Adoption: moving a drink to a new family

[EvergreenDan]

Martinez: Gin (typically Old Tom), sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes in my house), a bit of maraschino, and bitters.
Martinez as a sour: Above, but add lemon juice. Improves the drink, especially when made with original ratios (a lot of sweet vermouth). Egg white would be extra credit.
Martinez as a high ball: Above sour, but also add fizzy stuff. I used Bitter Lemon.

[Tri2Cook]

For my taste, a lot of drinks could be improved by your adoption program. That's not commentary on the quality of those drinks, just an indictment of my personal taste in cocktails. There are very few all-booze cocktails that are as enjoyable to me as those with some intervention from non-alcohol ingredients.

[Craig E]

Just followed suit with a Sour Liberal: equal parts rye, sweet vermouth, Amer Picon (Boudreau), lemon juice, and a dash orange bitters. Not bad. A little surprised at how much the acid tamped down the assertiveness of the amer. 

 

[EvergreenDan]

On 9/2/2019 at 7:53 PM, Craig E said:

A little surprised at how much the acid tamped down the assertiveness of the amer.

I've had this discussion before. To my taste buds, sour reduces bitter. Some don't find this to be true.  For me, a Negroni is a fairly "advanced" bitter drink. Campari, soda, and lemon is much easier.

Also: Maybe try Punt e Mes is your Sourpuss Liberal.

Edited September 6, 2019 by EvergreenDan (log)

[cdh]

Lots of cocktails make delicious highballs... I like my Manhattans tall and fizzy pretty often. 

[cdh]

And the Jasmine or the Pegu Club also make fine highballs during the heat of summer. 

[haresfur]

18 hours ago, cdh said:

Lots of cocktails make delicious highballs... I like my Manhattans tall and fizzy pretty often. 

 

Campari seems to bridge categories well. I recently took the Negroni back to a highball by replacing the vermouth with bitter lemon.

[EvergreenDan]

For a Negroni-as-highball, I'd include the sweet vermouth because its such a big part of the flavor profile. Maybe add both bitter lemon and lemon juice to base Negroni?

BTW, seltzer and just about any amaro or aperitif makes a great low alcohol cocktail. Maybe with a squeeze of lemon.

[haresfur]

To each his own