 2:1 syrup) as with regular molasses-based white rums. It's a lot more flavorful than a regular Daiquiri, and the vegetal grassy notes are front and center. It's a beautiful thing if you are into these kinds of rums.

 

I've converted a lot of people by serving them agricole Daiquiris. They are always so surprised to discover that a white rum can have so much flavor. 

[EvergreenDan]

2 oz Rhum JM blanc

1/2 oz St George Raspberry "brandy" (eau-de-vie)

1/2-ish oz Luxardo Maraschino

1/2 oz mix of lime and lemon juice, not entirely by choice

 

Pretty darn nice. Maybe worth more fiddling with ratios.

[FrogPrincesse]

@EvergreenDanThat sounds pretty amazing. Did the agricole play nice with the eau-de-vie?

[lesliec]

I had a rather wonderful drink last night at the Hawthorn Lounge.  I'd taken some of my Genever in for them to try (Peter approved) and he made me a 'fancy Martini' with it.  So good that I made myself another one tonight.

 

45ml Genever (last night's was unoaked; tonight's was oaked.  Both good; oaked probably a little better)

7.5ml maraschino liqueur

5ml simple

Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a slice of orange zest

 

Interesting comment from the bar: they could never sell the drink because too many people don't like the taste of Genever or maraschino (or both), or don't know what Genever is so the staff would have to spend too much time explaining it.

 

Sad.  The drink's delicious.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, lesliec said:

Sad.  The drink's delicious.

 

I'm impressed that you measure your maraschino to half a ml.

[FrogPrincesse]

44 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I'm impressed that you measure your maraschino to half a ml.

You probably do too without realizing it. 7.5 mL = 1/4 oz

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Actually I use 5 ml for 1/4 oz.

[Hassouni]

On March 25, 2016 at 9:59 AM, haresfur said:

How to recognize a good cocktail bar: when you ask for shots of Fernet and the bartenders join you. But the highlight was my Tyrone with scotch, banana liqueur, egg white, something else that I forget (my photo of the menu didn't turn out) and stout garnished with nutmeg. A flip for people who would freak at egg yolk. For my second drink, I asked for something with Smith and Cross and got a tiki-esque drink with a nice punch that they were working on.

 

I think I'm slowly converting my wine-drinking cousin and her boyfriend. All this and more could be yours at Quarter and Glory in  Washington DC. New enough that they don't serve food yet. They are off to a great start.

 

That's my friend and fellow Motörhead-lover Rachel Sergi!

[EvergreenDan]

On 3/31/2016 at 1:46 PM, FrogPrincesse said:

@EvergreenDanThat sounds pretty amazing. Did the agricole play nice with the eau-de-vie?

More the other way around. The raspberry is fairly subtle. I'm actually not a huge fan of berry in cocktails, but the grassy + berry + funk think was very nice.

[Craig E]

At @FrogPrincesse's suggestion, inaugurated my new passion fruit syrup in a Cobra's Fang. Good stuff!

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 0:57 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Actually I use 5 ml for 1/4 oz.

 

You are shorting yourself just a tad. Who wouldn't want more alcohol!

 

An ounce is roughly 29.57 ml (Many people, including me, round up to 30ml). 1/4 of that is about 7.3925 ml. If you use 30 ml for an ounce then it is 7.5 ml for 1/4 ounce.

Edited April 4, 2016 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Sunday brunch cocktail, a Breakfast Martini.  I substituted my homemade lemon rosemary marmalade for the orange marmalade called for and dropped a sprig of rosemary into the shaker.

 

It's sweet, sour, bitter, herbal and goes down all too easily!

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

6 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Sunday brunch cocktail, a Breakfast Martini.  I substituted my homemade lemon rosemary marmalade for the orange marmalade called for and dropped a sprig of rosemary into the shaker.

 

It's sweet, sour, bitter, herbal and goes down all too easily!

 

 

Oh yes.

 

What kind of citrus do you have in the picture? Just curious... They are beautiful, like the drink.

[blue_dolphin]

24 minutes ago, FrogPrincesse said:

What kind of citrus do you have in the picture?

 

They are pretty, aren't they?  They're "Pink Lemonade" lemons, a gift from a friend  It's a variegated pink fleshed Eureka lemon.  The fruits taste like a regular Eureka lemon but both the leaves and the fruit are variegated so it's a very attractive tree.

The juice is a very pale pink and I was tempted to try a drop of Campari or Aperol to make the drink look more like the juice.  Maybe next time !

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

The juice is a very pale pink and I was tempted to try a drop of Campari or Aperol to make the drink look more like the juice

 

Replying to myself, in the interest of anyone else who finds themselves in possession of pink lemons and wants a Pink Breakfast Martini....

 

50 ml gin

15 ml Cointreau

15 ml lemon juice

3 ml Campari

1 teaspoon lemon marmalade

 

Just enough Campari to match the pink lemons.  Not enough to stand out above the bitter and sweet from the marmalade but I thought it tasted a little more balanced.  Or maybe I just liked the color !