Drinks! (2011–2012)

[evo-lution]

Lastly, I've been pretty down on the white dog/moonshine trend, but a friend introduced my to the BT White Dog with a stellar old fashioned: White Dog, Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Bokers Bitters, white sugar syrup, orange twist (unflamed). The Bokers bitters and white sugar were key to keep from overpowering the flavor of the white dog. Delicious.

This is very intriguing! I've tried Boker's Old Fashioneds with practically every spirit but not with White Dog, will have to give it a try. What ratio did you try it in?

[campus five]

1.5 oz white dog, and it was either 4 or 6 dashes of bitters, and then 1 barspoon of a 1.5:1 white sugar syrup, orange.

Actually, maybe the person who gave me the idea will post what it was supposed to be - organic matter where you at?

[dml]

Since Chris suggested it in his intro email, I'll post my latest drink even though I'm not much of a cocktail hound:

1.5 oz rue-infused CapRock gin

.5 oz cherry Heering

dash bitters (made by a friend; grapefruit-y though it contains no grapefruit)

The rue infusion is fantastic, though I'm still trying to figure out exactly what to do with it. The Heering is a decent match, though I think something with more cherry pit/apricot kernel flavor might work better.

[BennyAdeline]

I made my first Daily Mail last night.

3/4oz Benedictine

1 1/2 oz Aviation Gin

3/4 oz Lemon Juice

1 dash Grand Marnier

1 dash Ang. Bitters

It was o.k I guess, a little dull but seeming balanced. Reminded me a lot of grapefruit juice. Anyone have a suggestion on how to liven this up or is it usually a pretty mellow cocktail? I'm thinking I should try a more Juniper forward and higher proof gin.

Edited May 14, 2011 by BennyAdeline (log)

[EvergreenDan]

...rue-infused CapRock gin...

New one on me: Wikipedia on Rue

I'd love to hear more about this unusual and somewhat frightening ingredient. It's not every day that you eat something induces abortions and causes blisters on your skin!

[dml]

...rue-infused CapRock gin...

I'd love to hear more about this unusual and somewhat frightening ingredient. It's not every day that you eat something induces abortions and causes blisters on your skin!

A little more about the rue infusion, since you asked.

A vendor at the farmer's market last year had rue (he often has relatively uncommon items) so I picked up a bunch on a whim, figuring a little research would yield numerous options for its use. Instead I discovered that there's no mention of it in anything I own (alas, no medieval European books in my collection), and v little useful info on the net aside from Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages, so I had to wing it.

Handling and eating it didn't induce any blisters, and no one who tried it suffered any intense gastrointestinal distress, despite what Wikipedia says (though I did warn anyone who ate it ahead of time of possible unforeseeable negative effects).

The flavor is unique, and I'll do it no justice trying to describe it. The notable feature tasting it straight is that it starts out fantastic, then turns strange an unappealing. The bitterness comes to the front, and an odd aftertaste lingers. Cooking it mellows it somewhat and makes it more palatable; the flavor is compatible with sauteed onions.

As an experiment I put a few sprigs in gin. After only a few hours it was strongly infused, and happily only the pleasant flavors were present, and none of the bitterness. It's great, though I rarely use it since I have such a limited bar and nothing I have, aside from the aforementioned Heering and bitters, is any good with it.

[Tri2Cook]

To celebrate the local LCBO finally getting in the Fernet Branca I ordered a while back, I stirred up an Eeyore's Requiem last night.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I had Canelazos, which are shots of homebrew sugarcane alchohol in hot spiced peach juice. I should really know better, but they're so tasty!

[thirtyoneknots]

Worth noting that rue is closely related to true angostura.

[EvergreenDan]

dml -- have you tried your rueful gin in a Martini?

[dml]

dml -- have you tried your rueful gin in a Martini?

My version of a martini is usually just chilled gin, so yeah, but that's not really saying much. I should go back and try it with some vermouth.

[bostonapothecary]

in my spatial quest, i've explored just about every flavor apex there is. one set that i've ignored for some reason is scoville piquancy aka spicy drinks. besides a long standing love affair with ginger beer this is my first try at probing these spaces.

1 oz. trimbach prunelle sauvage (sloe berry eau de vie)

1 oz. clear creak douglas fir eau de vie

1 oz. cinzano bianco vermouth

2 dashes tobasco (small dashes from a small bottle)

stir

not bad for a piquant clear spirit drink. the hot sensation of the tobasco lingers the longest. the gaze of the minds eye seems to have trouble dividing its attention between the olfactory dryness of the douglas fir brandy and the piquancy of the tobasco. an interesting apex, but i'd like to revisit the idea with mezcal, chartreuse & acidity.

[Tri2Cook]

A friend who was visiting asked if I would make her a Pina Colada. I made her one by doing the shake and strain with El Dorado 6 year silver, coconut water, fresh pineapple juice, a little lemon juice to brighten it up a bit, a little coconut gomme to give it some body and bring up the coconut flavor and a dash of roasted pineapple bitters. Nothing new and probably not interesting to most but it was fun and she liked it. It was less sweet and had much brighter flavors than the usual suspects... even if it was needlessly overcomplicating a simple drink.

[BennyAdeline]

Took it easy and made a ward 8 when I got home with fresh citrus from the hollywood farmers market, homemade grenadine and Old Overholt. Really tasty- I see why it's a classic. The ingredients all hold their own well with a sour snap from the lemon, savory tones from the orange, pomegranate sweetness (ever so slight) and the complexity of the rye. Fantastic.

[jrshaul]

I just invented one consisting of my homemade ginger liqueur and grapefruit juice. The ginger liqueur has some cloves in it, though I might try adding some ginger next time.

[bostonapothecary]

"since 1886" (we've been adding tabasco to everything...)

1.5 oz. tabasco aromatized gin*

.75 oz. orange liqueur (senior curacao)

.75 oz. lime juice

dash angostura

*neutralize 100ml of tabasco with 7 grams of baking soda to neutralize the vinegar. marry the result with 500ml of london dry gin and redistill. distilling straight through may result in slight cloudiness so start making tales separations and discard the cloudy segments. dilute the result to the gin's original proof. if gin is not on hand use blue plum slivovitz. if tabasco is not on hand use balsamic vinegar then substitute rye whiskey or slivovitz or tequila or mezcal for the gin.

the tabasco's aroma really comes through and is an awesome juxtaposition to everything else. the distillate has no scoville piquancy so a strange expectation/anticipation differential exists. cheap and fun. inspired by a chapter of amerine's book on handling winery biproducts where they salvage the alcohol from vinegar tainted wine by adding baking soda before distilling.

[gfweb]

Pappy Van Winkle's 20 year old bourbon with one small ice cube. Smoooth.

[thirtyoneknots]

Bostonapothecary, that sounds legit as hell. Now I wish I had a still, just to make this.

[bostonapothecary]

1.5 oz. tabasco aromatized gin

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 oz. campari

i was really into this drink even though sometimes i find a negroni too sweet for my mood. it reminded me of something in amerine's "wines. their sensory evaluation". his claim was that if you found "varietal character" (olfactory aspects) in the wine that you enjoy, you might overlook gustatory flaws. the varietal character here would be the tabasco aroma and the flaw would be the otherwise too sweet style of drink.

[EvergreenDan]

My wife came home with a pineapple. Sniffed it this morning -- fragrant and sweet (olfactory, not gustatory ). Time for Rivieras.

The Riviera

by Toby Maloney, Violet Hour, Chicago, IL

2 oz Gin (with Campari & Marschino, infused with pineapple)

3/4 oz Lemon juice

3/4 oz Simple syrup

1 lf Mint (as garnish)

1 ds Orange bitters (as garnish)

Dry shake 30 seconds, shake with ice, strain, straight up, coupe, garnish with mint and drops of orange bitters.

Pineapple infused gin: 4c gin : 1c Campari : 2c Maraschino, 1 pineapple. Cut into speakrs. Infuse 1-2 days. Divide recipe in half for a more manageable quantity.

Personal notes: I flip ratio of Campari and Maraschino (more Campari than Maraschino), omit the simple and egg white, and use 2 1/2 oz infused gin mixture for a fast, simple drink.

I, uh, washed the jar well first.

--

Kindred Cocktails | Craft + Collect + Concoct + Categorize + Community

Edited June 2, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Made a Kina Cocktail last night with a bottle of Cocchi Americano I had on hand. Got me thinking about a Perfect Manhattan sort of thing:

2 oz Rittenhouse

1 oz Cocchi

1 oz M&R sweet vermouth

2 dashes Angostura

Very, very good.

[KD1191]

Made a Kina Cocktail last night with a bottle of Cocchi Americano I had on hand. Got me thinking about a Perfect Manhattan sort of thing:

2 oz Rittenhouse

1 oz Cocchi

1 oz M&R sweet vermouth

2 dashes Angostura

Very, very good.

Finished off a bottle of Cocchi myself, tonight...spritzers, more or less. It's never struck me as particularly dry. Just reading it, this recipe would seem to me to be more akin to a 50-50 Manhattan than a Perfect one, flavor wise. No?

[Chris Amirault]

Good point!

[mkayahara]

Last night I decided to split the difference between an Oriental and a Margarita:

1.5 oz. anejo tequila (Cazadores)

0.75 oz. Cointreau

0.75 oz. Martini bianco vermouth

0.75 oz. lime juice

It worked!

[Yojimbo]

Just got a bottle of Marie Brizard Apry, so I've been experimenting:

2 oz. Rittenhouse BIB

1 teaspoon maraschino

1/2 oz Apry

Stirred and tasted, played well, but obviously needed something sour to counterbalance the sweetness of the Apry (is R & W apricot drier than Apry?). The solution: yuzu juice. A couple of splashes, and I was very content.