Post Your New Cocktail Creations Here

[KatieLoeb]

My two newest cocktails here at Rouge - featuring Charbay flavored vodkas

Sicilian Martini:

2 oz. Charbay Blood Orange Vodka

1 oz. Lillet Blonde

1 Tbs. Blood Orange Puree

Sprite

Shake over ice and serve in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange zest curl.

Key Lime Martini:

2 oz. Charbay Key Lime Vodka

3/4 oz. Licor 43 (a vanilla and herb flavored liqueur)

A splash each of sour mix, pineapple juice and Sprite.

Shake over ice and serve in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel. If you're feeling really ambitious you can rim the glass with crushed graham craker crumbs for a Key Lime Pie effect. This tastes just like a slice of Key Lime Pie!

[JAZ]

Katie,

Your Sicilian martini sounds great (you know me -- anything with Lillet!), although I'd probably use club soda instead of Sprite because I tend to like less sweet drinks. But I have a question: I've never used carbonated drinks in a shaken drink -- doesn't it get too fizzy?

[KatieLoeb]

Katie,

Your Sicilian martini sounds great (you know me -- anything with Lillet!), although I'd probably use club soda instead of Sprite because I tend to like less sweet drinks. But I have a question: I've never used carbonated drinks in a shaken drink -- doesn't it get too fizzy?

Hi Janet:

Thanks! I thought of you while I was experimenting with this. It's definitely a take-off on the Hangar Mandarin Blossom and Lillet combo you suggested previously. This is just more of a "girlie drink", I think. They are quite tasty, if I do say so myself!

It's really only about 1/2 - 3/4 oz. of soda so it doesn't do much in terms of fizzing it up. More like a very very light "schpritziness" by the time you strain it into the glass. It wears off quickly too. I haven't noticed any problems with it "fizzing over", so to speak. I suppose if it did you could merely top it with soda at the end. I think it tastes better with all the ingredients well incorporated though.

The Sprite in the Sicilian Martini is to take that overly "alcoholic" vodka taste away a little bit. (people who order these sorts of cocktails usually don't want to be reminded that they're drinking VODKA. If they did, they'd just order a vodka martini, right?) Club soda would also work, but I'm afraid would make the drink taste more watered down. The Sprite tastes almost neutral with all the other ingredents and doesn't seem to make the end product as watery somehow. The very slight hint of lemon/lime blends into the background.

[JAZ]

Katie,

Your Sicilian martini sounds great (you know me -- anything with Lillet!), although I'd probably use club soda instead of Sprite because I tend to like less sweet drinks. But I have a question: I've never used carbonated drinks in a shaken drink -- doesn't it get too fizzy?

Hi Janet:

Thanks! I thought of you while I was experimenting with this. It's definitely a take-off on the Hangar Mandarin Blossom and Lillet combo you suggested previously. This is just more of a "girlie drink", I think. They are quite tasty, if I do say so myself!

It's really only about 1/2 - 3/4 oz. of soda so it doesn't do much in terms of fizzing it up. More like a very very light "schpritziness" by the time you strain it into the glass. It wears off quickly too. I haven't noticed any problems with it "fizzing over", so to speak. I suppose if it did you could merely top it with soda at the end. I think it tastes better with all the ingredients well incorporated though.

The Sprite in the Sicilian Martini is to take that overly "alcoholic" vodka taste away a little bit. (people who order these sorts of cocktails usually don't want to be reminded that they're drinking VODKA. If they did, they'd just order a vodka martini, right?) Club soda would also work, but I'm afraid would make the drink taste more watered down. The Sprite tastes almost neutral with all the other ingredents and doesn't seem to make the end product as watery somehow. The very slight hint of lemon/lime blends into the background.

That's good to know about the Sprite. I've always hesitated to put anything carbonated in drinks I shake and serve up because I didn't know how they'd behave; now that I know what to expect I'll feel free to experiment without mishap.

And I do see what you mean about the Sprite -- I was thinking of a drink more in the (classic) martini family, but this is really more in the sweet and sour family. Makes perfect sense.

Okay, sorry to be such a pain, but one more question. By blood orange puree, do you mean juice with pulp, or is the puree something different? (I've been seeing great blood oranges in the market, and I'm really interested in trying this.)

[JAZ]

I think I'm calling this one the Mother of Invention (as in Necessity is the. . . ), because I concocted it from what I had on hand. It's similar to the Jasmine, one of my favorites from Paul Harrington's (click here for that recipe. But since I'm out of Campari, Peychaud's bitters had to stand in, which meant the proportions had to change slightly.

1 1/2 oz. gin

1/2 oz. Cointreau or triple sec

1/4 oz. lemon juice

three shakes of Pechaud's bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Edited February 7, 2004 by JAZ (log)

[cinnamonshops]

1 1/2 oz. gin

1/2 oz. Cointreau or triple sec

1/4 oz. lemon juice

three shakes of Pechaud's bitters

a bit like a delilah (also on the harrington site), huh? but with different proportions & added bitters (which, uh, i guess makes it pretty different). sounds good!

[JAZ]

1 1/2 oz. gin

1/2 oz. Cointreau or triple sec

1/4 oz. lemon juice

three shakes of Pechaud's bitters

a bit like a delilah (also on the harrington site), huh? but with different proportions & added bitters (which, uh, i guess makes it pretty different). sounds good!

Yeah, I forgot about the Delilah. Also similar to the Pegu, which calls for lime juice instead of lemon.

It would be interesting to do a side-by-side tasting of all these to see exactly how noticeable the differences are.

I suppose what needs to be determined is exactly what half a lemon would yield in ounces, as not all lemons are not created equal.

I always try to list lemon and lime juice in terms of ounces for that reason. Somewhere I have a chart that gives average amounts of various citrus juice per fruit, but you do always run into those anomolies -- gargantuan limes or tiny lemons.

[JAZ]

Pomipolitans, anyone?

How weird. I've been experimenting with a new cocktail for a class I'm giving next month -- it's for a Junior League class, and they've asked for something in along the lines of Cosmopolitans. I saw the Pom Wonderful at the store and thought it was just right. I'm still playing with the exact recipe, but the base is white rum, with lemon (or lime -- can't quite make up my mind) and a splash of triple sec. One version has a touch of orange juice as well.

After I get the recipe down (and after the class) I'll post the recipe. But I already have dibs on the name -- it's a Pomeranian.

[KatieLoeb]

After I get the recipe down (and after the class) I'll post the recipe. But I already have dibs on the name -- it's a Pomeranian

Good one! Since there's a dog theme, perhaps some variant of the Salty Dog is in order? Salt rimmed glass, Kurant, Citron, Mandarin or unflavored vodka, Pomi juice and grapefruit juice?

[paw]

There must be some sort of convergent evolution going on in the cocktail world. I "invented" a pomegranate cosmo over the weekend. My brilliant friend Steven turned me on to the fact that Pernod or any licorice-flavored spirit does wonderful things to pomegranate juice. Hence, this cocktail:

Doctor’s Orders

1.5 oz vodka

1 tbsp Cointreau

1.5 tsp fresh lime juice

1 oz pomegranate juice (fresh or Pom brand)

splash of Pernod, Ouzo, or other licorice-flavored spirit

Splash some Pernod into a chilled cocktail glass, swirl it around well, and dump it out. Pour all remaining ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake and strain into the glass.

I wouldn't consider this a perfected cocktail--I'm going to tinker with it a bit--but it's highly drinkable nonetheless.

[phaelon56]

Something I came up with years ago and always drank at one particular watering hole that stocked my favored brand of rum - this may well be a drink that was created elsewhere but I haven't run into it and it is mighty tasty

Total Eclipse:

2 oz Mount Gay Barbados Eclipse rum

1.5 oz orange juice

1.5 oz pineapple juice

big splash of cranberry

[Larry]

Port martini that I had recently was amazing and so simple yet I would have never thought! I hate all those super sweet cosmos so this one was perfect, lots of lime.

vodka or gin

port

fresh cranberry juice

lime juice

[JennotJenn]

My poor husband has food poisoning or some other equally horrible ailment and has retired early, so I decided to experiment w/blood oranges. I made this:

4 oz vodka

4 oz blood orange juice

3-4 healthy dashes Angostura bitters

top with club soda

Very tasty. Too bad The Husband is missing out on my lovely dinner of coctails and frozen eggrolls (with my parents visiting tomorrow I needed both a drink and a dinner with minimal cleanup).

[ingridsf]

I like the following in a tall glass on the rocks. We call it a Bitter Screw. Measurements are approximate! (I'm a very novice-level cocktail maker.) It includes:

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. fresh tangerine juice

squeeze of lime

topped with tonic

Cheers!

[trillium]

Pomipolitans, anyone? 

How weird. I've been experimenting with a new cocktail for a class I'm giving next month -- it's for a Junior League class, and they've asked for something in along the lines of Cosmopolitans. I saw the Pom Wonderful at the store and thought it was just right. I'm still playing with the exact recipe, but the base is white rum, with lemon (or lime -- can't quite make up my mind) and a splash of triple sec. One version has a touch of orange juice as well.

After I get the recipe down (and after the class) I'll post the recipe. But I already have dibs on the name -- it's a Pomeranian.

It's kinda funny that everyone is getting back to putting pomegranates in cocktails again (but funny in a good way). Pomegranate juice has played a part in mixing good cocktails for a very long time, it's just recently that what we call grenadine bears little or no resemblance to pomegranates. Since I've had trouble finding a nice dry, pomagranite-based grenadine in the US I've taken to making my own. Here's what I used it in last night.

1.5 oz light rum

1.5 oz sour bergamot orange juice

0.75 oz homemade grenadine

0.5 oz French creme de cacao (you want something not too sweet)

Shake over ice, pour into chilled glasses and garnish with a bergamot peel twist. The fragrance and layers of complexity with this drink were amazing. Even if you don't have bergamot sour oranges, I recommend playing around with the pom and cacao together, they really complement each other. If you don't like tart cocktails, you'd want to cut down on the sour orange juice.

regards,

trillium

[JAZ]

Pomipolitans, anyone? 

How weird. I've been experimenting with a new cocktail for a class I'm giving next month -- it's for a Junior League class, and they've asked for something in along the lines of Cosmopolitans. I saw the Pom Wonderful at the store and thought it was just right. I'm still playing with the exact recipe, but the base is white rum, with lemon (or lime -- can't quite make up my mind) and a splash of triple sec. One version has a touch of orange juice as well.

After I get the recipe down (and after the class) I'll post the recipe. But I already have dibs on the name -- it's a Pomeranian.

The class was last night; the cocktail was a hit. So:

The Pomeranian:

2 oz. white rum

1 oz. pomegranate juice (I used Pom Wonderful)

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/2 oz. triple sec

1/4 oz. grapefruit juice

Shake and serve up in a chilled glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

My preference (of course) is to make it with gin instead of the rum, but the class wanted something with rum or vodka, so that's what they got.

[plattetude]

Recently began spending way too much time reading these forums (loved loved loved the Gary and Mardee Q&A), and now I'm ready to ratchet up my involvement a notch or two...

So, my latest cocktail creation of note came about on New Year's Eve. As has become a bit of a tradition in the past few years at our annual fete, I was infusing some vodka with dried pear, vanilla, and black peppercorns to have the fixin's for a Parkhurst Pear (amazing cocktail developed at 11 Madison Park and reported a few years ago in the NYTimes). Since I was doing that infusion, I thought I might make a few other infusions -- one with dried cranberry and ginger (which I used to make a Cosmo variation), and one with fresh sprigs of rosemary. This last infusion, much to my surprise, became the big hit of the party, as the main ingredient of my Rosemary, Baby! cocktail.

Herewith:

Rosemary, Baby!

6 parts rosemary-infused vodka

1 part Lillet blanc

1 part Cointreau

splash absinthe

dash orange bitters

Stir vigorously with ice, serve up in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Christopher

[JAZ]

The Pomeranian:

2 oz. white rum

1 oz. pomegranate juice (I used Pom Wonderful)

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/2 oz. triple sec

1/4 oz. grapefruit juice

I got a deal on some beautiful grapefruits, so I've been using a lot of the juice in cocktails. One of my inspirations was basically to invert the amounts of pomegranate and grapefruit juices in the Pomeranian, and the result was actually better, for my taste, than the original:

2 oz. rum

1/2 oz. triple sec

1 oz. grapfruit juice

1/4 oz. pomegranate juice

It's much more complex tasting than the Pomeranian, and more refreshing too. I think it'd be great on ice with a splash of soda.

[ThinkingBartender]

Mirage Cocktail

1 1/2 shot Le Fee Absinthe

1 shot white creme de cacao

1/2 shot ginger Syrup

Shake hard with crushed ice, then strain through a sieve into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist, which has had its oils squeezed onto the surface of the drink.

The Cullinan Cocktail

1 1/2 shots Cherry Bourbon

1 shot Pineapple Juice

1/4 shot fresh lime juice

1/4 shot Ginger Syrup (monin)

Shake with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. no garnish.

Morello Ting

1 1/2 shots Cherry Bourbon

1 shot Grapefruit Juice

1/2 shot cranberry juice

1/4 shot vanilla Syrup (monin)

Shake with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. lemon twist.

Cheers!

George

[mbanu]

Once you've invented them, the hardest part is figuring out what to call them. :)

Peach schnapps, bitters, and soda water.

rum, lime juice, grenadine & ginger ale.

rum, ginger ale & bitters

gin, tonic water, club soda & rosewater

metaxa & dubonnet

rum, lemon juice, orgeat & soda water

[eje]

I've been gathering the ingredients for this since traveling to New Orleans last October. I love Pomegranates and Passion Fruit and figured that making a from scratch Hurrcane would be pretty tasty. Since Pomegranates are now kind of trendy as an anti-oxidant it isn't that hard to find Pomegranate juice. Tougher to find Passion Fruit Nectar. Fortunately, some of the natural and gourmet markets here carry the Looza brand of fruit Nectars. Ok, it is kind of red-brown, so it's not the prettiest drink; but, it is really tasty.

---------

Hurricane Revisited

1 jigger Pomegranate juice (Knudsen's Just Pomegranate)

1 jigger Passion Fruit Nectar (Looza)

Juice of 1 lime

2 jiggers Amber Rum

1 jigger Dark Rum

1 oz Simple Syrup (or to taste, I like my drinks small, tart, and intense)

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into two glasses.

----------

Pre-Hurricane, my wife said, "What is it with you and this cocktail thing? I just don't think I like them." Post-Hurricane, she said, "More!"

I really shouldn't put this recipe up. They are just too tasty.

Erik

Edited March 5, 2005 by eje (log)

[The Hersch]

Belmont Cocktail

4 parts gin

1 part Amontillado sherry

dash of orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

(Named after the street I lived on when I first made this.)

[slkinsey]

Belmont Cocktail

4 parts gin

1 part Amontillado sherry

dash of orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

(Named after the street I lived on when I first made this.)

D'oh! There's already a Belmont Cocktail (1.5 oz gin, 1 oz cream, 0.25 oz raspberry syrup). One of the great dangers of naming a cocktail.

Cool idea you have there, though. Kind of like a dry martini with Amontillado sherry filling in for dry vermouth. Maybe a Belmont Street Cocktail?

[KatieLoeb]

Belmont Cocktail

4 parts gin

1 part Amontillado sherry

dash of orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

(Named after the street I lived on when I first made this.)

D'oh! There's already a Belmont Cocktail (1.5 oz gin, 1 oz cream, 0.25 oz raspberry syrup). One of the great dangers of naming a cocktail.

Cool idea you have there, though. Kind of like a dry martini with Amontillado sherry filling in for dry vermouth. Maybe a Belmont Street Cocktail?

←

Sam:

Had a lovely Amontillado sherry last night that I hadn't tried before. It was Bodega San Vidal La Cosecha Amontillado Superior. I chose it to pair with a Red Lentil Soup with Smoked Duck, Truffled Artichoke Salad and Pistchio Oil (yes - this was a quite challenging menu that will be reported in full in the PA Forum under StudioKitchen) It was absolutely delicious and very nutty and dry. It would probably work really well in your cocktail where the sherry has to play that role of a "taming garnish", as it were. Don't know where you might find it in New York currently, but when the new Moore Brothers shop opens they will undoubtedly have it, since that's where I purchased it down here.

[The Hersch]

D'oh!  There's already a Belmont Cocktail (1.5 oz gin, 1 oz cream, 0.25 oz raspberry syrup).  One of the great dangers of naming a cocktail.

Cool idea you have there, though.  Kind of like a dry martini with Amontillado sherry filling in for dry vermouth.  Maybe a Belmont Street Cocktail?

←

I was robbed! Actually, it never occurred to me to check for another cocktail with the same name as mine. I named this pre-google. A google search today gets 395 hits. I gather the other Belmont cocktail was named after the horse race and probably predates mine. Oh dash.

Belmont Street Cocktail isn't too bad, but the name of the street in question is Belmont Road, which doesn't have much of a ring. Perhaps Kalorama Cocktail, after the neighborhood in which Belmont Road lies (in Washington).